Ke Mingqing and a New D-Rank Skill

Ember held the gun-shaped "Cinderella" and hovered motionlessly in midair.

She lowered her face slightly, looking lost. Her straight black hair drifted in the evening wind, while her skirt fluttered loudly.

The girl pondered for a moment, then murmured softly, "...Big brother?"

"No, how could it be him?" She shook her head. No matter how seriously she thought about it, she couldn't possibly connect White Jack with Ke Mingqing.

But for some reason... after seeing that strange man speak up for her of his own accord and put on such a show for her in front of so many people, Ke Mingqing's face had naturally surfaced in her mind.

But why had she thought of him?

Maybe it was because that foolish big brother had cursed out so many people for her before, saying so many things that she herself had endured without being able to say... So deep down, she instinctively felt that if anyone in the world would treat her that well, only he would do something like that, right?

Ember raised her head slightly and glanced at the tip of the tower.

By now, White Jack had vanished without a trace. Even the blood had evaporated into gas, and the cane that had fallen into the fountain in the square had disappeared into thin air. He had left behind no trace of his existence, as though he had died like air.

The girl in the Gothic dress couldn't make sense of it. Only after a long while did she look away from the tower's peak.

At this moment, the crowd in the square was wildly taking pictures of her. Countless flashes lit up the pitch-black night sky, sweeping toward her like a white ocean and drowning out her figure.

Ember lowered her head and gave them a brief glance, her eyes somewhat weary.

She raised her black umbrella overhead. Layers of magical ripples immediately spread through the night, lifting her body into the air.

Carrying the moonlight and the howling gale with her, the girl flew toward the far end of the sky and vanished into the depths of the clouds.

Meanwhile, in the Old Jingmai District, at Xia Ke's family apartment building.

[Notice: Your "Theater Puppet" has died.]

Ke Mingqing slowly opened his eyes from the leather chair, and lines of blood-red text immediately reflected in his pupils.

[Congratulations. You have successfully completed Main Quest 2 (Phase One)—use any one of your secondary identities to make contact with "Magical Girl Ember," attract her attention, and establish a connection with her.]

[Quest rewards obtained: 1,500 experience points, 2,000 Super Coins, 1 attribute point, and one Low-Level Skill Enhancement Card.]

"The experience and Super Coins have increased? I remember the last time was 1,000 experience and 1,000 Super Coins." Ke Mingqing raised a brow. "Do the rewards increase every time I complete a main quest?"

[Notice: Experience has reached the limit. Your player level has increased by 1.]

[Current level: Lv.03 (1000/1500 experience points)]

[Main Quest 2, "Phase Two," has been refreshed: Establish a friendly relationship with Ember, help her complete a task issued by the company, and attempt to make contact with "Xi Ziyue," one of the three magical girl titans.]

"This one's a little difficult, isn't it? With Xia Zili's personality, how am I supposed to build a friendly relationship with her?" Ke Mingqing pondered for a moment. "Not to mention getting close to Xi Ziyue."

[You currently possess one freely assignable attribute point. Would you like to use it immediately?]

Same as always, Ke Mingqing reached out and pressed the plus sign beside the "Agility" attribute without even half a second of hesitation.

A red-and-black notification box immediately popped up before his eyes.

[Congratulations. Your Agility attribute has officially increased from "E+ Rank" to "E++ Rank."]

Ke Mingqing opened his inventory and looked at the "Low-Level Skill Enhancement Card" he had just received.

[Item Name: Low-Level Skill Enhancement Card]

[Item Description: This card can be used to enhance a D-rank or lower skill, granting it a new effect or strengthening its existing effect.]

"I can't exactly use something this precious on 'Shift and Swap.' It's just a utility skill for switching places, while 'Theater Puppet' is a B-rank skill and doesn't meet the requirements." Ke Mingqing thought. Speaking of skills, the Skill Shop refreshed today. With that in mind, he opened the Skill Shop.

The descriptions for today's five skills popped up.

[Skill One: Superhero Landing (E-rank skill) (1,000 Super Coins)—This skill can only be used while in midair. Descend from the sky in a dashing pose, creating an impact zone at your landing point.]

[Note: The force of the impact depends on your "Strength" attribute and the distance between you and the ground.]

Ke Mingqing thought for a moment. "Seems kind of dumb, and it doesn't say whether the impact will hurt me too."

[Skill Two: Galgame System (E-rank skill) (1,000 Super Coins)—You can see a member of the opposite sex's real-time favorability toward you. When their favorability reaches 100, you will receive a reward of 100 Super Coins.]

"Isn't that a scam?" Ke Mingqing froze. "You only get 100 Super Coins for maxing out one person's favorability? It already costs 1,000. What kind of expert could ever make their money back with this skill?"

[Skill Three: Stealing Hand (E-rank skill)—This skill can only be used on "players." You have a certain chance of stealing an item from the target, or a random amount of Super Coins.]

[Note: The higher your "Agility" attribute, the higher the success rate.]

"I don't even interact with other players. I can't exactly steal stuff from the Sakura girl, can I?" Ke Mingqing scratched his head.

[Skill Four: Bigger! Bigger! Bigger! (E-rank skill) (1,000 Super Coins)—Causes a certain part of your body to rapidly grow larger for a short period of time.]

"You again? What a coincidence." Ke Mingqing's gaze passed right over the skill.

[Skill Five: I Am Lightning (D-rank skill)—After using this skill, the player will gain the power to control "blue electric currents" for five minutes. You may use the currents to stimulate your own cellular activity and enhance your physical abilities, or discharge them to harm others.]

[Note: The intensity of the electric current depends on your "Agility" attribute.]

"Right, wasn't I planning to play a superhero? How about taking this skill and playing a lightning-wielding superhero? If I get more electricity-control skills later, I can build a whole set around it."

With that thought, Ke Mingqing pressed "Confirm Purchase" without another word.

[Notice: You have spent 2,000 Super Coins and successfully purchased the D-rank skill—"I Am Lightning."]

[The skill has been automatically equipped in your third skill slot.]

Ke Mingqing wasn't in a hurry to test his new skill. After all, there was still an alien mother sitting at home. If she noticed anything suspicious, he'd be finished.

With nothing else to do, he picked up the phone beside his pillow, lay down on the bed, and started scrolling through Weibo.

The top trending topic was: "Magical Girl Ember arrives at Dawn Capital Square in time, saves civilians before the situation escalates—a mother's tears."

The second trending topic was: "Who is White Jack? A detailed explanation of the warehouse bombing."

The third trending topic was: "In light of the White Jack incident, does the nature of Magical Girl Ember's previous 'Bloodstained High-Rise' incident still require reconsideration?"

There was hardly any need to look. The third trending topic was clearly the Magical Girl Company's PR team taking advantage of the situation.

Ke Mingqing clicked into it. The PR team was mainly leveraging White Jack's attack on a five-year-old child to raise a question: [If a criminal is not killed at a critical moment, resulting in more casualties, who should be held responsible for the outcome?]

When he opened the top trending topic, the first photos that appeared showed a strange man nailed to an iron tower, followed by a mother clutching her child as she wept and thanked someone, and only then Magical Girl Ember's figure.

Yet beneath every trending topic, there were still plenty of doubts.

For example, some people believed this was a PR stunt by the Magical Girl Company, using a staged performance to whitewash Magical Girl Ember's previous act of slaughter.

Those netizens went full conspiracy theorist, saying White Jack didn't even look human and might have been a puppet controlled by some magical girl.

But someone quickly brought up the previous day's warehouse bombing to refute them, saying White Jack had blown up a warehouse and killed an innocent civilian. White Jack truly was a real criminal.

No matter what, after this incident passed, Xia Zili's public reputation would definitely recover somewhat.

At the very least, it would go from an utterly one-sided condemnation to an argument with supporters on both sides. Then it would slowly fade from people's sight, just like every other thing that seemed important but wasn't quite that important.

Of course, Ke Mingqing himself had benefited quite a bit from it too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have helped her.

Not only had he completed the main quest, but he had also ridden Xia Zili's popularity to jump up a level from an insignificant nobody into a villain everyone wanted to beat up. That would make it easier for him to deal with other people in the future.

Although everyone probably thought White Jack was dead right now, once he came back lively and kicking in a few days, his popularity would only shoot even higher.

If I treat little sis better now, it'll be easier to use her later. Maybe once she learns I'm a player, she won't even be able to bear killing me. As Ke Mingqing thought this, he picked up the sketchbook hidden beneath his pillow.

He flipped to a page, revealing the superhero suit he had only half-designed last night.

"I'm tired of being a villain. Time to change things up." He stared at the blue beaked mask on the paper and muttered.