Qiu Yun’s gaunt face revealed traces of surprise. “Is he a newbie Awakened?”
Guild Leader Nangong sneered. “I am now curious to see just what this fellow is capable of.”
He made a secret gesture and two people who had appeared to be resting within the hotel lobby stood up and moved to the centre area. Roddy became interposed between them as they held him, restrain his ability to shout and brought him over to the area beneath the patio umbrella.
Chen Xiaolian who was standing far away immediately became anxious as he stared intently at Roddy.
“Hey! What are you people doing? Who are you people?” Roddy then shouted out loudly on purpose.
“Are you a newbie?” Guild Leader Nangong wiped his mouth with a piece of tissue and smiled contemptuously as he looked at Roddy. “What abilities do you have?”
Roddy purposely blinked his eyes. “And who are you? What qualifications do you have to ask me that?”
Guild Leader Nangong laughed derisively and one of the men beside Roddy whispered. “Little rookie, show some manners when talking. This man is our Guild Leader, Nangong!”
“Guild Leader?” Roddy’s eyes turned about. “Oh? Then, which guild are you people from?”
“Enough nonsense! Kid, what abilities do you have? Be honest and tell us. If it is not bad, I can consider accepting you,” Nangong laughed coldly.
“My abilities?” Roddy first lifted his head up high and laughed out in arrogance. “Very well! I am also one who slaughtered my way out from the mountain of blades and the ocean of flames! Listen carefully! I am the solo queue with the highest burst damage, the Might of Demacia, Bush-ren, the invincible warrior for all students and high schoolers! Now, what is the strength of your guild? This brother is not interested in joining a third-rate group!”
“Wha, what? What powerful solo queue… what Bush-ren?” Nangong was momentarily stunned.
The guild member’s face too turned peculiar and he lowered his voice. “Guild Leader, the things that he is talking about… seems to be about a game of sorts.”
“Game?” Nangong became highly infuriated. “Kid, what nonsense are you blabbing about? What game and what Demacia!”
“Hey, you are the one blabbing nonsense!” Roddy instead stared at him and shouted back. “You do not even know about Demacia and you dare call me over? Uncle, what are you up to?”
Nangong’s face turned strange. “You… are you really an Awakened one?”
“What awaken or sleep? What is that?” Roddy raised his head up again.
Nangong furiously retorted. “If you are not an Awakened one, why did you come over here to shout and ask for membership?”
“I am the one who should be asking you! Our LOL_cosplay’s hard-core enthusiasts had agreed to set up our event here! Uncle, if you do not know anything, why did you drag me all the way here?” Roddy struggled to get away from the men beside him. “Will you please not waste my time?”
Cosplay?? LOL???
Guild Leader Nangong stared with wide-open eyes. Thankfully, one of his guild members beside him whispered. “Guild Leader… his words seem to check out. Demacia is indeed something from a game. Err, I do play that game as well.”
Traces of indignation and savagery flashed across Guild Leader Nangong’s eyes. He suddenly threw a look and one of his men instantly threw a punch onto Roddy’s stomach. Roddy let out a painful groan and his body bent over.
The guild member narrowed his eyes and turned to Nangong. He shook his head. “No response from the system. It seems he is really just an ordinary person.”
As he spoke, he immediately pulled out the dagger strapped onto Roddy’s thigh and examined it. “Plastic.”
“Forget it.”
Qiu Yun finally spoke up. He laughed lightly and looked at Nangong. “We have more important matters to do. Why make things difficult for a normal person? Truth is, you are the one who misunderstood him, Guild Leader Nangong. It is not as though he came over to lie to you. There is no real reason for you to get tangled up with a young kid.”
After that, Qiu Yun laughed and glanced at Roddy. He waved his hand. “Youngster, you can leave. We got the wrong person, sorry.”
The two guild members holding onto Roddy turned to look at Nangong. Seeing no reply from Nangong, they let go of their hold.
“Scram, kid!” One of the guild member sneered. “Leave this place as fast as you can. Otherwise, we will break your legs.”
Roddy’s face revealed a terrified expression. “You, you people… are you members of the underworld?”
“Heng!” Nangong stood up. He casted a glance at Roddy, then turned around and left. The two guild members also threw vicious gazes at him before moving to follow Nangong.
“Just leave, youngster,” Qiu Yun pulled out a cigarette lighter and lit up a cigarette for himself before laughing. “I will give you one suggestion. It would be best for you to leave this hotel.”
Seeing Qiu Yun getting up and walking into the hotel lobby, Roddy quickly followed. He walked by Qiu Yun’s side and said loudly. “That, my sincere thanks to senior… Earlier, if not for you, I… I do not even know who those people are. That was so bewildering!”
Qiu Yun walked into the elevator and glanced at Roddy. “Youngster, if you trust me, then just leave this place.”
After the doors to the elevator were closed, Roddy gave a faint smile. He stood there and observed the digital display for the elevator. He confirmed that it had made its stop at the 8th floor before turning around to leave.
…
Half an hour later, within a room.
“Are you certain it is the 8th floor?”
Chen Xiaolian directed his gaze towards Roddy who just walked out of the washroom. All the styling gel on Roddy’s head have been washed off and he used one hand to wipe his head with a towel. He said. “At any rate, I saw the elevator stop at the 8th floor.”
“Han Bi, it’s your turn,” Chen Xiaolian turned his head towards the thick browed youngster.
Han Bi moved to the balcony and sent out a radio-controlled model aircraft that has a miniature camcorder tied onto it.
Under Han Bi’s control, the radio-controlled aircraft flew around the hotel a few times before returning…
The group of youngsters gathered before the camcorder’s screen.
Chen Xiaolian’s expression brightened as he stared at the images captured on the screen. “In my estimation, Awakened ones and normal people are different. Due to the constant dangers and killings that Awakened ones encountered within instance dungeons, they will certainly develop a high level of vigilance and self-protective mind-set. Thus… just look, from the pictures taken using the aircraft, we can see that most of the rooms in the eighth floor have their curtains left open.
“Only a few rooms have their curtains closed – to close the curtains in the middle of the day, that is not normal.”
“Why is it not possible for a couple to be inside engaging in pa pa pa? [1]” Roddy could not help but refute.
“We have a child in the room, watch your language,” Chen Xiaolian curled down the side of his lips.
Roddy casted a glance at Soo Soo. She was lying down on the bed wearing her bunny eared headphones and listening to music. He spread opened his arms and said. “All right, let us assume that you are right.”
“I cannot guarantee that it is a hundred per cent correct. At the very least, though… the ones who have their curtains closed have a higher probability of being Awakened ones. Additionally, you have already confirmed that the man is staying in the 8th floor. Then… logically speaking, we only need to check up on those rooms with closed curtains. That way, we will be able to find the Awakened one that helped Roddy.”
“However, why must we find him?” Han Bi frowned.
“The reason… first, when Roddy was being beaten up, that fellow had stepped out to stop them,” Chen Xiaolian said slowly. “Someone who does not bully the weak or innocent; I dare not guarantee that he is a good and kind-hearted man. However, people like this are often people who hold on to principles when taking actions.
“Do you all know what I was most afraid of when I found the existence of such a group of Awakened ones?
“These Awakened ones are not ‘Players’ who came from the outside. They are the original residents of this world. Yet, these residents were able to acquire superhuman abilities. When an ordinary person obtains superhuman abilities, they will suddenly find themselves unchained from the secular, legal, moral and other constraints of this world. This could easily trigger a change in a person’s personality. Once one loses control of themselves, they would be unable to differentiate right from wrong, becoming thugs…
“Trust me, many people will end up changing so!
“An Awakened one who possess the ability to freely trample upon the secular rules and yet chooses to adhere to the principle of not bullying the weak – if I have to deal with any Awakened ones, I would rather it be him!”
“All right, we will take your word for it,” Han Bi nodded.
“But…” Roddy looked at the screen and counted. “One, two, three, four, five… en, there are currently five rooms with closed curtains on the 8th floor. How do we know which one he is in?”
Chen Xiaolian produced a piece of map of the hotel floor. “Follow the pictures taken for the rooms, then compare it with the position on this map – the construction of each floor is the same, that way, we can guess the room number for those rooms.”
Chen Xiaolian glanced at Qiao Qiao who had been seated quietly by the side. “Next up, Qiao Qiao will have to step up. She will use the room’s hotel phone and call them up one by one…”
“Can’t we just go directly to their door and search one by one?” Roddy asked.
“That would be beating the bush to startle the snake [2],” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “If we end up meeting other Awakened ones, what should we do if they turn out to be villainous? We are newbies and our strength is not that strong. What happens if they have ill intentions? Cases where one kills others to snatch their items, surely you have seen such a matter when playing games?”
“Giving them a call? Won’t our identity be exposed?” Han Bi frowned.
“That is why… Big Miss Qiao needs to do it,” Chen Xiaolian suppressed a smile and looked at Qiao Qiao. “That… are you prepared? I know that doing this would be quite difficult for you, but…”
“For the sake of Soo Soo, I can throw even my life away!” Qiao Qiao gritted her teeth. She stood up and walked to the phone within the room. Wearing the face of a morally upright person entering the execution grounds, she turned to Chen Xiaolian. “Bring over the room numbers!”
Chen Xiaolian quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper, then he handed it over. “Set to speaker! Let Roddy listen to the other person’s voice and judge if that is him!”
Qiao Qiao’s face was grim. She looked at the few room numbers within her hands and proceeded to quietly make the call.
The first call:
“Hello?” A perfunctory sound of a male came through.
“How are you ~ ~ ~ ” Big Miss Qiao suddenly issued out a voice that sent a chill down the spines of each of the boys within the room!
That soft voice, it could only be called baby like, it could only be considered sweet!
“Who is this?”
“Hello, Mister. Do you require any special services ~ ~ ~ ”
Pa!
The call was ended.
With a flushed face, Qiao Qiao turned to look at Roddy who immediately shook his head. “No, that is not his voice.”
Qiao Qiao picked up the phone, took a deep breath and made the second call.
“Hello?”
“Hello, mister! Do you require any special services ~ ~ ~ ”
“ … What services is there?”
“… Custom made – silk clothing – full set inclusive of stockings, one thousand eight ~ ~ ~”
“Son of a bitch, that is too expensive! Are you embedded with gold? Scram!”
The call was broken off.
Roddy. “This, this is also not his voice.”
Chen Xiaolian forced down his smile as he looked at Qiao Qiao. “Custom made – silk clothing – full set inclusive of stockings… Queen Qiao, you know quite a lot…”
“Shut up!” Qiao Qiao shot daggers at all the boys within the room with her eyes. “If anyone dares to speak of this matter in the future, I will kill him!”