Superman Termination Manual

The night of June 20th, on the Ring 7 Elevated Bridge.

Due to structural safety hazards, this elevated bridge had been officially decommissioned years ago.

The police had set up barricades at the entrances, strictly forbidding vehicles from entering. Streetlights, which one could see every twenty-five meters, were dimmed now, the only source of light being the moon hanging in the night sky.

The deep moonlight brushed down, each streetlight emitting a cold glow, casting long shadows on the empty road, like chilly-breathed devils.

Above the desolate elevated bridge, a puppet had just risen from the railing only to find that a ten-meter radius around it was enveloped in a layer of reddish-gold flames, tightly sealed as if submerged in lava.

The puppet stood on the railing, casually surveying its surroundings.

The air on the bridge rapidly grew warmer, its slender body slightly distorting and swaying in the steam rising off the road, like the bizarre human figure in Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream," about to perish in the hot wind.

"Samadhi True Fire?" Ke Mingye thought, "So this power is also within Sun Wukong's range of abilities... Quite enlightening. I've never seen my sister use this trick before on the dark web; she's really going all out."

Black Wukong stood on a cloud high in the moonlit sky, looking down at the puppet trapped in the Samadhi True Fire, his crimson pupils devoid of any emotion, like a warden watching a prisoner in his cell.

She took a mobile phone out of the pocket of her metal coat, quickly typed something in her notes, and then turned the screen towards the puppet.

It read: "You lied to me. I waited for you at that Western restaurant for a long time."

The puppet lifted its hollow eyes to look at her and tilted its head, saying,

"I know you're angry, but can you not be so fierce?"

Black Wukong's cold gaze from behind the mask seemed to replace any verbal response; she extended the dark-gold staff positioned behind her and aimed the tip at the puppet's head.

Soon, even the staff itself faintly glowed with a layer of reddish-gold fire, resembling a torch used for executions.

"What is this, Samadhi True Fire? It looks like you plan to roast and eat me..."

Saying this, the puppet spread its hands: "Causing such a disturbance over the city, someone will come soon. I suggest you extinguish these annoying flames, and then we can have a proper chat?"

Seeing no response, it reached out to touch the Samadhi True Fire burning on the railing, its entire left hand instantly consumed by the flames, vanishing without a trace.

"Hot hot hot, I'm dying, I'm dying—!"

The puppet theatrically shouted while flinging its severed arm around, stamping its right foot on the bridge's surface, then the next second, it regained composure, raised its hands high, casting its hollow gaze down, staring solemnly at her.

"Just kidding, it's actually not hot at all. You can totally burn me to death; I permit you to do so..."

The puppet paused, dragging out its words: "But then you'll never know the truth, never find out why I know your identity, and... that your sister Bai Zini is the Magic Girl Ash."

Upon hearing the name "Bai Zini," Black Wukong's pupils were instantly covered by reddish-gold flames, but that flash of fire was fleeting.

She narrowed her eyes, still maintaining her composure, and a cold voice came from behind the mask: "Tell me, what exactly are you?"

"You're finally not using your phone to type?" the puppet grinned broadly, "That's like burying your head in the sand, as I clearly know who you are."

"Stop the nonsense, answer my question..."

Black Wukong's voice was deep, as the fire on the bridge raged even more violently.

"I'm called 'strange thing,' a jobless vagrant, and I just became disabled."

The puppet said, raising its arm that had lost its hand, shaking it in front of Black Wukong, "Look, I only have one hand now; my life is ruined. It's all your fault. Is this what superheros should do?"

"That's not your body. You're just a puppet, or a machine," Black Wukong coldly stated.

"Oh, you've figured it out." The puppet, raising its non-existent eyebrows, said, "Yeah, that's exactly why I dare to meet you carelessly."

"What is your real objective?"

"Just to be your friend."

"Are you joking?" Black Wukong asked almost word by word.

"No, I am very lonely, so I need friends."

The puppet raised a finger, speaking in a low tone, "Listen, I have a superpower that allows me to clearly see everyone's identity in the world, the truth hidden behind them. That's why, on the bus... I recognized you at first sight, you are the 'Black Wukong' from the TV."

He paused, then asked, "Oh, right... when you usually appear, you bind your right hand and Jingu Bang with chains, why not this time?"

"Because I came prepared to kill you."

"I see... So, you wrap that chain around your hand normally to remind yourself to hold back, not to kill people, right?" the puppet asked.

"It seems you understand me quite well." Black Wukong's eyes were cold.

"Of course, I can see the anger in your eyes, Divine Communicators really are a fearsome existence... Whether unconsciously, your humanity has been twisted by so-called gods, becoming like this... dark, violent, strange.

And whether, from one day, you realized you were no longer like yourself, you started to lose control over the rage smoldering within you, you started to fear losing control, and so... you picked up that chain, tightly winding it around your arm and that so-called Jingu Bang."

The puppet said solemnly, his hollow gaze locked onto the eyes behind Black Wukong's mask while they faced each other in the light of the fire.

He fell silent for a moment and said, "People foolishly seek the power of gods, yet they are devoured by it, how overconfident, isn't it?"

Black Wukong drew a deep breath and slowly asked, "How much exactly do you know?"

Ke Mingye pondered for half a second, then began his classic bluff and bluster.

"I think, I know everything in this world."

The puppet looked toward the brightly lit city, his expression somber, saying, "But precisely because of that, I am very lonely. Do you understand? I'm so lonely I almost want to kill myself. Knowing too much isn't always a good thing. I often want to empty my mind, but I can't. Those pieces of information flood into my brain like a tide, choking me."

Black Wukong was silent for a while, "So you approached me just for fun?"

"Of course, I won't harm your family, nor will I harm you, nor affect your family relations, but…" the puppet said, "if you don't become friends with me, then I will go and befriend those big villains."

He paused, "Maybe one day, they suddenly ask me, 'Who is the real Black Wukong, do you know?' and then I would give away your name, along with all your family members."

Behind the mask, Black Wukong's gaze sharpened, she stepped on the surging clouds beneath her feet and came in front of the puppet, raising the Jingu Bang to his neck.

"You dare?" she said coldly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"It's not that I dare not, but I don't want to... as long as you are willing to be friends with me."

The puppet covered his face with a hand, tilting his neck and slowly lowering his face, his voice as low as a drowning canine.

"Listen, lady, I'm not a villain. It's just... I'm just too lonely, lonely to the point where I can only attract your attention in this way."

Black Wukong remained silent for a long time, drew close, and stared into its hollow eyes.

"You are a monster..."

"Oh, I admit that, otherwise your sister wouldn't have called me 'strange thing'." the puppet said dejectedly.

"Wait, she gave you that name?" A trace of surprise appeared in Black Wukong's eyes.

"Yes, you can ask her," the puppet muttered to itself, "It's a good name, isn't it?"

Just then, a voice with a distinctive mechanical magnetism suddenly came from behind them, teasingly sounding on the elevated bridge.

"You guys seem to be having a lot of fun, can I join you? It'd be best to put out the fire first; it seems like it doesn't quite welcome me."

Following the source of the voice, both turned their heads and through the flickering flames, they could see a figure slowly approaching from the other end of the elevated bridge, the tapping of footsteps resounding in the deadly quiet on the bridge.

Looking up, the uninvited guest was dressed in an all-black tailcoat, wearing a sharply defined mask. In the center of the mask was an eye-catching blood-red "V," the rest covered in pitch black.

At that moment, his information also passed through the puppet's eyes into Ke Mingye's mind.

[Code Name: Black Judge]

[Power Level: A++]