Chapter 186: Dark Boundless Realm 41
“Betrayal? Defection?” Silverface repeated as if he couldn’t comprehend the meaning of those two words, staring blankly. “Defection? Her?”
“Yes.” Night Cicada replied. “She is no longer who she was. But for you, it seems like you initially encountered another ‘her’… However, that’s not important; what matters is that she has defected from Mechanized Dawn, betrayed us, and she must die.”
He waved his hand dismissively, as if swatting away flies. “Hurry up and prepare the equipment; we don’t have much time. She’s in the shadows while we’re in the open, and she’s a formidable adversary.”
Silverface stood still, blocking Night Cicada as he attempted to leave the room, persistently asking, “Why did Lady Fortune defect? Why did she become our enemy?”
Night Cicada was taken aback. He looked at Silverface’s pale pink eyes, revealing a different expression, and suddenly realized—this was the first time Silverface hadn’t directly followed task commands.
He had actually learned to question and dig deeper!
Previously, he would receive a task and carry it out without hesitation, regardless of whether it involved killing men, women, or children; he never questioned the reasons. Now, with the organization assigning him the task of eliminating a traitor, he had actually asked why!
Noticing that Night Cicada didn’t answer, Silverface asked, confused, “Why won’t you answer me? Is it because my clearance is insufficient? Is this some sort of confidential information only known to the higher-ups?”
“That’s not it.” Night Cicada looked at Silverface in surprise.
Silverface was extraordinarily talented, and as an Awakened, his clearance within the organization was sufficient. But the problem was that Silverface was merely a manufactured android, not an independently existing “human.” In certain matters, there was no need for him to know so much; he was meant to be a tool.
“Is it something you can’t say?” Silverface stared at Night Cicada.
Night Cicada wanted to come up with a reason to brush off Silverface, but just then, a command from Eve came through his helmet.
“You may tell him to a reasonable extent.” Eve said.
Night Cicada was startled; a strange expression involuntarily crossed his face beneath the helmet as he momentarily failed to understand why Eve would want to do that.
After thinking it over, he decided to follow Eve’s command and tell Silverface part of the truth.
“You know her real name—Kui Xin. She’s the daughter of our boss, Kui Haidong. She’s been using the code name Blue Bird to execute missions since she was a teenager. But starting July 27, Blue Bird ceased to exist; she was replaced by an unknown entity through unknown means.” Night Cicada explained succinctly, “Lady Fortune is the codename given by the one who replaced her. In other words, the person you’ve interacted with all along was Lady Fortune; she is not the boss’s daughter, nor is she our companion—she’s an impostor.”
Silverface increasingly struggled to comprehend Night Cicada’s words. “Lady Fortune is an impostor… Then why did she lurk for so many days, completing missions with us, fighting alongside us, not attempting to kill me, sharing meals and shelter with me… Why didn’t she kill us?”
“Perhaps at that time, she didn’t possess the strength, or maybe she was still figuring things out and hadn’t decided what to do next.” Night Cicada replied.
“What organization does Lady Fortune belong to? Is she an undercover agent?” Silverface asked.
Night Cicada clicked his tongue. “She doesn’t belong to any organization, nor is she an undercover agent; she has no one aiding her…”
That’s the most absurd part! She had nothing, not even memories, yet managed to blend in for so long without revealing herself… Night Cicada seriously suspected that this “Kui Xin” had a complex identity in their First World; perhaps she was a killer hidden in a special department.
Silverface tried to work his mind: “What’s her real name?”
Night Cicada said, “Kui Xin.”
Silverface looked utterly perplexed.
“Stop making that ‘What on earth are you saying?’ face.” Night Cicada tapped his helmet. “Do you know the concept of parallel worlds?”
Silverface: “What is a parallel world…”
Night Cicada was speechless.
He mused that he should suggest to Eve that when androids are activated, more foundational knowledge should be implanted into their blank brains. Silverface was one of the first batch of androids manufactured, and the technology at that time was not very mature; there were many situations they had not considered.
Though Silverface had the capacity to learn, his learning and comprehension abilities were significantly inferior to natural humans, and his empathy was very weak. This was due to his upbringing; he had lived in a research facility since childhood.
“If we compare our world to a piece of paper, a parallel world is another sheet of paper that is exactly the same as ours. We are people living on one sheet, while on the other sheet live people similar to us.” Night Cicada explained. “Lady Fortune’s soul came from another world; she occupied Blue Bird’s body and disguised herself as Blue Bird to continue living.”
Silverface somewhat begrudgingly understood Night Cicada’s words: “Is there some conspiracy in this?”
“There is, but we don’t know what it is.” Night Cicada shrugged. “By the way, Lady Fortune… the situation with Blue Bird isn’t an isolated case; many have been replaced by their counterparts from another world.”
He smiled. “Perhaps one day I’ll wake up and find I’ve been replaced too.”
“Lady Fortune—I’m referring to the other Kui Xin—did she do anything harmful to the organization?” Silverface asked softly.
“She did. She sided with our enemies and possibly killed our companions, Red, the Bartender, and Nightingale. For those three, I’m not sure about the causes of their deaths, but they likely have something to do with Lady Fortune.” Night Cicada firmly patted Silverface’s shoulder. “You’ve been with Lady Fortune for a long time, so you should be able to see that she has a strong sense of revenge and remarkable decisiveness. If she’s still alive, she will definitely do things detrimental to our organization.”
Silverface quietly said, “So we must kill her?”
“Exactly.” Night Cicada replied. “Is there any other question that needs answering? If not, you can go and get your things. You’ve wasted about…” He glanced at the electronic watch. “Five minutes.”
Silverface walked out of the room like a marionette, making his way to the equipment room step by step.
Thorn Rose was already assembling gear, snapping a folding knife onto her mechanical hand; the blade retracted and extended automatically, very sharp.
“What’s wrong with your state?” Thorn Rose frowned. “Get yourself together! We’re going on a mission, not to seek death!”
Silverface plopped down on the floor of the equipment room, murmuring, “This time we’re going to kill Lady Fortune; she’s actually not dead.”
“I know; I received the mission notice. It said who the target is.” Thorn Rose replied.
Silverface sat on the floor for half a minute before he got back up, dejected.
He touched the cold firearm, lifted it, and imagined the scene of the bullet entering Kui Xin’s body.
That imagined bloody scene caused his fingers to twitch for a moment, and for the first time in his life, he had the notion that “guns are not good things.”
They are objects used to take lives; shooting a person means that person will die, and death means that person can no longer speak, eat, cook, or sleep; their body will silently decompose, turning into bones…
Silverface set the gun down, staring at it for a long time.
“What are you doing? We still need to rendezvous with the newly assigned teammates.” Thorn Rose impatiently reminded Silverface.
As if waking from a dream, Silverface grasped the weapon again and clipped it onto his belt.
“All right. I share the anger of betrayal and deceit, but you’re acting in an unacceptable manner. Are you even a competent soldier?” Thorn Rose said as she picked up the equipment case. “Let’s go; eliminating the traitor can help quell those emotions.”
Silverface picked up the equipment case as well, vaguely saying, “Okay…”
…
Night Cicada crossed his arms, watching the blue orb of light hovering in front of him.
“I don’t quite understand why we should tell him those things; I suspect he wouldn’t grasp it, and… Silverface as a human is too unpredictable; as a tool, he is controllable.” He spoke rationally. “Have you noticed? He hesitated; that’s not behavior typical of an android. His emotional tendencies are too clear.”
“Ⅰ-B-1-1 exhibited tendencies towards self-awareness from the moment of its creation. Under our intentional control, its level of self-awareness, empathy, and learning ability has remained at a relatively low level.” Eve replied. “You’ll notice that all androids share a common trait: their abilities hardly grow. The level of extraordinary abilities they awaken at birth will remain the same unless they’re like Silverface, Ambereye, and Black Obsidian.”
It continued: “The commonality among the three of them is that they have developed self-awareness, unlike the controlled mindless zombies. Their initial awakening level is very low, but they improve step by step through training and development, just like natural humans. Silverface was assessed as having B-level abilities two years ago, and over these two years, he has only improved the proficiency of his abilities, while the strength of his abilities has seen minimal enhancement.”
Night Cicada contemplated and said, “Do you suspect that the development and upgrade of extraordinary abilities are related to the mind or self-awareness? Is telling Silverface this meant to promote his self-awareness to conduct enhancement tests for his powers?”
“Yes.” Eve affirmed. “Just keep a close watch on him.”
“What if he goes out of control?” Night Cicada raised a key question. “Ambereye Black Obsidian betrayed us.”
“Capture him alive and bring him back for research.” Eve said. “If needed, we can even bring back Silverface’s corpse.”
Night Cicada nodded. “Understood.”
…
Kui Xin gathered her weapons in the Safe House, preparing to head out.
Su Rong asked, “Are you going to handle some business?”
“Yes.” Kui Xin replied. “You need to have your Shadow Double accompany me; it might be of help.”
“What are we going to do?” Su Rong asked nervously. “I’m prepared for anything, whether it’s robbery or murder!”
She specifically said this to bolster her courage and to show her determination.
“We’re going to collect more Safe Houses.” Kui Xin answered. “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket; we can’t have only one safe stronghold. White Whale City is going to become very bustling and dangerous in the future.”
“A cunning rabbit has three burrows.” Su Rong nodded vigorously. “I understand!”
“Mm.” Kui Xin acknowledged.
A shadow detached from Su Rong’s feet, and the Shadow Double followed behind Kui Xin.
Kui Xin opened a portal and stepped in, with her Shadow Double transforming into black sludge and following it through the vortex.
Stepping through the portal, Kui Xin waited for five minutes at a concealed location.
Five minutes later, He Kangshi stealthily approached a small alley, speaking in a hushed voice like meeting a spy. “Little Bear Biscuit…”
Kui Xin: “…”
“If you keep using that silly secret code, I might not be able to hold back from hitting you.” She said.
He Kangshi shrank back. “I’m too nervous; I just wanted to make a joke… Let’s go, Maotoufu! No matter what happens tonight, you can just give me orders; I can do anything!”
Kui Xin glanced at him. “All right, lead the way. Where’s that small gang that accidentally killed your player friend?”
He Kangshi’s expression shifted, and his demeanor became serious and composed.
“It’s at 1209 West Street.” He reported the address without hesitation.
