Ke Mingqing and the Toilet Killer

It rained all the way home. Ke Mingwei clutched his light-blue police jacket as he emerged from the drizzling curtain of rain. He unlocked the door with his key and stepped inside.

He casually shut the door behind him. His soaked leather shoes stepped onto the entryway floor, his face shrouded by the shadows of the hallway.

The rain grew heavier, yet it could not drown out the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

The doll's words lingered by his ears like a ghostly whisper, refusing to fade.

"Let me think... You have two sons. One is in college, and one is in high school. Which one should I choose? How about the younger one... After all, when I became him, your reaction was enormous. That's not something you could fake."

"You should be glad. Your fury was what helped me choose my target and learn who you cared about most among your family."

Ke Mingwei slowly raised his head. Beneath his rain-soaked bangs, a faint glimmer moved through his eyes.

Without even taking off his shoes, he strode through the living room and headed up to the second floor.

The hallway was dark. A streak of moonlight spilled in through the balcony, as though a layer of salt had been spread across the floor.

Ke Mingwei moved forward and stopped outside Ke Mingqing's bedroom.

He raised a hand, hesitated for a moment, then gently knocked on the door.

"Qing, are you asleep?" he asked, one hand on his hip, his expression complicated.

But after a long while, no answer came from inside.

Ke Mingwei placed his right hand on the doorknob and realized the door was unlocked.

He turned the handle, pushed open a narrow crack, and peered inside.

The lights were off. Ke Mingqing lay on his side in bed, sleeping soundly. Moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window and fell across his face.

Raindrops as large as beans traced beautiful arcs through the air before pattering against the window.

It was a quiet, rainy night.

Ke Mingwei stared at Ke Mingqing's sleeping face in silence for a while.

Only after confirming that his son was not pretending to sleep did he close the door. He pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lit it with a lighter. Leaning against the hallway wall, Ke Mingwei took a few silent drags, lowered his head, and let out a long breath.

Then he took out his phone, opened WeChat, and typed out a message one-handed to his eldest son, Ke Linye.

[Ke Mingwei: Come home as soon as your college break starts. Stop wandering around outside.]

It did not take long for Ke Linye to reply.

[Ke Linye: I'll be home in a few days, Dad. Does someone miss me? Let me guess—Xiao Li? Or Mingqing?]

[Ke Mingwei: The ninth is your brother's birthday.]

[Ke Linye: Mingqing's birthday? All right, all right, I got it. I'm going to sleep now. Good night, Dad.]

Ke Mingwei put away his phone and smoked for a while, smoke curling around his fingertips. After a moment, he stubbed out the cigarette, walked into the bathroom, casually tossed the butt into the trash, locked the door, and sat down on the toilet.

Just then, a crow suddenly rose up behind him, beating its wings as it landed on his shoulder.

Without lifting his head, Ke Mingwei reached over and took a metal object shaped like a ballpoint pen from the crow's beak.

He pressed a protrusion on its metal surface with his fingertip. At once, a holographic screen floated up from the tip of the pen. On the screen was a foreign woman. She had long platinum-blonde hair and strikingly beautiful features, as gorgeous as a sculpture from ancient Greece.

Superhero Round Table No. 5—"Officer Woman."

When the Round Table heroes held meetings at the Empire State Building in New York, Officer Woman usually wore a Russian military uniform and a Russian military cap.

However, she was currently dressed only in a set of black patterned lingerie, her graceful body reclining lazily on a beach chair. The sound of waves rustled in the background.

"So you do have times when you contact me?" Officer Woman curled her lips, tilting her head at the holographic screen. "What, did you miss me?"

"Aren't you vacationing in Seahaven City right now?" Ke Mingwei said in a low voice. "I need you to protect my son, Ke Linye."

Officer Woman picked up a glass and took a sip. "Why are you asking me to do something the moment you call? You didn't have this attitude back when you rejected me and chose that dull Chinese girl. Regretting it now?"

"Don't joke around at a time like this." Ke Mingwei sighed. "Someone may have their sights on my son."

Officer Woman raised an eyebrow. "Who would dare target your family... Or rather, who could possibly know your true identity?"

"I don't know yet." Ke Mingwei shook his head as he spoke, thinking it over. "That person calls himself White Jack. He looks like a white mannequin, wearing a top hat and holding a cane. If he appears in Seahaven City, I need you to keep an eye out for him."

"Got it. I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides, I can't keep watching your kid for you, can I?"

"Don't worry. He'll return to Dawn Capital in a few days. I'll watch over him myself then."

"Got it." Officer Woman set her glass down on the table. "You don't look well. It's rare to see you this disheveled. It's kind of interesting."

Ke Mingwei fell silent.

"Get some sleep. Good night."

With that, she blew Ke Mingwei a kiss, then ended the call amid his speechless expression.

In the dead of night, Ke Mingqing's bladder suddenly tightened. He opened his eyes, hurried out of his room, and jogged into the bathroom to sit on the toilet.

Right... Last night's mission reward gave me one chance to use the roulette wheel. Thinking this, he raised a finger while relieving himself and tapped the option floating in the upper-right corner of his vision: [Item Roulette].

[You currently have one opportunity to use the "Item Roulette" (PS: Players can generally obtain opportunities to use the roulette wheel by completing "Main Quests" or "Weekly Quests").]

Ke Mingqing curiously glanced at the six sections of the roulette wheel.

The prizes were "1,000 Superman Coins," "1 Magical Girl Transformation Trial Card," "Battle-Power Glasses," "1 Werewolf Transformation Card," "Tracking Sunglasses," and "Grudge Teapot."

"Give me something good. I don't want to turn into a magical girl."

Ke Mingqing murmured softly as he extended his index finger and tapped the center of the roulette wheel without hesitation.

The blood-red needle spun rapidly around the wheel before slowly coming to a stop, pointing at the prize in the fifth section.

[Congratulations, you have successfully drawn the D-rank item—"Tracking Sunglasses" (Lock onto a superhuman within ten meters of you, and the sunglasses will mark their location on the map for two hours).]

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, then opened his inventory, tapped the item's icon, and selected the "Materialize" option. The black sunglasses immediately appeared in his palm.

He tried pressing the button on the frame. A text prompt instantly popped up.

[Notice: There is a superhuman within ten meters of you: "???". Would you like to continuously mark its location on the map?]

Ke Mingqing looked at the string of question marks on the text panel and tilted his head.

Is it malfunctioning? Forget it, I'll figure this thing out tomorrow. With that thought, he flushed the toilet, stood up, washed his hands, and opened the door.

Ke Mingqing lowered his head, fiddling with his phone as he was about to leave the bathroom. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly spotted a strange figure in the hallway.

He froze slightly.

An icy chill surged up Ke Mingqing's spine, flooding through every nerve.

He slowly lifted his eyes from his phone and, using the faint light from the bathroom, looked toward the figure's face.

A woman in a nightgown stood silently in the shadows of the hallway, her face slightly lowered as she stared motionlessly at him.

Her gaze was hollow and cold.

It was his mother, Xia Wenna.