American comics: You're asked to fish, but you catch a Superman template?

Page 1411

It's not common for a family to be abandoned by their father, and Kara can imagine how difficult his childhood must have been.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

“It’s okay, I’m used to it now.” Richie shook his head. “When I was in elementary school, some classmates made fun of me because my dad didn’t want my mom. I often got angry and fought with them… But there were too many of them, and I couldn’t beat them. Eventually, the teacher found out, and they all said I started it. The teacher called my mom to the school. My mom apologized to the teacher and the parents of the students I hit many times… From then on, I didn’t fight with anyone. If someone bullied me, I learned to be tolerant because I didn’t want my mom to suffer the consequences.”

After hearing the boy's story, Kara couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Then, she noticed a bruise on the corner of his mouth and instinctively pointed to it, asking, "Is that...?"

“Oh, that one,” Richie covered his mouth, “Daniel, he’s on the high school soccer 5.8 team… he hit it yesterday, he’s very powerful.”

This is outrageous! Kara was furious: Are people really like this from childhood? Abuse? They are terrible.

At that moment, Kara was furious about the pollution of Krypton's atmosphere, and she instinctively treated all of humanity with malice, feeling that everyone was terrible.

Perhaps except for a little boy named Richie, who is very cute.

Suddenly, she frowned slightly and pricked up her ears. Her remaining super hearing seemed to have caught some movement under the ceiling.

“Someone is knocking on the door,” she said.

“Who’s at my door?” Richie asked, puzzled. “That’s strange. Mom has the key; she couldn’t possibly be back at this hour… But who else would come to our house?”

Kara frowned, sensing that something was wrong.

“Then you can rest here for a while,” he said. “I’ll go upstairs and take a look.”

Chapter 1780 Arrest

When Richie opened the security door, a well-dressed middle-aged man appeared behind it. He wore round-framed glasses over a gray trench coat and had a very kind smile, which reminded Richie of his school teachers—his classmates had always been good students and kind to him.

Subconsciously, Li Qi relaxed his guard slightly, but still asked timidly, "Hello...who are you looking for?"

"Excuse me for interrupting you, child, but don't you have any adults at home?"

Richie shook his head: "Mom's at work. Can I help you?"

“Oh, it’s nothing.” The man glanced at it casually, took out his phone from his coat, and showed the screen to Richie. “I just wanted to see if you’d seen her.”

It's Super Girl; this guy's looking for Super Girl. Richie immediately became alert—what was this guy up to?

Seeing Richie's confused look, the man showed off his gleaming gold badge and explained, "Here's what happened. Some very, very bad people found a way to pollute the air with krypton, and we all know that this has a profound impact on Supergirl. Witnesses said she was fighting a supervillain in the area when it happened, and then she disappeared, so we guess she might still be somewhere around here."

The man looked at her earnestly: "She must be very weak right now, and we want to help her."

He seemed so sincere, his face filled with concern and worry, as if he were describing his own daughter. For a moment, Richie was genuinely moved by his words. Could he be telling the truth? Should he tell him that the Supergirl was in the basement right below him?

"What, you have a lead?" the man continued to ask.

"Yes, I have seen her."

"Oh?" The man's eyes lit up. "Where?"

“On TV,” Richie said without hesitation, his expression one of utter certainty. “I mean, I’m Nachino, you’re asking about Super Girl! Who hasn’t seen her?”

The man's excitement gradually faded, replaced by an expression of being deceived. But he patiently asked, "Let me ask you another way... Have you seen her in person? Just today?"

Richie shook his head: "No."

"Fine," the man snorted, pulling out his ID and phone. "Sorry to bother you. Have a good time, kid."

Richie closed the door behind him, took a long breath, and tried to calm his wildly beating heart. He had almost never lied before, and now he was so nervous he could hardly believe it. But now he realized that maybe he had a talent for lying; at least the lie he had just told was so convincing that he would give himself a nine out of ten.

When he returned home, he found that Kara had also come from the basement into the living room.

“Hey, you shouldn’t be here,” he rushed forward. “There’s a lot of radiation here. You should stay in the basement and rest.”

Lying on the ground was indeed very uncomfortable for Kara. The pervasive Kryptonian dust seeped into every corner of the old house, burning every cell in her body and making her protest. But she shook her head and said, "That person was just..."

“He asked you where you were going,” Richie said. “But don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. I told him I hadn’t seen you before, and I think he believed me.”

“No, that’s not it,” Kara said. “He didn’t break in because he was afraid of me… He’ll bring more people and more equipment; they’ll try to take me away. I have to get out of here as soon as possible, or you and your family will be affected.”

"Huh?" Richie felt utterly dejected. He thought he had just told a brilliant lie, but it had been exposed so easily... After all, this was just a poorly acting child. He lowered his head in regret and whispered, "Forgive me... I'm the one who got you into this."

“No, you did very well, son,” Carla said with a smile, stroking the boy’s head. “If I should say anything, I should apologize for all the trouble I’ve caused you. Now I have to go. Forget all this, do your homework, and when Mom comes back, I promise to be a good boy.”

Richie looked up. "I can go with you..."

Kara looked into the child's clear, bright eyes and couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Silly child, what are you doing to me? I have nowhere to go on this planet. This world is rejecting me. Perhaps soon I'll be captured by a government, the military, or some other organization, becoming a new toy for some cold-blooded scientist in a laboratory. What do you plan to do with me?"

“I’m really glad you think that way,” Kara said with a wry smile. “But taking risks isn’t gambling, you know? It’s dangerous. You could get shot, or worse.”

“I’m not afraid,” Richie said, holding her hand tightly, like a child afraid of getting lost.

Before this, he had lived like a coward, retreating at every possible crossroads. People around him called him a "cowardly nerd," and even he had begun to think so himself. But deep down, he hated himself for this, hated that he was always like a timid kitten, running away at the slightest cry.

However, given the opportunity, he could choose to bravely do the right thing...

The boy's gaze hardened. "I can help you," he said. "I have my own secret fortress, a small lab that only I know about. I can take you there. Nobody knows about this place except me... Oh, and I also have a few lead blankets I brought back from the hospital's radiology department. You might need them, right?"

Kara pondered. She didn't think hiding in the children's private hideout would evade capture, but the lead-lined blankets he mentioned might come in handy. Perhaps they could be used as a makeshift outer garment, or simply wrapped around her to mitigate some of the effects of Kryptonian contamination—though she didn't know how useful they would be, something was better than nothing.

“Okay,” Kara agreed, “I can go with you to your little fortress.”

Richie was so excited he looked like he was about to jump for joy, as if his parents had just promised him an amusement park. He walked impatiently toward the door. "Let's hurry up then."

“Hey, wait, wait,” Kara pulled him aside, “the front door isn’t safe, someone might be watching.”

“Oh,” Richie nodded, “so we’ll go out the window? Like the spies in the movies?”

“This will have to wait too,” Kara said helplessly, pointing to the large “S” on her chest. “First of all, I can’t go out wearing this. Can I borrow my mom’s clothes?”

Chapter 1781 Pulling the Net

A few minutes later, Kara walked down the street wrapped in a large coat. The brown coat was typical of an older woman, even a bit old-fashioned; it perfectly concealed Kara's curvaceous figure and long legs in her uniform. Only half of her red boots were visible, but at least they weren't so conspicuous. On the morning sidewalk, she walked briskly behind Richie, looking from behind like an older sister leading a younger brother.

She borrowed a spare pair of glasses from Richie and put them on her nose, making her look even more comical than her usual clumsy self, Kara Kent. Coupled with her pale complexion from contact with Kryptonite, resembling a seriously ill patient, and her disheveled blonde hair, she was a far cry from her usual supergirl image.

Unfortunately, this didn't help her shake off that annoying tail. They hadn't walked far when Kara suddenly quickened her pace and whispered to the boy, "We're being followed."

Richie tensed instantly. Instinctively, he turned around and warily glanced around. The young people browsing news headlines at the newsstand, the couples kissing on the bench, the crowds waiting at the bus stop... everything seemed exactly the same as usual, but he was inclined to believe that everyone looked hostile at that moment.

Carla suddenly pulled him around the corner, then cut into the crowd and hurried toward a large shopping mall. The dense population there would help them shake off their tails.

Karabi is a bit better than a middle schooler, but she's not an expert at counter-tracking. It's just that she's been a superhero for so long and has dealt with heroes like Batman who are just as skilled in this area, so she's naturally picked up some tricks over time.

But the group of men in suits behind them followed them into the mall, quickly closing the distance as they ascended the escalator to the second floor. Kara led Richie a couple of steps ahead of the others on the escalator, and they soon reached the second floor, where two men in suits appeared on either side of them at the escalator exit.

Clearly, these two had been lying in wait on the first floor of the mall from the beginning, which meant that Kara's sudden appearance was not unexpected. It seems they had also discovered the Supergirl's physical weakness and were prepared to attack.

Admittedly, Kara is now extremely weak, but they still underestimated their opponent.

She jumped up before the man on the left could pull a gun out of his pocket, braced herself on the elevator handrail, and leaped into the air. A knee wearing a tall boot emerged from under her brown coat and smashed into the man in the suit's nose like a hammer, causing him to bleed profusely and fall to the ground.

His companion was startled and immediately fired. But Kara flinched; the bullet pierced her flowing coat but ricocheted off her slender waist, shattering the glass panel behind the escalator. Kara seized the opportunity, grabbing the gun with her left hand, pulling the man in the suit towards her, and striking him in the face with her right elbow. The man in the suit groaned, saliva tracing an arc from the corner of his mouth, and tumbled down the second floor, crashing headfirst into a pile of clothes amidst the chaos at the bottom.

The gunshot, like a piercing alarm, startled all the visitors. Those ascending the escalator cried out and turned to run down, against the direction of the escalator. The sudden change in the flow of people immediately blocked the escalator, and the men in black suits who were trying to give chase were inevitably delayed in the middle of the escalator, only able to stare helplessly at the first floor.

Almost all government files about Supergirl describe her abilities as "flying, shooting lasers from her eyes, spitting out ice from her mouth, possessing immense strength, and moving as fast as a bullet," all of which can be derived from Kryptonian radiation.

Unbeknownst to them, before Kara Zoel appeared in public as Supergirl, Wonder Woman took her to the legendary Paradise Island, where she underwent the most rigorous special training from the Amazonian warrior tribe.

If these people think that Supergirl without her superpowers is just a cute, helpless rabbit, they're wrong. Kara has mastered several ancient Amazonian fighting techniques and possesses close-quarters combat skills, making her a formidable opponent for any ordinary agent.

Furthermore, despite her extreme weakness, she is still far from being a "normal" person. She might not be able to lift a car with one hand, but she could still fight two or three incredibly strong people simultaneously. Underestimating her abilities will still come at a heavy price.

Kara disarmed the two agents on the second floor in just a few seconds. With their pursuers blocked at the elevator entrance by the oncoming crowd, it was the perfect opportunity to escape. Kara pulled the child behind her and hurried away. The two dark figures quickly weaved through the crowd, across the entire mall, searching for an exit. The second-floor exit connected directly to a pedestrian bridge outside the mall, allowing them to return to the first floor.

Although he had made up his mind before leaving home, Richie was still a naive and inexperienced child. Just seeing Kara holding hands with someone made his heart pound with nervousness, and he was already panting heavily from the run. In reality, while Kara had never experienced such "exhaustion," everyone has a first time. The short, intense training session had already depleted most of her remaining strength, and the large amount of kryptonite particles she had inhaled while running had left her feeling a burning pain from her throat to her stomach.

When she ran out of the mall and back to the ground, Richie was still out of breath, and Kara could barely stand. The boy had to help her keep going, and she couldn't help but laugh at herself for looking like a frail old woman.

They had barely taken a few steps when people around them began pointing in terror to the sky and fleeing for their lives. Trembling sound waves traveled through the air, reaching Kara's sensitive ears, accompanied by the almost inaudible hum of engines from all directions. A hovering spaceship descended from the sky, surrounding the two people on the sidewalk. Pale blue flames spewed from the hull, numerous red dots were aimed at her, and silver metal barrels extended from the hull, their magazines filled with hundreds of kryptonite bullets.

A massive black shadow pursued them from behind, like a giant dark cloud obscuring the sidewalk. Kara looked up and saw a colossal ship, several meters long, slowly circling overhead. Four pairs of turbines spun rapidly, spewing eerie hurricane-like spray downwards. Black ropes hung down from below, and in front of them, fully armed soldiers in black combat uniforms jumped down one after another, blocking their path with black cannons.

"Give up the resistance, Supergirl!" a voice shouted from the spaceship's loudspeakers. "Release the child and surrender!"

The sound was deafening, echoing across the empty sidewalk. The townspeople kept their distance, but then retreated to what they considered a safe distance behind fences and windows, watching the spectacle as if it were a farce unrelated to them. The turbine's whirlwind, carrying kryptonite dust, whipped Kara's blonde hair wildly through the air.

Richie was terrified because he had never seen a fight like this before, and Kara could feel the child's hand trembling slightly as he held it.

"What do we do now?" He looked at Kara curiously.

“Now? Now you should listen to them and go home,” Kara said with a wry smile.

"But you...you will find them!"

"Thank you for your concern, sir." She gently pinched the boy's head. "Son, I sincerely appreciate your help. But it's too late now, there's nothing you can do. Go home, forget all about it, and promise me you'll come back and be a good boy."

So, that's how it ends, isn't it? After being a loser for over a decade, I finally met my most admired idol and dared to be brave for once, but in the end, everything is still the same as when I first met him, nothing has changed.

In the end, he was still a coward, running away crying as soon as possible.

The soldiers, weapons in hand, cautiously maintained their distance, hesitant to approach. The ship's loudspeaker repeated the same message a second time, while the engine hummed.

Richie gritted his teeth and released Kara. Unable to stand, Kara knelt on one knee, breathing heavily; she could no longer stand.

Suddenly, Richie stepped forward, tightly hugged the Super Girl's arms, and used his chest to block the bullet's path.

"If you want to get..., you must defeat me first."

Richie thought he must be going crazy, but he sounded much better. Maybe these people would shoot, maybe he'd soon find himself splattered with blood... but what was going on? For the first time in his life, he stopped trembling.

The soldiers hesitated, remaining motionless, awaiting orders from their superiors. No one was willing to risk getting within three steps of Supergirl, even though she was on the verge of death; the stigma on her chest alone held immense intimidation for most.