The current situation had become Clark leading the way and jumping down into the cellar, while Lex and Bruce were engaged in a conversation and moving forward, seemingly planning a new scheme. Shiller trailed behind them, contemplating whether he should descend as well.
In theory, at this stage, there was no need for him to go down personally. After all, no matter what was down there, Lex and Bruce would empty it out. It would be easy for him to get a piece from Lex later on. After all, Shiller is not Batman; half a ton of Kryptonite would be of no use to him besides taking up space.
However, right at that moment, Shiller, who was bringing up the rear, noticed that there seemed to be several groups of agents advancing towards them. The courtyard fence was covered in a thick layer of snow, but from the gaps between the branches, the shadows of figures could still be observed swaying.
From their formation, it was clear that this was no coincidence; they were systematically surrounding the place.
Faced with the choice of entering an unknown area, facing potential dangers and wrestling with equally perilous opponents for the treasure or staying put and dealing with a manageable group of agents, Shiller without hesitation chose the former.
Without looking back, Shiller walked into the entrance of the cellar. The agents, who were hiding and observing the scene, thought he hadn't realized their presence. As soon as Shiller entered the cellar, the agents rushed out from their hiding spots and set up some explosive devices at the entrance.
While the agents were proceeding with their tasks, Benjamin was on the top floor of the mansion tower, observing the situation at the cellar entrance with a telescope.
The tower was in an excellent location. It was at the center of the entire mansion and was the highest point. It could completely function as a Watchtower and allow him to have an unobstructed view of the entire mansion.
Not only the entire mansion, but he could also see the situation surrounding the entire Mayor's Mansion. Therefore, as Benjamin raised his telescope, he captured a black dot in his field of vision, cutting across the skyline of Metropolis.
In the midst of the snowfall, the visibility was not far. Therefore, Benjamin couldn't see clearly what it was, but soon, he felt a tremor on the ground, an explosion lit up in the distance, and even whipped up a whirlwind of snowflakes.
Benjamin narrowed his eyes, put down his binoculars, turned his head, and asked Kira who was behind him: "...Did you see that?"
Kira was also holding a telescope, and quite coincidentally, she had been looking in that direction. She put down her telescope and said incredulously, "I think I saw a crashed fighter jet."
"A fighter jet? Except for those crazy Soviets, who would fly a jet in this weather?"
Kira furrowed her brow, thought for a while, and said, "That doesn't look like any model of fighter jet I've seen before. You know, I've served in the Air Force, and as far as I know, the Air Force doesn't have any fighter jet with an all-black color scheme."
Just then, they heard some noises from downstairs. Not from below the tower they were in, but near the fourth floor of the mansion.
It was a crisp sound that didn't quite resemble a gunshot but rather the sound of glass shattering. Benjamin's face darkened as he turned to Kira and asked, "Are the guests making trouble again?"
Kira reached for the walkie-talkie, intending to communicate with the agents to go check it out, but Benjamin approached and stopped her before she could do so, saying, "Let's not mobilize the manpower at the entrance for now. Let's check it out ourselves."
Benjamin thought it was just those impatient guests stirring up trouble again. Over time, he had also figured out that these people were all bark, no bite. Although their words were provocative, the moment the agents pulled their guns, they would mumble and back off.
With this in mind, without much precaution, Benjamin left the tower, entered the main building of the mansion, crossed the banquet hall, ascended the staircase, and arrived at the place where the sound had originated.
The sound had come from the end of the corridor on the fourth floor. At the moment, shards of broken glass lay scattered on the floor. Kira went ahead with her gun drawn, took a look, and said, "It seems someone broke the glass. Could it be a prank out of dissatisfaction?"
"If it were a prank, there would be no glass here. If the glass was broken from the inside, the shards would fall outward. But now, the shards are in the hallway, which indicates that the glass was broken from the outside."
Benjamin inspected the broken glass but found no footprints or similar traces. Eventually, he concluded, "It seems this isn't man-made. Perhaps the wind and snow blew a sharp object onto the glass from the outside, causing it to break."
Kira frowned as if she still had some objections, but she couldn't find any evidence to refute Benjamin's claim.
After all, under this snowy weather, it was easy to leave traces. Moreover, the guests here were all privileged elites. They didn't have any motive to climb out the window and then come in through the window.
If it was an intrusion from outside, that was also unlikely. The entire transportation in Metropolis was paralyzed right now. Who would bother to come all the way here? The whole operation was kept entirely confidential, and communication was cut off. Outsiders didn't know what was happening here, so there was no reason for them to come here.