The ambulance rushed over at top speed. Police, guards, and the military quickly surrounded the scene, and countless journalists flocked in, filling the street in an instant.
Clark was soon loaded onto the ambulance, but since this was originally a major car accident scene, many vehicles were immobilized, making it difficult for the ambulance to get out.
Everyone was doing their best to disperse the crowd, and tow trucks were hurrying over. But the Presidential Palace ultimately decided not to wait, transferring the injured President to a helicopter first and then flying him to the hospital.
The helicopter landed, and Clark's stretcher was lifted out of the ambulance and transferred onto the helicopter.
The transfer process was a bit clumsy. On one hand, the density of the Man of Steel made Clark heavier than normal people, making it naturally harder to carry him; on the other hand, the ground was slippery, making it difficult to walk. In just this short distance of a few meters, the team stumbled around, almost dropping the stretcher.
Although Clark was conscious, he could still perceive his surroundings. He listened intently to every sound around him, and suddenly, he heard a very faint string twang.
Feigning the act of painful struggling, Clark suddenly raised an arm as if trying to turn over. This move caused the already unsteady stretcher to tip over to one side, along with the people carrying it falling to the ground.
The next second, with a "whoosh" sound, an arrowhead embedded itself in the ground not far away. The surrounding soldiers and police caused an uproar, raising their guns and beginning a search, quickly locking onto the direction the arrow came from and heading there.
Pretending to have fallen to the ground, Clark lifted his eyes to see that the arrowhead was green. There's no need to think about it, it was definitely made of Kryptonite. On Earth, this stuff could be considered a rich mineral, and from its discovery to now, the amount used could be more than many rare metals.
Wait, why a bow and arrow?
Clark recalled the sound he heard. He thought it should be a compound bow. He only heard the string twang because he was not familiar with the sound a compound bow should make when drawn, thinking of it only as noise. Although this weapon's power was not small, capable of inflicting significant harm on ordinary people, it was still no match for a gun.
The arrow's flight speed was indeed a bit slow, which gave him time to react. If it had been a sniper rifle, he might not have been able to dodge it, but the bullet wouldn't break through his defenses anyway.
Just thinking about this, he heard a "bang" as a bullet shot straight into the side of Clark's neck, hitting the major artery. Clark let out a painful groan, clutching his neck.
He could feel that the bullet that entered his body was still a Kryptonite bullet, and it was very precise, aiming straight to kill him. Fortunately, he had long been immune to Kryptonite, and could even absorb it. When the bullet entered his body, it was directly absorbed.
Clark was frustrated; he couldn't keep up this act. That damn assassin, I'll make you pay today!
But just as he inhaled deeply, preparing to get up, he started coughing violently. Apparently, the previous shot was very accurate, and although not fatal, it caused some of the blood from the artery to be aspirated into his trachea before the Kryptonite was fully absorbed. Although the wound healed instantly, it still choked Clark badly.
While coughing and retching, he struggled to expel the aspirated blood. By the time he tried to get up again, there were no abnormal movements around. Clearly, the assassin had timed it perfectly, leaving the range of his perception.
Since it was impossible to track down the assassin for revenge, he might as well continue acting. Clark sighed internally, then collapsed again, letting others carry him into the helicopter and fly him to the nearest hospital.
Of course, the President wouldn't use ordinary doctors but a professional medical team. The medical team Clark hired was the same group of doctors who had previously helped him deceive Amanda. They hurriedly rushed in, only to find Clark sitting unharmed on the operating table.
"Mr. President, you..." They all widened their eyes, trying to find evidence that Clark was holding up. After all, the situation described to them earlier was very severe: stabbed once, almost shot by an arrow, and then finally shot in the neck. Even a god would struggle to survive that!
Unexpectedly, Clark was fine, sitting on the operating table in deep thought. He waved a hand at them, saying, "I'm fine; it was an act before to make the assassins think they succeeded."
"Uh... why?" they asked.
Clark shook his head, not going into detail with them. In truth, there was not much other purpose except wanting to maintain the information gap.
These assassins, who knows where they got their information, believed he was restrained by Kryptonite. It used to be true, but now, after various training and experiments, he has basically become immune to Kryptonite, which the other side doesn't know.
So, Clark had to pretend to be injured, ensuring they never found out. This way, they would always use Kryptonite against him without thinking of any new tricks.
Just like the assassination attempt earlier, if he hadn't collapsed heavily injured after being stabbed by the Kryptonite dagger, the subsequent two assassins might have realized that Kryptonite could not restrain him, and they would have fled directly. But with his act, the two later ones were exposed.
This information is very important because the one who stabbed him with the dagger wasn't particularly professional. In a battle between prepared and unprepared parties, one doesn't need to be particularly professional; just having enough courage is sufficient.
But the two behind were different. Whether it was the one shooting arrows or the one firing the gun, they were both absolute professionals, top assassins. Their coordination was very tactical: first using an arrow to divert his attention, then a sniper bullet directly hitting the vital spot. If he hadn't already upgraded his resistance, he might really be in mortal danger now.
Yet, even though he was upgraded, the bullet still caused him some trouble. Clark wouldn't naively think this was a coincidence; it must have been deliberately planned by the opponent.
The bullet hit not the head or the chest, but the neck, actually the hardest to hit. The angle and force were so precise, they cleverly forced the blood from the artery into the trachea, buying themselves ample escape time. This couldn't be described merely as professional; even Superman felt disturbed knowing such a killer existed on Earth.
Indeed, he was no longer afraid of Kryptonite now. But what if the opponent attacked using the Power of Death? Or hit him with some other strange force?
The more Clark thought about it, the more he felt his strategy of feigning injury was wise. As long as he let them believe he was gravely injured by Kryptonite, they shouldn't seek other powers, keeping him temporarily safe.
But only temporarily. Diana had mentioned that when his arm was changed like that, she saw a thin black line. That thing was fast and covert; even if Damian shot it, Diana's arm would be hit. If that killer did it, his head might be in serious trouble.
Clark immediately began making calls, demanding they thoroughly investigate the killer. He directly transformed the securely guarded operating room into another office, leveraging all forces to track down this mysterious assassin.
Meanwhile, the police brought the latest news. They discovered a mechanical device in a nearby building, using simple physical mechanics to create a timed compound bow firing mechanism. Which means, that arrow shot wasn't made by a person, but by a mechanism.
Clark understood at once; this implied the killer was likely working solo. Choosing a compound bow might have been a deliberate signal.
The unusual string-pulling sound of the bow is easily noticeable, and the arrow's flight speed is relatively slow, offering him time to evade. From that angle, he was forced to flip in another direction. This way, he was very likely to land in the killer's predetermined spot.
While the killer was aiming, the sniper bullet arrived the moment he halted his actions. That was the deadly move.
At that time, he shouldn't have dodged the arrow. But instinctively seeking benefits and avoiding harm, along with his super reaction, made him evade the assassination, unknowingly falling into an even more dangerous trap.
If he weren't the one targeted, Clark would almost want to applaud the killer. The opponent must know him well, understanding he has super senses and super reaction, permitting setting such a trap. Whereas an ordinary person might struggle to dodge even the first arrow.
Clark almost provoked a nationwide search in frenzy. But he also knew this might not yield much effect. First, the killer was too formidable, unlikely to leave clues; second, there weren't enough hands everywhere. Though mobilizing police forces nationwide, only state police were truly useful, and New Jersey State's were notably lacking, with a car-chase success rate of just around ten percent.
While Clark was grinding his mind about how to capture this terrifying killer, Diana called him.
"Clark, I saw the news about your attack. I have some clues to tell you..."
Diana primarily mentioned the theft at the Metropolitan Museum's archives on the second floor. Initially, Clark hadn't connected it to his assassination until Diana mentioned the green gemstone.
"The material there details the legend of Tutankhamun slaying the snake. The myth says Tutankhamun used a scepter inlaid with a green gemstone to kill a kin of yours. This is the most important clue in the material."
"You mean, they stole this clue to find my weak spot?"
"Yes. Though we don't know how they did it, they seem to know the Martian invasion was just a hoax; you couldn't possibly be a Martian. But at that time, they didn't know the Frenes Snake was also a hoax. They believed the Frenes Snake was real, naturally revealing similar features between that red-blue striped giant snake and you from previous legends. So they're surely seeking your weakness in the information related to the Frenes Snake."
Clark suddenly understood. This connected everything. The artifact theft seemed to focus on the relic itself, but actually, stealing the relic might just be a blind eye technique. The real intent was to acquire detailed mythological data.
Because they're attempting to find Kryptonian weaknesses through the story described within the mythological data about ancient Egyptians killing suspected Kryptonian aliens, hoping to use it against the most crucial, hard-to-deal-with target—him.
Certainly, judging from previous news, one could infer Kryptonians fear green gemstones, no need seeking detailed data. But although the news broadly mentioned it, it never discussed the green gemstone's origins. Everyone treated it as casual gossip without probing deeper, so no one investigated the origins of that green gemstone.
But these people weren't the same. They aim to truly harm Clark, at least acquiring one green gemstone. Thus, they're seeking more detailed data, hoping to discover where exactly to find a green gemstone capable of injuring Kryptonians.
There indeed is one above the snake tail; legend says it's the scepter's piece, but no one knows if it's sufficient. Such items surely are better in abundance; having Kryptonite TNT is surely superior to little daggers, tiny arrowheads, etc.
However, what puzzled Clark was, after breaking the Frenes Snake, they should've known the relic was fake, thereby suspecting the legend was fake too. Why would they use elements from a fake legend to attack him then?