SOP CH8: Seizing the Opening

In an instant, the crowd lunged forward, each unleashing their signature skills. One-handed clubs, mechanical claws, and mantis blades, a storm of various weapons rained down toward Quicksand!

Yet Quicksand remained unfazed in the face of chaos. The Clepsydra members only saw him swiftly crouch, plant a hand on the ground, and kick out with both legs. Several people had their wrists kicked out of alignment, diverting the trajectory of their strikes as weapons clashed in mid-air, kicking up brilliant sparks.

In the blink of an eye, he flashed behind one man, kicking the back of his knee to force him down. Grabbing the studded belt with one hand, Quicksand hoisted the man up like a human shield. Seeing their comrade endangered, the members’ attacks inevitably slowed. Right at that moment, Quicksand exerted strength through his arms, whirling the man around like a grindstone and flinging him out! The man’s skull crashed into the heads of the surrounding crowd, sending everyone tumbling to the floor with groans of pain.

In a mere dozen seconds, all ten Clepsydra fighters were laid out flat, and that was with Quicksand completely bare-handed.

Seeing this, some looked panicked while others rejoiced. Quicksand stood in place, calmly flashing a V-sign for victory.

Hearts laughed heartily. “Look, I wasn’t mistaken, was I? He is indeed a formidable combat asset for our side.”

“Boss suspected him at first and didn’t even want him working at the bar, yet accepted him so quickly,” Diamonds chuckled from the side.

A Clepsydra member shouted, “Diamonds, why don’t you show us a trick or two as well? Cut the newcomer down to size!”

Diamonds strolled forward leisurely. “Indeed, letting the newcomer get too smug isn’t good either. Pride comes before a fall. Black-hearted employee, let’s have a match too. I haven’t seen your full strength yet.”

He walked up opposite Quicksand. Quicksand scrutinized him, another sharp prick of pain suddenly striking his head.

In a memory flashback, Quicksand vaguely saw himself standing on the roof of a speeding taxi, someone drawing a gun on him with a familiar silhouette. It did not feel like their first time exchanging blows.

In an instant, Quicksand surged forward, as though a switch for slaughter had been flipped inside his body. Instinct roared within him, craving battle against the person before him.

He threw a forward jab, but just as his fist was about to make contact with Diamonds’s cheek, it was enveloped by a transparent stasis bubble. Toying with the Mauser in his hand, Diamonds flashed a provocative smirk.

Seemingly anticipating this, Quicksand’s left hand struck like lightning, twisting Diamonds’s wrist with undeniable force, pressing down on the Mauser’s trigger to fire a shot right at his face!

Yet before the bullet could strike Diamonds, the figure dispersed like morning mist. A crisp snap sounded from behind him, and Quicksand realized with a start that the Diamonds before him was merely an afterimage frozen by a stasis bubble; the man himself had ghosted behind him.

A premonition of danger pricked Quicksand’s neck like an icy needle.

In a flash of sparks and flint, Quicksand kicked backward. This was purely an act of desperation, yet to his surprise, it struck Diamonds squarely.

Diamonds stumbled back a step, clutching his abdomen as he dry-heaved to the side. The Clepsydra members roared with laughter, someone calling out:

“Diamonds, you really only know flashy fake tricks. Done in by the newcomer in a single move!”

Diamonds wiped his mouth, not feeling bashful in the least. “Capsized in a ditch. I drank too much last night and I’m still hungover, so my condition is off.”

“You didn’t drink alcohol last night. You drank cucumber mint water,” Quicksand mercilessly exposed him.

The crowd burst into another round of laughter. Yet during the duel just now, everyone had held cold sweat in their palms. It was an exquisite and perilous clash, where a single misstep meant death. Anyone could see Quicksand had gone all out, like a vicious wolf seeking to snap his prey’s throat. Someone remarked in wonder, “Even Diamonds can’t keep this newcomer down. Clepsydra is really turning upside down!”

Quicksand, however, turned to Hearts. “Mr. Hearts, will you accept my challenge?”

“Me?” Hearts was somewhat surprised.

“Yes. I am your fan, and I would like to ask for your guidance.”

The crowd thought Quicksand was taunting him and whistled relentlessly, but only Hearts knew he was asking with genuine sincerity. Hearts smiled. “Guidance is out of the question. With such a formidable fan around, I can only be a student.”

Hearts took off his jacket, neatly folded it into a tofu square, placed it on a pew, and stepped up before Quicksand. Quicksand knitted his brows, bending his knees into a defensive stance. He knew the person opposite him was Boxing King Anvil, once renowned throughout Spiral City, rumored to possess a punch with an explosive force exceeding two tons, before which ordinary mortal flesh was as fragile as paper.

The air in the church seemed to freeze. Standing across from Quicksand, Hearts was massive, like a small mountain. He adopted an orthodox boxing stance, let out a soft hiss, drove his rear foot into the flagstones, rotated his hips left, and abruptly threw a devastating punch!

A fierce gale scraped across Quicksand’s face, the knuckles coming to a firm halt mere inches from the tip of his nose.

Diamonds drawled from the side, “Ten points.”

Someone argued, “Boss didn’t even hit him. Even a direct hit to the face would only be one point.”

“Because Boss hit someone else. Strictly speaking, not people, but twelve angels,” Diamonds said, looking behind Quicksand. Quicksand was completely unscathed, but with a massive boom, the marble statues of nine choir angels on the altar shattered into powder. A colossal crater was left in the wall as dust and candle soot drifted down, stone pillars shuddering as if struck by an earthquake.

Under the violent vibration, many lost their footing and crashed to the floor. The mere wind of his punch had left such a terrifying mark. The crowd turned pale, and even Quicksand showed a rare look of astonishment. Diamonds grinned cheekily. “He should have been given twelve points, but what can you do when boxing uses a ten-point system?”

Hearts gave an apologetic smile. “Pardon my poor display, I went and damaged public property again.” The others laughed. “It’s fine, Boss. Diamonds damaged far more public property than you recently.” Diamonds rolled his eyes at them.

Someone said, “Boss Hearts is still incredible. Ever since our previous leader, Boss Chenxing, went missing, Clepsydra would have fallen apart into loose sand if not for Boss Hearts.”

Hearing that, something stirred within Quicksand’s heart. He pulled the man aside and asked, “What do you mean? Hearts isn’t the only leader?”

The man whispered to him, “Right. Boss Hearts is the second leader. The previous one, Boss Chenxing, vanished without a trace one day, and nobody knows why.”

Quicksand grew inexplicably curious about this figure, asking question after question, but yielded no further results. All he learned was that “Chenxing” was an exceptional dragon among men, possessing formidable means that had suppressed all the lower-tier factions. After Chenxing vanished, the rebel army had fallen into a slump, recovering only after Hearts took over as leader.

For the remainder of the gathering, no one dared question Quicksand’s strength in the slightest, and the gazes directed at Hearts carried added reverence. The crowd discussed further details regarding the raid, and before they knew it, noon had arrived.

“Let’s go, black-hearted employee, time for lunch.” Seeing the Clepsydra members leaving in twos and threes, Diamonds stood up, hands in pockets, calling to Quicksand.

Quicksand was somewhat reluctant. “Chewing sawdust again?”

“Today is your first day joining Clepsydra, and you took a punch from Brother Hearts. To reward you, we’re dining out.”

Though still expressionless, knowing he wouldn’t have to eat the dog food Diamonds prepared made Quicksand’s eyes seem slightly brighter. The two wound through the lower tier’s twisting alleys, entering Wanfu Diner.

The diner was modest, with pale white walls, terrazzo floor tiles, and a green ceiling fan branded Diamonds. The two took their seats. Diamonds grabbed the menu, tossed a few sweet words to the proprietress, charming her until she beamed with delight, and then announced, “One of everything on the menu.”

The proprietress smiled so wide her mouth could barely close. “Oh, good Xiao Fang, you really know how to show support! We just happen to be planning an upgrade to our dishes, expanding the menu by ten pages later on.”

Diamonds chuckled. “No problem. No matter how thick you make the menu, that’s how many dishes I’ll order. It’s not my money being spent anyway.”

“What, Xiao Fang, did you catch a big fish?”

Diamonds gave Quicksand a meaningful look. “Didn’t catch a big fish, but I did end up feeding a giant glutton.” Quicksand was busy scalding the bowls and chopsticks with boiling water, his eyes glued to the menu, drool practically dripping down to his toes.

The dishes arrived swiftly: roast goose, wonton noodles, and claypot rice, filling the entire table. Quicksand hadn’t eaten a single full meal since arriving at Poker Bar. Now finally able to indulge his appetite as a gourmand, his mouth was soon glistening with oil, his cheeks puffing in and out like a hamster.

Once the food went down his throat, Quicksand wiped his mouth and said, “How did Boss strike it rich? Actually having the money to treat me to a meal.”

Diamonds smiled slyly, retrieving a titanium-tungsten alloy watch from his coat, Hearts’s name engraved on the back. “Your idol’s wallet is right here.”

“I am going to report you,” Quicksand said, while relentlessly stuffing sauced baked lobster into his mouth.

“Why worry on his behalf? It’s not the first time.”

Quicksand snatched the watch from Diamonds’s hand. Diamonds sighed helplessly. “Don’t you remember nothing? Why this sudden worship for Brother Hearts?”

“I don’t remember anything, but I have a faint feeling that before losing my memories, I was his fan. Perhaps following my idol at close range for a while will help me recover part of my memory.”

Diamonds looked at him askance. “The abacus beads you’re flicking are bouncing right into my face.”

Quicksand looked down at the watch. There were still five years of lifespan inside, an astronomical fortune to lower-tier folks, yet pitifully meager compared to the superstar boxing king of former days. Diamonds smiled. “Rest easy, that’s just Brother Hearts’s pocket change wallet. He had some savings from his early years, and this is operational funding he gave me.”

“It still counts as dining on public funds,” Quicksand stated. Just then, he accidentally brushed a button on the side of the watch, and a photograph flashed onto the screen.

It was a group photo. A vigorous gentleman dressed in a tailored suit embroidered with beaded flowers, sporting a neat box beard, his eyes shining bright as stars: clearly a younger Hearts, Boxing King Anvil. Anvil was smiling, seated on a sofa with a woman and a young girl, resembling a peaceful oil painting.

“What is this?”

Diamonds leaned in. “Ah, that’s a family portrait Boss took.”

“I didn’t expect him to have a family. Are his wife and daughter in the lower tier of Spiral City too?”

“Black-hearted employee, you’re more gossipy than I imagined.”

Quicksand chewed on fried fish skin with salted egg yolk. “Can’t help it when I’m an enthusiastic fan.”

“When I met Brother Hearts, he was already all alone. His wife died early, but his daughter is still around. Haven’t you met her too?”

Quicksand was puzzled, finding no face in his memory to match. Diamonds reminded him:

“In Brother Hearts’s bedroom, isn’t there a water tank set against the wall? Inside rests a human head; that is his daughter.”

Quicksand froze.

After a long while, he murmured, “I thought… that was a doll.”

He recalled that head in the water tank: porcelain-smooth cheeks and tender pink lips, a beautiful girl.

“Not a doll, a living, breathing human being. The tank is filled with nutrient fluid that maintains cellular vitality. Her name is Duoduo, and the good news is that she is still alive right now. She is like a sleeping beauty, nobody knowing when she will wake up.”

“She’s still alive with only a head remaining?”

Diamonds nibbled on his lemon tea straw. “Yes. This matter is Brother Hearts’s heartache. His daughter ended up like that because of the Time Entropy Group, which is why Brother Hearts hates the Group to the bone. If you get closer to him, maybe he’ll open up and share some past stories with you.”

Quicksand lowered his gaze to the photograph. The girl in the picture wore a jacquard dress, her smile radiant as if bathed in sunshine. A photo was a frozen moment in time; back then, she had no inkling of the prolonged agony awaiting her after fleeting happiness.

Diamonds seemed unfazed. “Why feel sorrowful? In the lower tier, who doesn’t carry a heartbreaking story? Brother Hearts is wholly dedicated to leading everyone in Clepsydra now, having found a new goal in life.”

“Do you have one too?”

“What?” Diamonds looked up, finding Quicksand’s gray pupils locked onto him like a crosshair on a target.

“Do you have a heartbreaking story too?”

Diamonds leaned back into the chair, his gaze drifting away. Neon lights bloomed into a soft halo on the frosted glass like rouge, painting a kaleidoscopic, mottled world. After a long pause, he brushed it off with a smile:

“No. I’m a carefree soap bubble, drifting with no fixed abode, neither missed by anyone nor needing to miss anyone.”

After roughly two weeks of preparation, the members of the Clepsydra rebels gathered in the old church.

Hearts assembled everyone, outlining the plan to assault the Time Entropy Group’s 2030 Branch. The goal was to paralyze the branch, liberate the slaves imprisoned in the bloody arena, and weaken the Group’s control over the lower tier.

At the same time, the 2030 Branch was certain to store intelligence regarding the Group’s other branches. Securing that information would grant them a greater advantage in their future war against the Group.

Hearts looked around at the crowd. “We will split into five squads, with thirty core operatives. The hacker squad will be led by Clubs Cat, who will breach the security system and spoof surveillance feeds. Madam Spades and the newcomer will be in the support squad, covering everyone’s retreat after the mission while providing medical and ammunition supplies. Five combat engineers will be responsible for planting explosives and monitoring corporate movements.”

Having arranged everything methodically, he concluded, “As for Diamonds, you will join the assault squad, breaking through and suppressing from the front.”

Quicksand cast a sidelong glance at Diamonds. He felt this man looked nothing like someone suited for frontal assaults; at best he could swindle people, and would most likely grease his soles and bolt upon sighting an enemy.

Diamonds had been lying on a pew with his top hat over his face, seemingly asleep, but now sat up abruptly. “Boss, I have a proposal: don’t put the black-hearted employee on logistical support. Put him in the assault squad.”

Hearts frowned. “The assault squad is the most dangerous group. While this newcomer has formidable strength, he is unfamiliar with our combat conditions. It’s better for him to remain in the support squad for now.”

Quicksand chimed in with a deadpan expression, “Exactly. Sending someone who was originally a waiter to throw his life away on the frontlines, only a black-hearted boss could come up with such an idea.”

Diamonds pulled him aside, whispering in his ear: “Don’t worry. Precisely because it’s dangerous work, the compensation won’t be lacking. Finish this job, and the daily wage will easily be two hundred hours of lifespan.”

Quicksand remained unmoved by money. Diamonds added, “Besides, don’t you remember nothing? The 2030 Branch has the closest ties to the lower tier. As long as we successfully seize the timeline data they hold, we might be able to uncover your original identity from it.”

Hearing that, Quicksand fell silent. His headaches had grown frequent lately, and he felt natural interest in certain things, likely due to his missing memories stirring. Working as a waiter in Poker Bar, the people around him treated him with gentle words and smiles, and he felt content with that. Yet he knew his combat skills were remarkably crisp, unlike those of an ordinary person, and the killing intent in his bones flared up violently whenever he faced Diamonds.

He truly was growing increasingly curious about who he really was.

Seeing him waver, Diamonds pressed the advantage: “Moreover, having you in the assault squad doesn’t mean putting you in danger. Just stand by with folded arms. It’s an assignment where you can enjoy the fruits of others’ labor.”

Quicksand looked at him, clearly skeptical. Diamonds smiled pleasantly:

“Trust me. You’ll understand on the day of the operation.”

The Time Entropy Group’s 2030 Branch was situated closest to the lower tier of Spiral City. Ascending straight up from the elevator access point led directly to the branch’s premises, an area known as the Blood Arena.

Modeled after the Roman Colosseum, the Blood Arena occupied a cavernous fifty-meter-high space, heavy with the stench of machine oil used to mask the thick odor of blood. Fifty thousand seats encircled a central metal mesh ring. Countless masked notables from the upper tier of Spiral City frequented this venue, watching slaughter that never ceased for a single moment.

In this cage of despair, the slaves were mostly people driven to dead ends: some had only two or three hours of lifespan remaining, some had their families’ lives threatened, and others had sold off both arms and a leg just in exchange for surviving tonight, dragging themselves onto the ring even if supported only by crutches. Laughter echoed continuously from the stands, while screams tore through the ring. Through live broadcasts and video sales of these matches, the 2030 Branch made money hand over fist.

A new round of matches was about to begin, mechanical receptionists bustling back and forth at the elevator entrance to greet and see off guests. In another freight elevator, two cylindrical cleaning robots rolled out.

The cleaning robots attempted to head toward the Blood Arena, but were intercepted along the way by a contingent of mechanical receptionists.

Scanning the cleaning robots, the mechanical receptionists issued an alarm: “ID verification passed, behavioral pattern abnormal…” More and more mechanical receptionists converged, encircling them tightly.

A sigh suddenly drifted from inside a cleaning robot: “Stinky Clubs Cat, you managed real-time ID spoofing, but couldn’t you also modify the receptionists’ route recognition to make it flawless?”

Suddenly, the shells of the cleaning robots popped open, and two figures leaped out. The mechanical receptionists flashed red lights, but halted the moment their cameras scanned them.

“Time Entropy Group ID verification passed. Welcome to the 2030 Branch,” the mechanical receptionists suddenly chimed in soft electronic tones.

Of the two leaping from the cleaning robots, one was dressed in a green landscape kesi silk robe, looking like a Michelin-tire-shaped fat man toying with a gold coin. The other wore the flame-patterned black theatrical mask of a time cleaner, holding an iron shovel in one hand and a platinum pocket watch in the other.

“Mr. Bumblebee and Mr. Quicksand, where may we guide the two of you?” the mechanical receptionists asked, recognizing their fake identities.

The fat man and the cleaner, actually Diamonds and Quicksand in disguise, exchanged a glance. Diamonds puffed himself up haughtily:

“Take us to the Blood Arena, quickly.”

Quicksand was also remarkably adept at impersonating a cleaner, resting a hand on his hip. “Hurry with the tour guide service. I’m in a rush to enter the ring.”

The mechanical receptionist asked, “Are the two of you entering as spectators or contestants?”

Diamonds said, “Spectators.”

Quicksand said, “Contestants.”

Diamonds shot Quicksand a look of sheer disbelief. Although part of the assault squad, he rarely engaged in direct clashes; sneaking in was meant to disable the mechanical receptionists’ control systems along the way. Little did he expect Quicksand to be so eager to perform, hooked on playing the cleaner and actually wanting to get on stage to fight. Striking a menacing posture, Quicksand told the mechanical receptionists:

“Lead the way quickly, or I won’t make it in time for the match. Let me on stage, I want to fight ten right now!”