Superman's End Manual

"You know, when they heard you were going to exterminate superhumans, a lot of heroes in the association were laughing," Blue Owl said. "They were laughing at your lack of self-awareness, laughing at how the higher-ups were actually worried about this kind of thing: the authorities made us go through all sorts of tests to see if any superheroes had infiltrated, it was honestly quite troublesome. Do you know how much trouble you've caused others? Come back to the right path, ma'am. Since you're so cute, I'll let you go now, and I might even withdraw the cease and desist letter."

"Exterminating superhumans is indeed laughable."

"Right?" Blue Owl retorted, "So you still want to do this?"

“No, just them,” Stroll said. “I never thought about exterminating superhumans, even if the price of not doing so would be my death.”

Upon hearing this, Blue Owl paused for a couple of seconds, then drawled, "Uh... are you kidding me?" He hesitated, "They'll die if they don't exterminate superhumans? What kind of cult is this?"

"No kidding."

Stroe spoke calmly, her eyes fixed on the Ugly Duckling in the fairy tale book, her slender fingers resting on her chin, "If I had to describe my feelings, it would be something like... the Ugly Duckling grew into a swan, and the swan ate the Ugly Duckling."

"Sorry, I don't quite understand."

The blue owl glanced at her sideways, giving her a strange look.

“It means that I should have been a girl dying in a hospital bed, but I chose to be who I am now,” Stroll said. “I chose to accept the people around me, and so…”

She paused for a moment, then said softly, "I strangled that girl to death in bed with my own hands."

"I still can't understand. Can you speak human language?"

Stroll said, "It's normal not to understand. You can think of it as me talking to myself to pass the time."

The blue owl lowered its head and took a deep breath.

“Okay,” he said after a moment.

"May I continue talking to myself?" Stroll asked politely.

"Go ahead," said the blue owl. "I'm still tied up."

"What shall I say?"

"So you're the one asking me that?"

“Oh…I see.” Stroll stared intently at the fairy tale book, her fingers tracing the pages as she spoke slowly, “You know, I really love fairy tales.”

Who wouldn't like that?

The blue owl said casually.

"Yes, who wouldn't like that?" Stroll said.

She turned the pages of the book gently with her fingers, saying, "I have two memories in my mind. In one memory, I was a girl in a slum, falling asleep every day with a tattered fairy tale book in my arms; in the other memory, my situation was not so bad or dirty, but I was abandoned by my parents because I had a terminal illness. Every day, I sat on the hospital bed, and the only thing I could do was flip through that fairy tale book that I had read many times."

After thinking for a moment, she continued, "I really like 'Cinderella.' I often imagine that one day I will have glass slippers on my feet, and a carriage will take me away from that ward to a party; a prince will hold my hand and kiss the back of my hand; and above my head will be a brightly lit crystal chandelier, instead of that boring and depressing ceiling."

She paused at this point.

"Although fairy tales are just fairy tales, they gave a desperate girl hope. They allowed her to imagine... that perhaps there are still wonderful things that can happen in this world."

Blue Owl thought for a moment and said, "Uh... so, you were a schizophrenic before?"

“Hmm… if you insist on saying that, then I feel like all the players are schizophrenic,” Stroll said softly.

“Actually, I don’t know much about the ‘Players’ organization; I only know a little from what others have told me,” Blue Owl said. “But I feel that you shouldn’t be a very bad girl.”

Blue Owl thought for a moment, then said, "So, among the players, are you considered a traitor, or what?"

"almost."

"Oh, no wonder those players don't play with you. Looks like you're a smart guy, you haven't been brainwashed like them, that's a good thing."

"Well... it's not exactly brainwashing, because if they hadn't wiped out the superhumans, they really would have died."

The blue owl paused for a moment, then sighed deeply: "Well, it's absurd, but I'll try to accept it."

After a moment of silence, the blue owl asked, "And what about you? Is it alright if you die?"

“It’s alright,” Stroll said calmly. “I’ve died many times. The first time was when my parents gave up paying my medical bills; the second time was when I was in a hospital bed watching the trees outside my window wither and watching the doctor shave my head; the third time was when I saw the Arctic sky for the first time… At that moment, I strangled my past self with my own hands.”

As she spoke, she raised her fingers to turn the pages of the book, her face lowered, her profile shrouded in dappled light and shadow. "That's why I'm not afraid of death."

"Because you don't want to do something against your conscience?"

“No,” Stroll pondered. “I just want some people to live, but they are superhumans, which means that if I want to live, I have to hurt them.”

"So, you're giving up your own life?"

“No, if I killed them, then I would be giving up my life,” Stroll said. “They are the meaning of my life, and even if it was only for a year, it would be enough to make me happy.”

She paused for a moment: "So I want to protect them from the other players."

“You’re right,” Blue Owl said, “but why did you kidnap me? I’m not a player, am I?”

“Because I’m going to die soon,” Stroll said. “If I don’t find a white-haired vampire, I’m going to die right away. I won’t even be able to live for a few more days, let alone a year.”

"why?"

Upon hearing this, Sterling gently lifted the sleeve of her dark red dress, revealing a grotesque pattern on her arm—a demon's face—painted in blood.

Centered on this pattern, black veins spread across her entire body.

“I need a heart, a vampire’s heart,” Stroll said. “But I can’t find her… So, before resorting to more extreme measures, I want to try to find her through the Dice Monster. That way, I can avoid a lot of sacrifices.”

She paused, turned her head, and met Blue Owl's gaze: "I'm sorry, but for my own purposes, I may have to kill you."

"So you're telling me all this just to explain your reasons for killing me?"

“Yes, but there’s also an element of boredom involved,” Stroll smiled. “You can take it as me talking to myself; I won’t feel guilty. After all, I’m someone who has ‘died three times.’”

After he finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the abandoned building.

The blue owl did not speak again, but lowered its head and pondered quietly.

While Gastro was flipping through his book and not asking him any further questions, he took out the Anchor Point Sunglasses from his "Player's Bag." To avoid being discovered, he put them in his mouth.

Immediately afterwards, he pressed the button on the sunglasses frame with his teeth.

[Within an eight-meter radius of you, the only character is: Gastro (the player). Would you like to set an anchor point on this character?]

"set up."

The blue owl responded in its mind.

An anchor point has been set on player "Gastro". For the next ten minutes, simply put on the sunglasses and press the button on the edge of the sunglasses again to obtain the player's location coordinates.

As the system notification faded, Blue Owl quickly put her anchor-point sunglasses into her bag, then glanced up and discreetly observed Gastro, confirming that she hadn't noticed his earlier actions.

At the same time, in the basement of the Rainbow Lights Commercial Street.

Ke Mingye released his phone, took out the Anchor Point Sunglasses from his bag, put them on, and then pressed the button on top.

Immediately, a map of the cities surrounding Beijing appeared on the lenses of the sunglasses, with a prominent red dot jumping in one corner of the map.

"This location is..."

Ke Mingye paused for a moment, then blurted out a place name.

"Lodi Old Town".

Soon, he released another trickster doll in the basement, keeping it in its original appearance, putting on a night-walking belt, activating invisibility mode, and heading towards the exit.

Then he picked up his spare phone, opened the Caibing Design app, and sent a message to Ke Xiaomo's email address.

[Mr. Strange Thing: Oh, Mr. Ninja, you must be very anxious right now. Your younger brother has suddenly been kidnapped, and you don't know where he is.]

[Mr. Strange Things: But don't worry, I have good news for you.]

[Strange object: In the old town of Lodi, at the west entrance, the fifth abandoned building from the left on the west side. Don't be shy, there might be many people lying in ambush there; proceed with caution.]

Thanks for subscribing, please vote with monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 200 Major Event Two: Vampire Hunters (Part 3)

After sending a message to his second brother, Ke Mingye put away his phone and manipulated the second trick puppet, the strange thing, to walk out of the basement.

At this moment, he already had three bodies he needed to control simultaneously within the city. He could ignore his main body, but he couldn't allow either the Blue Owl or the strange creature to suddenly malfunction.

Knowing he couldn't control it, Ke Mingye simply initiated a personality split.

Immediately afterwards, the strange thing slowly cracked open its mouth, and swayed on spider silk as it climbed upwards, flying through the air along the tall buildings towards the Beijing Tower.

On the way, the strange thing deliberately stopped on the top of a supermarket, opened the window, and shot spider silk towards a small blackboard in the supermarket that read "Eggs half price today!" Then it wiped the words on the blackboard with the back of its hand, picked up the chalk, and wrote "Blue Raven LoveLove" with a clattering sound.

After finishing writing the text, the strange thing seemed to sense something was wrong, so it stroked its chin and thought about it seriously for a while, then suddenly realized what it meant and drew a big heart next to the text.

Then he casually tossed aside the chalk, tucked the blackboard under his arm, raised his right hand, shot out a spider silk that stuck to the surface of a nearby tall building, pushed off the ground, grabbed the spider silk, and swung diagonally upwards.

Before long, it arrived at the Beijing-surrounding tower.

Sitting on the railing of the exhibition stand, his empty gaze drifted towards the distant Superhero Building.

The emergency defense mode of the Superhero Building had been deactivated, and the red color covering the building's surface slowly faded away, as if it had shed a layer of skin.

Not long after, everything returned to normal.

"Oh, Terror Raven, Terror Raven Man... Hurry up, hurry up, or our Blue Owl comrade will kick the bucket."

The strange thing muttered to itself, swinging its legs as it held up a small blackboard with "Blue Crow LoveLove" written on it, happily waiting for an uninvited guest to come to its door.

A moment later, he heard a hoarse and gloomy voice coming from behind him.