amaotonovel Chapter 4485 The Darkest Night (3)
Chapter 4485 The Darkest Night (3)
Chapter 4485 The Darkest Night (Thirteen)
"The fact that three murders had occurred in one night had completely clouded my judgment, so much so that I didn't notice in time that the sun hadn't risen on time. Although an hour had passed since the normal sunrise time, there was no commotion in the city. Just as they weren't surprised by three murders in one night, the people of Gotham probably weren't surprised by the arrival of eternal night. In fact, they had been living like this for decades, and no one had ever expected the sun to save them. This custom had continued to this day, and it was the only good thing—it meant we didn't have to appease the panicked masses while investigating the murders. Just as I calmed down and pondered why the sun had abandoned us, a flustered young lady burst into Rodriguez's office."
"Oh, Professor!" Jenna exclaimed, taking off her high heels and running in barefoot.
Victor quickly stood up and offered her his seat. Schiller went to the side and got a pair of disposable slippers, placing them beside Jenna's feet. Jenna sat in the chair, catching her breath several times before she had a chance to tidy her somewhat disheveled hair. Many of the sequins on her red dress had fallen off, making it less sparkly. Victor sniffed, detecting a faint smell of blood on her.
“What’s wrong, Miss?” Victor asked. He frowned, looking at Jenna with concern. The young woman looked like she had just been in danger. Considering the current situation, this was not a good sign. Had she been attacked?
Jenna's throat moved, and she opened her mouth, but didn't speak. As if to hide her embarrassment, she took a deep breath and swallowed, but then suddenly started coughing violently: "Cough! Cough cough!"
Schiller handed her a glass of water. Jenna took several deep breaths and sipped it slowly. It took her a few minutes to calm down completely. Neither Schiller nor Victor asked her any questions during this time; they simply waited for her to regain her composure.
“I told you you shouldn’t have been dressed so lightly,” Victor said half-jokingly. “If you had caught a cold, there probably wouldn’t be a hospital open for you right now; you’d have to wait until morning.”
Jenna leaned swaying against the armrest of her chair, holding a water glass in one hand and the bottom of it with the other. She swallowed hard, then said, "Yeah, it's all so weird."
"It sounds like you have a lead?" Schiller asked.
Jenna opened her mouth again, but still didn't make a sound. Schiller continued, "You know we won't force you, miss. But if you're in trouble and you come to us first, not James Gordon, there must be a good reason, right?"
Jenna opened her mouth again, and this time she finally uttered a sentence: "I might be in big trouble, Professor."
Jenna's brown eyes always evoke images of a small feline predator living in the rainforest, the only difference between her and humans. When stimulated by changes in light, a mysterious and aggressive gold appears in the center of her pupils, exuding a wild beauty.
Jenna shoved Barry aside, then whirled around. Her brown eyes, illuminated by the incandescent light of the interrogation room, had turned a dazzling gold. Perrotta, reflected in her pupils, gave her a mysterious smile.
"Are you alright?" Jenna looked at Barry's arm. She grabbed Barry's arm and examined it carefully, then glanced back at Perrotta. "What's that?"
Barry's initial panic at the attack was fleeting. He quickly regained his composure and looked down at his arm. He instinctively sensed something was wrong, but the skin on his arm was as smooth as ever, without a single scratch. What had Perrotta used to attack him?
That's the problem. Perrotta said she wanted to see Jenna before being sent to the detention center because she wanted Jenna to help her with some personal belongings she couldn't take with her and then send her money.
Jenna had no intention of helping this vicious murderer. But in front of Barry, she didn't want to appear too heartless. Besides, Perrotta's family wasn't well-off. Her father was disabled, and she had a younger sister still in school. If she really pushed her to the brink, who knew what kind of trouble she would cause in the detention center. Thinking this way, Jenna went anyway.
Barry, worried about Jenna, went with her. Neither of them were ordinary people, and with Perrotta restrained in her chair, they were completely unprepared.
The instant she stepped inside, Jenna's empathy kicked in. She realized that Perrotta harbored immense malice towards them. A chill ran down her spine. In that instant, she saw a thin black line aimed directly at Barry's arm. Jenna shoved Barry aside.
But the attack seemed like a hallucination. There were no black lines, Barry's arm was unharmed, and even Brainiac's surveillance equipment didn't capture anything unusual. Jenna even wondered if it was a sensory hallucination caused by excessive nervous tension.
“No.” Barry seemed to have thought of what she was thinking. “I can also feel something attacking me. If there’s nothing wrong here, then it must be within the Speed Force.”
Barry glanced at Perrotta; he couldn't leave Jenna alone, not even in the room. So, he took Jenna with him into the Speed Force.
Upon entering the Speed Force, Jenna understood that Barry's excuse about the Speed Force being unsuitable for carrying people wasn't true. It was a space where gold and black intertwined. The golden Speed Force was fragmented by the black energy, constantly disappearing and reappearing, while the black energy was also bound by the Speed Force, surging and receding.
The fragments of information flashing through the Speed Force from different points in time, along with the malice emanating from the black energy that evoked negative emotions, all acted simultaneously on this space. Just one glance was enough to make Jenna feel dizzy and nauseous.
“Don’t look.” Barry stood behind her, half-embracing her and covering her eyes with his hands, then began to look her up and down. After a while, he said, “Found it.”
"What is that?" Jenna couldn't see it, but she sensed it. She turned her head in one direction. Barry stared silently at that patch of blackness, unlike any other darkness.
“Death,” Barry said. “It’s coming.”
"what?"
"It's marked me. A chase is about to begin. Jenna, help me."
How can I help you?
"Find out Perrotta's secret. Who made her do this? Where does this power come from? The sooner the better."
The next second, Jenna felt the world spin. She was back at the door of the interrogation room, but Barry was nowhere to be seen. Jenna was anxious, but she could only force herself to calm down.
Barry's attack wasn't a hallucination. He wasn't the type to use riddles at crucial moments either. "Death" and "It's coming" were probably just literal. And the subsequent "marked" and "chased" were even more straightforward.
Perrotta marked Barry with something. This mark doesn't exist in the real world, but within the Speed Force. This might attract an extremely terrifying monster. It will chase Barry. If Barry is caught, death may await him.
Jenna took a deep breath; the closer she got to the top, the faster her brain seemed to work. The key now lay with Perrotta. This guy was definitely hiding something. She had to find out.
By this time, the officers were already taking Perrotta away. Seeing the heavily armed police, Jenna lowered her hands. Any rash action at this moment could be considered a prison break. While Gotham's police had become much more restrained, it didn't mean there wouldn't be some extreme reactions. She wouldn't be killed by a bullet, but a single hit could incapacitate her. She couldn't act rashly.
More importantly, she cannot use her superpowers without her brother by her side. The magical twins' superpowers require physical contact with each other, or at least being close enough.
Thinking of this, Jenna took out her phone.
"Brother, something's happened. You need to come over."
They quickly met up in an alley behind the police station. Zan, dressed in a dark uniform, was not very noticeable in the night. Jenna's red dress was a bit too eye-catching, but she didn't bother changing.
Jenna spoke rapidly, "Although I really wanted Brainiac to stop the transport vehicle immediately, since he didn't film anything and couldn't access the Speed Force, we don't have enough evidence to prove that Barry was attacked. So he probably won't cooperate."
"So you want us to do it ourselves?" Zan said. "Why not ask Chief Gordon for help?"
“He’ll make us wait until the transfer is complete before asking. But Brainiac won’t allow torture. If we wait until the transfer is complete, we won’t get anything out of her.” A ruthless glint flashed in Jenna’s eyes. “If we want to force her to tell the truth, we have to seize the opportunity and use illegal means.”
"Okay. Tell me what to do, and I'll do as you say."
Jenna took out her phone, pulled up a map, and pointed to a section of road, saying, "The transport vehicle will definitely pass through this street. There's a blind spot at the bend. You freeze water here. The front axle of the transport vehicle will lose control due to the ice. The impact of the rollover should be enough to knock most people unconscious."
"I'll transform into a flying insect and sneak into the car. I'll appear and interrogate Perrotta when it overturns. Faced with the threat of death, she should be able to tell us something."
"This is too risky. What if the other person doesn't faint? What if she absolutely refuses to tell you?"
"We have to give it a try. If it really doesn't work, we'll think of something else."
“Warning. This is extremely unwise,” Brainiac said. “Using superpowers illegally to cause accidents will be punished…”
Jenna tossed her phone into the nearby trash heap. She reached out and bumped fists with Zion. The next second, she transformed into an almost invisible tiny flying insect, chasing after the transport vehicle.
She was much faster than ordinary insects, and soon caught up with the transport vehicle, squeezing inside through a gap. No one inside noticed her. She remained on the back of the driver's seat, gently fluttering her wings, waiting for her chance.
Not long after, the front of the car shook violently. This was a sign that the front axle was losing control. Jenna gripped the back of her seat tightly. After a dizzying spin, almost everyone in the car passed out.
She quietly transformed back into human form, approached Perrotta, grabbed her neck, and checked her pulse. At that moment, Jenna froze.
Pelota is dead?!
She had no pulse. Jenna, unwilling to believe it, checked her breathing and heartbeat again, finding nothing. She quickly straightened Perrotta's body. Just as she was about to examine the cause of Perrotta's death, a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist.
Perrotta suddenly opened her eyes and shoved Jenna away. Jenna felt herself being thrown back by tremendous force. This was not the strength of a human being. She barely managed to dodge to the side, avoiding Perrotta's lunge. The other woman's eyes gleamed in the pitch-black night, instilling a strange fear. Jenna could clearly hear her heart pounding faster and faster like a drum.
She gritted her teeth. A moment later, a colossal creature that almost filled the entire carriage bared its sharp teeth in the darkness.