Superman Termination Manual

June 23rd, evening, at the Bai Ke residence.

"Are you little stinkers going to sleep or not, don't think you can stay up all night just because it's summer vacation, always learning the bad stuff one after another without picking up anything good!"

Bai Wenna leaned against the railing at the top of the staircase, slightly bending down and shouting towards the living room below.

"Yin Zhi, Xiao Mo, as the oldest brothers, you have to set a good example and make sure your younger siblings go to bed."

With a series of shouts descending upon them, the group of youngsters who had gathered on the sofa to watch a movie all covered their ears and made their way upstairs, behaving exceptionally well, without a second of dawdling.

Seven figures of varying heights climbed the stairs and aimlessly walked to the bathroom, leaning against the wall under the pumpkin chandelier, fiddling with their phones.

As Bai Zini held the highest status in the home, she was the first entitled to wash up, quickly cutting past the six others and disappearing into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

No one dared to even hum a complaint, just busying themselves with their own things to pass the time in line.

Being someone with virtually no say in the household, Ke Mingye usually ended up last in such situations. So, he simply went back to his room, lying on the bed until everyone else was done washing up before going to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Then he sat on the bed, exhausted, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while.

"Come to think of it, the web shooter seems like it might be upgradable, but I haven't paid much attention to it."

Ke Mingye thought to himself and opened his bag, clicking on the "web shooter" equipment's "Extra Upgrade Options".

A series of panels with video introductions popped up, occupying his pupils.

"Currently, the B-grade equipment 'web shooter' has the following four upgrade options:

1. Electrified Webbing (5000 Mall Coins) (After upgrade, the launched web carries an electrical shock effect)

2. Neurotoxin (7000 Mall Coins) (After upgrade, the webbing's neurotoxin can cause confusion in touched opponents or even send them directly into a stunned state)

3. Expand maximum web fluid capacity (1000 Mall Coins) (After upgrade, the web shooter's web fluid capacity is increased)

4. Automatic repair device (4000 Mall Coins) (After upgrade, the equipment will repair itself when damaged, with the repair time depending on the extent of damage; the more severe the damage, the longer the repair time will be)]

"It all seems kind of pointless, especially this maximum web fluid capacity."

"Normally, you wouldn't run out of webbing in a single fight, and you can just refill it in the shop afterward; only in consecutive battles might you exhaust the web fluid, which I don't often encounter."

"As for the electrified web and neurotoxin, with so many Mall Coins, why wouldn't I save them to buy skills?"

Ke Mingye thought for a moment, then shook his head in denial.

"No, that's not right. Skills have cooldown times, but the web shooter doesn't, so upon reflection, it seems to be much more powerful than the average E-grade skill."

Since he did not have any Mall Coins at hand, he just kept the thought in the back of his mind, then turned to open the mission list, scanning the family main quest contents from top to bottom.

"Only Zi Ling and mom left to deal with."

"Mom's out of the question for now, I'll find time to talk to Zi Ling later, but are there other vampires in the world... besides Bai Ziling, I haven't seen a single one to date, and there's nothing about them online."

Ke Mingye mused absentmindedly, his gaze resting on the "Qing Ya" line at the bottom.

This family main quest had two branching paths, one of which was to join the Superhero Association under the superhero identity and enhance one's hero level.

"With Qing Ya monitoring the Huanjing branch of the association, how am I going to join the Superhero Association?"

As Ke Mingye thought about it, his eyes suddenly widened a bit.

In that second, a bold idea, a route he had never considered before, appeared in his mind.

"That's right, using a fake identity and staying close to Qing Ya would surely be discovered; he's not an idiot... so even with a hacker's help, it's impossible for the puppet to infiltrate the Superhero Association under a superhero guise."

"But what if it were me, myself..." Read exclusive chapters at empire

"If I use my own identity to play this superhero, even if dad figures out who I am, he wouldn't do anything to me."

"At most, he would come clean to me that he's Qing Ya and ask me to leave the Superhero Association; or perhaps, he might see me as his successor and start grooming me as such. After all, he's not getting any younger and should be looking for someone to take over, right?"

He turned over in bed, continuing his line of thought.

"The only issue might be that I won't be able to enter the fray myself. First, there's the danger of actual combat, and second, if dad gets me to wear a brain imaging helmet while at the Superhero Association, it would be game over."

"So, I still need the puppet to take my appearance, wear a bodysuit, and act as a vigilante a couple of times to build a reputation before applying to join the Superhero Association. The data from the Huanjing branch of the Superhero Association should all pass Qing Ya's scrutiny, so as long as my information gets uploaded to the internal database, he's bound to see it."

Ke Mingye thought this way, and opened the system's built-in "Thought Sketch" feature. With his thoughts as the brush, he absentmindedly started scribbling all over the doodle panel.

"So here comes the question, how should I design the bodysuit to have my own unique flair, when my sense of aesthetics seems to be lacking?"

At first, he had no clear idea, simply using chaotic strokes to release his thoughts, just like doodling on a blank notebook during class.

But gradually, he arrived at a key design philosophy:

——Imitate!

If he wanted to catch Qing Ya's attention among all the vigilantes and superheroes in Huanjing, the simplest and most straightforward method was to create a battle suit similar to Qing Ya's.

Moreover, this suit had to be basic, at least something that a teenager could have crafted on his own, so as not to arouse Ke Youqing's suspicion.

Otherwise, if Ke Mingye was wearing a high-tech, high-end battle suit made possible by advanced technology, Ke Youqing would definitely question whether he was being used by others, or if someone was helping him.

Then he could take the opportunity to further investigate the people around Ke Mingye.

This could lead to unnecessary trouble, and if a flaw is exposed, it might accidentally bury Fan Quan and the others deep into a pit.

"Let's do that."

Ke Mingye nodded, affirming his own idea in his mind, "Can't I just imitate my old man? It's a family tradition. Is there a need to pay royalties? If anything, I can just say I'm a fan of Qing Ya."

Once he had a clear direction, he took Qing Ya's suit as a prototype and started to sketch on the drawing board.

The clock on the wall ticked steadily, and the ceiling fan above moved slowly.

About twenty minutes later, Ke Mingye drew and edited as he went, finally sketching out a red and blue suit on his draft.

The mask of the suit also featured a red and blue beak in the center, but it wasn't as aggressive in design as Qing Ya's—its style was much softer.

Actually, the animal prototype Ke Mingye had in mind wasn't a crow, but a cartoon owl he had seen on the internet.

These days, superhero suits were designed after animal features because they were more memorable and made it easier for fans to create derivative works.

Then, when considering the color scheme, Ke Mingye for some reason thought of "Rainbow Cat Blue Rabbit Seven Chivalrous Tales", so he designed the suit's primary colors to be red and blue.

"What about the code name?"

He scratched his head, pondering.

"The shorter, the better, easy to remember... 'Owl' signifies an owl, so I'll call it 'Blue Owl'."

After he roughly sketched out the structure and colors of the suit on his draft, Ke Mingye opened the contact list, copied the draft, and sent it to "Fan Quan".

[Fan Quan: ?]

[Fan Quan: What's the meaning of sharing your doodles with me late at night?]

[Failed Man: I need you to craft a suit for me based on this sketch.]

[Fan Quan: You're too flattering.]

[Fan Quan: And why do you need a suit? You're not going into battle in the flesh. If the puppet dies, it's gone, it doesn't need the protection of a suit.]

[Failed Man: I actually do plan to go into battle myself. I want to infiltrate the Superhero Association as a superhero to get close to Qing Ya.]

[Fan Quan: Are you joking?]

[Failed Man: I'm serious. It would be good to coordinate from the inside and out. If I can stay by Qing Ya's side as a superhero, I'd also know how his investigation on you guys is progressing. Maybe I could even save your lives at a critical moment...]

[Fan Quan: What about the brain imaging helmet?]

[Failed Man: Uh, I've thought about that too. I can have the puppet replace me when necessary. I'll adapt as needed.]

[Fan Quan: Then I think it's feasible. After all, Qing Ya is your dad. If he's willing to cover for you or even mentor you, you definitely won't have a hard time in the Association.]

[Fan Quan: But are you sure he'll agree to you becoming a superhero? Given how much he values family, he's more likely to have you stay at home.]

[Failed Man: If that doesn't work, I'll force it. I'll first draw his attention and see if he reveals his identity to me.]

[Fan Quan: He doesn't need to reveal his identity to have you stay at home. Qing Ya can pressure the Association to kick you out.]

[Failed Man: You're right. If he really does that, then I'll continue fighting crime as a vigilante. I can stage a few melodramas when the opportunity arises, and he will come to me on his own.]

[Fan Quan: Okay, that sounds bold, but if you can really get into the Superhero Association, it's worth a try.]

[Failed Man: You've said it yourself, fortune favors the bold.]

[Failed Man: Right, except for your hacker friend, let's keep this matter secret from the other players for now. If we can deceive our own, we can deceive the enemy.]

[Fan Quan: Alright, Cai Bing and I will find connections to help you build a suit. It doesn't need to be too professional to fit your identity, so it shouldn't be too difficult.]

[Failed Man: The suit is just a ruse. Once I get into the Association, they will help me improve it, and I might even get some suite skills added on.]

[Failed Man: Oh wait, not just the Association, I feel like my dad will personally upgrade my suit.]

[Fan Quan: It's not impossible.]

[Failed Man: Just remember to reference the sketch I sent, it can be simple, but I won't accept anything too ugly.]

[Fan Quan: You sure have a lot of conditions.]

Ke Mingye stopped chatting there and closed the communication panel.

Since the suit was taken care of, it was time for him to think about the practicalities... Getting close to Qing Ya, staying by his side—it wasn't a joke, one wrong move could lead to a brutal death.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"So, here comes the question," he thought. "When should I start fighting crime as 'Blue Owl', and how can I quickly get Qing Ya's attention without being too deliberate to raise his suspicions?"

"Also, I must differentiate from the 'strange thing' identity and not use the same abilities—at least the 'web shooter' and 'superhero landing' moves that I've used before should be hidden..."

"Actually, once my physical fitness attributes are a bit higher, I could beat up criminals with my fists alone, no need for any special abilities."

Ke Mingye thought about these things as he closed his eyes, his tired consciousness gradually sinking into slumber.

"I'll have to play it by ear. Take it one step at a time."