Chapter 344: Thinking a Hundred Steps Ahead
Batman had heard portions of Garrett and Captain George's office conversation through his surveillance bugs.
The bombs had already been planted throughout Manhattan by the team that arrived with those "SHIELD" transport helicopters.
Compared to the real SHIELD—constrained by the World Security Council, which harbored Hydra infiltrators, compounded by bureaucratic arrogance in the U.S. government that prevented them from even beginning recovery operations on the dinosaur corpses and primitive people—this group Batman strongly suspected of being Hydra operated with remarkable efficiency.
Batman didn't plan to personally dismantle the bombs one by one.
He could disarm one. But those Hydra operatives could install several more in the same timeframe.
Batman had his own plan.
Having lost Spider-Man's various abilities, Batman could now rely only on his mind.
Fortunately, even during the time when he'd possessed those abilities, Batman had never stopped training himself.
"First: the bombs are already planted. I believe Garrett won't station those Hydra operatives near the bomb locations. That would reveal where the bombs are. Garrett will have them blend into Manhattan after planting the devices."
"Second: the bomb quantity is extremely high. This serves as additional evidence supporting my first conclusion."
"Third: Garrett's weapon is a staff capable of firing energy beams. Based on my previous observations, it's a technologically manufactured weapon—just as I've identified his flying horse as some kind of genetic engineering product."
"Since the bomb sites are unguarded, and Garrett needs those bombs to coerce me into appearing and doing something, those devices absolutely cannot be timer-based. They must be remote-detonation devices."
"Garrett can't predict where I'll appear. Otherwise he'd have found me already. There's a ninety-five percent probability the remote detonation method uses radio frequency triggering."
"To verify this hypothesis, I need to conduct a frequency scan across all of Manhattan."
The moment the Spider-Man suit's fabrication completed, Batman's plan crystallized fully in his mind. He casually placed the suit into a briefcase and returned to the Batmobile, driving toward the Batcave.
Kssshhhhh...
At that same moment, the massive screens in Manhattan's Times Square cut from advertisements to static, accompanied by a cascade of noise.
Then the static cleared. The masked Black Knight Garrett appeared on screen.
"Good morning, Manhattan!" Garrett's voice was deep and measured. "I wouldn't recommend changing the channel. Because I guarantee the program I'm about to present will be ten thousand times more exciting than your boring reality shows and commercials."
"I want to thank this rainstorm. It's gathered everyone in the city inside buildings and shopping centers. That will make my bombs far more effective at causing casualties."
Garrett's televised speech didn't just appear on the sparsely populated Times Square screens—thanks to the rain—but on nearly every television in Manhattan.
Schools. Hospitals. Shopping malls. Office buildings. Every kind of retail establishment.
Initially, no one paid attention. But the moment the word "bombs" left Garrett's mouth, screams and panicked footsteps erupted outside every screen displaying the broadcast.
"Quiet. Listen calmly while I finish speaking. After all, you wouldn't want to flee blindly and accidentally run into one of my bomb blast zones, would you?"
Garrett seemed to see the chaos beyond the cameras. Amusement colored his voice.
"What I want to say is this—Batman, I know you're watching."
"Within three hours—before one o'clock this afternoon—I need you to appear in Times Square. Preferably empty-handed."
As he spoke, Garrett raised a remote control device, displaying it clearly on screen.
"If the deadline arrives and you haven't, I'll press this button and treat Manhattan's residents to a fireworks show."
"Of course, you could try locating and dismantling the bombs. But trust me, the quantity far exceeds your imagination. And you only have three hours."
"When time expires, the remaining bombs will still go 'boom.'"
Inside the Batcave, Batman carried the briefcase containing the Spider-Man suit while watching the workstation screen. Garrett's broadcast played there as well.
Not because Garrett had hacked the Batcave's systems—Venom Robin had simply hijacked Manhattan television stations and was receiving their direct broadcast signal.
Seeing Batman return, Venom Robin frowned at him.
"Does he think talking like that is entertaining?"
Batman's mouth curved upward slightly.
"Perhaps."
He casually switched off the television feed Venom Robin was watching.
Just as Robin expected Batman to launch into extensive preparations for countering Garrett's bomb threat, Batman instead settled into a chair and resumed work on a project that had been delayed for days: researching the full-wave projector.
"Researching the full-wave projector?" Venom Robin scratched his head. "Old Bat, you should be getting tense right now. Preparing for Garrett's plan. Not sitting here acting like nothing happened."
Batman glanced at Venom Robin. His wrist flicked, and several pieces of chocolate appeared at his fingertips before flying toward Robin's mouth, plugging it shut.
"Tastes good... Wait, no—giving me chocolate doesn't change the facts. In three hours Garrett detonates those bombs. How do you plan to respond?" Venom Robin smacked his tongue. "Or do you already have a plan?"
Batman smiled slightly at Venom Robin—a smile that made Robin's heart race nervously.
"Correct."
Batman had indeed formulated his complete plan. Especially after Garrett's broadcast appearance, the strategy had solidified entirely.
Step one: modify the Arkham Batmobile, transforming it into a massive radio signal detector.
Step two: transport the Batmobile to the top of the Empire State Building—four hundred meters high. Use Manhattan's tallest structure as a central scanning point for the entire borough's radio frequency spectrum.
Step three: hack into nearly all of Manhattan's television signal towers. Cross-reference with the Batmobile's converted radio signal detector. Use triangulation to confirm every bomb's location.
Step four, step five...
Batman played chess—international chess, Chinese xiangqi, and go. He believed these games trained his ability to think three moves ahead.
Except now, before Batman had even made his first move, he'd already anticipated events hundreds of steps into the future.
And he rarely played against others. Usually he simulated matches in his mind—himself versus himself.
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