Chapter 247: At Both Ends of the Scale 28
“Is the meeting over?” Ambereye asked as Kui Xin walked out of the Spatial Vortex.
“It’s over, no issues,” Kui Xin replied, approaching the unconscious Samantha. “Is there a problem with him?”
“I checked thoroughly, and found no trackers or locators,” Ambereye said.
This was another stronghold; Kui Xin had prepared multiple backup locations to comfortably detain captives.
Samantha had electronic rings installed around his neck and wrists and ankles. His jaw was tilted to one side, with blood dripping to the ground. Considering he was an extraordinary ability user around B rank, not weak, Ambereye took extra measures and dislocated his joints.
In this aspect, Ambereye, trained by Mechanized Dawn, was an expert.
“Have you found anything?” Kui Xin asked.
“I read his shallow memory and found that this guy is not simple,” Ambereye replied. “I initially thought he had been recruited by the Federation, with promises of benefits in exchange for infiltrating our organization. However, it seems not to be the case; Samantha was actually part of the Federation from the beginning, active in the bounty hunter circle for five or six years. From the moment he entered this circle, he was an embedded agent for the Federation, directly under the TQC.”
“TQC?” Kui Xin was a bit surprised. “So his true identity is a TQC agent? An undercover agent?”
Ambereye nodded. “Exactly. The TQC cultivates certain special talents to infiltrate and operate within specific circles, capturing their targets. Samantha is undoubtedly deeply hidden within that structure. Unfortunately for him, he crossed paths with you. His ability is actually B rank; he likely reported as C rank to conceal his true strength, but was seen through.”
“He’s quite a rare talent then,” Kui Xin said. “Can you exert mental control over a B rank Awakened?”
“I can, but it’s a bit difficult. It requires five to six consecutive mental invasions. After a while, I’ll need to re-implant consciousness to strengthen control, with the specifics depending on his willpower. The control cycle is lengthy, nearly a week,” Ambereye explained. “If Black Obsidian were here, we would only need to implant three times, and it could be shortened to three days.”
“Then I leave it to you; just do your best,” Kui Xin said.
Ambereye asked, “What concept should I implant? Loyalty to Black Snake, loyalty to Maotoufu, or loyalty to The Shadowless?”
“Loyalty to The Shadowless,” Kui Xin said.
“Understood,” Ambereye replied.
If there were to be a hierarchy for mental-type extraordinary abilities, Ambereye’s mental ability would undoubtedly rank high. It required no medium and had broad applicability. Kui Xin’s Hypnotic Sound could also achieve mental control, but it would cause the controlled individual to lose autonomy and become a puppet only capable of following commands.
Ambereye’s mental implantation worked differently; it fundamentally altered the controlled individual’s thoughts, allowing them to maintain their cognitive pattern while completely aligning with another camp. Ambereye could turn someone into a thinking puppet.
Before Ambereye initiated the mental implantation, Kui Xin took out a syringe and bent down to draw a vial of blood from Samantha.
“By the way, Ambereye,” Kui Xin said, “do you know where Black Obsidian is?”
Ambereye hesitated. “Just like angels can only sense a general location, I can also only sense his approximate position. It’s only when we are close enough that I can pinpoint where he is. When we’re close enough, Black Obsidian and I can communicate directly through mind-link.”
“Where do you think he is being held?” Kui Xin asked.
“If I were Eve, I would put him in the safest, most secure place…,” Ambereye replied. “He is very likely at the Federal Administrative Center; that is Eve’s true stronghold.”
“Then rescuing him is going to be tough,” Kui Xin said. “I need an S rank ability.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Ambereye asked softly. “Please feel free to say.”
“I want to kill Night Cicada, but first I need to know where he is,” Kui Xin said. “Use your mental abilities to control enough small animals as scouts to help me find him. Pay close attention to the activities of Chuangtu Technology.”
“Chuangtu Technology’s glass is all one-way visible, and the ventilation pipes are wired with high-voltage electricity; even a mouse can’t crawl through,” Ambereye said.
Kui Xin pondered. “If they can’t crawl through the ventilation pipes… then what about the sewers?”
A question mark slowly emerged in Ambereye’s mind.
“I suggest you control a mouse to dig through the toilet drain,” Kui Xin sternly suggested. “The sewer line shouldn’t be wired with high voltage; people still need to flush toilets, so there shouldn’t be any obstructions in the pipes. You can control the mouse to crawl up the pipes and then pop out from the toilet…”
Ambereye’s mind was filled with more question marks.
“If luck is on our side, the mouse won’t get washed away by sudden flooding. We need to gamble on luck,” Kui Xin said.
Ambereye: “…”
He struggled to say, “I understand… perhaps it’s a limitation of thought; I never considered this route… I’ll do my best to try.”
“Leave it to you, Ambereye.” Kui Xin seemed quite confident in her.
Hearing the words “leave it to you” again, Ambereye felt a mix of emotions, perhaps beyond just the small joy of being trusted, also a hint of complex and subtle feelings.
Normal people wouldn’t think of taking this peculiar route through the sewers!!
…
In the rest room, Kui Xin took out two vials of blood.
One vial was Samantha’s. Ambereye mentioned that Samantha belonged to the TQC, but Kui Xin still found it necessary to read his memories to confirm details.
She hesitated no longer and squeezed blood from the glass vial into her mouth.
The Blood Spirit activated, and Samantha’s memories rushed in…
In his youth, Samantha was a tall young man, and his appearance in memory bore no resemblance to his current self. Back then, he wasn’t called Samantha; his name was “Jaimen,” and Samantha was actually a pseudonym.
Jaimen came from a decent family, and his parents supported his university education. Unfortunately, during his studies, his parents died in a car accident, leaving him to take out loans to finish his last two years of university.
After graduating, Jaimen passed an assessment to enter the TQC. He had no extraordinary abilities and worked in a clerical position. His work was not fulfilling; he often faced exclusion from older employees, even losing opportunities for promotion.
The TQC was a complex department with intense internal competition, offering few chances for advancement; only Awakened were truly valued.
Jaimen felt frustrated with the TQC atmosphere, but he couldn’t leave his job. He wanted to seize the opportunity to climb higher, earn more money, and repay his loans.
At this time, Jaimen was hit by an unexpected stroke of luck—he awakened! Thinking that a promotion opportunity had finally arrived, he was struck with the realization that the leaders of the TQC decided to send him to become an undercover agent.
His salary doubled, but he would need to navigate life-and-death situations from then on.
After careful consideration, Jaimen accepted the job. If he didn’t, the remaining loan would require him to pay it off until he was seventy or eighty. Accepting the job meant he could retire with a generous subsidy by his thirties.
He underwent plastic surgery, and under the TQC’s arrangement, he changed his name, gaining a new identity. He would no longer be Jaimen, but a bounty hunter on the streets.
His main task was to fish for targets, leveraging his dual identity as a federal wanted criminal and bounty hunter to engage other fugitive criminals, then connect and collaborate with the TQC to eliminate them unexpectedly. After killing them, he could straightforwardly claim the bounty.
As a result, others would think “Samantha” was an excellent bounty hunter who completed many missions and took many lives, completely unaware of his role as an undercover agent.
Jaimen lived on the edge for several years, dangerously balancing life and death, and was close to repaying his loans.
But just then, he received a mission.
His superior told him, “Finish this job, and you can retire early. You’re not yet thirty; you’ll have plenty of leisurely days ahead, and the department will give you a substantial salary subsidy!”
Jaimen believed it and planned to complete that last job.
However, what he never expected was that this final job would go south.
Kui Xin awoke from the memory, rubbing her throbbing temples.
This undercover agent, Jaimen, was also quite unlucky; his memories had some reference value. Kui Xin figured out how part of the TQC operated and learned the method Jaimen used to connect with TQC.
They used a special code similar to Morse code. By inputting specific numbers on the communicator, one could connect to a communication dark line, and then inputting a password could transmit intelligence.
Augus’s area of responsibility did not include the TQC; these secret affairs were only known by internal staff, so he likely didn’t have much insight.
Next, she needed to read the memories of the interviewee who had unfortunately perished.
Since the deceased was suspected to be a player, Kui Xin valued this memory highly.
She dripped a drop of blood into her mouth, activating the Blood Spirit.
Before her eyes, chaotic images flooded her mind. Unlike Jaimen’s memories, this interviewee’s memories were extremely disordered.
The memory images in her mind swirled and flickered; before she could focus, the next image switched in, and during the process of reading the blood, she didn’t just see one person’s memory but consecutively glimpsed the memories of five or six people. Those memories distortedly pieced together like a jumbled puzzle, chaotic and disordered.
In only a few seconds, Kui Xin felt her head splitting with pain, and was forced to exit the memory reading state.
She rubbed her head, stood up from the chair, and gloomily stared at the vial of blood in her hand.
Kui Xin failed to extract any useful information, not even the name of that interviewee because the blood was contaminated. Most importantly, that interviewee had not just lost one person’s blood but at least the blood of five or six different individuals, resulting in the chaos of the memories in the blood.
She confirmed a hypothesis—that the organization behind that interviewee was undoubtedly Mechanized Dawn.
Only Mechanized Dawn would have guessed that Kui Xin killed Red and obtained Red’s Blood Spirit. They understood the flaws of the Blood Spirit and injected the interviewee with various blood types, making it impossible for Kui Xin to retrieve information from the blood.
Installing high-risk mechanical devices into a person’s body also aligned well with the style of Mechanized Dawn.
Kui Xin had no doubt that Mechanized Dawn sent that interviewee, suspected to be a player, and then blew up their heart just to disgust and provoke her, as Kui Xin had previously provoked Eve, and now Eve sought to retaliate in kind.
Understanding this, Kui Xin took several deep breaths to suppress her anger and regain her composure.
Checking the time, it was now afternoon.
Using mice for scouting took time; Kui Xin needed to take advantage of this moment to rest and regain her strength. She had used the Spatial Vortex several times that day and wanted to ensure she was back to full strength before dealing with Night Cicada.
“Please, please, don’t leave so soon,” Kui Xin lay on the bed, closing her eyes and whispering to herself, “If you leave, where would I find you?”
“Are you talking about Night Cicada?” Augus asked.
“Yes,” Kui Xin replied.
“You make the death penalty sound like a love confession,” Augus said. “I wish you get what you desire.”
