Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Sea Without Light Part 69

“How should we deal with Reynir?” Kui Xin said. “Should we kill him too?”

“It also depends on the boss’s arrangement.” Night Cicada rubbed his chin.

“Dad, how should we handle Reynir?” Kui Xin asked slowly through the communication line. “Should I kill him as well?”

“It depends on whether he still holds any value.” Kui Haidong replied. “What Zhao Wenyao can provide is limited; we need more players.”

“So what now? Should I check every single one individually? How long will that take?” Kui Xin said. “It’s only ten thousand people, and if they are evenly distributed, each city might have just one or two of them. They blend in with the masses; how do we find them? As time goes on, identifying who the players are will become increasingly difficult since they hide very well.”

“Yes, finding Dorin, Reynir, and Zhao Wenyao had an element of luck,” Kui Haidong commented. “Our luck in this area was good; we’ve already captured four players so far. But the fourth player has some issues and is much more troublesome than Reynir.”

Kui Xin’s eyebrows twitched. “Who is the fourth player?”

“You’ve met before, on the Kraken,” Kui Haidong slowly said.

“…Tang Guan?” Kui Xin felt a sense of unexpectedness alongside familiarity within him.

“That’s right.” Kui Haidong said. “Once you’ve seen Reynir, you can go see Tang Guan.”

“Alright.” There wasn’t much change in Kui Xin’s expression. “I’m quite interested in Tang Guan.”

“We’re here. This is where Reynir is locked up.” Night Cicada said, “There might be a stench, so try to endure it for a while.”

“Pfft.” Kui Xin frowned as the metal door slid open, and he walked inside.

The same setup: a wide room divided into two sections by glass. Reynir sat slumped in a restraint chair, seemingly unconscious.

A drip bag was connected to his arm, dropping medication into his veins.

“He doesn’t eat…his teeth have been pulled, so he can’t eat anyway.” Night Cicada muttered. “Could that be why he refuses to eat? We need to keep giving him intravenous nutrition so he can stay alive. He hasn’t been tortured these past two days; logically, he should have recovered somewhat.”

Night Cicada snapped his fingers and the glass descended between them. He approached Reynir and patted his face.

“Hey, Clark Kent, wake up,” Night Cicada patted him several times.

Reynir slowly opened his eyes. His mental state seemed poor; he appeared weak and lethargic. His gaze was dull, and his reaction to external stimuli was minimal.

“This smell really is terrible.” Kui Xin waved her hand in front of her nose.

Blood. A strong smell of blood permeated the air, almost making her feel like she was back on the Kraken.

“Give up already,” Night Cicada smiled at Reynir, “the player from the same world has spilled everything.”

Reynir wore a metal bracelet that monitored his life signs and conducted lie detection on his words. Everything about his physical state could not escape the analysis.

Upon hearing Night Cicada’s words, Reynir’s eyelashes flickered slightly, and he opened his mouth, spitting bloody saliva at Night Cicada.

The spit hit the bottom of Night Cicada’s dark boots. His mood visibly sank, becoming frighteningly dark. However, Reynir silently laughed, unable to produce audible sound due to lack of strength. When laughing, he produced faint sounds from his chest, like someone struggling to breathe.

Night Cicada tightly gripped Reynir’s jaw. “Are you saying I didn’t torture you enough? Hmm?”

He raised his fist, smearing Reynir’s face sideways, but then felt it was not punishing enough and took out an extendable baton to beat him with a vengeance.

“Haven’t had enough yet? Hurry up.” Kui Xin glanced at her wristband. “I don’t have much time to waste.”

“Ugh…” Night Cicada put away the baton. “Fine, whatever you say.”

Reynir slowly moved his head, speaking with unclear words. “Usually, when you torture me, you use tools instead of your fists or feet. The hits I receive aren’t as hard as your usual strikes, as if you lacked training, which isn’t the case for a seasoned warrior.”

He spoke in English, with some words unclear due to his missing teeth, which Kui Xin’s multifunctional disguise mask translated clearly.

Night Cicada realized he had been exposed, knowing he couldn’t compete physically. With a derisive smile, he said, “So, clever guesswork?”

“I think what I guessed was correct.” Reynir raised his bruised face toward Kui Xin. “Look, you’ve brought a new person. Could you introduce her to me?”

“Before asking others to introduce themselves, you should first introduce yourself,” Kui Xin said. “You’re not called Clark Kent, and in your world, parents don’t give their kids three different names. All you said earlier was a lie.”

“I’m not lying. Believe it or not, I care not,” Reynir murmured indistinctly.

“Still refusing to admit it? Either you’re hoping to get away with it by denial, or you think we can’t do anything about you?” Night Cicada grabbed Reynir’s hair, forcing him to make eye contact.

Night Cicada observed Reynir’s reactions carefully, then said, “Players have factions, one side are the Removers, the other side are the Proxies, right?”

Reynir stared at Night Cicada and blinked, tears seeping out. Before Night Cicada could mock him, Reynir squeezed his eyes tightly, saying, “Sorry, the interrogation room’s light is too harsh, I can’t help but tear up.”

Night Cicada: “…?”

Without hesitation, Night Cicada punched Reynir.

Reynir’s face swelled up, Night Cicada continued, “Do you know what I’m thinking, Reynir? Since you lost your teeth, maybe digging out your eyes would be fine too. You wanted to avoid the light, but with your eyes gone, there would be no pain.”

“The player who confessed mentioned your world lacks a centralized government. Instead, it has multiple nations. He was from Huaxia. Where are you from?” Night Cicada asked.

“I told you, I come from M78 Nebula…” Reynir sighed. “It’s pointless, since you know, you might as well tell you…”

Night Cicada thought Reynir had finally given up, but Kui Xin shared the same initial thought.

To her shock, Reynir continued, “It’s actually a multiworld competition game, you see, games have different zones and servers. I’m from M78 Nebula server, the one caught by you all is probably from Blue Star server. There are also players from 616 Earth server, Cybertron server, and Pokémon server…”

Kui Xin: “…?”

Reynir continued, “Facing our higher-dimensional invasion, low-dimensional worlds like yours have little chance of resistance. Give it up, brother. Catching me won’t do you any good, there are others. Just kill me now. If worse comes to worst, I’ll reload a save.”

Night Cicada burst out laughing with mockery. “You still want to fool me?”

Kui Xin looked at Reynir, “Players only get one life. If you die in our world, you die in yours as well.”

“Never heard of such a rule.” Reynir chuckled. “This is a game, the developers wouldn’t be so heartless. The player who confessed must be trying to trick you, get you to kill him so he can respawn in real life. Besides, he might rally his friends from forums to revenge against you.”

“Is that so?” Kui Xin tilted her head. “If what you say is true, maybe his scheme worked. We killed him.”

Reynir’s emotions subtly sank. His mid-length blonde hair obscured his face.

Silent mourning.

No one but Kui Xin noticed his silence.

“This guy seems to have nothing worth extracting.” Kui Xin said. “Should we hold off on further interrogation for later, or should we kill him?”

Seconds later, Kui Haidong replied, “Leave him for now, Xiao Xin. You and Night Cicada should go and meet Tang Guan, then return to rest. Thank you for your hard work in the Investigation Bureau.”

Kui Xin turned to Night Cicada, “Let’s go.”

Night Cicada coldly looked at Reynir, the isolation glass automatically rising, trapping Reynir alone inside.

As they exited the room, Reynir watched them silently, his eyes tracking their movements, as if trying to memorize their features.

“How strange it is; I’m ordered to kill Zhao Wenyao—who is practically useless—but leave Reynir alone who can’t speak.” Kui Xin mused, puzzled. “What does Dad intend?”

“No idea, follow our boss’s instructions.” Night Cicada said lazily. “I don’t believe a word of what Reynir says.”

“But most of the time, there were no alarms from the lie detector,” Kui Xin pointed out.

“Of course, it’s a machine after all. Machines always have flaws.” Night Cicada replied. “Even if designed near-perfect, those with genuine suspicions perform counter-lie training to mess up the detector’s judgment.”

Kui Xin thought for a moment, offering a suggestion aligned with her roles:

“I don’t think we need to exterminate all the players. Based on Zhao Wenyao’s behavior, there are many who fear death. We could leverage this, bringing a batch of players onto our side with the aim of long-term cooperation, gathering information and value from them.”

Night Cicada nodded. “We suggested that before. The boss said it’d be considered.”

They arrived at the corridor’s end. The metal door they faced was larger and more robust than the previous ones.

Behind this door lay something significant.

The blue light scanned Kui Xin, and the metal door opened, revealing a large laboratory with over a dozen busy researchers.

At the center of the laboratory was a glass cage divided into three levels, each constructed with the latest technology capable of withstanding bombs.

The glass platform hosted a person—Tang Guan.

He was no longer a dual-headed monster but a regular human staring at the ceiling.

The lab director, a gray-haired old man, sported a mechanical eye, resembling a telescope mounted on his face.

“This is Dr. Long, who specializes in xenomorph research, a renowned expert in this field,” Night Cicada introduced to Kui Xin.

“Welcome,” Dr. Long smiled at Kui Xin, “humans are naturally curious about the unknown. Thanks to you, I had the opportunity to study such a unique species.”

“A unique species?” Kui Xin’s gaze shifted to Tang Guan trapped within the glass container. “You mean him?”

“Yes,” Dr. Long said. “He is neither fully human nor a xenomorph, but a creature caught between the two—a symbiote. He and the monster have an equal partnership in coexistence.”

“What does that mean, could you explain in detail?” Kui Xin earnestly sought clarification. “What caused such a unique scenario?”

“Extraordinary abilities.” Dr. Long grinned. “We conducted detailed tests on his blood and discovered he’s a Heterogeneous Blooded one who’s awakened his extraordinary powers—specifically, ‘Symbiosis.’ When the monster attempted to invade his body and contaminate his mind, his extraordinary abilities somehow triggered, resulting in this peculiar, stable condition.”

“Stable?” Kui Xin frowned. “I don’t think he’s stable. I’ve seen him lose control firsthand.”

“No, compared to other infected humans or Heterogeneous Blooded individuals, he’s incredibly stable.” Dr. Long explained. “His stability lies in his ability to share his body with the monster. When he sleeps, loses consciousness, or experiences psychological breakdowns, the monster takes control, but if he stays conscious and awake, he remains in human form.”

That explains… That explains why his appearance was so weary during our first meeting. It seemed he had been fighting the monster’s consciousness by staying awake for days on end. Eventually, his mental collapse led to loss of control.

“Is he the fourth player to be captured?” Kui Xin quietly asked.

“Yes.” Night Cicada smiled. “After entering our world, players seem to have randomly assigned roles. Reynir is a researcher, Dorin is a researcher, Zhao Wenyao is a wealthy heir, and Tang Guan is a cult member. Their identities are rather interesting.”

“So Tang Guan is part of the Secret Cult?” Kui Xin questioned. “Did he say that himself?”

“Yes, he did.” Night Cicada nodded. “Right after he recovered from his monster state, he cried and muttered to himself, expressing great guilt. He narrated the events of the Kraken, saying that he had this identity inexplicably upon waking. Every night, the monster inside him wreaked havoc until it started talking to him ceaselessly, almost driving him mad…”

“Like…this,” Kui Xin remarked.

Tang Guan is the culprit, but not entirely Tang Guan. But the mastermind behind the scenes is undoubtedly the Secret Cult.

Their extensive investigation finally yielded results.

【Task Progress】: 100%

“You have experienced life-and-death situations, overcome immense obstacles, and finally completed your first solo mission. In the face of danger, you remained calm and methodical, gradually unveiling the truth, even though you suffered sacrifices in your investigations. Still, you achieved your goals.

You have successfully completed the mission, and as a reward, you obtained an invitation letter.

【Invitation Letter】: You may invite any person from the First World to join the game Crimson Soil. This invitation can be used during the second batch beta test.