Superman Termination Manual

"Did my older sister get dizzy from anger because of me?"

Ke Mingye thought to himself as he sneaked a bottle of chilled lemon-flavored cocktail from the fridge and stepped onto the staircase.

"I remember she just slipped out from the second floor. But when she came home, she walked in through the front door as bold as brass, which was rather careless... Ah, if she were in my shoes, playing as a gamer, she would've died three or four hundred times over."

"But it seems everyone didn't notice: it's understandable that dad didn't since he was in the bathroom, but big brother, that old fox, couldn't have missed it, right?"

"Looks like big brother must already know about older sister's identity from the eldest brother, otherwise it doesn't make sense."

As Ke Mingye thought this, he took out his smartphone, opened Baidu, and searched for rumors about "Out-of-Control Divine Communicators."

As the screen refreshed, a series of rumors popped up. Some said someone had caught the out-of-control Zeus killing a pregnant prostitute at a bar, others claimed the Divine Communicator Cernunos had killed his own troops during the Sudan Civil War.

However, these rumors were clarified by the Superhero Association as misinformation, and they sternly stated that legal responsibilities would be pursued if anyone continued to spread similar rumors.

The general public might not believe that Divine Communicators could lose control, but Ke Mingye did—after all, this was the information he had wheedled out of his older sister while assuming the identity of Dice Monster.

"Then big brother and second brother must know that Divine Communicators can eventually lose control. Could the Ninja Sect or Anomaly Control Bureau have some way to cure the monkey inside older sister?"

"If older sister has a risk of losing control, then Zeus might too... Right, could the Phoenix have turned into a super villain because of losing control?"

He pondered as he turned off his phone.

"Logically, if the Management Bureau can't solve this risk, then considering their nature, they would probably treat Zeus and older sister as targets for extermination, since one of their tasks is to manage superheroes who could lose control at any moment."

Ke Mingye's thoughts dwelled on this, and he suddenly paused.

He seemed to have made a connection, so he opened the task menu and looked up at the family main line of his eldest brother Ke Yinzhi—[Collaborate with "Black Judge" to kill other S-grade executives of the Management Bureau].

"Damn, so the eldest brother wants to slaughter those S-grade executives from the Management Bureau just to keep older sister safe from them?"

Ke Mingye had a sudden realization.

He walked on the stairs like a puppet on strings, zoning out for two or three seconds before snapping back to reality.

"So, after big brother and younger brother have finished, it's big brother and older sister's turn, huh?" he thought.

As he stepped onto the second floor, he coincidentally met Ke Yongzhu coming out of Bai Zini's room,with a dark face, shoulders slightly raised, and fists clenched at his sides.

He looked exactly like Spike, the little dog from "Tom and Jerry," when he gets angry.

"I'm done playing, they all target me, there goes my New Year's money," he muttered.

"Close the door!" Bai Zini, sitting on the bed, lifted her eyes and shouted down the hall, "Don't you have any manners, you elementary schooler?"

"It's not my room's door. Can't you close it yourself?"

"Heh, looking for a beating, huh? Tomorrow I'll tell dad and mom about that stuff with you and the panda."

Upon hearing this, Ke Yongzhu initially blinked, then scoffed with a face flushed red, turned his head, and obediently closed the door, his expression even more annoyed.

As Ke Mingye approached, he looked up from his phone, then took two steps to the right, blocking his path, and drawled.

"Yo, isn't this our little elementary schooler?"

"What do you want?"

"Looks like you got thrashed playing Fight the Landlord, huh?"

"So annoying," Ke Yongzhu retorted angrily, "They kept making me be the landlord, and every time I was about to play a card, they'd verbally attack me to distract me!"

"What do you mean verbally attack? Online you still get messages like 'hurry up, my flowers are wilting,' and now you can't even talk while playing in person?"

Bai Zini's rather smug voice came from the room, as if it were a matter of course.

"Exactly."

Following closely, Bai Zi Ling's calm voice came through, though not as aggressive as Bai Zini's.

Ke Mingye scratched his nose, chuckling as he asked, "How many rounds did you lose?"

Ke Yongzhu glared at him, "Kneeled for 10 rounds, lost a hundred bucks, are you satisfied now?"

"Well done."

Ke Mingye patted his shoulder and whispered close to his ear, "Tell me privately what you guys discussed in the family meeting the other day, and I'll help you win back your pocket money from those two witches."

As he spoke, Bai Zini's voice continued to provoke the elementary schooler from the room.

"Yay, I successfully won back the money I lost to Xiao Ling from the elementary schooler, I'm so happy."

"No." Ke Yongzhu shook his head and averted his face, "Big brother said I can't tell you. If you don't agree, go talk to him."

"Fine, just single me out then."

"It's not that we're singling you out, it's nothing important."

After whispering, Ke Yongzhu moved back to his own room and slammed the door shut.

Ke Mingye watched his retreating figure, stood still for two seconds, then went into the bathroom to wash up before also returning to his own room.

Just as he lay down on the bed, a vibration suddenly came from under the pillow.

He yawned, pulled out the spare phone from under the pillow, and glanced at it.

The notification was from QQ, sent by a profile whose avatar was a cartoon penguin wearing a gray skirt, seemingly drawn by a fan of Magical Girl Ash.

"Talking about not looking at the fan club, yet there she is eagerly looking and even using a fan-made picture as her alt account's avatar."

Ke Mingye stared at the avatar, thinking disdainfully.

He hadn't set an avatar for Little Red Riding Hood's QQ, so it displayed the default avatar: "The mountains are high and the waters clear, with a cow standing in the middle," quite abstract.

Ke Mingye shifted his gaze from Bai Zini's alt account avatar and looked at the message content.

[I'm not Ash: You there?]

Wow, such a standard "You there?" for a starter, little sis, you really know how to chat. Changing genders makes it feel like a real clown show.

Her QQ username was just like a middle schooler's.

Oh, she was a middle schooler, so that was fine then.

Thinking this, Ke Mingye typed in the QQ chat box and clicked send.

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Not here.]

He had intensely replicated the chat norm of 21st-century elementary school students.

[I'm not Ash: Haha, really funny.]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Glad to make you laugh, senior.]

[I'm not Ash: Actually, I meant to ask if you used my salary to buy new clothes?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Not yet, senior, don't stress that it's your salary, it puts a lot of pressure on me.]

[I'm not Ash: Where are you sleeping now?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Senior, are you checking my household registration?]

[I'm not Ash: I am just concerned about you, okay? I wouldn't bother about anyone else, you should be grateful, got it?]

Ke Mingye rolled his eyes and quickly changed his own QQ nickname.

[I'm not Little Red Riding Hood: Senior, you're so domineering. Have you been reading too many of those domineering CEO romance novels?]

[I'm not Ash: Who would read that stuff.]

[I'm not Little Red Riding Hood: Ah, I'm so pitiful, I've grown up without reading many romance novels, always busy picking up trash.]

[I'm not Ash: Let's not talk about this now, how did you change your QQ name so quickly?]

[I'm not Little Red Riding Hood: Is it not nice?]

[I'm not Ash: So annoying, can you change your name back?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Oh, I guess you don't like being imitated, senior. I thought you would be happy.]

[I'm not Ash: Talking to you really could give someone high blood pressure.]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: I think it's mutual, after all, The Little Match Girl can't be in the same fairy tale as Snow White.]

[I'm not Ash: Please, now you're getting sentimental with your references?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: (Seal crying emoji).]

[I'm not Ash: Are you free to come over tomorrow?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: I'm free, I'm an unemployed vagabond.]

[I'm not Ash: You're too aware of it, but you're still underage, how can you call yourself an unemployed vagabond?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Not studying, not working, what else if not unemployed? I understand, senior, you think I'm a tramp. I'll just leave Huanjing then.]

[I'm not Ash: Can you stop with the drama, okay?] Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Ke Mingye rested his hands behind his head, sighed, and thought to himself that usually at home she was the most dramatic, but now the tables had turned, indeed, what goes around comes around.

[I'm not Ash: Tomorrow I'll introduce you to two of your teammates. You'll work, patrol, and such together in the future.]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: I'm very shy.]

[I'm not Ash: Isn't that why I'll be there?]

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Senior, protect me. I'm afraid they'll look down on me, a country bumpkin, call me an orphan and a poor kid, I'm worried I won't be able to resist throwing garbage at them.]

[I'm not Ash: Your imagination really is rich. Such people joining the alliance would be quite odd.]

[I'm not Ash: Anyway, I'm logging off, I won't be able to sleep if I keep chatting with you.]

After dropping the last sentence, the QQ avatar of "I'm not Ash" turned gray, like a black and white photograph at a funeral.

Ke Mingye stashed the spare phone under the mattress and stared at the blank ceiling, lost in thought.

"The two teammates she mentioned must be Magical Girl Rainbow and Magical Girl Maple I saw that day... Their abilities are quite strong, turns out I might not even be able to beat them, but hanging on to their coattails might not be too bad."

"Newcomers have to team up; logically thinking, joining the Superhero Association means newcomers also have to team up. I'm really curious what kind of monsters and beasts will be in my hero squad when Blue Owl's identity enters the Association?"

"Ah, I just hope there won't be a superhero whose superpower is mind reading, otherwise I'd be totally doomed."

As he was thinking, suddenly a message bubble popped up in the upper right corner of his vision.

He reached out to burst the bubble, and a chat panel sprung up.

[Cai Bing: I've made the face mask you wanted overnight and placed it in a locker at Old Jingmai District Train Station.]

[Cai Bing: But be careful, your big brother seems to be a master of disguise too. I suggest keeping your distance or he might see through you.]

[Failed Man: That was quick, I'll be careful.]

[Cai Bing: You think you're speaking to just anyone? I'm off to sleep, no disturbances.]

Ke Mingye closed the chat panel, thought for two seconds, and immediately opened QQ to send a message to Ash.

[Little Red Riding Hood Selling Matches: Senior, after you introduce me to the two teammates tomorrow, I'd like to visit your place.]

The avatar of "I'm not Ash" lit up quickly.

After hesitating for a whole ten seconds, she replied to the message and immediately went offline afterwards.

[I'm not Ash: Depends on your behavior.]

"I need good behavior to go to my own home now, is it really that strict?"

Thinking this, Ke Mingye shrugged his shoulders, turned off the spare phone, and stuffed it back under the mattress. He slowly closed his eyelids and soon fell into a deep sleep.

A night without words.