Starting with You, Martha

Father Jonathan called the police. Near dusk,

the town police came to the house to take a supplementary statement. The town sheriff, Bob, who had brought several officers with him, had been Jonathan's high school classmate.

"Bob, have you caught the killer?" Jonathan asked.

"We unfortunately found Catherine's body in her Antique Shop, but not the money. The killer may have moved it."

Facing an old classmate who was also the one who had provided the lead, Bob did not refuse to share the information.

"We waited there for a long time, but the killer may have escaped. We found no suspicious people in town either. Catherine's daughter, Tina, has disappeared without explanation. We suspect she may have been killed too."

"According to the autopsy, Catherine had been dead for quite some time. The person your wife Martha saw should not have been Catherine."

Bob frowned deeply, thinking of the bizarre Bank Heist, and muttered.

"Could those spy techniques that use disguises to look exactly like someone else really exist?"

Jonathan did not know what to say. After seeing Bob off, he turned and sighed to his wife and sons.

"Bad news. The police came up empty-handed."

"That might be a good thing too."

Martha said worriedly, "Tina has special abilities. Even a handgun cannot subdue her. If they really encounter her, Bob and the others will most likely be in danger."

David and Clark were not surprised. They had never expected the police to capture Tina.

Whoosh!

The sun set, and the starry sky blanketed the heavens. Darkness shrouded the Farms as a cold wind swept through, bending the wheat fields low.

Under the glaring porch light, David and Clark stood on either side of the house's entrance.

If Tina came to attack, she would definitely treat them as her first targets.

Even if she circled around from behind, she would not escape David's extraordinary hearing.

"She'd better be impatient enough to come for revenge tonight."

David stared into the distance, his voice carrying an icy chill like the cold wind howling past the door.

To continue living normally as Catherine and avoid drawing the police's attention, Tina had not appeared in town all day. She likely knew something had happened, and it would not be hard for her to guess who had called the police.

You could catch a thief for a thousand days, but you could not guard against one for a thousand days.

"Based on the coroner's findings, Aunt Catherine may have fallen down the stairs and accidentally died after striking the back of her head..."

Clark hesitated as he tried to scan the surroundings with Super Vision.

"What are you trying to say?"

David could tell he had more to say.

Clark glanced back at their parents sitting in the living room. With a look of reluctance, he lowered his voice.

"When Tina comes, leave her to me. I'll subdue her."

Tina had come to attack their parents, and the coldness radiating from his younger brother was even stronger than when Gregg had died by his hand.

He did not want David's hands stained with more blood, leaving him unable to turn back.

"And then?"

Though it was the same old question and Clark tirelessly kept trying to persuade him, David merely folded his arms without getting angry.

"I've already thought of a way."

Clark raised his brows, looking slightly pleased with himself. "A way to subdue bad people without worrying that they'll reveal my identity and abilities."

"Oh?"

David was a little surprised.

Clark pulled a blue knitted hood from his pocket. After checking that no one was around, he quickly pulled it over his head, covering his entire face and leaving only his eyes exposed.

"Can you still tell who I am, David?"

Clark deliberately lowered his voice, speaking in a deep tone.

"A bank robber?"

David raised an eyelid.

Son of Krypton had finally used his brain and thought of hiding his identity with a hood. Still, with that outfit, the only thing separating him from a bank robber was the lack of a gun in his hand.

"I got the idea from a comic."

Though Clark had been teased, he was not discouraged at all. He had found a solution to the problem that had long troubled him, and he spoke earnestly.

"I can't stop Gregg and the others from revealing my abilities, but I can make them think an unknown person subdued them!

So don't make a move later, or Mom and Dad might notice something unusual about you."

Clark believed that once this problem was solved, his younger brother would have no reason to silence people completely by turning them into vegetative states or killing them again.

But the naive Son of Krypton did not know that David had other reasons for doing so.

Rustle!

As Clark tried to persuade David, a slender, pretty black-haired figure approached from afar. She hugged her arms and shivered, her face reddened by the cold. Looking pitiful, like someone who had stormed out after a huge fight with her parents and was searching for shelter, she hesitantly walked over.

"Clark, David, why are you standing outside?"

"Lana?"

Clark turned and saw the girl he had a crush on suddenly appear at his doorstep, leaving him utterly surprised.

"Wait, how did you recognize me?"

He touched his face. He was clearly wearing a hood.

"Your clothes, your height—and most importantly, you're standing beside David."

In the cold wind, Lana's eyes were red as if she had just cried. Her voice was slightly hoarse, and her tone was low.

Clark froze for a moment, having forgotten about that.

"What happened? Why do you look like this, Lana?"

Seeing tears at the corners of the eyes of the girl he had a crush on, his expression changed slightly.

After coldly sizing Lana up, David secretly jabbed an elbow into the lovestruck boy who forgot everything else the moment he saw her.

"Did you forget something, Clark?"

Clark, who had been about to step forward, finally remembered. The person before him might not be Lana at all. He swiftly activated Super Vision.

"Clark, Aunt thinks I should give Whitney another chance. I had a fight with Aunt, and I have nowhere to go. Can I come sit at your house?"

As "Lana" spoke, she seemed about to cry again and stepped forward.

"Stop!"

Clark raised a hand. Seeing a Green Skeleton, he said angrily, "Don't try to fool me. You're not Lana!"

"What are you talking about, Clark? If I'm not Lana, then who am I?"

"Lana" looked utterly confused and wronged.

David's eyes turned cold as he prepared to strike at any moment.

"Tina, it's not too late for you to turn yourself in."

Looking at the tearful, aggrieved gaze of the girl he had a crush on, Clark felt dazed, as if he were in a dream. He bit his lip, forced himself awake, and said in a low voice.

Jonathan and Martha inside the house noticed that their two sons were blocking "Lana" outside. He warily picked up the shotgun and shielded his wife behind him.

"You ruined my life.

I had wanted every one of your family members to die at the hands of those closest to them, one after another—dying in shock, confusion, and pain."

With her identity suspected and exposed, Tina's pupils contracted. She looked at the brothers outside and the couple inside, her voice shrill as if it came from hell.

Her flesh and bones shifted, returning to her original appearance.

"How did you recognize me?"

She had considered that the Kent family might know someone could disguise herself as another person, but why could Clark identify her just by looking at her?

"Was Aunt Catherine's death an accident, or did you do it?"

Naturally, Clark would not answer. Instead, he stepped forward and pressed her.

"Being seen through takes some of the fun out of it, but it won't stop me from killing all of you.

Starting with you, Martha!"

At the mention of her mother's death, Tina's anger flared. Her gaze passed over the two brothers and locked onto Martha. She kicked apart the grass and leaped toward the house, about to crash inside and kill Martha.