Chapter 1463: “God’s” Departure
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
There would always be people who would risk their lives to watch a show.
In Manhattan, these people filmed Batman charging into the space portal with the nuclear missile.
Most of these were amateur videos taken on smartphones.
A few of them were HD videos by professional cameramen; it was precious footage taken by reporters who had been hiding inside buildings.
These cameramen shot Batman charging into the space portal before it immediately shut behind him.
So, everybody was sure that Batman was gone for good.
He had already followed the nuclear missile to the other side of the space portal, where countless Chitauri troops had been waiting for him.
When Iron Man Tony was interviewed, he directly told the reporter who said that Batman had died to get lost, and insisted that Batman would only be gone for a while.
But almost everybody believed that Batman’s “departure” was real.
The tycoon’s words were more typical of someone unable to bid a close friend farewell.
Most people thought the same. In front of the camera, they also said, “Batman isn’t dead. He just left us.”
On the screen, many people couldn’t help but tear up when they said that. Some covered their mouths and didn’t say anything, and some shook their heads and left.
Everybody in New York had to thank Batman.
Without him, everybody would’ve died at the hands of the Chitauri army or at the hands of the government’s nuclear weapon.
Here, the authorities suffered yet another setback.
While they denied the existence of the nuclear weapon, they couldn’t prove that it had just been a regular weapon which was far from enough to destroy Manhattan, let alone New York.
But nobody believed them.
Thanks to the influence of the media, ordinary people subconsciously thought that nuclear weapons were powerful.
The only two cities that had ever been hit by nuclear weapons were leveled, and that was decades ago. Such weapons were even more lethal now.
So, at least 80% of the world believed that this nuclear weapon could have completely destroyed New York.
If 80% of people acknowledged one thing, even if it was fake, it became real.
The grim problem right now was that the nuclear weapon hadn’t exploded, and Batman, who had taken care of it, was “gone” for good.
The dead always had some privileges.
Batman practically became a god in one night. Nobody dared to make accusations of him for the next few days.
In the face of Batman’s army of hardcore fans, some media and public intellectuals that had taken bribes suffered tremendously when they stepped out at the beginning.
Those who came later tactfully shifted the blame on Batman’s teammates.
The most famous of them all was a TV interview.
It was on the afternoon of the Battle of New York, when a reporter who was clearly on a mission went to the hospital to interview victims.
The first half of the interview was a common scene without any surprises, until the reporter interviewed a middle-aged man outside the operating room.
After saying a few standard words of sympathy, the male reporter asked with a professional expression of grief and sincerity, “Do you think Batman and the others should be held responsible for your injured son? After all, it was their battle that affected the diner and caused your son to be seriously injured.”
The interviewee was a middle-aged Caucasian father.
His longish hair was a mess, and you could even see the dust and bits of cement in it. It looked like it had just been patted clean as much as possible, and hadn’t been washed at all.
His clothes and shoes also made him look like he had come from a construction site. Only his face looked like it had been washed, and one could see the nervousness and anxiety on it.
He had answered all the questions before this half-heartedly.
The moment he heard this last question, however, he immediately turned around and glared at the reporter with bloodshot eyes.
Not getting an immediate response, the reporter said, “Mr. Bernard, you…”
“F*ck you!” Bernard, the middle-aged interviewee, suddenly roared and punched the reporter in the face.
Thanks to the HD camera, viewers with good eyesight saw the reporter’s face twist out of shape, and two white things even flew out of his open mouth.
Then, the reporter collapsed in the corridor outside the operating room.
The cameraman didn’t stop him from falling. Instead, he silently took two steps back and continued filming with a steady hand.
If his partner woke up, he would definitely want more news material, and wouldn’t want his help.
This was the “professionalism” that his partner had always emphasized, and the cameraman finally demonstrated it perfectly.
Bernard didn’t do anything else. He simply spat at the reporter who had passed out on the floor. “Filthy maggot, you instantly crawled out of your dung pit after the disaster to make people sick. Where were you when those monsters killed my colleagues? Where were you when they surrounded the diner?
“When I prayed to God to protect my daughter, it was Batman who appeared and killed those monsters!” The man was breathing hard and his face was red as he straightened his back. “My son hit his head when he was avoiding the monsters. I was the one who didn’t take good enough care of him. If Batman and the others hadn’t defeated the monsters, I wouldn’t even have the chance to send him to the hospital!”
At that moment, a look of disgust and disdain appeared on Bernard’s face. “You’re nothing compared with Batman and the others. You’re just trash, you son of a b*tch!”
Two officers who had been about to come over heard Bernard’s bellow, and silently turned around to maintain order.
Batman had helped all New Yorkers, not just Bernard and his son, but also NYPD officers.
Not that many people in NYPD had died this time, mostly because the police department had carried out all sorts of safety training after the attack by the test subjects.
The training clearly laid out the duties of ordinary patrol officers and police detectives.
If they encountered enemies which they had no way of fending off, like the test subjects and the Chitauri, they didn’t need to fight. They just needed to maintain order and help more people hide.
This was based on a review of the battle between Batman and the test subjects. As a result, the number of casualties, among both civilians and police officers, was significantly lower in the battle this time.
Help that malicious reporter? Sorry, they hadn’t seen any reporters.
This interview quickly went viral.
The TV stations actually didn’t care about the reporter at all. What they needed now was news.
This time, the five major TV networks didn’t receive any hints from the authorities. They only received private requests.
But these people were either at the center of a storm of public opinion or were just passers-by; they weren’t worth the five major TV networks putting out any effort.
Besides, even if they did so, it would be hard to make people believe them.
As top-notch experts at manipulating public opinion, the TV network bigshots all knew that Batman was now a sore point, and whoever touched him would be unlucky.
There was no way a living person could argue with a dead person.
In particular, this dead man had just saved millions of New Yorkers, and had inevitably become a “god” in their hearts.