Inside the Egyptian Wing stood the Temple of Dendur, a gift from the Egyptian government in gratitude for the United States' contribution to saving Nubian monuments.
Looking into the Egyptian Wing from the majestic Great Hall, the interior was pitch black, like an abyss awaiting Batman's arrival.
But when Batman stepped inside, what he saw was moonlight cascading like water, illuminating the Temple of Dendur in a pale, grayish-white glow.
It wasn't just the Temple of Dendur; the entire Egyptian Wing was paved with moonlight, as if the light were omnipresent, leaving no blind spots whatsoever.
To protect the artifacts, the museum maintained a relatively comfortable constant temperature and humidity. The Arkham Suit Batman wore did the same, possessing a series of protective functions including cold resistance, heat retention, and thermal insulation.
Yet, despite this, a chill began to seep from the inside out, seeming to emanate from the depths of Batman's body. It felt as if the only relief would come from succumbing to the human instinct to shiver.
Average people cannot control their instincts, but Batman is not an average person.
His formidable willpower was sufficient to withstand all external negative influences, whether they originated from the mental or the physical plane.
Relying on his will, Batman did not shiver; instead, he forcibly suppressed the chill rising from within.
The white figure that had flashed by earlier was no longer visible in the Egyptian Wing, but Batman knew with certainty that the entity was here.
—Because the moonlight inside the Egyptian Wing was not artificial simulation. It was ubiquitous, seemingly projecting from every fissure in space itself.
This omnipresent radiance left no shadows in the entire wing, and even dyed the pitch-black Batman in a layer of frosty moonlight.
This was a supernatural power that did not belong to physical reality. It was also the third time Batman had truly encountered supernatural power since traveling to this world.
The first was the negative energy of Mister Negative, Martin Li. The second was The Leader's mind control.
Aside from these three instances, everything else Batman had encountered appeared to be supernatural but could actually be explained by science.
For instance, Venom was an alien symbiote, allowing Batman to formulate an "Anti-Venom" plan based on pheromones and other scientific research.
Or the Gamma monsters, which could be explained by genetic mutation.
But the supernatural power Batman was facing this time was different from the previous two. Although he had not yet seen the other party's true face, Batman had already judged that this was no longer a petty skirmish like those with Martin Li or The Leader.
He might have encountered a deity.
In Batman's original world, most mythological gods were real. Consequently, Batman possessed a deep understanding of Egyptian mythology, the undead, mummies, and curses.
This was to ensure that if he ever needed to confront a god, he would have a plan sufficient to deter them.
He had encountered countless gods, from Old Gods to New Gods, from Earth's native deities to extraterrestrial and even extra-dimensional gods.
Dream, Barbatos, Trigon, Neron, the Olympian Gods, Darkseid...
In his original world, Batman was likely the only mortal to have made contact with the highest number of deities, and the only mortal capable of uniting other superheroes to subdue, defeat, or banish them.
Batman never feared gods.
Looking at the frost-like moonlight filling the Egyptian Wing, Batman spoke in a low voice:
"Khonshu?"
The moonlight blanketing the entire wing was an all-too-obvious hint. There was one and only one god related to Egypt and the moon: the one Batman addressed by name, the Moon God, Khonshu.
Manhattan. A boxy skyscraper sat on one side of Central Park, facing the Metropolitan Museum of Art from a distance.
Unlike the gleaming exteriors of other buildings in Manhattan, the glass curtain wall of this building was covered in dust, clearly having gone uncleaned for a long time.
At the top of the building, the words "PYM TECHNOLOGIES" shone with white light, though long-term exposure to the sun and rain had left the letters 'P' and 'E' dim and dull.
It was only because the New York municipal government regularly handled vegetation and weeds to maintain the city's overall image that the building wasn't completely overrun.
Otherwise, the Pym Technologies building would have long since been covered in ivy climbing up the glass walls.
Black Widow, Natasha, stood beneath the Pym Technologies building, tilting her head to look at the "ym Technologies" missing its 'P'. She tilted her head, confirming she hadn't found the wrong place.
Dispatched by Nick Fury, she had successfully joined the Stark Group as an employee in the finance department.
Black Widow had conducted a series of investigations on Tony Stark and knew he only considered two people to be his friends. One was Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes of the U.S. Air Force, who was previously responsible for arms deals between Stark Group and the U.S. military.
The other was Peter Parker, a young man currently studying at Empire State University. Under his name, he owned Parker Industries, a company established and rapidly expanded using initial funding from Tony Stark and a new material Parker invented called "memory fiber."
The world's richest man only has two friends, and one of them is a kid... Natasha couldn't help but shake her head when she uncovered this data.
Behind Lt. Colonel Rhodes was the military; behind Peter Parker was just Peter Parker.
In many ways, Rhodes was the more likely candidate to have taken the S.H.I.E.L.D. security key transferred by Agent Coulson and handed it to the military for network firewall design.
If the military was involved, then Nick Fury's deduction that "Batman is a super-agent secretly trained by the U.S. government" would hold water.
However, Rhodes' military background made him difficult for Natasha to investigate. Conversely, Peter Parker—the less likely suspect—was easier to look into.
But having found no useful information yet, this wasn't Natasha's only mission.
Since coming to Manhattan, aside from investigating Stark's close friends to find the mysterious individual suspected to be Batman, Natasha's other mission was to contact Hank Pym...
To be precise, it was to make contact with Ant-Man and the Wasp, to re-establish the relationship between them and S.H.I.E.L.D.
This late hour was the time for Natasha to execute this mission.
The second after Batman spoke Khonshu's name directly.
The moonlight inside the entire Egyptian Wing flowed like river water, rapidly converging from all directions. This pristine white moonlight coalesced in the air, forming a tall, thin humanoid figure wrapped in white mummy linens and wearing a crescent moon crown.
He held a scepter topped with a crescent moon, from which rays of white moonlight radiated.
Batman frowned slightly, his mind racing to deduce Khonshu's purpose in seeking him out.
"Do you not like this form?" Khonshu's voice was magnetic, sounding like a wise and kind elder.
He seemed able to see the slightly furrowed brows beneath Batman's mask. As he spoke, he lifted his scepter slightly and tapped it against the ground.
Amidst the soft moonlight, Khonshu's frame remained tall and thin, but the white mummy wrappings transformed into a white suit, and the crescent crown fused with his head, turning into a gigantic falcon skull.
"Two souls slumber within you, yet neither is the owner of this shell."
"A spider's shell wrapping a bat's shadow. Interesting."
Khonshu's first sentence was benevolent small talk, but his second sentence was like a sharp sword, pointing directly at the greatest secret Batman currently held.
However, Batman did not panic just because the Moon God Khonshu had spoken his secret. He simply raised his head slightly to look the Egyptian deity in the eye.
Khonshu's massive falcon skull lowered slightly, his hollow eye sockets staring back at Batman.
Facing Batman, who was internally contemplating what kind of plan to use against a god, Khonshu spoke his third sentence:
"I am Khonshu, the Guardian of Night Travelers, the Arbiter of Moonlight. I am seeking a human avatar."
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