Superman's End Manual

Soon, when Little Red Riding Hood arrived at the long-closed Huanjing Elementary School, the scene before her eyes made her pause for a moment.

I almost fell from mid-air.

Her toes touched the ground awkwardly, and the layers of snowflakes that had enveloped her slowly dissipated, turning into scattered specks of light on the ground.

Looking up, I saw Magical Girl Ash leaning against the iron fence in the corner of the rooftop, one hand on her shoulder and the other playing with her phone.

Her expression was rather nonchalant, and her long, beautiful black hair swayed gently in the breeze.

Little Red Riding Hood's focus was on the fact that at this very moment, there was a highly technological helmet at Ash's feet, which seemed to be something out of this era.

Ke Mingye was extremely familiar with this thing, after all, it had tormented him for a long time.

Brain imaging helmet.

Asking for a monthly ticket!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 160 Three-Quarters of Friends

Little Red Riding Hood steadied herself in mid-air and slowly descended. Her heels touched the rooftop floor, and she calmly tucked the handle of the ruby ​​wand under her arm, then strode towards Magical Girl Ash.

She tilted her head, her gaze lowered to the brain imaging helmet at Ash's feet, and asked curiously.

"Senior, what is this? An Ultraman transformation device?"

"Transformation device my foot! This is for you!"

Magical Girl Ash spoke without looking up, her brows slightly furrowed. Her slender fingers, clad in black leather gloves, tapped hard on her phone screen, the rapid, rhythmic typing sound conveying a sense of anger.

Judging from the corner of the screen that can be seen, she appears to be talking to Xiziyue on WeChat.

The two chatted in a pattern where Ash would send a bunch of texts at lightning speed, and then Xi Ziyue would either ignore it, reply with a sentence or two, or even just a single word—you'd think it was a conversation between a loser and a goddess.

But anyone who knows these two would know that this way of chatting is because Ash is too impatient and Xi Ziyue is too lazy.

Little Red Riding Hood remained expressionless, her arm holding the wand crossed over her shoulder, while her other hand rested on her chin.

She thought for a moment and said, "It's not some kind of brainwashing device, is it, senior? Although I know you may have lesbian tendencies, it's still too much to go after your own colleague. How awkward would it be if you saw each other all the time?"

Upon hearing this, Magical Girl Ash raised the hand she had been holding over her shoulder, pressed it against her forehead, and sighed. She was already used to Little Red Riding Hood's erratic thinking, so she decisively skipped the rebuttal phase.

“My master said that anyone who wants to join the Tongmenghui now has to wear this helmet for a test.”

"What are you testing?"

"Test whether you are a player."

"And what is a player?"

"A big bad guy who wants to destroy the world."

"Senior, what difference does it make whether you said anything or not? The way we kids who grew up with garbage in our mouths and you kids who grew up with silver spoons in your mouths really do talk differently."

"You don't need to understand. I order you to put it on right now, and then I'll take a picture to show my master. Understand?" With that, Magical Girl Ash put away her phone, bent down to pick up the brain imaging helmet from the ground, and handed it to Little Red Riding Hood.

"Ok."

Little Red Riding Hood took the brain imaging helmet, held it in her hands, and hesitated for half a second: "This really isn't some kind of washing..."

Ash frowned, crossed his arms, and forcefully interrupted her: "Stop talking nonsense, put it on now."

Little Red Riding Hood slowly raised the brain imaging helmet and put it on her head. Ke Mingye ordered her to empty her mind, so she stood still without thinking about anything, staring at the ashes.

After a moment, Ash looked away from her and said calmly.

"You can take it off now."

Upon hearing this, Little Red Riding Hood took off her brain imaging helmet, and saw some images displayed on the screen on the back of the helmet, which were the scenes she had just seen.

She was already experienced with this. When the brain imaging helmet intercepted the visual nerve signals of the con artist, the image presented was no different from the world seen by ordinary people. Otherwise, she would have been taken to the control bureau by her older brother Ke Yinzhi and tortured when she was in the movie theater.

Magical Girl Ash silently accepted the brain imaging helmet, lowered her cool expression, and glanced at the photograph formed by intercepting brain signals.

Her fingers moved quickly across the helmet's control panel, scrolling through it in no time. She didn't see any strange player icons or any other random panels above the photos.

So he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to himself that the master was just too much trouble, insisting on making her do this. If those players could choose their own spawn point, why would they choose such a pitiful girl?

"What an amazing thing! Can I see it again?" Little Red Riding Hood asked.

"Here you go, don't look at me so pitifully."

"Thank you, senior." Little Red Riding Hood said as she took the helmet, touching its cool and smooth surface.

“Let’s go,” Ash said. “We’ll go back to the classroom and then I’ll teach you how to make cards.”

What about the helmet?

Magical Girl Ash walked ahead of her, saying as she descended the stairs of the school building, "There are plenty of these now, they're not that rare. You can keep them for yourself."

"Really?"

"Really..." Ash was about to answer when he suddenly remembered something, so he changed the subject and said in a rather annoyed tone, "Oh, it seems that won't work. Last time I brought the brain imaging helmet home, my master scolded me, saying that Blue Raven sent her a message asking who she gave the brain imaging helmet to. If my master hadn't covered for me, that hateful upright crow person would have seized the opportunity to annoy me, saying that I moved important public property without permission or something."

"Is the crow really that concerned about you?" Little Red Riding Hood asked softly, her hands behind her back.

"He's sick, and I don't know why he's targeting me."

The two walked down the empty corridor, talking as they went. Morning light streamed in through the windows, casting long shadows on their beautiful silhouettes. They soon entered the classroom. Seeing no one in the room, Ash sat down directly at the conference table, not even bothering to move a chair.

She summoned her spellbook, lowered her eyes, and took out two blank cards from the book, slamming them onto the table.

“These are models for magic cards, made from a special material,” she said. “Magical girls can receive up to five blank card models from the Alliance each week to create magic cards. However, most magical girls are mediocre; even comet-type magical girls aren’t very good at card making, let alone contract-type magical girls.”

Little Red Riding Hood said, "There are probably more contract-type magical girls who debut as idols. I saw a lot of people undergoing idol auditions at the Alliance Building, but I haven't seen them go on many missions."

"That's true."

Ash placed her hands on the table, the hem of her gown spreading out like a beautiful flower on the conference table. She curled her lip and said without any hesitation, "It may sound harsh, but with their mediocre skills, they'd be better off singing and dancing to make money by showing off their faces. If they insist on being strong, it'll be too late to regret it when something goes wrong."

"Judging from your appearance, you must have had contact with quite a few contracted magical girls."

“There used to be one or two magical girls I was very close with, but they were all contracted beings and very weak.” The girl in the gothic dress lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, “Later they all died. One was torn in half by the Ghost Hand Buddha, and the other had her head chopped off by the Abyss Swordsman. Actually, I think they deserved it. They were too weak, so they ended up like this.”

She tilted her head, her long, beautiful black hair swaying gently along with the gray ribbons. "Since then, I've basically stopped teaming up with other magical girls and mostly fight alone."

Little Red Riding Hood thought for a moment and asked, "So, that's why you killed the Demon Hand Buddha?"

"Yes, my master always told me to stay calm, but that time I still couldn't hold back and killed him."

Magical Girl Ash turned her snow-white cheek and gazed at the skyscrapers outside the window as she spoke slowly.

"Didn't you see how bloody the scene was? People online gave me a lot of nicknames because of this incident. Some people said I was a murderer among magical girls, some said I didn't deserve to be a magical girl at all, and some said I had no bottom line and was no different from those lunatics, and would become the next witch sooner or later."

She paused for a moment after saying this.

"But I don't care, because no matter what they say about me, it won't affect me. I won't become a witch, and I won't become timid because of their opinions. I am who I am, and I won't change because of anyone."

Little Red Riding Hood was silent for a moment, then walked to the conference table with the brain imaging helmet in her arms, gently sat down next to Ash, and took one of the card molds. "So how exactly do we make the cards?"

Magical Girl Ash was silent for a moment, then picked up a blank card with her index and middle fingers and infused it with gray magic.

Soon, magic slowly enveloped it like a protective membrane. Then, a strange radiance suddenly burst forth from Ash's chest, and the bow tie of her dress swayed in the wind amidst the dazzling light.

She closed her eyes, reached her right hand into the hole in her chest, grasped the ball of light, and slowly "pulled" it out.

Then, he slowly opened his eyes and spread his palms. The light in his palms had disappeared. In its place was a stone, about the size of a finger, shimmering with black and white specks.

Little Red Riding Hood stared at the stone with surprise in her eyes, wondering if this was the fragment of the comet inside the magical girl's body.

She had heard that if this fragment was destroyed, the magical girl would die on the spot, so magical girls would generally not take out the fragment in front of others.

At this moment, the surface of the comet fragment was shrouded in a halo formed by densely packed black and white specks of light, resembling the static on a malfunctioning television screen. Therefore, the true shape of the fragment was obscured.

“This is a fragment of the comet inside me.” Magical Girl Ash said expressionlessly. “You have one too. Imagine in your mind what you want the fragment to become, and then integrate it into a blank card mold. For example, if I want to create a 'Magic Supply' card, I will imagine the appearance of 'Magic Supply' and the card's effect in my mind, and then capture the feeling of resonating with the comet fragment and integrate the comet fragment into the card mold.”

After saying that, she brought the fragment in her palm into contact with the card mold in her right hand. Immediately afterward, the fragment burst into a dazzling light and swallowed the card mold.

"Also, you can add some materials during the card-making process if you want, like this."

As the magical girl Ash spoke, she pulled a piece of fragrant wood, about the thickness of a finger, from her spellbook and gently released it from directly above the ball of light, allowing the fragrant wood to fall into it.

Soon, the fragrant wood was swallowed up by the light, as if it had fallen into the mouth of some strange creature.

Little Red Riding Hood watched this scene quietly, feeling that something was amiss.

Before long, accompanied by a chewing sound, the light slowly faded away, replaced by a stone shimmering with black and white snowflake-like light and a fragrant magic card—"Magic Supply"—floating in mid-air.

The front of this card features a magical girl praying with her hands clasped together under the night sky, with a shooting star streaking across the dark heavens; the back has no design, only a complex and beautiful array of magical patterns.

Magical Girl Ash reached out and calmly accepted the card and comet fragment. She returned the comet fragment to her body and handed the card to Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Red Riding Hood took the card, looked at it for a while, then flipped it over to check the contents on both sides. It was a perfect replica of the "Magic Supply" card she had seen in the deck at the Alliance Building.

“What’s the difference between this and a regular ‘mana replenishment’?” Ash asked.

"It smells delicious," Little Red Riding Hood sniffed and whispered.

Magical Girl Ash nodded and explained, "That's right, giving the cards a pleasant scent is a card characteristic that comes from adding 'Spirit Wood' during the card-making process."

"I understand. Can I start making cards now?"

“In a few days, you’ll find that your current control over magic and your magic reserves are clearly insufficient,” Ash said. “By the way, you’d better not practice alone at home. If you accidentally take out the comet fragment and can’t put it back, or if the fragment is damaged, your body will experience some abnormalities.”

She took a deep breath and said, with a mix of emotion and sarcasm, "Many magical girls have died like this before. I have to say, they were incredibly stupid."