Night enveloped the train station, leaving the platform in dead silence.
A faded station sign swayed in the wind, creaking rhythmically.
Ke Mingqing used a single finger to dig the magic missile out of his mangled right hand. Emitting wisps of white smoke, the warhead slipped from the edge of his palm and hit the ground with a dull clatter.
Lowering his gaze to the bloodstained warhead, Ke Mingqing breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If he had been a second later, he thought, that bullet would have pierced straight through Crow Man's temple.
'If Crow Man died, what would happen to my main quest?'
'Besides, I still need Rain Crow's connections to climb the ranks of the Superhero Roundtable Council.'
'Without Rain Crow, I don't have any other way to get in touch with the Roundtable right now.'
'Wait, no, there's also Officer Girl... but she seems extremely hard to handle. Don't tell me I'd have to become her boy toy?'
At that thought, Ke Mingqing curled his fingers, clamping down on the bleeding wound to stem the blood flow.
"Are you two done messing around?" he asked quietly. "Is it really that hard to just talk things out calmly? Even I don't care that much, and I'm the one who got shot. Can you stop getting angry on my behalf?"
As he spoke, Ke Mingqing looked at Ember, whose face was as pale as a paper cutout.
'I'm going to kill your whole family in the future anyway,' he thought, 'or you're going to kill me. So what if I was used as bait? There's nothing to be mad about. You're overreacting, little sister.'
"A'Qing, your hand..."
Ke Mingwei finally spoke, his brow furrowed.
"That's only because you didn't dodge," Ke Mingqing said, rolling his eyes. "Dad, I know you're tough, but you can't possibly think taking a bullet to the back of the head makes you look cool."
Ember stared at Ke Mingqing's bloody palm, freezing for a long moment before finally snapping back to her senses.
In an instant, the gloom and shock on her face shifted to fear and heartache. Dropping down from the sky, she summoned a thick magic card binder.
The girl drew a Magic Card from the binder—Firefly. She crushed it, and a shower of warm, glowing light drifted down, illuminating the surrounding darkness.
Bathed in the glow, the wound on Ke Mingqing's palm began to heal at a visible rate.
A moment later, new flesh filled the bloody hole, covered by a layer of pristine skin as soft as a newborn's.
Only then did Ember breathe a sigh of relief.
She had remained completely silent the entire time, though the right hand gripping her umbrella handle still trembled slightly.
She turned her head, shooting Ke Mingwei a cold glare, and then raised Cinderella. The gorgeous canopy of the umbrella opened into the night sky, and with a soft pop, her figure shot up into the clouds on a rippling wave of magic.
Ke Mingqing watched her leave, pulling out his phone to send her a message.
[Ke Mingqing: I'll explain everything tonight. Don't run away from home. Didn't you want to hear me explain about that Japanese flirt?]
"Your hand needs to be bandaged," Ke Mingwei said quietly.
"No need, Dad. You really don't understand how ridiculously overpowered magical girls are."
Ke Mingqing spoke calmly, shoving his left hand into his pocket as he raised his right to show off his perfectly healed palm.
"Let's head home first. I'll call my girlfriend and coax her later. She might seem like she has a bad temper, but she's actually pretty easy to pacify. I'll make her apologize to you another time."
With that, Ke Mingqing turned around, heading down the stairs and disappearing into the pitch-black tunnel.
Ke Mingwei remained silent for a moment. He looked up toward the direction where the magical girl Ember had vanished, finding nothing but the darkening blue of the twilight sky.
He couldn't quite explain it, but for some reason, that magical girl always gave him a deep sense of familiarity.
Ke Mingqing didn't see a single crow on the way home. The telephone poles and billboards were completely empty; everything felt far too quiet and peaceful.
Kids on tricycles darted through the streets and alleys, their shouts drowning out the chirping of the cicadas. One child lost his grip on a kite string, accidentally letting it fly. It swayed as it rose through the tangle of power lines and iron fences, drifting into the night sky.
Ke Mingqing didn't know how many more nights like this he would get to experience. All he knew was that the countdown to his death hanging over his head only had a little over four months left.
The father and son walked in silence, soon arriving at their old apartment building.
"Mom, I'm home."
Ke Mingqing unlocked the door and leaned against the shoe cabinet as he kicked off his sneakers.
He had barely stepped through the dark entryway and caught a glimpse of the light in the living room when a girl with a small bun in her hair lunged right at him.
Xia Ningzhi vigorously ruffled his hair, grinning. "Spit it out. Where did you sneak off to this time? Xiao Li went looking for you, but came back empty-handed with a miserable look on her face!"
She paused. "You're not two-timing her, are you?"
"Please, I was just having a heart-to-heart with Dad." Ke Mingqing batted her hand away.
"Yeah right, A'Qing, who are you trying to fool?" Xia Ningzhi gaped at him. "Dad is a total brick wall. Since when does he have heart-to-hearts with anyone? Did the sun rise in the west today?"
"Why don't you ask him yourself?"
Ke Mingqing replied dryly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the front door.
Xia Ningzhi turned around, finally noticing the tall man standing in the doorway. She flashed an awkward, toothy grimace.
"I was just joking, Dad."
Ke Mingwei didn't say a word. He just clamped a cigarette between his lips, kicked off his black leather shoes, and walked into the living room with them.
"So, what did you and Dad talk about?"
"We talked about you. He's worried that you're never going to get married, Third Sister. He's wondering what kind of bizarre guy it would take to keep a little monster like you in check."
"A'Qing, are you itching for a taste of your big sister's invincible skull-driller?"
"Mercy."
As they bantered, Xia Ningzhi and Ke Mingqing didn't forget to trade a few playful shoves and kicks.
Just as the two finally sat down, Ke Linye walked out of the bathroom. He looked up from his phone, fixing them with a thoughtful stare from his clear eyes.
The siblings wordlessly ignored him. Xia Ningzhi grabbed the remote to put on a movie called The Los Angeles Heist, while Ke Mingqing scrolled through Weibo on his phone.
"Kids, I've got some bad news," Ke Linye suddenly announced a moment later, coughing twice to clear his throat.
"Spit it out."
"Your Second Sister and I are heading back to university in a few days." Ke Linye covered his face and sighed.
"Damn, isn't that good news?"
Xia Ningzhi and Ke Mingqing said in unison.
"Your big brother is heartbroken. Couldn't you two be a little nicer?" Ke Linye said, though he was smiling as he clutched his chest, his pitch-black earring swaying slightly.
Without even looking up, Ke Mingqing waved a hand at him. "Okay, okay, we'll miss you. Rest in peace, bro!"
Xia Ningzhi grinned. "Exactly. Our A'Qing is always the best at lying."
Ke Linye's lips curled up as he took a sip of coffee. "It's fine. If you guys miss me that much, I can always take a month or two off from school to stay home with you. The classes don't matter much to me anyway."
Xia Ningzhi quickly leaped off the couch and started shoving him by the back. "Shoo, shoo! Go wherever it is you need to go. Besides, aren't you supposed to be looking for an internship?"
"Oh, you're right, A'zhi. Why didn't I think of that?" Ke Linye raised an eyebrow.
He chuckled. "Then I suppose I'll just find an internship right here in Leijing. That way, I won't be too far from you all."
Xia Ningzhi flopped back onto the couch and rolled her eyes at Ke Linye. In truth, though, she didn't really want to go away for university either.
The only reason she had chosen a local university was because she couldn't bear to leave Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili behind.
'If only Dad knew their secret identities, then he could protect them for me,' Xia Ningzhi thought, shaking her head. 'Wait, Dad probably already knows that A'Qing is Blue Pigeon, doesn't he?'
She rested her chin on her hand, her eyes darting around. 'Should I find an opportunity to test Dad on that?'
"What kind of crazy scheme are you plotting now?" Xia Lingxue walked out of the kitchen. She took off her apron, opened the fridge, grabbed a plastic bottle of cold cola, and pressed it firmly onto the top of Xia Ningzhi's head.
"Second Sister, are you going to be looking for an internship too?" Xia Ningzhi looked up and asked.
"I'm only a sophomore. Why would I need an internship?" Xia Lingxue countered.
Xia Ningzhi put on a serious face. "Then hurry up and talk some sense into Big Brother! Tell him to go find an internship out of town so he doesn't bring disaster to Leijing's companies!"
"It's fine. It's not like he's guaranteed to find a job," Xia Lingxue said flatly, crossing her arms.
Ke Linye was just about to shoot back a retort when he suddenly paused. For some reason, he turned his head, glancing out of the corner of his eye toward the second floor.
Xia Zili was leaning against the staircase railing, playing on her phone. Hidden in the shadows, she secretly cast glances at Ke Mingqing's profile, as if trying to confirm that the wound on his hand was completely healed.
Meeting Ke Linye's gaze, Xia Zili froze for a second. Her face immediately darkened, and she turned on her heel and marched back into her room.
"A'zhi, A'Qing, are either of you fighting with Xiao Li?"
Ke Linye turned back, his clear eyes sweeping over the two on the couch.
"No way. Xiao Li's probably just sleepy," Xia Ningzhi said with a stretch. "She'd get mad at anyone before she ever got mad at A'Qing. You should be more worried about Dad. He's been acting really weird today."
She cast a glance toward the corner of the living room as she spoke. Ke Mingwei had pulled up a chair by the window and was sitting there by himself, staring silently out into the night.
Ke Mingqing thought for a moment before suddenly turning to Xia Lingxue.
"By the way, Second Sister, are you sure you can't stick around a little longer?"
"I could," Xia Lingxue said, raising her hand to expressionlessly pat the top of Ke Mingqing's head. "I could drop out of school right now and become unemployed. That would let me stay home a bit longer."
She suddenly let out a cold scoff. "What's wrong? Already missing your big sister?"
"Who's missing you? I was just wondering why you were still loitering around."
Ke Mingqing said that out loud, but inside, he was thinking, 'The Control Bureau has so many missions. It'll be practically impossible for Second Sister to stay in Leijing right now. But when those three witches from the Final Sky Tower attack... can we really win without her?'
But then another thought occurred to him. 'Oh wait, Crow Man is an S-class superhuman now too.'
'Add in Xi Ziyue, the strongest modern magical girl, and as long as Xia Zili doesn't lose control and succumb to Witchification... our lineup should definitely be strong enough to put up a fight, right?'
At that thought, Ke Mingqing grabbed the cold cola off the top of Xia Ningzhi's head, cracked the cap open with a hiss, and guiltily took a sip.
"Dinner's ready."
At Xia Wenna's call, everyone in the living room filed into the kitchen.
But at the dining table, Ke Mingqing noticed that both Xia Zili and Ke Mingwei were missing.
Xia Zili had sent a text saying she was exhausted. She'd locked her door and gone straight to bed. When Xia Wenna couldn't get her to come out, she simply left a plate of dinner for her in the microwave.
As for Ke Mingwei, he claimed he'd already eaten at the station and didn't have much of an appetite, so he went up to the third-floor rooftop alone to smoke.
"I heard three foreign transfer students just joined Third High," Xia Ningzhi said. "How come nothing like that ever happened when I was still going there? I want to make friends with cute foreigners too!"
She chewed on the ends of her chopsticks, sounding deeply resentful.
"Then you should just hold back a year and repeat," Ke Mingqing said. "Who knows? Maybe those three foreigners are magical girls."
"Never mind, then." Xia Ningzhi quickly shook her head. Pressing her hands together in prayer around her chopsticks, she said piously, "Farewell, prison."
"See? Anyway, Mom, I'm full—"
With that, Ke Mingqing set his chopsticks down on his bowl. He pushed himself up from the table and made his way up to the roof.
Pausing in the second-floor hallway, he glanced at Xia Zili's door. It was shut tight, and not a single sound came from within.
Assuming she had already fallen asleep, Ke Mingqing continued up the stairs to the third floor. He walked down the dark hallway, pushed open the iron door, and stepped out onto the rooftop.
He stepped up beside Ke Mingwei, crossing his arms over the railing and leaning forward to quietly enjoy the night breeze.
Ke Mingwei took a silent drag of his cigarette, his deep eyes gazing out at the silver-white Iron Dragon roaring past on the distant elevated tracks.
"A'Qing, are you planning to keep being a superhero?" he suddenly asked a moment later.
"That's the plan." Ke Mingqing shrugged. "Like father, like son. You're getting old, and Clock Maker is dead now anyway. You should just retire in peace and leave Leijing to me."
Ke Mingwei fell silent for a moment. "Have you ever thought about joining the Roundtable?"
He paused. "With your potential, I think you might have a chance to take my place as a Roundtable Hero one day."
Ke Mingqing suddenly fell silent.
'One day?'
'It's a shame I don't have a future left, Dad. I only have four months. Joining the Roundtable isn't enough; I have to tear my way completely through it before my time is up.'
Out loud, Ke Mingqing simply said, "Sure. I've always wanted to meet the rest of the Roundtable, actually. I get the feeling they're all a bunch of massive perverts, though."
"What makes you say that?" Ke Mingwei asked, confused.
"I ran into Officer Girl back at Top Hero's funeral," Ke Mingqing said casually. "The second she saw me, she told me, 'I'm looking forward to seeing how you perform in my bed.' It was quite the psychological blow."
He spread his hands. "So, now I'm just curious about what kind of perverts the rest of the Roundtable are."
The night wind blew past them, making the cherry of the cigarette in Ke Mingwei's fingers flare and dim.
His expression turned grave, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
"Alright, then," he finally said. "I'll submit the application to the Roundtable tomorrow. Their internal protocols are strict; the application process will probably take about a month."
Ke Mingwei took another drag of his cigarette before continuing.
"Once that's done, you'll be able to enter the Roundtable as my assistant. You'll share most of my Roundtable Hero Clearance."
"A month?" Ke Mingqing leaned on the railing, thinking it over. "That'll be right around the National Day holiday. Will I be able to go to New York with you and see what a Roundtable meeting is like?"
As he spoke, he pulled up his Quest Panel to check its contents.
[Main Quest 1 Updated (Stage 5): Infiltrate the world's strongest superhero organization—the "Superhero Roundtable Council"—as Rain Crow's assistant.]
Ke Mingwei nodded. "Of course. I'll take you with me when the time comes."
"Great," Ke Mingqing said.
Both father and son fell silent for a moment.
"Do you have anything else you want to ask me?" Ke Mingwei finally broke the silence, stubbing out his cigarette.
"Hmm..." Ke Mingqing shook his head. "I have a lot I want to ask, actually, but I'm pretty tired today. Let's talk about it some other time."
"Get some rest, then."
"Okay."
Ke Mingqing had just reached the exit of the rooftop when he suddenly stopped. He froze in his tracks, not taking another step toward the iron door.
Slowly, he lifted his head.
Standing there in the third-floor hallway was a girl with a swirling vortex of lines drawn on her face—looking exactly like a stick figure.
She was holding onto the edge of the iron door, half her face hidden behind it as she silently stared at him.
In the darkness, the stick-figure girl's mouth slowly curled up into a bizarre, twisted smile.
'You have got to be kidding me. Now, of all times?'
Ke Mingqing stood completely frozen.
"What's wrong, A'Qing?" Ke Mingwei asked, glancing back at him over his shoulder.