Plan

"Splut~"

A wooden stick pressed against a gray, bloodshot eyeball.

The eyeball easily burst apart under the pressure of the stick, collapsing into mush like a boiled sheep's eye being crushed.

"Buzz buzz~"

Several ugly flies flapped their wings and flew out of the eyeball, which had long since been hollowed out and devoured by worms.

"Smack!"

Jino tossed the stick and easily swatted the few flies dead. They looked very wrong.

Those flies were twice the size of ordinary ones.

"Lana."

Without turning around, Jino instructed, "Go call the police."

"Huh?" Lana, who had been hiding in Clark's arms, poked her head out. She quickly nodded, then turned and rushed out of the house.

Every second here was an unbearably awkward torment.

"Clark."

Jino calmly stopped Clark, who had been about to go after Lana. "Something's wrong here. Focus."

Clark halted, suppressing his nausea as he followed Jino over. When he saw the abnormally large flies, he instinctively asked, "Like that Electro-Man who appeared on the bridge?"

"Gerry awakened powers too?"

"Yeah. I'm afraid Gerry gained some kind of special ability as well."

Jino looked up at the ceiling, where there was a string of blurry muddy footprints.

"Come on. Let's take a look upstairs."

Jino led Clark to the second floor and quickly found Gerry's room.

The walls around the bed were plastered with insect posters, making the room look eerie and horrifying.

Stepping over a mess of shattered glass, Jino's gaze fell on the large white cocoons in the four corners of the room.

They were woven from some kind of silk, bulging as if something were wrapped inside.

"Clark, open that cocoon." Jino pointed at the cocoon by the foot of the bed.

Clark walked over, forcing himself to endure the damp sensation of the silk against his hand as he pulled hard.

"Riiip~"

As the cocoon tore open, a dried corpse lay silently inside, its mouth twisted open in a grimace. Its face was shriveled, and its entire body looked as though every drop of moisture and flesh had been drained away.

"Oh my God!"

Clark looked sickened. He looked up at Jino. "He's dead?!"

"Yeah. He's dead."

Jino walked over to the corpse, his gaze sweeping across its clothes—tattered rags that clearly belonged to some poor bum. There were also strange tattoos carved into its shriveled arms.

His gaze passed over the wound on the corpse's neck. It looked as if something had bitten it, leaving behind a savage, horrifying gap. The organs and tissue inside its neck were even visible through the opening.

After thinking for a moment, Jino gave his conclusion. "He was probably a homeless man wandering around nearby. His flesh and blood were drained, turning him into a dried corpse."

Clark clenched his fists angrily, fury flashing in his eyes. "Did that Gerry do this?"

Jino ignored Clark's question, even though he already knew the answer, and continued his analysis. "It looks like his transformation requires a large amount of human flesh and blood for nourishment."

Clark solemnly set down the dried corpse, rose to his feet, and looked at Jino with determination. "We have to stop him."

"Jino, what should we do?"

Meeting Clark's eager gaze, Jino fell silent for a moment.

He remembered a funny DC joke.

Apparently, whenever Superman ran into a problem he couldn't solve, he would ask his Super Brain.

And every time, Super Brain's answer was, "Why not ask smart Batman?"

Jino had a headache. If this kept up, perhaps every major future event would end with Superman's Super Brain answering, "Why not ask Jino what to do?"

With a sigh, Jino walked over to Clark and patted the big boy on the shoulder. "Do you know why I had you bring Lana along?"

"You mean?" Clark seemed to understand, yet not quite.

"That's right. Gerry is a pervert, and he's obsessed with Lana."

Jino draped an arm over Clark's shoulder and led him to the window.

Through the window, they could see Chloe crouching on the ground, looking completely shut down, and Lana making a phone call.

Jino chuckled. "As long as we keep an eye on Lana, Gerry will definitely come for her."

"Think about it. If an ordinary person suddenly gained terrifying power, wouldn't he act on the evil desires he'd suppressed deep in his heart for so long?" Jino released Clark, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed at the chemical plant in the distance. "When a marginalized person who has been suppressed for a long time suddenly gains extraordinary abilities, he'll be desperate to vent the anger in his heart."

"And what could give him a greater sense of accomplishment than taking the goddess he's always dreamed of having?"

Clark fell into thought, his gaze toward Jino's back filled with admiration.

He truly had no idea how Jino had come up with these connections.

"Alright, there's nothing else to see here. Let's go."

Jino led Clark out of the room. Before leaving, the boy's gaze swept over the cocoons.

He wondered whether those white threads shot out from Gerry's wrists. Otherwise, perhaps they should call him Spider-Man?

As the two walked outside, Clark did not forget to carry the unconscious Little Black Pete on his back.

When the group left the house, Chloe, her face pale, stood up with one hand over her stomach. Her small face was deathly white as she looked at Jino with a complicated expression.

"Seriously, Jino, your mental fortitude is insane."

"I really don't know how you can look at those corpses without wanting to throw up."

Clark nodded in agreement. He was also rather curious what it would take to stir Jino's emotions.

"Hey, everyone, I called the police. They said they'll be here soon." Lana hung up the phone and walked toward them with a worried look. A trace of sorrow flashed through her brown eyes as she sighed. "I never thought Mrs. Ted would actually die."

For the next while, everyone was silent.

After all, they had just witnessed death. Everyone was in a bad mood.

Except for Jino, who fiddled with his phone as though he were messaging someone.

About ten minutes later, a police car pulled up in front of the house at an unhurried pace. Two officers, one fat and one thin, stepped out.

Clark could not help frowning. He had seen these two officers before; they had come to his house to ask about Whitney's broken hand.

"Who called the police?"

The two officers glanced at the four of them. Seeing their youthful faces and the clear stupidity still in their eyes, it was obvious they were high school students.

Their attitude was therefore perfunctory. Being called out on the weekend was a waste of their time off, and the fact that they did not openly scowl already showed considerable restraint.

"I did, Officer." Jino stopped Lana, who had been about to step forward.

But once the two officers saw Jino's face clearly, they exchanged a glance and immediately put on warm, amiable expressions. "So it's Mr. Jino. What can we do for you?"

"Someone died inside." Jino pointed at the white house. "The deceased is Mrs. Ted, Gerry Ted's mother."

Hearing Jino's words, the two officers looked at each other, their expressions gradually turning grave.

A murder case was no small matter.