Chapter 69: Sea Without Light
“What should we do with Reynir?” Kui Xin asked. “Should we kill him too?”
“That depends on the boss’s arrangements,” Night Cicada said, stroking his chin.
“‘Dad,’ how should we handle Reynir?” Kui Xin asked slowly over the communication link. “Do I need to kill him as well?”
“That depends on whether he still has any value,” Kui Haidong replied. “The information a Zhao Wenyao can provide is limited; we need more players.”
“So what’s the plan now? Should we check them one by one? How long is that going to take?” Kui Xin said. “With just ten thousand people, if they’re evenly distributed, having one or two in a city is purely luck. They blend in with the crowd, so how are we supposed to find them? As time goes on, it will become increasingly difficult to identify who the players are, and they are likely to hide.”
“Yes, the discovery of Doreen, Reynir, and Zhao Wenyao also involved an element of luck,” Kui Haidong said. “In this regard, our luck has been favorable. In fact, we have already identified four players, but there is a problem with the fourth one; it’s much more complicated than Reynir’s case.”
Kui Xin’s brow furrowed. “Who is the fourth?”
“The one you’ve seen on the Kraken,” Kui Haidong said slowly.
“…Tang Guan?” Kui Xin felt a mix of surprise and inevitability deep inside.
“Yes,” Kui Haidong said. “Once you meet Reynir, you can go see Tang Guan.”
“Okay,” Kui Xin’s expression remained unchanged. “I’m quite interested in Tang Guan.”
“We’re here; this is the cell where Reynir is held,” Night Cicada said. “The smell inside might be a bit strong, so bear with it.”
“Tsk.” Kui Xin frowned as she watched the metal door slide open, then stepped inside the cell.
The setup was similar; the spacious room was divided into two parts by glass, and Reynir sat in a restraining chair with his head down, seemingly unconscious.
An IV drip was connected to his arm, with the liquid trickling down, entering his veins.
“This guy isn’t eating… uh, all his teeth are pulled out, so I guess he can’t eat,” Night Cicada mumbled. “Is that why he refused food? Anyway, we have to give Reynir nutritional injections to keep him alive. I haven’t tortured him these past few days, so technically he should be in better shape now.”
Night Cicada snapped his fingers, the glass descended, and he walked over to Reynir, tapping his face.
“Hey, Clark Kent, wake up.” Night Cicada slapped him several times.
Reynir slowly opened his eyes; his mental state was indeed not good, looking almost on the verge of death, his gaze dulled, showing little reaction to external stimuli.
“The stench in here is really strong,” Kui Xin said, fanning her nose with her hand.
The smell of blood, a strong smell of blood; she was overwhelmed with the illusion of being back on the Kraken.
“Just confess everything,” Night Cicada said with a smile, looking at Reynir. “The player from your world has already spilled everything.”
Reynir wore a metal bracelet on his wrist that continuously monitored his life signs and conducted a lie detector test on his words; all of his physiological states were subject to the instrument’s analysis.
Upon hearing Night Cicada’s words, Reynir’s eyelashes fluttered, and he spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva at Night Cicada.
The spit landed on Night Cicada’s black boots, and his mood visibly darkened; he looked ominously grim. But Reynir silently laughed, not because he wanted to laugh out loud, but because he simply didn’t have the strength. When he laughed, faint breaths escaped from his chest, like a dying person struggling to breathe.
Night Cicada squeezed Reynir’s jaw tightly and said, “Am I not torturing you hard enough? Hmm?”
He raised his fist and struck Reynir, causing his face to warp, but thinking that might be too light, he took out a retractable baton from his waistband and began to beat him.
“Still not satisfied? Hurry up.” Kui Xin glanced at her wristband. “I don’t have much time to waste.”
“Ugh…” Night Cicada put the baton away. “Fine, whatever you say.”
Reynir slowly moved his head, speaking in a muffled tone, “In most cases, you rely on tools to torture me, not your fists or feet. Every time you hit me with your fists or feet, it’s lighter than I expect… You don’t seem like a trained warrior at all, more like an average person with mediocre strength.”
He spoke in English, and since all his teeth were pulled, some words came out unclear, but Kui Xin’s multifunctional disguise mask translated it clearly.
Night Cicada felt a sting in his pride; compared to others, he certainly was underwhelming in hand-to-hand combat. Because of his extraordinary abilities, he played an irreplaceable role in the organization, with a status others couldn’t reach. But his physical fitness was his greatest weakness, he couldn’t protect himself any better.
Night Cicada was prideful; having his weakness exposed made him refrain from getting angry; he only scoffed and said, “You guess pretty well, don’t you?”
“I think my guess is correct,” Reynir raised his battered face and looked at Kui Xin. “Look, you’ve brought a new face; can you introduce her to me?”
“Before asking others for introductions, you should introduce yourself first,” Kui Xin replied. “You’re not Clark Kent; your world doesn’t have parents that give their children three different names. Everything you said earlier was a lie.”
“I didn’t lie; you two can believe whatever you want,” Reynir croaked.
“Still playing dumb? Are you suffering from wishful thinking or do you think that as long as you don’t admit it, we won’t have any methods to deal with you?” Night Cicada grabbed Reynir’s hair, forcing him to look him in the eye.
Night Cicada observed Reynir’s reaction and stated, “You players belong to factions; one side is the Removers, and the other side is the Proxies, right?”
Reynir blinked at Night Cicada, tears pooling in the corners of his eyes. Before Night Cicada could mock him, he squeezed his eyes shut and said, “I’m sorry, the lights in the interrogation room are too bright, and I can’t help but tear up.”
Night Cicada: “…?”
Night Cicada ruthlessly punched Reynir.
Reynir’s face swelled up; Night Cicada said, “Do you know what I’m thinking? Reynir? I’m thinking, since you’ve lost your teeth, would you mind if I gouged out your two eyeballs? Since you’re complaining the lights are too bright and making you tear up, if I take them out, you won’t have to be bothered by the light anymore.”
“That confessing player said that the world you live in doesn’t have a unified government but many countries. He came from Huaguo; which country are you from?” Night Cicada asked.
“Sorry, I told you, I’m from the M78 Nebula…” Reynir said. “Ah, forget it. Since you already know, I’ll tell you…”
Night Cicada thought Reynir had finally given up. Kui Xin thought so for a moment too.
But then she heard Reynir say, “This is actually a multi-world competitive game. There are different zones and servers within the game; I’m on the M78 Nebula server. That one you captured should be from the Blue Star server, and players also come from the Earth 616 server, Cybertron server, Pokémon server…”
Kui Xin: “…?”
Reynir continued, “Facing the invasion of our high-dimensional world, you low-dimensional worlds struggle to resist… Give up, brother. Capturing me is useless; without me, there are others. You might as well just kill me; at worst, I can reload my game.”
Night Cicada laughed in anger, “Still trying to fool me, huh?”
Kui Xin looked at Reynir and said, “You players only have one life; if you die in our world, you’ll die in yours too.”
“I’ve never heard of that rule,” Reynir laughed, “This is a game; the game officials wouldn’t do something so cruel, right? That player is lying to you, trying to provoke you so that you’ll kill him quickly, allowing him to return to the real world to start over; he might even gather his player friends on the forum to take revenge on you.”
“Is that so?” Kui Xin tilted her head, “If what you said is true, then his plan might have succeeded; we already killed him.”
Reynir’s emotions subtly quieted for a second, his long golden hair shadowing his face.
It was a silent moment of mourning.
No one noticed his stillness except for Kui Xin.
“This guy seems to indeed not be giving us anything useful,” Kui Xin said. “Should we keep him for future interrogation opportunities or kill him?”
After a few seconds, Kui Haidong said, “Let’s keep him for now. Xiao Xin, you and Night Cicada go meet Tang Guan, and then you can go rest; the work at the Investigation Bureau has been hard for you.”
Kui Xin turned to Night Cicada, “Let’s go.”
Night Cicada gave Reynir a cold glance as the isolation glass automatically rose, enclosing Reynir inside.
As they exited the room, Reynir stared at them in silence, wide-eyed, as if he were trying to memorize their features.
“Strange, letting me kill a useless Zhao Wenyao but leaving behind someone who can’t say anything like Reynir,” Kui Xin wondered aloud. “What is my dad thinking?”
“Who knows? Just follow the boss’s arrangements,” Night Cicada said lazily, “I don’t believe a word Reynir says.”
“But the lie detector didn’t go off in most cases,” Kui Xin replied.
Night Cicada said, “After all, it’s a machine; as long as it’s a machine, there will be loopholes. We can only design the machine to approach perfection. If someone is really wary, they’ll do counter-lie detector training to confuse the machine’s judgment.”
Kui Xin thought for a moment and said something fitting for her character and position: “I think we actually don’t need to eliminate all players. From Zhao Wenyao’s reaction, there has never been a shortage of people fearing for their lives in this world. We could take advantage of that to recruit a group of players and establish a long-term cooperative relationship, extracting information and value from them.”
Night Cicada said, “I’ve suggested that to the boss before as well; the boss said he would consider it.”
They reached the end of the corridor, and the metal door in front of them was larger and sturdier than the previous two.
Something significant was likely locked behind that metal door.
“The previous ones were just appetizers,” Night Cicada said. “Now comes the main course.”
Blue light scanned Kui Xin’s body, and the metal door opened.
What came into view was a huge laboratory, with a dozen researchers busy inside.
In the center of the laboratory was a glass cage, divided into three layers, with each layer of glass made from the most advanced technology, capable of withstanding explosions.
In the center of the glass was a person, Tang Guan.
He was no longer a two-headed monster but an ordinary human, staring blankly at the ceiling.
The head of the laboratory was an old man with graying hair; one of his eyes was a mechanical prosthetic, resembling a single-lens telescope installed on his face at first glance.
“This is Dr. Long, who specializes in research on xenomorphs, a leading expert in this field,” Night Cicada introduced to Kui Xin.
“Welcome,” Dr. Long smiled at Kui Xin. “People are always full of curiosity about the unknown; it’s human nature. Thanks to you, I have the opportunity to witness such a peculiar species.”
“Such a peculiar species?” Kui Xin’s gaze shifted to Tang Guan in the glass cage. “Are you referring to him?”
“Yes,” Dr. Long replied. “He is neither human nor xenomorph, but a species that exists between the two… A symbiote; he shares an equal symbiotic relationship with the monster.”
“What do you mean? Could you please explain that to me?” Kui Xin asked seriously. “What kind of reasons led to such an exception?”
“Extraordinary abilities,” Dr. Long grinned. “We carefully examined his blood and found that he is actually a Heterogeneous Blooded, an awakened Heterogeneous Blooded—his ability is ‘symbiosis.’ When the monster attempted to invade his body and contaminate his mind, his extraordinary ability was unexpectedly triggered, creating this peculiar yet stable state.”
“Stable?” Kui Xin frowned. “I don’t find him stable; I saw him lose control with my own eyes.”
“No, no, no; compared to other parasitized humans or Heterogeneous Blooded, he is very stable,” Dr. Long said. “His stability lies in the fact that he shares the body with the monster. If he falls asleep, loses consciousness, or goes insane, the monster will control his body. If he persists in staying awake and maintains focused awareness, then he exists in a human state.”
No wonder… no wonder when I first saw Tang Guan, he looked haggard and as if he hadn’t slept for several days. He must have been fighting against the consciousness of the monster without sleeping until he finally broke down and lost control.
“He’s the fourth player captured?” Kui Xin asked quietly.
“Yes,” Night Cicada smiled. “It seems that players randomly assume identities when they come to our world. Reynir is a researcher, Doreen is a researcher, Zhao Wenyao is a wealthy second-generation, and Tang Guan is a cultist. Their identities are quite interesting.”
“Tang Guan is from a secret cult?” Kui Xin asked. “Did he say that himself?”
“Yes, he said it himself,” Night Cicada nodded. “When he had just recovered from the monster state, he cried and mumbled to himself, filled with strong guilt. He recounted the events on the Kraken, saying he suddenly woke up with that identity. Every night, the monster inside him would come out to wreak havoc, wanting to kill everyone on the ship. The monster even talked to him, nagging in his head. He was close to breaking down…”
“Turns out it’s… like this,” Kui Xin said.
The instigator was Tang Guan, but not entirely. One thing was certain: the mastermind was the Secret Cult.
The long-term investigation finally yielded results.
“[Mission Progress]: 100%”
“You have walked the fine line of life and death, overcoming obstacles, and finally completed your first solo mission. You remained calm in danger, unraveling the truth step by step. Despite paying some price during the process of investigation, you still achieved the results you desired.”
“You have successfully completed the mission and received a mission reward [Invitation Letter].”
“[Invitation Letter]: You may invite one lucky person from the First World to join the ‘Crimson Soil.’ This invitation letter can be used when the second batch of beta testing opens.”
