Barry woke up again and saw a somewhat familiar ceiling. He abruptly opened his eyes and saw Lois standing in front of him.
"Good thing you're okay." Lois sighed and said, "How could you be so reckless, rushing straight into the Capitol Building? Luckily it wasn't in the District of Columbia, otherwise you'd be shot."
Barry sat up from the bed, looked around, then hugged the computer beside him tightly.
"Sorry," Barry said, "but I might really need to borrow your computer. I..."
"Do you want to publish those photos?"
Barry nodded and said, "I can hack into the internet, put these things on the homepage of news websites, everyone can see them. Maybe then..."
Lois shook her head and said, "Doing that would only make you a fugitive, nothing more."
Barry wanted to argue, but he suddenly remembered Lois is a famous journalist. Since she had already taken these photos, she could have published them. Why hadn't she?
"It's unfortunate that America does not have true freedom of speech. If you publish something that goes against the mainstream media, people will quickly come knocking." Lois sighed and said, "And all mainstream media speaks with the same voice."
Lois gently took the computer, pulled up a video, and as Barry watched, he was stunned again.
The video was mundane, just replaying one news segment after another, but the terrifying part was that different studios, different hosts, different time slots, everyone was saying the exact same thing.
Not only were the contents the same, but the tone, pauses, details, expressions, and the background images on TV were all identical.
Barry even saw many familiar news channels among them, including many sharp news media commentators, all saying the same thing.
"Barry, you've been to college, which proves you're smart, so you should understand that in a big city like Los Angeles, homeless people are everywhere, nearly everyone has seen them. Why is no one paying attention to this issue?"
Lois, sitting by the bed, looked at Barry and said, "Never assume the news media acts with good intentions. Most of the time, the purpose of mainstream media's existence is not to let people see something, but to ensure they don't see something, or to make them ignore what's in plain sight."
"The information a person can receive in a certain period is limited. As long as the mainstream media fills those quotas with uniform content, it gets beautified as the truth because people no longer have the ability to receive more information."
"And to break through the siege of mainstream media, it's almost impossible solely from the media level, especially within America, because some people won't just break through from the media level of your defenses, understand?"
Barry certainly understood, he wasn't dumb. Simply put, this isn't a fair game. If it's about mainstream media control, and he's there to expose it, tackling it from the media level in a showdown, he might not necessarily lose.
But they don't play online confrontations; they can directly trouble you offline, and send agents to break into your place and solve it physically.
And the exposers are always at a disadvantage against mainstream media; they don't have the state machinery to rely on. Physical execution is the most effective, which inevitably means they'll never win.
"Then what do I do?" Barry said, somewhat distraught, "Can I really move those homeless people to warmer places? At least they won't freeze to death, and for me, it wouldn't be a big deal."
Lois shook her head again and said, "In their original place, there might still be some order to rely on, whether it's gangs, support groups, or even drug dealers, but if they leave there and suddenly appear in an unfamiliar place, they truly might die."
"They clearly can do it," Barry said, "They don't even need to do it themselves, just issue an order, give them some food, give them a place to stay, why not???"
Barry became increasingly agitated and stood up directly from the bed. Just at his angriest moment, a phone call suddenly came in.
"Hello, this is A.R.G.U.S., Mr. Allen, we contacted you before regarding joining the superpower user team to move Capitol Hill back to its original place..."
"Get lost!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Listening to the intense roar from the other end of the phone, Shiller held the phone a bit further away, somewhat helplessly put down the phone, turned to look at the female agent, and said, "The other person's aversion is too strong, I can't help it, looks like we need to find someone else."
The female agent was about to say something when Shiller spoke first: "Luckily, The Flash is strong, but only in terms of speed; for comprehensive abilities, I have a better candidate."
He picked up the phone again, dialed a number, and said, "Hello, is this Mr. John Jones? This is A.R.G.U.S., we have something we'd like to discuss with you..."
Shiller introduced himself again, made the request, and then said, "We are a legitimate organization and won't force you to do anything. On the contrary, if you run into some trouble, we can fully offer assistance..."
"The ones in trouble now are not me, but yourselves." The person on the other end of the line gave a cold snort, then said, "In such a rush to move Capitol Hill back, is it because the congressmen are afraid to go out?"
"Of course not, we can explain this," Shiller responded patiently. "The official statement has debunked rumors. The research base moved to the Metropolis by Superman is entirely for normal medical purposes, and many excellent original medications have even originated from this base."
"Look, it's written in the news. The latest research has produced two asthma medications, and previously, an effective treatment for the genetic disease, Marfan syndrome, was also developed. If you don't believe it, I can send the information to you. Just wait a moment, I'll send it to your email right away..."
The agent standing behind Shiller wanted to say something but was stopped by a glance from Shiller. After hanging up, he turned and said, "Don't take everyone for a fool. Without concrete evidence, how can you expect them to believe? Mr. Jones is not one of those reckless fools. He used to be a police officer and does not have a good opinion of the Federal Government. To persuade him to rescue the congressmen, you first need to change his negative impression."
After Ron, the Martian Manhunter, hung up the phone, his brows remained tightly furrowed because he had heard a very familiar word— "Marfan syndrome."
This is a genetic disease that affects many parts of the human body, which can reduce the fatality rate through surgery but cannot be completely cured, and requires long-term medication.
Ron is a Martian, so he certainly couldn't have this human genetic disease, but someone very important to him suffered from it—Dr. Erdel, who initially transported him to Earth.
Sitting in the chair, Ron recalled the scene from back then: a completely bewildered Martian and a terrified researcher staring at each other in the laboratory.
"You, you you you..."
"I... where am I?" The tall green-skinned figure warily looked around, but because he was too tall and overly cautious, he took a step back, turned around, and accidentally broke a piece of equipment that seemed very important.
About a week later, the researcher standing at the lab bench said, "Regrettably, this thing is completely broken. You probably can't go back for now."
"I... I want..." At that time, Ron's English was not very fluent. He gestured for a bit, then said, "Mars, I want to return to Mars, wife, children..."
"I'm really very sorry," the researcher said, "but repairing this thing will take time. You'll have to stay here for now. I promise it will be ready soon."
And so another week passed. During that week, Ron gradually learned to speak English and understood that the researcher was Dr. Erdel, who specialized in Mars research. His observational device had malfunctioned, reverse-transporting Ron to Earth.
However, just half a month after arriving on Earth, Dr. Erdel told him a shocking piece of bad news—the Martians were extinct.
Because of the accidental transport to Earth, Ron successfully escaped the extinction of the Martians. Yet, he had already become despondent, hiding in the lab every day, eating and waiting for death, unwilling even to go out.
To encourage him, Dr. Erdel tried many methods, not only taking care of his daily needs and telling him stories about humans but also studying psychology and gradually using psychological treatment and hypnosis to help him out of the shadows.
In hindsight, Ron always places Dr. Erdel on the same level of importance as his deceased wife and children. He was his first human friend and his best friend.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans, or perhaps the Martian Manhunter was destined to be lonely. After Ron was willing to go out, he met many humans and discovered that Dr. Erdel's health was far below average. It was at this time that he learned Dr. Erdel suffered from a genetic disease known as Marfan syndrome.
He was relatively fortunate; his condition wasn't severe but required long-term medication, and his body was always quite weak. A few months after Ron arrived on Earth, Dr. Erdel unfortunately died of a heart attack.
Thinking back to those days, Ron sat in silence for a long time before opening the email, only to find an A.R.G.U.S.-sent document. He wasn't very interested and didn't intend to read it closely, but as he scrolled down, his finger stopped—it was another familiar name, a drug name.
Martians also possess super brains, and their memory is outstanding. He clearly remembered seeing the packaging of this medication in Dr. Erdel's lab. Back then, his English wasn't very good, so he asked what it was. Dr. Erdel simply said it was a medication and specifically emphasized it was a newly developed one.
In a flash, Ron's figure appeared above Colorado State. Relying on his memory, he found Dr. Erdel's lab, which seemed to have been abandoned, making it easy for him to locate the room from those years.
Ron wove through the lab benches, not forgetting to look at the clutter beneath his feet. He suppressed his memories and feelings of sorrow. As expected, on Dr. Erdel's most frequently used desk, he found the box of this medication, with two pills remaining.
Ron picked up the box and examined it carefully, finding the name identical letter by letter. This medication was indeed researched out of the secret base moved to the Metropolis.
The main symptom of Marfan syndrome, or rather, the highest mortality risk manifests as heart problems. Many patients die from cardiac vascular rupture in middle age. Therefore, Ron had never doubted the cause of Dr. Erdel's death.
But now it seemed that things might not be that simple. Previously, he maintained well through continuous medication. Apart from some weakness, there was no lethal danger. Why did he die so quickly after switching to the new medication?
More details of his memories surfaced in Ron's mind: in the month before Dr. Erdel's death, he became very depressed, often staring blankly at the computer. At that time, a new project had just begun not long ago, a period when he should have been most enthusiastic, yet he died shortly after.
Ron's hand clutched the box tightly, as his heart began to grow cold piece by piece.