A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

"You're saying..." Ke Linye froze. "A'Qing is Blue Pigeon?"

Xia Lingxue nodded.

Ke Linye held a suitcase in one hand and had the other tucked into his trench coat pocket. His face was expressionless, but there was a strange look in his eyes.

It was as if he hadn't fully processed the words, or his brain had simply crashed.

After a moment of silence, he looked up at the airport billboards, turned toward the daily news playing on a nearby screen, and finally glanced at the real-time hero trending chart. Sitting at number two was Blue Pigeon.

As for number one, that was naturally Rain Crow, who was also still missing.

People hurried back and forth through the airport. Any random passerby staring at a phone screen was watching footage of Blue Pigeon and Clock Maker.

No matter how fast they walked or how busy they seemed, they kept their heads down, chattering endlessly about the incident. If Ke Linye wanted to, his hearing could pick out every single conversation from the crowd.

Right now, most people believed that Blue Pigeon and Rain Crow had died at the hands of Clock Maker.

Blue Pigeon, Blue Pigeon, Blue Pigeon... Everywhere Ke Linye looked, he saw that figure in the cyan-blue uniform and the blue Bird Beak Helmet.

He stared at a wall advertisement for the Blue Arc Treadmill. The spokesperson happened to be Blue Pigeon, running on the treadmill belt with sparks and lightning flying everywhere, looking as though he were afraid he wouldn't break the machine.

For the first time, Ke Linye finally bothered to pay genuine attention to this little nobody who had never interested him before. He stood there quietly, as if making eye contact with Blue Pigeon.

Blue Pigeon's pupils were filled with dazzling lightning, his gaze radiant and bright.

He was too righteous, too sunny. Ke Linye found it hard to imagine that this was the gaze of a deadbeat teenager who slouched on the couch every day, drinking cola and watching TV.

Of course, it was entirely possible that Hero Company had photoshopped this overwhelmingly heroic image.

Ke Linye suddenly fell into a silent reverie, as if trying to picture Ke Mingqing wearing the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit.

Xia Lingxue stood silently by his side, waiting for him to digest this sudden, explosive piece of information.

After all, when she had seen Ke Mingqing walking into view carrying Shadow Girl's corpse at noon, even she had frozen in shock for a good minute or two before snapping out of it.

After that, it had taken Xia Lingxue several hours to convince herself: her younger brother was a superhero. Not just any superhero, but a highly anticipated one—one of the most popular heroes in Leijing.

In fact, her very first impulse had been to use her ability to freeze herself solid and stop thinking entirely.

Unfortunately, if her body temperature dropped below a certain threshold, the Fire Giant Surtr within her would awaken, so she couldn't do that.

As an enforcer for the Hero Control Bureau, Xia Lingxue spent every year flying all over the place, busy executing out-of-control superheroes around the world.

The number of heroes who had died by her hands was in the double digits, if not the triple digits. Yet, when she turned around, she found a superhero right inside her own home.

It was the absolute mother of all absurdities, and the absurdity had come knocking right at her front door.

Xia Lingxue had thought that discovering her younger sister was a magical girl was enough of a headache, but she never expected something like this to be waiting for her.

She had no idea who she could even talk to about this anymore, so she could only tell Ke Linye first, though she didn't know how her neurotic older brother would react.

"Heh... hehe..."

A moment later, a fit of broken laughter drifted into her ears.

She turned her head and saw Ke Linye suddenly laughing with a hand covering his forehead. He laughed heartily; not even an edgy middle schooler would laugh so flamboyantly.

Xia Lingxue remained silent, but Ke Linye's laughter grew increasingly exaggerated. Eventually, he couldn't even be bothered to suppress it, laughing so hard he rocked back and forth, looking like he was about to squat down and clutch his stomach.

She raised a hand to rub her temples, forcing down the urge to slap him. She thought to herself: *Your little brother was almost publicly dissected today, and you can still laugh.*

After a long while, Ke Linye finally caught his breath. Any longer, and Xia Lingxue suspected he would have laughed himself to death.

Ke Linye let out a long breath and placed a trembling hand on Xia Lingxue's shoulder, speaking slowly as if he were suffocating.

"Please, sis. I know you're worried I might be depressed or bored after just getting back from Japan, but could you not make such transparent jokes in the future? If you told me our old man was a superhero, I'd find that easier to accept. Yeah, with his repressed personality, he might actually be suited for that double-life hero gig..."

"I'm serious."

Xia Lingxue sighed and looked up, her gaze cold enough to freeze water.

Ke Linye looked into her eyes and suddenly paused.

After a long time, he took his hand off her shoulder, covered his mouth in thought, and stammered, as if trying to grasp at straws.

"B-but... we all know Xiao Li has a crush on Blue Pigeon. She even flirted with him publicly on stream, which is why we guessed they were dating... Are you trying to tell me that Xiao Li doesn't know Blue Pigeon is actually A'Qing? That all lovers in the world eventually end up as siblings?"

Xia Lingxue frowned, her tone certain.

"Xiao Li definitely knows that A'Qing is Blue Pigeon. She's just messing around. Don't you know her personality by now?"

"Alright, let's assume Blue Pigeon really is A'Qing. Then who made his suit for him?" Ke Linye asked. "There's no way he knows anyone like that, right?"

"Kuroki Hitomi." Xia Lingxue didn't hesitate. "She's the eldest daughter of a Japanese family. It's not strange for her to have connections in that field..."

"You say that, but..."

Xia Lingxue cut him off. "Besides, every time A'Qing suddenly disappears, he comes home and uses the excuse that he was hanging out at his girlfriend's house. Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"Maybe he really was just hanging out at his girlfriend's house?"

"I asked Mom if she noticed A'Qing doing anything weird lately. She said she found a set of battle suit designs in his room."

"It's not weird for a pubescent kid to want to design his own superhero suit. I used to draw stuff like that with my classmates in middle school." Ke Linye squeezed out a smile.

Xia Lingxue suddenly asked, "You had friends in middle school?"

Ke Linye's smile vanished.

"At noon today, I saw A'Qing walking down St. Honghu Avenue carrying the body of another hero from Team Blue Pigeon."

Xia Lingxue fell silent for a moment, furrowed her brow, and said softly, "Stop lying to yourself. I don't want to believe it either, but I saw it."

A hush fell between them in the airport, punctuated only by the intermittent sound of luggage wheels rolling past the arrivals gate.

Ke Linye was genuinely speechless. His expression gradually turned grave, losing its former flippancy.

Thinking aloud, he said, "So, when we faced the Termite Monster on the school bus back then, A'Qing had already awakened his powers. That's why he acted so aggressively in front of a super-human species?"

Xia Lingxue nodded. "Right, it must be."

Ke Linye tilted his head back, staring blankly at the domed ceiling of the Leijing airport. He muttered, "Then we misjudged him back then. We thought he was being arrogant because he was possessed by a player."

Xia Lingxue didn't reply. She merely turned her head, silently watching the planes parked on the tarmac outside the glass curtain wall.

Ke Linye looked at the massive advertisement on the wall. In it, Blue Pigeon posed with crossed arms while a crashing wave roared behind him. He was endorsing Head & Shoulders shampoo.

Looking at this scene, a soft smile actually graced his lips, and a hint of pride shone in his bright eyes.

"What are you smiling at?" Xia Lingxue asked.

"So, recently A'Qing has been disappearing at the drop of a hat. Turns out he was just wandering around outside in his suit?" Ke Linye tore his gaze away from the wall and asked.

Xia Lingxue watched as he seriously recalled the past events.

Ke Linye had a terrible memory. He would forget almost anything within a week. If you asked him who he had killed a week ago, he wouldn't have a clue, but he cared deeply about anything involving his family.

"What else would he be doing?"

Saying this, Xia Lingxue pondered for a moment before saying in confusion,

"But I can't figure out one thing. Since A'Qing idolizes Rain Crow so much, why did he talk back to him on the school bus that time?"

"Pass." Ke Linye hastily called a stop. "We've discussed and tested this question plenty of times already: A'Qing isn't a player. Don't circle back to that topic."

This was what he couldn't stand most about his sister. Ever since she was a kid, Xia Lingxue had been the type to smash her head against a brick wall before giving up—if she set her mind to something, she would endlessly debate it over and over until she was absolutely certain she was wrong.

"Then tell me, why would he be so obsessed that he debuted mimicking Rain Crow, yet still treated his idol with that kind of attitude on the school bus?"

Xia Lingxue spoke expressionlessly, unwrapping a mint-flavored lollipop.

Ke Linye buttoned his trench coat and said in a low voice,

"That's just A'Qing's personality. The more he cares about someone, the more he likes to act like he doesn't. Come on, you bringing this up makes me start to believe he really is Blue Pigeon."

He fell silent for a moment, threw his hands up, and let his head drop with a sigh.

"Alright, sis, since things have already reached this point... what do you plan to do?"

Xia Lingxue hadn't figured it out yet. She lowered her eyes and said nothing.

"How about we hire a super-human criminal to beat him until he doubts his life choices? I think Zorro would be a great candidate. He could definitely help A'Qing kick his hero addiction."

Xia Lingxue abruptly raised her head and glared at him. Her eyes practically screamed, *Don't you dare.*

"I'm just joking." Ke Linye avoided her gaze and yawned. "Everyone knows you protect A'Qing the most."

Xia Lingxue kept the lollipop in her mouth. After a while, she looked up and spoke in a commanding tone:

"Let's keep it simple. You go lay your cards on the table and tell him to stop being a superhero."

Ke Linye thought about it. "Actually, I was thinking, wouldn't it be fine to just let him keep being a hero?"

"Are you kidding?"

Ke Linye shook his head and reached up to adjust his pitch-black earring. He spoke casually.

"He seemed pretty happy to me. Besides, Clock Maker is dead anyway."

Xia Lingxue fell silent for a moment. Only this evening had she received the news: a search team from Leijing Hero Company had found the bodies of the supervillain Clock Maker and an unnamed boy in the sewers.

The bizarre part was that when the search team discovered the two corpses, their bodies had been twisted into the shape of a hemp rope.

Every part of Clock Maker was heavily wrinkled, like clothes that had been violently wrung out in a washing machine. His neck, in particular, had been twisted a full 180 degrees. Needless to say, it was a horrifying sight.

Even the widely-experienced Xia Lingxue couldn't help but frown when she saw the photos sent over by the search team.

She still hadn't figured out exactly who had intercepted Clock Maker and the child he was raising down in the sewers.

But there was one thing she was certain of: Leijing was still hiding a mysterious, incredibly powerful figure, and that person was the one who had killed Clock Maker and his adopted son.

After a long silence, Xia Lingxue looked up, stared straight into Ke Linye's eyes, and asked, pronouncing each word carefully:

"How can you be so sure a second Clock Maker won't show up?"

Ke Linye scoffed indifferently. "If you put it that way, I should have stopped you from becoming an enforcer years ago."

Saying that, he curled his lips into a smile and patted her hair. "'How can you be so sure a mythic vessel like Zeus won't show up?' 'How can you be so sure a superhero capable of killing everyone won't appear?' I've never said things like that to you, right? Why can't you have a little more faith in A'Qing?"

"You never said those things to me because you're a lunatic walking a tightrope yourself. The things you do are far more dangerous than what I do."

Ke Linye gave a helpless look. "Whatever you say..."

"Shadow Girl, Top Hero, Dark Crocodile, and Invisible Giant. You should have some impression of them," Xia Lingxue said suddenly after a brief silence.

Ke Linye shook his head. "What kind of small fry are they? They don't sound like anyone I'd know."

Xia Lingxue lowered her head, her gaze shifting silently. "They were members of Team Blue Pigeon. And they've all died, in just the span of a single month... A'Qing only survived because he got lucky."

Ke Linye froze.

"A'Qing must be heartbroken right now... After all, every time he and his teammates appeared on camera, they looked so happy."

Saying this, Xia Lingxue took a deep breath. She paused for a moment before continuing.

"You know just as well as I do how rotten the environment inside Hero Company is. Do you really feel safe leaving him there? And most importantly... I don't want to see the day when A'Qing's name ends up on an enforcer's execution list. Rain Crow is already close to it. The Control Bureau considers Rain Crow a high-risk target prone to losing control. Since A'Qing is so close to him, it's very likely he'll get dragged down too."

Ke Linye stood with his hands in his trench coat pockets, his head hanging in a long, deep silence. His pitch-black bangs covered his eyes.

After a while, he finally asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"I already told you. Go lay your cards on the table and tell him to stop being a superhero," Xia Lingxue said. "He'll listen to you."

"Why not you?" Ke Linye shrugged. "Our great Enforcer Zero has met Blue Pigeon two or three times already, but he's never met the Owl Judge."

Xia Lingxue thought for a moment. "That day when you were wearing the Owl Judge mask, sneaking by the windowsill to use the player detection device on him, he might have already spotted you."

People flowed endlessly through the airport, but the brother and sister simply stared at each other in silence, like a pair of statues.

Ke Linye fell silent for a bit before finally coming up with a compromise.

"How about we go find Rain Crow? A'Qing deeply respects him, which is why he debuted as Blue Pigeon. We can ask Rain Crow for his stance on the matter."

"No, we have to handle this internally." Xia Lingxue shook her head. "Rain Crow is an outsider. I respect him, but I don't trust him."

"Then who exactly is going to bring this up?"

"I will." Xia Lingxue hesitated for a second. "But we won't reveal our identities just yet. We'll tell him we accidentally found his suit, and use that to test his reaction."

"Alright, alright. As you command, Officer Xiao Xue."

Ke Linye smiled, threw up a mock salute, grabbed his suitcase, and started walking out.

........

........

At the exact same time, in the Old Jingmai District, at the Xia-Ke residence.

Ke Mingqing lay slanted on the couch, resting his head against the armrest, taking a quiet nap.

The summer day, the chirping cicadas, the slightly humid air, and the warm breeze blowing from the standing fan all perfectly aligned for a good rest.

But right then, a sudden bang rang out! The violent sound of the front door being thrown open at the entryway startled him out of his dreams.

Ke Mingqing yelled, "Holy shit, Top Hero, stop whipping your tops at my face!"

He clutched his head and opened his eyes, groggily glancing around the room. It took a long while before he yawned and sat up straight on the couch.

Footsteps approached from the entryway. Ke Mingqing, with tears welling in the corners of his sleepy eyes, looked toward the living room entrance.

He saw Xia Wenna, wearing a raincoat, walking in from the hall. She was carrying two heavy supermarket shopping bags, both packed to the brim with boxes of groceries.

The moment she saw Ke Mingqing, the shopping bags slipped from Xia Wenna's hands, crashing heavily onto the floor.

"A'Qing, where did you go today?" She widened her misty eyes.

"I went for a walk on the beach with a classmate. They went through a breakup and were in a bad mood." Ke Mingqing spoke listlessly, deadpan, and turned to look at the TV. "Whoa, why is Leijing so lively today? First nukes, then Clock Maker. I tried to log onto Weibo tonight and couldn't even get in. It said there were too many visitors and the servers just crashed."

Xia Wenna stayed silent for a long time. She blinked, leaned down to pick up the shopping bags, and muttered as she put the fallen items back inside:

"Mom was worried sick about you. Why didn't you even send a text?"

"My phone died. Gotta experience life without the internet every once in a while."

Ke Mingqing stepped off the couch barefoot, walked over, and squatted down. He stuffed a box of potatoes back into the other bag and lifted it onto the table.

"Don't make Mom worry so much next time, alright? I even had your dad, your third sister, and your second sister all go out looking for you."

"Sorry, Mom." Ke Mingqing thought to himself: *You alien, you sure know how to act.* "Where's my third sister?"

Xia Wenna shook her head and took off her raincoat. "I don't know. No one has seen A'zhi for a long time today either, but she sent a WeChat message saying she was fine."

"Then where did my second sister go?"

Ke Mingqing helped her hang her raincoat on the coat hook on the wall.

"Linye took a flight back from Japan tonight. Xiao Xue went to the airport to pick him up." Xia Wenna shook her head with a gentle sigh. "Those two kids, honestly. It's rare for them to get a vacation, but they still don't want to spend much time at home."

At that moment, Ke Mingqing suddenly realized something was wrong: *Crap, I forgot to ask White Jack to give my younger sister a heads up!* The gravity of the situation finally hit him.

"What about my little sister?" He was just about to ask, when another set of footsteps sounded from the entryway.

Ke Mingqing turned to look.

Xia Zili walked in slowly with her head bowed, her black bangs hiding her eyes. She was still wearing a soaking-wet, pale-yellow dress, and her hair was slightly damp.

Ke Mingqing froze. He looked at her wet hair, and then carefully glanced down at her broken sandals.

"Are you okay?" he asked weakly.

Xia Zili didn't say a word.

"Xiao Li is back too." Hearing the noise, Xia Wenna turned her head from the kitchen. "You child, how did you get so drenched? Did you go out without an umbrella?"

Xia Zili still didn't speak. She just kept her head down, walked step by step over to the couch, and sat down right next to Ke Mingqing.

"Looks like she's fine then."

Ke Mingqing shrugged, hurried into the first-floor bathroom, and brought out a towel. He stood behind the couch and began drying his seated sister's hair.

Xia Zili swatted his hands away.

He ignored her, picked up the towel that had fallen onto the couch, and started drying her hair again.

At first, Xia Zili didn't react, but after a while, she suddenly reached up and grabbed his wrist.

Ke Mingqing was pretty strong now, but he still couldn't resist her grip.

Xia Zili effortlessly raised his arm, pulled him closer, and buried her face into his chest.

Ke Mingqing paused in surprise and looked down at his sister pressed against him.

To avoid disturbing her, he just stood quietly behind the couch, gently drying her hair with the towel and wiping the water droplets from her ears.

Her cheeks twitched faintly, as if she were sobbing, but Ke Mingqing couldn't hear a sound.

Silence fell over the living room. He set the towel aside and reached out to gently stroke the top of her head. The young girl's hair slipped through his fingers like water.

It was quite a while before Ke Mingqing finally heard her voice.

"I don't remember what happened today."

"Why?"

"I don't know... By the time I woke up, it was already night. I found myself crouching alone in a tunnel by the train station, with blood all over my hands and face."

"And then?"

"And then, I managed to wash all the blood off. But on the way back, I heard everyone on the street talking about you. They... they all said..."

Ke Mingqing caught the hoarse tremor in his sister's voice and finished her sentence for her. "They said I died?"

Xia Zili stayed silent for a long moment before letting out a soft "Mhm."

"Don't listen to their nonsense," Ke Mingqing said softly. "I'm right here, safe and sound, aren't I?"

Xia Zili didn't speak. She just hugged him a little tighter and buried her face even deeper.

Ke Mingqing sat sideways on the back of the couch, lowered his eyes, and gently patted her back.

For a long time, no one in the living room spoke. The standing fan rotated lazily, the aroma of cooking wafted from the kitchen, and the chirping of cicadas drifted in from the night, lingering in their ears.

Right then, a sudden clatter echoed from the entryway.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow and turned to look from his perch on the back of the couch.

In the dim entryway, Xia Lingxue stood staring at him with a face as cold as frost. A lollipop had dropped onto the floor next to her black leather boots.

Ke Linye stood beside her with a bitter smile on his lips, hands stuffed into his trench coat pockets, shooting him an equally exasperated look.

"You've gotta be kidding me. There's a second boss phase..." Ke Mingqing muttered.

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