When Clark flew onto Lois's balcony, he found her sitting on the sofa watching TV. Clark was taken aback, he even looked around suspiciously, but didn't find anyone else.
"Lois," he called softly as if afraid the figure before him was an illusion.
"Oh, God, you're here!" Lois tossed aside the remote and walked briskly to the window.
Clark walked in and hugged her briefly, then said, "Are you okay? You..."
"Shh..." Lois gestured, then pointed outside the door, indicating someone was listening.
Clark immediately covered his mouth, but quickly lowered his voice and said, "How did you..."
"They did take me away, but I persuaded their leader to change solitary confinement to home surveillance."
Clark felt anger surging again, but now his emotional control was much better. He took a deep breath, barely suppressing his anger, and then said somewhat guiltily, "Sorry, it's all because of me..."
"Well, you give yourself too much credit," Lois smiled and said, "Even without you, they might still come after me."
"...Why?" Clark was a bit puzzled. He thought Lois was totally dragged into this because of him; the military wanted to threaten him by abducting someone important to him, like Luthor.
Lois shook her head, said nothing, and just led him to the computer, then pointed at the screen.
Clark walked over, sat on the sofa, and looked at the article on the screen, stunned just by the title.
"Is the destruction of Ancient Egyptian Civilization related to aliens? Is third contact a blessing or a curse?"
Clark has this headache whenever he sees "Ancient Egyptian Civilization," he really didn't know how Lois also got involved in this Ancient Egyptian Civilization thing, could there really be some Curse of the Pharaoh?
Clark expressed his doubts, Lois reached out and patted his face, then said, "Clark, how did you decide to become a reporter? Didn't you realize you're completely unsuited for this?"
"It's a long story." Clark said, looking up at the sky, "Maybe it starts from the year our winter barley sales went poorly. Let's not talk about this, tell me what's going on here."
"Someone sent me an email," Lois said, "I often receive these exposé emails, about some company denying claims, some case having issues in trial, or some bigwig meeting a lady friend, all wanting me to seek justice for them, but most have ulterior motives."
"So this time is the same?"
"Of course. However, this time the information could truly be helpful to us." Lois opened her email to show Clark the message she received, she said, "The sender claimed to be a collector, he said an artifact he owns called 'Frenes Snake' was swapped out from the British Museum by the British Royal Family. Here's detailed info about the mural, and the legend surrounding it. Look at this, doesn't this pattern resemble the spaceship that appeared over Metropolis that day?"
Clark finally understood, when one is speechless, one really smiles. He didn't even know where to begin explaining to Lois; he even started doubting whether Bruce miscalculated, if there truly was such an artifact, or if he had entered a dreadful time loop, why does everyone keep repeating the same thing, the same story?
"It's fake," Clark said, "This thing is forged, there's no such artifact."
To his surprise, Lois said something even more shocking: "All artifacts are forged, history is forged too."
Clark was truly astounded, he didn't expect Lois to say something like this, his facial expression visibly contorted.
"Don't look at me like that, I am not a proponent of pseudo-history. I'm merely saying that whether artifacts or history, they consist of many parts. The real part of them is less than you might imagine. Their existence is real, but the interpretation and speculation about them from later generations, are not all true."
"To be precise, this thing doesn't have absolute truth or falsehood. If someone believes a certain artifact serves a particular purpose, then regardless if it was used that way in the past, this speculation itself becomes part of it. Why do people make such assumptions, what are their origins, and what are their reasons? Sometimes these outweigh whether the artifact truly served that function. In some sense, part of an artifact's existence lies in this."
"We need archaeologists, we need historians, we need to explore our past and find where we came from. This matter itself is more important than the past we actually find. Historical research is one of the rare activities where the process is greater than the result, do you understand?"
Clark shook his head, completely bewildered. Lois's words only made him think humans are far too complex, without helping him understand anything.
"Alright, then let's not discuss that," Lois continued, "Regarding what you said about the artifact being fake, or the entire email being fake, I must say: Truth or falsehood isn't important, what's important is the process of exploring it."
"Indeed, perhaps there truly isn't such an artifact after all the checking, but in order to investigate if this artifact really exists, how much needs to be checked? Historical records, contemporary artifacts, transaction records of the British Museum should all be checked, which of these can withstand scrutiny?"
Clark suddenly understood, he said, "You're right, to prove it's fake, there must be evidence, but evidence needs investigation. The British Museum..."
Clark stopped talking. He's not an expert in this field, nor has he done similar reporting, but even theft cases with news records happen frequently, let alone behind the scenes.
Clark really started to wonder if the "Frenes Snake" actually existed, but because it involved a scandal, it was fabricated into nonexistence. It's not that he didn't trust Bruce; he just didn't trust the British Museum.
If all of this is truly Shiller's woven plot, then who says there is no perfect crime in the world? The "good reputation" of the British Museum leads to even if he goes out now to say this isn't true, Luther and the military might not believe it. They would just think it's a covered-up scandal, practically flawless.
Clark also figured it out, the beauty of this scam lies in the fact that you can't really investigate; what if something actually comes up?
The British Museum would never present any records of artifacts, and it absolutely can't come out to debunk the authenticity of relics. If they opened this can of worms, it would be total disaster, and the entire British Museum wouldn't have a single genuine piece left. Who knows, maybe the whole Great Britain Island is a fake too.
"So..." Clark looked at Lois.
"We need to expose this scandal." Lois smiled slightly at the computer screen and said, "The data that mysterious sender provided to me is enough to tarnish the Royal Family's reputation. What do you think, how will the Royal Family shake off the scandal of artifact swap?"
Clark furrowed his brow. It's the same issue; asking the British Museum to provide evidence isn't realistic, even the Royal Family can't do that. It would destabilize the very foundation of the nation. So what to do?
"The best way is to exhibit the 'Frenes Snake'," Lois said.
"Huh?" Clark looked at her and said, "But it's a fake, it doesn't exist..."
"Whether it's real or fake, as long as they can present a complete one, the scandal can be cleared, right?"
Clark now felt that the world had turned into something beyond his imagination.
"To refute the rumors, the Royal Family will surely come up with a 'Frenes Snake', place it in the British Museum, and set up a public exhibition for everyone to see this relic, also inviting numerous media reporters over to film it, so that the whole world will know they didn't do such a thing."
"It's a plan, I guess," Clark said.
"It's the only plan," Lois emphasized. She then looked at the article on her screen and said, "Once it's publicly exhibited, surely someone will recognize that the patterns on it are identical to those on the alien spaceship that appeared above the Metropolis. And as long as this myth is spread, they'll understand that the people of Ancient Egypt already defeated aliens thousands of years ago."
"So what's the significance of this?" Clark genuinely felt like a fool, thus questioning, does possessing a super brain make one unique?
"First of all, remember that Ancient Egypt was a civilization 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 main point."
"The main point is, based on what did the people of Ancient Egypt defeat the aliens? The myth tells of how Tutankhamun pinned an emerald at the end of the snake's tail, implying that the emerald is the key weapon."
Clark felt the situation had circled back to its original point.
Lois didn't keep them guessing; she continued, "People will think whoever possesses the emerald can defeat aliens and save Earth. Or put another way, whoever has the emerald is obliged to defeat aliens to save Earth, that's their duty."
Lois looked at Clark and said, "But the military, they hate responsibilities the most."
Clark finally understood and said, "So, the military can't use the emerald against me ahead of time, otherwise it would reveal that the key weapon to defeat aliens is in their hands."
"Correct. Once it's found out that they have such capabilities but didn't heroically act, they would be seen as irresponsible. The will of the people might be a secondary concern, but other governments, even other forces within the Federation, will pressure them."
Lois sighed and said, "They certainly want to keep the key weapon in their grasp, but it's a tool for negotiation, not for war. The emerald in the military's hands isn't to deter aliens, but to deter humans. They'd find it more profitable to gain benefits from their own kind under the premise that only they can handle the aliens. If a real fight breaks out, they'd be the first to flee."
"If that's the case, then exposing it seems pointless. After all, if they don't act, what can others do? Even under pressure, they can still deliver subpar performance, right?"
"Among humans, exposure might not hold much weight, but what if the aliens come to know?"
Clark widened his eyes.
Lois smiled at him and said, "Dear alien, if your kind learns that the military holds a weapon capable of severely hurting them, and in ancient times, this weapon once repelled them; in modern times, this weapon almost killed you, what do you think they'll do?"
"Wait a minute, why would they believe Ancient Egypt already..." Clark slapped his forehead and said, "So going through all this trouble is actually to make those Kryptonians believe this legend?"
Lois nodded and said, "Yes, after all, your presence here is proof they've visited this planet before. They might have already come once, twice, or even thousands of years ago."
Clark finally realized that this entire setup's principle was similar to his prior experiences—once the people aboard that ship realize humans possess something capable of hurting and killing them, they'll start feeling helpless, and helplessness will give birth to anger, and anger will destroy everything.