Chapter 40 New Projects

Gotham City.

Overcast clouds that cover almost all year-round cover right above this dark modern city, and even bursts of electric light flash in the gloomy haze. The torrential rain poured down without warning from behind the clouds, beating loudly and densely on the grim streets.

Barbara Gordon sat in her wheelchair by the window of the clock tower, the rainwater hanging like a waterfall, and looking down at the city through the iris of the water was like watching a sleeping demon.

Years ago, she was also one of the city's drag fighters. Batgirl used to be her code name, but that was before she was shot in the leg by a green-haired lunatic in clown makeup. Now, a self-proclaimed Oracle, she's one of the world's top hackers, providing logistical support for the Caped Crusaders from this location on Gotham's High Point.

She had always hated rainy days, even after living so long in this city covered in clouds all the year-round.

The elevator behind him made a crisp "ding" sound. It was a direct elevator that only a few people with access rights could take. She controlled the wheelchair and turned around, and saw the huntress appear in front of the door with one hand supported on the side panel of the elevator, panting. Her hair was messy, and her purple cloak was torn at one corner; looking quite embarrassed.

Barbara raised her eyebrows: "You didn't inform us that you're coming back to Gotham."

She and Helena have always had a good relationship; although Helena has now switched jobs to work for the government, it has not changed.

"Gene Era"

"I've been in Gotham's stronghold for the past two days until they kicked me out - just for this thing." Helena stepped forward and pulled a USB stick from her belt, "Please, I need Your help. It's important."

Barbara took the USB stick and asked, "Let me guess, Bruce doesn't know yet?"

"I didn't tell him," Helena said lightly.

"Then maybe you should think about it." Barbara inserted the USB flash drive into her computer and said simultaneously, "he is your father; after all, you can't go on like this forever. And he needs you too."

Helena was silent and did not answer.

Barbara skillfully opened the USB flash drive on her computer, and the "side project" project quickly popped up on the screen, along with the warning dialog box and the password input field Helena had encountered. Barbara read the name with a frown and asked, "Is this what makes you look so embarrassed? Then it must be important."

"I was just trying to access its content, and they were chasing me like a first-class wanted criminal," Helena said. "I tried to crack it, but it failed, and it automatically sent a warning to the higher-level server; I only had time to copy the data. But be careful if the crack fails..."

"It may also upload data and reveal our location. Thank you for reminding me; you brought a hot potato." Although Barbara seemed to be complaining, she did not mean to retreat. She stretched her slender fingers as if preparing for a big fight.

"But you'll get it done, right?" Helena asked. "You can always get it done."

"Of course, keep your eyes open from the back."

Barbara said it was light but not such an easy job. Half an hour after that, she didn't say a word, just stared intently at the computer screen. Helena watched as her fingers flipped nimbly on the keyboard, and lines of green code rolled across the black-backed interface like a torrent of water. Although she didn't quite understand it, she could see that this was a difficult battle. Barbara looked grim as if a chess master had encountered an adversary he had never seen in his life, and he was starting a hearty confrontation with the enemy.

Helena waited quietly, knowingly, without making a sound. She pulled herself a chair and sat down, feeling sleepy.

After a while, the code scrolling on the interface in front of Barbara finally stopped, and the prompt window for the successful crack promptly popped up in the middle of the interface. Even Helena, watching the battle, couldn't help but feel a difficulty similar to hell. The excitement of the game clearance.

Barbara breathed a long sigh of relief, feeling as if she had completed the Long March: "This thing you want to see is quite famous; this is military-level encryption - no, it's even above that; go on, I can't remember exactly when such a troublesome security protocol was cracked."

"I said it's essential." Helena couldn't wait to get on the back of the chair where Barbara was sitting and urged, "Open it up and see what's inside?"

Barbara clicked on the folder, and the long list of related parties that Jay had seen appeared first in front of the two girls. Barbara clicked on the follow-up folders in turn, and the detailed information told them a story about alien exploration and a Kryptonian visitor who responded to the invitation of humans to come to Earth, just as Jay, on the other side, was in this project as the only survivors heard.

"So this is the origin of that Kryptonian kid." Helena smacked her tongue and muttered.

"Who?" Barbara asked in surprise before fully digesting the information. "You mean this is true? A Kryptonian that we don't know has been hiding on Earth, and you have seen him?"

"I've seen it; Bruce has seen it too." Helena said casually, "Maybe I can introduce you to me next time when I get a chance. He's an exciting little boy... Wait, is this still a good idea? Is there an attachment?"

Barbara noticed the attachment, which was almost ignored because they were all too busy to be surprised. It was named "SDE-NEO," and there seemed to be a follow-up to this plan.

They thought the parts they had seen before were surprising enough, but they never thought that the suffocating content had just begun here. When Barbara opened the attachment, Helena felt that she almost stopped breathing, and she couldn't help but doubt the authenticity of the contents recorded here because they were too bizarre.

If this is true, then everything they have seen, experienced, and lived is an incomparably colossal deception.

Metropolis, hospitals.

The night fell silently on the sleeping metropolis, the sun was hidden little by little under the outline of the city in the night, and the artificial lights penetrated through the only window of the ward. Carla had been at the bedside for hours, and Louise was still lying unconscious, pale, and showing no sign of awakening.

The huge ward was extremely silent, and the sound of "didi" monitoring the heart rate was particularly harsh.

Jay landed on the balcony with barely a sound, like a disembodied breeze, but Cara noticed it anyway. She walked out quickly, seeing the tiredness and sadness written all over Jay's face.

"He's right in front of me, the poor old man," Jay said in a low voice. "We...we were probably that close. But I couldn't save him."

"Jay..."

"I should have saved him," Jay said in a low voice, ignoring her interruption, "I should have reacted quicker and got him out of the house before the flames...I should have noticed earlier. That bomb, I..."

"Jay." She caressed his face with her hand, looking directly into his pale blue eyes that were cast in a somber hue, "I don't know exactly what happened, but I can imagine because we've all been through it. But you hamustemember, it wasn't your fault, okay?"

"I watched him burn to ashes in front of me." Jay took her hand lightly, "It felt like...like it was me who was burned to death in pain. ."

"I know," Carla said softly. "We all feel that way, and you'll probably feel more, or worse, than that. The secret is to remember that the pain doesn't belong to you. That's why we have to help people who are in pain. You have to remember that even though we have such a powerful ability, we are not gods a; after, we are constantly trying to make the right choice."

Jay was silent for a while, then asked, "So this feeling, it's never going to go away, right?"

Kara nodded. "Yes, they don't."

Jay looked out at the brightly lit city under the balcony and deeply breathed.

"Thanks," he said, "I feel better now."

After a pause, he said, "I have to go."

"I can help," Kara said.

"No, I need you to help me care for Louise and my parents; they may all be in danger." Jay said, "I don't know who I'm facing yet, but they look at me. Threw a missile at his office. And when I just found someone willing to tell me, they blew up the house."

Kara couldn't help covering her mouth: "Rao is on; what happened?"

"I don't know yet. But what I do know is that it's my thing," Jay said, and the man was up in the air again, "I have to figure this out, and I can ask you to take care of them for me. ?"

"Of course." Kara nodded. "Go ahead and do what you have to do."

"Thank you. It's nice to have you by my side."

He smiled slightly, and with a movement, he turned into a blue afterimage and rushed into the night sky.