American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

The red alarm lights in the laboratory blinked weakly and rapidly, like the pulse of someone having a heart attack.

"Less than 2% of energy remains..."

For Victor Frith, ordinary synthesized voices were more jarring than a death sentence from hell.

This cryophysician, once hailed as a genius, now resembled a beggar guarding a treasure but starving to death, huddled beside the enormous life support pod radiating a ghostly blue light.

He held in his hand a prototype cryogun that looked like it had been cobbled together from a discarded vacuum cleaner and a liquid nitrogen tank; the muzzle trembled slightly from the vibrations.

Even if it's just for a second, if those greedy board bastards give him even just one more second to catch his breath...

The door slid gracefully to both sides, accompanied by the electronic release of the lock cylinder.

Victor suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes instantly stinging.

Because what shone through the crack in the door wasn't just the light from the hallway, but also a damn, literally glowing humanoid object.

A man in a sharp suit walked in against the light.

The hand-tailored fabric didn't wrinkle at all in the damp Gotham, and the leather shoes made a steady, confident thud as they stepped on the floor covered in condensation and grease.

That's the kind of rhythm only someone at the top of the food chain, looking down on the entire city, can have.

Bruce Wayne.

The light source, which was blocked from his tall frame, was lazily yawning, its golden light hissing out like a leaky faucet, giving the dark and damp laboratory an absurdly sacred feel.

"I thought this was a cold storage room."

The luminous person spoke, his voice filled with pure curiosity and a hint of disdain.

"Why does it only smell musty? Victor, shouldn't you replace the Freon in your refrigerator to improve cooling performance?"

This opening line caused Victor, who was already prepared to die with his opponent, to have his mind go blank on the spot.

"Put that toy that's pointing at me down, Dr. Fries. This building is yours again, or rather, mine, depending on how you sign this later."

Bruce didn't even glance at the gun.

He walked straight to Nora's life support pod and lightly swiped a tablet terminal across the control panel.

"Beep—System power connected. Supercapacitor activated. Refrigeration system operating at full power."

The previously dim blue indicator light suddenly brightened, and all the red alerts instantly turned into a reassuring green.

"If you want to know the reason?"

Bruce turned around, and it was the most hopeful yet devilish smile Victor had ever seen in his life.

"I just bought this building, this machine, and even your massive debt of 63 million. Now, I'm the only landlord who calls the shots in this damn place."

The freeze gun in Victor's hand fell to the ground.

But he had no time to care about that anymore. He just stared blankly at the steadily operating instruments, then at the arrogant tycoon, his lips trembling as he couldn't utter a word.

Hugh took the opportunity to stroll over, completely ignoring Victor's still wary posture, and picked up the gun on the ground and waved it around.

"Tsk, this iron is too brittle."

Xiu En twisted the barrel of the gun with his hand and even let out a disdainful snort.

"Besides, the purity of the liquid nitrogen in here isn't good either. If it were the kind of liquid light I'm thinking of... never mind, I think you should take care of this big tank first. Anyway, you look malnourished right now. People who don't know you might think you need to go in and lie down too."

Why?

Victor finally managed to squeeze out his voice.

"You're Wayne, I know you, people like you should..."

"Because there's no need for a reason, Doctor. Or rather, the reason is that you and your sleeping wife deserve a slightly better ending."

Bruce straightened his cuffs and placed a new contract on the table closest to Victor, covering the pile of scrap paper that had originally been used to make his will.

"Welcome to Wayne Technologies' Cryogenics division. Don't worry about funding; my bodyguard's meal might cost more than this tank of liquid nitrogen you're in. I think you'll get used to it."

The moment he signed his name, Victor Frith felt that he was holding not just an ordinary pen, but a lever that could change his destiny.

He looked at the life support capsule, which had stopped flashing red lights and was now running smoothly with the support of supercapacitors, and let out a long breath. The deathly chill that had been building up in his chest for years seemed to dissipate with it.

"Mr. Wayne!"

Victor adjusted his glasses, which were now fogged up with water.

"If you need me to freeze the entire Gotham Bay in return, I think I can start calculating the model right now."

"I just need you to use those talents to save lives, Doctor. After all, freezing the ocean will affect many international shipping routes, and Wayne Enterprises will have to pay liquidated damages."

As Bruce archived another backup file, he made a dark joke that only Shuen could probably understand.

He patted Victor on the shoulder. It was just a simple touch, but it meant that from then on, the title "Mr. Freeze" would only be the brand name of some kind of highly efficient refrigeration machine in this universe, not a supervillain.

"Now that we're on the same side!"

A light source that had been banging on the low-temperature pipes suddenly moved closer, completely ignoring the chill emanating from the cryogenic armor still on Victor's body.

"Dr., I have a technical question. Can your absolute zero output be fixed at a specific point? For example, can you freeze a piece of special tungsten steel with a diameter of 50 millimeters into a crisp like ice cream, without damaging the texture inside, I mean, the internal structure?"

Victor was stunned as he stared at the strange man whose brilliance forced him to squint.

If it had been an hour earlier, he would have shot this madman.

But now, he pushed up his glasses and actually started thinking seriously.

"Theoretically speaking, if you're referring to the cryogenic shock that instantly breaks the metal lattice bonds, I have indeed developed a liquid nitrogen focusing nozzle... but why prioritize taste?"

"Don't ask, it's for the sake of science."

Xiu En confidently gave a thumbs up.

"Anyway, if you can make that, all the metal scrap in Gotham will be yours, no, all mine."

After confirming that the lab door lock had been reset to the Wayne Group security code, Bruce turned around and whispered a few more words to Victor before leaving.

"Besides your research on ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), Victor, I need you to think about a topic in your spare time."

"How to effectively, but non-lethally, significantly reduce the surface temperature of an organism, especially one that relies on absorbing solar energy for energy."

Bruce didn't utter the words "Kryptonian," but his eyes said it all.

Although Victor was confused, he wasn't stupid. He glanced at the glowing Shuen, who seemed to have some strange misunderstanding, then looked at the serious-looking boss and silently nodded.

He didn't know what the future threats would be, but he knew that the best defense was to create absolute cold within this cryogenic fortress.