Chapter 4: Ke Mingqing and the Alien Mom

The kitchen was dimly lit, the light draping over everyone's faces like a mosquito net. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the chirping of cicadas gradually faded.

Ke Mingqing grabbed a bottle of cola from the fridge and glanced out the window.

The old building was shrouded in twilight, the sunset's afterglow silently fading from the brick walls. The laughter of children playing chase echoed from the deep alley, occasionally mixed with a bark or two.

He pulled out a chair and sat down at the dining table. Xia Zili sat quietly beside him.

She had taken a shower and removed her hair clip, wearing a flax-colored nightgown. Her mid-length black hair cascaded over her shoulders, giving off a faint, refreshing scent of orange shampoo.

Xia Zili remained silent.

But Ke Mingqing could understand her feelings a little better now.

Whether it was awakening a Superpower, injecting mutant genes into one's body, or being chosen by a comet to become a Magical Girl, any of these could strengthen a person's physical body, but their inner self wouldn't miraculously become indestructible. Nobody possessed a flawless, invulnerable heart. Even at this very moment, netizens all over the world were still venting their anger at her. This sheer volume of verbal abuse was far beyond what a sixteen-year-old underage girl could endure.

The dining table was completely silent. Outside the window, the maple trees RUSTLED in the evening breeze.

The siblings' dinner was stir-fried shrimp with noodles.

Given their mother Xia Wenna's cooking skills, only by making such a simple dish could she ensure it remained edible—much like how even someone terrible at math wouldn't mess up addition under ten.

Ke Mingqing picked up his chopsticks. As he brought a piece of shrimp to his mouth, he looked up and asked Xia Wenna, "Mom, when are eldest brother, second sister, and third sister coming back?"

Xia Wenna was leaning against the edge of the cabinet, staring quietly out the window, her eyes seemingly covered in a layer of mist.

After a long while, she turned her head and spoke slowly, thinking as she answered. "Your third sister is in her senior year of high school and has evening self-study tonight, so she's eating dinner at the school cafeteria. Your eldest brother and second sister are both still at their universities. They'll take the train back in a few days... Hmm, everyone will be on summer vacation soon. The house will be lively then."

Xia Wenna spoke very slowly, and had done so for over a decade. As for exactly how slow—it was the kind of slow that occasionally made people feel like she was a robot, tempting them to wind a key on her head just to make her talk faster.

Ke Mingqing glanced at her. Of course, he didn't believe that Xia Wenna's alien brain couldn't process things fast enough. But she had maintained this persona in front of her family for so many years that it would be awkward to change it now.

He held his chopsticks in his mouth and mumbled, "It's good that they're coming back. It'll be a bit livelier."

"Are you in a rush to have everyone come back and laugh at you?" Xia Zili said nonchalantly as she reached out a finger to turn up the volume on her phone.

A video was playing on the phone, and a genial voice drifted out, sounding like a news anchor's tone.

"Rain Crow reprimanded the student to his face. Netizens' comments on this incident are polarized. One side believes the student was exceptionally quick-witted, while the other argues that staying put and waiting for rescue would have been the best choice in that situation."

Ke Mingqing hung his head, letting the words go in one ear and out the other, completely indifferent.

"Spit it out. How many times have you secretly watched your brother's heroic deeds in private?" he asked casually.

Xia Zili didn't even bat an eyelid. She whispered, "I see it even if I don't want to. My classmates are forwarding it in our group chats. Dad definitely lectured you, didn't he?"

"What's the point of harping on about this stupid school bus incident every day? We might as well watch some real news." Ke Mingqing opened his phone, tapped on the most popular video on the Superhuman Species website, and hit play.

He deliberately turned the volume up to maximum to drown out her phone.

"Magic Girl Embers's act of turning the building into a bloodbath has sparked massive controversy on the Internet. Although the targets were criminals, is it inhumane to resort to such brutal and sadistic killings in broad daylight?

"The key point of this controversy lies in the fact that Magical Girls are mostly teenagers to twenty-year-olds, creating a substantial divide between them and Superheroes. The average age of Superheroes is significantly higher, and the law permits Superheroes to kill criminals during an arrest.

"In China, most Magical Girls are minors themselves, which has a massive impact on the student population. Because of this, there have rarely been cases of Magical Girls killing people in public in the past.

"The media has already interviewed Xizi Yue, the top executive of the Chinese Magical Girl Company, regarding this incident. Xizi Yue claimed it was a result of improper internal management and has issued a solemn apology."

After the video finished playing, the screen paused on the moment the anchor was organizing their script. The kitchen was dead silent, so quiet that only the chirping of cicadas outside the window could be heard.

Xia Zili kept her head lowered, her bangs falling to cover her eyes. Her right hand, holding the chopsticks, hadn't moved for a long, long time. After a while, her lips parted slightly as she spoke softly.

"She did nothing wrong."

"Oh, if you think she did nothing wrong, then naturally I think I did nothing wrong on the school bus, either," Ke Mingqing paused. "But if nothing wrong was done, why the heavy criticism from so many people?"

As the siblings were chatting, Ke Mingwei happened to return. He took off his police jacket, hung it on the wall, and walked step-by-step into the living room. Pulling up a chair to sit down, he turned his head to gaze at the night sky while lighting a cigarette.

Seeming to have overheard their conversation, he interjected with the cigarette dangling from his lips, his voice muffled. "Killing people is wrong."

Xia Zili fell silent for a moment before raising her eyes.

"Why can't a Magical Girl kill people?" she said coldly. "Everyone else treats Magical Girls like eye candy, even though their work isn't much different from what those heroes do."

"Then you'll have to ask that comet that visits Earth every ten years. Ask it why it only turns underage little girls into Magical Girls." Saying this, Ke Mingwei flicked his cigarette ash and turned to meet his daughter's gaze. "Then think about it... Is everyone more likely to tolerate a villain drenching a tall building in blood, or an underage girl wearing a skirt and holding an umbrella doing it?"

Xia Zili lowered her head. The eyes beneath her bangs were filled with indignation, and her expression darkened slightly.

Ke Mingwei stayed silent for a long moment before adding, "Rain Crow has been a Superhero for so long, and he hasn't killed anyone either, right?"

"Dad, Rain Crow is an exception, okay? Out of all the Superheroes, he's the only one with a strict no-kill rule." Ke Mingqing thought to himself, "You Crow People sure are shameless, aren't you? Do you really have to promote yourself as a premium idol in front of your daughter?"

"Maybe..." Xia Zili asked softly, "she just slipped up?"

"Slipped up and killed a person?" Ke Mingwei said coldly. "That's why I say Magical Girls are unstable."

Xia Zili really wanted to retort, "What does that have to do with other Magical Girls?" However, her mind was filled with the image of her mentor publicly apologizing on her behalf at the press conference, so she could only pull a long face and shut her mouth.

Ke Mingqing let out a sigh. "Honestly, I think Magic Girl Embers is pretty great. She's not as terrible as everyone says."

Xia Zili froze slightly. She slowly turned her head, gazing quietly at Ke Mingqing.

"No..." Ke Mingwei said calmly. "She's just a capricious little girl. She got her hands on a little bit of Power that differs from ordinary people and thinks she's omnipotent, completely disregarding the law."

"But she's pretty!" Ke Mingqing stated it as if it were a matter of fact.

Ke Mingwei fell silent for a moment, almost dropping the cigarette from his mouth. Xia Zili also stood rooted to the spot in shock.

"Hey, isn't being pretty enough for a Magical Girl?" Ke Mingqing said evenly. "Besides, setting her actions aside, I feel she's the most interesting out of this batch of Magical Girls. Think about it... Past Magical Girls all went for the sweet and cute vibe. It's so incredibly fake. Only she can be considered genuine. She keeps a cold face every day and doesn't try to curry favor with fans."

He paused. "Although she can be a bit edgy at times and has a bit of a bad temper, I think it's still acceptable."

Ke Mingwei sighed.

Meanwhile, Xia Zili spaced out for a moment, the tips of her ears suddenly turning slightly red. She stared at Ke Mingqing's profile in a daze. After a long while, it wasn't until he turned his head to meet her gaze with a weird expression that she silently averted her eyes.

Xia Zili slowly lowered her head, almost burying her face in her noodles, her ears growing redder and redder. The next moment, she suddenly spoke up with a hint of displeasure. "You..."

"What?" Ke Mingqing turned to look at her.

Xia Zili stayed silent for a moment. "Are you exactly the type of person I hate the most? The kind who treats Magical Girls as idols and only focuses on their looks... Brother, can you not be so superficial?" Her tone didn't sound angry, but it wasn't as cold and exhausted as before, either.

With that, she placed her chopsticks on the edge of the porcelain bowl and walked away without looking back.

"Wait, hasn't it been a long time since she called me 'Brother'?" Ke Mingqing suddenly realized as he watched her retreating back out of the corner of his eye.

"Qing, why are you bullying your sister again?" Xia Wenna asked in hindsight.

"Mom, she clearly bullied me first, okay?" Ke Mingqing cried foul. "She's probably just a fangirl. She got mad when she heard Dad badmouthing her idol."

"Is that so..." Xia Wenna pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, obsessing over idols isn't very good."

Ke Mingqing sighed, feeling that communicating with this "airheaded" alien was simply too exhausting, so he just shut his mouth. Because he was going to be busy checking out what the player functions were next, he ate his meal very quickly, slurping down the noodles in his bowl in just a few bites.

He put his bowl and chopsticks in the sink, passed through the living room, and headed upstairs. At this moment, Ke Mingqing tilted his head slightly, glancing at Ke Mingwei out of the corner of his eye.

A text panel suddenly reflected in his pupils.

[Main Quest 1 (Phase 1) Triggered: Create a second identity to approach the Superhero "Rain Crow," attempt to attract his attention, and establish contact with him.]

[Quest Rewards: 1000 Superman Coins, 1 attribute point, 1 chance to use the Item Wheel.]

"A second identity?" Ke Mingqing thought. "Does that mean... I need a mask?"

"What's wrong?" Sensing his gaze, Ke Mingwei took the cigarette out of his mouth and turned around. "Don't dwell on what happened this afternoon. What's past is past. Just don't make the same mistake next time."

"Got it, Dad," Ke Mingqing replied casually, then turned and headed upstairs.