August 3, Leijing Commercial Street at night.
Exhausted from wandering outside all day, Ke Mingqing stood at an intersection with Xia Ningzhi and Xia Zili, waiting as the traffic lights cycled.
Xia Ningzhi suddenly spotted a hair salon down the street. Clamoring to get Xia Zili's hair trimmed, she shoved her younger sister through the doors.
Not wanting to wait around in the shop, Ke Mingqing hailed a taxi and headed home.
By the time he arrived, it was late, but the living room lights were still on.
Fiddling with his phone, Ke Mingqing passed through the pitch-black entryway. As he stepped into the living room, he suddenly stopped and looked up.
Xia Lingxue had just stepped out of the bathroom with a towel draped over her head. She wore nothing but a white lace-trimmed bra and panties, her wet black hair clinging to her neck.
Droplets of water slid down her collarbones and beneath the towel, eventually trailing down her pale calves to drip onto the floor.
Ke Mingqing stared for a second, then silently covered his eyes.
She walked over to the table, unwrapped an Alpenliebe lollipop, and popped it into her mouth. "What are you panicking for? It's not like I haven't seen you bare-bottomed enough times when we were kids."
Ke Mingqing thought this woman was bound to get diabetes sooner or later. Getting out of the shower and immediately going for candy instead of putting on clothes—was this how a normal human brain worked?
"That was when we were kids, okay?"
Ke Mingqing lowered his hand and looked at her.
His gaze didn't linger on her body, dropping instead to fix intently on her ankle.
A light red scar marked Xia Lingxue's ankle. It looked like a burn, its jagged outline resembling a devil's claw—exceptionally hideous.
Because she usually wore black knee-high socks and tall leather boots, Ke Mingqing had never noticed she was hiding such a conspicuous scar.
Xia Lingxue stayed silent for a moment before speaking unhurriedly.
"Mom said you guys didn't come home for dinner. She thinks you despise her cooking, so she's very sad."
"And then?"
"And then... she holed up in her room and refuses to come out. So when you go upstairs, drop by and comfort her, got it?"
As she spoke, Xia Lingxue picked up the clothes resting on the sofa. She quickly slipped into a white pajama set, followed by a pair of long black socks.
"Is she a kid? Why do we have to coax her?"
Ke Mingqing muttered softly. Shoving his hands into his jacket pockets, he brushed past Xia Lingxue.
"Stop."
Just as he reached the stairs, Xia Lingxue called out to him.
"What?" Ke Mingqing paused and looked back.
Towel-drying her hair, Xia Lingxue cast a sidelong glance at him. "Help your older sister trim her toenails."
She said it with such absolute entitlement that Ke Mingqing froze, furrowed his brows, and let out a confused "Huh?"
Xia Lingxue withdrew her gaze, her tone lukewarm.
"A PS5. This is your only chance, so think it over carefully."
Ke Mingqing turned his head, shooting a look of utter contempt at this capitalist devil.
His second sister used to pull this exact stunt when they were kids: bribing him with a little pocket money to cut her toenails or clean her ears. Anyone else would mistake it for some kind of obedience test. Her control-freak tendencies had been glaringly obvious since childhood.
"Fine, a real man can bend and stretch," he said with a shrug. "But no backing out, or I'll hold a grudge for the rest of my life."
With that, he sat on the sofa and rummaged through the table drawer for the nail clippers.
Xia Lingxue sat down as well. She slipped off her slippers and peeled off the black socks she had just put on, revealing a pair of well-proportioned feet. Her arches curved slightly, and the skin across her insteps gave off a cool, pale sheen under the lights.
A moment later, she lowered her head and extended a calf toward him.
As Ke Mingqing supported her heel, his gaze lingered on the old, light red scar on the outside of her ankle.
Xia Lingxue set her towel on the sofa and cast her eyes downward, quietly observing his face.
The young man held the clippers, trimming along the edges of her nails. The metallic snips echoed softly through the living room.
When he reached her pinky toe, Ke Mingqing deliberately brushed his wrist against the scar on her ankle. Xia Lingxue's toes curled instinctively, pulling taut.
"This scar looks pretty old. Does it still hurt?" Ke Mingqing asked casually, looking up.
Xia Lingxue stayed silent, merely giving a gentle nod.
"A little bit," she said, her voice remaining aloof.
It was a scar left over from her crusade against the mythic vessel Fire Giant Surtr three years ago.
Even though she had inherited the enemy's power that day and became a mythic vessel of Surtr herself, the burn mark on her ankle had remained.
Whenever she touched it, a searing pain flared up, as if the flames of that battle had never truly extinguished. It felt like a constant reminder of the tragic death suffered by the previous mythic vessel.
Now, Xia Lingxue had swapped places with the very person she had killed.
Back then, she was nothing more than a ruthless hunter. She believed all mythic vessels were monsters teetering on the brink of madness; no matter their reasons or hardships, killing them was the only option.
A mission was a mission. Personal feelings had no place in it.
But now she had become the exact kind of monster she had once deemed unworthy of pity.
Later, Xia Lingxue also discovered by chance that her younger sister—that perpetually carefree girl who seemingly never worried about anything—was a mythic vessel as well.
Perhaps it was a punishment... an inevitable retribution.
Xia Lingxue often found herself thinking this.
Over the years, a total of six mythic vessels had died at her hands.
On every mission, no matter how agonizingly desperate her targets looked before they died, no matter how they begged, she had never cared.
At the time, her attitude toward mythic vessels was as detached as looking at livestock waiting to be slaughtered.
"Do not try to understand your enemy, and do not let them cloud your vision. Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to yourself."
This familiar adage was a mandatory lesson hammered into every member of the Control Bureau's execution division upon joining.
Xia Lingxue once thought she had no need to empathize with her enemies. She thought the world would simply keep spinning in its natural order, but the roaring fire three years ago burned her entire worldview to ash.
Since then, she gradually came to understand what the world looked like through a mythic vessel's eyes.
Eroded by divinity, prone to madness at any moment, all while facing endless waves of deadly pursuit... Unable to sleep or eat in peace, drowning in despair, agony, and a fractured existence.
All of this was routine, but they had no choice in the matter. If one truly dug into the root cause, it all boiled down to sheer bad luck.
Three years had passed, and this was the first time Xia Lingxue had ever bared the scar on her ankle for another person to see.
Even though it happened by accident, she felt the need to explain the origin of the scar to Ke Mingqing—which was why she had asked him to cut her nails in the first place.
Right now, Ke Mingqing stared silently at the scar. He cradled her foot in his hand and lightly brushed his fingertips over the blemish on her ankle.
Amid the quiet, he finally asked, "When did you get hurt like this?"
"Not long after I started university." Xia Lingxue remained expressionless. "I accidentally stepped into a fire pit and burned my foot."
"Just how careless do you have to be? Did you never tell anyone in the family?"
"No. So you are absolutely forbidden from telling anyone else in the family, understand?"
"Whoa, guess I'm the first to know, then..." Ke Mingqing murmured. "You micromanage us all day long, but when something actually happens to you, you keep it from the family."
Xia Lingxue stayed quiet for a moment. "Are you done cutting?"
"Haha, it's not like you have eleven toes. Of course I'm done."
"Then head upstairs and talk to Mom. She hasn't had dinner yet, so remember to choose your words carefully."
Xia Lingxue instructed coolly as she slid her black knee-highs back on, concealing the scar once more.
After strapping on her leather boots, she rose from the sofa, threw on a black trench coat, and began to pace unhurriedly toward the entryway.
"Where are you going?" Ke Mingqing asked, slipping the clippers back into the drawer and turning his head.
"The cafe."
Xia Lingxue glanced down at her phone, replying without looking back.
"Drinking coffee from morning to night... it's a miracle you and Big Bro can even sleep," Ke Mingqing said. Turning away, he headed for the stairs, his figure gradually fading into the shadows of the stairwell.
At the same time, he abruptly closed his eyes. Concentrating, he deployed a Theater Puppet into an alley on the street corner.
[Theater Puppet No. 02—"White Jack" has been released.]
In the cramped alley, the bone-white puppet slowly lifted his head amidst a sprawl of garbage. Every joint in his body clattered and clicked as his hollow eyes reflected the moonlight.
A moment later, White Jack settled his top hat and tightened his grip on his cane. He was just about to spin his hat and fly upward to locate Xia Lingxue when a silhouette suddenly appeared at the mouth of the alley.
With her hands thrust into her trench coat pockets, Xia Lingxue slowly raised her eyes to meet his gaze. Without a trace of emotion, she asked:
"What do you want with me?"
White Jack shook his head. "No need to make the atmosphere so tense, Miss Zero. I'm only here to confirm something."
"I'm listening."
"We're currently in a cooperative relationship, aren't we?" White Jack said. "Last time, you mentioned that if I helped you hide the truth of the comet incident from your little sister Nezha, we could be good friends."
"And so?" Xia Lingxue crushed the candy between her teeth, her tone calm.
White Jack threw his hands open and let out a soft sigh. "So, logically speaking, we should be Good Friends, tomodachi, best pals right now—not locked in this awkward stare-down the moment we meet."
"We can barely be considered collaborators, but you are a player. As for your true purpose behind scheming to get so close to us... I can't help but be suspicious."
Pulling the plastic lollipop stick from her lips, Xia Lingxue tossed it casually into a nearby trash can. She continued:
"Why don't you just confess directly and save me the trouble of wasting my time on you?"
"Did you know, Miss Xia Lingxue... relationships between people always require a little bit of mystery to sustain themselves," White Jack replied. "After all, humans are completely awful. They're sickeningly despicable. Only by keeping a safe distance can we preserve our impressions of each other on the level of truth, goodness, and beauty."
"I have no idea what 'truth, goodness, and beauty' I could possibly see in you."
Xia Lingxue sneered as the evening breeze from the street whipped through her hair and rustled the hem of her trench coat.
"Alright, I quite like your sharp tongue..." White Jack salvaged his pride. "I've said it before: when cold people reveal their gentle side, it's exceptionally charming. The gentleness of someone who's kind to everyone is just too cheap."
"Instead of reciting lines you learned from some anime, you might as well state your business. I don't have much patience."
As Xia Lingxue spoke, the air inside the alley suddenly turned frigid.
"It's nothing, really. I just came purely to confirm the status of our relationship. It's like a little boy confessing to his crush, then sending that stupid, naive text: 'What are we now?', only for her to sweetly reply, 'Silly, we're a couple already'..."
White Jack had fully intended to say this, but before he could finish spewing his nonsense, his lips were completely sealed shut by a layer of frost. No matter how he pried, they wouldn't open. It was so cold it almost burned his mouth.
"Next time, let your noisy little cloth doll talk to me. She's much cuter than you are... Was her name Mio?"
Dropping those parting words, Xia Lingxue stuffed her hands into her trench coat pockets, turned around, and walked away.
If it weren't for the fact that he had saved her sister, she wouldn't have been nearly so polite. At the very least, she would have forced him to scrap a puppet body before letting him go.
White Jack leaned against the top of the trash can, tilting his head in exasperation as he watched her retreating figure. He thought to himself:
'Why hasn't my quest cleared yet? Is Second Sister really this difficult to deal with?'
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a Quest Panel slowly popped up in White Jack's pupils.
[Main Quest 7 (Phase 1) Completed: Use your secondary identity to establish contact with the Control Bureau's S Rank executive, Zero.]
[Quest Rewards Obtained: 1 Attribute Point, 6,500 EXP, 5,000 superhuman coins.]
[Player's current total superhuman coins: 9,500.]
[Congratulations, your EXP has reached the current level cap. Level increased by 1 automatically.]
[Current Level Progress: LV.15 (1,700/7,500 EXP)]
[Hint: You gain 1 Attribute Point for every 5 levels. 1 Attribute Point has been added to your personal panel.]
[You currently possess a total of "2" Attribute Points. Allocate them immediately?]
White Jack opened his stat panel, raised his finger, and quickly allocated the two Attribute Points.
[Congratulations, you have consumed "2" Attribute Points. Your "Strength" attribute has increased from "C Rank" to "C++ Rank".]
[The Player's current attributes are as follows: Strength: C++; Agility: B; Spirit: C]
"Scored another C++ Rank. How delightful," White Jack said. "Can I fight five players by myself now? Surely I can handle at least three or four, right?"
He was just muttering to himself when a blood-red Quest Panel suddenly popped up before his eyes.
White Jack looked up at the text on the panel and suddenly paused, slightly stunned.
[Hint: Main Quest 7 has updated to Phase 2 — Prevent the mythic vessel "Fire Giant Surtr" from being devoured, and redirect her target toward a mythic vessel from the Superhero Roundtable Council.]
'Uh, what does this mean... prevent Second Sister from being devoured?' White Jack thought to himself. 'Leaving aside what "devoured" even means, unless Second Sister actively threw her life away, you could count the number of people in this world capable of beating her on one hand. If that person belonged to the Superhero Roundtable Council, why would the system need me to redirect her target toward them in the first place? This doesn't make any sense.'
For some reason, looking at the word "devoured" suddenly reminded him of Zorro—the man known as the Devouring Arm, and the manager of Solomon Cafe.
'But the problem is... Zorro helped stall the members of Death Crow during that battle. He normally seems to be on great terms with Second Sister and Big Bro. Why would a guy like him want to "devour" her?'
Thinking up to this point, White Jack sighed and lifted a finger to close the chaotic clutter of panels.
'Forget it. I'll take it one step at a time and see what exactly Second Sister is up to later...'
With that thought, he opened his mouth and, like a magic trick, swallowed his entire white cane whole. His body then tipped right off the trash can, rapidly disintegrating into ashes like paper consumed by a blazing fire.
Ultimately, he dissolved into a wisp of snow-white smoke, slowly fading away into the night.
........
........
For Ke Mingqing, it had been an incredibly long day. He wasn't the only one keeping busy—his Theater Puppet No. 02 avatar, Giovanni, had also been running all over Tokyo.
After their Boeing flight landed at Tokyo International Airport, Bai Ziling requested a trip to Tokyo Disneyland.
Ke Mingqing and Heimeng subsequently bought admission tickets and took her around Disneyland to play for a while.
The three of them ate a ridiculously expensive lunch inside the park. Afterward, braving the sweltering heat, they queued up for various rides, thoroughly experiencing the reality of "wait in line for three hours, play for three minutes."
"Anyone brave enough to storm Disneyland during summer vacation is a real hero," Ke Mingqing lamented with a sigh.
"Giovanni, are you unhappy?" Bai Ziling wrote in her notebook.
"As long as you're happy, it's fine," Ke Mingqing said, casually ruffling her hair.
The sky quickly darkened. They settled dinner at an old-fashioned ramen cart by the roadside; supposedly, the owner had been sticking to this retro business style for a very long time.
Pulling up a stool, Ke Mingqing sat down and ordered an ultra-spicy hell ramen for both Heimeng and Bai Ziling, while he sat off to the side relishing a bowl of savory tonkotsu ramen. In the end, the white-haired girl and the hoodie-wearing hacker turned their heads in unison to silently watch him slurp his noodles. Acting like an enlightened monk deep in meditation, he kept eating without the slightest change in expression.
"Giovanni... bad guy," Bai Ziling puffed out her cheeks slightly.
"A miscalculation. I'll order for myself from now on." Heimeng remained deadpan. "You'd better not use an electronic ordering system next time, or I'll make sure to check every single item you 'like'."
The hacker girl issued her declaration of war, but Bai Ziling's approach was much more direct. She scooted right over, picked up her chopsticks, and very patiently transferred her hell ramen into Ke Mingqing's bowl, one strand at a time.
The creamy white tonkotsu broth gradually turned red.
After finishing dinner, Ke Mingqing and Bai Ziling boarded a dark green JR train bound for Tokyo's Roppongi district. Heimeng was still their only companion.
The internet-addicted girl, who normally never showed her feelings easily, had been hiding heavy emotions in her eyes these past few days.
Heimeng knew perfectly well that Death Crow suffered casualties precisely because White Jack had abducted her. To say she felt no guilt would be a lie.
The JR express train rattled and swayed, the carriage filled with the faint scent of disinfectant.
Japanese salarymen in suits, clutching their briefcases, stood rigidly ahead with their heads bowed like the walking dead.
The night outside was deep, but the long streets remained brightly lit. Kites shaped like carp streamers wove past power lines, drifting up into the night sky.
Ke Mingqing barely chatted with Heimeng during the ride, choosing instead to point out and explain all the novelties along the Japanese streets to Bai Ziling.
Their gazes passed through the train window, coming to rest upon the brilliantly illuminated Tokyo Tower.
Bai Ziling still remembered the textual introduction to this radio tower in one of her travel magazines, complete with numerous photos.
The book had stated that Tokyo Tower only glowed white during the summer; in spring, autumn, and winter, it shone with an orange-yellow light.
Seeing it with her own eyes was far more breathtaking than any book. Standing tall beneath the canopy of night, Tokyo Tower was like a giant holding a torch aloft, radiating white light against the dim world.
Bai Ziling's eyes widened slightly, her pupils gleaming as they reflected the towering structure.
"So pretty..." she whispered softly.
"If you want, I can take you to explore other places in the future, too," Ke Mingqing offered, gently patting her head. The girl's white hair flowed like snow through his fingers.
After getting off the train, Heimeng hacked into the Roppongi Grand Hotel's system in advance and booked two king-bed rooms.
Thus, the three of them settled into the Roppongi hotel.
Around midnight, Ke Mingqing controlled Giovanni to finish taking a shower. While toweling off his hair, he texted Heimeng, telling her to come over.
A short while later, there was a knock at the door, and he opened it.
Heimeng walked in and took a seat on the bed. "What is it?"
"I want to talk about what you mentioned on the plane," Ke Mingqing said. "We talked about 'players' then, but you never actually told me what a player is."
"We've already met a player."
Catching herself, Heimeng shook her head and corrected her statement. "No, we don't have solid proof yet. But judging from the traits that person displayed, there's a very high probability he's a player. The boss thinks so, too."
Ke Mingqing remained silent for a long moment, feigning deep thought, before slowly murmuring a name:
"White Jack?"
"Exactly. White Jack is likely a player. That's how he managed to pull off all those seemingly impossible feats."
Heimeng paused. "Though part of it was because I let my guard down. Otherwise, Kong and Bill wouldn't have died."
Ke Mingqing considered this. "In short, you mean that these players found out about Bai Ziling from the vampire hunters, and it's possible they've targeted her?"
"Yeah." Heimeng nodded. "It's only a matter of time, anyway."
"Why?"
"The players' goal is to 'eliminate all superhumans'. To them, killing us is just an unavoidable step—because if a player fails to complete the objectives set by the system, they will be obliterated."
Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment before following her train of thought.
"So they might pin their hopes of survival on Bai Ziling, stealing her heart to try and obtain an immortal body and evade the system's punishment."
"Exactly..." Heimeng whispered. "Even though it's just a possibility and we can't be sure... they most likely won't let such an opportunity slip by."
As she spoke, she raised her eyes to look at Bai Ziling, who was lying on her stomach on the bed, scribbling in a diary with a pencil.
Ke Mingqing stayed silent for a very, very long time before replying quietly.
"I understand."
"Be prepared... If something happens, apart from Magic Hand, the rest of Death Crow probably won't help you," Heimeng said. "They already told you that taking care of her is your own responsibility."
"I'll do what I said." Ke Mingqing lowered his head, his bangs shadowing his eyes.
'As long as they kill her... and take her heart, they'll have a chance to obtain an "immortal body" and escape the system's punishment?'
With that thought, the young man cast a slight sideways glance at the white-haired girl, who was now resting against the windowsill and gazing out at Tokyo Tower.
The white-haired girl turned her head, her snowy hair swaying gently. "What's wrong, Giovanni..."
"Nothing." After a long pause, Ke Mingqing finally said, "Go to sleep. Good night."