Chapter 4399: Far Star Project (24)

Clark's body reacted faster than his reason; he went up directly to hold Rafanas's corpse, flew to the skylight on the second floor directly, and rushed into the nearest room.

Clark wasn't stupid; he knew he must have been tricked. Rafanas died before his eyes, and there were no bystanders around; it absolutely couldn't be a coincidence. This wouldn't be the end of a conspiracy, but precisely the beginning of a series of conspiracies.

Don't ask him why he knew; asking meant the Pharaoh's curse was taking effect.

According to his original style of doing things, he should believe that things he hadn't done hadn't been done, the truth would eventually come to light, and he would definitely be cleared of his name. So he should stay in place and not move.

However, Clark at this moment was no longer the same as before. He was very clear that the military and politicians who had always been eyeing him were the kind of existence that would stir up trouble even if they were in the wrong, and Lex Luthor, who was always targeting him, wouldn't be a good person either. Every person participating in the banquet today had the good quality of being able to face the sky with a big lie without changing their expression, most skilled at currying favor and being arrogant first then humble later.

These people carefully set up a trap, which meant that no matter whether the truth could be revealed or not, he couldn't escape. He had no choice.

Even if he could find evidence, even if the matter could eventually be investigated clearly, their purpose might not be to send him to jail at all, but just to drag him down so they could do something. Or the process of him finding evidence itself was beneficial to one of their conspiracies; otherwise, eventually revealing the truth would make things even darker.

Anyway, as long as he was calculated by this group of people, every path of survival that looked like it could be walked would be a trap, even including the choice he was making now to hide the corpse.

And the reason Clark still chose to do so was to bet that the person who set up this trap didn't know how strong his super-powers were. Clark had kept a low profile since he was pitted once, rarely showing abilities other than super strength. This might become his trump card for a comeback.

Clark took a deep breath, white mist overflowed from his mouth and nose, and instantly, the temperature in the entire room plummeted. A breath of ice was sprayed onto the corpse; the corpse was completely frozen, frozen through from inside to outside.

Under the extreme low temperature, Clark didn't continue to increase the intensity, but began to inhale gently. What he sprayed out was extreme ice mist, which could lower the temperature of an area to a very low level. But what was truly fatal was the heat absorption he was doing at this moment, which could make the object's temperature infinitely close to absolute zero.

Although it hadn't reached true absolute zero, under this temperature, molecules had already begun to undergo quantum phase transition, that is, at absolute zero or temperatures close to absolute zero, driven by quantum fluctuations, changes in state occurred.

Under the process of quantum fluctuations, a part of Rafanas's body molecules dispersed, transforming from solid to gas, while another part of the particles disappeared in the observable world, transforming into a state that couldn't be observed.

When screams came from the floor below outside the door, Rafanas's corpse had already disappeared into thin air, and the temperature in the room returned to normal, only some water stains condensed due to temperature changes remained on the wall.

Because the time was too urgent, Clark didn't have time to go back to deal with the blood stains on the first-floor floor, but blood alone couldn't prove anything. Without witnesses, it meant no one could prove he had been to the reception area.

As for why he didn't turn around and fly away the first time he discovered the corpse, it was because when he mixed in, someone had seen him, and even the cameras at the door might have filmed him. If everyone was excluded from murder suspicion, and only he was the one who fled, then this shit pot would be on his back.

Clark had always not feared speculating about this group of people with the worst malice. If they were premeditated, they must have prepared evidence for his conviction long ago. If he didn't face them directly but chose to run away, he would be even more unable to clear his name in the future.

Soon, the people below became chaotic; everyone was doubting whose blood this was. They gathered in the center of the banquet hall and then began to check people.

Rafanas's status wasn't high or low, but he counted as half a local snake. Moreover, he came quite early and chatted with many people; now that he disappeared, naturally someone went to look for him. Lex Luthor also appeared; he sent people to search every corner of the first floor, naturally finding nothing, and then began to look for the second floor.

When Clark was discovered, he deliberately pretended to be very shocked. And when he was brought to the first floor, he observed the expressions of everyone carefully, and then reached a conclusion: either this group of people acted too well and didn't show any flaws; or most of them indeed didn't know about this today, because what they showed wasn't expressions like "as expected", they were also very shocked.

"Aren't you going to explain?" Lex looked at Clark and said, "I don't seem to have invited you, right?"

"The banquet indeed didn't invite me." Clark rolled his eyes and said.

A discussion broke out below instantly; everyone was a smart person and could understand the subtext. What did "the banquet didn't invite him" mean? It meant Luthor invited him privately, right?

Lex looked at him with widened eyes. Clark observed his facial expression carefully; this guy didn't look like he was acting either. Could it be that he wasn't the mastermind either?

Thinking of this possibility, Clark said in a low voice: "What evil are you harboring again? Wasn't it you who asked me to wait for you on the second floor?"

Of course, with everyone gathered so close, this lowered voice had no effect. Everyone heard it. Lex's face sank instantly; his eyeballs turned, seemingly thinking of something.

"Where is Rafanas?" he asked Clark.

"Who is Rafanas?" Clark asked. Anyway, his news draft was in his brain and had never been written out; who could say he was here to interview Rafanas? The editor-in-chief wouldn't betray him.

"No, before Rafanas went to the bathroom, I saw someone following behind him." A lady said, "Should be a quite tall man."

Clark's heart sank. Although Rafanas wasn't the focus of the crowd, the banquet hall wasn't big either; the possibility of his action of following him being glimpsed by someone was quite high. Fortunately, he had been guarding the corridor door leading to the bathroom from the banquet hall; when he followed, the banquet hall could only see his back.

Lex looked at Clark suspiciously.

"You know me, I don't kill people." Clark said again.

"That's not necessarily true," Lex said gloomily, "You just did a big one a while ago; who moved the Capitol to Metropolis?"

Clark took a deep breath; he knew this would happen. Before, he had made it clear he didn't like politicians, and could move the entire Capitol over; killing one or two people was also imaginable.

The trouble was that this Rafanas happened to be the Director of the Municipal Administration Bureau, and before, he had written news about the unfavorable municipal management situation in Metropolis, which was easily understood as secret murder of the culprit because he couldn't stand the bad things those politicians did.

"Anyway, it wasn't me who did it," Clark insisted, "Moreover, the corpse wasn't found; how do you know he's dead? Maybe he tripped there and left early."

"You're really illiterate," Lex said, "Blood traces can judge what posture he was in when he landed; it's impossible for him to still be alive."

Clark's heart sank again. This proved that the person who threw the corpse was very professional; not only could he kill Rafanas within such a short time of him going to the banquet hall to observe, but he could also make him fall at a very perfect angle, and the blood traces could just happen to sentence him to death. This could prevent the attention of this group of people from being diverted to other possibilities, thereby focusing on catching the murderer.

"Then why don't you call the police, what are you waiting for?" Clark appeared fearless.

"I'm naturally looking for the corpse," Lex said coldly, "Among everyone present, only you have the ability to hide the corpse so quickly."

"That's not necessarily true; isn't there still a Martian?"

This sentence was like a storm freezing the sea; in an instant, the entire banquet hall was silent. Everyone looked at each other, and the breath of fear began to permeate the crowd.

"Are you saying the one who did it was a Martian?" Someone asked, "Are they hiding among us?"

Clark didn't answer. Lex stared at him tightly. Soon, security personnel came to report: the first, second, and third floors had all been searched, no corpse; even the backyard had been searched several times, the turf had been peeled off to look, still no traces.

Then police and agents entered. They checked very carefully, searching everyone, then checking shoe sizes and footprints and fingerprints. The entire manor was searched inside and out several times, which could be called digging three feet into the ground.

There was no breakthrough in footprints. Don't look at the fact that the reception area where Clark and Rafanas were wasn't crowded when the banquet started, but before the banquet started, many staff must have come and gone to prepare the things needed for the banquet; that place had been walked over several times, and the footprints that could be left on the floor were too messy to extract any useful clues.

The two of them didn't drink water or eat anything while chatting, so naturally there were no cups or food scraps. Although Rafanas was fat, after all, it was winter outside now, the temperature was relatively low, even if there was heating inside the manor, he wouldn't sweat much, so sweat stains were also impossible to verify.

Surveillance cameras existed, one at the front door and one at the back door. The banquet hall and reception area didn't have them. The front door did film Clark mixing in, but he said he had an appointment with Luthor, which could barely count as a reason.

This kind of thing couldn't be verified; Clark said there was, Luthor said there wasn't. Even without text messages or call records to verify, it could be said it was agreed upon before. Without a third party present, it couldn't be said clearly whether there was or wasn't. And judging from the motive, having or not having were both possible. After all, he and Luthor had some grudges before, it was normal to meet and talk, of course it was also normal not to have any contact, and it couldn't be judged.

The police had also determined that except for Clark who mixed in, all attendees had invitations, and within the time limit of the start and end, no one was late or left early.

This made Clark realize that the murderer must be among them. It was possible to be a guest, or a staff member. Because the action speed was too fast, Clark suspected the other party might also be a super-powered individual.

After all, Rafanas fell from the second floor; whether it was doing it on the first floor or the second floor, one always had to drag a living person to the second floor. Either like himself, directly holding the corpse and flying up, which took a few seconds; or taking the east stairs, which was a bit far. Moving around so fast without leaving any traces, the other party definitely had amazing strength.

Who could it be? Clark looked left and right, and suddenly, he saw Schiller talking to Lex Luthor.

Very good, it was definitely him. Clark locked onto the target immediately.

Clark had heard of Schiller's great name in the Battleworld; someone once proposed the famous "Schiller's First Theorem": if there is Schiller's figure within the range of the area where you have an accident, it is 100% related to him, and 90% he is the mastermind. And the definition of this "range" is an entire universe.

Clark walked over rapidly. He wasn't worried about finding the wrong person. Because there was also "Schiller's Second Theorem": even if it was completely unrelated to Schiller by chance, if you blame it on him, he would definitely be able to handle it. ===== CHAPTER 4400 =====