Chapter 4478: The Darkest Night (13)

"Three murders in a single night had completely clouded my mind, to the point where I failed to notice the sun failing to rise on time. Despite an hour having passed since the scheduled sunrise, there was no commotion in the city. It was as if the citizens, no more surprised by the three murders than they were by the arrival of an eternal night, simply went on living as they had for decades. No one had ever expected the sun to save them. This custom, carried into the present day, was the only silver lining—it meant we didn't have to soothe a panicked public while tracking down a killer. Just as I was settling my mind to ponder why the sun had abandoned us, a flustered young lady burst into Schiller's office."

"Oh, Professor!" Jenna cried out, kicking off her high heels and running in barefoot.

Victor stood up and offered her his seat. Schiller went to the side, retrieved a pair of disposable slippers, and placed them by Jenna's feet. Jenna sat in the chair, gasping for air, and took a moment to tidy her disheveled hair. Her red dress had lost many of its sequins, no longer quite as dazzling. Victor twitched his nose, catching a faint scent of blood on her.

"What happened, Miss?" Victor asked, frowning with concern. She looked as though she had just encountered danger. Given the current circumstances, that was the last thing they needed. Had she already been attacked?

Jenna's throat bobbed. She opened her mouth but remained silent, as if to mask her embarrassment. She took a sharp breath, swallowed, and then suddenly erupted into a violent coughing fit: "Cough! Cough, cough, cough!"

Schiller handed her a glass of water. Jenna took a few more breaths and sipped it in small intervals. It took several minutes for her to fully calm down. Neither Schiller nor Victor pressed her, waiting for her to regain her composure.

"I told you that you shouldn't have worn so little," Victor said, half-jokingly. "If you caught a cold, I doubt any hospital would be open to receive you until morning."

Jenna leaned precariously against the armrest of the chair, holding the water glass with one hand and supporting the base with the other. Her throat bobbed again. "Yes, everything is so strange."

"It sounds like you have a lead?" Schiller asked.

Jenna opened her mouth again, but still, no sound came out. Schiller continued, "You know we won't force you, Miss. But if the trouble you've encountered makes you want to come to us first, rather than James Gordon, there must be a good reason, right?"

Jenna opened her mouth once more, and this time, a sentence finally escaped: "I think I'm in big trouble, Professor."

Jenna's brown eyes always reminded one of a small, predatory feline from the rainforest—the only trait that set her apart from ordinary humans. When stimulated by changes in light, a mysterious, aggressive gold would appear in the center of her pupils, possessing a wild, untamed beauty.

Jenna shoved Barry aside and whipped her head around. Her brown eyes, under the harsh fluorescent lights of the interrogation room, had turned a brilliant gold. Reflected in her pupils, Pelota offered her a mysterious smile.

"Are you alright?" Jenna looked at Barry's arm. She grabbed his arm, inspected it closely, and looked back at Pelota. "What was that?"

Barry's panic at being attacked vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He soon steadied himself, looking down at his arm. He instinctively felt that something was wrong, but the skin on his arm remained smooth as ever, without a single scratch. What had Pelota used to attack him just now?

That was exactly the problem. Pelota had said she wanted to see Jenna before being transferred to the detention center, claiming she needed help handling some personal effects she couldn't take with her and wanted to send money to her sister.

Jenna had no desire to help this vicious murderess. But with Barry present, she didn't want to appear overly heartless. Besides, Pelota's family was poor; her father was disabled, and she had a younger sister still in school. Pushing her into a corner might lead to trouble at the detention center. With that in mind, Jenna had gone.

Barry, worried about Jenna, had gone with her. Neither of them were ordinary humans, and with Pelota restrained in a chair, they had let their guard down completely.

The moment they entered the room, Jenna's empathy ability triggered. She sensed a massive, malicious intent directed at them from Pelota. A chilling sensation rushed to the top of her head. In that instant, she saw a thin black line aimed directly at Barry's arm. Jenna shoved Barry aside.

Yet, the attack felt like a hallucination. There was no black line, Barry's arm was unharmed, and even Brainiac's surveillance equipment had captured nothing unusual. Jenna began to doubt if her nerves were frayed, causing sensory distortion.

"No," Barry said, as if reading her thoughts. "I felt something attack me, too. If nothing went wrong here, it must have happened within the Speed Force."

Barry glanced at Pelota, too afraid to leave Jenna alone or even leave the room. He took Jenna with him into the Speed Force.

Upon entering the Speed Force, Jenna understood that Barry's claim about it being inconvenient to carry passengers wasn't just an excuse. It was a space where gold and black intertwined; golden Speed Force energy was being shredded by black energy, constantly vanishing and reappearing, while the black energy was bound by the Speed Force, surging and receding.

The various information fragments from different time nodes flashing within the Speed Force acted upon this space simultaneously with the malice radiating from the black energy, which induced negative emotions. Just one look was enough to make Jenna feel dizzy and nauseated.

"Don't look," Barry said, standing behind her and shielding her eyes with his hand. He began to scan the area. After a long while, he said, "Found it."

"What is it?" Jenna couldn't see, but she felt it in her gut. She turned her head toward a certain direction. Barry stared silently at a patch of black that was unlike any other darkness there.

"Death," Barry said. "It's coming."

"What?"

"It has marked me. A chase is about to begin. Jenna, help me."

"How can I help you?"

"Find out Pelota's secret. Who made her do this. Where this power comes from. As fast as you can."

The next second, Jenna felt the world spin. She was back at the entrance of the interrogation room, but Barry was gone. Jenna was anxious, but she forced herself to stay calm.

Barry being attacked wasn't a hallucination. He wasn't the type to speak in riddles at a critical moment. "Death" and "It's coming" were likely literal. The subsequent "marked" and "chase" were even easier to understand.

Pelota had used something to mark Barry. This mark didn't exist in the physical world; it was in the Speed Force. It might attract a terrifying monster. It would hunt Barry. If Barry were caught, death might be his fate.

Jenna took a deep breath. The more critical the situation, the faster her brain seemed to work. The key now was Pelota. There had to be a secret hidden within her. She had to find out what was going on.

But at that moment, the officers were already escorting Pelota out. Seeing the armed police, Jenna lowered her hands. Any rash action now could be interpreted as an attempt to break a prisoner out. Cat Getan's police, while more restrained than before, were still capable of overreacting. She wouldn't be killed by bullets, but a hit might incapacitate her. She couldn't act recklessly.

More importantly, without her brother by her side, she couldn't use her powers. The Wonder Twins' abilities required physical contact with each other, or at least close proximity.

With that thought, Jenna pulled out her phone.

"Brother. Something happened. You need to come over."

They met quickly in the alley behind the police station. Zan was wearing dark uniform, blending into the night. Jenna's red dress was a bit too conspicuous, but she couldn't worry about changing now.

Jenna spoke rapidly: "As much as I'd like to have Brainiac stop the transport vehicle, he didn't record anything and can't enter the Speed Force, so we don't have enough evidence to prove Barry was attacked. He probably won't cooperate."

"So you want us to do it ourselves?" Zan asked. "Why not ask Commissioner Gordon for help?"

"He'd make us wait until the transfer is complete before asking. But Brainiac forbids torture. If we wait until the transfer is done, we won't get anything out of her." Jenna's brow flashed with a hint of ruthlessness. "To force the truth out of her, we have to seize the moment and take illegal measures."

"Fine. Tell me what to do, I'm with you."

Jenna pulled up a map on her phone and pointed to a stretch of road. "The transport vehicle will inevitably pass this street. There's a blind spot at the turn. You freeze the water there. The vehicle's front axle will lose control on the ice. The impact of the crash should be enough to knock most of them unconscious."

"I'll turn into a fly and slip into the vehicle. I'll reveal myself during the crash and force Pelota to talk. Faced with the threat of death, she should tell us something."

"The risk is too high. What if they don't pass out? What if she refuses to tell you?"

"We have to try. If it doesn't work, we'll think of something else."

"Warning. This is a highly unwise course of action," Brainiac's voice rang out. "Unauthorized use of superpowers to cause an accident will be sentenced to..."

Jenna tossed the phone into a nearby trash heap. She bumped fists with Zan. The next second, she transformed into a nearly invisible tiny fly and buzzed after the transport vehicle.

Her speed was far greater than an ordinary insect, and she soon caught up, slipping through a gap. No one in the vehicle noticed her. She perched on the back of the driver's seat, wings fluttering gently, waiting for the moment to strike.

Not long after, the vehicle's front end shook violently—the sign of the front axle losing control. Jenna gripped the seat back tightly. After a dizzying spin, almost everyone in the vehicle was knocked unconscious.

She quietly transformed back into human form and approached Pelota, grabbing her neck to check her pulse. But at that touch, Jenna froze.

Pelota was dead?!

She had no pulse. Jenna refused to believe it, checking her breathing and heartbeat, but found nothing. She hurriedly straightened Pelota's body. Just as she went to check the cause of death, a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.

Pelota's eyes snapped open, and she shoved Jenna away. Jenna felt herself sent flying by immense strength—not something a human could possess. She barely managed to dodge as Pelota lunged at her. The creature's eyes glowed in the pitch-black night, radiating an inexplicable terror. Jenna clearly heard her own heart pounding like a drum, faster and faster.

She gritted her teeth. A moment later, a behemoth that nearly filled the entire carriage revealed its fangs in the darkness.