Chen Xiaolian’s mind blanked out. It was only after his hands had embraced Qiao Qiao did the soft sensation of a young girl’s body cause him to become startled. He snapped out of it and turned to see Qiao Qiao looking at him with a peculiar expression.
The atmosphere between them became awkward and the two of them quickly turned their gaze away.
…
…
A few hours later.
Shaanxi Airport.
Their group of four reached the passageway and Qiao Qiao checked the time using her mobile phone. “There is still 41 hours and 36 minutes.”
Han Bi was obviously still distressed. He maintained a taciturn attitude and would only force out a smile when speaking. It was no wonder; he was selected to join the instance dungeon. In addition, the aggravating word ‘exterminated’ would weigh down heavily on any one.
Outside the airport, a commercial Buick GL8 was waiting. They had rented the car prior to boarding the plane.
After fetching the keys from the staff member of the rental company, the task of driving was handed over to Qiao Qiao.
“Did you check out the address?”
The face of Queen Qiao was filled with anxiousness.
“I have checked it,” Chen Xiaolian glanced at Han Bi and gave out a bitter smile. “I fear that this instance dungeon will not be easy. Oh, right! Han Bi, how is your knowledge of history?”
“History?” Han Bi reflected for a while before shaking his head. “Back in school, I would always be sleeping during History lessons. Other than that… I did read up on historical novels regarding aerial architecture. Does that count?”
Chen Xiaolian sighed. After pondering about it, he produced his mobile phone and opened Baidu [1]. He selected a site and gave it to Han Bi. “Since we have the time, take advantage of it and make yourself familiar with it.” [1]
Upon the screen was everything related to ‘Mausoleum Area of Qin Shi Huang’…
…
Before they had boarded the plane, Han Bi had obtained the latest information regarding the instance dungeon using the system.
The instance dungeon was located in Shaanxi City – coincidentally, that was the same place that the train they had sat on was headed for.
The specific location of the instance dungeon was also shown: 18 km northwest of Shaanxi City, the Mausoleum Area of Qin Shi Huang!
…
Roddy walked out of the train station, a dazed look etched upon his face.
At the current, he felt as though he was going crazy!
Truth be told, his mind had been a blurry mess of thoughts throughout the train ride.
If not for the fact that he was certain he was not sick – he would suspect that he had contracted a blanking out illness.
The reason being…
Roddy discovered that he seemed to have lost a part of his memories.
The last thing he could recall was that he had followed Chen Xiaolian into the train station. They then boarded the train as he helped Chen Xiaolian find Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo…
Next… his memories of what happened came to a halt!
When he came to, he found himself sitting upon a hard sleeper within the train. There was even an adorable fat cat within his embrace!
However, the problem was: Chen Xiaolian, Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo were not on the train!
He could clearly recall himself telling Chen Xiaolian the number to Qiao Qiao’s coach because he was the one who bought the coach ticket for her. Then… he could not bloody recall anything else!
Where is Xiaolian? Where is Qiao Qiao? Where is Soo Soo?
Why was he sitting alone on the hard sleeper bunk?
Where did this adorably fat cat in his bosom come from?
He tried to call up Chen Xiaolian’s mobile phone. However, his calls could not get through.
It was not until he was walking out of the train station that his mobile phone rang.
The caller was Chen Xiaolian!
Accepting the call, Roddy immediately shouted out in a tearful voice. “Xiaolian! Where on Earth did you go to? I remember that we had boarded the train together! What is going on? Did you get down halfway through? But, this train should not have any stops along the way! My mind feels so confused now!”
From across the phone, Chen Xiaolian remained silent for a moment. He then asked. “Where are you now?”
“East area of the train station.”
“Just stand there and wait for me.”
The call was then ended.
…
One hour later, Roddy who was standing at the east area of the train station saw a black commercial Buick GL8 coming to a stop before him. The door of the car opened to reveal Chen Xiaolian sitting inside. He waved his hand. “Come in. We will talk inside!”
Annoyingly, the fat cat that had been obediently staying in his arms suddenly jumped out and threw itself into Chen Xiaolian’s arms.
Roddy was about to say something when a shocking scene played out before him. The fat cat within Chen Xiaolian’s arms transformed into a beam of light and disappeared!
Roddy nearly fell with his buttocks to the ground. The dazed Roddy was then picked up by Chen Xiaolian into the car.
“Ah! You are all here!” Roddy stared at Chen Xiaolian, then turned to see Soo Soo sitting in the last row and Queen Qiao in the driver’s seat. “How could all of you turn up here? I clearly remember all of you being on the train!”
He then looked at Han Bi who was sitting beside him. Roddy swallowed his saliva and asked. “Brother, how should I address you?”
Han Bi’s pair of thick eyebrows wrinkled in a frown. “You cannot remember me? I am the one who beat you up time and again after you used Bush-ren.”
“{Nani}?” [2]
Chen Xiaolian waved his hand. “Let us not talk about this first.”
Roddy regarded Chen Xiaolian with a slightly fearful expression. “You… could you be a monster in disguise?”
“Your entire family are monsters,” Chen Xiaolian retorted before patting Roddy. “I need to ask you. Did you notice anything abnormal on the train?”
“Abnormal? You people are all abnormal!” Roddy cried out.
“That is not what I am asking about. Did you see any evidence of a fight in the train? Ah, for example, is the roof of the train broken apart?”
“No…” Roddy shook his head, his expression indicating that he was at a loss. “Only that the three of you had disappeared. I felt that something is wrong.”
Qiao Qiao who was on the driver’s seat used the back view mirror to look at Chen Xiaolian. Han Bi too, looked at him thoughtfully.
“It seems that things have been reset and refreshed,” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “However, we would not know if this is an automatic feature of the system or if the GM had interfered to help us out.”
“It is probably how things were meant to be,” Han Bi reflected on it. “Since this world plays host to those Awakened ones with superhuman abilities, any mistake on their part would cause something big to happen. If that were to happen, then some shaking news would have come to light a long time ago. If this world is a background setting, then such a thing cannot be allowed to happen. Thus, preserve the balance of this world… a refresh and reset is inevitable.”
“What do we do next? Do we head directly to the location of the instance dungeon?” Qiao Qiao asked as she drove.
“En,” Chen Xiaolian retrieved his mobile phone and checked out a map. “I found that there is a hotel near that location. Since there is still 40 hours until the opening time, we will first stay in the hotel. Also, since this hotel is the one closest to the area, other Awakened Guilds will certainly check in here before the opening time. Considering the time limit of 48 hours and the punishment of extermination, many of them would certainly arrive earlier for the sake of safety.”
“Then… what do we do when we meet those Awakened ones? Do we directly make contact by introducing ourselves?” Han Bi asked.
“Naturally not,” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “The two Awakened ones we met on the train were not the good-hearted kind. It appears that not all within the Awakened community are pure and good. We will first conceal our identities by disguising as ordinary people… Do any of you have any suggestions?”
Originally, they had thought that concealing their identities would be hard. That was because both Awakened ones and Players share one similar feature within their system: Radar!
A green dot within the radar would expose the identity of anyone nearby.
However, Chen Xiaolian had tested it with his companions while they were travelling. In the end, they discovered an aspect of the system. Alternatively, it could be said to be an exploitable loophole:
Only when both parties have their system activated by entering combat form, summoning their pet, using equipment or some other similar action, would the radar expose them.
If only one party were to use the system while the other party was not using the system, then the radar will not expose the latter as Awakened. Instead, they will appear as ordinary people.
That also explained why the longhaired man and the trench coat wearing middle-aged man could only recognize Chen Xiaolian by the Cross-shaped Medallion Sword pendant that he was wearing over his neck instead of by radar.
At that time, Chen Xiaolian was not using the system. Thus, the radar of other Awakened ones would not mark him as a green dot.
A rough description of when a system was being used is as follows: Activating the system mode’s vision, using weapons, equipment or medicines, summoning War Pet and etc. As long as one of the conditions is met, the radar would expose that person.
The one that gave Chen Xiaolian this idea was none other than Xia Xiaolei. According to Xia Xiaolei, he had hidden and slept through his last instance dungeon safely… that meant the other Players’ radar could not find him!
Thus, Chen Xiaolian had allocated some time towards testing the radar together with Qiao Qiao and Han Bi as they were travelling. Finally, they were able to verify these speculations.
“Any recommendation on how to hide our identities?”
Han Bi thought about it and said. “I have a suggestion. Do you remember what I told you before? The reason I am going to Shaanxi is for the sake of entering an aircraft model competition?”
“En?” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes flashed. “Could it be…”
“The competition is precisely located in the Mausoleum Area of Qin Shi Huang. Due to how large the size of the area is, it could be used for the aircraft model competition.”
“Excellent,” Chen Xiaolian replied. “In that case, we will pretend to be the participating students… besides, all of us happen to be students.”
Roddy who was seated beside them shouted out. “Hey, what are you all talking about? Can anyone first answer my question? What exactly is going on here?”
Chen Xiaolian patted Roddy on his shoulders. “Do not be so annoyed, I will slowly explain everything to you. En, there is also one more thing that we need you to help out with.”
…
4.30 pm.
35 hours and 27 minutes before the opening of the instance dungeon.
A hotel outside the Mausoleum Area of Qin Shi Huang.
A commercial Buick came to a halt outside of the hotel. Several young boys and girls alighted from the car, carrying several bags of varying sizes. There were also two boxes with a ‘Handle with care’ sticker on it. Above those boxes, a plate bearing the word ‘X aircraft model competition’ was pasted above those boxes.
A thick browed youngster who was wearing a participation certificate around his neck led them in.
As they were walking into the hotel lobby, there were several guests in the midst of registering with the hotel. Some of them glanced curiously at them. Their attention was directed in particular to the long, black haired Qiao Qiao. Queen Qiao was wearing a school uniform; however, her attire could not conceal her atmosphere of youth and especially not her delicate face. Many of the surrounding males stole secret glances at her.
Tens of minutes later, Chen Xiaolian, Qiao Qiao, Han Bi and Soo Soo went downstairs together to the lobby area. They carried with them several packages. Under the watchful eyes of many, they moved to the wide outer lawn area of the hotel. When there were no one else nearby, they opened up the packages and retrieved some aircraft models from within the packages.
Han Bi skilfully assembled those parts, then he used the remote control to send one of them up into the air.
“The standard types found in the stores are all trash. The models that I made have a better performance compared to this. A pity that mine was left on the train. I could no longer get it back,” Han Bi murmured resentfully as he controlled the aircraft.
“Ssh, silent!” Chen Xiaolian silently observed the aircraft that was flying in the air. “Be careful. I feel that there are people secretly looking at us.”
“Secretly looking at Qiao Qiao you mean,” Han Bi forced out a laugh.
“Eight o’clock direction,” Qiao Qiao lightly said. “Beneath the patio umbrella outside the hotel, there are two people sitting down and having coffee while looking at us.”
“As expected, a woman’s intuition is the most accurate one,” Chen Xiaolian laughed. He then whispered. “Are you sure they are not secretly peeping at you?”
Qiao Qiao remained indifferent as she replied. “Trust me, people would secretly peep at me whenever I take a walk in the streets ever since my younger days. So, I am used to it. A woman’s intuition is very accurate in this respect – those two fellows are not looking at me, they are looking at you and Han Bi.”
“All right, we will first ignore them,” Chen Xiaolian then sighed. “Right… about the next step… do you really want to continue?’
Qiao Qiao’s cheeks tightened. She took a deep breath and bit her lips. After that, she slowly moved to Chen Xiaolian’s side, her arms extending outwards to hold onto Chen Xiaolian’s arm as she placed her head onto Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder.
Chen Xiaolian could feel Qiao Qiao’s long and straight, black hair sweeping past his neck. That itching feeling almost seeped deep down into his heart. In addition, the unique fragrance of a female girl flowed into his nose, causing his mind to fall into a momentary trance.
Chen Xiaolian’s face turned stiff and his heart pounded in a frenzy. Finally, he was able to suppress his distracted heart and he turned around to gently kiss Qiao Qiao upon her forehead.
“… sorry,” Chen Xiaolian said in a low tone.
“It is all right,” Qiao Qiao gritted her teeth.
From a distance, this seemed like a perfectly normal and harmonious scene. A group of students playing with aircraft models on the green lawn on a beautiful spring’s afternoon. Then, a couple would stand side by side as the girl rested her head upon her boyfriend’s shoulder. The boyfriend reacted by gently kissing…
It was simply too normal of an occurrence.
“The two men beneath the patio umbrella are no longer looking at us,” Qiao Qiao turned her head sideways while resting it upon Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder and whispered into his ear.
…
“Admiring beauties?” Beneath the patio umbrella, a middle-aged man with sunglasses smiled. “Tomorrow, after we finished this instance dungeon’s quest, I will take you out to properly relax. Getting girls is easy; we now have plenty of money.”
Sitting across from him was a gaunt, thin-jawed young man. His eyes flashed with profound brightness and he retorted coldly. “Keep your messy state of mind on a leash. We have a big battle coming and yet you can still spout out these kinds of words. I do not mind ordering a coffin for you first.”
“Hahaha! Do not forget, if we die, a coffin is of no use. We will be refreshed; returned to a normal life,” Having said that, the sunglasses man suddenly laughed out bitterly and whispered. “I actually feel that… that may not be bad. Going on with life thoughtlessly; I won’t have to live like this all the time.”
“Killing you off, then duplicating a portion of your memories, using that to refresh out another person… do you think that person is still you? Heng…” The gaunt young man sneered. He then turned his gaze away from Chen Xiaolian and Qiao Qiao. “Those teenagers should be normal people.”
“En? Are you certain?”
“They have the face of students,” The gaunt man coldly replied. “Besides… they have the guts to play outside and be so affectionate when the battle is looming. Is there any Awakened ones who would take their lives so lightly?”
Then, the gaunt man turned to the sunglasses man. “I hear that you lost two men?”
“Heng!” Sunglasses man coldly replied. “You sure are informed. I sent those two fellows out to perform a simple task, and yet… let us not talk about this.”
The sunglasses man picked up his cup of coffee and took one gulp. “Let us discuss about this time’s instance dungeon! Are you willing to cooperate? I am waiting for your reply!”
The gaunt man’s fingers gently tapped the table surface several times. He then slowly said. “If we are to cooperate, I have a condition. For this instance dungeon, it is all right if I do not get the system reward. However, there is one item that I must certainly obtain!”
As he spoke, the gaunt man produced a piece of paper and a pen. He quickly wrote something down and slipped the piece of paper towards the sunglasses man. Sunglasses man glanced at it and became thoughtful for a moment. Then, he stood up and extended his hand. “Deal!”
The gaunt man picked up the piece of paper that was on the table and burnt it with a lighter. After that, he stood up and extended his hand to shake hands with sunglasses man. “Then, here is to our happy cooperation, Guild Leader Nangong.”
“To our happy cooperation, Guild Leader Qiu Yun.”
At that moment, a burst of noise suddenly resonated out from the entrance of the hotel.
A taxi came to a halt before the hotel entrance and a young man wearing a strange get-up stepped out from the taxi.
His attire was strange, akin to the ancient European armour props usually seen in movies. In his hands was a longbow while a dagger was strapped onto his thigh.
As for his hair, it was unknown just how much styling gel he had used as it towered high up, similar to a rooster’s comb.
When he saw that, Chen Xiaolian who was standing far away on the lawn could not help himself as he laughed out. Qiao Qiao lightly struck his shoulder and whispered. “You got him to dress up like that? To think that Roddy would agree to do that for you!”
Chen Xiaolian snickered and chose to remain silent…
Neither of them realized that they were both still maintaining the intimate stance that they had taken earlier: Qiao Qiao was partially leaning onto Chen Xiaolian’s chest.
…
Roddy stood at the entrance of the hotel. His eye-catching appearance naturally attracted the peculiar gazes from the surrounding people.
Outrageously…
This fellow abruptly moved to stand at the centre position and shouted out in a loud voice:
“Seeking membership! Newbie seeking membership! Are there any teams recruiting new members?”
PU!!
The two Guild Leaders that were originally drinking coffee under the patio umbrella ended up losing their composure.
This was especially true for the one wearing sunglasses, Guild Leader Nangong. His mouth sprayed out a mouthful of coffee and he coughed out several times as he stared at Roddy who was shouting loudly some distance away. He opened his mouth. “Holy shit… do newbies these days have no fear of death? He dares to come alone to seek membership in front of so many people?”