The morning light was thin, and a light drizzle had begun to fall outside the classroom. With summer vacation only a few days away, the students' minds were already wandering.
Yet they still had to face their final exams. As a result, the classroom was shrouded in a lifeless gloom, making them look like a group of inmates about to be released from prison, miserably pedaling away at their sewing machines.
There was nothing cozier than a dimly lit classroom in the rain.
Ke Mingqing was staring out the window at the rain when he received a message from the player list. A red dot floated into the upper right corner of his vision.
He turned to glance at the girl with the teardrop mole, then opened the chat panel.
[Kuroki Hitomi: I've arranged to meet the other three Lijing players at my house at 5:00 PM. Are you coming?]
[Ke Mingqing: I'll pass. Later, just tell me what kind of people they are so I have an idea.]
[Kuroki Hitomi: If they find out there's another player in Lijing like you, how should I explain it?]
[Ke Mingqing: They won't know. If we bump into each other later, just tell the other players that I'm your super-human species boyfriend and that you have a "main quest" tied to me. Tell them if I die, you won't be able to finish it. That should keep them from rushing to kill me.]
This was Ke Mingqing's judgment based on his own experience.
After all, his own main quest revolved around a series of interpersonal relationships. Having Kuroki Hitomi use this kind of excuse would make it much more believable.
[Kuroki Hitomi: I understand.]
The day passed quickly. The wall clock in the classroom struck 4:00 PM.
The school bell rang.
The piercing screech of desk legs scraping against the floor rose across the room. Students grabbed their backpacks from their desks and hurried out, leaving the hallways crowded and noisy.
Ke Mingqing called Kuroki Hitomi over, and the two left the classroom together. The boy and girl walked down the path out of the school, bathed in the halo of dusk under a blood-red sky.
Since they were publicly presenting themselves as a couple, they couldn't act too distant. Passing students watched them go, whispering among themselves.
"Should we hold hands?" Kuroki Hitomi asked suddenly.
Ke Mingqing toyed with his phone without looking up. "No need. It's not like every couple has to hold hands. Just act casual."
Kuroki Hitomi quietly nodded.
The moment they crossed the threshold of the school gates, Ke Mingqing hopped onto a school bus, while Kuroki Hitomi slid into a black Maybach.
And just like that, the two parted ways.
After returning home, Ke Mingqing grabbed a cold cola from the fridge. He popped it open, clamped the rim between his teeth, and sat down on the sofa. A little while later, Ke Mingwei walked in with a heavy expression, a cigarette dangling from his lips.
He hadn't shaved today. Fine stubble covered his jaw, and his eyes looked tired.
Ke Mingqing glanced at his expression, thinking to himself that his old man probably already knew about the players. When he went to sleep tonight, he'd have to watch out for a crow peeking in through the window.
Ke Mingwei sank into a leather chair and closed his eyes to rest. As the sun set in the west, a blood-red beam of twilight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows onto his face, laying his exhaustion bare.
A moment later, Ke Mingwei's phone rang.
"Going downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes," he said, walking toward the door.
"Want me to buy them for you?" Ke Mingqing teased. "Look how busy you are, old man. Why don't you rest a bit more?"
"I'm afraid you'll buy the wrong kind."
Dropping that single line, Ke Mingwei slipped into his black leather shoes and left.
Whatever, I've got nothing better to do anyway. I might as well show my face in front of the crow guy. Who knows, maybe I can swoop in and finish off a criminal he's caught, Ke Mingqing thought. Pressing the button on his Tracking Sunglasses, he locked onto Ke Mingwei's location before the man could get too far.
He then got up, headed upstairs, and returned to his bedroom.
Immediately after, he released the Theater Puppet on the rooftop of the neighboring building. White Jack made his grand entrance once again.
While keeping an eye on Ke Mingwei's location on the map, he also monitored the latest leaks on the Sneak Shot Society website, anticipating exactly where Ke Mingwei was heading.
And so, White Jack tossed his snow-white top hat into the wind.
The hat spun and danced through the air like a white bird, vanishing into the distance beyond the clouds a moment later.
The top hat continued its flight, gliding through the steel jungle of downtown Lijing, illuminated by neon lights and the glow of billboards. Passersby who caught sight of the scene raised their phones, filming in amazement.
Meanwhile, White Jack remained where he was, sitting quietly on the railing of the residential building in his complex. An evening breeze blew beneath the blood-red sky as he touched his bald head.
This was a hidden effect added after the Theater Puppet skill had been upgraded and enhanced: the puppet could throw its hat and instantly teleport its body directly beneath it at any time.
Moreover, while the hat was in flight, White Jack could see its surroundings. It essentially acted as a small reconnaissance drone, making it incredibly practical.
In less than three minutes, the top hat reached the crime scene.
It was inside an office on the 25th floor of the Sindico Building, where the Sneak Shot Society website claimed a super-human species riot had broken out.
However, because the situation was too dangerous, none of the sneak-shot photographers dared head up into the building.
Employees from inside the company had been the first to leak the news. It was suspected that the super-human species had faced discrimination and ostracization from his coworkers in the workplace, eventually building up enough resentment to launch a brutal revenge attack against them.
This super-human species' ability was to multiply the size of his body. Right now, he had transformed into a cyan giant with bulging purple veins pulsing all over his skin, making him look as terrifying as a Yaksha from Japanese mythology.
At that moment, a B-class hero from the Super Hero Company had already been deployed.
The one sent to suppress the scene was a rookie hero who had recently drawn a lot of attention and exploded in popularity. Bellwing had a massive pair of pristine white bird wings growing from his back, with little bells tied along the edges of his feathers. However, he was also plagued by a variety of negative news, such as suspicions of abusing women.
Bellwing zoomed through the office. As his giant wings flapped, the bells shook wildly, generating a violent sonic wave that pinned the giant to the floor.
The glass on all sides shattered. Amid the crashing sounds, printer paper filled the air, drifting down like a heavy snowstorm.
"Animal, aren't you going to give up yet?" Bellwing crossed his arms as he hovered in the air, glaring down at the giant groveling on the ground.
The cyan giant covered his ears, which felt like they were tearing apart, and let out a deafening roar.
Meanwhile, the top hat floated quietly beneath the sky just outside the office.
White Jack used the hat's vision to peek at the scene inside.
As long as he was the one to finish off the super-human species, he would get the experience points. This highlighted the importance of kill-stealing, so he searched for the perfect moment to strike.
But a second later, an uninvited guest stepped out of the elevator and into the office.
It was a pitch-black figure, but it wasn't Rain Crow. Instead, it was a man wearing a black swallowtail trench coat and a black-and-red mask.
"Uh..." White Jack froze. "Boss?"
[Superhuman Codename: Owl Judge]
Owl Judge strolled out of the elevator cabin at a leisurely pace, looking as natural as an employee clocking in for work.
Then, the moment he stepped out, he raised a finger. A beam of black moonlight coalesced at his fingertip before shooting straight forward.
The attack was almost faster than the speed of sound. Before Bellwing could even process what was happening, his heart was pierced straight through.
Not a single drop of blood flowed out; instead, white smoke billowed from the hollow hole in his chest.
"That's one," Owl Judge said, the corners of his lips curling up.
He turned his head toward the cyan giant cowering in the corner. Raising his finger again, another beam of moonlight struck down, severing both of the giant's arms.
"That's two." Owl Judge tilted his head.
The two thick, trunk-like arms flew through the air as blood sprayed like a waterfall. In that instant, it wasn't just the walls—half of the office was dyed in dripping, gruesome red.
The giant's agonizing wails swallowed the world, causing the glass shards on the floor to faintly tremble. A moment later, the cyan giant stopped moving, slowly slumping against the ground.
White Jack stared blankly, tilting his head slightly.
What kind of stance is this boss taking, killing both heroes and criminals? he thought. Oh, I get it. He doesn't let anyone off as long as they're a bad guy, which is why he's called an anti-hero, right?
White Jack stared at Owl Judge's figure. Suddenly, a quest panel popped up in his vision.
[Main Quest 6 (Phase 1): Use your second identity to establish contact with the anti-hero "Owl Judge".]
But just as he was about to make a flashy entrance, a pitch-black tide of crows descended from the sky. They crashed into the high-rise like a roaring waterfall before stacking together into a human shape.
Rain Crow appeared inside the office. His head was lowered, but a cold, piercing light flowed through his deep eyes.
Watching this scene through the hat's vision, White Jack secretly clenched his fists, eagerly anticipating an epic domestic violence scene:
"Awesome, old man, your timing is perfect! Hurry up and teach this shitty boss a severe lesson. Don't let him keep throwing his weight around."
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