A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

The siblings embraced in the dark bedroom, feeling each other’s body heat.

They stared blankly into each other’s eyes. After a long moment, someone finally spoke:

”Why... are you here?”

Xia Zili let go of his shoulders and shrank back toward the headboard, casting him a look of bewilderment and fear.

Ke Mingqing froze for a long time. He released his grip on Xia Zili’s shoulders and pulled himself back, putting a little distance between them.

”I...”

Before he could explain, a voice suddenly spoke from outside the door:

”A’Qing, are you awake?”

Ke Mingqing froze, snapping back to reality.

He quickly typed on his phone and held the screen up to her: ”Don’t make a sound. Dad doesn’t know you’re in here. It’ll make him suspicious.”Xia Zili frowned slightly, pressing her lips together and swallowing the words she had just been about to say. In the next moment, they both held their breath.

The two huddled at the top corner of the bed, backs against the wall. They turned their heads slightly, staring into each other’s eyes in the dark. The girl’s eyes were filled with resentment, confusion, and fear; the boy’s eyes held a trace of bewilderment.

After a moment, Ke Mingqing lowered his gaze, avoiding her eyes.

They hadn’t spoken for a long time—not since Xia Zili told him to stay away from her. But he never expected their next conversation to happen in a situation like this.

”A’Qing, say something if you’re awake. It’s my fault...” Ke Mingwei knocked on the door, his muffled voice coming from outside. ”I shouldn’t have suspected you.”

Xia Zili listened in silence. For some reason, she buried her face against her drawn-up knees. Her expression was cold, a faint light shimmering in her eyes.

Ke Mingwei lingered outside the room for a moment.

With a soft click, he gently twisted the doorknob to come in, but quickly changed his mind.

As his footsteps faded away once more, the bedroom fell completely silent.

Ke Mingqing remained quiet, sitting against the wall with his hands resting on his bent knees.

The siblings sat in the dark for a while, separated by a small gap, before Xia Zili finally broke the silence.

The girl kept her head lowered and asked softly, ”Why am I in here? The witch... did she come out again?”

Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment before nodding.

”Yeah.”

Xia Zili’s cheek twitched, her gaze shifting.

”Makes sense. She’s been coming out more and more often lately...” she said, feigning indifference. ”But why did I wake up to find you two so close?”

”I...”

Ke Mingqing hesitated in the dark. He couldn’t exactly tell her that he had borrowed the witch’s power to evade Dad’s player test. His sister would definitely be furious.

”I’ll wait for you to speak,” Xia Zili said softly.

After a long pause, Ke Mingqing shook his head. ”I don’t know how to explain it. It’s complicated.”

Xia Zili turned her head slightly, staring at his evasive eyes. Her own eyes involuntarily reddened.

”Is telling me the truth... really that hard for you?” she asked softly, a faint smile curling the corner of her lips.

”Let me think about how to say it first. Just don’t get upset.”

Ke Mingqing mumbled.

”How complicated?”

Xia Zili lowered her eyes, staying quiet for a moment before continuing, ”Complicated like you secretly messaging her on your phone every night, or calling her out to keep you company when you have nothing to do?”

She paused.

”Whenever I think about her taking over my body, stealing my family, my brother... and how incredibly happy she is just to be with you... Did you ever consider how I felt, brother?”

Ke Mingqing froze.

At that moment, the face of a boy suddenly flashed through his mind. A dirty boy standing in the pouring rain, head bowed before his own front door, waiting for someone to let him in.

’Right...’ he thought. ’Isn’t what I’m doing to the other Ke Mingqing the exact same thing the witch is doing?’

Seeing him stay quiet for a long while, Xia Zili suddenly smiled.

”Do you think this is fun?” she pressed, tilting her head.

”I don’t...”

Their eyes met in the dark. Xia Zili’s gaze was clouded with mist, while Ke Mingqing’s eyes were unsteady and evasive.

”You really don’t?” she asked, her lips parting slightly.

”Yeah.”

Xia Zili lowered her head. Like a kite with a snapped string, she slowly shrank back, leaning against the corner as she asked, ”Then why... you’re perfectly willing to hug her, but you won’t say a single word to me?”

Ke Mingqing was left speechless.

”I’m sorry...” he said. ”You must have been terrified. You needed me, but I didn’t know a thing... I wasn’t on your side.” As he spoke, he leaned forward, trying to get a little closer to her.

”Don’t come near me...” she said hoarsely.

”I’m sorry, sis. I’m a useless brother. I didn’t notice a thing,” Ke Mingqing said.

”But I don’t even recognize you anymore,” Xia Zili whispered. ”Are you really the brother I knew?”

Ke Mingqing froze.

”Who are you exactly... My brother would never do this. She’s a witch, she’s not your sister... I’m your sister.”

Saying this, Xia Zili looked up from under her bangs, her tear-filled eyes locked onto his as she murmured weakly, ”This is my body, not hers.”

Ke Mingqing silently moved a fraction closer to her.

”Don’t come over...”

Xia Zili backed away, her voice raspy. ”Your sister is going insane. She isn’t acting like herself, her very memories have been stolen away... I spend all day and night wondering what’s going to happen to me. Why are you treating the person who stole everything from me so well? It’s so strange...”

Her lips trembled slightly as she lowered her voice.

”I don’t understand... If even you get taken away, what do I have left?”

Ke Mingqing’s pupils contracted slightly, and he opened his mouth, his voice hoarse.

”I’m sorry.”

Xia Zili stayed silent for a brief moment. She raised her head and slowly asked, ”Tell me... are you really my brother?”

”I... I am...”

Ke Mingqing looked up, staring blankly into her eyes. He subconsciously reached out to her, but the moment he met her icy gaze, his arm suddenly dropped, accidentally brushing against the mental map icon in his vision.

In an instant, a chaotic flood of thoughts appeared on the blank mental map interface.

[”No... you must undergo a Brain Imaging Helmet scan right now. I’ll watch you right here. It won’t take long,” the fake said.]

[”A player is a soul from another world. If you’re chosen, you are no longer yourself,” the fake said.]

[”By then, you won’t be our family anymore, so how could you possibly not bear to kill us?” the fake said.]

[”Occupying someone else’s body, surrounded by relationships that aren’t your own, looking at these fake family members, bonding with people who don’t belong to you, receiving love and tolerance that you shouldn’t have... You’re a very lonely person. Your heart must be in agony, right?” said the real, but already dead person.]

Ke Mingqing looked at the text that nearly filled the entire mental map, a flash of exhaustion crossing his eyes.

He lowered his head. The mental map reflected in his pupils continued to refresh with new text.

[Right, who... am I?]

[Who exactly was I again?]

[White Jack?]

[Giovanni?]

[Blue Pigeon?... Bai? No, none of those are right. My name should be Ke Mingqing.]

[Yeah, just like him, just like this body, I’m also named Ke Mingqing.]

[I’m Ke Mingqing, seventeen years old, a high school student. After leaving the orphanage, I went to high school... I have no family. I don’t have a single family member. None of these people are my family.]

[They are all fake.]

After a while, Ke Mingqing raised his head and looked at Xia Zili, who was hidden behind the swirling vortex of text.

Xia Zili’s eyes were hidden by her bangs.

Ke Mingqing said nothing. He just lifted his head, his hollow gaze fixed on the countdown panel floating above.

[Time remaining for the ”Exterminate Superhumans” mission: 106 days, 6 hours, 55 minutes, 45 seconds...]

Time was still ticking away.

Amidst the ticking sound, Ke Mingqing suddenly let out a low chuckle. He shrugged and spoke in a hoarse voice:

”If only lying to myself worked... Honestly.”

”What are you talking about?”

Only then did Xia Zili look up from beneath her bangs and ask.

”I’m saying... I really don’t know who I am anymore.”

Ke Mingqing lowered his eyes slightly, staring back at her in exhaustion. After all these years, this was the first time he had ever seen such an expression on her face. The look she shot him contained cold resentment, disgust, and confusion.

A moment later, he looked away and said softly, ”You’re right... I was never your brother to begin with.”

Xia Zili froze.

In the reflection of her slightly widened eyes, a single tear slid from the corner of Ke Mingqing’s eye.

He was silent for a moment before continuing, ”Maybe I’m just an orphan. Just an orphan lodging in your house?”

With that, he lowered his head, his gaze shifting faintly in the dark. ”That’s how you’ve always seen me anyway, isn’t it?”

Xia Zili looked up, wanting to speak but unable to form the words. She merely stared blankly into his eyes.

The bedroom fell into absolute silence. Her eyes were completely rimmed in red.

”That’s not what I think...” she said softly, after a very long silence.

A moment later, Xia Zili leaned forward slightly, reaching out her arms, and hugged him tightly.

”I’m sorry, brother.”

The two sat on the bed, holding each other once more. Ke Mingqing slowly lowered his head.

He cast down his exhausted eyes in the darkness.

Driven by his flowing thoughts, messy handwriting continuously manifested on the blank mental map, like a spaced-out person scribbling wildly in an empty notebook.

[I am Ke Mingqing, seventeen years old, a high school student.]

[I must kill my family. They are all fake.]

[No one will care about me. If I get found out, I will die... They only want to kill me. Everything they gave me is fake.]

[They are not my family.]

[Ke Mingqing, seventeen. I am an orphan. Right, I have no family. I don’t have a family at all... I like being alone. I don’t need a family...]

[No one has ever adopted me. I don’t want a family.]

[I’m fine on my own. As long as I’m alone, I don’t have to worry about being abandoned. I don’t have to be afraid of getting hurt.]

[But... if possible... I’ve always really, really wanted to have a home.]

[If possible... I wanted to have parents to stay by my side. If possible, I wanted to have an older brother, an older sister. And if possible, I wanted to have a younger sister too.]

[Yeah, everything I’ve ever wanted is right here...]

[I’m so happy here. I’ve never been this happy. Everyone surrounds me... I have a family now. I’m not alone anymore.]

[But they all want to kill me. Sooner or later, they will kill me.]

[Yes, I know. I’m just a robber, a murderer. I stole ’Ke Mingqing’s’ family, yet I arrogantly let myself wallow in it.]

[Making it seem... seem as if I were the real Ke Mingqing.]

Ke Mingqing’s eyes blurred with tears. He tore his gaze away from the map and turned his head, looking exhaustedly at the side of Xia Zili’s face.

The girl tilted her head, burying her cheek into his shoulder. He could feel her soft breathing and cool body heat. On the mental map, every word was gently pulsing like the tide.

[I am Ke Mingqing, seventeen. I am a murderer. I killed a sixteen-year-old boy who shared my first and last name.]

[I am a liar. I stole his family’s affection for him, and I even thought about killing all his relatives.]

[Kill, every single one...]

[The people who love him deeply.]

[So hypocritical, so disgusting...]

[So disgusting that I want... to tear myself in half.]

[But, if I die just like this... will anyone remember me? Who in this world will remember me?]

[Will Dad and my little sister remember me?]

[No, they won’t. So even if I threw my life away to protect them, what’s the point? The one they’ll remember isn’t me... The one they’ll remember is the person I already killed...]

[Right, I’m just acting as him. Impersonating this enviable person. Everything I’ve gained is fake. None of it is real.]

[Should I apologize to the person whose body I stole?]

[But what can I even say to him? I don’t think there’s anyone in this world who understands him better than I do. No one knows him better than me... yet I’m the one who killed him.]

[What should I say?]

[Should I really say to the person I killed, ”I stole your life, your family, your everything”... Or should I tell him, ”I’m sorry, I’m here to kill your family. I have no choice but to kill them”?]

[Or should I say to him... ”Thank you for letting me experience what it feels like to have a family. For the first time, people were willing to treat me like family, even if it was fake”...]

[Can I tell you, Xia Zili? I really want to tell you.]

[I’m not Ke Mingqing.]

[I’m no one. I’m just me. I can’t even be considered a parasite... Even so, would you still stay by my side?]

[But if even you look at me with those eyes, what am I supposed to do... If not you, then who else? When it comes down to it, who can I tell the truth to?]

[To my family? To who?]

[Can anyone hear me...]

[Even if it’s just one person, please, just listen to me, alright?]

Holding Xia Zili, Ke Mingqing awkwardly leaned the side of his head against the wall. His eyes gradually reddened, and for some reason, his vision started to blur.

He stared motionlessly at the bedside lamp on the desk. The lampshade seemed to warp into a blurry halo, flickering and swaying before his eyes.

”Brother, are you okay?” A moment later, the voice murmuring by his ear broke his train of thought.

”Yeah.”

Xia Zili didn’t look up, only kept her eyes lowered as she leaned on his shoulder. ”You’re crying... Even if it’s only from one eye.”

”My eyes are just acting up from allergies...” Ke Mingqing said, gently rubbing his eye. ”I’m fine.”

”Are you really fine?” Xia Zili pressed.

”I’m fine.”

Xia Zili went silent for a long time before whispering, ”When you were little, Mom told me never to let you feel like you were an adopted child. She told me to be good to you.”

”Hmm...” Ke Mingqing thought for a moment. ”So you only clung to me all the time because Mom told you to? Now my pride is a little hurt.”

”How could that be it...”

Xia Zili gave his shoulder a light bite, turning her head and saying softly, ”Even though I didn’t like you at first, I later realized you were actually very lonely and lost. But you were kind. You’d feed the stray dogs and cats on the street, and deep down, you cared about the family more than anyone. Even if you always acted so impatient with me back then, I knew you cared about me.”

”Oh, then do you think... I’ve been acting really weird lately?”

Ke Mingqing put on a casual tone as he asked softly, his voice so hoarse it sounded as though something was caught in his throat.

”Not at all,” Xia Zili shook her head. ”You’re still the same brother you were, but you’ve become even better... For the first time, I realized how great you actually are. You could tell right away when I was in a bad mood, and you put your arm around my shoulders at the beach to comfort me. You never used to do that. You just kept to yourself, cooped up in your room.”

Resting against his shoulder, she said absent-mindedly, ”You started caring about me. You’d ask me if I was in a bad mood, you’d come over on your own to pat my head, you’d actually consider what I was thinking... Even though sometimes you still detach yourself like you used to, and get that incredibly lonely look on your face.”

Ke Mingqing’s lips twitched downward. It was hard to tell if he was smiling or not.

”I’m actually so tired... I’ve been tired this whole time,” he said.

”I know you’re tired. It’s always been hard for you to fit into this family.” Xia Zili stroked his hair. ”You have such an awkward, reclusive personality. You’d only ever run your mouth to pretend you didn’t care about us, hiding away in your room by yourself... That’s why when I was little, I’d try so hard knocking on your door, hoping that one day you’d open up and tell me what was really on your mind, just like you are today.”

”Is that right...”

”Yeah... Do you remember when the teacher asked me on a test what kind of person I wanted to be when I grew up?”

”I remember.”

Xia Zili chuckled softly. ”I wrote that I wanted to be a magical girl. I wanted to pick up a magic wand and protect my brother. The kids in the classroom all laughed at me. They were so mean.”

”You were so childish. Who else were they supposed to laugh at...”

Ke Mingqing said hoarsely, trying his best to put on his usual mocking tone.

”It was a bit childish, wasn’t it?”

”I know. For the past two years since you became a magical girl, you’ve been following me, always flying right over my head after school.”

”You noticed that?”

”Yeah. You were way too obvious.”

”I couldn’t help it. This world is so, so messed up. So many people die every day. My best friend died too... So I really wanted to keep you safe.”

”Why can’t it be the older brother protecting you?” Ke Mingqing said exhaustedly, gazing down at her cheek.

Xia Zili asked softly, ”But... I’m about to turn into a witch soon. If I become a murderous she-devil who kills without batting an eye... Brother, will you still protect me?”

”I...”

Ke Mingqing stared blankly.

In the dead silent bedroom, the blood-red countdown continued to pulse above his head.

”I...”

He suddenly lowered his head, repeating the same word.

”I will...”

Above the mental map unfurled before his eyes, words danced frantically.

[I will...]

[I will, kill you.]

Ke Mingqing’s eyes were obscured by his bangs. He opened his mouth slightly as if letting out a soundless scream, while the mental map continuously refreshed with chaotic text.

[I will, kill you, I will kill you, kill you kill you, kill I will kill Nerissa you kill you kill you, where inside work for Shanda Company Royalwei appointed........... do something era even more Satan killed, killed, killed.... I will...... kill... is it you who killed ah you...]

[I will kill you kill kill kill you you.....]

[Kill your whole family....]

[Including you....]

[I wi....]

[will...]

[wi...]

The messy text surfaced on the mental map like a virus-infected program, or like garbled code. It continuously multiplied, stretching outward as if without end...

A moment later, a line of tears slid down Ke Mingqing’s twitching cheek.

He lifted his tear-blurred eyes, staring at the mental map in the dark.

The text on the map twisted. In that instant, it was as if all the phrases of ”kill you” were dancing, blurring and shifting within his teary gaze. Finally, the words reflected in his eyes all turned into the exact same sentence.

[I will protect you.]

At that moment, Xia Zili turned her head in confusion, glancing at Ke Mingqing’s expression.

His eyes were hidden by his bangs, his lips parting slightly.

He murmured soundlessly, ”I will... keep you safe.”

”I’ve never had a family. Even if it’s only for half a year... I so desperately want to have a family.”

”The others don’t matter. I don’t care what happens to them.”

Ke Mingqing’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, his eyes rimmed with red.

”So, at the very least...”

”At the very least, I want you to stay by my side.”

In the darkness, Ke Mingqing pulled Xia Zili into a tight embrace, tears streaming endlessly from his eyes.

”At the very least, just you... I will let you live.”

He forced out a few quiet words from his throat.

It was just a few simple words, yet it seemed to drain all his strength, carrying an overwhelming sense of relief.

”You are... my...”

”Family.”