Qiu Yun gently wiped his hands clean and exited the washroom. Just as he had closed the doors to the washroom, he heard the phone in the room ringing.
He went over to pick it up. “Hello?”
“Hello, mister. Do you require any special services ~ ~ ~”
Holding on to the phone, Qiu Yun revealed a peculiar smile. “Ok.”
“ … Ok?” The voice from the other side became stunned for a moment. “Are you not going to ask the price? Or list of services?”
“Money is not a problem,” Qiu Yun casually looked at the windows and gently waved his fingers. The closed curtain slowly opened up. He spoke leisurely. “As for the list of services, note down what I require.”
“…” The other party was speechless for a long time.
“I need a water bucket. It would be best if there is also an absorbent sponge. Oh right, I have yet to have my dinner. When you come over, get me a sandwich. I want beef, I dislike luncheon meat.”
“You, do you have any other requests?”
“En…” Qiu Yun thought for a while. “What perfume do you use? En, never mind. Just bring whichever bottle over. If you do not have any perfume, then you should at least have essential oils, right?”
“…”
“Move fast, I am very busy. I will give you half an hour. If you cannot arrive by then, I will leave,” Qiu Yun casually placed down the phone. He then walked to a side and picked up the newspaper within the room before sitting down on the sofa, reading the newspaper.
…
Tens of minutes later.
The doorbell rang.
Qiu Yun raised his head to look at the door. With a flick of his fingers, the lock on the door snapped open. “Come on in, the door is unlocked.”
Qiao Qiao pushed open the door. With a solemn expression, she entered the room and looked around.
The first thing she felt was: Clean!
This person’s room seemed spotless and the bed sheets showed no traces of folds. It was as though no one had slept on it before. The light from the windows shined brightly.
Qiu Yun was sitting upon the sofa facing the door; his head was looking down at the newspaper. Without raising his head, he said in an indifferent voice. “Close the door after you come in… oh, right. The one outside the door can come in too. I do not have much time and I do not feel like accompanying some children in their play acting.”
Qiao Qiao’s face became tense and she subconsciously clenched her fist.
Chen Xiaolian came from behind and held Qiao Qiao. He pulled her to his back and walked into the room.
After the door was closed, Chen Xiaolian gestured to Qiao Qiao for her to stand by the door while he walked over.
Qiu Yun raised his head to look at Chen Xiaolian, his face showing no trace of surprise at all. His gaze then fell upon Chen Xiaolian’s hands that were holding onto a water bucket. He then laughed. “Very good, it seems you did bring over the thing that I requested.”
“May I ask, which flaw allowed you to see through us?” Chen Xiaolian inhaled deeply and looked at Qiu Yun vigilantly.
“Essentially… there should be none,” Qiu Yun laughed. “However, it was too coincidental.”
“Coincidental?”
Qiu Yun slowly folded the newspaper and placed it on the coffee table. “When I was in the lobby, I had observed you all as you were playing with the model aircrafts. Your acting were very good. I guess you were all originally students; that is why the atmosphere of students coming off you was very strong. Thus, you had successfully concealed yourselves from me.
“However, the fellow who appeared in the lobby shouting loudly to seek for team membership, his appearance was too coincidental.
“Then, your model aircraft circled the hotel a few times.
“Followed by the phone asking whether I need any special services.
“Every one of these incidents should not pose any problems and had no flaws. However, for so many incidents to happen within one hour, it was only inevitable that I would become suspicious.
“Oh, right. The final aspect that I would comment on would be that phone call from your girlfriend. It was very unprofessional.”
Chen Xiaolian looked at Qiu Yun.
Qiu Yun produced a pack of cigarettes and made a gesture to Chen Xiaolian, but Chen Xiaolian shook his head. Qiu Yun lit one up for himself and laughed out softly. “Her voice had traces of nervousness.”
Qiu Yun then glanced at Chen Xiaolian. “Where is the supper I requested?”
Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. Then, he retrieved a fully wrapped sandwich from the water bucket. “We bought it from the hotel.”
“Thank you.”
Qiu Yun took it. Without suspecting anything, he tore open the wrapping and took a bite. “Not bad.”
“Aren’t you afraid it might be poisoned?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.
“No,” Qiu Yun smiled. “If a few rookies can poison me, I deserve to die.”
Qiu Yun suddenly pointed to Qiao Qiao who was standing by the door. “I will talk with you, ask that girl to help me clean the washroom. En, give her the water bucket, it will be necessary.”
Qiao Qiao was taken aback for an instant. She then subconsciously opened the doors to the washroom…
The instant that the door was opened, Qiao Qiao’s face suddenly changed!
In the washroom, a corpse was lying inside! Blood was splattered all over the place, the walls, the mirror… the floor…
Qiao Qiao’s legs subconsciously turned limp.
“I am very sorry. Before you arrived, I had to take care of an uninvited guest,” Qiu Yun laughed in a calm manner – the aura he released made Chen Xiaolian feel that this person was not easy to deal with. “This fellow hid in my room with the intention of ambushing me. This idea was most foolish.”
Chen Xiaolian realized that Qiu Yun was staring at him. Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath and tried his best to calm himself. He stood up and handed Qiao Qiao the water bucket. Squeezing her arm, he whispered. “Clean the washroom, I will talk with him.”
Qiao Qiao gritted her teeth and brought the water bucket into the washroom.
“You still have 15 minutes,” Qiu Yun have already eaten more than half of the sandwich.
“We are newbies,” Chen Xiaolian quickly said. “We have experienced one instance dungeon before and become Awakened ones. So, we want to join a team. Or… we would like to request some help from a team. We can give compensation or pay you.”
“I am not surprised,” Qiu Yun lightly said. “In every instance dungeon, there will always be some hapless unaffiliated newbies who get selected. However, I feel that your approach is quite creative. At least you did not go choose that Nangong – By the way, that youngster in the lobby, is that your friend? He is an ordinary person.”
“Yes, he is my friend,” Chen Xiaolian slowly replied.
“You should not reveal the matters of our world to ordinary people. That would only invite trouble,” Qiu Yun frowned. “Never mind though, his memories will be refreshed anyways.”
“I have a friend who was selected by this instance dungeon,” Chen Xiaolian said quickly. “We want to know what are the conditions used in the selection process.”
“Anything else?” Qiu Yun remained indifferent and asked.
“And…” Chen Xiaolian slowly continued. “What method can we use to avoid being selected by the instance dungeon, or to change the instance dungeon’s choice?”
“You did not ask if there is a method, but instead you directly asked what method to use,” Qiu Yun’s eyes flashed and he looked at Chen Xiaolian with interest. “How do you know for certain that there will be a method to avoid selection?”
“Due to the existence of guilds,” Chen Xiaolian’s reply was simple, however, Qiu Yun understood at once.
“Smart kid,” Qiu Yun praised. “If that was surmised by you alone, then your intellect would qualify you to enter my team.”
“I want to know if there is any method to avoid this time’s instance dungeon… or, if it is not possible to avoid, I would like to enter this instance dungeon together with my friend.”
“You were not selected by the instance dungeon?” Qiu Yun looked at Chen Xiaolian.
Chen Xiaolian shook his head.
Qiu Yun laughed. “It is good to be young. To be hot-blooded and impulsive.”
He took a deep puff from his cigarette. “Do you know the danger level of this instance dungeon?”
“Is there an instance dungeon with no danger?”
“It is different this time,” Qiu Yun slowly replied. “The number for this time’s instance dungeon is V587. As a rookie, you probably do not know of this. Any instance dungeon with the V letter on it has a middle-upper class of difficulty. In addition, it is also a large-scale instance dungeon.”
Looking at Chen Xiaolian’s expression, Qiu Yun shook his head. “A large-scale instance means that there will be many people involved in this instance dungeon. It is a place where Players and Awakened ones engage in a chaotic battle.”
“Could it be that the same does not occur for all instance dungeons?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.
“Some instances have a low-class of difficulty and high-class loots. These instances can only be entered by Players. The barriers for Awakened ones are extremely high,” Qiu Yun replied indifferently. “We are always in a disadvantage when going up against Players. This time’s instance dungeon highly reflects this. Based on past practices, this large-scale instance dungeon will have a far higher number of Players compared to us Awakened ones. In addition… due to it being a middle-upper difficulty instance, some high-class Players will participate. It is likely that not even you could imagine just how powerful those high-class Players could be. After entering the instance dungeon, Awakened ones like us must not only fight off the monsters within the instance dungeon… we will also become prey in the eyes of those high-class Players.”
After saying that, Qiu Yun sighed. “So, if you ask me, I will give you this advice… go, leave this place. Take advantage of the fact that you were lucky enough to not be selected this time and go do what it is you wish to do. Go enjoy every second of every day that you currently have. Go roll around the sheets with that beautiful girlfriend of yours or go get drunk.
“Because… the day will soon come, when you will be selected to enter an instance dungeon and you will have to experience a high level of challenge. Even if you have a good mind and good strength, enough for you to successfully overcome those dangers a few times; sooner or later, you will end up dying within an instance. When that happens… that would be the end of everything for you. You will be reverted to an ordinary person and forget everything. You will live the life of an ordinary human, free of all these troubles.”
Naturally, Chen Xiaolian would not reveal the truth regarding him being an irregularity, one who cannot be revived after death. He thought about it and used a peculiar tone to ask Qiu Yun. “After dying and being refreshed… is that still the real me? The real me is already dead. The system then copies out a part of my memories and copies out a body for me… but that me is only a prop for this world’s background. I have never had any belief that this so-called resurrection is a true resurrection!”
Qiu Yun seemed moved and he suddenly examined Chen Xiaolian with a previously unseen look of respect.
“In recent years, you are the first newbie to have said that to me.”
Qiu Yun raised an eyebrow. “Interesting fellow. Do kids these day all have these kind of mind-set?”
“I have also pondered about some matters before,” Chen Xiaolian said in a low voice. “If this world is truly one that was created… all of us are but codes or background characters within a game… then everything that I have experienced, parental affection, emotions, love, my family, my life… could it be that all of these are but things that were produced or under the control of others?
“When sick as a child, there is the warm embrace of the mother. There is the scene where father would apply medicine for me when I fall. When I go to school, I get a crush on a girl. That confusing riot of emotions, beautiful, sentimental, sweet…
“All of that were but a program compiled by others?
“I have thought about these before.”
“And then? Did you not mentally collapse? Did you not lose your sense of self?” Qiu Yun gave a light smile.
“Thankfully, I have a part-time job; I am a writer and making up stories is what I do for a living,” Chen Xiaolian lightly replied. “Creating a virtual world, characters and emotions…. After I became mentally lost, I found the motivation to support me and give me strength to go forward.”
“What is that motivation?”
“I want to know… what kind of an existence are they?” Chen Xiaolian replied. “If we are ‘false’, then what is considered ‘real’.”
“So, you still refuse to give up on your friend? Even though you know that this instance is very dangerous, you still want to enter?” Qiu Yun laughed.
“If I really do lose those feelings, then wouldn’t it prove that all my emotions are fake? I cannot accept that! I firmly believe that my emotions are real!”
Qiu Yun looked at the youngster before him. Observing the face that still holds some traces of childishness, his heart suddenly felt a little soft.
These thought… it was the same ones he had after he had learned of the truth…
“You are very lucky,” Qiu Yun nodded his head. “You came to me, instead of Nangong… Nangong’s guild is a mass production type of guild. Only a rare handful of newbies would be able to survive becoming a member of his guild.”
“Then, are you willing to help me?”
“Of course, it will not be for free,” Qiu Yun smiled. “What price are you willing to pay?”
Chen Xiaolian pondered for a moment. “In the last instance dungeon, I obtained some loot.”
“I do not need it,” Qiu Yun replied indifferently. “I have entered many instance dungeons, the things I have obtained are numerous.”
Qiu Yun did not even bother asking Chen Xiaolian what items he has.
Chen Xiaolian thought about it. “You know more than I do. Perhaps… could you please make your offer?”
“As I have said, you are very lucky.”
Qiu Yun extinguished the cigarette in his hand. “There is a corpse in the washroom.”
Chen Xiaolian did not say anything.
“He was a team member under me. Originally he should have followed me to enter this instance dungeon. Then… one day before we enter the instance dungeon, he snuck into my room to ambush me.”
Qiu Yun’s words were spoken with calmness. However, after Chen Xiaolian heard them, his heart roiled about!
“I do not know who bought him… or should I say, I have a few suspects. I personally killed him… but now I am faced with a problem. I had intended to bring him with me into this instance; however, he is now dead. Presently, if I were to mobilize my team members to come over to participate… first, with only one and a half days’ time, there is not enough time. My team members are scattered all across the world. And so, I am unable to determine if they can make it in time. Secondly… even if the person I picked do hurry over, there is no way for me to know if they have been bought.”
Qiu Yun’s eyes flashed with coldness.
Chen Xiaolian’s heart rate quickened.
“That is why, your luck is quite good. Originally, I am reluctant to accept newbies before the instance dungeon opens,” Qiu Yun’s face revealed a peculiar trace of a smile. “However, a coincidence occurred… traitors have appeared within my team. And before I can clean house, I am unable to bring myself to trust any of them. Thus…”
“What you mean to say…”
“The fellow that I killed has one spot for entering this instance dungeon,” Qiu Yun said indifferently.
“Only one?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.
“Only one.”