Superman Termination Manual

The night of June 21, at the Ke Bai family residence.

Ke Mingye was the last to enter the house, leaning against the shoe cabinet as he took off his shoes, when he noticed a bubble with the number 1 popping up on the communication icon in the upper right corner of his field of view.

He raised an eyebrow and clicked on the icon with a thought, and immediately a prompt message popped up.

[Player "Fan Quan" has sent you a friend request. Do you accept?]

"Looks like he must know that I'm Spider Man..."

Ke Mingye looked at the notification, silently sighed, and thought it's bad luck to keep a dead man on his friend list. Maybe it's better to decline.

"Really, literate man risks his life just to confirm who I am. I wish you'd die cleanly and not let my brother drag you off for questioning and accidentally expose my information too. Wouldn't that harm both of us?"

Grumbling inwardly, he put aside the friend request for the moment and walked into the living room.

By now, his siblings were all sitting on the sofa, each doing their own thing. Normally, people would be tired after just stepping outside, but everyone at home was a superhuman; they didn't even breathe hard after walking for miles.

Ke Mingye looked around and didn't see Ke Youqing. He thought, this guy really can't sit still. Even if there aren't criminals, he feels fulfilled only if he helps an old granny look for her lost cats and dogs, right?

Mom is still out hanging out with her group of sisters, and dad usually doesn't mind her because he's so busy with work and hardly gets involved in family matters. What right does he have to comment?

"Big bro, you can't leave!" Bai Zini raised a game cartridge from the sofa and turned to ask him, "Wanna play 'Double Act'?"

"Another round and I'll die of exhaustion. I'm heading to my room to lie down. Ask Zi Ling to play with you."

With that, Ke Mingye took two steps at a time, bypassed the crowded sofa, and walked upstairs to his room.

He locked the door, flopped down on the bed in a spread-eagle position, and stared blankly at the yellowing ceiling.

"Surviving today feels so great, first Bai Zini, then Fan Quan, one drama after another is almost giving me a heart attack..."

"Looks like my brother hasn't come back yet. He must've already torn Fan Quan to shreds. That guy was asking for it, wasn't he? If you don't understand something just ask, why trouble me? If you don't die, who will?"

Ke Mingye thought this and picked up his phone to send a message to Ke Xiaomo: "Dude, I'm dying of thirst over here. Where's my Coke?"

Soon, the reply came: "Hang on, I'm coming."

Ke Mingye quietly looked at the message, did not grieve for Fan Quan for even a moment, and instead opened the task panel and glanced over the three daily tasks.

[One, Run 4000 meters (completed)]

[Two, Use a disposable item once (completed, unclaimed reward) (Reward: 1 attribute point added to "neurological reaction")]

[Three, Kill a superhuman (special mission, uncompleted)]

He stretched out his finger and lightly tapped the second daily task, claiming the corresponding reward.

[Daily Task Two Reward Claimed, your "neurological reaction" attribute has changed: 9 points→10 points.]

"I need to boost this attribute too. Otherwise, being strong isn't enough. If I can't keep up with an opponent's moves during a fight, it's too easy for those with control powers to take me down with one move," he thought.

Ke Mingye yawned, his eyes brimming with weary tears, then turned to the skill sales page.

[Player currently holds: 8260 coins]

[Player's current level: Lv.7, Skill sales page refresh probability — E-grade skills 68%; D-grade skills 15%; C-grade skills 12%; B-grade skills 5%; A-grade skills 0%; S-grade skills 0%]

The probability of B-grade skills refreshing is getting higher. Ke Mingye thought, does that mean when I reach level 10, there's a chance that A-grade skills will appear on the sales page?

He could hardly imagine how strong an A-grade skill would be, considering just one B-grade skill was strong enough—if he hadn't come across the B-grade skill "Deception Puppet", he might already be dead in the cinema.

"But I couldn't afford it anyway, upgrading even slightly is exorbitantly expensive."

Ke Mingye's gaze moved downward, looking at the panel of skills.

[①: Personality Split (Skill retained from yesterday, purchased)]

[②: Dream Weaving (E-grade skill) (Enter the dream of a target character, where you can converse or manipulate the environment and progress of the dream.)]

"Wow, a skill exclusive for charlatans, huh?" Ke Mingye thought, "But what's the point? If you can enter their dream, why not just kill them while they're still asleep?"

[③: Martyr's Belief (D-grade skill) (Absorb and store any source of damage received to your own body for 10 seconds, and after 10 seconds, create an explosion centered on your body, to which you are immune) (The more damage your body absorbs in these 10 seconds, the higher the resulting explosion damage and the wider its coverage will be.)]

"Sounds like a double-edged sword... Sustain damage for 10 seconds before activating the skill. Normal people would have been knocked out in that long, especially in a fight against a superhuman."

Ke Mingye looked at the skill description, thinking to himself.

"But how come I feel like it'd be amazingly effective on a puppet? After all, it doesn't matter if it dies. Maybe it can trigger the skill right before death and take the enemy down with it."

[④: Flashbang Incoming! (E-grade Skill): Creates a strong flash of light centered on the user, possibly blinding nearby enemies for a short duration, while the user himself is immune to the flash's effect.]

"This is similar to the skill called 'Lights Out' from yesterday, but this seems a bit more useful." Ke Mingye thought, "I'll skip it for now."

[⑤: Gravity Control (D-grade skill) (Gain the ability to alter the gravity affecting a target within a five-meter radius around the player for a short duration, making the target float or fall)]

"Looks pretty decent, good for offense and defense, and can even be used on myself. It's a pity this is a D-grade skill. The lowest price would be 10,000 Mall Coins. In the early stages, rather than saving up for a D-grade skill, it would be more practical and flexible to get two E-grade skills for the same price."

Thinking this, Ke Mingye scrolled down the exclusive sale page to look at more skills.

[⑥: Frost Hands (E-grade skill) (Creates a controllable low-temperature field around the hands, useful for freezing small objects or creating ice weapons.)]

"This skill seems cost-effective, but it would be better if it could be released with one hand. Using both hands might damage my 'Web Shooter,' better leave it."

Ke Mingye pondered for two seconds, internally snarking.

[⑦: Life Link (D-grade skill) (Establishes a link with another creature, sharing the damage received by the player with the linked individual for a short duration)

(Note one: The damage shared to the other individual won't exceed their maximum sustainable damage, hence it won't be lethal.)Nôv(el)B\\jnn

(Note two: Similarly, damage received by the other party from external sources will also be shared with you through "Life Link".)]

"Great stuff." Ke Mingye's eyes lit up as he praised it silently, "Using it on a puppet is pretty cheeky too, cheeky to the extreme. It can save lives and harm others."

[⑧: "Ding Dong, Here I Am!" (E-grade skill) (Creates a rat to gather intelligence, with the player able to control the rat's movements and share its vision and hearing.)]

"Not necessary for me, given I already have a puppet. Getting another rat would be impolite." Ke Mingye thought.

[⑨: Shadow Weaving Step (E-grade skill) (Upon activation, every move made over the next 10 seconds creates an afterimage, making it difficult for enemies to pinpoint your real location.)]

"Fancy stuff, superheroes aren't that easy to fool."

[⑩: Spider Sense (B-grade skill) (An active skill that, upon use, grants a spider-like sense for ten minutes—allowing you to 'anticipate danger,' 'evade pursuit,' and thus acquiring 'battle instincts' and 'spatial awareness,' while greatly enhancing your 'neurological reactions')]

"What is this, am I seeing things?"

Ke Mingye stared at the name of the skill, instinctively tilted his head and rubbed his eyes.

He blinked, confirming the skill name was correct.

"Damn, isn't this tailored for me? Now I'm truly 'Spider-Man', just missing a genetic mutation. Maybe tomorrow a visit to the lab and getting bitten on the back of the hand by a spider… wait, why is this an active skill? A low-grade Spider Sense? If it were passive, wouldn't I be unbeatable?"

With this thought, he finally noticed he hadn't checked the skill's grade, and looking down, his excitement subsided.

"No worries then, I was reaching too high. Hopefully, we can meet again someday."

Ke Mingye finished browsing today's exclusive sale page, thinking the E-grade skills today were quite useless. Better save a D-grade skill for tomorrow; after completing a series of tasks, he should have enough money to buy a D-grade skill.

He then sat on the bed silently for a while, mentally clicked the icon in the top right corner, and accepted Fan Quan's friend request.

[Failed Man: Rest in peace, Fan Quan, if I am still alive next year, I will remember to come and pay tribute to you.]

[Fan Quan: ?]

[Failed Man: The system is really thoughtful, huh? Creating an intelligent AI similar to a deceased friend to converse with us, like playing 'My 360 Days with a Dead Person' romance simulation game.]

[Fan Quan: You're a bit paranoid.]

[Failed Man: Wait, hang on, you're still alive?]

[Fan Quan: Got time to meet up later? Yandai Commercial Street, the usual place, that video game store.]

Ke Mingye looked at this message, hesitated for a few seconds, wondering if this was a trap set by his elder brother, and that Fan Quan had already been controlled…

Just as he was contemplating whether to meet with Fan Quan, Ke Xiaomo's voice came from the living room downstairs, "Mingye, come down and get your drink."

Hearing his elder brother's voice, Ke Mingye made up his mind, quickly walked to the window, opened it, and while releasing the Deception Puppet from the windowsill, replied to Fan Quan's message on the communication panel.

[Failed Man: Okay, I'm on my way. Wait for me there.]