Yang Yi entered the interior of the shelter from the harbour, intending to head for the biochemical laboratory.

The corridors inside were empty, lit by red emergency lights. No suspicious figures were in sight.

The players who had once filled these hallways had either gone to the harbour and been killed by Yang Yi, fled somewhere amid the chaos, or… become corpses lying silently along the passage.

Files and scattered debris littered the floor.

Yang Yi stopped beside a body, crouched down, and touched the remaining bloodstains.

Still wet. The person had died not long ago.

He examined the corpse more closely and found a parasitic house-nesting rat. Yang Yi fired his beam cannon, vaporising it and leaving behind a pool of steaming pulp.

“Looks like not every player had their perception altered by the toxin. There must have been a conflict inside Sector C as well.”

Suppressing the urge to drink blood, he picked up a nearby document.

It looked like some sort of list or experimental data.

He recognised every letter and character, yet together they made no sense to him.

Suna might have been able to understand it.

Yang Yi tried using the system’s photo function, but a warning appeared: the environment was special, photography unavailable.

He tossed the paper aside and walked straight towards the stairwell.

Along the way were several offices. Through windows and doorways he could see overturned desks and chairs, corpses, and house-nesting rats darting in and out of view.

He was attacked by the rats several times, but each time he crushed them underfoot or blasted them apart with the beam cannon.

Near the stairwell, Yang Yi heard movement below: the sharp crack of beam gunfire mixed with curses and screams.

He grew more cautious and checked his vitality limit.

It stood at a full 180.

With vitality that high, even taking a dozen beam shots would not kill him.

A high-level vampire would not die instantly unless the heart was destroyed. Even after death, revival was possible, unless the vitality limit was exhausted or the heart was pierced by a special weapon such as one made of silver.

The location of a vampire’s heart was a secret, usually known only to the vampire.

Yang Yi himself had no idea where his heart was.

He stepped into the stairwell, muzzle angled downwards, and descended slowly. The sounds were coming from below.

He finally found the source of the disturbance.

A robot was firing a beam cannon at survivors in the corridor. Though they shouted that they were not infected, the weapon did not cease.

“Captain Dijie.”

The robot spotted Yang Yi and immediately stopped firing. Its wheels spun as it rolled over, retracting all deployed weapons.

They were not made of flesh and blood. Rats could not parasitise them. In moments like this, they were more reliable than humans, assuming their programming held.

Yang Yi narrowed his eyes and checked its serial number.

It was printed on the lower section of the robot’s barrel-shaped body, a thirteen-digit code recording its production date and batch. The final digit was eight.

Yet for now, it did not address him as captain, but as Unit Eight.

“Captain, I am Robot Number Eight. Following Dr. Wei’s directive to search for survivors.”

As it reported, another human scream echoed from deeper within the level.

“AAAAAH!”

Apparently, more than one robot was operating here.

And their method of “searching for survivors”… was far from gentle. Or perhaps their definition of “survivor” was simply very strict.

Yang Yi was about to ask about Wei Qian, but Eight cut him off.

“Dr. Wei is waiting for you in the laboratory. I will guide you.”

The robot turned and headed downstairs, as though it had been waiting specifically for him.

Yang Yi glanced once at Level Two. The screams were already fading. The so-called survivors might no longer exist.

He followed Eight downwards, listening as it continued its report.

“For unknown reasons, the players in Sector C’s laboratory zone fell asleep and experienced pleasant dreams.

The house-nesting rats took the opportunity to spread rapidly.

This was not an accidental incident, but something orchestrated from behind the scenes…”

……

“The situation is critical. Dr. Wei has activated the first-generation AI robots to search for survivors.”

“We have arrived.”

Eight turned around.

Close behind it, Yang Yi stood before the familiar security door.

He remembered how the transparent walls and beam guns here had given him considerable trouble.

This time, however, was different.

He was the captain now. Every door here would open at his command.

Yang Yi stepped through the security door, Eight following behind.

Inside was the isolation chamber. He knew the procedure well: decontamination and sterilisation before entering the laboratory zone.

But something felt wrong this time.

The security door behind him dropped unusually fast, and the room lit up with a violet glow.

“Ultraviolet?”

Yang Yi froze for a split second, then immediately realised what it was.

White smoke began rising from his body as if he had been splashed with strong acid.

“Wei Qian, what are you doing?!”

Yang Yi shouted, his entire body burning with pain.

No one answered. The ultraviolet light only intensified.

It was invisible to humans, but vampires could see it, and to Yang Yi it was blinding.

He fired at once, trying to blast the door open with the large-caliber beam cannon.

【Target ahead is a secure zone. Unauthorized attack prohibited. 】

“Damn it!”

Yang Yi hurled the beam cannon to the floor.

The weapon was Wei Qian’s creation. A hidden failsafe was likely built into it from the start.

He immediately activated the Blood Thornwheel, slicing a wound across his wrist.

But the blood that flowed out boiled the instant it met the ultraviolet light. It could not form into a weapon.

In the end, the only weapons he had left were his fists and legs. Yet when he struck the metal wall, he discovered an invisible transparent barrier in front of it.

He knew how strong that barrier was.

Breaking it with his current strength was nearly impossible.

“Open the door!”

Yang Yi tried issuing a command, but the door did not move.

His captain’s authority seemed useless here.

“Pointless. Sector C’s S-level authorisation is in my hands, and you personally assigned it to me. You don’t even remember that… which confirms you are not Dijie.”

A woman’s voice sounded behind Yang Yi.

It came from Robot Eight.

Wei Qian had taken remote control of it. Perhaps she had been in control from the very beginning. The one speaking to Yang Yi all along had been Wei Qian.

“You…!”

Yang Yi spun around, glaring at the robot, shock surging through him.

He could not understand how she had seen through him. The appearance was identical.

Even the distortion caused by the moon had mostly faded by now.

“Who are you? What method did you use to replace Dijie? And… where is the real Dijie?”

Unit Eight’s indicator lights flickered as it fired off three questions in succession.

Yang Yi did not know how to answer.

The truth sounded absurd.

“You have sixty seconds to respond. Otherwise, you will be killed by high-intensity ultraviolet radiation.”

Hello everyone! The release schedule for this novel is going to change to 4 chapters/month (every Monday) :>

Thank you for reading! We hope you’re enjoying the story at iNoveltranslation.com :)

There’s now a Patreon, so feel free to check it out! You can read up to 12 chapters in advance!! :D

Please give the novel a rating and a review on novelbuddy. It will help the website and also help people find this novel!