Qiu Yun deeply regarded Chen Xiaolian for a moment, but he did not say anything. Chen Xiaolian wanted to ask about it; however, he was uncertain how to. Qiu Yun on the other hand, appeared to have no desire to continue their conversation. Qiu Yun rose up and patted off the dust on his body. Then, he patted Alice’s face.
Alice remained unconscious, her head tilted over to the side and some bloodstains could be seen on her face.
Qiu Yun produced a Healing Type Beast Blood and stuffed it into Alice’s mouth. Then, he turned to look at Soo Soo.
“This little sister of yours seems rather unusual,” The corners of Qiu Yun’s mouth curled up, bringing with it a profound smile. He looked at Soo Soo. “It seems… you can see some things that we cannot?”
Chen Xiaolian was surprised. He too, looked at Soo Soo and said in a low tone. “Soo Soo, what is going on? Can you really see something?”
“En,” Soo Soo nodded. “Those things have a light on their bodies.”
“You… how do you see it?” Chen Xiaolian frowned.
“It is simple, I just close my eyes and I can see it.”
Close eyes? See?
To be saying those words within this tomb passageway, it would make anyone feel uneasy.
What kind of ability is this?
Qiu Yun’s eyes flickered and he narrowed his eyes. He stared at Soo Soo for some time before slowly speaking out. “What is your skill? Is it of the Fire Division?”
Chen Xiaolian was surprised!
Qiu Yun was correct again!
“It seems that the level of your Fire Division’s skill is very high,” Qiu Yun said with a rather emotional tone.
“What does this have to do with skill level?”
“It is not just the skill level. It also relates to the skill type,” Qiu Yun said softly. “Clearly, this little sister of yours possesses a fire element skill of the Elemental Division.
Additionally… the bodies of Players or Awakened ones that possess elemental skills will be affected by the respective element. In other words, in the process of using their skill, the nature of their body will be influenced by the skill.
She is of the fire element. Thus, she will gradually adopt a constitution that adheres to the fire element. This is an underground palace, the monsters here… do you still remember those Zombie Wyrms? Those Zombie Wyrms fear fire the most and are very sensitive to fire.
On the other hand, someone with a fire element type of constitution will be very sensitive towards them.
The reasoning behind this is very simple. A person with high resistance against heat would usually feel sensitive towards cold air in cold places. On the other hand, a person with a high resistance against cold would usually feel very sensitive towards heat in hot places.
Thus… this little sister of yours… heh heh!”
Chen Xiaolian pursed his lips to the side. He looked at Soo Soo to see her nodding her head. She slowly said. “Xiaolian oppa, as long as I close my eyes, I will be able to see many strange colours within the darkness. Some are clear, some are blurry.”
“It is related to the distance,” Qiu Yun quickly spoke out. “Those far away will seem a little blurry while those nearby will seem clear.” He laughed. “I did not expect your little sister to have this skill. It will be helpful to us.”
At that moment, Alice who was by the side suddenly groaned a few times. She slowly woke up. Once her eyes opened up, she immediately reached out for her sword. Finding nothing, her face changed and she abruptly bounced up from the ground.
Qiu Yun held onto Alice’s wrist and spoke in a deep voice. “Do not panic, it is us.”
Seeing Qiu Yun, the killing intent in Alice’s face dissipated and she exhaled. Then, her face changed again. “Where are my team members?”
Qiu Yun stared straight into Alice’s eyes without saying anything. Alice understood immediately and her face turned gloomy. “They… all?”
“En,” Qiu Yun nodded and smiled bitterly. “Truth be told… you should not have participated in this instance dungeon. I recall that your guild should still have one chance for exemption. This eastern culture’s background story is not suitable for you people from the western world.”
“… I had no choice,” Alice shook her head. “I had encountered an incident, so…”
She suddenly glanced at Chen Xiaolian and chose not to continue. She vaguely muttered. “At any rate, I have my reasons why I must participate in this instance dungeon.” Her body shook. “I am the one who killed Charlie and Mars.”
“That Mars is a coward. Even if he is a magician, you should not have recruited someone like that,” Qiu Yun frowned. “For any guild, someone with such a poor character will end up dragging down their companions, regardless of how good his abilities may be.”
“I had no choice,” Alice gave a strained smile. “He is the only Awakened one I can find with dark attribute magic. In an instance where exploration of tombs is necessary, he could have given me a great deal of help.”
Qiu Yun’s face remained calm. “All right, then. You are not a newbie. Having experienced the vicissitudes of so many instance dungeons, you know that having team members die is something very normal. I will not say anything to comfort you. I only hope that you can understand that if you are too hard on yourself, then this state of mind will likely get you killed the next time we face danger.”
Alice stood up and took a deep breath. She pulled out a dagger and gripped it in her hand. “I understand! Qiu Yun! I do not need these advice from you!”
She looked at Qiu Yun. “However, I am now the only one left from my team. So… the alliance that I had proposed, will you accept?”
Qiu Yun looked at Alice and laughed. “It would be my utmost pleasure.”
Next, the two Guild Leaders quickly exchanged information.
Alice described out everything that she had experienced and the places and terrain that she had went past. Qiu Yun did likewise, telling her everything regarding the places he went through back then. Both of them made their comparisons and Qiu Yun finally made a speculation after thinking about it.
“Clearly, the places that you and I had travelled through both began from outside the instance dungeon leading into the mausoleum. Judging from the arrangement of directions, both our forward directions lead deep to the centre of the mausoleum… generally speaking, I believe that the key factor in the quest to complete this instance dungeon must lie in the centre location of this underground Qin Mausoleum. Perhaps, it is in the main tomb.”
Qiu Yun continued softly. “Unfortunately, the final quest prompt for this instance dungeon has yet to be issued. All we can do for now is guess.”
“Conventionally speaking, the description for the final quest of an instance dungeon will only be transmitted after the Players arrive. Heng, I hate this large-scale instance dungeon the most,” Alice gave a sigh.
“Regardless, we can only go forward,” Qiu Yun peered straight at the passageway before him and could only see darkness. There was no end in sight. “Currently, we do not have a point of reference for direction. In addition… I have also made some tests after entering; compasses and the likes would not work. We have been going around within this underground labyrinth to the point where our sense of direction had been rendered a complete mess. Heaven knows which path we need to take to arrive at the main tomb. If we should arrive at a fork in the passageway, we may end up going the wrong way. When that happens, we may end up wasting hours going in circles around this underground labyrinth, or possibly even days.”
“Then, what can we do?” Alice frowned. “After entering the instance dungeon, the radar could no longer be used!”
“Thankfully, I now have a way,” Qiu Yun laughed out in a light tone. “Usually, the closer one gets to the centre of the instance dungeon, the more monsters one would encounter. We have no way of identifying the direction. However, I just realized that my team member just happened to have the ability to sense monsters.”
After saying that, he turned to look at Soo Soo.
…
… …
Four people moved forward in a row through the passageway. After walking for nearly half an hour, they found that the passageway was gradually becoming more narrow.
With the exception of Soo Soo, the other three became hesitant. However, Soo Soo maintained an expression of certainty. According to her, she could sense a high number of monsters located right ahead.
In terms of position, they should be getting closer towards the centre area of the instance dungeon.
However, the passageway continued to become smaller.
Originally, the four of them were moving side by side. But later on, not even two could move side by side. Due to Soo Soo’s small stature, Chen Xiaolian was still able to pull her with him as he ventured forth. As for Qiu Yun and Alice, they could only follow from behind.
Finally, after a few more minutes, the passageway came to an end!
Looking forward at the stonewall that signified a dead end, Alice frowned. “Didn’t you say we are in the correct direction?”
Qiu Yun turned to Chen Xiaolian. Chen Xiaolian then turned to look at Soo Soo to see her shook her head. “I do not know. I can only feel that this direction leads to many colours.”
“Our direction is correct. That means there will certainly be other paths to go around,” Qiu Yun wrinkled his brows.
“Maybe there is a secret mechanism,” Chen Xiaolian forced out a smile. “There are too many stories that describe the existence of secret mechanisms within this type of underground mausoleums. Perhaps there is a hidden door or passageway that we failed to discover?”
“If we are to backtrack, there is only one way. It is one that connects directly to the tomb where we had to fight for our lives,” Alice frowned. “However, that area had already collapsed. As for this path, we did not find any forks along the way.”
“We must have missed something,” Qiu Yun sighed. “There is no choice, we will slowly backtrack and search around.”
“There is not much time left!” Alice’s face turned grim. “Generally, there would not be too much delay between our time of arrival and the Players! We need to quickly find a way out! This is a dead end! If there are only dead ends on both sides… if the Player is sent to this passageway when they enter…we will not even have a place to run to!”
“How long have we been walking?” Chen Xiaolian suddenly asked.
“Around… half an hour,” Alice replied.
“Half an hour,” Chen Xiaolian thought about it. “Considering our walking speed, we can cover roughly 8 km in one hour. Half an hour… in other words, the distance between our current location and the tomb we escaped from should be around 4 km.
To thoroughly search for secret mechanisms leading to a secret path in a passageway with a length of 4 km, it would be impossible for us to do it together. We must separate to act simultaneously in order to save time.”
Qiu Yun nodded his head immediately. “I agree. Since both ends of this passageway are a dead end, there will not be any monsters. It will be good for us to separate and search around. Each person will be responsible for one part.”
Alice nodded. “I have no objections.”
Qiu Yun sighed. “I have the fastest speed. I will move to the beginning point near the tomb and begin searching from there. En… Alice, you follow me. You will be responsible for searching the centre area. Xiaolian, you and this little sister of yours will search from here onwards. If anyone finds anything, do not act rashly and seek out your companions immediately!”
After making those decisions, Qiu Yun quickly brought Alice with him and backtracked. They ran back as fast as possible, leaving Chen Xiaolian and Soo Soo to search the vicinity of this stonewall together.
After both Qiu Yun and Alice had moved away, Chen Xiaolian who was examining a side of the stonewall suddenly stood up.
He wore a complicated expression as he pulled Soo Soo up. Soo Soo on the other hand, regarded him silently with her pair of big eyes.
“All right, Soo Soo,” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “You have been secretly pinching my fingers since earlier on. But, you did not say anything at all. Is there something you wish to talk to me in private? Now that they have left, you can do so.”
Soo Soo’s eyes were a little peculiar. “Xiaolian oppa… I found something strange.”
“Something strange?” Chen Xiaolian was shocked.
“En!” Soo Soo nodded vigorously and stretched out her hand. She slowly opened her small palm to reveal a piece of … black metal fragment.
“What is this?”
Soo Soo shook her head. “I do not know. When we were walking in here earlier, I picked it up from the ground.”
Metal fragment?
Chen Xiaolian’s brows creased as he regarded the passageway… there were only stone all around him. How could a piece of metal fragment suddenly appear here? Additionally, there were clear patterns drawn onto its surface.
Chen Xiaolian suddenly realized something. “Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”
Soo Soo raised her head and calmly looked at Chen Xiaolian. “Xiaolian oppa… that Guild Leader, I feel that he… does not have good intentions…”
Does not have good intentions?
Chen Xiaolian was momentarily shocked. Then, he gave a bitter smile. “You are talking about Guild Leader Qiu Yun? I feel that he is quite a good person.”
“I do not know…” Soo Soo’s eyes were seemingly at a loss. “However… every time I get near him, I sense an uncontrollable feeling of terror.”
“Eh?”
“Xiaolian oppa, trust me. My senses are very accurate,” Soo Soo whispered. “Since I was 5 years-old, I will sense this feeling whenever a bad person bullies me. Also…”
She suddenly pursed her lips to the side, revealing an odd smile. “Recently, I was abducted by some bad person. I was able to sense this feeling from that person’s body. It was due to this feeling of terror… that I would wake up to replace that weak idiot! This time was no different. All along the way, that weak little idiot was extremely terrified of Qiu Yun. Thus… I woke up.”
Chen Xiaolian was stunned!
“Xiaolian oppa, I do not know how to explain it to you. However… I know. That Guild Leader Qiu Yun is not a good person.”