A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

On the afternoon of July 11, in the heart of Leijing.

The torrential rain stopped without a sound. Gloomy cumulonimbus clouds still lingered on the horizon as Ember, holding Blue Pigeon's right hand, touched down in a deserted alley corner.

The girl in the gothic dress released his hand and took two steps back. She gave her umbrella a sharp flick, casting off the rainwater.

"I'm leaving, then?" She tilted her head at Blue Pigeon.

"Hurry up and go, before we actually start some rumors. You're practically the queen of trending searches by now, even if most of it is negative." Blue Pigeon waved her away like he was shooing a fly.

"So what if there are rumors?" Ember said, entirely unbothered. "Are you scared?"

Blue Pigeon cocked his head, giving her an odd look.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked.

'I'm not the only one at home who knows your identity. Could you spare a thought for Third Sister's feelings?' he thought. 'If she finds out, won't her entire world collapse?'

The girl raised those cold, clear eyes that shone like the aurora, gazing at him in silence.

The sun broke through after the rain, casting a wave of heat and light into the narrow alley and bathing her face in a faint halo. A moment later, she lifted the umbrella from behind her back and raised it overhead. The canopy bloomed against the sky behind her like a blossoming flower.

Ripples of black-and-blue magic swept outward. With a sway of her hair, she shot straight into the sky.

Blue Pigeon crossed his arms, watching the girl in the gothic dress depart. She soared past sun-drenched skyscrapers, her reflection flashing across the glass facades before vanishing in an instant.

He began to secretly worry about whether magical girls ever suffered wardrobe malfunctions. After all, they flew around every day, and pedestrians constantly looked up at them from the streets below. That angle was exceptionally dangerous.

The good news was that magical girls inherently came with safety shorts. Looking at it that way, the Tiamat Comet was truly quite considerate.

"Wait—what's going on?"

He suddenly realized something was wrong, his gaze lingering on her super-human species interface for an extra second.

[Codename: Magical Girl Ember]

[Danger Rating: B++ Rank]

Staring at the danger rating column, Ke Mingqing thought, 'How did she get an extra plus sign in such a short amount of time? Is it because the degree of Witchification has deepened?'

He recalled the magical ripples that had just swept through the alley. Ember's magic had always been purely black, but now it had shifted into a dark, bluish-black hue.

After a while, Blue Pigeon finally pulled his gaze away from the high, clear sky.

Once Ember was far out of sight, he left the alley, turning into a streak of lightning that instantly tore toward the Hero Company.

Along the way, he didn't forget to look up and admire his own AI-generated promotional video playing on the Hero Company's massive screen.

"Absolute garbage," Blue Pigeon muttered, coming to a halt and shaking his head in disgust.

He stepped into the first-floor elevator and swiped his card.

The glass-walled elevator ascended slowly, bringing the cityscape of Leijing into view. The crowds surging through the streets below drifted past his eyes like fleeting shadows.

Blue Pigeon fished his phone from his combat suit pocket, leaning against the glass to scroll through trending topics on Weibo.

He raised a hand to support his bird beak, keeping a safe distance from the phone so the beak wouldn't shatter the screen, and checked the number one trending search:

—[Leijing Hero Company announces the recruitment of criminals as rising star heroes. Approximately 10 super-human species with minor offenses have been enlisted so far.]

Blue Pigeon didn't even need to click on it to know what a mess the comments section would be. He saw someone mention that the commander would score every single action these recruited heroes took.

Evaluations would happen once a month. Criminals who scored below the average would be sent back to prison, while those above would remain on the team.

This detail had likely been leaked by internal staff, which did manage to soothe public sentiment to some extent.

Ke Mingqing looked down, scrolling through his own dedicated Weibo forum. His eyes stopped on a particular image: someone had photoshopped him into scattered organs and chunks of flesh, hanging from the Hero Company's aerial work platform.

Exactly like Grey Owl six years ago.

'You guys just keep guessing whether Rain Crow will go crazy enough to slaughter you all right alongside them,' he thought.

A moment later, the elevator reached the 15th floor. Blue Pigeon crossed his arms and strode into the commander's office.

Inside, aside from Commander Lin Yin and Top Hero, two peculiar new figures were present.

One was a person entirely shrouded in hazy shadow; the other was a teenager wearing an eyepatch, a denim jacket, and a purple bodysuit underneath.

[Shadow Person (Danger Rating: C++ Rank)]

[Invisible Giant (Danger Rating: B Rank)]

These were precisely the Shadow Person and Invisible Giant that Ke Mingqing had personally selected earlier.

"Their hero codenames have already been finalized: Shadow Woman and Invisible Giant," Lin Yin introduced. "Starting today, they are officially members of our team."

"Those codenames are way too half-hearted." Blue Pigeon put a hand on his hip.

"Bro, that's just how superheroes are." Top Hero spoke with the tone of someone who completely understood the game. "The important thing is whether it's easy to remember. If people can't remember it, coming up with some fancy name like 'Guns and Roses Falling Three Thousand Feet' won't do you any good."

Blue Pigeon nodded, giving him a pitying look. "True. Your codename really is half-hearted on an unprecedented level."

At that moment, Shadow Woman lowered her head, tapping rapidly on her phone screen before turning it around to face Blue Pigeon.

The notepad app displayed: "Hello, I am Shadow Woman."

"Blue Pigeon." He studied her appearance. "Are you always like this? Not that I mean it in a bad way, of course. I actually think it has a nice aesthetic."

"I am not always like this." Shadow Woman shook her head.

After she spoke, the layer of shadow covering her body suddenly faded away, revealing her true form. She was a mature woman with a voluptuous figure, dressed in a black bodysuit.

Shadow Woman wore her hair in a neat, shoulder-length bob, her gaze tranquil and deadpan.

Admittedly, the transformation from a bizarre cryptid into a gorgeous older woman was quite a shock. Invisible Giant and Top Hero were left completely stunned, with only Blue Pigeon maintaining his composure.

Top Hero stared blankly for a long time before finally squeezing out a single word: "Cool!"

The teenager named Invisible Giant scoffed coldly and averted his eyes.

They were both wearing black bodysuits, so why did it look so completely different on some people?

Upholding the principle of 'see no evil,' Blue Pigeon looked away, mentally poking fun at a certain executive officer who also liked to wear black bodysuits.

"Her appearance gives her a massive advantage, but it's not smart for a superhero to expose their real face," Lin Yin said evenly.

"Exactly. Hurry up and change back before you disrupt our work," Invisible Giant said.

Shadow Woman quickly shifted back into her previous form, returning to a humanoid creature wholly shrouded in shadow. As she did, everyone in the office shifted their attention to the teenager wearing the eyepatch and a blue star tattooed at the corner of his eye.

Invisible Giant had one hand stuffed in his pocket. He looked up from his phone, eyeing Blue Pigeon with blatant disdain.

"He already introduced my name. Do you want me to read it again?" he asked.

"I'm Blue Pigeon." He tilted his head. "You should be thanking me for fishing a delinquent like you out of prison."

The teenager's eye twitched slightly.

Their eyes met, the air thick with the smell of gunpowder. Right then, Lin Yin suddenly spoke up, addressing the four of them: "Everyone, we have one more issue before us, and that is deciding who the team captain will be."

Shadow Woman stayed silent, looking down as she snacked on a bag of chocolate beans.

Blue Pigeon didn't speak either.

In truth, both of them already knew exactly who the captain was going to be the moment they stepped into the office.

Invisible Giant curled his lip. "Whoever is the strongest becomes captain. We just need to fight it out, right?"

"No. Your current identities are still highly sensitive, making it inappropriate to use your names for the team," Lin Yin smiled. "Team Blue Pigeon fits perfectly."

Invisible Giant frowned, giving Blue Pigeon a sidelong, mocking look. "Well, traffic is king in this era. Superheroes have to rely on hype to make money, after all."

Top Hero scratched his head. He'd wanted to ask, 'What about me?' but ultimately heaved a sigh and quietly accepted the commander's decision.

"Bro, I've got no objections!" he said, patting Blue Pigeon on the chest with the back of his hand.

"I don't care either," Shadow Woman typed on her phone.

"Then I'll reluctantly take on the role of captain." Blue Pigeon spread his hands.

"I leave it in your hands."

Having settled that, Lin Yin closed the file folder and suddenly added, "By the way, in order to get you accustomed to cooperating with the magical girls ahead of time, the company needs you all to fight a friendly match today."

He smiled. "This friendly match will be broadcast live on the Hero Company's official website. It's to help audiences around the world get familiar with you. Do your best to show off your strength and specialties during the match. Understand?"

Blue Pigeon clicked his tongue. He couldn't help but wonder if this was going to turn into a domestic violence scene later. It felt like Xia Zili had been harboring a grudge against him for a long time.

Shadow Woman typed rapidly on her phone, then lifted the screen to face Lin Yin.

The screen read: "Excuse me, but which magical girls are we referring to?"

"Magical girl Ember, magical girl Little Red Riding Hood, and magical girl Sakurahime." Lin Yin laced his fingers together. "They are the main combat force for the Comet Fragments protection mission in half a month."

He paused. "This friendly match is just the beginning. Afterward, you can cooperate on a few missions together. Of course, Miss Ember's temper is rather unusual, and she can be hard to communicate with, so everyone will need to be a bit more patient."

'You can say that again,' Blue Pigeon muttered internally.

Suddenly, an unseasonable snow began to fall outside the window. It had just poured heavy rain, yet now an endless expanse of white snow blanketed the skies above Leijing.

Knowing exactly what was causing the snowfall, Blue Pigeon slowly turned his head. Through the open floor-to-ceiling windows, he spotted a sledge pulled by two reindeer flying in from the horizon.

A blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in a Christmas dress sat atop the back of one reindeer, while the girl in the gothic dress sat in the sledge behind her. She gently pressed a hand down on her skirt, a furled umbrella resting in her lap.

Ember looked up from the sledge and locked eyes with Blue Pigeon. A shared speechlessness flickered in both their eyes.

Little Red Riding Hood leaped, passing through the open window and landing lightly on the floor.

Lin Yin kept his hands steepled, glancing sideways at the two figures with a faint smile. "Sakurahime hasn't arrived in the country yet, so for now, the only participants will be Miss Little Red Riding Hood and Miss Ember."

"I've been briefed on the situation. It is an honor to have a friendly match with Mr. Blue Pigeon," Little Red Riding Hood said lightly, offering them a bow.

"Please take care of us." Blue Pigeon nodded in return.

At that moment, the girl in the gothic dress also gave a slight hop, landing inside the office and fixing her icy gaze upon Blue Pigeon.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, magical girl Ember crossed her arms and enunciated every single word: "You—come fight me."

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