Chapter 4293

"Hello, Mr. Luthor. Very glad to see you; we've cooperated before, so there's no need to beat around the bush."

A woman sat on the sofa in the office. She tidied her hair and then said, "The main purpose of my coming today is actually to ask if there are any jobs we can do recently. You know, the market is getting worse and worse, and my friends and I can barely afford to eat. If you can introduce a few good jobs, we can do a favor for you for free."

"Mr. Luthor... Mr. Luthor?!"

Lex Luthor woke up with a start. He realized how gloomy his expression was at this moment. Looking at the heavily made-up woman opposite, he took a deep breath and said, "I have no business to introduce to you."

The woman sighed with slight regret, but in reality, she was just carefully observing Lex Luthor's expression. Finding that he didn't seem to have any abnormalities, she knew that the intrusion operation last night hadn't left him with any leverage.

It was just a pity that he had discovered it too quickly, and she hadn't had time to confirm whether he had really obtained the snake tail. Perhaps it wasn't too late now?

She could tell that Lex Luthor was distracted; although she didn't know what had stimulated him, this would be a good opportunity to strike. The woman's eyes rolled, and she said, "It seems I was too abrupt, but as a broker, I have to take the initiative, or those good jobs will fall into others' hands. I hope you don't mind my presumption; if there are any suitable jobs, please be sure to contact me immediately."

Having said that, she stood up, walked to the desk, took out a bottle of red wine, placed it on the desk, and said, "A small token, not much of a gift, I hope we have opportunities for cooperation in the future."

After saying this, the woman left. She walked out of the office, arrived in front of the elevator, and her fingers tapped a few words on her phone in her bag: "Success."

As soon as the elevator door opened, the woman froze; she saw a familiar face, and as she expected, beneath the high brow ridge was a pair of gray eyes. What a desolate gray it was; unfortunately, the reflection of the lenses covered most of it, making these eyes lose much of their color.

Judging from the other party's expression, he didn't recognize her, which was really good news. But this guy said he was going to Gotham, so why did he end up coming to Luthor's place?

The other party nodded to her very gentlemanly and walked out of the elevator, and the woman watched his back the whole way, feeling more and more that her decision to leave the bug was correct.

What she didn't know was that after leaving the elevator, Schiller's mouth curled up slightly. He glanced at the surveillance camera and then walked into Lex Luthor's office.

"Hello, Mr. Luthor, I'm here to explain the situation regarding the snake tail. Mr. Luthor... Mr. Luthor???"

Lex Luthor came to his senses again. He took a deep breath, cleared the thoughts swirling in his mind, and said, "You really have caused me a big trouble. Do you know that on the first day this gem arrived here, two groups of people invaded my building and manor separately?"

Schiller revealed a smile and said, "This just proves its preciousness."

"I can't be sure if the preciousness you speak of refers to its monetary value." Lex spun the pen in his hand; his speech was fast, appearing somewhat obsessive, and he liked using complex vocabulary. "Don't give me any bullshit about historical and cultural value; I'm not interested in how many thousands of years it was buried in the sands of Egypt. Now tell me, what did those two groups of mysterious people, whom even I couldn't catch, see in it? Why are they so concerned about this gem?"

"That is precisely its charm, Mr. Luthor. I am just a merchant and collector; to crack the secrets of certain things, one needs a clever scientist like you, don't you think?"

"You must know something. I've read all the hundred-plus emails you sent me; you've looked for professional appraisal agencies and even tested its radiation. If you thought it was just an ordinary gem, you wouldn't need to waste such time; after all, you said it yourself, you're just a merchant."

"Alright, I couldn't hide it from you after all." Schiller sighed and said, "I didn't explain it immediately just because if you hadn't realized the importance of this gem, you would definitely have scoffed at what I said. After all, I don't have any evidence; if I had rashly come here and told a bunch of myths, you would only have thought I was high."

"Let's hear it." Lex tilted his head slightly, his tone showing some curiosity, but not much; it was more like he wanted to find something to distract himself.

"How much do you know about ancient Egyptian civilization?"

"That depends on how much you need me to know," Lex extended a finger and shook it, saying, "I can query and memorize everything related to ancient Egyptian civilization at a speed you can't imagine."

"No need for that much trouble. What I want to talk about isn't something from the academic field, but the kind of hearsay passed down by word of mouth. You should know something about Egyptian murals, right?"

"Of course, I know. They would paint some major events in murals, some of their local human customs and habits," Lex raised his hand and said, "They could only do that back then."

"Correct. And the 'Serpent of Frine' is a myth passed down locally. Legend has it that during the reign of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt, a large red and blue snake descended from the sky, devouring the people of Egypt, destroying buildings, and cracking the earth. Everyone was crying and fleeing, running toward the Pharaoh's throne to beg for his help."

"The ten-year-old Pharaoh stabbed the giant snake with his sword, but it had no effect. Afterward, he remembered that the power of the Sun God flowed in his blood, so he smeared his own blood on the scepter and stabbed it at the giant snake, but he missed. The scepter pierced the tail of the giant snake, but for some reason, this caused the giant snake to suddenly become weak, allowing the Pharaoh to cut off its head with his sword. And when he pulled out the scepter, he found that a green gem embedded in the scepter was stuck firmly in the snake's body."

"To celebrate this great victory, people painted a giant carved mural about three meters wide, showing the heroic posture of the Pharaoh fighting the giant snake. At the same time, they embedded the green gem left in the snake's body into the mural. They believed that this way, they could trap the soul of the giant snake, letting it never cause trouble again."

"Many years later, people opened the tomb and discovered this amazing masterpiece. After the 'Serpent of Frine' was collected by the British Museum, it was almost never exhibited. The last time was at a royal charity banquet held in the middle of the last century, where someone used a clever scam to swap the snake tail, which eventually, after several turns, came into my hands."

"Nice story," Lex Luthor said, "but what does this prove?"

"Many myths have similar tropes, intended to highlight the bravery of a certain monarch. However, this story is different. Because, behind the giant mural of the 'Serpent of Frine'—that majestic and eye-catching three-dimensional snake body—hides something like this."

Schiller took a photo out of his bag; Luthor took it, and the moment he saw the pattern, his pupils shrank.

It was a squid. To be precise, it was an unidentified flying object that looked like a squid.

"Ancient Egypt was a desert civilization; they had no sea, and they had never seen the sea. Even if some of them could walk out of the desert and come to maritime countries, the fishing technology at that time was absolutely insufficient to catch such deep-sea squid. This is a kind of mimetic artistic treatment; they saw something and drew it, it's just that the appearance of this thing happened to look like a squid in the sea."

Lex Luthor started to zone out again. He seemed to have thought of something and connected everything together. He grabbed the photo fiercely, almost crumpling it into a ball.

Then his hand gradually relaxed, as if he had made some decision. He pursed his lips, tapped the table lightly, and said, "I want to see the full picture of this thing."

"Sure. But regarding the price..."

Lex looked at the man opposite; he was squinting, looking exactly like a fox. He knew the other party was waiting for this moment; for some reason, he felt he had become a fish hooked on a line, and everything that followed was beyond his control.

"How much do you want?"

"One billion dollars."

Schiller took a business card out of his pocket and said, "To better show it to you, I need some time to prepare, and I think you do too. Two o'clock this afternoon, I await your arrival."

Lex sat in his seat, watching his departing back, his fingers tapping lightly on the table, then he picked up the phone on the side: "I need you to do something for me, as soon as possible."

The woman put down her phone and said to the hooded man beside her: "Sure enough, that guy is greedy, and he angered Luthor. Rather than paying, he wants his life more."

"What do you plan to do?" The hooded man took off his monitoring headset and asked.

"This liar actually dared to use me to provoke Luthor; we should collect some interest. Catch him, ask where the collection is, I want both the items and the money."

Diana was sitting in the office of the Metropolis Museum, looking up information on the computer. The information appearing on the computer screen was all about the Luthor Group. However, a news pop-up that accidentally slid past caught her attention:

"Superman arrested! Superhero, or supervillain?"

Diana pursed her lips helplessly. The writing level of this news editor wasn't even as good as the Daily Planet. Was Superman arrested? Didn't he board the prisoner transport himself? Besides, if he hadn't torn apart the alien spaceship, Metropolis wouldn't know how many people would have died. You say he's a hero or a villain?

Ever since Superman appeared, Diana's impression of him had been good, so she felt somewhat indignant. But she really couldn't do anything, and could only close the computer somewhat powerlessly, taking a big gulp of coffee.

At this moment, she saw that at the office door, employees were moving a large table; they couldn't move it in turning left, and couldn't move it in turning right, and finally could only find a way to dismantle the table legs and move it in sideways.

Diana seemed to have suddenly thought of something. She opened the webpage she had just browsed, and finally her gaze stopped on the dimensions of the "Serpent of Frine." This thing was three meters wide; even if only the snake tail remained, it had to be over a meter wide, and furthermore, it was made of extremely thick stone walls; this thing was absolutely ridiculously heavy and couldn't be moved easily.

If someone wanted to transfer stolen goods because they were scared, they couldn't just put this thing in their pocket and walk away, but had to find people to move it, needing at least three or four people, and professional transport tools. Such movement couldn't be hidden from her.

Perhaps it was a good thing she was discovered yesterday, Diana thought. If the other party realized that what she was looking for was the snake tail, or that the commotion she caused was big enough to make him feel that keeping the snake tail in the vault wasn't safe, then he would definitely find a way to transfer it. Transferring such a large item couldn't be without flaws.

Diana knew she didn't need to snatch the item back; as long as she confirmed that this item was really in the other party's hands, that was leverage, because this was stolen property. How to get the item back was the royal family's business; her mission would be completed.

So how to cause a big commotion? Diana turned her head to stare out the window, the scene of Superman punching the alien spaceship to pieces flashing in her mind. She couldn't help but flex her wrists and whispered, "Sorry, Lex Luthor."