Superman Termination Manual - Chapter 33

Chapter 33 – 027 A Step Away
[Notice: The “Deception Puppet” has been actively destroyed; the next release of the puppet will require 10 minutes.]

Ke Mingye massaged his Tianming Acupoint and let out a gentle sigh of relief, thinking that if that thing didn’t disappear soon, his brain would have overloaded.

When he opened his eyes again from the sofa, the only image left in his mind made him feel like the world was significantly more peaceful.

Simultaneously controlling two bodies was no easy task, especially when the auditory and visual senses of both intertwined, creating a mental strain nearly akin to severe schizophrenia—enough to drive someone mad over time.

Ke Mingye sat on the sofa to recover for a moment, then glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. It was 6:25 PM; night had fallen, and the family birthday party had long since ended.

After dinner, except for his second elder brother who was in his room, everyone else had gone out for a walk, leaving the house very quiet.

With nothing pressing to attend to, Ke Mingye joined Bai Qiuwu and Bai Zini to watch TV for a while. He picked up the remote control and pressed the numeric keys to switch to a news channel.

On the reasonably large screen, the host broadcasted a blurred video, describing it as it played:

“Last night, ’Diviner Black Wukong’ and ’Magical Girl Ash’—two superhero vigilantes—assisted the superhero ’Qing Ya’ in arresting a criminal ’Diviner Ghost Tree’ causing trouble in the center of Huanjing City. The Superhero Association highly commended their brave actions and pledged a generous reward if they decide to join the association;

Huanjing City’s mayor also made a personal appearance in a media interview, urging the vigilantes to register with the Superhero Association soon and become official members, to uphold the law with a legal identity.”

Did you hear that? It’s about you two, always running around with masks on, not caring about legality… Ke Mingye thought to himself while casually glancing at Bai Qiuwu and Bai Zini on the sofa.

Bai Qiuwu was coolly playing with her phone, perfectly indifferent, displaying outstanding acting skills;

In contrast, Bai Zini was also fiddling with her phone while she carefully shifted her position on the sofa, moving closer to Ke Mingye, and asked in a seemingly casual tone,

“Big brother, don’t you think that Magic Girl on the news looks pretty, with a kind of fresh and ethereal beauty?”

Upon hearing her, Ke Mingye looked up at the photo of Magical Girl Ash on the news and tilted his head.

“It’s hard to say,” he said.

“What do you mean by ’it’s hard to say’?” Bai Zini pressed.

“Well…it’s just average,” he reluctantly said.

Bai Zini’s mouth gaped open, but she hesitated, and after a brief pause, she gently clapped her hands and said, “Look more carefully; is she really just average? I think she’s the prettiest Magic Girl who has debuted lately.”

After speaking, she seemed a bit unconvinced and continued muttering, “Also, many classmates in our school are her fans! Some even say she looks a bit like me, what do you think, bro?”

“My goodness, if she really looks like you, then she’s really unlucky, must have struck negative karma for eight lifetimes,”

Ke Mingye teased nonchalantly, lowering his head back to his phone.

“You!” Bai Zini, unable to retort, just glared at him and angrily crinkled her nose, ignoring him thereafter.

She instead turned to Bai Qiuwu and asked, “What do you think, big sister? Doesn’t this Magic Girl look much prettier than that darkly dressed monkey next to her?”

Hearing this, Bai Qiuwu tilted her head and looked up at the three photos broadcasted in the news—full-body shots of “Qing Ya,” “Black Wukong,” and “Ash.”

“Hmm… but aren’t all three of them dressed in dark colors?”

She pinched her chin, curling her lips, and teased earnestly.

Just as Bai Zini was about to argue, she glanced at the three photos and could only purse her lips.

“That’s true,” she said.

Ke Mingye chuckled twice, thinking it was all too true. He couldn’t understand why this whole family preferred dark-colored battle suits; it must have been an inherited sense of aesthetics.

Ever since the first time he went online to look at photos, he couldn’t help but complain—Bai Qiuwu’s battle suit was a mix of silver and black; Bai Zini’s “magic dress” was gray tinged with black; their dad, Ke Youqing’s battle suit was even more ridiculously exaggerated, except for a patch of green on the mask’s beak, it was utterly pitch black, making him completely invisible at night.

It might just be that the three happened to think alike, since they often roamed at night, designing their battle suits in darker shades made it easier to conceal themselves.

“Either way, I can’t figure why this monkey has fans…”

Bai Zini muttered under her breath, picked up her phone to check a message, “I left something at school, I’m heading out first, bye.” After saying that, she stood up from the sofa and turned to walk toward the hallway.

“Isn’t your middle school already on summer break? Shouldn’t it be closed by now?” Ke Mingye asked.

Bai Zini’s voice came from the hallway: “Mind your own business, pretty girl things.”

“Sorry princess, should I kowtow twice to cool you off?”

Ke Mingye said sarcastically, though he was still quite curious about what Bai Zini was up to.

Because just five minutes before, Ke Youqing had said he was meeting a colleague tonight, put on his coat, took a cigarette, and headed out, but Ke Mingye definitely didn’t dare to follow him;

Not long after, Bai Zini also said she had left something at school, and if she didn’t go back to get it now, the school would lock up. She rushed out, perhaps they were dealing with the same thing.

There weren’t any criminals around now, right? Ke Mingye checked the trending topics on Weibo to make sure nothing was happening.

“Big bro!” He suddenly shouted upstairs.

“What’s up, Mingye?”

Ke Xiaomo, hearing his shout, slowly walked down from the second floor.

“Little sister said she needs to go back to school to get something. Why don’t you give her a ride on the electric bike?” Ke Mingye suggested, standing up from the sofa and walking towards the second floor, brushing past Ke Xiaomo.

“Sure.” Ke Xiaomo stopped on the stairs and looked toward Bai Zini who was putting on her shoes at the door, “Shall I put on a coat and wait for you?”

“No need, I’ll just take the bus.”

Bai Zini said while putting on her shoes and glared at Ke Mingye’s retreating back.

While they talked, Ke Mingye quickly returned to his room. Taking advantage of the fact that his big brother Ke Xiaomo was still on the first floor, he locked the door, opened the window, and once again used the “Deception Puppet,” making the puppet appear outside the window.

[Skill “Deception Puppet” successfully released. The release of this skill will consume 20% of your energy level, leaving 80% remaining.]

[The current maximum number of Deception Puppets is 1; the maximum existent time is 3 hours; there should be a one-hour interval between releasing puppets after one disappears, but if you actively destroy a puppet you can reduce the interval to 10 minutes.]

At this moment, the puppet was clad in grey, grinning from ear to ear, looking quite eerie. But Ke Mingye didn’t have time to change its appearance, he immediately made it jump down from the windowsill, rolling onto the rooftop of the neighboring residential building. Because of its light weight and the rolling reducing the impact, it landed unscathed.

At the same time, another image appeared in Ke Mingye’s mind—it was the Deception Puppet’s point of view.

He closed the window, flopped down onto his bed in a spread-eagle position, thinking, “Might as well give it a try, see if it can keep up with her pace.”

Ke Mingye pulled out his phone and casually opened a video app. His fingers unconsciously swiped the screen, but his mind was controlling the movements of the Deception Puppet.

He commanded the puppet to crouch on the railing of the adjacent building, intently surveying the neighborhood. Soon, Bai Zini walked out of the duplex apartment on the ground floor, entering the puppet’s field of view.

“Here she comes.” Ke Mingye thought.