However, the manager hadn't finished speaking.
Deep inside the building, the emergency generator emitted a muffled roar as it automatically connected to the grid.
However... it was all for naught.
Less than a minute later, the emergency lights in the lobby flickered twice before going out weakly.
Along with it came rows of "lucky" computers.
Not only computers, but even automatic water dispensers beeped, completely entering a state of slumber.
City.
Chaos spread like mercury across the city, creeping along Manhattan's underground fiber optic cables.
In an apartment in Brooklyn.
The microwave oven's digital panel was jumping wildly and emitting a piercing beeping sound.
The old-fashioned CRT monitor in the living room suddenly exploded into a white, static-filled screen.
Not only that.
On the streets, the radio systems of hundreds and thousands of cars simultaneously malfunctioned, their alarms blaring into a deafening sea of noise.
"Damn it! What's going on?! Even the cellular data is down! I was only halfway through downloading 'Japan Teacher'!!!"
"They messed up again? Damn it, their stock has to hit the daily limit down tomorrow!"
"Damn, is this a terrorist attack? Or did another plane crash into a building (just kidding)?!"
I can't stay in the apartment anymore.
No internet, no signal, nothing at all.
Left with no other option, someone pushed open the door first.
Next came the neighbors from the entire building.
A woman in a bathrobe, a lawyer who hadn't had time to tie his tie, a college student clutching a tablet...
People met in the hallway, exchanging surprised and uncertain glances.
Immediately, the crowd began to leave the building.
They then surged onto the streets of Manhattan.
By this time, outdoor traffic had already come to a standstill.
The drivers abandoned their vehicles and stood still; some climbed onto the roofs of the yellow taxis, and some even tried to smash the Green Lantern control boxes with wrenches.
At that moment, hundreds of thousands of pedestrians in Manhattan seemed to be swept up by some invisible undercurrent.
Without prior arrangement, they all followed the flow of people towards the intersection of Broadway.
That's Times Square.
2:24 PM.
The red steps of Times Square, as well as the streets on both sides, were packed with people.
At that moment, the dozens of giant walls in Times Square, composed of enormous neon screens, uniformly displayed a dazzling display of light.
"Hey, man! Relax..."
In the crowd, a young man with dyed green hair chewed gum and casually nudged the stranger next to him with his elbow.
"This is definitely some big company's viral marketing campaign... Have you seen ' The Matrix '?"
Or is this a new trailer for " The Avengers "?
It's definitely something those film companies came up with; their marketing budgets this year are fucking insane.
"Hey, has your brain been fried?"
At that moment, a white-collar worker wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a suit next to him pushed up his glasses impatiently.
"Simultaneously purchase the exclusive broadcasting rights for all the giant screens in Times Square?"
Even if you tied Apple and Microsoft together, it wouldn't work... The Pentagon's defenses have definitely been breached.
If the power isn't restored within a few minutes.
If global stock markets open tomorrow, it's a fucking Great Depression!
"What's all that chattering about? Maybe it's a solar flare... Last week, the science magazine mentioned Sunspot activity."
"Fuck! Stop arguing! Look!!"
A distorted scream suddenly came from behind the crowd.
Hundreds of thousands of people seemed to sense something, stiffly raising their necks to look at the giant screen hanging overhead.
The static on the screen has changed.
Countless pale, tiny spots of light stretched and snapped together within seconds.
Like millions of white army ants, crawling and reorganizing on the silent glass surface.
"Buzz----"
All the screens froze in the same second.
Countless distorted light trails exploded in the center of the massive curtain wall.
Ultimately, it coalesced into a cold, unknown "S"-shaped emblem.
Then, a booming sound descended.
The resonance of the sound utilizes the city's entire copper wire electrical grid and charged particles suspended tens of thousands of feet in the atmosphere.
It directly and brutally bombards everyone's cochlea with the electromagnetic field of the entire Manhattan skyline as its diaphragm:
You are not alone.
(YOU ARE NOT ALONE)
On the giant curved screen, snowflakes cascaded down like a waterfall.
Then, an unfamiliar face filled the entire sky.
His jawline was taut, and a hideous old scar ran from his forehead down to his lower lip.
A pair of iron-gray eyes looked down at the screen.
A faint, murky yellow tinge flickered at the edge of his pupil.
[My name is Drew Zod. We have crossed the stars to find my lost people, Carl El. ]
He is lurking in your world, disguised as one of you.
Dead silence.
On the street, white-collar workers hurried along, their heads tilted back, briefcases slipping onto the paving stones.
Several traffic police officers stood frozen in the middle of the road, staring blankly at the screen.
At that moment, Zod on the sky slightly raised his chin, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.
[Hand over Carl El ]
[You have twenty-four standard sidereal times to make your decision and deliver his extradition coordinates to my near-Earth shuttle.]
[If it's overdue...]
Zod's eyes narrowed slightly in front of the screen.
The shadow lurking in his optic nerve spread out like ink, revealing a cruel glint.
[Your world may be reduced to ruins in the World Engine.]
"Smack!"
The video abruptly cut off.
Gotham City.
The rain poured down, and the leaden-gray clouds still hung low.
Wayne Manor, a hundred meters underground.
The temperature inside the Batcave remains at around 10 degrees Celsius year-round, and water droplets drip down the damp, cold stalactites with a "tap, tap".
It crashed onto the cold, dark river surface.
In front of the massive multi-screen control panel, a glaring alarm was flashing at a high frequency of three times per second.
Bruce didn't even have time to take off his heavy battle suit.
He stood in front of the control panel, his mask pushed up to his forehead.
The face, with its hard lines and stubble, appeared extremely terrifying under the holographic blue light.
On the screen, Bruce's self-designed algorithm was using terrifying computing power to reverse engineer the parameters of the " Black Zero " mothership:
[Target length: 3840 meters]
[Ship mass: Approximately 4.2 × 10^10 tons (Gravity field anomaly, actual mass is suspected to be suppressed by dark matter coating)]
[Outer armor composition: Unknown crystalline multilayer alloy.]
[Theoretical tolerance level: cannot be estimated]
[Probability of orbital interception: 0.0000% (Conventional land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles will be deflected and detonated by unknown gravitational waves before penetrating the stratosphere)]
"Young Master."
Alfred appeared silently in the shadows of the spiral staircase, holding a cup of black coffee that had long since gone cold.
The old butler's bow tie was still neatly tied, but his right hand, holding the silver tray, trembled slightly beneath.
"Just now, the Pentagon announced that the United States will enter a state of maximum readiness."
The Joint Chiefs of Staff drafted an 'informal handover plan'... They are mobilizing the Internal Troops Armored Brigade."