In America, my cousin, Supergirl Kara...

Li Xiao carried the scaffolding up to the second floor. After the troublesome task of cleaning the floor, he felt it was necessary to lay some barriers on the ground.

He had already searched through everything in the living room on the first floor, but there were no tools he could use.

Thinking of this, he went to the locked room on the left side of the bedroom to look for it.

The second floor consists of a toilet, a bedroom, and an extremely small room.

Li Xiao walked to the door and saw an oak door that was pitted and scarred by woodworms and covered with dried spider webs. There was no sawdust on the ground.

Li Xiao even suspected that this place might be hiding some kind of monster that couldn't be looked at directly. If there were magically drawn runes on it, it would look even more like it.

Kara didn't specifically say whether it was okay to go in, so hopefully it won't offend her.

"I don't have the key," Li Xiao thought to himself, his hand already on the door lock. A few specks of wood dust flew off the wooden door, and the brass lock fell to the ground with a thud.

No, I didn't even use any force, so how did you fall down?

Li Xiao hurriedly picked up the lock and then tried to put it back together.

Fortunately, it could be restored to its original state. Li Xiao picked at the small hole with his finger, and found that his fingernail was filled with soft wood chips. It was probably rotten through long ago.

Pushing open the wooden door, a large amount of dust sprayed out of the dark space like a popcorn machine, carrying a sour smell of books that had been stored for a long time.

Li Xiao turned on his phone's flashlight, lowered his head, and walked inside. He was surprised to find that it was actually quite tall inside.

There was a thick layer of fluffy material on the ground, which even felt like goose down when you stepped on it. Li Xiao put on a mask as he thought about it.

The things here are arranged quite neatly. On the left is a crooked wooden bookshelf that is nearly three meters tall, and on the right is a small spinning jenny that is so rotten that it is about to fall apart. The wooden pulley on the left has cracks as thick as a finger.

It makes one suspect that this item may have been passed down as a family heirloom; next to it is a square wooden box covered with copper, about half a person's height.

Li Xiao walked up to the bookshelf and easily found what he needed at the top.

A piece of faded yellow polyester cloth was just right to be laid on the ground. With his legs slightly bent, Li Xiao easily jumped up and took it.

It broke open with just a little force after contact.

Li Xiao carefully placed it outside the door. This thing had been sitting there for too long and was almost oxidized; it crumbled easily when rubbed.

Approaching the box, its body was brownish-yellow, surrounded by layers of brass, which had faded to a dark brown hue with the erosion of time. A bauhinia flower metal ornament was embedded in the center of the box, without a clasp.

Li Xiao gripped the opening and closed parts with both hands and easily lifted the lid of the box.

It was clearly a place where girls kept their things, with hairless dolls, old and faded stickers of beautiful girls including various photos, and a diary with a cowhide cover.

Li Xiao picked up the yellowed photograph. It showed a blonde, blue-eyed, gap-toothed ugly duckling, with a woman wearing glasses behind her, her hands on her shoulders, and the two of them laughing happily.

These must be photos of my cousin's mother when she was a child. Li Xiao slowly flipped through the photos, skipping over photos of the same age. When Li Xiao got to the high school photos, the colors were bright.

My older cousin from high school was already showing signs of becoming a beauty. She wore a cropped top, her slender waist was incredibly delicate, and her face, full of collagen, was dotted with a few pimples. She still had a smile on her face, but it was much more reserved now.

The woman behind him had prominent cheekbones and thinning hair, looking terminally ill. Beside her stood a middle-aged man with an impatient expression.

The following photos are various pictures from Kara's university days, including one of her riding a carousel at an amusement park, another of her in a hot beach in a short skirt, and yet another of her in a white dress, holding books, leaning against a maple tree with a slight smile.

Compared to her current hot appearance, she's completely different; she looks more like Supergirl Kara.

At the bottom is a graduation photo of her wearing a graduation cap. At that time, Carla's face no longer had a smile, as if she was tired from being tempered in society for a long time.

Li Xiao put the photos back in their original places, then picked up the diary. Since the mud had already fallen onto his pants, he figured he might as well take a look.

"I've started my period, and Harley said that lying in the bathtub with lots of cold water can help stop the menstrual flow, so I've decided to try it!"

The first sentence left Li Xiao speechless and bewildered. Kara was so fierce? Even if he had never eaten pork, he knew that pigs run, and that it's not advisable to eat cold things during menstruation. Why was she doing the opposite?

"Damn it, Harley, that idiot! I'm rolling around in pain! It feels like my stomach is being ripped apart with scissors, but I can't really blame her, since she's managed to get herself into the hospital!"

Well, those two mischievous friends really got things in there. Li Xiao smiled inwardly and continued flipping through the pages.

"This year I started high school, and my mom personally took me to school. After the torment of chemotherapy, her complexion got worse and worse. She would always gently stroke my head and help me with the difficult problems in my books. I realized that my mom was starting to enter the countdown to her life. Why did she have to get such a terrible disease like breast cancer!"

Li Xiao's heart skipped a beat.

"Mom started getting seriously ill and couldn't get up anymore. She could no longer comb my hair. Dad came back, and Mom asked him to take a picture together. He agreed. This is the only picture of the three of us together. Ever since he had a conflict with my grandparents, Dad has taken his anger out on Mom and me. Mom held me to prevent me from being hit, but every time she was covered in bruises. I don't understand why Dad treats us like this!"

It turns out there's another side to Kara's family life. Li Xiao's heart began to stir. The next scene made Li Xiao's heart tighten.

"My mother died the night before Christmas. My father even tried to take off the ring on her finger and sell it for money. That was the first time I defied him! He grabbed my hair and dragged me out of the house, trying to make me a child prostitute! My grandparents tried to stop him but were pushed to the ground. I lost three family members overnight, but I didn't cry. I didn't want to show my weakness in front of that man."

Li Xiao unconsciously tightened his grip on the notebook. Clearly, in this conflict, two elderly people were pushed to the ground and died. Kara's father was truly a beast. Li Xiao's eyes blazed with fury.

"The federal court sentenced him to death by lethal injection! I felt nothing. I started living alone in the old house. It was very empty and I was very scared. Every night I would take out my mother's scarf and hug it. That was the only way I could feel a little safe."

Even if the court doesn't convict him, he'll find that beast and deal with him personally. Li Xiao slowly exhaled. It seems the old house must be this one now.

"I'm graduating this year, and my classmates laughed at me for wanting to go to university. My deskmate, Ayesha, said I was crazy to want to take on such a huge student loan. But I know that there's no hope for those at the bottom, so I wanted to give it a shot. My advisor, who has always been very kind to me, appreciates me and gave me a letter of recommendation before I went to the University of Tokyo. I'm very grateful to him."

Next up should be my cousin's college life record, so Li Xiao continued to scroll down.

"I've arrived at Duke University, and oh my god, everything here is even better than I imagined. I love the atmosphere. This is where I saw my first superhero movie. Turns out, the all-powerful Kryptonian girl is also named Kara El, just like me!"

Li Xiao's brow relaxed; it seemed that this was where Kara's connection with the Super Girl competition began.

"This place is a little different from what I imagined. My roommates have all started dating, while I'm buried in my books every day. They've started ostracizing me. Hunter, who plays rugby, is really annoying. He often looks at me with disgusting eyes. I feel very uncomfortable but there's nothing I can do because he's an aristocrat. The girls he's gotten pregnant could form a cheerleading squad. I don't want to be a part of it. I'm a super girl..."

As Li Xiao flipped through the pages, the pressure on his hands unconsciously increased.

"Hunter wanted to cause me trouble. He tore my skirt and tried to take off my clothes. I kicked his balls out, and I almost got imprisoned for life because of it. Fortunately, a girl helped me out. Her name is Natasha, and she is the daughter of a Russian gas tycoon."

No wonder Kara said she had kicked someone's testicles when they first met; it turns out she had a criminal record.

Hunter, Li Xiao silently memorized the name.

"Student loans kept me constantly on the go. I started taking part-time jobs in my spare time—washing dishes, doing construction work, I did everything—but I still couldn't even afford the interest on the $2000 I owed each month. But since I've taken on this responsibility, I'll try my best to repay it, because I'm a supergirl!"

Is it really that hard for the poor in America to turn their lives around? He remembered that Kara still owed tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. She was 25 years old now, and at least four years had passed, and she hadn't even paid off a fraction of the interest.

Li Xiao continued to flip his fingers, but there were only blank pages afterward. It seemed that his cousin had started working and no longer had the energy to continue writing.

Just then, neat English text began to appear below.

"My aunt called me, wanting my cousin Li Xiao to come and stay with me. This little guy seriously injured someone at school, and no school would take him in. After thinking it over, I decided to take him in. He's a little boy full of chivalry, so maybe living with him wouldn't be so bad."

Li Xiao's lips twitched. Well, now it's his turn.

"The little boy is very handsome, but he's as quiet as an old man. However, he's a great cook and quite honest. Teasing him seems to be my only source of amusement. Whenever I tease him for no reason, my God, his silly little expressions are just too funny, haha."

Li Xiao closed the diary expressionlessly. He shouldn't have felt sorry for her; this woman had such a twisted sense of humor.