Chapter Sixty-Six: The One and the Myriad

The burly man stood with his arms crossed, introducing the use of everything in the room to Cheng Zhi, adopting the attitude of a seasoned elder brother. He held no particular prejudice against Cheng Zhi.

Zhou Yi glanced at his own room next door; the standard had improved considerably, but this was still the base—no matter how good it was, what difference did it make? At that moment, Zhou Yi sneezed. He rubbed his nose, frowning slightly. The big man grinned and ran over.

Sophia's attitude toward Carter earlier had clearly been a show of force on their behalf, a way to ensure they wouldn't be bullied in the base anymore. All of this stemmed from Zhou Yi's decision.

Seeing Zhou Yi sneeze, the big man couldn't help but tease him: "Boss, what's wrong? Could someone be missing you?"

Zhou Yi shot him a glance. Cheng Zhi also looked over; the room was a bit cold, but there didn't seem to be any air conditioning.

"Are you feeling cold, sir?" Cheng Zhi asked.

Zhou Yi shook his head. Here, he dared not carelessly close his eyes to sense the surroundings. Though everyone was a chosen one in the base, they were still rivals. Even speaking required caution.

"I'm fine."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than all three of their control panels lit up simultaneously. Natasha appeared, nodding slightly to the three of them and speaking with a smile: "Mr. Zhou Yi of Group Eight, please bring your two slaves to watch the main screen. This is an order from the Deputy Commander!"

With that, her image vanished. Zhou Yi ignored Cheng Zhi's gaping expression and, frowning, returned to his room, the other two following behind.

As expected, a large screen appeared on the wall, showing the room where Zhang Linna was held.

Zhang Linna was bound in iron chains, shaking her head vigorously and shouting "No" at the top of her lungs. Her body was covered in wounds, her hair disheveled, her eyes tightly shut, her face streaked with tears, and blood at the corner of her mouth. She looked as though she had undergone some extreme terror—mouth open, gasping for breath. Though her hands were suspended high above her, she clenched her fists tightly, her legs kicking out.

Zhou Yi narrowed his eyes. The only outcome of bringing her back was death—he knew this all too well. Yet witnessing this scene with his own eyes tightened something in his chest.

Sophia sat in the chair before her, surrounded by people in white coats holding game controller-like devices, operating them ceaselessly.

Watching Zhang Linna—her flushed face, twisting body, cries, and tears of humiliation—Zhou Yi guessed that Sophia was using some method of forced interrogation.

Such tactics were truly vicious when used on a woman, but for a chosen one who had fallen into a hunter’s hands, it was unlikely things would be any better.

The big man sidled up to Zhou Yi, poking his arm. "Boss, don’t get worked up!"

Zhou Yi shook his head. If he wanted to survive in the base, he’d have to learn to endure. Stepping out to stop this was out of the question—lacking both the ability and the authority, it would only cost all three of them their lives.

"Just watch. I’m fine. She’s a hunter. When you were captured by Meng Xiaojiao, your fate was no better than this."

"I..." The big man swallowed, blinking away the rest of his words. He slapped his own belly with a grin and nudged the visibly anxious Cheng Zhi with his shoulder.

"If I ever fell into their hands, I’d be finished in minutes—wouldn’t even get this kind of treatment. But from the looks of it, Zhang Linna must still be useful."

Zhou Yi said nothing, his eyes fixed on the screen.

At that moment, Sophia stood up and raised her right hand. All the people in white stopped what they were doing and filed out, leaving only her and Zhang Linna in the room.

Sophia snapped her fingers, and Zhang Linna’s eyes flew open. Gasping, she quickly glanced down at herself before glaring furiously at Sophia.

"Mental type?" Zhang Linna demanded.

Sophia smiled and shook her head. "I don’t have that ability. In all of Time City, there isn’t a single mental type. This is just a kind of illusion. How about you try it for real? It looked like you were enjoying yourself."

Zhang Linna sighed, her body still trembling uncontrollably. After a moment, she looked up at Sophia.

"Ask what you want to know."

A smile curled Sophia’s lips as she tapped her control panel. "Natasha, shut down all the main screens and seal this room."

As she spoke, the large screen in front of Zhou Yi and the others went blank.

The big man blinked, looked at Cheng Zhi’s face—tense and fearful—then at Zhou Yi. He leaned in and said, "How about we take a shower to relax? Nothing’s going to happen for a while. From what Sophia said, we’ll only be allowed to leave after we get our rewards. The Lord isn’t here anyway."

Zhou Yi nodded and patted Cheng Zhi on the shoulder. "All right, you two go rest. Sophia just wanted you to see what happens if we fail a mission and fall into a hunter’s hands—a warning, nothing more. Go rest."

Cheng Zhi could only follow the big man out.

...

Inside the interrogation room.

Sophia rose and walked over to Zhang Linna, staring into her eyes. "What’s your name?"

"Linda. But call me Zhang Linna—I prefer that name."

"Were you born in the Hunters’ territory or captured from a time rift?"

Zhang Linna exhaled and shook her head slightly. "I don’t know. As far back as I can remember, I was in a closed orphanage. There were humans and half-cyborgs, mostly crippled or incomplete. Later, someone bombed our camp, and I was taken to Wangqiu Mountain. Oh, Wangqiu Mountain is the biggest base of the Hunters, equivalent to your Time City. After that, we began training, then followed hunters to travel between worlds."

Sophia tilted her head back. It seemed Zhang Linna wasn’t lying. But a closed orphanage? That didn’t sound like a time rift. Sophia had been to a rift before—though vast, the environment was harsh, a chaotic place where multiple worlds overlapped, with torn spaces and wild climates. Zhang Linna’s description sounded more like a human breeding center, where non-adult humans were raised together and selected at maturity. Sophia herself had been born in such a place and chosen for training.

Could it be the Hunters could enter and exit the breeding centers at will? The thought startled Sophia. She quickly lowered her head, steadying herself, then looked again at Zhang Linna, who seemed lost in memory. In the hardest times, people often recalled their childhoods—only then could they feel any warmth.

"Was 2000 the number of the first world you visited?" Sophia asked.

Zhang Linna thought and shook her head. "I can’t remember. Maybe because the way we enter worlds is different—once we leave a world, the memories start to fade. Right now, I only recall four mission worlds."

"How do you enter mission worlds? How do you evade our base’s tracking?"

Zhang Linna pressed her lips together. "You’re clones, but on each mission, our group leader enters as a real person, the rest as clones. Of course, in worlds with spirit stones, our abilities are disrupted, so we bring fewer people and can’t enter at will. As for your tracking, you’re actually detecting the energy of things like spirit stones. If the people we send into a world have no strong energy or abilities, you detect nothing."

Sophia suddenly understood. That last question had always bothered her. Carter and the others relied on guesswork for detection, but it now seemed that if the enemy wanted to play it safe, they’d just send in ordinary people, and the base would have no way to track them. How do you monitor a normal person, especially if they didn’t use clones?

How would you even find them?

Sophia looked up at Zhang Linna. It seemed that, after all this, she no longer felt despair. To put it bluntly, humans are like this: the first time they’re violated, they scream and struggle; after enough times, after enough years, they stop caring, or stop feeling altogether.

Zhang Linna could never return to Wangqiu Mountain. To survive and speak in the base—she was the first to do so, which fascinated Sophia. The Hunters knew Time City and the base inside and out, while they knew almost nothing about the Hunters.

"You are the first Hunter to speak normally in the base. We’ve captured many, but once inside, they either die outright or become unable to speak, ultimately choking on their own blood. That’s why we know so little about your kind. Now, tell me: what makes you different?"