Azkaban Prison, Northern Rebellion Plan

Xia Ningzhi tilted her head, a strand of hair falling from beside her ear.

She looked at Ke Mingqing with curiosity and confusion, clearly unable to understand why he had suddenly taken out such a ridiculous T-shirt.

Xia Zili had guessed what prank he was planning, so she calmly took a sip of water.

At that moment, Ke Mingqing handed the T-shirt printed with Rain Crow's image to Ke Linye. The scene was as sacred as a king bestowing a sword upon a knight.

The living room fell silent. It was a long while before someone spoke.

"Sure, why not?" Ke Linye lowered his head to look at the design on the T-shirt, then smiled and raised his clear eyes to Ke Mingqing. "Then shall we wear them together?"

Seeing Ke Linye accept so readily, Ke Mingqing froze instead.

Damn, big bro, you really do love Rain Crow deeply.

In the end, Ke Mingqing was the only one left feeling awkward. He scratched his cheek and turned to Xia Ningzhi and Xia Zili beside him. The sisters were both egging him on.

"Do I have to wear one too?" he asked, pointing at himself.

"Yes." "Yes."

The two sisters nodded in unison.

Ke Mingqing let out a long sigh and simply went with the flow. "Then after I wear it, you can't keep nagging me to bring a girlfriend home anymore, okay?"

"So that was your real goal, huh? I was wondering why you'd suggest wearing something like this." Xia Ningzhi curled her lips and said mildly, "Fine, fine. We won't nag you anymore. Getting a girlfriend is your business anyway."

As she spoke, she picked up the small camera in the living room, her finger itching to press the shutter. "Hurry up and change already."

"What about you?" Ke Mingqing turned to Xia Zili.

Xia Zili hesitated for a moment before turning her head away. "Fine. I won't bring it up again."

Ke Mingqing and Ke Linye exchanged a glance. The former looked helpless, while the latter smiled faintly.

Xia Ningzhi pushed the two of them upstairs. Before long, they had each changed into Rain Crow fan T-shirts in their own rooms. Their old father had been thoughtful enough to buy every child in the family one in the proper size, and they fit perfectly.

On the sofa, Ke Linye read with his eyes lowered while raising one hand in a peace sign. Ke Mingqing sat with one leg crossed over the other, playing on his phone.

Both of them were sitting rather casually.

Xia Ningzhi clutched her stomach with one hand and laughed nonstop, so hard she could barely hold the camera steady. Xia Zili coughed softly twice, picked up her phone, switched on the camera, and aimed it at them.

Just then, Ke Mingwei returned. He took off his leather shoes and walked into the living room with a weary expression, perfectly stepping into frame with a click.

"Linye's back?"

With a cigarette between his lips, Ke Mingwei turned to look at Ke Linye on the sofa, then gave the T-shirt he was wearing a puzzled glance.

"I got back not long ago." Ke Linye smiled at him. "I was already a Rain Crow fan. Dad knew I was coming home and even bought me a gift like this. It's great—I'm feeling much better all at once."

As he spoke, he looked down at the image on the T-shirt. "But the photo they picked is kind of mediocre. It looks like a transformation pose from one of those tokusatsu shows from the last century. Rain Crow himself might want to punch someone if he saw it. Hmm... I think he'd probably prefer a more low-key, reserved style?"

"Don't worry. Trust your old man's taste—Rain Crow will definitely like it too." Ke Mingwei took a drag of his cigarette and spoke dismissively.

Crow Man, you really are a flashy bastard. Father and son, same damn breed.

But then Ke Mingwei turned back to him, looking surprised.

He remembered that when he had brought the T-shirts home last night, Ke Mingqing had looked ready to die before putting one on. Yet today, he had changed into a fan T-shirt as naturally as could be.

Could this kid just be going through a rebellious phase? Denying it out loud, but secretly he's a fan of mine too? Ke Mingwei thought, silently taking another drag.

Ke Mingqing scratched his head and bared his teeth awkwardly. "Dad, you know what? Big bro just told me about how he and Second Sis were saved by Rain Crow when they were kids. I instantly went from hater to fan."

"When you were kids..." Ke Mingwei pondered for a moment. "That incident at the school?"

"So it really happened?" Xia Ningzhi turned her head curiously and blinked. "I thought Big Bro had made it up."

"It wasn't fake." Xia Zili said lightly. "I found the name of that incident online just now. It just didn't mention the names of the two children who were kidnapped."

After thinking for a moment, Ke Mingwei put one hand on his hip. "I asked the police not to release their names or appearances. It would have affected A-Xue and Linye."

"From now on, I'm Rain Crow's number one diehard fan." Ke Mingqing looked at the television.

"What about that Magical Girl from before? You're not going to wear her T-shirts anymore?" Ke Mingwei thought for a moment, then asked.

"No one cares. From now on, she's just some stray dog by the roadside to me—the kind that gets kicked to death by accident."

As Ke Mingqing spoke, he glanced at Xia Zili's expression from the corner of his eye.

She lowered her head and silently drank water, her face expressionless. The glow from her phone screen illuminated her eyes.

For some reason, Xia Ningzhi quietly breathed a sigh of relief. If her younger brother wore fan T-shirts printed with her younger sister's photo around the house every day, it really would make her feel uneasy.

At that moment, Xia Wenna returned from a nearby used book market. She had bought the latest issue of Animal Encyclopedia. No one knew why this alien was so obsessed with studying Earth's ecology.

"Everyone's back?" she said lazily. "Then Mom will start making dinner. Don't all run off again when it's time to eat."

Ke Mingqing tugged at the corner of his mouth. Once you lead your alien army to invade Earth, you should shut down Dawn Capital News Television first. That way, your children and husbands won't vanish at mealtimes.

After dinner, the sun sank below the horizon, taking with it the light scattered over the old neighborhood. The aging apartment building was silent, save for the rustling sound of water from the bathroom.

Ke Mingqing turned on the tap and took a shower while messaging Hitomi Kuroki.

[Ke Mingqing: Have you met up with those players?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: Not yet. One of them had something come up, so it was postponed until tomorrow.]

[Ke Mingqing: Who?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: The player whose forum ID is "Paranoid." He said he's joining the Magical Girl Company and has an interview today, so he can't make it.]

[Ke Mingqing: Seriously? The Magical Girl Company recruits male Magical Girls?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: No idea.]

Ke Mingqing shrugged, dried himself with a bath towel, changed into a clean set of pajamas, and lay down on his bed.

He let out a long breath and closed his eyes for a brief rest. Then he opened them, cracked open a can of soda by the window, and searched his phone for "the world's largest Super-species prison."

Ke Mingqing took a sip of soda, and the search results quickly appeared.

"'Azkaban Prison' in Siberia, the world's largest Super-species prison." Ke Mingqing rested an arm beneath his head and thought, If I take a group of players to free that prison, won't I get to watch the Super-species tear each other apart?

With nothing better to do, he browsed the player forum for a while longer. By chance, he came across a post.

[Azkaban Prison, a prison holding the world's most dangerous Super-species criminals.

If we can free the prisoners there and make the Superhero Round Table, the Hero Control Bureau, and those criminals tear each other apart, we can sit back and reap the benefits from the players' side.

The reason I'm making this post is that the Round Table Society will realize our goal sooner or later. Even if some players are captured later and tortured into revealing our plan, it won't matter, because that place is bound to be the site of the final battle.

—Posted by: Anti-Dog.]

"Huh... This guy had the exact same idea as me." Ke Mingqing thought. If someone like this becomes a traitor later, I don't even dare imagine what would happen.

Just as he was thinking that, a red dot suddenly appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision.

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow and tapped it. The chat panel opened.

[Hitomi Kuroki: The superhero suit you wanted has already been made.]