Chapter 167: Dark Boundless Realm 22
Kui Xin quickly averted her gaze upon seeing the information about Extraordinary Abilities. She quietly took a few steps back to hide among the crowd, positioning herself in the blind spot of the girl’s line of sight.
Players awaken all sorts of strange inherent talents, and some well-trained individuals are particularly sensitive to others’ gazes. Kui Xin feared her observations would alert the girl.
She straightened up, gripping the handrail, and subtly accessed the subway surveillance system. Through the monitors, she captured the girl’s face and transferred the image to her mobile phone for safekeeping. Eventually, she found the girl’s subway entry records and successfully obtained her personal information.
In the age of big data, privacy is nonexistent. As a holder of Data Manipulation abilities, Kui Xin thrived in this digital era. The technology level of the First World was significantly lower than that of the Second World, making it easy for her to breach firewalls and obtain data information.
Data Manipulation was Kui Xin’s primary asset for standing out in the First World. Without this Extraordinary Ability, she would undoubtedly be limited and unable to control the situation as she could now.
The girl with the Language Incantation ability was named Song Tingshuan, classified as a D-rank. Her identity information revealed that she was only twenty-one years old this year. Song Tingshuan was either still in university or had just graduated.
She arrived alone in Tonglin City, showing remarkable courage.
Many players had decided to come to Tonglin City, but those who were actually coming only represented a small fraction of the total player base, which was negligible.
Kui Xin recorded the forum nicknames of all players intending to come to Tonglin City, ultimately finding seventy individuals, with the likelihood that others had not mentioned their plans on the forum and had simply arrived quietly. As the game inherently employed a selective mechanism, underage individuals and senior citizens were not allowed to enter the game, further narrowing Kui Xin’s focus.
Even with this narrowed focus, it remained a significant undertaking.
The subway was approaching the station, and Kui Xin needed to prepare to disembark.
After a moment of contemplation, she decided to keep track of Song Tingshuan’s movements and activity range through the surveillance network but wouldn’t waste time actively tailing her. With so many players coming to Tonglin City, she couldn’t allocate all her energy to just one person. Knowing Song Tingshuan’s player identity and general activity range was sufficient.
However, aside from that, Kui Xin needed to figure out Song Tingshuan’s purpose for coming to Tonglin City.
The player demographic was quite complex, comprising ordinary individuals, unfortunate ones brainwashed by the Second World, and Heterogeneous Blooded. With Tonglin City becoming the eye of the storm, and players having varying motivations, Kui Xin needed to remain vigilant and ascertain the characteristics of each player.
“Click—”
The subway doors opened, and people poured out while a new wave of passengers boarded the train. In the midst of the ebb and flow, Kui Xin and Song Tingshuan passed by each other.
Song Tingshuan pressed on her headphones, pretending to listen to music, when in reality, there was no music playing.
Soon, the subway stopped once more, and Song Tingshuan retrieved her suitcase and exited the train.
She blended in seamlessly with the stylishly dressed young women on the street, disappearing into the crowd without attracting anyone’s attention.
“…Yes.” Song Tingshuan said, looking at the old city ahead without changing her expression, “Arrived at the target’s residence.”
After finishing her conversation, she headed directly to her destination, passing by a convenience store on the way. She went inside to buy dinner, finishing her meal quickly while sitting on a nearby bench.
At that moment, a young male wearing a blue shirt, mask, and glasses slipped along the wall and entered the convenience store a short distance away.
Simultaneously, Song Tingshuan paused while eating, adjusting the dial on her watch to focus on the male, then silently lowered her head to continue eating.
She watched as the masked young man bought a box of instant coffee, two boxed meals, and then an ice cream, before paying and slipping away along the wall. Despite walking normally, he conveyed a furtive air…
“Target just appeared; the hidden camera should have caught him.” Song Tingshuan said in a low voice. “Even if he knows to sneak around and disguise himself, he’s ultimately just an ordinary person…”
“Be careful; he’s not an ordinary person. He has Extraordinary Abilities.” Someone on the other end of the headset warned. “Stay alert, follow the plan, and don’t act out of line.”
“Got it,” Song Tingshuan responded.
She threw away the boxed meal, grasped her suitcase, and walked toward her designated accommodation.
……
Kui Xin leaned back in her chair, staring at the computer screen where the surveillance footage showed Song Tingshuan arriving near He Kangshi’s residence.
She had passed by He Kangshi in the same convenience store.
After He Kangshi finished shopping, he returned home while Song Tingshuan headed into an apartment complex just half a street away, seemingly intending to settle there.
When Kui Xin had initially sent He Kangshi to Tonglin City, she sensed something was off when he was singled out for questioning at the train station exit. She anticipated that the matter wouldn’t end easily, but she never expected to coincidentally encounter Song Tingshuan at the subway entrance.
She warned He Kangshi, “Be cautious of the strangers who appear around you. They know your residence but haven’t shown any overt malice. That person is neither close nor far from you.”
He Kangshi took a moment to absorb the message, comprehending what Kui Xin meant: “I understand, boss. I’ll play it safe and be low-profile. Is that okay?”
“Yes,” Kui Xin affirmed. “Unless it’s necessary, you can ignore them. They aren’t here for you; they’re here for the mutation.”
“I’m just collateral damage? That’s fine.” He Kangshi replied. “So many players have come to Tonglin City; I noticed some posts on the forum about groups forming. They’ve been connecting privately after posting.”
“Yes,” Kui Xin noted those posts as well. “Tonglin City has become a mixing pot.”
He Kangshi cautiously asked, “I’ve seen posts saying that mutations started with animals, and they all occurred at night, so they need to form a nighttime patrol team…”
Kui Xin: “That plan might have its benefits.”
“Really useful?” He Kangshi asked.
“The only concern is not having enough combat power to be overwhelmed by mutated animals.” Kui Xin said.
He Kangshi asked nervously, “I want to join the nighttime patrol.”
“Assess the risks yourself and make your own decision; you don’t need to check everything with me.” Kui Xin replied.
He Kangshi sighed in relief; he had deliberated on this idea all day before deciding to act.
He couldn’t remain a complete weakling; even in the Second World, he had awakened a combat-related inherent talent called “Knife Proficiency.” He was a bounty hunter in the Second World, not an innocent sheep; however, He Kangshi had never even killed a chicken in his lifetime in the First World…
The “Knife Proficiency” talent primarily showed in his cooking and vegetable chopping skills, with consistent and uniform cuts, even able to make shredded cucumber effortlessly.
Having such a talent solely for cooking seemed a waste. He couldn’t bring himself to kill people, but he could take on mutated beings.
Gaining Kui Xin’s approval put He Kangshi in high spirits as he rushed to the kitchen to retrieve the carefully prepared… bone saw.
If Kui Xin saw the weapon he prepared, she would undoubtedly show a complex expression of understanding. A kitchen knife was the most lethal weapon average people like them could obtain.
He Kangshi sharpened the knife on a whetstone a couple of times, donned protective gear for rollerblading, put on a helmet, and switched to a comfy pair of athletic shoes while wearing a jacket to conceal the knife. After some final mental preparation, he muttered, “I’m going, I can’t back down,” repeating it twice, “You’re going to protect your home!”
As he stepped out the door and looked at the empty staircase, he suddenly wondered—why did the boss only allow him to decide, instead of directly giving him orders?
Was it because the boss wanted to maintain a relatively equal relationship and didn’t wish to issue direct commands? It seemed… not quite right. Since He Kangshi met “Black Snake,” the latter had never pressured him to do anything nor commanded him to complete specific tasks.
Theoretically, He Kangshi was already part of the Shadowless. He had prepared to accept certain assignments from the organization, and he had pondered what he would do if needed to kill in the future. However, Black Snake’s two interactions that posed any trouble were guiding the “Maotoufu” for a day in the Second World and developing an online friendship with Remover 777, both being completely harmless and without technical difficulty.
Black Snake didn’t demand He Kangshi to act; on the contrary, Black Snake needed him to perform some tasks.
Recalling past events, He Kangshi vaguely understood Black Snake’s reasoning for this approach.
Black Snake simply wanted him to become self-aware, to think things through on his own, to be motivated to act without relying on others to drive him or issue commands.
Once again, He Kangshi recalled a moment in White Whale City when Maotoufu had asked him whether he wanted to kill the gang members responsible for his friend’s death. At that time, he hesitated.
“Damn… why am I still agonizing over this?” He Kangshi slapped his forehead, grumbling as he exited his room, “If I’m not afraid of death, why would I be afraid of getting my hands dirty?”
He swiftly pulled the knife from his waist and headed downstairs, determined to battle mutated creatures in a fierce showdown.
……
On the other side, Kui Xin also equipped a kitchen knife to prepare for departure.
She set an alarm for midnight, to remind herself of the time when space-time distortions occurred. Observing these distortions at the abandoned tobacco factory was too dangerous, so after returning home, she went to a nearby second-hand electronics shop and purchased the cheapest camera, planning to leave it at the tobacco factory to capture footage.
As she was leaving her house, Song Tingshuan had also finished packing and headed out, fully equipped.
At a small hotel on the outskirts of Tonglin City, Tang Guan changed into clothes to conceal his face and left his residence.
