A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

Ke Mingqing rested his head against the window frame, looking out.

The sky was orange, but the horizon was a stretch of pitch black. A storm was coming; the twilight wind was a little more boisterous than usual.

A loosely taped Shugo Chara! poster fluttered against the bedroom wall in the breeze. An Youlu sat on the edge of the bed, telling Xia Zili about her plans to crash at their place for a while.

”So that’s the situation. Basically, I’ll be staying at Senior’s house for a bit,” An Youlu said. ”To protect his safety while I’m at it.”

Xia Zili stared blankly for a long moment before she looked up with a frown. ”...Huh?”

”What do you mean ’huh’? No panting,” Ke Mingqing said without looking back, his gaze fixed on the white clouds.

Xia Zili turned and shot him an icy glare exactly the same as Xia Lingxue’s.

Ke Mingqing toyed with his phone, completely ignoring her. ’Why do you sisters all like looking at people like that?’ he thought. ’If you’re nearsighted, just wear glasses.’

Resting a hand against her chin, An Youlu muttered, ”Oh, I see...”

”See what?”The siblings looked at her and asked in unison. Both spoke in an icy tone laced with a hint of intimidation, making it obvious neither was a stranger to Little Red Riding Hood’s daily torments.

”Nothing. I was just marveling at how Mr. Blue Pigeon treats his sister like he’s training a cat.”

With that, An Youlu lowered her eyes and sighed softly. ”It’s such a shame. A child from a single-parent family like me doesn’t have a younger sister to raise like a kitten.”

”No worries, now you do. I’ll leave my little sister in your care from now on.”

Ke Mingqing grabbed a chocolate stick off the desk and tossed it to An Youlu. ”It’s good timing. She hasn’t been feeling well these past couple of days—always getting dizzy and sleeping like a log at the drop of a hat.”

”Seriously, I wouldn’t mind putting a bullet in both of you.”

Xia Zili spoke slowly, first shooting Ke Mingqing a side-eye before turning to look coldly at An Youlu. ”How could Master be so casual about this? Sending you over without even asking for my permission.”

”Teacher Xi Ziyue was worried about you, considering you didn’t show up for the meeting this morning,” An Youlu said flatly. ”Oh, right. Teacher also told me she wanted to meet Blue Pigeon.”

Xia Zili froze, and Ke Mingqing was slightly taken aback as well.

”When did this happen?” he asked, looking into An Youlu’s eyes.

”Just now. Didn’t you ask me to pass a message to her? I sent it to her on WeChat.”

Ke Mingqing fell silent. He scratched his head. ”Forget it, let’s skip this topic.” Even as he said that, Xia Zili unsurprisingly asked the very question he wanted to avoid.

”Pass what message?” she asked suspiciously.

”Do you really want to hear it?” An Youlu coughed twice to clear her throat, like a host about to deliver a broadcast.

”Yeah.”

Xia Zili hesitated for a second, then nodded. Ke Mingqing just banged his head against the windowsill.

In a monotone yet dramatically exaggerated reading voice, An Youlu declared, ”’Ah! Xi Ziyue, you have already failed in your duty once, do not fail a second time! Protect my adorable little sister well, or I’ll take your life. I am the Cupid of Love, and I am bound to guard the sister I love most, ohohohoho—’”

At this point, she raised her fingers to form a gun, aimed it at Xia Zili’s heart, and fired two imaginary shots with a ”pew, pew.”

Xia Zili’s ears immediately turned crimson.

She whipped her head around to glare at Ke Mingqing, mouth open and stuttering, unable to form a complete sentence for a long while. ”Are you sick... did you really say that to my Master?”

Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes. ”Do you think that’s even possible? I’ll admit to the first half, but what the hell was that second half?” He tilted his head toward An Youlu. ”Why do you love adding extra details so much, you trash-eating hood?”

”Isn’t it completely normal for a little girl from the countryside who grew up eating garbage to have poor expression skills?”

An Youlu pursed her lips, speaking with a pitifully wronged expression.

”That’s not poor expression skills, that’s way too good! You practically wrote fanfiction,” Ke Mingqing said through gritted teeth.

An Youlu strategically ignored him. ”Besides, I’m a Japanese girl, I’m not good at Chinese... It hasn’t even been two years since I accompanied the eldest miss over here. I work tirelessly in the villa, and I still have to memorize Chinese vocabulary after mopping the floor every day.”

”Forget it, never mind...”

Ke Mingqing sighed, ending the topic to avoid wasting more time on this drama queen. ”And then what? What did Xi Ziyue say?”

”Teacher said she wants to talk to you in person, and told me to be more respectful with my tone,” An Youlu said.

Xia Zili raised an eyebrow. ”Master wants to see my brother alone?”

An Youlu nodded.

”What time?” Ke Mingqing wasn’t particularly bothered, asking casually.

”A week from now, on the morning of the 9th, at the teaching building of an abandoned elementary school on Old Jingmai Street. Pick any time before noon, and she’ll be there.”

”Why a teaching building?” Ke Mingqing didn’t understand. ”I figured she’d make me meet her at the Magical Girl Company.”

”Because the Magical Girl Company is rigged with a lot of hidden cameras. The higher-ups don’t trust us, so we magical girls usually don’t hold meetings at the company, but at that abandoned school instead,” An Youlu explained. ”I’ve sent you Teacher Xi Ziyue’s WeChat contact. Once you get there, Teacher Xi Ziyue will tell you where to go.”

Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment, glancing down at the account pushed to him by the WeChat user ’The Little Red Riding Hood Who Sells Matches.’ ”That works. I’ve got plenty of time to spare anyway.”

Xia Zili finally processed everything and frowned.

”I’ll go with him.”

”No, Teacher Xi Ziyue said she wants to meet him alone.”

”He’s my brother.”

”And you’re my sister,” Ke Mingqing said, reaching out to ruffle her hair. ”You’re not feeling well, so just take another day to rest at home.”

Xia Zili looked like she wanted to say something more, but stopped herself. She suddenly lowered her head and mumbled softly, ”...You’re like this every time.” With that, the girl with the high ponytail stood up from the bed and walked out of the bedroom.

Ke Mingqing and An Youlu exchanged a glance. The girl with the wispy bangs just made an ”after you” gesture and drawled, ”Don’t mind me. Please demonstrate your kitten-coaxing techniques.”

Ke Mingqing gave her an eye roll, turned to leave the bedroom, and slowly followed after Xia Zili.

She stopped in front of the rooftop railing, gazing out at the orange sky. The silhouette of cumulonimbus clouds could already be seen on the horizon. Massive patches of pitch-black clouds obscured the red flush of the setting sun. The storm was almost here.

”I killed Kiyono Sakura, didn’t I?” Xia Zili suddenly asked.

Ke Mingqing remained silent for a long time, not saying a word.

”Say something...” Xia Zili said hoarsely. ”If you’re going to lie, at least do it convincingly, okay? Ever since we were kids, who doesn’t know that my idiot brother can’t lie?”

”You didn’t kill her,” Ke Mingqing said, shaking his head.

”Right, then swear on it.”

”I swear, Kiyono Sakura’s death had nothing to do with my sister. Happy?”

”Swear on what?”

”On my life,” Ke Mingqing said without thinking. ”If I’m lying to you, may I be struck by lightning, pierced by ten thousand arrows... wait, that’s too cliché. It’d be better if Clock Maker instantly revived right now, tied me up, chopped me to pieces, and turned me into Blue Pigeon sashimi, or Blue Pigeon conveyor belt sushi...”

Xia Zili was stunned. After a moment, she furrowed her brow and muttered softly, ”You’re not allowed to say that... Pick something else.”

”Then how about getting flattened by a semi-truck the moment I step outside. That work?”

”That works...” Xia Zili muttered. Honestly, she couldn’t imagine a scenario where a superhero was killed by a semi-truck; she was more worried about the truck getting wrecked by Blue Pigeon.

Leaning on the railing, Ke Mingqing looked out at the distant overpass and muttered under his breath, only loud enough for himself to hear, ”Ah, it’d be best if I reincarnated into another world without super-human species after getting hit by that truck. A world with nine years of compulsory education and all kinds of trendy superhero movies... Sure enough, people only maintain reverence and imagination for things they haven’t seen with their own eyes. The superhero movies in this world are absolute garbage.”

Xia Zili looked at the faraway sky and asked softly after a long pause, ”So you really aren’t lying to me... Yesterday, I really just lay in bed and slept?”

Ke Mingqing paused. ”Of course. Do you want me to keep making deadly oaths?”

Seeing that Xia Zili didn’t speak, he was about to say something, but she stopped him.

”Don’t you dare...”

Ke Mingqing shrugged, leaned close to Xia Zili’s ear, and whispered, ”Alright, little sister. I’m a shrewd guy. If it weren’t true, why would I have made so many deadly oaths?”

”I believe you,” Xia Zili said. ”But why are you going to meet Master alone?”

”Trust me, I’ll handle it... Your Master won’t be able to pry anything out of me,” Ke Mingqing said. ”I won’t let you turn into a witch, and I won’t let them hurt you.”

”That’s not what I was asking.”

Ke Mingqing lowered his head in thought. ”Xi Ziyue still suspects you. After all, from their perspective, a witch did indeed appear and repel the members of Death Crow during the battle over the Comet Fragments. It’s not strange that she’s suspecting you this time...”

He paused. ”Besides, your condition is unstable right now, so it’s not a good idea for you to show up in front of her. If she notices any clues, it’ll be a disaster.”

Xia Zili remained silent for a long time, quietly gripping the railing.

”Why do I have to keep hiding?” she asked softly. ”What exactly did I do wrong?”

Ke Mingqing stayed quiet for a moment. ”If others find out you’re showing signs of Witchification, they’ll hunt you down like a monster. Isn’t that what you said yourself?”

Xia Zili thought for a long, long time before murmuring, ”But what if I’m exactly what they say I am? What if I really am a monster?”

”You’re not—”

Ke Mingqing was cut off halfway by Xia Zili. ”Anyone can say things like that.”

Her head hung low, lips trembling slightly. ”Honestly, even I don’t really understand it anymore. Would it be better if I just died? If I turn into a witch one day, a lot of people will definitely die... What should I do?”

Ke Mingqing looked up at the large characters for ”Exterminate Superhumans” floating above his head and said gently, ”Little sister... truth is, living in this world means dealing with a lot of times where you have no choice. Sometimes people just have to accept their ugly, embarrassing flaws and convince themselves to keep going. Even just scraping by to survive is better than giving up hope, isn’t it?”

”But I don’t want to.”

”I don’t want to either...” Ke Mingqing lowered his eyes slightly, the image of that vase and the bouquet of plants built from twisted human bodies flashing through his mind. ”I don’t want my little sister to become a monster, playing with people’s lives until she’s completely unrecognizable, making me feel disgusted, incredibly disgusted...”

Xia Zili froze. Her eyes widened, their rims suddenly turning red as her body trembled slightly. After a long while, she tugged her lips into a faint smile and murmured, ”Okay... then kill me right now. Then I won’t turn into the monster you’re talking about.”

”I don’t want to.” Ke Mingqing shook his head. ”Even if you’re a monster, you’re still my sister...” He lowered his voice. ”Right, no matter what you eventually become, you’re my sister. How could I ever convince myself to kill you?”

The girl remained silent, her reddened eyes reflecting the fading glimmer of light on the horizon.

”Let’s go... it’s about to pour.”

Ke Mingqing gently took Xia Zili’s hand and led her inside.

At that moment, the setting sun sank below the horizon, and the world went dark. A whistle-like screech carried through the wind. The radio in the living room was still broadcasting typhoon warnings, buzzing steadily through the entire night as the cumulonimbus clouds drifted in and a storm arrived exactly as promised.

...

...

A week quickly passed, and time arrived at September 8, 2026.

During this week, Xia Zili and An Youlu were inseparable, never leaving each other’s side. With Ke Mingqing’s warnings and An Youlu’s supervision, Little Grey rarely took over Xia Zili’s body. The witch would only seize control during late-night bathroom trips, sitting on the toilet to secretly text Ke Mingqing before hurriedly deleting the history.

The group of players gunning for Bai Ziling hadn’t made any moves yet, and Kuroki Hitomi had yet to make contact with them. The Magical Girl Company was still investigating the witch who killed Kiyono Sakura.

Frankly speaking, Ke Mingqing spent every day on edge. He had too many things to worry about now; both Bai Ziling and Xia Zili faced the risk of being hunted down at any moment.

Early morning, Ke Mingqing opened his eyes in bed and looked at the red panel floating above his head.

[Good morning, Red Name Player ”Ke Mingqing,” whose situation is perilous yet who remains true to his original intentions.]

[The current time is September 8, 07:00, Saturday morning. The time remaining for the ”Exterminate Superhumans” mission is—111 days, 17 hours, and 0 minutes.]

”Holy shit, does this thing have a third eye?” Ke Mingqing threw off his blanket and muttered through narrowed eyes.

He stretched, crawled out of bed, and fished his phone out from under his pillow to check WeChat, wondering what his Pokémon-like family members were getting up to today.

[Notification: You have received a message from ”A Family That Loves Each Other.”]

[Xia Lingxue: I’m coming home for the day. A’Qing, you are not allowed to go out.]

[Ke Mingqing: I’m not even allowed to go out on my day off?]

[Xia Lingxue: I have something to tell you.]

”Second Sister’s presence really is oppressive...”

Ke Mingqing wiped a drop of cold sweat from his forehead. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a bad omen for the day.