Chapter 68: Sea Without Light
“Behave yourself, and I’ll ask the questions while you answer.” Night Cicada looked at the bruised and battered Zhao Wenyao.
Kui Xin did not hold back but understood the need for restraint.
If Mechanized Dawn wanted to interrogate Zhao Wenyao, they wouldn’t allow him to be killed. Kui Xin could be a bit rough, but she couldn’t endanger his life; he mustn’t pass out or lose his mind and be unable to speak.
Zhao Wenyao lay on the ground, unable to cry out due to the extensive injuries he sustained. Each movement of his face sent sharp pangs of pain through him.
“You can just ask me directly; why do you have to beat me first…” Zhao Wenyao said weakly, “Go ahead and ask!”
“This guy truly lacks backbone,” Night Cicada remarked, speechless.
“Hurry up and ask; let’s wrap this up tonight. I still need to get some rest,” Kui Xin said as she took out a spare tissue from her pocket and slowly wiped the blood from her fingers. “Isn’t a spineless person the easiest to interrogate?”
“Alright.” Night Cicada moved next to Zhao Wenyao and looked down at him. “Tell me your name.”
“Zhao, Zhao Wenyao.” The man on the ground trembled as if having a seizure.
“Zhao Wenyao, are you sure your name is Zhao Wenyao?” Night Cicada asked. “No other names, just Zhao Wenyao?”
Zhao Wenyao was stunned by her questioning. “Then… what else could it be? I am Zhao Wenyao.”
“Before entering this so-called game, was your name also Zhao Wenyao?” Night Cicada questioned.
Zhao Wenyao froze, a huge terror suddenly dawning on his face.
It was only now that he realized why he was locked up in the isolation room; it was incredibly foolish of him.
He had thought maybe his wealthy parents in the Second World had attracted criminals that kidnapped him, or perhaps there was malicious competition among large companies which led to the abduction of a company executive’s son.
After being captured, he spent a long time imagining scenarios in the isolation room, yet he hadn’t considered that the real reason for his abduction was the exposure of his identity as a player.
In truth, there had been signs, but Zhao Wenyao hadn’t noticed them. He had thought it was just his wealthy second-generation lifestyle that led his parents to confine him. When he snuck out of his room, his only goal was to stroll around and see the world. Zhao Wenyao was aware that his Second World parents were puzzled by his drastic behavior, but he never imagined their suspicions would run this deep, even leading them to report to Mechanized Dawn to investigate the matter.
He had been caught by confusion and was now locked up here in confusion.
Kui Xin stared at Zhao Wenyao’s terrified face, thinking—he would die just as confused.
Those who are not clever cannot survive in this world.
But being clever isn’t enough; one also needs resolve and a bit of luck.
As for those who possess neither intelligence nor resolve, and even lack luck, death becomes a comparatively preferable outcome. The greatest fear is suffering endlessly, living in a state worse than death.
After being captured, Reynir Brandenburg endured harsh torture, limbs bound, teeth pulled out, unable even to commit suicide. This was the quintessential fate worse than death; he could not provide himself with a clean end and would lose his will in the endless torment.
“I… I…” Zhao Wenyao stuttered, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand!”
“Lady Fortune, give him another beating,” Night Cicada said. “Look at this guy, he’s still not honest. Hit him a bit harder.”
Hearing this, Zhao Wenyao shut his eyes in fear but refused to speak, tightly clenching his mouth. When Kui Xin had struck him earlier, he cried out for mercy, almost clinging to her leg and calling her ancestor, yet now he had adopted a false semblance of dignity, lying there as if resigned to be beaten.
Night Cicada poked Kui Xin’s arm in surprise. “Oh wow, I misjudged him. Turns out this person has a bit of spirit.”
Zhao Wenyao knew what could and could not be said. Earlier, when he had knelt in a panic, he hadn’t grasped the seriousness of the situation. He thought it was merely a case of business competition or a kidnapping for ransom. Naturally, he wanted to spill everything he knew to save his own skin… even though he didn’t know what was truly useful.
However, the matter of being a player was different; he couldn’t reveal that.
If he did… people would die, many players would die.
Returning to the First World, the horrific survival numbers displayed on the forum had left a deep impression on him.
Zhao Wenyao felt he wasn’t a clever person, nor someone with awareness and responsibility, but he was a normal person. Normal people don’t do things that harm others while benefiting themselves.
“You probably don’t know, but several of your companions have already been captured,” Night Cicada said. “I advise you to be honest; otherwise, the price will be your life.”
“Do you have any humanity?!” Zhao Wenyao exclaimed angrily. “You beat me while asking for intel; shouldn’t the general procedure be to say ‘Tell me your secret, and I’ll give you something in return’? You skipped the temptation stage and went straight to coercion… If you had tempted me a bit, I might have spoken. You beat me up, and now you want info? Not a chance! Don’t even think about it!”
Night Cicada pondered, “That does seem to be a point?”
This was a common tactic of Mechanized Dawn; their methods had always been cruel and cold. Plus, the previous captured player, Reynir Brandenburg, was a tough nut to crack, which led Mechanized Dawn to abandon the lower-tier tempting approach for outright coercion.
However, coercion wouldn’t work well with Reynir, either.
“See him?” Night Cicada snapped her fingers, and a holographic projection beam shot down from the ceiling. “Disobedience leads to this fate.”
Bloodied and bound to a chair, Reynir had long lost consciousness. His head hung limply, golden hair entangled and clotted with blood, dark brown bloodstains soaking his pants. A small puddle of half-dried blood lay under the chair.
Zhao Wenyao’s eyes widened, and his body involuntarily began to tremble.
When that woman was beating him, he once felt he might be killed; her strikes were overwhelmingly fierce. Now, seeing this bloody scene, he had no doubts about the ruthlessness of the two unknown figures before him.
“You… are you asking me to choose between death and a fate worse than death? You won’t even bother with pre-temptive seduction or post-payment busting?” Zhao Wenyao managed to speak painfully.
Night Cicada was nearly amused by him.
At that moment, Kui Xin stepped forward. “Alright, we can give you a commitment. Tell us information about the game, and I’ll let you live.”
“Are you trying to fool me?” Zhao Wenyao said. “Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“I’m just playing along with your words, providing an alternative option for your dilemma,” Kui Xin said. “You can choose between ‘exchanging information for a chance to survive’ and ‘death’… Now you can choose.”
“Exchange information for a chance to survive? Just a chance?” Zhao Wenyao’s cheeks twitched. “You aren’t even willing to give me a 100% guarantee of survival.”
“Whether you can survive depends on the value of your information,” Kui Xin replied. “We won’t make additional promises; the truth is always harder to accept than lies. If you want to hear some comforting lies, I can certainly provide some sweet talk.”
Zhao Wenyao’s lips quivered, and tears streamed down his face.
The newly formed sense of not betraying his fellow countrymen was being crushed under the immense pressure of life and death, fading away…
Night Cicada agreed with Kui Xin’s approach: “Well, after all, this is a matter of life and death; we can give you a bit more time to think about it… How about ten seconds? I’ll count to ten; if you haven’t answered by then, it will be assumed you choose to die.”
“Only ten seconds! Is that all the time you’re giving me?” Zhao Wenyao exclaimed in shock.
Kui Xin remained silent as she pulled a black gun from her back, clicking it into place.
Zhao Wenyao’s emotions shattered at the moment he saw Kui Xin draw the gun. Night Cicada had only counted to five when he screamed in fear, “I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”
“Congratulations on making the right choice,” Night Cicada said. “I must warn you, if you lie during the interrogation, the consequence will be a bullet. We have the means to verify whether your information is true or false; don’t forget, we’ve captured more than one player.”
Under normal circumstances, just comparing the information provided by two captives would quickly reveal its authenticity. However, Mechanized Dawn had not obtained any valid intel from Reynir, so Night Cicada’s words aimed to deceive Zhao Wenyao.
As for Zhao Wenyao… he couldn’t tell that Night Cicada was bluffing.
He spilled everything he knew.
While Night Cicada interrogated Zhao Wenyao, Kui Xin’s heart grew heavy as she silently observed.
She couldn’t react, only control her heartbeat and emotions, listening to Night Cicada conduct the interrogation. She feigned surprise when warranted and shock when necessary, striving not to reveal any flaws.
At the moment Zhao Wenyao succumbed to threats, Kui Xin lost her justification for killing him.
She had considered silencing Zhao Wenyao.
The key information about the players couldn’t be leaked; why did Reynir stubbornly hold on? Because he knew that disclosing those details would lead to more deaths, that people from the Second World would hunt down and kill the players.
However, without Zhao Wenyao, Mechanized Dawn could still find other players to interrogate for information; not every player had an iron will. As long as players continued to traverse between the two worlds, their exposure was merely a matter of time.
This was an insoluble dilemma.
Now Kui Xin had lost the chance to act; she could only watch as Zhao Wenyao unveiled all the rules of the game, pouring them out like beans.
He was completely broken, speaking incoherently under Night Cicada’s questioning, yet he managed to relay all the critical information accurately.
The two factions of Removers and Proxies, the seven-day cycle of the game, the player forum, the technological progress level in the First World, the total number of players…
By the end, Kui Xin’s heart had gone numb.
She didn’t blame Zhao Wenyao; he was an ordinary person, barely twenty, still young. Living in a peaceful reality, he followed a regular path of studying and working, far removed from the brutality of war. He might worry about mundane issues, and the height of his aspirations was limited to that. Zhao Wenyao had never contemplated the grand thesis of “Under enemy torture, can I uphold my bottom line?” So he made such a response.
One could only say that entering the game world of Crimson Soil was a cruel joke of fate; all players’ destinies had reached an unknown turning point.
An hour later, Night Cicada concluded the interrogation.
All the content of the interrogation had been recorded for subsequent analysis of the audio and video.
In fact, this interrogation was a live stream; Kui Haidong was watching the exchange between Night Cicada and Zhao Wenyao from behind the scenes.
The more Kui Haidong listened, the more shocked he became, completely at a loss for words. He sat in his office, mouth agape, dazed against his chair, unaware that the interrogation had ended.
Until “that person’s” voice jolted him awake.
“…Kill him?” Kui Haidong gasped. “How valuable is he? Zhao Wenyao can traverse both worlds! He’s our window into understanding the other world! If we can control him, why kill him?”
“Just do as you’re told. Order your daughter to kill Zhao Wenyao.”
Suppressing a heart full of doubts, Kui Haidong connected with Kui Xin.
“Xiao Xin, the interrogation is over; Zhao Wenyao is no longer of value. Dispose of him,” Kui Haidong said.
Kui Xin was taken aback. “If the information Zhao Wenyao provided is true, I believe he still has value; it’s best not to kill him. He can traverse the two worlds. If we control him, it’s like controlling a massive source of information…”
Truly my daughter, thinking along the same lines as I do… Kui Haidong thought.
But he had orders that had to be executed.
“This isn’t your concern; you need to kill Zhao Wenyao,” Kui Haidong stated.
“Fine, if ‘Dad’ you’ve decided that…” Kui Xin raised her gun.
Zhao Wenyao looked at Kui Xin pleadingly; his words of begging hadn’t left his lips when Kui Xin pulled the trigger.
“Bang!”
Blood sprayed.
Kui Xin silently retracted her gun, her expression normal as she said, “Isn’t there still one Reynir left? Can I go take a look at him?”
“Sure,” Kui Haidong said succinctly. “Night Cicada, take her there.”
The game interface flashed.
“You have killed [Proxy·Zhao Wenyao].”
“I’ve done my best,” Kui Xin told herself. “I’ve tried my hardest while ensuring my own safety.”
She turned and followed Night Cicada back into the corridor.
“I also feel a bit regretful; we shouldn’t have killed him off so quickly,” Night Cicada said, crossing her arms as she looked down the hallway. “But our boss’s orders, after all, we just have to execute.”
