Chapter 4418: Prelude to Darkness (Part 10)

Hal walked over and patted J'onn on the shoulder, then said, "It's okay, no matter what, they look very much like your wife and daughter. Just treat it as you having a beautiful dream."

"No." J'onn gritted his teeth and said, "Precisely because they look very much like them, I absolutely do not allow anyone to do this. Using them to deal with me is not only a blasphemy and defilement of them, but also an insult to me."

"They think my wife and daughter are weaknesses that will hinder my steps. But they are not. They have always supported me. No matter what I want to do, they have always loved me. Their love is unconditional, not that I have to do as they say for them to love me. I absolutely do not accept anyone describing them as such despicable manipulators!"

"They also think I am a coward who will indulge in a gentle land, eventually lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong, and turn against them. But I am not. Even if it were really them who came back, and now Earth or Mars is plunged into disaster, I must still go forward without hesitation, because I am a Martian Manhunter, and also a member of the Justice League; this is my duty. I will not escape because of any excuse."

J'onn stood up and said, "No matter who the mastermind is, daring to humiliate me in this way, I will definitely make them look good!"

"You two have both encountered such things; this definitely isn't a coincidence," Arthur said. "I want to go back to Atlantis first to see if my mother has also resurrected. And you, Hal. I remember your father also passed away. Are you..."

"If they really resurrected, what should we do?" Hal asked. "Although I already know this is a conspiracy, we can't really kill them directly. What if we push them into a corner and they start a massacre in the city?"

"Then control them first," Arthur said. "Your father is a commoner after all; he won't be harder to deal with than me. If the Queen really resurrected, the seven seas of the ocean will definitely have another disturbance. I must rush back to handle it as soon as possible."

"Putting those two impostors here isn't very safe either. I want to send them to the Martian prison. That is a prison specifically set up for Martians; it's unlikely they can run out. Barry, follow me. After finishing, I want to return to Earth immediately."

"What's wrong?" Barry looked at him and asked.

"I have a bad premonition," J'onn said. "The important people I lost are more than just those two. I'm afraid Dr. Erdel might also..."

The group didn't delay any longer and went their separate ways. J'onn went upstairs first, carried his "wife and daughter" down, and then sent them to the Martian prison. Although there were no prisoners here, all facilities were operating normally. Or rather, the material here itself was the biggest protective system, which could isolate the Martian mental link and wouldn't be destroyed by Martian power.

J'onn placed them in the same cell. After looking at them one last time, he turned and walked out of the cell. Then, Barry took him to Colorado—Dr. Erdel's former laboratory—with the Speed Force.

Walking into the laboratory, J'onn sized up the place. He was sure there was no one here, but traces of recent activity had been left behind. This proved that Dr. Erdel had very likely resurrected.

"Must find him immediately," J'onn said. "The doctor has very deep research on Mars and knows about the extinction of the Martians. I'm afraid he will ruin Bruce's plan."

When he said this, Barry also became nervous. However, soon, he thought of the things that happened to his pair of fake parents and said, "Impossible. No matter what, he is a person resurrected from the dead. If he stands up and says the Martian invasion is fake, then people will only think he is a Martian, here to deceive human sight and let humans relax their vigilance."

J'onn shook his head and said, "Scientists like them are mostly people who live in anonymity. Life and death won't be shown before the public. The doctor also doesn't have any friends. If he has been doing research in this laboratory all these years, it's not impossible."

"More importantly, he must have conclusive evidence in his hands, including various Martian research data and my body data. And those opposition parties who want to resist President Kent are not dead yet. They might use the data in his hands to reverse the current situation."

"Then what should we do now? Go find Bruce?"

"No, this matter must be notified to Mr. President first. Failing to stop Dr. Erdel is my responsibility. I must find a way to make up for this mistake. Let's go, let's go to the Presidential Palace first."

Clark Kent had just finished a party speech. And to talk about what party this is, one has to mention the former president and the opposition party leader sitting below. That's right, after experiencing so many years, the Democratic and Republican parties finally returned to one. The current Federation is a one-party system.

And the reason why this situation appeared was mainly that Clark wanted to join which party, the opposite side definitely wouldn't agree; but if he joined both parties at the same time, then those two parties were no different from merging. So both sides studied it, and temporarily merging was also fine, so that they could achieve interest maximization.

And this party inquiry wasn't as smooth as imagined. Although these politicians were unified in wanting to "pull out the nails," how to pull them out would definitely produce countless differences, whether to cooperate with other countries, prioritize the development of diving technology or space technology, what level of military force to maintain... in short, there was still arguing.

At the inquiry meeting, Clark solved most of the problems, but still left some. For example, how to deal with the "Martians" who had infiltrated the civilian population.

Originally, Clark knew that the Martian matter was fabricated. But unexpectedly, a pair of fake couples—that is, Barry's fake parents—were really caught in Central City. Clark was stunned when he received the news; it wouldn't be that they made the fake into reality, right?

He called Bruce, but Bruce only told him that they weren't Martians, but he didn't say specifically who they were. Clark just treated them as another kind of invasive creature.

Research on them indeed didn't find any abnormalities, which confirmed the fact that human technology couldn't distinguish Martians, and also caused a panic in Congress. Many congressmen demanded Clark to send out the personal guard to search for Martians on a large scale, and also demanded to deal with these two people.

After all, that activation tower was still in working state, and these two were one male and one female; if they really gave birth to a little Martian, would they still be able to live?

But Clark didn't want to kill, because he knew they weren't Martians. Since they were unknown creatures, they had to continue to be studied. And his super intuition was telling him that this wasn't the end, but just the beginning.

He walked out of the Capitol Building, hadn't even gotten into the car, and heard that two more Martians had been caught. He turned his head to look at his assistant and asked, "Where is it this time?"

"Right in Metropolis. And these two people are very powerful; they injured several of our people, and then ran away. But for some reason, they stopped again. They said they wanted to see the president, but I think you had better not go."

Clark frowned; where did these two come from? Clearly, there were no Martians; how could aliens keep popping up one after another?

"I'll go take a look," Clark said. "Where are the two of them?"

"Now in the prison of the Metropolis Police Station. Mr. President, you must be careful; they have superpowers. Not only can they fly, but they are also incredibly strong, and can shoot lasers from their eyes..."

The more Clark heard, the more familiar it sounded. He simply didn't take the car, flew up on the spot, and flew toward Metropolis. After landing at the entrance of the Metropolis Police Station, the police welcomed him, also giving him a thousand warnings to be careful.

Clark walked in. After seeing those two people, he was stunned—these two people looked a bit familiar. He carefully flipped through his super memory; good fellow, aren't these the two unlucky eggs who were working black jobs in the restaurant back then?

"Mr. President! Mr. President!" Their English was much more standard now, not that Spanish accent anymore. The tall one shouted, "It's us! Have you forgotten us?"

Clark covered his head helplessly. The police looked at him frequently, and Clark waved his hand and said, "These are my former subordinates. You go out first, I'll talk to them."

After the police left, Clark walked to the cell and said, "You two are actually Kryptonians. Where did you come from?"

These two were also somewhat embarrassed. He said, "At that time, Zod was crazy; we were afraid of being killed by him, so we defected. Originally, we were living well on Earth, encountered a warehouse fire, we used superpowers to go in to save people, and ended up being reported."

Clark sighed and said, "Just the two of you? I remember there were quite a few people on that spaceship."

"They should all be on Earth now, but they are all hiding. If it weren't for the fact that there were three or four people in that warehouse, we wouldn't have wanted to expose ourselves," the short one said. "When we were working there, they helped us quite a bit. We couldn't watch them burn to death. Who knew..."

"Alright, from today on, you are my old subordinates. Remember, you are Martians, and Martians who are inclined toward Earth. Just like me, understand?"

"I was just about to ask what's going on, Superman," the tall one said again, "When the spaceship flew into the solar system, we landed on Mars; there was no one in that city..."

Clark hurriedly glared at him, telling him to shut up. After the tall one covered his mouth, the short one continued to ask, "This is no problem. But we are both soldiers; besides fighting, we don't know anything. If you want us to help you do something, especially dealing with those annoying politicians, we definitely can't."

"That's not needed. There is a very important job that needs you to do," Clark said. "I will give you an agent identity; you need to find other Kryptonians on a global scale. I need their power; it must be fast."

The two looked at each other and nodded. They both knew that reviving Kryptonian civilization was already unlikely; it was better to live well on Earth. And after Clark became president, the living standards of their group of black workers had significantly improved, much better than before, so even if they didn't have the right to vote, they supported Clark.

Walking out of the prison, Clark said to the police, "It's a misunderstanding. These two are loyal to me. I want to take them away now."

Of course, the police didn't dare to say anything and released them directly. Clark took them to the Presidential Palace first, and then came to the Presidential Secretary's Office. Schiller looked up at him, and then looked at the two people behind him.

"Why is it you?!" The two looked at Schiller and said, "Aren't you the representative of the pharmaceutical company?"

"Walking in the world, who doesn't have a few identities?"

"Describing 'liar' so fresh and refined is also not easy." This was Clark speaking. "Alright, let's not talk about this. An unplanned situation has appeared. I need manpower to investigate. I want them to help me find Kryptonians. You give them a suitable identity."

"Unplanned situation?" Schiller asked.

"Trouble has appeared!" A shout came from outside the office door. J'onn pushed the door open with Barry and said, "Dr. Erdel might have resurrected. His research on Mars is too deep, and he has sufficient evidence in his hands. We can't let him ruin Bruce's plan!" ===== CHAPTER 4419 =====