The woman sighed, her voice filled with helplessness and exhaustion.
She tried to move her limbs, to relieve the stiffness in her body, but as soon as she exerted force, she found her limbs were tightly bound by something, completely unable to move.
Her heart jolted, and she quickly looked herself over, only to realize she was tightly strapped to a cold restraint bed, metal shackles glinting coldly, firmly imprisoning her with no room to struggle.
"What's going on..." she murmured subconsciously, then realized she must have been captured.
As soon as she closed her mouth, the mechanical whirring that had been background noise suddenly stopped, and the entire space fell into an eerie silence.
Then, a dense sound of hard objects colliding with the floor came from far to near, a "clack-clack" sound, like the scuttling of some shelled creature's claws on the ground.
However, in addition to this dense, chilling sound, two more sets of footsteps soon joined in.
Based on years of experience as a killer, which she had been forced to acquire, the woman instantly determined that these were the footsteps of an adult and a child.
As the three sounds grew closer, her heart felt as if it were being fiercely squeezed by an invisible hand; the more she thought, the more panicked she became, and cold sweat quietly trickled down her spine.
In the dark corner, shadows writhed like living things.
The woman's eyes widened, staring intently in the direction of the sound, her throat feeling blocked, unable to make a sound.
Then, a giant crab-like monster, about as tall as a person but much wider, slowly emerged from the side.
Its hard shell gleamed orange-red, and its six thick crab legs stomped heavily on the ground, each step making the floor tremble slightly.
The woman subconsciously held her breath; the crab turned around on its six legs and looked in her direction.
What first caught her eye was a symbol on the crab's waist, shaped like an hourglass, emitting a faint purple glow.
But when the woman looked up further, she felt her scalp tingle.
There was a pair of inverted triangular purple eyes, emitting an eerie light.
And its mouth was actually stretched into a wide smile, extremely wide, with dense teeth exposed; that menacing grin looked as if it would pounce and tear her apart in the next second.
The woman felt her blood was about to freeze, and her heart rate soared to its limit.
Is it... planning to eat her?
The crab monster did not stop; its crab legs continued to scrape against the ground, producing a sound that set teeth on edge.
It came closer and closer, and the woman's panic grew more intense.
Finally, the woman sighed in despair, simply stopped struggling, and resignedly closed her eyes.
She didn't know what would happen next, only hoping it would all end quickly.
Just then, a voice, without warning, echoed in her mind: "You're finally awake."
The voice sounded like a woman's, but with a British accent.
However, for some reason, it sounded a bit strange.
The woman subconsciously opened her eyes, and what met her gaze was the crab monster's menacing "face"; it had already approached her, its massive body completely engulfing her.
And now that it was closer, the woman was surprised to notice that one of the crab monster's pincers was holding a uniquely shaped helmet, its surface covered with complex circuits and instruments, occasionally sparking with electricity.
The crab seemed to notice the woman's gaze, shook the helmet in its hand, and said: "Time is tight, I rushed it out; don't worry, it won't explode."
"Perfect, you can help me test this helmet."
The woman's gaze frantically scanned her surroundings; besides this giant crab monster, there was nothing else. Could it be... that the voice was coming from the crab monster?
But she hadn't opened her mouth!
However, before the woman could react, the crab monster suddenly swung its pincer with such speed that she had no time to dodge.
The cold helmet clanged and was directly clamped onto her head; the metallic chill spread along her scalp, and the edge of the helmet tightly pressed against her cheeks, hurting her painfully.
The woman's eyes widened in shock from this sudden movement, and she let out a muffled grunt, but couldn't break free.
The crab monster confirmed the helmet was secure, nodded, and began to ask: "What do you think of my appearance? Am I scary?"
The woman's heart pounded, her will to survive instantly exploding. She suppressed her inner fear, and with a trembling voice, she smiled and said, "You... you look quite good, not scary at all!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the helmet's surface suddenly glowed with a dazzling red light, and a sharp alarm blared, echoing in the confined space and making the woman's eardrums ache.
"Don't worry, this is the second-generation product; it doesn't have the electric shock plugin yet." Before the woman could recover from her fright, the crab monster posed a new question: "What do you like to eat?"
Still shaken, the woman subconsciously replied: "I like stir-fried tomatoes and eggs..."
This time, the helmet had no reaction, and the surroundings fell into a brief silence.
But the silence lasted only a few seconds before the crab monster immediately asked again: "Do you think you will die?"
The woman bit her lip, forcing out a smile uglier than a cry, her voice fawning: "You are so kind, how could you possibly kill me!"
Before her words finished, the helmet once again erupted with a piercing alarm, and the red light flashed even more intensely.
The piercing alarm continued for a moment, then gradually subsided.
The crab monster, however, suddenly burst into laughter, startling the woman.
But in reality, the crab monster was simply happy with its test results.
"The helmet should be fine now." It nodded happily, then the crab monster pointed a pincer at the woman and asked: "What is your name?"
The woman was still shaken by the previous test. Hearing the question, she swallowed, and with a slightly trembling voice, she replied: "I... my name is Qiu Huayan."
After hearing the name, the crab monster was clearly taken aback, hesitated, and then switched to Chinese, asking: "Chinese?"
"I am Chinese," Qiu Huayan's Chinese accent was very heavy, clearly not used often, "I was born in the U.S., but I haven't really returned to China since birth, always with my parents in the United States."
"No wonder." The crab monster nodded again, then asked, "So, do you still plan to listen to the Court of Owls?"
Upon hearing the words "Court of Owls," Qiu Huayan's body trembled violently, and the expression on her face turned cold.
She, who had originally seemed like a cheerful girl, now exuded a sense of anger.
"Who wants to listen to those bastards?!"
Her eyes were bloodshot, but no tears welled up, her voice filled with endless rage.
"They stole my consciousness, and I was like a puppet on strings, completely unable to control my own body!" Her voice grew louder, filled with resentment, "I want to go home, I want to go back to my mom and dad, but even my time was stolen! I saw a calendar in my memory from a previous mission, and then I realized my parents should be over 100 years old; they might have passed away long ago, and I'm still trapped in that hellish place, being an executioner! An executioner who will forever serve those bastards!!!"
"My hands are stained with blood; I've killed so many people I didn't even know! Some were kind, good people, they were clearly a group of kind, good people! Yet they lost their lives for no reason because of me! Those scenes replay in my dreams day and night, I can't escape them!" Qiu Huayan shrieked, her eyes bloodshot, "I hate the Court of Owls, I wish I could slice them into a thousand pieces!"
"I hate the Court of Owls, I wish I could slice them into a thousand pieces!"