Chapter 3: Ke Mingqing and His Magical Girl Little Sister

"Xia Zili, what was her Superhuman Species Code again?" Ke Mingqing recalled. "Magical Girl... Yu Hua?"

He took his phone out of his school uniform jacket pocket, opened the browser, and typed the keyword "Magical Girl Yu Hua" into the search box.

The page flashed white. After refreshing, related videos appeared one after another. Based on the search results, the website automatically autocorrected his search term, changing it to "Magic Girl Embers."

"Is it really that exaggerated?" Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow slightly, his lips twitching unconsciously.

The Magical Girl Company had either neglected public opinion control or had tried and failed, leaving the narrative completely out of hand. As a result, the cover and title of every single video on the screen oozed with deep malice. The top-ranked video had a staggering ninety million views. Its title read:

—[A Murderous Magical Girl? On the Impact of Becoming a Magical Girl on Minors. With Superheroes Around, Why Do Magical Girls Still Need to Exist?]

The video's thumbnail featured a Gothic Dress Girl hovering in front of a blood-stained building. Her head was bowed, her expression imposing, while her pitch-black straight hair and the hem of her skirt fluttered in the wind.

"Murder?" Ke Mingqing muttered, unable to hold back a low "Whoa."

According to the implanted memories in his mind, it was indeed hard for him to imagine Xia Zili killing someone. No matter how much puberty hormones affected someone, they couldn't possibly turn a child into a murderer, could they? Curious, he clicked into the video and first checked the publish date.

The incident had happened a week ago. In his memory, Xia Zili hadn't come home that day. She said she was staying over at a classmate's house, and no one in the family could get in touch with her.

Ke Mingqing still didn't play the video; instead, he scrolled down. The comment section was completely overrun. It was filled with either cynical mockery or harsh accusations, with public opinion almost entirely one-sided. The vast majority of people were using the incident to slam the Chinese Magical Girl Company for improper discipline, severely condemning Magic Girl Embers' actions for setting a bad example for minors.

Such a crusade of condemnation was nothing short of a massive cyberbullying campaign. If the person involved had a weaker psychological tolerance, seeing this might make them so miserable they wouldn't be able to eat for days. Worse yet, they might just find a building to jump off.

Ke Mingqing watched expressionlessly for a moment.

"I think the Superhuman Species Panel mentioned that a Magical Girl who has killed someone might degenerate into a Witch... You guys are cursing her like this, are you really not afraid she'll turn into a Witch and slaughter you all?" After pondering for a moment, he clicked play on the video.

The video was shot from the rooftop of a villa. The Gothic Dress Girl floated in the night sky. Raising the umbrella in her hand, her black-gloved finger pulled the trigger.

Accompanied by a deafening roar, a beam of grayish-black light erupted from the tip of the umbrella, striking a tall figure. It was a criminal with six arms, wearing an Evil Ghost mask, resembling an Asura. The light beam shattered the very top of the skyscraper, and the criminal's figure exploded into a mist of blood. Blood cascaded down like a waterfall, nearly dyeing the entire building red.

The glass curtain wall was sliced open by the crimson hue, shattering in an instant. Thousands of glass shards plummeted simultaneously like a torrential downpour, each piece reflecting the Gothic Dress Girl's bewildered yet resentful face.

She hovered in midair, completely stunned, the umbrella in her hand slowly drooping. The Gothic Dress Girl then looked down at the screaming crowd on the street, meeting the tidal wave of gazes sweeping toward her. They stared up blankly, their eyes filled mostly with fear and astonishment.

Her drooping bangs covered the Gothic Dress Girl's eyes, making it impossible to read her expression. After a long moment, she raised her hand and held the umbrella over her head. The initially furled canopy bloomed open like a rose, and her body was immediately carried off into the night sky by the umbrella. Before long, the girl's figure disappeared into the deep darkness of the night.

The video ended there. Ke Mingqing looked at the blood-stained building on the screen and said, "The way you father and daughter handle things really is cut from the same cloth."

He closed his phone and instead opened the "Player Friends List." A small speech bubble hovered above the name Heimu Tong, containing the number "1," indicating one unread message.

[Heimu Tong: Are you okay?]

[Ke Mingqing: Still alive, but the day they find out things like 'players' exist and start conducting a blanket search of the house, I'm done for.]

[Heimu Tong: Why don't you run away from home and come to my place?]

[Ke Mingqing: That will only implicate you. The identity of this body's adoptive father is very special. With his investigative skills and connections, finding me would be easy. Once he finds out you and I are both players, we'll be doomed together.]

[Heimu Tong: Then what should we do?]

[Ke Mingqing: Take it one step at a time. So far, no one knows that things like 'players' exist in this world, so my situation is temporarily safe. Maybe... I can fake my death in front of them to escape later, although that isn't very realistic either.]

[Heimu Tong: We can only go back if we complete the mission, but... Extinct Superhuman Species? There are so many strange people in this world; it doesn't sound realistic at all. Are we just waiting to die?]

[Ke Mingqing: Who said you're waiting to die? If the system wants us to do that, it will definitely give us the corresponding capital to pull it off.]

Ke Mingqing sighed, closed the chat panel, and looked up above his head.

[A series of player functions are being gradually unlocked, please wait a moment... Currently, the "Skill Store" has been opened to you.]

[Players are graded from lowest to highest, from "Lv.01" to "Lv.50". The initial number of Skill Bars is 5, and an additional Skill Bar is unlocked every 10 levels—reaching the cap at level 50, with a maximum of 10 Skill Bars capable of equipping 10 Skills.]

Ke Mingqing looked at the top right corner of his vision, where an option for the "Skill Store" had just appeared. He raised his finger, about to open the Skill Store, when a gentle call suddenly drifted up from downstairs and slipped into the room through the crack in the door:

"Zili, Mingqing, come down for dinner."

It was the voice of his mother, Xia Wenna.

"Bring it on. Let's see what other demons and monsters are lurking in this house." Ke Mingqing took a deep breath. Steeling himself with the resolve to fight to his very last breath if necessary, he got up from his swivel chair, opened his bedroom door, and headed downstairs.

He turned his head to look at the scene inside the kitchen. His mother, Xia Wenna, was already forty-five, but she still looked incredibly young. She had a beautiful face, resembling a young woman in her twenties; time hadn't left many traces on her features.

In the original owner's memories, Xia Wenna was a natural airhead—simple-minded, innocent, and with a terrible memory. Rather than a mother, she was more like a child who refused to grow up, always being taken care of by the kids. And for as long as Ke Mingqing could remember, Xia Wenna had never gone out to work a single day.

Her biggest task every day was staying at home to raise the children and do some housework. Whenever she had free time, she would sit on the sofa and watch soap operas. Xia Wenna's favorite things to watch were documentaries: "Animal World" and "Superhuman Species Classroom".

Perhaps because fortune favors the foolish, Xia Wenna had lived a peaceful and smooth life all these years without facing any real obstacles. Of course, this was partly due to his old man protecting her well. No matter how Ke Mingqing looked at her, both in his memories and right before his eyes, she seemed like a completely unremarkable woman.

But at this very moment, a Superhuman Species Panel slowly emerged above Xia Wenna's back.

[Superhuman Species Code: "Alien Colonist Z12235"]

[Type: Alien Creature]

[Danger Rating: ???]

[Superhuman Introduction: A colonial vanguard sent by the planet "Mortal Palace Tower." Her mission is to settle on Earth, blend into human society as a regular person, and collect data on Earth's Superhuman Species to ensure the smooth execution of future invasion plans.]

[Currently Known Weaknesses: ???]

Ke Mingqing froze in place as a wave of chills pierced straight into his spine. It took a long moment for his brain to register this, his thoughts crashing down like a torrential storm:

"Are you kidding me... Horror Crowman, do you even know you've been treated as an alien sperm bank?

"So you've been sleeping with an alien all these years, feeding them data to use for invading Earth? Other people are national traitors, but you've completely skipped that stage and evolved straight into a traitor to the planet!"