A Guide to Humanity’s Extinction

August 25, Leijing. Inside an old, remote building.

On the second floor, Lorenzo had used an ability acquired through Steal to recreate the floor’s past appearance. It looked like a hotel, and the sign on every door was spotless.

Right now, four figures stood in the hallway.

”You’re saying Giovanni is gone?” Jiang Qingzi paused in surprise.

Bai Ziling nodded, giving a soft ”Mhm.”

Jiang Qingzi fell silent for a moment. ”When did he disappear?”

”Around dawn. He was already gone when I opened my eyes,” Bai Ziling said after some thought. ”Giovanni mentioned he was experimenting with a certain philosopher’s ability.”

A short distance away, Lorenzo, the leader of Death Crow, suddenly spoke, calling out a name:

”Heimeng.”

Heimeng pulled her black hood over her head and slowly said, ”I checked the nearby security footage. Giovanni didn’t leave the abandoned building.”Jiang Qingzi frowned slightly. ”You’re saying he vanished inside this building?”

Heimeng hesitated for a moment before giving a gentle nod.

Lorenzo remained silent for a while, recalling the time Giovanni joined the group and used Superman Philosophy to withstand the attacks of three people simultaneously. Finally, he spoke: ”If that’s the case, Giovanni might be trapped inside a certain philosopher’s ability. Since it was an experiment, it makes sense that he didn’t fully understand what the ability did yet.”

”I really admire him. I was hoping to pull him in as a helper,” Jiang Qingzi sighed. ”Let’s hope Clock Maker doesn’t make a move too soon. That way, we’ll have time for him to return.”

He paused. ”Leader, do you have any way to find Giovanni?”

Lorenzo shook his head and closed the Bible.

”We wait,” he said expressionlessly. ”Heimeng, keep an eye on Clock Maker’s end. Don’t get distracted. The moment Clock Maker’s people make a move, notify us immediately.”

”Understood.”

......

......

At this exact moment, inside a dimly lit, abandoned factory.

”It really is a fucking return to where the dream began...”

Ke Mingqing muttered silently. He still remembered that White Jack and Rain Crow had first met in a similar abandoned factory.

’If I want to naturally lure Clock Maker out,’ he thought, ’the best method is to tie up Blue Pigeon and broadcast it nationwide. That way, this pervert definitely won’t be able to sit still.’

Right now, Ke Mingqing was sitting in a vintage chair, silently looking at the two Theater Puppets inside the factory.

The puppet on the left was wearing the Blue Pigeon Battle Suit, which bore traces of damage. The other wore a flight attendant’s uniform, taking on the appearance of an Italian youth with black hair and blue eyes.

’By temporarily withdrawing Theater Puppet Number One, Giovanni, I have two puppets to operate. When the time comes to deal with Clock Maker, I’ll have an extra margin for error.’

’The leader of Death Crow, Heimeng, Jiang Qingzi, and Third Sister will be responsible for holding off the rest of the Clockwork Alliance. Compared to The Pope, those brats are nothing but small fry.’

’As for the most critical target, Clock Maker, the old man and I will be enough. I hold a trump card that this clockwork idiot will absolutely never expect.’

Ke Mingqing pondered this as he looked up at Giovanni’s handsome but vacant face.

’Right, how should I explain things to Jiang Qingzi and the others when I get back...’

He muttered to himself, ’Yeah, I’ll just say that while I was experimenting with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, I accidentally locked myself inside and couldn’t get out.’

Thinking up to this point, Ke Mingqing ordered Giovanni to take off the flight attendant uniform and stand naked in place.

As mentioned before, the attribute values that Theater Puppet Number One inherited from his main body were much higher than those of Number Two.

So, Ke Mingqing decided to let Number Two act as the target—that is, to play Blue Pigeon.

As for Theater Puppet Number One, Giovanni, he would need to play White Jack and confront Clock Maker head-on.

As for Ke Mingqing himself, he would step out if the situation demanded it. Of course, the only identity he could play was Ke Mingqing himself, which simultaneously meant Blue Pigeon.

Naturally, this would raise a very serious question: why were there two Blue Pigeons at the scene?

He had actually thought of an excuse already. He could simply tell Rain Crow:

’Old Man, I collaborated with White Jack. I had him create a puppet to play me and draw Clock Maker’s fire, so the one who died back then was actually White Jack’s puppet, not me.’

This way, after everything was over, the terrifying Crow Man’s favorability toward White Jack would also increase somewhat.

But getting Rain Crow and White Jack to actually cooperate was impossible. After all, the old man was far too stubborn; there was no way he would get involved with a criminal.

Of course, all of this was built on the premise that the upcoming situation went smoothly and they completely steamrolled Clock Maker’s forces.

If things took a turn for the worse—if Rain Crow and White Jack were on the verge of defeat, and the members of Death Crow were taken down by those brats from the Clockwork Alliance—then Ke Mingqing could simply choose not to show his face. He would fake his death, escape, and wash his hands of it all.

After this incident, everyone would think Blue Pigeon was dead. Ke Mingwei, Xia Lingxue, and the others naturally wouldn’t come looking for him anymore.

No one would search the world for a dead man, seeking out a lonely, wandering soul.

When that time came, Ke Mingqing would be able to use a brand-new identity to take Kuroki Hitomi and the rest of the players in Leijing abroad to rendezvous with the others.

’Still, if it isn’t absolutely necessary, I should try to keep Blue Pigeon from dying. Otherwise, advancing the main quest from here on out will be very troublesome.’

’In the eyes of the rest of my family, White Jack is the main culprit who killed Blue Pigeon. Continuing to cooperate with them using White Jack’s identity isn’t very realistic. Am I going to have to create yet another new identity?’

’Forget it. I’ll take things one step at a time.’

Ke Mingqing muttered softly. He stretched out his right hand, playing with the dark red dice resting on the back of it.

The Dice of Calamity rolled as he tilted his hand, his gaze tracking its movement.

Over the course of the past week, Ke Mingqing had essentially figured out the events represented by every single number on the Dice of Calamity.

Point 1: [An undead band will appear around you. They will assault the enemy’s ears with intense music.]

Point 2: [Summon beams of spotlights to shine upon your body. Enemies who approach you will enter a brief state of shock.]

Point 3: [Show me the flowers (Summon a grand fireworks display).]

Point 4: [Temporarily turn your body into an impenetrable statue. For the three seconds you are a statue, you cannot perform any actions.]

Point 5: [Summon a suspended machine gun to conduct a large-scale strafing run centered on the landing point of the Dice of Calamity.]

Point 6: [Heavenly Thunder (This ability can only be used in rainy environments).]

’I should be able to make use of the event for Point 4. When the time comes, Clock Maker will find that there’s a new body in this world that his scalpel can’t cut through.’

Ke Mingqing let out a yawn, and the Calamity Dice slid down his wrist and into the cuff of his windbreaker.

’Well then, the preparations are basically complete. Next, I just need to notify the old man and let this good show begin.’

With that thought, he returned the Calamity Dice to his inventory. He then retreated behind the scenes, finding a hidden corner in the deepest part of the factory and hiding behind some dilapidated machinery.

Immediately after, Ke Mingqing controlled White Jack, picking up a spare phone to send a message to Rain Crow.

........

........

Meanwhile, in another corner of the world, at the Old Jingmai Police Station.

In a dimly lit office, Ke Mingwei had hung his police jacket on the back of his chair and was hunched over his desk, working. After a while, his phone suddenly let out a ding.

He reached out, fished the phone out of his jacket pocket, lit up the screen, and glanced at the received text message.

[White Jack: Tada! Our exclusive Crow-Crow livestream is making a comeback! Miss it? Back then, you used this stream to kill a... drug dealer you had never even met.]

[White Jack: Well, that guy doesn’t matter. Anyway, hurry up and enter the stream. There’s something inside you’ll want to see.]

[White Jack: —Livestream Link (Exclusive Crow-Crow Livestream).]

Ke Mingwei clicked on the livestream link.

The border of the stream displayed a line of extremely girly, pink text: ”Rain Crow, lovelove! Exclusive Crow-Crow Livestream!” followed by two large heart emojis.

The background of the video was a dim warehouse. Clutter was scattered all around, and piles of dilapidated mechanical equipment were stacked up.

Perhaps White Jack had done it on purpose; the environment was exactly the same as that day two months ago.

But Ke Mingwei could spot a few slight differences. This probably wasn’t the same factory from two months ago, not to mention that factory had been completely demolished long ago due to a fire.

A second later, Ke Mingwei’s pupils shrank slightly.

At that moment, he saw Blue Pigeon slumped in a chair, his head hanging low and entirely motionless. His figure was hunched and withered, like a drug addict high on pills.

Cracks spiderwebbed across Blue Pigeon’s helmet, and through them, a wound on his forehead could faintly be seen. Aside from that, there were signs of injury all over his body; not a single piece of his metal armor remained intact.

Meanwhile, White Jack stood behind the retro-style chair. He rested his hands on Blue Pigeon’s shoulders in the posture of an old father, his eyes slightly lowered and his expression looking quite affectionate.

A whiteboard stood behind him, and resting on its frame was a pink pencil.

Staring at this bizarre scene, Ke Mingwei furrowed his brow.

He had thought this day might come, but he hadn’t expected White Jack to kidnap Blue Pigeon instead of his own children.

The next moment, the ghastly white figure on the screen shattered the deathly silence enveloping the factory. White Jack coughed twice, reached out to massage Blue Pigeon’s shoulders, and slowly began to speak.

”Now then, let’s start with a beloved prize-winning guessing game. The question is on the whiteboard behind me. Please look at the big screen.”

As his voice faded, the whiteboard behind him zoomed in, revealing a striking line of pink text written on the board:

—The question is, ’What is Blue Pigeon’s true identity, the truth you’ve been running from all this time?’

White Jack suddenly lowered his head, tilting it close to Blue Pigeon’s helmet as he spoke slowly, almost emphasizing every single word:

”Answer one: Blue Pigeon is one of your children.”

”Answer two: Blue Pigeon is actually a child raised by Clock Maker. Blue Pigeon is the true spy, and both Lin Yin and Invisible Giant were framed by him.”

”Answer three: Blue Pigeon is Grey Owl’s friend. He debuted copying your attire with the goal of getting revenge for Grey Owl.”

White Jack paused. ”Now, it’s time to answer. If you don’t answer me within ten seconds, then I’ll use this lovely cane to smash Mr. Blue Pigeon’s head to pieces.”

Ke Mingwei furrowed his brow deeply.

On the screen, White Jack hummed the tune of ”London Bridge Is Falling Down” while flashing the Magic Cane he had been hiding behind his back.

Soon, the countdown began: ”Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three...” With every number closer to zero, the cane in his grip moved an inch closer to Blue Pigeon.

Ke Mingwei stared grimly at the screen as he pulled on his police jacket.

After a long moment, he frowned and said, ”The third answer.”

White Jack’s figure suddenly halted. His eyes went dull and lifeless, just like a puppet that had suddenly malfunctioned. He was completely silent and utterly still, looking as if he might collapse to the floor at any second and scatter into a messy heap of mechanical parts.

But a second later, he pulled his split mouth into a grin, let out a sigh, and announced in a low, mocking voice:

”What a pity... you answered wrong.”

White Jack slowly lifted his head, as if locking eyes with Rain Crow through the screen.

”Did you really not think of it, or are you just unwilling to accept the truth? Regardless, it’s time to reveal the answer.”

With that, White Jack reached out and slowly peeled off Blue Pigeon’s mask.

”The answer is... the first one.”

”He is one of your children. So which child could he be... Ke Linye, or Ke Mingqing?”

As he spoke, Blue Pigeon’s helmet plummeted toward the ground. In that moment, Ke Mingwei clearly saw the face beneath Blue Pigeon’s mask. It was a teenager with delicate features.

Ke Mingwei froze in place.

He stopped in his tracks, standing at the entrance to the police station, exposed to the scorching, blinding sun.

”Oh... you must be thinking about the police badge you gave him back then, right?” White Jack said softly. ”But it’s a shame. He isn’t wearing it, so you have no way of using that badge to track him.”

With that, he shook his head mockingly and used a piece of chalk to draw the outline of a badge on the whiteboard behind him.

”So next, let’s play a game, Mr. Ke Mingwei... oh no, Mr. Rain Crow. As promised earlier, this livestream will be broadcast globally. When the time comes, everyone in the world will see your disgrace.”

White Jack paused, suddenly lowering his voice:

”Of course, that includes the enemy you love and hate the most—Clock Maker.”