Superman Termination Manual

"You're lying to me."

"I have never lied to you, never..."

As the crows furiously exclaimed, the number of crows on the shelf began to multiply, splitting from one into two, two into four, continuously dividing.

Eventually, the swarm of crows encompassed his body like dark clouds, gnawing at his flesh from his head, to his chest, down to his heels, and finally dissecting his soul for interrogation.

"The hallucinations you see are protecting you, reminding you, but you are battling your subconscious because there are things you refuse to believe, you've always been running away, thus the inner conflicts push you towards madness, towards destruction."

Countless crows preached collectively, their crimson eyes looking down disdainfully. Their faces tightly pressed against Ke Youqing, who was at the epicenter of the storm.

Yet, Ke Youqing's face remained expressionless, rather it was an almost numb, steady, cold-hard as iron expression.

He calmly said, "I haven't run away from anything."

"You have, you are running away," the crow said, "You think by accepting these hallucinations, you'll become a victim of paranoid delusion. You fear suspecting the people around you, fear turning into a madman, but the reality is contrary to what you think. Do you think you're smart, Qing Ya, but your cleverness has blinded you. Sometimes, being a bit foolish isn't bad, accept me, accept all the hints, see the world clearly."

"You can't defeat me."

"To this point, you're still deceiving yourself, still thinking you're the one that's insane. Is it so hard to face the facts, with so many signs, so many clues? The things you refuse to accept all turn into hallucinations."

"I have never ever deceived myself..."

Ke Youqing said coldly and hoarsely, slightly lowering his ominous face, his pupils narrowing reflecting the leading crow.

"Never."

With that, he raised his hand and grabbed the crow by the neck.

Then, he tore it apart in the blink of an eye.

The crow's head fell to the ground, its beak skewed at a sinister angle. Dirty blood gushed out, splashing on the man's cheeks.

Ke Youqing tilted his head back, his expression calm, standing motionless in the bedroom like a blood-stained statue.

He had once again conquered his hallucinations.

Once again...

Protected the people around him.

Ke Youqing pondered, not knowing since when, his hallucinations had gradually begun to lead him to doubt and hurt the people around him.

The more it happened, the more tense his mind became, he must ensure that he would never let those illusions take advantage of him, otherwise even his closest family members would eventually die because of him.

After a long silence, Ke Youqing slowly turned around from the bloodstain, his gaze falling on Bai Wenna, who was sound asleep on the bed.

He slowly moved, stepping out of the bathroom.

Inside the bathroom, that egg had disappeared;

The blood on the floor had also disappeared;

The air conditioning unit, looking like some sort of alien technology, returned to normal.

Casually closing the bathroom door, the flickering light behind the door no longer flashed, no longer displaying a sinister blood color. The night remained tranquil, with the sounds of cicadas falling into the ears, the moonlight clear and crisp.

"Tonight should be a good night's sleep."

Ke Youqing thought to himself.

He took a pack of cheap cigarettes from the bedside table and stepped out of the bedroom.

Casually closing the door, he came to the balcony on the second floor and suddenly saw a figure leaning on the railing, quietly gazing at the distant cityscape. The evening breeze rustled his hair strands.

"Mingye, haven't you slept yet?" he asked.

"Dad?" Ke Mingye looked up from his phone, surprised, "I have insomnia, just came out for some air."

"Drink less of these random things before bed, that way you won't have insomnia."

"Okay, I won't drink milk tea next time," Ke Mingye said with an eye roll.

"Any troubles lately? Your mom said your grades have slipped quite a bit."

Ke Youqing lit a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, and rested his arms on the railing, gazing down at the brightly lit city.

"Not really, just played around too much last semester so I didn't do well on the final exam," Ke Mingye said nonchalantly, "I'll definitely bring my grades back up when school starts, don't worry."

"You don't need to be too obsessed with grades. The society is not stable now, people are anxious, the higher you climb, the more you will have to bear. I've seen many people who seem successful in the eyes of others, sometimes their lives aren't as wonderful as you think, most successes come with an uncountable price, only those who stand in the spotlight know how long and deep their shadows can be seen under the light."

Ke Youqing said, taking a drag of the cigarette, "I just hope you guys can grow up safely, a normal job will be enough. Don't look at your mom that way; she understands all this and won't be too hard on you."

Ke Mingye fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Dad, actually..."

"Actually what?"

"Actually, I kind of want to be a... Superhero."

"...Superhero?"

Ke Youqing, with the cigarette in his mouth, looked at Ke Mingye with a suspicious glance.

"Yeah, too bad I'm not qualified, just an ordinary person," Ke Mingye said, "So I was thinking, since I can't become a Superhero, maybe I should try hard and enter Commander University, that might bring me closer to the world I desire."

"Do you know Che Zhengchen, that gold medal Commander, the news reports every day about him being caught, arrested, seriously injured, do you think being a Commander is safer than being a Superhero?"