At dusk, the setting sun draped the city like a golden curtain, sweeping across the empty rooftop and spilling into the pitch-black corridor.
Ke Mingqing leaned alone against the wooden door outside the bedroom, lost in thought.
A moment later, he fished his phone from his jacket pocket, opened his contacts, and sent a message to Rain Crow.
[Ke Mingqing: Old man, my classmate died. The Japanese magical girl. Do you have time to look into her exact cause of death for me?]
[Ke Mingwei: I thought you two were close. I was just trying to figure out how to comfort you.]
[Ke Mingqing: We only met a few times. We weren't actually close. Honestly, I'm more curious about how she died. It's pretty terrifying having someone drop dead near you for no reason.]
[Ke Mingwei: I asked the medical examiners at the Magical Girl Company. They said Kiyono Sakura's body had traces of "corrupted magic," so they confirmed it was the work of a witch.]
[Ke Mingqing: A w-w-w-witch? Isn't that just an urban legend? If magical girls actually turned into witches, who would dare be a fan of all those idol-type magical girls nowadays? Nobody wants their idol turning into a smoky-eyed yandere freak and knocking on their door in the middle of the night, right?]
Ke Mingqing admitted his online acting was a bit more exaggerated than in reality, but he typed out the pretentious message anyway.
Great. Ke Mingqing breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing those three witches from the Terminal Tower issued a crime warning beforehand. Otherwise, I'd be struggling to find a scapegoat.
[Ke Mingwei: A'Qing, stay safe, and keep your distance from those magical girls. Even your girlfriend. I've seen plenty of cases where people were killed by a magical girl's Witchification form because they trusted them.]
[Ke Mingqing: Okay, okay, I know what I'm doing.]
The sun sank below the horizon, plunging the corridor into darkness. The faint glow of the phone screen illuminated Ke Mingqing's eyes.
And what if that witch isn't my girlfriend, but my sister? he thought. What would you think then, old man? A moment later, he turned off the screen and pocketed the phone in his school uniform jacket.
Ke Mingqing turned his head, staring quietly at the label taped to the doorframe: "Pigs and Ke Mingqing are not allowed inside." A moment later, he reached up and peeled it off.
He lowered his head in silence for a moment before turning the knob and pushing the door open.
Only a small nightlight glowed in the bedroom, but the twilight from the window poured in, bathing everything in a warm, hazy red.
Xia Zili sat barefoot on the edge of the bed, hands resting on the mattress, staring blankly at her toes. The blood-red sunset painted her pale cheeks, and the fine down by her ears swayed gently in the evening breeze.
Ke Mingqing picked up a glass from the desk, poured her some hot water, and sat beside her holding the glass.
"I'm not drinking that," she said.
"It's for me. Don't flatter yourself." Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes and took a sip.
"I'm thirsty," Xia Zili said suddenly a moment later.
She took the glass, pressed her lips to the rim, and took a small sip. Just then, a knock sounded at the front door.
The siblings looked up, immediately recognizing Xia Ningzhi's voice.
"Zili, A'Qing, get ready to come down for dinner!" she called out. "By the way, Second Sister went back to her university today, and Eldest Brother is still out looking for an internship. He and the old man aren't coming home tonight, so it's just the three of us!"
"Got it. Stop yelling so loud," Ke Mingqing said impatiently.
"Anyone who isn't down in five minutes is gay!" Xia Ningzhi's voice faded, accompanied by the slap of her slippers hurrying down the stairs.
Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes. "I really envy Third Sister. She's always so energetic."
He turned to look at Xia Zili, reaching out to pinch her cheek. "I'm talking to you. Could you stop moping? Let's go down and eat."
"I'm tired. I don't want to eat."
Xia Zili shook her head and set the glass on the bed.
"Oh... do you want me to carry you down?" Ke Mingqing asked.
He crouched in front of the bed, looking up into her eyes. "My good sister, even a magical girl needs to eat, right?"
Xia Zili stayed silent for a while before suddenly reaching out to stroke his hair. Ke Mingqing kept his head down, saying nothing, just crouching there and staring quietly at the vase under the bed.
He had noticed it the moment he entered the bedroom, but he hadn't expected it to actually be that vase.
Fortunately, the vase was clean, without a single drop of blood, and completely empty inside. Ke Mingqing breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly shifted his gaze, looked up, and glared fiercely at Xia Zili.
"I said... two pats is enough. Any more and I'm charging you. Do you have any idea how many people are lining up outside to pet Blue Pigeon's head? Are you going to take responsibility if I go bald?"
Xia Zili didn't speak. She just quietly kept stroking his hair.
"Why are you suddenly being so sweet today?" she asked after a while.
"Aren't I always like this?" Ke Mingqing shrugged. "How do you think I got a girlfriend?"
"No. You only act like this when you're hiding something from me, or when you feel guilty... You've been like this since we were kids."
Ke Mingqing suddenly fell silent.
After a pause, Xia Zili lowered her voice. "So, what happened this afternoon?"
"What do you mean, what happened?"
"Don't play dumb..."
Xia Zili lowered her head, her pitch-black bangs hiding her eyes. "When I woke up, I was in my bed at home, but the last thing I remember is being in the school restroom. What exactly happened during that time?"
"Nothing happened," Ke Mingqing said softly. "You suddenly fainted at school. After I got the message, I went to pick you up and brought you..."
Before he could finish, Xia Zili cut him off. "Did they find Kiyono Sakura?"
Ke Mingqing froze, instantly choking on his words.
He stayed silent for a moment. "They found her."
"Where?"
"Dead."
Xia Zili stiffened. The room was instantly swallowed by a deathly silence.
A moment later, she looked up, stammering as if she still couldn't believe it.
"Dead...?"
"Yeah, dead," Ke Mingqing said softly. "But don't worry, it couldn't have been you."
He looked up, meeting her eyes with absolute certainty. "She was my classmate, after all, so I asked Rain Crow about her cause of death and the medical examiner's report. Based on their judgment, you aren't a suspect at all."
"Why?"
"Because during Kiyono Sakura's estimated time of death, you were resting soundly in your bed, sleeping like a log," Ke Mingqing said calmly. "Come on, sis, I was watching you the whole time. I can vouch for you."
Xia Zili said nothing more.
Ke Mingqing turned to look at the billboard outside the window. On it, Magical Girl Ember was awkwardly making a finger gun, winking at the screen.
After a long time, a hoarse voice finally responded to him.
"Really?"
Ke Mingqing forced himself not to look away. He stared quietly into her eyes and said in an even tone, "Of course it's true. When have I ever lied to you?"
"Oh. Let me be alone for a bit."
"Are you sure? You..."
"Brother, please don't talk right now... I'm sorry, just let me have some quiet."
Ke Mingqing lowered his eyes. With Xia Zili saying it like that, he knew if he didn't leave, he might end up with a pitch-black umbrella pressed against the back of his head.
"Alright. Send me a WeChat message if you need anything... If you don't want to come down to eat, I can bring your food up." Dropping those words, Ke Mingqing let out a long breath and stood up.
He lingered for a second before walking out of the bedroom without looking back, pulling the door shut behind him.
Before the wooden door closed completely, Ke Mingqing turned his head, catching a glimpse through the crack of the girl bathed in the sunset's glow.
She had curled up into a ball on the bed, the windblown curtains brushing against her hair.
The door clicked shut. Ke Mingqing leaned his back against it and stood still.
The boy hunched his shoulders, brooding alone in the dark for a moment. After a while, he reached out and opened the Quest Panel.
[Weekly Quest 2 Complete: Run 5,000 meters. (Reward: One spin on the Item Roulette)]
[Would you like to spin the Item Roulette now?]
Ke Mingqing pressed "Yes," pulling up the lottery roulette with an expressionless face. He glanced at the six sections on the wheel.
The listed prizes were "4,000 superhuman coins," "6,000 experience points," "D Rank Skill Card: Rising Dragon Punch," "One-Time Magical Girl Transformation Card," "C Rank Item: Combat Belt," and "One-Time Item: Invisibility Cloak."
"What kind of garbage is this?"
Ke Mingqing muttered softly as he clicked the option to "Consume One Spin." The blood-red pointer moved. It spun rapidly across the wheel, blurring into a phantom ring.
Before long, the pointer slowly ground to a halt.
It pointed at the prize in section four.
[Congratulations, you have successfully drawn the one-time item: "One-Time Magical Girl Transformation Card."]
"Not again..." Ke Mingqing froze, tilting his head in disbelief.
Thinking about this item, deep suspicions still lingered in his mind.
During the dungeon run for "The Ghost of the Mirror Supermarket," he was forced into a corner and used the "One-Time Magical Girl Transformation Card." As a result, he lost a massive chunk of his memory, and by the time he woke up, the mirror ghost was already dead.
And Kuroki Hitomi had been incredibly vague about it at the time.
After thinking for a moment, Ke Mingqing started downstairs, opening the Chat Panel on the steps to send Kuroki Hitomi a message.
[Ke Mingqing: I drew another "One-Time Magical Girl Transformation Card." So what exactly does my magical girl form look like?]
[Kuroki Hitomi: Don't ask.]
[Kuroki Hitomi: And don't use it.]
[Ke Mingqing: Damn it, am I really that ugly when I transform into a magical girl?]
[Kuroki Hitomi: 1.]
Ke Mingqing's eye twitched slightly. A moment later, he chose to swallow his pride.
[Ke Mingqing: I'm requesting an end to this cold war. The US and the Soviets didn't even drag their Cold War out this long. Could your replies get any shorter?]
She didn't send another message. Ke Mingqing shrugged, telling himself that keeping his distance from the other players was a good thing anyway. What if he defected one day and wiped out all the players? Backstabbing was just shameful...
That night, Xia Zili didn't step out of her bedroom once.
In the middle of the night, Ke Mingqing stopped at her door and glanced down at the plate of food on the floor, long gone cold. He carried the plate back to the kitchen, then collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep.
It was another silent summer night, and the boy slept peacefully to the sound of cicadas.
The night passed without a word.
...
...
[Good morning, Red Name Player currently working hard to clear his name—"Ke Mingqing."]
[The current time is September 3rd, 07:00 AM, Monday morning. The time remaining for the "Exterminate Superhumans" task is—116 days, 17 hours, 0 minutes.]
[Obituary: Player "David Davies" in Washington, USA, died at the hands of the superhuman criminal—"Lizardman."]
[As of today, the number of surviving players worldwide is: 89 (↓ 1)]
"Oh, the numbers finally moved," Ke Mingqing said, sounding as if he had just won the lottery. "Awesome."
"You guys are so good at dying, and with so many different ways to go, can't you take me with you?" Grabbing his messy hair, he shot out of bed, rolled onto the floor, and angrily knocked out a hundred push-ups.
Afterward, Ke Mingqing walked over to Xia Zili's room. He hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door and speaking softly:
"Sis, if you really don't want to go to school today, I'll ask for a leave of absence for you."
A short while later, a faint "Mhm" came from inside the bedroom.
"Then I'll call in sick for you. Mom doesn't care about this stuff anyway, and the old man isn't home." Saying this, Ke Mingqing turned and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash up.
He changed into a clean, crisp summer uniform, borrowed Ke Linye's razor to shave the light stubble off his chin, and stepped out of the old building.
Under a pale blue sky, Ke Mingqing walked alone to the station with his head down, sat alone on the station bench, and boarded the school bus alone.
In the swaying cabin, he sat in the very back row, resting his chin in his hand. With his head turned, he stared blankly at the scenery flashing past the window in silence.
By the time the outline of Lijing No. 3 High School came into view, the sky had already brightened.
Fiery red maple leaves drifted across the long uphill road, where students were locked in heated discussions. Their topics mostly revolved around Kiyono Sakura's death; only a small handful of people were talking about the fact that "Blue Pigeon is a high school student."
Ke Mingqing slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked silently among the students. His superhuman hearing allowed him to catch every single word they said.
"Did you hear? That Japanese transfer student from Class 3 was Magical Girl Sakurahime. But she was wearing a human skin mask all day yesterday, so we didn't recognize her."
"Could the other two transfer students be magical girls too?"
"Jeez, girl, that transfer student from Iceland is a guy. Have you ever seen a male magical girl?"
"Right, exactly. They might have just transferred here to help cover up Sakurahime's identity. After all, it would be too obvious if she were the only one transferring."
Ke Mingqing yawned, tore open a wrapper, and stuffed a pastry roll into his mouth. Listening to the students gossip on the road, before he knew it, he had crossed the teaching building's corridor and set his backpack down on his classroom desk.
The morning passed quickly. When the lunch break arrived, the chatter about Kiyono Sakura in the classroom hadn't ceased for even a moment.
"So who actually killed her?"
"Maybe it was... a witch?"
"Aren't witches just an urban legend? The Magical Girl Company has always denied that witches exist."
"Maybe it was Blue Pigeon. Haven't people been saying that Blue Pigeon and Rain Crow were brainwashed by the Clock Maker, and the Clock Maker isn't actually dead?"
"Could you not say dangerous stuff like that? You'll get beaten up if the wrong person hears you."
Sitting alone by the window, Ke Mingqing rested his cheek on his hand, spacing out. A sudden wave of irritation washed over him. All he had to do was close his eyes to picture a bolt of black lightning piercing right through their brains.
Right then, a girl carrying a stack of test papers marched quickly into the classroom.
"What business?" he asked without looking back.
"Have you eaten?" An Youlu asked blankly.
"Meaning what?"
"If you haven't, come eat with me on the roof."
"To what end?"
An Youlu's expression suddenly darkened. She lowered her head, pinched her chin, and said mournfully:
"As expected... A little girl like me who grew up eating garbage only deserves replies starting with the word 'What' when she tries to talk to someone."
Ke Mingqing sighed and turned to look at her. "Did Kuroki Hitomi send you?"
An Youlu nodded, her expression instantly returning to cold indifference. She said flatly:
"Yes. The Young Lady saw that you hadn't left the classroom during lunch, so she told me to buy two box lunches from the cafeteria and fetch you to eat with her on the roof."
Ke Mingqing turned his head, staring speechlessly at Kuroki Hitomi, who was sitting just one desk away. Do you not have a mouth? he thought.
The Japanese girl was quietly working on her homework, using her right hand to gently brush her bangs back.
An Youlu pulled her phone from her pocket, turned the screen toward Ke Mingqing, and whispered, "By the way, Mr. Blue Pigeon, what exactly do you think about this?"
Ke Mingqing was stunned. From this distance, Kuroki Hitomi could absolutely hear what she was saying.
And An Youlu's tone made it sound like she already knew that Kuroki Hitomi knew he was Blue Pigeon.
After all, before this, An Youlu would always avoid saying "Blue Pigeon" around Kuroki Hitomi, terrified that her precious Young Lady would suffer sleepless nights once she learned the truth.
"Think about what?"
Ke Mingqing shot back, glancing up at the screen.
The phone was playing the video that had gone viral across the country overnight: a boy in a school uniform on a rooftop, raising his finger and firing a bolt of pitch-black lightning that shattered the crystal on a monster's chest, preventing its rampage from destroying the campus any further.
Conspiracy theorists online were already claiming that breaking the news of Blue Pigeon being a high schooler at this exact time was a deliberate attempt to bury the hype surrounding "The Death of Magical Girl Sakurahime."
And in reality, Ke Mingqing actually agreed with them.
But he could only share a fraction of Xi Ziyue's public relations burden. In less than a single night, the trending searches for "The Death of Magical Girl Sakurahime" had already dominated the internet by a massive margin. Ten Blue Pigeons wouldn't have made a difference. Trying to deliberately manipulate public opinion at a time like this would only backfire.
"Please don't play dumb..." An Youlu said softly. "Are you going to be happy if a supervillain attacks our school every three days from now on, kidnapping students and demanding Blue Pigeon show himself?"
Ke Mingqing couldn't be bothered to respond. Of course I'd be happy, he thought. That way, a monster would just pop out and let me grind levels every few classes. I get to go to school and feast on an all-you-can-eat experience buffet at the same time. Isn't that better than running all over the city?
An Youlu paused. "To show off in front of your girlfriend, you really will stop at nothing."
"Think whatever you want."
At that moment, Kuroki Hitomi suddenly hugged her textbook and rose from her chair. "As long as my boyfriend is happy."
Ke Mingqing was caught off guard. He looked at Kuroki Hitomi, then turned to An Youlu, capitalizing on her master's authority as he said to her:
"You hear that? Even your Young Lady says as long as I'm happy. What kind of complaints could a maid like you possibly have?"
An Youlu fell silent.
A moment later, she straightened her posture and said, "You can't spoil him like this, Young Lady."
"Why?"
"Today he can use his superpowers to act cool on the roof. Tomorrow he'll reveal his identity to the whole school and turn Lijing No. 3 High School into his personal harem, taking in both boys and girls."
At this, An Youlu took a deep breath. "When that time comes, I will initiate Plan B. To protect the Young Lady's reputation, I will personally execute this impure man."
"If you kill him, I'll die with him..." Saying this, Kuroki Hitomi walked out of the classroom ahead of them.
Don't be so dramatic, alright? Ke Mingqing thought.
He fell silent for a moment before looking up at An Youlu. "Anyway, our school has two male magical girls, three female magical girls, and one superhero. Unless someone like the Clock Maker shows up, anyone else in front of us is basically just a leveling mob in a War3 custom map."
"At a time like this, your way of speaking actually brings us together quite nicely," An Youlu murmured. "Even though you're the one who caused this mess."
"You win. I'm not going to argue with someone who grew up eating garbage."
"Oh, then you and the Young Lady head up to the roof first. I still have to take today's exam papers to the office."
She paused, her voice suddenly dropping a few degrees, as if she were a completely different person. "By the way... I have something to ask you later. I hope you know what's good for you."
"About Kiyono Sakura?" Ke Mingqing asked after a brief silence.
"What else?" After casting him a sidelong glance, An Youlu turned and left the classroom.
Ke Mingqing watched her leave in silence. Suddenly, a faint vibration came from his jacket pocket.
He took out his phone and checked it. It was a WeChat message.
[Jiang Qingzi: I'm at school today. I had something come up yesterday and couldn't make it. Do you want to get lunch together?]
"Oh, right... I completely forgot you were at this school too." Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of security.