Chapter 277: Xia Zili's Birthday (1)

'Posting on the Player Forum for the first time... I'm actually a bit excited. I really want to take a walk in the rain first to build up my Heroic Intent Value.'

'I wonder if I have a lot of fans on the forum? Even though most of them probably just want to hack me to death, there might be a few weirdos who actually like me. Could that Fanquan actually be a fan?'

On a pleasant, sunny afternoon, Ke Mingqing sat cross-legged on the tatami mat, typing on the forum panel, pondering with great interest.

'What kind of writing style should I use? Maybe I should go with that idiotic Japanese yakuza tone. That way, it won't be easy for anyone to analyze what kind of person I am. I can't be too playful, either, or they'll easily guess that I'm White Jack.'

Before long, he solemnly drafted the title of the post.

[Poster: "Jin Chengwu" (IP: Leijing, China).]

[Thread Title — I heard someone is looking for your daddy Jin Chengwu. I'm right here. Anyone who clicks in automatically claims the title of Jin Chengwu's good son.]

[Thread Content: Watching you incompetent retards chatter all day on the forum without doing any real work is incredibly annoying. I heard someone is planning a prison break in Siberia? Well, here is some good news for you. On December 1st, I will go to Azkaban Prison and kill the Superhero Roundtable Council. Since you love looking for me so much, I'll see you in Siberia then.]

Sure enough, the moment the post went live, it caused a sensation on the forum. The number of replies rivaled the thread Kamishiro Ruri had posted not too long ago.

The little red notification dot on the icon in the upper right corner of his vision shot up to a countless number, meaning Ke Mingqing wouldn't be clearing them anytime soon.

Ke Mingqing currently looked like an old monk in meditation, sitting cross-legged on the tatami mat. His hands formed a seal as he thought, 'This kind of bait post is only fun when you let it ferment for a while before reading all the comments in one breath.'

After silently counting out ten minutes, he opened the thread. The number of replies had already reached 105, so he casually scrolled through a few comments.

[Fanquan (IP: New York, USA): December 1st? That's about the same as my scheduled time. I can consider adjusting my plan to coordinate with you.]

[Liu Long (IP: Dajiang, China): Whoa, Uncle Fanquan, do you really think this Jin Chengwu can be trusted? Could he be planning to lure us out and wipe us all out in one fell swoop?]

[Fanquan (IP: New York, USA): This operation was always meant to be an open hand—our primary goal isn't to breach Azkaban Prison, but to lure out the Superhero Roundtable Council and take advantage of the chaos to slaughter them. So even if word gets out, as long as the Roundtable shows up, we can still achieve our goal.]

[Qing Meng (IP: Tokyo, Japan): I feel like Big Sister Fanquan is right. Since December 1st leaves us with less than 15 days until the time limit, do we really need to hide any plans by then? The prison break was originally an open operation anyway, so is there any need to worry about being exposed? Let's just follow this Jin Chengwu's lead. I want to see what this brain-dead retard looks like.]

[Fanquan (IP: New York, USA): Indeed. I also happen to want to meet this player on a seven-kill streak and see what kind of person he is.]

[Orange Peel (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Big Brother Fanquan, you really are in high spirits.]

[Gentleman Spirit (IP: London, UK): Auntie Fanquan, you must slay this disgrace to all players.]

[The Family's Black Cat (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Don't make things difficult for Mr. Fanquan. He's clearly positioned as a strategist. Going one-on-one against a brutal Red Name Player like Jin Chengwu puts him at too much of a disadvantage.]

[Electric Otaku (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Exactly, that's right! Don't underestimate our little brother Fanquan!]

[Heart of the Swordsman (IP: Yokohama, Japan): Exactly. This humble one also feels that little sister Fanquan is slightly superior. From the content of the post alone, you can tell this Jin Chengwu is a low-IQ cis straight man. Little Sister Fan can just crush him with sheer intelligence.]

[Fanquan (IP: New York, USA): Listen, no matter how many times you try to assume my gender and identity, it's meaningless. I won't respond to it—whether you call me big brother, big sister, auntie, uncle, little brother, or little sister, it's completely useless. Understand?]

[Pianzhi (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Heh, this transgender Fanquan is just putting up a tough front. In a few days, we'll head to New York to arrest you.]

[Fanquan (IP: New York, USA): Actually, the moment you typed out that line, you were already caught in my A-Rank Skill, "Forum Domain". You are already my puppet.]

[Tokyo's Number One Host (IP: Tokyo, Japan): A bunch of retards. No wonder that guy Jin Chengwu called you incompetent.]

[Pianzhi (This player has turned off IP display): I have a plan. Anyone speaking from Tokyo is gay.]

Seeing this, Ke Mingqing lost the mood to keep scrolling.

He raised an eyebrow and thought, 'That was unexpectedly easy. It would be great if they actually showed up on time on December 1st. But even if they don't, I still have to make my move against the Roundtable that day.'

After his thoughts settled, Ke Mingqing quietly closed the Player Forum, shutting out all the messy chatter.

The young man took a deep breath, braced his hands on his knees to stand up by the windowsill, and turned his head to gaze outside.

A silver-white train roared past on the elevated bridge, and a contrail stretched across the sky, as clear as if it had just been washed.

Time flew by after that. While waiting for news from Xia Lingxue and Xia Ningzhi, the father and son—Ke Mingwei and Ke Mingqing—stayed in Leijing, holding off on heading to New York for the time being.

But they still didn't receive a single message from the two sisters.

They couldn't even track down a careless person like Xia Ningzhi, let alone the far more cautious and paranoid Xia Lingxue, who was currently facing a full-scale manhunt by the Hero Control Bureau.

Supposedly, people from the Hero Control Bureau had come knocking a few days ago to investigate and extract information about Xia Lingxue from her family, but Mom had forcefully sent them packing.

No one knew exactly how Xia Wenna had managed it. By the time Ke Linye and Ke Mingwei rushed over after hearing the news, the Control Bureau had already fully retreated, acting as if they were absolutely certain Xia Lingxue wasn't being hidden in the house.

It was worth mentioning that after Ke Mingqing forwarded that email to Ke Mingwei last time, Ke Mingwei really did have someone investigate the sender's address. He eventually found out that Xia Ningzhi had asked a traveler she met on her journey to send the email on her behalf. By the time the email was sent, that traveler had already parted ways with her.

Even now, her whereabouts remained a total mystery.

[Good morning, dear Red Name Player "Ke Mingqing".]

[The current time is October 25th, 07:00 AM on Thursday morning. The remaining time limit for the "Exterminate Superhumans" task is—50 days, 17 hours, and 0 minutes.]

'The final fifty days, huh...'

In the early morning, Ke Mingqing sat on the sofa in the Xia-Ke family's living room, staring blankly at the panel while still feeling somewhat dazed.

Because October 25th was the birthday of someone in the Xia-Ke household. And as for whose birthday it was that made Ke Mingqing remember it so clearly...

That's right. Naturally, it was that short-tempered half-witch who would stab people with an umbrella at the drop of a hat.

Ke Mingqing felt dazed because he had always assumed that by the time this day arrived, he would have likely faked his own death, escaped, and left this family forever, meaning he wouldn't be around to celebrate her birthday with her.

But he hadn't expected the anomalies to strike so suddenly and relentlessly. By the time this day actually came, it was Xia Ningzhi and Xia Lingxue who had gone missing instead. It hadn't even been his turn to fake his death and leave yet, and someone else was already sprinting headlong toward death. It was truly hard to hold back a bitter laugh.

However, with his current strength, faking his death didn't really matter anymore anyway. Even if it was just Ke Mingwei and Xia Zili looking for him, they wouldn't necessarily be able to find him.

As for Xia Wenna... whatever the old mother wanted to do depended entirely on her own personal wishes. Ke Mingqing couldn't be bothered to think about her.

After a while, Ke Mingqing reined in his thoughts and opened his Personal Panel from the sofa to take a look.

During the two weeks he had obediently stayed in Leijing to await Xia Zili's birthday, new weekly tasks had refreshed on October 14th and October 21st.

The two weekly tasks had provided a total of 2 Attribute Points, which Ke Mingqing allocated to his Strength and Agility attributes, respectively. If not for the hard requirements, he wouldn't have wanted to put a single point into the Spirit attribute. Life was all about going mad; sometimes, the worse a person's mental state, the stronger their explosive power and creativity became.

[Player "Ke Mingqing"'s current attributes are as follows: Strength: A+; Agility: A++; Spirit: A]

Meanwhile, task two of both weeks had instantly boosted his level by 4, bringing him to Level 34.

[Current Level Progress: Lv.34 (8,300/17,000 EXP)]

Opening the Skill Shop at this moment, the system's probability of refreshing an S-Rank Skill was still at zero. This made Ke Mingqing wonder if S-Rank Skills even truly existed, or if it was just a pie-in-the-sky promise drawn up by the system.

After all, A-Rank Skills were already outrageously powerful, flashy, and utterly heaven-defying, let alone how incredibly broken S-Rank Skills had to be.

However, extrapolating from the strength of A-Rank Skills, by the time any player grew to the final stage, simply possessing a few A-Rank Skills would be enough to make them practically invincible in this world.

Not to mention having the dumb luck to roll an S-Rank Skill.

It could be said that whoever managed to obtain an S-Rank Skill would naturally ascend to the supreme throne among all players.

Ke Mingqing closed his Personal Panel, tilted his head from the living room sofa, and looked toward Ke Linye, who had pulled up a rocking chair and was sitting in the yard reading a book.

"Is the old man coming back for little sis's birthday today?" he asked, dragging out his words.

Ke Linye turned a page and replied casually, "Same as always. He says he's staying at the police station. Right now, he should still be contacting the superhero branch in Northern Europe, doing his routine check to see if they've found any traces of Ah Xue and A'zhi."

"Come on, how could those muggles possibly find Second Sister and Third Sister?" Ke Mingqing sighed.

Ke Linye fell silent for a moment before saying, "I think so too. Dad might as well just ask White Jack."

"He'd have to find White Jack first. If he doesn't want to reach out himself, who could possibly find him?" Ke Mingqing shamelessly praised himself.

Ke Linye thought aloud, "Speaking of which, I've actually always felt that White Jack is a player, and the reason he keeps circling around us... is because his main quest is related to our family. So his true identity might just be someone right beside us."

"Damn, that makes sense. Why didn't I think of that?"

Ke Mingqing paused slightly, pretending to think seriously before blurting out in a hoarse voice, "Could Leijing Iron Tower's perky butt actually be... Mom?"

"I think so too," Ke Linye said carelessly, snapping his book shut. "But I haven't found any evidence yet. Taking a step back, wouldn't it be pretty good if White Jack really was Mom? That would make White Jack's actions completely reasonable—she's just been protecting our family the whole time, and she even warned us about Ah Xue's identity and her plans."

"Seriously, why don't you try putting the Player Detection Helmet on Mom's head?" Ke Mingqing urged.

Ke Linye smiled. "We already tested her with the Eyeball Device before. I don't think there's any need to do it a second time."

"So, what's the deal with the cake?" Ke Mingqing asked, rolling his eyes at him and changing the subject.

"Mom bought the ingredients and tools from the bakery and is making it herself at home. Yeah, she's apparently been watching online tutorials and prepping for a full two weeks now..."

At this point, Ke Linye took a sip of his cocktail, glancing sideways to look at Xia Wenna's silhouette in the kitchen from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, okay, then I can rest easy."

'Alien technology is absolutely fantastic,' Ke Mingqing thought. 'It should be trustworthy... right?'

At that moment, Xia Zili came downstairs. She grabbed a copy of Charlie IX from the bookshelf and sat down on the sofa, lowering her eyes to quietly read through it. Ke Mingqing sat beside her, silently watching a Harry Potter marathon on TV.

On the living room wall, the clock's second hand ticked on.

Outside, the sky shifted from the faint light of dawn to the bright radiance of noon, and finally settled into dusk. A blood-red evening haze veiled the faces of the brother and sister, yet the two remained perfectly still on the sofa, each doing their own thing.

At last, Ke Mingqing turned his head and glanced out the window. A long contrail stretched across half the sky, and a seagull from the harbor flew through the dim, amber twilight.

It must have been lost, spreading its wings and circling between the towering skyscrapers. Its reflection flashed across the glass curtain walls before it finally vanished into the lonely labyrinth of telephone poles, barbed wire, and clouds.

It took a long while before Ke Mingqing turned back. His gaze bypassed his sister, who was reading silently with her head bowed, and landed on the kitchen.

Xia Wenna had been working behind closed doors in the kitchen all this time, and he had no idea what she was actually messing around with. After all, baking a cake—

Was this really something that could be crammed for at the last minute? Not that Ke Mingqing cared. Xia Zili was absorbed in her book, and Ke Linye was a bit too thick-headed to notice anyway. So, no one in the house paid any mind to whatever the alien was actually tinkering with.

Once the final streak of blood-red faded from the horizon, the setting sun withdrew its lingering radiance from the world, and a pitch-black darkness plunged the living room into shadows so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

"Happy birthday," the boy on the sofa said suddenly in the pitch-black darkness.

"Mhm," the other person on the sofa replied.

The television was still playing.

"Are you happy?"

"No."

"Sis, I'm sorry for avoiding you lately. I think I finally know the answer."

"The answer?"

"Yeah. I think... I really am the original Ke Mingqing. A lot of people have told me so."

The girl on the sofa fell silent.

The boy continued, his words halting, "But I actually think... only the opinions of those closest to you can really decide something like this... Just like how Little Red Riding Hood still believes Kuroki Hitomi is the same young lady she always knew."

"So?"

The boy fell silent for a long, long time. "So, in the end, I wanted to ask your opinion. Do you think I'm the real Ke Mingqing?"

"Do you want to hear the truth?"

"Yeah."

"I don't think you ever needed to look for an answer," the girl said. "Only my original, idiot brother could be this awkward. Where else in the whole world could you find someone as awkward as you?"

A deathlike absolute silence settled over the living room. After a long while, a very soft voice finally spoke up. "Thank you. And... I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long."