Superman's End Manual

A cold, desolate light shone from the ceiling, illuminating the entire carriage, while the smell of disinfectant permeated every corner of the subway.

People who are just getting home at this hour mostly look exhausted. Some people put their briefcases on the ground, and without even taking off their glasses, they hunch over and close their eyes, their heads leaning back and vibrating slightly with the car window.

Ke Xiaomo sat on the left side of the carriage, flipping through an ancient book with yellowed pages, and asked Bai Ziling, who was sitting next to her, without looking up.

"Did you see the image of the dragon in the movie theater online?"

"Just something I thought of," Bai Ziling replied.

Ke Xiaomo was silent for a moment: "Really?"

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking up.

"It's nothing." Ke Xiaomo paused for a moment, then changed the subject: "Do you think Mingye has changed recently?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Ziling turned her face away, her red eyes looking at Ke Mingye diagonally opposite her.

Ke Mingye was leaning back in his seat, looking down at his phone, dappled light and shadow flickering on the car window behind him. Bai Zini was fast asleep, leaning on his shoulder, her nose red, her breath gently patting his neck.

"Third Brother, you seem very lonely." Bai Ziling lowered her head.

"Is it different from before?" Ke Xiaomo pressed.

Bai Ziling lowered her eyes and shook her head: "A little, I feel even more lonely."

"But he's been talking a lot lately."

"Only lonely people know what lonely people think," she said.

"So, you were actually very lonely?"

As Ke Xiaomo spoke, he stopped turning the pages of the book, turned to look at her, and met her gaze into her red eyes.

"Sometimes I feel that I am different from others."

Is it because of albinism?

Ke Xiaomo still remembers that because of her red eyes and white hair, Bai Ziling was often bullied by her classmates when she was a child. They would throw away her homework, secretly throw her schoolbag into the pond, and say that she was a foreigner and that she was of mixed race.

Once, she locked herself in the bathroom, took scissors and cut off half of her pale white hair, then curled up in a corner, and no one in the house could get her to open the door.

Ke Xiaomo originally wanted to sneak into the shadows to check if Bai Ziling in the bathroom was alright, but at that moment, someone in the house successfully persuaded her to open the door.

That person is Ke Mingye.

That night, he sat down with his back against the toilet door and whispered something. After a long while, the door opened. He took Bai Ziling's hand and pulled her out of the toilet, his eyes hidden by his drooping bangs. Everyone looked at Bai Ziling, whose hair had been cut short, and no one said a word, simply letting them walk through the middle.

Ke Mingye quietly pulled her out of the house, rode his bicycle and took her to a nearby barbershop. He then gave the barber the pocket money he had saved for the New Year and had Bai Ziling cut her hair into an ugly and strange style with only half of her hair left.

Ke Youqing smoked for a long time at home, then asked Ke Xiaomo and Ke Yinzhi to follow him and see what was going on.

So they followed them all the way to the barbershop. When they opened the door, Bai Ziling and Ke Mingye were holding their stomachs and laughing at themselves in the mirror, looking like two fools.

But Bai Ziling started laughing and then burst into tears. She rubbed her red eyes and sobbed, "Brother, why am I the only one like this? Everyone hates me."

Ke Mingye didn't speak, but gently ruffled her hair and looked down at her.

The next morning, her eldest brother, Ke Yinzhi, said he had something to do and took Bai Ziling to school. After that day, for some reason, all the children who had bullied her transferred schools.

The subway, like a crouching white serpent, rumbled along in the pitch-black tunnel. Occasionally, a patch of orange-yellow wall lamps would cast light into the carriage, enveloping each lonely figure.

Ke Xiaomo thought to herself, "Do lonely people understand what other lonely people are thinking?"

Bai Ziling said, “Dad always tells us that our third brother is an adopted child, and we must treat him well. He is afraid that our kindness to him is something Dad requires, so he always locks himself away. He hasn’t changed, it’s just that you don’t understand him. My younger brother is the same. He always looks fierce, but he is actually very sensible.”

Ke Xiaomo remained silent for a long time before closing the ancient book in her hands: "I'm sorry, I've been busy with my own things. I haven't been able to spend time with you, and I don't know you at all."

He stared at Ke Mingye for a couple of seconds, then looked away, thinking to himself, "Let's end it here. It's a bit ridiculous that he'd suspected his own brother for so long because of just one look..."

Bai Ziling shook her head, her pale white hair swaying gently.

She didn't say anything more, quietly turning her gaze away from Ke Mingye and fiddling with the Pikachu plush toy he had won from the claw machine at the movie theater.

Ke Mingye looked up from his phone screen at the electronic notice board on the subway, then reached out and gently stroked Bai Zini's hair.

"Awake, you lazybones, we'll be home in a few minutes."

"I'll sleep a little longer," she said.

Ke Mingye withdrew his finger, and while playing with his phone, he opened the store panel to check the nine skills that had been refreshed on today's exclusive sales page.

The player currently holds: 3860 coins.

【玩家当前的等级为Lv.4，技能专售页的刷新概率为——E级技能75％；D级技能12％；C级技能10％；B级技能3％；A级技能0％；S级技能0％】

He could see that as the level increased, the refresh probability of B-level skills had increased from two percent to three percent. In addition, the refresh probability of D-level and C-level skills had also increased.

Correspondingly, the refresh rate of E-level skills has decreased significantly, which is not a good thing in the early stages of the game, because high-level skills are too expensive to buy.

Ten skills gradually appeared on the panel.

【①: Personality Dissection (Level E Skill) (Dissects your primary personality into two secondary personalities in a short period of time, increasing reaction speed, doubling thinking speed, and expanding mindset)】

【②: Mental Link (Level E Skill) (Links to the mental world of any character, allowing sharing of thoughts during the skill's duration)】

【③: Lion's Roar (D-level skill) (Delivers a roar powerful enough to rip eardrums in front of the user, easily stunning enemies)】

【④: All Things Grow (C-level skill) (After use, you enter a state that lasts for three minutes. During this state, touching any plant will cause it to grow abnormally and become yours.)】

【⑤: Clockwork Art (D-level Skill) (Create a clock. Pressing its button will cause it to explode after ten seconds, or stop time for 1.5 seconds, during which time you can move in a slowed-down state) (The probability of explosion and time stop is 50% each)】

Upon seeing this, Ke Mingye raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking to himself, "Isn't this the supervillain 'Clockworker's' ability? He's the one who repeatedly tortured and killed the Phoenix, the mastermind, and even uploaded the video to the dark web."

Could you please cast some monthly votes?

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 48 On the Overpass

Ke Mingye's gaze lingered on skill number 5, "Clockwork Art," for a moment before moving downwards.

Currently, the only skills he can afford to buy are E-grade skills, so he can simply ignore other grades of skills, no matter how good their effects are.

【⑥: Superhero Landing (E-level skill) (This skill can only be used when you fall from a height of more than 8 meters above the ground. It will make you land instantly in a graceful kneeling posture, immune to the impact damage from falling to the ground, and cause a violent shock to the ground beneath your feet)】

"This seems pretty cool. If I accidentally flip over while swinging on a tall building using the web launcher, I can use this skill to save myself. Otherwise, if I fall from too high a place, I'll be dead," Ke Mingye thought.

His finger hovered over the phone screen, simultaneously swiping across the exclusive sales page in the same location, where several skills came into view.

【⑦: Nightwalking (Rank E Skill) (This skill can only be used at night, allowing your body to enter an 'invisible' state) (This skill cannot be used in combat)】

Ke Mingye's eyes lit up, thinking to himself that he was exactly missing a stealth skill.

"It's something I could consider taking over, but the fact that I can only sneak around at night seems too restrictive," he thought.

【⑧: Expert at Falling Flat (E-rank skill) (This skill was "retained" from yesterday and will disappear after the next refresh; it cannot be "locked" a second time)】

【⑨: "Lights off" (E-rank skill) (Temporarily extinguishes all light within a 15-meter radius for ten seconds)】

【⑩: Portrait Concealment Technique (E-level skill) (Temporarily transforms your body into a portrait and seals it inside a frame. The frame will appear on a nearby wall or ground according to your will)】

"I'm only getting utility skills, and what I really need right now is an E-rank damage skill, otherwise I can only watch my teammates perform in team battles and dungeons."

Ke Mingye finished scanning today's skill-specific sales page, thinking to himself.

"Forget it, I only have 3800 mall coins right now. The lowest E-level skill requires 5000 coins. After I meet with my older sister tonight and collect the node rewards, I should have enough to buy an E-level skill."

Thinking this, he closed the online store. Just then, the subway stopped at the Old Beijing Street station. He tapped Bai Zini's head with his fingers together, and she woke up.

"Have we arrived?" she asked.

"Otherwise what?" Ke Yongzhu said as he walked over from the next carriage. Because there were too many people and it was too crowded here, and he didn't want to stand, he slipped into the next carriage.

"By the way, where's my sister?" Bai Ziling asked again.

“She said she was having dinner with friends and told us not to worry about her.” Ke Mingye said, opening his phone to show her his WeChat chat history with Bai Qiuwu.

"Let's go home first," Ke Xiaomo said.

"Ah."

As soon as he got off the subway, Ke Mingye put away his phone and said, "Uh, I'm going to use the restroom. You guys go back first."

As he spoke, he pulled a pack of tissues from his pocket, as if to say, "I didn't forget to bring tissues this time, so stop whining."

Ke Yongzhu put her hands in the pockets of her hoodie, gave him a disdainful look, and curled her lip: "How many times a day do you go to the toilet?"

"If you have stomach problems, see a doctor," Ke Xiaomo said casually.

"You don't need to wait for me."

Ke Mingye raised his middle finger, turned around, and walked towards the subway toilet without looking back, quietly waiting in line for a seat.

"Let's go first." Ke Xiaomo didn't look at him again, and turned to her younger siblings, saying, "It seems that our eldest brother is back tonight."

"Big brother is back?" Bai Zini raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" Bai Ziling tilted her head as well.

Ke Yongzhu clicked her tongue in surprise: "Really? Can we please not let him come back? All he does is bother me all day long."

He was really annoyed by Ke Yinzhi, especially remembering the time when Ke Yinzhi left him alone in the zoo when he was a child. He couldn't find his way and was very hungry, so he turned into a dragon, climbed into the animal enclosure and had a feast. He remembered that he also quietly ate a fat bear with dark circles under its eyes.

He couldn't remember what the animal looked like, only that he was really hungry at the time, so he accepted anything offered. In the end, he flew through the air by himself that night, following the scent to find his way home.

That very evening, he saw the news report about the fat bear's disappearance on television.