Chapter 168: Dark Boundless Realm 23
Kui Xin left the house at nine o’clock in the evening.
It was raining again in Tonglin City, that kind of fine misty rain which only left a subtle feeling on the skin.
Initially, Kui Xin didn’t mind the rain; she enjoyed falling asleep to the sound of it, as her exhausted brain would relax significantly with the white noise. However, after living in Hei Hai City for so long, she had come to hate rainy days, because that city experienced a lot of rain, and it often left her with bad associations.
If the blood of mutated beings flowed away with the rain, would it infect more creatures? Or did the blood of mutated beings need to reach a certain concentration to be effective, thus becoming ineffective after being diluted by the rain?
As Kui Xin pondered how the weather affected her actions, she continued on her way.
There was still plenty of time, so she didn’t use a spatial vortex; instead, she chose to walk. Overusing her extraordinary abilities would deplete her stamina, and Tonglin City had seen too many changes recently, so she needed to conserve energy for unexpected situations.
Kui Xin carried with her some necessary tools; besides weapons, she brought a camera, tape, cotton swabs, syringes, small glass vials, spare gloves, plastic bags… she even had a large bag of fish intestines that she had asked the fishmonger for at the market, claiming it was for feeding cats. The owner generously packed her a large bag.
She kept the more important small items in a sports waist bag, while the fish intestines had to be carried by hand. If she encountered danger, she could just discard the intestines; the waist bag wouldn’t impede her combat, but it would affect her shadow transition because it was too heavy.
Kui Xin moved stealthily in Tonglin City, avoiding surveillance and paying attention to the surroundings, occasionally tapping into nearby surveillance to check the situation.
The number of mutated beings had not surged yet; mutants like boars were still rare in the city. After more than an hour, Kui Xin smoothly arrived at the outskirts, having encountered no unexpected incidents or suspicious individuals along the way.
She quieted her footsteps and suppressed her breath as she entered the tobacco factory. Standing in the shadows, she listened for the sounds of scurrying mice or any movement from mutated beings. Unfortunately, she heard nothing except for the sound of rain hitting the broken glass.
She first went to the location where she had killed several mutated beings the previous night; the blood on the ground had dried up, and there were no other traces or dead animals lying around, which relieved her.
When she reached the spot where Fang Zhi had died, Kui Xin took out cotton swabs and a glass vial from her pocket. She tried to collect a sample of the already dried blood on the ground, but unfortunately, too much time had passed. She managed to get a bit of dark brown substance, but it mixed with the dust, making it hard to identify.
Kui Xin sealed the cotton swab in a bag and set it aside.
Next, she pulled out tape and the camera from her bag, adjusted the shooting mode, and taped the camera to the wall, repeatedly confirming the shooting angle before leaving the area.
She planned to return to retrieve the camera after midnight.
Kui Xin moved to a secluded spot near the tobacco factory, discarded the bag of fish intestines on the ground, and opened the bag to let the smell of blood waft into the air.
This was a drainage area close to the tobacco factory, connected to a sewer where many mice should be living.
The mutated beings Kui Xin had seen included mice, but it seemed the tobacco factory now had very few left; after all, there were no humans or food, so she decided to wait in a different location.
Having set everything up, she climbed a nearby tree with agility and settled in a fork to wait in boredom.
After all, she was fishing, so she needed the patience of a fisherman.
The rain wasn’t too heavy; Kui Xin pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, sheltered by the leaves, and didn’t feel too uncomfortable sitting in the rain.
Half an hour later, just as Kui Xin was about to move with the fish intestines to a new spot, a flash of red light suddenly appeared in the grate of the sewer.
Kui Xin sat up straight, leaning forward to closely watch the direction of the sewer. A kitchen knife was drawn out by an invisible “hand,” floating quietly at her side under the effect of the “magnetic sword.”
The red light wobbled a bit, then a mouse emerged from the corner of the sewer. Its fur was mostly gone, exposing pink flesh, and its limbs were abnormally long like a spider, making it very deformed, yet somehow it could move quickly on the ground.
The mouse darted toward the fish intestines Kui Xin had placed on the ground, grabbed a fish gill, and rushed back into the sewer.
Kui Xin didn’t move. Less than a minute later, the mouse appeared again, this time much less hurried than before.
It sniffed around to confirm that there was no danger before moving closer to the intestines, burying its face in the bag and starting to eat.
As the mouse ate, Kui Xin patiently waited, but even as it devoured most of the intestines in the bag, no other mutated mice showed up. Reluctantly, she decided to abandon waiting; the kitchen knife flew swiftly and pinned the mouse to the ground.
She nimbly jumped down from the several-meter-high tree, pulled the knife out of the mouse, took out the prepared glass vial, and unwrapped a pack of disposable gloves, putting them over the gloves she already wore. Disgusted, she grabbed the mutated mouse corpse that hadn’t yet turned to blood and collected its blood into the glass vial.
After finishing all that, Kui Xin took out a plastic bag she had prepared, quickly stuffed the mouse corpse inside; it melted away shortly after being put into the bag. This time, the blood didn’t spill onto the ground but was properly contained in the plastic bag.
“Luckily it’s not corrosive, otherwise the bag would have a hole in it.” Kui Xin tied the bag tightly to prevent any leakage.
With such short notice in preparation, Kui Xin could only find a bag to contain the mouse’s body; if she encountered a large boar, the bag wouldn’t be adequate, and she might have to find a street trash bin to dispose of the corpse.
The blood in the bag was to be discarded, while the blood sample in the glass vial and the cotton swab with the dried bloodstain were to be preserved.
Kui Xin picked up the remaining fish intestines and left the sewer entrance for another location, planning to wait nearby for mutated beings to present themselves.
However, whether it was due to the low density of mutated beings or just bad luck, by nearly midnight, Kui Xin still hadn’t caught a second mutated being.
Her phone in her pocket vibrated; she had set two alarms, one for twenty-three fifty-eight to remind her that midnight was approaching, and the other was set for exactly midnight to help confirm the timing of the spatial distortion phenomenon.
Kui Xin took out her phone, turned off the alarm, and cleaned up the scene before using a space vortex to move away from the tobacco factory.
She couldn’t confirm whether the mutations only occurred in the tobacco factory or if other places in Tonglin City were affected as well. From He Kangshi and Su Rong’s reactions, it was likely the former. What Kui Xin needed to do was to uncover the truth, eliminate possibilities, and find the most accurate choice.
She stood on the rooftop of a building far enough from the tobacco factory to see it. Finally, she glanced at the time, silently staring at the dark, dilapidated building in the distance.
Fine droplets of rain tapped against her mask, forming a layer of tiny water beads.
Kui Xin’s mind was highly alert, almost afraid to blink.
Finally, midnight arrived! The moment her phone vibrated in her pocket, Kui Xin’s eyes caught an incredible scene: the entire tobacco factory appeared to be enveloped by a transparent glass dome. The dome twisted slightly, then vanished in an instant, all happening in less than a second.
Kui Xin was astonished, opening her mouth slightly in surprise, her feet moving as a deep blue vortex unfurled behind her.
She turned and stepped into the vortex.
When she emerged again, she found herself inside the tobacco factory.
The surroundings seemed completely empty, still eerily silent; the sound of rain pattering against the glass was exceptionally clear.
Kui Xin stepped forward, tearing the taped camera from the wall, shocked to find it was actually hot and giving off the scent of melted adhesive.
Raising the camera, she noticed that the lens had developed numerous cracks, as if it had shattered from the pressure of something. When she opened the slot for the storage card, her lips twitched in disbelief upon finding the card completely melted inside.
Kui Xin’s hair stood on end. She looked up and silently scanned the dark tobacco factory, realizing this place was very unusual.
This was where Fang Zhi had died, where Kui Xin had killed for the first time in the First World, and the site of the spatial distortion phenomenon… Why would the electronic recording device be destroyed? Was it due to an unknown force, or was there something else…?
Kui Xin tightened her grip on the camera, temporarily halting these pointless thoughts.
She stowed the damaged camera away and decided to conduct another investigation of the tobacco factory to eliminate the potential crisis. The spatial distortion phenomenon had occurred here twice already, and it might bring about unknown changes to this tobacco factory.
Quietly, Kui Xin descended the stairs, taking her waist bag in hand. If anything seemed off, she would discard the heavy waist bag and activate shadow transition to evade physical attacks.
She carefully maneuvered down the rusty stairs, maintaining extreme vigilance around her.
“Tap…”
The sound of dripping water suddenly broke the silence, and immediately, Kui Xin heard a second breath—someone else’s breath besides her own!
A tall, thin figure stood at the bottom of the stairs, half of their body obscured by shadows, revealing only a pair of feet clad in sneakers, which were wet.
The person froze, and Kui Xin halted as well.
Tonight’s lighting was poor, with no lights in the tobacco factory. Without her electronic eye, she couldn’t clearly see the stranger’s face, only vaguely distinguishing that it was a man with some sort of disguise.
The man lifted his head to look up, while Kui Xin lowered hers, coldly observing him.
Neither spoke, and neither made the next move.
It was like two lions encountering each other on the prairie, eying each other from a distance, assessing each other’s strength and danger, contemplating whether to avoid each other or engage in a bloody battle.
At that moment, the man’s phone suddenly vibrated.
Buzzing twice, it shattered the frozen air.
The man didn’t answer the call; he looked at Kui Xin and took a slow step back.
Kui Xin watched him for a second and likewise took a slow step back, ascending a step on the staircase.
They retreated in tacit agreement, the tense atmosphere easing slightly.
The man reached into his pocket to silence the phone, but two seconds later, it rang again.
Kui Xin looked at him, slowly pulled her own phone from her pocket, swiped the screen twice, and then held it out to him.
On the screen appeared a line of text: “You can answer the call.”
The man sighed with relief, backing away a few more steps, opening his phone to shield the screen as he said, “I’m busy, I’ll call you back later.”
“Brother.” A little girl yawned, saying, “I have too much homework… There’s one math problem I can’t solve…”
“Right away.” The man hung up, raising his head to look at Kui Xin again.
Kui Xin gave him a faint nod, as if to say, “What a coincidence.”
The person behind the mask slowly spoke in his mind: “This place is filled with familiar scents, hers included; she must know something.”
