A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

The kitchen lights were dim, the chirping of the cicadas outside the floor-to-ceiling windows beginning to fade.

Ke Mingqing grabbed a bottle of cola from the fridge and glanced out the window.

The old apartment building was shrouded in twilight, the setting sun’s last rays quietly fading from the brick walls. The sound of children laughing and chasing each other echoed from deep in the alley, broken occasionally by a barking dog.

He pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table.

Xia Zili sat quietly beside him.

She had just showered. With her hair clips removed, she wore a flaxen nightgown. Her mid-length black hair cascaded over her shoulders, carrying the faint, fresh scent of tangerine shampoo.

Xia Zili still hadn’t said a word.

But Ke Mingqing could somewhat understand how she was feeling.

Awakening a superpower, injecting mutant genes, or being chosen by the comet to become a magical girl—all of these could strengthen the physical body, but they did not make a person’s mind indestructible.

No one’s heart was invulnerable.

Even now, netizens all over the world were still venting their fury at her. That sheer volume of verbal abuse was far more than a sixteen-year-old girl could handle.

The dining table was quiet. Outside, the maple tree rustled in the evening breeze.

The siblings were having stir-fried shrimp and noodles for dinner.

Given their mother Xia Wenna’s cooking skills, only a simple dish like this was safe from being completely inedible. It was the same logic as someone who was terrible at math still being able to add single digits.

Ke Mingqing picked up his chopsticks. Popping a piece of shrimp into his mouth, he looked up at Xia Wenna. ”Mom, when are Big Brother, Second Sister, and Third Sister coming back?”

Xia Wenna was leaning against the kitchen counter, staring quietly out the window with eyes that seemed clouded by mist.

Her reactions were always a beat slower than a normal person’s. It took her a long moment to turn her head. After thinking it over, she slowly said, ”Your third sister is a senior in high school. She has evening study hall tonight, so she’s eating in the school cafeteria. Your oldest brother and second sister are both still at their universities, but they’ll take the train back in a few days... Yes, everyone will be on summer vacation soon, and the house will be lively then.”

Xia Wenna spoke at a sluggish pace, just as she had for over ten years.

As for exactly how slow—she occasionally seemed so much like a robot that one felt the urge to wind a key on her head just to speed her up.

Ke Mingqing cast a glance at her. He obviously didn’t believe that Xia Wenna’s alien brain couldn’t process things fast enough. But she had maintained this persona in front of the family for so many years that it would be hard to break character now.

He mumbled around his chopsticks, ”It’ll be good when they’re back. Things will be a bit livelier.”

”Are you in a rush for everyone to come back just to laugh at you?”

Xia Zili spoke nonchalantly as she turned up the volume on her phone.

A video was playing on the screen. A warm, smooth voice drifted out, sounding like a news anchor:

”Rain Crow reprimanded this student to his face. Netizen commentary on the incident has been highly polarized. One side believes the student showed exceptional quick-wittedness, while the other argues that staying perfectly still and waiting for rescue was the optimal choice in such a situation.”

Ke Mingqing let his head droop, letting the words go in one ear and out the other. He didn’t care in the slightest.

”Come on, out with it. How many times have you secretly watched your brother’s heroic deeds?” he asked casually.

Xia Zili didn’t even bat an eye. ”I have to see it whether I want to or not,” she muttered. ”It’s being forwarded in all my class group chats. Anyway, Dad’s definitely already lectured you, so I won’t bother.”

”What’s the point of obsessing over some stupid school bus incident every day? We’d be better off watching some real news.” With that, Ke Mingqing unlocked his phone, tapped on the highest-trending video on the super-human species website, and hit play.

He deliberately cranked the volume to the max to drown out her phone.

”Magical Girl Ember’s act of painting a building in blood has sparked massive controversy across the internet. Even though the victim was a criminal, is it not inhumane to resort to such a brutal, sadistic killing in broad daylight?

”The crux of this controversy lies here: most magical girls are young women in their teens or early twenties, leaving a substantial divide between them and traditional superheroes. The average age of superheroes is significantly higher, and the law explicitly permits superheroes to use lethal force when apprehending criminals.

”Furthermore, in China, the very existence of a magical girl carries the nature of an ’idol,’ exerting a massive influence on minors. Factor in that most magical girls are minors themselves, and it becomes clear why there is virtually no precedent for a magical girl committing murder in public.

”The media has already interviewed Xi Ziyue, the chief executive of the Chinese Magical Girl Company, regarding this incident. Xi Ziyue claimed this was a failure of internal discipline and has issued a formal apology.”

After the video finished playing, the screen paused on a frame of the anchor sorting through their papers.

The kitchen fell dead silent, so quiet that only the chirping of the cicadas outside could be heard.

Xia Zili kept her head bowed, her bangs obscuring her eyes. Her right hand, clutching her chopsticks, hadn’t moved in a long, long time.

After a moment, her lips parted slightly. ”She didn’t do anything wrong,” she whispered.

”Oh? You think she didn’t do anything wrong, and I obviously think I didn’t do anything wrong on the school bus.” Ke Mingqing paused. ”But if neither of us did anything wrong, why are we being criticized by so many people?”

Right as the siblings were chatting, Ke Mingwei came home. He hung his police jacket on the wall and walked steadily into the living room. Pulling up a chair, he sat down, gazed out at the night sky, and lit a cigarette.

Seemingly having overheard their conversation, he chimed in, his voice muffled by the cigarette clenched in his teeth:

”Killing is wrong.”

Xia Zili fell silent for a moment before looking up.

”Why shouldn’t magical girls be allowed to kill?” she said coldly. ”Everyone else just treats magical girls like decorative vases, even though their work isn’t all that different from what those heroes do.”

”Then you’ll have to ask that comet that visits Earth every ten years. Ask it why it only lets underage girls become magical girls.”

As he spoke, Ke Mingwei flicked his ash and turned to meet his daughter’s gaze.

”And then think about it... Who are people more willing to tolerate painting a skyscraper in blood? A supervillain, or an underage girl in a skirt holding an umbrella?”

Xia Zili lowered her head. A resentful glint flickered in her eyes beneath her bangs, her expression darkening slightly.

Ke Mingwei stayed quiet for a long while before adding, ”Rain Crow has been a superhero for a long time, and he hasn’t killed anyone either, has he?”

”Dad, Rain Crow is a special case, okay? Out of all the superheroes, he’s the only one with a no-kill rule.” Ke Mingqing thought, You shameless crow. Do you really have to promote yourself as a premium idol to your own daughter?

”Maybe...” Xia Zili murmured softly. ”She just slipped up?”

”Slipped up and killed a man?” Ke Mingwei replied coldly. ”This is exactly why I say magical girls are unstable.”

Xia Zili desperately wanted to retort, What does that have to do with other magical girls? But her mind was instantly flooded with the image of her mentor publicly apologizing on her behalf at the press conference. In the end, she just pulled a long face and kept her mouth shut.

Ke Mingqing sighed. ”Honestly, I think Magical Girl Ember is pretty great. She’s nowhere near as awful as everyone makes her out to be.”

Xia Zili froze slightly.

She slowly turned her head, staring quietly at Ke Mingqing.

”No,” Ke Mingwei said calmly. ”She’s just a willful little girl. She got her hands on a bit of extraordinary power and now she thinks she’s omnipotent. She completely disregards the law.”

”But she’s pretty!” Ke Mingqing said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Ke Mingwei was stunned into silence, nearly dropping the cigarette from his lips.

Xia Zili was also completely rooted to the spot.

”Hey, isn’t it enough for a magical girl to be pretty?” Ke Mingqing said evenly. ”Besides, setting her actions aside, I feel like she’s the most interesting one out of this current generation of magical girls. Think about it... all the past magical girls went for the sweet, cutesy vibe. It’s so fake it hurts. She’s the only one who shows her true colors. She always keeps a cold face and never panders to her fans.”

He paused. ”Even though she’s a bit edgy sometimes, and her temper is a little nasty, I think it’s acceptable.”

Ke Mingwei sighed.

Xia Zili stared blankly for a moment, the tips of her ears suddenly turning a faint red.

She gazed at Ke Mingqing’s profile in a daze. It wasn’t until he finally turned his head and met her gaze with a weirded-out expression that she silently looked away.

Xia Zili slowly lowered her head, almost burying her face in her noodles. Her ears grew redder and redder. A moment later, she suddenly spoke, sounding slightly displeased:

”You...”

”What?” Ke Mingqing turned to look at her.

Xia Zili went quiet for a moment. ”Are you exactly the type of person I hate the most? The kind who treats magical girls like idols and only cares about their looks... Bro, could you not be so superficial?” There was no real anger in her voice, but it wasn’t as cold and exhausted as before, either.

With that, she rested her chopsticks on the rim of her porcelain bowl and walked away without looking back.

Wait, hasn’t it been a long time since she called me ”Bro”? Ke Mingqing suddenly realized, watching her retreating back out of the corner of his eye.

”A-Qing, why are you bullying your sister again?” Xia Wenna asked belatedly.

”Mom, she was definitely the one bullying me first, okay?” Ke Mingqing cried foul. ”She’s probably just stanning her idol. She got mad hearing Dad talk trash about her favorite.”

”Is that so...” Xia Wenna thought about it, then nodded. ”Yes, obsessing over idols isn’t very good.”

Ke Mingqing sighed. He always felt exhausted trying to communicate with this ditzy alien, so he simply shut his mouth.

Because he still had to get busy checking out what player functions were available to him, he ate the rest of his meal quickly, slurping down the noodles in just a few bites.

He placed his bowl and chopsticks in the sink and cut across the living room to head upstairs. At that exact moment, Ke Mingqing turned his head slightly, shooting a glance at Ke Mingwei out of the corner of his eye.

Suddenly, a text panel reflected in his pupils.

[Main Quest 1 Triggered (Phase 1): Create an alter ego to approach the superhero ”Rain Crow.” Attempt to attract his attention and establish contact with him.]

[Quest Reward: 1,000 Super Coins, 1 stat point, 1 chance to use the Item Wheel.]

An alter ego? Ke Mingqing thought. In other words... I’m going to need a mask?

”What’s up?” Sensing his gaze, Ke Mingwei took the cigarette from his mouth and turned around. ”Don’t dwell on what happened this afternoon. What’s done is done. Just don’t make the same mistake next time.”

”Got it, Dad.”

Ke Mingqing gave a perfunctory reply, then turned and headed upstairs.