No wonder Old Kent wasn't resurrected, Clark thought to himself, this God of Death seems to trace the bloodline, insisting on biological parents only. Of course, it might be that he was rejected by his own father in Hell, leaving no choice but to opt for something else. Still, it seemed like a fallback that was a bit too far removed.
Although Clark was sentimental, it was contingent upon him having developed a relationship with someone. He really didn't have any feelings for his biological parents, seeing as he had never met them.
Sure, he saw a projection while on the spacecraft, but that was just a one-time encounter. His level of intimacy and familiarity was even less than with colleagues at The Daily Planet. If that God of Death killed and resurrected the editor-in-chief, then called him to return to work, Clark might actually fall for it. But right now, he had no intention of going back.
Clark was checking the brief message, while Diana was still talking over there. Fearing the explanation might not be detailed enough and Clark might still be influenced by the mutant's plan, Diana explained Lex Luther's plot in full detail.
The more Clark listened, the more familiar it sounded. He interrupted Diana and then said, "You all need to come here and see."
A few minutes later, Diana and Ron were the first to fly over. Unexpectedly, Barry showed up with Lex in tow. Diana was the first to walk over to Clark.
"What's going on? Why did you suddenly come onto the spacecraft?"
Clark didn't speak; he merely pointed to the communication screen. When Diana looked at it, the text was in Kryptonian, which she couldn't understand, but Clark had already read it to her.
Upon hearing the specific content of the brief message, Diana looked at Clark in shock, then sharply turned to look at Lex.
She walked over directly and lifted Lex up. Lex had also seen the line of text on the communication screen; he could read Kryptonian. Although there were a few words he didn't recognize, he could roughly guess the meaning.
"He's copied me!!!" Lex erupted in a sharp explosion, "He's plagiarized my plan!! This shameless thief!!"
Clark and Diana exchanged a glance. If Lex refused to admit it, there might be a chance it was his doing, but now with his reaction, it seemed he might genuinely be unaware.
Moreover, he was currently bound by the Lasso of Truth, with Ron by his side to ensure honesty, making the likelihood of him lying very slim. Diana sighed and said, "Well, that goes without saying, birds of a feather flock together. Evildoers even manage to think of evil ideas alike."
Clark fell into deep thought. He said, "They tricked me into coming back precisely because they don't want to deal with me on Earth, or they think they can't defeat me on Earth, so they came up with the idea to lure me back to Krypton, where I'd lose my strength. But the question is, why would they believe they couldn't defeat me on Earth?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Barry said in surprise, "Who can deal with you on Earth? Honestly, if you hadn't come back late, Savage Wolf wouldn't have had any good outcomes either."
But Clark shook his head and said, "Don't forget, I just survived an assassination attempt and even pretended to be severely injured. They might think the assassination worked and believe they've grasped my weakness. Killing me on Earth would be the best choice."
Saying this, everyone was stunned. They all realized something was amiss, Clark made a valid point. Luther would want to use such a tactic against Superman because he understands Superman very well, even perceiving the essence of Superhuman Strength as idealistic.
He knows that on Earth, Superman's strength is infinite. No matter what kind of stone, he can overcome it as long as he decides to. In such circumstances, only by getting him away from Earth could there be a chance to defeat him.
But the issue is, the behind-the-scenes manipulator put great effort into researching Superman's weaknesses and "successfully" executed the assassination. This means they've grasped Superman's vulnerability; if one attempt fails, they can keep trying multiple times. There's no need to find another way.
Clearly, the assassination plot and the sudden brief message conflict with each other. While it might be possible that the behind-the-scenes manipulator prepared two approaches, the styles of these two plans are completely different. One is purely scheming, while the other is straightforward and doesn't seem like it's from the same group.
This situation left everyone bewildered. Diana scratched her head, not knowing what's going on. Clark pondered for a long time, but couldn't figure it out. As for the others, they were even more clueless, completely at a loss.
Only Lex, who was deemed "as bad as they come," seemed to have deduced something. He said, "I think this wasn't done by one group."
Everyone looked at him. Lex appeared to relish the attention, and his genius mind began to operate rapidly again, saying, "This proves there's more than one group wanting to kill Superman; they just happened to collide, which led to this situation."
"That makes some sense," Diana said. "Clark is the president now; he has quite a few enemies. It's not surprising someone would hire a hitman either. But if his biological parents have really been resurrected..."
Diana turned her head to look at Clark. Clark understood what she meant. Clearly, if this brief message was truly sent by his resurrected biological parents, that would be the behind-the-scenes manipulator's plan.
This perfectly aligns with the style of the behind-the-scenes manipulator's plan: not forcing with benefits, but luring with emotions. Reviving deceased relatives is merely to emotionally bind them. He's always done it this way, maintaining a consistent style without change.
Then who carried out this assassination on Earth?
Clark began to think again. He did have a few enemies on Earth. It could be said that if Luther hadn't been tied up and thrown here, he'd definitely be the first suspect, even if such a direct approach didn't match Luther's style. Capturing him first couldn't go wrong.
However, Diana had used the Lasso of Truth to force out the fact that this assassination wasn't Luther's doing. So who else could it be? Who hated him so much to use such violent means to end his life?
The atmosphere on the spaceship sunk into stagnation once more, and everyone began to think silently. But this was indeed a bit beyond their reasoning scope.
The opposition was a possibility, but these people couldn't make an impact. Clark hadn't been a president for so many days for nothing; he kept a close watch on them, and they found it difficult to pull off something this big. Darkseid's previous attack on Earth wasn't without possibilities either. Maybe he left some troops behind just to cause trouble. But it seemed unnecessary to hire a human assassin with a sniper rifle; that guy had elite troops who could solve things with a direct assault, like Savage Wolf.
In his thoughts, Clark grasped the key point. The key was not who bore a grudge against him, but who knew that Kryptonite was his weakness. Not many knew this fact.
Before the data was stolen from the Metropolitan Museum, only allies and Luther knew about this. So the issue must lie with the stolen data, taking the reasoning back to the starting point – who stole the data?
There was no clue about this. So Clark decided to change his thinking mode: who had the ability to steal the data was not important, the key was who could analyze it and locate the Kryptonite. Those without professional expertise probably couldn't do it.
Don't think that was just historical data, the language barrier in English is relatively serious. Without expertise, humanities-related information is difficult to understand. For example, some terms from Ancient Egypt are borrowed from foreign languages, and nobody knows what they mean. Without professional expertise in this area, it's likely that the stolen items couldn't be understood at all.
In other words, the person had to be confident in understanding it, hence the attempt to steal it. This person was certainly not an outsider, at the very least a scholar with research capability.
As to why they didn't hire someone else, it's quite simple. Currently, capable experts throughout the Federation are all studying the captured Mars people, gathered at one place, tirelessly immersed in research. Since problems are feared, Victor is watching them. It's hard for them to cause trouble under Victor's surveillance; information doesn't get out, much less allowing them access to any data.
That is to say, this person must be a somewhat capable and proficient researcher but outside of surveillance, and someone who bears a grudge against Clark. With this thought, Clark almost immediately locked onto a target.
He turned to Ron and then said, "Has Dr. Erdel contacted you?"
Ron was taken aback, then his expression became serious. He understood Clark's implication, then shook his head and said, "No. I've been looking for him but couldn't find him."
Diana also caught on. Previously, it was said that Dr. Erdel had been revived, but this person hasn't been seen. He perfectly fits the profile of the data thief: he's an expert, albeit in space research, but Ron mentioned that he has four PhD degrees. It's too easy for such a person to research specialized data. Moreover, he's a Dead Man, naturally not appearing on the scholars' census, but if revived, likely manipulated by the God of Death and harbors a grudge against Clark.
But if Dr. Erdel is the one, a new problem arises: this scientist shouldn't have such good gun skills, right?
Clark described the situation when he was attacked to Ron. Nobody had heard the details, and after listening, they couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for Clark. If he hadn't developed antibodies, they'd have already carried the coffin to the cemetery.
Oh, no, the behind-the-scenes manipulator wouldn't give him that chance; they'd make him revive immediately and then slaughter the entire Justice League. Now it was others' turn to break into a cold sweat.
Ron slowly shook his head after listening and said, "It is absolutely impossible for Dr. Erdel to have fired the gun. He doesn't have that skill. Although his academic achievements are high, he's the kind of scholar who cannot even truss a chicken. Let alone using a gun, he probably doesn't even understand how to assemble a sniper rifle."
"Couldn't he hire a hitman?" Barry spoke up.
"But the problem is this hitman's level is a bit too high," Diana said, "If it's really like Clark described, such a hitman isn't easy to find, right? Since Dr. Erdel has never done such a thing, he can't possibly have such connections. How could he hire one so quickly?"
Barry fell silent. He understood that top-tier hitmen are not easy to come by. They don't act easily and typically don't take jobs from strangers. It's hard enough just to contact them. If Dr. Erdel had never dealt in these circles, it would be difficult to hire them.
"I think you've all got something wrong." It was at this moment that Lex spoke again, "Is there a possibility that the person acting didn't intend to kill you at all?"
Clark couldn't help but turn to him and said, "Absurd. If they didn't want to kill me, why attempt assassination? Do you not realize how contradictory that is?"
"Only fools like you would believe every contradiction is genuine, without considering deeper logical motivations. If you used your brains a bit more, you wouldn't be sitting here staring blankly."