Chapter 8: Sea Without Light
Kui Xin quickly flipped through the pages.
“Mission: Completely destroy the port of Hei Hai City and prevent the Kraken from docking there. This is Mission Plan A.”
“If you choose to execute Plan A, the port demolition must be completed by August 11. After August 11, the Kraken will enter the waters of Hei Hai City, and the mission will fail.”
“Mission Plan B: Secretly board the Kraken to install explosive devices and sink it.”
“If you choose to execute Plan B, it must be destroyed before the Kraken enters the waters of Hei Hai City on August 11.”
“The ultimate goal of the mission is to prevent the Kraken from entering the jurisdiction of Hei Hai City. Repeat, the ultimate goal of the mission is to prevent the Kraken from entering the jurisdiction of Hei Hai City.”
From this mission briefing, Kui Xin sensed a sense of urgency.
What exactly is the Kraken? Why is Mechanized Dawn willing to go to such lengths to stop it from reaching Hei Hai City?
The Kraken is a giant cargo ship; the ship itself should not be unusual. The only unusual thing could be the cargo it carries!
What cargo could cause Mechanized Dawn to take such drastic measures… no, what could they fear so much?
They even made the decision to blow up the port and destroy the ship just to prevent the cargo-laden vessel from entering Hei Hai City.
What is the cargo on the Kraken?
Suppressing her anxious feelings, Kui Xin continued to browse through the mission details.
“The large cargo vessel No. 5 in the Harbor Zone docks at Warehouse 6308 in Area D, which is regularly replenished with ammunition. If supply is needed, you can go there to get it. The Ruby Red Bar on Peace Avenue in Harbor Zone serves as a public safe house for organization members, equipped with medical equipment and weapon maintenance tools, and is regularly replenished with small firearms and ammunition. The access code is ‘A drink of deep blue intoxication.’ The owner of the North District Hunter Shooting Club can provide mission funding. The third-floor laboratory for mechanical prosthetics at the headquarters of Rick Technology can offer technological assistance to mission executors…”
The more Kui Xin read, the more unsettling she felt.
This Mechanized Dawn organization has an astonishing amount of power.
She sorted out the implications—first, Mechanized Dawn has the ability to utilize the warehouses at Hei Hai City’s dock as arms depots. Second, Mechanized Dawn has many members in Hei Hai City, so much so that a public safe house is needed for meetings. Third, Mechanized Dawn seems to be quite wealthy, with dedicated personnel responsible for allocating mission funding. Fourth, Rick Technology is very likely directly affiliated with Mechanized Dawn, or it could be a front company created by Mechanized Dawn.
Silverface looked at Kui Xin: “Finished? Anything to say?”
“I’m calculating how many lives I need to prepare to complete this task. Is a hundred enough?” Kui Xin made a dark joke under the immense pressure.
“Just go and execute the mission.” Silverface replied flatly, “Even if lives are sacrificed, as long as we can prevent whatever is on the Kraken from entering Hei Hai City, our sacrifices will be worthwhile. It doesn’t matter if we die; our comrades will continue to accomplish the mission before August 11.”
Kui Xin strongly suspected that Mechanized Dawn was actually a brainwashing organization, and the guy in front of her, codenamed “Silverface,” had been thoroughly brainwashed, disregarding his own life.
She looked down at the time on her wristband.
The date in the Second World is July 28, 2086, and the current time is 00:23, just past midnight.
“We have less than half a month to complete the mission with the other squads.” Silverface said, “It’s quite urgent.”
“Got it, I’ll prepare an action plan as soon as possible.” Kui Xin replied, “However, as a probationary security officer, I also have certain things that I must accomplish; the Investigation Bureau isn’t easy to fool.”
“The Investigation Bureau, the dogs of the consortium.” Silverface snorted, “You’re responsible for intelligence theft, and I’ll handle the execution of the mission. We can discuss the plan together.”
Kui Xin nodded slowly.
She stood in the living room with Silverface for a while. Noticing he had no intention of speaking, she said, “I need to attend to my own matters now, you can do as you wish.”
Kui Xin was unsure of the interaction mode among the members of the Mechanized Dawn execution team, nor did she know if there were any established rules during mission execution. Saying “you can do as you wish” was enough to express that their conversation was over.
Moreover, Kui Xin indeed had her own things to do.
She carefully checked each room in the house under Silverface’s watchful gaze. The room of the morning sun served as a bedroom, containing a small wardrobe. The other room was a secondary bedroom used as a storage room. On the balcony, two nearly dead green plants were kept.
Kui Xin turned to the kitchen. The kitchen was well-equipped with pots and pans. She opened the old refrigerator with peeling paint to find some ingredients inside.
This house had a strong sense of life, but unfortunately, its owner was dead, and Kui Xin was taking over.
Closing the refrigerator door, she walked straight into the bedroom to rummage through the wardrobe.
There were no unpacked intimate garments in the wardrobe, so Kui Xin took a bath towel and found a clean set of home clothes before stepping into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.
Silverface watched the bathroom expressionlessly until the bathroom light turned on, and the sound of running water reached his ears; only then did he sluggishly realize—this woman was taking a shower.
He immediately averted his gaze and retreated to sit by the sofa, placing his hands neatly on his knees, like a well-behaved elementary school student.
Kui Xin had a breaking-the-pot mentality.
Since things were so bad, she couldn’t keep compromising herself anymore; the worst outcome was death. Before that, she still wanted to struggle a bit more; maybe in the process, she’d manage to survive until the end?
She was a qualified undercover agent, an excellent actress. She was fully immersed in playing the role of a probationary rookie from the Investigation Bureau, regarding herself as “Kui Xin,” a young girl who had recently graduated from university and found a job.
It was entirely reasonable for a young girl to take a hot shower after getting caught in the rain after work; her actions were logical.
Warm water fell over her as Kui Xin practiced self-hypnosis, repeating over and over to keep her thoughts calm.
She spent twenty minutes showering and adjusting her mindset. Twenty minutes later, she emerged from the bathroom in clean clothes to find that Silverface was still sitting in the living room.
When he saw her come out, Silverface gave her a cold glance before turning his gaze away.
Kui Xin couldn’t figure out what this guy was up to.
She towel-dried her hair, mulling over in her mind, and said to him, “What are your next plans…”
“Waiting for orders.” Silverface replied.
Waiting for orders? Where will he wait? Is he going to stand by her side? Why isn’t he leaving?
In order to disguise her expression, Kui Xin turned to the kitchen. She took out some ingredients from the fridge, intending to eat something casual.
It had been a long time since her skull surgery, and she hadn’t eaten, leaving her with a grumbling stomach. Fortunately, the kitchen equipment wasn’t too “high-tech”; it still used clean energy like gas. She turned on the stove and put a pot on to boil some noodles.
Silverface watched Kui Xin’s cooking actions intently as a grumble came from his stomach.
Silverface: “…”
Kui Xin: “…”
“Do you want some?” she hesitantly asked.
“Yes.” Silverface answered quickly.
Thus, Kui Xin put a handful of noodles into the pot and added two eggs.
Details, this was a detail. She stared at the boiling noodles in a daze.
By Silverface’s eager acceptance of her meal invitation, Kui Xin concluded he wasn’t as cold and flawless as he appeared; he even… lacked some caution and trusted his companions.
If it were Kui Xin, she wouldn’t eat food handled by a stranger at such a critical moment; perhaps she was overly sensitive from being influenced by various novels and movies.
Once the noodles were cooked, Kui Xin served herself a portion and brought it to the dining table, telling Silverface, “You can serve yourself.”
Silverface stood up from the sofa, found a bowl, and with his fingers spread out, the noodles along with the remaining egg floated steadily into the bowl without spilling a drop of soup.
Kui Xin’s hand holding the chopsticks trembled slightly.
This is an Extraordinary Ability! Silverface actually has an Extraordinary Ability!
Holding the bowl, Silverface sat down across from Kui Xin and lifted his hand to remove his hood, revealing his face underneath the mask.
His face was as pale as snow, with white eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair, while his eyes were a light pink; faint red veins were visible on his neck and cheeks. If it weren’t for the slight hint of red, he would look like a wraith, a lifeless walking corpse.
Silverface’s pale pink eyes glared at Kui Xin: “What are you staring at? Haven’t you seen someone with albinism before?”
Well, she hadn’t seen someone with albinism, but Kui Xin was more concerned about the Extraordinary Ability he had unintentionally revealed.
“I thought you wouldn’t take off your mask while eating.” Kui Xin attempted to change the topic.
“How can you eat with a mask on?” Silverface replied, puzzled.
“That’s for you to answer.” Kui Xin said slowly.
Silverface seemed to realize something: “Do you think I wear a mask to look cool?”
“I never said that.” Kui Xin lowered her head to eat her noodles.
Silverface, looking frustrated, picked up some noodles but burned himself; in a fit of rage, he opened his palm to control the noodles floating up and down in the air to cool them off. Once the temperature of the noodles finally dropped, he proceeded to eat heartily with his chopsticks.
This guy… doesn’t seem that smart.
Kui Xin pondered.
The noodles Kui Xin made were simply boiled in water with just a pinch of salt, the flavor was unremarkable, but Silverface was not picky at all, happily finishing the meal within a few bites.
Watching him eat noodles reminded Kui Xin of the little piglets at her grandfather’s house in the countryside.
“You wash the dishes.” Kui Xin made a request, wanting to see if Silverface would comply.
Silverface had no complaints as he took both empty bowls to the sink and turned on the tap.
“Turn the tap down a bit; the water bill is expensive.” Kui Xin said.
Silverface: “Why do you have so many issues? This house is not yours! You don’t have to pay the water and electricity bills from your account!”
“To play a role, every detail must be imitated. No matter if it’s in front of others or when alone, you don’t understand.” Kui Xin presented an unassailable reason.
Silverface huffily controlled the water flow to wash the dishes and, once completed, placed the bowls in the cabinet.
Kui Xin observed secretly; Silverface’s Extraordinary Ability seemed to be related to water. He didn’t control the bowls or other objects to float; instead, he controlled the flow of water—it was the medium.
When Silverface first appeared in Kui Xin’s home, she thought he was an old acquaintance of the original owner and thus exercised restraint.
After several conversations and tests, Kui Xin initially concluded that the original owner and Silverface were not familiar; this was likely their first meeting, as evidenced by Silverface’s comment: “Haven’t you seen someone with albinism before?”
This statement directly proved that the original owner had never seen Silverface’s true appearance.
Since that’s the case, Kui Xin could relax a bit. She was genuinely worried that her partner was someone who knew the original owner very well, as this would likely cause her to slip up within just a few conversations.
Kui Xin was lucky this time.
She encountered Silverface, who didn’t know her well, and even more luckily, Silverface seemed to have no defenses against her.
Most importantly, Silverface was an Extraordinary Ability user.
If she killed Silverface, would she be able to deprive him of his power and gain Extraordinary Ability for herself?
Author’s note:
Silverface: If you don’t listen and don’t strive, you’ll just end up being Lady Fortune’s plaything. qwq
