A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

At dusk, beneath a blood-red sky, a sudden gust of wind whipped up Ke Mingqing’s bangs and clothes.

Snow-white searchlights illuminated the long-silent railway platform.

A moment later, a train that stretched on endlessly rolled into view.

Brightly lit cars emerged from the tunnel one after another. Bizarre shadows flickered against the windows in the glow of the lights before the train plunged into another bottomless tunnel.

The roar of the engine faded, and the platform gradually fell quiet again. Only then did Ke Mingqing snap back to his senses.

An information panel slowly popped up in his vision.

[The dungeon ”Legend of the Ghost Train Conductor” is open daily from 17:30 to 23:00. You may invite other players located in the same city to enter the dungeon together.]

[Dying inside the dungeon will not result in a player’s actual death. However, if all players die inside, the dungeon raid will be judged as a failure. In the event of a failure, the dungeon will be temporarily sealed off and will not reopen for challenges until the next day.]

’To think there was a dungeon hidden in this train station...’ Ke Mingqing thought. ’It resets at midnight on Sunday, which means there’s still a day left. I’ll call Kuroki Hitomi tomorrow and clear this dungeon. Tonight, I have other things to do.’

He sat down on a wooden bench on the platform, opened his inventory, and took out the Low-Tier Skill Upgrade Card he had acquired a few days ago.

[Prompt: The Low-Tier Skill Upgrade Card can be used on D Rank and E Rank skills. Your currently eligible skills are ”Phantom Shift” (E Rank) and ”I Am Lightning” (D Rank).]

The target was naturally ”I Am Lightning.” After all, Ke Mingqing planned to use his lightning abilities to make a name for himself in Lijing.

He raised a finger and tapped the confirm button.

[Upgrade Card applied to ”I Am Lightning.” The following changes have been made to the skill’s effects:

1. Added a new type of lightning: ”Black Lightning.” Compared to blue lightning, this current is far more violent and possesses greater destructive power. It also carries a minor ”Elemental Devour” property.

However, as a trade-off, Black Lightning easily damages the user and is not suitable for stimulating cellular activity.

2. The player’s lightning usage time is no longer restricted to 5 minutes. The player may now activate and deactivate the ”I Am Lightning” form at will.

However, as a trade-off, the stamina drained every second while the skill is active will increase.]

”Huh, then what would happen if I merged the blue and black lightning together?” Ke Mingqing muttered. ”Edgelord lightning?”

Looking at the second effect, he thought, ’It’s a toggleable skill now. This way, I won’t have to worry about exposing my limits. Otherwise, whenever people bring up the superhero ”Blue Pigeon” in the future, they’ll just say he’s a man who can only last five minutes.’

Ke Mingqing let out a breath, pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket, and set it aside. Then he raised his fingertip, the activation command for ”I Am Lightning” flashing through his mind.

Pitch-black electricity danced from his fingertip, forming a small black orb of light that illuminated his eyes.

”Looks pretty vicious.”

Lowering his eyes to watch the dancing sparks, Ke Mingqing let out an admiring sigh. He then stood up and approached a moss-covered pillar on the platform.

He slowly reached his finger forward. The instant the black current touched the pillar, it corroded a deep pit into the surface.

Suddenly, the black current at his fingertip expanded and splattered outward, brushing past Ke Mingqing’s cheek and carving out a bloody gash.

Ke Mingqing froze for a second before the sudden, sharp pain snapped him back to reality.

He immediately deactivated the ”I Am Lightning” form, and the electricity on his fingertip vanished.

Yet pitch-black arcs of electricity continued to dance in the air, flickering in and out of existence, expanding and shrinking.

They looked like a black snake in its death throes.

Amid the dead silence, blood steadily trickled down that knife-like cut, dyeing Ke Mingqing’s cheek red.

The platform was completely quiet. Ke Mingqing stood in silence for a long time before raising a hand to touch his cheek. His fingertips came away stained red.

’It’s this hard to control?’ he thought. ’Does it lose control if I leave it out for even a little bit? Then this black lightning can only be used as an instantaneous attack method.’

Ke Mingqing sighed softly, walked back to the wooden bench, and took out a tissue and a Band-Aid from his backpack.

He wiped his cheek with the tissue to clean off the blood, then applied the Band-Aid over the wound.

He could be considered a member of the super-human species now, with regenerative abilities far stronger than an ordinary person’s. A wound like this didn’t require careful treatment.

Ke Mingqing sat down. As he manipulated blue currents at his fingertips, he picked up his phone and opened WeChat.

’Can the lightning be used like a chain? Or maybe a thunder orb like Pikachu does?’

As the thought crossed his mind, the blue current on his fingertips converged into a chain, then shifted into a blue sphere.

Because ”I Am Lightning” was now a toggleable skill, Ke Mingqing no longer had to worry about cooldown times. He could practice anywhere and anytime to improve his precision in controlling the lightning.

”It really works. That makes things much more flexible.”

While changing the shape of the current on his fingertips, Ke Mingqing sent a message to Xia Wenna on WeChat, telling her that he would be coming home a little late for dinner.

Just as he was about to exit the chat window, a ”typing...” indicator appeared next to Xia Wenna’s name. She typed very, very slowly, matching her equally slow speaking pace.

After a while, her message finally popped up on the screen.

[Xia Wenna: Is Mom’s. Cooking, really that detestable? (Sticker: Crying Panda)]

Ke Mingqing shrugged. ’Did you learn that weird phrasing from aliens or something?’ he thought. ’Do you just not know how to type, or do you not know how to use punctuation?’

[Ke Mingqing: That’s not it, Mom. I promised my girlfriend we’d eat out. I can’t just stand her up, right?]

[Xia Wenna: Pocket money, is it enough? (Sticker: Little Penguin Tilting Head)]

[Ke Mingqing: Don’t worry, she’s a Japanese heiress. Her family is loaded, so she’s paying.]

[Xia Wenna: Unacceptable. Boys, must have ambition (Sticker: Bouncing Kangaroo, Clenched Fist)]

[Transfer Notification — You have received a red packet of 200 yuan from ”Xia Wenna.”]

Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes, accepted the red packet, and sent a ”Thanks, Mom” in the chat. After that, he stopped bantering with this alien of a mother.

Getting up from the wooden bench, he walked back to the lockers. Reaching into locker number 7, he pulled out his folded combat suit, then grabbed a helmet with a blue bird’s beak.

”Time to change, then find some unlucky criminal to serve as my stepping stone. Oh... how about we let this unlucky bastard be ’White Jack’?”

With that thought, Ke Mingqing stuffed his entire backpack into the locker.