A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

The night had deepened. Out on the open water, the crash of the waves rose and fell.

Black swells smashed against the submarines moored along the shore, shattering into snow-white spray that blasted high into the air.

Yet on the port itself, a deathly silence reigned.

Standing amid the wreckage, White Jack had his arms locked around Heimeng's throat from behind, facing off against the members of Death Crow.

He stared at their leader—the young man dressed in a black clerical robe—and spoke at an unhurried pace.

"Let me make one thing clear. I am giving you exactly one hour. You will bring Miss Ember to my side, safe and sound, and in exchange, I will hand Miss Heimeng back to you..."

With that, White Jack tightened his grip just enough to choke Heimeng into unconsciousness.

Under the watchful eyes of Death Crow, the stark white figure retreated step by step, opening up the distance between them.

What exactly is the relationship between White Jack and Senior? Why is he helping her?

Blue Pigeon, who had been lying on the ground just behind her moments ago... was gone. He had vanished as if he had evaporated from the face of the earth.

Startled, Little Red Riding Hood looked up and scanned her surroundings, but there was no sign of him.

She shook her head and looked down at her phone. She had sent another text to Xi Ziyue, but there was still no reply. This is bad, really bad... Could Teacher Xi Ziyue have been ambushed by a witch over in America?

Out on the port, someone finally broke the silence.

"You think we're going to let you walk away?" Black Magician asked in a low voice.

"Of course you will..." White Jack's mouth widened into a smile as he trailed a fingertip across Heimeng's cheek. "Because she is irreplaceable."

He paused, then went on.

"Oh, some of you have seen me before, so you know I am merely a doll—one that doesn't matter even if it breaks. But she's different. She is a living, breathing human being...

"So if you lose your minds, I will kill her with every intention of going down together. The difference is, I will come back... I will return to your sight thousands upon thousands of times, annoying you until you cry.

"Miss Heimeng, however, will not come back, because the dead cannot return to life. That is an extremely simple truth. I don't believe you are people incapable of weighing the pros and cons."

Ke Mingqing was merely bluffing.

Right now, he was the one playing White Jack. If the other side insisted on forcing a fight, he would be completely finished... but he was gambling—gambling that Lorenzo's overcleverness would backfire on him.

The members of Death Crow fell silent. As if by unspoken agreement, they all turned their heads toward Lorenzo.

Lorenzo stayed quiet for a moment before lifting his grayish-blue eyes to look at White Jack.

"We have the time. And... the location?"

"The location is that abandoned building from before. That's right... the very building you were staying in when we first met. What a pity—you moved out of that place later just to hide from me."

With that, White Jack's top hat began to spin rapidly, carrying his body upward into the air.

"Oh, right—if you lay a finger on the wounded here at the port, I will still kill Heimeng immediately. Please don't do anything unnecessary. See you in an hour, sweethearts..."

Dropping those words, he carried Heimeng high into the air, clearing the power cables and cranes before vanishing into the far reaches of the night.

Down below, absolute silence continued to shroud the port.

Cosimo scratched his blonde hair and let out a sigh.

"Well, this is certainly an unexpected development..."

Black Magician said nothing.

He glanced at the unconscious Giovanni and Bai Ziling, then walked over. Kicking Giovanni's body out of the way, he bent down and hoisted Bai Ziling onto his back.

"The pedophile is here," Bai said, mimicking Bai Ziling's tone as she used her Puppet Strings to lift Giovanni and cradle the young train conductor in her arms.

Black Magician couldn't be bothered to answer her.

Captain Red stomped her foot on the ground. "All this dawdling. We should have just killed that white streaking freak right then and there."

Hanging upside down from a crane, Bandage Man flipped through a comic book and drawled slowly,

"I get the feeling the location that white ass gave us might not be accurate. Once little sister Heimeng wakes up, she'll contact us herself. There's no need to rush."

Guchen took a swig of strong liquor, smacked his lips, and asked Lorenzo, "Leader... what are you planning to do? You're not thinking of giving up on little sister Heimeng, are you?"

A gust of sea wind blew past, lifting his pitch-black curly hair; beneath his cat-like eyes, the cowboy's gaze was deep.

Under the watchful eyes of the group, Lorenzo pondered for a long moment before finally speaking, his expression blank and his voice low:

"It doesn't matter. It is merely a hostage exchange. Bring Ember to meet him in an hour—we've already obtained what we came for anyway, so the outcome won't be affected."

As he spoke, the young man turned his head slightly toward the two submarines still moored along the port.

Sorakagehime, who had remained silent the entire time, let out a soft scoff before slowly reaching down to lift the unconscious girl in the gothic dress into her arms.

"Let's go," she said. "Once we trade Heimeng back, we'll chop that White Jack to pieces and feed him to the pigs."

........

........

Ten minutes later, inside a remote, abandoned building in Leijing.

This was a stronghold Death Crow had used previously, but ever since White Jack had tracked them here once, they had abandoned it. Looking out from the windows now, the interior of the building was completely empty, with debris scattered everywhere.

A moment later, White Jack passed through a shattered window and landed inside the floor; his top hat then spun to a halt.

Bending his knees slightly, he set the unconscious girl in the hoodie onto the floor. The next instant, an aquamarine figure shot in from the distance like lightning, kicking up a gale of dust inside the derelict building.

Ke Mingqing turned his head to look—the newcomer was none other than his Theater Puppet, wearing the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit.

The puppet's injuries had already been healed by Little Red Riding Hood using Firefly, so it had no trouble moving around.

It came to a stop beside them and quickly stripped off the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit.

Then it lowered its head to study the hoodie-wearing girl on the floor, observing every detail of her face before slowly shifting its own appearance into Heimeng's likeness—not even missing the black mole on her ear.

In no time at all, the puppet's exterior was identical to the girl's, perfectly replicating even her height and measurements.

At this point, Ke Mingqing—still disguised as White Jack—let out a breath and murmured,

"This should work..."

With that thought, he controlled the Theater Puppet to retrieve Mirror Clothing from his inventory. The item's function was to copy any set of clothing seen within the last sixty minutes.

And Ke Mingqing's target... was naturally Heimeng's outfit.

Shortly after, a black hoodie slowly materialized over the puppet's frame. Dressed in the hoodie, with her hands stuffed into her pockets and an expressionless face, she now looked impossible to distinguish from the real thing.

Ke Mingqing had spent a decent amount of time around Heimeng and had conversed with her enough to understand how to replicate her physical habits, her speech patterns, and even every subtle expression.

Because of that, he could flawlessly imitate Heimeng as a person.

Next, the Theater Puppet crouched down, fished a pink-cased phone from Heimeng's pocket, and slipped it into its own.

Up to this point, aside from being unable to use her esper ability, the Theater Puppet was completely identical to Heimeng.

The puppet sat off to the side, resting quietly like a silent black rabbit without making a sound.

Ke Mingqing, meanwhile, pulled the spare phone from his top hat, opened the messaging app, and slowly entered a phone number into the recipient field.

"All that's left now is to wait for my reinforcements to arrive..." The young man sat on the windowsill and turned to look out into the distance. "When the time comes, I'll swap my sister back and give the people from Death Crow a massive surprise."

He looked back at the hoodie-wearing girl sitting on the floor, and then at the other hoodie-wearing girl lying unconscious beside her.

Two Heimengs—one awake, one unconscious—made for a bizarrely eerie scene; if anyone from Death Crow discovered a second Heimeng, it would be a catastrophic failure of his cover.

"Now here's the problem... where am I supposed to hide this woman? Would it be better to just finish her off right here? Forget it—she's still of use to me."

After thinking for a moment, Ke Mingqing had the Theater Puppet pick Heimeng up and carry her deeper into the building step by step.

.......

.......

At the same time, inside a private clinic in Leijing.

The hallway was pitch-black until crisp footsteps suddenly rang out.

A young man wearing a black trench coat and black earrings walked slowly into the hospital room, lowering his eyes slightly toward Xia Ningzhi as she lay on the bed.

Xia Ningzhi was dressed in a white hospital gown, her body covered in injuries; across her forehead ran a bloody, hideous claw mark too gruesome to look at.

Ke Linye froze slightly.

He stared at the wound on the girl's forehead as if looking directly at a scorching sun, unable to resist the urge to look away.

Sitting beside the bed was Xia Lingxue, clad in a sleek black bodysuit. She had already removed her human-skin mask, revealing her true face.

The room was quiet. A moment later, Xia Lingxue spoke without lifting her head:

"You're here."

Ke Linye silently watched the girl's face on the bed, his expression somewhat dark, a faint light shifting in his deep eyes.

After a long silence, he took a deep breath and asked calmly,

"What happened to Ah Zhi?"

"We were taking a walk near the port and happened to get caught up in Death Crow's attack," Xia Lingxue said expressionlessly. "I brought her back, but she still got hurt..."

"Is it serious?"

"Not too serious. She'll wake up tomorrow." Xia Lingxue shook her head.

She knew very well that if she revealed Xia Ningzhi's identity to Ke Linye right now, many things would change... and the plan hidden in her heart would come to nothing.

"Death Crow, huh... They certainly have a lot of nerve."

Ke Linye murmured softly, his head bowed as his black hair fell over his eyes.

"I know what you want to do," Xia Lingxue said, raising her head. "But unfortunately... it's too late to go now. There's a high probability they've already retreated."

She paused. "There's no need. Ningzhi is safe now."

The moment she finished speaking, a sudden *ding* sounded in the quiet room—the phone inside Ke Linye's trench-coat pocket had chimed.

Ke Linye stood still for a moment before pulling the phone from his pocket and glancing at the message glowing on the screen.

[White Jack: Mr. Judge, before you ask why I know your phone number, your top priority is to get to the address I've sent you.]

[White Jack: Don't be in a hurry to block me—I've kidnapped a member of Death Crow, and their people will be arriving shortly.]

[White Jack: By the way, if possible, I'd like you to bring a helper or two. Hmm... top-tier fighters—for instance, a certain bad woman who likes wearing black bodysuits and playing with ice, and a certain older man with a white ponytail who runs a coffee shop.]

[White Jack: Just so you know, the people from Death Crow will arrive at the location I specified at 12:00 AM sharp, leaving us only forty minutes to set an ambush. The address has been sent. See you there.]

Attached below the message was a map marked with a red dot in an extremely remote corner of the city.

Ke Linye raised an eyebrow slightly; in the dim hospital room, the screen's glow illuminated his eyes.

After a moment, he suddenly lowered his head and let out a low chuckle.

"What's wrong?" Xia Lingxue asked without looking up.

"Nothing... just someone messaging me to say they know where Death Crow is." Ke Linye shook his head, his black earrings swaying gently. "Talk about perfect timing."

Xia Lingxue crossed her arms and guessed,

"Zorro?"

"How should I put it—just treat it as a message from Zorro. After all, you wouldn't believe me even if I told you the person's name... It makes no difference either way."

Ke Linye spoke at an unhurried pace as he opened the messaging app on his phone and sent a text to a user named "Zorro."

[Ke Linye: We have a new job, Zorro.]

[Zorro: You brat... We literally just got back from a job. Can't you let an old man rest for a bit? Besides, who is there that you can't handle yourself?]

[Ke Linye: The target this time is Death Crow. Sound familiar?]

The person on the other end of the screen suddenly went quiet, sending no reply for a long time.

[Ke Linye: Don't waste my time... Are you coming or not? Give me an answer in one minute.]

After a moment, the person on the other end replied, lines of black text popping up on the screen.

[Zorro: First, a piece of advice: I butchered two members of Death Crow three years ago, but I paid a heavy price for it... Before you came along, the other successor I was training died exactly like that.]

[Ke Linye: Doesn't that make it even more meaningful?]

[Zorro: Address.]

[Ke Linye: Sent. See you there.]

After shutting off his phone, Ke Linye shoved both hands into the pockets of his black trench coat, glanced at the side of Xia Ningzhi's face, and leaned against the wall with his head bowed in silence.

Xia Lingxue said nothing; arms crossed, she lowered her eyes to watch the sleeping girl on the bed, listening to her even breathing.

The room was dead quiet.

Yet a moment later, Xia Lingxue suddenly withdrew her gaze from the girl's face and looked up, staring unblinkingly at Ke Linye's profile.

As if noticing her gaze, Ke Linye tilted his head, his black earrings swaying gently.

Their eyes met.

"Let's go."

"I was just waiting for you to say that, Grand Executor."

At those words, the corners of Ke Linye's mouth curled up slightly; his gaze was deep, like a wild beast ready to devour its prey.

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