Superhunt

Chapter 3: All for the Dawn

After the operation, Jonathan was pushed out of the operating room by the doctors and nurses. The wheeled bed automatically slid on the metal floor, and The corridor bathed in a dim blue glow was full of a sense of unreality. After turning a corner, a tightly sealed metal door opened, and Jonathan, along with the bed, was pushed into a capsule-shaped recuperation pod.

The main surgeon had already changed out of his surgical gown and put on a white coat, and there was an identity badge on his coat - "Neil, Director of the Medical Office."

Doctor Neil inserted an IV into Jonathan's hand, closed the glass cover of the recuperation pod, and said to him, "Rest well, your wound is expected to heal within twelve hours. If you feel uncomfortable, just press the green call button to your right. I have another operation to do, so I'll go first."

Jonathan nodded silently.

The doctors and nurses left, and Jonathan was alone in the room.

Lying in the recuperation pod, he observed the flickering data on the built-in monitor of the pod. With the consistent beeping of the machine, the ECG was constantly fluctuating, and the heart rate was maintained between 80 and 110. The blood pressure was a little low, and the status was mild anemia. All his physical data was displayed on it.

"Red Soil" leans towards a cyberpunk world, so the technology in this world is much higher than in Jonathan's real world. The technologically filled recuperation pod doesn't seem like something that Earth's technology level could produce.

Jonathan was so seriously injured, but the doctor told him that his wound could heal in twelve hours, such medical technology is also beyond the reach of Earth.

The slogan of "Red Soil" is "A Second World That Truly Exists".

Entering the game is like opening the door to a second world. This slogan is not at all exaggerated, Jonathan had indeed crossed over. He was wondering if the ten thousand players who participated in the internal test with him also crossed over to this world like him, having a different identity and a new life from the real world?

Jonathan is very adaptable to various environments. He is as tough as a weed and can take good care of himself even without his parents. Now he has switched to a completely new environment. This environment is unfamiliar to him, but Jonathan optimistically believes that although his identity in the game is complex and dangerous, he still has a relatively stable start.

His present identity was that of a patient, a rookie security officer who was injured by a villain while on an internship. During his healing period, he is safe and can temporarily stay away from some troubles. And his injury is on his head, feigning amnesia is a cliched method, but it works.

This gave Jonathan ample buffer time.

As to why he crossed over, the question was too deep and far, and Jonathan does not have the ability to get to the bottom of it. The very urgent problem in front of him is how to survive.

The six pieces of advice were deeply imprinted in Jonathan's mind.

"First, treat the game world as a real world."

"Second, do not reveal your identity as a player to anyone."

"Third, do not disclose game content to anyone."

"Fourth, life only has one chance, death cannot be resurrected."

"Fifth, if you choose to start the game, then you only have two paths to choose from, 'game clearance' or 'character death'."

"Sixth, everything has a price."

The fourth and fifth points can be looked at together, highlighting the "death". Life only has one chance, this sentence could very well not be a joke.

If the game world is regarded as the second world, then the reality in which the player is located can be called the first world. If one dies in the second world, will they also die in the first world?

The price of death is something that no one can bear, and Jonathan felt the pressure - the pressure to survive.

He has twelve hours of healing time. After twelve hours, he has to step out of the recuperation pod and have face-to-face contact with people in the second world.

According to his complex identity, he may need to frequently interact with a rebel organization called "Mechanical Dawn", strive to climb up in the investigation department to gain everyone's trust, and become a qualified undercover to hide his identity and pass on information for the organization...

Jonathan had a buffer time, but it felt as if he had drawn the short straw from the get-go. Every step had to be calculated, as if he were skating on thin ice, the slightest misstep spelling disaster. Were the other players as unlucky?

The healing pod hummed, casting blue light over his body, and the healing potion was injected into his veins. Jonathan felt a tingling sensation on his scalp, and his wound was healing rapidly.

"Check...check the panel?" Jonathan tentatively said in his mind.

The game system responded to him, the holographic screen flickering to life, and familiar words appeared.

He bypassed the repeatedly read basic identity settings, shifting his attention to another section...

Basic Attributes

Name: Jonathan

Profession: Dispossessor

Extraordinary Ability: Not Acquired

Inherent Talent:

Performer Personality - You are a superb actor and can fool most people.

Life Tenacity - You have a tenacious vitality like a weed.

Danger Avoidance - You can keenly perceive and avoid dangers around you.

Fast Learning - You can learn any skill with half the effort.

The profession is a Dispossessor? What does the Dispossessor represent?

The system timely reminded "Dispossessor, a profession that relies on hunting special ability men to take away their superpowers to grow stronger."

Rely on killing extraordinary-ability men to acquire superpowers? Kill a person with extraordinary abilities, and then the other person's superpowers will be transferred to oneself?

Jonathan was shaken, and his heart rate index on the healing pod's monitor rose rapidly.

"Heart rate abnormal, heart rate abnormal..." The healing pod emitted a beeping alarm sound.

Jonathan immediately took deep breaths in succession to stabilize his heartbeat. After about ten seconds, the alarm sound of the healing pod stopped. He was just about to carefully ponder the fierce profession of the Dispossessor, but the next moment, the light in his room went out.

The metal door creaked open, someone stepped in, Jonathan turned his head, looking at the doorway through the transparent glass.

Doctor Neil slowly approached, wiping his glasses, knocking on the glass cover, and smiling at Jonathan, "How do you feel?"

Jonathan opened his mouth to say, "I seem to have lost my memory."

However, Doctor Neil opened the healing pod, took out a blue chip from his wristwatch, and stuffed it into Jonathan's hand, whispering, "This is something the organization asked me to give you."

What? What organization, which organization? Can you make it clear?

Suspicion flared within Jonathan. Was the amiable Doctor Neil in front of him also undercover?

Doctor Neil nodded at Jonathan, "I don't hold high authority and I'm not privy to your mission. For future endeavors, if you require anything, inform me. I'll cooperate to the best of my abilities."

Jonathan didn't know how to respond, he could only watch him expressionlessly.

"There's also this, this is the life information of the person you're currently replacing, please make sure to look carefully, some small life habits are the hardest to mimic and the easiest to expose. Fortunately, the person you're playing is a newcomer intern, not familiar with everyone, so it won't be difficult to replace him." Doctor Neil took out another black chip and a silver-white bracelet, "The organization's communicator is here, they'll contact you through this."

"...ok," Jonathan responded indifferently. The more he said, the more mistakes he could make, so he decided to keep quiet.

"Sigh, you really made a big sacrifice." Doctor Neil sighed, "You even chose to hit your head to fabricate the wound and underwent a voluntary mechanical modification surgery... Don't worry, that person has been dealt with by the organization, and his genetic information and life trajectory have also been modified. From now on, you are the patrol security officer 'Jonathan' of the 7th squad of the External Affairs Group."

After hearing these words, Jonathan suddenly had a clearer line in his mind.

The intern security officer of the investigation department was also named "Jonathan", but this "Security Officer Jonathan" was quite unlucky, was replaced by an undercover agent of Mechanical Dawn, and was killed. And Jonathan, himself, in turn, replaced the undercover agent who replaced "Security Officer Jonathan"... What a convoluted mess!

"The investigation department houses more than one awakened, and various groups and department heads possess extraordinary abilities. The abilities of the awakened are diverse, they have everything." Doctor Neil said, "Rumor has it that the head of the criminal investigation group has the 'Lie Recognition' ability. Please tread carefully."

Jonathan simply said, "Got it."

"All for the dawn." Doctor Neil looked at Jonathan with a meaningful expression.

This phrase... Why does it sound like a comrade's declaration?

Jonathan reacted quickly, and echoed, "All for the dawn."

Doctor Neil nodded, with a sigh of emotion, "Take care, I have to attend to the next surgery... when I came in, I didn't expect to have to work this hard."

Jonathan watched his retreating figure until he was out of sight. The strong will to survive occupied Jonathan's brain, he was aware of the imminent danger lurking at his side.

Mechanical Dawn, what sort of organization could they be? capable of erasing a person's existence without hesitation and then replacing that person. It doesn't look like they were easy to fool at all. What is their purpose in planting undercover agents in the investigation department? What is the ultimate goal?

Most importantly, Jonathan was not sure whether he could leave the second world and return to the first world. What if he was trapped here forever?

Jonathan took deep breaths repeatedly to lower his heart rate, lest the healing pod issue another heart rate abnormality alarm.

His eyes lingered on "Dispossessor". If he had anything to rely on, it would undoubtedly be the ability of the "Dispossessor". This terrifying ability is probably his only hope.

His identity was special, akin to traversing a tightrope flanked, with abysses on both left and right, and risks of falling off the cliff either way forward or backward. The worst was he had no chance of retreating.

No undercover agent could retire successfully. What would become of him if he betrayed Mechanical Dawn? If he betrayed the investigation department, that would be even worse, as he also had an identity as a top-wanted criminal. The cost of death made Jonathan cautious enough, and his past lonely life taught him to protect and arm himself.

He pondered for a long time and finally decided to treat this time-travel adventure as a game, a real game, a game that cannot be lost, a game related to life and death.

He had to clear this game, go to the end, avoid all bad endings and move toward a happy ending... no matter what method he used.