Superman Termination Manual

After the conductor died, the train slowly came to a stop on the ancient tracks.

The rumbling engine sound disappeared, and the exhaust pipes that had been working day and night let out one last puff of turbid white steam before falling silent, as if finally at rest.

In the dead silence, the train under the twilight was slowly rotting like orange peel.

If they didn't leave within five minutes, they would automatically exit the instance, so all four of them boarded the train to search for any hidden stages or rewards inside.

The first ten carriages of the train were standard, the middle five were sleeper carriages, and the last ten carriages were of various types: dining carriage, movie carriage, aquarium carriage, botanical garden carriage...

Walking through each carriage was like traveling through a miniature of the wide world. However, with limited time, they merely glanced at these wonders and didn't stop to appreciate them.

Compared to the dignified environment, the shadows flitting across the train windows were as thin as blank pieces of paper-cut art.

Unfortunately, they didn't find anything valuable. Most items, such as "movie tapes," resulted in a prompt that said "This item cannot be taken out of the instance" upon closer inspection.

"I didn't expect this instance to be so easy," Qing Meng commented as she stopped in the aquarium carriage and looked at the rotting, mutated fish in the tank.

Their bodies emitted a strange, flickering glow that faintly illuminated her face.

"Normal," Fan Quan said, "The difficulty of this instance lies in changing one's way of thinking to find the key. If we really had to fight those little monsters, we would be dead meat."

"Isn't it because Spider Man is overly strong?" Ju Zipi remarked.

Ke Mingye turned and looked at him, "Ah, what does that have to do with me?"

"I'm very curious about your physical fitness attribute score," Ju Zipi said, squinting his eyes at Ke Mingye.

"Not much," Ke Mingye replied, "Doesn't everyone have attributes in the tens? What's there to talk about?"

Ju Zipi pondered for a moment and said with a smile, "Hmm... why do I feel like your words are like someone who's 199 centimeters tall saying that everyone is in the one meter range, and there's nothing to ask about height?"

"Then I'll phrase it differently, personal privacy."

"Uh, didn't you just say something in the discussion group about how we share a common fate..."

"Stop the chit-chat," Fan Quan cut off their conversation, "If you're free, scoop out these four fish and check if there's anything inside them."

Ke Mingye was about to pull out his web shooter to see if he could lift the fish out with webs, but then he thought there might be someone more suitable for the job right next to him.

Ju Zipi summoned the Wave Blade, manipulating the water currents to drag the fish out of the tank and dissect them.

As the fish were torn apart, irregularly shaped crystals and innards fell out en masse onto the ground, still smeared with blood. It seemed the light inside the fish came from those crystals.

They bent down to pick up the crystals—exactly four, seemingly spawned according to the number of players who entered the instance.

[Item Name: Mutated Fish Crystal]

[Item Level: Unknown]

[Item Description: If you're not afraid of death, swallow it and see. Something amazing might happen.]

[Judgment: This item can be taken out of the instance and exchanged for Mall Coins in the shop.]

After reading the description, Ke Mingye looked around at his three teammates and asked, "Anyone want to swallow one and give it a try?"

They remained silent, shooting him a "are you stupid?" look.

"Why are you looking at me? Maybe eating it will increase attributes," Ke Mingye shrugged.

"You might as well say that eating it could turn you into a mutant, like a fish-person who can breathe underwater," Fan Quan suggested, "I think that would be quite a spectacle. Maybe there are instances hidden beneath the sea. Training underwater could be much faster than in a big city, with no superheroes or vigilantes watching over you."

He paused, then continued rambling,

"Besides, this world is full of wonders. You might come across an underwater ruin between the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas that holds the legacy power of Poseidon. Then with that, you could gain a divine connection with Poseidon. Wouldn't that be great? You'd leave the other players miles behind."

Ke Mingye nodded thoughtfully and put his hand on his shoulder, "I think the cultured man has a point. Do you two want to try? Poseidon is waiting at the bottom of the sea for you."

"Rather be swallowed by a whale," Ju Zipi said.

"Damn mutants, damn Poseidon, you two talk so fancifully, why don't you try it yourselves?" Qing Meng scoffed, glancing disdainfully at them both.

"Fine, let Fan Quan cast a 'Superhuman Will' on me, and I'll swallow it within 2.5 seconds," Ke Mingye suggested.

"It's Fan Quan, not Fan Dog," Fan Quan corrected him, then paused, "Also, it's not every time you cast Gates of Humanities that you get Nietzsche. That skill is more about adapting on the fly and choosing the right theoretical skill from the randomly refreshed ones to use depending on the situation."

"Forget it then, let's just turn it into Mall Coins, who knows what might happen after swallowing this stuff," Ke Mingye concluded.

Though he said this, Ke Mingye was actually quite curious to let a Deception Puppet swallow the Mutated Fish Crystal to see what would happen.

Who knew, it might truly turn into a fish-person, then when being chased, jump into a sewer when in doubt—there certainly couldn't be any superheroes who would swim through waste as he could.

A perfect escape route was born just like that.

"One crystal per person, if there are no objections, let's get off the train. We have one minute to exit the instance," Fan Quan said, stepping off the train first.

Then the four of them just sat on the platform, quietly watching the rusted tracks under the setting sun. The train car lay there forlorn, the sunset casting a faded red hue over it.

"Exterminating the superhumans, do you think it's really possible?"

Ju Zipi suddenly asked.

"If not, just treat it as a trip, since the world we come from is pretty boring anyway."

Qing Meng gathered all the guns into her backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and spoke with indifference.

Ke Mingye remained silent for a moment, then lifted his head to gaze at the giant sun.

"Compared to that, could you kill innocent people?" he asked.

"Your question is meaningless," Fan Quan said expressionlessly. "For example, we're just insects trapped in a cage, without the right to contemplate the actions of those outside the cage, nor should we consider whether the other insects we fight with are innocent."

He paused: "To struggle by any means necessary to stay alive is the most basic, and the last, right of every life."

Ke Mingye was silent, his gaze lowered to the rusted track.

He was about to speak when Qing Meng beat him to it.

"Please, can't your ideas be less formulaic?" she said. "This thing you call a system already calls you a player, so just go with it and treat this world like a game. You've played things like Grand Theft Auto, right? Do you feel guilty about killing in games like that?"

"Believe it or not, I've never played it," Fan Quan said.

"Neither have I," Ke Mingye said.

"Feels not as good as... Genshin Impact."

Ju Zipi looked down at the book 'Fantasy Tales', mumbling to himself.

Qing Meng opened her mouth, nearly suffocating with frustration.

She was on the verge of pulling out a handgun from her bag and firing a bullet into each of their heads, but just then, the instance settlement panel appeared, diverting everyone's attention.

Ke Mingye looked up at the panel.

[You will leave the instance in thirty seconds. The instance rewards have been delivered to each player's inventory. Please confirm reception...]

[You have received the standard completion reward for instance #7: One, 5000 Mall Coins; Two, 3000 Experience Points; Three, a set of train conductor uniforms (consisting of coat and trousers) (Grade E equipment).]

[You have received the MVP additional completion reward for instance #7: One, 500 Experience Points; Two, 1000 Mall Coins; Three, the train conductor's cap (Grade D equipment).]

"Is this really the MVP reward?"

Ke Mingye was astonished, thinking to himself that MVPs had such great benefits; he really shouldn't slack off in the future.

[Current experience progress: Lv.7 (3500 points / 4000 points)]

[Current Mall Coins amount: 8260]

"Knowing this is enough, saying it out loud makes you sound like a total pain," Qing Meng said.

"I feel like the settlements are imbalanced. I should have been the MVP for both instances..."

Fan Quan's gaze swept over the settlement screen, his head lowered, murmuring to himself in confusion.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Cultured man, you had a damage share of zero in both instances. The fact that you weren't flagged for being AFK is already lucky," Ju Zipi said with a smile. "Anyway, see you next time."

In the final seconds before leaving the instance, Fan Quan suddenly turned to look at Ke Mingye: "By the way, Spider Man, I need to talk to you alone. After we leave the instance, you set the place."

"Is there anything you can't say now?"

"There isn't time, can't do it now."

"Then let's meet at the dessert shop on Third Street."

"Deal."

As they were talking, the figures of the four disappeared. On the empty tracks, the train disintegrated into a heap with a mournful cry, melting into the desolate earth to nourish the weeds.

When Ke Mingye opened his eyes again, he was in a deserted alley nearby. He walked out of the alley, and right around the corner was the meeting place he had arranged with Fan Quan.

What does Cultured Man want to talk to me about?

He wondered as he maneuvered his Deception Puppet into the dessert shop, taking a seat on the second floor.

It wasn't long before Fan Quan walked up the stairs of the dessert shop. He pulled up a chair opposite Ke Mingye and looked directly at him through his glasses, his gaze piercing.

He said, "You're on the Superhero Association's official wanted list."

"Me?"

Ke Mingye asked, pointing at himself.

He thought to himself, come on, how could a model youth like me be on the wanted list? Did Qing Ya accidentally upload his son's handsome photo when he was posting the list of wanted criminals?

Seeing Ke Mingye's reaction, Fan Quan took out his phone unhurriedly, operated it for a moment, and then turned the screen towards Ke Mingye.

He asked straightforwardly, "The Dice Monster, a Level C wanted criminal, that's you, right?"