Owl Judge, Crisis

In the darkness, using the faint moonlight, Ke Mingqing caught sight of the figure sitting outside the window from the corner of his eye.

The man wore a black tailcoat and a owl mask that covered his hair and ears. At the center of the pitch-black mask was a V-shaped band of red light.

At the same time, the other man's Superhuman Type panel slowly appeared in Ke Mingqing's pupils.

[Superhuman Type Codename: "Owl Judge"]

[Type: Mutant]

[Danger Rating: A++]

[Superhuman Type Description: Through a chance genetic mutation, he met Black-Hand Zorro of the antihero organization "Solomon" and became an antihero himself; his ability was to control black moonlight.]

Only when he saw the Superhuman Type panel did Ke Mingqing finally wake up completely. He was not dreaming. Everything before him was real.

Ke Mingqing quickly calmed down and assessed the situation.

First, an eyeball had been placed inside a metal box, hovering in midair and staring at him. Second, a masked man draped in a black tailcoat was sitting outside on the windowsill, fiddling with his phone beneath the moonlight.

The rain falling toward Owl Judge seemed to strike an invisible barrier and was completely shut out.

He could not hear the rain, nor could he hear the cicadas chirping in it. The world was utterly silent at that moment, yet a string of deafening thoughts exploded through Ke Mingqing's mind.

Owl Judge... the Superhuman Type who slaughtered two players in Seahaven City? Why is he outside my bedroom? And what's with this eyeball above my head?

Ke Mingqing's mind cleared instantly, but he did not open his eyes. He merely continued pretending to sleep.

Outside the window, Owl Judge looked down at his phone screen and muttered, "A player's eyeball can see the ID marker above another player's head. If you dig out their eyes and turn them into detection devices, a red light means the target is a player... while a green light means they aren't."

At that point, he suddenly tilted his head. "But this thing seems to be broken. Why didn't any light come on when it saw A-Qing?"

Players' eyes?

Ke Mingqing was first taken aback, then immediately understood. Did Owl Judge dig out the eyes of the two players he killed and turn them into some kind of device for detecting players?

At that thought, goosebumps rose all over Ke Mingqing.

That was right. The eyeball hovering in midair earlier had belonged to either Liu Haitao or Xu Yiyi, the two players killed that day. That unlucky player's eye had been placed in a metal box and connected to some kind of imaging device, which relayed whatever the eye saw to Owl Judge's phone.

But there was still one question. Why did Owl Judge know his name?

Could it be...

As Ke Mingqing pondered this, the hovering metal box was wrapped in black moonlight and abruptly flew out the window, landing in Owl Judge's hand.

Owl Judge toyed with the box as he dialed someone's number.

Leaning against the windowsill, he held the phone to his ear and said flatly, "Xue, the device you made is way too lousy. I only tested Xiao Li, and it's already broken."

Ke Mingqing listened silently. Owl Judge's voice had been altered by the mask, becoming metallic and magnetic, exactly like Rain Crow's.

A moment later, a cool female voice came through from the other end of the call.

"I only gave you the test version to play with. The finished version isn't ready yet."

It was already deep into the night, and the surroundings were silent. Ke Mingqing could hear every word coming from the phone clearly. At that moment, the cold, indifferent face of his second sister, Xia Lingxue, abruptly surfaced in his mind.

Second Sis? Then the person talking to her on the phone must be... Eldest Brother?

The next moment, Owl Judge's words confirmed his suspicion.

"Fine, fine. Then you can test the rest of the family when the time comes. I only tested Xiao Li. There are no signs that she's been replaced by a player."

Xia Lingxue asked coolly, "Didn't I tell you to test Dad first?"

"Dad isn't home. What am I supposed to do?" Owl Judge said carelessly. "As for Mom, I don't think any player could imitate her."

"Why not?"

"We can tell at a glance whether Mom has been replaced. There is no need to use a device." Owl Judge shrugged.

Ha, can you tell that your mom is an alien? Ke Mingqing sneered inwardly.

"Forget it. I wasn't counting on you anyway," Xia Lingxue said. "Let me make this clear first: if there really is a player in the family, what do you plan to do?"

Owl Judge suddenly fell silent.

A moment later, he let out a low chuckle. The V-shaped light band on his mask glowed scarlet. "Anyway... first I'll vent my anger on him and let him know what it feels like to be better off dead. Then I'll chop him up and feed him to the pigs."

Xia Lingxue asked calmly, "But he's using one of our family members' bodies. Are you sure you can bring yourself to do it?"

Owl Judge froze. "Oh, right... Then let's not rush to kill him. Let's first figure out how to bring our original family member back. How about asking Toy Doctor from the Round Table Society to research that?"

"Idiot... sometimes you're just as dense as Mom," Xia Lingxue said coldly. "Forget it. We'll discuss the specifics when I get back in a couple of days. I'm hanging up."

With that, the other party ended the call.

The phone emitted a series of beeps. Owl Judge put it away and closed the floor-to-ceiling window. Then he turned his head and glanced at Ke Mingqing's sleeping face through his mask.

Silence.

A dead silence so oppressive it made one want to claw at one's ears.

More than ten seconds later, when Ke Mingqing cracked his eyelids open slightly, the figure outside the window had already vanished. He lay flat on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

When he came back to himself, his back was already drenched in cold sweat, and his pajamas clung damply to his skin.

Still shaken, he thought, If that test had found something wrong just now, wouldn't Eldest Brother have silently killed me before I even woke up?

No, the device Eldest Brother made might not work on me, because my exclusive talent is "The Disguiser."

But judging from Eldest Brother and Second Sis's conversation, Second Sis isn't ordinary either. She'll be back in a few days to test everyone in the family in Eldest Brother's place... Before then, I have to make thorough preparations.

At that thought, Ke Mingqing was unable to calm down for a long while. It would be great if I could just run away, but the problem is that I can't escape Dawn Capital right now. It would be too easy for Crow Man to find me.

He let out a long breath and dismissed his chaotic thoughts.

I'll take it one step at a time. Besides, this is pretty fun too.

Ke Mingqing murmured soundlessly, slowly lying back down and turning his head to look at the curtain of rain outside the window.

With Owl Judge gone, the rain once more pattered against the window, blurring the moonlight.

He closed his eyes, and the night passed without a word.