Chapter 4583: Day of the Brightest (49)

Main Universe Justice League Base. Wonder Woman Diana stood in front of a huge mural. The light projected from the top made the entire mural look even more magnificent. That giant snake floating between the sky and the earth showed a kind of ancient and desolate ancient Egyptian style.

"Incredible," Diana said, "Although I work in a museum, my specialization is in art from the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. I hold high respect for scholars who can study ancient Egyptian or other ancient cultural relics. The older and more complex it is, the more the appreciation of the artistry of the artwork will gradually turn into the study of ancient history. There is no doubt that this collection records a period of history during the Tutankhamun period..."

She heard Deathstroke behind her sigh softly. Diana turned to look at him and said: "Thank you, Mr. Mercenary. I know you are very busy and don't have time to listen to my history lesson..."

"No, no, no." Deathstroke hurriedly waved a hand and said, "I am still quite interested in ancient Egyptian history. And I'm not busy recently. I mean, why don't you take a closer look?"

"If it's just about this cultural relic, I have nothing more to say. However, I don't know if you have noticed, but the patterns here seem a bit strange." Diana turned back and looked at the upper left of the mural. She said, "Although I don't know much about ancient Egyptian cultural relics, I also know that during that period, they focused more on symbolic expression rather than artistic treatment. All other elements of the entire mural are highly harmonious and unified. Only this one place..."

Diana pointed to the upper left corner. "This moon looks very strange. First of all, its craftsmanship is a bit rough, completely different from the fine carving elsewhere..."

That's for sure, Deathstroke said in his heart. Because other places might have been chiseled out bit by bit with a chisel, while this place was dug out with a dagger. From the start of creation to completion, it was less than ten minutes; it would be strange if it weren't rough.

"Of course, its expression technique is also a bit strange." Diana frowned and paced in front of the mural. "The moon. Yes, ancient Egyptians, besides sun worship, naturally also depicted the moon. For example, Khonshu among the Theban triad is the Moon God in ancient Egyptian mythology, regarded as the King of Truth and the Decider of Fate. The image is usually a falcon head..."

It's a falcon head, Deathstroke said again in his heart. And only the head is left.

"Very strange. Here, the moon is drawn directly, without using any mythological metaphors, nor mentioning the Moon God. Moreover, the shape of the moon is also not quite normal. It is divided into two from the middle, and one side is dug away. What would a broken moon represent?"

"I think it might be hinting that the moon has a bright side and a dark side. The dark side might represent the dark side of the moon..."

God. Deathstroke sighed in his heart. You two are really in sync.

"And here. Do you see it? These things that look like little people don't look like the way ancient Egyptians depicted people. I think you should have seen other Egyptian murals. Ancient Egypt's depiction of humanoid creatures is very flat, and they are usually tall and thin, with slender bodies and slender limbs. But these little people are not only very short, but their heads are also a bit too big. It's really strange."

Diana speculated while pinching her chin: "This moon and these strange little people shouldn't have been on the mural originally, but were added later..."

Insightful! Deathstroke gave her a thumbs up in his heart. Truly worthy of being Wonder Woman. This is a real art worker, much stronger than those onlookers outside.

"This should be a mark left by someone," Diana said, "It seems to want to express something. It has to do with the dark side of the moon, and it might also have to do with aliens. But specifically what is going on, I can't tell."

What is there to not be able to tell, Deathstroke almost wanted to hold his forehead. Isn't it just telling you that there is a problem on the dark side of the moon? Can't you just fly up and take a look? For Wonder Woman, this shouldn't be difficult, right?

"Batman once warned me that anything related to the power of the Seven Lights must be treated with caution. Moreover, the moon is not within the Earth's magical defense network. If there is any trap on it, we might lose more personnel. This is not worth it. It's better to invite experts to take a look."

Deathstroke's hand paused. Diana turned to look at Deathstroke and said: "In order to find Batman's whereabouts, the people of the Justice League cannot get away. Since Shiler asked you to escort this cultural relic back, it proves that you can be trusted, Mr. Mercenary. Please make another trip and invite a real ancient Egyptian cultural relic expert over."

Ancient Egyptian cultural relic expert? Deathstroke sneered in his heart. Do you want to invite Shiler? Or Shiler? Or Shiler?

Two days ago. Hurghada Port. A shipping container marked "Glassware and Other Household Products" was loaded onto a cargo ship. Shiler and Deathstroke stood in the shadows of the checkpoint in front of the cargo ship.

"So, you're not getting on the ship?" Deathstroke asked. He glanced at the container. What was inside was exactly the "ancient Egyptian mural"—Agent Annotated Version—that they had spent so much effort to find back.

Shiler shook his head and said: "Wonder Woman understands the principle that professional matters should be left to professionals, otherwise she wouldn't have come to me. This means one thing, and that is that she is very difficult to fool."

"Ah, I thought you never thought of this point." Deathstroke said with some sarcasm, "If she discovers that you damaged the cultural relic, what should you do?"

"Are you mistaken about something? Is the biggest trouble that I damaged the cultural relic?"

Deathstroke patted his forehead. He didn't know how many times he hadn't reacted to this—there was no cultural relic at all. The entire mural was fake.

Shiler continued: "Diana's professional direction doesn't seem to be ancient Egyptian cultural relics. This means she might not see any problems, but it also means she will find people who can see the problems. There are not many ancient Egyptian cultural relic experts in this world, but there are always a few. Once they see this mural, they will know it's a scam."

"Well said, so didn't you think about it when you forged it?"

"That's not important," Shiler said, "Things have already developed to this point, no matter what, this mural cannot be fake anymore."

"So I need you to escort this mural back, and I will take this time to solve the trouble."

"I have no problem escorting the mural. But how do you plan to solve this trouble?"

"You don't need to worry about that." Shiler shook his head and said, "I have my own ways."

"Alright. I hope the Justice League can help me reimburse all my equipment wear and tear." Deathstroke walked toward the cargo ship.

"What do you think, Mr. Deathstroke?" Diana asked.

"I am a mercenary; as long as you pay, I do any job. However, do you really think it's a good idea to let me invite an expert? Most people only scream when they see me."

"This is also a helpless move," Diana sighed and said, "Of course, under normal circumstances, just let The Flash make a trip, or Superman can fly over. But now Batman is our big problem. Investigating the anomalies of the Seven Lights power is important, but we cannot be distracted by this."

"As for the reward. Everyone in the Justice League can access our activity fund pool. I believe the price will satisfy you. Of course, if there is any equipment here that you can use, you can also take it. But you must guarantee that you cannot use this equipment to do things outside of the mission, otherwise I cannot be sure whether Batman will find trouble with you after he comes back."

"Equipment is not necessary," Deathstroke said, "As long as you can reimburse my equipment wear and tear."

"That is of course." Diana nodded and said, "We can pay you in cash; if some complex equipment needs repair, we can also find him after Batman comes back."

"Give me cash, I won't throw myself into the net." Deathstroke said, "Give me the name and address, and I will have them arrive as soon as possible."

"No need to be too urgent," Diana said, "I still have some things to ask you. It's about Shiler. How did you run into him? What did you two encounter in Egypt?"

"That's a long story," Deathstroke said, "Shiler went to the Red Sea, and my mission target happened to be in that vicinity. But some problems appeared, causing my mission to fail. I owed him a favor, so I helped him find the mural together."

"That French arms dealer is very cunning. He contacted the curator of the Cairo Museum, Haywin, and the two of them wanted to smuggle the mural out. But it happened to coincide with an armed force attacking Cairo Airport, so they didn't get away. Haywin hid the mural in his safe house. It took us some effort to find it."

Diana showed a sudden realization expression, and then said: "Sounds like a wonderful adventure. Since this is not your mission, then presumably revealing more details to me does not violate your professional ethics. Did you encounter any strange things during this process?"

"Of course," Deathstroke replied, "Don't you know it too? When we came into contact with the mural, a meteorite suddenly fell down. Then you called and said something about power fluctuations."

"Yes, that is exactly what I am referring to. Later, what did you find?"

"Shiler took that instrument and went to the place where the meteorite fell. That is the Great Jin Zita of Giza, you know, that famous tourist attraction. It was surrounded by people. Police, military, all came. It took us a lot of effort to mix in. But that was just an ordinary meteorite. We didn't find anything there."

"You didn't go inside the pyramid to take a look?"

"My God. Being able to get close to the meteorite is not bad. We couldn't possibly enter the pyramid under such public scrutiny. Besides, what do you expect to be there? Resurrected mummies?"

Deathstroke paused and then said: "I don't think there would be anything abnormal inside the pyramid. You know, that place is a famous tourist attraction, and it opened as usual the next day. This proves that the Egyptian authorities didn't find anything there either, because if there were a problem, the scenic area wouldn't be open. And tourists would also discover it."

Diana nodded thoughtfully and said: "Okay, I see. Then please make a trip here, visit a knowledgeable ancient Egyptian cultural relic expert, and invite him here to help us analyze the truth of the mural."

Diana picked up paper and pen from the side, wrote down a line of address and name, and handed it to Deathstroke. Deathstroke took it and saw that it was written: "Carter Hall—Manager of the Midway City Museum, Michigan." ===== CHAPTER 4584 =====