Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 116 Hidden Plot Card

Chapter 117 Hidden Plot Cards (Bonus Chapter)

Langdon also saw the line of English text. Although he didn't say anything, he still expressed the solemnity of his mood with his eyes.

Louise frowned, about to say something, but was interrupted by the host's voice on stage:

66

Louise Lane!

A wave of enthusiastic applause surged from all directions, but Louise, caught in the middle, could only feign a slightly forced smile.

After all, apart from her and Langdon standing beside her, no one knew that from the moment they saw that handkerchief, the Escalien Prize had become a hot potato.

Of course, this might just be a joke.

But for Louise, with her journalistic instincts, the joke sent a chill down her spine.

But with everyone in the room staring at her and the host urging her on stage, Louise couldn't show anything unusual, so she could only walk toward the stage while remaining vigilant.

As she passed Langdon, she casually dropped the handkerchief at his feet, gave him a look, and then walked away.

Jaeger bent down and picked up the handkerchief, looking thoughtfully at the English on it.

Although it was written in ink, the English text is crooked and illegible, probably not written with the writer's dominant hand, making it difficult to identify the author through handwriting analysis.

And besides—who would want to kill Louise Lane, the Escalius Award winner?

Are you in the same industry?

Jaeger's gaze swept over Julian Fey at the next table, where he was clapping with obvious dissatisfaction, though it was just an unpleasant clapping.

He then looked at the other two nominees, who were smiling broadly and seemed pleased with Louise's win.

"————" Yegmo stroked the handkerchief in his hand.

Or perhaps things aren't as simple as they seem.

It wasn't the nominated journalists who didn't win the award who really wanted to target Louise; it was someone else entirely.

Or perhaps the other party wasn't targeting Louise at all, but rather the Escalius Prize winner.

Is it just that Louise was the most likely to win, so she received this handkerchief?

Just as Jaeger was deep in thought, a hushed voice suddenly sounded beside him: "Did you hear that strange noise, Langdon?"

"?" Jaeger looked up and found Clark standing next to him with a serious expression.

I really want to ask Clark what kind of scenarios he and Louise imagined about themselves.

But the important matter at hand was more pressing, so Jaeger asked seriously, "Strange noise?"

"Yes." Clark's gaze darted around the room, as if searching for something. "A strange hissing sound."

"————" Jaeger heard nothing.

But considering Clark's super hearing, it was unlikely he had misheard. After thinking for a moment, Jaeger had some of the poisonous fog spread around the venue to check the situation.

Then a faint mist, almost imperceptible, detached from Jaeger's body and silently spread to the surroundings of the venue.

Soon, the poisonous fog brought the answer: "Found it! It's on the stage! The part of the stage where the steel wire suspending the green cross sword is hidden by the curtain!"

"Shared vision," Jaeger said immediately.

In an instant, the steel wire of the suspended sword, which was hidden by the curtain and so that no one below the stage could notice the problem, was clearly seen by Jaeger.

Jaeger's eyelids twitched the moment he saw it clearly.

A device, installed vertically on the steel wire by an unknown person, was emitting a bright red laser, gradually slicing through the steel wire from which the green cross sword was suspended.

If the fog hadn't allowed for such close observation, Jaeger might not have heard the faint hissing sound of the laser at all.

And directly below the green sword was Louise, who had just received the Escaliber Award trophy from the host and walked onto the stage!

Oops.

Jaeger grabbed Clark and quickly said, "On stage!"

"On stage?" Clark subconsciously looked towards the stage where Louise was, a strange light flashing in his eyes.

With his X-ray vision, Clark quickly spotted the laser cutting through the steel wire of the suspended sword!

"!!!" Clark immediately couldn't sit still. "I need to find a reason to leave—"

Before Clark could even finish saying "Leave," Jaeger, who was standing nearby, acted decisively, pretending to slip and accidentally dropping his wine glass at Clark.

With a "splash," a large amount of liquor splattered onto Clark's newly rented suit, resulting in his heroic sacrifice.

Clark: "————" Never mind, saving lives is the priority.

So he could only take the opportunity offered by Jaeger, pretending to say, "Oh dear, I need to change my clothes."

He shrank back as he quickly slipped away from the venue.

Seeing Clark leave, Jaeger refocused his attention on the suspended steel wire.

The condition of the steel wire is now very bad.

If it weren't for the high strength of the material, and given its diameter, which is only slightly thicker than a human hair, the Green Cross Sword would probably have already smashed down.

Even so, the steel wire was still gradually deteriorating.

Now, the sword above Louise's head has truly become the Sword of Damocles in every sense of the word.

And just then...

"Snap."

A cracking sound, transmitted through the mist, reached Jaeger's ears.

One of the steel wires broke completely.

The green cross-shaped sword, pointing downwards, suddenly fell to the ground without warning, right before the eyes of everyone in the audience!

Amidst a sudden burst of chaotic screams, Louise looked up, her eyes reflecting the cold glint that was now almost within reach.

But just then, "Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A series of crystal-cracking sounds came from above Louise.

Still shaken, Lois looked at the red and blue figure who had appeared above her at some unknown time, shielding her from the green cross sword with his back. Instinctively, she grabbed the podium next to her to steady herself: "Superman—"

"Are you alright?" Clark, who had just returned from an emergency disguise and rushed to the scene at super speed to save Louise, slowly landed from the air, while raising his hand to swat off the crystal fragments that were still on his body.

The green cross sword, now reduced to a pile of green crystals, had only its relatively intact hilt lying on the ground.

"Do you know who's trying to harm you?" Clark looked up. "Someone deliberately took this sword down."

"—No, I don't know." Louise had already adjusted her mindset thanks to her excellent journalistic skills. At Superman's prompting, she looked up and saw the mechanical device hidden behind the curtain.

"However, I have some clues." Louise recalled the writing on the handkerchief she had just seen. "Don't worry, Superman, I will definitely catch this guy."

Hearing Louise's words, Clark nodded: "Be careful."

Then, with a light leap, he disappeared from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.

After circling back to the venue, in a corner where no one paid attention, Clark quietly changed into an oversized shirt he had grabbed randomly from the dressing room and hurried back to Langdon's side: "Phew, thank goodness I made it in time."

"Hmm." Seeing that the crisis had passed, Langdon returned to his original expressionless face.

His gaze was fixed on Louise on the stage, as if he were thinking about something.

Clark, however, seemed to have sensed something from what had just happened, and hesitantly began, "Um, Langdon—"

Are you—?

"Hmm?" Langdon glanced at Clark.

In fact, he hadn't heard what Clark was saying at all.

Because at this moment, Jaeger, who was wearing Langdon's vest, was actually looking at something else.

That was the card table that suddenly appeared before us, and the cards that spawned on the table:

You have triggered a hidden story card!

[The Battle for ? has been added to the tables!]

[Description: The prelude to the Ascalibur calamity has begun, but this event is not as simple as it seems.]

Okay, here's a free tip, my friend!

In this incident, what truly matters is not the impending death, but something lurking within it—

Find it before anyone else.