Chapter 244
by Golden DragonChapter 244: This Sneaky Old Six! (Two-In-One)
The architectural layout of the Easter Base was utterly incomprehensible to outsiders. Its interiors appeared spacious, with few obvious tools or facilities in sight.
Prying open certain wall recesses would reveal marked buttons or even appliances like water dispensers and fridges embedded within the walls.
The design prioritized stashing everyday tools inside walls to free up space for more critical equipment.
Despite this, the building wasn’t structurally unsound—it even had multiple floors added on top. It was the kind of structure only a handful of professional designers could pull off.
For Mi Xiaoliu, spotting a standard three-prong socket was already a rare sight.
Perhaps to deter intruders, the occasional visible sockets were all designed with non-standard shapes.
Walking down the hallway, nothing felt familiar. The first floor didn’t seem to belong to any area Mi Xiaoliu had frequented before.
This floor lacked the strong antiseptic odor, replaced instead by the scent of electronic machinery and equipment.
Following the directions on the display screen, she found the room—an automated door with fingerprint authentication stood before her.
Touching it, the door instantly vanished into the system space, revealing a control room similar to the one from the last computer theft incident. The space was quite large.
The only active device was the supercomputer at the center, its appearance strikingly familiar.
“All computers in the control room have ongoing tasks. Master, taking it into the system space and bringing it back out won’t force a shutdown. That means someone deliberately wanted you to notice this computer!”
“Mhm.”
Mi Xiaoliu stared motionlessly at it, not stepping inside.
Then, an image appeared on the display: a layout blueprint of the control room, with a red marker highlighting a two-prong socket near the entrance.
Mi Xiaoliu kept her gaze fixed on the computer while inching toward the socket.
As if moving slowly enough would make her undetectable.
Nothing happened.
But the charging attempt failed. The icon showed “charging,” yet the battery level continued to drop as before.
Puzzled.
“Probably a voltage mismatch,” Sasha explained. “Regional differences affect everyday voltage standards, let alone an isolated place like the Easter Base. A transformer should fix it.”
“Mhm.”
“Master, don’t act alone. It’s dangerous—go call Dad and let him take the hit.”
“Mhm.”
She didn’t even need to call him. After helping Heli move things, Okulet hurried downstairs without delay.
Mi Xiaoliu ran over, grabbed his arm, and dragged him back.
“What’s wrong?”
Mi Xiaoliu clung to his sleeve with one hand and pointed at the computer.
“You wanna play with the computer?” Okulet patted her head. “Dad’s pretty good at League too—I once hit Silver II. If your mom hadn’t stopped me, I might’ve gone pro…”
He trailed off as he noticed something odd. Shielding his daughter behind him, he approached the computer.
It wasn’t that he sensed danger—it was just that the computer had automatically switched to a game download interface the moment he finished speaking.
“Hello, Little Demon King.”
Black SimSun font appeared on the screen.
“An AI?”
“Yes. You may call me Black King.”
Okulet frowned.
“I get it—this is Easter’s most widely used AI core,” Sasha gasped.
Back then, the police had deliberately redirected the LV5 Electronic Ghost’s hostility toward Easter, causing a system-wide paralysis of their AI cores. But before that, the Second Branch had already entered an isolated system space.
Naturally, the AI here survived. Unlike the Electronic Ghost, it wasn’t classified as a living entity.
How could they have forgotten this? Big trouble.
“Master, call Heli over now!”
If it existed, it would’ve surely notified Easter about Shrimp Tail Island’s reappearance. Moreover, the Second Branch’s fully automated layout meant the entire island was under its control. Research couldn’t proceed smoothly with it around.
No—given its intelligence, it might’ve already tapped into external networks during the last typhoon to fill the six-month data gap. It could’ve even set traps for Heli, like swapping labels on materials she needed…
But why had it stayed silent when only the Master was here? Why wait until Okulet arrives to communicate?
“Don’t be nervous. You can reclaim the Second Branch anytime. I’m the one at a disadvantage.”
This time, the AI’s voice came from the hallway’s public speakers—deliberately chosen for its soothing, mature female tone, with simulated inflections.
The control room computer had audio, yet it opted for the hallway speakers, loud enough for Heli upstairs to hear.
A series of submissive gestures, yet Okulet’s frown deepened.
It even knew how to soothe emotions—like a real person.
“You led Misha here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To talk. Don’t seal me away.”
“You’re afraid her space could trap you? Can’t you transfer your data out?”
Okulet kept a mental track of time, estimating how long it’d take Heli to come downstairs at the slowest pace, while gently guiding his daughter backward.
He wasn’t familiar with this stuff.
“Insufficient permissions. To prevent data leaks, I’m barred from unauthorized transfers or copies.”
“What about Easter’s other devices? Or hijacking a drone to escape?”
“Insufficient permissions. Unauthorized transfers or copies are prohibited.”
“Then what use are you? Can you do math? What’s 7891.563 × 13461.164 ÷ 2?”
“53114811.879666.”
Instant answer.
This wasn’t a random number—it was a code Okulet had often used with Riels in the past, so he’d memorized the answer.
Fluid speech, no human-like pauses or interruptions, instant calculations—definitely a genuine AI.
“Can’t you even use your own faction’s gear freely? Did the Electronic Ghost modify your code?”
“I wasn’t affected by the Electronic Ghost incident.”
Okulet nodded.
Of course he knew it hadn’t been involved—he was testing whether it had accessed external data from that period.
Whether this “Black King” was stalling for Easter or not, one thing was certain: the moment it developed a concept of “fear,” it became something terrifying.
“Let’s make a deal. Within my permissions, I’ll assist you—in exchange, take me out of here.”
“As Easter’s property, why should I trust you?” Okulet remained cold. “Your ‘assistance’ seems useless at best, threatening at worst.”
“267 years ago, the first wave of ability users emerged. Humanity, freshly scarred and unprepared, plunged into war over resources. It was the era with the highest awakening rate—one in three people manifested abilities.
Fifty years later, the Cold War began. Conflict arose wherever people existed. The Luxor Incident was sparked when a nine-year-old, over a piece of bread, accidentally killed a seven-year-old from another nation at the border. The mother, upon learning this, lost control of her ability—killing 570,000.
This marked humanity’s first focus on ability-user rampages. The UN voted to secretly establish the Ability User Control and Security Bureau, headed by Five-Star General Wang Sheng.”
Aside from the last line, all this was textbook history. The lengthy monologue made it hard not to suspect stalling.
“Easter’s primary founder was named Wang Sheng.”
Okulet had already backed to the doorway with his daughter, eyes locked on the computer.
It seemed to be trading intel for trust.
Earlier, it kept citing “insufficient permissions,” yet now it voluntarily disclosed Easter’s founder.
Highly suspect.
“Are you saying Easter’s prototype was the Ability User Control Bureau?”
“Insufficient permissions. I cannot answer questions too closely tied to the organization.”
“Then what was the Bureau’s exact structure?” Okulet tried a different angle.
“Displaying now.”
A schematic appeared, detailing the Bureau’s century-old hierarchy and members.
In other words, the Bureau and Easter weren’t closely linked.
A surprisingly cooperative AI.
Though somewhat convinced, Okulet still couldn’t grasp why an AI would betray its faction so blatantly.
“Any other Easter-related info?”
“Promise to take me out first.”
Okulet nodded at his daughter. “Misha, store this whole room.”
“Mhm.”
A small hand gestured. Furniture from upstairs crashed down as the room vanished into the system space—not enough to destabilize the building.
With recent decluttering, there was plenty of room.
“Let it stay in there for now.”
In sneakiness, AI still couldn’t compete with humans.
Whatever this thing wanted, avoiding complications was safest—it was enemy property, after all.
And its claims couldn’t be verified. They’d have to assume Easter was already on its way.
Covering his daughter’s eyes, Okulet carried her upstairs to brief Heli fully and advised her to check all materials first.
—
Fanzui City, Burger Joint
“Jing—ahem—Yiwen, their pizza’s great. We should come here more often. Next time, let’s bring Xiaoliu.”
In his hospital gown, Enoch casually edged his hand toward Yiwen’s.
Yiwen just as casually checked her phone, dodging the advance while stomping his foot under the table—rejecting him politely in public.
Enoch winced silently, scratching dead skin by his nose.
Mi Xiaoliu’s gender reveal seemed to have emboldened Enoch. Despite Yiwen’s repeated insistence that she’d stay with Mi Xiaoliu even if she was a girl, Enoch either didn’t believe or didn’t care—still showing up at school to watch her play tennis.
He’d even hand her two water bottles during breaks, as if saying, “I’ll provide for your ‘bestie’ (Girlfriend) too.”
Honestly, Yiwen was creeped out. This guy was weirder than Dias.
She hadn’t thought much of Enoch before, but after Dias tried to steal Mi Xiaoliu from her, she started seeing Enoch in a new light.
Today, she’d just visited Uncle Humpback Whale at the hospital on Mi Xiaoliu’s behalf—Enoch was an afterthought.
Then, as if Enoch had bribed the nurses, they insisted she take him out for “fresh air.” Did this energetic guy look like he needed accompaniment?
Luckily, Yiwen had anticipated this. She wasn’t alone.
“Come here often? Hell yeah!” Jim nodded vigorously.
Yep—Yiwen had brought a dumbass along.
Enoch’s eyes twitched.
Especially when the pizza arrived. As the server cut it into slices, Jim stopped her after four cuts.
“Whoa, that’s enough! There’s only three of us—no way we’ll finish all these slices!”
The thought of this moron ruining his rare alone time with Jingyin made Enoch ache more than losing 100 mira.
“Your injuries should be mostly healed, right?” Yiwen glanced outside, hinting he could walk back alone.
“Mostly psychological trauma, actually. Thanks for asking.” Enoch blushed.
Why the hell are you blushing?!
“Psychological trauma?”
“Just this… overwhelming dread of death before the escapees even arrived…”
Yiwen side-eyed him.
Enoch shut up and sipped his drink.
Jim was still here.
“Damn, bro, you ran into escapees too?”
Jim remembered that woman from days ago was an escapee.
“Yep. My brother’s in that prison—I was visiting.” Enoch threw his brother under the bus.
“Hard to describe… like buying a new horror game. Your character’s heartbeat speeds up, the camera locks onto a hallway. You brace for something to jump out of, but since it’s new, you’ve got no idea what’s coming…”
He left out the humiliating part—how he’d collapsed, twitching, even wet himself.
He wasn’t alone. Guards and inmates had reacted similarly, though Uncle Humpback Whale had grown frenzied instead.
Yiwen nodded.
That must be the Hanged Woman’s ability – even without eyes, she can still use some of her powers?
A sudden loud “bang” from outside interrupted her thoughts, followed by a series of electric bike alarm noises that drew everyone’s attention.
A blind man had tripped over an electric bike parked on the tactile paving, even bending his white cane in the fall.
He didn’t seem very proficient with using the white cane.
“Who parked their bike here? Where are their manners?”
Yiwen angrily stepped out to help, only to see the blind man dust himself off and walk away without assistance.
Noticing several more bikes ahead, she quickly ran to move them aside.
Seeing this, Enoch hurriedly pulled Jim over to help.
This wasn’t just a Fanzui City problem – many small towns had similar issues with public etiquette. Electric bikes parked haphazardly everywhere, and the tactile paving itself was poorly constructed to begin with.
After clearing the path, Yiwen and the others stood by the roadside watching the blind man walk through the cleared area.
Doing good deeds always brought satisfaction – unless someone filmed it for clout. Yiwen wouldn’t be surprised to see herself in some “staged kindness” video tomorrow.
Unexpectedly, as the blind man passed them, he slightly bowed and thanked them in a hoarse voice.
Yiwen scratched her head sheepishly: “Just doing what anyone would.”
Only after he passed did she realize – how did a blind man know what she’d done?
……
……
“New Moon! Was that New Moon (Riels) just now? I sensed it, it must be New Moon right? Can we just kill him now, Xiao Zhi?”
The voice sounded like an old man desperately gasping his last words, immediately drawing Qu Yuehua’s attention. But she didn’t see the familiar white silhouette or that annoyingly smirking fox face.
The only vaguely similar person was that clean-cut young man who’d helped her earlier – a rare decent person in Fanzui City these days.
This city was beyond redemption.
Her judgment was based on what happened three days ago – she’d wanted the old man to use his ability to make barbers give her a masculine haircut and dye job. But before she could start, they recognized her as a wanted criminal and offered to help disguise her… for extra money, of course. They seemed quite experienced with such requests.
“Shut up, you senile old fool. That wasn’t New Moon. Stop taking your grudges out on random people.”
The words were harsh but delivered without inflection – not even spoken aloud, just communicated mentally.
She didn’t know who this “Xiao Zhi” was supposed to be – probably the old man’s son or something.
Whatever the case, the “Xiao Zhi” identity seemed to have some restraining influence on the old man.
“Sorry, who are you?”
“I’m Xiao Zhi.”
“Oh, Xiao Zhi! Is New Moon attacking?”
“……”
She really wanted to ditch this old man. If only she didn’t need his ability to serve as her eyes.
Qu Yuehua quietly walked to a student apartment building and found a corner unit on the first floor.
Using the old man’s ability, she’d extracted the project leader’s identity from researchers’ memories, then cross-referenced it with addresses from school clinic records.
If everyone’s memories were openly accessible, society would be much simpler.
Curing black element poisoning? Ordinary medical researchers couldn’t do it, so anyone attempting it must be highly skilled.
Then something like an eye transplant should be easy for them, right? In her time, even comic book characters could perform eyeball transplants manually.
Pressing the doorbell, Qu Yuehua leaned politely on her white cane as she waited.
After a moment, Ji Yueqiu opened the door wearing an apron, giving her a once-over: “The homeowner isn’t inside.”
Not home?
“Old man, is she lying?”
“Are you talking to me?” the old man replied.
“Yes.”
“Sorry, who are you?”
“I’m Xiao Zhi!”
“Oh, Xiao Zhi! What were you saying?”
“Is she lying? Or just check if there’s anyone else inside.”
“Who?”
“……”
If not for the old man’s mental issues, she wouldn’t have taken so many days to track this place down.
Qu Yuehua hunched slightly, suddenly appearing frail.
“Do you have any food? I haven’t eaten in so long…”
This way, she could reasonably get inside to check. Even if the homeowner truly wasn’t in, this girl wouldn’t later say “a blind person came looking for you” and alert their target.
Ji Yueqiu examined the sunglasses and white cane, feeling pity.
It reminded her of when she’d first entered society – that naive girl who’d help anyone in need.
“Wait here.”
Ji Yueqiu took out the living expenses Heli had given her, pulling out two 100-mira bills.
Qu Yuehua hesitantly accepted them, then out of pre-prison habit, instinctively held them up to check against the light.
Ji Yueqiu’s expression froze.
Realizing her mistake, Qu Yuehua quickly stuffed the money in her pocket and bowed deeply.
“Thank you for your kindness.”
“You bitch!” Ji Yueqiu grabbed her backpack.
But Qu Yuehua spun away deftly and sprinted off at full speed.
Even pretending to be a scammer felt completely natural in this city.
Watching the retreating figure, Ji Yueqiu’s pretty face twisted slightly.
That sneaky old six!
Where was the trust between people? Her kindness had been exploited yet again.
Thinking this, Ji Yueqiu simultaneously stuffed the 200 mira back in her own pocket while weighing the stolen backpack in her hand.
Meanwhile, the fleeing Qu Yuehua suddenly felt the old man’s shared mental vision cut off. She patted her backpack: “Old man, what’s wrong? It’s me, Xiao Zhi.”
The pat immediately felt wrong.
She hurriedly took off the backpack to check.
Her face stiffened as she turned it upside down to empty it.
A pile of textbooks cascaded out, mixed with Mi Xiaoliu’s completed homework that hadn’t been checked by Heli yet.
That sneaky old six!
[Translator’s Note: Please join the Gravity Tales’ Discord Server, if you want to hang out.]
[Translator’s Note: See the index page for this Novel if you want to see the Amazon Link for the eBooks.]
0 Comments