Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Sea Without Light

Without the players knowing anything about Depriver 233, they could only analyze up to this point.

Upon the first death notification, the players only knew that Depriver 233 had killed someone.

Who did Depriver 233 kill? In which city did the killing take place? Why did the murder occur? What was the real identity of Depriver 233…these immensely significant questions were unbeknownst to the players.

With the second notification, from a series of incidents, the players began to understand more about Depriver 233.

Who did Depriver 233 kill? Fang Zhi.

In what city did the incident take place? Tonglin City.

Why did he commit the crime? For the task.

What is his true identity? From the Jingchu region.

From complete ignorance to partial scope identification, there was just one notification and one mission between them.

464th Post: If Depriver 233 doesn’t stop, his tracks will become increasingly difficult to conceal until he’s completely exposed. I want to know one very important question—how strong is Depriver 233? Can he contend with all players, can he withstand powerful firearm attacks? If he isn’t that strong, provided he hasn’t gone mad, he will likely hide in the future, making it hard for us to find him again.

465th Post: I believe Depriver 233 will not cease killing. He needs to advance. Where there’s one and two, there shall be three and four.

Until the 465th Post, discussions on Deprivers came to an abrupt end.

A new notification was issued on the forum, along with two death reports, causing widespread uproar among the players.

This highly talked-about thread contained not only discussion on Depriver 233 but also analysis of Depriver 777.

Depriver 777…a patterned number, similar to her own Depriver 233 code, Kui Xin found herself questioning if all Deprivers’ numbers hid some sort of pattern. But, there weren’t enough known Deprivers to support this hypothesis.

The existence of Depriver 777, as the second Depriver after Kui Xin to have a name on the forum, carried immense significance.

Its presence indicated an increased number of Deprivers hidden amongst the population.

“Three people, Proxy 388 killed Proxy 1339, then Depriver 777 proceeded to kill Proxy 388. These three players certainly had interactions in their real lives.”

Top Post: Assuming a single notification of a Depriver killing a Proxy surfaced, I’d be ninety-nine percent certain the Depriver’s goal was seizing Extraordinary Abilities, but these two notifications reveal a different situation. Following simple logic, could it be that Depriver 777 and Proxy 1339 were friends, and with 388 killing 1339, Depriver avenged a friend? Or, all three being friends, eventually leading to betrayal and battle where others died and Depriver 777 emerged victorious?

8th Post: Depriver 233’s actions remind me of a two-hour crime thriller, while Depriver 777 brings out a love-hate saga.

Reply to 8th Post: Don’t make light of another’s suffering, not funny at all. If you must compare to a film, it’s a horror movie happening in reality.

10th Post: Judging by the number of Chinese posts and foreign posts on the forum, Chinese players don’t hold any exceptional numerical advantage in Nation count. The game does not show any national bias. Depriver 777 might not be Chinese; they could be foreigners. It’s not that unfortunate for two Deprivers with violent histories to be from abroad.

11th Post: I’m particularly puzzled; it’s modern society, how can they risk being discovered?

12th Post: If they were afraid, they wouldn’t have committed these acts, possibly their bravery stems from Extraordinary Abilities.

13th Post: Don’t forget some countries abroad still allow guns; overseas, killing a person is easier compared to domestically, where we’re relatively safer.

27th Post: It’s gotten worse; not only Deprivers kill Proxies, but Proxies kill Proxies. Deprivers kill for benefit, but what about Proxies? Is trust still possible in this world?

28th Post: I believe bad actions come from individuals, not roles or groups. Being a Depriver doesn’t make one bad. A bad person is still bad, whether a Proxy or not—evil lies in hearts, not externally.

There are seven billion ordinary people in this world, yet fewer than ten thousand survive in the Second World.

Players meeting in real life are extremely rare; finding one feels like being chosen by fate. Thus, finding a witness in this forum is incredibly challenging unless through regional tasks akin to Kuixin’s.

Had it not been for the regional task report, Kuixin would’ve been better concealed.

But this interaction post inspired Kuixin—Depriver 777 might indeed not be Chinese.

Kuixin, educated in test preparation English, struggles with oral communication and unfamiliar vocabulary, making foreign language posts difficult for her.

Given the forum mix of international players, the prompt translation stickers and keywords, official stickies, are displayed in the player’s respective languages, a fact discussed often.

For popular posts, some international players sometimes translate, despite machine translations often faulty, acting as information exchanges.

Gathering sufficient intelligence enables one to stand firmly in the Second World.

Kuixin focused on searching for translated posts and foreign keywords amidst a bewildering array of letters, before finally a fluent English speaker posted a translation.

“Translate the post by the user with nicknamewho goes by ‘Z·D,’ search keywords gun, killer, police in English,” Summarized content: an hour-and-a-half ago, a shooting occurred in the city of the poster and they suspect the perpetrator is a Depriver based on the similarity of timings with a death notification.

Leading Post: Here’s the translation, each part aligns with the original content by various posters. Translation level is moderate, please bear with it.

1. Shootings happen daily in my city, but this one stood out. The police nearly caught the criminal but let him escape! The surveillance footage recorded the masked murderer leaving the scene holding a gun with blood-soaked clothes. Police didn’t respond even when he walked past the blockade. Video link incoming.

2. My city’s police are a joke, yet they’re not that stupid to miss the killer especially when he was conspicuous. Yet, none among them reacted or raised their guns in defense, truly unusual!

3. Maybe a supernatural ability manipulating minds; it’s the only explanation for such a lack of response.

4. The city where it happened is in the CST time zone, and the case time disclosed by the police is 00:51. We need to confirm if the timing matches the death notification’s, thus narrowing down if Depriver 777 is the culprit.

1st Post: A mind-altering ability!

2nd Post: Who can help convert the time zones! Our players span many time zones and are active round the clock.

3rd Post: When it happened in our country, it was around 14:51, they had night, we had day. Plenty of forum users, just waiting for confirmation of the timings.

18th Post: Holy crap, I witnessed it! I ordered food and was browsing the forum during delivery. The shooting time coincided with my food delivery – 2:50 PM! Heart-stopping realization!

19th Post: Case cracked! Any fluent English speakers, quickly inform the poster over there so they move somewhere safer!

20th Post: Far from solved, just shows he’s possibly a Depriver, no way to verify without further info.

The forum discussions continued, but no one knew what would happen next. The neighbor on the floor above said that the murderer was masked and it was unclear whether they could be captured.

22L: I think it’s hard to capture him, as the opponent has such powerful extraordinary abilities; even the police ignore him!

23L: How were the surveillance recordings from the scene released? I thought under such mysterious circumstances, the police wouldn’t release any surveillance videos.

24L replied to 23L: Well… maybe it was to facilitate the issuance of wanted posters? After all, wanted posters need the murderer’s appearance.

25L: Assuming Remover 777’s extraordinary ability is in mental deception, his mental fraud can’t fool the cameras; it can only fool human eyes. You can see his body was caught on camera.

26L: Why do I feel Remover 777 is more brazen than Remover 233? He actually appears directly in the footage.

28L: Perhaps he didn’t notice the cameras. Some cameras are hidden in corners and aren’t easily seen unless you look up closely. This Remover 777 might have relaxed his guard, thinking he could use his abilities to deceive others’ eyes and overlooked the matter of the cameras.

29L replied to 28L: This assumption sounds a bit far-fetched…

30L replied to 29L: Not really, stranger things have happened in reality. You’re overestimating Remover’s invincibility. In essence, most people in the world are ordinary, with ordinary minds and ordinary attitudes, struggling to be all-knowing is common. After all, 28L’s guess is just a speculation. No one knows what Remover 777 was thinking except himself, and he exposed himself easily. It gave me a feeling similar to Remover 233 – he acted with utter confidence.

31L: Agreed. Remover 777 acts with utter confidence. Just now, I snuck to see the video link posted by the neighbor. Damn, this murderer is truly calm. Walking with gun in hand, he sauntered through the crowd of police. Are all Removers top-tier players?

32L: I think you overlooked something. Remover 777 may possess more than one extraordinary ability… Killing players isn’t the only way to gain extraordinary abilities; killing Awakened or Heterogeneous Blooded individuals in the Second World does the same. Players killed are reported, while NPC deaths go unreported. Who knows what a Player will experience in the Second World which may not be peaceful, there might even be small-scale anti-terror operations. Becoming a mercenary or warrior is also possible.

33L replied to 32L: Sigh… Terrifying.

Kuixin read the valuable discussion threads on the forum and rubbed her temples.

When she refreshed the forum again, she found a type of post had taken center stage—party formation posts.

She clicked into a few of these posts, scanned them, and moved on. Most of the party formation posts requested individuals to message privately regarding national or regional requirements, everyone wanting to hide their real information and not reveal too much personal data in the threads.

In fact, the trend towards cooperation among players seemed inevitable.

No matter if partying in the First or the Second World, it effectively improved survival rates. For example, in the First World, being able to react quickly to an attack by Removers, work together, and communicate information greatly boosted chances of survival. Similarly, in the Second World when faced with dangerous situations, one could seek help from other players.

It was foreseeable that Remover’s survival would become more difficult in the near future; unable to form teams with other players and facing hostility and resistance from Proxy players, a sudden pre-emptive move by another player wasn’t out of the question.

Kuixin processed the information gathered from the forum.

Players’ understanding of Remover 233 was still superficial, and the guesses based on current information weren’t entirely accurate, which was good.

As for Remover 777… from Kuixin’s perspective, his appearance was actually beneficial. Kuixin felt that Remover 777’s reckless and fearless style of operation made him a good target, attracting the enemy’s attention easily.

Remover 777 was not in China, which was good news. Kuixin could focus solely on her own affairs without giving him too much consideration.

Kuixin glanced at her watch. It was almost evening. She had been busy all day and hadn’t eaten anything.

Earlier in the morning, she used a lot of her extraordinary abilities to kill Fang Zhi, leaving her starving. She didn’t notice her hunger while focused on the forum. However, now that her mind was at ease, her hunger immediately flooded her brain, and she felt dizzy with it.

Kuixin prepared some extra food in the kitchen for lunch and dinner together.

…

Early the next morning, 6:30 AM.

Kuixin put on her raincoat and deliberately left from a non-surveilled back entrance of the residential complex. She traveled through side streets and alleys to minimize her appearance on surveillance cameras.

Before leaving, she saw a message from the hacker.

Hacker: “We arrived in your city last night and are staying in a hotel. Have you picked a meeting place?”

Kuixin looked at the message, didn’t reply, and turned off her phone to avoid location tracking.

She had planned several potential meeting locations—a large mall, a park square near government offices, and a restaurant with private space yet comprehensive surveillance.

None of these met her needs. She required a place that was quiet, not easily monitored, and yet close enough to be accessible.

She needed such a place—to avoid raising the hackers’ suspicions, not herself.

Kuixin had two plans in mind—either for a transaction or the next hunt.

Her decision depended on the attitude and strength of the hackers.

The hackers may not fully seek to recruit her but had things that couldn’t be discussed over messages, needing face-to-face talk with Kuixin.

The weather was still gloomy, with light drizzle.

When Kuixin reached the mall, she looked up at its towering structure, having lived in the city for many years and grown accustomed to its buildings. But she was seeing them with a critical eye today.

Surrounded by tall buildings, the six-story mall seemed insignificant and its rooftop was a public badminton court, unused during rainy days. She chose to meet there due to its isolation and lack of surveillance.

Since there were few people and it was not easily surveilled, one had to pass multiple surveillance checkpoints to reach it. Access could be through the elevator or a fire escape away from cameras.

Kuixin did not go straight to the badminton court.

Instead, she walked around and went to a higher building not far from the mall. This was an elderly activity center, filled with old folks playing tea, chatting, and mahjong. Finding a fire escape and climbing several floors on foot, she found herself in a desolate rooftop usually occupied by the elderly.

Standing near the edge of the roof, she could clearly see the public badminton court on the mall’s roof, providing a perfect vantage point.

Kuixin’s occupational habit made her feel like she lacked something heavy… if only she could have her K80 rifle right now.

After scanning the area, Kuixin descended the building’s rooftop and walked to a distant small square. She took out her phone to send a message to the hacker.

Kuixin: “Public badminton court on the rooftop of Baihua Mall, 9 AM, see ya.”

Hacker: “Got it.”

Kuixin turned off her phone again and walked back around the building, climbing back to the rooftop after reaching the elderly center. She checked occasionally on both the mall rooftop and the street below, waiting calmly.

Leaving the building specifically to use her phone to avoid tracking was necessary.

Kuixin didn’t take the subway but spent a lot of time getting to the mall, and it was already after eight in the morning. Pulling out her flip phone, she watched the time, waiting idly.

As nine o’clock approached, a dark gray sedan drove down the main road beneath the mall. Although understated, the model looked luxurious. Kuixin recognized it due to her classmate who often bragged about his family’s car—a nanny used it to pick him up from school, once commenting, “This car isn’t cheap, several hundred thousand at least, among the most stable styles in high-end cars.”

The vehicle was too far for Kuixin to see the license plate.

Silently, she watched the sedan attempt to park in the underground garage but was stopped by security. After yesterday’s heavy rain, the underground lot was a bit waterlogged, so the sedan reversed and parked in the outdoor lot.

Three people emerged: a taller man wearing white shirt and casual pants; a woman in a light green dress; and a younger man in blue sweatsuit slightly shorter than the others with no distinctive features visible.

He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

They entered the shopping mall through the main door, vanishing from Kui Xin’s sight.

“Could they be them? It appears to be… but if they’re not trying to hide from the surveillance, does that mean they lack this awareness or that the hacker could just delete the surveillance records?” Kui Xin guessed to herself silently.

Three minutes later, the trio that had exited from the dark gray sedan stood near the badminton court, looking around as if searching for someone.

Kui Xin was almost certain of their identities.

Still, she made no move and stood quietly on the rooftop edge, observing the trio from a blind spot in their line of sight. Her observation lasted for over an hour.

Throughout most of that time, the bespectacled boy frequently looked down at his mobile phone, typing away as if he were sending messages. The woman in the light green dress held up her umbrella, her heels clicking impatiently against the ground with each passing moment; the tall man, his brows furrowed, continued to scan the surroundings constantly.

Aside from these actions, the trio didn’t do anything else.

Kui Xin felt reassured. She confirmed her speculation once more—they were all ordinary people on that side of hackers, even if they possessed extraordinary abilities, their thoughts were still those of ordinary people.

She purposely left out a certain timing difference, wanting to test whether they would take matters into their own hands. They did nothing, clearly showing the purity of their purpose for coming to see her.

Kui Xin turned to descend downstairs.

Before going to the badminton court, she needed to go downstairs and memorize the license plate number of the car driven by the hacker team.

…

“Why hasn’t the little girl come yet? You should check again if she has replied,” the woman sighed.

The bespectacled boy glanced down at his phone: “No… she hasn’t. Could she have escaped? We know her address, so isn’t there no point in running?”

The woman responded, “Knowing her address is one thing, but her resistance is clear. If we approach her directly, wouldn’t we be forcing her? It’s normal to feel scared, to escape at the last minute. Since we’re strangers, she might not want to interact with us. If that’s the case, it would be best to treat the matter as if it never happened, allowing a peaceful life for her.”

“Alright, let’s wait another ten minutes. If she doesn’t show, we’ll leave,” the man said.

“But what if she calls the police…” the bespectacled youth worried, “Like she did last time.”

“She won’t call the police,”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Woman’s intuition,”

The bespectacled youth: “… Eh, alright.”

“Just seeing her will tell me if I can trust her,” said the woman, “I hope she comes; then, at least I’ll know she isn’t Remover 233. We can eliminate one suspect and narrow our search.”

Her extraordinary ability was “Malicious Marking”, a non-combat trait that allowed her to see the true nature of someone’s character. For someone with ill intentions, a dark mark appeared above their head; for those with good will, the mark would lean towards white. The darker the color, the deeper their malevolence.

At this moment, footsteps echoed in the passage leading to the badminton court, where a girl clad in a raincoat came panting up the stairs.

She stopped at the mouth of the passage, without moving forward or speaking, watching the three at the badminton court warily, ready to flee if necessary.

—

“Hello, are you Kui Xin?” the woman in a green dress asked gently.

Kui Xin didn’t greet her in return. Instead, she scrutinized the three: “Who’s Xie Gankqing?”

“I am.” The tall man stepped forward.

Kui Xin had spotted him already when she first arrived, noting that this man greatly resembled the photos on the page of the distinguished graduate from Capital University, confirming their identity.

“You didn’t reveal your identities during chat conversations, saying you’d wait until we met in person. Now that we have, please introduce yourselves,” Kui Xin got right to the point.

“Yuan Lu, lives in the provincial capital area,” the woman said.

“Yu Qiwen,” the bespectacled young man added, “I’m the first hacker who talked to you, and I used a voice changer, sorry for deceiving you, making you visit the police station needlessly.”

This was a plan Yuan Lu devised, apologizing upon meeting face-to-face to prevent resistance from Kui Xin.

Yuan Lu felt relieved seeing the non-black mark above Kui Xin’s head, representing neutrality rather than hostility. She had never seen pure white or pure black marks and always observed colors somewhere between the two, hinting at complex emotions and thoughts.

If Remover 233 faced three Proxy approaching them, they wouldn’t be neutral but hostile, black being a common color. Given Kui Xin’s cautious reaction to their presence, her neutral grey mark seemed genuine to Yuan Lu.

Kui Xin pretended to be nervous, biting her lip and not moving closer to them.

“Do you still have surveillance set up on my phone?” she started off by asking.

Yu Qiwen clarified quickly: “We stopped monitoring after interaction. I’m not some stalker. We were mainly confirming your identity and ensuring information security back then. Mission accomplished, I won’t do this again, sorry!”

He repeated the apology.

Kui Xin’s expression softened slightly as she closely examined Yu Qiwen’s demeanor, feeling he was likely telling the truth.

Yuan Lu noticed a slight change in the color of Kui Xin’s grey mark.

“We are here not only to meet you but also to confirm several things. We hope you can answer us,” Xie Gankqing began, “I can offer a reward of one million yuan. Additional useful intelligence adds another million per piece.”

Kui Xin hesitated, “Such a large sum doesn’t seem real…”

Xie Gankqing reflected: “Don’t worry. If your answers help us, I’ll pay the promised fee unconditionally. This money is all yours. Should you have concerns about a large deposit raising suspicion, I can help set up a private bank account for you abroad.”

“…Have you posted trading threads on the forum?” Kui Xin recognized the tone.

“Yeah. A thread trading xenomorph information. Seems like you noticed that post,” Xie Gankqing said, “Unfortunately, no transactions happened. Grateful players ended up clarifying everything.”

Kui Xin’s response:

“So it turns out it was you after all, just another player in the network, bound to cross paths eventually. There aren’t many players, after all, and posts generating passionate discussion are few. Over three days, I’ve recognized several usernames.”

Ask what you will, I don’t guarantee an answer,” Kui Xin slowly replied.

“Where exactly did you meet Fang Zhi?” Xie Gankqing asked.

They needed face-to-face questioning to avoid lies. Direct discussion reduced lying chances significantly.

“I found him on my way back from work,” Kui Xin replied.

“Could you be more specific?” Xie Gankqing urged.

More specific would include mentioning Sū Róng’s place. She’d drag him into it.

“I ran into him near the Jinhua Avenue residential area and followed him for quite a distance,” Kui Xin stated.

Xie Gankqing probed further: “What state was Fang Zhi in? Any signs of panic, avoiding someone, or looking for someone?”

“I couldn’t tell if he was panicked; his face was hidden,” Kui Xin pretended to recollect intently, “He walked very fast, almost eluding my pursuit. Does that count as panicked?”

Yu Qiwen and Yuan Lu exchanged glances.

Xie Gankqing paused, then asked, “When he realized you were following him, what did he say?”

“He asked why I was following him. I apologized, said I had misidentified him,” Kui Xin said softly, “He called me bonkers for following him and threatened to beat me up if I persisted. I mumbled another ‘sorry.’ Then he just left.”

“What direction did he go?”

“South…”

Xie Gankqing: “Sorry, I just needed confirmation.”

“Where did you go after parting ways with Fang Zhi?” Xie Gankqing next asked.

Kui Xin shot him a puzzled look, “Are you a policeman? Asking such detailed questions?”

“Sorry, you can skip answering that,” Xie Gankqing replied.

Kui Xin rolled her eyes, “I headed southwest, read at the Book Expo shop, but after the rain started, I decided just to buy an umbrella instead of waiting for it to stop before heading back.”