Superman Termination Manual

Ke Mingye sat cross-legged on his bedroom bed, eyes downturned, flipping through a book called "Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Mock Tests."

"Playing a game of house every day isn't enough, and now I have to add a magical girl role-playing game."

As he twirled a pen, he looked at the node reward, 'Permanent Magical Girl Transformation Card,' and thought to himself.

"But even if they give me this thing, I can't let the doll mix in with them all the time... With such a hollow background, a single check would spell doom. Nonetheless, this transformation card is still a combat enhancement item."

"I can put the magical girl mainline on hold for now; the next node goal is to defeat the three giants of the Alliance, which requires at least the strength of an S-class superhuman."

Ke Mingye pondered that the family mainline node goals were set unreasonably. The difficulty of such tasks should generally escalate progressively.

The first node was fine, but the second node was like jumping straight from newbie difficulty to hell mode.

For example, Bai Qiuwu's mainline node goal is "to find the other Divine Communicators in the world and kill them."

Ke Xiaomo's mainline node is "to wait for the day the Ninja Sect begins their move on July 4th, observe his choices, and assist him."

Bai Zini's mainline node is "to kill the three giants of the Alliance," and Ke Yinzhi's mainline node is "to cooperate with Black Judge and kill the other S-class executives of the Enforcement Bureau."

No matter how you look at it, these are out of his league—overstepping would be like courting an explosion.

So, if he got the chance next, he would have to start the mainlines of "Ke Yongzhu (Dragon of Calamity)," "Ke Youqing (Qing Ya)," and "Bai Ziling (Vampire);"

As for mom, of course, she could only be left alone for now—who would dare provoke a hidden final boss at the beginning of the game?

With that in mind, Ke Mingye opened his personal panel, assigning 6 attribute points gained from leveling up and node rewards to the "Physical Fitness" category.

[Attribute points have been added to "Physical Fitness", your "Physical Fitness" attribute has changed: 45→51 points.]

From the player's attributes, the progress was incredibly swift. The "Physical Fitness" category was approaching the minimum standard for an E-class superhuman.

This was thanks to the advantage of the "family mainline tasks," which other players did not have.

Without these missions, Ke Mingye's development speed would probably be at the bottom among the players as others did not face the same restrictions as he did.

Ke Mingye got up from the bed, put on his slippers, and headed downstairs.

Walking down the stairs, something occurred to him, and he slowed his pace.

"Wait a minute, could it be possible that the magical girls are gathering in New York because the Girl's Alliance already knows about the 'players'..." he wondered.

Ke Yinzhi, while drying his hands with a towel, turned to him and said, "Your café au lait is ready."

"Call Qiuwu and mom down for breakfast."

Ke Xiaomo had also returned home; he unlocked the door, speaking as he stepped out of his shoes and walked into the kitchen, carrying a clear bag filled with plastic food containers.

"Oh, I'll go call them."

Upon hearing this, Ke Mingye paused on the stairs, turned back to the second floor, and knocked on the second bedroom door: "Sis, it's time to eat. Second brother brought breakfast back."

"Shh, let me sleep a bit more, you guys start without me."

Bai Qiuwu's listless voice came from the room, as if she hadn't slept well and was murmuring into the pillow.

"Alright."

Ke Mingye didn't insist, moving to knock on their mother's bedroom door. Hardly had he knocked once when he got yelled at, so he went back downstairs, covering his ears, and shrugged at his elder brother.

"Can't wake them," he said in silent lip-speak.

"Then let's eat without them," Ke Xiaomo said as he placed the containers on the dining table.

Ke Yinzhi set up the tableware on the edge of the table and, with a smirk, called out to the two children watching TV in the living room: "Zi Ling, Yongzhu, time to eat."

"Oh, I'll be there in a sec."

Bai Ziling responded in a low voice but still squatted on the couch without moving.

"I'm almost done watching; what's the rush?"

Ke Yongzhu chewed his gum, his muffled voice countering as he remained focused on the TV showing "Kung Fu Panda," not even blinking.

Ke Mingye silently approached the back of the sofa, and while they weren't paying attention, he grabbed the remote and changed the channel to a news station—Po's big face vanished in a flash.

Instantaneously, both kids shot unfriendly glances at him, especially Ke Yongzhu, who seemed ready to bite with a darkened expression.

"You've watched 'Kung Fu Panda' several times already; are you going to miss this one time? Come on, hurry up and eat," Ke Mingye said indifferently.

"Fine," Zi Ling got off the couch expressionlessly, slipped on her slippers, and walked into the kitchen.

Ke Mingye disdainfully looked at Ke Yongzhu, who still refused to give in. "How much do you even like pandas?" he asked, holding the remote out of reach of the schoolboy.

"Go eat, Yongzhu, don't force people to repeat themselves," their father finally spoke from his spot reading the newspaper, prompting Ke Yongzhu to concede with a scowl, get off the couch, and obediently head to the dining table.

Just as Ke Mingye was about to switch off the television with the remote, the host began reporting breaking news: "We interrupt our regular programming with urgent news. A bank robbery has occurred in Huanjing West District. Law enforcement has been in a standoff with the criminals for a long time, and the Superhero Association claims that the superhero 'Ink Writer' is on his way to the scene..."

He promptly pressed the power button. The TV screen went black, and the host's voice cut off abruptly.

"Dinner's ready, old man."

Ke Mingye said, while counting down in his mind: "Three... two... one."

Just as the countdown hit "one," Ke Youqing folded up the newspaper, placed it on the table, then rose from his chair and said, "I'm going downstairs to buy a pack of smokes."

"Can't you go after dinner? Forget about your damn cigarettes for once."

Ke Mingye said hopelessly, thinking to himself that the news already reported other superheroes taking care of things, so could you please stop worrying?

But Ke Youqing had already put on his leather shoes and left the house, leaving behind a sentence neither warm nor cold.

"Don't learn to smoke from me; that way, you won't get addicted..."

After speaking, he closed the front door with a bang.

Right, right, right, I guess your "smoking addiction" won't quit unless you wipe out a whole nest of supervillains, right? Ke Mingye muttered to himself internally as he walked into the kitchen and pulled up a chair next to Bai Ziling.

He picked up a pair of chopsticks and, resting his chin in his other hand, said, "Hey, there sure are a lot of lazybones in this house."

Ke Yinzhi took a sip of coffee and, smiling, asked him, "Speaking of which, what's got you up early lately? Used to be you'd have lunch for breakfast, right?"

"Physical education exam. If I don't put in the effort, it'll drag down my overall grade."

"Both your second brother and I scored full marks. I hope you don't drag down the family average," Ke Yinzhi challenged with a raise of his chopsticks.

"How could I compare with you two old monsters."

Ke Mingye muttered with his chopsticks in his mouth and rolled his eyes at them.

Ke Xiaomo looked around the kitchen and living room, then asked Ke Mingye, "Where's Xiao Ni?"

"In a meeting," Ke Mingye replied, "Oh no, wait, she's out jogging."

Ke Xiaomo took a sip of soy milk, then continued, "Why didn't you stop her? Her breakfast is getting cold."

"Please, like I could stop her. She's got such a temper. Best to let her run and find something to eat outside afterward."

Saying this, Ke Mingye used his chopsticks to lift a piece of shumai to his mouth, thinking to himself that the food in New York must be awful.

But considering Xizi Yue could use the time-space train to commute, they didn't necessarily have to breakfast in the United States.

During this not-too-short, not-too-long breakfast time, Ke Mingye kept observing Bai Ziling and Ke Yongzhu out of the corner of his eye, aiming to see how a dragon and a vampire reacted to ordinary human food.

Bai Ziling managed quite well; the food was truly being eaten.

However, she frequently transferred food from her bowl to Ke Mingye's, under the noble pretext of "Here, big bro, I don't like this one; it's for you, no thanks."

Ke Yongzhu was different, after eating half she would usually visit the restroom to vomit what she ate into the toilet and flush it away, then pretend to wash her hands and go back to the restroom to continue vomiting.

So it appeared, either Bai Ziling was more tolerant than Ke Yongzhu, or the Cataclysmic Dragon felt a greater aversion to human food than the vampire.

After breakfast, Ke Mingye sat on the living room sofa and picked up the remote control to turn on the TV.

As he expected, the news currently being broadcast was about the superhero 'Qing Ya' handling a bank robbery incident; the culprit had been handed over to the police, and there were multiple casualties during the event.

As a model worker of Huanjing, Qing Ya was pretty much monopolizing other superheroes' opportunities, so many Chinese superheroes were reluctant to work in Huanjing because Qing Ya had a tendency to hog the credit for all events, big or small.

Thus, not only did he have a poor reputation among the general populace, but even most of his colleagues would spit at the mention of his name.

Meanwhile, Ke Youqing used his key to open the door and enter the house, bending down to take off his shoes.

"Did you save me any food?" he asked, with a cigarette dangling in his mouth, his voice sounding gruff.

"How dare we not? I suggest you register the name 'Tobacco Hero' and make your debut as a supervillain straight away," Ke Mingye sarcastically shot back.

"You little rascal..."

Ke Youqing chuckled, tousled his hair from behind the sofa, then made his way to the kitchen and sat down at the dining table, snuffing out his cigarette butt and disposing of it in the trash can.

He began eating the leftover breakfast while flipping through the 'Superhero Society Publication' he hadn't finished reading.

Right then, a bubble popped up in the top-right corner of Ke Mingye's vision in the communicator's chat list, signifying that he had received a message from the local players' discussion group.

[Fan Quan: Found a suitable instance, today at three in the afternoon, at the abandoned train station on Old Jingmai District No. 4 Street.]

[Good Ju Zipi: Received.]

"WTF, isn't that the 'Crazy Train Station' instance I encountered on my jog the other day?"

Ke Mingye raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking to himself.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Looks like... since Fan Quan has already notified everyone to gather, they must've tried challenging the instance once. The boss inside must not be as tough as imagined."

He typed his thoughts in the chat group as a response.

[Failed Man: All right, I'll be there at three sharp.]

[Fan Quan: Try to arrive early if possible; we still need to discuss tactics, and I have something on tonight.]

Ke Mingye read the message and stretched on the sofa, thinking to himself that it was another classic instance run timing, perfect for testing out my new skill and seeing how effective it really is.

With his current level and physical attributes, facing other players of the same stage should be practically a dimension-reducing blow.