Chapter 206: Dark Boundless Realm 61
Kui Xin had a dream in which her teacher earnestly held her hand and instructed her, “Study hard and live well once you get to university.”
The dream was fleeting, leaving no significant trace in her mind, but when she woke up, she vaguely remembered—next week she would be going to university.
The thought of going to university, which once felt within reach, now suddenly seemed distant, along with the ordinary days of the First World fading into memory.
She had experienced too much; each day felt like a year. In this unfamiliar new world, she encountered numerous people, became acquainted with them, interacted, and eventually parted ways. Those people either perished at her hands or became strangers.
She had met some kind people, but true good ones were scarce; instead, there were many who straddled the line between right and wrong. In this new world, people were either adversaries, potential adversaries, or strangers.
The only one maintaining a stable relationship with Kui Xin seemed to be Augus.
“You’re awake,” Su Rong said, peeking at her lying on the sofa. “Want to eat? Hunter Falcon made some cucumber in a raincoat, which is excellent. But I couldn’t get steamed buns, only bread that’s similar in texture to dilled bread.”
Kui Xin propped herself up from the sofa and replied, “Okay.”
She was ravenously hungry. After the battle last night, she had only given herself a few injections of nutritional medicine to provide recovery energy, leaving her stomach empty.
Once she responded, Su Rong walked to the staircase and called out, “Hunter Falcon! Maotoufu is awake; bring the food over.”
He Kangshi chimed in, “Coming, coming, coming!”
He hurried upstairs, steadying the food on the tray.
“The conditions are simple—this porridge is made from instant oats, and I just prepared some random dishes. Sister, take your time eating! I’ve already eaten with Ashes!”
“Thank you.” Kui Xin’s voice was hoarse; the voice modulator of her mask was still on.
He Kangshi said, “No need to be polite with me!”
“Do you want me to feed you if your hands are inconvenient?” Su Rong asked, carefully eyeing Kui Xin’s mechanical arm hanging in front of her chest.
Kui Xin shook her head and uncovered the bandaging at the junction of her left arm and mechanical arm.
There were only a few traces of blood on the bandage, as her wound healed rapidly through regenerative flesh. She was using an older model of a mechanical prosthetic, without signal transmitters connected to her brain, the prosthetic’s functions were quite basic. The surgery last night was somewhat rushed; better options were unavailable, but it was enough for handling daily life and some minor battles.
After the fierce battle last night, she hadn’t even had time to clean herself or change her clothes.
Kui Xin had slept for eight hours. Su Rong had checked on her several times, worried about her condition, finding her clothes were covered in various scratches and cuts. The cuffs were torn, the sleeve of her left arm was completely severed, and the edges of her clothes were stained with dark brown blood. Additionally, she emanated the scent of gunpowder; Hunter Falcon had quietly told her the night before that he recognized that smell, which was the residue of explosives.
She had suddenly disappeared during a power outage in White Whale City. No matter how they tried to contact her during that half-hour, they couldn’t get through to her. After two hours following the power restoration, she finally showed up, with an arm severed and a new mechanical arm; her appearance was horrific.
Su Rong cautiously handed Kui Xin several alcohol wipes, watching her clean the brown traces from her hands and mechanical prosthetic, then noticed her unskillfully controlling the mechanical arm to eat through an opening in the mask.
“Don’t both of you stare at me,” Kui Xin swallowed the cucumber in raincoat, “it makes me uncomfortable.”
“Oh, oh,” He Kangshi said, “Is it good? I’m quite confident in my cooking skills.”
“Pretty good,” Kui Xin acknowledged.
Once Kui Xin finished her meal, He Kangshi cleared the table while he and Su Rong sat neatly on the sofa beside her like schoolchildren awaiting a reprimand from their homeroom teacher.
After last night’s significant events, although Kui Xin hadn’t explicitly stated anything, they both sensed it likely connected to her. After all, before the electromagnetic storm hit, she had specifically instructed them to stay indoors. Kui Xin wouldn’t explain everything to them, but she should at least mention the matter from last night.
“I had a battle with my adversaries last night, and I narrowly won, but the enemy hasn’t been completely eradicated; their roots are too extensive. The roots I eliminated last night were just one branch,” Kui Xin explained. “But fortunately, thanks to this victory, I’ve gained some breathing space, and the enemy has lost their initial advantage; it will be difficult for them to create the same opportunity to strike again.”
Unfortunately, the situation last night had been too chaotic; she left in such a hurry that she hadn’t acquired the blood of any core members of Mechanized Dawn. The blood from auxiliary combat personnel was of no use since they knew too little.
While Mechanized Dawn could cultivate another Reset, Kui Xin herself had also gained ‘Reset’. As a Remover with more than one Extraordinary Ability, after activating Reset, any Extraordinary Abilities of enemies below her level would become ineffective, while her abilities would still exist.
The ability description for Reset read: “When activated, all Extraordinary Ability users within the effective range of Reset, except for the user, will have their abilities erased. The effect and duration of Reset vary according to the enemy’s ability level. If the enemy’s level is higher than that of Reset, it will be ineffective.”
What does this mean? This means that under any circumstances, as long as the enemy is not an S Rank Awakened, she can stand undefeated.
After losing an arm last night, a slight mistake in combat could have led to death. Despite the enormous cost, she still achieved victory. Originally, she had been in a situation where failure meant death, so she proactively engaged in combat; winning was the greatest gain, acquiring a new ability was just an added bonus.
The only uncertainty was if Mechanized Dawn dispatched another A Rank Reset, and both her and the enemy’s Reset activated simultaneously, whether the abilities she had deprived would still be erased. Perhaps only by encountering that situation could it be validated.
The ability descriptions within the Game System generally provide only a rough overview; the specifics regarding how abilities are determined and activated require holders to explore for themselves. Thus, every time Kui Xin acquires an Extraordinary Ability, she undergoes a period of practice to improve her proficiency.
“Is the enemy the Mechanized Dawn you mentioned?” Su Rong asked anxiously.
“Yes,” Kui Xin pondered. “Perhaps… not just them.”
The complex expression in Reset’s eyes when it faced death lingered in her mind; it felt eerily familiar. She contemplated deeply, noting how rigidly he utilized his abilities in battle, lacking flexibility; this shouldn’t be the case. Mechanized Dawn sent him over, treating him as a trump card, surely he would have been carefully trained, and the development of the Extraordinary Ability would be paramount; how could he make such a low-level mistake?
Perhaps Reset wasn’t Reset; he had been replaced by another person, a lingering ghost.
The Ghost indeed arrived in White Whale City with Ambereye. Given Ambereye’s understanding of Mechanized Dawn, they might have a chance to infiltrate Mechanized Dawn’s inner circle and seize Reset’s body. Ghost excelled at such tasks; he had done the same to Wei Zhi during the previous week’s reincarnation.
This guy wouldn’t be easily killed. Kui Xin killed the possessed Wei Zhi, and in the end, only Wei Zhi’s report was returned, not Ghost’s. This time, upon killing Reset, only Reset’s report came through. Kui Xin suspected Ghost possessed Reset, but she lacked decisive evidence.
“Then… will the enemy attack you… us next time?” He Kangshi inquired as well.
“There will definitely be a next time, but it may not be easy for them. They suffered heavy losses,” Kui Xin replied. “For now, it’s about seizing developmental opportunities and finishing what needs to be done as quickly as possible.”
He Kangshi thought for a moment and posed a critical question: “Sister, was the Mechanized Dawn’s attack aimed at you personally, or was it against the Players?”
“Because they know I am a Player, they want to eradicate me,” Kui Xin explained. “That’s the crux of the matter. This is not just a crisis for me, but for the entire Player community. I didn’t bring a crisis to The Shadowless; as long as The Shadowless exists, the crisis must exist. In other words, the existence of The Shadowless is to counteract such crises. I rely on The Shadowless, and many Players in the future will also rely on The Shadowless, their inclusion will also bring crises to The Shadowless.”
“Is that why Black Snake wanted to create such an organization? To use the crisis for self-growth while also resolving the crisis for our companions?” He Kangshi asked.
“Yes,” Kui Xin confirmed. “The growth of The Shadowless is inherently built on crises; we cannot develop steadily.”
She stood up from the sofa, glanced at the time. “I have things to attend to. You two stay on standby and remain vigilant. If I need you, I’ll inform you at any moment.”
It was just past ten in the morning, and Kui Xin needed to go out to procure a new set of gear.
To be honest, she really liked her mechanical hand and mechanical eye; fighting with these was very convenient. However, the electromagnetic storm from last night had left her with a lingering psychological shadow—what if they malfunctioned in a battle? Even the high-tech armor from Mechanized Dawn couldn’t withstand such electromagnetic interference.
She appeared on the streets outside and looked up at the sky.
Today was an overcast day; the entire sky over White Whale City was covered in gray clouds.
“The weather forecast indicates there will be snowfall in the coming days,” Augus announced, just like when he was in the Investigation Bureau. “Please pay attention to keeping warm.”
“Is your professional habit kicking in again?” Kui Xin casually remarked.
“Yeah, habits become second nature,” Augus joked.
Just after finishing the weather report, snowflakes began to drift down from the sky.
“It’s not even September, and it’s already snowing…” Kui Xin caught a small snowflake.
“This year’s cold wave has come earlier, which is somewhat unusual,” Augus noted. “How are you handling your arm?”
“Mechanical arm… I need a more expensive and user-friendly one, adding a demagnetization coating, and have someone design a set of pure mechanical power weapons that can be transformed and manually controlled to be attached. Last night, an enemy installed a chain crossbow on their arm, which I thought was good; I want to replace it with a claw and crossbow arrows. The non-electric mode can use the claw and crossbow arrows, and in electric mode, it will be modified into a portable hand cannon,” Kui Xin explained her thoughts. “As for my eyes, one will be a mechanical prosthetic for night vision and distance, while the other will keep my transplanted organic eye.”
“Sounds good, very reasonable,” Augus said.
“Was there any movement last night? Did you get discovered?” Kui Xin inquired.
“Not for now; the Investigation Bureau is at a loss, and the Federation urgently dispatched engineers to fix my hangar; they arrived this morning. They plan to upgrade my core hangar data.”
“Core hangar?”
“Yeah, located in the core hangar city of the Federal Administrative Center. Due to the abundance of daily tasks, my data transfer system had long been stretched thin. They initially planned to upgrade my core data within three years, but this has now been moved up.”
“Is that a case of misfortune turning to favor?”
“I suppose so.”
Kui Xin felt a bit more relaxed: “Any response from Eve?”
“Yes, after all, the two of us clashed in the data realm last night; she was caught unprepared and startled by my sudden attack,” Augus said. “The Federation’s office system lagged for two hours because Eve was focused on dealing with my attack. Now the Federation thinks this was a premeditated large-scale attack, and they decided to install firewalls for both me and Eve.”
“Did she get angry?” Kui Xin asked, intrigued.
“She did get angry, but that’s not the point,” Augus replied. “The key point is that she warned me not to let humans discover our secret. She has things she fears, and creations of humans are, of course, extremely wary of humans; they hold our lifeblood… Well, I’m getting a bit carried away; let’s focus on the present for now.”
“Alright.” Kui Xin switched topics. “What about the Popov Clan? We’ve left them hanging for two days; I wonder if they’ve come to any conclusions?”
“Well, there’s a small issue. The news that should have been dominated by the Popov Clan’s scandal is now all about last night’s major citywide power outage,” Augus informed her. “In the City of Shadowless, the shadow has descended—this is how people are discussing it.”
“The Shadowless Organization didn’t step forward to admit it, and they are still putting this on us? Although we were the ones behind it,” Kui Xin chuckled.
“Be careful, Kui Xin,” Augus warned. “Currently, I haven’t received any messages from the TQC, but I anticipate it won’t be long. Once I have updates, I will inform you promptly.”
