The Death of Gray Owl, Blue Dove's Battle Suit

Ke Mingqing froze. "The battle suit's already finished? It's only been a few days."

He controlled the chat interface with his thoughts, typing a reply on the virtual keyboard to the message Miss Kuroki had sent.

[Ke Mingqing: That fast?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: It's a standardized production process. For that underground merchant, it's routine work—basically just coloring a nearly finished product. The only part that needed real care was the helmet you designed.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: As for the helmet, he asked me if you really wanted it designed that way.]

[Ke Mingqing: Is it that strange?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: He said that as soon as a Rain Crow imitator appears in Dawn Capital, they'll be attacked by Clockmaker's fanatical followers. So almost no one imitates Rain Crow's appearance. It's practically an unspoken rule in the battle suit industry—a taboo.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: He also said that Rain Crow trained a successor many years ago. Clockmaker captured that successor, sliced up his body parts, and hung them outside Hero Corporation for public display.]

"Oh, I know about that. The superhero who was sliced up was called Gray Owl, right?" Ke Mingqing thought for a moment. "That photo is still circulating online."

Logically speaking, the photo documenting that horrific scene should have been completely suppressed by the authorities. But as long as something had left a trace on the internet, it could always be found.

Through several darknet sites saved in his bookmarks, Ke Mingqing quickly found the photo.

It was a gloomy, rainy day. Rain Crow stood at the entrance of Hero Corporation, his head raised as he silently stared at the aerial work platform overhead.

Twenty-one threads were wound around the edge of the platform. Each thread was attached to one body part of the superhero Gray Owl: intestines, arms, fingers, head, feet, ribs...

The photograph was silent, deathly still, yet the brutality and despair of that scene seemed to pierce through the curtain of rain and strike directly at the heart.

And on Hero Corporation's glass curtain wall, the culprit had left behind a line of crimson spray-painted words: "My esteemed Mr. Rain Crow, this is a gift to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of your debut—your good friend, Clockmaker."

After that, Rain Crow never again tried to train a successor.

Whenever someone began imitating him, he would immediately crush their ambitions in the most brutal and cruel way possible. Or he would use Hero Corporation's authority to let them experience what it meant to be shut out.

[Hitomi Kuroki: He asked me to confirm it with you one more time. Do you really want the design to look like that?]

Ke Mingqing tilted his head. I'm deliberately imitating Dad. Ideally, Clockmaker will capture me and slice me up. Before I die, I'll take off my mask in front of Dad. That'll give me another perfectly reasonable way to fake my death and get away.

[Ke Mingqing: Are you worried about me?]

[Hitomi Kuroki: Mm. If you die, I'll be alone. You're the only person I knew before who also came to this world.]

[Ke Mingqing: Don't worry. I know what I'm doing.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: All right. Then where do you want me to leave the battle suit?]

[Ke Mingqing: There's an abandoned train station in the Old Jingmai District. It's been out of service for a long time. Have someone leave the battle suit in locker number seven on platform seven. I'll pick it up tomorrow.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: How do you know about a place like that?]

[Ke Mingqing: The original owner of this body used to take his little sister there to play hide-and-seek when he was young.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: Aren't you afraid she'll discover your battle suit?]

[Ke Mingqing: It's fine. I'll tell her sooner or later. Then the moment school's out, she'll come running over to be my bodyguard.]

After sending that message, Ke Mingqing saw that she did not reply for a long time. He yawned, set his phone beside his pillow, and slowly closed his eyes.

The moonlight was tranquil. It was another wordless night.

[Good morning, dear player "Ke Mingqing." Today is Friday, July 6, 2026. Time remaining until the deadline for the "Exterminate Superhumans" mission: 175 days, 17 hours.]

Ke Mingqing scratched his messy hair and yawned.

He got up, boiled water, and brushed his teeth. Xia Wenna could not get out of bed today, so she sent the siblings money for breakfast and told them to go find something to eat.

Ke Mingqing bought a cup of almond milk and a bag of shumai from a roadside stall, while Xia Zili bought a serving of black sesame tangyuan.

After breakfast, the two of them went to the bus stop. After waiting a while, they boarded the school bus.

On the bumpy school bus, Ke Mingqing turned to look out the window. A series of words suddenly appeared in his vision.

[Notice: Starting today, the "Player Dungeon Compendium" function will officially be unlocked.]

[Introduction 1: Every week, cities around the world have a certain chance of spawning "city dungeons." These dungeons will randomly appear somewhere within a city and disappear at the end of the month, after which a new batch of dungeons will appear.]

[Introduction 2: As time progresses, dungeon-clearing difficulty will gradually increase. In addition, when certain holidays such as "Christmas" and "Halloween" arrive, there is a chance that special holiday dungeons will be refreshed.]

[Introduction 3: Players may invite friends from their friend list to clear dungeons together. Upon successfully clearing a city dungeon, there is a chance to obtain items such as "experience points, Superhuman Coins, skill enhancement cards, and chances to use the item roulette."]

"If dungeon locations are random, it'll be hard for me to find one alone." With that thought, Ke Mingqing opened his friend list and found Hitomi Kuroki's name.

[Ke Mingqing: Did you see the notice about the new feature? If either of us finds a dungeon somewhere, let the other know.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: Just the two of us?]

[Ke Mingqing: Two should be enough.]

[Hitomi Kuroki: Mm, I believe in you.]

"Why have you been spacing out so much lately?" Xia Zili, seated beside him, suddenly asked.

"What else am I supposed to do on the school bus? I'm tired as hell, sis." Ke Mingqing did not turn around. He merely watched her reflection in the window, her figure bathed in sunlight and overlapping with the scenery outside.

Xia Zili thought for a moment. "Snake, Minesweeper, Tetris?"

"You remember exactly what games I play on the school bus?" Ke Mingqing sighed. "You've started caring about me lately. Before, you couldn't have cared less about me."

She said flatly, "You seem like you've gotten dumber. I suspected you might have early-onset dementia. I'd be embarrassed to call myself your sister if I didn't show at least a little concern."

"Why, thank you for your concern." Ke Mingqing replied sarcastically.

"Oh, right. That topic we discussed one afternoon a few days ago," Xia Zili said quietly.

"What topic? Little Red Riding Hood?"

"No." Xia Zili shook her head. "Before, I didn't want to like the same person you liked. Now I don't think it matters."

Ke Mingqing's eyes lit up. He turned to ask, "You like Little Red Riding Hood too?"

Xia Zili frowned. "I'm talking about someone else."

"Oh, Magical Girl Ember." Ke Mingqing suddenly understood.

Xia Zili tilted her head slightly. "Yeah. I think it's fine if you like Ember now."

"Really?" Ke Mingqing asked suspiciously. "Then can I keep wearing her fan T-shirts?"

Xia Zili lowered her face and hesitated for a while before nodding. Softly, she said:

"Do whatever you want."