Chapter 161

Chapter 161: The Boundless Dark Realm Part 16

Having finished her lecture, Su Rong closed her notebook listlessly, feeling completely drained.

“Take a rest,” Kui Xin said, collecting his writing tools and looking at the time.

It was now late evening; soon it would be six o’clock. His lesson with Su Rong had taken a considerable amount of time today.

“The time has come.” Kui Xin walked to Su Rong’s bedroom window and pulled open the curtains, setting up his mobile phone on the windowsill.

Su Rong, catching up later, realized that the time for the sky city reflection had arrived. She jumped from her chair and rushed to the window, also glancing nervously upward.

The sky city ghost image appeared on schedule, the upside-down city materializing above them, its blurred, illusory contours distorting the late afternoon sunlight. The clouds in the sky seemed dimmed, and the weather turned gloomy.

The shadowy skyscrapers of the Second World hung ominously in the sky, appearing like inverted stalactites in caves, yet sinister and beautiful.

Twenty minutes passed, and the reflection vanished.

Su Rong’s neck ached from looking up, “How can it last this long?”

Kui Xin brows furrowed as he looked through his recorded video on his phone. The reflections seen before were still blurry, but tonight’s sky city image was extraordinarily clear—clearer than any prior occurrence. It felt almost as if a real city was hanging above Tonglin City… like a snowstorm approaching or black clouds pressing down, so real that the inverted city in the sky seemed to threaten to crash and crush everyone below.

“There’s talk online about the end of the world… I looked into the foreign network, and many media outlets have reported increased robbery cases in various cities, significantly higher crime rates, and people hoarding food and firearms at supermarkets… Domestically there was less impact, but grain prices did rise. I wonder if it’s due to decreased production or rumors of the apocalypse,” Su Rong said.

“If the game The Crimson Soil were to go public, the scenes we face then might not be much better than the apocalypse,” Kui Xin calmly replied.

What troubled Kui Xin was that she could do almost nothing in the face of all these unknowns. Even though she possessed extraordinary abilities, a robust physique, and an indomitable will, she felt her individual strength was too weak, especially against the forces clashing between two worlds.

“How difficult it is…” Su Rong sighed. “Will we no longer even be able to lead a peaceful life after this?”

Kui Xin responded, “All I can say is, you need to prepare yourself mentally.”

She put away her phone, turning to Su Rong, “Let’s talk about what happened to you.”

“I’m ready!” Su Rong straightened herself. “When I saw you in the car, I felt like I knew this cool older sister with blue eyes. It was pure intuition! Women’s intuition! If Sister Xinxin wasn’t deliberately distant, I would’ve charged right up and asked if you were Sister Xinxin.”

“I figured as much; you’re sharp. That’s why I needed to give you hints to avoid any misunderstandings,” Kui Xin explained. “You said you have a gut feeling. Can your intrinsic talent tell you more?”

“Hmm… ‘Soul Reenactment’. I was an art student before; I’ve taken such classes. My teacher said I have a natural talent for acting… There’s another one, ‘Harmless Aura’. Strangers assume I’m weak and unthreatening, lowering their guard around me,” Su Rong continued. “And finally, there’s ‘Friendly Identification’. I can sense who I can trust intuitively. But these powers are unpredictable. I don’t know when they’ll activate.”

Kui Xin pondered, “Your abilities are tied to your identities in both the First and Second Worlds. This could be something you’ve always had or developed over time.”

Kui Xin didn’t question such personal matters with He Kangshi because they weren’t as close.

Su Rong trusted Kui Xin implicitly, sharing her deepest secrets, confirming some of Kui Xin’s earlier speculations.

From forum posts, players knew each had unique intrinsic talents, but few were willing to publicly discuss them. These topics remained obscure to most.

Kui Xin’s inherent skill “Rapid Learning” stemmed from her excellent academic performance, and her innate caution and self-protection led to “Hazard Avoidance”, which later upgraded to “Absolute Prediction”. Her calm demeanor and knack for lying birthed “Performance Persona”, while the latter skills—“Combat Instinct” and “Life Fortitude”—were attributed to her Second World persona.

Su Rong’s origin of talents paralleled Kui Xin’s.

Being a star in the Second World and having attended acting classes in the First, Su Rong had some acting ability. Her sweet and adorable appearance made it easy to disarm suspicion. However, her instinctive “Friendly Identification” ability was similarly capricious.

“At that moment, I followed Sister Xinxin perhaps influenced by my intrinsic talent, which reminded me you were trustworthy,” Su Rong said. “It came through just when needed! Right?”

Kui Xin smiled, “Can you describe your extraordinary ability for me?”

“Sure.” Su Rong summoned a shadow double from beneath her feet.

This shadow double was dark as ink, almost like flowing black mud, with a vague face but matching Su Rong’s body silhouette.

“It can pour tea and serve water very obediently,” Su Rong said, making her shadow double fetch Kui Xin a cup of water and wander silently through the room, passing seamlessly through walls before returning, “It can pass through walls, and lift heavy objects…”

The shadow double easily lifted the barbell in Su Rong’s room to overhead.

“This barbell belongs to my father. It weighs thirty kilograms; I can barely lift the lightest one,” Su Rong added, “It’s incredibly strong! It can cut fruit too.”

Her shadow hand transformed into a blade, slicing off strawberry stalks effortlessly and cutting pineapple into neat chunks, which she skewered on a toothpick and handed to Kui Xin.

“How many can you summon at once?” Kui Xin asked curiously.

“One. If one disappears, I can summon another,” Su Rong replied. “It’s a C-class power.” She stared intently at Kui Xin. “When Sister Xinxin punched it apart before, I was amazed by your spatial ability’s convenience.”

After a moment of silence, Kui Xin put down the plate, “Do you have any feelings about killing someone蓉蓉?”

Su Rong froze. Memories she desperately tried to ignore surged forth, making her smile falter.

“I’m… feeling terrible,” she lowered her head. “Last night, I dreamt of Dmitri. I was covered in blood.”

“I understand that you can’t look back,” Kui Xin said. “I apologize for bringing this up, but coming back to the First World isn’t to numb you. It’s to give you time to think clearly about what path to take next. Without resolve, following me is useless. ‘I’m not here to be your babysitter,’ I’ve told you before. I can’t protect you; you must protect yourself.”

“I know…” Su Rong struggled to speak. “Mom and Dad said no one can rely on others. I have to rely on myself.”

“That’s right. But understanding and doing are two different things,” Kui Xin remarked.

“Sister Xinxin, are you in trouble in the Second World?” Su Rong said. “I’ve been wondering why you act so cold…”

“Because I’m always under scrutiny and could die at any moment. If I hadn’t saved you back then, you would have died… But if there were another choice, I wouldn’t have brought you to me. You see,蓉蓉, going with me won’t mean safety; it might just delay the inevitable. Danger comes from within me as well as outside.”

Cold fear swept over Su Rong; the memories of killing Dmitri surfaced again, leaving her in near panic.

Kui Xin’s words were harsh, shattering the peace in Su Rong’s heart.

But she couldn’t let Su Rong believe herself safe… in reality, no player was ever truly safe.

“Then how can I survive?” Su Rong asked with courage.

“Become useful. Become ignorant.”

“Strive to become stronger, and continue pretending to not know Sister Xinxin? Pretend we’re strangers, always hiding?”

High-tech society, surveillance takes many forms, like installing surveillance chips in artificial limbs and eyes. Su Rong immediately suspected Kui Xin must be bound by someone, unwilling to reveal their relationship to protect her.

“Correct. We stay as we are for now,” Kui Xin replied. “You need to become valuable, stronger, armed. Others will use you if it’s beneficial, but being utterly useless is worse. Valuable people won’t just be discarded, whereas the valueless are disposable, like dust.”

Because of being valuable, Kui Xin worked hard to demonstrate her worth and lived.

In front of Adam, displaying her value made her become a collaborator. Before Eve, her value bought her a reprieve until she could become a mole in Adam’s circle.

Each deal with partners and seeking survival in dire straits meant digging deep for value. Thus, she gained Adam’s assistance and Eve’s leniency.

“One thing,” Kui Xin looked at Su Rong, “What do you want to do about the Popov Clan? Ignore, abandon, or seek revenge?”

Su Rong tightened her grip on her chest, struggling to breathe.

Every pain endured since entering the Second World, and Kui Xin’s words, struck her heart.

To become valuable. To remain ignorant…

Ignore, abandon, or take revenge—deciding became imperative.

Not letting those people go was unbearable. Ignoring? Ignoring doesn’t solve issues… Revenge? Dmitri died, yet Su Rong knew the real threat lay in his backers, the decayed elites behind him.

Su Rong stood on thin ice, needing a push.

Kui Xin recognized this, offering the push. Ahead lay depths and life-saving paths.

Su Rong opened her mouth, “I can only choose one. I’ll choose revenge.”