Chapter 4428

Thinking of this, Diana added another layer of hidden worry, because she realized that being taken to sell for money might already be the best result. If they wanted to take this thing to do something else, it would really be troublesome.

She had the heart to call Clark to remind him, but she also knew that with such a big matter, it was impossible for Clark not to know now. The Presidential Palace had likely already moved, and didn't need her to remind him.

Diana hesitated for a moment, feeling it was better for her to look around first. It would be best if she could find clues; if she couldn't, it would be considered she tried her best, and it wouldn't be too late to ask someone for help then.

Diana started flying around the Metropolis Museum, carefully checking the surrounding environment. After a circle, she really discovered some clues.

Although the door from this exhibition hall to other exhibition halls was very small, the window to the outside was not small. It was just because the glass was intact that no one suspected it. But Diana discovered outside the glass that the screws on the window frame had traces of being tightened again.

She hurriedly called the curator and the police. Because this detail was too small, and it was on the exterior facade of the Metropolis Museum, no one saw it. The police surrounded them, and then found some experts, and even the glass manufacturer. A group of people studied for a long time and discovered that this group of robbers were really geniuses.

The glass on the exterior facade of the Metropolis Museum was tempered glass, which had a certain bulletproof and anti-strike function. However, for aesthetic needs, the window frame of this glass was wooden. The connection between the two used screws, rather than being embedded in reinforced concrete like normal bulletproof glass.

Moreover, because the Metropolis Museum was built relatively early, it didn't use a single piece of tempered glass, but had three window mullions, two vertical and one horizontal, using six pieces of glass. The bottom three were very long, the top three were shorter, and the top was circular arch-shaped. And because the floor-to-ceiling window was very high, it was enough to just remove the middle piece of glass at the bottom to transport the mural out.

This group of robbers were also craftsmen. The glass was removed and restored without leaving any traces. If it weren't for Diana's sharp eyes, those tiny traces of screw movement wouldn't have been discovered at all.

This also utilized the psychological blind spot of people; people all thought that robbers would take violent means and couldn't possibly have time to carefully tighten the screws here, so seeing the intact glass, they subconsciously felt no one had come from here.

Although if they put in great effort and investigated for a long time, they might be able to find out. But just because everyone was studying how the mural passed through the door, it would delay a lot of time. They had long since fled with the mural.

And considering that this mural was very heavy and not easy to move, their car wouldn't have parked too far from this window. And outside the window were tall bushes. The police continued to investigate and discovered that two tall bushes indeed had traces of being moved, and even the roots of one had been pulled out halfway.

This proved that the mural went out from this position. And further out from this wall, it was still the inner courtyard of the Metropolis Museum. Logically speaking, cars couldn't come in here either. But if the front door and back door of the front hall were opened, and the car was driven over the tiles, it could also be driven in.

The police started to focus on checking the tile seams in the front hall, as well as inquiring about the information of the passing vehicles. Diana turned around again, but didn't discover any new clues. This investigation lasted until off-duty time, but no one dared to leave. Everyone had to order takeout and eat in the office.

Diana thought about this matter carefully, always feeling that it was inseparable from Shiler. If there were no accidents, it would be like those previous things, she would still be involved and play a role he had arranged.

However, today is different from the past. Before, she was just Wonder Woman; although she wasn't without support, she really didn't have any roots in Metropolis. Now it's different; she joined the Justice League and had Batman as her backer. Diana finished her meal and went out directly to call Bruce.

"The situation is like this, I don't understand what he is doing. I always feel that the robbers are not just for the artifact. Do you have any thoughts, Bruce?"

"You are very sharp, Miss." Bruce's voice came from the other end of the phone, "Even if this artifact is very popular recently, it is far less than those famous jewels and old-fashioned paintings. With such a level, they should go to the Louvre, not the Metropolis Museum."

"The biggest difference between this mural sculpture and other artifacts is that there is some information about aliens on the painting, presumably this is the reason they took action."

"Could the buyer be an alien enthusiast?" Diana frowned and asked.

"Who isn't an alien enthusiast now?" Bruce said lightly, "After all, the movement to catch aliens is in full swing."

Diana's heart skipped a beat. She realized that her previous prediction was indeed correct. Taking it away to sell for money was already the best result; now it looked like it was more likely to be used to carry out political persecution.

Diana carefully recalled the content of that mural again, and then said: "But the aliens on it don't have specific images, and they aren't carved very vividly; who can it be used to lock onto?"

"Remember the biggest feature of the 'Serpent of Phryne'?"

"What?" Diana couldn't remember for a moment.

"It's fake."

Diana was struck by lightning. A thought flashed through her mind. She couldn't even care about talking to Bruce, and hurriedly flew to the curator's office, then said: "Stop looking, curator."

The curator looked at her, feeling inexplicable. Diana took a deep breath, straightened out her train of thought, first stated her and Bruce's speculation, and then added: "The person who stole this thing might be wanting to fabricate a scandal."

"Fabricate a scandal? What scandal?"

"The 'Serpent of Phryne' is fake." Diana continued, "This artifact is forged, and they can find evidence. And once it is proven that this artifact, which caused a huge uproar all over the world, is completely forged, it can trigger people's suspicion, making them feel that the Martian invasion event is just a government conspiracy."

"Where does this come from?" The curator asked. What he was actually asking was what necessary connection there was between "'The Serpent of Phryne' is fake" and "The Martian invasion event is fake."

"This thing appeared long before the Martian invasion event." Diana said, "If it can be proven that the artifact is forged, then it can be inferred that the government was calculating and had long-term plans. This will greatly reduce public credibility."

The curator shook his head and pointed out the window: "The nails on the sea surface aren't fake."

"That could be dropped by the government." Diana said, "They will definitely find relevant evidence to prove that all of this is just a conspiracy by some government wanting to control the whole world."

"Too outrageous," The curator said, "How could such a thing be done? They couldn't possibly find evidence."

Diana closed her eyes in despair. Isn't it a coincidence, such a thing can be done. 'The Serpent of Phryne' was rubbed out at the beginning of the year, and the nails were driven down by the Justice League. The conspiracy theorists really didn't wrong them at all!

Seeing that she couldn't move the curator, Diana could only hope that Shiler's fake-making technology was good enough not to be discovered by those people; and also hope that Batman did it cleanly enough not to be discovered that the nails were actually driven down by the Justice League.

Why else would they say, good things don't work, bad things do. Murphy's Law always appears inadvertently. Just after Diana thought this, she returned to the office and heard a noise.

"What's going on? 'The Serpent of Phryne' is from the United States? How is this possible? Didn't the British rob it from Egypt? What does it have to do with the United States?"

"How is it impossible? Look, the photos on the freighter have been exposed. And the video of unloading at the British port. Doesn't this prove that 'The Serpent of Phryne' is a mural transported from the United States during the royal scandal?"

"You mean, to cover up the scandal, they specially made a fake one in the United States and brought it to confuse the public?"

"It must be like this. They lost the real one themselves and didn't want to admit to stealing and swapping artifacts, so naturally, they could only make a fake and urgently transport it to the museum for exhibition."

"No wonder. I felt this thing wasn't right before..."

Hearing this, Diana couldn't listen anymore, hurriedly rushed over, took the other party's phone, and looked at the news. Seeing the headline, her breathing choked—"Royal Forgery? The Overseas Gold-Plating Journey of a 'Famous Artifact'."

Just seeing the word "overseas gold-plating," Diana understood that these people must have found out something, otherwise they wouldn't know that the "Serpent of Phryne" originally appeared in the United States, and then went to the UK because the British royal family wanted to clarify the scandal, and finally returned to the United States.

Diana covered her forehead and thought, this series of actions looked secret, but in reality, it was impossible to keep it secret. This thing wasn't a coin that could be taken away in a pocket. Such a big thing, transported from the United States to the UK, and then transported back to the United States. If one link leaked, this trip definitely couldn't be hidden.

Then the question came. Back then, the royal family swore that the artifact could never be stolen and swapped, so what was going on with the trip from the United States to the UK? The British robbed Egypt, so how did the robbed things run to the United States?

Once this journey was confirmed, the origin of the artifact couldn't be self-consistent. Now there were only two solutions; either the royal family stood up and admitted that the artifact was stolen and swapped, and had already been stolen to the United States and then chased back.

But thinking about it, the royal family was just dying for face and suffering; they couldn't possibly admit it. After all, important royal family members had stood up and expressed their stance. If they admitted it, they could just break up. They would absolutely not admit it.

Then, how to give a reasonable explanation? Otherwise, they could only say that the one transported from the United States was a fake, just transported as a real one, but in reality, the real one never left the UK.

This explanation was also far-fetched, but it barely made sense. Anyway, they could just push it to MI6's work error, thinking the artifact had really fallen overseas, and after a search, found a fake one back, which was why it was filmed being transported from the United States.

Sure enough. Soon the royal family issued an announcement, saying that the "Serpent of Phryne" in the transport video released on the internet was actually fake. It was a problem with information exchange between departments, leading the security department to find and seize this imitation from a private collector in Arizona. In fact, the real one wasn't lost, but when it was discovered, the imitation had already been transported back.

Diana felt relieved in her heart; anyway, no matter what, just round off the words first. Many netizens also accepted this statement; after all, the British government was even more outrageous than the US government, and it was very normal to have such a dog-shit misunderstanding.

But unexpectedly, the heavy bomb had just fallen. Just when Diana went to the coffee room to pour a cup of coffee, discussions came from the office again.

"Fake? How could 'The Serpent of Phryne' be fake?!"

"You mean the one transported was an imitation? Yes, the royal family issued an announcement..."

"No! It's the one the British Museum lent to us!"

"Isn't that one stolen?!"

"That's why it was discovered to be fake!"

"My God, have you seen the detail photos he posted? It seems it really is the one in our museum..."

"It's over, it's over, someone must say we stole and swapped the artifact. God, such a big thing, how could we steal and swap it?!"

"There's someone in the comments saying it. Look..."

"Look at this, look at this! The British Museum actually tweeted to distance themselves. It's simply shameless; doesn't their meaning mean it was swapped by us?"