Chapter 143: Artificial Soul 70
Fortunately, the retractable knife was light enough for Kui Xin to control it with the “Magnetic Sword.”
With a slight movement of her fingers, the retractable knife flew into her right hand. Using her left hand, she exerted force, causing the rope of the grappling gun to pull Nightingale toward her.
Nightingale appeared to have extensive combat experience and reacted quickly. She used the retractable knife to interfere with Kui Xin and, exploiting this brief opening, created a fist-sized spatial vortex that severed the rope at its center, instantly freeing herself from the bindings.
At the moment the rope was cut, Kui Xin threw the retractable knife backhandedly, just as Nightingale had thrown her knife at her.
The silver blade shot out, and since Kui Xin was stronger than Nightingale, the blade flew faster, leaving only a silver flash on the retina.
Nightingale dodged to the side and took out a spare dagger, attempting to block this strike and reclaim her weapon. However, her plan fell through as Kui Xin activated Shadow Transition, her body disappearing in place. Her form, shrouded in black mist, rapidly caught up to the flying blade, perfectly timing her grasp on the handle of the retractable knife.
She stood firm, spun around, and swung the blade!
With a swish, the sharp silver arc sliced through Nightingale’s combat suit, and with a splatter, red liquid poured out like paint, staining the wall nearby with large patches of bright red, covering the chaotic urban art on the wall.
Because Nightingale had dodged in time, the strike was not fatal.
As the two collided, Kui Xin once again caught a glimpse of Nightingale’s eyes. Those eyes showed no shock or fear; they remained deep and hollow, just as Kui Xin had felt the first few times she encountered Nightingale—cold, devoid of emotion, almost lifeless. Despite sustaining such severe damage, Nightingale did not scream; her face was pale as if she were dead, yet she persisted in encouragement.
Her blood splattered onto Kui Xin’s helmet, turning her vision blood-red.
Nightingale’s movements slowed due to her injuries, and in that brief moment of vulnerability, Kui Xin seized the opportunity.
She released the retractable knife from her right hand, deftly rotating the handle in mid-air, smoothly switching to a reverse grip. Then, raising the retractable knife from above, she plunged it down, piercing in with a soft thud.
Nightingale’s body swayed and then fell weakly to the ground, blood slowly spreading and staining the floor in crimson.
“You have killed Nightingale.”
“You have deprived Nightingale of her Extraordinary Abilities.”
“You have acquired the Extraordinary Ability [Spatial Vortex · B Grade].”
“[Spatial Vortex · B Grade]: You can create spatial vortices and use them for space transitions.”
Kui Xin walked over to Nightingale’s side, flipping her body over to look at her face.
Staring at this nearly identical face, a strange feeling surged within Kui Xin.
“I changed myself,” she murmured, “I… killed myself.”
She lifted her head to gaze at the dark night sky, obscured by thick clouds with no stars. A drop of rain fell, and moments later, countless raindrops poured down… it was really raining, transparent beads washing away the blood on her helmet.
She deactivated the watch’s shielding device and reconnected with Augus. “It’s done.”
“Yeah, I knew you would win,” Augus replied.
Kui Xin squatted down in silence to check Nightingale’s equipment. The communicator Nightingale carried reestablished contact with the branch of Mechanized Dawn. Kui Xin picked it up, hearing Red’s voice on the other end.
“…The communication signal has been restored,” Red said. “Nightingale, please respond if you hear this.”
Kui Xin removed the bloodied voice changer from Nightingale; it had slightly come loose during the fight but was undamaged. She activated it and said to Red, “I was attacked, and the adversary is dead. The location is 369 Haibin Street Alley; hurry and send in an outside squad to handle it.”
“…Killed them?” Red confirmed.
“Killed them,” Kui Xin repeated coldly. This was Nightingale’s customary tone, and Kui Xin had made her voice sound slightly weakened while disguising herself.
“Why didn’t you use the spatial vortex to jump back?” Red then asked. “Are you injured?”
“I’m injured; I’ve lost an arm and a leg. I’m too weak to use my Extraordinary Abilities; I need someone to pick me up,” Kui Xin said. “Hurry and send someone over.”
Red got his answer, believing Kui Xin, “I’ve already sent Silverface. Be on guard and wait for extraction. The adversary may have accomplices; you must be careful.”
“How long until Silverface arrives?” Kui Xin asked.
“Five more minutes,” Red replied.
He hesitated for a second before cautiously asking, “What about Lady Fortune? Who attacked you?”
Nightingale’s mission was to pick up Lady Fortune; upon reaching the designated location, she encountered an ambush, yet Lady Fortune was nowhere to be found; something was off.
Kui Xin did not listen to what Red said next. She hung up the communicator and straightened herself.
The reason she shared that information with Red was to send away the combat power of the Mechanized Dawn branch. Now that goal was achieved. The branch’s strongest combat force, Silverface, was leaving to assist the dead Nightingale, so the branch was currently likely in a power vacuum.
Silverface would arrive at the scene in five minutes. He lacked a spatial vortex and could only rely on transportation to get here and then back, making it too late.
Kui Xin stared at the air in front of her, attempting to activate the spatial vortex for the first time.
In previous rounds, she had scouted near the gambling hall of Mechanized Dawn and knew where the safe jump points were—so she aimed to open the spatial vortex there.
As the spatial vortex opened, Kui Xin recalled the coordinates in her memory, then unleashed a ball of deep blue spatial energy.
Once the spatial vortex fully expanded, Kui Xin bent down, picked up a soda can from the ground, and tossed it into the vortex. She only felt reassured to enter after hearing the echo. Before she left, she also pocketed the weapons on Nightingale’s body as well as the gun fallen on the ground.
What if she opened the spatial vortex inside a wall? Wouldn’t stepping in mean crashing into the wall?
When Kui Xin emerged from the vortex, she peered around and let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, her first attempt at opening the spatial vortex had gone awry, as the vortex had deviated only two or three meters from the target location; she just needed more practice in the future.
Stepping out of the jump point, she saw the luxurious building not far away—the gambling hall.
Luxury cars continuously entered and exited here, and wealthy patrons in suits were frequent visitors to the gambling hall. The attendants stood on the red carpet at the entrance, holding umbrellas for the guests.
Kui Xin scrutinized the building from a distance, particularly observing the security forces outside to ensure everything was flawless. Then, she stepped back to her previous jump point and opened the spatial vortex inside the gambling hall.
During her previous rounds of scouting the branch, Red had sent her the layout of the gambling hall and discussed how it could be better modified. She knew exactly where the restroom was, where the secret passages were, where the weapons room was, and where the power distribution room was.
Now she needed to go to the power distribution room to cut off the entire power supply of the gambling hall to prevent surveillance cameras from capturing her.
The power distribution room had two power circuits: if the main system failed, the backup circuit would automatically activate to supply power to the gambling hall. The design was quite tight, but it was no match for Kui Xin, who had already mapped out the place.
She jumped to the location of the underground power distribution room in the gambling hall, drew her gun, and fired twice; the power distribution room caught fire. The fire alarm blared as the fire suppression system in the ceiling of the power distribution room began to release carbon dioxide to extinguish the fire. In an instant, the entire gambling hall was plunged into darkness as all the lights disappeared.
“Well… I’m running low on gear; I need to get some weapons,” Kui Xin thought to herself.
The gambling hall had ready-made weapons, with plenty of heavy weaponry in the weapons room, including several types of explosives. Red had prepared a lot of gear, which was just perfect for Kui Xin.
Once she had gathered the equipment, only the killing remained. Prey that had been targeted by Kui Xin had never escaped.
Though the surveillance cameras had gone offline due to the power circuit issues, the entire gambling hall was too large, and Kui Xin’s shielding device couldn’t completely cut off communication signals. Just to be safe, she wouldn’t use the spatial vortex directly in front of Red and the bartender to avoid the risk of information leaks.
In a certain room within the gambling hall, Red looked at the suddenly extinguished lights and the shrill sound of the fire alarm, a wave of intense anxiety washing over him.
“Hey, bartender, we…” Red started to say, but suddenly heard a voice in his ear, “Communication signal is experiencing abnormal interference…”
Before the alarm could finish, he heard an ear-splitting explosion! The door to this room blew open!
A shadow, pitch black, burst through the flames and dust from the doorway before the explosion had fully subsided, dashing in at incredible speed, wielding a silver retractable knife that looked familiar to Red.
The bartender’s eyes widened as he quickly drew a gun from his back, but before he could even pull the trigger, the shadow brushed past him. The silver arc of the blade whizzed by with a faint sound of slicing through the air, appearing extremely bright against the darkness.
The bartender staggered, spitting out blood and collapsing to the ground. The shadow flicked the red liquid off the retractable knife and turned toward Red.
A storm of panic raged in Red’s heart. He used his excellent combat skills to dodge the shadow’s first strike, and just as he assumed the shadow would continue to slash at him, it unexpectedly discarded the knife in its hand.
Red was bewildered, unable to comprehend why the opponent suddenly abandoned their weapon. The next moment, the shadow vanished in place, and he felt a chill behind him—someone was there! It was an adversary! The enemy had somehow jumped to behind him; this was an enemy with spatial abilities!
The wind howled as the shadow kicked Red, his arm bone cracking under the immense pressure, a sharp pain shooting through his ribs as several bones in his upper body fractured.
Red collapsed to the ground, incredulous as he thought—was this truly the power a human could possess?
But it wasn’t over; the shadow jumped to stand in front of him, placing a foot on his head, nearly knocking him unconscious. The shadow didn’t just stop after that; once it lifted its foot, it grasped Red’s neck with a hand, yanking him up from the ground.
Her strength was so great that Red’s eyes bulged, his face turned purple, and veins stood out on his forehead.
Red struggled to open his eyes and look at the person before him.
Suddenly, it seemed he instinctively realized something, as if he saw a familiar shadow in the enemy.
With his last ounce of strength, he gasped, “It’s… you?”
He pleaded, “Spare me… I can listen to you…”
But Kui Xin wouldn’t listen, showing no sympathy or pity; not even a hint of hesitation was visible.
With a snap, Red’s head tilted, and he lost consciousness.
