A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

August 26, 2026. Exactly twelve noon.

Downtown Leijing. The tenth floor of the Super Hero Company, the standard venue for the company's press conferences.

This press conference concerned the highly anticipated Clock Maker Incident. As a result, fully ninety percent of the prominent journalists in the news industry had gathered here.

Clutching all sorts of cameras and video equipment, they waited anxiously for the star of the press conference to make his appearance.

Soon, a figure clad in a blue combat suit stepped out from behind the curtain.

Blue Pigeon walked slowly, stepping into the focus of a battery of media lenses.

Instantly, a deafening clamor like a landslide or tsunami drowned out the entire hall. Journalists leaned forward, their questions rising in waves, but most were held back by the Hero Company guards.

Blue Pigeon stopped, placed his hands on the podium, and took a deep breath.

Then, his head slightly bowed against the countless camera flashes and the eager gazes of the reporters, he spoke slowly.

An uproar swept through the room. The reporters' follow-up questions surged forward like a rising tide. The guards, their faces flushed, brandished stun batons, doing everything they could to keep the crowd away from the podium.

In this manner, Blue Pigeon delivered the most shocking statement in the most casual tone imaginable. It was like an innocent child tossing a bomb into a cesspool with a naive look on his face.

Amplified by the live broadcast, these words rapidly circulated, stirring up a massive storm across the globe.

...

...

Meanwhile, in New York, at the Empire State Building.

The top floor of this pitch-black skyscraper was the meeting venue for the Superhero Roundtable Council.

At twelve o'clock, the meeting hadn't officially begun yet, and only a handful of Roundtable members had arrived.

At this moment, a tall figure draped in a red and blue cape sat alone at the very back of the massive round table.

His appearance was that of a stereotypical American: blond hair, blue eyes, hair slicked back with a slight curl, a hearty smile that bordered on the uncanny, and a row of teeth so bright they almost seemed to glow.

Roundtable Hero No. 1—Zeus.

Clad in a blazing white combat suit, Zeus brought his hands together, looked up, and watched the holographic projection above the round table with keen interest. On the screen, Blue Pigeon was looking down at his notes.

"Oh, the Clock Maker is dead?" After a while, a dark-haired boy wearing a researcher's white lab coat with red goggles resting on his forehead spoke lazily.

Roundtable Hero No. 10—Dr. Toy.

"Oh, so it seems." Zeus combed his hair, checking himself in a mirror. "I originally wanted to give Rain Crow a hand, but I was vacationing in Hawaii yesterday. Too busy."

Dr. Toy shrugged. Propping his chin up, he yawned, smacked his lips, and said, "Speaking of which, did you guys hear? This Blue Pigeon seems to be Rain Crow's illegitimate son."

"Aha!" Zeus suddenly let out a hearty laugh. "That's definitely just another internet rumor. With Rain Crow's temper, could he really raise a kid properly?"

On the giant round table, a blue-eyed black cat licked its paws and suddenly spoke in a human voice, "Uh-huh. Then how come I heard that Rain Crow plans to take him on as an assistant? Bring him to play at the Roundtable so it'll be easier for Blue Pigeon to take over his spot later?" Its voice was neutral, making it impossible to distinguish any gender.

Roundtable Hero No. 12—Cat Star.

"Isn't it a bit too early to let Blue Pigeon take over his position? He's way too green compared to that old crow."

Dr. Toy tapped away on a tablet, speaking with disdain. "Let me put it this way: I feel like any mobile generator I slap together could produce more power than this blue bird. Our Roundtable doesn't need these nepotism hires."

"Isn't Rain Crow's old flame sitting right here? If you have questions, why not ask her directly?"

Zeus spoke casually, his lips curling into a smile. He shifted his gaze from his slick, shiny hair in the mirror and looked toward Officer Girl with a hint of amusement.

At that moment, Officer Girl had her legs crossed and propped up on the table.

Roundtable Hero No. 5—Officer Girl.

Seeing everyone's eyes on her, she tilted her head, her slightly curled blonde hair fluttering. "Shh—this is a secret between me and Rain Crow. Little kids shouldn't ask too many questions."

"Call me a kid one more time, and I'll blow up the Empire State Building," Dr. Toy said, stretching lazily. "Then you'll all be forced to hold your meetings at the Perlan in Iceland from now on."

"Shh, shh, shh. The lady told us not to pry, so let's keep quiet."

Zeus put down his comb, rested his clasped hands beneath his chin, and looked up at the projection screen with a smile.

"Let's hear what juicy news this little blue bird is going to reveal next."

...

...

Leijing, at the press conference venue.

Blue Pigeon raised a hand to plug one ear, blocking out the clamor from the crowd below. He tilted his head to look at the notes in his hand and continued.

"Alright, that wraps up the part about the Clock Maker. As for Rain Crow, I know all of you are dying to know where he is..."

He paused deliberately, lifting his eyes from his notes to gaze at the reporters. Then, spreading his hands, he said in a tone of helplessness, "But unfortunately, even I don't know his whereabouts."

A collective sigh rippled through the audience. They began to speculate that the rumors circulating online might actually be true—that Rain Crow had sacrificed himself, perishing alongside the Clock Maker to secure Blue Pigeon's safety.

For a hero in his twilight years, this was undoubtedly a fitting end.

Everyone would remember him. His tombstone would be buried under bouquets of flowers, the Leijing higher-ups would erect a statue in his honor right in the city center, and countless people would come to mourn the hero every year.

Seizing on Blue Pigeon's ambiguous answer, some of the more unscrupulous media outlets had already drafted their headlines: "The Death of Rain Crow," "The Vanished Rain Crow: A Retired Hero."

They had to push taking things out of context to the absolute limit to harvest maximum web traffic! Every journalist clenched their fists, itching to get started.

Blue Pigeon remained silent for a moment, letting the suspense build, before letting out a cough.

"Alright, but this doesn't mean Rain Crow's life is in danger. There's one thing I can confirm: Rain Crow is still alive, and he is doing perfectly fine."

The moment his voice faded, the hall once again fell completely silent, soon followed by a round of applause from the crowd.

Aside from the watching commanders, superheroes, and company staff, even those reporters who had been rubbing their palms in anticipation just a second ago were now clapping.

Traffic was traffic, but they still hoped to see this hero—who had toiled for Leijing for over twenty years—survive and properly enjoy his retirement.

"I know what you're thinking," Blue Pigeon teased. "'Since Rain Crow's greatest nemesis is dead, he can finally retire in peace. Who knows, by this time next year he might have already sired a whole nest of little crows,' right?"

At that moment, the sound of a crow fluttering its wings suddenly came from behind Blue Pigeon.

Blue Pigeon froze. He turned his head to look but saw no one—only a couple of crow feathers spiraling down to the floor.

The entire hall fell completely silent.

Blue Pigeon shrugged, pointed a finger at the fallen feathers behind him, and sighed dismissively.

"Alas, when people get old, they just can't take a joke."

The venue was initially gripped by silence, but soon erupted into uproarious laughter. Voices rose and fell, sounding uncannily like a canned laughter track from a comedy movie of the last century.

Yet the expressions glowing on everyone's faces were genuinely joyful. By this point, almost everyone was certain: the Clock Maker was truly dead, and both Rain Crow and Blue Pigeon had truly survived.

This was the best possible ending.

The fan communities that had been mourning on social media all morning instantly broke into smiles through their tears upon seeing this broadcast. The atmosphere at the venue also gradually livened up.

By now, social networks like Weibo and Twitter had completely blown up, but Blue Pigeon had no intention of dropping any more juicy tidbits to hype up the trending topics, nor did he plan to waste any more words on them.

He was ready to wrap things up.

With the crowd still roaring with laughter, a reporter seized the opportunity to ask, "Rumor has it that you're Rain Crow's illegitimate son. Is that true?"

"It could be, or it might not be. A teacher for a day is a father for a lifetime; Rain Crow has mentored me," Blue Pigeon answered ambiguously.

He then pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment. Lifting his eyes, he said nonchalantly, "Alright, I've pretty much said everything I needed to say. As for the other aspects of this operation, they are company secrets. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to disclose them to the public."

With that, Blue Pigeon set down his notes, crumpled them into a ball, and casually tossed them toward a trash can in the corner of the venue.

A burly reporter roared and lunged forward, trying to catch the ball of paper in his mouth, but ended up plunging headfirst into the trash can. With the bin stuck over his head, he rolled across the floor with a loud clatter.

Finally pulling the trash can off his head, he unfolded the crumpled paper, only to discover that the pages were completely blank. Blue Pigeon had been improvising from the very beginning.

The reporter slapped a banana peel off his head and got up, cursing under his breath. Ultimately, he was forcefully escorted out of the venue by the guards.

At this time, journalists from all over the world were still firing off questions with all their might. Blue Pigeon ignored them and was just about to turn and leave when he suddenly looked back.

He strode back to the podium, leaned forward slightly, and slammed his palm onto the surface. The strike left a handprint on the desk, sending deep blue sparks of electricity flying.

The audience instantly fell quiet. In the ensuing silence, the electric arcs sizzled.

At that exact moment, sitting in a concealed audience seat in the corner of the venue, Lin Yin froze. He adjusted his glasses. He didn't recall instructing Blue Pigeon to bring up anything else.

"What is this kid trying to do?" he muttered.

Blue Pigeon slowly raised his head. "Oh, right, there is one more thing I have to say. In this battle against the Clock Maker, every member of Team Blue Pigeon sacrificed their lives. I was the only one who survived."

As soon as those words fell, the atmosphere in the room shifted from sunny to overcast. The expressions on the reporters' faces gradually morphed from cheerful to shocked, and then that bizarre look simply froze there.

Blue Pigeon remained silent for a moment. He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"The reason I didn't mention them earlier is that this was a highly classified operation—you know how it is. Baiting out the Clock Maker is no simple task. Some of us even had to play the part of the major villain, White Jack, just to orchestrate this incredibly misleading live broadcast."

At this point, Blue Pigeon let out a long breath.

"And here is the exact roster. The personnel who sacrificed their lives in this incident are—Invisible Giant, Shadow Girl, Dark Crocodile... Every single one of them played an indispensable role."

The entire hall fell completely quiet for a moment, the air practically stagnating.

The reporters snapped out of their daze. They moved their lips, spitting out questions like, "As the captain of the squad, how are you feeling right now?" and "Do you think the sacrifice of Team Blue Pigeon was worth it?"

But Blue Pigeon didn't speak.

He merely lowered his head, lightly tapping his foot against the floor. Then, he looked up, crossed his arms, and raised a middle finger at them.

It was a middle finger that would go down in history. The headsets of the Hero Company's camera crew were blaring wildly.

Lin Yin blanked slightly.

He remembered the higher-ups explicitly stating not to talk about the other members of Team Blue Pigeon, instructing them to simply claim that they had been dismissed for poor performance.

"It's worth mentioning that I've already anticipated all your insults. You're definitely going to call me a jinx, but that's just the truth of it... If it weren't for Blue Pigeon, the few people in my team wouldn't have died. Even if they had to die, they wouldn't have died so meaninglessly, so quietly, without even earning the right to be remembered by everyone."

Blue Pigeon paused, lifting his eyes from the microphone. "It can't be helped. Who told the Hero Company to hold such an ambiguous attitude toward them? Who told them to be born as criminals? So they aren't even worthy of a memorial service."

He sighed. "So, I hope everyone can remember their names. Otherwise, wouldn't their sacrifices have been completely meaningless?"

The faces of every staff member on site stiffened. Someone yelled, "Cut it! Cut this footage!" but it was already too late.

"Oh, right, I have one last announcement to make. I'll be working solo from now on. The superhero Blue Pigeon will no longer join any hero squads. That is all."

With those parting words, Blue Pigeon slapped the table once more, then turned and walked back behind the curtain in total silence.

Not long after Blue Pigeon's departure, the podium completely shattered amidst dancing sparks of electricity, turning into a cloud of wood chips that fluttered to the ground.

The Hero Company executives and staff had devolved into utter chaos. They rapidly initiated the public relations department's protocols, scrambling to defend against the impending public backlash.

At the very least, hosting a memorial service for the fallen heroes of Team Blue Pigeon was now inevitable.

"He's completely reckless, this kid." Lin Yin sat frozen for a moment before shaking his head with a chuckle.

The venue was in pandemonium. He was just about to turn and leave when he caught sight of an unbelievable scene out of the corner of his eye.

Right at that moment, a pitch-black crow suddenly landed behind the ruined podium. Immediately following, an entirely black figure, completely shrouded in a cape, slowly materialized.

Lin Yin turned his head in a daze, wondering exactly what this father-and-son duo was trying to achieve. Were they trying to blow up the entire internet?

In a rare occurrence, Rain Crow appeared directly in front of the cameras. He lifted his head to face the audience and spoke:

"Following this, there will be a commendation ceremony for Team Blue Pigeon, which will also serve as a memorial service. In addition, Commander Lin Yin's retirement ceremony will be held in the near future. During this operation, it was Commander Lin Yin and Blue Pigeon who proactively proposed the strategy to lure out the Clock Maker, providing us with the opportunity to defeat the enemy. Commander Lin's contributions were indispensable.

"Furthermore, if the opportunity arises, Blue Pigeon will soon act as my assistant and officially work for the Superhero Roundtable Council. Of course, regarding this matter, I still need to discuss it with him..."

As soon as his voice faded, this gloomy, dark man—a man like the night itself—gradually dissolved into a flurry of crow feathers and vanished without a trace.

"The personalities of this father and son really are exactly the same."

Lin Yin sighed emotionally for a long time. Suddenly, a figure flashed through his mind.

He stood completely still for a moment. Taking off his rimless glasses, he placed them on the seat. Then, he slowly turned around and walked out the back door of the venue with a smile on his face.

Lin Yin leaned against the glass curtain wall in the corridor. He turned his head and gazed out at Leijing basking in the brilliant sunlight. The skyscrapers glittered resplendently, every pane of glass reflecting the dazzling rays of the sun.

High above the streets and alleys, snow-white seagulls that had flown in from the harbor swept past, looking as though they had lost their way.

Without his glasses, he could no longer see the city clearly; everything before his eyes was just a blur. But he could faintly make out the birds flying toward the distant horizon, and the sun casting a hazy halo of light.

A moment later, Lin Yin turned and walked into an empty restroom. He made his way to the last stall, opened the door, sat down on the toilet, and closed the door behind him.

Then, he slowly pulled a pitch-black pistol from his coat pocket.

Lin Yin took a breath, closed his eyes, and sat in deep thought for a moment. The only sound in his ears was the steady dripping of a faucet in the restroom...

After a while, he tightened his grip on the handle, raised the gun, and pressed the muzzle against the side of his head. He pulled the trigger.

A click rang out in the quiet stall.

The bullet had jammed.

Lin Yin was stunned. It took him a long while to open his eyes, letting out a bitter smile.

"Has anything in my entire life ever gone smoothly?"

He murmured softly. Taking a deep breath, he pulled a photo of his wife from his pocket and looked at it before pressing the muzzle against the side of his head once more.

Once again, he pulled the trigger.

As if fate were playing a joke on him, the click reached his ears for a second time.

But this time, the bullet hadn't jammed... because what popped out of the gun wasn't a bullet at all, but a crumpled ball of paper.

The piece of paper fell to the floor.

Lin Yin opened his eyes, squinted in silence for a moment, and picked up the paper from the floor. Sitting on the toilet, he unfolded it.

He looked down, only to see the words written upon it:

"Happy retirement, Commander Lin. I'll be sure to drop by your house and harass you often in the future." —Blue Pigeon.

Lin Yin remained silent for a long time, slowly lowering the gun.

He hung his head, his gaze fixed on the floor with complex emotions. After a long while, he suddenly let out a low chuckle and said hoarsely, "I really have to hand it to you two, father and son..."

Some kind of liquid silently slid down his face and dripped onto the floor.

He couldn't tell if it was cold sweat or tears.

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