A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, Ke Mingqing walked alone along the edge of the coastal highway, heading down toward the base of the mountain against the flow of traffic.

He kept his hands shoved in his pockets, his head bowed in thought. The entire highway baked under the summer sun, and even the waves crashing against the beach were bathed in brilliant gold.

Ke Mingqing kept walking. Countless buses rumbled past him, and the sky overhead gradually darkened. Before he knew it, dusk had fallen. He leaned against the guardrail and glanced back.

The setting sun was sinking toward the horizon, pulling the light away from the ocean and the highway.

By the time he came back to his senses, he had finally reached the end of the road.

The evening sea breeze ruffled his hair. Looking up, he saw a girl in a white linen dress sitting quietly on a wooden bench by the sea, her head hanging as she stared blankly ahead.

He sat on the other end of the bench. Without saying a word, he simply kept her company, gazing out at the twilight ocean.

Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili sat there together, quietly watching the sea.

Neither spoke for a long while. The only sounds around them were the evening waves and the occasional roar of a bus passing behind them.

Eventually, she broke the silence. ”I’ve just been under a lot of pressure lately... Can you just pretend I didn’t say all that earlier?”

”I know,” Ke Mingqing said softly. ”You can tell me if something’s bothering you.”

He paused. ”And... it’s not that I don’t want to understand you. You just keep shutting yourself away. I haven’t even had the chance to understand you, have I?”

”But what if saying it completely changes how the people around you look at you?” Xia Zili asked quietly after a long pause.

”Try saying it anyway. I’m your brother.”

”I tried. I told you last night.”

”Did you?”

”I told you...” She took a deep breath, lowering her voice. ”Your sister got an incurable mental illness and is about to turn into a lunatic. Are you satisfied now?”

Understanding dawned on Ke Mingqing. Xia Zili hadn’t become so emotional this afternoon because she had been cyberbullied by the media for days on end, nor because she was hiding her life as a magical girl from her family with no one to confide in.

It was because she knew she was highly likely to turn into a witch—a murderous, deranged creature that looked human but wasn’t. And she couldn’t say a word about it to the people around her. That was why she felt so suffocated and helpless.

But who could she tell?

Her family was out of the question. After two years as a magical girl, she was bound to have made plenty of enemies. What if she dragged them into danger? Besides, in her eyes, her family was full of ordinary people. Who among them could possibly understand what she was going through?

Telling other magical girls would be even worse.

The moment the Magical Girl Company found out, they would put her on a control list. She would spend her remaining days locked in a windowless observation room, doing nothing but hugging her knees and staring blankly at the metal ceiling panels.

Ke Mingqing shrugged and let out a dry, helpless chuckle.

Silly sister, he thought, what does that matter? If I don’t have to pretend anymore in half a year, and I tell you that I’m actually not your brother, but a player from a parallel world who will die if he doesn’t kill you—what will you think then?

A moment later, he finally spoke.

”Didn’t I tell you? Even if you have a mental illness, you’re still my sister. No matter what, you’re my sister.”

Ke Mingqing spoke casually, gently reaching a hand toward her.

He seemed to want to stroke her hair, but hesitated. Seeing no reaction from Xia Zili, he gently put his arm around her shoulders instead.

This was the best performance of a family member Ke Mingqing could imagine giving. He hadn’t had a family in his past life, yet he had always longed for someone to be by his side, to put an arm around his shoulders and listen to him pour his heart out.

Xia Zili remained silent, though her eyelashes trembled slightly. She didn’t resist his gesture.

They had been much closer when they were kids, after all. It had been more than just arms around shoulders back then; when she was bullied at school, she would come home, throw her arms around him crying, and tell him everything. But when exactly had they started drifting apart?

Perhaps it was the moment she stubbornly decided to become a magical girl to protect him?

In the setting sun, Xia Zili’s lowered face was bathed in a halo of light.

The two sat quietly by the sea for a while, listening to the rhythmic wash of the waves.

Before long, the sun sank completely below the horizon, and twilight draped over the coast. In the distance, tens of thousands of hectares of maple trees swayed in the wind like a dusky yellow sea.

The tide struck the black shore, shattering into white foam. Amid the rustle of swaying maple leaves, one of the people on the wooden bench asked, ”Leaving?”

After a long moment, the other replied softly, ”Yeah... let’s go home.”

.....

.....

At seven o’clock on the evening of July 3rd, Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili took the bus back to the Old Jingmai District.

They barely spoke during the ride. They simply watched the twilight-shrouded city before closing their eyes and leaning against the windows to sleep. By the time they woke up, the bus had already arrived at their stop.

The night was quiet, though children were playing and roughhousing in the streets and alleys. At this hour, a smear of dark red still lingered in the sky.

Shortly after Ke Mingqing got home, Xia Ningzhi also returned from school, carrying her backpack.

His third sister, Xia Ningzhi, was still wearing her blue-and-white school uniform today. Her hair was tied up in a quirky yet pretty bun, making her look like Little Nezha from the TV shows.

The moment he laid eyes on Xia Ningzhi, a quest panel suddenly appeared in his vision.

[Main Quest 4 (Phase 1): Use your second identity to make contact with the Mythic Vessel—”Red Lotus”—and establish a connection with them.]

Making contact with a different family member every day? Ke Mingqing thought. I really am keeping busy.

”Staring blankly at me again? Did you get heatstroke?” Xia Ningzhi immediately rapped him on the head, planting her knuckles into his scalp and grinding them hard, just like Nobita’s mom scolding Nobita in Doraemon.

”So annoying. I just think your hair looks stupid tied up like that.” Ke Mingqing swatted her hand away.

Xia Ningzhi’s lips curled up, completely unfazed. ”My classmates and teachers all praised me for looking good. They said I’m the modern-day Little Nezha.”

”Are your college entrance exams over?” Ke Mingwei asked. Still in his police uniform, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, he toed off his leather shoes and walked in from the entryway.

”There’s still one day left,” Xia Ningzhi replied casually.

Ke Mingwei sat down on the sofa, using the remote to turn on the TV as he spoke. ”Why are the exams so late this year? I remember them usually being in June.”

Xia Ningzhi tossed her backpack onto the sofa and plopped down beside it. Leaning back and stretching, she explained, ”They got delayed because of the ’Clock Maker Copycat Attack Incident,’ of course. Your memory really sucks, Dad.”

Hearing the name ”Clock Maker,” Ke Mingwei suddenly fell silent, a cold gleam flickering in his eyes.

He flicked his lighter with a click, lit his cigarette, and asked softly, ”So how did you do?”

Xia Ningzhi blinked at him. ”I feel pretty good about it. Maybe I can go to the same university as Second Sister.”

”Why not Eldest Brother?” Ke Mingqing chimed in.

”Eldest Brother’s personality is too weird. I don’t get along with him,” Xia Ningzhi muttered.

Ke Mingwei sighed softly. ”Your eldest brother’s personality is just a bit eccentric. He actually cares about you all more than anyone else.”

”I know, I know! Good old Dad,” Xia Ningzhi said with a slight smile.

A while later, having finished her shower and changed into a nightgown, Xia Zili also came out and sat down in front of the TV.

She glanced over, saw Ke Mingqing still wearing that fan T-shirt, and frowned.

An idea suddenly popped into Xia Zili’s head, and she spoke up.

”Dad, what do you think of his T-shirt?” She motioned with her eyes toward the magical girl Ember fan T-shirt Ke Mingqing was wearing.

Ke Mingwei had been watching TV and smoking. Hearing his daughter say this, he finally noticed Ke Mingqing’s fan T-shirt.

He took one look and frowned. ”What is that nonsense? Go change out of it right now, or you’ll get laughed at by your classmates at school.”

Xia Zili kept her face completely blank, but she was secretly pumping her fist in her heart. Good job, Dad, keep that energy going.

Ke Mingqing let out a long sigh, turned his head to meet his father’s eyes, and said, ”Dad, you sure like to micromanage. Let’s not act like we’re on patrol at home all the time, alright?”

Xia Ningzhi rested the cap of her pen against her chin and smiled lightly, her eyes still on her vocabulary book. ”Yeah, yeah, what’s it to you if our Ah-Qing has his own hobbies? I just hope the girlfriend he brings home in the future is as cute as this magical girl.”

Listening from the side, Xia Zili’s face flushed red, unable to take it anymore.

Third Sister, you’re practically aiding and abetting the enemy here! she thought. I was hoping Dad would rein in this stinking fourth brother and make him lock that T-shirt away forever.

Ke Mingwei frowned, taking another look at the face of the gothic-dressed girl on Ke Mingqing’s T-shirt. Finally, he sighed, withdrew his gaze, and stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray.

The four of them sat on the sofas, each minding their own business. Xia Ningzhi was reviewing her physics workbook, Ke Mingqing was drinking a beverage while playing Tetris, Ke Mingwei was watching the political news on TV, and Xia Zili was memorizing English vocabulary.

Meanwhile, their mother, Xia Wenna, wearing an apron, was quietly preparing dinner in the kitchen. She was listening to an old Showa-era Japanese song, ”Second Love,” by Akina Nakamori.

The cicadas chirped faintly, and the twilight outside deepened. It was a rather quiet, heartwarming night.

But a moment later, the TV news anchor’s expression suddenly turned serious.

”Interrupting our broadcast for two breaking news updates: Today at 19:40, the wanted criminal ’Cyborg Gaster’ attacked the Leijing Fifth Bank Headquarters, resulting in at least 3 deaths and 12 injuries. Additionally, at 19:43, the escaped vampire criminal ’Stroh’ carried out a series of attacks on Leijing Highway Zero. It has been confirmed that 9 citizens were severely injured by blood drain, and traffic on the highway has been completely paralyzed.”

The next second, the three people sitting on the sofa stood up almost in unison and spoke at the exact same time.

”I’m going downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes,” Ke Mingwei said.

”Oh right, I just remembered I have to go out for dinner with my classmates tonight,” Xia Zili said.

”Crap, I forgot my workbook at school. Tomorrow is the second day of the college entrance exams, I need to go get it back to review,” Xia Ningzhi said.

As soon as the three of them finished speaking, they shot each other looks of sheer astonishment.

Only the single person left sitting on the sofa maintained a calm expression. Ke Mingqing took a sip of his ice-cold cola and thought to himself, It’s good to be busy. Everyone being a little busy is a good thing...

At the same time, taking advantage of their distraction, he fished out the D-grade item ”Tracking Sunglasses” from his pants pocket. Pressing the button on the frame, he locked onto his third sister Xia Ningzhi’s position.

[Prompt: ”Tracking Sunglasses” has locked onto a super-human species—”Mythic Vessel: Red Lotus”. For the next two hours, the target’s position will be continuously marked on the sunglasses’ map.]