Chapter 35: Sea Without Light 35
The sky gradually darkened, the sultry heat of the morning heralding a torrential rain.
The weather in summer changes particularly rapidly; just an hour ago, the sun was shining brightly, and now thick clouds loomed.
Wolves, polar bears, and sharks—top predators in nature—smell blood and will track their prey for miles. Once they lock onto their target, they will not give up easily.
Kui Xin is a patient hunter and tracker.
Every time Fang Zhi turns or looks back, she stays nestled in his blind spot. If there are no obstructions nearby, she enters Shadow Transition, her misty form well concealed.
Fang Zhi is somewhat clever and understands to avoid the monitoring systems by taking routes with fewer people.
In recent years, surveillance cameras in major cities have become increasingly ubiquitous, making it hard to find routes without cameras. Fang Zhi frequently lifts his head, glancing left and right to observe the positions of the cameras. He often needs to twist and turn, entering alleys and looping back again and again to find a suitable path.
While it takes an hour to walk on the main roads, Fang Zhi’s meandering and stopping doubles that time.
After two hours of tracking, Kui Xin’s emotions remained unchanged, her heart rate stable.
To avoid her phone making a sound when receiving messages, she switched it to airplane mode.
Fang Zhi seemed very afraid of Kui Xin catching up; while evading cameras, he deliberately took detours, sometimes running fast for a stretch when turning, before circling back to check quickly, trying to draw out any potential followers behind him.
He made this fishing maneuver at different corners, sections of the road, and alleys five or six times, pretending to move forward before suddenly glancing around.
When he spotted shadows in an alley ahead, he would stare intently at the shadow for a while, as if confirming something, before finally passing through it. Even after crossing the shadow, he would not let his guard down, taking a few steps forward before suddenly turning back to grasp at the air near the shadow.
Interesting, too interesting. Kui Xin fell into thought.
Fang Zhi’s goal is not just her; he also understands her Extraordinary Abilities.
He knows she possesses Shadow Transition, which is why he acts like a startled bird whenever passing areas with shadows, emanating an unmistakable aura of fear and suspicion—very much like someone who’s been bitten by a snake, fearful of the rope for years.
His terror is so palpable it feels as if he’s experienced it himself.
He can foresee the future and is unafraid of death, with a clear target, harboring deep hatred for her.
With these elements combined, Kui Xin could roughly guess what Fang Zhi’s Extraordinary Ability is.
If she is correct, if such an Extraordinary Ability truly exists… she would have to change her strategy.
Fang Zhi glances back every three meters, filled with suspicion, yet he fails to spot Kui Xin.
In truth, Fang Zhi is not weak; his physical condition is robust, and his vigilance high. Having escaped for so many days without being captured, he remains astute, evading cameras while repeatedly fishing to confirm he is not being followed. His intelligence is just above average, understanding how to mitigate risks by threatening her with Kui Xin’s weaknesses.
Unfortunately for Fang Zhi, he encountered Kui Xin, and he stubbornly pressed on, unwilling to turn back until he either crashes or escapes.
It is not that he is too weak; it is that Kui Xin is too strong. Fang Zhi’s little tricks and wiles do not work against her. He cannot win in a direct confrontation with her, so he attempts to threaten her with a gun or the people around her.
If he could successfully execute his plan, it would indeed be a significant trouble for Kui Xin. But he is quite unfortunate, failing to expect that Kui Xin is an uncontrollable variable that has perfectly landed in her hands.
Two and a half hours later, the sky was completely covered by dark clouds, with rain sweeping across the entire city.
Fang Zhi seemingly confirmed that no one was following him; he braved the rain, crossing through a large breach in a barbed wire fence and entering an abandoned tobacco factory.
This was the most remote area in Tonglin City. Once filled with factories, many closed during the economic crisis, and later, the government shut down numerous high-pollution factories while checking sewage issues.
Next to the factory was a long-closed railway line, which hadn’t seen a train in over twenty years, now overgrown with wild grass reaching about half a person in height.
Rumor had it that this land had recently been contracted out and would soon be leveled and rebuilt.
It was quiet and desolate here.
An optimal hiding spot, and also the best place for a hunt.
Once Kui Xin confirmed Fang Zhi’s hiding place, she did not immediately enter to hunt him down. Instead, she walked beside the railway line and pulled a handful of wild grass, carefully using it to bind her shoes tightly. The tread of shoes could reveal the brand, while the imprints could expose height, weight, and gender…
Even back in the First World, Kui Xin would find time to study criminal investigation knowledge. She had to be meticulous; merely avoiding surveillance was not enough; any small detail that could reveal her identity also needed to be tended to.
The rain poured heavier… even the heavens seemed to be helping her.
The rain could wash away the scent information she left behind, obscuring her footprints, making it impossible for even the finest police dogs to track her down.
After taking care of her personal information, Kui Xin wiped the rain off her cheek and activated Shadow Transition, slipping into the tobacco factory.
Hunting is a skill that becomes easier with practice.
Kui Xin pulled a kitchen knife from her lower back, gripping it as she scanned the tobacco factory for traces left by Fang Zhi.
Fang Zhi, soaked from the rain, had left behind a definitive trail of footprints.
Calmly, Kui Xin followed the trail while utilizing Shadow Transition.
To leave as little footprint information as possible, she hardly walked, barely disturbing the dust on the floor.
The factory was extremely dilapidated; rusty iron ladders, peeling walls, shattered glass—rain poured in through the broken windows, while the fierce wind rattled the window frames with eerie groans, as if ghosts were singing through the corridors.
Kui Xin made her way from the first floor of the factory to the second floor, gradually closing in on her prey.
Finally, she turned a corner and saw the pale Fang Zhi.
Fang Zhi sat on the ground, wringing out his clothes. Kui Xin silently appeared before him, like a ghost.
She silently and coldly stared at him, her eyes as tranquil as still water, the sharp kitchen knife reflecting faint light.
“I have questions to ask you,” Kui Xin said, looking down at him. “Answer my questions, and I’ll let you go.”
Fang Zhi sat there trembling, retreating in a shuddering motion.
“Don’t you understand my ability?” Kui Xin said. “Don’t run; you can’t escape. Answer my questions, and I’ll spare your life.”
Fang Zhi looked terrified, his eyes almost bulging out: “Y-You…”
“Answer the question, and live. Don’t answer, and die,” Kui Xin said. “I think I’ve made it simple enough for you to understand.”
Fang Zhi did not dare to ask, “Can you really keep your promise?”—a foolish question with no answer. If he asked, the Female Hunter could still lie to him; if she did intend to keep her word, she would naturally let him go after answering the questions.
Answering the question provided him with a slight chance of survival. Not answering meant he would die the next second. Fang Zhi had no doubt about Kui Xin’s ruthlessness.
“Have you consumed Divine Blood?” Kui Xin asked.
Fang Zhi’s lips twitched.
“Have you?” Kui Xin said, kicking Fang Zhi in the face, sending him sprawling and howling, “I ask you if you have consumed it! You must answer, don’t test my patience.”
Fang Zhi, lying on the ground, took a moment to respond. Seeing him holler without answering for three seconds, Kui Xin kicked him in the stomach.
Fang Zhi curled over, clutching his abdomen, crying out, “I have! I have!”
He answered the question because it was inconsequential. Every Player knew there were two ways to gain Extraordinary Power: natural awakening and consuming Divine Blood. His answer wouldn’t matter.
Fang Zhi’s earlier hesitation came from calculating; he feared Kui Xin’s follow-up questions would be more dangerous and sensitive. He could not betray his organization.
“Have you mutated?” Kui Xin’s eyes sliced through him like a scalpel. “Take off your clothes.”
Fang Zhi’s skin quivered, and under her oppressive gaze, he struggled to rise from the ground and take off his shirt.
His muscular body bore no signs of mutation; it was just an ordinary human body.
Kui Xin continued, “Your body in the First World hasn’t mutated; what about in the Second World?”
“Not at all…” Fang Zhi replied.
“Where did you obtain your Divine Blood?” Kui Xin asked.
Fang Zhi’s heart sank; he didn’t want to answer.
But Kui Xin kicked him again. She didn’t just deliver one kick; she rained down several, and Fang Zhi’s desperate pleas for mercy echoed, yet Kui Xin did not stop her assault.
As she struck, she articulated every word:
“I—”
Crack! His arm was broken.
“Ask you—”
Crack! His leg shattered.
“Where does your Divine Blood come from!”
Bam! She kicked his head hard against the wall; blood poured as it oozed down the crumbling wall.
Fang Zhi’s vision was blurred by the blood; his consciousness began to slip. Kui Xin retrieved Fang Zhi’s shirt discarded on the ground, wrapped the knife within it, and plunged it into his abdomen. Thanks to the shirt, none of the blood splattered onto her.
Fang Zhi awakened from the intense pain; his wound rapidly healed, the knife wound closing, fresh flesh growing.
“I’ll tell you! It was given to me by a cult companion… please, let me go!” Fang Zhi cried with tears streaming down his face, “It was given by the cult; I only consumed it as per their request. Please, let me go!”
“You are not being candid. I know you belong to a cult; I’m asking who supplied the cult’s Divine Blood,” Kui Xin squatted down, expressionless. “If you don’t answer truthfully, I’ll disassemble your arms. Can your flesh and blood regenerate from severed limbs?”
Fang Zhi trembled uncontrollably, tears and snot covering his face: “I don’t really know; I just joined as an outer member… I’m not lying, truly not!”
Kui Xin stood up and asked, “Which city do you live in the Second World?”
“W-White Whale City,” Fang Zhi answered.
White Whale City is a city in the Second World close to the subarctic, near the polar ice sea, roughly at the geographic equivalent of the Siberian border of Russia in the First World.
As his thoughts raced, he cunningly said, “You want our Divine Blood, right? If you let me go, I can send you a bottle when I get back to the Second World!”
Kui Xin laughed mockingly: “Send it to me? Do you think I’m as foolish as you?” She paused before asking, “Is your God real?”
Hearing this question, Fang Zhi stopped trembling; his expression turned agitated, and his tone became unusually high-pitched: “How dare you question the existence of my Lord!”
Kui Xin’s gaze turned cold. She launched a furious series of kicks that shattered several of his ribs.
He rolled on the ground, initially cursing Kui Xin for disrespecting the divine, but as the intensity of her blows escalated, the sound of his bones cracking filled the air… eventually, his wild cursing turned into frantic pleas for mercy.
“Ancestor, can I say you are my ancestor? Please, stop hitting me!” Fang Zhi cried, clutching his head in despair, “Spare me, I was wrong! I was wrong!”
“One last question,” Kui Xin mused, sensing she had delivered sufficient punishment before ceasing her assault. “What is your Extraordinary Ability?”
Here it comes, the question finally arrived!
Fang Zhi’s eyelids twitched, and just as Kui Xin’s foot raised to kick him again, he blurted out: “It’s foresight… I know you will kill me in the future, so I…”
Before he could finish, Kui Xin plunged the knife into his abdomen repeatedly.
The kitchen knife pierced into his flesh with a sickeningly satisfying sound, and he let out a scream that shook the heavens, teetering on the brink of madness. Yet, his physical condition and resilience were astonishing; even under such severe trauma, he remained conscious, unable to lose his senses!
“You truly think I’m an idiot like you, right?” Kui Xin said darkly, “Are you using my earlier guess to answer me? Have you lost your mind due to your faith?”
Fang Zhi lay on the ground, groaning; his body was still healing, but his spirit was on the verge of collapse.
“If you don’t want to answer, then let me take a guess.” Kui Xin leaned forward, locking eyes with Fang Zhi, whose eyes were lined with blood. “Your Extraordinary Ability is related to Retrospection…”
Fang Zhi’s breathing halted, pupils dilating, incoherent syllables escaping his throat.
“You can return to a past timeline, just like saving in a game… Am I right?” Kui Xin pressed further.
Fang Zhi coughed up blood, desperately struggling, “No! Such an outrageous ability, how could I possess it?”
“But my intuition warns me you’re lying; my speculation is correct. My intuition is always right; I have never been wrong.” Kui Xin began to smile.
To Fang Zhi, her smile was no less than the grim reaper beckoning him.
“If you kill me, I will return to the past! Next time, I will definitely kill you! If you let me go now, I will treat this as if nothing happened, and we can be at peace!” Fang Zhi made his last-ditch effort, desperation laced with hope, “Once I return to the past, I will know everything, while you will know nothing! I will know your appearance, know where your friends are…”
Kui Xin replied indifferently: “No, your frantic desire to live right now stems from losing your reliance. If you had resurrection as your guarantee, you would not be so eager to cling to life. Your rebirth must have limitations, right? With restrictions, you cannot carelessly abandon your own life.”
“I hope my choice is not wrong.” She raised the kitchen knife, and amidst Fang Zhi’s terror and pleas, plunged its tip into his eye socket, destroying his brain and ending his life in one stroke.
“You have killed [Proxy: Fang Zhi].”
“You have deprived [Proxy: Fang Zhi] of his Extraordinary Ability.”
“You have obtained the Extraordinary Ability [Death Rebirth: A-Class].”
“[Death Rebirth: A-Class]: You can return to the past and restart after death. The more you die, the closer the points of resurrection are to the moments of death; overlapping points of resurrection with moments of death result in inability to revive. The number of revivals resets every seven days.”
“Your Extraordinary Ability [Flesh and Blood Regeneration] has been upgraded.”
“[Flesh and Blood Regeneration: C-Class]: Your healing speed far surpasses that of normal humans.”
Meanwhile, a new death report was pinned in the [Crimson Soil] beta player forum.
“Proxy 1286 was killed by Remover 233 on July 29.”
