Chapter 13: Ke Mingqing and the Accomplice Player

After arriving at school, Ke Mingqing and Jiang Qingzi parted ways in the hallway of the teaching building. Jiang Qingzi was in the elite Class Two next door, while he was in Class Three. Just as Ke Mingqing shoved his backpack into his desk, Heimu Tong walked into the classroom.

He sat by the window in the second row, separated from her seat by a single aisle. During class, he would occasionally zone out, resting his chin on his hand and turning his head to mockingly admire the player ID floating above her head. Ke Mingqing thought, "That thing looks incredibly stupid." Fortunately, he wouldn't have one anymore; his Exclusive Talent, "Disguiser," would hide his player ID. Sometimes, Heimu Tong would turn her head and meet his gaze, seemingly mistaking his focus for her face rather than the text above it.

As soon as the bell rang, Ke Mingqing dropped to the floor to squeeze in a few push-ups before the break ended. By doing this repeatedly, he managed to meet the requirements of his weekly quest by the afternoon.

[Congratulations, you have completed Weekly Quest 1: "Perform 100 push-ups in a single day."]

[Quest Reward Obtained: 1 attribute point.]

Looking at the notification box, Ke Mingqing clapped the dust off his hands and pushed himself off the floor. The students in the classroom shot him weird looks. They all seemed to think he was harboring a grudge and working out to beat Rain Crow down on the school bus next time. Ke Mingqing didn't care. He simply opened his attribute panel and assigned his newly acquired attribute point with a flick of his finger.

[Congratulations, your "Power" attribute has increased from "Grade E" to "Grade E+" (↑1 point).]

[Your current attributes are: Power: Grade E+; Agility: Grade E+; Spirit: Grade E.]

Time slipped by quietly.

The last period for tenth-grade Class Three was P.E. With summer vacation approaching, physical education classes rarely had structured activities. The students sat on the field's grass, aimlessly soaking up the sun as the setting sun outlined their silhouettes in a faint golden halo. Meanwhile, the classroom was completely silent, leaving Ke Mingqing and Heimu Tong to keep each other company.

Both had taken sick leave. Now, they stood leaning against the wall with their backs flat against it, maintaining a small distance between them. Heimu Tong offered him one of her earbuds. They shared the earphones, listening to a piano piece playing from her MP3 player.

She mentioned it was her favorite piano piece, "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence." However, since this parallel world didn't have the song, she had played it on the piano at home last night, recorded herself, and saved the audio file to her MP3 player. According to her, the composer of the piece had already passed away. Ke Mingqing wasn't particularly interested, so he just listened quietly. The setting sun poured through the window, bathing their faces in an orange halo.

She played it beautifully—truly fitting for someone who had received an elite education since childhood. Still, to be able to indulge in sentimental brooding when her life was hanging by a thread with only half a year left... well, that was a luxury only a sheltered young lady could afford.

A moment later, Ke Mingqing suddenly took out his earbud and casually brought up a topic. "By the way... didn't you mention this morning that you had a Magical Girl at home?"

Heimu Tong removed her earbud and nodded. "Yes, Magical Girl Little Red Riding Hood."

Ke Mingqing remembered the name. This Little Red Riding Hood seemed to be his younger sister's teammate. The Magical Girl Company usually grouped rookie Magical Girls into a team for a trial period. Teams that performed poorly would be demoted to the idol industry, forced down the "teen idol route" to milk money from fans. On the other hand, high-performing teams would take the "elite route," hunting monsters and fighting crime.

Obviously, Embers and Little Red Riding Hood had taken the latter route. Whenever they appeared in the media, they were inseparable, practically joined at the hip—except for the past few days, of course, because Xia Zili had been shelved by the Magical Girl Company.

"She is a maid in my home," Heimu Tong said.

"A maid?" Ke Mingqing was baffled. "Comrade, this is twenty-first-century China. Can you stop daydreaming?"

"A servant, to be exact. She came over with us from Japan."

"Oh, that's not surprising then." A look of realization dawned on Ke Mingqing. He thought, "The word 'Japan' alone is enough to explain most bizarre things."

Heimu Tong rested her hands behind her back, lowering her head as she leaned against the window. She spoke softly. "Her parents were Chinese and Japanese. After her father died of an illness, her mother abandoned her. Then, she was taken in by my family and became our servant. I've known her since we were kids. She is very loyal to me."

"Isn't that great?" Ke Mingqing replied casually. "You have a fiercely loyal Superhuman Species bodyguard. Who knows, maybe when the day comes for you to kill her, she'll stretch her own neck out for you."

Heimu Tong fell silent.

Ke Mingqing also stayed quiet for a moment. He knew she still couldn't accept the "Extinct Superhuman Species" quest. Or rather, anyone who had received a normal emotional upbringing would find it hard to swallow.

"I've told you before, my circumstances are highly complicated. Anyone who knows my true identity can kill me at any moment." He paused. "And right now, you are the only one who knows I'm a player."

"I won't betray you." The girl with the teardrop mole moved her lips, answering swiftly and briefly.

"You couldn't even if you wanted to," Ke Mingqing warned. "Because if I ever get caught, they will definitely torture me to extort the identities of other players, and you'll be dragged down with me."

"So... we are accomplices?" she asked softly after a moment of silence.

Ke Mingqing thought, "Why do you Japanese like the word 'accomplice' so much? Do you think it has a strong sense of 'mono no aware'?" But he was Chinese. He only practiced Chinese kung fu and had no time for their melodramatic sentimentality.

But at that moment, a sudden gust of wind blew the classroom curtains up. The snow-white, almost transparent fabric fluttered over the face of the girl with the teardrop mole. She lowered her eyes and asked softly, "Aren't we?"

Unable to see her expression clearly, Ke Mingqing merely shrugged and muttered a perfunctory reply. "I suppose."

As he spoke, he turned to glance out the window. In the distance, a Ferris wheel turned at a leisurely pace, and the sports field was completely empty.

The P.E. class was nearing its end. Suddenly, a group of sweat-drenched students rushed into the classroom, shattering the brief tranquility between the two. The tall boy leading the pack wiped the sweat from his forehead. Catching sight of them, he immediately flashed a knowing smirk. "Hey, so you two took sick leave just to flirt in the classroom? I knew it."

The others quickly joined in on the teasing.

Ke Mingqing just looked up at them briefly and ignored the comments, but Heimu Tong, standing beside him, said something astonishing.

"Yes, we are dating."

The classroom fell dead silent for a second, and even Ke Mingqing was stunned.

The group quickly scattered with loud jeers, acting as though they couldn't wait to spread the news to the entire class—no, the entire grade. After all, Ke Mingqing was currently the focal point of the whole school. With Heimu Tong adding fuel to the fire, the school bus incident would soon be rumored as a couple teaming up to fight monsters.

A while later, when the classroom was mostly empty, Ke Mingqing turned to look at Heimu Tong.

"Did you think this would serve as a good cover?" he asked after some thought.

"Yes." Heimu Tong nodded. "Aside from school, we might need to interact in other places too."

"That works. It'll be easier for me to explain things to my family by saying I'm going out on a date with my girlfriend."

At dusk that day, right after the school dismissal bell rang, Ke Mingqing slung his backpack over his shoulder and bolted out of the classroom, planning to rush home as fast as possible. After all, he had plans for tonight: he was going to use the Theater Puppet to meet with Magic Girl Embers.