I get stronger by sunbathing, just like Superman.

Forget it...

The school bell rang, and the classroom gradually filled with students, but Jennifer had not yet returned.

Connie didn't care. That vain little roast chicken was probably flirting with some handsome guy from the baseball or football team on the phone again. It wasn't the first time she'd been late.

Five minutes passed in a flash, and the teacher was still lecturing on the stage, but Jennifer had not returned yet.

Connie secretly took out her phone and sent her a '?', but the other party did not reply.

Connie had a vague sense of unease, so she slowly closed her eyes and focused her attention on her ears…

In an instant, all the sounds and smells around her were amplified dozens or even hundreds of times, and the intense stimulation from the external information made her frown uncomfortably.

Having received extensive training at the Supermarket Management Bureau, she was able to withstand such stimulation and had learned to filter out useless and irrelevant information, keeping only what she needed.

Soon, her hearing extended outside the classroom, to the women's restroom at the end of the corridor, about 100 meters away from the classroom.

"Boom...boom...boom..."

Connie heard a series of rhythmic muffled thuds—the sound of a human heartbeat!

It's just getting slower and slower... and extremely weak...

"Jennifer?"

Connie, focused on her surroundings, instinctively called out, drawing the attention of her classmates and teachers in the quiet classroom.

"Miss Connie? Is there a problem?"

The teacher on the podium said with some dissatisfaction, but the latter ignored his question.

At the same time... a strong smell of blood filled Connie's nostrils...

"No!!!"

Connie suddenly stood up and yelled, startling everyone.

"Call the police! Call the police quickly! Something has happened in the women's restroom!"

Connie, looking tense, rushed out of the classroom, unleashing her superhuman strength—three times that of an average person! She knocked over desks and classmates blocking her path, sending them flying several meters away.

The classroom was quiet for a few seconds, then everyone rushed out to join the fun...

In just a few seconds, Connie ran to the women's restroom door and smashed it open with her body to enter the restroom.

The restroom was completely silent. Connie followed the smell of blood and opened the door to a stall, only to witness this scene…

Jennifer slumped onto the toilet, her arms hanging limply at her sides. On the floor, between her legs, was something round...

That was supposed to be on her neck… Jennifer’s head…

Her face was filled with terror; one wonders what horrific scene she witnessed before she died…

“James…James…”

Connie, who had lost the ability to speak, stood blankly at the door of the cubicle, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.

As other students who had come to join the commotion rushed in, screams erupted from the restroom...

Half an hour later, the police arrived at the scene. The restroom had been cordoned off, and the crowd had been evacuated. Since Connie was the first to discover the body, she was taken away by the police on the spot…

……

“Miss Connie…please answer my question, how did you know someone had an accident in the restroom from a classroom so far away…”

In the interrogation room of the Los Angeles Police Department precinct, a Black officer is questioning her.

But Connie seemed not to hear at all…

Her mind is now filled with the image of Jennifer's tragic death, replaying it over and over again.

Suddenly the interrogation room door was pushed open, and a man in a suit walked in. Before the black police officer could stand up, he spoke.

"I'm sorry, this case has been taken over by our Supermarket Management Bureau. You will receive a call from your superiors soon..."

"Connie...we can go now."

After saying that, Dylan turned to Connie, who was still in a daze.

"what?"

The Black police officer, looking puzzled, had just stood up when his cell phone rang. He stared at Dylan with a confused expression while answering the call…

"Release her? But this girl is highly suspicious..."

"Okay...I understand..."

The Black police officer hung up the phone and then gestured for Connie to leave…

Watching Connie and the man in the suit walk away, the black police officer couldn't help but wonder what kind of background this girl had that made not only a special department like the Supermarket Administration come to demand her release, but even have the precinct chief personally call him to ask for her release...

……

As soon as Connie stepped out of the police station, she saw Peggy and her husband waiting outside. Connie could no longer hold back her emotions and threw herself into Peggy's arms, bursting into tears...

Peggy looked at Connie in her arms with a pained expression, offered a few words of comfort, and then thanked Dylan.

The moment he learned of Connie's accident, he called them. He knew that Dylan's special department had great authority, and Connie was no ordinary person, so it was perfectly reasonable for her to ask them for help.

"No need to thank me, Ms. Peggy. It's what we should do. Please rest assured, we will send someone to handle the school matters..."

Dylan gave some instructions and then drove away.

Peggy also took Connie out of school, citing Connie's trauma. Connie won't be attending school for the next few days until she recovers...

Late at night, Connie, dressed in her pajamas, squatted on the bed, her eyes red and swollen, staring out the window, her mind replaying the scene she had witnessed during the day…

“Jennifer…”

She whispered her name softly, unable to accept that her good friend, with whom she had eaten and chatted that morning, was now gone forever.

A moment later, Connie's eyes hardened. She wiped away her tears, rummaged through her closet, found a black tracksuit, changed into it, opened the window, and jumped directly from the second floor.

Under the cover of night, a dark figure raced down the street, moving so fast that cars were left far behind...

Chapter Thirty-Three: Taking Risks Alone

To avoid startling cars driving at night, she chose to go into the mountains, running through the woods like a swift cheetah. After running for more than 20 kilometers without stopping, she arrived in the city.

It is located at California State University, where I study.

After a brief rest, she dodged the surveillance cameras and leaped over the five-meter-high wall to enter the campus.

The school was deserted late at night. Connie rushed to the third-floor women's restroom, the very place where Jennifer had been brutally murdered.

She pushed through the seal and went into the toilet, where bloodstains still remained on the floor…

After much deliberation, she still couldn't accept that her friend had died so tragically. She clearly had the ability to save her... although it was too late to say so now...

But at least for now, she can't accept sitting at home waiting for news; she has to catch the murderer herself!

Connie took a deep breath, composed herself, and then closed her eyes... When she opened them again, she was in a state of heightened senses.

Now, she can hear every rustle of wind and grass within a three-kilometer radius, and in the darkness, as long as there is a sliver of light, her eyes can see anything clearly.

Similarly, her nose can detect all the subtle scents in the air.

She is now using her sense of smell to identify... the killer's scent in the air!

Jennifer's head was ripped off while she was still alive, and very quickly, so that she didn't even have time to cry for help or struggle!

She also overheard several officers at the police station discussing how bizarre Jennifer's death was; over 80% of her blood had disappeared, and there was only a small amount of blood at the scene, which didn't seem to match the amount of blood loss from a severed neck...

It can be inferred that the murderer is extremely powerful and is definitely not an ordinary person! They might not even be human!

The killer is powerful, bloodthirsty, and likely agile. Given that the small women's restroom offered little escape route and there were security cameras in the hallway, how did the killer disappear?

Connie caught a faint odor in the air, a stench tinged with blood, yet different from the typical bloody smell; it smelled like the odor of some rotting animal.

She followed the scent step by step, eventually fixing her gaze on a ventilation opening on the wall at the far end of the women's restroom.

But the ventilation opening is less than 20 centimeters long and wide! Not to mention adults, even a small child might not be able to squeeze through.

But since it has been speculated that the murderer may not be an ordinary human being, it is not impossible for them to escape through such a small window.

It's okay though...

She's no ordinary person either!

Following the lingering scent, Connie searched from inside the school grounds all the way off campus, finally stopping two blocks away in front of a manhole cover in an alley…

Connie thought for a moment. If the killer really was some kind of non-human monster, let alone the police, even the Superpower Bureau, which claims to specialize in handling supernatural events, might not be able to deal with it.

At least Max once said that he never saw another human with superhuman powers in that underground base.

So he called Max's private number to ask for help, but no one answered after several attempts, so Connie had to give up.

"call……

"Go Connie! You can do it! You can even lift a car... The killer is just a monster no more than 20 centimeters tall!"

Connie gave herself a pep talk, then lifted the drain cover and jumped in without hesitation…

In the suburbs far from the city, several homeless people are gathered around a campfire to keep warm.

Suddenly, someone noticed something unusual about the manhole cover, and they curiously went over to investigate…