A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

"It really is you..."

Ke Mingqing murmured softly. He looked up, his dark eyes fixed on Bai's face.

In the moonlight, the face before him was the spitting image of an older Bai Ziling. Ke Mingqing didn't want to admit it, but it was undeniable.

"Bai Ziling."

He spoke the name once again, but he wasn't addressing the little girl in his arms; he was speaking to the young woman in front of him.

"Yes, I finally get to see you again, Giovanni... I'm really happy."

Bai lowered her eyes and smiled faintly.

Her tone made her sound like a completely different person. She was a world apart from that mysterious, teasing veiled woman.

She paused and pursed her lips. "But I had to pretend I didn't know you at first. It was so annoying! Still, since I wanted to learn about your past, your Little Ling here had to play the part of a secret spy for a while."

She paused.

"No, I should be calling you 'Ke Mingqing' now, right?"

Ke Mingqing clicked his tongue. He rubbed his forehead, falling silent for a moment.

Honestly, if he could grab a popsicle from a freezer right now, he would shove it straight into his brain to cool down his overloaded mind.

After a moment, he spoke in disbelief: "I don't understand..."

"I've spelled it out this clearly. What is there not to understand?" Bai frowned. "Even Mio would have understood by now!"

"I just don't get it!" Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment. "Damn it, do you ever consider my capacity to accept things before you speak?"

Bai stared blankly for a second, then suddenly clutched her stomach and burst into giggles.

"There it is, there it is! You pretend to be such a mature brat, putting on that emotionless poker face, but this is what you're really like!"

Ke Mingqing felt a flash of annoyance, but he couldn't be bothered to argue with the old woman. He simply asked, "How did your personality change this much? You were so endearingly clueless when you were little. How did you grow up to be so punchable?"

"Oh, please. How old was I back then, and how old am I now?!"

"Alright, alright. What exactly happened back then?"

"Back when?"

"There's too much. Hey, let's start from before you traveled through time." Ke Mingqing thought about it. "You mentioned earlier that I locked you in a box. What did that mean?"

"Well... wasn't the time limit for Exterminate Superhumans almost up?"

"And then?"

"And then you found a thing called the Time Moment Box."

"The Time Moment Box? What is that?"

"A box, obviously. You must have realized that whoever stayed inside wouldn't be counted as a super-human species requiring extinction, so you locked me in there. That way, the other players wouldn't be able to find me."

"Impossible." Ke Mingqing shook his head, his tone absolutely certain.

"Why is it impossible?"

Ke Mingqing took a deep breath. He glanced down at the white-haired girl in his arms and said unhurriedly, "Because I would have killed you at the first opportunity. I'd have dug out your heart to carve out a path of survival for myself, not locked you up in some baffling box..."

Bai stared at him, dumbfounded.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, looking back at her in confusion.

"What's with that reaction? Did I get it wrong?"

Bai mumbled, "What a violent thing to say..."

"So, I really did get it wrong?"

Ke Mingqing frowned and asked again, emphasizing almost every syllable. By now, Bai had finally recovered from her shock. She blinked and grumbled, "It's nothing... Go on."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ke Mingqing sighed. "Wasn't that my plan all along? Just how incredibly stupid must I have been to change my mind at the very end? I'm a lost cause."

"It's fine. That's just the kind of person you are. What's so bad about admitting it?" Bai gave a light shrug.

Ke Mingqing fell silent. "Don't act like you know me so well. I only kept you around so I could use you."

"Because you're afraid of getting hurt, you subconsciously shy away from your feelings for others. Isn't that your usual style, Giovanni?"

"No. I'll say it again: I was only using you. Don't flatter yourself."

"Really?"

Bai lifted her crimson eyes, staring into his without blinking. "Are you really not just saying the exact opposite of what you mean?"

Ke Mingqing paused for a moment, then averted his gaze. He didn't speak for a long time. Finally, growing annoyed by her constant staring, he leaned his head back against the stone slab behind him and gazed quietly up at the sky. After a long while, he let out a sigh.

"I'm not."

"You clearly are..."

Bai rolled her eyes at him. The corners of her lips curled up in a faint smile as she spoke airily, "But that's just a trait of our dear Giovanni. Stubborn as a rock."

"Before, you said you only had half a year left to live, but then you also said you were about to travel to another timeline. Which one is true?" Ke Mingqing asked suddenly.

Bai went quiet.

She gently reached out a finger and poked Bai Ziling's cheek. "The part about having half a year left was a lie."

"Really?"

"You've lied to me so many times. Let me lie to you just once," Bai said in exasperation.

Ke Mingqing stayed silent. He suddenly regretted asking.

Bai sighed. "Just pretend it's true. Pretend I'm about to leave this timeline in a few minutes instead of dropping dead. Isn't that better?"

Suddenly, Ke Mingqing threw an arm over his forehead, covering his eyes.

"Fine, then... can you just not go?" he asked softly.

"I can't. I'll die if I don't." Bai pointed at the white-haired girl in his arms. "I can't stay near her for too long, or there will be 'two of me'... Crazy, right? Laws of science!"

Listening to the young woman spew lies with such a straight face, Ke Mingqing stayed quiet for a moment before suddenly moving his arm away.

He looked up at the moon beyond the window, asking into the clear moonlight, "Oh. Then do you have anything else you want to say?"

"Could I ask you a few questions?"

"Ask."

"Then you aren't allowed to say the opposite of what you mean."

"Please, is there any reason for me to hide my real thoughts from an old woman I'll never see again?"

"Oh, then here I go."

"Go on."

"Giovanni, you really enjoy watching the people around you die off one by one at the hands of others, don't you?"

"Hah..." Her very first question left Ke Mingqing stunned.

Bai then pressed on, "Even though you get sad, you think, 'Now I don't have to kill them myself,' and then you heave a sigh of relief. Am I right?"

Ke Mingqing coughed twice, nearly choking on his own breath. It took him a long while before he rolled his eyes and asked, "Like who, for example?"

"Like Top Hero? Or Shadow Girl? Or maybe Invisible Giant?"

Bai paused. She tapped a finger against her chin and let out a giggle before continuing.

"And me! Although you couldn't bear to watch me die, which is exactly why you locked me in the Time Moment Box! I'm just that special to you!"

"Are you serious... You actually dug up my Blue Pigeon identity too?" Ke Mingqing selectively ignored the latter half of her statement, sighing in amazement.

"Of course. I'm a hundred-and-something-year-old woman. How could a little brat like you ever hide anything from me?"

Bai's lips curled into a smirk.

"Oh, right. You mentioned earlier that you knew Mio. How did that happen?"

"Is that so weird?"

"Did I frequently summon Mio to play with you in the last timeline?" Ke Mingqing thought about it but shook his head. "That shouldn't be possible. I'm not the sort of person who would do that. It could've easily exposed my identity as a player."

"Actually, in the previous timeline, Mio was a doll you gave me. I had run away from Death Crow that day, and you celebrated my birthday with me at McDonald's... Then, you gave me that doll."

Ke Mingqing froze. He turned his head to look at her, asking, "Wait, isn't Mio an item from the system?"

"At least she wasn't in the last timeline." Bai shook her head. "I treasured the doll you gave me. I hugged it closely while I stayed inside that box for so many years. But I lost it when I traveled through time. I never expected to eventually see her on television... see her with some freak named White Jack."

Suddenly, Ke Mingqing understood.

He said plainly, "Oh, so you first started suspecting me because of White Jack."

Bai nodded. "Right. Since White Jack always liked to show up with Mio, I went and investigated White Jack... In the end, I discovered that the person pulling the puppet's strings was a sixteen-year-old brat."

"Well, I really am sorry for shattering your illusions about me."

"No, I was actually pretty happy... It turned out Giovanni was such a lively person. I thought you had depression or something."

The corner of Ke Mingqing's eye twitched.

"I talked with Mio in my head. She doesn't want to see you," he said suddenly after a while.

"Why not?"

Bai looked stunned. A hint of disappointment surfaced in her eyes.

"She said it's because you're leaving soon, and she's afraid she'll miss you."

"She still remembers me?"

"Yeah. She never forgot. She just couldn't say anything."

"How is it that this rag doll is just as awkward as her owner?" Bai curled her lip. "Whatever, suit yourselves. I'm leaving soon anyway. One minute left."

Ke Mingqing tipped his head back, staring up at the "Exterminate Superhumans" panel above them and watching the numbers tick down in the timer column.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked suddenly.

"Ask."

"Did I really say to you, 'I see you as my family'?"

"Mhm, I won't forget it for as long as I live..."

Bai paused. She whipped her head around to glare at him, asking warily, "You aren't going to deny that too, are you?"

Ke Mingqing suddenly fell silent.

The time on the panel trickled away second by second, fading like a dying firefly. Without a sound, a doll wearing a black western dress suddenly descended from above, throwing her arms around Bai's neck from behind.

Bai froze for a moment, then gently raised her hands to cover Mio's stubby ones.

The little doll didn't make a sound. She merely hugged her a little tighter.

"Time is almost up," Ke Mingqing said suddenly.

"Mhm."

"Why didn't you look for me sooner?"

"I didn't know what to say. I missed you so much, but the moment I saw you, I just wanted to run away," Bai murmured. "It's all your fault for being a bad influence on me when I was little. You made me just as awkward as you..."

"Right, right, so it's my fault?"

Bathed in moonlight, the two of them lay quietly on the stone slabs of the ruins.

"By the way."

"What is it?"

"..."

"..."

"If I could go back to that moment, I'd give you that heart. I'd let you live on in my place... Then I wouldn't have had to search for you for all those years."

"Are you an idiot?"

"..."

"..."

"Just consider me that much of an idiot, then."

"Idiot."

"Awkward freak."

"Moron."

"Then you're a massive moron."

"..."

"..."

"How childish can you be? A hundred-and-something-year-old woman, and you're still talking back to me like this."

"I don't care. In front of Giovanni, I'm just a kid."

"..."

"..."

"Alright, then. Get some sleep."

"Yeah. I am a bit sleepy."

"..."

"..."

"Are you asleep?"

"Not yet. You're not allowed to open your eyes."

"..."

"..."

"How about now?"

"Almost..."

"..."

"..."

"Giovanni, are you still there?"

"I'm here."

"Don't open your eyes."

"Mhm."

"..."

"..."

"Goodnight, Bai Ziling."

"Goodnight, Giovanni."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Ke Mingqing remained silent for a long time. It wasn't until he could no longer hear any sounds coming from beside him that he slowly opened his eyes.

He sat up on the stone slab and looked over. There was only a white-haired girl sleeping soundly, her dress stained with blood. In the darkness, her breathing was steady and even.

"How are you still so stupid, even after growing up?"

Ke Mingqing murmured softly. He reached out and gently poked her cheek.

After a moment, he looked up and watched a cluster of faintly glowing fireflies drift out the window and into the night sky.

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