Chapter 11 (edited)

It was the drunk who fired first; otherwise, Kara would have just given them a little lesson and let it go.

Kara was furious. While she could handle the situation with her indestructible defense, what if it had been someone else?

This guy had a gun, and he actually pulled the trigger on someone. That alone was courting death.

Kara grabbed the drunk man's hair with her left hand, forcing him to look up. The pain in his arm was nothing compared to the searing agony at the top of his head.

She raised her right hand in a knife-like position. With her strength and speed, this motion was as lethal as any weapon.

"Kara?"

At that moment, Jennifer called her name in a frightened tone. Looking down at the drunk man, she shivered and said, "You don't mean to kill him, do you?"

Kara froze.

Jennifer shook her head. "Don't do this, Kara. We all know how strong you are, but if you kill him, there's no going back."

People often referred to Kara as "the strong girl." Many knew she was stronger than an ordinary person, but she had only ever displayed her extraordinary strength, never her other abilities.

And if she ever found out who had first started calling her that awful nickname, she'd make sure they regretted it.

"Kara, please," Jennifer pleaded, her voice trembling with worry.

Kara looked at Jennifer, pausing to consider her words. Then, she asked, "What if it hadn't been me here today? What if it had been you? What do you think would have happened to you?"

Jennifer faltered, picturing a grim scene in her mind.

"You saw it yourself. This guy not only had a gun but also didn't hesitate to use it. If it had been you instead of me, he would have killed you." Kara crushed the pistol on the ground beneath her foot as if to emphasize her point.

She raised her head again, asking Jennifer, "Even if you can forgive him for what he did, what if it had been Dani? What if she got hurt because of him? Could you face her? And even if it wasn't us, if he hurts someone else in the future because we let him go, how would you feel when you found out?"

Faced with these rhetorical questions, Jennifer was left speechless.

After all, they were only fifteen-year-old girls, and these were complicated moral questions.

Yet, Kara was not simply fifteen. She might look like a high school girl, but in reality, she had lived in this world for five years after crossing over. Adding that to her previous life's age, she was at least twenty.

Kara looked at Jennifer again. "Killing a bad person could save countless good people."

She paused, then added, "If Batman had been stronger-willed and killed the Joker right away, how many lives could have been saved? How many tragedies would have been avoided?"

Jennifer frowned, puzzled. "Batman? Joker? Who are they?"

They had been best friends for years, so if Kara had watched any movies or read any books, Jennifer would have known about them. At least in this world, Batman had not debuted yet.

So Kara gave her best friend a spoiler-filled explanation.

"Anyway, Jennifer, this person cannot be allowed to live. He has murderous intentions and no hesitation in acting on them. Keeping him alive would only lead to endless trouble."

As she spoke, Kara tilted her head and forced the drunk to look at her.

Suddenly, she laughed. The drunk man had stopped screaming. He was tough, but this only made Kara more resolute.

"I've always liked the phrase 'cutting grass and roots.' Are you still thinking of revenge? Will you hurt my family? My younger brother? Or go after my best friends, Jennifer and Dani, or their families?"

Kara gently tapped the drunk's eyelids with her right hand. His eyes no longer showed drunken confusion; instead, they burned with hatred, resentment, and murderous intent.

Kara smiled. "Consider this my debut."

With that, she turned and dragged the drunk man away.

"Kara?"

Behind her, Jennifer stood helplessly on the street, watching Kara's figure disappear into the shadows. She knew she couldn't stop her.

But Jennifer was deeply worried. What would happen to Kara if she really went through with it?

By law, she would be a criminal.

When Jennifer's father arrived to pick her up, he noticed Kara's absence. Jennifer lied, saying that Kara's father had already taken her home. Father and daughter then returned home.

Meanwhile, Kara paid no mind to such concerns. She dragged the drunk into a remote alley.

The drunk seemed to have accepted his fate and didn't plead for mercy. Instead, he gave her a cold glare until she tossed him into a pile of trash cans.

"You don't have the guts to kill me," he sneered.

"Oh, still delusional, are we?" Kara spread her hands mockingly.

The drunk glared at her deeply and said, "I'm not underestimating you, but think about it. You're just a young, beautiful girl. If you kill me, you'll spend years in prison. Is it worth it? Don't you have family? Aren't you afraid of hurting them?"

So that was his reasoning.

"From an ordinary perspective, you're not wrong," Kara admitted.

Anyone would think it ridiculous for a promising young girl to ruin her future for a drunk.

He was banking on that.

But Kara simply shrugged. "As long as no one knows I killed you, it's fine."

Her eyes turned red, and suddenly, two beams of heat vision shot out, instantly burning through the drunk's eyes and brain.

"I hate the way you were looking at me," she said coolly, retracting the heat vision.

"With Earth's current technology, laser weapons haven't been invented yet, right? And a farm girl like me wouldn't have access to something like that. Let's say... someone in a black bat suit did it. Has nothing to do with me," Kara muttered, already planning her next steps.

As for feeling guilt or regret for killing someone?

Why should she?

She had long since steeled herself for this kind of situation. Growing up, she'd endured many sleepless nights filled with terrifying noises and images that would have haunted anyone else.

For Kara, this was just another step forward.