Chapter 260: Epilogue (End)

October 1, 2026, 11:00 a.m. The old Xia-Ke family building.

The day was bright, and warm sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows onto the red leather sofa in the living room.

Right now, a boy in a T-shirt and pants lay slumped in a corner of the sofa like a rotting corpse, looking completely out of place.

With a book over his face and both legs dangling behind the armrest, he lay dozing without moving an inch.

Before long, a breeze from the overpass swept through the maple trees outside. A maple leaf spun across the windowsill and landed on the book resting over the boy's head.

The faint rustle woke him. Ke Mingqing pulled the book off his face, sat up on the sofa, and opened his eyes with a yawn.

The next instant, a string of notification panels flashed before his eyes.

[First Kill Announcement: On September 29, 2026, Red Name Player "Jin Chengwu" successfully killed the S Rank Superhuman Species — "Witch of Despair," earning the "Global S Rank First Kill" achievement—! All other players, please take him as your role model and keep pressing forward!]

He had been waiting for this ridiculous first-kill announcement since eight in the morning, and had accidentally fallen asleep on the sofa while waiting. Staring at the blood-red text on the panel, he stretched lazily and thought, 'Take me as a role model? Are you serious?'

Ke Mingqing smacked his lips. "Sure, sure, let's all become Red Name Players together. If we're brothers, come hack me a hundred times."

Then another thought crossed his mind: 'Logically speaking, as long as the Magical Girl Company doesn't release the exact details to the public, the other players won't guess that I'm Blue Pigeon for now. Besides, strictly speaking, I took down Clock Maker before this too, even if the old man stole my kill. Doesn't that make this the second S Rank to die by my hands?'

'Damn, I'm just like that Jiahao meme, except while other people take walks on the school field in the rain, I'm dancing with Clock Maker in the downpour. Other people's sixteen is all about grinding test papers and teenage crushes; my sixteen is teaming up with Rain Crow to battle Clock Maker and taking down an S Rank witch alongside the Three Giants—Other players in their third month: trembling in fear against a B Rank super-human species. Jin Chengwu in his third month: having S Rank super-human species right in the palm of his hand.'

At that, Ke Mingqing opened his friends' Chat Panel, instinctively moving to share the Jiahao lines he had just made up with Kuroki Hitomi, only to find an empty list.

After a moment of silence, he closed the panel. "Right, Kuroki Hitomi went to Japan, and the other players probably followed her there. How am I supposed to finish my weekly quest now?"

[Weekly Quest 2: Use any item or skill to complete one medical treatment on another player (Reward: Player level directly increases by 2)]

"Besides, with my reputation out there, if I use a divine-grade greater healing spell on other players now, they'll all think I'm borrowing their lifespan—Ah, lifespan, come to me, lifespan, come to me."

Ke Mingqing sighed and lowered his gaze to the leaf that had fallen onto the sofa.

A moment later, a sudden bolt of lightning reduced the leaf to ash. He sat up straight, rubbing his temples as he spaced out for a while.

The Terminus Night incident had caused such massive fallout that schools big and small across the Leijing City Center had suspended classes today, giving Ke Mingqing a free day to slack off at home.

He grabbed an ice-cold cola from the fridge, plopped carelessly onto the sofa, and looked up at the TV.

The news anchor was reading the daily news in an odd tone.

A full day had passed since the end of the Terminus Night incident, and people were lamenting how many disasters Leijing had suffered lately: from the Comet Fragments incident, to Clock Maker's high-profile kidnapping of Blue Pigeon, and now to this "Giant UFO" incident. Every single one of them was enough to draw worldwide attention and dominate the trending charts across every social media platform for quite a while.

Indeed, thanks to a heavy push from the Magical Girl Company's PR department, the "Terminus Night Stage Apparatus" had turned into an "alien UFO" by word of mouth.

As for Little Red Riding Hood and Deep Space, they had died heroically fighting off the alien invaders.

Ke Mingqing clicked his tongue repeatedly as he watched the news, thinking, 'Is it really that hard for you guys to admit to the public that "witches" exist? Did you have to make up such a lame excuse?'

Though thinking it over, he could see why. Once the existence of witches was officially confirmed, the first to suffer definitely wouldn't be the magical girls who normally protected the country, but the idol magical girls shining in the entertainment industry and making money for big capital.

That would mean severing a massively profitable production chain outright. How could the capitalists backing the Magical Girl Company ever allow that?

So it was only natural that the truth of the incident was never made public in the end.

"Sigh—capital."

Sitting on the living room sofa, Ke Mingqing slapped his thigh. He hadn't expected an internet meme from his past life to fit so well in this one.

He took a sip of his cola and kept watching TV.

After reading out the file on the incident, the PR representative from the Magical Girl Company pushed up his glasses, furrowed his brow, and said in dead earnest through tears and sweat that they hoped this incident would draw public attention to extraterrestrial species. Perhaps there was more than one kind of alien in the world; humanity had to step out of its comfort zone, as arrogance and ignorance were mankind's greatest enemies.

'Yes, yes, aliens are right beside everyone. We really can't get enough of these alien warning segments—'

Grumbling to himself, Ke Mingqing looked back over the sofa and glanced at Xia Wenna and Ke Mingwei, who were busy in the kitchen.

The only reason a busy man like Ke Mingwei was here today was to apologize for what had happened in the hospital room yesterday. He had decided to take a few days off to stay home, cook and watch TV with Xia Wenna, and maybe go out on a date or two.

Ke Mingqing yawned and glanced at his phone.

Online, aside from comments like "Who are they kidding, it's definitely a PR stunt," "Could it be a personal grudge between magical girls?", "So scary, the Earth is going to be destroyed," and "So aliens really do exist," plenty of people were brushing it off, saying that if these aliens couldn't even get past the magical girls, they would be routed the moment the Superhero Roundtable Council stepped in.

"Come on, the Roundtable already stepped in, okay?" Ke Mingqing curled his lip. "And he's already been captured by an alien and is working as a stud bull right now."

With that, he turned to look at the figure walking out of the kitchen.

Ke Mingwei pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and stuck one in his mouth. After bustling around all morning, he finally had a moment to sneak a break.

"Go to the supermarket and buy a pack of egg tofu for your mom," he said in a muffled voice with the cigarette between his lips.

"Not going."

Ke Mingwei sat down on the sofa and took a deep drag on his cigarette. "You run as fast as lightning, kid. Is it really that much trouble for you?"

"Then why can't you just tell a crow to fly into the supermarket, caw a few times, and carry the tofu back in its beak?" Ke Mingqing mocked. "Better yet, stick a note on its back saying, 'Roundtable Heroes in urgent need of supplies, please show mercy, young heroes.'"

Ke Mingwei said nothing, exhaling a puff of blue smoke as tendrils of mist curled around his fingertips.

"Officer Girl told me yesterday that you killed a witch," he said suddenly after a moment.

"Just got lucky," Ke Mingqing said lightly. "That witch saw I was pretty weak and let her guard down. Otherwise, I couldn't have beaten her even if she fought me with both hands tied behind her back."

Ke Mingwei was silent for a while. "You make me very proud."

"Cut the sappy talk, old man. It doesn't fit your persona," Ke Mingqing clicked his tongue, getting goosebumps all over.

"Little brat—" Ke Mingwei shook his head, though the corners of his lips curved up slightly. "Before this, those old geezers in the Roundtable still had their doubts about you. But after hearing about what happened yesterday, they've agreed to let you join the Roundtable as my assistant."

"—Really?" Ke Mingqing blinked in surprise. "Does that mean I can go to New York with you for the meeting and meet Zeus and the others?"

"That's right. We'll probably head out in a few days," Ke Mingwei nodded. "We can extend your leave from school by a few more days. Your mom doesn't mind anyway, so nobody else will either."

"Awesome! How could going to school be anywhere near as fun as being an assistant to the Roundtable Heroes?" Ke Mingqing's eyes lit up.

"You've got the strength now, kid, but you're still green—I'm too busy, so maybe the other Roundtable Heroes will have time to give you a few pointers, if you can win them over."

"Really?"

Ke Mingqing thought to himself, 'Let's not. If they spot anything off about me, I'm a goner.'

"Yeah, like—Zeus," Ke Mingwei lowered his voice. "He fights with lightning just like you. Maybe he can teach you a thing or two, and he's shown quite an interest in you."

"Oh, that's pretty nice," Ke Mingqing said casually, the corners of his mouth curling up as he thought, 'I was just wondering how high Zeus's combat rating is anyway. After all, I still need to hunt down food for Second Sister and Third Sister.'

"By the way, old man, how many mythic vessels are there in the Roundtable in total?" he asked suddenly.

"Two."

'Great. If I can bring down the Roundtable, Second Sister and Third Sister can eat one mythic vessel each. That'll be just enough—'

'Before long, Death Crow is going to stage a prison break. Anskaban in Siberia holds the most dangerous criminals in the world. The Roundtable will definitely mobilize when that happens, and the other players should show up too, right?'

At that thought, the faces of Kuroki Hitomi, Kamishiro Ruri, and the others flashed through Ke Mingqing's mind.

"By the way, once you're in the Roundtable, there's one thing you have to remember," Ke Mingwei spoke up suddenly, breaking his train of thought.

"What's that?"

Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow, turning to look at him with his ears perked and on full alert.

"Stay away from Officer Girl."

Ke Mingwei paused for a moment, raised a hand to his forehead, and spoke almost word by word.

At the same time, on the 55th floor of the Magical Girl Company, at the press conference venue.

A memorial service for Little Red Riding Hood and Deep Space was underway. Media personnel who had squeezed in from all over the world packed the venue, with a particularly large contingent from Denmark there to demand answers.

Meanwhile, two figures stood in a backstage corridor of the venue.

"With this, it's all over," Magical Girl Sakurahime said softly, cradling her sword hilt as she leaned against the glass curtain wall, gazing through the transparent pane at a sky that looked washed clean.

"Yeah, it's over," Magical Girl Winter Hunter murmured back, his drooping snow-white hair shading his eyes.

"Losing two people all at once feels a little lonely," Sakurahime said quietly. "Japanese people are always pursuing something called 'mono no aware'—the pathos of things. We believe beautiful things should wither at their most breathtaking moment, like a beauty who dies young, or flowers that bloom and fall—that fleeting beauty makes people remember them far longer."

Winter Hunter blinked. "Ugh—I don't get how you Japanese people think."

"I just mean looking on the bright side. They died at their most radiant age and will be remembered at their best, rather than growing old and faded, or losing their magical girl powers and becoming ordinary people who spend their lives fighting their own mediocrity at every turn. Isn't that pretty good too?" Sakurahime spoke in an even tone, her red-and-white miko outfit fluttering gently in the breeze.

"Yeah, putting it that way makes me feel a bit better," Winter Hunter nodded. "After all, I couldn't accept turning into an ordinary person either—not being able to fly to the convenience store, not being able to fly to school, and having no choice but to run along when someone I care about is being chased by a giant monster—"

Here, he sighed. "Just thinking about a drop-off like that is terrifying, and the Tiamat Comet is only three months away now."

"It might be even worse for me—" Sakurahime said suddenly.

"Why?" Winter Hunter looked at her curiously.

"Because my whole family is yakuza. Once I lose my magical girl powers, they'll throw me away like trash. They only backed me to get this far because they saw they could use me. I know my raw strength doesn't measure up to yours—" Sakurahime paused. "Of course, after being kidnapped by that strange witch, my strength seems to have gone up quite a bit, so I can barely keep up with you guys now."

She let out a breath. "And in the end, I still don't know who the witch that kidnapped me really was."

Winter Hunter nodded, murmuring in confusion, "Right? At first we suspected it was Senior Ember, but the way she looked after her Witchification wasn't what you saw at all. Who on earth was that stick-figure girl?"

"Doesn't matter anymore," Sakurahime shrugged. "I'm heading back to Japan next. What about you?"

"I'm going back to Reykjavik. The Magical Girl Company in Iceland needs me," Winter Hunter scratched his head. "Can't be helped. The other magical girls are all too green, so I have to go help them out."

"Until we meet again, then," Sakurahime smiled. "Oh, no—better make it never meet again. I feel like if we ever gather in one place again, something huge is bound to happen."

Winter Hunter said softly, "Yeah. I wonder how Senior Ember is doing now. I feel like I should say goodbye to her before I leave."

Sakurahime suddenly fell silent.

"Have you ever thought about how terrifying it would be if someone held the power of a witch while still keeping her sanity?" she said after a moment. "We all saw Senior Ember's strength after her Witchification. That magic power already far surpassed Teacher Xi Ziyue's. No magical girl could stand against her, right?"

"Who knows—" Winter Hunter sighed. "Though if there really were a way to keep our sanity after Witchification, that would be great. Then we wouldn't be holding everyone back anymore."

Sakurahime's lips curved slightly. "Leaving Senior Ember aside, Little Red Riding Hood didn't lose her sanity after her Witchification either. Right up to the very last second, she was still pushing Mr. Blue Pigeon forward."

"Yeah. Even though I didn't know Little Red Riding Hood well and only met her once or twice, she really was a fun and wonderful person—" Winter Hunter said wistfully, then suddenly thought of something and turned to ask, "By the way, speaking of Mr. Blue Pigeon, aren't you going to say goodbye to him before you leave?"

"No, we'll meet again in the future anyway—" Kiyono Sakura shook her head and said softly, "Though I wonder if Little Red Riding Hood got to give him a proper farewell at the end. After all, whenever she was around us, every other word out of her mouth was 'Blue Pigeon.'"

"True enough."

Just then, both of them raised their brows slightly. Lifting their heads, they looked out through the glass curtain wall at the autumn sky. Out of the bright sunlight, snowflakes drifted down in flurries, floating past the giant screen on the building's facade that was broadcasting the memorial service live. On the screen, a photo of a girl in a Christmas dress was still displayed.

Maintenance workers on high-altitude platforms and people walking along the long streets all looked up, watching the sudden snowfall in wonder, some letting out murmurs of admiration.

Before long, a hazy blanket of white covered the cables atop the high-rises and veiled the streets and alleys of Leijing.

"Snowing? In this season?" Winter Hunter was stunned.

Kiyono Sakura fell silent for a moment, cradling her sword hilt as the corners of her lips curved upward, before murmuring after a long pause, "Yes, it's snowing—"