Diana sat up from the bed in her apartment and sighed deeply. She glanced at her watch, wiped her face, and then went to the bathroom to wash up. Recalling the events that had occurred recently, even this brave and capable heroine couldn't help but feel exhausted.
Steve's blue eyes appeared countless times in her dreams, tossing and turning, restless and contemplative.
However, Diana couldn't treat this resurrected Steve as her true lover. From Hal and Barry, she learned that their close relatives being resurrected might be the work of the behind-the-scenes manipulator corrupted by dark powers. Despite her reluctance, Diana had to temporarily leave Steve under the care of the Amazon Queen.
Logically, he should be sent to America since experts from around the world are gathered there to study these pseudo-humans. But Steve had once fallen into the Amazon, and Diana had told him many things about it. Recklessly placing him in America might lead more people to pry into the secrets of the Amazon, which the Queen didn't want. Therefore, there was no choice but to compromise and keep him locked up in the Queen's prison.
At the sudden sight, Diana was stirred by many memories and had been unable to sleep well these days. She intended to take leave, but the Metropolitan Museum's Christmas holiday had ended, and she didn't want to request personal leave, so she chose to return to work in Metropolis.
After getting ready, Diana drove out. Recently everyone had just returned to work, and the roads were bustling; there was some traffic. On her way to the Metropolitan Museum, Diana received a call from her boss.
"Yes, there is indeed some traffic, but I'll be there soon... What?!"
Diana could hardly believe what she heard, a name as resounding as thunder echoed in her mind—Phryne's Snake.
Without hesitation, Diana made a sharp turn, parked the car by the roadside, and with a "whoosh," flew into the air, heading straight for the Metropolitan Museum.
Rushing into the museum hall, she pushed through the crowd of security personnel and stared at the shattered glass case and the empty wall, utterly stunned.
"Phryne's Snake has been stolen?!!" Diana exclaimed in disbelief, "Who would steal it, for what?!!"
Diana's first reaction was this because after all, she knew the snake was fake. It looked like a precious Egyptian artifact, but in reality, it was worthless.
The outsiders weren't aware, but Diana, having worked at the museum for so long, had encountered all kinds of incidents before. It wasn't the first time someone had tried to rob or steal something. But the biggest question was, what thief, leaving behind all those jewels and paintings, would steal a half-ton mural? Were they afraid they might escape, or what?
Thinking back, this thief was quite something—the Phryne's Snake mural was divided into three segments and was a three-dimensional carved mural, roughly as thick as an adult's forearm. Combined, the three segments weighed about half a ton, over 1000 pounds. Transporting this thing was a significant challenge.
Diana knew all this quite well because when this mural arrived at the Metropolitan Museum, the transportation difficulty required the removal of two door frames and several cranes were brought in. Even in the end, it was Diana who flew up to help mount it successfully.
Who would have thought that in a single night, it could be taken away along with the frame? Who on earth was capable of stealing this mural?
What also began to raise a bad premonition in Diana's heart was this thing seemed to be Shiller's exclusive weapon, strongly bound to Schiller Rodriguez. As they say, if something happened with this snake, it must have something to do with Shiller.
Diana walked out of the crowd, took out her phone, and dialed Shiller's number, then said, "Hello? Shiller? It's me. You know that snake has been stolen again, right?"
As soon as she said it, Diana realized something was wrong. Why did she say "again"?
"I just found out," Shiller replied. "It's really unfortunate. The human race might miss out on a treasure of Egyptian civilization."
"You don't know what's going on?" Diana was completely skeptical and pursued further.
"I did indeed collect that painting for a while, but unfortunately, it's not meant to be. Hearing about the theft, I'm also very regretful. But, now the President's Office is extremely busy, and I indeed can't spare any effort to investigate. Madam, if you could..."
Before he finished speaking, Diana hastily hung up the phone—the Curse of the Pharaoh is still chasing me!
Although Diana really didn't want to get involved in this matter, the fact was that this was a loaned artifact, and if lost, the British Museum and Egyptian officials wouldn't be pleased.
The British Museum naturally treated this thing as its own, and since it recorded information about aliens, it would leave a significant mark in history, practically becoming their national treasure. If it weren't for clearing up a scandal at the time, they wouldn't have lent it to Metropolis.
Egypt feels that this artifact originally belongs to them. If it's kept in the British Museum, it might never see the light of day. But since it's been loaned out, it might be returned one day, and they're still thinking about it being returned to its rightful owner.
As for the Federal Government, there's no need for much explanation. When they borrow anything, it's always borrowed without being returned, and they've long regarded this precious relic as their property, naturally unwilling for the Federation's property to be damaged.
Thus, the Metropolitan Museum is under tremendous pressure. Everyone drops whatever they're doing to quickly investigate the whereabouts of the valuable artifact. Diana is even specially named because everyone at the Metropolitan Museum knows she has superpowers, believing her investigation will be doubly effective.
At this moment, Diana feels speechless. This Ancient Egypt artifact less than a year old has indeed become a cherished treasure. And yet, Shiller, that deadbeat liar, has washed his hands of it, leaving her clueless about where to find the traces of the relic.
There are cameras in the Metropolitan Museum, but if cameras were useful, major museums around the world would be perfectly safe. Dealing with ordinary cameras is really too simple. Whether hacking into systems or physically pulling wires, just bribing internal personnel, or sneaking in, it's all very easy.
Alternatively, if you don't deal with the cameras, you can just cover your face. Although you'll expose your tracks within the museum, once you leave the museum, it's tough to track.
This time the robbers were extremely cautious, directly cutting off all the museum's power, so no surveillance cameras were working. However, Diana quickly inferred that this wasn't because the robbers were smart, but because they had to do this.
Stealing such a large stone mural is different from stealing pots, pans, and jewelry. Those things can be taken away in a bag, but this mural cannot be moved without a professional lifting machine. And to get those machines, it's impossible for one or two people; it must be a crew, and they need a lot of time. Without cutting the camera, they would be quickly discovered.
Moreover, outside the Metropolitan Museum, there are some cameras, and if not cut off, it could capture their vehicle. Other robbers drive ordinary sedans that can blend into the crowd and leave. But for transporting such a large item, they must use trucks, which are harder to escape with. If the vehicle features are shot, it would be truly difficult to escape.
With cameras unreliable, they could only inspect the marks inside the museum. But the marks were cleaned very meticulously, and it didn't seem like heavy machinery was used. What puzzled Diana the most was that the door frame was completely intact.
The exhibition hall of the mural had only a small door for exit. At that time, the door frame was dismantled to bring the mural in, so how could it be taken out without dismantling?
Diana naturally thought of the worst outcome, which is that these guys thought it was troublesome to take the mural out, so they simply smashed it and carried it out in small pieces.
A large mural is indeed valuable, but if it can't be transported, it's pointless. Smashed into pieces, although most might lose value, those parts depicting aliens might be sold for a higher price.
Thinking of this, Diana couldn't help but rub her forehead. She wasn't sentimental for the relic because it's not really a relic. Whether it's smashed to pieces doesn't matter. What worries her is that if it's really smashed, investigating becomes tough, and her job becomes hard.
Sure enough, during the discussion, someone said, "Since there are no lifting machine traces, it's most likely smashed." When this was said, the atmosphere plummeted instantly. Everyone knew that if it was really smashed, it certainly couldn't be recovered, maybe even lead to a diplomatic incident, and everyone would get the boot.
At this point, Diana spoke up: "But smashing such a large item isn't easy, it needs specialized tools. If a jackhammer was used, the traces might be heavier than a lifting machine. Since we didn't find any, maybe they used another method."
With her words, many echoed her thoughts. After all, no one wants to face the worst scenario. But at that moment, someone knocked on the door and entered, saying, "I inspected the archives and found that all the documents, reports, and materials related to the Frenes Snake are gone."
"What?!" The curator stood up, incredulous, and looked at him, "Those people stole the documents too?! Are they crazy?!"
Diana was also slightly surprised. Typically, robbers who steal relics don't care about documents, as they mostly act after getting a buyer: point then rob. The buyer who specifies this artifact naturally understands its value better than anyone else, no need for documents to prove.
Even without a definite buyer, if they rob first and then find one, such a huge theft news will surely hit the newspapers, everyone will know. For jewelry and paintings, maybe an appraisal is needed to prevent fakes, but these stone murals essentially have no fake possibility, thus no need for documents to boost their value.
Just as she thought this, Diana inwardly rebutted herself, not that this thing has no fake possibility; isn't it entirely fake?
However, the act of stealing documents remains very peculiar. Most people think towards proving the artifact's value, but Diana feels that the act of stealing documents suggests the opposing party isn't purely aiming to sell the relic.
To say the least, there isn't a particular reason, just intuition. Because a regular crook, daring to conduct such an act, has no reverence for historical relics. Frankly, they're even less respectful than Diana is towards the Curse of the Pharaoh, lacking patience for dense historical documents, likely just checking Wikipedia post-theft.
But the entire archives, all materials related to the Frenes Snake, have been cleaned out, which seems to be targeting the documents themselves. Indeed, these documents appear to be more significant than the artifact itself.