No One Can Stand in My Way

Whoosh!

That afternoon, the sky was somewhat overcast, and a cold wind blew low through the town streets.

Martha had gone shopping, with Clark and David following along to help carry things.

It looked like rain was coming, and pedestrians hurried through the town.

Clark had just loaded two large discounted bottles of laundry detergent into the car when his vision blurred. The world around him seemed to enter a silent film, turning black and white. The people walking down the street were no longer residents, but skeletons.

A woman carrying a vegetable basket casually passed nearby, and Clark flailed awkwardly as he tried to avoid her.

David knew that his Super Hearing had activated out of control again. "Control your gifts with your mind. Don't fear or resist them."

When Zod had first arrived on Earth and been exposed to sunlight, he had adapted to all the suddenly emerging abilities in less than a minute. Of course, that had something to do with him being a highly trained elite soldier.

But they were both Kryptonians. Zod did not have any extra organs or legs compared to Superman, and his potential was even inferior to Clark's.

"Think about before gym class. Why were you able to control it the whole time?"

Looking at Clark's troubled face, David suspected it had something to do with Clark's state of mind.

Clark resisted the abilities that emerged within him. They made him seem like an outsider and constantly reminded him that he was an alien, which was why they worked only sometimes.

"I..."

Clark was about to speak when a strange skeleton suddenly appeared in his distant field of vision, instantly catching his attention.

Everyone else looked as though they had been X-rayed in the black-and-white world, but that skeleton glowed with a vivid green fluorescence, like...

"Meteorite?"

Clark immediately remembered the thing that had caused him trouble so many times.

For some reason, even though those meteorites had come to Earth with him, they were his nemesis. Whenever he got close to them, his entire body went weak.

"What's wrong, Clark? Is it happening again?"

Martha came out of the supermarket, saw that something was off with her eldest son, and immediately suggested going home. "Let's go home."

"No, I'm fine."

Clark watched the green skeleton enter a small shop by the street. He shook his head, took a deep breath, and tried to control himself. Two seconds later, he actually shut the ability off.

"David was right. As long as I don't resist it, I can do it!"

He was delighted, but after glancing at his calm younger brother, he felt a little defeated.

The gift was clearly his, yet his brother understood its secrets better than he did.

David was not surprised in the slightest.

"As everyone knows, Superman is a somewhat idealistic creature."

Seeing signs that her eldest son could freely control his newly emerged ability, Martha was relieved and happy that there would be no problems because of it.

"Mom, didn't you say you were going to the Antique Shop?"

Clark had just seen that green skeleton enter the Antique Shop by the street.

"The lamp in our bedroom broke. We're having your Aunt Catherine repair it."

After walking a few steps, Martha led her two sons into the shabby Antique Shop along the street.

Ding-a-ling.

The door opened, and the welcoming bell rang.

The shop was packed with all sorts of items. Porcelain and hornware were displayed in glass cases, while oil paintings, antique wall clocks, and embroidered pictures hung on the walls.

There were also palm-sized statues with a strong ancient African tribal style casually placed in the corners...

It was called an Antique Shop.

David looked around and doubted whether there was even a single genuine antique inside.

For an antique shop that had fallen so low as to repair household appliances, he could not say much.

"Most of this stuff probably came in last week."

"Mrs. Kent... I mean, Martha, how have you been lately?"

Catherine stepped briskly out from the back of the shop. A flash of nervousness crossed her eyes, though she wore a practiced smile.

"How's business?"

Martha did not suspect a thing. After all, the woman before her was the Catherine she knew: the same eyes, the same nose bridge, even the faint wrinkles at the corners of her eyes were identical.

"Not bad."

"I came to pick up the lamp." After chatting for a bit longer, Martha smiled and got to the point.

"The lamp?"

Catherine looked confused.

Clark secretly tried to activate that special vision again.

He struggled to control the muscles around his eyes, and after seven or eight seconds, he finally succeeded.

Behind the counter stood a flesh-and-blood skeleton glowing with meteorite fluorescence.

"But... why is she so much shorter?"

This skeleton was different from the one he had seen earlier. She had been a young woman just moments ago, but now her body was hunched over.

"Could there be two of them?"

He remembered that Aunt Catherine's daughter, Tina, also attended the town high school, though she was not in his class.

"That mahogany lamp Jonathan broke."

After Martha explained, "Catherine" seemed to finally remember. She turned and went into the back room to retrieve it.

"What's that smell?"

David sniffed, and a faint stench drifted into his nose.

Clark sniffed as well but did not notice anything.

Aside from Super Hearing and vision, Kryptonians' other senses far surpassed those of ordinary people. Clark's might not have awakened yet.

Martha, being an ordinary person, noticed even less.

"Sorry, Martha. I checked, and that lamp hasn't been repaired yet. Could you come back next week?"

"Catherine" came back out with an apologetic expression.

"Of course."

Martha, who was always easygoing, smiled lightly.

She turned to leave with her two sons when she suddenly noticed the corner of a stack of cash sticking out from beneath a cabinet near the stairs.

She bent down and picked it up.

"What's this?"

"Thank you, Martha. I'm such an idiot."

At the sight of the stack of cash, Catherine hurriedly took it back, her tone slightly stiff.

"A customer paid in cash. I've been looking for it all day. Turns out it was here."

"You're welcome. That's no small amount of money, Catherine. You should keep it safe."

Something unnatural flashed in Martha's eyes, but she smiled.

After reminding her, she quickly left with her two sons.

Once they were out of the Antique Shop and walking down the street, Martha spoke in a low voice.

"There was a Town Savings and Loan band wrapped around that stack of cash."

The Town Bank had just been robbed, and then a stack of ten thousand dollars from the bank appeared in Catherine's shop. It was hard not to make a connection.

"Catherine said a customer paid her, but we all know her Antique Shop hasn't had business in a long time..."

"I don't think Aunt Catherine's family is well-off enough to casually leave ten thousand dollars lying around."

David had noticed the panic on "Catherine's" face when the stack of cash appeared.

"The person who stole the money is very likely connected to her."

"I saw it too."

Clark turned back toward the Antique Shop as he spoke, only to witness a shocking scene.

Inside the shop, the skeleton of the hunched figure seemed to be pulled taller. Its chest and back straightened, transforming into the form he had seen earlier.

More importantly, inside a standing cabinet in the shop lay a woman's corpse.

Old and hunched, with a heart that no longer beat and blood that had already congealed.

"I don't think the person we saw was Aunt Catherine." He opened his mouth.

"Then who was it?" Martha asked in confusion.

"I don't know, but..." Clark told them what he had discovered.

Someone they had known for years might be dead, and her body had been right behind her just moments ago.

Martha was frightened and decided to go home first, then discuss how to deal with this with her husband, Jonathan.

Even though her eldest son possessed abilities beyond those of ordinary people, she did not want him getting involved in this matter so easily.

After closing the door, Tina's flesh flowed like putty as she returned to her original appearance.

Thinking of Martha's unnatural expression after discovering the money, she expressionlessly hung up a Temporarily Closed sign. Her cold voice echoed through the shop.

"No one can stand in the way of my happiness!"