Chapter 455: The Beginning of Confrontation (Part 2) (Patreon)

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In the guest room of the mayor's mansion, Bruce, Lex, and Clark were still reflecting on the dream they had experienced.

Their perspectives on certain aspects of the dream couldn't be more different. It wasn't a matter of agreeing to disagree; it was a full-blown clash of opinions.

"Even if they are guilty, you can't use that kind of method to destroy them. It's neither reasonable nor humane!" Clark exclaimed loudly to Bruce.

"I was just trying to decipher the dream," Bruce calmly replied.

"But aren't you afraid that it's not just a dream? When you used those black waves to impact the crowd, did you ever consider what would happen if it was real? Can you resurrect the dead?" Clark questioned.

"Clark, is there something wrong with your brain?" Lex suddenly interjected, his voice equally cold. He said, "Those people, under the condition that you saved them, unanimously voted to kill you. And yet, you have the audacity to stop Bruce from killing them. Are you insane?"

"I never intended to kill them. I don't kill people," Bruce countered Lex. He said, "I have a strong conviction that it was indeed a dream. Violent decryption is the most efficient method, otherwise, we would all be trapped there."

"A strong conviction?" Clark sneered and said, "You dare to do something like this without complete certainty, and you still have the nerve to call yourself a non-killer?"

"Because his brain works faster than yours," Lex turned to Clark again, mercilessly saying, "What was the beginning of this whole thing? Wasn't it you, without thinking or investigating, knocking me unconscious?"

Clark suddenly fell silent, then he looked into Lex's eyes and said, "On this point alone, you're right. The beginning of all this did indeed stem from my recklessness."

He turned his head to the side, his tone somewhat somber, and said, "If someone truly dies because of this, I bear an irrefutable responsibility."

But his apology left Lex somewhat shattered. He said, "You're truly insane, Clark, you..."

He stared at Clark with his eyes, seemingly unable to comprehend how his saintly mindset had developed.

Lex took a deep breath and then said to Clark, "I take back my previous inference. It's not because you're powerful enough that you're tolerant. It's simply because there's something wrong with your brain."

"How can you say that about me? Even if I was a bit reckless before, you can't resort to personal attacks!" Clark crossed his arms and looked at Lex.

"Your physical condition is severely lacking," Bruce pointed out the most vulnerable part of Lex, hitting the nail on the head. He said, "Even if Clark initially knocked you out, if you had remained conscious, you could have easily manipulated those people and controlled the vote."

"Of course, I could," Lex said disdainfully, hugging his arms. "Facing such a group of incredibly foolish people, manipulating their thoughts is as easy as pie."

"You can't just manipulate the thoughts of the masses at will! Lex, your ideas are dangerous!" Clark spoke up again.

Lex was truly on the verge of losing his temper...

In simple terms, these three individuals are vastly different in various aspects.

If we were to divide them into factions, both Bruce and Clark belong to the Hero faction. They want to protect ordinary people, while Lex couldn't care less about the lives of ordinary people.

However, when it comes to methods, Bruce and Lex are similar. They prioritize results and believe that appropriate control and surveillance are necessary. On the other hand, Clark believes in procedural justice.

In terms of geography, Clark and Lex stand together. Both of them are from Metropolis and share the strong belief that Gotham is full of lunatics.In this extremely complex triangular relationship, it is normal for consensus to be unattainable.

Just as the three of them were arguing incessantly, there was a sudden knock on the door of the guest room. Clark squinted his eyes and said, "A man with bandages on his head, but I don't know him."

Bruce and Lex exchanged a glance, and by then, Clark had already walked up to open the door.

After the door opened, Benjamin appeared outside with gauze wrapped around his head. He had previously been knocked unconscious by Lex and Schiller, then interrogated by Bruce. After waking up, he looked extremely haggard.

"Hello, do you need any help?" Clark asked with great concern, but Benjamin didn't even look at him. He simply made eye contact with the other two people in the room.

Bruce took a step back, and Benjamin walked in. Benjamin first looked at Bruce and said, "Mr. Wayne, you really surprised me..."

Then, he turned his head and looked at Lex, saying, "Mr. Luthor, you're the same."

"I don't understand why you rich second-generation individuals have to play these games. Is it amusing to pretend to be a playboy and have autism?" Benjamin said, questioning.

Bruce and Lex remained silent, assuming very similar postures, both crossing their arms and scrutinizing Benjamin with a penetrating gaze, almost like X-rays.

Perhaps, intelligent people always possess very similar traits. When their gaze falls upon someone, it always makes that person feel as if they have been seen through.

Benjamin couldn't resist this pressure, so he had to speak first. "I need your help. I must find the mysterious Soviet spy."

Bruce was about to refuse when Benjamin said, "I am very certain that someone among the participants of the banquet has a connection to the person who took the Philby list."

"Why are you so sure?"

"That's classified."

As soon as Benjamin finished speaking, he saw the expressions on Bruce and Lex's faces change. So he quickly explained, "The details are indeed classified, but in general, this agent should have a relatively high social status."

"Perhaps you have heard about Philby's story on the radio. During his investigation, his every move was closely monitored. At that time, the people he could come into contact with couldn't be of a low level."

"Don't you have a list of the specific individuals he interacted with?"

"If the U.K. could produce such a list, Philby wouldn't have been able to escape back to Moscow."

Benjamin's explanation was very reasonable, and Bruce and Lex had no room for rebuttal. It was a straightforward and easily understandable reason. If the U.K.'s intelligence institutions had any capabilities, they wouldn't have let Philby get away unscathed.

In fact, Philby's escape had a far greater impact on the reputation of the U.K. than the harm caused by the leakage of intelligence. After all, the U.K. didn't have any important intelligence to leak.

"To put it more plainly, the U.K. is not unaware that the people Philby came into contact with during that period may be suspicious. But the problem is, during that time, he only interacted with high-ranking individuals, and no one dares to investigate the high-ranking officials."

"There's another question," Lex continued to ask, "If this person dared to pass on intelligence for Philby during that period, why didn't he successfully transmit the intelligence back to Moscow? Instead, he came to the East Coast of the United States?"

Benjamin shook his head and said, "We don't have any relevant leads. That's exactly what I need to investigate."

"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked."I hope to get your help," Benjamin sighed and continued, "Previously, when you were fighting with the agent in the hallway, the gunshots were loud and caused a great panic. Many people would rather have conflicts with the agent than stay here."

"If we focus on calming the panic, there won't be enough time to investigate the spy-related clues."

"So, you want us to be the bad guys, persuade those people to stay here, so that you can investigate them?" Lex said bluntly.

"This can only be called cooperation. After all, whether it's the Luthor Group in Metropolis or the Wayne Group in Gotham, neither would want a dangerous Soviet spy operating in their hometowns."

"If he is allowed to operate freely, there may be more serious consequences. If you have contact with him without knowing it, you may also be suspected."

"You don't have to threaten us," Lex said in a cold voice. "The Luthor Group alone provides hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Metropolis area."

"If the controllers of the Luthor Group are suspected of collusion, stocks will plummet, and the consequences of industry contraction will be unemployment, followed by a financial crisis."

"Once Wayne and I are eliminated by you, all entrepreneurs will be in fear, and the economic crisis will come early. Congress won't allow you to do this."

Benjamin felt his breathing become difficult. After all, he shouldn't have been using so much brainpower after being injured. But the problem now was that he had exhausted his brainpower and was completely unable to compete with the two people in front of him.

"Even without the CIA, we can still investigate the spy. Or, if you let us go, we can exert more force. The Luthor Group's industry covers the entire Metropolis, and tracking their movements is as easy as pie. The Wayne Group is the same for Gotham."

Lex continued to analyze the situation, but Benjamin came up with another condition. He said, "You should understand about the treasure hidden underground in Metropolis. Now that the CIA has learned of this intelligence, you can't take all the treasure. The military is waiting eagerly."

"If you're willing to help me, I can stand on your side when deciding the share in the future. If this job goes smoothly, the two institutions in charge of internal and external affairs, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will regain their power, enough to decide some things."

When they heard the word "treasure," Lex, Bruce, and Clark looked at each other. They thought of the things they saw in their dreams.

They had no evidence to prove that the dream Schiller had created was based on reality. Therefore, they couldn't be sure if the huge kryptonite buried underground in Metropolis was real.

But they had reason to believe that Schiller had investigated something before weaving such a dream. In other words, the treasure hidden underground in Metropolis was likely to be kryptonite.

After knowing this, to some extent, the interest goals of the three of them were in agreement.

Lex and Bruce were both skeptics. They couldn't fully accept Clark and his powerful superpowers. They hoped to have something to counter him. Therefore, they both wanted to obtain kryptonite.

As for Clark, he didn't care if someone wanted to use this thing to counter him. He was more concerned about whether this stone would really cause cancer in ordinary people, and he hoped to transfer these things and not bury them here.

But they all knew that finding and transferring this thing was not easy. If its volume was really as large as in the dream, it would require a lot of manpower to excavate, and it would definitely alarm all parties.

Almost at the same time, Lex and Bruce gave their answers. Bruce spoke first, "We can help you, but we have a request."

Lex continued, "We don't trust your efficiency and that of your agents. So, let's switch our roles."

"Switch roles? What do you mean?"

"You go and appease those people, and we'll investigate the Soviet spy."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 456: The Mystery of the Spy (Part 1)