novelraw Chapter 110: Artificial Souls - Part 37
Chapter 110: Artificial Souls - Part 37
Kui Xin began getting accustomed to being active at night.
The nights in Black Sea City were bustling and noisy, with people harboring a variety of intentions and emerging like nocturnal animals once darkness fell. The blackness served as camouflage for some individuals.
Now that the rain had stopped overhead, the ground was damp, and the number of pedestrians on the streets was relatively low.
Kui Xin walked through the dimly lit alley filled with garbage, stepping over puddles on the ground where her reflection was mirrored in the murky water.
An earpiece was plugged into one of her ears, providing her with intelligence support from Adam.
With thousands upon thousands of eyes at its disposal, scattered across every corner of Black Sea City, and controlled by it, each camera served as its gaze.
The street cameras tracked He Gaoyi's movements.
She entered a supermarket. After half an hour, she emerged carrying numerous bags, then headed south, waited at the traffic light intersection, and began walking back to her employee residence.
"She is only three hundred meters away from you," Adam whispered into her earpiece. "Be cautious and stay hidden."
"Mm-hmm," Kui Xin acknowledged.Killing He Gaoyi posed no significant challenge. She had no combat experience, and her physical abilities were similar to those of an average person. For Kui Xin, taking her life would be effortless; all she needed to do was avoid surveillance, allowing her to eliminate He Gaoyi silently.
He Gaoyi could connect her consciousness directly to any data device, making her akin to a humanoid computer. Therefore, when Kui Xin struck, it had to be a fatal blow, leaving no chance for struggle. Ideally, she should instantly render He Gaoyi unconscious to prevent her from controlling her communicator to send a distress signal to the Investigation Department.
As He Gaoyi approached, Kui Xin mentally simulated countless murder scenarios numerous times. She planned to pull He Gaoyi into the alleyway as she passed by the trash bins, then swiftly choke her and snap her neck—all within two seconds.
Kui Xin had meticulously prepared herself, ensuring complete concealment of her body. Her head was securely wrapped with plastic bags and tape, not revealing a single hair, and rubber gloves covered her hands to avoid leaving fingerprints.
"Caution, there are individuals ahead and behind you. The person following is an adult male, approximately thirty meters away from He Gaoyi," Adam warned. "If you drag her into the alley, the person behind might notice her sudden disappearance."
"No problem; fifty meters provide ample reaction time." Kui Xin lifted her head to scan her surroundings.
The garbage alley was littered with trash bags and sewage that the sanitation robots hadn't yet cleared. Behind the alley stood a brick wall about three meters high; this was where she had climbed over into the alley. After killing her target, she would immediately escape through the same brick wall. Even if the person trailing them noticed something amiss, she would have enough time to leave the crime scene undetected.
A few minutes later, He Gaoyi finally reached Kui Xin's hiding spot.
Kui Xin struck like a venomous snake lurking in its den, waiting for prey with a lethal strike. The snake constricted around the woman's throat, suffocating her body, and ultimately snapped her neck effortlessly.
All actions unfolded flawlessly as planned, taking less than two seconds.
The plastic bags from the supermarket dropped noisily to the ground, their contents scattering everywhere.
"You have killed He Gaoyi."
"You have obtained the superhuman ability [Data Manipulation – A Rank]."
After seeing the system notification, Kui Xin's features relaxed.
She dragged the corpse deep into the alleyway's shadows, then methodically crushed all of He Gaoyi's various electronic devices one by one underfoot to prevent the Investigation Department from tracking her location. This would take time, delaying the body's discovery.
With a casual kick, Kui Xin covered the corpse with fallen trash bags. Then, using Shadow Shuttling, she passed through walls and retraced her path back to her residence.
Meanwhile, the passerby who had been following He Gaoyi remained engrossed in playing games on his tablet throughout, head bobbing unconsciously to the music in his ears. He failed to notice that the solitary figure walking ahead suddenly vanished into thin air.
"Nice working together," Adam said.
Although it was a synthesized robotic voice, a hint of relaxation could be detected in his tone.
Kui Xin's lips curled upward. "Nice working together."
Back at her apartment, Kui Xin glanced at the time: 23:59:45.
"It's time to go home," she said. "See you in seven days."
"Yes, see you in ten seconds," Adam replied.
***
"[Data Manipulation – A Grade]: With your conscious control, you can manipulate data streams. In the realm of networks and data, your capabilities are comparable to those of a supercomputer."
In the darkness, Kui Xin opened her eyes to hear nearby breaths and faint rustling sounds as someone shifted position.
It was Su Rong; she had also woken up.
Kui Xin feigned sleep, but after a moment, she suddenly heard soft sobbing noises.
Now unable to pretend anymore, she lifted her head and asked, "Rongrong? What's wrong?"
Su Rong startled, suppressing her tears, and replied, "N-nothing, just had a… hic, nightmare."
Kui Xin furrowed her brow and asked, "What kind of dream?"
"It's okay, Sister Xinxin; it was just a dream." Su Rong buried her face in the blanket, muffledly saying, "Just a dream. Everything will be fine once I wake up from it. Sorry for disturbing you; go back to sleep."
However, throughout the rest of the night, neither Su Rong nor Kui Xin managed to fall asleep again.
Kui Xin heard Su Rong get out of bed and head to the bathroom. She reached for her phone by the bedside, intending to check if there was any new content on the forum.
However, upon opening her phone, the first notification that popped up was from the class group chat. Surprisingly, a few night owls were still awake, engaging in a lively discussion within the group.
Kui Xin had a slight compulsion—whenever she saw notifications, she wouldn't feel at ease until she cleared each red dot individually.
But as soon as she opened the chat window, she froze on the spot.
"Have you filled out the Closed Beta application form?"
"Yes, I just finished it. Hoping to be selected."
"This time, there are 100,000 slots for the closed beta, greatly increasing our chances."
"I'm always unlucky; I don't dare to hope much."
"Dang, I won't even turn eighteen until October. I can't fill out the application yet."
Cold sweat began to bead on Kui Xin's forehead.
She scrolled all the way to the top of the conversation and found that the first message starting the topic in the class group read: "Hey, hey, wake up everyone! The official Crimson Earth account has posted a new announcement for the closed beta. There will now be 100,000 spots available for the second wave, and registration is already open! [Screenshot]"
Kui Xin clicked on the image and was startled to see that the registration period lasted for only one week. The list of selected participants for the closed beta would be announced on August 16th… August 16th, which coincided with her next return to the Second World.
This time, they were opening up a quota of exactly one hundred thousand spots—entirely staggering! With these hundred thousand players being deployed into the alternate world, just how significant an impact would it have?
"…Damn." Kui Xin collapsed onto her pillow, feeling a splitting headache as a torrent of curses threatened to burst forth from her lips. She barely held back.
She had a vague premonition that her life would never again be peaceful.
At 6:30 AM, Kui Xin woke up promptly due to her internal biological clock.
Su Rong's sleep last night had been restless; she didn't finally drift off until dawn approached. It was unclear what experiences she encountered in the Second World that led her to cry uncontrollably throughout the night… Kui Xin didn't disturb her. She quietly got out of bed, tidied up, left a note, and departed from Su Rong's home.
She needed to go for her morning workout.
Her head might break, blood might flow, but not even a single day of morning exercise could be skipped. To ensure personal safety, maintaining physical fitness was essential.
Moreover, there were many tasks that were inconvenient to perform at Su Rong's home. Kui Xin needed to check the forum for updates and practice her newly acquired A-grade superhuman ability. There were a multitude of things to do, each pressing down on her and necessitating a gradual resolution.
Kui Xin jogged along the streets with her backpack, planning to take the subway back home once she finished her run.
Upon returning home, Kui Xin solemnly opened her phone to check the forum posts.
"WTF, can someone please warn those poor newbies not to enter the game?"
"My family wanted to play ‘Crimson Earth,' but when I urged them not to, they thought I was joking. Damn it, I even fell to my knees right then, earnestly telling them to stay away for their own safety, yet they considered me insane."
"Forget this; my brother was too quick and had already applied for closed beta access last night. Is there any way to remedy this now? Are we just supposed to wait for death?"
"Don't panic. If I'm not mistaken, before entering the game, there should be another opportunity to choose, similar to what happened initially with us. Just seize that final chance to reject the game, and you'll be fine."
The forum was suffused with an atmosphere of despair, almost making Kui Xin feel suffocated.
What difference did it make if she discouraged those around her from playing? The current player base is incredibly small, barely reaching ten thousand individuals. How could this handful of players dissuade billions worldwide from engaging with the game? It seemed utterly unrealistic.
Unless someone steps forward to expose the truth, revealing the entire game's inner workings, there might be a chance for sufficient warning. But who would be willing? Who dared to do so? Who could bear the risks involved? After exposure, what if they were mistaken for employing marketing tactics by uninformed onlookers?
Kui Xin understood well that in this information-saturated world, very few people remain rational amidst public discourse. What if, instead of exposing the truth, it attracted even more applicants because of its intrigue? Moreover, some individuals have severe rebellious tendencies; the more others advise against playing the game, the more determined they become to try it.
Kui Xin pursed her lips and shifted her gaze upward to check the number of surviving players on the forum.
This time, fewer people died, with the current count of 8,899 survivors.
The first round of cleansing claimed the highest toll, but now that phase has passed, temporarily securing the safety of the survivors. If the game hadn't abruptly opened the second closed beta, the subsequent death rate should have followed a smooth curve without such drastic spikes.
Recalling the second phase of Closed Beta, Kui Xin felt overwhelmed.
Once it commenced, one hundred thousand players might suddenly appear around her, including those naive individuals from her class group chat. They all filled out the closed beta application forms, and even those who initially didn't were persuaded to do so by others.
She could only hope they had better luck and avoided being selected for this damn game at all costs.
With a blank expression, Kui Xin sifted through popular information threads on the forum. She came across a post by a player that said, "WTF, does anyone remember that YouTuber who deleted his account overnight after entering the game? He just uploaded a video! This guy is incredibly brave!"
Kui Xin was taken aback and clicked on the thread to view the screenshots. The title of the YouTuber's video read: "I, as a ‘Crimson Earth' First Wave Beta Player, Advise Everyone Not to Play This Game Unless You're Willing to Pay with Your Life, Joining the Innocent Players Who Perish in an Unfamiliar World."