Lex Luthor was gambling.
Even though he had already extricated himself, even though he had secretly transferred most of his assets, and even though he had prepared a fallback plan.
If his scheme failed, even with a backup plan in place, he would still face considerable losses.
But if he won, he would gain everything he desired, and the government and military would have no choice but to hold their noses and continue to cooperate with him.
This was also why those in power hadn't immediately moved against Lex Luthor.
Of course, it would be ideal to directly control Lex Luthor and that biological weapon, but Lex Luthor had already escaped, so they could only wait and see for now.
"Will this affect our auto company?"
Qingshui was talking to Victor on the phone, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear, while simultaneously testing data for White Knight Model Two. He also managed to spare some attention to watch the hanging TV on the wall.
Since he could control three Puppets at once, he naturally had the ability to multitask.
Qingshui even felt that he was not far from being able to control four Puppets simultaneously.
"I think there will be some impact, even if it hasn't shown yet."
Victor stood outside his office, looking at the employees whispering to each other at their workstations, his expression grave.
Qingshui and Lex Luthor were TSL's most important financiers. Now that Lex Luthor was missing, although LexCorp had not yet been seized by the government, there was widespread panic internally, which even affected TSL.
"What do you want to do? Move the company back to Gotham? Here in Gotham, apart from the slightly poor environment and security, everything else is pretty good. With our strength in Gotham, even if some people want to take advantage, they won't be able to stir up trouble."
Victor was silent for a few seconds.
After living comfortably in Metropolis for so long, he now realized the difference between Gotham and the outside world.
But Qingshui indeed had significant influence in Gotham, currently perhaps second only to Wayne Enterprises. If anything truly happened, they would actually be safest in the dangerous city of Gotham.
Wayne Enterprises had taken generations to integrate itself into every aspect of life in Gotham, from food and clothing to housing and transportation. Gotham couldn't do without Wayne, and Wayne couldn't do without Gotham.
At the very least, Hogg United's armed forces and its peripheral factions, along with a certain number of secondary Titan Enhanced Humans and the Human Puppet Solomon Grundy, who possessed considerable combat power, constituted an extremely formidable force.
Unless large-scale military forces equipped with unconventional thermal weapons entered Gotham for urban warfare and imposed a comprehensive economic blockade on Gotham, or a formidable individual like Superman was brought in, it would be impossible to eliminate them.
And after all that, there was still a BOSS-level Qingshui waiting.
Two or three years had been enough for Qingshui to forge a force that no one could ignore.
"From a safety perspective, it's suitable. However, from a business development perspective, Gotham is no longer suitable for the development of high-tech enterprises. I have two other compromise suggestions."
"Tell me."
Qingshui put down his tools, picked up his phone, and watched the TV screen where several experts in biology, military, and social fields were explaining to the host whether the experiments conducted by Superman and the military would pose a threat to human society.
He didn't know that all these people had been paid.
One of Lex Luthor's goals was to stir up public opinion and plant a seed in everyone's hearts.
And the moment the Doomsday he created erupted, even if the truth was revealed, people would doubt Superman and fear Superman, regardless of the outcome.
Because Lex Luthor had proven how much danger the existence of a Kryptonian could potentially bring.
As long as it was a Kryptonian, it could potentially threaten Earth.
As long as Superman was a Kryptonian, as long as he was still on Earth, he would always face this questioning, this distrust.
Not only outsiders would doubt him, but his companions would too.
If he didn't possess a character as perfect as a saint, unswervingly devoted, no one could endure such an environment.
Clearly, Lex Luthor believed that since Superman grew up on Earth, he would possess human weaknesses in terms of personality.
"Including Gotham, there are three options. Another is to move the company to Central City, which is a new first-tier city with the highest concentration of high-tech enterprises, and it's best for the company's development. Plus, there's the Flash's team, and we know Barry and them.
Next is Blüdhaven. I know there are a lot of crime problems there too, but it can't compare to Gotham, and the city isn't as large. But with our capabilities, it would be much easier to stabilize things there than in Gotham.
Gotham is our hometown. Although it's not suitable for our company's development, there are still other ways to complement it. We could set up the research and development center in Blüdhaven, so we can access resources from both Gotham and Metropolis.
At the same time, we could relocate factories and downstream businesses to Gotham, providing more jobs for Gotham. If we can develop the group into a world-class enterprise, it's entirely possible to drive the development of an entire city."
Blüdhaven was a satellite city of Gotham.
After Nightwing became independent, he mostly resided in this city.
Affected by Gotham, crime was also a significant problem there, but compared to Gotham, the local customs were still slightly more unsophisticated; at least there weren't as many powerful, ruthless villains.
Given Hogg United's scale, it could quickly clear out and integrate the local criminal organizations, and Gotham's local political influence could also relatively easily extend there.
However, the initial phase would definitely be slower this way, as urban construction and related developments would take time, and many things wouldn't be as convenient as in Metropolis and Central City.
But since Victor brought it up, it indicated that emotionally, he leaned towards the latter approach.
From a business perspective, however, Central City was the better choice.
But that was only considering the energy Qingshui himself possessed.
"Let's choose Blüdhaven. You can help me draft a proposal later, then contact Wayne Enterprises. I think they'll agree to help push this forward."
Due to historical factors, Gotham's problems were deeply entrenched and difficult to resolve. It would be extremely challenging to achieve urban transformation in just a few years, or even a decade or more.
However, starting with Blüdhaven, Gotham's satellite city, was also an indirect way to save the city.
Once businesses were established, they would drive the development of related industries, becoming a strong economic powerhouse and providing many jobs for Gotham.
After hanging up the phone, the interview program on TV was interrupted, and a military press conference began to be broadcast.
It was uninformative; the military's rhetoric was merely an attempt to distance themselves as much as possible.
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