Open Forum, Big Brother's Message (Please Vote)

The moment Ke Mingqing heard the name "White Jack" from Xia Zili, he froze slightly.

What's this supposed to mean? Could Xi Ziyue have noticed something when I followed her that time?

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Xia Zili lowered her face, suspicion and wariness immediately appearing in her eyes.

"It took me a while to remember who you meant. He was such a nobody—was there even anything memorable about him?" Ke Mingqing scratched his head, pretending to be calm. "So why are you asking?"

"Just curious, that's all."

Xia Zili stared straight into his eyes. Ke Mingqing leaned against the doorframe and thought for a moment before saying casually,

"White Jack? Sure, you said he was ugly before, but wasn't he the great guy who cleared our idol's name? Besides, he's already dead. Why care about him?"

Xia Zili fell silent for a moment before asking again, "What if he isn't actually dead?"

"Come on, sis. A few days ago, his ass was stuck on the Dawn Capital Iron Tower, pointed right at the sky. He died horribly." As he spoke, Ke Mingqing opened Weibo and searched for posts related to "White Jack" and "perky butt," bringing up a close-up photo.

He showed the close-up to Xia Zili.

Xia Zili stared at the bloody white butt pointed toward the sky in the picture, and her eyelid twitched slightly.

She covered her face and let out a long sigh. "Forget it."

"You've been really weird lately. I think you just wanted to look at White Jack's butt." Ke Mingqing tilted his head and waved the photo on his phone.

"If you're sick, just say so."

"Fine, fine, I'm sick. I'll go change into a patient gown first. When Third Sis gets back, send me a WeChat message to come downstairs."

With that, Ke Mingqing put away his phone and shut the door.

He let out a breath of relief and leaned against the back of the door. When did she start suspecting me? I shouldn't have slipped up anywhere.

"Forget it. Thinking about it is pointless. Magical girls are way too driven by sheer willpower, whether it's their combat strength or anything else."

Ke Mingqing shook his head and opened the item roulette.

[The player has completed "Weekly Mission 2"—kill one superhuman. You currently have one chance to use the "Item Roulette." Use it now?]

As the system prompt sounded, a roulette panel appeared.

The prizes listed from Zone One to Zone Six were: "1,000 Superhuman Coins," "2,000 Experience Points," "Cursed Doll," "Vampires Must Die," "Popeye's Treasure," and "Fairy Tale Picture Book."

Without giving it much thought, Ke Mingqing immediately tapped "Use." The blood-red needle began spinning at high speed, accelerating first, then slowing down, before finally coming to a gradual stop above Zone Two.

[Congratulations. Your draw result is the Zone Two prize—"2,000 Experience Points."]

[Experience limit reached. Your level has increased by 1.]

[Current Level: Lv.06 (1900/3000 Experience Points)]

"I really need to wash my face." Ke Mingqing shrugged. "Still, it's not a loss. The higher my player level, the better the odds of getting high-level skills in the refresh."

Just as he thought that, a prompt box suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Notice: The "Player Forum" feature has finished maintenance. Starting tonight, the "Forum" will officially open. The 98 players currently surviving in the world may freely communicate through the forum.]

"A forum?"

The instant he saw those words, Ke Mingqing was no longer sleepy.

The next moment, he looked up and found an additional option in the upper-right corner of his vision.

Without thinking much about it, Ke Mingqing raised his hand, tapped it, and opened the forum.

[The forum does not support anonymous posts. Please register your forum ID. Whether posting threads or replying to threads, you must use your registered ID.]

[Forum IDs cannot be changed after registration. Please proceed with caution.]

[Registered ID: Rain Crow's Number One Fan.]

Once registration was complete, the homepage appeared. The forum had only just opened, and with a quick glance, Ke Mingqing saw that it was completely empty—not a single post in sight.

However, new registration notifications continuously scrolled through the announcement bar in the upper-right corner of the homepage.

[Player No. 089 has registered the forum ID—"Anti-Dog." Player No. 023 has registered the forum ID—"Paranoid." Player No. 001 has registered the forum ID—"The Family's Black Cat."]

"Everyone's still making accounts. I'll come back once it gets livelier."

Thinking that, Ke Mingqing temporarily set the forum aside, left his room, and went downstairs.

He had barely sat down on the living room sofa when he saw Xia Ningzhi walk in through the entryway, her expression somewhat heavy.

"Congratulations on crushing the college entrance exam," Xia Zili said.

"Congrats, congrats. You're finally out of prison," Ke Mingqing said.

Xia Ningzhi stood there blankly for a while, then quickly walked over and leaned against the back of the sofa. From behind it, she wrapped her arms around Xia Zili and Ke Mingqing's shoulders and remained silent for a long time.

"What's wrong? Didn't do well?" Ke Mingqing tilted his head.

"Your hair is making me itch," Xia Zili complained.

With her eyes lowered, Xia Ningzhi buried her head between their shoulders. After a moment of silence, she suddenly let out a mysterious little laugh.

"Dad didn't just buy me a cake. He bought gifts for you two too. Guess what they are?"

"What good could a gift picked out by Dad possibly be?" Ke Mingqing sighed.

"Exactly. What good could it be?" Xia Zili echoed.

"Oh, don't jump to conclusions yet. You'll know once you see it." Xia Ningzhi kept them in suspense, then looked away as though she were holding back laughter.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, twisted around over the back of the sofa, and looked toward Ke Mingwei, who had entered through the foyer.

With a cigarette hanging from his mouth, Ke Mingwei gave Ke Mingqing an expressionless look before lifting the shopping bag in his hand.

Inside were, unmistakably, two Rain Crow fan T-shirts. The design showed a younger Rain Crow standing in a torrential downpour, hands crossed and striking a pose.

Ke Mingwei took a drag from his cigarette, put one hand on his hip, and said unhurriedly, "You kids like wearing fan T-shirts so much, then wear Rain Crow's. At least people won't laugh at you when you go out in them."

The living room fell silent.

Xia Zili fell silent.

Ke Mingqing fell silent too. Dad, have you really never considered how your kids will look at you once they find out who you are?

Their eyelids twitched slightly. Neither could manage a word for a long while as they simply stared blankly at the outrageous T-shirts.

Xia Ningzhi, meanwhile, was laughing so hard at the side that she could barely close her mouth, slapping the sofa armrest wildly. After a while, she coughed twice and asked while holding their shoulders,

"Well? Do you like them?"

"Not even dogs would wear that," Ke Mingqing said in a low voice. "Ah, no... we could get a pet dog and put the Rain Crow T-shirt Dad bought on it. That way, it wouldn't go to waste."

"No." Xia Ningzhi shook her head seriously. "You two are wearing them tomorrow for your sister to see. Consider it a celebration for finishing my college entrance exam."

Xia Zili raised a hand to her forehead and said deeply, "Every single one of you seriously has something wrong with your brains."

Ke Mingwei placed the shopping bag containing the T-shirts on the sofa, carried the cake into the kitchen, and turned to tell the three people standing dazedly in the living room,

"What are you still standing around for? Come eat cake. Call your mom downstairs too."

After eating cake in the living room, Ke Mingqing went to the second-floor bathroom, took a shower, and changed into clean pajamas.

He pushed open the bedroom door while drying his wet hair with a towel. After locking the door and turning off the lights, only the chirping of cicadas and sparse moonlight remained in the room.

Ke Mingqing exhaled, tossed the towel aside, and had just lain down on the bed when his phone suddenly chimed with a notification.

He picked up the phone beside his pillow and glanced at it.

[A message has been sent in the group chat "A Loving Family."]

[Ke Linye (Big Brother): I heard Ningzhi finished her exams. How did she do?]

No one responded to him.

[Ke Linye (Big Brother): I'm coming home tomorrow, by the way. Did you miss me?]

Still, no one responded to his messages.

[Ke Linye (Big Brother): Why is no one talking to me? Am I that unwelcome?]

Only after quite a while did someone send a second message in the group chat.

[Xia Lingxue (Second Sis): Ningzhi, are you done with the college entrance exam?]

[Xia Ningzhi (Third Sis): Yep. Second Sis, when are you coming back to play with me?]

[Xia Lingxue (Second Sis): Next week. I'll come back once I finish all my university coursework.]

In the darkness, Ke Mingqing quietly stared at his phone screen, its glow illuminating his pitch-black pupils.

Big Brother and Second Sis are coming home soon too. That alien mom is so obsessed with cultivating specimens, and there aren't many superhuman types left for her. Could Big Brother and Second Sis be mutants? Or vampires, or something like that?

At that thought, Ke Mingqing shook his head and dismissed it.

"Forget it. I should first see what kinds of monsters and freaks are among this batch of players." He raised a hand and tapped the option in the upper-right corner of his vision, opening the player forum.