“I don’t know.”
Don… don’t know?
Even if Lun Tai had given a comparatively more outrageous answer, Chen Xiaolian would not have been so surprised.
However, Lun Tai’s answered turned out to be…
Don’t know?
“How is that possible?”
Chen Xiaolian became speechless.
Qiao Qiao, Roddy and Xia Xiaolei gazed at Lun Tai with looks of surprise.
Lun Tai let out a bitter smile and his face was a mask of inscrutability. However, traces of helplessness could be seen.
He took a deep breath before letting out a long sigh.
“There is no need for you all to feel strange. My big bro really do not know,” Bei Tai shouted out. “In fact, you can go ask any Awakened ones. None of them could answer that question. In the Awakened ones study of the Players and the system, this question had popped up many times. But, there has never been any answer.”
“… why?” Chen Xiaolian was still unable to understand.
Lun Tai furrowed his brows and finally exhaled.
“I will give you an example. There was once a top Awakened guild. En, by top I mean that they have the qualifications for permanent residence within ‘Zero’. This Awakened guild follows a radical philosophy. They believe that they should do their best to execute covert attacks on the High Class Players’ ‘Exclusive Account’.
“This radical guild was devoted to researching Players and the system in an attempt to seek any forms of loophole that could be used to deal against our enemies.
“Once, they even executed a very risky plan. In a certain instance dungeon, even at the cost of failing the instance dungeon’s quest, they deployed all the key members of their guild with the objective of capturing some Players alive within the instance dungeon! That way, they could use the opportunity to interrogate out some information regarding the Players. Most importantly, they hoped to acquire some information regarding the ‘Upper Plane’.
“And also information on how the ‘real world’ that the Players live in look like.
“Thus, they organized a very high-grade plan of action.”
Capture a Player alive and interrogate out information regarding the ‘Upper Plane’!
This audacious approach caused Chen Xiaolian and the other youngsters to become shocked.
How audacious! How courageous!
“Did they succeed?” Chen Xiaolian quickly asked.
“… should be considered as a success,” Lun Tai’s tone became inscrutable.
“What do you mean ‘should be’?” Qiao Qiao’s eyes became wide-opened.
Lun Tai suddenly revealed a look of unease.
He stood up and strode using big steps towards the windows. Standing before the windows, he observed the bustling city of Tokyo.
Suddenly, he produced a pack of cigarettes from his pockets. As he was retrieving a cigarette stick – Chen Xiaolian noticed that Lun Tai’s hands were shaking!
Lun Tai vigorously inhaled. He coughed out once before turning around.
The expression on his eyes was very strange, as it revealed a faint trace of terror!
“What happened was: After they were deployed, they successfully captured two Players alive within the instance dungeon. They then continued by interrogating them, then…”
“Then, what happened?”
“Then, their memories stopped there,” Lun Tai replied.
Chen Xiaolian was dumbfounded. “What do you mean… their memories stopped there?”
Lun Tai suddenly displayed traces of distress and gritted his teeth. “It means, in their memories, they only remember up to the point where they began interrogating the captured Players… The memories of what follows all disappeared! Nothing, empty, reformatted, cut off, erased! Any manner of description would be right. At any rate, none of them could recall the interrogation process and its results!
“In the end, these people survived through the instance dungeon and exited the instance dungeon.
“They remember their mission, their battle against the Players, their capture of the Players and them beginning the interrogation.
“However… the following memories, up until how they exited the instance dungeon… this huge portion in the middle is all empty! Their memories disappeared!”
The room suddenly turned silent.
It was a bizarre form of silence, one that brought with it a certain feeling of dread and oppression!
After some time, Chen Xiaolian spoke in a shaking voice. “In other words… system…”
“There may be a certain restriction within the system, a form of rule and monitoring,” Lun Tai replied frostily. “Thus, all information regarding the ‘Upper Plane’ will be erased without leaving a single trace!
“As native residents of this ‘virtual world’, we are not allowed to gain any information regarding the ‘Upper Plane’. Not a single detail is allowed to fall into our hands. No matter how hard we try… even if we do find out about it, our memories will be wiped clean! Refreshed away from our minds!”
“Then, those Players…”
“Hell if I know what happened to them,” Lun Tai forced out a smile. “After they die in the game, will they receive any form of punishment, or will their own account be destroyed forever, or would they re-register a new account to enter the game, or would they be punished with some form of mechanism to reduce their level or equipment… we know nothing regarding that!”
Lun Tai stared at Chen Xiaolian and gave a strained smile. “Trust me! A few years back when I had just become an Awakened, I have asked this same question… likewise, there were no Awakened who could provide an answer!
“Furthermore, that plan of action that I mentioned earlier… was not performed only once! I heard that many other organizations and guilds have launched the same type of investigation. In the end… all had… no results!”
No results!
No answer!
Xia Xiaolei who had remained silent all this while suddenly said something unexpected.
“Is there a possibility… if a Player were to die within the game’s instance dungeon, then their original body within their real world will also die?”
This speculation caused the room to once again fall into an atmosphere of deathly silence!
After a while, Roddy forced out a smile. “Don’t you think that this speculation is too outrageous? What kind of game will impose death upon the Player’s real body as a price? That is just… if there is such a kind of rule, then who would come play this game?”
“It is hard to say,” Chen Xiaolian suddenly let out a bitter smile. “We are originally people from 2 different worlds. The extents of our thoughts are different, making it impossible for us to use this world’s perception, philosophy and rules to speculate matters that belong to another world.”
“I also think that this speculation is too outrageous,” Qiao Qiao shook her head.
…
Within a suite room of a big high-rise building.
A black haired woman was lightly curling her hair up. Then, she sat down before a table. Picking up a pen, she wrote down 2 words on the memo before her.
“Miao Yan.”
The 2 Chinese characters were written sloppily, as though written by a beginner.
“Strange, this is not the first time that someone calls me that.”
The longhaired woman narrowed her pair of smiling eyes. “Miao Yan? To whom does this name belong to?”
The middle-aged butler and the bodyguard walked in. The middle-aged butler bowed and said in a low voice. “In accordance with your request, the itinerary has been arranged. Tomorrow morning, we will head to Sensoji Temple.
“However, the family’s proxy for the Asia business branch hopes that you could spare some time to meet with them.”
“I said this before, my travel this time is a personal one with no official business arranged into my itinerary.”
The black haired woman frowned and shook her head.
At that moment, the bodyguard’s face changed!
Looking far away at the top floor of the opposite building, he spied a strange reflection of light!
“Get down!!!”
The bodyguard shouted out and threw himself onto the black haired woman’s body. The momentum pushed her down!
At that same moment, a “bang” sound was heard!
The wall windows within the room was shattered!
A bullet hole appeared on the wall surface! The location of the hole was right behind the chair that the black haired woman was seated upon earlier.
“Sniper!” The bodyguard yelled out loudly before mustering his strength to throw the black haired woman who was on the floor towards the back of a wall to hide.
Bang!
Another gunshot!
The bodyguard’s head burst out like a smashed watermelon!
The middle-aged butler leapt towards the windows, attempting to pull the curtains…
At the same time…
Cha!
A sharp arrow flew in from the outside! The arrow pierced into the butler’s neck, whose body quivered before falling down on his back!
…
“Hit two subordinates.”
Upon a big building situated opposite, a middle-aged man armed with a sniper rifle bit onto a cigar and sneered. “Retreat! The opportunity is lost! Hurry up and move!”
Beside him, a young man who was armed with a longbow quickly kept aside the longbow and gritted his teeth. “Damn it! Hurry! The opponent will wake up at any moment!”
…
The black haired woman was lying on the floor, her face filled with panic and her expression distorted…
Suddenly, her pair of eyes was closed. When it was opened again, her expression had turned calm and indifferent!
She quietly crept up from the floor and crept her way to the corner of the wall. Then, she straightened herself.
Her pair of smiling eyes narrowed. The black clothes on her body transformed into a protective skin-tight garment.
She stretched her hand into the air and a long sword appeared within her grasp.
If Chen Xiaolian were here, he would have instantly recognized…
This, this was the real Miao Yan!
“How despicable, I was in the middle of taking a bath! I ended up bumping into these Exclusive Account hunting idiots.”
Miao Yan pursed her lips to the side. She stared at the windows before abruptly moving to the windows opening in one step. She took a deep breath…
…
Bang!
If one were to observe the high-rise building from the outside, one would witness all the windows on one side of the building shattering apart!
A human figure flew forward like a huge bird!
In the middle of the air, she spread out her limbs like a bird and glided through the skies.
Moving in a straight line, she smashed head first through the surface of another big high-rise building that was located several hundred meters away. She broke through the window walls and headed straight in!
…
The sniper with the cigar heard the sound of the windows shattering from behind and roared out. “She is here! I will obstruct her! You get out of here!”
He discarded the sniper rifle and pulled out a military knife from his waist. Letting out a howl, he rushed forward!
Just as he turned around, a pair of gleaming swords slashed down!
A “ca” sound was heard and his right hand that was wielding the military knife was cut down whole!
Miao Yan’s icy countenance appeared close to him.
“This is already the third time. I really hate this practice of yours that disrupts my life, understand?”
The sniper’s mouth opened up to release a miserable cry. Miao Yan brought her sword over, sweeping across the sniper’s body like a shadow…
With a piercing sound, a head flew up to the air and blood sprayed out in all directions!
After walking out of the room, Miao Yan stood within the corridor and sneered. “One got away? Consider yourself lucky then. I will let you go.”
She slowly walked back into the room and observed the decapitated corpse of the sniper.
Then, she walked towards the shattered windows. With one jump, her body was propelled out into the skies before landing into her original room.
She observed the disorderly mess that her room was in. High-altitude winds were blowing in and the newspapers and memos upon the table were blown everywhere. The curtains were fluttering…
There were also 2 corpses on the floor…
Miao Yan frowned. Suddenly, she raised her hand and a particularly unusual watch instantly appeared on her wrist.
“I am Player Miao Yan, Exclusive Account Number XXXXXX, I have encountered a special circumstance. The circumstance encountered is a C Type situation. My coordinates… … please settle it immediately.”
A few seconds later… something miraculous happened!
The shattered fragments of window glass on the floor suddenly flew back up to the wall windows and automatically bonded together to become a perfectly intact!
The fallen chairs, as well as the strewn newspapers and memo all flew back to the table.
The dead bodyguard’s blood and broken bones came together. His head was perfectly restored and his body automatically stood up.
The arrow within the butler’s neck disappeared and his blood flowed back into his neck… the wound healed rapidly!
Everything appeared to be moving in reverse!
After that, Miao Yan slowly walked forward and sat back down onto the tableside.
…
At the same time, the sniper’s corpse on the opposite building disappeared. No trace of blood remained and the broken window was restored to its normal state.
Miao Yan sat there with the butler standing before her. The butler suddenly opened his eyes. Acting as if the earlier event had not happened at all, he bowed with a smile. “In accordance with your request, the itinerary has been arranged. Tomorrow morning, we will head to Sensoji Temple. However, the family’s proxy for the Asia business branch hopes that you could spare some time to meet with them.”
Miao Yan looked at the butler and pondered. “Follow the previous arrangement, do not make any changes.”
The butler froze for a moment. Then, he took two steps back and brought the bodyguard with him as they headed outside. On the way, he closed the door to the room.
Miao Yan stretched her waist and observed the luxurious room. She smiled. “The longer I stay, the more I feel that this world is quite good.”
She stood up and stretched her body for a moment. “Should I continue with my bath in here…”
Suddenly, her eyes fell upon the surface of the table!
Atop the table surface was a memo. Surprisingly, there were 2 sloppily written Chinese characters on it.
Miao Yan!!
“Hmm?” Miao Yan was stunned for a moment. Then, her pair of smiling eyes squinted. “Eh… could it be that this Exclusive Account of mine, this human shell has begun to figure something out?”