PFC Chapter 4313 Body of Steel (8)
Chapter 4313 Body of Steel (8)
Chapter 4313 Body of Steel (18)
When Clark flew to Louise's balcony, he found her sitting on the sofa watching TV. Clark was stunned; he even looked around suspiciously, but didn't see anyone else.
"Louise," he called softly, as if afraid the figure in front of him was an illusion.
"Oh God, you've come!" Louise threw down the remote control and strode to the window.
Clark walked in, hugged her, and said, "Are you alright? You..."
"Shh..." Louise made a gesture, then pointed to the door, indicating that someone was listening.
Clark immediately covered his mouth, but quickly lowered his voice and said, "How could you..."
“They took me away, but I persuaded their leader to change my isolation to home surveillance.”
Clark felt anger rising again, but this time his emotional control was much better. He took a deep breath, barely managing to suppress his rage, and then said with some remorse, "I'm sorry, it's all because of me..."
“You overestimate yourself,” Louise said with a smile. “Even without you, they would probably come after me.”
"...Why?" Clark asked, puzzled. He thought Louise was entirely implicated because of him, and that the military wanted to do what Luther did: threaten him by kidnapping someone important to him.
Louise shook her head without saying anything, but led him to the computer and pointed to the computer screen.
Clark walked over, sat on the sofa, and looked at the article displayed on the screen. He was shocked as soon as he saw the title.
"Was the demise of ancient Egyptian civilization related to extraterrestrials? Was third-kind contact a blessing or a curse?"
Clark developed a headache whenever he saw the word "ancient Egyptian civilization." He really didn't know how Louise had gotten involved in ancient Egyptian civilization. Could it be that there was some kind of pharaoh's curse?
Clark expressed his doubts, and Louise reached out and patted his face, then said, "Clark, how did you even decide to become a journalist? Didn't you realize you were completely unsuitable for this line of work?"
“That’s a long story,” Clark said, looking up at the sky. “It probably started one year when my family’s winter barley didn’t sell well. Let’s not talk about that now. Tell me, what exactly happened?”
“Someone sent me an email,” Louise said. “I often receive these kinds of exposé emails, which are about which company is refusing to provide insurance, which case has problems with its handling, or which big shot is having an affair. They all want me to help them get justice, but most of them have ulterior motives.”
"So it's the same this time?"
“Of course. But this news could actually be helpful to us.” Louise opened her email and showed Clark the message she had received. “The sender claims to be a collector who says that a piece he owns called ‘The Serpent of Phrygne’ was stolen from the British Museum by the British Royal Family. This contains detailed information about the mural, as well as the legends surrounding it… Look at this, doesn’t this pattern look a bit like the spaceship that appeared over the Metropolis that day?”
Clark finally understood that people can genuinely laugh when they're speechless. He didn't even know where to begin explaining to Louise, and he even started to wonder if Bruce's deduction was wrong, if such an artifact truly existed, or if he had entered some terrifying time loop. Why was everyone saying the same thing, repeating the same story?
“This is fake,” Clark said. “This thing is a forgery; such an artifact does not exist.”
To everyone's surprise, Louise made an even more astonishing statement: "All artifacts are forgeries, and history is forgery."
Clark was truly shocked; he hadn't expected Louise to say such a thing, and his expression was visibly distorted.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm not a pseudo-historian. I'm just saying that whether it's artifacts or history, they are composed of many parts. The real part of them is not as much as you think. Their existence is real, but the interpretations and speculations of later generations, which constitute a much larger part, are not all true."
"To be precise, there's no such thing as 'real' or 'fake' in this. If someone believes that a certain artifact was used for this purpose, then regardless of whether it was actually used for this purpose in the past, this speculation itself becomes part of it. Why people make this inference, what its source is, and what its basis is are sometimes more important than whether the artifact was actually used for this purpose. Or rather, the significance of some artifacts lies precisely in this."
"We need archaeologists, we need historians, we need to explore our past and find where we came from. This very act is more important than the actual past and origin we find. Historical research is one of the few activities where the process truly outweighs the result, do you understand?"
Clark shook his head; he didn't understand at all. Louise's words, aside from making him feel that humans were far too complex, did nothing to explain anything.
“Okay, let’s not talk about that then,” Louise continued. “Regarding the question of whether the artifact you mentioned is fake, or whether this entire email is fake, what I want to say is: authenticity is not important; what is important is the process of exploring authenticity.”
"Indeed, we might find that the artifact doesn't exist after all the searching. But how much would we have to investigate to determine if it actually existed? We'd have to look at historical records, artifacts from the same period, and the British Museum's records of artifact transactions. Which of these would stand up to scrutiny?"
Clark suddenly realized, and said, "That's right. To prove it's fake, you need evidence, but evidence needs to be investigated. The British Museum..."
Clark hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped. He wasn't an expert in this area, nor had he ever reported on similar cases, but even thefts that had been documented in the news were frequent, let alone those occurring in private.
Clark was starting to seriously doubt whether the "Snake of Frinier" actually existed, but was fabricated to be nonexistent due to a scandal. It wasn't that he didn't trust Bruce; he just didn't trust the British Museum.
If all of this really was a conspiracy orchestrated by Schiller, then who says there's no such thing as a perfect crime? The British Museum's "good reputation" means that even if he were to go out now and say that this was all a lie, Luther and the military probably wouldn't believe him. They would only think it was a scandal that had been covered up, and that it was absolutely flawless.
Clark also figured it out: the brilliance of this scam was that you couldn't actually investigate, in case you found something out.
The British Museum will absolutely not release any records of the transfer of cultural relics, nor can it come out to deny the authenticity of cultural relics. If it were to open that door, it would be completely finished. The entire British Museum would be without a single treasure, and perhaps the entire island of Great Britain would be fake.
“So…” Clark looked at Louise.
“We’re going to expose this scandal,” Louise said with a smile, staring at the computer screen. “The information this mysterious sender provided is enough to smear the royal family. How do you think the royal family can extricate itself from this scandal of switching artifacts?”
Clark frowned. Again, demanding evidence from the British Museum was unrealistic; even the royal family couldn't do it—it would shake the very foundations of the nation. So what should be done?
“The best way is to exhibit the ‘Snake of Frinier’,” Louise said.
“Huh?” Clark looked at him and said, “But this thing is fake, it doesn’t exist…”
"Whether it's true or false, as long as they can produce a complete one, they can clear their name of the scandal, right?"
Clark now has one feeling: the world has been turned upside down in ways he can't even imagine.
"To dispel the rumors, the royal family will definitely get a 'Snake of Frigan' and put it in the British Museum, and open a public exhibition so that everyone can see the artifact. They will also invite many media reporters to take pictures so that the whole world knows that they did not do such a thing."
“It’s one way, I suppose,” Clark said.
“It’s the only way,” Louise emphasized. She looked at the article on her screen again and said, “Once it’s publicly displayed, people will recognize that the image on it is exactly the same as the alien spaceship that’s been circulating online that appeared over Metropolis. And once this myth is spread, they will understand that the ancient Egyptians defeated aliens thousands of years ago.”
"So what's the point?" Clark genuinely felt like an idiot; it seemed that humans possessing super brains wasn't an isolated case.
"First of all, ancient Egypt was a civilization from thousands of years ago. If they could defeat aliens, why can't modern people? This can greatly reduce people's fear. But that's not the key point."
"The key question is, how did the ancient Egyptians defeat the aliens? Myths say that Tutankhamun pinned an emerald to the serpent's tail, meaning that the emerald was the key weapon."
Clark felt like things were back to square one.
Louise didn't keep him in suspense any longer. She continued, "People will think that whoever has the emerald can defeat the aliens and save the earth. Or rather, whoever has the emerald must defeat the aliens and save the earth; it's their responsibility."
Louise looked at Clark and said, "And the military hates taking responsibility the most."
Clark finally understood. He said, "In other words, the military can't use the emerald against me beforehand, otherwise it would expose that the key weapon to defeat the aliens is in their hands."
“That’s right. If people discover that they have such capabilities but fail to act bravely, they will be seen as irresponsible. The will of the people is secondary; other governments, and even other forces within the Federation, will also put pressure on them.”
Louise sighed and said, "They definitely want to keep the key weapons in their own hands, but key weapons are for negotiation, not for fighting. The emeralds that the military holds are not for deterring aliens, but for deterring humanity. They're using the fact that only they can deal with aliens to extract benefits from their own kind. If a war really breaks out, they'll be the first to run away."
"If that's the case, then exposing them seems pointless. After all, if they simply don't act, what can others do to them? Even if they're forced to act under pressure, they can just go through the motions, right?"
"It's not very effective to expose this to humans, but what if aliens find out too?"
Clark's eyes widened.
Louise smiled at him and said, "Dear alien, what would your people do if they knew that the military possessed weapons capable of seriously harming them—weapons that repelled them in ancient times and nearly killed you in modern times?"
“Wait a minute, how could they believe that ancient Egypt was already…” Clark slapped his forehead again and said, “So all this going through all this trouble was actually to make those Kryptonians believe this legend?”
Louise nodded and said, "Yes, after all, the fact that you're here proves that they've been to this planet before. Whether they came once or twice, it doesn't matter. Maybe they came thousands of years ago?"
Clark finally understood that the principle behind this whole situation was the same as his previous experience—once the people on that spaceship realized that humans really had something that could hurt and kill them, they would begin to feel helpless, helplessness would breed anger, and anger would destroy everything.
Some people say that the Robin who died in Battle of the Titans was the eldest son, but this was Zack Snyder's response off-screen. He told fans that the deceased Robin was "Richard." The movie didn't name him; it only showed a shot of his suit.
However, Warner Bros. actually greenlit a live-action Nightwing solo film back in 2017. It belongs to the same DCEU universe as Battle of the Three Kingdoms (BVS) and was originally part of Phase Two, but it's been delayed for too long and hasn't been released yet. This means that in Warner Bros.' official lore, Nightwing didn't die; that was likely Zack Snyder's own interpretation. (The live-action Nightwing film hasn't been abandoned. The latest development is that a screenwriter was confirmed around 2023, and the official release date is 2027, but I doubt it.)
Of the remaining two, I tend to think that the one who died was the youngest, Damian, because Batman's character is closer to being a villain and is older. In Suicide Squad, Robin died ten years ago, so Batman was probably around 40 years old. The suit he wore looked like a child's, so judging from his age, it's more likely to be Damian.
(Also, I'm sorry to the fan who raised this question; I meant to reply, but I accidentally deleted the comment QAQ)
(End of this chapter)