USB Drive

Metropolis, hospital.

It was already three in the afternoon. Brilliant golden light streamed in through the window, half-covered by curtains, and spilled onto the bed covered with pristine white sheets. Lois Lane lay unconscious on the bed, connected to various life support devices, her vitals displayed as regular pulses on the electrocardiogram, indicating her gradually stabilizing life.

The planned weekend picnic was undoubtedly interrupted by this sudden accident. Kara was currently sitting by the bedside, accompanying the comatose Lois, while Jay was there with her.

The doctor said she was temporarily out of danger, but it was hard to say when she would wake up, or if she might never wake up at all. Kara seemed quite dejected upon hearing this, appearing to have a very good relationship with Lois.

Jay patted her shoulder and comforted her, "She'll get better. She's Lois Lane, isn't she? She's not the kind of woman who goes down that easily."

"I know," Kara said, staring blankly at Lois's pale face, her heart filled with sorrow.

Jay softly asked, "You seem very close to her."

Kara squeezed his hand and nodded gently, "We haven't been in touch for a while, but Lois is like family to me. She and Kal took great care of me in every way when I first came to Earth. Kal might be my only blood relative on Earth, but Lois showed me what it felt like to have a sister."

Jay nodded with deep empathy, "I can understand."

"I just hope she gets better," Kara said, staring at Lois on the hospital bed, then suddenly asked, "But why was she there? By the lake outside Metropolis? What was she doing there? And who did this to her?"

"Hey, don't think too much about it for now, okay?" Jay held her hand and said, "We'll figure all this out. I'll figure it out, I promise."

Hearing him say that, Kara suddenly remembered something and asked, "Right, when we found her... did she give you anything?"

Jay nodded and took out a thumb-sized USB drive from his pocket. Its exquisite silver casing reflected a shiny luster under the sunlight.

"A USB drive?" Kara took it and examined it, "She gave this to you?"

"She gave it to the first person she met with her last conscious thought. That means it's important, perhaps she felt it was more important than herself."

"That's so like her," Kara sighed softly, "Always accompanied by danger, chasing truths others dare not touch."

She stared at the small gadget in her hand for a moment and said, "We should see what's inside. Maybe the contents are related to what happened to her, and it can help us figure things out."

"No, I'll figure it out," Jay took the USB drive from her hand and said, "You need some time to rest. And if Lois wakes up, she'll need you here."

Kara opened her mouth, wanting to say something but stopping herself. After glancing once more at Lois, who was in a deep coma, she finally nodded in compromise.

Jay instinctively felt that he shouldn't open the unknown USB drive on his home computer, so he took it to The Daily Planet office.

Since it was the weekend, there weren't many people in the office, not even Perry was in his office, which provided him with some convenience. Jay sat down at the desk Perry had temporarily assigned him and started the computer. The chassis of this somewhat old computer emitted a humming sound like a rough gasp. It took more than two minutes for the monitor to reluctantly display the desktop background, as if it were a sleepy person just emerging from under their winter covers.

He hoped this old machine could at least read a USB drive.

Jay plugged the small USB drive into the port on the computer case. The small indicator light at the end of the USB drive flickered with a faint red light. He stared intently at the screen, watching the progress bar for the routine scan of the USB drive move at a snail's pace. Finally, it managed to read it. A folder interface popped up on the desktop. On the stark white interface, only one folder sat alone in the upper left corner.

"S.D.E. Project," that was its name.

Jay was captivated by the name. He couldn't help but think of all the mysterious top-secret projects hidden by the government in sci-fi movies. According to movie plots, such projects always attracted a string of trouble. He felt like he had already been drawn into such a plot, and invisible undercurrents were quietly approaching him, though he didn't know where they were coming from.

He moved the mouse cursor over the folder and double-clicked it. The cursor changed into a small spinning circle representing loading. After a few rounds, a long list of file icons popped up on the interface. But when he tried to double-click them, each folder only responded with a frustrating exclamation mark and a dialog box asking for a password.

Jay felt a bit frustrated, but it couldn't be said that this was an entirely unexpected outcome. Rather, it would have been more illogical if the contents of the USB drive were completely unencrypted and displayed before him without any barriers. He began to consider whether to seek Helena's help, as cracking passwords wouldn't be too difficult for her.

At this moment, his gaze was drawn to an attached text file at the end of the file list. Its icon was completely different from the other contents in the folder. He thought for a moment, then clicked on the text file with his cursor. After a brief lag, a long list popped up before him.

"S.D.E. Project Director: General Sam Lane," the title read.

Jay's heart skipped a beat. Sam Lane, Lane... wasn't that Lois's dad? In the original comics, General Sam Lane was a stubborn old man, a thorough patriot, but he was always at odds with Superman. He was the representative figure of the military's anti-superpower faction, and this annoying old man appeared in many major comic events.

Jay continued to scroll down. Below was a long list of "S.D.E. Project" related individuals, but almost every participant's name was followed by "Dead" written in small red letters, including the director himself, General Lane, who was presumably confirmed dead. This wasn't surprising either; the Apocalypse Invasion six years ago resulted in countless casualties, with immeasurable numbers of soldiers falling on the battlefield. These people clearly hadn't survived.

Except for one person.

As the document was flipped to the end, Jay finally found the only name in an inconspicuous corner that was not marked with the bright red "Dead" – General Simon Gilson, followed by "Retired" in light green font.

As long as the person was alive, things could be discussed. The next step would be to find General Gilson's address and pay him a visit.

Just as Jay was thinking this, a faint buzzing sound, seemingly from a great distance, blew in through the open window with the wind and entered Jay's ears. Amplified by his super hearing, the sound was like an entire nest of buzzing hornets rapidly approaching, faintly like a charging cavalry, carrying thunderous roars.

He narrowed his eyes and instinctively looked out the window, instantly freezing.

It was a missile, slicing through the clear sky with its long tail flame, flying directly towards his window at a speed far exceeding that of sound.