Soon, Bruce drove Peter to their destination.
Officer Chandler leaned against his patrol car by the roadside, and upon seeing Peter arrive in the car, he tensed up and straightened his body.
"Has another victim appeared?"
After Peter got out of the car, he walked towards Officer Chandler with Bruce and asked.
Bruce, standing beside him, looked somewhat surprised when he saw Chandler.
Was this the Police who ran away from the bar yesterday?
Chandler didn't notice Bruce's expression; he greeted Peter very warmly and then led him into a Villa nearby.
"This time the deceased is Horry Hunter, a banker who came to Smallville for a vacation and met with an unfortunate end."
He introduced as he led the two forward.
Peter surveyed the lavishly decorated surroundings. "What a pity, to have endless wealth but die so early."
"This might be the script set by Death; humans cannot change it."
As they talked, Chandler led Peter and Bruce into the Villa's living room.
A strange smell entered their nostrils in the living room.
"That pile of ashes on the sofa is it."
Chandler pointed to the black ashes on the sofa and said to Peter.
Hearing this, Peter stepped forward to the sofa, looking at the traces that seemed to have been burned to ashes. "Are there no footprints or other clues at the scene?"
"No, he didn't install surveillance at home like he did at the bank."
Chandler shrugged, muttering to himself, "Could it be the work of a devil?"
The strange murder case he experienced with Peter last time was still fresh in his memory.
He suspected this incident was also similar to the last one.
"Oh, right."
He suddenly remembered something and said to Peter, "The deceased also had a Doberman, and strangely, the dog wasn't found at the scene, and…"
He pointed to the ground. "There were no signs of a struggle at the scene. If a Doberman knew its Master was in trouble, I think it would definitely pounce and bite, but there are no such traces."
"Perhaps it wasn't at the scene at the time."
Bruce offered his conjecture.
Chandler shook his head and didn't continue.
Standing at the scene, Peter observed his surroundings with his super vision and finally found a metal tag behind the curtain.
Walking to the window, he pulled back the curtain and found a small clump of stained dust.
Bending down, he picked up the metal tag from inside.
It turned out to be a dog tag with the word "Buddy" engraved on it.
"I think I found that lovely Doberman."
Peter picked up the dog tag and showed it to the two.
"This is...?"
Bruce looked at the dog tag in Peter's hand in astonishment, then at the small pile of ashes on the ground. "Sir, are you saying this puddle of ashes is that Doberman?"
"Uh-huh, I'm afraid so."
Peter handed the dog tag to the equally dumbfounded Chandler. "Even the dog wasn't spared... This incident shouldn't be a simple spontaneous combustion."
Clapping his hands, he said to Chandler, "Anyway, we need to keep in touch, Officer Chandler. Remember to contact me promptly if you have any clues."
"Alright, alright."
Chandler swallowed and said to him.
As he drove Bruce back to the farm, Bruce's brows remained furrowed.
"What's wrong? Did you find anything?"
Peter asked him while driving the car.
"No, not yet, but it's too strange."
Bruce voiced his thoughts: "If it were human spontaneous combustion, it's impossible for the dog to spontaneously combust with them, right? Sir, I think there's a very high probability that it's not a Fire or human spontaneous combustion incident."
"The possibility of it being man-made is very high."
Peter stopped the car at the crossroads and said to him.
If it was caused by an Inhumans mutated by Kryptonite, he could recover green kryptonite again this time.
At night, Bruce didn't come back for dinner because he had to investigate the "human spontaneous combustion" incident.
"Dad."
Star-Lord lay on the bed and called out to Peter, who was about to leave. "Can you tell me about Bruce?"
"Of course, I can."
Peter walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "Are you curious about Bruce's story?"
"No, I... I just want to know about Dad and his past stories."
"That's a long story. Bruce wasn't that tall back then."
Peter recounted to Star-Lord the story of how he met Bruce in Metropolis.
After listening to his father's narration, Star-Lord blinked and asked him, "Does Bruce really not have parents anymore?"
"Yes, his parents were shot in an alley when he was little."
"That sounds regrettable."
Star-Lord thought for a moment and said, "But... no wonder John is so hostile towards Bruce; he thought Bruce was here to snatch his father."
"Bruce doesn't have such intentions."
Patting Star-Lord's shoulder, he prepared to leave.
"Dad, today near the Talon Club, I saw a fortune teller."
Star-Lord suddenly brought up his discovery from today.
"A fortune teller?"
"Yes, a lady stood on South Street, holding a sign: 'Psychic Fortune-Telling for Money, ten U.S. dollars to tell people how they will die.'"
Peter heard this and became slightly interested.
"Is she accurate?"
"I don't know, I just secretly listened for a while."
Star-Lord thought for a moment and said to Peter, "She said one person would die accidentally in a fierce jet ski accident, and another would be eaten by a bear in the living room, and there was Ebola virus, monkey flu, squirrel pox... I didn't remember the rest."
"Dad, can you lend me ten U.S. dollars? I want to try it."
Star-Lord sincerely asked Peter to borrow ten U.S. dollars.
"You don't have to believe this, Star-Lord. That lady isn't a fortune teller; she's just a storyteller. She tells interesting stories, and the audience is willing to listen to her describe uncertain futures."
Peter probably knew what kind of people these were, using the guise of fortune-telling to casually spout things that people were willing to listen to.
"Really? Dad, is she lying?"
"This isn't malicious lying."
Peter shook his head. "She's just telling stories people want to hear. Most people don't actually care how they will die; they just want to know how they will live."
"Although many of them don't realize that these two are closely related."
"Hmm."
Star-Lord nodded. "Dad, then she's a liar?"
Peter was silent for a few seconds.
He didn't quite understand why Star-Lord would care if the other person was a liar.
But soon he knew why.
Star-Lord said dejectedly, "She said if I don't lose weight, I'll choke to Death on a cold cheese steak. I want her to tell my fortune again."
"Uh..."
After a moment of contemplation, Peter comforted him, "No, you won't choke to Death on a cold cheese steak. She's trying to scare you. Dad will overturn her stall tomorrow, okay?"
Scaring children like this, it seems he needs to perform "justice" once tomorrow.
"No, Dad, I think she has a point."
Star-Lord lowered his voice and said to him, "I want to be as thin as Bruce."
"Wait...!"
Peter interrupted him and looked at him. "Star-Lord, are you intentionally lowering your voice when you speak?"
"I... I'm not."
"You are."
Peter looked at him suspiciously. "Are you imitating Bruce's way of speaking?"
"I'm not, Dad, this is my voice."
Star-Lord lowered his voice, deliberately making a deep sound. "I'm naturally like this, Dad."
Exhaling, Peter looked at Star-Lord, who was suddenly acting foolish, and decided not to argue with this mischievous child anymore.
"Alright, remember to go to bed early."
Peter ruffled his hair and got up to leave the room.
When he turned off the light, he heard Star-Lord utter a deep, suppressed voice again, "Goodnight, Dad."
Peter: "..."
The next day, early morning.
Star-Lord and Mark looked in shock at Bruce, who appeared in the living room.
Bruce didn't appear alone; he also brought a beautiful woman with him.
Peter came downstairs and was stunned when he saw Bruce and the beautiful woman in the living room.
This is...
He frowned slightly, gazing at the beautiful woman's somewhat familiar appearance.
Isn't this Martha's colleague, Ms. Katy Vizniusky, whom he met at school a few days ago?
When did Bruce and this sexy art teacher become so close?
Seeing Peter appear, Bruce quickly walked over to introduce her.
"Sir, this is my girlfriend, Katy Vizniusky."
Katy Vizniusky smiled and extended her hand to Peter. "Mr. Patrick, it's nice to meet you again."
"You know each other?"
Bruce asked in surprise.
"Not long."
Katy Vizniusky explained to Bruce, "A few days ago, we dealt with each other because of something at school."
Peter was momentarily stunned when he heard Bruce say this was his girlfriend.
How old is this kid now to be so promiscuous, just casually getting a girlfriend?
Suppressing the strange feeling in his heart, Peter pretended to be nonchalant and asked Bruce, "Didn't you go to investigate the incident? Is this the result of your investigation?"
"When I was investigating at school, I met Katy. We talked about some things and found out we unexpectedly got along well. We have the same hobbies and views. We fell in love at first sight."
"Love at first sight?"
Peter's suspicious gaze swept over Bruce's face. Isn't it more like lust at first sight?
Moreover, he didn't quite believe that Bruce would be so rash.
This kid, did he fall under her spell?!
Although many thoughts crossed his mind, Peter's expression remained unchanged.
He coughed and shook Katy's extended hand.
The moment their palms touched, a strange sensation spread throughout his body.
Katy didn't seem to notice this strangeness and continued to smile at Peter.
Withdrawing his hand, Peter looked at Bruce.
"Bruce, I think... we need to talk."