Before leaving the ship, this group destroyed all visual records related to themselves. Relying on Croydon Compass, it was extremely difficult for Thea to track them. There wasn't even a single photograph. The compass was merely a magical artifact—it wasn't a search engine. With nothing but Faora's vague recollections to go on, the search went in circles.
Finding the Kryptonians yielded no leads, but she could go directly to Lex Luthor.
Early the next morning, the young lady dressed in a sea-blue long gown and slender high heels, leading dozens of bodyguards and assistants in over ten vehicles, and arrived at LuthorCorp in grand fashion.
This was her first visit to the new L Tower. If one ignored the enormous portrait of Luthor at the entrance, along with the motivational-style Luthor quotations plastered everywhere, the building's overall design was actually quite decent.
"You all wait outside."
Standing before Luthor's office, Thea turned back and gave the order, then walked forward alone. The secretary smiled and opened the door for her.
"Are the missing Kryptonians here with you?"
Thea wasted no time and went straight to the point.
Luthor shook his head emphatically, denying it outright.
"It doesn't matter whether you admit it or not," Thea said coldly. "But what I want to tell you is this—never try to control something you don't understand."
At this point, Thea would not be surprised at all by the appearance of Doomsday. It was something she fundamentally could not prevent from happening.
The probability that the Kryptonian adjutant had joined forces with Luthor was extremely high. Both sides believed the other to be foolish. Non looked down on Earth's technological level and had come with a condescending attitude. As for Luthor—this was someone who had supposedly solved Fermat's Last Theorem in kindergarten. Give him even a small hint, and with his intellect, replicating Doomsday's cells would not be particularly difficult.
After all, Doomsday had originally been derived as the ultimate biological weapon through extrapolation from Kryptonian cells.
Killing Luthor now would not be difficult, but it would bring Thea no real benefit. Humanity needed concrete, undeniable evidence to truly recognize its own danger. Once fear reached a certain threshold, it would inevitably rebound—superheroes would erupt like a blowout, and the formation of various teams would become unstoppable. Only then could Earth secure a chance to survive in an increasingly turbulent future.
After issuing her warning, Thea continued staring at Luthor. The atmosphere between them was heavy.
"Don't think I don't know—you've done plenty of those experiments yourself," Luthor said.
Relying purely on his arrogance, Luthor forcibly withstood Thea's pressure. She had not invoked fear-based influence, only her natural presence. Even so, this casual confrontation was enough to show that his willpower was approaching the upper limits.
Thea neither confirmed nor denied his accusation. She had conducted many experiments, even harboring fanciful attempts to locate Doomsday's weaknesses. These were things that could be done—but never spoken aloud. Instead, she countered:
"So you're admitting that those Kryptonians are with you?"
"I admit it."
Luthor's pride spared him any pretense. He pulled several documents from a drawer.
"I helped them obtain residency permits issued by your committee. They are now legal residents of Earth."
Thea casually flipped through the papers. They were legitimate documents. The committee handled the residency, travel, and daily affairs of more than a hundred thousand aliens. With so many trivial matters, it was impossible for her, as chairwoman, to personally sign everything. Beneath her were tens of thousands of clerks and staff—obtaining residency papers for a few aliens was hardly difficult.
"Only three Kryptonians…?"
The documents listed only these three. According to Faora's memory, aside from Non—also an adjutant—there should have been six additional warriors. However, unlike the cheat-heavy House of El, they were ordinary civilians by birth. Their genetic limitations severely constrained their growth.
"Only three remain," Luthor said with a faint smile. "They endured great hardship to reach Earth."
"Their hardship is only just beginning," Thea replied calmly. "Let's hope they still have intact corpses after working with you."
She was genuinely speechless toward these naïve Kryptonians. Trying to outplay Luthor? That was an almost impossible task. All she could do was hope the gods of Krypton would bless them.
Both sides had obtained the information they wanted. Thea turned and left. There was still time.
Although Brainiac classified Earth's average technological level as Tier-3, Krypton as Tier-8, and Luthor's personal intelligence as Tier-9, for Luthor to traverse the long road of science and independently recreate Doomsday, even the most optimistic estimate still required at least one year.
Unlike Luthor, Thea used every conceivable pretext to divert taxpayer money into her own research and armament programs. While some results had to be shared, her personal finances suffered almost no loss. Massive daily cash flows were instead funneled into ever larger commercial expansions. Her financial reach was steadily penetrating every sector of the nation.
Luthor's arrogance caused him to fall behind Thea in political maneuvering. One step behind meant every step behind. Now he could only force the launch of the Cadmus Project using his own connections and capital—no government backing, no military support, no consortium participation. Resting by day and working by night, he labored underground like a stereotypical mad scientist.
This was not ancient times when one could bury several tons of gold in a cellar. In today's globally integrated world, siphoning off such vast sums without drawing attention was impossible. Thea herself owned shares in LuthorCorp; by regulation, she had full access to its financial reports. She hired over a hundred renowned accountants, whose sole task was to scrutinize LuthorCorp's cash flow and industrial assets.
The initial investment into the Cadmus Project alone had already cost Luthor at least three billion in liquid funds—and that was merely the beginning. The daily expenditures to follow would be astronomical.
Since he was willing to throw tens of billions of dollars into the abyss, Thea had no intention of stopping him. She was already planning how much capital she would need to acquire LuthorCorp—drained of liquidity yet still possessing a colossal foundation—once Luthor inevitably failed and went to prison.
Their meeting had little immediate effect on the broader situation. Even without Luthor's instigation, the earlier suicide incident spread widely across online media. Doubts, accusations, and speculation surged endlessly.
The best solution was to muddy the waters. Thea instructed the group's PR department to clear the way with money—buying off print media and hiring online troll armies to derail discussions.
To further divert attention, she negotiated with several major talent agencies, engineering celebrity scandals: who met whom at a hotel today, who was breaking up tomorrow. Global attention shifted almost instinctively. The alien controversy that had raged for a month was gradually buried beneath endless gossip.
Although the incident subsided, perceptive individuals had already noticed the implication of extraterrestrial existence. After closed-door discussions, the committee decided to maintain the status quo: those who knew could know; those who didn't know were better off not knowing.
As the bad luck finally ebbed, the expedition team deep in Peru delivered long-awaited news.
The temple had been found.