Back in his bedroom, Ke Mingqing slumped into his swivel chair like a dead fish.
He rested the back of his head against the chair, tilted his face up, and stared blankly at the ceiling fan for a while.
'I swear, is there a single normal human being in this house?'
Ke Mingqing sighed to himself. The cyan ceiling fan spun lazily, driving away the lingering heat of the summer evening. A moment later, a red-and-black prompt box popped up over the blades.
Ke Mingqing sat up straight, raising his eyebrows as he looked up.
[Prompt: At the start of the game, every player receives one chance to claim an 'Exclusive Talent.']
[Exclusive Talent Acquired: 'Disguiser' (This Exclusive Talent will accompany you throughout the entire game and cannot be changed.)]
[Ability 1: You may alter your appearance and voice at any time to deceive others. (Note: Height and body shape cannot be modified at this time.)]
[Ability 2: 'Disguiser' prevents other players from seeing your player tag or actively adding you as a friend; if needed, 'Disguiser' can also fabricate a fake 'Superhuman Panel' for you to obscure your true identity.]
'Ability 1 seems useful enough, but what's the second one for? Guarding against my own side?'
Ke Mingqing let out a heavy sigh.
'But with a hundred players, there's bound to be a traitor or two... the kind of psychos who'd throw away their own lives to side with the super-human species.'
He kicked the bedroom door shut with one foot, spun his chair around, and slumped over his desk. 'Not only was my spawn point set in the Boss's house, but even my Exclusive Talent is a step below everyone else's. They really aren't leaving me any way to survive... Forget it, I might as well see what skills are available.'
He raised a hand and tapped the 'Skill Shop' icon in the upper-right corner of his vision.
A series of text panels instantly unfolded across his retinas.
[As part of your starting player privileges, you have one 'Free' chance to acquire any skill on the first day of the Extinction Game. Please choose one from the following five skills.]
[Your current level is Lv. 01. The refresh rates are: E Rank skills 40% / D Rank skills 30% / C Rank 25% / B Rank 5% / A Rank 0.001% / S Rank 0% (PS: The refresh rates for higher-rank skills will increase alongside your level.)]
[Skill 1: Moon-Seeking Steps (D Rank Skill) — Each time this skill is cast, you can leap toward the sky and enter a brief state of weightlessness.]
[Note: 1. This skill can be used consecutively up to five times. 2. The distance of each upward leap depends on your 'Agility' attribute.]
[Acquisition Requirement: Free this time.]
[Skill 2: Index Finger Pistol (D Rank Skill) — Modifies your right index finger into a gun barrel. Snapping your fingers fires an air bullet.]
[Note: The bullet's power depends on your 'Strength' attribute.]
[Acquisition Requirement: Free this time.]
[Skill 3: Theater Puppet (B Rank Skill) — Creates a ghastly white theater puppet that you can control with your mind. The puppet can inherit your 'Exclusive Talent' abilities.]
[Note: The puppet's maximum duration depends on your 'Spirit' attribute.]
[Acquisition Requirement: Free this time.]
[Skill 4: Phantom Shift (E Rank Skill) — Instantly swap positions with a living target within a twenty-meter radius.]
[Note: The radius of effect depends on your 'Spirit' attribute.]
[Acquisition Requirement: Free this time.]
[Skill 5: Big! Big! Big! (E Rank Skill) — Causes a specific part of your body to rapidly enlarge for a short period of time.]
[Note: The magnification multiple depends on your 'Strength' attribute.]
[Acquisition Requirement: Free this time.]
[Annotation: The five skills in the Skill Shop will refresh every day at midnight.]
Scanning from top to bottom, Ke Mingqing's gaze locked onto 'Theater Puppet' and stayed there.
'A B Rank skill?' he thought. 'The refresh rate is only five percent, and I just so happen to get a free skill on the first day. Talk about striking gold.'
Ke Mingqing finally understood what "when God closes a window, He opens a door" meant. Without a second thought, he focused on locking in his skill choice.
Growing bigger was every man's dream, and mastering a mid-air double jump was what every gamer yearned for. But as an unlucky bastard trapped in the belly of the beast and surrounded by enemies, Ke Mingqing couldn't afford to be self-indulgent.
Right now, the only sensible move was to pick whichever skill had the highest power level.
Unsurprisingly, he selected the shop's third skill.
[You currently have one chance to acquire a skill for free. You have confirmed the selection of the B Rank Skill: 'Theater Puppet.']
['Theater Puppet' has automatically been equipped to your skill bar.]
After he drew the skill, the shop didn't restock; instead, it showed that the third skill slot was now empty.
The remaining four skills also changed: their acquisition requirements shifted from 'Free this time' to 'Requires XXX superhuman coins to purchase'.
The higher the skill's rank, the more superhuman coins were needed to buy it. Since Ke Mingqing was completely broke, he didn't dwell on it and simply closed the Skill Shop.
[Casting the 'Theater Puppet' skill will spawn a theater puppet at a location within a 50-meter radius around you.]
[Prompt: You can currently spawn a maximum of 1 puppet. The puppet's maximum duration is 6 hours. (Cooldown calculation begins the moment the puppet dies or vanishes; you must wait 12 hours before casting it again.)]
'Within fifty meters?' As Ke Mingqing pondered this, a bird's-eye perspective was forcefully shoved into his mind.
This god-like view looking down upon the world covered a full fifty meters around him.
Whether it was his own residential building, the empty streets and alleys under the night sky, or the adjacent apartment blocks—everything was taken in at a glance.
It was like a game developer surveying a sandbox world they had created.
Ke Mingqing could also see the translucent silhouette of a marionette.
The puppet hung suspended in mid-air by invisible strings, looking like Jesus bound to the cross.
After a moment's thought, Ke Mingqing grasped the puppet's phantom image with his mind and placed it on the roof of a nearby high-rise.
The next instant, the bird's-eye view in his mind vanished.
He opened his eyes, got up from his chair, pulled back the curtains, and looked through the floor-to-ceiling window at the roof of the residential building opposite his.
The rooftop was empty save for a clothes rack where a snow-white bedsheet hung. The wind picked up, and the evening breeze blowing high above the city sent the sheet billowing.
Behind the clothes rack stood a figure that looked entirely out of place.
The 'Theater Puppet' was a ghastly white humanoid figure from head to toe.
It lacked facial features, possessing only a pair of hollow eyes and a cracked mouth. A tall white top hat rested on its head, and its right hand gripped a black magician's cane.
[The 'Theater Puppet' can fly using its 'Magician's Top Hat', while the 'Magician's Cane' is used for combat. An eerie blue flame can be generated at the tip of the cane.]
[First-person perspective of the 'Theater Puppet' has been connected. You may control the theater puppet to perform any action.]
After observing the theater puppet's appearance, Ke Mingqing noticed something strange.
His consciousness had been forcibly linked into a new vessel.
By simply closing his eyes, Ke Mingqing could see what the theater puppet saw and hear what it heard.
Even its senses of taste and touch were transmitted over. For a moment, Ke Mingqing felt as if his soul had left his body.
His consciousness completely immersed itself in the theater puppet's body.
It felt just like having a second body.
Every thought he had could make the puppet move.
The ghastly white puppet began leaping back and forth across the opposite rooftop, stepping lightly along the railings and even breaking into a ballet dance.
Every single one of its movements perfectly replicated whatever Ke Mingqing pictured in his mind, without a millisecond of delay.
Under the night sky, the scene looked bizarre and eerie. If some auntie happened to come up to the roof to hang laundry right now, she would probably faint on the spot from pure fright.
'Do this puppet's hat and cane have special abilities?'
As Ke Mingqing wondered this, the theater puppet leaped high from the railing, and its magician's top hat began to spin.
Like helicopter blades, the top hat lifted the puppet's body into the air.
'Is it really not going to crash?' Ke Mingqing wondered. 'Oh, right... since the puppet can inherit my Talent abilities, couldn't it use 'Disguiser' to change its face?'
[Prompt: The 'Theater Puppet' has used your 'Exclusive Player Talent' — Disguiser, altering its appearance and voice.]
The details of the theater puppet's face and body immediately shifted. It transformed into a tall, naked man with deep eyes and sculpted facial features.
It was the exact image of his father, Ke Mingwei.
The theater puppet did radio calisthenics while adjusting its vocal cords, opening its mouth to emit a deep voice:
"I am Crowman. I am Crowman. One, two. One, two. Officer, please confirm."
The voice was identical to Ke Mingwei's.
'I can actually use it like this. From now on, I can have the puppet pose as me to deal with everyone else in the house.' Thrilled by the prospect, Ke Mingqing closed the curtains.
He thought, 'But it's missing clothes to cover itself. Plus, my Disguiser can't alter body shape yet, so I can only mimic people of a similar height. There's still a noticeable difference between my height and my old man's...'
He sighed. 'What a pity. Let's see if my Talent skill evolves once I level up later.'
A moment later, the puppet's appearance returned to normal, ghastly white skin covering its body once more. The magician's top hat spun at high speed again, carrying the theater puppet high into the air until it vanished into the night.
'Come on, this is way too weird... But whatever, I'll just use it like this for now.'
Ke Mingqing thought as he opened his eyes and brought up his quest panel.
[Main Quest 1 (Phase 1): Create a secondary identity to approach the superhero 'Rain Crow.' Attempt to attract his attention and establish contact with him.]
He stared at the quest in the panel and pondered, 'Since Rain Crow's biggest principle is never killing criminals, I'll make him kill one. I need to figure out a way to make my puppet violently die right in front of him to grab his attention...'
Ke Mingqing spun his swivel chair, resting his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling.
'I should come up with a name for the puppet first. A supervillain needs an alias, right?'
He turned his head, catching a glimpse of a poster for the anime Black Jack plastered on his bedroom wall.
'Yeah, I'll just call it 'White Jack'.' Ke Mingqing slapped his forehead, settling on the name, then thought, 'But the key is figuring out what kind of villain to play to get Crowman to notice me... All experts start out by imitating others. It's time to put those superhero movies I watched in my past life to good use.'