The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4440 Prelude to Darkness (Twenty-Five)
“Steve?!” Diana called out his name instinctively, but then pursed her lips, feeling a little nauseous.

However, she was also relieved. Now it seemed that this little guy was far from having even a fraction of his father's abilities.

“I don’t understand why you did this?” Diana said.

“He loved you so much, he died for you,” Damian said, looking at her. “Don’t you feel even a little bit guilty?”

"You know he's dead, so who is standing alive and well in front of me now?"

"Of course, it's Steve who came back from the dead."

“The dead cannot be brought back to life,” Diana said. “Steve was just an ordinary man. His body has long since merged into the earth and returned to its embrace. What stands before me now is a shell made of some unknown material and a phantom that controls him.”

“Really?” Damian asked her. “But he shouldn’t have died. He lost his life protecting you.”

“Of course I know,” Diana said. “Not only do I know, I also witnessed it with my own eyes. I know how much he loves me.”

"But you are unwilling to believe that he has come back to life, and unwilling to give him a chance."

Diana sighed softly and said, "It's not a question of whether I want to or not. Even if I did, what could I do?"

"Expose the so-called Martian's conspiracy so you can be with him."

“Damian, you are far inferior to your father.” Diana looked at Damian and said, “You went to great lengths, stealing artifacts and framing me. But in the end, all you did was resort to kidnapping and threats. If that’s all, why go through all this trouble? Just send me an email, and I will come to see you.”

“I didn’t steal the artifact,” Damian said. “Someone else stole it, and someone else framed you. I invited you here simply to help you resolve your troubles.”

Diana frowned. She felt Damian wasn't lying, since he had already brought Steve here. He clearly wanted to use Steve to persuade or blackmail her, so there was no need to use artifacts as a trap.

Besides, getting Steve out of the Amazon won't be easy. Even if they were working together from the inside, the Amazon warriors are no pushovers. It's unlikely that Damian would have two teams of professionals simultaneously, one tasked with stealing artifacts and the other with abducting someone from the Amazon.

It seems he was also taking advantage of the situation, so the real mastermind behind it all is now obvious. Diana sighed inwardly; she seemed to understand what Schiller was trying to achieve with this whole scheme.

In that instant, Diana seemed to suddenly know how to resolve the problem smoothly after avoiding the self-justification trap.

“I don’t believe a single word you say,” Diana said, looking at Damian. “A bunch of rabble dares to provoke me. Take this!!!”

Diana drew her Vulcan sword and slashed. It was a true zero-frame attack. The security guard escorting Steve didn't even have time to react before being cut down. Diana used her other hand to swing her shield, blocking bullets, then kicked another security guard aside, throwing the shield to the side. Damian's head was nearly sliced ​​off.

Damian seemed caught off guard by Diana's sudden attack. He dodged the shield somewhat awkwardly, rolled on the ground, and then launched his grappling hook, which caught Diana's shield before being thrown back. However, Diana neither dodged nor avoided it, catching the shield and using her Lasso of Truth to bind Steve.

"What exactly is this resurrection?" Diana asked as she fought.

“I don’t know…” Steve looked bewildered.

Diana herself didn't expect to get the information so easily. Perhaps Steve genuinely doesn't know. The mastermind clearly only activates control at a crucial moment. Wasting time on this is pointless.

Diana swiftly dispatched a group of security personnel, then set her sights on Damian. But by then, Damian had already used his grappling hook to reach the second floor. Diana immediately leaped up and gave chase.

Diana observed Damian's movements. He seemed to be an ordinary person with no superpowers, but he was a bit too well-trained. He didn't have Batman's brains, but his skills certainly had a certain flair.

He used his grappling hook to weave and maneuver along the mansion's railings. Diana could indeed fly, but she was constantly thwarted by his darts. She could take them head-on, but Diana worried that since they were Batman's creations, a single hit would leave her bleeding. She wasn't about to take that risk.

As they flew upwards, Diana noticed Damian glancing down several times, almost unconsciously. After a moment's thought, she understood. His upward run was a ruse; his real intention was to use Steve below as a cover for escape.

For some reason, Damian was absolutely certain that he still had feelings for Steve. So he probably wanted to take Steve hostage and force him to let him go.

Diana pretended not to know and followed him as he flew upwards. At the corner of the top floor, she lost sight of Damian.

Logically, they should have continued searching upstairs, but Diana already knew Damian's plan and simply flew downstairs. With a wave of her hand, the Lasso of Truth flew towards her along with Steve. She threw Steve directly to the second floor, and sure enough, she saw Damian rushing out from the first-floor porch.

Diana scoffed and raised an eyebrow at him. But suddenly she noticed something was off about Damian's expression. He wasn't angry or panicked; he was calm.

Diana realized something was wrong. She immediately stopped flying downwards, but it was too late. A black light—or rather, a very thin black line—flashed past her eyes. Her combat instincts, honed through countless battles, made her twist sharply in mid-air, crashing to the ground in an extremely bizarre posture. But this also prevented the black line from directly hitting her; it only touched her left arm.

Diana fell heavily to the ground, but she immediately got up and turned to look at her left arm. To her horror, her entire arm began to turn gray.

It wasn't that the color had turned gray; it was more like necrosis. The muscle tissue gradually turned a withered, dark color. Upon closer inspection, there was a black spot on the wrist, and that's where the decay began.

Diana gritted her teeth inwardly. She had been very careful, avoiding any physical contact with Damian from beginning to end, and even when they got closest, they kept at least a meter apart. She never expected to fall for it.

With a loud bang, the door to the mansion was suddenly kicked open.

A large group of agents rushed in and surrounded the two men. The agents made way, and Schiller stepped forward, saying to those behind him, "Search."

The agents split into several groups and began searching the mansion. Diana had already guessed some of what was going on, but Damian frowned. He had no idea what Schiller was up to.

"Found it! Found it! The real one is right here!!!"

Suddenly, shouts came from the back of the mansion. Diana looked in that direction, and several agents ran over, saying, "The real Serpent of Frini is hidden in their room!"

Schiller waved his hand: "Take it down."

He then walked up to Diana, extended his hand to shake hers, and said, “I’m sorry, madam. I didn’t expect these Martians lurking among humans to be so cunning. To prevent their secrets from being exposed to the public, they chose to switch Egyptian treasures.”

Although Diana had some suspicions, she was still stunned to hear Schiller say that. What, this damn snake has a new plot twist?!

Then Diana stared in disbelief as the agents towed the Serpent of Frigan out of the trailer. To be precise, it was a completely new version of the Serpent of Frigan.

The size and style are similar to the previous one, but it has much more content than the original. The composition of this mural is as follows: the sky is above, with symbols such as lightning and clouds, and of course, alien spaceships; the earth is below, with mountains and rivers; and in the middle is a giant serpent.

Originally, the main focus was on the giant serpent. With the arrival of the alien spaceship, the sky wasn't so empty anymore. However, the land remained largely undeveloped. But in this version of The Serpent of Phryne, the land is filled with many typical Egyptian figures.

Actually, Diana had already analyzed the painting using her professional knowledge when she learned that the Serpent of Phrygne was fake. If one had to point out a flaw in the serpent's appearance, it would be that the content of the painting doesn't quite resemble the style of Egyptian murals.

A key characteristic of Egyptian murals is their pictorial nature. This means that they don't convey a message through the entire image, but rather through different elements within the painting, such as figures, decorative elements, and text.

These elements aren't necessarily related; they might each represent their own perspective or different aspects of the same theme. It looks a lot like a collection guide.

For example, there might be a row of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs drawn at the feet of a figure, but these hieroglyphs have nothing to do with the figure; they just appear in the same era. Next to them is a row of decorative patterns, which also have nothing to do with the figure or the hieroglyphs; they are just there to mark the pattern.

Working with all parts of a painting to achieve the same core and atmosphere came much later. In earlier times, paintings were used to record things rather than to create atmosphere or convey emotions, so they appear more intellectual. They are more like symbols than paintings.

Schiele's Serpent of Phrygne, however, seems to be from the same era as the Mona Lisa. Both feature a main subject in the foreground, with a background of sky, mountains, and rivers. This is not actually the style of ancient Egyptian painting.

Although she had considered the possibility that Schiller was unprofessional, Diana believed that it was more likely that he did it intentionally. Because, undeniably, this composition was more in line with modern aesthetics and easier for them to understand.

If it were like ancient Egyptian murals, with an entire wall covered in decorative patterns and no focal point, they probably wouldn't like it. Insufficient dissemination among the population would prevent Schiller from achieving his desired outcome.

However, this new version of the Serpent of Phrygia has made up for this shortcoming. Now, in the mountain section, a row of ancient Egyptian figures, along with writing and decorations, have appeared. The only minor issue is that these ancient Egyptian figures are Martians.

Although they were dressed in ancient Egyptian clothing and their postures were exactly the same as those in ancient Egyptian murals, it was clear that their faces and ears resembled those of Ron, who was giving the speech that day.

These little figures weren't standing in a row; they were moving: the first three rows held weapons, the last three rows also held weapons, and only the middle one carried the pharaoh's coffin. The reason they were recognizable as pharaohs was because their coffins were very distinctive. Anyone who had seen at least two movies about pharaohs would recognize them.

Schiller then pretended to examine the mural, exclaiming, "No wonder they infiltrated the British royal family and deliberately switched this mural; they were afraid their existence would be exposed prematurely. Ms. Prince, you not only helped humanity recover this precious artifact, but you are also a hero who thwarted the Martian plot!"

Diana's expression nearly cracked; if she could, she really didn't want to be the hero.