Superman's End Manual

If it is the latter, then the fact that the Control Bureau's executive officer, "Black Judge," personally visited him indicates that the Control Bureau is not far from taking action against him.

But he also knew in his heart that he had been fighting criminals by any means necessary for nearly decades as "Blue Crow," so it was not surprising that he was being targeted by the Control Bureau.

At that moment, footsteps slowly echoed in the corridor outside the conference room.

The eyes behind the raven mask slowly opened, and a door-shaped opening appeared in the wall where his gaze fell, allowing a tall, narrow figure to slowly walk into the conference room.

The other person was dressed in a jet-black swallowtail trench coat and wore a sharply defined mask. The mask featured a prominent blood-red "V" in the center, while the rest was completely black. This unique and striking V-shaped mask alone was enough for Qingya to identify the person.

"Black Judge," a monster rookie in the Bureau of Anomalies Control.

Within just two years, his rating in the Bureau of Control rose from E to the highest level, S, making him a well-known figure within the Bureau of Control, almost universally recognized.

The Black Judge approached the metal round table, unceremoniously pulled up a swivel chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the table and his fingers slightly crossed under his chin.

His V-shaped mask was facing Qingya, and he said jokingly, "Wow, what an honor to meet the famous 'Qingya'. I thought the Chinese branch of the association would send those people with empty names like 'Ink Writer', 'Tai Chi Master', and 'Drunken Sword Wind' to see me."

“No, I only came because you specifically asked to see me,” the blue crow said slowly.

The two men in the conference room had altered their voices using their masks; the Blue Raven's voice was hoarse and gloomy, while the Black Judge's voice was metallic and magnetic, like a machine.

“Yes, but I didn’t expect to see you.” The Black Judge smiled.

“Time is precious.” Blue Raven stared at him, his gaze piercing. “Why did the Bureau of Control’s executives come all this way?”

"You've misunderstood. I'm not here for you." The Black Judge tilted his head, causing the blood-red V on his mask to tilt. "Mr. Blue Raven, have you ever heard of something called a 'player'?"

"Player?"

“That’s right.” The judge smiled. “Just yesterday morning, I was shopping at a chain supermarket in New York when I happened to run into two armed robbers. I was in a bad mood, so I chopped off their hands and feet, arrested them, and tortured them. Guess what they confessed?”

The blue crow remained silent, gazing quietly at the judge's mask.

The Black Judge let out a metallic, magnetic chuckle, raising his voice, "They actually think this world is a game, and we're all NPCs, so we can do whatever we want without being bound by the law. So the first thing they did upon arriving here was to try out armed robbery. How absurd, isn't it?"

"Are they delusional?"

"No, don't worry, you'll understand."

The Black Judge shook his head and smiled, saying, "Originally, this was just an ordinary robbery case. As you said, if it were anyone else, they would likely have dismissed their confessions as the ramblings of someone with schizophrenia or paranoia. But I was very interested in what they said, so I had the Bureau of Control use the latest brain imaging equipment to create images of the world as they saw it. Now guess what I discovered?"

"What did you find?" Blue Raven asked.

The Black Judge reached out and pressed a button on the table. Instantly, a recess opened, and a metal projector shaped like a pen slowly rose from it.

He picked up the projector and slowly inserted a portable memory chip into it, then said:

"I noticed that from the perspective of these two 'players,' there was a row of icons resembling game functions, like... well, those cheesy online games. Not only that, they could touch these icons to open the game store and shop, or open the task panel issued by the game system. Completing tasks on the panel would level them up and reward them, and their ultimate goal from the system was..."

He paused for a moment, then continued in a somber tone: "Exterminate superhumans within a year."

"Are you kidding me?" Blue Crow asked after a moment of silence.

"No, I'm not joking," the judge said calmly. "Based on the information I extracted from those two players, there are currently one hundred players in the world, and whether that number will increase in the future is another matter. Apart from the two players I captured and the one who has already died, there are ninety-seven players left on Earth. They are lurking all over the world, in the United States, Britain, China, India, and anywhere else."

After he finished speaking, he pressed a button on the pen-shaped projector, projecting an image onto the wall of the conference room.

Blue Crow turned its head and stared at the image of the Black Judge projected on the wall.

The scene is presented from a first-person perspective, showing what a person sees. This person is staring blankly at a blank ceiling, with seven tiny "icons" arranged vertically in the upper right corner of their field of vision.

Soon, a bright red warning panel popped up in front of him, with large black letters that read: "Warning: Do not reveal any information about 'players' to any superhumans. Your actions will seriously affect the progress of other players' missions and directly endanger their personal safety! Warning: You are violating the taboo treaty! You are violating the taboo treaty! You are violating the taboo treaty! Warning ineffective. Your body and soul will be forcibly killed in five seconds."

The next moment, all the panels and function icons in the player's field of vision disappeared at once, and in their place appeared a huge blood-red number "5", which decreased with each second.

Accompanied by terrified screams and wails, the countdown numbers went from "5" to "4" to "3", and finally only "2" remained...

The lower the number, the more intense his resistance became.

But the moment the number reached "1", the player completely stopped resisting. Furthermore, his brain imaging gradually went black.

The video recording ended there. The Black Judge casually pressed a button on the projector, and the projected image on the wall disappeared.

The blue crow remained silent.

A brief silence fell over the meeting room as the two remained silent, as if they had reached a consensus.

“This is the brain imaging of that player.” The Black Judge broke the silence first, twirling the projection pen between his index and middle fingers as he said, “The technicians at the Anomaly Control Bureau went to great lengths to meet my needs. They even used some neural decoding techniques to barely realize this idea.”

He shrugged: "It's a real pity. I didn't even have a chance to make a move before they were killed by that thing called 'System'. Otherwise, I would have liked to torture them even more."

"When did they first appear?" Blue Raven asked.

“Four days ago.” The Black Judge put down his projector pen. “Although they currently only have the fighting power to rob a supermarket with a gun, they are dangerous. Based on my current understanding of this system, it can most likely allow these players to achieve an incredible increase in combat power in a short period of time. So don’t look at them as weak now. In a year, they may be a completely different person, like… a humanoid nuclear bomb.”

"You're telling me this so you want me to help the Control Bureau find these 'players'?"

"Yes."

"To find ninety-seven people out of a hundred billion...?" the crow scoffed. "That's just wishful thinking."

“Originally, this should have been a task for the Bureau of Extradimensional Control, but the ‘players’ are not transmigrators in the traditional sense. Their souls moved to this world and directly occupied the bodies of some inhabitants of this world to disguise themselves. Therefore, the Bureau of Extradimensional Control’s general methods were ineffective against them… So this matter fell to our Bureau of Anomalies.”

The judge paused for a moment, then said, "But I believe this matter is far more important than they realize, which is why I have come to seek your help."

"Then why should I help you? This is not my job."

"Because even you, Mr. Raven, everyone around you may have been quietly replaced by players, but they disguised themselves so well that you didn't notice."

"Aren't you the same?" Green Crow sneered. "Worry about the people around you first."

“Of course, I don’t deny it.” The Black Judge laughed. “It’s even possible that right now, you or I, sitting between the two of us, have already been replaced by the so-called ‘players’.”

Blue Raven stared at the Black Judge's mask, remained silent for a moment, then sneered, "Trying to play with our world like a game? How arrogant..."

The Black Judge rested his elbows on the armrests of his swivel chair, his fingers interlaced, and a mechanical laugh emanated from behind his mask.

"It seems we've reached a rare consensus."

After saying that, he slowly got up from his swivel chair. "Then, please tell what you just said to the three magical girls next door. They should also know about this."

"Aren't you going to meet them in person?"

“No, I’m not very good at dealing with these superficial people,” the Black Judge said. “That’s why I specifically chose you as my meeting partner. I respect you, Mr. Raven; you are a true hero. But you should know that the Bureau of Anomalies has been watching you for years. If one day you truly lose yourself and cross that line, then we will be on opposite sides.”

As he spoke, he suddenly laughed: "Of course, I would be very excited when that day comes, because I can finally tear off your mask myself and see who you really are..."

"You are not worthy to be my opponent." Qingya stared straight at him and said coldly.

"How would you know if you don't try?"

"It's time for you to go."

“Indeed, then goodbye, Mr. Blue Raven.”

After calmly bidding farewell, the Black Judge turned and walked out of the conference room. He walked along the corridor for a moment and then took the elevator at the end of the corridor.

Soon, he reached the 45th floor and entered the private room prepared for him by the Superhero Association.

The Black Judge first used the device on his wrist to confirm that there were no surveillance cameras in the room, then removed the V-shaped mask from his face and took a breath.

He stood by the window, pulled back the curtains, and lifted the slats of the blinds.

Looking out over the brightly lit city, trains rumbled across the viaducts, and traffic surged along the roads like an endless tide.

"Well, I'm probably tired of all the fighting and killing this year. It's time to go home and enjoy a vacation in a couple of days."

Ke Yinzhi smiled and murmured softly. He lowered his head and glanced at his phone.

The phone's lock screen cover is a family photo. He still remembers that summer when his six younger siblings crowded on the sofa, and he and his parents stood behind the sofa. With a click, a smile appeared on every child's face.

"I hope those maggots... won't grow in my house."

He muttered to himself, a deep light swirling in his pupils, the smile on his lips gradually fading.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 36 No choice

February 20th, 6 AM.

Ke Mingye slowly lifted his heavy eyelids and opened his eyes from the bed. The first thing he saw in his pupils was a control panel.

His eyes were filled with tired tears as he glanced at the words on the panel.

Daily tasks have been refreshed.

[Daily Task 1: 3000-meter morning run. (This task must be completed before 8:00 AM, with 2 hours remaining until the deadline.)]

[The reward for this task: One chance to spin the prize wheel.]

[Daily Task 2: Do 100 pull-ups.]

[Reward for this task: Gain one attribute point added to "Physical Fitness".]

[Daily Task 3: None (There is a 10% chance that a special daily task will appear every day. Once completed, the rewards will be richer than those of ordinary daily tasks)]

[Note: Daily tasks will refresh at 00:00 the next day. Please try to complete the tasks before the time limit expires.]

"I pushed my physical fitness to 16 yesterday, which is a bit higher than the average teenager. I should be able to do a hundred pull-ups now if I rest a bit, but I have to go to school today, so I'll do them during break," Ke Mingye thought.

He got out of bed, put on his slippers, pushed open the door, went into the bathroom on the second floor to wash up, then slung his backpack over his shoulder and went downstairs. Suddenly, he turned his head and found someone sitting on the sofa in the living room.

She was squatting on the sofa in her pajamas, clutching a pillow, her head drooping on her slightly bent knees. Her eyes were fixed on the television, reflecting a soft glow.

When Ke Mingye heard the television, he initially thought it was Bai Ziling, but when his gaze fell on her face, he realized it was Bai Zini.