Since trying to exploit Dark Heart's sleep cycle was impossible, Luoshu had no choice but to wait for it to wake up.
Whether they'd become friends or trigger a breach depended entirely on how communicative this thing was.
The 15-minute maintenance window ended. The containment chamber sealed shut, plunging Luoshu into total darkness.
No light. No sound. Just oppressive stillness, like being buried alive.
His tactical terminal had a flashlight—but turning it on might enrage Dark Heart.
So he waited, counting his racing heartbeat to track time.
Then—rustling.
Dark Heart was awake, its limbs stretching, ready for another round of demolition.
For the next 45 minutes, Luoshu would be trapped with it.
If its attacks are AOE, I'm dead.
But he recalled Interview Log 058-1:
Dr. Johnston conversed with Dark Heart while it tortured a D-Class.
The D-Class died; the doctor walked out unscathed.
Conclusion:
It could communicate.
Its attacks weren't AOE—it chose targets.
So Luoshu stayed.
Suddenly, light flooded the chamber—not from bulbs, but from Dark Heart's flaming secretions.
(Its venom was pyrophoric. Towns it destroyed burned to ashes.)
And now, Luoshu had to share a room with it for 45 minutes.
If persuasion fails, this is suicide.
He activated Persuasion + Self-Deception and opened with:
"Hello, my friend!"
Dark Heart responded in flowery, archaic gibberish:
"余有妃梦,叹为妙焉.静爱绵长,身居心间.老有所愈,俱故知焉."
("I dreamt of a concubine, wondrous and sigh-worthy. Quiet love endures, dwelling in the heart. Age brings healing, as old friends know.")
Luoshu: "What?!"
He tried again: "Can we talk properly? I genuinely want to be friends!"
Dark Heart rambled:
"余亦求索,万圣启示.日辉冷烬,说梦痴人.黑血之泊,凋零穿失.有不羡羊,遭蛇噬食.两脚羊树,秋蛇傍之."
("I too seek, enlightened by saints. Sunlight on cold ashes, a fool's dream. A pool of black blood, withering away. There's unenvied lamb, bitten by snakes. Two-legged sheep trees, autumn snakes cling.")
Luoshu caught fragments:
"Two-legged sheep" = slang for humans (as food).
"Unenvied lamb" = young women's flesh (considered tastier than mutton).
"Are you threatening to eat me?!"
"My meat's terrible! If you want 'unenvied lamb,' try Barbie from Omega-12—she's big enough for two servings!"
(At Omega-12's barracks, Barbie shuddered, sensing malice. "What's Luoshu doing? SPEAK!" The white-eyed operative stayed silent.)
Back in the chamber, Luoshu realized:
Dark Heart wasn't listening.
It monologued, indifferent to comprehension—like a poet trapped in his own verse.
This isn't a conversation. It's a soliloquy.
The Countdown
With 30 minutes left before mental corrosion set in, Luoshu had to:
Find a way to force engagement.
Or abort and teleport out.
But Dark Heart's ability—whatever it was—remained unknown.
And Omega-12 might already be closing in.