Chapter 3 The Lightless Sea 03
1744 Words
The surgery concluded, Wei Xin was wheeled out of the operating room by doctors and nurses. The rolling bed glided smoothly over the metallic floor, under the surreal blue lights of the corridor ceiling.
Turning a corner, a perfectly sealed metal door opened, and Wei Xin, bed and all, was pushed into a capsule-shaped recuperation chamber. By now, the lead surgeon had changed out of surgical attire into a white coat. His name tag read "Huang Cunliang, Director of Medical Office."
Dr. Huang inserted an IV line into Wei Xin's hand and closed the glass cover of the chamber. He said to her, "Rest well. Your wound is expected to heal within twelve hours. If you feel any discomfort, press the green call button on your right. I have another surgery to attend to now."
Wei Xin nodded silently.
The doctor and nurses left the room where Wei Xin lay in the recuperation chamber, watching the built-in monitor displaying various data. The instruments beeped incessantly, the ECG tracing its continuous fluctuations, her heart rate holding between 80 and 110. Her blood pressure was low, indicating mild anemia.
All her bodily functions were displayed on the monitor.
"Red Earth" leaned towards a cyberpunk worldview, hence the technology in this world was more advanced than Wei Xin's reality on Earth. The high-tech recuperation chamber seemed beyond what Earth's technological capabilities could achieve.
Wei Xin had sustained serious injuries, yet the doctor assured her that her wound would heal in twelve hours—a medical feat far beyond Earth's reach.
The tagline for "Red Earth" was "A Real Existing Second World." Entering the game was akin to opening the door to a second world. This tagline was no exaggeration; Wei Xin had truly crossed over. She wondered if the ten thousand players participating in the closed beta had also crossed over, gaining new identities and lives different from their real-world counterparts.
Wei Xin was adaptable to various environments, resilient like a w**d, able to take care of herself without her parents' company. Now, in this new environment, which was unfamiliar to her, Wei Xin optimistically believed that despite her complex and dangerous role within the game, she had a relatively stable starting point.
Because currently, her identity was that of a patient—a rookie security officer injured on an external assignment during her internship.
During her recovery, she was safe and temporarily removed from some troubles. Furthermore, her injury was to her head, and feigning amnesia was a clichéd but effective tactic.
This provided Wei Xin with ample buffer time.
The question of why she had crossed over was too profound for Wei Xin to investigate further. Before her lay an urgent problem—how to survive.
The six pieces of advice were deeply imprinted in Wei Xin's mind.
"First, treat the game world as real."
"Second, do not reveal your identity as a player to anyone."
"Third, do not leak game content to anyone."
"Fourth, life is only once, death cannot be resurrected."
"Fifth, if you choose to start the game, you have only two paths: 'game clearance' or 'character death.'"
"Sixth, everything has a price."
The fourth and fifth points could be seen together, emphasizing the consequences of "death." Life is only once—this statement was likely not a joke.
Viewing the game world as the second world, the reality where players existed could be called the first world. If one dies in the second world, does the first world also face death?
The price of death was unbearable for anyone, and Wei Xin felt the pressure—pressure to survive.
Wei Xin had twelve hours of recovery time.
After twelve hours, she would leave the recuperation chamber and come face to face with people from the second world. Due to her complex identity, she might frequently interact with an organization called the "Mechanical Dawn," needing to climb up the ranks in the investigation department to gain trust from others and become a qualified informant for the organization.
Wei Xin had buffer time, but she also had a royal flush opening.
Every step required caution, as one wrong move could lead to a bad ending (BE).
Wei Xin wondered if there were other players as unlucky as her.
The recuperation chamber operated, blue lights scanning over her body one after another, administering restorative potions into her veins. Wei Xin felt an itchy sensation on her scalp as her wounds rapidly healed.
"Check... check the panel?" Wei Xin tentatively thought.
The game system responded to Wei Xin. The interface expanded again, displaying familiar text.
She skipped over the basic identity settings she had read several times and checked another section.
[Basic Attributes]
Name: Wei Xin
Occupation: Depriver
Superhuman Ability: [Not Acquired]
Inherent Talent: [Acting Personality] You have superb acting skills, capable of deceiving most people.
[Toughness] You have a tenacious life force like a cockroach.
[Evade Danger] You can keenly perceive danger around you and avoid it.
[Rapid Learning] You learn any skill with half the effort.
Depriver? What did it mean to be a Depriver?
The system timely prompted, "Depriver, a profession that gains strength by hunting down special ability holders to strip them of their superhuman abilities."
Relying on killing special ability holders to gain superpowers? Kill a person with superhuman abilities, and then their ability transfers to oneself?
Wei Xin's mind shook, and the heart rate index on the recuperation chamber's display soared.
"Heart rate abnormal, heart rate abnormal..." The recuperation chamber emitted warning beeps.
Wei Xin immediately took deep breaths to stabilize her heartbeat. After a dozen seconds, the warning beeps ceased.
She was about to carefully ponder the savage profession of the Depriver when suddenly, the lights in her room went out.
The metal door opened, and someone entered her ward.
Wei Xin turned her head and looked through the transparent glass towards the doorway.
Dr. Huang wiped his glasses and walked slowly, smiling at Wei Xin through the glass cover, "How do you feel?"
Wei Xin was about to say, "I seem to have amnesia."
However, Dr. Huang's next move interrupted what Wei Xin was about to say.
He opened the recuperation chamber and pulled out a blue chip from his wristwatch, handing it to Wei Xin while lowering his voice, "This is entrusted to you by the organization through me."
Wei Xin: What organization? What are you talking about?
She sensed something amiss. The amiable Dr. Huang, was he also a spy like her, a second-level informant?
Dr. Huang nodded at Wei Xin, "I have limited authority and am not privy to your mission. If necessary, you can inform me of all future actions, and I will do my best to cooperate."
Wei Xin didn't know how to react and could only look at him expressionlessly.
"And this one, this is the current life data of the person you are replacing. Be sure to examine it carefully. Some habits are the hardest to mimic and the easiest to expose. Fortunately, you are portraying a newly arrived intern who is unfamiliar with everyone, so replacing him should not be difficult." Dr. Huang took out a black chip and a silver-white bracelet, "The organization's communicator is right here, and the people above will contact you through this."
"...Uh-huh." Wei Xin responded tepidly.
Less said, fewer mistakes. She decided to remain silent.
"Ah, you're making quite a sacrifice." Dr. Huang sighed, "To conceal the wound, you even underwent cranial mechanical modification surgery... Don't worry, the person has already been dealt with by the organization. Her genetic information and life trajectory have been altered. From now on, you are Wei Xin, patrolling security officer of External Operations Unit 7."
Listening to these words, Wei Xin's mind instantly connected a clearer line.
There was an intern security officer named "Wei Xin" at the Investigation Department, but this "Security Officer Wei Xin" was quite unlucky, replaced by a Mechanical Dawn's undercover agent and then silenced, while the real Wei Xin had been replaced and became the undercover agent... too complicated!
"In the Investigation Department, there is more than one Awakener. Various team leaders and department heads possess superhuman abilities. Awakeners have diverse abilities." Dr. Huang said, "There's a rumor in the Investigation Department that the head of the Criminal Investigation Team has the ability of 'Lie Detection.' Please be careful."
Wei Xin tersely responded, "Understood."
"For the dawn." Dr. Huang looked meaningfully at Wei Xin.
This statement... why did it sound like a communist declaration?
Wei Xin reacted quickly and repeated, "For the dawn."
Dr. Huang nodded, with a hint of emotion, "Take care. I have another surgery to rush to... Sigh, when I first came in, I didn't expect to be so busy."
Wei Xin stared at his back until he left.
A strong desire to survive occupied Wei Xin's mind; danger surrounded her.
What kind of organization was Mechanical Dawn? They could unhesitatingly eliminate one person and replace them. They didn't seem like good Samaritans. What was their purpose in infiltrating the Investigation Department? What was the ultimate goal of the resistance army?
Most importantly, Wei Xin wasn't sure if she could leave the second world and return to the first world. If she were forever trapped here, what would she do?
Wei Xin repeatedly took deep breaths to lower her heart rate, preventing the recuperation chamber from issuing another abnormal heart rate warning.
Her gaze fixed on the word "Depriver."
If she had anything to rely on, undoubtedly, it was the terrifying ability possessed by the "Depriver." This dreadful power was perhaps her only hope.
With her unique identity, Wei Xin treaded a tightrope, with abysses on both sides and dangers of falling off cliffs ahead and behind. What worried Wei Xin the most was that she had no chance of quitting.
No two-bit thug could succeed and retire. If she betrayed the Mechanical Dawn organization, would she reap any rewards? If she betrayed the Investigation Department, her fate would be even worse, considering she was a first-level wanted criminal.
The cost of death made Wei Xin cautious enough. Her solitary past life had taught her to protect herself and arm herself.
She contemplated for a long time, eventually deciding to treat this time-traveling adventure as a game—a real game, an unbeatable game, a game that involved life and death.
She aimed to clear this game, reach the end, and avoid all bad endings, using any means necessary.
- Writer
