A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

[Main Quest Two (Phase One): Use your secondary identity to contact Magical Girl Ember, draw her attention, and establish a connection with her.]

Ke Mingqing glanced at the quest details. He had pressing matters to attend to, so he slung his backpack over his shoulder and prepared to leave.

But the moment he stepped out of the classroom, he found Jiang Qingzi already waiting for him in the corridor.

Jiang Qingzi leaned against the railing and smiled at him. ”Why are you in such a rush?”

”Big bro... don’t you know I’m the center of attention at school right now? Of course I’m getting out of here as fast as I can.”

Ke Mingqing shot him a helpless, sidelong glance.

”What do you want this time?”

Jiang Qingzi rested his arms on the railing. ”I’m worried you’ll have another accident on the school bus, of course.” He shrugged. ”Why don’t you take my car? I’ll have my driver drop you off.”

Ke Mingqing broke into a nervous sweat. Getting into the getaway car of a master thief like you is what’s really dangerous, isn’t it?

He sighed. ”Forget it. I’ll stick to the school bus. Otherwise, people will start spreading rumors that the eldest young master is keeping me.”

Seeing that he couldn’t stop him, Jiang Qingzi simply hopped on the school bus to keep him company.

Inside the bus, Ke Mingqing and Jiang Qingzi sat shoulder to shoulder in the very back row.

He might have acted reluctant on the surface, but having an A-Rank combatant acting as his bodyguard gave Ke Mingqing an overwhelming sense of security. Mom never has to worry about me getting offed by some small-fry villain again, he thought.

The bright yellow school bus rocked back and forth, its rhythmic swaying enough to make anyone drowsy. Propping his chin on his hand, Ke Mingqing shot the breeze with Jiang Qingzi while playing Tetris on his phone.

The bus soon arrived at his stop. He got off at the Old Jingmai District, waved goodbye to Jiang Qingzi through the window, and headed straight home without looking back.

The moment he returned to his bedroom, Ke Mingqing immediately tackled his homework. Pressing the end of his pen against his chin, he gazed out the floor-to-ceiling window at the blood-red sky.

The setting sun dipped toward the city’s horizon, withdrawing the last lingering rays of light scattered between the skyscrapers. In tandem, the light in Ke Mingqing’s eyes gradually dimmed.

...

...

By the time twilight shrouded the old apartment building, Xia Zili had returned home.

After dinner, Xia Zili told Xia Wenna she was going out for a walk.

Ke Mingqing seemed to pay no mind, but in truth, he had been waiting a long time for this exact moment.

Sitting on the sofa, he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. Just as Xia Zili walked past behind him, he pressed a button on the frame with his thumb.

[System Prompt: The ”Tracking Sunglasses” have locked onto a member of the super-human species—”Magical Girl Ember”. For the next two hours, the target’s position will be continuously marked on the sunglasses’ map.]

Glancing at the prompt box floating before his eyes, Ke Mingqing stored the sunglasses back in his player inventory and rose from the sofa.

He headed up to the second floor and sauntered into his bedroom. He closed the door, locked it, and sat down on the soft mattress.

After silently chanting ”Theater Puppet,” Ke Mingqing closed his eyes. A bird’s-eye perspective instantly unfurled in his mind. Through this omniscient view, he could see Xia Zili slipping into her sandals at the entryway and heading out the door.

Just like usual, Ke Mingqing spawned the Theater Puppet on the rooftop of the neighboring residential building.

[A ”Theater Puppet” has been generated within a 50-meter radius. The puppet’s duration limit is 6 hours.]

Glancing out through the window, he saw that ”White Jack” had already taken the stage.

Wearing a magician’s top hat and clutching a black cane, the puppet crouched silently on the railing of the opposite rooftop, its hollow eyes gazing into the distance.

The Theater Puppet shared the player’s inventory, allowing White Jack to retrieve the Tracking Sunglasses and materialize them.

It slipped the sunglasses onto its bone-white face. A digital map instantly sprang to life across the lenses. A flashing red dot on the display pinpointed Xia Zili’s exact real-time location.

Concealing its presence, White Jack’s figure practically melted into the night. It leaned against the railing, silently peering down at the ground below.

After leaving the house, Xia Zili soon ducked into a deep, desolate alleyway.

Her figure was suddenly enveloped in a cocoon of dark light. A moment later, the cocoon shattered. Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the girl underwent a complete transformation. She was now clad in a dark gothic dress with a hem resembling a black rose, its petals fluttering in the wind. Her hands were sheathed in black leather gloves, and she gripped a dark gray umbrella in her right hand.

Magical Girl Ember brushed a stray strand of hair from her temple and raised her eyes, her gaze as pure and clear as the Icelandic aurora.

Magical girls transform this fast? It didn’t even take a second, Ke Mingqing thought. I figured they’d be like the ones in the cartoons and take a few seconds to transform, maybe do a little dance while they were at it. That way, you could just off them while their transformation animation was playing.

While he was lost in thought, the gothic-clad girl raised the black umbrella over her head.

The bouquet patterned on the umbrella’s canopy seemingly bloomed. A ripple of magic surged beneath her feet, launching her into the air in a split second.

In the blink of an eye, Ember vanished into the clouds above.

Holding her umbrella, the girl soared through the clouds, becoming nothing more than a speeding black speck. At the same time, the red dot on the digital map shifted at high speed, and White Jack sprang into action.

The magician’s top hat on its head abruptly began to spin at high speed, acting like helicopter rotors to lift the bone-white puppet into the night sky.

”...Is that really not going to crash?”

This was the second time Ke Mingqing had asked this question.

The other party was a B-Rank member of the super-human species, after all; White Jack’s speed naturally paled in comparison. However, after chasing her for a while, the gothic-clad girl came to a stop at a fixed location.

It was an abandoned elementary school in the Old Jingmai District.

The elementary school had been closed for a long time. Nobody visited it at night, leaving the corridors of the teaching building completely desolate. Chalk dust from years past still lingered on the classroom blackboards, and a chilly wind blew the wooden doors open and shut.

White Jack plummeted from the clouds, touching down on the rooftop of one of the teaching buildings.

It straightened its bizarre top hat and sat on the railing. Its figure leaned backward, legs wrapping around the metal bars to hang upside down in mid-air.

Turning its head, it spotted the window of a specific classroom on the fifth floor.

Peering through the window, it could see that the classroom was lit up by flickering candle flames.

Numerous dilapidated wooden desks had been pushed together to form one massive rectangular table, and the candles were placed atop it.

White Jack adjusted its legs around the railing, shimmying its body to the right while suspended in mid-air.

Then, hanging upside down, it sneaked a peek inside through the edge of the window.

Magical Girl Ember was sitting completely alone at the edge of the long table. The floral hem of her gothic dress was spread out across the tabletop, resembling a withered field of flowers.

Her eyes were lowered, lost in some unknown thought.

White Jack held its breath and focused, observing her in absolute silence.

Just as it was about to smash through the window, a deafening roar that seemed to echo from another dimension rang out. The space in the corner of the classroom violently ruptured.

The sight startled Ke Mingqing, who hastily commanded the Theater Puppet to stay perfectly still.

Amidst a rhythmic clattering, a dark green locomotive tore its way out from the massive spatial rift.

Rows of pumpkin lanterns hung from the front of the train, radiating a warm orange glow.

Magical Girl Ember looked at the figure in the conductor’s cabin and snapped grumpily,

”Master, what took you so long?”

The cabin door swung open. A fair, slender leg stepped out first, followed by a young girl clad in a light green qipao.

She possessed delicate, ethereal features and alabaster skin. Her jet-black hair flowed cleanly over her shoulders, and her dark eyes looked as though they were veiled by a thin mist. Her face was completely devoid of expression.

[Superhuman Codename: ”Magical Girl Xi Ziyue”]

[Danger Rating: S Rank]

[Superhuman Profile: Xi Ziyue is a magical girl hailed as one of the ”Three Giants.” She oversees the operations of the Chinese Magical Girl Company. From brand endorsements to daily task delegation, Xi Ziyue handles everything single-handedly.

Xi Ziyue’s Magical Dress is a light green qipao, and her Magical Weapon is a set of ”Zodiac Mahjong Tiles.” Additionally, she possesses a Magical Relic—”No. 19: Spacetime Train”.]

[Currently Known Weaknesses: 1. Xi Ziyue’s guard drops significantly when she is eating. You can seize this window of opportunity to launch an attack.]

Magical Relics... Ke Mingqing had heard of such things before.

Rumor had it that these were artifacts passed down through the generations of magical girls. Only one Magical Relic was born per century, meaning that by the twenty-first century, there were only 20 such relics in the entire world.

Xi Ziyue monopolizes one all by herself? he thought. Still, that train is incredible. Could it really fly from America to China in a single second? Man, I want one of those.

Ke Mingqing shrugged, his thoughts shifting gears.

I’ve read online that she’s a massive foodie, but is it really serious enough to be logged as a weakness on her super-human species panel?

The spatial rift inside the classroom slowly sealed shut. The dark green locomotive was sucked back inside, vanishing without a trace. Having stepped off the train, Xi Ziyue found a spot and sat down.

She quietly ate a rice ball she held in her hand.

She looked just like a little red panda munching on bamboo, a stark contrast to her ethereal appearance.

”Master, why aren’t you saying anything?” the gothic-clad girl asked in a low voice. ”Are you still mad at me?”

Xi Ziyue gave no response. After a moment, she finished the rice ball and gently dusted off her hands.

Only then did she leisurely raise her head, speaking in a flat, tranquil tone.

”I just didn’t expect you to bring a friend to our meeting, Little Li. That goes against our rules, I believe.”

”Friend?”

Magical Girl Ember stared blankly at her. After a long moment, she tilted her head, a strand of hair slipping down past her ear.

Xi Ziyue didn’t say a word. She simply held a teapot she had pulled from who-knew-where, lifted the lid, and gently took a sip of hot tea.

Then, she turned her face and cast a sidelong glance toward the window.

The gothic-clad girl froze. Following her master’s gaze, she turned to look toward the window at the edge of the classroom.

She locked eyes with White Jack, who was hanging upside down with only its head exposed in the window frame.

Amidst the dead silence, the puppet stared back with hollow eyes, a bloodcurdling smile plastered across its face.