บท 2433: Chapter 1686: Bruce Wayne and the Magic Stone (Part 1)_1
Following several years of municipal reforms, the pervasive issue of dense ice in Gotham underground has seen great improvements. A majority of the high-quality dense ice layers have been converted into commercial cold storage. A primary characteristic of the materials used to build these facilities is insulation, ensuring that all the cold air condenses inside the cold storage and does not escape. Thus, the overall temperature drop in Gotham City has shown signs of improvement.
Ever since Lex Luther's Gotham Sunlight project has made significant progress, Gotham now enjoys two hours of sunlight every day, typically one hour at 10 a.m. and another at 3 p.m.
The method used to bring sunlight to Gotham is rather crude, involving the expansion of the Angel Auroras by a significant amount of energy, temporarily dispersing the clouds accumulated above Gotham. As this operation is repeated, many clouds are pushed out into the outer layer, slowing down their thickness and accumulation speed compared to before.
This leads to Gotham having at least three to four hours of direct sunlight every day. The direct result of this is that, like Metropolis, Gotham now has distinct seasons.
In the past, almost unaffected by direct sunlight and the constant rainfall, Gotham was cold, damp, and gloomy all year round, more akin to the climate of the Scottish Highlands if one were to draw a comparison.
The first summer Gotham welcomed sunlight after this transformation, the city experienced a true peak summer. The highest temperature broke the peak record of the past two decades, and the daily average temperature finally reached the average summer temperature of East Coast Cities.
This was indeed tough for the Gothamites, who are no different from vampires.
The lingering cold mist on their clothes and hair turned into rising hot steam. A slight sweat made the clothes cling to their skin, one of the accomplices of the discomfort. The residual heat from the direct sunlight not only warmed the roads and walls but also made everyone feel like they were wrapped in a scorching cocoon, unable to escape the dreadful stuffiness no matter where they went.
The tough Gothamites also struggled in the sweltering summer. The remaining stocks of air conditioning units in the city sold out overnight. As people struggled to get their air conditioners installed and their homes became unbearably hot, Gothamites came up with various ingenious solutions. Some went to large supermarkets to enjoy complimentary cold air, some gathered on the floor of the cold storages to experience the bit of cold leaking from them.
Some daring people dug tunnels to the side of the nearest cold storehouses, creating a natural, electricity-free summer retreat. Some, taking advantage of their positions, asked the cold storage workers for a piece of damaged dense ice to put in their rooms, allowing it to melt and absorb heat to cool down their homes.
Regardless of the many ways to avoid the heat, most of them require people to stay put in a specific place. Going out on the streets would certainly still be hot. Gothamites, who had never experienced this kind of climate before, were like scorched eggplants, all choosing to stay at home and not venture out unless necessary.
Surprisingly, Gotham's flaming gang activities all but ceased overnight. Everyone retreated to their homes to find ways to cool down. After all, being involved in shootouts on the streets was not a significant issue, but experiencing heatstroke was. The inexperienced Gotham Hospital might not even be able to save you.
In this unusually sunny peak summer, Gotham strangely quietened down. As the common saying goes, when humans retreat, the wonders of countless other species naturally revive.
Unaware, the steel forest began to emanate faint insect noises. The waters of Gotham River also began to surge more violently with the onset of the flood season, and traces of crabs and crustaceans started appearing in the accumulated silt at the estuary.
After the adults retreated home to avoid the summer heat, the city strangely became a children's playground. Teenagers, being indifferent to the hot and cold, see fun as the most important. Without gang activities to engage in, and the risk of sudden crossfires gone, children could be seen playing everywhere on the river beaches and amongst the river currents.
Apart from the children, the happiest lot had to be local tourists. Though the current temperature is almost life-threatening for Gothamites, for everyone else, Gotham remains an incomparable summer retreat.
The gangs hid and didn't show face, many previously unsafe alleys were now accessible. More importantly, under the coordination of Mayor Roy, beaches at prime locations in Gotham were gradually opening up to tourists.
Gothamites actually find it hard to understand why anyone would intentionally go somewhere to sunbathe, and previously, Gotham's beaches weren't even suitable for sunbathing.
Without the intense sunlight, going to the seashore would only give you a colder sea breeze and a not particularly appealing smell of the sea. Even the gangsters who owned these beaches only saw them as assets to guard. Nobody wanted to specifically go to the beach to endure the cold wind.
But for outsiders, this is simply a treasure trove, the Golden Coastline. Not only is the quality of the beach sand excellent, the untouched, pristine status it offers due to its remoteness is satisfying enough.
Since Gotham has a sea outlet for rivers and a more rugged bay shape compared to Metropolis, it is not suitable for swimming or fishery farming. However, it gives rise to another more suitable sport, that is, surfing.
For surfing enthusiasts, this bay environment and wind intensity is a dream come true. The strong sea breeze, hated and loathed by many Gothamites and gang bosses, gives many sailing sports enthusiasts a boost in their abilities.
Along the entire East Coast shoreline, almost all cities with access to the sea have overdeveloped their beaches.
Year-round tourism and commercial activities inevitably make these places crowded and chaotic, mostly with family tourist groups with children, each child flitting around in the sea with a floating ring. The space required by enthusiasts for professional sports is increasingly shrinking. As a result, Gotham has become the last haven on the East Coast that they discovered in recent years.
Most people who dare to vacation here are young. It's rare for tour groups with the elderly and children to come to Gotham, making themselves unhappy. Where young people gather, the cultural atmosphere tends to be more vibrant and tolerant. Advocates of various niche cultures are more likely to be accepted.
Beyond local gangster rap, Gotham soon won the favor of various niche culture groups such as street graffiti enthusiasts, extreme water sports enthusiasts, lovers of sand and beach art, and public space structure creators.
With the mob, scorched by the sun, leaving the streets, these special niche enthusiast groups naturally came to the fore. The cultural atmosphere they created began to gradually influence some local young people. As Gotham has a high probability of producing genius artists, its street culture has started to liven up.
Add to this the economic growth brought by the mob's logistics business, cold chain transportation industry, and various small stalls and vendors they controlled. Many people now have some spare cash. They no longer have to worry about their livelihoods every day. Once people have some leisure time, all sorts of eccentric creations start to emerge.
Gothamites, whose insane minds are drenched by rain, indeed do have some other creative ideas besides committing crimes. However, they were unable to realize these ideas due to the previous security environment and economic conditions. Now that both of these conditions are met, Gotham has produced numerous public field works that have shocked the world for a time.
During Clark's filming of Batman in Gotham, he casually took several photos of eccentric sculptures created by Gothamites, which unexpectedly went viral. Since then, many art media focusing on this field began to turn their eyes on Gotham.
Gotham once again gained some momentum, and with many niche art enthusiast groups warmly recommending it, this momentum began to grow stronger. As the buzz grew, so did the traffic. Multiple journalists, fans, and even web celebrities seeking to latch onto this trend started flocking to Gotham beneath the banner of exploring this eccentric city.
However, this led to another problem: Gotham's population was already quite large, and with a massive influx of out-of-town tourists, both transportation and commerce were overstretched. As web celebrities became even more popular, Gotham began to experience an unprecedented and utterly terrible traffic jam.
The traffic jams in Gotham used to be due to disorderly traffic rules and ineffective traffic law enforcement. But this time the problem couldn't be blamed on infrastructure or management. It is purely because the number of vehicles on the road far exceeds the maximum that the city's transportation facilities can handle.
Roy hurriedly convened a meeting and invited everyone, including all professors, teachers, and even excellent students from related majors at Gotham University; relevant practitioners from Wayne Enterprises; mob bosses and even the magicians who had recently come to Gotham.
Roy stated that whoever could solve the current traffic paralysis in Gotham, the Gotham City Government would surely fully support them.
But after much discussion, the final conclusion was that Gotham's appalling public transportation system was to blame.
What's the concept of an extra-large city with nearly ten million people having almost no bus routes? What's the concept of one of the top modern cities on the east coast, having only two subway lines? These two lines were even built by Europeans in the past.
Let's just say this about the environment in the Gotham subway station: when the Joker was holding explosives and forcing Batman to make a choice, he chose to get on the boat instead of going to the crowded subway. From this, you can see the environment there has reached the level that even if the Ninja Turtles were to come, they would grab a train and flee at night. If a mermaid from the sewer were to come, she would spit out two mouthfuls of saliva.
Therefore, the focus of Gotham's development once again returned to the transportation problem. In order to continue to develop the tourism industry, accommodate more population, and let various industries in the city serve the tourists more efficiently, Gothamites had to unite once again and strive to establish efficient public transportation facilities for the city.
However, it is obvious that a stitch in time saves nine. It will take at least eight or ten years to completely renovate the public transportation system of such a large city.
With more tourists flooding in and the mob also needing to transport their goods, if this problem is not solved promptly, the tourists and mob will become oppositional. The win-win situation that everyone worked hard to create will return to square one. This is something Roy can't accept.
To solve this problem in a short and timely manner, some drastic measures must be taken. Roy then turned his attention to the magic, or more specifically, to the mysterious green energy that the magicians sought to use to construct the Earth's magical defense network.
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