Chapter 4306

When Clark flew to the balcony of Lois's house, he found her sitting on the sofa watching TV. Clark was stunned; he even suspiciously looked left and right, but didn't find anyone else.

"Lois," he called out softly, as if afraid that the figure in front of him was an illusion.

"Oh, God, you're here!" Lois threw down the remote control and walked to the window in big strides.

Clark, who walked in, hugged her and said, "Are you okay? You..."

"Shh..." Lois made a gesture, then pointed outside the door, signaling that someone was listening.

Clark immediately covered his mouth, but soon lowered his voice and said, "How did you..."

"They did take me away, but I convinced their leader to change the solitary confinement to house arrest."

Clark felt anger again, but now his emotional self-control was much better. He took a deep breath, barely suppressed the rage, and then said with some self-blame, "Sorry, it's all because of me..."

"Then you think too highly of yourself," Lois smiled and said, "Even without you, they might have come for me."

"... Why?" Clark was a bit puzzled. He thought Lois was completely implicated by him, and the military wanted to be like Luthor, threatening him by kidnapping people important to him.

Lois shook her head and didn't speak, just led him to the computer and pointed to the computer screen.

Clark walked over, sat on the sofa, and looked at the article displayed on the screen. He was shocked just by seeing the title.

"The Fall of Ancient Egyptian Civilization Is Actually Related to Aliens? Is the Third Kind of Contact a Blessing or a Curse?"

Clark had a disease where his head hurt whenever he saw "Ancient Egyptian Civilization." He really didn't know how Lois also got involved in ancient Egyptian civilization. Could there really be some Pharaoh's curse?

Clark expressed his doubts, and Lois reached out and patted his face, then said, "Clark, how did you decide to be a reporter in the first place? Didn't you realize you weren't suitable for this line of work at all?"

"That's a long story," Clark said, looking at the sky. "It might have to start from a year when our family's winter barley didn't sell well. Let's not talk about this; you tell me, what exactly is going on."

"Someone sent me an email," Lois said. "I often receive such exposure emails, always about which company refuses insurance, which case has problems in the trial, or which big shot is meeting a female companion at night. They all want me to help them seek justice, but most of them have other motives."

"So it's the same this time?"

"Of course. However, this time the news can really help us." Lois opened her mailbox and showed Clark the email she received. She said, "The sender claims to be a collector. He said that a collection of his called 'The Serpent of Frigne' was stolen and replaced by the British royal family from the British Museum. This is the detailed information about this mural, as well as the legends about this mural... Look at this, doesn't this pattern look a bit like the spaceship that appeared over Metropolis that day?"

Clark finally understood that people really laugh when they are speechless. He didn't even know where to start explaining to Lois, and he even started to suspect whether Bruce had guessed wrong, whether there really was such an artifact in the world, or whether he had entered some kind of terrifying time loop. Why was everyone saying the same sentence and repeating the same story?

"This is fake," Clark said. "This thing is forged; there is no such artifact."

Who knew, Lois was even more surprising: "All artifacts are forged, and history is also forged."

Clark was truly shocked. He didn't expect Lois to say such things. The expression on his face was already visibly distorted.

"Don't look at me like that; I'm not a pseudo-historian. I'm just saying that whether it's artifacts or history, they are composed of multiple parts. The real part of them doesn't account for as much as you imagine. Their existence is real, but the interpretation and speculation of later generations, which account for a larger proportion, are not all true."

"To be precise, there is no true or false to this thing. If a person thinks an artifact is used for this, then whether it was used for this in the past or not, this speculation itself will constitute a part of it. Why people have this inference, what the source is, and what the basis is, is sometimes more important than whether this artifact is really used for this. Or rather, the significance of the existence of some artifacts lies in this."

"We need archaeologists, we need historians, we need to explore our past and find where we came from. This act itself is more important than the past and origin we truly find. Historical research is one of the few behaviors that can truly be called the process being greater than the result, do you understand?"

Clark shook his head; he didn't understand at all. Lois's words, besides making him feel that humans were too complex, didn't play any explanatory role.

"Alright, let's not talk about this," Lois continued. "Regarding your question that this artifact is fake, or that this whole email is fake, what I want to say is: true or false is not important; what is important is the process of exploring true or false."

"Indeed, maybe after checking, this artifact doesn't exist, but in order to check whether this artifact really exists, how many things do you have to check? You have to check historical data, right? You have to check contemporary artifacts, right? You have to check the artifact exchange records of the British Museum, right? Which of these can stand up to investigation?"

Clark suddenly realized and said, "That's right, if you want to prove it's fake, you have to have evidence, but evidence needs to be investigated. The British Museum..."

Clark stopped mid-sentence. He wasn't an expert in this area, nor had he done similar reports, but even theft incidents with news records were endless, let alone behind the scenes.

Clark really started to suspect whether "The Serpent of Frigne" really existed, and it was just because it involved a scandal that it was fictionalized as non-existent. He didn't distrust Bruce; he just didn't trust the British Museum.

If all this was really a conspiracy woven by Schiller, then who said there was no perfect crime in the world? The "good reputation" of the British Museum meant that even if he went out now to say that this matter was fake, Luthor and the military might not believe it, and would only think it was a covered-up scandal, which was simply seamless.

Clark also figured it out; the beauty of this scam was that you couldn't really check it. What if you found something?

The British Museum would absolutely not show any artifact exchange records, and he absolutely couldn't come out to clarify the authenticity of the artifact. If this opening was made, it would be completely over; there wouldn't be a single treasure in the entire British Museum, and maybe the entire island of Great Britain would be fake.

"So..." Clark looked at Lois.

"We are going to expose this scandal," Lois smiled at the computer screen and said, "The information provided to me by this mysterious sender is enough to splash dirty water on the royal family. Do you think, how will the royal family get rid of the scandal of stealing and replacing artifacts?"

Clark frowned. Still the same sentence, it is unrealistic to ask the British Museum to provide evidence, even the royal family can't do it, this is shaking the foundation of the country. Then what should be done?

"The best way is to exhibit 'The Serpent of Frigne'," Lois said.

"Ah?" Clark looked at her and said, "But this thing is fake, it doesn't exist..."

"Regardless of whether it's true or false, as long as they can take out a complete one, they can wash away the scandal, right?"

Clark now had only one feeling: this world had become a way he couldn't imagine.

"In order to clarify the rumors, the royal family will definitely get a 'Serpent of Frigne,' put it into the British Museum, and open a public exhibition, letting everyone see this artifact, and they have to invite many media reporters to shoot, so that the whole world knows they didn't do this kind of thing."

"That can be considered a way," Clark said.

"It's the only way," Lois emphasized. She looked at the article on her screen again and said: "Once it is publicly exhibited, someone will inevitably recognize that the pattern on it is exactly the same as the alien spaceship that appeared over Metropolis circulating on the internet. And as long as this mythological story is spread again, they will understand that the ancient Egyptians had already defeated the aliens thousands of years ago."

"So what is the significance of this?" Clark really felt that he was an idiot; it seemed that humans having super-brains was not an isolated case.

"First of all, ancient Egypt is a civilization from thousands of years ago, and they could defeat aliens, so why can't modern people? This can well reduce people's fear. But this is not the key."

"The key lies in how the ancient Egyptians defeated the aliens. The mythological story says that Tutankhamun nailed a green gemstone to the snake's tail, which means the green gemstone is the key weapon."

Clark felt that things had returned to the starting point.

Lois didn't keep him in suspense either, and continued: "People will think that whoever masters the green gemstone can defeat the aliens and save the Earth. Or rather, whoever has the green gemstone must go to defeat the aliens and save the Earth; this is their responsibility."

Lois looked at Clark and said: "And the military hates being responsible the most."

Clark finally understood and said: "That is to say, the military cannot use the green gemstone to deal with me in advance, otherwise it will expose that the key weapon to defeat the aliens is in their hands."

"Exactly. Once it is discovered that they have such ability but didn't heroically attack, they will be seen as irresponsible. The will of the people is secondary; other governments, and even other forces in the Federation, will also exert pressure on them."

Lois sighed and said: "They definitely want to master the key weapon in their own hands, but the key weapon is used for negotiation, not for fighting. The green gemstone held by the military is not used to deter aliens, but to deter humans, using the fact that only they can deal with aliens to get benefits from their own kind is the most profitable. If they really fight, they will definitely be the first to run."

"If this is the case, then exposure seems to have no significance. After all, they just don't go, what can others do to them? Even if they have to attack under pressure, they can just go through the motions, right?"

"Exposing it among humans indeed has no mandatory force, but what if the aliens also know about it?"

Clark widened his eyes.

Lois smiled at him and said: "Dear alien, if your own kind knew that the military mastered a weapon that could seriously hurt them, and in ancient times, this weapon had repelled them; in modern times, this weapon almost killed you, what would they do?"

"Wait a minute, how would they believe that ancient Egypt had already..." Clark slapped his forehead again and said, "So going through such a big circle is actually to make that group of Kryptonians believe this legend?"

Lois nodded and said: "Yes, after all, you appearing here proves that they have already visited this planet. Once is coming, twice is also coming, maybe they visited thousands of years ago?"

Clark finally understood that the principle of this whole trap was the same as his previous experience—once the people on that spaceship realized that humans really had something that could hurt and kill them, they would start to feel helpless, helplessness would breed anger, and anger would destroy everything.

?? Some people say that the Robin who died in BvS was Dick, but this is Snyder's response outside the play. He replied to fans that the dead Robin was "Richard." The movie didn't name him, just gave a shot of the suit.

? But actually, Warner Bros. launched the live-action "Nightwing" movie in 2017, which belongs to the same DCEU world view as BvS. It was originally a second-stage shooting plan, but it was dragged for too long and hasn't been released yet. That is to say, in Warner Bros.' official setting, Nightwing didn't die, that should be Snyder's private setting. (The live-action "Nightwing" hasn't been abandoned. The latest trend is that the screenwriter was determined around 2023, and the official said it would be released in 2027, but I think it's unlikely.)

? As for the remaining two, I tend to think that the one who died was the youngest, Damian, because the Ben-Batman setting is closer to TDKR, the age is relatively large, and "Suicide Squad" said Robin died ten years ago, maybe Ben-Batman is around 40, and that suit looks like a child's. Judging from the age, it looks more like Damian.

? (In addition, to the fan who raised this doubt, I'm sorry, I wanted to reply, but accidentally deleted the comment QAQ)