A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

Xia Ningzhi tilted her head, a wisp of hair slipping past her ear. She looked at Ke Mingqing with curiosity and confusion, clearly not understanding why he had suddenly pulled out such a ridiculous T-shirt.

Xia Zili, on the other hand, guessed what kind of stunt he was trying to pull, so she calmly took a sip of water.

Right at that moment, Ke Mingqing handed the T-shirt with the Rain Crow design to Ke Linye. The scene felt as solemn as a king bestowing a sword upon a knight.

The living room was dead silent. It took a long while before anyone spoke.

”Sure, why not?” Ke Linye said. He glanced down at the design on the T-shirt, smiled, and lifted his clear eyes to look at him. ”Shall we wear them together?”

Seeing Ke Linye accept it so readily, Ke Mingqing was actually taken aback.

He thought to himself, ’Big Brother, your love for Rain Crow really runs deep.’

In the end, Ke Mingqing was the only one left feeling awkward. He scratched his cheek and turned to look at Xia Ningzhi and Xia Zili beside him; the two sisters were both egging him on.

”Do I have to wear one too?” he asked, pointing at himself.

”Yes.” ”Yes.”

The sisters nodded, speaking in unison.

Ke Mingqing let out a long sigh and decided to use the opportunity to make a demand. ”If I wear it, you guys have to stop badgering me to bring a girlfriend home, okay?”

”So that was your goal all along? I was wondering why you’d offer to wear something like this,” Xia Ningzhi said, the corners of her lips curling up slightly. ”Fine, fine. We won’t nag you about it anymore. Finding a girlfriend is your business anyway.”

As she spoke, she picked up the compact camera from the living room, her finger hovering eagerly over the shutter. ”Well, hurry up and change!”

”And what about you?” Ke Mingqing turned to look at Xia Zili.

Xia Zili hesitated for a moment before turning her head away. ”Fine. I won’t bring it up anymore.”

Ke Mingqing and Ke Linye exchanged a glance; the former looked helpless, while the latter offered a faint smile.

Xia Ningzhi shoved the two of them upstairs. A short while later, they had changed into the Rain Crow fan T-shirts in their respective rooms. Their old man had been very thoughtful, buying correctly sized shirts for every child in the house, so they fit perfectly.

On the sofa, Ke Linye lowered his eyes to read his book while raising a hand to flash a peace sign. Ke Mingqing sat with his legs crossed, playing on his phone.

Both of them sat in a rather slouchy, relaxed posture.

Xia Ningzhi was clutching her stomach with one hand, laughing so hard she couldn’t even hold the camera steady. Xia Zili coughed softly, picked up her phone, opened the camera app, and pointed the lens at the two of them.

Right at that moment, Ke Mingwei returned home. He kicked off his leather shoes and walked into the living room looking exhausted, managing to get caught perfectly on camera with a click.

”Linye is back?”

A cigarette dangled from Ke Mingwei’s lips as he turned his head toward Ke Linye on the sofa, then cast a strange look at the T-shirt his son was wearing.

”Not too long ago.” Ke Linye smiled at him. ”I’m already a fan of Rain Crow. To think you knew I was coming home and even bought me this kind of gift, Dad. It’s great. My mood improved instantly.”

He glanced down at the design on the shirt. ”But the photo printed on it is just okay. It looks like a transformation pose from a last-century tokusatsu show. If Rain Crow himself saw this, he’d probably want to hit someone. Hmm... I think he’d prefer a more low-key, reserved style?”

”Don’t worry, trust your old man’s taste. Rain Crow would definitely love it too,” Ke Mingwei said dismissively, taking a drag of his cigarette.

Ke Mingqing thought to himself, ’Crow man, you really are a show-off. You father and son are exactly the same.’

But then, Ke Mingwei turned his head back, staring at him in surprise.

He clearly remembered that when he brought the T-shirts home last night, Ke Mingqing had acted like he would rather die than comply. Yet today, he had put on the fan T-shirt so naturally.

’Could it be that this kid is just going through a rebellious phase? Denying it out loud, but secretly he’s also a fan of mine?’ Ke Mingwei wondered, taking another silent drag of his cigarette.

Ke Mingqing scratched his head and bared his teeth in a slightly awkward grin. ”Dad, did you know? Big Brother just told me the story of how he and Second Sister were saved by Rain Crow when they were little. I instantly went from hater to fan.”

”When they were little...” Ke Mingwei pondered for a moment. ”Ah, the incident at the school.”

”So that really happened?” Xia Ningzhi turned her head in curiosity, blinking. ”I thought Big Brother just made it up.”

Xia Zili spoke lightly, ”It’s not fake. I just looked up the incident online. It just didn’t mention the names of the two kidnapped children.”

Ke Mingwei thought about it and rested a hand on his hip. ”At the time, I asked the police not to release their names and appearances. It would have negatively affected Axue and Linye.”

”From now on, I am Rain Crow’s number one fanatic,” Ke Mingqing said, staring at the TV.

”What about that magical girl from before? You’re not going to wear her T-shirts anymore?” Ke Mingwei asked after a thought.

”Nobody cares about her. From now on, to me, she’s just a dog on the side of the road—the kind you might accidentally kick to death.”

As Ke Mingqing said this, he caught a glimpse of Xia Zili’s expression from the corner of his eye.

She was looking down, silently drinking her water. Her face was expressionless, the glow of her phone screen illuminating her eyes.

For some reason, Xia Ningzhi breathed a secret sigh of relief. If her younger brother were constantly parading around the house wearing a fan T-shirt with their sister’s photo on it, it would genuinely creep her out.

Right at that moment, Xia Wenna returned from the nearby used book market. She had bought the latest issue of the Animal Encyclopedia. He had no idea why this alien was so obsessed with studying Earth’s ecology.

”Is everyone back?” she said slowly. ”Then Mom is going to start making dinner. Don’t all run out during mealtime again.”

Ke Mingqing’s mouth twitched. He thought to himself, ’When you lead your alien army to invade Earth, you should cancel the Leijing News TV Station first. That way, your children and husband won’t keep disappearing right at dinnertime.’

.....

.....

After dinner, the sun dipped below the horizon, stripping away the light that had bathed the old neighborhood. Silence fell over the old apartment building, save for the rustling sound of water coming from the bathroom.

Ke Mingqing turned on the faucet and took a shower, sending a message to Kuroki Hitomi at the same time.

[Ke Mingqing: Have you met up with that group of players yet?]

[Kuroki Hitomi: Not yet. One of them had something come up last minute, so it got pushed to tomorrow.]

[Ke Mingqing: Who?]

[Kuroki Hitomi: The player with the forum ID ”Paranoid.” He said he’s joining the Magical Girl Company and had an interview today, so he couldn’t make it.]

[Ke Mingqing: Seriously? The Magical Girl Company accepts male magical girls?]

[Kuroki Hitomi: I’m not sure.]

Ke Mingqing shrugged. He dried himself off with a bath towel, changed into a clean set of pajamas, and lay down on the bed in his room.

He let out a long breath, closed his eyes, and rested for a moment. Then he opened his eyes, popped open a soda can by the window, and searched for the keywords ”world’s largest super-human species prison” on his phone.

Ke Mingqing took a sip of soda. The search results quickly popped up.

”Located in Siberia, ’Azkaban Prison’ is the world’s largest super-human species prison.” Ke Mingqing rested his arms behind his head and thought, ’If I take a group of players there and liberate that prison, wouldn’t I get to watch these super-human species tear each other apart?’

Bored and with nothing to do, he scrolled through the player forum for a while and happened to stumble upon this post.

[Azkaban Prison, the prison holding the world’s most dangerous super-human species criminals.

If we can free the criminals in that prison and let the Superhero Roundtable Council, the Hero Control Bureau, and these inmates tear each other apart, we can stand aside as players and reap the benefits.

The reason I’m making this post is that the Roundtable will realize our goal sooner or later. Even if a player gets caught later and tortured into revealing our plan, it won’t change anything, because that will inevitably be the location of the final battle.

—Poster: Fanquan.]

’Whoa... This guy’s thoughts align perfectly with mine,’ Ke Mingqing thought. ’If someone like this eventually turns traitor, I can’t even imagine what would happen.’

Just as he was thinking this, a red dot suddenly popped up in the top right corner of his vision.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow and lifted his hand to click it, bringing up the chat panel.

[Kuroki Hitomi: The superhero suit you wanted has been finished.]