Superman's End Manual

Ten minutes ago, in the old Jingmai neighborhood, at Bai Ke's house.

Ke Xiaomo inserted the key into the keyhole, pushed open the door, took off her shoes, walked into the living room, sat on the sofa, and said to Ke Yinzhi next to her, "I just went to see the Dice Monster."

"And then?" Ke Yinzhi asked.

"It told me that the player who spread the parasite in the city was a girl in a wheelchair, and it even showed me a picture of her."

As Ke Xiaomo spoke, she opened the QQ Mail app she had just downloaded on her phone and logged into her QQ account, which she hadn't used in a long time. There, she saw an email in her inbox.

He opened the email, which was titled "To My Dear Ninja Gentleman." There was no text in the email, only an attached image.

The image shows a girl in a wheelchair raising her cane forward, with black insects rushing along the cane as if they're about to leap out of the screen.

"Wow, are you so sure this photo is real?"

As she spoke, Ke Yinzhi glanced sideways at the photo in the email and said, "From my perspective, this photo is strange. The environment, the faces—every part seems to have been deliberately refined with lines, indicating that the original image should have been very blurry. Even the environment seems to have been artificially filled in, as if a part of the original photo was missing, blank. This reminds me of something..."

"What is that?" Ke Xiaomo asked, "A surveillance camera?"

"No. Logically speaking, footage captured by surveillance cameras shouldn't have so many missing or blank areas."

"what is that?"

"A brain imaging helmet," Ke Yinzhi replied.

"Brain imaging helmet?"

“That’s right. Images generated by brain imaging helmets will indeed have many missing parts and the image quality won’t be very clear,” Ke Yinzhi said. “If the person who altered this photo did so to cover up something, then that explains why the photo looks so out of place.”

Ke Xiaomo frowned: "So, the Dice Monster has a brain imaging helmet?"

"Not necessarily, this is just my guess."

As she spoke, Ke Yinzhi yawned, changed the TV channel with the remote control, and continued.

"Moreover, the existence of players has gradually become public knowledge. Superhero associations and magical girl alliances around the world, as well as the three major management bureaus, are gradually using brain imaging helmets to detect whether internal personnel have infiltrated the players. Investigating the flow of brain imaging helmets one by one is not easy and is very time-consuming."

"Why not narrow down the scope and just start with the areas surrounding Beijing?"

"The brain imaging helmets won't be delivered to the organizations around Beijing for another two days. Guess who the two people currently controlling the brain imaging helmets around Beijing are?"

"Which two people?"

“Xi Ziyue, Qingya. Do you think these two are the type to be fooled by the Dice Monster?” Ke Yinzhi said. “Although Xi Ziyue is carefree, she is not stupid, and can even be described as shrewd; and Qingya is even more so.”

Ke Xiaomo remained silent for a moment before offering her speculation.

"Could it be that Xi Ziyue gave the helmet to another magical girl to play with, and then the Dice Monster got the brain imaging helmet from those magical girls? After all, do you remember what happened to Xiao Ni last time? She took the brain imaging helmet that the magical girl Feng gave her home, and it scared us quite a bit at the time."

"Speaking of this, I previously warned Xi Ziyue in the name of the Control Bureau that she should not hand over the brain imaging helmet to any subordinate unless there is a necessary occasion."

Ke Yinzhi paused slightly, her tone seemingly unsure, "Uh... even if it's Xi Ziyue, she shouldn't completely ignore what I say, right?"

After saying that, he shrugged and began to try to justify himself: "However... with the increasing popularity of brain imaging helmets lately, she may have let herself go. I'll try asking her in a few days to see if I can find any clues."

Upon hearing this, Ke Xiaomo suddenly remembered something and said...

"By the way, the Dice Monster also told me before that he knows Magical Girl Ash... and Magical Girl Ash and Nishizuki are very close. Could it be that Ash gave the helmet to the Dice Monster?"

“That’s possible. I’ll check it out when I have time in a few days,” Ke Yinzhi said.

"With your memory, you'll probably forget it in a couple of days."

With that, Ke Xiaomo sighed and changed the subject: "Let's not talk about that for now, let's talk about what the Dice Man did today. Why do you think he kidnapped Che Zhengchen and then released him?"

"Who knows..."

At this point, Ke Yinzhi suddenly raised her eyebrows and changed the subject: "Oh, I think I understand. The photo you saw must have been extracted from Che Zhengchen's memories."

"……what?"

“Those parasites only target ordinary people, and Che Zhengchen is an ordinary person. It’s very likely that the player inserted a parasite into his body not long ago, and then forgot about it.”

"forgotten?"

"The information the Control Bureau gave me said that people who are infected by parasites will automatically forget that they have been infected."

As Ke Yinzhi spoke, she picked up the Coke on the table, rested her chin on her hand, took a sip through the straw, and then continued to explain.

"Although Che Zhengchen himself has forgotten, it doesn't necessarily mean that he can't get that memory back. So in order to find out what the player looks like in Che Zhengchen's mind, the Dice Monster kidnapped him from the Superhero Building this afternoon and put a brain imaging helmet on his head."

Ke Xiaomo was silent for a moment, then said, "I see..."

"So it seems that the Dice Monster isn't as omniscient as you thought. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed such methods to find the culprit spreading the parasite."

Ke Yinzhi smiled and spoke slowly.

He paused. "The key point is, if the woman in the wheelchair is indeed a player, as it claims, then it seems unlikely that the Dice Monster is a player."

Ke Xiaomo nodded and said, "Indeed. If the girl spreading the parasite is really a player, then it means the Dice Monster probably has nothing to do with the players."

Ke Yinzhi shrugged: "That's right. If it's a player, there's no reason for it to do that: taking such a big risk just to betray its companions doesn't make sense for the behavior of players."

He thought for a moment and then added two more sentences.

"At the same time, as a player, it should have more ways to find her, like the 'friend system' I mentioned before... I remember there was such a function in the player's panel. Anyway, it doesn't need to go to such lengths, unless..."

“Unless what?” Ke Xiaomo asked.

"Unless there is infighting among the players."

"Internal strife?"

“Who knows? We’re not familiar enough with this group yet, but given their situation, they’ll die if they don’t exterminate the superhumans within a year. Logically, the probability of infighting should be very low,” Ke Yinzhi said as he thought.

Upon hearing this, Ke Xiaomo breathed a sigh of relief.

He said, "In short, can we rest assured that the dice monster might just be a mad dog, not a player?"

"It's not certain yet," Ke Yinzhi said calmly. "In any case, since you've chosen to cooperate with it, remember to be careful not to fall into its trap."

Are you talking to me?

“That makes sense.” Ke Yinzhi smiled and teased, “With our sect leader’s strength, he shouldn’t be led astray by that kind of thing.”

Ke Xiaomo stared at the TV screen, and the two of them watched TV quietly for a while.

He suddenly said, "Oh, right, there's something else I need to tell you."

"what?"

Upon hearing this, Ke Xiaomo remained silent for a while, hesitating whether to talk to Ke Yinzhi about Mingye. However, he remembered that Ke Yinzhi had told him just two days ago that she wanted to enjoy a peaceful vacation and experience a normal life. Otherwise, she would not have entrusted him with the parasite matter.

Qiu Wu and Yong Zhu were already enough of a headache for him, and now with Ming Ye added to the mix, even someone as strong-willed as Ke Yinzhi would probably be so overwhelmed that he wouldn't be able to eat...

Thinking this, Ke Xiaomo sighed and gently shook her head.

"It's nothing," he said.

Ke Yinzhi was about to ask further when the doorbell rang, interrupting his thoughts. Pushing open the door, he saw Bai Qiuwu had returned home. She had just changed into sandals and entered, immediately asking, "Is Mingye back?"

Ke Yinzhi replied, "Not yet."

Ke Xiaomo asked knowingly, "What did you do outside just now?"

"I went to a classmate's house to pick up some math materials," Bai Qiuwu said, holding up a workbook in her hand. "Mingye will call me when he gets back; I need to talk to him."

“Okay,” Ke Yinzhi said.

After Bai Qiuwu climbed the stairs, Ke Xiaomo carefully said, "Qiuwu, I just dealt with a witch who was causing trouble in the Linjiang Business District."

Upon hearing this, Ke Yinzhi tilted her head, turned to look at him, and asked curiously, "Oh...did she recognize you?"

Ke Xiaomo shook her head: "You said that the Fiery Eyes can't see through physical masks, only illusions, so she didn't recognize me."

"That's good."

"I'm going out to buy a drink and also to look for Mingye. He's been out for so long today, I wonder where he's been gallivanting off to again," Ke Xiaomo said, getting up from the sofa and walking out of the house.

He casually closed the electronic door behind him, turned his head and saw that the elevator indicator was lit up and someone was slowly ascending to the 12th floor in the elevator.

Ke Xiaomo breathed a sigh of relief, leaned against the wall and hugged her shoulders, pondering how to bring up this matter with Mingye.

After a while, the elevator doors slowly opened.

Ke Mingye, clutching his chest, stepped out of the elevator. He looked up from his phone and glanced at him evasively: "Uh... Second Brother, what are you doing here?"

"I have something to talk to you about, but not here. Let's go downstairs and buy some drinks while we're at it."

As she spoke, Ke Xiaomo walked towards him, put her arm around his shoulder, and didn't give him a chance to resist.

Ke Mingye hesitated for a moment, then said, "Alright, let's go."

Asking for a monthly ticket!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 170 Family Meeting, Second Round (Part 3)

Ke Mingye gripped the cap of a Pepsi bottle tightly with his right hand and twisted it open with all his might.

With a "click," bubbles rose from the bottle. He quickly caught them in his mouth and then plopped down on a public wooden bench outside the 7-Seven supermarket.

"So, second brother, why did you call me?"

Under the dim streetlights, he turned his head and asked Ke Xiaomo, who was also sitting on the public wooden bench.