Chapter 80: The Music Box, Tiamat Comet, and a Once-in-a-Decade Event

[System Notification: Your No. 2 Theater Puppet has died. The No. 2 puppet has entered its cooldown period and can only be summoned again after 12 hours.]

In the dead of night, the system notification seeped into his brain like ice water. Ke Mingqing opened his eyes on the living room sofa.

In that same moment, he saw something blood-curdling.

A woman in a black jacket and loose brown pants leaned against the corner of the room with her arms crossed, watching him in silence.

Cold sweat broke out over the backs of Ke Mingqing's hands.

He blinked, taking a long moment to recognize her as his second sister.

Gripping the TV remote, Ke Mingqing froze for two seconds. Did every woman in this house inherit their mother's ghostly constitution?

"Did you fall asleep?" Xia Lingxue asked, breaking the silence.

"What does it look like?" Ke Mingqing sat up from the sofa, feigning composure. "You scared me. I thought I was seeing a ghost. How did you get in without making a sound?"

"I wasn't completely silent. You just sleep like a log."

"Oh."

"I apologize for what happened earlier today."

"I don't blame you. You've been like this since we were kids anyway."

"I was a bit harsh on your girlfriend," Xia Lingxue said, expressionless. "But you know how chaotic the world is right now. I was just worried about you mixing with the wrong people."

"She's a good person."

"Mm. As long as you like her." Xia Lingxue turned her head, gazing out at the night. "I'm a little tired today. I'm going to turn in."

"Goodnight. I'll tell the others to keep it down when they get back," Ke Mingqing said casually.

Xia Lingxue gave a silent nod. After a brief pause, she walked over and handed him a gift box.

"What's this?"

Ke Mingqing glanced down at the exquisitely crafted packaging.

"A music box. Your birthday present," Xia Lingxue said, lowering her eyes. "I meant to give it to you last night, but I ordered it online and it hadn't arrived yet."

With that, she reached out, gently ruffled his hair, and turned to head upstairs.

Ke Mingqing looked down at the box, then back up at her retreating figure, unable to hold back a yawn.

He had originally planned to use his Theater Puppet to meet with Xia Lingxue tonight.

But his No. 1 Theater Puppet was currently lying low with Death Crow, and No. 2 had just "died," entering its cooldown period.

So he had to drop the idea and put away his schemes.

Besides, since Xia Lingxue wasn't going out tonight, there wasn't much he could do. Who knew if their alien mother had set up magical formations around the house? Messing around outside was one thing, but he absolutely didn't dare start trouble at home.

Such was the majesty of their mother.

'Rationally speaking, wouldn't it be better to communicate with her using my Blue Pigeon identity?' he thought. 'The mission just says "second identity"—it doesn't specify which one.'

Ke Mingqing leaned back on the sofa, lost in thought.

He could easily predict what would happen if he went to see Xia Lingxue as White Jack. It would likely play out exactly like his meeting with their eldest brother. Back then, before he could even get two words out, his brother had chopped his head right off.

Looking at it that way, Rain Crow's temper was much better than both of his children's.

As Ke Mingqing absently sipped iced black tea from a plastic cup and listened to the cicadas, someone unlocked the front door. The person hurried through the entryway and headed straight for the sofa.

"Where did you go?" Ke Mingqing asked, though he already knew.

"Working out."

Xia Ningzhi exhaled heavily. Dripping with sweat, she leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "I'm dying of heat. Let your big sister have a sip." She lowered her head to his straw and took a gulp of his iced tea.

"There's more in the fridge. Can't you get it yourself?" Ke Mingqing said without looking up.

"I'm tired," Xia Ningzhi said, releasing the straw. A smirk played on her lips. "By the way, forward me your girlfriend's WeChat?"

"Fine, fine, but don't say anything weird to her." Ke Mingqing paused. "And don't give her contact to our second sister or eldest brother. I'm giving them the silent treatment."

"Second sister makes sense, but how did our eldest brother get dragged into this? Talk about bad luck." Xia Ningzhi laughed.

Her smile faded as she remembered what White Jack had said on the overpass: 'Perhaps you shouldn't only worry about your little sister. If you have the time, why not observe your little brother more closely?'

Xia Ningzhi smoothed her expression. After a long moment, she said seriously, "Qing, I'm going to ask you a question. A very serious question."

"What question?"

"Are you hiding anything from me?"

Xia Ningzhi tilted her head up from his shoulder, her clear eyes locking unblinkingly onto her brother's cheek just inches away.

She stared as if trying to see right through his eyes to whatever lay beneath.

Ke Mingqing turned his head to meet her gaze. "You already know about my girlfriend. What else could I possibly be hiding from you?"

"Do you know White Jack?" she asked out of nowhere.

Ke Mingqing had long been prepared for this. He feigned surprise, lying smoothly without a single blush or skipped heartbeat. "What the hell. You're the second person in this house to ask me that."

Xia Ningzhi frowned. "Who was the first?"

"Our little sister. Go ask her yourself," Ke Mingqing said.

So White Jack was using the same trick to mess with Li, too.

Did he mention Qing to Li, too, prompting her to come ask him about it?

As Xia Ningzhi sat there thinking, Xia Zili walked in from outside carrying a plastic bag full of drinks—speak of the devil.

"Why are you two pressed so close together?" Xia Zili deadpanned. "Where is your decency?"

Ke Mingqing nearly did a spit-take with his drink. 'You're the last person who should be saying that,' he thought.

Every time he tried to put some distance between himself and Xia Zili, she would stun him with some sudden, inexplicable stunt.

Xia Ningzhi exhaled and sat up straight. She looked at Xia Zili and dropped a bombshell: "Li, let's elope."

Xia Zili froze for a moment before forcing out a single syllable: "Huh?"

"Do you want to go traveling with me in a few months?" Xia Ningzhi rephrased, beaming at her.

Ke Mingqing stared at her in silence. "That's called running away from home," he corrected her, emphasizing every word. "Can you use the right terminology? You make it sound like some taboo romance between sisters."

Xia Zili thought it over. As she pulled the drinks from her bag and set them on the table, she casually replied, "I suppose so. But where would we go?"

"Norway. It's beautiful there when it snows."

"Sounds freezing. Let's talk about it when the time comes."

Xia Zili handed a Sprite to Ke Mingqing and an orange juice to Xia Ningzhi, then headed up the stairs.

The living room fell quiet. Outside the window, the maple leaves rustled in the evening breeze, and the whir of a bicycle chain drifted in as someone rode down the street.

Xia Ningzhi stared down at her bottle in silence.

"Qing, if I run away from home one day, will you miss me?"

She asked the question suddenly, breaking the silence. Ke Mingqing shot her a sideways glance.

He thought about it. "Relax. When that time comes, I'll definitely send the old man to drag you back. Don't underestimate that old police dog's sense of smell."

At this, he grumbled inwardly: 'Was there anyone in the world the Terror Crow Man couldn't track down? I'm the player here and I haven't even run for it yet, and you want to beat me to it?'

"What if even the old man can't find me?" Xia Ningzhi asked casually after a moment.

"Don't worry. Even if you run to the ends of the earth, I'll definitely find you."

Ke Mingqing was speaking the absolute truth.

After all, the player's mission was to exterminate the super-human species. Whether Xia Ningzhi fled to the North Pole or Siberia, he had to hunt her down.

And then—

Slaughter her.

Xia Ningzhi stared at him blankly for a long time. Then she tilted her head and dramatically exclaimed, "I'm so moved, I could cry! Oh my, our Qing really is a sinful man. Making girls cry on the outside, and making girls cry at home, too."

Ke Mingqing rolled his eyes. "Are you an idiot? You've been spouting nonsense this entire time."

He pushed himself up from the sofa and turned toward the stairs. "I'm going to sleep. Second sister is resting, too, so tell everyone else to keep it down when they get back."

At that exact moment, in another corner of Leijing, inside an abandoned building situated in an extremely remote area bordering the badlands.

Every room on the second floor of the derelict building was a twin room; rumor had it this place used to be a motel.

Lorenzo had used an ability stolen from someone else to restore the second floor to its former state, which was why they had these clean, comfortable rooms to sleep in.

Ke Mingqing couldn't even fathom how many abilities Lorenzo had stolen thus far.

But such overwhelming power surely came with restrictions or side effects. Otherwise, there was no explaining why Lorenzo was only listed as an A++ Rank super-human species on the system panel, barely on par with the Terror Crow Man.

Tonight, Bai Ziling and Giovanni were sharing a room.

It wasn't that there were no other rooms available; Bai Ziling simply claimed she couldn't sleep anywhere else and insisted on staying with him.

Right now, Jiang Qingzi was leaning against the doorframe, watching the two of them with a placid gaze.

He crossed his arms and told Giovanni, "I'll be keeping an eye on you. Don't try anything funny."

Inside the room, Giovanni was making the beds with Bai Ziling.

He suddenly poked Bai Ziling's cheek and instructed, "Repeat after me: pedophile."

Bai Ziling was unwilling to speak in front of others. She lowered her head and scribbled three crooked characters into her notebook with a pencil: "Homo-phile?"

"That's right. Call him that from now on," Giovanni taught her. "Though the meaning seems to have shifted from pedophile to homosexual."

Jiang Qingzi furrowed his brows. "You looking for a fight?"

"We're going to sleep. No disturbances, please." Giovanni yawned.

Bai Ziling rapidly scribbled in her notebook with her pencil, reiterating: "Do not disturb."

Together, the two of them gently pushed the door shut, locking Jiang Qingzi out in the hallway.

They turned off the lights and each lay down in their own bed.

After a full day of playing Gomoku and reading manga, Bai Ziling was exhausted. Before long, the white-haired girl fell asleep, her even, shallow breathing echoing softly in the dark.

Giovanni pillowed his head on his hands and slowly closed his eyes.

At that same time, in another corner of the world, inside a dimly lit room.

"What a pain. There might be times I have to control three bodies simultaneously in the future. I wonder if I'll even be able to handle it." Having finally finished managing the schedule of one of his bodies, Ke Mingqing let out a sigh.

His most relaxing time of day was right now, on a summer night like this. He would turn off the lights, lean back against the windowsill, listen to the cicadas chirping outside, and gaze at the brightly lit houses in the distance under the moonlight.

Ke Mingqing opened the packaging and glanced at the beautifully crafted music box.

After a moment of hesitation, he wound it up, and a light, melodious chime drifted out.

Listening to the soothing tune, a slight smile curved Ke Mingqing's lips. So his second sister was the type to be cold on the outside but warm on the inside; she had actually prepared a little birthday gift for him.

But the longer he listened, the more familiar the melody became, until his expression changed completely.

The tune playing from the music box was unmistakably "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence."

In this world, the pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto didn't exist, which meant this piece of music had never been composed. The audio file on Ke Mingqing's MP3 player had been personally recorded by Kuroki Hitomi at her home.

Thus, there was only one possible reason Xia Lingxue knew the melody.

"Come on, she's such a creep! Did she seriously take my MP3 player and listen to every single song on it?" Ke Mingqing was appalled.

It took him a while before he finally shoved the cursed music box aside.

Pulling out his phone, Ke Mingqing opened a browser and searched for "Tiamat Comet."

[Once every ten years, the Tiamat Comet passes by Earth. As it does, it reclaims the comet fragments from within "existing magical girls" and seeds new fragments into the Earth.]

[Only girls under the age of sixteen have a chance of being favored by the fragments. The fragments take up residence within their bodies, providing them with magical power.]

Reading the wiki entry, Ke Mingqing murmured to himself, "So magical girls cycle out with a new generation every ten years?"

Going by that logic, the oldest magical girl would only be a twenty-six-year-old woman in her prime, while the youngest would be ten.

The reason there were no magical girls under the age of ten was because the comet fragments remained dormant inside them, waiting for them to grow. It was only after turning ten that they had a chance to awaken.

At that age, they would just be finishing elementary school and entering puberty—a time of extreme mental instability. There was a very good reason why so many witches were born into this world.

Having finished reading the description, Ke Mingqing looked up the next time the Tiamat Comet was scheduled to pass by Earth. When he saw the search result, he froze.

The date before him gave off an inexplicable sense of familiarity:

—December 28, 2026. "Isn't this... the final day of the player's mission time limit?"

Ke Mingqing's eyes widened slightly.

It was exactly as he thought. The day the Tiamat Comet would next visit Earth aligned perfectly with the final day of the deadline for the Exterminate Superhumans mission.

He pondered, "This generation of magical girls will disappear in six months anyway, so I don't even have to worry about killing them. I can just leave them alone."

"But if Ember turns into a witch, it changes everything. A witch's power won't be reclaimed by the comet fragments. When the deadline arrives, she'll still be on the extermination list."

"But do I even have a way to stop it? I have a feeling we'll probably end up in a fight to the death anyway."

Just as this thought crossed his mind, a message bubble popped up in the communications list in the upper right corner of his vision.

He raised an eyebrow and tapped the bubble, bringing up a chat panel.

[Kuroki Hitomi: Do you want to meet with those players tomorrow? You can use the chance to observe them.]

Startled, Ke Mingqing raised his hand to type a reply.

[Ke Mingqing: What do you mean? Didn't I tell you that my situation is unique and I can't let the other players know my identity?]

[Kuroki Hitomi: I told them you're my superhuman boyfriend. I also said you already know I'm a player and that you're completely on my side.]

[Ke Mingqing: You really sound like a femme fatale, playing Blue Pigeon in the palm of your hand.]

[Kuroki Hitomi: Oh, you.]

[Ke Mingqing: What if they publicly announce that 'Blue Pigeon has betrayed the super-human species and colluded with the players'?]

[Kuroki Hitomi: That isn't collusion, it's clearly lying low within the player ranks, waiting for the chance to wipe them all out in one fell swoop. Don't worry—I won't let you be in any danger.]

[Ke Mingqing: But Li Chunchun has seen me before. He'll recognize me.]

[Kuroki Hitomi: It's fine. He's an idiot. He's definitely forgotten you by now. Even if he does manage to recognize you, I'll make him forget.]

'That sounds a little terrifying,' Ke Mingqing thought to himself.

[Ke Mingqing: All right then, I'll go meet them tomorrow. With my Disguiser talent, I can fake a super-human species status panel anyway. Fooling them will be a piece of cake.]

Dropping that final message, Ke Mingqing closed the chat panel and crawled into his soft bed.

Moonlight bathed the boy's fair cheeks. It wasn't long before drowsiness washed over his mind, coaxing his eyes to slowly shut.

The night passed in silence.