Clark felt a sense of intuition, Shiller indeed seemed like someone who enjoyed watching the world burn. His way of acting proved that he must have done many things like this before.
But precisely because of that, Clark also felt that this time was different. He wasn't entirely here just to stir up trouble. Otherwise, with his skill in designing and executing this scheme, Earth would have burned to ashes.
There were indeed some malicious pranks within the plan, but that's not the focus. His energy wasn't entirely centered on that, he must have a more pragmatic goal.
So, he couldn't possibly have gathered everyone at the exhibition just for a chaotic show and chose to hide away and not cooperate at this time. He definitely had other motives. What could they be?
Clark didn't plan on asking Lois, although he thought Lois might have answers. But he couldn't rely on others forever; he had to learn to think independently, at least succeed once by himself.
In some aspects, Clark was very stubborn. He had a strong obsession with proving his existence. He didn't want to rely on Batman, nor did he want to rely on Lois. Even if he had to rely on them in the end, he couldn't just give up from the start, but he had to try and strive until the very last second.
Calm down, Clark, you can do it. Clark cheered himself on internally. He thought this shouldn't be difficult because there were many known clues. Bruce and Lois had analyzed it clearly before, and Shiller's actions were traceable. As long as he combined them to make deductions, he should be able to understand it.
Clark realized that although his super brain worked quickly, perhaps due to a lack of professional knowledge, he didn't have a very efficient way of deducing, not knowing how to sift and integrate clues, so that when he tried to start deducing, he couldn't even find a thread.
Well, he couldn't ask Lois about this, but at least he should ask how she usually thinks. Clark found an inconspicuous alley to pass through, mingling in the crowd before getting on a car.
While driving away, Clark hesitated several times to speak. He wanted to know, but feared Lois would guess his purpose, so he wrestled with it for a while, his facial expression fluctuating.
Finally, Lois couldn't hold back anymore, "Are you uncomfortable, Clark?"
"No." Clark shook his head, plucking up his courage, and finally asked, "You usually... I mean, if you want to find the truth about something, how do you think?"
"You're interested in that?" Lois looked a bit surprised.
"Yeah, shouldn't I be interested?"
"You should be much smarter than the human race, right?"
"Not necessarily."
"But without a sufficiently smart brain, you wouldn't be able to control such powerful strength, Clark. I know you're smart."
Although it was praise, Clark just shyly responded as a gesture, considering it sounded more like sarcasm.
"You may not necessarily grasp my way of thinking," Lois said, "because my brain isn't that strong. It's tough for me to recall details about something. Merely remembering countless details consumes a lot of my energy. If your memory is better than mine, you can skip these steps and can also notice many details I might overlook..."
"Yes, after skipping all that, do you have any trick?" Clark was relentless, pursuing.
"No skipping." Lois shook her head, "Details are everything; you can deduce everything from the details."
Upon hearing this, Clark recalled that he had previously confirmed Martha wasn't really kidnapped because he noticed some details were off about the chaotic scene at Kent's Farm. Such as scattered hay bales, tire tracks, and oatmeal spilled on the ground without filling a pot.
So, perhaps the scene he had just witnessed also hid some details. And those details revealed Shiller's motives.
When Clark began remembering, he realized Lois was right. The greatest benefit of the super brain was its excellent memory. Though he only stayed there briefly, the details of all the objects were etched impeccably in his mind. Now, whenever he recalled, he could see them clearly.
Clark took a deep breath, first politely bid goodbye to Lois as he dropped her at his place, then returned to his apartment. Closing the door, he lay down on the bed—he needed to revisit the scene.
Clark closed his eyes, searching for the feeling he had after fainting at the military base, beginning to recreate the scene in his mind using his memory. First the simplest structure of the room, then the furniture, and finally details about people and various traces.
When he reopened his eyes, Clark realized he had returned to the Luther Hotel. Everything was frozen in that moment.
The aliens holding guns vigilantly, the officer lying on the ground with a grim face, the senator and his mistress huddled in a corner, the somewhat messy room...
Clark first checked those aliens. Of course, it was not to suspect Shiller of posing as an alien, but mainly to see if there were any traces left on them. As expected, there were none. Then he walked over to the officer and checked them. One had an injured arm, but it was not hit by a laser; instead, it was struck by fragments from the collapsed ceiling, which wasn't particularly special.
Next, he approached the senator and looked at his face. Clark started searching his memory and soon found a vaguely remembered report. It was vague not because he hadn't memorized it, but because he hadn't paid much attention at the time—after all, he wasn't interested in political news. The senator might have just been in a two or three-second clip, which Clark didn't take to heart.
His instincts told him that the key was not the senator's identity. Then he looked at that female companion again, who was also quite ordinary, nothing beyond the average.
Clark looked at the sheets, and there were some wrinkles on the edge of the bed. He furrowed his brow and flew up directly, looking down from above the hotel room.
The senator got up and sat on the bed, while the mistress sat on his lap. They were flirting when the officer burst in. The interrupted senator was very annoyed, and the group quarreled. Subsequently, the aliens charged in, and a gunfight ensued, leading to the unfortunate collapse of the building.
Seeing this, everything seemed fine, leaving Clark puzzled. Why couldn't he discern any details?
He looked inside and outside again, but this time was different from Kent's Farm. Kent's Farm was severely damaged, with details everywhere for inspection. However, although the hotel room had been through a round of gunfire, not much was actually destroyed, at most a few bullet holes on the wall, a shattered vase, and the wall being sliced apart.
It was tough, truly tough. Clark began to pull his hair: "What is there to see?!!"
Due to fruitless pondering, Clark had no choice but to change his approach. He began to think: if he were Shiller, why make such a move?
Actually, if he didn't want to be found, he could just hide away. And the fact that the officer could find the Luther Hotel means Shiller was definitely here recently. In other words, Shiller deliberately led the military to the Luther Hotel. Why did he do this?
Suddenly, Clark had a flash of inspiration. Shiller leading people to Luther Hotel, the key was neither Shiller nor the people he brought in, but the Luther Hotel.
The Luther Hotel is a property of the Luther Group, and the most important part of the Luther Group is Luther. This means that Shiller's actions were likely aimed at Luther.
Though Clark was delighted to see Luther targeted, Shiller and Luther weren't enemies, so why target him?
If not due to past reasons, then perhaps for future events. Shiller wanted to achieve some purpose by targeting Luther. What could it be?
This was simple, Clark realized quickly. The entire Luther Hotel was sliced in half, not to mention if Luther only injured his big toe, even if he were paralyzed, he'd still have to crawl up to take a look.
The Luther Hotel is a renowned landmark in Metropolis and the face of the Luther Group, bringing considerable revenue to the Luther Group every quarter. As long as Lex Luther is alive, if something happened to the hotel, he must make an appearance.
What's more, this time it's not just a problem inside the hotel but the hotel itself has an issue. Such a large hotel collapsed right down the middle, which can be considered the most significant architectural disaster of the 21st century. If this problem is not addressed properly, the entire Luther Group would be doomed.
The key is that others don't know this was done by aliens; they would only think that the Luther Group skimped on materials during hotel construction, leading to the collapse of the Luther Hotel. Although Superman appeared in time, preventing greater casualties from the disaster, but...
At this point, Clark suddenly had an inkling: it's going to use him to provoke Luther again.
Just think about it, first Luther was played around by Shiller, then lost the gemstone due to a ridiculous mistake, and now at this critical juncture, an incident occurred at the Luther Hotel. He was already frustrated, and in the end, it was Superman, whom he had defended against and targeted so much, that saved the hotel. If Clark were Luther, he'd wish he could jump into the Atlantic right now.
Clark felt a bit intimidated by the thought of possibly driving Luther insane.
But once he thought of that damn bastard actually sending people to kidnap his mom, any sympathy Clark had suddenly evaporated. Luther absolutely deserves it.
But he didn't expect that what Shiller did went far beyond just that. Clark had just woken up from a dream, habitually turned on the TV, and poured himself a glass of water when he heard the host's voice on the TV:
"Major incident! Luther Hotel building collapses, estimated disaster victims exceed 10,000, casualties over 2000 people. The 21st century's largest building collapse disaster is unfolding in Metropolis!"
Clark spit out a mouthful of water.