Superman's End Manual

Bai Zini ignored him, simply burying the lower half of her face in her slightly bent knees, her eyes lowered.

"Is it my fault?" Ke Mingye sighed. "You didn't even tell me that your friend was a magical girl. I'm not even angry yet, so why are you getting angry?"

Bai Zini remained silent.

"I know you're worried about me, and that's why I didn't want to tell you."

Ke Mingye gazed at the opposite bank and muttered to himself.

"You're my little sister, remember when you said you wanted to be a magical girl to protect me... Can't I be a superhero to protect you? The world is so chaotic right now, and you mentioned before that a friend of yours was attacked by superhumans, and you're feeling really down..."

He paused slightly before continuing, "Now that I think about it, the friend you mentioned isn't a magical girl, is she?"

"died."

"what?"

“Both of my friends are dead, they died a long time ago,” Bai Zini said.

"I saw the news. Were they the two magical girls who were killed by the Ghost Hand Buddha and the Abyss Swordsman a few months ago?"

“Yes. That’s why I don’t want anything to happen to you, brother.” Bai Zini paused. “You are very, very, very, very…” She repeated the same word until she could hardly breathe before taking a deep breath and lowering her voice to say, “…important.”

"I know, you idiot."

As Ke Mingye spoke, he picked up a pebble and threw it forcefully into the river.

The pebble traced a beautiful parabola in mid-air before falling into the river, creating ripples.

"And then... when did it start?" Bai Zini asked.

"About two months ago, I awakened my superpowers, and then I started thinking about whether I could become a superhero."

As he spoke, Ke Mingye casually plucked a blade of grass from the riverbank, lowered his eyes, and said, "And then, somehow, I joined the Superhero Association, made some friends, came to his house... and that's how I met you."

"So how long were you planning to keep this from me?"

"Who knows?" Ke Mingye said softly. "Maybe I'll just tell you sometime."

"Really?"

"Please, don't let my carefree attitude fool you, I do have worries too," Ke Mingye said.

"I think you've been keeping it from me all along if I hadn't found out."

"Will not."

"I believe you once."

Are you still angry?

"fine……"

"So... are you still going back to your classmate's house?" Ke Mingye asked.

Bai Zini gently shook her head.

"Then let's not go back, let's go home?"

"do not wanna go Home."

"Then what are you going to do? Just sit here and wait to be roasted by the sun?"

Ke Mingye tilted his head and asked in an annoyed tone.

Bai Zini silently got up from the grass, walked up to the riverside path, turned her head, and looked at the Ferris wheel slowly turning in the distance.

“Let’s go ride that,” she said, pointing to the Ferris wheel.

"Alright... you're the boss."

After saying that, Ke Mingye and she walked together to the nearby amusement park, paid for their tickets by scanning a QR code with their mobile phones, and boarded the Ferris wheel car under the watchful eyes of the staff.

As dusk slowly approached and the sun began to set, they remained silent. Bai Zini simply sat quietly in the carriage, gazing out the window. The girl's cool profile was reflected in the window, mingling with the distant mountains, swaying dreamily.

The two of them didn't say a word from beginning to end, but simply gazed silently at the city bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.

When the two finally got off the Ferris wheel, it was almost dark. They walked silently to the beach.

Bai Zini took off her sandals and walked barefoot towards the sea, leaving footprints of varying depths on the sand.

"Don't go... the tide is coming in."

Ke Mingye stood on the crimson sand and spoke to her receding figure.

A moment later, Bai Zini slowly turned around, her hands behind her back, her eyes lowered. Her figure was shrouded in the afterglow, like a butterfly veiled in mist.

"Answer a few questions for me."

She spoke softly as the sun set over the horizon.

Ke Mingye stared at her without moving and shrugged.

“Then ask,” he said.

Will you lie to me again in the future?

"will not."

Bai Zini took a small step back. Looking to the side, the setting sun on the horizon painted the beach a crimson hue, like a splash of wine.

“Would you leave me like my friend did?” she asked.

"will not."

Bai Zini took another step back, getting closer and closer to the sea, and further and further away from Ke Mingye.

"What would you think if I said... I said I'm a magical girl?"

she asked softly.

"What's there to think about? You're still my sister then."

"Aren't you angry?"

"not angry."

Bai Zini's hair fluttered gently in the sea breeze, tinged golden by the afterglow of the setting sun.

She slowly took another step back. It was almost night, the sky was gradually darkening, and the increasingly surging tide was slowly engulfing her fair ankles.

"last question."

"ask."

In the growing sea breeze, Bai Zini's lips moved slightly, her voice drowned out by the crashing waves against the shore. The hazy afterglow and the splashing waves swayed her figure together, while seagulls flew in flocks across the twilight sky, their white feathers falling with a soft rustling.

In those fleeting two seconds, Ke Mingye couldn't hear what she was saying, but he could vaguely make out from her lip movements that she seemed to be asking something.

"To you, I am just..."

But... what? Ke Mingye wondered.

"The wind is too strong, I can't hear you."

As Ke Mingye spoke loudly, he walked forward, gradually approaching Bai Zini, and said in an annoyed tone, "Bai Zini, didn't your mother tell you not to wander around the beach at night... it's really dangerous."

He approached Bai Zini step by step, reaching out to take her hand. At that moment, the setting sun completely disappeared below the horizon, taking away the last rays of light that had fallen upon the world, and the whole world darkened. From one end of the horizon, a massive wave swept in, engulfing the two of them.

Amidst the cries of seagulls, the tide slowly receded into the sea.

When they came to their senses, they found two figures lying sprawled on the soft, damp sand, staring blankly at the completely dark night sky, with the waves gently washing over the back of their heads.

After a while, the two slowly turned their heads, looked at each other, and smiled softly.

"go home."

"Ah."

Before long, two wet figures rode the subway home, attracting strange looks from passersby. The slightly swaying carriage was illuminated by cool-toned lights.

The two sat together, their wet shoulders touching, in silence. The carriage was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the air conditioning overhead was so cold that Ke Mingye sneezed.

He scratched the tip of his nose with his hand; his nose was red.

"I have something to tell you after we get off the bus..." The girl leaned on his shoulder, her eyes closed.

"Can't we say it now?"

"No."

"Oh."

When the train arrived at the old Jingmai neighborhood, Ke Mingye and Bai Zini got off the train side by side.

Hand in hand, we walked through the bustling crowd and out of the subway station. The smell of camphor balls and disinfectant immediately dissipated, replaced by fresh air.

As night deepened, the silence was so profound that the cicadas chirped in the trees. They walked slowly home, and in the dim light, children played with glow sticks.

A notification sound came from the phone, and Bai Zini looked down at her phone.

"Information about Mom?" Ke Mingye asked.

"My second brother asked us where we went."

Bai Zini replied to her second brother's message while talking. She sent a photo of herself and Ke Mingye, saying that she was with her third brother and that her second brother shouldn't worry.

At home, Ke Xiaomo received the message, glanced at the photo, and breathed a sigh of relief. She thought, "Since Mingye and Xiaoni are together, they shouldn't suddenly put on their battle suits and run around like that, right?"