Chapter 191: Dark Boundless Realm 46
That night, Kui Xin was busy understanding her newly acquired forces. She used her smart brain to browse through Yefim’s businesses and financial accounts one by one, as well as accessing the blood of Yefim’s trusted confidants.
That night, Silverface and his group arrived at White Whale City through Night Cicada’s Spatial Vortex.
Night Cicada led Silverface and the others out of the vortex and casually said, “Alright, from here on it’s up to you. I’ll be commanding from the rear, so do your best.”
Eve placed great importance on the task of killing Kui Xin, so she had Night Cicada accompany them. The Innovation Technology Company in White Whale City was their base. Not only had Eve arranged for Night Cicada to follow, but she had also set up another ace in the hole.
“Reset, you will follow Silverface and Thorn Rose from now on. You need to be where they are. Understand?” Night Cicada said, staring at the shortest person in the group.
That was a boy… no, describing him as a boy might be more fitting.
He looked much younger than Silverface, with a silent and dazed expression, his dark eyes devoid of vitality.
“Understood,” said the boy, code-named Reset.
“If I can’t issue commands in a timely manner, you need to obey the instructions of ‘Empty Moon.’ She is the deputy commander for this operation,” Night Cicada tapped the table.
The metal door opened automatically, revealing a very tall woman standing at the entrance. She nodded at Night Cicada and walked into the room.
“Clang… clang… clang…”
With her steps came the heavy sound of metal striking metal, echoing in the room.
The deputy commander code-named Empty Moon was at least 1.8 meters tall, all her limbs were replaced with mechanical prosthetics. Her exposed eyes glinted a cold metallic gray-black, and her neck, hidden beneath a high collar, bore hints of silver-gray.
The sound of her footsteps was so heavy due to her mechanical leg modifications. Although her movements resembled those of an ordinary person, the weight of the metal was real; each step her metal prosthetics took on the floor imparted a significant sense of pressure.
“What is the volume ratio of your mechanical prosthetics?” Thorn Rose asked in surprise.
“Seventy-five percent,” Empty Moon replied flatly.
“Then doesn’t that mean only part of your organs and part of your torso remain intact?” Thorn Rose spoke frankly, “Very few people choose to have more than fifty percent of their body replaced. Isn’t it uncomfortable for you?”
Empty Moon simply stated two words: “Not at all.”
Fifty percent is a dividing line; surpassing this threshold means that a human’s appearance will resemble more of a machine than a person. Most individuals, even with mechanical modifications, do not opt for such extensive alterations.
Silverface interjected, “The stomach is an organ too. Has yours been replaced? Is your stomach now a bionic organ? How do you provide energy for your body if you don’t eat?”
Night Cicada gave Silverface a slap to silence him, then continued, “Empty Moon is not an extraordinary ability user. Her fighting strength comes from her combat intelligence and her mechanical prosthetics; don’t underestimate her.” He paused before adding, “We’re deploying Empty Moon to the task team to support Reset’s extraordinary ability.”
The members of Mechanized Dawn participating in this mission had already reviewed each other’s profiles, which helped them understand one another a bit more.
However, they did not know each other well, and this mission was their first cooperation, requiring time to adapt in terms of team composition and actions.
Reset’s extraordinary ability was called “Reset,” with an ability level of A. Its effect was to temporarily “erase” the abilities of extraordinary ability users within a certain radius around him, essentially nullifying their powers. However, his ability had a flaw: it could not differentiate between allies and enemies and could not be selectively activated.
If Reset unleashed his extraordinary ability, both Silverface and Thorn Rose would lose most of their combat capability. This was where Empty Moon’s importance emerged; lacking extraordinary abilities, she would remain unaffected and could continue with the assassination task. Moreover, with her mechanical modifications, Empty Moon had lost many of the human vulnerabilities, allowing her to engage in suicide missions if necessary—after all, if body parts were damaged, they could simply be replaced.
“What are we doing tonight?” Silverface asked. “We don’t even know where Lady Fortune is.”
“Hmmm… her location is indeed difficult to pinpoint. She’s not foolish enough to show up boldly on the street waiting for us to catch her,” Night Cicada pondered, stroking his chin before snapping his fingers.
A projection beam descended from the ceiling, displaying an interface from the dark web.
Night Cicada tapped on the screen, and the dark web interface immediately switched to an anonymous communication area.
“Have you seen this post? It’s titled ‘The Shadowless Organization is openly recruiting members.’ The Shadowless is the organization that kidnapped Popov’s young master a few days ago, and news media reported that the spokesperson for the Shadowless goes by the code name ‘Black Snake,’” Night Cicada said. “I suspect that even if the Shadowless is not affiliated with Lady Fortune, it has countless connections to her.”
“Reason? Your suspicion is completely unfounded. Are we really conducting an investigation in White Whale City just based on this news?” Thorn Rose frowned. “The information is too scant!”
“Our suspicion is, of course, based on reasons that you don’t need to know,” Night Cicada glanced at Thorn Rose.
Thorn Rose clicked her tongue: “Fine, I’m just a worker. Just pay the reward properly afterward.”
Silverface did not understand Night Cicada’s reasoning either. He knew about the players but did not know more detailed information.
Eve kept this aspect tightly under wraps. Researchers in relevant fields might know about the players, and senior personnel could be aware of their existence, but for the lower-level members, there was no need to know the truth of the world or why they were targeting “Black Snake” and “The Shadowless.” They just needed to be obedient tools.
The reasoning of Mechanized Dawn was quite simple.
Kui Xin killed a player—Kui Xin has been reported on the forum—Kui Xin is either Remover 233, Remover 777, or Proxy 129.
Based on the intel, Remover 777 is located in a country where the main language is English and is suspected to be male, so Remover 777 was temporarily excluded. The forum speculated that the renowned figure Black Snake had extensive connections with Remover 233, even suspecting them to be the same person. Black Snake used Chinese when posting, boasting a 99.9% probability of being Chinese, and Kui Xin had an Asian appearance.
As for Proxy 129, there is very little information available about him.
The leader of the Shadowless, Black Snake, shares the same name as the figure from the player forum.
The time frame of the Shadowless rising to prominence coincided quite closely with the time of Kui Xin’s demise, making the timing rather fitting.
In summary, it was concluded that Kui Xin was Remover 233, and the Shadowless was her affiliated organization. Even if Black Snake was not Kui Xin herself, he was certainly her teammate. She had come to White Whale City to seek refuge with Black Snake, who had established some kind of contact with Kui Xin in the First World.
To sum up—Eve had been played by Augus and Kui Xin.
Afterward, based on the new intel received, it was able to react in time, but it had indeed been deceived. It had allowed Kui Xin to escape due to the enemy’s deception and its own arrogance.
Eve did not panic; it remained calm and took some time for thorough self-reflection.
Kui Xin was a terrifying enemy, her most frightening aspect being her rapid growth. If she truly was a Remover, then in the future, her abilities would become all-encompassing through her growth and deprivation! She had to be dealt with decisively before she became stronger, completely eradicating her to prevent future harm.
Having come to this conclusion, Eve immediately decided to deploy its long-trained ace—Reset.
Considering that Kui Xin might have obtained more than one extraordinary ability, only Reset’s ability could counter her.
“What’s the task at hand?” Thorn Rose inquired. “White Whale City is so large; we can’t just search every inch of this place for Lady Fortune’s whereabouts, right?”
“I just mentioned that the Shadowless is recruiting members, didn’t I?” Night Cicada replied with a smile. “We could send someone to probe them. If we manage to place our people within, that would be fantastic.”
Empty Moon added, “As a new organization, we know very little about the Shadowless. If we can insert an undercover agent to obtain secret intelligence from this organization, it will be beneficial for us. If the Shadowless is indeed related to the defector we seek, this move could yield multiple benefits; it wouldn’t be a loss either way.”
“Uh… then should we submit resumes?” Silverface pointed at the text on the anonymous forum post, “Awakened individuals preferred; if the resume passes, an interview will be conducted. The interview means… the members of the Shadowless will have to talk to us face to face?”
“By the literal meaning, it does seem that way; the Shadowless intends for an in-person meeting,” Night Cicada said with interest. “It will certainly be lively then; the Shadowless is playing a big game of chess!”
Silverface, filled with curiosity, pressed for more information, “Why do you say the Shadowless is playing a big game?”
“Their recruitment action is highly suspicious—very suspicious. Conducting recruitment amidst such turmoil is bound to attract the attention of other forces and draw in some ill-intentioned individuals. Popov is furious at the Shadowless, and let’s not even mention the Investigation Bureau. The Shadowless conducting itself this way on their turf is practically challenging their authority.” Night Cicada explained, “And similar secret organizations like us are probably already keeping an eye on the Shadowless. Everyone wants to know just who this organization is and why it can be so brazen.”
Empty Moon said in a flat tone, “The opportunity to use the Shadowless’s member recruitment to test them and infiltrate their ranks is certainly something other organizations and forces would want as well.”
“That’s right.” Night Cicada said, “This is more like a dual fishing expedition. The Shadowless is fishing with this opportunity, and we are fishing for this big fish, the Shadowless. Other forces are sure to be thinking the same… everyone wants to fish. Ah, let’s just name our operation this time ‘Fishing Operation.’”
Thorn Rose murmured, “It sure is chaotic; it’s all becoming a mixed bag… What exactly does the Shadowless want?”
“No matter what they want, we have to do our best to achieve our mission goals. The first step is to confirm whether Lady Fortune is hidden within the Shadowless,” Night Cicada clapped his hands. “The next task is to send someone to submit a resume… Reset, you’ll handle this matter, no problem, right?”
Reset, who had remained silent during the conversation, lifted his head and said, “No problem.”
