A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

It was July 6, 2026—a sleepless night on Old Leijing Commercial Street.

White Jack crouched atop a streetlamp like a white cat, his hollow eyes fixed on Blue Pigeon.

His head and shoulders drooped, the magic cane in his right hand dangling and swinging back and forth like a hypnotist’s pocket watch.

Blue Pigeon straightened and looked up at him.

The two stared at each other in silence, as if reuniting after a long separation. Secret photographers hidden around the street corner captured the scene on camera.

This was huge news. Those who knew how to work internet trends quietly pumped their fists, knowing it would blow up. After all, how many years had it been since some reckless kid dared to imitate Rain Crow?

All they had to do was run articles with keywords like ”Clock Maker,” ”Death of Grey Owl,” and ”Rain Crow,” and public opinion online would detonate all over again, just like it did years ago.

Then people would wait to see when this kid would get sliced to pieces by a supervillain—or whether, this time, he could escape the curse.

Police officers poured out of their cruisers, initially raising their guns to offer backup. But seeing two superheroes already on the scene, they turned to evacuating the crowd instead.

The ghastly white doll lowered his hollow eyes and spoke with careless ease:

”Oh... look who it is. Our Rain Crow fan club has another member, and this one is bolder than anyone else. He actually copied Rain Crow’s suit. You know, since that incident, not a single rookie hero has dared to do that.”

”Who are you...?” Blue Pigeon muttered.

”A pleasure to meet you. My name is White Jack,” White Jack said faintly.

”He’s a criminal.” Top Hero stepped forward and put a hand on Blue Pigeon’s shoulder. ”Hey, bro. Be careful.”

”I know,” Blue Pigeon said solemnly. ”He’s that famous villain—Leijing Iron Tower, the white booty. I spent all night scrolling Twitter once, and the foreign web was full of spoof videos of his ass.”

Top Hero covered his face with his hand, wondering what on earth was going on today. He kept running into the most bizarre situations and inexplicable people.

White Jack spoke again. ”A Rain Crow imitator among the rookie heroes is not a good omen. It means a certain demon is coming soon... You’re going to draw that demon back to this city, and Rain Crow will be powerless. He’ll have to watch the tragedy from ten years ago play out all over again.”

”Are you talking about Clock Maker?” Blue Pigeon asked calmly.

”Exactly. That fellow villain who sliced Grey Owl to pieces.” White Jack sighed. ”Our jinxed little crow must have shed quite a few tears over that. He probably wouldn’t be that sad even if his own flesh-and-blood son died.”

He paused, raising a pale white finger. ”Of course, his son isn’t dead yet, so that remains to be seen.”

”I won’t let you insult Rain Crow,” Blue Pigeon said quietly. ”He’s the reason I wanted to become a superhero in the first place.”

”I know, I know. Honestly, you’re just a stupid kid who wants clout and attention more than his own life. Everyone tells you never to copy Rain Crow, but you do the exact opposite just to show off how unique you are,” White Jack said dismissively. ”But the truth is, kid, you’re a whole lot of nothing.”

He chuckled softly. ”You’re just an arrogant brat wearing a bird helmet. Your Uncle Crow will be here to teach you a lesson very soon.”

”Stop wasting your breath on him, bro,” Top Hero said, curling his index and middle fingers slightly to flick out an invisible thread.

He abruptly raised his hand. A fiery-red spinning top tore upward through the air, hurtling toward White Jack on the streetlamp with explosive fury.

Quick to react, White Jack raised his cane to deflect the incoming top while leaping high off the streetlamp. Like a trapeze artist, he flipped gracefully through the air before landing on the roof of a car parked behind them.

In a flash, Blue Pigeon ducked low and stomped the ground, turning into a streak of deep blue lightning as he lunged forward.

”Crash—!”

Wreathed in arcs of electricity, he crushed the car’s hood under his feet, surging toward his opponent like a net of lightning.

”We’ll meet again. This definitely won’t be the last time.” As he spoke, White Jack’s mouth widened into a grin. His silhouette suddenly dissolved into a wisp of residual smoke, vanishing without a trace.

Blue Pigeon immediately stopped in his tracks, doing a backflip to put some distance between himself and the pale, lingering smoke.

Top Hero rushed to his side, standing back-to-back with him. The two men scanned their surroundings in bewilderment, but White Jack was nowhere to be seen.

”Who in the world is that guy...?” Blue Pigeon murmured.

”Don’t worry about it, bro,” Top Hero said, patting his shoulder. ”You just haven’t been a superhero long enough. Crazy villains popping out of nowhere to spout nonsense is just another Tuesday.”

Blue Pigeon fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

”I’ve got things to do. I need to get going.”

”Wait,” Top Hero called out, stopping him.

Blue Pigeon turned his head and met his gaze.

Top Hero’s dreadlocks swayed in the wind. He hesitated for a moment before asking, ”Do you want to join my team? I’m putting together a superhero squad right now, but I haven’t found any teammates.”

”Uh... you know how it is. Some people don’t want to team up with me because I’m Black.” He scratched his head. ”If you want, you can even be the team captain. I don’t mind.”

Blue Pigeon hesitated to speak, then said, ”Well, I’m kind of curious. How many teammates are actually on your squad?”

Top Hero put his hands on his hips and stared at the ground for a bit before confessing, ”Right now, it’s just me and my commander. But if you join, there’ll be three of us.”

Blue Pigeon sighed and crossed his arms. ”And where exactly are you planning to find other teammates?”

”Recently, a batch of newly recruited super-human criminals got locked up at the company. But their crimes aren’t serious—just things like theft or street brawls.”

Top Hero shrugged. ”Bro, we could pick two people from that group and have them join our team.”

”That sounds like a great idea,” Blue Pigeon said with a sigh. Are you really so desperate that you have to scout teammates from a pool of drafted criminals? he thought. In that case, I guess I really am a perfect fit for your team.

”Drop by the Super Hero Company sometime in the next couple of days. Give them my name, and they’ll let you in,” Top Hero said. ”I’ll introduce you to my commander. How about it?”

”I’ll think about it, man.”

”I’ll be waiting.” Top Hero stared at him, his gaze burning bright.

”Don’t wait up. I’ll come when I’m free.” Dropping those words, Blue Pigeon leaned forward slightly. Water-blue lightning filled his pupils, making it look as though ripples were flowing through his eyes.

The next moment, his body transformed into a bolt of lightning, roaring away and vanishing at the end of the long street.

Top Hero shook his head in awe. ”That is way too cool.”

He knew perfectly well that if Blue Pigeon hadn’t copied Rain Crow’s outfit, his performance would have made him highly sought after the moment he debuted. He would have received invitations from all sorts of rookie hero squads.

But the problem was that Blue Pigeon’s attire might attract Rain Crow’s archenemy, Clock Maker. Because of that, everyone at the company would treat Blue Pigeon like a walking jinx, avoiding him like the plague.

After all, no one wanted anything to do with Clock Maker. That name was practically synonymous with the Grim Reaper.

But Top Hero didn’t care. To achieve his dream of being a hero, he had traveled all the way from America, and he had finally managed to carve out a tiny sliver of a reputation here.

As long as there was even a single straw dangling in front of him, he would grasp it—even if it cost him his life.

”I hope this works out,” Top Hero muttered to himself.

Then he shook his head and glanced back at the reporters, who were already practically boiling over with excitement.

”Rain Crow’s imitator” and ”White Jack.” One was a massive viral topic that hadn’t been seen in years, and the other was a recently famous villain. That meant the internet traffic tonight was going to be absolutely massive.

Top Hero waved at them and blew a kiss as he walked backward, turning away from the neon glow and the flashing cameras to disappear into an empty alleyway.