Zhihao was in a bind. He had—never in a million years—thought that he would one day have to form a team with two of his most annoying enemies, who could not even be deemed as enemies since they didn't know it themselves.
Yes. Unfortunately, after RoRo ran away, the system seems to have made a mistake as it announced a formation of a temporary squad. This new squad comprised of Mastermo, Devilmagiclover, BBtrash, Hulk0_0, loudbitchnextdoor, Andyzz, and Kaze17; Overall, a group of 7 people.
Why were they forced to make a temporary squad? Because the system had conveniently forgotten to inform them of a very crucial information, that if two or more teams stay together for over 2 hours, they could form a temporary squad. This timer had started ever since they had met BBtrash and Hulk0_0—which is why the system put them together in a squad and conveniently enough, at that time, his Aunt Su was also there—making it so that all three teams were merged together by mistake. Zhihao could now only hope that the squads were temporary for this level only.
Li Ling looked at Zhihao, somehow understanding that this development deeply troubled the man, "We can always just abandon them."
Zhihao squinted his eyes, "You really don't know them at all."
Li Ling clearly did not understand what Zhihao had meant by this, but when he looked back at the group that was following them, he could somewhat get the gist of it.
Behind them, BBtrash was more than happy to acquaint himself with the other team, "Aunt Su, I'm so happy we got to meet again like this."
They were like two peas in a pod. So alike that it came as no shock that the two got along so well. If an outsider were to see the interaction between this group, they would think that Wang GuiYing was the nephew and Zhihao was the outsider who was irritated by this group of relatives.
"Aunt Su, haven't seen you since the start of Mastermo's reign."
Aunt Su chuckled, "Well, if you did, Mastermo wouldn't have reigned."
"Hahaha..."
All of a sudden, Li Ling stopped walking, "Guys, I think something's wrong."
Zhihao looked back at the merry group following them. It was clear what was wrong. The most annoying people in his life had joined hands to pester him.
Li Ling looked up, "The in-game time was never this different."
When the fact was pointed out, Zhihao was also stunned to find that he had not seen through this.
"Just a moment ago, we were inside the cave and it was still night time, but when we got out, the sun has already risen."
This was not all. Ever since they had entered this level, the daytime and nighttime have been switching pretty frequently.
Zhihao, "System, How do the days and nights work here?"
[Answering player's question: The daytime and nighttime are shorter as compared to the outside world.]
Li Ling, "System, Why are the days shorter?"
Altogether, two notification sounds—dinged at the same time.
[Congratulations on picking up a clue!]
[Answering player's question: The daytime and the nighttime are the blessings of the sun goddess and the moon goddess. When the land was burnt down by a forest fire and created anew, the goddesses placed a barrier—sealing the region from the outside world, this was to ensure that nobody from the outside may come in and nothing from the inside may go out. Inside this barrier, time is at a standstill. The sun and moon you can see are nothing but mere illusions created to fool the beasts and make them think that time is still passing.]
Zhihao, "System, What is the average age of the mystical beasts here?"
[Answering player's question: The average age of every mystical beast here is calculated to be approximately 6000 years.]
Wang GuiYing's face twisted in an undecipherable emotion, "Doesn't that go against nature? Are they immortal or something?"
Zhou XinYi, "Not really. These are magical beasts, they have a longer life expectancy, but I don't think the age is what matters here."
Zhihao nodded, "It certainly is irrelevant. What I wanted to see was how long ago this region was created, if it was created 6000 years ago, the beasts, although might not have died, should still have grown in size, however, on our way here, I noticed that some of the beasts were rather young."
Zhou XinYi also seemed to understand what was wrong, "It is rather weird. If time had really stopped flowing here, how come they can be called 6000 years old?"
"Exactly!" Zhihao agreed, "I think there is more to it."
Aunt Su, "What the hell are you guys on about?"
Li Ling ignored the confused lady and spoke, "The system said the average age of the beasts was 6000 years and that should not be an alarming number considering the fact that they are magical beasts with longer life spans, but what is triggering is the fact that the system said the time here was at a standstill and it still gave us an age to measure."
Zhihao, "How do we calculate age? Isn't it through time?"
Zhou XinYi nodded in understanding, "So the time is running here or not?"
Li Ling, "It is frozen in place, no doubt about that. The animals don't grow nor do the plants and trees, but I don't think that's all there is to it."
Zhihao continued, "Time seems to have stopped at a certain moment. If I'm guessing right, this land should have been running on normal timing previously, but after 6000 years, the region was suddenly put under a barrier that stopped the flow of time."
Wang GuiYing's facial expressions could only be summed up as utter confusion, "What do you mean time stopped? If time really did stop, shouldn't everything be on a pause?"
This time, BBtrash, was shockingly not ignored as he asked a valid question, "It's more complicated. It seems that time has stopped in a never-ending loop. To understand it better—think about this; What is time? Isn't it a quantitative value? But the animals here, after 6000 years, were put under a barrier where their growth had stopped and the same goes for the plants and trees that do not grow older nor do they shed their leaves or grow new leaves."
Li Ling approved of the theory, "And for further proof, we can try this. System, when are the eagle's eggs going to hatch?"
Zhihao felt like the question was certainly intelligent. If he had asked 'Since how long were the eggs laid', the system would most certainly tell them that the time here cannot be calculated, but now the question was rephrased in a manner where it could not be so easily avoided, the system would have to give somewhat of a solid answer.
[Answering player's question: The crying eagle's eggs would only hatch after the barrier is removed.]
This answer further solidified their theory.
Kaze17, the guy who had come with Aunt Su, spoke up for the first time, "I think I get it."
Aunt Su looked at her partner in awe, "What do you get? Enlighten me."
Kaze17, "The land was running smoothly before, but something must have happened and a barrier was placed on top of it separating it from the outside world. Inside this barrier, time is not calculated because there is nothing to calculate. Nothing is changing, nothing is being born or ending, it is just being preserved. If a beast was 6 years old right before the barrier was placed, to this day, it would remain to be 6 years old. If an egg was to be laid by the beast, inside the barrier—the egg would be preserved safely and would never hatch."
Li Ling nodded in agreement, suddenly finding that maybe some of the people in this group had brains after all.
Zhihao also shared the same thoughts, "To sum it up, I think the secret mission is to break the barrier."
Aunt Su sighed, seemingly exhausted from keeping up with the thought process of these youngsters, "You big show off! Can't we just pick up the treasure and leave? Why do we need to go through the extra trouble?"
Zhihao sneered, "You don't have to follow us."
In turn, Zhihao received a glare from her, "How could I not? Aren't we a squad?" She teased, knowing exactly how to annoy this nephew of hers.
The main reason she had refused to run away was simple; if she did, wouldn't she be missing out on some free T-points? She'd rather stay and let Mastermo break the barrier and then collect the free T-points. She was not alone in thinking this, BBtrash also seemed to have thought the same thing, and they both shared a look of understanding.
Zhou XinYi clearly saw through his partner's tactics and sighed as he whispered to Wang GuiYing, "Don't you dare run away in the face of danger. We owe them for saving you, don't forget."
Wang GuiYing smiled sarcastically, "He has the skills. How could I compare? I can't help him even if I wanted to so what can I do? It would be best if I just run away and save him the trouble of looking after me as well."
Bullshit!
Zhou XinYi knew his words would not have any use on this man.
Kaze17, "How does Mastermo plan on breaking the barrier?"
Zhihao thought about it, "Think of it as a jail. If we were to get a person out of prison, we would first need to know why the person was put in prison."
Li Ling, "So naturally, we have to first find out why this barrier was placed."
The whole group nodded in agreement and looked at each other for a whole minute, nobody daring to move a muscle.
"....."
Andyzz, "So..... How do we do that?"
Zhihao nodded, "Good question. Anybody have any ideas?"
The other six people shook their heads in unison.
Li Ling, "Why don't we keep on walking for now?"
Zhihao felt like this was the best thing they could do at the moment, "Let's spread out and explore the area. If anybody finds something, share your location on the message board and we'll head over immediately."
Li Ling smiled as he found it amusing how Zhihao had come up with a strategy that would not only help them work faster but would also help get rid of the scenario where he'll have to interact with BBtrash and loudbitchnextdoor.
Genius!
Wang GuiYing agreed happily, "Let's do that, but I have a condition."
Zhihao frowned, "What condition?"
Wang GuiYing smiled wickedly, "Although we are now a squad, how can we trust each other? What if you and Li Ling find the answer first and abandon us? What would the other two teams do?"
Zhihao's expression turned ugly as he asked, "What are you suggesting?"
Wang GuiYing, "Let's spread out, but in teams where the three teams are mixed together. I'll go with Zhihao and Li Ling can go with XinYi. Similarly, the third team would also be divided and since there are three of them left, Aunt Su can join us and the other two can join Li Ling."
Zhihao was dumbfounded. Hadn't he planned it all in a way that would help him get rid of these two? If they were to divide the teams like this, What was the use?
Li Ling was also displeased, Why was he separated from Mastermo?
Zhou XinYi seemed to have also seen through Mastermo's displeased expression, "That's not right. Since Mastermo is the highest rank here, I think it would be wise to send somebody with a lower rank along with him."
Wang GuiYing, "You are suggesting that we spread out the groups according to skill? I'm happy with that also."
Li Ling spoke, "Since I am the lowest rank here, I'll go with A-Zhi."
"...."
Wang GuiYing smiled and Li Ling could feel the evil intent behind that smile, "Brother, have you not checked the latest ranking?"
He had forgotten!