Superman Termination Manual

The puppet squatted on the handrail of the rooftop, turned around unhurriedly, and stared at the dragon hiding in the shadows.

It raised an eyebrow that didn't exist, fell silent for two seconds, and then slowly spoke:

"Oh, what a surprise to find a dragon here, how unusual."

"Aren't you waiting around here because you know who I am?"

The voice of Calamity Dragon was deep, its brow bones slightly arched, as if it was raising its eyebrows.

"You can even speak Chinese; truly a rare species."

The puppet said, tilting its head slightly, locking eyes with the dragon. The hollow eyes reflected a pair of crimson, beast-like vertical pupils that narrowed.

"Heh, got any last words?" the dragon sneered disdainfully from the shadows.

"Of course, Dragon Baby, may I inquire about your distinguished surname."

"Dragon Baby?"

The Calamity Dragon snorted coldly and crawled slowly out from the shadows. Moonlight slanted across its body, and every sharp, distinct part of it glinted with a cold edge.

"Are you ready to be devoured by me, and let's see who the 'baby' really is," it rasped out.

"To be fair, I am a flammable object, and I taste terrible, might even explode. What if I end up ruining your stomach, or worse, blowing up your insides—what then?"

The puppet paused, raising a finger, "How about I pick out a nice ingredient for you? That superhero named Qing Ya isn't bad. You could also spit out a flame to roast it before eating."

It spread its hands, "Char-grilled crow, delicious to the taste buds."

"I'm not that idle; I only eat criminals, and just so happens, you're one," said the Calamity Dragon proudly, casting a devilish shadow against the wall behind it.

"My goodness, didn't your mother teach you not to eat just anything?"

The puppet sighed, twirling its finger around its ear, "Besides, 'criminal,' how do you even define what a 'criminal' is? The world of children is so black and white. Everyone has their own positions—there's no clear-cut line between good guys and bad guys."

"If you look ugly, you're a bad guy."

"Damn, that hit deep. I'm genuinely hurt now."

The puppet clutched at its heart and took a deep breath, "Then, shouldn't I spout some villainous lines, like... 'I advise you better not to lay your hands on me, I've got something on you?'"

"Got something on me?" The Calamity Dragon cocked its head, "What's that supposed to be?"

"That is..." the puppet paused, lowering its voice, "I know you ate a panda."

The young dragon was momentarily stunned, taken aback: "Really now, how did you know?"

Ke Mingye thought to himself, how could I not know? I was at the zoo this afternoon, and I saw every bit of your lip-reading with that panda, okay?

"I just know, and I've got another hold on you."

As the puppet spoke, it lowered its right hand, shot a web into the shadows, and the web, like a hand, firmly stuck to a dress that Ke Yongzhu had just taken off. The puppet then pulled it back.

Grabbing the dress in its hand, it shook it, "If I throw away your clothes, then you're going to have to go home naked, poor thing. You might get a spanking from momma..."

Before it could finish, the puppet's speech abruptly stopped. It felt a chill on its arm, and turning its head, it saw that the entire right arm was gone.

"Uhh, Dragon Baby, where's my hand?"

The puppet froze for half a second, then shook its remaining arm at the Calamity Dragon. It looked up to see its right arm already in the young dragon's mouth.

"Just the smell alone is awful, tastes like plastic..."

The Calamity Dragon said, slowly spitting out the arm, and then, using its horn, it lifted the dress and carefully placed it back in the shadows, fiercely protective like a dog with its food.

Without that dress, it really would have to return home bare. Later, after Bai Wenna inventoried her wardrobe, an extensive family meeting would have to be called to resolve the issue.

The puppet withdrew the web shooter into its bag and stared at its amputated arm, muttering dejectedly.

"Great, this is the nightlife of us Deception Puppets, eh? Either an arm is lost or a head. Do you all have such exciting night lives?"

"You really do talk too much; I'm done playing," the Calamity Dragon declared, its body glowing with a dark red hue at each point, and fine steam started to jet out from the gaps in its scales.

The next moment, a dreadful pressure overwhelmed the puppet, leaving it frozen in place, trembling, unable to move.

"Dragon's presence?" Ke Mingye thought, having seen in some movies that members of the Dragon Clan could use their aura to command lower life forms.

"Come here and tell me who you are, what you're really up to," ordered the dragon.

"Stand still, don't speak," Ke Mingye commanded.

The Deception Puppet fell from the railing to the rooftop floor, its hollow eyes shrouded in dark red. It opened and closed its mouth sporadically, mumbling something incoherent.

"I am... Ke, Ke, Ke, Ke."

Its mouth opened and closed, stuck on the syllable "Ke," repeating it mechanically.

"Ke?"

The Calamity Dragon paused, wondering if this ridiculous thing might be Ke Yinzhi in disguise; his brother was nuts enough to possibly do it...

The puppet raised its left hand to cover its mouth, its legs trembling as it stood in place.

Pressing down its brow bones, the Calamity Dragon commanded further, "You said you're Ke... what?"

Hearing this, the puppet suddenly dropped its left hand, and its legs stopped shaking.

"I am Conan Doyle," it said with an easy tone, "the author of 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.' You must have heard of me. I think even a dragon would enjoy Sherlock Holmes."

The calamity dragon paused for a moment, then its face darkened, and the dark red in its pupils intensified.

"Kneel," it commanded, spreading its dragon might.

"I won't kneel, I just won't. What can you do to me?"

With one hand on its hip, the puppet leaned flirtatiously against the railing, propping the side of its head on its broken arm, like a beauty on the bed waiting for the favor of her king.

Seeing this, the dragon's brow bones raised again.

After a silent moment, it said, "You are not human, not even an animal, otherwise such a weak creature should obey my commands easily."

The Deception Puppet slowly lifted its head, grinning, "Yeah, they call me 'strange thing.' We'll be seeing a lot of each other in the future."

"There will be no future for you; you will die here," the dragon said, every word deliberate.

"There will be a future," the puppet spread its hands, "Remember, little dragon, on July 4th, you may very well need my help. The feeling of being betrayed by a loved one is really terrible, isn't it? I'll come to console you then. Just don't start crying, okay? How embarrassing would it be for a noble dragon to shed tears?"

No sooner had it finished speaking than its head and neck split apart.

The calamity dragon, at some point, had grasped the puppet's head in its claw and casually breathed out a mouthful of black fire, burning the teetering body to ashes.

Holding up the head, the dragon spoke with frivolous tone, "Got anything else to say? Go on."

The puppet's head hung with eyes drooping, and the smile at the corners of its mouth slowly faded into silence.

The calamity dragon sighed with boredom and was about to breathe fire on the head to burn it as well when suddenly a ghostly voice reached its ear.

"Actually, I can keep talking."

The head spoke calmly, lifting its face from its claw, a sly smile on its lips.

"Ah?" Explore more adventures at empire

The calamity dragon was stunned, then bounced the puppet's head on the ground like a ball, catching it back in its claw, bouncing it and catching it again.

It seemed to be experimenting to understand what this thing was made of, and why it was so peculiar.

The puppet said: "Could you treat my head with a little respect? I'm not a basketball to be played with like this."

As the calamity dragon continued to bounce the head up and down in its claw, it complained, "What bad luck, just out for a stroll and I run into such a weird thing."

"I'm the one with bad luck, okay?" complained the puppet's head, going up and down. "I've met a dragon who plays with my head like a ball. And just to correct you, I'm a 'strange thing,' not a weird thing."

The calamity dragon also sighed and clutched the puppet's head between its claws, about to split the head in half with a bit of force.

"Hey, hey, you're going to crack my skull. Aren't you even a little curious about what will happen on July 4th?"

"Not curious."

As it spoke, the young dragon split the puppet's head in half and then spewed out a torrent of flames, burning the skull and brains clean away.

Even the eerie laughter that usually accompanied the puppet's destruction was silent, as if the flames swallowed everything, not even a muffled thud could be heard.

.......

.......

At the same time, in another corner of Old Jingmai District.

[Congratulations, you have completed the first node of the main quest "The Last Two Calamity Dragon Seeds" – Successfully approach "The Calamity Dragon – Ke Yongzhu" in disguise.]

[The next node of the main quest is: "The Other Dragon" — Gain the trust of the calamity dragon and use its kind's sense of smell to locate the other calamity dragon seed in the world.]

[Node Reward Obtained: 2000 Experience Points, 8 attribute points, 2000 Mall Coins.]

[Your current level is: Lv.8 (4000 points/4500 points)]

[You have a total of 8 spare attribute points; please allocate them promptly.]

[You have allocated 8 attribute points between "Physical Fitness" and "Neurological Reaction", with the following changes—Physical Fitness: 60 points → 64 points; Neurological Reaction: 10 → 14 points]

Ke Mingye distributed the attribute points while cursing under his breath.

"Sheesh, just kids," he thought. "Others can be tricked into a few words, Qing Ya due to strong will, and kids because they are too single-minded. In a sense, this father and son pair do resemble each other."

He mused over the reasons for his likely instant defeat: It wasn't just the lack of physical fitness or the inability to see the actions of the young dragon, but also a lack of neurological reaction...

No matter how fast the movements are, if the mind can't keep up, it's futile.

Ke Mingye sighed in frustration and then remembered something.

"Wait, I think I forgot to mention something. If I directly bring up that his elder sister is a vampire, might the kid be a bit more patient with me?"

Ke Mingye had this thought because, from his observations, Ke Yongzhu at home seemed to be only close to his sisters, Bai Ziling and Bai Qiuwu.

Beyond that, even if you say to the young dragon, "Your dad is Qing Ya, your elder brother is the Black Judge, and your second sister is Magical Girl Ash," the kid would probably just respond with an "Oh" and come back with, "So what? What's it to me?"

Ke Mingye rested his arm behind his head and opened the quest tab, eyeing the "The Other Dragon" node quest and pondering.

"Come to think of it, there's another calamity dragon in the world... The young dragon has A+ level combat power even at its juvenile stage. What if the other calamity dragon has evolved to 'Complete Form'? Wouldn't it have at least the S-rank fighting power like Diviner Zeus?"

Chilled by the thought, Ke Mingye made a resolute decision.

"It seems I have to pry the information out of the young dragon quickly. Only he and the Ninja Sect can find the second dragon in the world..."