Superman Termination Manual

He leaned the back of his head against the edge of the bathtub and slowly closed his weary eyelids, taking a deep drag on his cigarette.

...

...

June 22nd, morning, seven o'clock.

The alarm clock went off on time, and Ke Mingye, rubbing his bleary eyes, reached out to turn off the alarm and opened his eyes to find that same reporting panel before him.

[Task time remaining: 361 days. Please complete the ultimate mission of "Exterminate Superhumans" within the deadline.]

[Current number of global surviving players: 96 out of 100]

[No version updates are available for today.]

[Today's daily tasks are as follows]

[One, run 5000 meters (Reward: One spin the wheel lottery chance)]

[Two, no special tasks have been refreshed today.]

Ke Mingye yawned, closed the panel, "Right, there were rewards for killing Superhumans, but how do I claim them..."

Thinking this, he clicked on the "Player Rankings" icon in the upper right corner of his field of vision,

A red and black panel popped up before his eyes.

[The current global player rankings for accumulated Superhuman kills are as follows.]

[First Place: 17 people—ID: Ripper Z (Serial Number NO.002)]

[Second Place: 15 people—ID: A Zhe (Serial Number NO.098)]

[Third Place: 12 people—ID: Top Bull (Serial Number NO.025)]

[Fourth Place: 6 people—ID: Fan Quan (Serial Number NO.039)]

[...]

[Your Ranking: Currently tied with 23 other players for 8th place overall, 1 kill]

"Do these people have to kill so fiercely? Aren't they afraid of dying?"

Ke Mingye was secretly shocked, wondering if the person at the top of the leaderboard, having already hunted seventeen Superhumans, wouldn't be targeted by some of the more formidable local superheroes?

Especially this one named "Fan Quan," he seemed a bit off, as no one else has a character named "Qing Ya;" this guy fully knew the dangers but still chose to walk into Tiger Mountain.

Ke Mingye looked at the upper right corner of the ranking interface and saw an icon labeled [Kill Milestone]; he clicked on it.

[Current number of E-Class Superhuman kills—1 (One milestone reward available for claim)]

Without much thought, Ke Mingye stretched out a finger and tapped this line of text, immediately prompting a panel to pop up.

[Award Received: One D-Class equipment card, 1000 Mall Coins, 500 Experience Points.]

"Done, now off to run."

He threw back the covers, rolled out of bed, and twisted the doorknob to open the door.

Stepping into the hallway, he looked around; the entire floor was shrouded in dead silence, not a sound to be heard, very much fitting his stereotype of this family—everyone was like pigs unable to get out of bed... Of course, it's also possible that they were out being masked vigilantes last night, so there might be good reason for not being able to get up early.

Of course, except for his second brother.

Ke Xiaomo had already left for training in preparation for the battle in two weeks and had no time to play the "Morning Run Simulator" with Ke Mingye—they could both run for tens of kilometers without so much as sweating or panting, as their bodies had already reached the human limit.

There really wasn't much point to it, it was probably just self-deception, a performance they put on for each other.

Without dawdling, Ke Mingye washed his face and headed out the door.

Today, he chose a different running route, heading in the direction of Hong Ge Food Street to grab breakfast there along the way.

He had only just reached the traffic light intersection and stopped to wait to cross the road when he heard roaring sounds from afar.

Turning his head, he saw a Magic Girl in a gothic dress, clutching a black umbrella and darting through the air, chasing after a man in a white robe with dragonfly-like transparent thin wings.

Ke Mingye was stunned for half a second, thinking to himself, "Come on, little sis, when did you become such a workaholic too, inheriting dad's workaholic traits, huh?"

"Can you stop flying around, Fly Immortal?"

Magical Girl Ash shouted sharply, her delicate face filled with coldness. Her skirt fluttered, and the gray ribbons on her head swayed with it, her brilliantly bright, lead-colored hair floating elegantly in the wind.

"What Fly Immortal? Show some respect, my name is 'Fly Immortal', I'm a sorcerer!"

The man soared above the urban area, flashing six pairs of thin wings, grinning madly with a blood-streaked ancient white robe flapping in the wind, holding a blood-red charm between the index and middle fingers of his right hand.

[Code Name: Fly Immortal]

[Name: Li Jingshan]

[Strength: C++ level (better than some superhumans)]

Ke Mingye raised an eyebrow, recognizing the criminal's name—after all, it was the 21st century, and if a real cultivator appeared out of nowhere, they'd likely get caught by the Anomaly Control Bureau for dissection and research, showing up in a student's superhuman textbook before long...

So, this guy was actually an outright mutant, with a title that sounded novel but had nothing to do with real cultivation.

As rumors had it, he became this ghostly entity after being bitten by a genetically mutated fly.

After the mutation, Li Jingshan inherited the characteristics of a fly, sprouting six pairs of thin wings and developing an abnormal craving for human blood, more vampire than the vampires themselves.

Since his mind was rather unstable, always believing that his power came from the way of cultivation, rather than mutation, he slowly adopted the mocking title "Fly Immortal" as he thought he could ascend through cultivation eventually.

Years ago, Fly Immortal had even founded a cult, teaching followers the "Tearful Cultivation Method" and tricking plenty of them. It was said that quite a few of these followers died during the process of fasting.

Late on, Fly Immortal used the blood of these deceased followers to forge "charms" and, thinking he was invincible, took to the streets shouting, "Fly Immortal is here, kneel before me!" while brandishing a bamboo stick with blood-refined charms attached to it.

In the end, he was knocked down to the street by the passing "Diviner Black Wukong" with a cudgel, his six pairs of thin wings burned clean by the Samadhi True Fire, and then "Top Bull" Qing Ya sent him to jail.

In an unlucky twist, just a few days ago, a mischievous escapee broke out of prison and took Fly Immortal along, thus the charlatan saw daylight once more.

Seeing him jumping around before me, it was clear that Fly Immortal's injuries had healed well; his wings burned off by Black Wukong had regrown.

Even though the scene of the battle between Magic Girl and Fly Immortal was hundreds of meters away, the passersby with weaker nerves were already screaming and running the other way;

Those with stronger nerves, on the other hand, were busy recording the scene on their phones, thinking of boasting to their colleagues at work later.

"Should I give her a hand..."

Ke Mingye tilted his head back, gazing at the fluttering gray skirt of the Magic Girl, wondering to himself.

Just then, Ash also caught a glimpse of Ke Mingye in the crowd from the corner of her eye.

She paused noticeably, retracting Cinderella's umbrella and momentarily halting her chase, hanging in midair as she gazed obliquely at the sight of Ke Mingye from afar.

"Hey, what are you looking at me for? Go after your criminal," Ke Mingye was rooted to the spot for a moment, unsure of how to react, then muttered to himself internally.

This was his first time seeing Magical Girl Ash in her true form, so he could only respond with a confused look.