Superman Termination Manual

Chapter 236: Chapter 160 Dice Monster Strikes Superhero Tower (Part 1)

July 9th, late afternoon, Huanjing city center, Hongdeng Commercial District.

The densely packed electronic billboards were arranged as tightly as a deck of cards on a table, and the camera, moving downwards, revealed a modern street bathed in the pollution of neon lights.

The street was noisy with people’s voices, occasionally punctuated by shouts and exclamations, as if they had seen something unbelievable.

At this moment, a figure in a red and blue battle suit was walking through the crowd, conspicuously out of place, head bowed playing with a cellphone while carelessly making his way toward the Association Building.

Wearing a superhero costume in broad daylight on the street, especially when it was a rookie hero who had been all over the media recently.

It had been less than a week since he had debuted in front of the media, and the manufacturers had not even had time to launch the Blue Owl’s CosPlay costume, let alone have imitators at this point in time.

Thus, everyone could deduce that the one walking on the street was definitely Blue Owl himself. Naturally, this scene attracted many onlookers, as well as the constant flashing of cameras.

But why Blue Owl had so conspicuously appeared in front of the public, nobody knew.

Some quickly guessed that he was about to join the Superhero Association; others immediately said it was something any fool could see; while some laughed, hoping that upon joining the Association, he wouldn’t be coerced by capital to become one of those “idol heroes” who knew only how to make money through marketing but didn’t do real work—it was too common these days.

However, that person was soon drowned out by disdain, for Blue Owl had indeed solved a few criminal cases, distinctly different from those heroes who relied on hype to make their debut.

Regardless of the public discussion, Blue Owl was just scrolling through Weibo while walking on the street. occasionally waving his hands at pedestrians blocking the way ahead, signaling them to step aside. Disturbing the traffic order was not good.

Before long, he passed through the Hongdeng Commercial District and entered the Superhero Association Building located in the center of the city. Looking up, the tower soared into the sky, its top out of sight.

At the moment, the projection giant screen of the Superhero Association Building was introducing the latest rookie hero team of the week—”Platinum Wing Squad”.

However, there weren’t many people on Hongdeng Commercial Street who looked up for a second glance at the projection screen. Instead, their attention was fixed on Blue Owl standing in front of the building.

Blue Owl shrugged his shoulders, pocketed his cellphone into the pocket of his battle suit, and walked into the first floor of the Superhero Tower, showing a business card with Che Zhengchen’s name to the reception staff.

With one hand on his hip, he spoke, “I’m here to see someone, Che Zhengchen.”

The well-trained staff was obviously used to such cases and simply nodded calmly, extending an arm to the right, her voice devoid of emotion as she spoke.

“Hello, Commander Che Zhengchen has already scheduled your appointment in advance. Access to the forty-fifth floor of the Association Building has been unlocked for you. Please turn right to the commissioner-specific elevator and select the specific floor number on the elevator control panel.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Hearing this, Blue Owl left the business card at the front desk, turned, and entered the glass wall elevator at the end of the first floor. The numbers on the control panel had automatically been selected for him, and so the elevator doors slowly closed, and the car ascended.

Through the glass walls of the elevator, one could glimpse this cold steel city, looking down upon the myriad skyscrapers and their billboards displaying various fashion and beauty brands.

In a short while, the elevator doors opened outward, revealing a corridor carpeted in red, and the first room along the hallway was an office.

The person sitting behind the desk put down their pen and lifted their eyes from the documents, smiling and waving at him.

Blue Owl surveyed the man for a moment—gold-rimmed glasses, pompadour hairstyle, a gentle and refined demeanor, and crows’ feet at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. Without a doubt, this was Che Zhengchen.

So, he stepped into the office,

“Close the door, please,” Che Zhengchen spoke warmly, his tone matching that of their previous phone conversation.

Hearing this, Blue Owl casually closed the door, then approached the desk, pulled up a chair, and sat down, resting his arms on the desk like a primary school student sitting attentively in class.

Then, tilting his head, the red and blue beak-like mask followed suit, “Uh, so what’s up? Are you sure you want to agree to my terms, meaning I’ll appear in front of you in this battle suit from now on.”

“I’ve thought about it, and I will help you enter the Superhero Association while keeping your identity hidden.”

“At this point, I suppose I should say ‘thank you’,” Blue Owl paused, “but actually, I’m more curious—your reasoning for doing this?”

“Simple, you remind me of my son.”

“Your son?”

“Che Maochen.”

Blue Owl lifted his eyes from behind his glasses, looking at him puzzledly, “Huh? Who is he? You can’t possibly trust me unconditionally just because I resemble your son in character, right?”

Che Zhengchen gave a slight nod, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses, “My son was killed by Timekeeper five years ago, dismembered into twenty-three pieces, and hung from the Superhero Association’s high-altitude work platform.”

Blue Owl was stunned for a moment, “The gray pigeon?”

Che Zhengchen smiled faintly, “That’s right, the superhero Gray Pigeon was my son.”

Upon hearing this, Blue Owl was momentarily taken aback before he regained his composure.

He thought to himself that for Che Zhengchen to talk about that incident so calmly, one could tell his mental fortitude was exceptional, or perhaps he had been tormented over the past five years to the point of acceptance.

“In these five years, I have not been able to come to terms with it, not even for a moment.”

As he spoke, Che Zhengchen pointed to the white hair on his head, his face still wearing a smile, “So when I saw you, I was reminded of the night my son first brought up his wish to become a superhero.”

Blue Owl silently stared at him, offering no response.

“You are a lot like my son, similar in character, similar in behavior, both of you debuted imitating Qing Ya, both proposed to keep your identities hidden from the outside world, even from within the Association,” Che Zhengchen said, his head lowered, speaking softly.

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I might even wonder if he came back from the dead… and returned to my side.”

Blue Owl shrugged, “But I’m not your son, I hope you’re not letting your emotions get the better of you. Allowing someone like me, with an unknown background, into the Superhero Association is not the style of a Commander.”@@novelbin@@

Che Zhengchen was silent for a while before suddenly saying, “Have you ever thought, your actions might attract the Timekeeper, just like my son did?”

“Of course. It would be too fake to say I haven’t thought about it.”

“But you still put on this combat suit?”

“Right.”

“That’s enough. Just from this point alone, I am willing to trust you,” Che Zhengchen said decisively, meeting Blue Owl’s gaze.

“Starting tomorrow, you are a member of the Superhero Association. Don’t worry about your identity issues; I will handle the higher-ups. With my seniority in the Superhero Association, I should be able to keep you safe.”

Blue Owl was taken aback, “Just like that?”

“Yes, just like that,” Che Zhengchen said with a smile, “By the way, you will be assigned inside the Platinum Wing Squad, contending for the position of team leader. If you perform even better, this squad might be renamed ‘Blue Owl Squad…’

He was speaking when suddenly the lights in the office changed from a cool tone to a dangerous and dazzling red.

Che Zhengchen slightly furrowed his brows, his gaze shifting to the right, where the projector hung on the wall suddenly activated, projecting an image onto the wall opposite.

On the projected image, a strange humanoid form, glowing with a gray halo, was clinging to the surface of the Superhero Tower, sticking to the glass curtain wall above with webs shot from a device on its wrist.

Then, holding onto the tenacious web, it spun and whirled upwards in mid-air, hurtling towards the top of the tower with an unbelievably quick speed.

At the same time, a deafening warning sound erupted in the office, bathed in red from the lights.

“Warning, warning, warning—!”

“Detected C-ranked fugitive ‘Dice Monster’ invading Superhero Association Building—! Detected C-ranked fugitive ‘Dice Monster’ invading Superhero Association Building, all superheroes please prepare for battle—!”

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