Chapter 089 Strange Thing X Catastrophe Dragon (Vote for Monthly Ticket!)
"Speaking of which, I still haven't received the node reward from being a primary school student and Bai Ziling."
"Can the puppet keep up with their speed, though? One is a dragon, the other a vampire... Although it's highly unlikely to catch up, it's still worth a try."
Ke Mingye walked home with his head lowered.
While planning the night life for the Deception Puppet, he opened his knapsack and clicked on the icon for the 'Electromagnetic Pulse Gloves,' opening the item's description bar.
[Equipment Name: Electromagnetic Pulse Gloves]
[Equipment Level: C]
[Equipment Ability: 1. Launch an electromagnetic pulse up to 10 meters forward (after launch, it enters a 1-hour charging time); 2. Electromagnetic coverage on the gloves, producing electric shock and paralysis effects upon contact with enemies.]
As his eyes scanned the equipment ability, Ke Mingye suddenly thought of a certain Iron Man.
It's just a pity that this world doesn't have Marvel Company, as superhumans are everywhere. Therefore, when it comes to creating fantasy-themed works, the focus shifts more towards realistic life experiences. In today's world, a world without superheroes becomes a luxury and fantasy.
In an ordinary world, people pursue hero fantasies. In a world filled with superheroes, they pursue an ordinary life. This is the compromise inherent in humanity.
Ke Mingye then opened the overhead view of the equipment and looked at the appearance of these gloves.
Just as the name suggests, the gloves appeared as a set of silver and black metallic gloves, their backs engraved with intricate, sharp-edged patterns resembling the blade of a knife.
They looked somewhat like a low-end version of Iron Man's gloves.
Ke Mingye was really curious if the system intended to turn him into a stitched-together Avenger, bearing the will of the entire Avengers Alliance, as if destroying a parallel world was not difficult enough.
"I would rather have a Thanos-style glove, just snapping my fingers would be more relaxing," he sighed.
He walked home on foot because he left home quite early and it was only 6:30 AM when he got back. It wasn't even fully light out yet, let alone any chance of the lazy bugs at home waking up.
Ke Mingye mostly had nothing to do all day. In the afternoon, Fan Quan did not contact him, which meant that the plan to fight the instance was postponed to the next day.
Ke Mingye was curious about what the next instance would be, hoping it wouldn't be as ghostly as the zombie chef.
So, it seems the only difference between today and yesterday might be the addition of two new characters into the local player discussion group.
[Player "Cai Bing" and Player "Paranoid" have entered the local discussion group.]
[Ju Zipi: Hello.]
[Failed Man: Man, Ju Zipi, how are you still in this discussion group?]
[Cai Bing: Moving to another city allows you to exit your original local discussion group and join a new one, but there's no hard requirement to leave the original.]
[Failed Man: Oh right, typical Ju Zipi, in Wei's camp but your heart is with Han.]
[Paranoid: When do we group up to fight Qing Ya?]
[Failed Man: Can you stop making such idiotic statements, bizarre guy?]
[Paranoid: Why have I suddenly become 'bizarre guy'?]
[Failed Man: Damn it, if you don't turn into a Magic Girl in the discussion group, I'd already be grateful, the fact it's online means you can't pollute my spirit, how is this any different from shitting in public?]
[Paranoid: So, when are we teaming up tonight to fight Qing Ya?]
[Cai Bing: Hard to hold back, are you really dumb or pretending, do you think the few of us can take on Qing Ya?]
[Paranoid: We will win.]
[Fan Quan: Let's wait till we hit level 100, now whenever I see him I recommend not even turning your head, just run.]
[Failed Man: I have no objections, at level 100 let's all gang up on the ultimate boss 'Terrifying Crow Man'.]
Ke Mingye closed the panel, looked up at the clock, and it was already 2 PM. He had arranged to go out today with Bai Ziling and Ke Yongzhu.
Bai Ziling said she wanted to visit the nearby aquarium, and Ke Yongzhu wanted to visit the zoo to see the pandas. Their old father didn't have the time, so the task naturally fell to the eldest child at home.
Ke Yinzhi and Ke Xiaomo had their own plans for the day, so they just waved their hands and passed this challenging task onto someone else;
Bai Zini and Bai Qiuwu said they were very tired today, as if something had happened last night. Both were resting in their rooms, unable to even get out of bed;
Thus, the task naturally fell onto Ke Mingye's shoulders.
He felt a bitterness in his heart that he couldn't express, but there was nothing he could do about it. This was the sad reality of being ranked fourth at home.
Ke Mingye checked his phone, and thankfully, Huanjing's zoo and aquarium were connected, which would not take too much time. Encouraged by the nagging of the two little ones, he got up from the couch, put on his shoes, and left the house.
Bai Ziling, because of her albinism was photophobic, so she wore a sun hat and sunglasses before going out. Nonetheless, her white hair still attracted a lot of attention on the street.
Ke Yongzhu was wearing a light blue jumpsuit and kept exclaiming "It's so hot" and "I'm so tired" after walking just a few steps, but he was actually very excited about seeing the pandas, as his slightly flushed ears could attest.
Ke Mingye walked between them, navigating the way on his phone.
Under the scorching sun, he was sweating profusely, his right hand holding a handheld fan blowing on his face, while the two little kids next to him didn't sweat a drop.
The more he heard Ke Yongzhu's "It's so hot" and "I'm so tired," the more annoyed he felt, thinking 'Couldn't you, this darn dragon, tone down the drama a bit?'
Ke Mingye led them to the aquarium.
Bai Ziling, hands clasped behind her back, lifted her red eyes through her sunglasses, curiously watching a dolphin leap out of the shimmering water, its tail carving a watery trail in the air;
Ke Yongzhu, hands clasped behind his head, spent more time secretly watching Bai Ziling's expression than the animals in the aquarium. Whenever Bai Ziling caught him staring, he would scratch his nose to cover it up.
The three walked in the aquarium corridor, which reflected a deep blue glow, feeling as if they were walking under the sea, surrounded by marine life on both sides.
The jellyfish swayed in the water, their fluorescent tentacles beckoning to them;
The sea turtle breathed against the glass wall, leaving behind a mist of white vapor.
Bai Ziling walked forward with light steps, occasionally reaching out to greet them, her pale hair gently swaying, her eyes filled with curiosity.
"Have you seen enough? Shall we go look at the pandas?" Ke Yongzhu asked casually.
Bai Ziling whispered, "I still remember after that panda disappeared, they never reopened the zoo here."
"Please, this is the capital; the zoo is definitely going to reopen. It's all the fault of that panda thief. Kafu just disappeared like that, and everyone was very sad."
Ke Yongzhu walked forward, speaking indifferently.
"Big brother seemed to have been investigated for stealing the panda too," Bai Ziling laughed.
Ke Yongzhu said, "Oh my, that guy stealing a panda isn't impossible, he definitely deserves to be shot."
Ke Mingye, listening to their conversation, complained, "That's because the rumors at his school are outrageous, even spreading rumors about stealing pandas. How is anyone supposed to stay there?"
"So, are we going to see the pandas next?" Bai Ziling asked, withdrawing her gaze from the ocean tunnel.
"Let's go, let's go," Ke Mingye, playing with his phone, said absentmindedly, "My task today is to make you two little ancestors comfortable, however you want to enjoy yourselves."
"Tch, if it weren't for dad being busy, I wouldn't have wanted to come with you," Ke Yongzhu said.
The three of them then arrived at the zoo, where Ke Mingye watched Ke Yongzhu leaning over the railing, looking at the panda enclosed in an air wall.
He cupped his cheeks with both hands, his expression very serious and his ears red. He was even whispering something to the panda as if it could understand him.
Bai Ziling, with her hands behind her back, looked up from under the brim of her straw hat and watched him with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, as if she had never seen Ke Yongzhu so silly before.
Ke Mingye, bored to death, tried reading Ke Yongzhu's lip movements in his mind.
"I didn't eat Kafu on purpose, it really didn't taste good, I won't eat you, don't be scared of me."
The panda, as if understanding, dropped the bamboo it was chewing, scurried up a tree, and clung to the trunk, shivering.
The zookeeper ran out to check the situation, unable to coax it down no matter how they tried.
Watching this scene, Ke Mingye was shocked, thinking this must be the presence of a dragon to scare the national treasure like that. So, before any chaos ensued, he quickly dragged Ke Yongzhu and Bai Ziling out of the zoo.
The sun set to the west, and the three walked on the road home, their long shadows stretched on the ground by the setting sun.
"Next time, I still want to see the pandas," Ke Yongzhu said.
Ke Mingye sighed, "They don't want to be seen by you, climbing trees to get away."
"What does that have to do with me?" Ke Yongzhu frowned.
Bai Ziling turned to look at him, "Do you really like pandas that much?"
"Not really."
"Is that so, then I like them too," Bai Ziling said.
They took the elevator home and gathered in the kitchen for dinner.
Ke Mingye shared the afternoon's events at the dining table with his big brother, also questioning whether he had indeed stolen a panda as the school rumors suggested.
Ke Yinzhi just held his chopsticks in thought, then sudden realization hit, and he opened his mouth to say that the student who spread rumors about him stealing the panda may have felt guilty and dropped out half a year later.
So, it seems he was wrongfully accused.
Experience tales at empire
Listening to his big brother's story, the corner of Ke Mingye's eyes twitched slightly, thinking to himself how this was different from claiming to have achieved "perfect stealth" in "Assassin's Creed" by killing everyone.
As he came back to his senses, the last streak of the sunset's glow withdrew from the earth, and the sky outside the window darkened.
This signified that the night life of the Deception Puppet had officially begun. While others led colorful night lives, the night life of a Deception Puppet involved either being on the run or on the verge of death, clearly a different level.
After dinner, Ke Yongzhu said he was going downstairs to buy a drink and left the apartment.
Seeing this, Ke Mingye silently rose from the couch and went back to his room, where he released the Deception Puppet from the windowsill.
It crouched on the rooftop of a nearby residential building, quietly observing the base of that duplex apartment building, but the elementary school student never appeared from there.
"Where is the elementary school kid?"
While wondering, Ke Mingye controlled the Deception Puppet to move, wandering over several nearby rooftops, but he still couldn't find a trace of Ke Yongzhu.
However, just as he crouched on the railing, surveying the streets below, a hoarse and cold voice suddenly came from behind.
"Hey, are you looking for me?"
The puppet turned its head in shock. In the darkness, it saw a pair of upright, dark red pupils, which seemed to flow with molten gold.
The boy shed his clothing and slowly emerged from the darkness, his form violently changing.
Dark horns sprouted from his head, his lower jaw was covered with a layer of black metal, and his shoulder blades slowly cracked open. Between splits of skin and flesh, a pair of pitch-black wings slowly unfolded. Layers of scales emerged from the surface of his skin, covering each robust limb, and his claws, sharp as knives, carved trenches in the ground.
"Since you've got the guts, let's play hide and seek..."
The eyes of the fledgling dragon gleamed in the dark; it slowly curled its lips into a mocking smile.
"Just you and me."