Superman Termination Manual

"C-level wanted criminal ’Dice Monster,’ charges: destruction of public facilities, arson on an overpass, and from his known behavior, he is suspected of having self-detonation abilities and can cause supernatural phenomena by throwing dice."

Fan Quan took a glass of lemonade from the waiter, speaking unhurriedly. His voice was as low as possible, audible only to him and Ke Mingye.

Upon hearing this, Ke Mingye was stunned for a few seconds before he realized, thinking to himself, "Is this for real? I’ve made it onto the wanted list, and the Superhero Association has marked my level so high?"

He commanded the Deception Puppet to look up, gazing intently at the "C-level wanted criminals list" on the Superhero Association’s official website.

The first photo that caught his eye was "Dice Monster."

In the photo, a gray figure squatted above a traffic light sign. It was dangling its hollow eyes downward, the corners of its mouth turned up high, and its right hand was throwing a die toward the street below.

The reasons for the warrant and the display of abilities were exactly as Fan Quan had said, without a single word of difference.

Fan Quan continued slowly, "This must be your doing, considering both the dice ability and the school uniform on the body, the details mostly match up. The appearance is a bit strange, but I’ll go ahead and assume that this mechanical body of yours can change its appearance at will, especially given the ’suspected self-detonation abilities’..."

"Of course, if it were just the above, it would still be speculation without evidence."

He paused, "So, most crucially, this photo was taken yesterday afternoon, right in front of Yandai Cinema City, which is close to our meeting place at Meiyijia, and the timing was just after we came out of the instance."

As he spoke, he put away his phone, pocketing it: "All these points, if merely a coincidence, would be far too coincidental."

Ke Mingye was silent for a while before he couldn’t help but shrug, "So you’re dressed up like Sherlock Holmes today and even wearing a Lustig’s Hat just to show off your deductive skills?"

"That’s irrelevant to our discussion," Fan Quan said.

Ke Mingye calmly asked, "So, can I at least try to argue that this thing isn’t me?"

In fact, he had anticipated this. It was only a matter of time before he was exposed, ever since he mentioned that he took a passive Skill for weight reduction—the very fact he wouldn’t be able to pass a genetic test or school physical examination made it ludicrously obvious.

At the time, he seemed to brush it off, but it made sense for Fan Quan to harbor suspicions about him.

Had he really been exposed, Ke Mingye would certainly not reveal his situation to the other party.

Given the severe ecological environment at home, one wrong step would finish him. To divulge that information would be to place his life in the hands of others, and Ke Mingye was not that naive.

"You may try to argue, but it would be pointless."

As he spoke, Fan Quan’s hand, which had been holding the phone, slid into his pocket, leaning back in his chair, he raised his eyes to meet the face of the puppet: "Considering all the evidence, this matter is basically inseparable from you. I hope you can give me an acceptable explanation."

Ke Mingye took a sip of tap water brought by the server, thinking to himself that he really had caused trouble.

If he had known, he would have remembered to have the puppet take off the school uniform back at the cinema, so he wouldn’t have slipped up, but at that moment his brother was blocking the entrance to the cinema, and he didn’t have time to think so much, he had to act quickly.

Besides... even if the puppet hadn’t been wearing the school uniform, Fan Quan most likely would have connected "Dice" to him anyway.

But it didn’t matter, even without cooperating with other players, he was confident that he could still become stronger on his own. It’s just that at the beginning, he was lacking in offensive methods, so being able to blend into an instance was an advantage.

Ke Mingye leaned his head against the wall behind him, exhaling gently, speaking slowly and calmly, "Indeed, there’s not much to refute. I lied to you all; my first Skill wasn’t weight reduction but creating a puppet."

"So, the ’Dice Monster’ is your puppet, and the last time you went through an instance with us, you used this puppet?"

"It’s the same now."

Ke Mingye was straightforward.

"Is it because you don’t trust us?" Fan Quan speculated, "But it also makes sense. If I had an ability to manipulate puppets, I surely would have it meet up with other players in my stead."

Ke Mingye met his gaze, explaining.

"It’s not really about trust, it’s just that my situation is very complicated. I can’t discuss the specifics with you, all I can say is that where I come from isn’t quite the same as you, and just about anyone around me could threaten my life... So, if I want to meet you, I can only use a puppet; I have no choice."

He paused: "If you think I would endanger your safety or expose your movements and identities, then I have no problem leaving the team right now. I’m not shy about saying so."

There was a brief silence before Fan Quan said, "I see, let’s leave it at that."

"Fine, then I’ll leave the team."

"No, you’ve misunderstood me."

Fan Quan took a sip of his lemonade and said, "What I mean is, let’s just leave it at this, it’s enough for you to use the Deception Puppet and join us in the instances."

"Ah?"

Ke Mingye raised an eyebrow. He had expected the cultured man to confront him directly, but the matter being concluded like this felt odd.

He didn’t know what Fan Quan, that old schemer, was really thinking, so he just quietly waited for his companion to speak.

Fan Quan stated, "Your identity is indeed very suspicious, but judging from your performance in this instance, you are an indispensable part of the team, and there’s no reason to let you leave."

"I’ve said it before, my situation is dangerous. Aren’t you worried I’ll drag you all down with me?"

"I’m also a potential fugitive. Since our ultimate goal is the extinction of the superhuman race, we are all in the same boat. What’s the difference?" Fan Quan spoke calmly. "Besides, since I can manage my own troubles, I think you should be able to control yourself well enough not to implicate your own people."

Ke Mingye’s eyelid twitched. Bro, my troubles are not on the same level as yours, I have eight A-class superhumans watching me at home.

It’s just a few superhumans you killed, at most, some minor heroes will come out to play hide and seek with you. If they can’t catch you, they might just let it go. After all, there’s a major incident every day in this world.

Leaning back in his chair, Fan Quan flipped through the black-leather Bible and continued, "Also, if you have any powerful skills, just use them directly in the instance next time. No need to hide them away."

"It’s not that, why do you think I’m holding back any major skills?"

"After all, I’ve killed four superhumans, but my wanted level on the official website is only E-class, nowhere near yours... This shows that the Superhero Association regards you with higher importance, and your strength is likely far beyond what you have shown. Otherwise, they wouldn’t pay so much attention to you."

"Also, your performance in the instance is too outrageous. Your ’Physical fitness’ attributes must far exceed the average value of the players, otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to break through those knife-wielding men."

After a two-second hesitation, Ke Mingye asked, "Cultured man, do you think there’s a possibility?"

"What possibility?"

"That the Superhero Association values me highly only because I was lucky before, and the results of my Dice Monster’s throws were good. Maybe I’m not as profoundly adept as you think."

"That’s possible."

"Right?"

Mingye said that, but he knew the high level of his wanted status was definitely because his big brother had spiced up his criminal record.

The charge of "arson on the overpass" suggested that the wanted information was one hundred percent submitted by Ke Yinzhi.

After all, apart from his brother, no one else knew about his meeting with Black Wukong on the overpass.

In fact, when Mingye first saw this charge, he couldn’t help but secretly retort, "For fuck’s sake, arson on an overpass is pinned on me, when it was clearly Black Wukong’s doing. Don’t pin the things your sister did on me, big brother. Don’t criminals have any rights?"

Following this line of thought, it was most likely his brother who submitted his file to the Superhero Association and even exercised his authority as the highest executive officer of the Management Bureau to deliberately raise his threat level, purportedly to make the Association take notice and catch him as soon as possible.

But being classified as C-level was really too exaggerated...

Scanning the wanted list, Ke Mingye found the Deception Puppet out of place among the C-level fugitives, like a clown from a circus stuffed among a group of strong men.

So, starting today, superheros will begin to bother me... he thought to himself. Yet, they won’t catch me, after all, the most troublesome bunch is playing house with me; I can perceive their movements instantly, so what is there to fear from anyone else?

"Okay then, let’s leave it as it is for now. Same as usual, I’ll contact you when needed," said Fan Quan, closing the book.

"Thanks for speaking with me about this alone."

Fan Quan said expressionlessly, "I didn’t want to affect the other two. If there is discord, it would not be easy to cooperate in the instance. That would be a headache for me as the commander."

"That makes sense," said Ke Mingye.

"Goodbye, and if you encounter a special situation later that requires evasion, don’t send the puppet recklessly, lest you expose your whereabouts."

"Of course," Ke Mingye said after a pause. "Goodbye... I hope we both live to the end."

Fan Quan gave him a glance, stood up from his seat, and swept past him.

Mingye waited a moment, deliberately offsetting his timing from Fan Quan’s, then left the cafe. He changed his face, took a bus to the coast, and crammed his body into the sea to self-destruct.

The flames were swallowed up by the turbulent waves, yet the sun remained fiercely bright.