The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4450 Prelude to Darkness (Thirty-Five)
“Then tell me,” Barry retorted, clearly unconvinced. “Shooting someone in the neck and calling it not intending to kill them?”

"What if I use a car bombing as an example?"

Barry opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words. Theoretically speaking, an explosion isn't any easier than a gun to kill Superman; the difficulty level is like 99 versus 100—the difference isn't that significant. Even with Kryptonite, the two methods are essentially the same—one a precise sniper kill, the other a shrapnel explosion—both aiming to implant Kryptonite into Superman's body.

The problem is that a sniper rifle hits its target precisely and won't harm people nearby, but a car bombing is different.

The area was already packed like a snooker table, with several cars crammed together, and a bunch of people getting out of their vehicles to argue instead of staying in. If a bomb in one of those cars had exploded, it would have been a complete human tragedy.

"If I were a hitman, I would set up a car bomb," Lex said shamelessly. "I know Superman is a good guy, and he would never abandon the protection of ordinary people. So I would precisely control the explosive yield to injure but not kill, injuring a whole bunch of people so that Superman wouldn't be able to leave."

"Even if the bombs don't hit Superman, as long as he's preoccupied with the wounded and busy rescuing them, a skilled sniper doesn't actually need to be very good to hit his vitals. Isn't this method much simpler, more direct, and more effective than using some kind of mechanical compound bow and having to time it perfectly?"

Barry couldn't hold back any longer and slapped her across the face. This time, Diana didn't stop him. She couldn't understand how someone could be born with such a wicked mind, coming up with one bad idea after another without any cooling-off period.

However, he did have to admit that Luther's method was more insidious, vicious, and effective than the attack Clark had suffered.

The assassination attempt on Clark resembled many people's ideal scenario of a president being assassinated: an extremely professional elite assassin, a pre-arranged trap, a precise and deadly shot, killing one person every ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand miles.

However, this is actually very difficult to do in reality. Timing is extremely challenging when using a sniper rifle. Even if you use various methods to induce a person to make a certain movement or expose vital areas, if the opponent subconsciously makes an unexpected action, it's very easy to miss the shot.

Moreover, the trajectory of this thing is too easy to predict. After missing, there is basically no chance of escape, so there's no point in even thinking about running. Just stay where you are and wait for someone to catch you. It's no different from a suicide attack.

The use of the compound bow to attract attention was both skillful and daring. Simple physical mechanisms are inherently unreliable. Although the compound bow is powerful, the arrow must still follow aerodynamics and be affected by Earth's gravity. No one can know if a sudden gust of wind might blow the arrow off course.

In Lex's view, the entire assassination process revealed an "elitist arrogance," which is that "I can perfectly master aerodynamics and ensure that the simple physical mechanism can make the arrow fall exactly where I want; the target will definitely make the target action under my guidance, there will be no accidents; that bullet will definitely delay Superman from getting up and prevent him from chasing me."

Even the already arrogant Lex Luthor couldn't understand where this man's confidence came from. Keep in mind, this was a mistake made in the underworld. Provoking Superman like this was extremely unwise; why was he so fearless?
The idea proposed by Lex is basically the assassination strategy commonly used in the world today: use bombs if possible, don't need any precision, the main thing is to use a powerful flying brick.

Furthermore, using ordinary people to delay Clark has an advantage: even if he doesn't die physically, he can still be socially killed. After all, the killer caused so many casualties in an attempt to assassinate the president. While Clark was also a victim, things wouldn't have turned out this way if he hadn't entered the crowd.

Not everyone can make rational judgments, especially those who have lost loved ones. This wasn't an occasion where the president was required to be present; it was purely Clark's meddling that resulted in such heavy casualties, and public opinion is bound to attack Clark fiercely.

Clark had naturally considered this as well. Even if someone orchestrated the car accident to drag him down, such matters are difficult to clarify, and any attempt to clarify would be seen as shirking responsibility. In any case, damage to his reputation was certain.

"That's so vicious," Diana commented.

Lex wasn't ashamed; on the contrary, he was proud. He snorted smugly and said, "Anyway, this guy is either a greenhorn fresh out of training camp who insists on using textbook methods, or he didn't really intend to cause any harm to you or any passersby."

“The first one is impossible,” Diana said. “If he were a greenhorn, how could he possibly be so accurate? Even if he were a natural-born sharpshooter, the compound bow mechanism is not something a novice would use. It requires extremely strong confidence and skillful technique.”

“He didn’t intend to kill me…” Clark muttered to himself, “But if that’s the case, why would he use Kryptonite… Wait, he knew Kryptonite couldn’t kill me???”

There are quite a few people who knew that Kryptonite could harm Clark. Lex Luthor had used it, Diana witnessed it firsthand, and Batman knew about it. Some even deduced it from legends.

However, the number of people who knew Kryptonite couldn't harm Clark is very small. Even Diana, who knew he had undergone desensitization training, only thought that Clark had increased his resistance to some extent, rather than becoming completely immune, and believed that Kryptonite could still harm him, just to a lesser extent.

The only people who knew he was completely immune to Kryptonite were probably those who participated in the Man of Steel project. And this project was essentially created by Schiller and Batman.

That's right, Clark already knew that the near-death experience he had faced was actually orchestrated by those two to give him immunity to magic and kryptonite. However, since he was fine, he couldn't be bothered to argue with them.

Now it seems this so-called assassination attempt was probably orchestrated by them again. Clark sighed inwardly. He didn't really care what they were up to, but the conversation had progressed to this point, and everyone was watching him; if he didn't say something, he'd seem dishonest.

Schiller! Clark gritted his teeth inwardly. He knew that damned conman wouldn't retire so easily. The president's secretary even assassinated the president. And Batman, as if he wasn't busy enough already.

Clark's mind raced, and he said, "I have a pretty good idea of ​​who it is, but I'd like to ask you for your help in guessing what they're up to this time."

Lex clearly already knew who did it. He said somewhat sourly, "You're still being mysterious. Who's worth our honest Mr. Superman covering for?"

Clark waved his hand dismissively, as if swatting a fly, and said, "Knowing too much won't do you any good."

Although Clark's attitude and tone weren't very good, what he said was true. Schiller and Batman are like two giant whirlpools. If you don't get close, they might still fly up to you and pull you in. But if you do get close, you'll be spun around like you're in a washing machine until you're unrecognizable.

This Luther is a scoundrel, his wicked ideas are practically free. Bruce is rich and smart, a cunning old fox. Schiller is a troublemaker, always stirring up trouble. If these three meet up, they'll be riding high, finding kindred spirits. What will I do then? Is this the end of the year after Christmas?

Lex snorted coldly, pursed his lips, and remained silent. His expression clearly said, "I know, but I'm not telling you."

The others ignored him. Diana thought for a moment and said, "Could it be that, like me, he wants to assassinate you to tell the public that Martians are dangerous and that they've got their eyes on the Justice League, so they should be careful?"

“Unlikely,” Rong En said. “As the saying goes, sweet cookies are meant to be eaten with black coffee; a bite of bitterness followed by a bite of sweetness is the right way. You’ve already been put under pressure by being framed; to put it on again in such a short time would be unbearable.”

Diana nodded, agreeing with Ron's point. The saying "a beating followed by a sweet treat" held true; her previous ordeal had already been a major blow, given the suspected deep infiltration of the upper echelons of humanity, which had already put immense pressure on ordinary people. To add another blow with the president's assassination attempt would be utterly devastating.

Applying pressure requires moderation. Pulling on an already taut string is too easy to break. Even if you want to continue applying pressure, you should do it gradually, at least six months or a year before something happens. Applying pressure too quickly can easily cause panic and loss of confidence; a smart person wouldn't do that.

"Could it be to force you to kill someone?" Barry suggested another possibility. "They deliberately provoked you with something that couldn't kill you, so that you would have the power to resist, and then kill the murderer in a fit of rage, ruining your reputation?"

“No,” Clark said. “His bullet successfully bought me time; he was clearly trying to escape.”

He added in his mind: How could Schiller and Bruce possibly come up with such a plan? Those two are like thousand-year-old tortoises and ten-thousand-year-old turtles; who can outlive them? Sacrificing themselves to cause trouble is impossible.

Even if they hired hitmen, they wouldn't send someone to their death. Only a fool like Amanda Waller would do something like that…

Wait a minute. Clark was startled and blurted out, "Amanda!"

Everyone turned to look at him. Clark glanced around and then said, "Amanda Waller, the former leader of the Sky Eye. Could she have been resurrected too?"

Rong En narrowed his eyes. He thought for a moment and said, "That makes sense. There's no reason why we can resurrect our loved ones but not our enemies. Besides, it seems that resurrecting our loved ones is useless now, so it's not impossible to directly resurrect our enemies who are against us."

"You mean, Amanda was the one who did the assassination? Is she that capable?" Diana was somewhat incredulous.

“I understand.” Clark had completely figured it out. “Amanda did indeed instigate this, but she chose the wrong person to carry it out—if I’m not mistaken, she probably handed it over to Schiller.”

The room was completely silent.

(End of this chapter)