David, Clark, What's Wrong with You?

Whoosh!

As for the shotgun in Jonathan's hands, it was no different from a fire poker in Tina's eyes.

The instant she leaped up, blades of grass flew into the air, and time throughout the entire world seemed to slow a hundredfold. Clark darted out with agile speed, slung Tina around his waist, and grabbed her as he ran into the distance.

Although seeing Tina's "slow speed" gave him confidence that he could subdue her,

the way Tina had cracked the ground with a single kick showed that she possessed considerable strength. Even casually smashing the fence in front of the house could turn splintered wood into bullets.

Clark did not want any accidents.

After Clark and Tina vanished, David took off after them in a certain direction at the speed of an ordinary athlete.

"I'm going to help Clark. Dad, protect Mom."

"David, don't go!"

Jonathan, holding the shotgun, wanted to call his son back, but his son had already run too far away to be seen.

David glanced back, and after confirming that his parents could no longer see him, his speed suddenly soared.

On a suburban road, beneath the lights.

Clark slowed down to put Tina down, but Tina's vision blurred before she reacted. Clasping both hands together, she viciously smashed them down onto Clark's back.

Bang!

A dull sound rang out.

It was like being struck in the back by a sedan. Caught off guard, Clark was smashed flat onto the ground, cracking the road surface and sending small stones bouncing across the highway.

"You have powers too, Clark!"

Seeing that Clark had not died, Tina grabbed him by the throat and prepared to lift him up.

Clark tightly gripped her wrist, restraining her movements, his expression serious.

"Tina, before you make an even greater mistake, you can still turn back."

He had caught Tina's anger earlier. Perhaps there was more to Aunt Catherine's death, and Tina had not been the one responsible. If so, she had not killed anyone yet—she had only robbed a bank.

"A mistake?"

Tina sneered.

"I'm merely making good use of the abilities I have to fight for happiness. What have I done wrong?"

She was just about to exert her strength and see whose strength was greater, hers or Clark's.

Bang!

A cold figure charged in like lightning, full of fierce momentum. A fist slammed brutally into Tina's face, the shockwave bursting out as Tina rolled through the air. Like a small stone viciously thrown across a lake's surface, she bounced rapidly against the ground several times before crashing down dozens of meters away.

Even Clark, whom she had been holding, was dragged along and sent flying six or seven meters before hitting the ground.

"Who?"

A patch of Tina's face was scraped red as she stood up and glared furiously at the newcomer.

David appeared beneath the lights, his face cold as he rubbed his fist.

"Your bones are pretty hard."

When his punch had hit the woman's cheekbone just now, it had felt like striking High-Density Alloy.

"David?"

Tina vaguely recognized David. Her gaze shifted between him and the rising Clark, her expression turning vicious.

"The older brother has powers, and the younger brother is a monster."

"But your family should never have provoked me!"

She was faster than a sprinting cheetah. In a few swift steps, she crossed dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, her fist whistling through the air as it shot toward David.

Tina's astonishment +0.4, anger +0.6...

Bang!

Her fist moved like a bullet and carried astonishing force. David stepped back to dodge the blow, then grabbed her wrist when she struck again. Tina tried to break free, but it was like being clamped by iron pincers.

"Not bad strength. Too bad you fight exactly like a woman."

There was no method to it whatsoever.

His gaze turned icy as he exerted force with his hand, applying hundreds of tons of pressure.

"Let go of me!"

Tina cried out in pain, her face vicious as her other fist tore through the air toward David's head.

As if he had not seen it at all, David did not move a single inch. He merely tightened his grip abruptly, his strength reaching over a thousand tons. Under that terrifying force, even a steel ingot would be crushed into scrap iron.

Crack!

Her fist stopped halfway through its swing as bone-deep pain shot up from her wrist. Tina screamed, her body dropping her fist as if electrocuted. She tried to pull David's hand away, but she could not do it at all.

Looking at that handsome, cold face, she felt as though she were facing a terrifying, merciless creature, and fear rose uncontrollably within her.

"Da... David."

In the crisis, the flesh on Tina's face distorted like mud, transforming into the face of a woman with fine wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She deliberately made her expression one of extreme agony.

Tina transformed into Martha's face. She believed that when David saw his mother's agonized face before him, he would instinctively release her.

David did indeed do so, letting go as though shocked.

"How dare you!"

But the next instant, he came to his senses, fury exploding in his heart.

Before Tina could escape, she felt a hand seemingly forged from steel seize her head and viciously smash her face-first into the ground.

Bang!

Gravel flew everywhere as Tina's entire head was almost brutally pressed into the earth.

Crack, crack, crack!

"Ahhh!"

Tina screamed and tried to lift her head, but under the force of that massive hand, her skull made sounds of unbearable strain. Fear of death filled her body and mind.

"Help, help!" she cried for help, her muffled voice coming from beneath the ground.

David remained completely unmoved. His face was cold as he raised his fist, about to smash it down.

Crack!

"Let go, David."

Clark hurried over and grabbed David's wrist.

This time, he did not hold back. He rapidly increased his strength, but when he discovered that he still could not pull David away even at full force, he widened his eyes in shock.

Clark was just about to use both hands.

"Move!"

David swung his fist back, sending Clark flying as though he weighed nothing, then brought his punch down.

Bang!

Tina's hands, flailing like those of a drowning person, weakly struck the ground. Her head was buried in the dirt, and she no longer moved.

"Tina!"

Clark shouted and rushed to Tina's side, turning over the person whose fate was unknown.

Fortunately, she was still breathing.

But... no matter what he did, he could not wake her.

"You turned someone into a vegetative state again."

He glared angrily at his younger brother.

"She dared to take on Mom's appearance. It's already merciful that I didn't kill her."

David stood up, dusted off his hands, and looked down coldly at the ground beneath his feet.

Tina's fear +0.8, confusion +0,3, anxiety +1.0, anxiety, anxiety... fear +1.2, fear, fear...

It was a complete process—someone fell unconscious, discovered that she still had awareness, wondered why she could not control her body, then anxiously tried again, realized something, and finally felt fear...

He had not killed Tina.

In prisons for serious criminals, when violent inmates refused to obey and caused trouble, the punishment was often solitary confinement.

There was only a faint sliver of light through the crack beneath the cell door. The space was too narrow to take more than two steps. In the darkness, no one spoke to them, and they could not even see their own hands.

"Even the most vicious criminals become obedient after three days in solitary confinement."

But what awaited Tina was an enhanced version of solitary confinement lasting decades.

By an icy lakeside radiating Cold energy, cars were parked along the shore, campfires blazing.

It was a lively outdoor barbecue party on a holiday afternoon.

David, Chloe, and the others sat around a raised fire, grilling meat.

"David, Clark, what's wrong with you two?" Chloe asked curiously, bundled in a down jacket. "If I remember correctly, I haven't seen the two of you talk for days!"

"The atmosphere between you two these past few days has been as cold as this lakeside." Pete deliberately rubbed his arms, his voice trembling as he pretended to be freezing to death, his teeth chattering. "Oh God, save me."

He deliberately acted exaggerated and comical, hoping to create a lively, relaxed atmosphere and give the two of them a chance to reconcile.

"I don't feel cold." Clark's voice was heavy as he turned the beef on the grill.

David took a sip of cold fruit beer and looked toward the distant lakeshore, as if he had heard nothing.

"Did you two come from some freezing alien planet?" Chloe asked curiously.

She had never seen the two of them like this before.

What exactly had happened between these brothers?