Rain Crow's Plan, Executor "Zero"

Night had deepened, and the cicadas in Old Jingmai District were gradually falling silent. Inside an abandoned train station...

On the empty Platform 7, the boy stood alone before the lockers, a solitary figure.

Ke Mingqing removed his beaked helmet, tilted his head back, and took a deep breath. Next time, I should let a puppet play the part. Less trouble for me, and it'd be safer too.

But there was no helping it. He usually had to stay cooped up in his room while sending puppets out to do things. It was like watching others play games every day—of course, every now and then, he wanted to get in there himself and have some fun.

Before long, Ke Mingqing took off his combat suit and placed it, along with the helmet, back inside Locker 7. Then he changed back into his blue-and-white school uniform, grabbed his backpack from the locker, and headed out of the station.

The boy slung his backpack over one shoulder and walked through the quiet night, a sliver of moonlight illuminating the road ahead.

A ding sounded from his pocket—the notification tone for a WeChat message. He took out his phone and looked at it.

[Summer Zili: You went to have dinner with your girlfriend?]

[Ke Mingqing: Yeah. Didn't Mom tell you? I just got back.]

[Summer Zili: I asked An Youlu. She said you weren't at that Japanese young lady's house. Only the two of them were there for dinner.]

[Summer Zili: Tell me, where exactly did you go?]

Ke Mingqing shrugged. Sis, don't you think you're a little too controlling? When you get a boyfriend someday, won't you drive him to death?

[Ke Mingqing: I went to the abandoned train station. Remember? We used to play hide-and-seek there all the time when we were kids.]

After sending the message, he switched his phone to silent mode and put it away.

The abandoned train station was not far from his home. After walking for a short while, he stopped at his front door. Just as he was about to insert his key into the lock, someone opened the door from the other side.

It was Ke Linye. He looked at Ke Mingqing, amusement glinting in his clear eyes.

"Mom said you went to have dinner with your girlfriend. I thought you wouldn't be back until late at night. Don't tell me... you got dumped?"

"It was just dinner. How can you imagine so much?" Ke Mingqing shrugged.

"Come in."

Ke Mingqing ignored him, changing into his indoor slippers.

He passed through the dark hallway and entered the brightly lit living room. His siblings were gathered around the sofa watching television, while Xia Wenna sat in the kitchen watching Encyclopedia of Animals.

"Hey, hey, hey, look who's back. Isn't this the pretty boy being kept by his girlfriend?" Xia Ningzhi teased without turning around.

"So what?"

As he spoke, Ke Mingqing took a bottle of cola from the refrigerator, set down his backpack, and tiredly sat on the sofa.

Just as he was about to twist off the cap, he noticed a girl in a linen-colored nightgown quietly watching him. He turned his head and met her gaze.

Xia Zili's eyes seemed to be asking: Where exactly did you go?

It seemed she had not exposed him in front of the rest of the family.

If they found out Ke Mingqing had not gone to his girlfriend's house for dinner, they would definitely pry for the details, then say things like he had gone bad at such a young age and was two-timing girls.

At that moment, Xia Ningzhi and Ke Linye both had their attention fixed on the television.

Lijing News Channel was reporting breaking news. Looking at his script, the anchor spoke slowly.

"Superhero 'Gyro Hero' and an unofficial hero calling herself 'Blue Dove' have worked together to apprehend the wanted criminal 'Blue Bat.' Afterwards, White Jack publicly appeared on Old Dawn Capital Commercial Street and issued a death threat to the rookie hero 'Blue Dove,' claiming that her outfit might attract a supervillain..."

At that point, the anchor suddenly stopped speaking. It seemed the authorities had rules against allowing that name to appear on the news.

"Isn't that courting death?" Ke Linye tilted his head, propped his cheek on one hand, and yawned. "The last superhero who debuted by imitating Rain Crow got sliced into pieces. Still, points for courage."

Xia Ningzhi thought for a moment. "Is Clockmaker really that powerful? Rain Crow hasn't caught him after all these years."

"After all, Clockmaker is a time-type ability user," Ke Linye said blandly. "Among Super-species of the same level, that makes him one of the most troublesome types."

Ke Mingqing took a sip of cola and asked him, "Big bro, how do you know so much? Don't tell me you're one of those power-scaling nerds who spends every day browsing forums and arguing with people about who's stronger?"

Ke Linye flipped a page in his book and smiled. "Nothing like that. Just things I've heard online."

Seeing that Ke Mingqing was ignoring her, Xia Zili turned her face away as though sulking. She lowered her eyes and stopped looking at their WeChat chat window. There was no point messaging him anyway—he would not reply.

"By the way, where's Dad?" Ke Mingqing asked casually.

"Same as always. He went out to buy cigarettes after dinner," Ke Linye said.

At the same time, in the city center, the twenty-fifth-floor lounge of the Hero Corporation's Dawn Capital branch.

Ke Mingwei stood quietly before a full-length mirror, draped in a pitch-black cloak. He looked at himself in the mirror as though he were looking at a complete stranger.

The television beside him was still broadcasting the latest news from Dawn Capital. The station had also aired surveillance footage from the scene. Blue Dove's voice was very young. Though it had been altered by a voice changer, her manner of speaking could not be faked.

Ke Mingwei suddenly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Once again, he recalled that gloomy rainy day, recalling the sight he had seen through the curtain of rain.

Atop the skyscraper was a massive screen. In the footage, the superhero Gray Owl was tied to a pillar, while a table draped in white cloth beside him held all manner of execution tools.

The young man was covered in blood. He lifted his pale face and wailed.

"Save me, Rain Crow, come save me—! Get me away from this madman!"

His hoarse, desperate cries rang out through the screen, spreading across the entire plaza and deafening everyone amid the rain.

But Ke Mingwei had failed to do it.

The following morning was still dark and rainy. At the entrance of the Hero Corporation, he saw human organs chopped into fragments, with an unrecognizable head hanging in the middle.

After a long while, Ke Mingwei opened his eyes again, pulling himself free from the memory.

He raised his eyes to stare into the mirror, watching the blue-armored figure on the television reflected within it.

A frigid light flowed through Ke Mingwei's eyes. He knew that he had to stop this young person.

Yet at the same time, an extremely dangerous thought—one that even he found incomprehensible—appeared in Ke Mingwei's mind.

Perhaps he could use Blue Dove to lure out the long-hidden Clockmaker. Perhaps this conflict between himself and Clockmaker, which had lasted twenty years, would finally come to a complete end this time.

Will I regret this?

Ke Mingwei thought. Exploiting a young person he did not know, someone with such a promising future, was not something his former self would have done.

A moment later, Ke Mingwei took a deep breath and put on the pitch-black helmet that symbolized Rain Crow. Its black beak extended forward like a sharp blade.

Tonight, he would receive an S-rank executor from the Hero Control Bureau on behalf of the Dawn Capital Superhero Branch: "Zero."

The other party claimed that certain classified matters had to be conveyed to Rain Crow in person. Rain Crow had also vaguely heard that this classified matter concerned two words:

—"Player."