A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

On the afternoon of July 11, the sky suddenly changed as a cumulonimbus cloud drifted in from the distance.

Beneath the dark, oppressive sky stood an old building. On the second floor, a boy sat at the end of the hallway. He was resting with his head bowed, leaning against the iron balcony door. A pumpkin lantern left over from last year’s Halloween hung above his head.

Before long, a light rain began to fall.

The rain pattered down. A gust of cold wind carrying fine drizzle blew in from the balcony, slipping through the gap in the door and falling onto the boy’s head.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes, only to find a face mere inches from his own.

It was a young woman with her hair tied in a small bun. Her eyes and slightly upturned nose gave her an incredibly lively look.

”De—Demon Pill,” Ke Mingqing blurted out hoarsely.

Xia Ningzhi waved a hand in front of his face, eyeing him curiously, as if looking at someone possessed.

Ke Mingqing finally saw her face clearly. Narrowing his eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that his eyes were finally open, Xia Ningzhi tilted her head, brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, and asked, ”A’Qing, why are you sleeping in the hallway? Did you get heatstroke?””It’s too hot in my room. Can’t I sleep out in the hallway for a bit?” Ke Mingqing climbed up from the floor and dusted off his pants. Xia Ningzhi stepped back to give him room.

”Your room has an air conditioner. Does the hallway?” Xia Ningzhi paused. ”Is something on your mind? If you’re stressed, you can talk to your older sister about it.”

”It’s nothing, I’m just exhausted.” Ke Mingqing yawned. ”Sis, stop interrogating me. You’d be better off going to a temple to burn some incense, chant *Amitabha* a few times, and pray your college entrance exam scores look a little better!”

Xia Ningzhi lowered her head in thought for a moment. ”Alright, but I have something to talk to you about. When will you be free?”

”I should be free tonight.”

Tossing out those words, Ke Mingqing turned and walked into his bedroom, blinking away tears of exhaustion.

He tugged at the collar of his T-shirt. A breeze drove the drizzle against the floor-to-ceiling windows with a soft patter.

Closing the door, he dug his spare phone out from under his pillow and checked a new message.

[Lin Yin: The two criminals you specifically requested have been officially recruited as heroes today. Come over and meet them. The company also has a mission to assign to you.]

”A hero squad, huh...” Ke Mingqing muttered.

He knew perfectly well that the true protagonists in the upcoming battle for the Comet Fragments were Death Crow and the powerhouses in his own family.

The foreign support sent by the Hero Company and the squads from the Magical Girl Company were all just small fry. In all likelihood, they wouldn’t be of much use.

Aside from Ember, Little Red Riding Hood, and a few others, the rest would most likely end up as cannon fodder.

*I hope a lot of them die,* Ke Mingqing thought. *Whether it’s my family or Death Crow, watching them slaughter each other is a good thing for us players. There are four people in my squad. I wonder how many will actually survive... Damn it, I worked so hard to establish this Blue Pigeon identity. I won’t end up dying before victory, will I?*

He typed out a reply to his commander.

[Blue Pigeon: Sir, I will be right there.]

”She’s my commander, after all, so I should still show some respect. We’ll be working together for a long time.”

Coaxing his exhausted body into motion, Ke Mingqing slipped the spare phone into his pocket and headed downstairs.

The living room was empty. The rain blurred the world outside the window, fine drops battering the streets and alleys. A student ran through the downpour, holding a schoolbag over his head to shield his soaked uniform.

Ke Mingqing walked to the entryway, sat down, and laced up his Nike sneakers.

A moment later, a young woman in an orange dress stepped into the entryway.

Xia Zili grabbed a folding umbrella from the rack, quietly walked over, and whispered in his ear, ”Are you going to the Hero Company?”

”Yeah, are you heading out too?” Ke Mingqing replied softly, turning to glance at her.

”I happen to be going to the Magical Girl Company. I can drop you off in the city center on the way.”

”No need, I can just take the bus,” Ke Mingqing said.

Xia Zili hid the umbrella behind her back and rolled her eyes at him. ”You’re a superhero, for crying out loud. Taking the bus every day... as your sister, I’m embarrassed for you. Can’t you maintain a little mystique?”

Looking down to tie his shoelaces, Ke Mingqing replied sarcastically, ”Right, right. Our great Lady Ember has so much mystique. A quick search on Taobao pulls up all sorts of ’adult toys’ endorsed by you.”

Xia Zili bristled, glaring indignantly at his back.

Standing in the shadows of the entryway, she raised her folding umbrella and aimed the tip squarely at the back of his head.

But then she remembered it was just an ordinary umbrella without a trigger. She slowly lowered it.

”Forget it... I don’t care about you anymore,” she muttered.

Finishing with his shoelaces, Ke Mingqing let out a sigh and turned to look at her.

”My most, most, most respected Lady Ember, could you accompany me to the train station?” he asked softly.

Xia Zili maintained a cold expression. She had fully intended to refuse, but for some reason, she silently nodded and stepped out of the house ahead of him.

She popped open the folding umbrella and stood in a puddle, looking back at him.

”Hurry up. Stop dawdling, I’m busy too.”

Ke Mingqing walked over and pulled the door shut behind him. The umbrella shielded them from the blowing drizzle, raindrops pattering loudly against the fabric. The boy and the young woman huddled close together, chatting and laughing as they walked into the curtain of rain.

Their reflections appeared in the roadside puddles, only to be blurred by ripples from the falling rain.

At that exact moment, up on the second floor, Xia Ningzhi stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of her bedroom.

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze piercing the rain to watch the two siblings. Amid the torrential downpour, Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili shared a single umbrella, slowly walking off into the distance.

”Going out in the rain... and going out together...”

Xia Ningzhi’s mind flashed back to the words White Jack had spoken that day on High-Speed Train G2135:

—”Perhaps you shouldn’t only care about your sister. When you have the time, how about observing your brother more closely?”

She lowered her head in thought for a moment before suddenly reaching out and sliding the window open. The rain whipped toward her face, only to be vaporized into scorching steam by a sudden curtain of flames.

The Wind and Fire Wheels sped over from the distance. Leaping out the window, she stepped onto the Wind and Fire Wheels and soared away.

Ten minutes later, inside the abandoned train station, at Platform 7.

Rain dripped onto the mottled tracks with a steady patter, but the platform itself remained perfectly quiet. Only the figures of the boy and girl could be seen.

Xia Zili leaned against a pillar, her back to Ke Mingqing. A moment later, she peeked out of the corner of her eye, watching him strip off his T-shirt and shorts. Left only in his boxer briefs, he began pulling on his combat suit.

Her ears turned red. Quickly averting her gaze, she stared blankly at the curtain of rain.

”You superheroes are such a hassle,” she mumbled.

”You magical girls just have it too easy. You can transform anytime, anywhere. All the other super-human species are dying of jealousy,” Ke Mingqing retorted. By now, he was fully dressed in his blue combat suit.

”Jealous of what? Jealous that we turn into witches?”

”You just love giving yourself these psychological suggestions,” he said. ”But back in your room, didn’t you see it...” she replied.

Ke Mingqing froze. His mind flashed back to the sight of the young woman with blue flames drifting from the corners of her eyes, and his heart tightened.

After a moment of silence, he asked, ”By the way, if you carry me over to the city center, what if someone sees us on the way?”

”What do you mean, what if?”

”Come on, the magical girl Ember having a secret rendezvous with the rising star hero, Blue Pigeon? We’re both controversial figures right now. If word of this gets out, it’ll generate an insane amount of traffic.”

As Ke Mingqing spoke, he turned his head, only to see Xia Zili enveloped in a hazy cocoon of light. By the time the light faded, she had already transformed into her gothic dress.

”With my abilities, do you really think I’d be spotted?” Ember asked as she walked over. ”Besides, it’s raining. No one is going to be staring up at the sky for no reason. Absolutely no one will see us.”

”I’ll trust you this once. Just don’t blame me if we blow up on the trending searches again.”

Ke Mingqing gave her a long look before putting on his Blue Pigeon helmet. Slipping his spare phone into his combat suit pocket, he turned, walked over, and took her hand.

”What’s wrong?”

Seeing her eyes cast downward in thought, Blue Pigeon asked the question, his voice deep and filtered through the helmet.

”Nothing... I just feel like having someone accompany me to work isn’t so bad. I’ve always been alone before,” Ember said, shaking her head.

”Alright then, I’ll go to work with you every day from now on.” Blue Pigeon raised a hand, extending a metallic finger to gently poke the magical girl Ember on the forehead.

”Could your voice changer sound any weirder?” she asked.

”You have the nerve to criticize me? I wouldn’t even recognize your voice anymore.”

”Oh, that just proves you don’t care about me at all.”

The magical girl Ember spoke softly as she raised her magnificent umbrella. Ripples of magic spread outward, lifting them into the sky and pushing aside the torrential rain.

Meanwhile, outside the abandoned train station, in a corner of the restricted zone.

Ribbons of fiery red silk fluttered above Xia Ningzhi’s head, shielding her from the falling rain. Standing on the Wind and Fire Wheels, she hovered behind an abandoned office building, using the structure to conceal her figure.

”Xiao Li and that guy seemed to have stopped here... Why would they come to a place like this?”

She let out a breath and undid her hairband, letting her small bun cascade down into a sheet of pitch-black hair.

Looking up at the sky, she suddenly witnessed a baffling sight: a young woman holding hands with a figure in a blue combat suit. Clinging to an umbrella, they soared rapidly through the rain, disappearing into the cumulonimbus clouds in the blink of an eye.

From beginning to end, Xia Ningzhi’s gaze remained firmly locked onto that blue figure.

”Is that...” she murmured softly, ”A’Qing?”

Even though the rain blurred her vision and obscured the person’s face, she was absolutely certain the young woman holding the umbrella in the gothic dress was her younger sister.

In that case, the other person was undoubtedly Ke Mingqing.