Chapter 53 I'll Reluctantly Send You to Hell

Kent Farm.

Peter looked at the dead cattle scattered across the ground with a solemn expression.

The carcasses lying before him were shriveled and desiccated, as if all their blood and vitality had been drained away, leaving them as withered as decaying mummies.

Nearby, Jonathan wore a heavy heart as he comforted his weeping wife.

Overnight, more than a dozen cattle raised on the farm had died mysteriously, dealing a devastating blow to a farm that was already struggling to make ends meet.

Police had cordoned off the fences with yellow warning tape, and professional personnel were busy examining the cause of death.

Officer Lane, wearing a face mask, walked over and asked Jonathan, "Jonathan, did you hear any strange noises last night?"

"No, my wife and I went to bed early last night, and we didn't hear a thing,"

Jonathan replied, "We didn't discover this until this morning."

"Have you had any conflicts with anyone recently?"

Officer Lane continued to inquire.

"I don't think so, Officer Lane. Do you think someone poisoned them?"

He closed his notebook. "We cannot rule out that possibility. In any case, Jonathan, we will definitely help you find the bastard who killed your livestock!"

After offering some words of comfort, Lane returned to the scene to see if he could unearth any useful clues.

On the other side, Peter took a brief look at the dead dairy cows and walked over to Jonathan and Martha.

He comforted them, saying, "In any case, Jonathan, as long as everyone is safe, that's what matters."

Jonathan sighed and asked Peter, "Do you have any idea what's going on here, Peter?"

"No, I have no idea what happened here."

Peter shifted his gaze to the carcasses on the ground. "Though I do have a few hypotheses. The state of these dead cows looks very similar to the way Don Haggerty died."

"That twelve-year-old boy?"

Jonathan furrowed his brow. "You mean..."

He asked somewhat uneasily, "Could it have been done by the person who killed Don? This... how is that possible? Why would he kill these livestock?"

"Perhaps..."

Peter turned his gaze back and shrugged. "...it's some kind of blood-sucking creature."

He did not directly mention the alien parasite to them.

Compared to an alien parasite, ordinary people probably found the concept of a blood-sucking creature much easier to accept.

Hearing Peter mention a "blood-sucking creature," Martha beside him wore a thoughtful expression.

"I think I heard some strange noises on the farm last night, Peter."

She said to him, "It sounded like laughter, rising and falling, like the laughter of someone in hysterics—shrill and piercing."

"If the killer is a blood-sucking creature, could... could that have been the sound it made?"

***

Jonathan didn't believe in the blood-sucking creature theory. He frowned and said to his wife, "That was just a screech owl, Martha. Don't let your imagination run wild."

Peter shook his head and said to the two of them, "Vampire or screech owl, Jonathan, Martha, for your own safety, you'd better come stay at my farm for a while."

Jonathan initially wanted to refuse, but remembering how his previous refusal to Peter had resulted in him and Martha being kidnapped, he swallowed the words back down.

"You can work on the farm during the day, and just sleep at my place at night."

Hearing Peter put it that way, Jonathan hesitated no longer. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Peter."

"Don't mention it, we're family."

He patted Jonathan on the shoulder with his hand.

***

In the morning, Peter drove back to the Patrick Farm.

After getting out of the car, he immediately noticed that the atmosphere on the farm felt somewhat abnormal.

The usually bustling farm seemed unnaturally quiet.

"Clark? John?"

Frowning, Peter called out their names as he walked forward.

Upon entering the living room, there was still no sign of the two of them.

Perplexed, he looked up at the television, which was still left on.

"Whoosh!"

Using super-speed to instantly teleport to the second floor, he immediately activated his super-vision to scan the surroundings.

He quickly spotted Clark and John lying near the cattle pen.

Teleporting to the fence, he hurriedly picked up the two unconscious boys from the ground.

After checking their condition, he found they had suffered no injuries.

Their breathing was steady, their complexions rosy, and they showed no signs of poisoning or mental attacks.

Drawing a long sigh of relief, Peter carried the two of them back to their room and laid them on the bed.

At this moment, Homelander felt as though he were trapped inside a sealed room.

The temperature in the room was rising continuously, and a feeling of suffocating heat enveloped his entire body, making it difficult for him to breathe and causing his skin to burn with pain.

He pounded desperately against the room, wanting to escape from this high-temperature "furnace."

At the same time, a familiar scent belonging to his father drifted into his nostrils.

"Gasp!"

Homelander snapped awake from his dream. Opening his eyes, he saw Peter leaning over him, pressing a hand onto his shoulder.

"Don't thrash around, Homelander, you're going to shake the bed apart."

Panting heavily, Homelander let out a surprised voice, "Dad?"

***

"Yeah, you awake?"

Homelander scratched his head. "A little bit. Dad? I... I wasn't sleeping?"

"You were."

"And I wasn't dreaming?"

"Doesn't look like it."

Homelander thought for a moment before finally snapping out of his daze. "I'm sorry, Dad."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I didn't protect Clark just now."

At this mention, Homelander hurriedly sat up to search for Clark.

Seeing Clark rubbing his eyes as he stood up from the bed, he let out a long breath of relief.

"John, Clark, do you feel any discomfort anywhere?"

Peter called Clark over and asked the two of them.

"I'm fine, Godfather, just a little tired."

Homelander nodded. "Me too, Dad, my body feels a bit exhausted."

Peter checked their bodies once more, and finding no abnormalities, asked them, "What on earth happened? Why did you pass out? Clark, you tell me."

Clark recalled, "I remember I was keeping Homelander company during flight training when I heard a noise coming from the direction of the cattle pen, so I walked over to check it out, and then..."

He rubbed his brow. "I saw a man standing behind the cattle pen. I thought he was a thief, and John rushed over too. We wanted to knock him down, but..."

As Clark recalled that previous moment, a chill ran through his entire body.

"He grabbed my fist and Homelander's fist, and then I felt completely weak, unable to muster any strength in my body."

Homelander indicated that his experience was the same as Clark's. "Dad, me too. I felt like all my strength was being sucked out of me."

Hearing their account, Peter furrowed his brow.

He immediately thought of the alien parasite.

If this thing could drain Don Haggerty and the livestock on the Kent Farm to dryness, it was entirely possible for it to absorb Clark and Homelander as well.

It was just that the two bear-cubs were not ordinary people. While ordinary individuals would have been sucked dry into mummies, the two of them had merely passed out, slept for a while, and recovered.

"Do you remember what he looked like?"

Peter narrowed his eyes slightly.

Since this creature was in such a rush to seek its end, he would simply send it to hell.