A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

”Clock... Maker?”

On the first floor of the abandoned building, Giovanni’s expression shifted slightly at the name. Outside the window, a light rain had begun to fall, the drifting drizzle pattering against the dilapidated structure.

Amid the soft rustle of the rain, he lowered his head in quiet thought for a moment before looking up at Jiang Qingzi.

”The time-system esper? I’ve heard of him. He’s Rain Crow’s nemesis. The two of them have been at each other’s throats for years.”

Jiang Qingzi nodded, glancing at him.

”Yeah, that’s the guy. I’m actually pretty surprised, though.”

”About what?”

”That a caveman like you actually knows about this stuff.”

Giovanni fell silent.

He thought to himself, ’Of all the times for Clock Maker to show up, he chose now. Doesn’t that mean for a while after this, not only will I have to watch Death Crow’s movements, but I’ll also have to worry about Clock Maker dragging me off to the chopping block at any given moment?’”What a pity...” someone nearby murmured.

Giovanni followed the voice and saw Bai resting her cheek in one hand. She spoke with a slow drawl.

”If Clock Maker had arrived in the city a little earlier, that upright crow wouldn’t have had the free time to meddle in other business. Maybe our Stroh wouldn’t have been caught.”

Hearing Stroh’s name, Bai Ziling momentarily blanked before her eyes dimmed. Hugging her notebook, she lowered her head. Jiang Qingzi glanced at his phone and said slowly,

”Heimeng says the intel isn’t fully confirmed yet. It’s just a possibility, so she just wants everyone to be careful.”

He shrugged. ”This kind of thing has happened before, but back then it was just a Clock Maker copycat we slaughtered in passing. If it’s the real deal, it’ll be a different story.”

Giovanni remained silent for a moment. ”Could Clock Maker be coming for Blue Pigeon?”

”Very likely,” Jiang Qingzi said absentmindedly. ”I just don’t get the love-hate drama between these old men. It gives me goosebumps.” ”And who is Blue Pigeon?” Bai asked curiously.

At that moment, Bai Ziling suddenly pulled out her notebook, shrank back against a pillar, and began scribbling with a pencil and the crayons Giovanni had bought her. Then she turned the notebook around to face Bai.

Bai raised an eyebrow and turned to look.

The white-haired girl had drawn a chubby little blue pigeon on the page. The pigeon had its wings crossed, looking majestic, and behind it stood an old black crow with a solemn expression.

Bai Ziling had also written two crooked words above the crow’s head:

”Bad guy.”

It seemed she also knew that Stroh had been taken by Rain Crow.

The only reason she knew about Blue Pigeon was because over the past two days, whenever Giovanni wanted some peace and quiet, he would pull out the phone Heimeng had given him and play Blue Pigeon promotional videos or fan-made animated shorts for her.

Whenever this happened, Bai Ziling would grip the phone with both hands, sit obediently on the edge of the bed, and quietly watch the videos with her head lowered, while Giovanni breathed a sigh of relief.

This way, he didn’t have to deal with her. When it came to childcare, Ke Mingqing was simply following in his father’s footsteps; whatever Rain Crow did, he copied.

Now, looking at the little pigeon and the big crow in the sketchbook, Bai let out a thoughtful murmur, half-understanding.

”I see.”

She let out a light chuckle and reached out to stroke Bai Ziling’s hair.

Surprisingly, Bai Ziling didn’t resist. Within Death Crow, other than Giovanni, Bai was the only person she wasn’t entirely averse to. But every time she looked up and saw the stitches at the corners of the woman’s eyes and mouth, she still felt a little afraid.

Bai watched her and suddenly asked in a faint voice,

”If one day the most important person to you abandoned you, locked you in a pitch-black box, and told you to wait for his return, would you foolishly keep waiting?”

Bai Ziling tilted her head, not understanding what she meant.

Bai fell silent for a long time before saying slowly,

”Waiting is too long and too unbearable. Sometimes, it’s enough to completely change a person.”

She paused for a moment, raising a hand to cup her cheek, her lips curving into a smile. ”So don’t wait. Be brave. Run to see the person you want to see. Even if the ending turns out to be terrible, at least you won’t have any regrets...”

Bai Ziling hugged her sketchbook, staring blankly at the platinum-blonde woman. Through her veil, her voice sounded distant, carrying a trace of nostalgia. For some reason, Bai Ziling could also hear a hint of blame in it.

At that moment, Giovanni turned his head and looked at Bai.

”What kind of weird ideas are you feeding a kid?”

”What a strict, young father,” Bai replied mockingly.

Giovanni was unfazed. ”I’m not her father. I’m a guardian at best, or maybe an older brother.”

”Giovanni is Giovanni,” Bai Ziling wrote. ”Giovanni isn’t anyone else.”

”Alright, alright, you two have such a great bond... I’m going to rest, Mr. Conductor.” As Bai spoke, she stood up from the floor, stretched lazily, and walked toward the stairs.

Mr. Conductor...

Giovanni glanced down at his conductor’s uniform and shrugged, having no objections to the nickname.

He watched Bai leave. A moment later, a man wearing a cowboy hat and a denim jacket slowly walked down from the second floor. As he walked, Guchen pulled down the brim of his hat and whistled. A phantom horse immediately shot forward. The horse was tethered to a train carriage. Around the carriage ran a circulating conveyor belt carrying plates of unopened sushi wrapped in plastic. The savory aroma drifted over, reaching everyone’s noses.

”Tonight’s cuisine is,” Guchen paused before dramatically revealing the answer everyone could already see, ”conveyor belt sushi.” He stroked the stubble on his chin, a smile curving on his lips as he looked up to observe their reactions. ”How about it? Are you blown away by my creativity, kid?”

The spirited horse came to a halt. On the conveyor belt circling the carriage, plates of sushi spun around, with a bottle or two of aged liquor tucked in between. Watching this scene, Giovanni merely said expressionlessly,

”Sorry, Ziling and I just ate. We don’t have much of an appetite right now.”

Bai Ziling scribbled in her notebook and held it up for Guchen to see:

”Thank you for the meal.”

Then, the girl grabbed Giovanni’s sleeve, and the two brushed past Guchen, chatting as they walked toward the stairs. They headed up to the second floor, leaving Guchen frozen in place with his hat pulled low. A mocking neigh came from the horse beside him. Now, only he and Jiang Qingzi were left on this floor of the abandoned building.

”Young people these days really don’t appreciate a good thing.” He shook his head and sighed. ”And to think I went out of my way to buy food from a sushi restaurant today.” ”It’s fine, I haven’t eaten yet anyway,” Jiang Qingzi yawned, sitting cross-legged on the floor. ”We’re in the same boat, brother.”

”Shoo, I don’t eat with grown men,” Guchen waved him off.

”Is Giovanni not a man?” Jiang Qingzi asked. ”And if I remember correctly, you drank with him yesterday, didn’t you?” ”Sorakagehime was there at the time,” Guchen snorted coldly. ”Forget it, I guess I’ll make an exception and eat with you.”

So the two of them pulled plates of conveyor belt sushi off the carriage, tore open the plastic wrap, and began to feast, clinking their glasses from time to time.

At the same time, inside a room on the second floor of the building.

It was a quiet, rainy night. The soft rustle of the drifting drizzle filled the air.

By the dim light, Giovanni studied Bai Ziling’s profile.

The girl had her head down, gripping the edges of the phone with both hands as she quietly watched the Blue Pigeon animation.

On the screen, a little blue pigeon flapped its wings in the street, unleashing a blast of lightning that chased away the bank robbers.

At the end of the video, an English teacher suddenly appeared, picking out an item from the previous scene to teach an English vocabulary word. The transition between the two segments was incredibly abstract, but kids these days just ate this stuff up.

”That woman—what did she say to you earlier?” Giovanni suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Bai Ziling was silent for a moment. ”She told me not to wait.”

”Not to wait?”

Giovanni muttered to himself.

”Mm.”

”Not to wait for Stroh?” he asked.

Bai Ziling shook her head, her snow-white hair swaying slightly. ”I don’t know.”

Giovanni pondered for a moment. ”Never mind. I’m going to sleep.”

”Good night, Giovanni.”

Bai Ziling spoke as she turned down the phone’s volume and brightness, keeping her head down to continue scrolling through videos. She was very obedient; she watched whatever Giovanni told her to watch, never even switching apps.

”Good night.”

”You didn’t say my name,” the girl mumbled softly.

”Good night, Bai Ziling.”

The rest of the night passed in silence.

Over the next two days, nothing happened. Ke Mingqing was so bored he felt like finding a rope to hang himself.

But on July 15, at the end of the week, something bizarre occurred:

—He was kidnapped.