American comics: Starting with replicating Superman's talent

Chapter 42 The sky cleared, the rain stopped, and Watt stood up.

evening.

Within the newspaper's staff and organizations.

"Phew, finally all done."

Chloe dusted off her hands; at her feet were neatly stacked newspapers.

The girl turned around again, smiled, and winked at Gino: "Thanks for your help, you big shot~"

"It was no trouble at all." Gino shrugged and picked up a newspaper to read.

Chloe asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

Gino turned the newspaper over so Chloe could see it too: "Thirteen years ago, Lana's parents died in that meteor shower in the small town."

"Yeah, but I think she's actually quite happy now." Chloe sighed. "Clark even skipped the weekly club cleaning activity because of his goddess."

Right after school, Clark went to where Lana worked, which made Chloe a little angry: "He's a womanizer who neglects his friends."

The two chatted as they walked out of the teaching building.

A night breeze swept by, and Chloe couldn't help but shiver, frowning and complaining, "It's so cold."

"Help!"

A piercing scream interrupted their conversation. Gino frowned slightly and looked in the direction of the sound.

His gaze pierced through the thick concrete wall, past several old-fashioned cars, and the boy saw a ball of flame enveloping a car, the person inside of which he had seen not long ago.

"Principal Guan?"

Gino frowned, smashed the fire escape glass at the door, and retrieved a fire extinguisher: "Let's go rescue people."

Chloe also picked up a fire extinguisher: "Okay, okay!"

The two rushed to the scene of the fire, in the parking lot to the right of the school's teaching building.

In the deep darkness of the night, the towering flames appeared incredibly dazzling.

"Oh my god, there's someone inside!" Chloe's eyes widened as she saw a figure inside the car wailing and banging against the door in an attempt to escape.

The girl panicked and gripped the fire extinguisher tightly.

"What should we do?"

Gino strode toward the burning car, pulling the pin on the fire extinguisher as he spoke briefly: "Put out the fire, save lives."

Gino is willing to lend a helping hand to ordinary innocent people; he's not mentally ill and doesn't enjoy watching an innocent life be burned alive in his eyes.

Gino raised the nozzle in his hand and aimed it at the blazing fire.

"Pfft!"

Thick dry powder was sprinkled onto the flames, and with continuous spraying, the originally fierce fire was brought under control.

Discard the empty fire extinguisher.

I glanced at the scene inside the car.

Because a minute had passed since the cries for help were heard, and by then the car was engulfed in flames.

The flames ignited the car's interior, sending up plumes of black smoke. Some of the flames even spread from the seats to Principal Guan's body, where his suit was used to create a secondary fire.

"Help me, help me!" Principal Guan's voice was as mournful as a vengeful ghost. Flames burned his skin, and the pain made him keep hitting the glass in an attempt to escape.

Gino, with a cold expression, pulled on the car door switch, only to find that he couldn't open it.

"The car door won't open."

Without hesitation, Gino raised his fist:

"Bang!"

With a punch, Gino shattered the glass, then gently gripped the car door and pulled it open with a slight force.

"Click!"

The sturdy car door was easily torn open by the force. Ignoring the thick smoke billowing out of the car, Gino grabbed the wailing fireman and threw him to the ground. Then he took the fire extinguisher handed to him by Chloe and put out the flames on the fireman's body.

As the flames died down, a bloodied and mangled face came into Gino’s view.

The man, who once had a head of jet-black hair, now only had his scalp burned red, looking terrifying and ferocious.

Gino looked serious, frowned, and turned his head away.

"He has extensive burns on his skin, Chloe, go make a call, we need help."

"Oh? Okay!"

Chloe dropped the fire extinguisher and hurriedly ran towards the classroom, where there was a landline to contact the fire department and the hospital.

"Strange flames." Gino glanced at the car that was almost burned to a pulp, and then, as if sensing something, looked towards a one-story school building not far away.

"Whoosh."

The window of the rightmost office on the first floor closed, and in that brief moment, Gino saw the man's face clearly—it was Coach Watt from this morning.

"An arsonist."

Gino narrowed his eyes.

…………

late at night.

"Buzz buzz buzz".

Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances rushed toward the school with sirens blaring.

On the other side of the road, a silver Bugatti roared toward a two-story villa.

Gino lightly applied the brakes, and the Bugatti gently came to a stop outside the villa.

"Thank you for driving me home." Chloe opened the car door, pursed her lips, and thanked her. "Would you like to come up for a bit? Nobody's home."

"No."

Gino also got out of the car and tossed the sports car keys to Chloe: "Drive it back to school for me tomorrow."

Chloe hurriedly took the keys, somewhat puzzled. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Go investigate some things."

Gino didn't hide it from Chloe either, his azure eyes gazing intently in the direction of the school, where it was brightly lit.

"I suspect this fire was arson."

He already had a suspect in mind, and given Coach Watt's vengeful nature, that guy was likely to target him or his family, so he had to go back and keep an eye on Watt.

"What do you mean?"

"Get some rest." Gino didn't waste any more time. Under Chloe's hesitant gaze, he walked away and disappeared into the night.

On campus.

Because of the sudden fire, many fire trucks and police cars were parked inside the school.

Several police officers were questioning Watt, a witness from tonight, with notebooks in hand.

The cunning fat man squinted his small eyes, feigning complete ignorance.

"I don't know, officer. I was watching TV in my office when the fire happened. I am also heartbroken about what happened to Principal Guan."

The two policemen agreed with this sentiment, nodding regretfully and saying, "Yes, nobody wants to see this happen. Principal Guan is really too pitiful."

"With burns covering 40% of his body, it's uncertain whether he can pull through. We can only pray to God for him."

Watt, who was standing nearby, listened attentively and said in a regretful tone, "Yes, may God bless him."

Because Watt was indeed in his office when the fire occurred, and the police did not find any signs of arson inside the car, the case was hastily classified as a fire caused by aging wiring inside the vehicle.

The fire was settled as a problem with the car's age, and after the police left, Watt returned to his office.

The fat old man had a smug smile on his face. He turned on his record player and pressed the record of "Napoleon March" onto the record player.

Accompanied by soothing yet rousing music, Watt slowly sipped his red wine from a glass.

"Next."

He slowly raised his head, one hand holding a wine glass, the other behind his back, like a triumphant king. His gaze fell on the town map on his office wall, landing on the gas station on the east side of the town: "It's time for that damned Luther family!"

(End of this chapter)