Chapter 10: Ke Mingqing and the Mythical Carrier Older Sister

The light drizzle of the night rain stopped without a sound, leaving the old building in complete silence.

Puddles on the roof dripped onto the railing of the second-floor balcony, sending a rhythmic TAP TAP echoing through the quiet corridor. At that very moment, two figures stood in the hallway.

Ke Mingqing stood stiffly by the bathroom door like a schoolboy being punished, while Xia Wenna remained motionless in the shadows of the corner. Mother and son quietly stared at each other.

Xia Wenna's bedroom was on the third floor, while the children's rooms were on the second. Separated by an entire floor, it stood to reason there should have been some noise when she came downstairs. Yet Ke Mingqing hadn't even heard her footsteps. She had simply materialized in the corridor out of nowhere.

Even now, the gaze Xia Wenna cast toward him remained hollow. Shrouded in darkness, her figure resembled a wandering spirit that had lost its soul, making it terrifying to meet her eyes.

Ke Mingqing was deeply shaken. He thought, "This alien has been hiding on Earth and observing this family for so long. Has she already realized that I replaced her son? Does she plan to erase me in the middle of the night? Should I scream right now? If I scream, will Dad and my little sister come to save me?"

It took him a long while before he finally spoke, tentatively asking, "What's wrong, Mom? Why do you look so pale in the middle of the night? When I first saw you, I thought you were a ghost."

But Xia Wenna did not reply immediately, choosing instead to quietly observe him. A moment later, her expression suddenly darkened as she softly muttered, "Qing... I..."

"You?"

"I dreamed that your dad cheated on me."

As soon as she finished speaking, silence descended over the corridor, followed shortly by a confused voice.

"...Ah? Oh? Oh."

Ke Mingqing froze slightly, slowly processing the situation. Xia Wenna fell silent for a moment before saying, "He didn't come home to sleep again tonight. He went out in the middle of the night and isn't replying to my messages."

Ke Mingqing shot her a helpless look, the heavy stone in his heart finally dropping. He thought, "Regardless of whether Xia Wenna noticed something off about me or not, the fact that she's speaking like this means she has no intention of showing her hand right now. I'm safe for the time being."

"Mom, stop overthinking things, okay?" Ke Mingqing shrugged. "Dad's probably just been under a lot of pressure lately and has insomnia. He just went out to clear his head and will be back in a bit."

"Really?"

"Really, really... I'll call and ask him for you later. You should go back to sleep first." Ke Mingqing squeezed past Xia Wenna, his back breaking out in a cold sweat.

Keeping his head slightly lowered, he thought, "We're all spies here. The only difference is that you want to invade Earth, and I have to exterminate the Superhuman Species on Earth... We're both in the same boat, so why must we be at each other's throats?"

Despite his thoughts, as Ke Mingqing stepped into his bedroom, his right hand honestly pulled the door shut behind him. Peeking through the crack in the door, he kept an eye on this alien. He watched as Xia Wenna stood blankly in the hallway for a moment before dragging herself toward the third floor, looking as completely out of it as a puppet with its strings cut.

Ke Mingqing watched her leave before closing the last sliver of the gap.

He thought, "This family is too terrifying. Never mind those two violent maniacs wearing cosplay outfits, but to think there's even a horror movie jump scare segment at night..." While thinking this, he kicked off his indoor slippers and sprawled out on his bed like a starfish.

With the rain stopped, the faint chirping of cicadas could be heard. Ke Mingqing closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep in no time.

The rest of the night passed in silence.

...

The next morning, as the first rays of sunlight pierced through the floor-to-ceiling windows and spilled onto the floor, Ke Mingqing opened his eyes. Yet, what he saw at that moment wasn't the ceiling, but a dense block of text swarming like migrating ants.

[Good morning, esteemed Player "Ke Mingqing". The remaining time for the "Extinct Superhuman Species" task is: 179 days, 18 hours, 30 minutes, and 45 seconds.]

Waking up bright and early to see such a notification hovering above his head was no different from having a scalding cup of coffee splashed right in his face. Even if he didn't want to drink it, he would still end up choking down a mouthful. No matter how sleepy he was, he instantly perked up.

Though it wouldn't be surprising if perking up a bit too much eventually turned him into a complete psycho...

Ke Mingqing let out a yawn, staring blankly at the ticking numbers on the countdown. It was currently 6:00 a.m. on July 2nd. He recalled the number of days in each month and used the countdown to estimate roughly which day the final deadline would fall on.

Ultimately, the date he arrived at in his mind was: December 29th at 12:00 a.m.

If the players failed to complete the "Extinct Superhuman Species" task before midnight on that day, the only path left for them would be death. Of course, some people were already dead. They hadn't even needed to wait until that day.

[Surviving Players: 98 (↓2)]

[Death Notice: Regrettably, Players "Xu Yiyi" and "Liu Haitao" were killed by an A++ rank Superhuman Species with the Superhuman Species Code "Owl Judge". Location of death—Hai'an, China, at Hai'an City University.]

"Good for them, good for them. These two guys just saved themselves half a year of suffering... Wait a minute, Hai'an City University? Isn't that the university my oldest brother attends?" Suddenly realizing something, Ke Mingqing sat straight up in bed.

He stared at the code "Owl Judge," then looked at the "A++ rank Superhuman Species" tag right behind it. "It can't actually be a coincidence, right?"

Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment before scratching his messy hair and getting out of bed. "Whatever. I'll just take things one step at a time."

Since Ke Mingqing woke up the latest, the second-floor bathroom was unoccupied. After briefly freshening up, he changed into the blue-and-white uniform of Li Jing Third Middle School and went downstairs for breakfast.

Xia Wenna had made fried eggs, paired with century egg and lean meat porridge, as well as spicy soup. At first glance, the spread on the dining table looked rather abundant, though the taste remained to be seen. Ke Mingqing grabbed a bowl and chopsticks from the sterilizing cabinet and sat down next to Xia Zili.

The two siblings didn't speak, simply eating their food in silence.

The warm morning sunlight spilled through the windows, bathing their silhouettes in a golden glow. A row of maple trees outside the floor-to-ceiling windows produced a RUSTLING sound in the wind, their leaves spiraling down to land on the windowsill.

The television in the living room was tuned to the Li Jing News Station. The media was broadcasting a report on the warehouse fire that had occurred the previous night.

"At present, the police have confirmed through surveillance footage that this incident was not an accident, but was intentionally caused by a criminal. There was one victim in the incident, and their identity is currently under investigation. According to the Superhero Company, the criminal responsible for this incident is named 'Bai Jieke'."

As the anchor reached this point, the screen suddenly displayed an image captured by a security camera: a ghastly white puppet crouching on a streetlamp with its eyes cast downward, the cane in its hand dangling straight down. The news station zoomed in on the surveillance footage. The puppet's hollow eyes and cracked, grinning mouth were incredibly chilling.

Xia Zili looked up, glancing at the screen before frowning and commenting, "So ugly."

"I feel like it looks better than Rain Crow." Ke Mingqing took a sip of his spicy soup, completely unfazed.

"That's true," Xia Zili didn't deny it. "I don't understand it. A person who flies around every day wearing a crow head must have some kind of mental illness."

Just as the two were casually chatting, someone suddenly came downstairs. But it wasn't Ke Mingwei, as their dad hadn't come home at all last night. Ke Mingqing figured the man had spent the entire night at the Superhero Company, investigating the ins and outs of the Bai Jieke incident.

Ke Mingqing turned his head slightly, catching a glimpse of the person coming down out of the corner of his eye. It was his third sister, Xia Ningzhi.

Xia Ningzhi had bright, raven-black hair as lustrous as lead powder, tied into a small bun on top of her head. Wearing a blue-and-white school uniform, she had a pair of clear, bright eyes.

And just as Ke Mingqing expected, a cyan-red Superhuman Species Panel slowly materialized above his third sister's head in his field of vision.

[Superhuman Species Code: "Honglian Hua"]

[Type: Mythical Carrier]

[Danger Rating: A+ Rank]

[Superhuman Introduction: Mythical Carrier—"Nezha"; she has inherited a portion of a deity's Power and currently operates in the shadows as an unofficial Vigilante.]

[Known Weaknesses: After advancing to the final stage—"Current World Form"—a Mythical Carrier will gradually exhibit tendencies such as "loss of control" and "going berserk," ultimately leading to a self-destructive end.]

"As I suspected?" Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, already completely used to this sight.