Chapter 036 No Other Choice

June 20th, early morning at 6 o'clock.Ke Mingye slowly lifted his heavy eyelids, opened his eyes from the bed, and what came into view was a panel.

His eyes filled with the tears of sleepiness as he scanned the text on the panel.

[Daily tasks have been refreshed.]

[Daily Task One: Morning run of 3000 meters. (This task must be completed before 8 A.M. There are 2 hours remaining until the deadline.)]

[The reward for this task: A chance to spin the roulette wheel once.]

[Daily Task Two: Do one hundred pull-ups.] Searᴄh the ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

[The reward for this task: An attribute point to be added to "physical fitness."]

[Daily Task Three: None (There is a 10% chance each day that a special daily task will refresh. Upon completing this task, the reward will be much richer than for normal daily tasks.)]

[Note: Daily tasks will refresh at midnight the following day, please try to complete them before the deadline.]

"Yesterday, I raised my physical fitness to 16 points, a bit higher than that of an average teenager. I should be able to complete one hundred pull-ups if I rest a bit, but I still have school today, so I'll just do them during the breaks," Ke Mingye thought.

He stepped out of bed, put on his slippers, opened his bedroom door, and went into the second-floor washroom to freshen up. Afterward, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed downstairs, but then he suddenly turned his head and realized someone was sitting on the living room couch.

She was squatting on the couch in her pajamas, hugging a pillow, her head drooping on her slightly bent knees. Her eyes, unblinking, stared at the television, reflecting its glow.

Ke Mingye had first thought it was Bai Ziling when he heard the sound of the TV, but when his gaze landed on her face, he realized it was actually Bai Zini.

She woke up this early? Ke Mingye was a bit surprised, as she was usually the last of the seven children to get up, normally needing to be pulled out of bed by Bai Ziling otherwise Bai Zini's tardiness would surely rank first in her class.

"Staying up late just after the holidays started?" he asked as he approached.

"I can't sleep," Bai Zini replied without looking up or turning her head.

"Why can't you sleep?"

As Ke Mingye spoke, he glanced at her face and marvelled inwardly that, true to a Magic Girl, she showed no dark circles even after staying up late.

"Just can't sleep," Bai Zini paused, then said, "Right, brother, don't you still have a day of school before vacation?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Oh, I wanted you to keep me company watching TV," Bai Zini said casually.

Ke Mingye fell silent and followed her gaze to the TV. She was watching a movie called "Guling Street Young Murderers." Whenever Bai Zini was in a bad mood, she would turn to that film.

"Are you in a bad mood?" he asked.

"Not good," Bai Zini whispered softly.

"What happened?"

Ke Mingye asked knowingly, sitting down beside her and setting his backpack down, his attention returning to the television.

After a moment of silence, Bai Zini thought of an excuse and said, "A friend I play with a lot was attacked by a superhuman, and then I started thinking... what if that happens to you guys too?"

"Why worry about something so unlikely? Our family has been safe for so many years, have we ever had trouble?"

While Ke Mingye said this, he thought to himself: Little sister, each member of your family is a tough A-lister, you don't need to worry about them. It's okay to worry about me a little, since I'm pretty much like a zombie right now, but strictly speaking, I'm not really a part of your family.

He could guess it was probably the words he had spoken through the Deception Puppet the previous night that had unsettled Bai Zini. After all, it was her first time dealing with an enemy who knew her identity, and unlike Ke Mingye, she wasn't able to easily identify the true nature of every person in the house, so her worry about her family being involved was understandable.

"I'm off to school, and since dad and mom haven't woken up yet, you should head back to sleep quickly. Otherwise, if they find out you've stayed up late, they'll catch you and give you a good scolding," he said as he stood up from the couch and grabbed the strap of his backpack.

"Can I not go to school?"

Just as he stood up, Bai Zini's voice reached his ears, low as a whisper of insects. She buried her head even deeper, her bangs obscuring her face, making it hard to see her expression.

Startled, Ke Mingye paused, set his backpack back down, and sat down again. "Then, I'll just take a leave," he shrugged. "After all, it's the last day, and there's no particular class I must attend."

"Forget it..." Bai Zini changed her tune, "You should go, otherwise Mom will scold you."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No?"

Bai Zini squeezed out a sly smile, just like she usually did, as if she didn't want him to worry.

Ke Mingye looked at her, silently reached out, and ruffled her hair a bit. The girl's soft hair flowed through his fingers like water.

"The sky could fall, and your brother would be there to hold it up," he said calmly. "One brother isn't enough? You've got two. If something's bothering you, just talk to us. Big brother will be back in a couple of days, won't he?"

Bai Zini looked up from her knees at him, her face showed a rare ripple of emotion.

"Bro, why are you so nice all of a sudden today, possessed by a ghost or something?" she asked curiously.

"If you don't know, just ask. If you're not in a good mood, who am I supposed to pick on?"

Ke Mingye gave her a look and grabbed his backpack from the sofa to head out.

Bai Zini stuck up her middle finger from the couch, puffed up her cheeks, stuffed her chin back into her knees, and looked down at her TV.

Ke Mingye closed the front door and took the elevator. Inside the cold-tone cabin, he stared at the panel in front of him, lost in thought.

[Ultimate Goal: Exterminate the superhumans on Earth.]

[Time Limit for the Task: 363 days]

[A new feature has been updated in the upper right corner of the player's field of vision - "Leaderboard". It will be settled once a month, and the player who ranks first in the superhuman kill count leaderboard will get an additional reward.]

"So what can I do about it..."

Ke Mingye hung his head low, his hanging bangs hiding his eyes. The elevator door slowly opened, and the sky that greeted his eyes was just like any other morning's, presenting a lifeless dark blue.

He left his backpack with the owner of the supermarket opposite his house and ran three laps around the perimeter of Old Jingmai District. To him, whose physical fitness had been raised to 16 points, the three-kilometer route no longer required intermittent effort to complete.

Soon, he slowed down and used the back of his hand to wipe the sweat from his cheeks.

[You have completed daily task one and have earned a chance for a lottery spin. Would you like to draw now?]

"Draw," he whispered.

At the command, a circular wheel unfolded, with intersecting red lines dividing it into six areas. Each area was marked with text and icons.

The prizes represented by areas one through six are as follows.

[One, 1000 Mall Coins;]

[Two, 500 Experience Points;]

[Three, a travel voucher (allows travel to any city in the world, returning to the original place after one day);]

[Four, a Magical Girl Transformation Experience Card (after using, you can wear a magical dress for a short time and obtain a special Magic Wand);]

[Five, a friend addition card (after using, you can send a friend request to a player with a specific serial number without meeting them);]

[Six, thank you for participating.]

Ke Mingye walked forward, checking the rewards for each area of the wheel.

"Not four, not four, not four..."

He prayed in his heart and pressed the "Start" button beneath the wheel.

The wheel then began to spin like a windmill, with the upward-facing pointer remaining still. At last, the area that the pointer hovered over was revealed as "Area Two."

Ke Mingye secretly breathed a sigh of relief and walked into the "7·Seven" supermarket opposite his house to get his backpack back from the owner.

[Congratulations, you have received the prize from Area Two: 500 Experience Points.]

[Your level has been raised to Lv.3 (0 points/1500 Experience Points), and you have earned one attribute point to allocate freely.]