Chapter 237: The Balance at Both Ends 18
Tang Guan said Kui Xin is a young person, but in reality, he himself is also young; the term “older” is merely relative.
Kui Xin was surprised that Tang Guan could say such a thing, but upon reflection, he seemed to have always been this kind of person, very kind-hearted. If he were not kind, he wouldn’t have sent her messages on the Kraken or come to Tonglin City, a place fraught with danger.
“What about your family?” Kui Xin asked, posing the question herself.
“If the home I rely on for survival is destroyed, then everything is meaningless; it doesn’t matter whether I live or die,” Tang Guan smiled and said. “I’ve long been prepared for it.”
Tang Guan was always bracing for the worst. Since being captured and imprisoned by Mechanized Dawn, he faced the threat of death every day. He had imagined what his parents would do if he died; sometimes, he felt a sense of relief—thankfully, he wasn’t an only child; he still had a younger sister, who would be there for their parents in the future.
But after feeling relieved, a deeper sense of guilt surged up, gnawing at his heart and preventing him from finding peace.
Kui Xin stared at Tang Guan for a long time before finally nodding lightly. “You’re right. Then let’s act based on the situation; I’m counting on you.”
“And that’s what I want to say to you, too… I’m counting on you.” Tang Guan said, “Whether it’s Remover 777 or the greater crisis birthed by the two worlds, it will likely be up to you… to all of you.”
Kui Xin didn’t want Tang Guan to sacrifice himself… She had seen too much filth, so a pure soul was rare and precious, sparkling like gems hidden in a dark swamp. If Tang Guan died, the world would lose a shining gem forever.
“Wait, maybe you won’t have to,” Kui Xin pondered for a moment and suddenly had a new idea. “If Remover 777 wants to go to the Dark Realm… then let him.”
Tang Guan exclaimed, “You want to allow him to act freely, treat him as an experiment? To see what changes happen once he enters the Dark Realm?”
Kui Xin nodded solemnly.
“The location of the Dark Realm’s arrival isn’t limited to Tonglin City, yet Remover 777 chose to come here selectively,” Kui Xin said. “I can tentatively assume that Tonglin City is a special location for him.”
Tang Guan replied, “What if his actions trigger negative changes in the Dark Realm…”
“Changes may occur, but they probably won’t be severe,” Kui Xin said. “My intuition isn’t warning me… Maybe it’s worth a try. To confirm this further, we may need to speak with Remover 777.”
“Are you sure he can be communicated with?” Tang Guan asked.
“After all, he’s not a real madman,” Kui Xin responded.
“You can take me along,” Tang Guan said. “It’s likely there will be combat.”
Kui Xin turned and called out, “Yu Hansue.”
As Yu Hansue appeared, Kui Xin said, “I’m going to find Remover 777 right now.”
“Now? Sure.” Yu Hansue immediately replied, “Let’s set off.”
“Not together; I’m going to find him alone. You temporarily act with White Dove,” Kui Xin said. “I won’t be long; I’ll be back soon.”
“Why alone?” Yu Hansue stepped forward, asking anxiously, “If there are more of us…”
“Precisely because there are many of us that Augus won’t likely reveal those secrets,” Kui Xin explained. “He cares about the purity of the game and only wants to communicate with me alone.”
Yu Hansue softly asked, “But can you understand such heavily accented English?”
Kui Xin froze momentarily. “Almost forgot… Let him type it into the translation software; that should work, right?”
Tang Guan looked at Kui Xin with a strange expression, clearing his throat awkwardly, stifling a laugh.
Yu Hansue looked at Kui Xin with concern, unsure whether she was worried for her safety or her English comprehension.
“I’ll go first; don’t concern yourselves with what happens on my side. If something unexpected occurs, I’ll inform you. If something stirs up over on my end, don’t rush to rescue,” Kui Xin instructed, before jumping off the roof.
As she was about to land, she activated Shadow Transition, standing firmly on the ground, raising her arm to wave goodbye to Yu Hansue and Tang Guan, then walked into the deepening night.
Yu Hansue muttered to herself, “So brave.”
Tang Guan nodded lightly in agreement.
Yu Hansue thought, such a pity she has never been a brave person throughout her life; most of her considerations were about herself.
If it weren’t for Kui Xin being a primary participant in the Dark Realm task, Yu Hansue would never have come to Tonglin City to get involved; she didn’t want to be in the spotlight and had no control desires like Kui Xin. But with Kui Xin here, Yu Hansue felt she couldn’t not come; since participating in Crimson Soil, she had lost a lot and didn’t want to lose more.
Tang Guan said, “Let’s go, perimeter patrol.”
“Oh, okay.” Yu Hansue assessed Tang Guan and agreed to his suggestion.
While walking along the road, Kui Xin contacted He Kangshi through her mobile phone.
“How’s the situation?”
He Kangshi replied, “As per the boss’s instructions, I sent out a message; Augus just said he’s waiting for 233 to come find him.”
“What about the players?”
He Kangshi said, “The ones who teamed up with me for night patrol have already retreated to the perimeter. We don’t plan to leave tonight; if any xenomorphs emerge, we also don’t intend to let them invade the city.”
Kui Xin felt a sense of reassurance. “Good, stay vigilant.”
Then, Kui Xin contacted Su Rong. “Have you arrived?”
“I’m already here, Xin Xin. I’m wandering nearby; should I hurry over to meet you?” Su Rong asked.
Su Rong had started school; she originally had evening classes today, but she took a sick leave from her homeroom teacher and returned home early, splitting off her Shadow Double to come to the Old Industrial Zone.
“No need; you can’t help much, save your strength,” Kui Xin said.
“Xin Xin, I want to try to see if I can get the Shadow Double to enter the Dark Realm…” Su Rong said. “My senses and those of the Shadow Double are connected; going in might let me see inside. If the Shadow Double disappears, I can condense a new one; it won’t take much time to get back to the Industrial Zone.”
This thought had been circling in Su Rong’s mind for quite a while, but she hadn’t dared to implement it. The Dark Realm was like a black hole, devouring everything. Although she had started school, she would occasionally send out her Shadow Double to patrol the Old Industrial Zone to check the situation and knew a lot about what was going on there.
“You can give it a try,” Kui Xin replied. “For example, try entering with just a hand first.”
Su Rong immediately said, “Okay! I’ll go do it now!”
Under the cover of night, a black, mud-like substance swiftly traversed the Old Industrial Zone, quickly arriving at the location of the tobacco factory.
A few days ago, it had been filled with cars and people, but now both had disappeared. The surroundings were very empty; from a distance, the tobacco factory looked like a haunted house. In a way, it was indeed haunted.
The Shadow Double glided to the edge of the tobacco factory’s wall, merely ten centimeters away from the wall.
After carefully sensing for a moment, the Shadow Double detected nothing unusual. If Su Rong hadn’t witnessed those experimental specimens and animals being swallowed into this building and disappearing, she would never have believed that this ordinary-looking tobacco factory was so sinister.
Su Rong remotely controlled the Shadow Double to stretch out an arm, cautiously trying to touch the wall with its dark, pitch-black palm.
As the fingertips made contact with the wall, a sudden chill began to spread from her fingers… Something was off!
The Shadow Double lacked tactile sensation; how could it feel coldness from the wall?
Before Su Rong could control it to execute the next action, the Shadow Double’s fingertips suddenly disintegrated, followed by its arm, and finally a puddle of black mud; the entire Shadow Double dissolved into the air, its speed so fast that even Su Rong didn’t react in time to what happened, and she lost connection with the Shadow Double.
She stood there dumbfounded, her mouth agape, unable to comprehend for a while.
Seconds later, Su Rong quickly typed a message and sent it while conjuring another Shadow Double to head back to the Old Industrial Zone.
Kui Xin received the message: “Xin Xin, something’s wrong; it seems the Dark Realm can dissolve extraordinary abilities!”
At the same moment, Kui Xin halted her steps and looked ahead.
“You arrived so quickly, Ma Yi,” Augus said. “Quicker than I expected…”
Kui Xin interrupted him coldly. “Stop.”
She then took out her prepared mobile phone, the screen already displaying a translated passage. Technology was increasingly advanced; whether translating from Chinese to English or English to Chinese, the translations were now remarkably accurate.
Augus’s eyesight was certainly not poor, and he quickly read what was on Kui Xin’s mobile screen.
The first line read: “I can’t understand your English, just use the translation.”
The second line was a question: “Do you want to enter the Dark Realm? Why?”
Augus smirked, about to speak, but suddenly remembered that the person opposite him couldn’t understand what he was saying. His smile faltered, appearing somewhat sullen, but he could only take out his own device and typed something to translate as well.
“Since you’re so curious, why don’t you come in with me and see?”
Kui Xin’s heart skipped a beat. “I refuse.”
“I think you must go,” Augus’s screen displayed, “This is inevitable; you can’t escape or refuse.”
Kui Xin mulled over his words: “What do you mean?”
“Literally,” Augus replied, “What is your progress on the Dark Realm task? Have you reached over fifty percent yet?”
Kui Xin temporarily summoned the system panel to take a look.
“[Task Progress]: 90%.”
Just as Augus said, the progress had seen a remarkable jump; Kui Xin didn’t even realize that the progress bar had unexpectedly risen so much.
“Are you silent, then that means you’ve agreed?” Augus laughed softly. “You’re very close to the correct answer; you’re a clever person. You must have made hypotheses and guesses. Standing at the top of the players, you know more. What you have hypothesized and guessed might very well be correct, but you still need to verify the truth to determine if the truth is exactly as you expected. Now you are just a small step away from the truth; although it’s just a small distance, you need to take a big step, which means—you must go in.”
Kui Xin tested the waters: “Your task progress bar isn’t 100% either.”
“That’s right; that’s why I came here to verify,” Augus’s eyes held a profound meaning, “By coming here, we have already taken the initiative. While others remain clueless about future choices, the question has already presented itself to us; we can make a choice ahead of them, which is an advantage.”
“Advantage… Are you referring to that Red and Blue Gem choice?” Kui Xin asked.
“Yes, others haven’t received it, but we have; that’s the advantage,” Augus replied. “Now the choice is in front of you; you also need to make a choice, either enter the Dark Realm with me or cowardly avoid it.”
The Phantom was an instigator, and Augus was also an instigator.
Their call to action was the same, urging Kui Xin to enter the Dark Realm.
Kui Xin realized that the only path to the truth lay in entering; there were no other options.
Once inside, one might be devoured, unable to exit; Tang Guan had gone in and might never return, and there would be no way for him to relay messages. To obtain the most accurate answers, she had to enter herself.
“You need to enter right at midnight zero point, so you need to wait here and don’t enter now,” Kui Xin stared into Augus’s eyes. “Why wait until the zero point?”
“Zero is a special number, just like seven,” Augus replied. “Zero represents emptiness, the beginning and the end, and represents non-existence. Entering at midnight zero, you can take this as a sense of ritual; there’s no other reason, but if I had to pick a time to enter, I would definitely choose midnight zero.”
“I understand now,” Kui Xin lowered her head.
Midnight wasn’t mandatory; it was merely Augus’s personal preference to choose zero point.
She felt that he wasn’t lying; she didn’t sense any deceit from Augus. He might not bother to lie. Throughout their exchanges, he had never lied about “Remover 233.” On the contrary, Remover 233 had been telling lie after lie. Augus was oblivious to being played, thinking that it was Kui Xin he had been in contact with all along.
Kui Xin took a step back.
“Wait,” Augus looked at her with interest. “Are you leaving? Not planning to fight me?”
“If you want to fight, I can oblige. But I feel like you don’t really want to fight,” Kui Xin coldly replied. “Since you don’t, then don’t test it, or you may have to run away in disgrace.”
“But I feel like you’re the one wanting to fight, just that my words earlier made you change your mind. You’ve placed the priority of the Dark Realm above mine,” Augus said in a deep tone. “A wise choice; our choices align. So, do you want to enter the Dark Realm?”
“No,” Kui Xin replied.
A spatial vortex opened behind Kui Xin, and she stepped in, disappearing from sight.
Augus stared at where she had vanished, pondering for a long time with his eyes cast down, furrowing his brow before loosening it again.
“I thought she was a formidable enemy… turns out she also retreats within,” Augus shrugged.
What he had just said was actually an attempt to provoke her. The more he egged her on, the more the other party would hesitate, suspecting that there might be something hidden. His provocation worked; Remover 233 retreated.
Augus even took some pride in his triumph, believing he had won the verbal duel against Remover 233.
In this case, Augus thought, he would be the first to enter the Dark Realm…
“You have failed the task because a player in the same region of you has completed theirs ahead of you.” The game’s system announcement suddenly chimed in.
Augus’s complexion immediately changed dramatically.
Furious, he rushed towards the tobacco factory, an intense thought surfacing in his mind—Remover 233 had actually tricked him!
She wanted to go inside, but ended up deceiving him into thinking she did not want to!
At this moment, all players who had taken on the Dark Realm task received the task notification simultaneously with Augus.
Tang Guan and Yu Hansue’s expressions changed drastically. They not only received the task notification but also received Kui Xin’s message.
“Please take care of things in the outer world.”
He Kangshi didn’t get that message; he was baffled, muttering, “Which big shot accomplished that? Could it be the boss? The boss didn’t message me…”
Su Rong was stunned, racing to the tobacco factory with the newly conjured Shadow Double, just in time to witness the scene.
She saw Kui Xin standing at the main entrance of the tobacco factory for a moment, as if determined to make a decision, then she walked steadily inside.
…
“[Task Progress]: 100%.”
A prompt flashed before Kui Xin, alongside a long string of task evaluations and final rewards… but Kui Xin was completely uninterested in looking at them; she was frozen by the scene before her.
Kui Xin’s pupils dilated, her heart raced, and her breathing paused.
What lay before her was not the tobacco factory at all… or rather, while it appeared to be the tobacco factory from the outside, the inside looked nothing like the original scene.
The tobacco factory was merely a shell; the interior contained other secrets, with a layout and scenery entirely different from before.
A triangular emblem caught her eye, with another irregular inverted triangle nested within, resembling an exclamation mark or a mushroom cloud suddenly erupting.
Kui Xin unconsciously took a step forward, her eyes twitching.
The nuclear emblem style of the First and Second Worlds was different; the color of her world’s nuclear emblem was yellow and black, while the one before her was primarily triangular, displaying red and white—clearly the nuclear radiation emblem of the Second World!
Looking up, she saw countless rusted bottles and cans around her; the old tobacco factory had none of these things. The bottles and cans were rusted, and as Kui Xin stepped across the metallic floor to touch the bottles and cans marked with nuclear radiation symbols, her hand grasped only air; what lay before her was a phantom, like the reflection of a city in the sky—entirely illusory.
The surroundings were shrouded in mist, making the scenery unclear.
She moved forward again, reaching the door.
The doorframe had a metal sign affixed to it, inscribed with the words, “Fusgong City Nuclear Power Plant Waste Equipment Processing Room.”
A chill ran down Kui Xin’s spine, as if a swarm of bugs were crawling on her skin; she felt a wave of terror.
Was the essence of the Dark Realm the overlapping point between the First and Second Worlds?
Kui Xin advanced her steps again, her spirit fully alert.
She circled around the door to find a chilling scene that made her gasp.
She saw a man lying on the ground—a man in a black coat, weapons scattered around him; judging by the facial profile, he was clearly a foreigner.
But that wasn’t the main point… The main point was that this foreigner looked just like Augus; they were practically identical!
Kui Xin squatted down to touch the “Augus” on the ground, and just as before, her hand passed through him.
Her scalp tingled, her mind almost exploded.
She pulled her hand back, her ears catching the sound of footsteps.
Another Augus emerged from the mist, weaving through the bottles and cans; he sneered, glancing at the body of the “Augus” on the ground, then at Kui Xin.
“You fooled me, Ma Yi; I thought you really wouldn’t come in. You’ve caused me to break my midnight entry plan, disrupting my sense of ritual,” Augus smiled oddly. “However, congratulations. You arrived a step ahead and found… ‘me’.”
