Chapter 4304

Clark was completely bewildered. The facts he knew were not enough for him to understand what Bruce was talking about. He only vaguely understood that something was fake. And this thing had fooled them all.

He was really too embarrassed to ask Bruce again. Fortunately, as a reporter, his reading ability was still decent. He started to carefully read what was displayed on Bruce's screen. In general, it was all introductions to Egyptian artifacts, which were a bit of a headache to read.

Clark read there for a long time without getting to the point. Based solely on these introductions, he couldn't see what Bruce had just mentioned. However, when he saw the picture of the three-dimensional sculpture mural, he suddenly slapped his forehead.

The largest snake painted on it wasn't anything special; it looked like something that would appear in ancient Egyptian murals. But the problem was, in the background of the snake's tail, there was a spaceship pattern exactly the same as the deep-sea squid-type spaceship he had blown up.

"How is this possible?!" Clark felt shocked. "How could there be a Kryptonian spaceship on an ancient Egyptian mural?! Could it be that someone had already visited Earth back then???"

Bruce, who was organizing his equipment on the side, sighed again.

Clark finally reacted and said, "That's not right either. How could a Kryptonian spaceship from thousands of years ago look exactly the same as today's small frigate? Cars from hundreds of years ago are different from the ones now..."

"If this mural is fake, then why did he paint this alien spaceship on it? And what does this have to do with Diana Prince and Lex Luthor?"

Clark was truly confused. He finally couldn't help it and turned to look at Bruce, finding him focused on adjusting his equipment. He hesitated for a moment, then walked over and stared at Bruce without saying a word.

"Do you remember what Luthor used to hurt you at the time?" Bruce looked up and asked him.

"A green gemstone," Clark said quite certainly. "He first used that thing to smash my back, knocking me to the ground, and then smashed my forehead and chest. The thing wasn't hard; it shattered as soon as it touched me. My wounds were full of gemstone fragments. The doctor said this thing entered my blood circulation, which is why it caused my weakness."

"Which doctor?"

"Uh..."

Clark only then realized that the one who treated him at the time was Schiller. It was mainly because he was lying in the operating room, and Schiller was wearing full gear and looked very professional, so he completely forgot that Schiller didn't seem to be a doctor.

"So, he did all of this?!"

Bruce nodded and said, "He forged a sculpture mural called 'The Serpent of Frigne,' wrote a Wikipedia page, and interfered with Google search results. Then he took this mural to Lex Luthor and lied, saying he wanted to sell it."

"And Luthor didn't suspect anything?"

"That's why I said he's an illiterate fool. However, Schiller's move can be considered clever. Because there are too many Egyptian artifacts and they are so old, it has always been a disaster area where the real and the fake are mixed. As far as I know, even among the collections in the British Museum, there are a few pieces that are not real ancient Egyptian artifacts, but rather imitations and fabrications by later generations."

"If you aren't an expert specializing in ancient Egyptian culture, it's hard to distinguish the authenticity of such artifacts. Moreover, some imitations are also very old and can be called half-real and half-fake. Even real experts wouldn't dare say they wouldn't make a mistake."

"Schiller used exactly this point to fabricate such a non-existent artifact. Lex Luthor isn't a professional, and he has never had a hobby of collecting ancient artifacts. The channels he could use to obtain information about ancient Egyptian artifacts were very limited, and he couldn't find any experts in a short time, so of course, he could only rely on search engines."

"I still don't understand," Clark said. "Since he doesn't have a hobby of collecting artifacts, shouldn't he have just blown the scammer out the door when he approached him?"

"That's the problem. You just blew up a spaceship over Metropolis. Immediately after, this spaceship appeared on an ancient Egyptian artifact that supposedly dates back thousands of years. What would you think?"

Clark suddenly realized and said, "So Luthor was interested in him not because it was an artifact, but because a pattern similar to that spaceship appeared on the artifact."

"Exactly, this is the trap Schiller wove. What really attracted Luthor wasn't the value of the artifact, but the information contained within the artifact itself. If I'm not mistaken, he used a hunger marketing tactic. He would tell Luthor that if he didn't take it, he would give it to someone else. Luthor could tolerate not having it, but he could never tolerate it falling into someone else's hands. Especially... falling into my hands."

"I see. Then why did he do this? I mean, why did he create an artifact to scam people?"

"Actually, the information of the artifact itself isn't the key. The key is that gemstone. Once Luthor discovered that information related to aliens appeared on this artifact, he would inevitably speculate whether the gemstone embedded on it had any special power. He would definitely find a way to get his hands on the gemstone and then study it."

"And at this time, you received the news that your mother Martha had been kidnapped, and you went to Luthor to cause trouble in a rage. And Luthor, who had the gemstone, would very likely discover the gemstone's effect on you. Even if he didn't hurt you directly, he would discover that the thing could make you weak."

Clark broke out in a cold sweat because he suddenly remembered that the news of Martha's kidnapping was told to him by Schiller.

He must have calculated the time, and calculated it precisely, so that when he went to cause trouble for Luthor, Luthor would just happen to be studying that gemstone.

He was too angry at the time to notice the effect, but now that he thought about it, he felt a bit uncomfortable when he flew into the office. Lex Luthor is a smart man; even if the two of them hadn't fought, he would definitely have discovered his anomaly and realized that this gemstone could restrain him.

But Clark still didn't understand why Schiller wanted Luthor to realize this. So he asked, "So he went through such a big circle just to let Luthor know my weakness?"

"Exactly. If I'm not mistaken, he might have also woven a similar mythological story, just to make those who know about this think that your kind had visited Earth before, and then they were defeated by this gemstone. This gemstone is the only solution to defeat the aliens."

"Alright. The facts are indeed like this; this thing can indeed cause me harm, and even make me this weak..."

"No, this thing can indeed cause you harm, but the effect isn't as great as you imagine."

"But I am now..."

"Your current state is because Schiller did extra things to you." Bruce pointed to an instrument on the side and told Clark to stand on it. Clark was a bit reluctant, but there was no other way.

It wasn't that he felt this instrument would cause him any harm, but he still didn't want Bruce to see him in his weak state, especially since his wounds hadn't fully healed yet, and his chest must look terrifying.

Clark stood on it, and Bruce operated the machine. But it wasn't an X-ray machine; it was a comprehensive scanning analyzer. After seeing the analysis results, Bruce sighed again.

Clark was panicked by his sighing, stomped his feet twice on the spot, and then said, "Stop sighing, what exactly is wrong with me?"

"The powder of this gemstone did indeed integrate into your body and into your blood circulation. But no matter how capable Luthor is, he couldn't have smashed the gemstone into such fine powder just by smashing it a few times. Someone injected you with a powder solution."

"Damn it, it must have been that Schiller! I said I wasn't that uncomfortable originally, but after coming off the operating table, I felt terrible!"

"This also led to you being captured by the military again. I suspect that when you were unconscious, they also gave you a simple physical examination and noticed your weakness, so they also felt that the gemstone could completely restrain you, and that just smashing it a few times could make you this severely injured."

"God." Clark couldn't help but exclaim, "It's simply a genius conspiracy. The only problem is, why did he do this? What good does this do him?"

"Although some people just want to watch the world burn, and Schiller seems to be that kind of person, I don't think he just wanted to play a prank on Halloween." Bruce shook his head and said, "It's impossible to speculate on his ultimate goal for now, but the things he did are not entirely harmful to us."

"What do you mean?" Clark was a bit confused again.

"Do you think it's a good thing or a bad thing to let Luthor and the military overestimate the damage the gemstone does to you?"

"Uh... I don't know," Clark said.

"I think it's a good thing," Bruce said quite directly. "If the gemstone couldn't completely restrain you, they would definitely think of other ways. However, in the lie Schiller created, the person who mastered the gemstone successfully repelled the aliens who had visited before, and it was indeed proven that this gemstone could cause you great harm, so they only need to rely on the gemstone and don't need to prepare other contingency plans."

"Oh, I see." Clark suddenly realized and said, "Luthor must think that the gemstone alone can kill me, so he won't think of other underhanded tricks."

"Exactly, so this is a good thing for you. Especially since you know about this now."

"Wait," Clark interrupted him again and said, "Is it important whether I know about this or not?"

"Of course. Because you will know that they will use the gemstone to deal with you, and the gemstone is actually not as powerful as they imagine. This is a very important information gap, which can even determine victory or defeat at a critical moment."

"But this is what you told me, not Schiller."

"Yes, but the fact that Martha was to be kidnapped was told to me by Schiller. He knew I would definitely go to save Martha, and you would eventually find me, and then I would tell you the truth, and you would be able to obtain the information gap through me."

"Mommy." Clark could only exclaim, "Are you sure he doesn't want to watch the world burn?"

Bruce shook his head and said, "I'm not sure, but definitely not now."

"But... but..." Clark thought for a long time and came up with another question, "Then how did he know that I would definitely find you? What if I didn't realize that you were the one who took Martha?"

"Someone will help you realize it, won't they?"

The face of that black military officer flashed before Clark's eyes.

"I knew that dream wasn't simple!"