A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

The Dragon Egg cracked open, and an eight-meter-long blue dragon emerged from within. It spread its massive wings to blot out the sky, every scale opening and closing with a metallic clang.

”A dragon?” Dark Crocodile froze. Facing a dragon, he instinctively felt the oppressive weight of a higher lifeform, and his body trembled faintly.

”Who exactly are you?” Dream Monk asked in a deep voice.

”I have no reason to hide who I am,” White Jack said eerily. ”I am White Jack, though others usually call me the ’White Magician of Leijing’.”

”Don’t they usually call you the ’White Perky Butt of the Leijing Iron Tower’?” the miniature girl chimed in, tearing down his boast.

Hearing this, White Jack’s expression instantly darkened.

”Very well. You have chosen death.”

With that, White Jack’s consciousness connected with the blue dragon.

The dragon spread its wings and lunged at the enemy. In that same instant, black and red scales rippled across Dark Crocodile’s entire body as he transformed into a massive crocodile. Though slightly smaller than his opponent, he let out a low roar and charged.

The dragon and crocodile slammed into each other, claws and fangs tearing at one another. A violent gale swept outward, blowing White Jack’s top hat into the air and even forcing the river of sewage and excrement to surge backward.Holding down his top hat, White Jack made a mental note. ’It can barely suppress the B+ Rank Dark Crocodile, so it looks like this dragon is only about B++ Rank in strength. Whatever... it’s already pretty good for a C Rank item.’

”Roar—!”

The blue dragon opened its jaws and spewed out a curtain of flames, forcing the giant crocodile back.

Just as the dragon and crocodile tangled in combat, White Jack’s vision suddenly dimmed.

He felt a psychic presence invading his brain. Clearly, Dream Monk was trying to drag him into a dreamscape.

But it didn’t matter. He was just a puppet—a hollow doll. Puppets didn’t dream, so he naturally wouldn’t be affected by the man’s ability.

White Jack let his head hang, his body swaying unsteadily as if he were drunk.

”So this is the extent of your abilities. What an arrogant fool...” Dream Monk raised his bent arm in front of his chest, fingers relaxed and palm facing outward, and gave a cold snort.

He could enter the dream to kill White Jack himself, but there was no need. In a battle like this, an opponent only needed to fall asleep for a few seconds to become a corpse.

The next moment, White Jack abruptly raised his head, his hollow eyes meeting the monk’s gaze. Shocked, Dream Monk stumbled back several steps, his face full of astonishment.

White Jack held up a finger, rambling nonsensically. ”Uh... first of all, let me clarify that I don’t like dreaming. Dreams are an extension of reality, and since my reality is already cruel enough, my dreams are naturally cruel, too. You kill people in dreams, and I kill people in dreams. I kill this guy and that guy, hack my own family to death, chop off their heads... and sometimes I kill my friends.”

He paused. ”So your tricks are useless against me.”

In truth, White Jack’s words were completely drowned out by the dragon’s roars. A dark red light flared in Dark Crocodile’s eyes. He charged forward, swinging a tail as sharp as a spear, and swatted the blue dragon away.

The dragon crashed straight into the massive river of filth, kicking up a tidal wave of excrement. A putrid stench immediately filled the air.

”Damn it, this dragon is ruined,” White Jack muttered, clutching his forehead. ”I’ll let Miss Mio raise it from now on.”

A split second later, Dark Crocodile shot forward, his razor-sharp claws thrusting straight at White Jack’s chest.

Right at that moment, an energetic little paper puppet materialized in White Jack’s palm. It silently chanted, ’Superman Philosophy.’

A layer of golden light enveloped White Jack’s body, and Dark Crocodile’s claws couldn’t advance a single inch further. Giving up, the crocodile swept his tail against the golden barrier, using the recoil to launch himself backward.

Dark Crocodile landed back beside the miniature girl.

In that exact second, she once again threw her rainbow-shimmering curtain over Dark Crocodile and Dream Monk. The three of them rapidly shrank down to the size of ants, then split in three different directions to rush White Jack.

”Shrinking down for a surprise attack, huh?”

White Jack raised his right hand, and a black-and-red die appeared in his palm. He tossed the Dice of Calamity. It hit the ground, tumbled, and finally settled with a number facing the sky.

[Roll of Five: Summon a cluster of machine guns to unleash a wide-range sweep centered on the landing point of the Dice of Calamity.]

In a flash, a row of Gatling guns materialized on the ceiling of the sewer tunnel. Their muzzles all aimed downward, unleashing a devastatingly dense barrage of gunfire.

Even though the trio from the Clock Alliance had shrunk themselves, there was absolutely no way to dodge this sprawling storm of bullets.

The blue dragon flapped its wings and rose from the filthy river, darting over White Jack. It spread its massive wings to shield him, blocking the bullets raining down from above.

A moment later, when White Jack finally gathered his wits, the machine gun sweep had ended.

The Calamity Dice and the hovering firearms dissipated together. The ground was littered with smoking shell casings, and countless bullets had plunged into the river of sewage.

White Jack looked around. The entire tunnel was dead silent; there wasn’t the slightest trace of movement.

He put on the Tracking Sunglasses and checked their positions. Dark Crocodile was already gone.

It seemed the trio had never intended to fight a prolonged battle. When the miniature girl shrank them, they had merely feigned an attack before turning tail and fleeing.

It didn’t matter, though. White Jack’s goal for this trip was already accomplished. He had only wanted to find out what abilities Clock Maker’s adopted children possessed.

’Clock Maker has a good eye...’ White Jack thought. ’A shrinking ability, a dream-killing ability... these are one-in-a-million powers. It’d be great if I could get a similar skill.’

He fell silent for a moment before suddenly speaking up. ”And you, could you stop hovering over my head? You reek of shit.”

White Jack muttered, glancing up at the giant dragon thoroughly caked in filth.

The blue dragon let out a low rumble, its form slowly fading away. The next time it appeared, it would be back in its Dragon Egg state.

[Prompt: The blue dragon has reverted to a ”Dragon Egg” and returned to your inventory. The player must wait for the 24-hour cooldown to end before hatching the Dragon Egg again.]

”I wonder what other kids Clock Maker has adopted. If all their abilities are this bizarre, fighting them later is going to be tough. My old man will probably suffer... Honestly, Clock Maker alone with his time-based ability is already enough to give us a massive headache.”

As White Jack pondered, his figure slowly dissolved into trailing smoke and faded away. The sewer grew deathly still, leaving only the endless gurgle of flowing sewage.

...

...

Meanwhile, in the Old Jingmai District, at Platform 7 of the abandoned train station.

Ke Mingqing stripped off the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit, removed his helmet, and shoved them into a locker. Then, he sat down on a public bench, retrieved the Tracking Sunglasses from his inventory, and checked Dark Crocodile’s current location.

The red dot on the map had stopped right in the center of the city—astonishingly, at the location of the Super Hero Company.

That’s right. After leaving the sewers, Dark Crocodile had actually backtracked straight to the Super Hero Company.

’He still dares to return to the Hero Company under these circumstances?’ Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow. ’There has to be another inside man for Clock Maker hiding in the company. Otherwise, there’s no logical reason for Dark Crocodile to act so boldly.’

Thinking this, he took out his spare phone, opened his messaging app, and sent a text to Lin Yin.

[Blue Pigeon: By the way, Commander, you still haven’t told me. What is Dark Crocodile’s background?]

[Lin Yin: He was an orphan who lived at the Leijing St. Ann Orphanage until he was sixteen. At sixteen, he left the orphanage and supported himself by working at a convenience store. After that, he underwent a genetic mutation, became a mutant, and voluntarily applied to join the Hero Company.]

[Blue Pigeon: Are you sure you investigated his background thoroughly?]

[Lin Yin: Positive. A highly experienced staff member we know checked the files right in front of me. I’ve known him for years, and he’s very meticulous with his work. Don’t worry.]

’It’s almost certain that one of Clock Maker’s people infiltrated the company. They’re helping Dark Crocodile forge his identity; they might have even filled out those fake documents themselves... But the Commander said he’s known this person for years. Could it be someone else?’

Pondering this, Ke Mingqing hesitated for a moment before typing on his phone.

[Ke Mingqing: When you have a moment, could you find out which staff member entered ”Dark Crocodile’s” information into the database? Logically, there should be a record left behind, right?]

[Lin Yin: Sure, it’s a minor thing. Give me two minutes.]

Sitting on the public bench, Ke Mingqing waited quietly.

Lin Yin did not disappoint. He worked efficiently and replied exactly two minutes later.

[Lin Yin: The person who entered the data is ”Gu Mengqing”. She’s a technician who recently joined the Hero Company and is responsible for managing the superhero database—uh, though rumor has it she’s a nepotism hire. Her dad is also a staff member at our Hero Company.]

[Lin Yin: You know how it is. The company is especially lenient and sentimental when it comes to its veteran employees.]

”Gu... Mengqing?”

Ke Mingqing muttered soundlessly, suddenly freezing in place. The next second, a figure surfaced in his mind: a girl dressed in punk fashion, sporting dyed blue hair and a skull necklace.

’Isn’t this the player who forged the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit for me?’ he thought. ’She actually entered the Super Hero Company and became an insider. But how did she bypass the player identity scanner?’

’Could she have found a way to hide her player ID...’

’No, that’s not the main issue. Why would she browse Dark Crocodile’s profile? Could she be connected to Clock Maker’s faction?’

Ke Mingqing drew in a sharp breath. He clearly remembered that Gu Mengqing was involved in the underground industry. Previously, she had only mentioned that she forged ’hero combat suits’ for others. Now, she had joined the Hero Company and become a technician managing the database.

’Is it possible that she even helped forge the combat suit Dark Crocodile was wearing?’

With that thought in mind, he opened the player Chat Panel and sent a message to Kuroki Hitomi.

[Ke Mingqing: I need you to contact the people on that side.]

The other party quickly replied.

[Kuroki Hitomi: Why?]

[Ke Mingqing: She joined the Hero Company, and it seems she’s made contact with Clock Maker’s people.]