Upon clicking in, the list of heroes available for betting was a whopping 5,000 strong, all active vigilantes and wild superhumans in China.
According to the website's betting rules, each person could bet on up to two superheroes.
Among them, "Justice Knight Azure Crow," the one with the most bets, was no surprise, since Ke Youqing pretty much showed up in Huanjing wearing a mask every day, earning the reputation as a model worker with the worst public reviews; for the populace, his presence had already become too commonplace.
Upon reaching the second floor, Ke Mingye entered his room, locked the door, sat on his bed.
Figuring that it was almost a sure-win situation, he casually registered an account and navigated to the recharge interface. He used WeChat Pay to exchange the pitiful 100 yuan in his wallet into virtual currency, then entered the betting screen to filter names.
Before long, he picked out these three characters from the list: "Magical Girl Ash," "Divine Communicator · Black Wukong," and "Superhero · Blue Crow."
They corresponded to Bai Zini, who had just left the house, Bai Qiuwu, and Ke Youqing, respectively.
It was clear that under the names "Justice Knight Azure Crow" and "Divine Communicator · Black Wukong," there were a large number of bets. No need to mention Azure Crow, but Black Wukong was specifically sought out by the nefarious "Ghost Tree," so naturally, people assumed he would accept the challenge.
Betting on these two, even if one guessed correctly, wouldn't result in a particularly large sum of money received.
Therefore, Ke Mingye decisively placed all 100 yuan on the name "Magical Girl Ash."
And he prayed in his heart that Bai Zini wouldn't let him down, hoping she really wouldn't go off to buy stationery instead; since she was already out the door, she might as well follow her father and elder sister to the scene to fish in troubled waters.
As the "Successful Bet" pop-up appeared, Ke Mingye walked to his room on the second floor, locked the door, sat down on his bed, and clicked into the live streaming page.
At this moment, the protagonists of this event had already begun to appear one after another.
The cameraperson specialized in shooting such illegal videos, so instead of only focusing on the villain "Ghost Tree," the camera kept moving.
Waiting for... the appearance of any superhuman.
After a while, the camera captured a silhouette, the lens gradually zooming in and focusing.
It was the figure standing atop Huanjing Tower, under the night moon, where the orange glow radiating from the tower mingled with the clear moonlight, highlighting the lone figure standing atop the spire.
She lifted her small face, her demeanor clear and majestic. Her jet-black hair, like a cascading waterfall, lay behind her head, wearing a grey gothic dress, pleated with layers of petal-like ruffles, tied at the front with a bow, her right hand grasping an open umbrella held sideways.
That umbrella was her "Magic Wand."
The umbrella's surface shimmered with a mottled grey and black hue, patterned with a series of clustered grey ornaments, an overwhelming variety of flowers with roses appearing particularly intricate. In the middle of the umbrella's pattern, a circle of thorny vines stretched out, as if connecting each blooming flower together.
With just one glance at this umbrella, almost no one in Huanjing wouldn't be able to name its owner.
The moment the camera zoomed in, the real-time comments on "Ash Pigeon Net" exploded exponentially, and Ke Mingye could hardly see the screen anymore.
——"Woccccccc, it's Ash!"
——"Lady Ash, I'm your loyal fan!"
——"No way, had I known, I would've bet on her, isn't she usually only around on Saturdays and Sundays? I would've made a fortune if I'd bet on her just now!"
——"I thought the first one to show up would either be 'Qing Ya' or 'General Lingdong.' They're not going to bail, are they? I bet my entire fortune on them!"
Ke Mingye clicked into the settings and blocked ninety percent of the bullet comments, thinking to himself, can you guys not drool over a middle schooler please, and for the love of God, quit the betting already.
"Oh, I'm one of those bettors too, so I guess it's fine."
With that thought, he checked his earnings. Because he had bet all 100 yuan on "Magical Girl Ash," and since she had indeed made an appearance, he won big. His earnings from this bet were fifty times his original stake, amounting to five thousand yuan.
"At least I don't have to ask my old man for money now."
Muttering to himself, Ke Mingye continued to watch the livestream.
The dignified grey umbrella on display in the livestream is one of the iconic items belonging to Magical Girl Ash, and also a weapon she commonly uses in combat.
Being her own brother, Ke Mingye had researched her extensively online.
This umbrella, named "Cinderella," has a lower section that is a "Magic Wand," and once the upper part, the umbrella canopy, is opened, it continues to spread out layers of gray magical ripples. It is these ripples that create an upward thrust, enabling her to fly in the sky and offering tremendous mobility.
Moreover, by pointing "Cinderella's" tip at the enemy and pressing the umbrella handle, the tip automatically opens into a gun barrel.
According to some of the videos uploaded by her enthusiastic fans, Magical Girl Ash can not only shoot special magic-guided bullets far more powerful than ordinary ones from the umbrella, but when necessary, she can also fire a devastating energy beam from the tip that is said to be capable of obliterating almost anything.
Logically, that move should be Ash's trump card—she only used it once against a superhuman criminal appraised as "Catastrophic" by the Superhero Association. That time, she didn't just kill the criminal but also took out the top of a skyscraper.
Besides that, when facing superhumans skilled in close-quarters combat, she would pull out a magic-enforced longsword from the base of "Cinderella."
However, unlike most Magic Girls, Ash seems not adept at using "Magic Books" and the "Magic Cards" contained within them; she has rarely used a Magic Book. In contrast, most Magic Girls who have appeared in countries like Japan, Norway, France, and Denmark invariably rely heavily on the cards from their "Magic Books" as their main method of combat.
Because of her uniqueness, despite not appearing often, she has accumulated an incredibly horrifying amount of popularity on the internet.
"Please, what kind of magic disguise is this?"
Ke Mingye couldn't help but cover his face, peering through his fingers at the face of that "Magic Girl" in the livestream, feeling somewhat doubtful about life.
He thought to himself, no wonder no one at home could recognize her; after all, "Ash's" features were much more strikingly cold and beautiful, like an older Bai Zini by two or three years, with British-styled makeup, wearing a cold expression on her face.
The face that appeared before his eyes kept overlapping and colliding with his memory of what his sister actually looked like.
This naked feeling of shame was like a subtle electric current traveling from his head down his bones to the tips of his toes. If he had to make an analogy, it felt quite similar to watching his sister, whom he had grown up with, one day completely transform into an internet celebrity sensation, twisting her waist with contrived expressions while singing "Sunshine Rainbow Little White Horse" on TV.
Luckily, this so-called "Magical Girl Ash" was of the cold and stunning type, with few changes in her expressions and unpretentious movements, so no one at home could connect Bai Zini with her. Compared to those Magic Girls in London and Tokyo who scream slogans every time they appear, she seemed relatively normal.
At this moment, along with the screams of people on the scene and the moving livestream, this evening's second guest also made an appearance on camera.
The number of bullet comments on the Grey Pigeon Network livestream spiked once again.