Clark didn't want to rush things either, but he knew his boss very well. When he's not back, maybe he can hold off a bit; if he comes back and doesn't work, he's definitely going to be in trouble. The editor-in-chief's patience can last until tomorrow morning at best. If he can't get the interview draft, he might as well say goodbye to the journalism industry.
So, even if Luthor Manor was a dragon's den, he had to brave it. What he didn't expect was that Luthor Manor truly was a dragon's den, but the most terrifying dragon wasn't Lex Luther, it was the corpse of the very person he was supposed to interview—Rafanas.
Clark easily snuck into the banquet. He arrived at just the right time, with many cars parked at the entrance and batches of various celebrities entering one by one. The doormen and valet waiters were too busy to check invitations.
Fortunately, considering today was his first day back at work, he had deliberately worn formal attire. Although carrying a camera bag was a bit odd, he didn't stand out much in the crowd and easily blended in.
After entering the hall, Clark began searching for his target for today. Rafanas was roughly a fifty-something middle-aged man, slightly overweight, balding, with a birthmark on his left hand. For an ordinary person, these features might not be obvious, but Superman has Super Vision, and just the birthmark alone made it easy to identify him.
Clark glanced around and quickly spotted Rafanas chatting with someone in the corner of the banquet hall. He knew he couldn't just rush over, after all, it was an interview, not a kidnapping; he had to wait until Rafanas was alone.
After waiting for a while, Rafanas finally put down his glass and walked toward the corridor at the back, seemingly headed for the restroom. Clark swiftly moved through the crowd to catch up with him.
"Hello, Mr. Rafanas, I'm a reporter from The Daily Planet. I have some questions regarding the municipal management plan for this quarter; can I take a few minutes of your time?"
Lasanas waved his hand impatiently, saying, "Those cliched questions are hardly worth asking. I have more important things to do right now, don't waste my time."
"Other topics are also open for discussion," Clark followed behind, "Please trust in The Daily Planet's reach; we'll report your views and attitudes accurately..."
Rafanas remained unwilling and walked all the way to the restroom door. As he turned to enter, he glanced at Clark's face, who had been following him.
"My goodness! You're not... you..."
"I'm a reporter from The Daily Planet," Clark quickly emphasized to him, "Are you willing to grant me an interview?"
"Of course, of course. For a dedicated reporter like you, I'm always willing to cooperate." Rafanas immediately beamed with a smile. He said, "I do have a lot to talk about, but I've lacked a platform to voice them. Here's the deal, wait for me in the reception room over there; I'll be right over."
Even in his haste, Clark couldn't follow him into the bathroom and had to head in the direction Rafanas indicated. The reception room Rafanas referred to was an independent tower located in the northeast corner of the banquet hall. The entire structure was round, with chairs and tables for meetings placed by the window.
This wasn't exactly a private space, as the corridors on the north and east sides were connected here and it had no door. This area didn't even have a ceiling, and above was an open courtyard, but relatively small, and couldn't be seen from any angle.
Clark looked around, noting that since it was far from the banquet hall, it was relatively secluded with no one around. Behind the windows were tall shrubs, and the backyard was utterly silent, unlike the bustling front yard.
Since he had snuck in, he couldn't very well ask Luther for an official reception room; such a place was already a good option. Clark sat down and began drafting. His questions were prepared on the spot; he initially thought there might be inadequacies, but unexpectedly, Rafanas was even more unpredictable.
Clark first asked some general questions, which the other answered rather well, proving his business capability was intact. However, given Clark's prior experience with Metropolis's municipal management, he harbored preconceived notions, so he proceeded to ask a few pointed questions about the tent areas and homeless. Yet, Rafanas's responses were flawless. The article read like the kind of political news draft the editor-in-chief favored.
Clark had almost wrapped up his questions and was about to finish up, but Rafanas, intriguingly, pulled him into discussions, asking first about his superpowers, then about his body structure. If not for the absence of lustful gaze in Rafanas's eyes, Clark nearly mistook it for sexual harassment.
Chatting patiently for a while, Clark realized Rafanas seemed to only be interested in aliens. Since he'd already been recognized, Clark had nothing to hide and briefly shared information about his superpowers and background.
Naturally, he didn't mention Krypton, focusing instead on the meteor event from years ago that were covered in the news, and the spaceship discovered by many in the North Pole. Thinking these would suffice to satisfy Rafanas's curiosity, but his questions became increasingly outrageous.
"Back then, did your parents really feel secure leaving you here? Didn't they prepare some guards or something for you?"
"I'm not a prince," Clark replied somewhat helplessly, "My parents were just ordinary scientists, without such great powers. Besides, there wasn't enough preparation time..."
"So they were scientists. Was the spaceship that brought you here something they developed?"
"That I'm not too sure of either; it probably underwent modification by them." Clark contemplated a bit and said. He's not good at lying, especially when facing sharp-witted politicians. The less said, the fewer mistakes.
"So, there must be quite a few scientists who can create such spaceships, right?"
Clark realized this question seemed a bit off, but wasn't sure who Rafanas was targeting. He said, "There should indeed be quite a few. What about it?"
"Then they might also come to Earth, right?"
Clark immediately thought of the contents fabricated in the Egyptian mythology related to the "Frenes Snake", which implies that Kryptonians had visited Earth thousands of years ago.
Even though the story was made up, and those who came might not have been Kryptonians, Clark's conclusion at the time was that he couldn't possibly be the first alien to visit Earth. Many predecessors might have been hiding within human society for a long time.
So he thought about it for a while and said, "I don't think my fellow people necessarily have to come to Earth. But any alien civilization capable of building interstellar ships could potentially visit Earth; it's just a matter of numbers and timing."
He spoke very conservatively, almost not admitting to anything. But Rafanas seemed to get excited and said, "So there are many, right?"
"Many what?"
"Aliens like you."
"Compared to the total number of humans, it certainly can't be considered many. I think we're in the minority." Clark's response became more and more cautious; he felt this old politician was up to something.
"Then who do you think might... I mean, in your opinion, who might seem like an alien? That is, there might be some common traits between you, and you could find resonance in them."
The alarm bells in Clark's mind were ringing loudly. He realized Rafanas might be trying to coax something out of him, but he really didn't know where Rafanas was aiming.
Overall, Clark wasn't someone particularly concerned with current affairs; otherwise, he wouldn't have never cared about the politicians his editor asked him to watch. For once, he had to stoop to pay attention, and he wasn't really invested. The article was just written haphazardly after arriving, with the main goal of winging it.
Rafanas's question made him realize that there might have been bad news in the current affairs section recently. To avoid getting entangled by this old fox, Clark could only apologize and then went to the restroom.
In the restroom, he picked up his phone and frantically searched, first checking the news page and then navigating to the current affairs section. A barrage of nonsensical jargon made his head spin, but he quickly caught the key point—"Martian invasion???"
Clark clicked on the photo of the Martian city taken by the rover, and with his years of journalistic experience, determined that the photo was probably not faked. But why would Martians want to invade Earth?
Clark scratched his head, unable to figure it out for a while, but he still analyzed from this information that Rafanas might be trying to ask who the Martian was.
Clark recalled the scenes he saw in the banquet hall and didn't see anyone who wasn't human. Everyone looked perfectly human.
However, he soon realized a logic: if Martians were easy to spot, it wouldn't be up to him to catch them. These aliens should be like him, almost indistinguishable from humans, maybe even their internal organs are similar, and he wouldn't be able to identify them even with X-ray vision.
This led to another deduction: if he couldn't spot them, humans certainly couldn't either. Not only couldn't they spot them, but perhaps current human technology couldn't distinguish them either.
This was going to be a big problem, Clark thought. He had previously considered that some alien predecessors might have hidden within human society long ago, but he didn't expect there to be so many. And from the way both parties were arguing, it seemed like Martians had been trying to secretly control human society all along?
Since Rafanas asked this, it indicated he thought one of the guests at today's meeting might be a Martian. But Clark genuinely couldn't spot them; their disguise was too good.
Clark was actually a bit indignant, feeling he must not have looked closely enough. After contemplating for a long time, he couldn't suppress his curiosity, and quickly walked towards the banquet hall. Standing at the edge of the corridor, he carefully examined everyone in the banquet hall. He swore he was very focused and didn't miss any detail, but indeed he found nothing.
As Clark walked towards the guest lounge, he pondered over what he had just seen, striving to ensure nothing was missed. When he returned to the lounge, Rafanas was not there; he thought the other might have gone to the restroom as well.
After all, he didn't go back to the lounge immediately after leaving the restroom; he still lingered at the banquet hall for a while, so they could have easily missed each other. Clark picked up the camera in front of him, thinking of taking some photos later to carefully review. Even if he couldn't see their anatomical structure, perhaps their attire might have flaws, surely allowing for identification.
Just then, he suddenly heard a commotion on the second floor. Instinctively, he looked up and saw a corpse falling from the sky. When it hit the ground, its pale eyes were staring right in Clark's direction.
Clark was stunned. He immediately looked towards the atrium, but there was no one there.
Now, it was just him and the corpse in the room, and his super hearing was telling him that the heated discussion in the banquet hall was about when the aliens would start killing people.