Ke Mingqing

July 1, 2026, at dusk, the capital of China.

The sky over Dawn Capital burned blood-red beneath the setting sun, the clouds flowing like a sea of flushed wine. At that moment, a bright yellow school bus was slowly making its way down the avenue.

In the last row of the bus, a boy in a school uniform rested his chin on his hand and silently gazed out the window.

His face was faintly reflected in the glass—a delicate face, his brows and eyes carrying a touch of indifference.

The boy stared motionlessly at the distant Dawn Capital Bridge. Traffic flowed endlessly across it, never stopping for a moment. A huge white bird roared toward the horizon, leaving only a spiraling contrail stretching across the evening glow.

After a while, he slightly raised his eyes and looked at the blood-red panel at the very top of his vision.

[Dear player "Ke Mingqing," 179 days, 5 hours, 30 minutes, and 24 seconds remain until the deadline for your mission, "Exterminate Superhumans."]

[In two hours, the player functions "Super-species Encyclopedia" and "Skill Store" will gradually unlock. Based on your current environment, a series of tailored "Main Quests" will be created for you.]

Ke Mingqing shrugged. His feelings were exceptionally complicated.

It felt like downloading a Pokémon game, only to open it and find that Professor Oak handed him neither a Poké Ball nor a Pokédex, but a boning knife.

Then the professor told him, "Wow, Ash, you're finally here! Next, we'll devote ourselves to wiping every Pokémon off the face of the Earth. Go kill a Pikachu with this boning knife first, then bring me its corpse so I can take a look."

Expressionless, Ke Mingqing gave a dry laugh and turned back to stare blankly out the window.

Just then, the girl beside him, with shoulder-length black hair and a beauty mark at the corner of her eye, suddenly spoke in a low voice.

"Y-you came from over there too?"

Ke Mingqing turned to look at the girl with the beauty mark. The words "Player" slowly appeared above her head, along with her name.

Her name was Hitomi Kuroki, an exchange student from Japan. Before being transported here, they had been assigned to the same classroom and had only met once. It seemed that both of them had crossed over, and both had received the inexplicable identity of "Player."

"What else would it be? What do you think is floating over my head?" Ke Mingqing asked quietly.

"Why didn't you come confirm it with me?" Hitomi Kuroki thought for a moment. "Aren't we classmates?"

Ke Mingqing answered bluntly, "I didn't think it was necessary."

Hitomi Kuroki fell silent for a while. "What do you think will happen in our original world?"

"I'm an orphan, anyway," Ke Mingqing said unconcernedly. "If I disappeared over there, nobody would miss me. At most, they'd put on a show and look for me for a while, then forget about me soon enough. But it's different for you. Your family must be panicking right now."

"That's true..." Hitomi Kuroki nodded gently, lowering her eyes as she wondered about something.

At that moment, a roar suddenly came from directly above the school bus. The entire vehicle immediately shook violently.

The students looked up in panic, only to see the roof of the bus ripped apart. A tall figure dropped through the opening, crashing into the very center of the bus against the sunlight. Cracks spread beneath his feet.

Ke Mingqing played with his phone without even looking up. "There it is—the disposable villain that shows up on schedule in every brain-dead superhero movie."

He sounded as calm as if he had spotted a Pokémon in the grass, but Hitomi Kuroki froze.

She looked up and saw a man entirely covered in a white shell.

The man's pupils were a bewitching, grotesque red that made people afraid to meet his gaze. Two white antennae extended from his forehead, curved around the top of his head, and connected to his ears on either side, making them look like some bizarre hat.

Only after a long moment did Ke Mingqing raise his eyes from his phone and give the man a once-over.

[Super-species Codename: Ant Freak]

[Type: Mutant]

[Threat Rating: E-Class]

[Known Weaknesses: 1. Fears intense light; 2. There is a red crystal on his back, which is his second heart.]

"Shh... I need to borrow your school bus. And your lives." Ant Freak tilted his head and spoke slowly, his expression cold and sinister. "You should be glad that damned Rain Crow won't ignore you. Otherwise, you'd already be dead."

Screams rose and fell throughout the bus. Ant Freak stretched out both arms and sprayed white mucus from his palms, sticking it to the windows on both sides.

The mucus spread rapidly, forming a snowy-white mesh that completely sealed every window in the entire bus.

The world inside the school bus went dark at once, so black that no one could see their own hand before their face.

Like a white nest.

Then a tide of insects rose from the mucus, clinging to the driver's body and corroding his head away completely. They then wrapped around the steering wheel and accelerator, taking control of the school bus.

The school bus swerved and rocked, sending the entire cabin into violent jolts. The students screamed in the darkness, and some of the more timid ones even collapsed onto their seats and began to cry.

Ant Freak shouted at them, "Yes, yes, scream louder! Let Rain Crow know you're still alive, so he won't dare make a move!" At the same time, he raised his head and swept a satisfied gaze across every student's terrified face.

Amid the gloom, Ke Mingqing glanced down at the bag on his seat. It contained flashlights left over from the last school camping trip, which had yet to be dealt with.

He reached into the bag, took out three flashlights, and handed them to Hitomi Kuroki. He kept one in his left hand.

"W-what are these for?" she asked.

"He's afraid of light. It says so on the Super-species panel. It's probably because termite shells are thin and light-sensitive; intense light causes them to dehydrate and die." As he spoke, Ke Mingqing pulled a craft knife used for art class from the backpack beside him. "The red spot on his back is his weakness."

"Y-you're insane?" Hitomi Kuroki stared blankly at the knife.

Ke Mingqing lowered his voice and told her, "I'll crawl over in the dark and get close to him first. Then, once I'm near him, we'll shine the flashlights on him at the same time. Understand?"

"Is this really going to be okay?" Hitomi Kuroki's voice trembled slightly, and she even slipped into her native language without realizing it.

"Trust me." After saying that, Ke Mingqing gave her no chance to object and was already crouching low as he crawled forward through the darkness.

The other students were either squatting on the floor with their heads in their hands or curled into balls in their seats, too terrified to interfere with Ke Mingqing's progress.

He softened his footsteps, hid the flashlight and craft knife behind his back, and moved step by step toward Ant Freak, whose back was turned to him.

Thump...

Thump, thump...

Ke Mingqing's heart raced, as though ten thousand tiny people were stomping hard inside his chest.

At the same time, Hitomi Kuroki, seated in the last row, held her breath. She silently watched Ke Mingqing's back.

A short while later, just as Ke Mingqing drew out the craft knife, Hitomi Kuroki swiftly flicked on all three flashlights with a sharp click.

She held one flashlight in each hand and aimed them at Ant Freak's body. A third was tucked under her arm, accidentally shining straight at his head.

In that instant, brilliant white beams shot straight from the flashlights, slicing through the darkness like sharp swords. The three beams landed on Ant Freak's nape, back, and thigh respectively!

He froze for a moment before abruptly twisting around. Under the intense light, the skin wrapped in his white insect shell began to burn fiercely. Most of the shell instantly peeled away, exposing charred flesh beneath.

"Aaaaargh—!"

Ant Freak's howl filled the entire cabin, drowning out the other students' screams.

Ke Mingqing raised his brows. He had not expected Hitomi Kuroki to actually pull it off. He immediately tossed aside the flashlight in his left hand, lunged forward, gripped the craft knife with both hands, and drove it hard at the bewitchingly red crystal embedded in Ant Freak's back!

But at that moment, a strange change occurred above Ke Mingqing's head. The white mucus coating the roof of the bus was suddenly torn apart! Then a black mass of crows descended like a dark tide, piling together into a humanoid shape.

It was a tall figure draped in a pitch-black cloak, looking like an enormous upright crow.

He wore a black helmet that exposed only his eyes and lips. A sharp bird's beak protruded from the philtrum area of the helmet like a black sword.

[Super-species Codename: "Rain Crow"]

[Type: Esper]

[Threat Rating: A++-Class]

[Super-species Profile: No. 7 of the Superhero Round Table, ranked among the strongest of all superheroes. Rain Crow is also the most experienced of the Round Table Heroes. He currently works for the Hero Corporation in Dawn Capital, China.]

The moment they saw Rain Crow, the students on the bus fell quiet.

Who didn't know he was Dawn Capital's most prestigious hero? If he had arrived, it meant the situation was under control.

Yet someone in the bus screamed even louder. This hero's appearance was dark and violent, and in their extreme terror, they mistook him for another villainous thug.

Rain Crow raised his right hand from beneath his cloak and struck Ant Freak across the neck so fast that an afterimage was visible, effortlessly knocking him to the ground.

Then he tilted his head slightly and cast a cold sidelong glance at the craft knife in Ke Mingqing's hand. Only after a long pause did he speak.

"Don't do that again... You could have gotten an entire busload of people killed." Rain Crow's voice, altered by a voice changer, was hoarse and gloomy with a faint hint of magnetism.

Ke Mingqing said nothing. He only looked at Ant Freak on the ground, then raised his head to look at Rain Crow.

"Why don't you say I bought you time? Maybe if you'd been one second later, he would've killed the other hostages." He spoke calmly. "You don't get angry at criminals, but you get angry at me, a victim? Just as expected of a hero who loves boasting about never killing criminals... You're harsh on ordinary people and endlessly tolerant of criminals."

At those words, Rain Crow's eyes narrowed slightly beneath his helmet. He turned sideways and stared at Ke Mingqing for two seconds. Then his figure and the criminal both dissolved into crow feathers, as though they had never existed.

The cabin was silent. Sunset streamed through the windows once more, illuminating every corner of the school bus. All the students stared blankly at Ke Mingqing.

In the silence, Ke Mingqing returned to his seat in the last row. After thinking for a moment, he turned to Hitomi Kuroki and said quietly, "Add me."

To be honest, he had never expected this pampered Japanese exchange student to do as he said in that moment. She had used all three flashlights just to barely suppress Ant Freak for two seconds.

Hitomi Kuroki nodded.

[Player "Hitomi Kuroki" has sent you a friend request. You have accepted the friend request. Both players may now communicate remotely through the friend list.]

The driver was dead, and the school bus had stopped. Before long, police cars with flashing red and blue lights arrived. The students got off one after another and headed to the police station under police escort.

Ke Mingqing gave a statement, but he did not mention what he had done.

Crimes like this were commonplace in this world, perhaps as common as old ladies dancing in public squares. The police had long since grown accustomed to them.

Since the criminal had already been taken away by Rain Crow and detained by the Superhero Association, the police did not make things too difficult for the students. They quickly contacted their parents and had them taken home one by one.

Ke Mingqing left by himself, because he was not used to contacting "family."

He had been an orphan before, and his name had also been Ke Mingqing. But the body he now occupied, which shared his exact name, was different.

This body's family situation was somewhat complicated. It was a household of seven: father, mother, eldest brother, second sister, third sister, himself, and a younger sister—seven people in total. The original owner of this body had been adopted.

His father, Ke Mingwei, and mother, Xia Wenna, had discussed it and taken him from an orphanage.

Among the memories he had inherited after crossing over, the original owner of this body had initially felt out of place and struggled to fit into the family. Fortunately, his older brother and sisters had all taken good care of him and never treated him like an outsider.

In this world where Super-species filled the skies, Ke Mingqing was now sixteen years old.

He had developed no psychological problems, nor did he feel like he was living under someone else's roof. Instead, he had changed his surname, blended into this new family, and gotten along well with every one of them.

They were all ordinary people, a warm and happy family. The only thing they had to worry about was one of them suddenly being crushed into pulp by a Super-species falling from the sky. But as long as they bought insurance from the Hero Corporation, it was always worth it. At the very least, it could ensure the rest of the family lived without worry for the remainder of their lives.

These days, everyone bought insurance for themselves, or secretly bought insurance for their family members.

By the time he finished recalling all this, night was nearly falling. Ke Mingqing walked along Old Jingmai District for a while before stopping at his front door.

He looked up at a three-story residential building with red brick exterior walls. It looked like it had been there for quite some years.

"Even after crossing over, they had to give me a whole family to make up for the regret of being an orphan in my past life?" Ke Mingqing let out a soft breath and slipped both hands into his uniform pockets.

He lowered his head and remained silent for a while before taking out his key, slowly inserting it into the keyhole, turning it, and pushing open the door.

The door opened. At that moment, the sunset shone into the dark entryway, stretching his shadow long across the wooden floor.

Ke Mingqing looked up and saw a middle-aged man with unshaven stubble and deep-set eyes leaning against the entryway with his arms folded. His head was lowered, his expression heavy and somewhat gloomy.

This was his father, Ke Mingwei.

Something was off about Ke Mingwei's expression. He might have learned something from the police.

But Ke Mingqing did not think it was a big deal. Everyone in this family was a Muggle. At most, they would give him a good scolding; they would not fly into a rage and beat him to death, like how Harry Potter accidentally turned that fat little boy into a balloon and watched him float into the sky.

If things came to worst, he could just run away from home. Being an orphan again, as he had been before crossing over, would be much more carefree than playing house with these people.

Ke Mingqing possessed the original owner's memories. He knew every member of this family, every little habit and preference in their daily lives, yet he alone felt no attachment to them.

It was an awkward thing, like looking at a group of people who were both familiar and unfamiliar. The feeling left him deeply divided.

"Dad, I'm back." Though that was what he thought, Ke Mingqing still tossed out the perfunctory greeting.

But just then, he looked up again and suddenly saw a Super-species profile panel appear above Ke Mingwei's head, displaying words that seemed strangely familiar.

[Super-species Codename: "Rain Crow"]

[Threat Level: A++-Class (infinitely close to the pinnacle of the world)]

[Currently Known Weakness: 1. The superhero "Rain Crow" never kills criminals.]

Ke Mingqing froze slightly.

Then he recalled the "upright Crow Man" on the school bus who had remained unmoved after being mocked by him. Immediately afterward, sixteen years of the original owner's memories flashed before his eyes.

Images kept surfacing in his mind of Ke Mingwei occasionally making excuses to go downstairs for cigarettes, then vanishing for an entire day, or even two days and two nights.

One clue after another collided in his mind like cars piling up at the scene of an accident.

He slowly came to understand a fact.

His old father, Ke Mingwei, was actually a Super-species—and one of the members of the highest echelon of superheroes, the Round Table Society. He had simply kept it hidden from every member of the family all these years.

Ke Mingqing immediately opened his friend list, found Hitomi Kuroki's name, opened the chat panel with a thought, and typed a message to her with his mind.

[Ke Mingqing: I'm screwed.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: ...Huh?]