章 665: Chapter 453: The Beginning of the Confrontation (Part 2)_1
In the guest room of the Mayor's Mansion, Bruce, Lex, and Clark were still mulling over the dream.
They didn't exactly have the same views on certain things in the dream, the differences were, in fact, quite significant, and instead of agreeing to disagree about their different viewpoints, they were having a heated argument.
"Even if they were guilty, you had no right to destroy them like that. It was neither reasonable nor humane!" Clark shouted at Bruce.
"I was just trying to break the dream," Bruce said very calmly.
"But aren't you afraid that it might not be a dream? When you used that black wave to hit the crowd, didn't you stop to think about what you'd do if it was real? Can you bring back the dead?"
"Clark, are you out of your mind?" Lex suddenly chimed in. His voice was icy. He said, "Those people unanimously decided to kill you, despite you saving them. And yet you still want to stop Bruce from killing them. Are you insane?"
"I wasn't trying to kill them. I don't kill people." Bruce retorted to Lex, "I was pretty sure that it was just a dream. Using brute force was the fastest way out. Otherwise, we'd all be stuck there."
"Pretty sure?" Clark snorted, "You dared to do something like that when you weren't entirely sure and you still have the audacity to claim you're a pacifist?"
"Because his mind works faster than yours." Lex turned back to Clark, sparing him no mercy, "What instigated this? Wasn't it you hitting me without thinking or investigating first?"
Clark suddenly fell silent, then looking into Lex's eyes he said, "In that one aspect, you're right. The unruliness started because of my recklessness."
He turned his head aside, his tone somewhat melancholy, "If someone did die because of this, then it's my responsibility."
However, his apology seemed to make Lex lose it, "Are you really mad, Clark, you..."
He stared at Clark, unable to comprehend how his such saintly thinking was formed.
Lex took a deep breath, then said to Clark, "I retract my previous inference. You're not tolerant because you're strong. You're just ill."
"How could you say that about me? Even if I was a bit rash earlier, you shouldn't resort to personal attacks!" Clark argued back, hands on hips, confronting Lex.
"It's your physical condition that is the real issue." Bruce pointed out, hitting Lex's weakest point, "Even if Clark did knock you out in the beginning, had you stayed alert, you could've manipulated the crowd and controlled the vote."
"Of course I could." Lex replied with a sneer, arms folded, "Controlling the thoughts of such a stupid crowd would be as easy as flipping a hand."
"You can't just manipulate the thoughts of the public like that, Lex! That kind of thinking is dangerous!" Clark chimed in again.
Lex was practically gasping for air in frustration.
Simply put, these three were fundamentally different.
If we were to classify them according to camps, both Bruce and Clark belonged to the Hero Camp, aiming to protect ordinary people. Yet, Lex couldn't care less about ordinary people's survival.
But when it comes to the means, Bruce and Lex are similar. They seek results, believing that control and surveillance are necessary. Clark, however, believes in procedural justice.
Geographically speaking, Clark and Lex are again on the same side. Both being from Metropolis, and both firmly considering everyone from Gotham to be mad.
In such a complex triangular relationship, it's normal not to reach a consensus.
But while the three of them were still arguing, there came a sudden knock on the door to their guest room. Clark squinted and said, "A man, his head bandaged, but I don't recognize him."
Bruce and Lex exchanged glances as Clark went to open the door.
When the door opened, there stood Benjamin with bandages wrapped around his head. He looked worn-out, having been knocked out by Lex and Shiller earlier and later interrogated by Bruce after he woke up.
"Hello, can we help with something?" Clark asked in his usual caring tone, but Benjamin didn't even look at him. Instead, his gaze fell on the other two men in the room.
Bruce made way for Benjamin to enter the room and Benjamin first addressed Bruce, "Mr. Wayne, you've really surprised me…"
Then, he turned to Lex and said, "The same goes for you, Mr. Luthor."
"I don't really understand why you rich young masters would play such tricks. Is it enjoyable to pretend to be playboys and loners?"
Both Bruce and Lex didn't comment. They both stood in a similar pose, arms crossed, inspecting Benjamin with their penetrating gaze.
Perhaps, intelligent people all have some similar characteristics. When their gaze falls on someone else, they always make that person feel as though something has been seen through.
Benjamin couldn't withstand that pressure, so he was the first to speak, "I need your help. I must find this mysterious Soviet spy."
Just as Bruce was about to refuse, Benjamin said, "I'm very sure that among the attendees of the banquet, someone has connections with the Soviet spy who took the Philby List."
"How can you be so sure?"
"That's classified."
As soon as Benjamin finished, he saw the expressions on Bruce and Lex shift, so he hurriedly explained, "The details are indeed classified, but generally speaking, this agent might have a relatively high social status."
"Maybe, you might have heard Philby's story on broadcasts. During his investigation, all his activities were under strict surveillance. Therefore, the people he could get into contact with at this time would not be of low rank."
"Don't you have a detailed list of the people he contacted?"
"If England could provide us with such a list, then Philby would not have been able to escape back to Moscow."
Benjamin's explanation was very reasonable, and neither Bruce nor Lex had much to retort. It was a simple matter to understand. If England's intelligence agency had any competence, Philby would not have walked away scot-free.
In fact, Philby walking away unscathed was more damaging to England's reputation than any intelligence leak. After all, England didn't have any significant intelligence to leak.
To make myself clearer, England wasn't unaware. They knew that the people Philby had contact with during that time might be suspects. But the problem was that he only interacted with high-ranking people, and no one dared to investigate them."
"There's another question," Lex continued, "Since this person dared to transmit information for Philby during that time, why did he ultimately fail to send the information back to Moscow and instead ended up on the East Coast of America?"
Benjamin shook his head, saying, "We don't have any related clues either. That's exactly what I'm here to investigate."
"What are you doing here?" Bruce asked.
"I hope to get your help." Benjamin took a sigh and continued, "Previously, you had a fight with an agent in the hallway. The gunshots were loud and caused much panic. Many people would rather confront an agent than stay here."
"If we focus on quelling the panic, we won't have much time left to investigate the spy."
"So, you want us to play the villains, persuading those people to obediently stay here, allowing you to investigate them?" Lex pointedly asked.
"I'd characterize it as cooperation. After all, neither the Luther Group of Metropolis nor Wayne Enterprises of Gotham would like the idea of a dangerous Soviet spy operating in their hometown."
"If we let him operate freely, it may cause more severe consequences. If you unknowingly have interactions with him, you might also be suspected."
"You need not threaten us," Lex said in an icy tone. "The Luther Group alone has provided hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Metropolis area."
"If the leader of the Luther Group is suspected of colluding with the communists, the stock price will plummet. This will result in an economic contraction, causing unemployment, followed by a financial crisis."
"Once Wayne and I are purged, every businessman will feel threatened, and the economic crisis will arrive earlier. Congress will not allow you to do this."
Benjamin found his breathing becoming noticeably difficult. After his injury, he should not have exhausted his brain power, but the problem was, even after exhausting his brain power, he was still no match for the two people in front of him.
"We can investigate spies without the CIA, or rather, if you let us go, we can operate more effectively. The Luther Group's businesses are all over Metropolis, it would be easy to trace anyone. The same applies for Wayne Enterprises in Gotham."
Lex continued to analyze the situation while Benjamin presented another condition. "You should be aware of the treasure buried underneath Metropolis. Now that the CIA is aware of it, you will not be able to take the entire treasure. The military is waiting eagerly."
"If you are willing to help me, I can take your side when deciding the treasure's split. If this job goes well, the power of the CIA and FBI, the two agencies responsible for internal and external affairs, will return to its peak and will be enough to make certain decisions."
Upon hearing the word 'treasure', Lex, Bruce, and Clark glanced at each other. They thought of the things they saw in the dream.
They lacked the evidence to prove that the dream world Shiller built is based on reality, so they couldn't be sure if what was buried underneath Metropolis was a huge chunk of Kryptonite.
However, they had reason to believe that Shiller had investigated something, which is why he weaved such a dream. In other words, it was highly probable that the treasure buried under Metropolis was Kryptonite.
Upon knowing this, to a certain degree, the three men's interests aligned.
Both Lex and Bruce were skeptics. They could not fully accept Clark and his powerful superpowers. They hoped to have something to counter him, so both of them wanted the Kryptonite.
However, Clark didn't care if anyone wanted to use this substance against him. What concerned him more was whether this rock would cause ordinary people to contract cancer, like in the dream. He hoped to relocate these materials instead of leaving them buried here.
However, they all knew finding and moving this substance would not be easy. If its volume was as large as depicted in the dream, excavation would require manpower and would certainly alert all parties involved.
Almost simultaneously, Lex and Bruce provided their answer. Bruce said, "We can help you, but we have one condition."
Lex added, "We don't trust you and your agents' efficiency. So, we want to change our roles."
"Change roles? What do you mean?"
"You go and calm those people down. We'll investigate the Soviet spy."
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