Chapter 16 - 14: Setting a Flag is a Death Sentence

Chapter 16: Chapter 14: Setting a Flag is a Death Sentence

Adeline reclined on the chaise lounge by the window, her black skirt fanning out around her like a flower blooming in moonlight.

She held a slender silver cigarette holder between two fingers, smoke curling from her red lips and blurring her silhouette, leaving only the faint gleam of blood-colored eyes visible through the haze.

Deeper than Victor’s — like blood that had congealed, or wine that had aged too long.

The purer the bloodline, the darker the eyes.

She was pureblooded. Truly, completely pureblooded.

A knock at the door — three short, one long. The butler’s rhythm.

"Come in."

An elderly man with silver-white hair entered, a jet-black Raven perched on his forearm. He stopped three paces from the chaise and bowed.

"Miss Adeline, a message has arrived from your father."

Adeline didn’t sit up. "Speak."

"Your father wishes you to proceed immediately to the Night City Guard Team and assume the position of Inspector General."

The cigarette holder froze in midair. Adeline turned her head, visibly startled.

"Inspector General?"

"Yes. You will be required to oversee the Guard Team’s complete purge of the Mutants along the West Coast within seven days, ensuring safe passage into port for the nobility’s ships from Blood City. Should you succeed, you will be granted the opportunity to join the Eternal Council."

Cough!

Adeline choked on the smoke.

The butler kept his head down and pretended not to notice.

Join the Council?

Was she trying to get herself killed?

The objective for all the Players this round was to slaughter every last one of those old bastards on the Council.

And now they wanted her to walk in and become an elder?

The other Players would come for her first!

A soft target. A pureblooded soft target. Was there anyone easier to cut down than her?

So this round was basically a death sentence for Bai Qiang?

What exactly was the point of her Silver Card Identity?

Adeline drew a slow breath and smothered the absurd urge to laugh, keeping her composure intact.

The higher the Identity, the tighter the narrative constraints — she literally could not force the words of refusal out. They’d get stuck in her throat.

"Tell Father," she said, her voice settling back into its usual languid indifference, "that I won’t disappoint him. Have the car arranged."

The butler acknowledged the order and withdrew.

The door clicked shut.

Adeline rolled her eyes without making a sound.

Players kill the elders, then they make her an elder. Whoever designed this broken game really has a sick sense of humor.

...

Guard Corps Headquarters sat in the eastern part of the city — a looming structure of gray-black metal standing rigid against a damp, lightless sky.

Yin Zhen stood outside the entrance, tilting her head back to watch the rooftop landing platform. Several transport aircraft bearing the Saint Group insignia were making their descent.

Higher still, a high-tech dome stretched across the sky — the mechanism that blocked out the sun during the day, keeping Night City locked in permanent darkness.

The spot on the back of her neck where the tracking chip had been implanted still throbbed with a dull ache. If she ever attempted Defection, the chip would discharge a high-voltage current and leave her immobilized. Attempting to remove it herself would trigger a self-destruct sequence.

Yin Zhen pulled her gaze away and walked briskly into the building. Of all the test subjects in her batch, every one of them had been assigned to the Guard Team today — everyone except the red-haired one.

With the assistance of the biomechanical androids, the check-in process moved faster than she’d expected.

Identity verification, iris scanning, the works — done in fifteen minutes flat.

"Recruit S717, assigned to Third Brigade, Seventh Company, Ninth Squad. Squad number: 379."

The assignment officer was a young, one-eyed member of the Blood Clan with a mess of choppy brown curls. When he spoke, a pair of fangs flashed in his mouth. He looked like trouble.

"Your squad leader will come collect you. Wait here."

Yin Zhen sat up straight on the bench in the corridor and began watching the people moving past.

The ones in black Combat Uniforms were veterans — they moved with purpose, their eyes cold and flat.

The ones in gray training gear were new recruits. A handful wore civilian clothes; probably administrative staff or technicians.

Then she spotted someone odd.

A young woman, long platinum-blonde hair, sunglasses on.

She was wearing the same gray training uniform as everyone else, but there was nothing remotely soldierly about her. She stood in front of the vending machine, jabbing at the screen with excruciating slowness.

After her drink dispensed, she didn’t leave. She leaned against the side of the machine and sipped at a leisurely pace, looking not like someone waiting for orders, but like someone waiting for a dull show to begin.

Yin Zhen gave her a second look.

"Squad 379!"

A gravelly voice cut through Yin Zhen’s thoughts. She was on her feet before she even registered it, and found herself looking at a middle-aged man with an East Asian face striding toward her — a full Beard, Combat Uniform rumpled like he’d slept in it.

"New recruit S717? I’m Angie, squad leader of 379." He jerked a thumb at the lean young man behind him. "Alei. Also new. Got here a day before you."

The young man immediately stepped forward and thrust out his hand, bellowing with more enthusiasm than the situation called for: "Hello! I’m Alei — pleased to meet you!"

Dusk People.

Yin Zhen clocked it immediately — the malnourished complexion, the overeager, almost submissive posture. Classic markers of a low-rung Blood Clan member.

He must have clawed his way through brutal selection just to land a spot in the Guard Team. Looking for a way out.

"And the last one..." Angie glanced back, his brow creasing. "Where’d they go?"

"Coming, coming."

The woman from the vending machine sauntered over. "I’m Erin. Everything else — not important."

The corner of Angie’s mouth twitched. Yin Zhen caught it immediately — he was a little afraid of this woman called Erin.

"Alright, we’re all here. I’ll take you to collect your gear. I’ll run through the mission briefing on the way."

Half an hour later, a battered old aircar cut through the skies above Night City. Outside the windows, endless skyscrapers crowded together, neon lights and holographic billboards staining the dark in every color imaginable.

But the further down you looked, the dimmer it got.

The lower levels had long since been abandoned — nothing left but rotting structures and a tangle of pipes running in every direction.

Angie held up a tablet and addressed the group: "Our standard duties are patrol and clearing out Fallen Species from the areas surrounding Night City. Today, I’m taking you to get familiar with our operating zone — we’ve also got a recon task to knock out while we’re at it. This area here is the Seventh District, an abandoned zone on Night City’s outer perimeter. Three patrol squads have been hit nearby over the past week. Command suspects there’s a Fallen Species Nest somewhere in the area."

"Just the four of us for recon? We’re not even carrying heavy Weapons. What are we supposed to do if we run into Fallen Species?" Alei’s voice had a slight tremor to it.

Angie worked his jaw like he was chewing something. "Relax. As long as you’ve still got a pulse, it doesn’t matter what parts you’re missing — you can get cybernetics installed for anything. The Guard Team covers eighty percent of the cost. Most people can’t even get that opportunity on a normal day."

"I — I’m not scared..." Alei muttered, then suddenly forced a grin. "I just figured, if I make it back alive and collect the mission reward, I could go ask Una to—"

The word "marry" hadn’t even left Alei’s mouth before Yin Zhen felt her stomach drop.

Sure enough, the aircar lurched violently.

"What the hell?!"

"Damn it — forgot to get this thing serviced. It’s the engine, it’s gotta be the engine — brace for emergency landing!"

The aircar tilted and began to plummet. The world outside the windows spun at a sickening speed. Yin Zhen locked both hands around the safety bar and, amid the brutal shaking, heard the system chime in her head.

[Gray Card Event Triggered · Raise a Death Flag, Die for Real]

[The Law of Fiction: Anyone who speaks a death flag aloud rarely survives the next sixty seconds.]

[Event Objective: Keep the flag-raiser alive — or die in their place.]

Like hell I’m dying for anyone.

The curse hadn’t even finished forming in Yin Zhen’s mind before she realized Erin had vanished without a trace, and Angie had inflated like a balloon, puffed himself into a round mass of flesh, and smashed clean through the aircar’s side door to escape.

Only she and Alei were left inside.

A mass-produced test subject and a low-grade Dusk People — both of them completely expendable, nobody’s concern.

BOOM!

The aircar was falling fast — too fast for Yin Zhen to think. In the instant of impact, she drove her foot into Alei and kicked him out through the door, then threw every last shred of her strength into activating her Transformation ability.