Superman Termination Manual

The night of June 21, in the center of Huanjing, a steel jungle of towering skyscrapers surrounded electronic signs densely packed together, like a deck of poker cards spread out on a table.

In the square, every giant screen was broadcasting the same scene, featuring a gray creature squatting on top of a traffic light, with a deep pit beneath him.

In the pit lay a bloodied figure, the villain "Ghost Trickster," who had just been defeated by him.

The world first fell briefly into dead silence, followed by everyone in the city pointing at the figure squatting on the traffic light and beginning the classic post-battle cheers.

It was still the old trilogy indispensable in superhero movies, some people knelt and wept, others clapped, some screamed in applause and then a child stretched out his finger pointing at him and shouted, "Mom, it’s a superhero, we’re saved!"

The Deception Puppet scratched his cheek, thinking that his cool photo was still hanging on the wanted list on the Superhero Association’s official website. But since you guys want to do this, let’s do it.

"Such a strange-looking superhero, why haven’t I seen him on the official website?"

"Why is he wearing a flight attendant’s outfit?"

"He’s mixed up with Qing Ya, does that not make him a sketchy superhero? Is that weird?"

"Qing Ya?"

When the Deception Puppet heard that name, he realized something was not right, and just then, a raspy, sinister voice rang in his ear, making it quiver as if his brain marrow was trembling.

"You seem to be having a lot of fun."

That voice said so.

The puppet sharply turned his head to look at Qing Ya, who was also standing above the traffic light. Some children in the crowd started crying upon seeing him, as if they saw a nightmare that kept them awake at night.

Ever since Qing Ya debuted and became a model worker of the Superhero Association’s Huanjing branch, every child in the city’s sleep quality had noticeably declined. Frequently, people would dream of a giant crow swooping down at them, gnawing at their flesh.

That was the impression Ke Youqing left people, his exceedingly brutal methods not only put an end to most crimes but also resulted in a situation where he faced public scorn.

At that moment, Ke Mingye himself was sitting on a couch, sipping on a Coke, watching Bai Ziling and Bai Zini play "Double Act."

Just catching sight of Qing Ya’s face was as terrifying as turning around in a horror movie to see a ghost screaming into one’s face. He flinched, and his hand shook, tilting the Coke bottle and spilling the drink on a schoolchild’s shoulder.

"Damn it, are you sick?!"

Ke Yongzhu was initially stunned, then frantically jumped up, quickly getting to his feet and patting his clothes. He asked Ke Mingye with a dark face,

"It’s okay, you’re going to take a shower later anyway."

Ke Mingye’s back was drenched with cold sweat, he gave a couple of evasive responses, and after taking a breath to calm himself, he patted Ke Yongzhu’s now-damp shoulder.

Back when he used to watch live broadcasts on the dark web, he would mock those who were spied on and the arch-villains. Every time he saw how exaggerated Qing Ya’s reactions were, was it really necessary, afraid of being eaten or something... Only after having experienced it himself did he understand what it was like to not have a clue until you’ve been through it.

It was no different than being kicked off a cliff before your bungee jumping gear was securely fastened.

Not wetting himself was already proof of good mental strength.

At the moment, the puppet raised his non-existent eyebrows, slowly rose from the traffic light post, and took off his train conductor’s hat to salute him.

"Isn’t this Mr. Qing Ya, my apologies, I just didn’t notice you were here."

"Don’t salute me, you’re a wanted criminal," Qing Ya said.

"Right." The puppet put on his train conductor’s hat again, "But I just dealt with a criminal who’s on the same wanted level as I am, that should make up for my crimes, right? After all, my only offenses were setting fire on an overpass and blowing up a traffic light pole, as for causing a major streaking incident, that’s a completely fabricated charge that I will never admit to..."

He paused, "Mr. Qing Ya, don’t look at me as a villain. I actually have a heart that aspires to be a superhero."

"Do you really think you could kill him with your power?" Qing Ya asked.

The puppet pointed at the mangled corpse in the pit and turned to Qing Ya, "What else could it be, his body has already cooled, yet you still doubt me?"

"While you pinned him down in the pit, I shot him with an inhibitor, injected inside his body, making his ’ghostly body’ ineffective," Qing Ya spoke slowly, "Otherwise, you would soon discover that Ghost Trickster not only survived the explosion but also escaped from your web."

The puppet suddenly realized, lowered the brim of his hat, and muttered to himself.

"I see... I said this super villain had an ability to make his body untouchable, how come he didn’t use it at the brink of death."

"He’s not a super villain, just an insignificant character like you."

Qing Ya looked down at the corpse on the ground and spoke with sarcasm.

"Alright, alright, an insignificant character." The Deception Puppet spread its hands. "But let’s get back to the point,, even if I didn’t kill him with my own strength, I at least helped you take care of it, don’t you think that should count as atoning for my wrongs?"

"You’re a wanted criminal; we’ll consider that at the police station."

"What if I don’t go?"

As it spoke, the Deception Puppet had already kicked off from the top of a traffic light and leaped into the air above the street, while simultaneously lowering its right hand and shooting a web towards a screen embedded on the surface of a high-rise.

But in the next moment, it almost didn’t realize what had happened before its body was seized by a swift dark shadow, and then dragged along, shooting towards the surface of a tall building, climbing up along the glass curtain wall and finally reaching the upper airspace of the city.

In this relentless assault, the entire curtain wall’s glass shattered continuously, raining down on the street like a downpour, causing the crowd below to scream in horror.

Qing Ya remained in midair, his cloak continuously releasing flock after flock of pitch-black crows, as if these birds were buoying his body, floating in the sky.

Among the flock of crows, he grasped the puppet’s neck, smashing its head viciously into a screen promoting a movie, creating a dent in the giant screen instantly.

Bang! 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Behind the screen were tangled wires, the sparking electricity savaging the puppet’s face, nearly tearing apart its brain.

Seeing this scene, screams rose from the downtown area, the entire street buzzing with conversation. The cars grinding on the road all stopped, and every person poked their heads out of their car windows, looking up at this bizarre spectacle:

— "Qing Ya has just subdued the superhero who had just saved Huanjing Bridge inside an LED display."

It was as if he were administering electric shocks.

"Behave, don’t think about running. A thousand of you couldn’t escape from my palm."

Qing Ya whispered hoarsely, the light in his eyes behind the mask gleaming ferociously. With each word he spoke, his hand around the puppet’s neck tightened, as if he was about to crush its neck any second.

"Cough… cough cough, buddy, do you even count as a superhero?"

The puppet’s face twisted, but its mouth was still turned up in a grin.

"You should look at the eyes of the people down there, see their slightly open mouths. They clearly want to resist you, they want to scream at you, but they can’t utter a word, just standing there dumbfounded. Do you know why that is?"

It paused, leaning close to Qing Ya’s ear, almost uttering each word carefully, "Because they are afraid of you…"

"So?" Qing Ya lowered his face and asked coldly, "what are you trying to say?"

"So?" The puppet stared into the eyes behind Qing Ya’s mask, laughing maniacally, "In their eyes, I am the hero, while you... are not a hero at all, just a thug."

"I don’t care if I am considered a hero in anyone’s eyes; I only care whether what I am doing is right."

Qing Ya said coldly, staring straight at him, his black cloak flapping in the night sky.

He held the puppet in his right hand, propelled into the sky by countless crows, bursting through the air like a black tidal wave, disappearing into thousands of cameras in an instant.

"What a pity, I suppose I won’t be accompanying you back to the police station, Mr. Qing Ya."

The puppet, watching itself get farther and farther from the ground, sighed softly: "You are really annoying, like a brute beast with unevolved intelligence. Perhaps those so-called supervillains are more reasonable than you."

As the words fell, his body rapidly heated and cracked in the night, the violently glowing cracks spreading across his body, eventually reaching his face.

Qing Ya noticed this and stopped midway in the air, ceasing to rise.

"No one will remember you, this tyrant... no one will."

After dropping this eerily toned phrase, the puppet’s body exploded completely. Qing Ya released its neck and simultaneously vanished from the spot.

After a while, a burst of intense firelight rose in the center of Huanjing, lighting up the dark night like fireworks, causing the crowd on the street to point at the sky and cheer.

"What’s with the fireworks tonight?"

"It’s fireworks!"

"Such beautiful fireworks!"

But the next moment, a strange laugh sounded in the sky, enveloping everyone’s ears like an electronic broadcast.