Chapter 4413: Prelude to Darkness (Part 5)

"Hello. I'm looking for Dr. Silas Stone. I'm his son."

Victor stood at the entrance of the NASA Metropolitan Aerospace Research Center. The guard glanced at him and said, "Dr. Stone? He took leave today. Didn't he go home?"

Victor was slightly stunned. Could it be that his father had just returned home and they had missed each other? So he asked, "When did he leave?"

"He requested leave last night. He probably left this morning."

Victor frowned. If his father had left in the morning, then when he himself had returned, he hadn't left the house yet; he shouldn't have missed him.

Moreover, the fact that he would take leave was in itself very abnormal. Victor had long known his father was a workaholic. Not to mention his important competitions, even on holidays like Christmas when the whole family gathered, he rarely came home. Now, with no holiday or festival, why would he take leave?

Victor wanted to ask more, but he had very little trust in government departments like the Aerospace Agency. He was worried that asking too much would alert them and delay his father's affairs. So he waved his hand and said, "I came from Gotham. I don't know if he went home or not. I'll go back and check."

After saying this, he left, found a place with no one around, and flew into the sky. He soon returned home. He carefully checked the entrance and found no signs of it having been touched. After entering the house, he connected to the cameras; his father indeed hadn't returned.

Thus, Victor hacked into the cameras of the research center and its surroundings. He discovered that his father had indeed left by car, but it was clearly not in the direction of home. What had he gone to do?

If it were a work matter, there would be no need to take leave. Since he had taken leave, it must be a private matter. However, his father basically had no friends, and because he had been pestered endlessly by the military before, he didn't like socializing with others. He himself hadn't encountered any trouble recently either. This sudden trip of his was truly very strange.

Victor thought for a moment, and following the direction his father had disappeared in, he pulled up the surveillance footage all the way. The car drove to the suburbs of Metropolis, where there were few cameras. Victor had no choice but to hack into dashcams along the way. But as the route became increasingly remote, there were few cars, making it impossible to lock onto his exact path. But soon, Victor discovered that his father had deliberately taken this route, seemingly worried about someone tracking him.

As his father's car disappeared from the view of the last dashcam, Victor completely lost his father's trail. He began to feel somewhat anxious. Even though there was only his father in the car, what if someone was coercing him remotely?

Victor thought for a moment, then took out his phone and called Bruce, saying, "Bruce, my father is missing. I intended to go to the research center to ask him about the Mother Box, but I found he had taken leave..."

Victor told Bruce about his findings. Bruce said, "Don't be anxious. Since you didn't find any call records, the possibility of him being coerced is very small. I think it's more likely that he had something urgent to attend to. However, your worry is also reasonable. I'll help you look."

Victor waited anxiously at home for a while, but he really couldn't wait any longer, so he flew to Wayne Manor. After arriving at the Batcave, Bruce was checking the surveillance footage.

Clearly, the surveillance network Bruce possessed was much denser and more high-end than civilian ones. He had captured glimpses of Victor's father in other locations.

Connecting these points, a winding line appeared on the entire map. These lines didn't head straight for a destination but twisted and turned, yet overall, they had a pointing direction.

"This way... where is this?" Bruce asked, pointing in that direction.

Victor was already stunned in front of the screen. Many images flashed through his mind, but in the end, he said, "... my mother's grave."

On the way to the cemetery, Victor seemed somewhat silent. But after a long while, he took the initiative to open the conversation and said, "On the day of my mother's death anniversary, he couldn't come back. But I know Mom wouldn't blame him. He always persuaded me, saying Dad was doing great things and there was no need to disturb him for small things like birthdays."

"Perhaps he missed her." Victor's voice was somewhat choked. "I miss her too. If she knew Dad had already shaken off the military's control and could freely do what he wanted, she would definitely be very happy. He might have just gone to tell her this."

Bruce didn't speak. The car arrived at the cemetery. This was a park with beautiful scenery located in the suburbs. On the left side of the parking lot was a lake, and there was a river channel surrounding the entire park. The cemetery was located in the very center of the park, with a small white church in the middle.

They crossed the river via a bridge and arrived at the cemetery. Victor kept wiping his face, his emotions very agitated. He walked to his mother's tombstone, knelt on one knee, and gently stroked the name on it, tears flowing down uncontrollably.

"Why did it have to be this way... why can I never see her again..."

Bruce gently patted his shoulder. But just as he also leaned down, his movements paused. Victor noticed his abnormality and looked back at him.

"Get up first, Victor." Bruce patted him gently, letting him stand up. Victor wiped away his tears, stood up, and stepped aside. Bruce knelt halfway, reaching out to stroke the base of the tombstone.

Looking at the damp soil staining his hand, he said to Victor, "I know you might still not have accepted the departure of your closest kin. I have also lost my child before. I swear I have no intention of disrespecting the deceased..."

"It's okay, just say it directly," Victor said. "I can feel it; something might have happened."

Bruce lowered his eyelids to look at the ground, and Victor followed his gaze. Bruce knelt halfway again, pressed his hand onto the soil, and said, "Someone has disturbed the grave."

"What?!"

"Someone dug this place up," Bruce said. "There is a lake nearby, and the groundwater is very abundant; therefore, the soil at the bottom layer will be more damp. The state of the soil here is different from the surrounding graves; it should have just been dug out from underground."

Victor opened his mouth wide in shock, momentarily not knowing what to say. Whether Catholic or Protestant, unauthorized destruction of a grave was an extremely blasphemous act; even if it were the closest kin, one could not do such a thing.

But they had already discovered earlier that Victor's father had come in the direction of the cemetery, and his mother's grave had been disturbed. This all pointed to a terrifying possibility: that his father had very likely dug up his mother's grave.

Almost in an instant, Victor was overwhelmed by anger. He roared, "How could he do this!! How dare he!!!"

"Calm down, Victor," Bruce said after standing up. "Your father definitely wouldn't do this without a reason; after all, your mother has been gone for such a long time. If he really wanted to do something to her grave, he would have done it long ago; he wouldn't have needed to wait until today."

"He didn't have time before! When he hadn't shaken off the military's control, he couldn't move freely at all..."

"Then you underestimate your father too much," Bruce said. "Think about it, he could even use the Mother Box to resurrect you. The things he can do are definitely more than you imagine. I'm afraid something has happened."

Victor was somewhat panicked; he breathed desperately, trying to calm himself down. But the more he did so, the more his whole body trembled.

Bruce pressed his shoulder, helping him adjust his breathing. Victor slowly squatted down, stayed there for a while, and only then felt slightly better.

He squatted down, dug at the soil with his hand, and found that it was indeed as Bruce had said. The soil was too damp and too soft; it had clearly been dug by someone. He couldn't care about much else and began to dig with his hands.

His mechanical hand was very hard, and his efficiency in digging was high; after a short while, he could see the coffin lid. He didn't even need to open the coffin to know that it was already empty; his mother's remains were gone.

Victor punched the ground in anger, truly unable to figure out why his father would do this. Bruce took out his phone and said, "The urgent priority now is to find your father. Where do you think he would go?"

Victor's mind was a blank; he really couldn't think of it. After hesitating for a long time, he said, "The laboratory where he worked the longest was STAR, but that's a quite large laboratory with many people. He shouldn't go there. And laboratories private enough are all under military control..."

"Still the same thing. Your father's scientific research level might be far beyond your imagination," Bruce said. "Do you think it's possible he is at the Red Room?"

"The Red Room?! But that's where the military stores relics of extraterrestrial civilizations; how could it be in... no, it's also possible." Victor took a deep breath and said, "He also did research there for a long time, and, as you said, he has a deep understanding of the Mother Box, even being able to fuse the Mother Box into my body under the military's nose; that might be the laboratory he has the most control over."

"Then the problem now is, where exactly is the Red Room? Do you know?"

Victor shook his head. He said, "At that time, I hadn't completely finished the fusion, and that memory is very blurry in my mind, so I can't be sure of the specific location. I will try my best to think."

"I'll also find someone to check," Bruce said. "J'onn served as a military officer for a period of time, but I'm not sure if his rank could access the Red Room. I'll ask, or find Clark."

Victor returned home, heavy-hearted. He began to recall carefully. Of course, he didn't rely on his own memory, but he had already discovered earlier that the Mother Box also had memory. This thing's memory was much more reliable than his own.

Victor calmed his mind, trying to control the Mother Box to give him some key clues. Indeed, several images appeared before his eyes. Victor edited them using graphic software and sent them to Bruce.

Soon, Bruce gave him an address, but it wasn't very precise. He said, "Based on the topographical conditions you provided, it's probably here. You can go over and look carefully. If you encounter any problems, contact me immediately."

Victor took the address and immediately rushed to Florida. This place was in the mountains, far from human habitation. He searched a large circle there and finally found a place similar to the one in his memory.

Before he could even find the entrance to the Red Room, he saw a familiar car in the mountain forest, and a figure was walking toward the car. It was his father, Silas Stone. ===== CHAPTER 4414 =====