Superman Termination Manual

Chapter 044 Enemy on Both Sides

Ke Mingye pulled out a second-hand mobile phone from the pocket of his school uniform jacket.

Last night, he had asked a classmate whose family owned a mobile phone shop to bring him a second-hand phone from the store. That afternoon, he met that classmate in a corner of the playground, took the phone, and paid him 600 out of the 5000 yuan he had earned from bets on the dark web.

Ke Mingye held the second-hand mobile phone, which didn't have a SIM card, and quietly watched the time. As the ten-minute cooldown period slowly passed, he was able to summon the Deception Puppet again.

According to the length of the film, there were four minutes left before it would end. Ke Yinzhi would then pretend to be a staff member and leave his younger brothers and sisters in the cinema hall.

Using a recently popular prank app, Ke Mingye sent two untraceable text messages to Bai Qiuwu's mobile number from the second-hand phone.

——"Sun Wukong, guess whether I am possibly across from Yandai Cinema City right now?"

——"The Italian pasta at this western restaurant is really good. I bet the movie you're watching is nice too, but don't forget our secret meeting on the overpass tonight. Of course, if you're free now, we could meet up sooner."

After sending the texts, Ke Mingye turned off the second-hand phone and put it in his pocket. Simultaneously, he took out his usual phone and sent a message to Ke Yongzhu on WeChat.

"Elementary kid, are you there? I forgot to bring paper, bring me a pack to the restroom."

"Are you sick in the head? Who goes to the toilet without paper," Ke Yongzhu's reply came back quickly.

"My stomach hurts, what can I do?" Ke Mingye replied as he took off his pants, "If you don't want to bring it, let Big Bro do it. Is he in the cinema? Tell him to hurry up and bring me a pack of paper."

"Big Bro is a Hayao Miyazaki fan, and he'll be annoyed if you interrupt his movie," Ke Yongzhu typed, "Haha, are you sure you want me to call him?"

Gazing at the message, Ke Mingye confirmed that Big Bro was still in the cinema. He silently pulled his pants back up, thinking pretending to have diarrhea might become an unforgettable experience for his lifetime.

He was really worried that Ke Xiaomo was in the restroom's shadow watching him at that moment; but if that were true, Big Bro wouldn't be called Ninja, he would be a peeping tom.

Bending over to type, Ke Mingye wrote: "Forget it, don't call Big Bro then. He'll nag me about it. If you really don't want to help, ask Big Sis to sneak it over, okay? Oh, and don't let her come into the men's restroom. Just have her throw the toilet paper in from outside. I can pick it up off the floor when no one's around and open the door to retrieve it."

His previous message had been a probe to see if Big Bro was still in the cinema hall, while now he was testing to see if Bai Qiuwu had been lured away by the two "anonymous texts" he'd sent.

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Ke Yongzhu replied quickly: "Sure, Big Sis was just about to go to the restroom anyway. Call her."

"When?"

Ke Mingye felt assured but, just to be safe, asked on his phone.

He knew well that Bai Qiuwu wasn't likely to really be going to the restroom but had found an excuse to search the western restaurant across from the cinema for the Deception Puppet after receiving his message.

Of course, Ke Mingye wasn't actually there waiting for her; meeting with Bai Qiuwu was scheduled for tonight.

"She just left the theater and hasn't reached the restroom yet. Call her," Ke Yongzhu typed.

"Okay," Ke Mingye replied.

He breathed a sigh of relief, opened the stall door, and moved to the edge of the washroom, outside the range of the cameras. He quietly watched the entrance to the women's restroom but never saw Bai Qiuwu appear.

Once sure, Ke Mingye went back into the restroom stall, closed the door, and summoned the Deception Puppet again. The 1.8-meter-tall, grey humanoid crouched on the ground, resembling a benign dog.

"Transform into my appearance."

As Ke Mingye undressed, leaving only his boxers, he mentally commanded the puppet.

The Deception Puppet's appearance and build changed rapidly. When he reopened his eyes, its appearance had become indistinguishable from Ke Mingye's.

Ke Mingye looked at the puppet that bore no difference from himself, as if looking in a mirror, and felt a sense of uncanniness, a disturbing creepiness.

Still, he calmly dressed the puppet in his clothes, ordered it to put on the pants, and then adjusted its hair slightly. This made its image look just like him when he had exited the cinema hall.

Finally, Ke Mingye took off his own shoes and let him put them on, while he himself sat on the toilet.

He took a deep breath and then ordered the Deception Puppet to walk out of the stall. After closing the stall door, it left the bathroom and turned a corner in the audience corridor, heading towards the entrance of Theater Three.

...........

..........

At this moment, at the entrance of Yandai Cinema City, Ke Yinzhi, dressed in a staff uniform, was bowing his head, noting something down in a small notebook. Then he looked up, surveying the street and the collapsed traffic light pole on the ground.

"A gray strange man threw dice from the traffic signal and self-destructed; ten naked men vanished at the end of the street... No sign of them after a search around the area, as if they had evaporated from the world. It seems that the Anomaly Control Bureau's file of oddities will have another entry these next few days."

He closed the notebook and tucked it into his uniform pocket, thinking, "What an unfortunate day. Should I report this to the Management Bureau first..."

"No, better to settle the family matters first, so I can work with peace of mind."

Thinking this, Ke Yinzhi was about to turn and enter the cinema when he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure sweeping past him. He lowered the brim of his hat to conceal his gaze.

After Bai Qiuwu had walked away, Ke Yinzhi slightly relaxed the brim of his hat, raising his eyes from under his hair.

"Qiuwu?"

He glanced sidelong at Bai Qiuwu's retreating figure, pondering, "Players possess the ability to read identities; she might have recognized me from inside the cinema, hence why she left early. Keep this possibility in mind, test her when I get home, and sort out the safety of the other little ones first."

Ke Yinzhi moved into the cinema, deftly put on a face mask at the corner, and pressed a tiny metal device on his fingertip against his throat; the device seamlessly merged with his skin.

He coughed softly into his fist, and the sound was starkly different from before.

Greeting the ticket attendant with a nod, he entered the dimly lit audience corridor. At the entrance, two other men dressed as staff were each holding a helmet, waiting for him. They followed Ke Yinzhi quietly, slowly heading towards Theater Three.

At this moment, in Theater Three, the movie "Spirited Away" had already ended.

Ke Yinzhi and the two "staff members" pushed open the door and stepped into the theater together.

They wore standard, commercial smiles and stood at the entrance of the theater, quietly waiting for the arrival of Ke Xiaomo, Ke Mingye, Ke Yongzhu, Bai Ziling, and Bai Zini.

Soon, Ke Xiaomo led his younger brothers and sisters towards the entrance of the theater.

"Sir, the audience in Theater Three for this showing has been selected as the lucky participants in our cinema promotion, and we would like to offer you a free chance to experience the 'brain imaging helmet'."

Ke Yinzhi spoke with a gentle and detached voice, reminiscent of the smell of disinfectant, seamlessly fitting the image of a staff member.

As his voice faded, not waiting for Ke Xiaomo to reply, Ke Yinzhi's fellow staff members had already approached the group of children, introducing the rather intimidating and technologically advanced brain imaging helmet, claiming it could capture their brain signals and convert them into real images.

Bai Zini was the first to clap her hands in delight, her eyes lighting up as she said it sounded really interesting.

Ke Mingye was playing with his phone, muttering about how they could stop having so many events because he wanted to go home and sleep.

Ke Yongzhu appeared indifferent, but his eyes kept sneakily glancing at the helmet, seemingly eager to try it on.

Bai Ziling didn't show much reaction, but every now and then, she lifted her red eyes from her phone screen to watch the staff demonstrate how to use the helmet.

Ke Xiaomo, watching their reactions, sighed softly and asked Ke Yinzhi, "Is this thing safe? Could it possibly damage the brain nerves or something?"

"Absolutely safe," Ke Yinzhi assured him, responding steadily, "Sir, I guarantee it."

Ke Xiaomo looked into his eyes for two seconds before saying, "Alright, then let's give it a try."