Superman Termination Manual

The night was deep, and the room was as silent as an ancient, deserted attic. Moonlight, having slipped through the curtains stirred by the breeze, lay upon the rusted and yellowing clock.

The minute hand moved ceaselessly, its ticking sound lingering, until it leisurely reached the upper right position.

Ke Mingye's eyelids twitched slightly, as if his biological clock had punctually triggered.

He first took a deep breath, then sat up, reached out to rub the Tianming Acupoint, and finally slowly lifted his swollen eyes to open them.

Ke Mingye had admitted to himself that there was a second when he had hoped to wake up back in his original world.

But upon opening his eyes, the first thing that caught his attention was still a red and black notification panel. He had grown accustomed to this mental pollution, like a curse tinged with the scent of blood.

"Good morning, Mr. Player. Today is June 24, 2028. The time remaining until the ultimate task 'Extermination of the Superhumans' deadline: 359 days."

"Current number of global surviving players: 95 out of 100."

"Today's daily tasks are as follows."

"1. Run 6000 meters (Reward: one chance at the lucky draw)

"2. Challenge an instance once (Obtain 1 freely distributable attribute point) (Reward also available upon instance failure)"

"Running six kilometers, the requirements for these tasks seem to be getting higher, but there's no rule that says it has to be a morning jog. Might as well run in the evening."

While yawning and with sleep-blurred eyes, Ke Mingye checked the task list and then lay back down, closing his eyelids to continue his slumber.

However, not long after he had shut his eyes, a series of knocks on the door intruded his dreamscape.

The rhythm of the knocks went from slow to urgent, and finally, it seemed like the person outside had given up, tapping slowly, but incessantly, never stopping for even a second.

Ke Mingye endured it for a full minute, then took a deep breath, opened his eyes sharply, and sat up from bed, thinking, who knocks on the door at this hour after having played till so late last night? Are they sick?

But recalling that he had knocked on Ke Xiaomo's door early yesterday morning, he realized it would seem hypocritical to get angry, so he reluctantly got out of bed.

Turning the doorknob, he pushed the door open.

Just as Ke Mingye was about to let loose a torrent of anger, he turned and saw a young girl in a sport jacket.

Ah damn, it's the apex predator of the food chain at home, 'Magical Girl Ash', Miss Ash. Well, that settles it... What 'Black Judge', what 'Qing Ya', isn't it all just following your commands? How could a tragic puppet like me dare to talk back to you?

Ke Mingye bowed his head, sighing inwardly.

If outside the home the people he most dared not provoke were the Black Judge and Qing Ya, then inside the home it was undoubtedly Bai Zini and Bai Wenna.

The personalities of this mother and daughter were damnably cut from the same cloth.

At this moment, Bai Zini was leaning against the wall outside the room, playing with her phone while stretching out a finger, about to knock, when she realized the door was already open.

She glanced sideways at Ke Mingye, puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction and said, "Hey bro, didn't you say you'd go jogging with me in the morning?" She paused, then pinched Ke Mingye's cheek, "Why are you sleeping like a pig, impossible to wake up."

"Please, that was days ago?"

Ke Mingye let her pinch his face, moved his stiff shoulders, and complained.

"I suddenly remembered it in my dream just now, and then I woke up. Aren't you touched?"

"So touched I can barely handle it. How about you go for a run by yourself?"

"Come on, what's wrong with you? I'm already awake, and your sister is out there waiting for you early in the morning!"

"Good night."

With that, Ke Mingye was about to close the bedroom door. Bai Zini, however, grabbed the hem of his clothes, dragged him out, and then forcefully pushed him into the bathroom.

"Good night has passed, it's time to say good morning, you know. Hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth."

Bai Zini, head down, pushed Ke Mingye's back and ordered sternly, word by word.

"You're invincible, kid."

Ke Mingye sighed, resigned to his fate as he was pushed in front of the bathroom and had no choice but to enter.

He looked at himself in the mirror. Dark circles lurked menacingly under his eyes, giving him a somewhat haggard look, but thank goodness for good genes. It was just that his features hadn't fully matured yet, leaving him looking a bit youthful.

After freshening up, he checked the news on his mobile phone as he walked out of the bathroom, and descended the stairs alongside the long-waiting Bai Zini.

Ke Mingye looked up to see the dark blue sky, olive-green trees, iron-black road surface, and electronic signs with light blue glows. The scenery of Old Jingmai Street was faintly discernible in the early morning mist, as if draped with a cold-toned filter.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Their steps were slow as they walked on the deserted street, like two warm-toned figures insert into a lonely painting, breaking the silent yet harmonious atmosphere.

Bai Zini put her phone into the pocket of her sports jacket and turned to look at Ke Mingye, saying, "How about I invite the elementary school students and Xiao Ling to run with us tomorrow, the four of us together?"

"Let's not, you alone are enough trouble for me."

Bai Zini frowned. "Please, as if I enjoy hanging out with my big brother like this. It's not as if you weren't the one who kept pestering me before."

"I was worried about your safety because you were still going out so late."

"Oh, what about the time we went running in the morning?"

"GoGoGo, let's run a couple of laps, and then we can grab breakfast and head back."

Ke Mingye changed the subject and started running at a steady pace.

He didn't run fast, always keeping in sync with Bai Zini. They chatted about Magical Girl Ash and school stuff intermittently, and before they knew it, the 6-kilometer morning run was over.

It must be said, compared to the legendary acting skills of the others at home, Bai Zini's performance could really be hit or miss, like a Schrödinger's cat.

The reason for saying that:

— It's because she didn't even seem to be out of breath after running 6 kilometers!

She was literally bouncing around on the street, just shy of dropping down to show off her stamina with five hundred push-ups to highlight just how extraordinary she was.

Ke Mingye, panting on the side, felt pretty awkward, like wanting to compete in acting with a movie star, feeling nervous inside, but then the star doesn't even deign to take you seriously and just slacks off, a real disparity...

He leaned on his knees, catching his breath, thinking, "Sis, could you not play along here? Because, as an E-class superhuman, huffing and puffing like this just seems kind of stupid, doesn't it?"

Meanwhile, Bai Zini just kept her head down, busy with her phone, and casually patted his back a couple of times. "Big bro, you okay? Why are you panting like you're about to die after just a few steps?"

"How, how many points did you get in physical education... in the test?"

Ke Mingye said between gasps, desperately hinting to her with his words and thinking to himself, if you don't start acting soon, I'm really going to flip this table, let's just drop the act.

"Um... just barely passed, I guess?"

Bai Zini typed on her phone, responding casually.

"Okay, looks like I still have a long way to go to pass."

Ke Mingye sighed and mocked himself, slowly getting up from his knees, thinking that Bai Zini truly had no guard up in front of him, as if being recognized didn't even matter to her.

Just as he stood up, Bai Zini suddenly covered her mouth and let go of her phone, "Ah, shall we take a break?"

"What's wrong?" Ke Mingye looked at her askance.

"What do you mean 'what'? We ran so far; am I not supposed to be tired?" Bai Zini leaned down clutching her chest as if panting, then glanced at Ke Mingye, "Were you not out of breath just a moment ago?"

Ke Mingye fell silent completely, thinking are you kidding me? When I'm panting, you're not, and now when I stop, you start?

After a while, he quietly bent down again, hands on his knees, breathing heavily, "Tired, how could I not be tired, sis... I'm damn exhausted."

From a distance, these two future legendary superhumans looked like two disabled people supporting each other as they moved forward, eventually sitting down on a bench by the roadside.

Ke Mingye looked up at the sky with a look of utter desolation, wondering if things could get any more idiotic.

He swore that once he debuted as the superhero Blue Owl, he would definitely confront Bai Zini directly. Pretending like this day after day was really an insult to his intelligence.

The two sat on the bench to rest for a moment, during which Ke Mingye opened his mission panel and claimed the reward for daily task one.

[Reward for "Daily Task One: Run 6000 meters" has been claimed — one spin of the wheel. ]

The tooltip popped up, and the reward wheel unfolded in front of him, with text from each section catching his eye.

[1. 2000 Mall Coins;]

[2. 1000 Experience Points;]

[3. Fragment of the Divine Disc *1 (Collect 5 fragments to obtain a Divine Disc, which can be used to regularly locate a divine relic);] Find your next adventure on empire

[4. Skill Enhancement Card Fragment *1 (Collect 3 fragments to obtain a Skill Enhancement Card);]

[5. "Titan Beast Kong" fragment (50 Kong fragments are required to assemble a summoning card);]

[6. E-level Skill Card — Scout Guard.]

"Today's wheel is so high-stakes?" Ke Mingye raised an eyebrow, thinking that it seemed any result would be good, especially the fourth one.

Thinking this, he pressed the start button for the wheel, and the pointer began to spin rapidly.

Eventually, it stopped on section three.

[Congratulations, you have received the reward from section three: "Fragment of the Divine Disc" *1. The item has been added to your bag.]

"Good, good, good, I'm one step closer to becoming a Divine Communicator," Ke Mingye thought. "I wonder if I can find Loki's divine relic, get his way of communicating with the divine, and not have to live in fear anymore."

"Brother, are you well-rested yet?" Bai Zini asked.

"Enough, let's go have breakfast."

........

........

Time silently moved on, bringing us to 2 PM on June 24th.

In Huanjing, the Hongge Amusement Park.

This was a long-abandoned amusement park, the air damp with moisture, with age-marked rides scattered everywhere.

Fan Quan had summarized the pattern for the emergence of instances before: most instances seemed to only appear in abandoned places—likely to avoid the entrance to an instance being in a place with too many passersby.

Moreover, players had an "Instance Detection Function," which would emit a signal as long as the instance was nearby, making it extra easy for them to find instances now.

"Spider Man still hasn't arrived? He's always the last one." Qing Meng leaned against the guardhouse at the entrance, playing with her phone and grumbling.

Fan Quan adjusted his glasses and teased, "Last time he said he was going to the port to pick someone up, but guess who was the one who couldn't get up and stood us up? I don't think you're much better than him."

"Quiet down and see how I do," Paranoid said coldly, cutting off their conversation.

"If we count on you to 'do well,' we might as well call it a night right now."

Cai Bing's indifferent voice came from inside the guardhouse; she was hunched over her laptop playing "Eternal Judgment."

Soon, a figure in blue coveralls approached from the distance, saying, "I'm here."

Fan Quan looked at his outfit, "Kid's clothing again?"

"Forgot to turn off auto-pickup, and this outfit just ended up on me without me noticing," Ke Mingye answered.

"Can't you harass some other clothing shops? If you keep targeting the same one, you'll get noticed," Fan Quan said.

"Isn't that what I'm doing?"

Qing Meng looked up from her phone, turning to Ke Mingye, "You're really slow, let's start."

"Which instance are we doing today?" asked Ke Mingye.

"Ghost Ship," Cai Bing answered from inside the guardhouse. "Look behind you at six o'clock, and you'll see the instance introduction."

Hearing this, Ke Mingye turned right and looked back. His gaze found an old pirate ship hanging in the air, with a verdant-green instance panel floating in front of the ship's bow, with words clear enough to be read at a glance.

[Instance Name: The Sixteen Spirits on the Pirate Ship]

[Instance Location: Hongge Commercial Street, Hongge Amusement Park]

[Instance Difficulty: E-level (Recommended for teams of players levels 5 through 12 to challenge)]