Chapter 17: Ke Mingqing and the New D-Class Skills

Embers gripped "Cinderella" in its firearm form, hovering motionless in midair.

She lowered her face slightly, a dazed expression on her features. Her straight black hair drifted in the evening breeze, and the hem of her skirt flapped wildly.

The girl pondered for a moment before whispering softly, "...My brother?"

"No, how could it be him?" She shook her head. After giving it some serious thought, there was simply no way she could equate Bai Jieke with Ke Mingqing.

But for some unknown reason... just now, seeing that freak speaking up for her on his own accord and putting on such a show right under everyone's noses, Ke Mingqing's face naturally came to her mind.

But why would she think of him? Perhaps it was because this silly brother of hers had previously helped her scold so many people, saying so many things that she had held back and couldn't say herself... So, subconsciously, she felt that if there was anyone in the world who would treat her this well, it could only be him.

Embers raised her head slightly and glanced at the tip of the tower. By now, Bai Jieke's figure had vanished without a trace. Even the blood had evaporated into gas, and the cane that had fallen into the square's fountain had disappeared into thin air. He left not a single trace of his existence behind, dying as if he were nothing but air.

The Gothic Dress Girl was completely baffled, taking a long time before she finally looked away from the tower.

Down below in the square, the crowd was frantically taking pictures of her. An endless barrage of camera flashes illuminated the pitch-black night sky, sweeping in like a snow-white ocean and drowning out her figure.

Embers lowered her head and gave them a passing glance, her eyes filled with weariness.

She pushed up her black umbrella. Layers of Magic Power ripples immediately spread through the night, lifting her body upward. Carried by the moonlight and the howling gale, the girl flew toward the far end of the sky, vanishing deep into the clouds.

***

Meanwhile, in the Old Jingmai District, at the Xia Ke family's residential building.

[Prompt: Your "Theater Puppet" has died.]

Ke Mingqing slowly opened his eyes from the leather chair. Rows of blood-red text immediately reflected in his pupils.

[Congratulations, you have successfully completed Main Quest 2 (Phase 1) — Use any secondary identity to contact "Magic Girl Embers," attract her attention, and establish a connection with her.]

[Quest Rewards Obtained: 1500 Experience Points, 2000 Superman Coins, 1 attribute point, and 1 Low-level Skill Enhancement Card.]

"The Experience Points and Superman Coins rewarded have increased? I remember it being 1000 Experience Points and 1000 Superman Coins last time." Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow. "Does the reward increase with every completed Main Quest?"

[Prompt: Experience Points have reached the maximum limit. Your player level has increased by 1.]

[Current Level: Lv. 03 (1000/1500 Experience Points)]

[Main Quest 2 "Phase 2" has been refreshed: Establish a friendly relationship with Embers, help her complete a task issued by the Magical Girl Company, and attempt to contact "Xizi Yue" among the Three Great Magical Girls.]

"This is a bit difficult. With Xia Zili's personality, how am I supposed to establish a friendly relationship with her?" Ke Mingqing pondered for a moment. "Let alone approaching Xizi Yue."

[You currently have one freely allocable attribute point. Would you like to use it immediately?]

Just like old times, Ke Mingqing reached out and pressed the plus sign next to the "agility" attribute without half a second of hesitation.

A red-and-black prompt box immediately popped up before his eyes.

[Congratulations, your agility attribute has officially been upgraded from "E+ Class" to "E++ Class".]

Ke Mingqing opened his inventory and glanced at the newly acquired "Low-level Skill Enhancement Card."

[Item Name: Low-level Skill Enhancement Card]

[Item Introduction: This card can be used to enhance a D-Class or lower Skill, adding new skill effects to it or strengthening its original skill effects.]

"I can't possibly use such a precious item on 'Shifting Form and Shadow,' can I? It's just a functional Skill used for swapping positions, and 'Theater Puppet' is a B-Class Skill, which doesn't meet the usage requirements," Ke Mingqing thought. "Speaking of Skills, today's Skill Store has already refreshed."

Thinking of this, he opened the Skill Store. The introductions for today's five Skills popped up.

[Skill One: Superhero Landing (E-Class Skill) (1000 Superman Coins) — This skill can only be used while in midair. Descend from the sky in a stylish posture to cause an area of impact force at the landing spot.]

[Note: The impact force caused depends on your "Power" attribute, as well as how far you are from the ground.]

Ke Mingqing thought about it for a moment. "It feels a bit stupid, and it doesn't even say whether the impact force will hurt me."

[Skill Two: Galgame System (E-Class Skill) (1000 Superman Coins) — You can see an opposite sex's real-time affection level toward you. When their affection reaches 100, you will be rewarded with 100 Superman Coins.]

"Isn't this an idiot tax?" Ke Mingqing was stunned. "Maxing out someone's affection only rewards 100 Superman Coins? The price alone is 1000. What kind of master could possibly break even with this skill?"

[Skill Three: Stealing Hand (E-Class Skill) — This skill can only be used on "Players." You have a certain probability of stealing an item or a random amount of Superman Coins from the target.]

[Note: The higher your "agility" attribute, the higher the success rate.]

"It's not like I interact with other players. I can't possibly steal Sakura's things, can I?" Ke Mingqing scratched his head.

[Skill Four: Big! Big! Big! (E-Class Skill) (1000 Superman Coins) — Causes a certain part of your body to rapidly enlarge for a short period of time.]

"You again. We really have an affinity." Ke Mingqing's gaze swept straight past this Skill.

[Skill Five: I Am Lightning (D-Class Skill) — After using this skill, the player will gain the Power to control "Blue Current" for 5 minutes. You can use the current to stimulate your own cellular activity in order to enhance physical fitness; you can also release the current to harm others.]

[Note: The intensity of the current depends on your "agility" attribute.]

"That's right, aren't I just about to play the role of a Superhero? What if I take this skill and play a Superhero who uses lightning? If I get Electric Control skills later on, I can form a whole system."

Thinking of this, Ke Mingqing pressed the "Confirm Purchase" option without another word.

[Prompt: Spent 2000 Superman Coins. Successfully purchased D-Class Skill — "I Am Lightning".]

[The skill has been automatically equipped to your Third Skill Bar.]

Ke Mingqing wasn't in a hurry to test the new skill, though. After all, he still had an alien mother presiding over the house. If she noticed anything unusual, he would be doomed.

With nothing else to do, he grabbed the phone next to his pillow, lay on his bed, and started scrolling through Weibo.

The number one trending topic: "Magic Girl Embers Arrives at Li Jing Square in Time, Saves the Crowd Before the Situation Escalates—A Mother's Tears."

The number two trending topic: "Who is Bai Jieke? A Detailed Explanation of the Warehouse Explosion Case."

The number three trending topic: "Judging From the Bai Jieke Incident, Is the Nature of Magic Girl Embers' Previous 'Blood-Stained Skyscraper' Incident Still Open to Debate?"

Without even needing to look, the third trending topic was obviously the Magical Girl Company's PR team taking this opportunity to exert their influence. Ke Mingqing clicked on it. The PR team was mainly capitalizing on Bai Jieke's attack on the five-year-old child to push an issue: [If the criminal isn't killed at a critical moment, thereby leading to more casualties, who should be held responsible for the outcome?]

When he clicked on the first trending topic, the series of photos that popped up showed, first, a freak nailed to the iron tower; second, a mother holding her child, crying bitterly while giving thanks; and lastly, the figure of Magic Girl Embers.

Regardless of which trending topic it was, there was still a massive amount of skepticism in the comments sections underneath. For instance, some people believed this was a PR stunt by the Magical Girl Company, relying on a staged act to whitewash Magic Girl Embers' previous brutal killings. These netizens stated with deep conspiracy-theory conviction that Bai Jieke didn't even look human and was perhaps a puppet controlled by some Magical Girl.

But soon, others threw out the warehouse explosion case from the previous day to refute them, saying that Bai Jieke blew up a warehouse and killed an innocent civilian, proving that he was indeed a genuine criminal.

Regardless, once this incident blew over, Xia Zili's public reputation was bound to recover somewhat. At the very least, it would gradually evolve from a relentless, one-sided crusade into a two-sided debate, and then slowly fade from people's view, just like every other supposedly important yet not-so-important matter in the past.

Of course, Ke Mingqing himself had also benefited considerably from it; otherwise, he wouldn't have helped her. Not only had he completed the Main Quest, but he had also leveraged Xia Zili's popularity to jump up a level, rising from an irrelevant small fry to a widely despised villain. This would also make it easier for him to deal with others in the future.

Although everyone probably thought Bai Jieke was dead right now, when he popped out alive and kicking in a few days, his popularity would only soar higher and higher.

"If I treat my sister a little better now, it'll be easier to use her later. Maybe when she finds out I'm a player, she won't even be able to bring herself to kill me," Ke Mingqing thought as he picked up the sketchbook hidden under his pillow. Flipping to a page, what entered his sight was the Superhero's Heroic Battle Suit he had half-designed the night before.

"I'm tired of being a villain. It's time for a change of pace," he muttered, looking at the blue bird-beak mask on the drawing paper.