### Chapter 74: Artificial Soul 1
After posting this thread, Kui Xin didn’t waste any time waiting for replies; she exited the posting page and opened a thread titled “List of Fallen Players Released.”
She scrolled down to view the death toll for August 9th.
As she suspected, the number of deaths on August 9th was several times higher than the total death toll from August 3rd to August 8th, with an incredibly long list of casualties. From the 3rd to the 5th, the number of fallen players was relatively low, while on the 6th, there was a noticeable increase in casualties. By the 9th, the death toll surged.
Kui Xin speculated that this phenomenon was due to actions taken by the Federation government and certain organizations, which likely began their capture plans around the 6th. After capturing players, they also interrogated them to obtain specific intelligence, learning about players’ return cycles and game rules. They knew players would collectively return on August 9th, and it was possible that some players would leak this information on the forum. Thus, they took countermeasures—killing players before they could return to the First World.
Only the dead could guarantee that secrets would not be leaked.
Kui Xin felt an unprecedented heaviness in her heart.
The pressure of survival weighed down on everyone. As one of the first batch of beta test players, everything was unknown; they were explorers of the new world. If there were to be a second or third round of beta testing in the future, the current players could better hide themselves under the guidance of their predecessors.
In the death list from the 3rd to the 8th, a few striking sentences caught Kui Xin’s attention.
Just like last time when she killed Zejian and the game officials reported it in a forum post, this time, there were also reports of other players being killed.
“Proxy 7980, killed by Remover 233 on August 6th.”
This report was about Kui Xin herself; nothing to dwell on. What concerned her was the next line—
“Proxy 5122, killed by Remover 777 on August 6th.”
Remover 777 had also killed a player on August 6th, making the situation increasingly perplexing. Kui Xin’s expression grew more serious as she continued to read the reports.
“Proxy 6803, killed by Remover 777 on August 9th.”
“Proxy 9689, killed by Remover 777 on August 9th.”
“Proxy 612, killed by Proxy 129 on August 9th.”
Remover 777 was reported three times.
On the day with the highest death toll, the 9th, a Proxy numbered 129 had killed another Proxy.
This identity of Remover 777 must be significant; where did they get so much information about players and successfully kill so many of them? What was their goal—was it to obtain extraordinary abilities?
If Remover 777 weren’t an antisocial psychopath, if they cared about their life and didn’t want their identity exposed, they shouldn’t have killed so many people in such a short time. Yet they did.
Kui Xin pondered if Remover 777 also had some ulterior motive like hers.
In just seven days, they managed to find and kill three players… Unless Remover 777 was a super hacker capable of invading the core database of the Federation, it was impossible for them to accomplish that alone. But identifying the players wasn’t enough; they needed to take action, plan three murders, and ensure their survival from investigations and pursuits by the Investigation Bureau.
Kui Xin fell into deep thought.
She returned to the homepage and glanced at the pinned post. Other than the list of fallen players, no new official posts were released.
She skimmed through the new posts below.
Within just five minutes, her warning post had received two hundred replies, and upon refreshing, the number continued to climb. The players’ panic spread across the forum, with many opening related threads, but most discussions centered on her post.
Speculations regarding Remover 233 and Remover 777 were varied and abundant.
“Are Remover 233 and Remover 777 in a competition for who kills more? These two don’t know each other in the real world, do they???”
Someone replied: “How could that be… The probability of the two knowing each other is only slightly greater than Mars colliding with Earth.”
“233 and 777 should be the only two Removers with exposed identifiers on the forum, right? What about the others?”
1L: “In this situation, I don’t think any other Removers would dare expose their numbers; only high-skilled and daring players would take the risk… or lunatics.”
2L: “Removers can also gain extraordinary abilities by hunting native residents, so I think most Removers would prefer hunting NPCs rather than our fellow countrymen.”
3L replied to 2L: “So I feel both Remover 233 and Remover 777 are perverts; they must be insane to commit such devilish acts.”
4L: “I remember last time someone speculated that these two Removers would likely stop killing to conceal their identities, but unfortunately, they were wrong; they are still at it with no signs of stopping.”
Some old posts were made by players when they first returned to the forum, before Kui Xin issued her warning.
However, after her warning post, the direction of discussions on the forum homepage changed. Posts related to Removers decreased, while posts filled with panic increased, with some users even starting to post their last words.
Kui Xin calmly read through these posts, and suddenly a new thread caught her attention.
“Rational speculation: Could Removers 233 and 777 be working for the government?”
First poster: “Since I’ve been lurking for a week, I’ve seen players posting about becoming smuggled immigrants, black-market residents, thieves, convicts, street thugs, night club hosts, corporate drones, mechanics, college students… the occupations players engage in are diverse. So I wonder, could someone have become a member of the Federation government? Then the government sent them to capture players, and they went, resulting in…”
“I may have read too many novels to have this wild imagination, but I really feel this speculation holds some ground.”
1L: “Wow, that’s possible!”
2L: “Help! I’m actually starting to be somewhat convinced.”
3L: “Life isn’t a novel; what kind of lucky coincidences exist in the world?”
4L: “I think the original poster’s speculation is quite plausible, actually. I had similar thoughts. First of all, it’s inconceivable for one person to find so many players in the Second World; where do Removers 233 and 777 get such power? If they don’t possess such power, they must be relying on some organization or force to find the players.”
5L: “I don’t know if you’ve seen an old movie where the male lead is an artificially created humanoid, and he was made specifically to hunt down other artificial beings who have awakened self-awareness. This is a mutually destructive conflict among artificially created beings, and the protagonist has no chance to resist; he can only kill his fellow beings, continuously, or he will face ‘retirement.'”
6L replied to 5L: “Killing is killing; don’t speculate about the tragic background and lack of alternatives for these two Removers; is that fair to the ones who are killed?”
7L replied to 6L: “I’m just offering a speculation; no need to take the moral high ground to condemn me.”
8L: “The atmosphere suddenly took a grim turn.”
9L: “Actually, in the neighboring educational post, I think we can already assert that 233 is working for the Federation government; they were the first to post, and a normal person wouldn’t know so many insider details.”
10L: “Most players live without knowledge, but a few are willing to step up and inform us of the truth, warning us of the world’s malice—they can save many. If the neighboring educational poster 233 is indeed a Federation employee, then they are undoubtedly in danger.”
11L: “Damn, at first glance, the poster’s speculation seems far-fetched, but I actually feel somewhat convinced.”
12L: “Poster, I advise you to delete it. If what you say is true, then these two Removers are undoubtedly on the edge of danger; they might lose their lives in the next return.”
13L: “Are you being so naïve?”
14L replied to 13L: “Recommending deletion is also for the safety of the neighboring educational poster.”
15L replied to 14L: “If they dare to come forward, then they don’t fear being exposed; whether they delete it or not, it’s all the same.”
16L replied to 15L: “So what you’re saying is that since some are prepared to sacrifice themselves, you can let them do so at will? You seem very self-righteous.”
17L (Poster): “You all make valid points.”
After the poster responded, Kui Xin refreshed again, only for the page to show a blank screen; the post had been deleted.
Kui Xin exhaled, pursed her lips, and opened her own post.
The reply count had now jumped to over four hundred, and the discussion continued.
13L: “Damn it, I knew players would be exposed sooner or later!”
18L: “We’ve been exposed so quickly! Faster than I could ever imagine. The Federation government in the Second World reacted so swiftly. Could the fallen players be their doing?”
21L: “I’ll say I’m not surprised at all; even though we’ve crossed into parallel selves, we don’t have related memories in our heads.”
22L: “The poster said, ‘Don’t trust the people around you too much’… Who can we trust? No one is trustworthy; even players can kill each other.”
Many replies in this thread were invalid, mostly crude expressions of surprise, but there were also numerous valuable replies.
68L: “Thanks to the poster for sharing this crucial information. I actually had similar speculations before; the Federation government in the Second World is not to be trifled with. If they know of the players’ existence, they will definitely take appropriate actions.”
In the First World, by the 21st century, we had preliminarily entered the information age. Admittedly, this era has brought us many conveniences, allowing us to enjoy a technological lifestyle. However, this era also has many downsides—specifically, the lack of privacy! Our browsing information, call records, and even everyday conversations could be read by various apps on our mobile phones, all funneling into big data networks. The technology of the Second World is far more advanced, much more so than in our First World. Under such circumstances, how could we avoid exposing ourselves?
The number of players who entered the Second World isn’t trivial, yet it’s not insignificant either. The Second World is also an information society, one devoid of privacy. I believe everyone must be vigilant from now on; you can’t just distrust the humans around you, but also the tools in your hands! Even a small communicator!
69L: “There are many high-tech appliances in the Second World that are difficult to control. When I first entered that world, I faced some challenges; I didn’t even know how to ride the Hover Tram. I suggest that if you don’t understand the high-tech devices in the Second World, seek help on the forum to minimize web searches. Also, within the communicator’s settings, there are certain features you can choose to enable or disable, like microphone permissions, camera permissions, recording permissions, storage permissions.”
68L replied to 69L: “But don’t think disabling those permissions means you’re safe; hackers can breach the communicator and force those features on, surveilling your every move.”
134L: “I have a really bad thought. Do you think there might be traitors among the players?”
135L replied to 134L: “Damn, that’s an unforeseen path.”
136L: “What if someone is threatened or lured and turns to leak forum situations and other players’ information to the adversaries in the Second World? What would we do?”
137L: “There’s no way to counter it; we can’t read minds. Unless traitors admit it voluntarily, what can we do to prove they are traitors?”
138L: “I am a hundred percent certain that the group of traitors will emerge among the players; the world has never lacked cowards and treacherous people.”
189L: “Poster, I know your identity must be significant. Thank you for sharing this information; if possible, could you please report your safety with each return? I hope you live smoothly and safely.”
223L: “At this point, the situation is already quite clear; the only path available for players is alliance. Last week, someone actually discussed this on the forum, but very few took practical action. We can’t delay any longer; cooperation is key to ensuring survival.”
224L: “What if the player you cooperate with is a traitor? What if a Remover gets into your team? Though that’s still hypothetical, we should remain vigilant.”
225L: “And one more thing to consider is if confidentiality fails, and one player gets caught and divulges others’ identities; wouldn’t that be the end?”
348L: “Thank you, poster, for giving me courage. I actually didn’t have the courage to post, but you motivated me; I’m going to share what I’ve seen and heard. Just hiding will only lead to more deaths, but someone must speak out about these matters. If anyone figures out where I work from my reply, please keep it confidential, I beg you.”
