Chapter 137

Chapter 137: Artificial Soul 64

Kui Xin lay face down in the grass.

“Is she dead?” Schalit was now fully armed and dressed differently, completely unrecognizable as a special affairs department agent.

“The bullet hit her heart; she should be dead.” Ghost said.

Even though he said this, he still raised his gun to empty the magazine, leaving several more bloodied holes on Kui Xin’s body. One of the bullets struck her head with a clank, and a trickle of blood flowed down.

Silence—indeed, she was dead.

“She has a metal skull, and also regenerative flesh. Her abilities are quite useful, but not enough to heal a heart injury.” Schalit said, “I looked at her file. Her extraordinary ability ranking is too low to have healed her heart.”

Ghost said, “Let’s go.”

“What about the body…” Schalit added.

“Take her, we’ll dissect her and activate her brain later for analysis. We might discover something.” Ghost said, “Our backup will arrive soon.”

He scanned the area. With greenery from the riverbank and an open space, very few people were around, making the fight short. Plus, they used shielding devices to block surveillance, avoiding much attention.

Schalit quietly asked, “I can’t understand how she managed to survive until now. If you had not uncovered her identity, she could have continued disguising herself. I reviewed her test answers; her knowledge of the Second World doesn’t seem player-like…could someone in the Investigation Bureau be aiding her?”

“That’s likely…” Ghost replied, “but the big question is—who? And if that logic holds true, the Mechanized Dawn would have been helping her as well. Who kept covering up her tracks? Eve isn’t passive.”

Ghost walked toward Kui Xin, stepping on her body to flip it over.

But at that moment, Kui Xin, lying on the ground, suddenly opened her blood-filled eyes.

She lifted her hand and suddenly grabbed hold of Ghost’s ankle!

Ghost was startled; he kicked Kui Xin away and retreated quickly by two steps. He looked down and noticed a bloody imprint on his ankle along with a silver bracelet stuck there.

Three bullets were aimed triangularly to shatter her heart, which would instantly kill a normal person. Kui Xin’s flesh regeneration prolonged her life, but it couldn’t restore her heart.

If they replaced her bionic heart and reconnected it to her vascular system, she could still survive, but around her were only enemies.

Kui Xin collapsed weakly onto the grass, laughing hoarsely because of severe blood loss and injuries. The laughter was weak yet tinged with madness and hysteria.

That was the silver bracelet from the Mechanized Dawn. It had a feature—a three-second long press of its power button turned it into a bomb.

Schalit was startled by Kui Xin’s sudden move. She did not anticipate Kui Xin still surviving after taking three shots.

“Beep—” the bracelet on Kui Xin’s ankle made a sound, the side flashing a red dot.

Ghost’s eyes twitched. He tried to rip off the bracelet just as it exploded!

“You killed Wei Zhi.”

“You deprived Wei Zhi of her extraordinary ability.”

“【Spatial Confinement·B Rank]: You can momentarily freeze space…”

Kui Xin did not finish reading the game skill description. The explosion didn’t reach Schalit.

Schalit pulled the trigger, and in a harsh gunshot, Kui Xin’s world blackened.

…

Another suffocating darkness.

No light, no direction, disorienting.

Where was she? Inside her mother’s womb? On the river of dead floats? Or…in a void of dreams?

The shadows appeared again, closing in on Kui Xin, but they seemed wrapped in something like mist, blocking Kui Xin’s view.

Suddenly, one shadow slowly raised a “hand”, seemingly trying to touch Kui Xin’s forehead.

And then, Kui Xin suddenly woke with a jolt.

“Kui Xin!” It was Augus’s voice, “Kui Xin! Are you alright? Answer me, Kui Xin?”

Kui Xin’s body spasmed; she reflexively jumped up, her face pale.

The sudden movement caused her a dizzy spell, and she nearly keeled over. Her headache was intense, like someone splitting her head in two with an axe.

Unable to stand upright, she held her head.

“I’m fine…” Kui Xin said after a while.

She struggled to open her eyes, checking the communicator to confirm the time.

Time: August 17, 00:06.

The first day back in the Second World.

“Something happened, you fainted almost six minutes,” Augus said. “I called in medical services; the doctor will arrive in about ten minutes. When the doctor arrives, tell them you feel unwell and called the service yourself.”

Kui Xin slumped against the wall, feeling faint.

“…The second beta test has begun,” Kui Xin mechanically started going through the routine. “Ten thousand slots were filled, so they must already be here.”

“Players?” Augus paused. “Player issues can wait. Tell me what happened to you and why you fainted.”

“I’m tired,” Kui Xin offered her usual excuse, “haven’t rested in a long time, not in good condition, headache…”

After sitting for a minute, her headache didn’t ease up. She felt bile rising and rushed to the bathroom, vomiting violently.

“Kui Xin, that’s not just fatigue,” Augus said. “You need treatment.”

Kui Xin rinsed her mouth and came out of the bathroom, sitting on the floor and covering her face. “All right…actually, I went through some terrible things.”

“In the First World?” Augus asked.

“Just recently,” Kui Xin responded.

“Is it something outside my help?” Augus wondered aloud.

“Probably not in your hands,” Kui Xin whispered.

“That seems to be a significant problem,” Augus said, “do you have any solutions or ideas?”

“A bit,” Kui Xin replied.

“Can you implement it?” Augus questioned.

“It’s difficult,” Kui Xin admitted, “what kind of person do you think I am, Augus?”

“You’re excellent, decisive, efficient, calm in emergencies,” Augus analyzed. “Why ask me this? You’ve already asked me before.”

“I’m thinking that at the beginning, I wasn’t like this, but I changed myself,” Kui Xin said.

Augus thought: “That’s good. As a regular person, you can be mediocre, indecisive, and procrastinate, but as a player and undercover agent always in danger, your traits help keep you alive.”

A little while later, the door to Kui Xin’s apartment was pushed open. The nurse from the Investigation Bureau healthcare center arrived. Kui Xin planned to walk herself there, but they insisted on putting her on a stretcher.

The nurse glanced at Kui Xin’s vitals, saying, “A fever? Your temperature is higher than usual. How are you feeling?”

“Dizzy…” Kui Xin closed her eyes.

“You’ll be fine after a bit. We’ll give you an infusion,” the nurse wiped the cold sweat from Kui Xin’s forehead.

Kui Xin was conscious on the stretcher, but too weak to speak.

She summoned the game screen and saw a change in her basic attributes.

Under the column for extra abilities, Kui Xin’s previously listed extraordinary abilities were now marked. During the last round, she killed the infected Wei Zhi with the Mechanized Dawn bracelet but the game system only notified her about killing Wei Zhi, not Ghost, and only the ability “Spatial Confinement” was stripped, without revealing anything about Ghost’s.

When she opened the attribute panel, “Spatial Confinement” B-Rank ability was grayed out.

“【Spatial Confinement·B Rank (Inactive)】: You can momentarily freeze space, confining objects within a 10-meter radius.”

The stripped ability became ineffective due to the time rewinding.

This was expected, as the game system was unlikely to leave such obvious bugs. The Remover’s abilities were irregular, and together with time rewinding, it was virtually an invincible status.

Yet, in reality, she walked on a narrow path, with no choice, every move leading to peril.

Her first death and rebirth on the Kraken, Kui Xin woke up enraged. The mishap involving the skull and time rewinding kindled intense vengeance, but this time, her soul felt icy.

Before, she was a volcano on the brink of eruption; now, she resembled a dormant volcano—magma still flowing but hidden deeper, restrained. This bitter wisdom left her feeling both cold and hot.

At the healthcare center, the night shift was overseen by Doctor Huang. He diagnosed Kui Xin, prescribing medicine. “Young lady, take better care of your health!”

“I do take care,” Kui Xin said, looking at Doctor Huang’s tired face. “Everyone else just causes me harm…don’t you think so, Doc?”

Doctor Huang was stunned, “Yeah… it’s tough for everyone.”

Kui Xin said the words, turning her head back to close her eyes and drifted asleep.

The next morning, she was awakened by noisy voices.

“She’s in bad mental shape,” Doctor Huang stated. “She can’t use the brain machine. Stimuli may result in residual issues or even brain death if severe.”

Wei Zhi chimed in, “I disagree with Kui Xin entering the brain machine. We can interrogate me instead. She needs rest. She’s my subordinate, not your captive. She has vast potential. I won’t let you ruin her.”

Kui Xin heard Schalit’s voice.

“Hmm, this complicates matters,” she said. “I’ll need to consult my superiors.”