Chapter 150

Chapter 150: The Boundless Dark Realm Part 5

Boris had many properties. Kuixing was going to one of the houses where he stored various kinds of weapons.

He had a passion for collecting armaments. Certain powerful weapons were管制物品 in the Federation, and discovering someone engaging in transactions would lead to confiscation and accountability. However, any weapons that could be purchased on the black market, he essentially had a complete collection of them. The villa he owned was used exclusively to store these arms.

Kuixing used data manipulation to intrude into Boris’s villa, first taking control of the cameras and all sensory devices, then hypnotizing the guards stationed there with her hypnosis sound technique.

She calmly entered the villa from the main entrance.

The main door of the villa was made of high-strength alloy and was an automated door, and there were actually three layers of such doors. They might as well withstand several bomb explosions directly without shattering.

Kuixing swiped through the card reader access control, but after swiping through the card reader, she still needed to pass the iris scan and fingerprint scan. If these scans failed, the alarm system would automatically trigger. However, Kuixing bypassed the scanning process altogether.

She accessed the villa’s alarm system through data manipulation and maintained communication with Augus—who was instructing her on how to breach the villa’s defense system.

During this journey, Augus often seized every opportunity to teach her how to manipulate data. This moment was perfect for practice.

“Any firewall has vulnerabilities,” Augus said. “Find the right path, and you can enter and exit inside at will. The systems and firewalls used by the Investigation Bureau and the Federation government have undergone extensive research and refinement by countless engineers, making them almost impenetrable, rendering hackers’ chances of breaking in nearly nil. The control systems Boris uses are far inferior to the ones developed by the Federation; their firewalls are as easy to crack as paper walls.”

“For an artificial intelligence like you, whose host is scattered across the globe, this is relatively easy,” Kuixing replied.

“Master the method, and it will also become easy for you,” Augus said. “Synchronize your data with mine, and I’ll take you inside ‘the wall.’”

“The wall” was just a convenient term for Kuixing to better understand the concept. Her consciousness bypassed the “wall” in the data world, much like navigating through a labyrinth filled with hidden dangers, reaching the core position.

The “wall” disintegrated, and under Augus’s guidance, Kuixing seized control of the villa’s defense system.

“Ding-dong—”

With a slight thought, the final metal door automatically opened, revealing the grand hall on the first floor. The first-floor hall had no windows, only four unyielding metal walls which gave off the appearance of a small steel fortress. The hall lights lit up noiselessly, and rows of shelves displaying weapons revealed themselves; both cold weapons and firearms were available here.

“Welcome home,” greeted the intelligent housekeeper in the villa as Kuixing returned.

Kuixing walked into the villa, impressed: “Although I’ve known this for a while, this person really has unimaginable wealth. He uses thirty percent of his earnings to buy military equipment.”

She casually grabbed a gun from the shelves and played around with it. Boris’s arsenal fell short compared to the Investigation Bureau’s collection. Initially, he only had two items of each type, but the types were diverse—from standard firearms sold on the black market for eight hundred federal credits, to sniper rifles nearly as tall as an individual, and even hand cannons equipped with explosive ammunition, offering a wide range of options.

Since manufacturers in the Second World are mostly private enterprises, there is less scrutiny over firearms. Ordinary people, given the desire, can easily obtain weaponry.

Kuixing circled around the first-floor living area, selected a few weapons that she handled easily, replenished the ammunition, and exchanged a sharper dagger. On the western side of the shelves, there hung new material bulletproof vests, thinner and more durable than the one Kuixing previously wore. She took off her old vest and put on the new one.

After updating her equipment, Kuixing felt refreshed.

She climbed upstairs briskly, touring the entire villa. The second and third floors were all full of stockpiled weapons and didn’t offer much to look at, but downstairs there was a resting area and a secret tunnel leading outside. However, Kuixing didn’t need the secret passage, as she already possessed a spatial vortex.

In the basement, Kuixing flopped down on the sofa, rubbing her stiff neck.

When the sofa sensed someone sitting down, it quickly activated its auto-massage feature, providing a massage for Kuixing’s shoulders and back.

She hadn’t enjoyed proper rest for too long now. After days of travel, her meals and sleep were poor, and she constantly remained alert. She was almost exhausted.

Kuixing lay on the sofa for a while to collect herself and summoned the game interface to check her basic status.

Name: Kuixing

Faction: None

Identity: Fugitive from Mechanized Dawn, Fugitive from Investigation Bureau, Fugitive from Resistance Army, Level One Most Wanted in Federation.

Personal Title: Hunter.

Since leaving the various nested organizations and regaining freedom, Kuixing’s game identity had changed noticeably. Old identity information was gone, replaced with three “fugitive” titles, and her personal title was displayed on the screen.

More changes followed.

Kuixing switched to her base attribute panel:

Basic Attributes

Name: Kuixing

Occupation: Deprivation

Extraordinary Abilities: [Shadow Transition E-Rank (fuse-able)], [Spatial Vortex B-Rank (fuse-able)], [Deception Technique C-Rank (fuse-able)], [Hypnotic Sound A-Rank (fuse-able)], [Death轮回 A-Rank], [Data Manipulation A-Rank], [Blood Spirit A-Rank], [Iron Bone B-Rank], [Investigative Eye B-Rank], [Electromagnetic Detection B-Rank], [Regeneration of Flesh and Blood C-Rank], [Burning Blood C-Rank], [Magnet Sword C-Rank], [Snake Body C-Rank].

Innate Talents: [Performance Persona], [Life Fortitude], [Absolute Prediction], [Rapid Learning].

Since entering the game, Kuixing had accrued quite a few abilities.

“Shadow Transition” and “Spatial Vortex” belong to the spatial ability category, while “Deception Technique” and “Hypnotic Sound” belong to the mental ability category, classified by the game system as fusible. Kuixing had attempted to choose game fusion once, and the game system had displayed a prompt.

“Would you like to make the extraordinary ability [Shadow Transition] the main focus? Upon successful fusion, your extraordinary ability [Spatial Vortex] will become ineffective. The [Shadow Transition] level will be upgraded to B-rank.”

In other words, if Kuixing wanted to fuse these two abilities, it would mean transferring the experience points from one extraordinary ability to another; she could retain only one ability.

Kuixing tried choosing “Spatial Vortex” as the main focus, hoping to potentially sacrifice “Shadow Transition” to upgrade “Spatial Vortex” to A-rank. As expected, the system generated a prompt: “Would you like to make the extraordinary ability [Spatial Vortex] the main focus? Upon successful fusion, your extraordinary ability [Shadow Transition] will become ineffective. The [Spatial Vortex] ability rank will be upgraded to A-rank.”

“Shadow Transition” was currently Kuixing’s most proficient ability, and it was also the first one she obtained. Giving it up truly saddened her.

She knew the flaws within; first, the battlefield restrictions—without shadow coordinates, the ability generally couldn’t be utilized, and during the day, her combat strength would decrease greatly. Additionally, there were limitations on the distance of transition—only up to three meters. Despite its drawbacks, “Shadow Transition” had noticeable advantages; especially when in the state of a black fog body, physical damage could be directly negated. When engaging in close combat, that advantage could be enormous.

Compared to shadow transition, “Spatial Vortex” could cover longer distances, but it couldn’t ignore physical harm. Opening a vortex required about two seconds, unlike shadow transition which could be instantly initiated.

Kuixing hesitated slightly as her journey to White Whale City had been extraordinarily busy, leaving no time to think. Up to now, she hadn’t decisively fused them.

However, “Deception Technique” and “Hypnotic Sound” could be fused.

Deception Technique was a fairly ineffective ability, with a very low probability of effect, and it similarly relied on sound and language, acting as a stripped-down version of “Hypnotic Sound.” Removing it wouldn’t cause much regret.

Kuixing pondered, eyes fixed on the game screen, before deciding to fuse it.

“Upon fusing, your extraordinary ability [Deception Technique] will be invalidated. The effects of [Hypnotic Sound] will be enhanced.”

Kuixing’s eyebrows moved slightly, comprehending this.

There existed an invisible “experience bar” between rankings of extraordinary abilities. Some B-rank extraordinary abilities might almost achieve A-rank through experience alone, whereas some A-rank abilities had a large gap to reach S-rank even with fusion.

But whatever—the fused ability meant that an unused “deception technique” would only be lost.

Without much hesitation, Kuixing clicked to confirm the action.

“Fusion successful. [Deception Technique] has been invalidated.”

On the game panel, the ability level of “Hypnotic Sound” remained at A-rank.

Kuixing touched her temples, looking upward towards the ceiling, from her backpack pulling out a small black box.

Opening the box, cold white mist emerged from the opening, two glass tubes and several syringes containing dark red liquid inside. Inside the glass tubes, red threadworms slumbered. Mechanized Dawn had provided Kuixing with three hidden threadworms; she had used one and had two remaining. The rest of the syringes contained blood samples of the Bartender, Red, and Schalit.

She knew about the Bartender and Red’s blood. Kuixing had gained significant intelligence from Red’s blood memory and it was time to unlock Schalit’s blood memory now.

“I’m afraid I may not be fully aware later on; you connect to the villa’s security system to watch me,” Kuixing told Augus.

Augus simply responded with a monosyllabic: “Okay.”

Kuixing looked at the syringe filled with blood, removed her gloves to disinfect her hands, then squeezed a drop onto her fingertip and activated the [Blood Spirit], and licked the blood.

Instantly, memories like a flooding river invaded her mind.

…

Anne Schalit was born into a wealthy family. Her father was a researcher, and her mother ran a children’s orphanage. However, her childhood wasn’t particularly happy. When she was twelve years old, her father suddenly disappeared without a trace. After her father’s disappearance, her mother’s smiles vanished.

Schalit repeatedly asked her mother, where her father went, but her mother would remain silent.

Frustrated with unanswered questions, Schalit began her own investigation into her father’s disappearance. She rummaged in the书房 where her father often stayed, eventually finding a piece of scribbled notes whose handwriting was indecipherable and written in a language she couldn’t decipher. There were some illustrations depicting entangled tentacles and grotesque, sinister eyes.

Before she could scrutinize it further, her mother snatched the note away, her breath shaky, “Don’t look at those things!” Hands gripping Schalit’s shoulders tightly, “Those are… devilish things… listen, don’t look anymore.”

Her mother confiscated all her father’s belongings. Schalit assumed her mother took these for sentimental reasons and to prevent heartache. But reality proved otherwise. At night, her mother studied her father’s notes, her mental state deteriorating, drawing those twisted pictures in her own notebook and mumbling to herself sometimes.

The news alarmed Schalit, prompting her to inform her father’s best friend, her uncle.

Her uncle immediately took a solemn tone upon hearing Schalit’s story, “Don’t worry, she’s just unwell and needs treatment,” he tried to reassure her.

But that same night, a group in military gear burst into their home and abducted her mother. Those soldiers were dressed in specially designed black combat suits with shiny badges—a symbol of the Special Affairs Department.

And so began her life without seeing her mother again.

Uncle raised her, providing her an upbringing and education.

Only after Anne Schalit excelled significantly in passing the Special Affairs Department interviews did she gain insight into the truth: her parents had been misled by ancient gods, becoming believers of these deities. The Federation, in turn, executed them.

Schalit was confused, yet she couldn’t let herself be trapped in such despair. At the Special Affairs Department, if she didn’t strive to excel, she stood to lose future opportunities. She must strive for higher positions to unlock more truths.

It was then that someone approached her, a person who suddenly appeared one day. It was a day after Schalit finished work, on her way home. She saw a homeless person lying on the street corner; she bought him food.

As the homeless man accepted the meal, he looked at her and smiled, “Madam, I have a question.”

“Please ask,” Schalit responded.

“Poor and humble as I am, I came from humble origins. My teacher taught me that I could transform my fate by hard work and study. But upon growing up, I realized that life isn’t so simple,” the homeless man continued, “Should we always be in that mud? Could it be our fate?”

Schalit opened her mouth to speak, “The Federation has welfare policies, you can go to a shelter…”

“I’ve been kicked out of shelters,” answered the homeless man, “We both know that keeping me in the mud isn’t due to lack of knowledge or misfortune, but something else…”

Schalit didn’t know how to answer and returned home, her thoughts in turmoil.

For the next several days, Schalit encountered the homeless man daily at the corner, bringing him dinner. Occasionally, they would exchange words, but never seriously.

Later, one day when accepting a meal, the homeless man suddenly said, “I want to introduce myself again. You can call me Phantom,” he lifted his head and his deeply set eyes met hers, “I know your name is Anne Schalit.”

This was when Anne Schalit became involved with the resistance.

Captivated by the ideology of the resistance, she joined them as an outer member, advanced to a core member after proving her trustworthiness, and came to know “Angel.”

No… she didn’t know Angel. Because she had never seen Angel’s true face. They communicated either in dreams or in spiritual realms. Angel assigned tasks for Schalit to follow plans and provide support for the resistance’s various operations.

Schalit rarely met other members because everyone maintained confidentiality. Some held high positions within governmental bodies; others were leaders of secret facilities; while some roamed the streets, each performing unique roles to contribute to the intricate network for shared goals.

Despite a life filled with tumult, Schalit had a semi-administrative job at the Special Affairs Department and seldom participated in perilous missions, ensuring her life security. Yet, the task assigned by Angel would change her life forever.

“We’ve lost contact with an infiltrator from the Mechanized Dawn. That member’s target is dead but didn’t signal us. You’re traveling to Black Sea City. Meet up with her and confirm if something unexpected has occurred,” the message instructed, issued by Angel in a mental space.

“Can I get the alias and specific details?” Schalit inquired.

Her alias is ‘Ferryman,’” Angel informed her, “If any abnormalities are spotted, inform Phantom; don’t act hastily.”

Schalit nodded slightly, “Understood.”

She’d never imagined that what she thought was “Ferryman” could be so different, and she would lose her life under this mission.