Superwoman, Kara Danvers

The next day, early morning.

The moment Kara Danvers stepped through the school gates—wearing a pair of stodgy black glasses, clutching her backpack, head slightly bowed—the entire sprawling middle school opened its soundscape to her.

From the fierce stomping and thudding of soccer and basketball on the playground, to the faint tremor of a hibernating insect in the grove behind the teaching building. From the loud discussions and whispered gossip of students beside her, to the weary yawn of the security guard at the far back gate.

Even without deliberately listening, a torrent of auditory information poured clearly and unimpeded into her ears.

Kara frowned with slight discomfort. Fortunately, over three months had passed since she awakened her super-hearing. She showed not a trace of abnormality, walking into the teaching building as naturally as always.

Unlike Kara, who had instantly perceived and pried into the secrets of those around her, the students outside and in the hallways merely glanced at her before quickly looking away.

To them—

A girl like Kara, who neither dressed up nor had a personality that drew attention—sullen and withdrawn—was a near-invisible presence in this school.

Kara, for her part, breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Without drawing the notice of even her own classmates, she took light, brisk steps through the back door of the classroom and reached her seat in the corner against the wall.

She gently pulled back the sturdy chair, as if afraid that even a little force might shatter it. Only after she was fully seated did she let out a relaxed, pleased sigh.

This careful, deliberate routine repeated itself almost every single school day.

"You can do this, Kara. No accidents this time. Didn't break anything." Kara Danvers silently encouraged herself, a bright, sweet smile spreading across her face—a beauty that even her thick black glasses couldn't fully hide, though no one was there to appreciate it.

Yes.

Kara was a Kryptonian hidden within the ordinary human world, and the second surviving Kryptonian in the entire universe. Her true name was "Kara Zor-El."

The first Kryptonian was, of course, the superhero who had already risen to fame on Earth—Superman, her cousin: "Kal-El."

As for—

Why Kara looked younger than her cousin, a mere fifteen-year-old girl in the bloom of youth—it all went back to the destruction of Krypton.

At the moment of Krypton's destruction, Kara's parents sent her to Earth, intending for her to protect her cousin Kal, who was still an infant. But unexpectedly, Kara encountered a wormhole while crossing the universe, losing over a decade in an instant. Her spaceship didn't arrive on Earth until six months ago.

By then, her cousin had fully grown into Superman, no longer needing Kara's protection. Instead, he found her a foster family—the Danvers family—so she could live like an ordinary person in an Earth city.

Kara glanced at the clock on the wall. There were about five minutes until class started.

She took out her textbook early to review, but the sounds of the school still poured into her ears. Among them, the most frequent were the conversations and gossip between students.

Today, however, the topics were different from the usual school gossip about couples or famous superheroes. Nearly ninety percent of the students were discussing the morning news.

Though it was called the morning news, the events had happened the night before.

In an outer district of Washington, a giant green-yellow monster had appeared. Armed military forces were dispatched to suppress it immediately, but the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. In the shaky, blurry on-site footage interspersed in the news reports, the green-yellow monster could be seen destroying and ravaging the city and the military with terrifying, overwhelming power.

After that, Spider-Woman, the Silver-Haired Goddess, and the Golden Armor Knight successively appeared in the urban battle. Among them, a short clip of the Silver-Haired Goddess confronting the green-yellow monster was broadcast—a clash between shield strikes and giant fists that instantly caused a massive uproar and reaction worldwide!

The most talked-about topic, naturally, was the Silver-Haired Goddess who had defeated and beheaded the green monster!

"I hereby declare that the Silver-Haired Goddess is my superhero idol from now on!"

"Pfft! Get out of here, you said your idol was Superman before."

"Who says you can't support the Silver-Haired Goddess if your idol is Superman?"

"Same here—Batman fan, but I also love the Silver-Haired Goddess. She's just too cool..."

Not just among students—within a single morning, the Silver-Haired Goddess had become the hottest superhero (female) in Washington!

Even many teachers at the middle school, especially the male ones, were slamming their desks in the office, exclaiming excitedly: "Does this mean the Silver-Haired Goddess is a local superhero living in Washington?"

"Hard to say. For superhumans like them with extraordinary talents, the distance between cities isn't as vast as we ordinary people imagine." One teacher analyzed rationally.

Several other teachers nodded in agreement. Take Superman and Iron Man, for example—though the public knew they lived in Metropolis and New York City respectively, with their extraordinary abilities, even if they appeared on the opposite side of the planet, no one would be surprised.

"I don't care. From now on, she's the goddess of my dreams. If they release superhero merchandise, I'm buying it!" That male teacher declared resolutely.

If only he knew the secret identity behind the Silver-Haired Goddess, who knew what he'd think then.

"Silver-Haired Goddess, Spider-Woman, giant monster..."

Kara murmured softly, completely unimpressed.

Quite the opposite of ordinary people.

Kara was only interested in ordinary human affairs. As for the so-called extraordinary—her existence as a Kryptonian was already the greatest degree of extraordinary hidden in Washington. So, she had no reason to care.

"Class is about to start." Kara blinked, but as she filtered through the countless sounds in the school, she didn't hear the one gentle voice she most wanted to hear.

That person hadn't passed by the hallway outside her wall-side seat as usual, either.

Ding!

The class bell rang.

Kara quickly glanced toward one side of the upper floor of the teaching building. In her eyes, several layers of walls became transparent, and she could see a certain high-level classroom. Among the rows of seated students, two seats stood out conspicuously empty.

The male teacher who had been talking about buying superhero merchandise walked up to the podium, thermos in hand, and explained: "Today, Xi Nian Prince and Gwen Stacy have both taken a day off due to feeling unwell."

"Feeling unwell? Yesterday, he looked perfectly healthy."

Kara frowned slightly. What bothered her more was the whispering among the students in that classroom.

"What a coincidence—both of them taking leave at the same time?"

"Looks like my guess was right. They really might be a couple!"

"Then I have no chance?!"

"You never had one. Sigh, my goddess Gwen..."

Hearing the heartfelt lament of many students, Kara's heart couldn't help but tremble.