Superman Termination Manual

The next moment, a sinister figure slowly rose from the shadows of the living room. He moved his gaze through the darkness, silently surveying this seemingly ordinary living room.

"His scent disappeared right here. Did he use that teleportation skill to leave again? No, it's possible he's still here, just using some method to conceal his form."

Ke Xiaomo's face was expressionless as he observed in the darkness for a full five seconds.

His figure slowly merged into the shadows, wandering shadows appearing successively in the rooms of the house, as if a pitch-black owl had flown through every corner.

In the end, he was forced to enter the bathroom where the old lady was, hiding behind the door's shadow to watch her movements.

Could that strange man from before have possessed this woman using some ability? Ke Xiaomo thought, and after a long while, he shook his head.

"Has he escaped..."

He sighed softly, his figure sinking quietly into the lake at his feet, becoming one with it like a drop of ink.

The old lady, hearing the faint sigh behind her, turned around tremblingly, her lips quivering, "Just, just now, what was that sound? Seems like I really can't live in this house anymore, it's truly haunted I tell you..."

At the same time, Fan Quan entered the cave created by the "Allegory of the Cave," looking up into its interior.

Deep inside the cave, in front of a blazing bonfire, there sat two primitive people tied up hand and foot, backs turned to the entrance.

They were ragged and their faces fierce yet numb, mumbling to the shadows on the wall.

Those shadows were their own reflections.

Watching this scene, Fan Quan recalled the "Republic," written by the philosopher Plato from Ancient Greece. The story of the "Allegory of the Cave" came from there.

"A group of prisoners lived in a cave, bound hand and foot, unable to turn around, facing a wall with a fire behind them. They saw shadows of themselves and things on the wall and believed those shadows were the reality. Later, someone climbed out of the cave and discovered the real world."

He silently recited the story to himself.

[Skill effect of "Allegory of the Cave": Enter a primitive cave independent of the outside world, where you can avoid all dangers within. However, the shadows on the wall will speak to you. Their words can be deceiving and may trap you there forever, so consider carefully how long you want to stay.]

[Note: You might try convincing the two prisoners in the cave to leave. If you manage to do so, they will become your puppets and fight for you.]

After reading the skill description, Fan Quan found a wall in the cave to sit down.

He slowly turned his head to look at the two prisoners, who were stupified by the shadows' whisperings, then lowered his gaze to his own reflection on the ground.

The shadow slowly curled its lips, whispering something to him.

"Look, what's so great about the outside? On those sleepless nights... you always try to pop pill after pill into your mouth, every nerve seems to be torn apart by anxiety and agony, you're always running away from the arrival of daylight... Isn't it nice to hide in this cave, where the outside world will never matter to you, where there'll be no pain...

no fatigue, just this warm bonfire and me to accompany you... go to sleep, you don't have to worry about anything, just have a good sleep."

Fan Quan suddenly felt his head grow heavy, so he shifted his gaze away from the shadow, looking instead toward the last paper figurine in his sleeve.

The little paper figure was sitting cross-legged on his wrist, muttering the words "benevolence as the essence," "unity of knowledge and action," and "doctrine of the mean."

"Unity of knowledge and action."

Fan Quan picked out this phrase.

Then he repeated a sentence to himself.

"No matter what happens, no matter what I hear, I will leave this cave in ten minutes... No matter what happens, no matter what I hear, I will leave this cave in ten minutes."

As he finished speaking, his expression suddenly became vacant, as if his soul had been stripped away.

[Skill effect of "Unity of Knowledge and Action": You can give yourself a command, and your body will act in absolute accordance with it.]

At this moment, in the outside world.

Ke Xiaomo moved like an arrow shot through the shadows, darting through every building within a three hundred meter radius, searching almost every corner of the Old Jingmai District.

But he did not find the man's scent again... not even a trace.

Having given up, he finally returned to the street where he had started, leaning against a vending machine, bowing his head and looking at the ground, silent for a long while.

"He actually got away... and I thought tracking was my forte."

Filled with a trace of unwillingness, Ke Xiaomo took a deep breath, slowly lifting his head to stare at the night sky, murmuring to himself.

"So there's someone in this city who can evade my tracking... seems like I need to have a serious talk with my brother when I get back."

After a moment of melancholy, Ke Xiaomo stood up from the vending machine he had been leaning on, extended a finger, and pressed it on the corresponding icons for the beverages.

"Xiao Ni wants Coke, Mingye wants Coke, Qiuwu also wants Coke, Xiao Ling wants Sprite, Yongzhu wants Powerade."

He murmured softly, his fingers moving swiftly over the icons, the vending machine's glass reflecting his expressionless face.