Chapter 279 Player Riot, Xia Wenna's Level, Obituary

[Title: Everyone, I must reveal an ugly truth here. I hope you will no longer be kept in the dark. No matter the outcome, I will make the truth I have seen public in this thread.]

[Poster: Kamishiro Ruri (This player has been confirmed dead)]

Ke Mingqing stared at the thread's title in a daze for a long time before he looked up at the posting time.

It was from yesterday morning.

That was right, yesterday morning—the exact time Kamishiro Ruri had visited his home holding that Red Umbrella.

He stared at the posting time in silence for a moment before sudden realization hit him. Yesterday, before visiting his home, Kamishiro Ruri had already published the information regarding the "two types of players" on the forum.

As for why Kamishiro Ruri did this, perhaps he believed that the Red Name Player "Jin Chengwu" might kill him, so he released the information in advance.

From the very beginning, he assumed Ke Mingqing would kill him, and it was with this gamble in mind that he came to the Xia-Ke household's old building and rang the doorbell.

Ke Mingqing couldn't understand why the man was so strange. Since he was convinced he might be killed, he shouldn't have come in the first place.

"Where is the trust?" He took a deep breath. "We even added each other as friends. Couldn't you have discussed this with me before posting it?"

Ke Mingqing checked the thread's reply count. In this small forum with only a few dozen active players, 635 replies was an astronomical number.

Obviously, the moment Kamishiro Ruri posted this thread, it completely blew up the forum—

Meanwhile, Ke Mingqing had been framed by the alien invaders and remained unconscious for a whole day, completely oblivious to the massive uproar this post had caused among the players.

So much so that his hands trembled slightly as he looked at the thread now, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he hesitated to click into it.

"Buddy, you're dead anyway. Did you really have to drop a nuke on the player community right before going to the grave?" he muttered. "Will this directly trigger a civil war between players?"

He shook his head. "No, that should be impossible. As long as there is no conclusive evidence, it won't cause too much of a wave. Although the person involved dying is suspicious and will make some players think this is the system's doing—that the system wants to cover up the truth—smart people will realize that if the system truly wanted to do that, it wouldn't have let this post appear on the forum in the first place, let alone hang there for a whole day."

Reaching this conclusion, Ke Mingqing closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and finally made up his mind to click into the thread.

The content Kamishiro Ruri wrote in the thread essentially repeated what he had told Ke Mingqing, but he did not mention the grudge between him and Kamishiro Kawa. He said absolutely nothing about it, seemingly unwilling to embarrass Kamishiro Kawa.

In the over six hundred replies below, the comments were a chaotic mess, like a wild dance of demons.

But most players thought it was sheer nonsense. Their attitude was just like seeing a historical conspiracy theorist claim "the moon landing was faked" on a forum in his previous life—they just laughed it off and scrolled past.

After all, Kamishiro Ruri hadn't provided any substantive evidence in the thread. They believed the so-called "Omniscient Ghost God" was merely something he had fabricated. The internal rituals of the "jujutsu sorcerer"—a super-human species restricted only to Japan—were simply too remote for other players scattered across the world.

At the same time, a small number of reactionaries were hiding within the thread.

Ke Mingqing guessed that these people had either developed unnecessary feelings for the super-human species around them, or they simply had an overly strong moral compass and did not support the extermination of superhumans.

Having endured in silence for many days, these people had finally found an opportunity to openly express their stance.

Thus, the reactionaries fanned the flames in the thread, talking at length about how everyone had indeed been deceived by the system, claiming they should all protect the super-human species around them so they wouldn't regret it when it was too late!

Of course, there were also replies saying: "The super-human species around you? Aren't those the novice experience pools? I slaughtered them clean ages ago, are you joking, bro?"

That only drove those reactionaries even crazier, saying that they had murdered their own acquaintances, and how could they be so sure they weren't native players themselves?

Regardless, since it concerned their own lives, Ke Mingqing figured these reactionaries only dared to speak so wildly because they were hiding behind anonymous forum IDs.

When the time limit approached, he was absolutely certain that nine out of ten of these reactionaries would still join the slaughter plan just to save their own lives.

It was just that the reactionaries might avoid the super-human species close to them, leaving the task of slaughtering those people to other players, while they themselves went out to kill super-human species they didn't know at all.

This way, it would create an effect of covering one's ears while stealing a bell, making them feel a little better about themselves.

Naturally, extreme revolutionaries also appeared in the thread, forming the final part of this wildly chaotic ecosystem.

[Forum ID——Fanquan (IP: New York, USA):

It doesn't matter even if the system is fake. Even if the distinction between native players and transmigrators is real, it means nothing to me.

Because only a world where all the super-human species are eradicated and supernatural powers completely vanish is real to me.

Besides, even without the system, Espers will go mad, mythic vessels will self-destruct, and magical girls will turn into witches. The super-human species of this planet will inevitably threaten this world in the end. By the time people start feeling that "supernaturals might be dangerous," it will be too late. Therefore, exterminating superhumans is the only righteous path.

So, do not ignore a good deed just because it's small. Act practically every day and eliminate a small portion of the supernaturals in order to save all mortals—that is all. I ask all you reactionaries to calm down, have a cup of tea, and discuss this properly.]

[Forum ID——Pianzhi (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Lord Pianzhi agrees with the thoughts upstairs. Heh, you completely used a system skill to plagiarize the ideas in Lord Pianzhi's mind—please clap if you understand.]

[Forum ID——Orange Peel (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Fuck me, the lunatic resonance is here.]

[Forum ID——Qing Meng (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Brain-dead.]

[Forum ID——The Family's Black Cat (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Please remain calm, everyone. I will verify the authenticity of this information with my collaborator among the Japanese players, "Tokyo's Number One Host," also known as Mr. Kamishiro Kawa.]

[Forum ID——The Family's Black Cat (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Mr. Kamishiro Kawa is Kamishiro Ruri's brother in reality. Although he wasn't mentioned in the thread, I believe he must know something.]

[Forum ID——Tokyo's Number One Host (IP: Tokyo, Japan): No need to ask me, I don't know anything about this. If you're curious, go ask my brother's corpse.]

[Forum ID——Tokyo's Number One Host (IP: Tokyo, Japan): By the way, my brother might have had some mental issues. I broke all ties with him not long ago. If you want to take his words seriously, then do whatever you want.]

The final comment of the thread stopped right there.

No one else dared to speak.

"How ruthless, Kamishiro Kawa—"

Ke Mingqing stared at the ID Tokyo's Number One Host in a daze. "Directly severing all ties with Kamishiro Ruri? It seems he also doesn't want other players to know about this 'two types of players' business."

He let out a long breath. 'But it makes sense—' he realized. 'After all, he's a transmigrator-type player. He knows that if this is confirmed, it will only senselessly increase the number of players rioting, causing the success rate of the plan to exterminate superhumans to plummet.'

After a long silence, Ke Mingqing closed the forum panel and looked up at this morning's announcement.

[Good morning to the Red Name Player, "Ke Mingqing," who sought out the entire truth for us.]

"What blatant mockery. The system learned the rough arrival time of Planet Fangongta's alien fleet from me, which is why it advanced the extinction deadline by fifteen days," he muttered. "I always thought it would follow the rules of the game, but it actually doesn't play by the book at all."

Ke Mingqing glanced at the text on the panel and fell into deep thought.

'There are only two months left. By then, every player should have at least A+ Rank strength, and slightly more outstanding players will be able to reach A++ Rank or even S Rank combat power.'

'I know exactly what kind of concept that is—any random player pulled out could reach the level of the weakest member of the Magical Girl Three Giants, and the stronger ones could even rival Xi Ziyue.'

Ke Mingqing took a deep breath. 'What if I have Mom take the rest of the family and leave Earth by then? Hide in some place no one knows about, so the other players won't be able to do anything?'

'No, I haven't even confirmed Mom's stance yet.'

'If she intends to side with the alien invaders, she can simply sit back and watch the tigers fight. As long as the mechanism stating that "alien species will not be counted as a super-human species after leaving Earth" still exists, she can wash her hands of this at any time. The players wouldn't see her as a target for a hunt once she leaves the planet anyway.'

'Damn it, what did my future self even change?'

At this thought, Ke Mingqing's cheek twitched as the face of that white-haired witch from the island in the lake suddenly surfaced in his mind.

'Hasn't everything stayed exactly the same? Even if they really are my family, they will still die...'

Right at that moment, a crimson panel suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.

[Obituary: The player "Kamishiro Ruri," whose spawn point was Tokyo, Japan, has been killed by the alien super-human species "Alien Colonist—Z12235" with a danger rating of "SS" Rank. Players are advised to be on high alert against "alien factions" lurking on Earth.]

Ke Mingqing stared blankly for a moment before slowly raising his eyes, murmuring hoarsely, "SS Rank super-human species?"

He knew this was a tier that had never appeared on the surface before.

According to intel mentioned by someone on the Player Forum, even "Zeus," the head of the Roundtable, was merely an S++ Rank super-human species, on the same level as the Witch of Ember and Terminus.

"You've shown your health bar, Mom—" He bit his lip. "So it seems the system couldn't detect her data earlier because of her alien abilities? I really thought Mom was so strong that she exceeded the system's evaluation capabilities."

'I don't know exactly how strong SS Rank is, but even if she is stronger than every super-human species on this planet, it would be almost impossible for her to hold off all the other players entirely on her own. Will Mom leave when the time comes? If I beg her to take the rest of the family away, will she agree?'

'No, the problem is still her stance. If the directive issued by Planet Fangongta is for all super-human species on Earth to die, then even if it's her own family, Mom might still abandon us.'

Ke Mingqing hung his head, his eyes shifting slightly. A moment later, a series of prompt boxes refreshed before his eyes. The whole world was so complicated and noisy that he wanted to tear his own head apart.

[Prompt: Weekly quests have been refreshed.]

[Weekly Quest 1 Refreshed: Kill at least five super-human species. (Quest Reward: One Attribute Point available for free allocation)]

[Weekly Quest 2 Refreshed: Run five kilometers. (Quest Reward: Player Rank immediately increases by 2 levels, and gain one chance to use the reward wheel)]

Ke Mingqing finally raised his eyes after a long pause and murmured softly, "Did the system raise the weekly quota for killing the super-human species?"

The bedroom fell into absolute silence. While he was lost in thought, someone suddenly knocked on the door. "Knock, knock."

Ke Mingqing sat on the bed in silence for a moment before throwing off the blanket covering his legs and opening the door.

The man outside the door looked a bit haggard. The dark circles under his eyes were heavy; he looked like he hadn't slept soundly in quite some time.

"What is it, Dad?" Ke Mingqing asked, looking at him.

"Today is the day we agreed upon with Xi Ziyue. We have to take Xiao Li to the Magical Girl Company to meet her and complete their examination," Ke Mingwei said after a moment of silence.

Ke Mingqing paused, having almost forgotten about this matter. He nodded and asked, "Alright. What about Big Brother? Is he going?"

"We're not taking him," Ke Mingwei said with a frown. "He's not like us. He isn't official government personnel, so bringing him to the Magical Girl Company would be too conspicuous."

"Oh, okay, let's go then."

As Ke Mingqing spoke, he threw on a windbreaker from the closet and went into the bathroom for a quick wash.

A short while later, when he walked out of the bathroom, Xia Zili was already standing there, leaning against the wall with her hands behind her back. She wore a blue hooded jacket with a yawning black cat pattern on it, layered over a T-shirt printed with a "Bluey the Puppy" design, paired with jeans.

Right now, her head was tilted slightly as she gazed at the autumn Clear Sky outside the terrace, her eyes completely empty and expressionless.

"Good taste, great outfit. You've got both cats and dogs," Ke Mingqing said with a shrug. "I feel like if you posted that online, the extreme dog lovers and extreme cat lovers would start a war over it."

Xia Zili didn't say anything, silently pulling her gaze back from the terrace.

Ke Mingwei came down from the roof, now wearing a black jacket. With his five o'clock shadow, sharp features, and deep-set eyes, he gave off the distinct vibe of a mature Hollywood leading man.

"Everyone's here. Let's go," he said.

Just then, Xia Zili suddenly raised her eyes to look at Ke Mingqing. Pausing between each word, she said, "I don't want you to go."

Ke Mingqing fell silent for a moment before brushing it off. "Which means you want me to go. Who doesn't know our little sister loves to say the opposite of what she means?"

"This is my problem."

"The whole world has to revolve around you. Could you be any more childish?" Ke Mingqing deadpanned. "This isn't just about you. You think just because Xi Ziyue and the others marked you as a Hunt target, Dad and I are going to sit back, hand you over, and let them chop you up to feed to the pigs?"

With that, he took a deep breath, shoved his hands into the pockets of his windbreaker, and turned toward the stairs.

Ke Mingwei furrowed his brow and rubbed the stubble on his cheek, seemingly unsure if he should interfere in his children's bickering.

Ever since the Terminus Night incident ended, the relationship between Ke Mingqing and Xia Zili had been incredibly strained. More accurately, Xia Zili had locked herself away, acting cold and distant toward everyone.

Unexpectedly, Xia Zili didn't lose her temper after hearing his rant.

The girl lowered her head slightly. Her pretty bangs fell over her eyes, hiding her expression from view.

After a moment of silence, she spoke to Ke Mingqing's back. "What I mean is—you look exhausted. I suggest you stay home and rest."

Ke Mingqing froze, pausing at the top of the stairs.

"I don't need you looking after me. Worry about yourself first."

Throwing a lukewarm glance over his shoulder, Ke Mingqing headed down the stairs without another word.