After the Thunderstorm Tank had travelled tens of li away, Chen Xiaolian had Roddy slow down the tank.
“I suddenly feel that Thorned Flower Guild’s name is quite useful,” said Chen Xiaolian. His eyes flickered and he continued, “When those fellows saw this tank of ours, they reacted like they had just seen a ghost.”
Roddy glanced at Chen Xiaolian and asked, “Aren’t you afraid we might bring trouble to ourselves?”
Chen Xiaolian tilted his head and weighed the matter before answering, “What is there to be afraid of? This won’t be the first time we make enemies of Thorned Flower Guild. We killed off one in the London instance dungeon. Same thing happened in the Tokyo instance dungeon…”
After saying that, Chen Xiaolian was suddenly lost for words. He quickly glanced at Roddy to see no change in his expression. However, Roddy’s voice became heavier when he replied, “You are right. We’ll just impersonate as them! At any rate, we are enemies with Thorned Flower Guild.”
“I have a plan.” After thinking about it, he then said in a hushed tone, “The biggest reason we chose to participate in this instance dungeon is to get back at those fellows from London. However, we have yet to encounter them – since GM stated that they will be in this instance dungeon, I believe GM will not deceive me on this. Why don’t we… make use of Thorned Flower Guild’s name to cast a net over them?”
There was a glint in Roddy’s eyes as he looked at Chen Xiaolian. Then he asked, “What kind of fiendish plan are you cooking up this time?”
“A plan is a plan. What’s righteous or fiendish about it?”
“All right. Just spit it out then,” replied Roddy with a laugh.
“There’s nothing out of this world about this plan. However, it might be somewhat risky.” Chen Xiaolian looked at Roddy and frowned before saying, “Back in London, I had confronted that fellow before. However, they don’t know you!”
Roddy’s face flickered and he said, “You aren’t by any chance suggesting we pull an Infernal Affairs, are you 1? I’m not afraid of the risks. However, forget finding them or how I am going to earn their trust… there is the alliance thing. Even if I can deceive them, I won’t be able to deceive the system. Once they ask to form an alliance, our identities and respective guild will appear in the system. When that happens, won’t we get exposed?”
“Idiot, who wants you to go pull an Infernal Affairs?” Chen Xiaolian smiled and patted Roddy’s back. “With this Thunderstorm Tank, you will have the identity of a member of Thorned Flower Guild! Just make proper use of this identity and things will fall into place!”
Roddy’s eyes lit up.
The two of them found a place to stop. There, they discussed their plan of action before making a decision: Act separately!
The Thunderstorm Tank would be driven by Roddy. The two of them will make use of the mapped terrain to execute their plan. Roddy then drove the Thunderstorm Tank away.
As for Chen Xiaolian, he too went alone in another direction.
“Remember, the most wondrous aspect of this plan is in making good use of the name ‘Thorned Flower Guild’!”
Watching the Thunderstorm Tank move away, Chen Xiaolian used the guild channel to remind Roddy.
…
Chen Xiaolian had been travelling across the wasteland for a few hours.
Naturally, he was not idiotic to the point of using his own two legs to survey the terrain. He had summoned out an SUV he prepared inside his Storage Watch.
He started up the vehicle and slowly moved in a seemingly aimless manner. However, he was looking at the mapped terrain and moving away from Roddy.
Additionally, Chen Xiaolian had Roddy enter a state of combat. By doing so, Roddy would appear in the radar as a green dot.
He would be like a torch shining in the middle of the night, one that was especially conspicuous.
Additionally, Roddy also followed Chen Xiaolian’s plan and did something else.
As the Thunderstorm Tank was travelling through the wastelands, he deliberately turned on its broadcast system.
Accompanied by the roaring sound issued by the Thunderstorm Tank was the voice broadcasted out by the tank’s broadcast system.
“This is Thorned Flower Guild! We are looking for temporary members. Those who wish to be part of this team, come! Repeat, those who wish to be part of this team, come!”
…
The sun had yet to rise up and the sky was still somewhat dark. Chen Xiaolian halted the SUV. After having travelled for several hours, he judged that he should allow the heated up radiator to cool down.
He quickly stopped the SUV and popped up the hood to let the heat disperse. Then, he brought out a can of beer and took two gulps of the beer.
Chen Xiaolian had a large scarf around his neck, which partially covered his face.
He moved to turn on the SUV’s headlamps. He also turned on the searchlights that were installed on the SUV.
In the darkness of the wasteland, his SUV became particularly eye-catching.
Chen Xiaolian then moved to start a fire. After that, he produced two cans of military-grade canned foods and placed them on top of the fire to get them heated before opening them up…
Although those things smelled unpleasant, it became flavourful after being heated.
Chen Xiaolian deliberately sat himself in front of the SUV, by the opened hood. He leaned on the vehicle and leisurely assessed his surroundings.
He even summoned out his pet Garfield.
Garfield did not enter his [War Form]. Instead, he was in his fat little, lazy cat form. He lay on Chen Xiaolian’s feet and would occasionally issue out meowing sounds.
And thus, he spent one hour in the wasteland. When the sun began to rise up, Chen Xiaolian turned off the lights.
“Is my luck that bad? I failed to encounter even a single person?” Chen Xiaolian let out a bitter smile.
Roddy contacted him through the guild channel, “Hey, I have been following your instructions up until now, but no one is coming forward.”
“Don’t be impatient. The 24 hours allocated for preparation is not over yet. Also, even if someone did encounter you, with the fearsome name of Thorned Flower Guild there, they are probably too scared to approach… if I have to guess, since you’ve been running around amok like that for the whole night, some fellows would surely have discovered you. However, they simply did not have the courage to step forward. Just wait.”
“Humph, I get the feeling that this plan of yours is just not up to standard… eh! Wait! Someone is coming!”
Roddy’s words stopped coming through after that.
Chen Xiaolian put down the can of beer in his hand and waited patiently for a few minutes.
A few minutes later, Roddy’s voice came through the guild channel.
“Success! This plan is quite good, someone have bitten the bait!”
Chen Xiaolian laughed and asked, “Have you given them the map? Who are the people on their side?”
“A small guild consisting of three people. I don’t know about their strengths. They were unable to gauge my situation and were unwilling to get too close. However, I have already given them the map.”
“Good, don’t stay there. Keep moving and find more people to help out,” said Chen Xiaolian. He clenched his fists and smiled.
…
The Thunderstorm Tank slowly moved away. Standing on the ground looking at its departure were three Awakened ones with complicated expressions on their faces.
The three of them were indeed the members of a small guild. One of them, a tall and fit fellow who appeared like the leader was holding onto two items in his hands.
One of them was a map. As for the other…
“Guild Leader? We… are we really going to be cooperating with them?” The guild member on the left asked in a hushed tone.
The Guild Leader looked at the map on his hand and thought about it before sighing. “What kind of existence is the Thorned Flower Guild? To be able to hold onto such a powerful pillar gives us a higher chance of surviving through this punishment instance dungeon. Besides, they have already shown a great deal of generosity by giving us this charted map.”
“As expected from the top guild. The three of us had been running about the whole night but could only cover so little. Yet, they were able to get such an expansive map. Thorned Flower Guild is indeed a guild with a lot up their sleeves.” The guild member on the right was unable to restrain himself from blurting those words out.
“However… since he is the one recruiting us, why is he unwilling to form an alliance with us?” The guild member on the left felt somewhat suspicious.
“Naturally, they are looking down on us,” said the Guild Leader with a wry smile on his face. “Perhaps in his eyes, we don’t have the qualifications to be their companions. We can only be their subordinates. However, it is precisely because of this that I feel much better… since he is not too concerned about us, that means we are not worth that much to him. For us however, this map is very precious.”
“It’s just that the condition he set out was rather strange. Having said that, I feel that the fellow is the unlucky one in all this. To think that he would choose to become enemies with Thorned Flower Guild. I fear that this punishment instance dungeon is where he will die,” said the guild member on the left who was clearly feeling a sense of pleasure at seeing the other party’s misery.
The Guild Leader looked at the dust clouds rising into the skies in the wake of the Thunderstorm Tank and shook his head.
The other item in his hand was… a drawing.
The contents of the drawing was a person’s face!
“If you are willing to cooperate with Thorned Flower Guild, then what you need to do in this instance dungeon is to find this fellow! This fellow is Thorned Flower Guild’s enemy! If you locate him, you will receive a reward. If you can finish them off, the reward will be even higher. As for how to go about doing that, that will depend on you!”
Those were the exact words left by the fellow who was driving the Thunderstorm Tank.
The face on the drawing was naturally…
Culkin!
…
…
Chen Xiaolian sat there until eight o’clock in the morning before getting up to extinguish the campfire. Then, he got into the SUV.
Garfield jumped onto the roof of the vehicle and meowed twice before jumping into the SUV.
Chen Xiaolian purposely opened up the SUV’s windows as he slowly drove southward.
At a distance of roughly 100 meters away from him was a pair of eyes. The pair of eyes was staring at Chen Xiaolian.
Etched on those eyes were nervousness, fear and a trace of… hesitation.
“Four-Eyed War Cat? To think that someone would use such a weak pet. It seems that this fellow’s strength is very weak. But… if he is so weak, how could he bring an SUV into this instance dungeon? No matter how you look at it, something isn’t right here…”
The figure was hidden behind a dry rock and the person slowly crawled down on the ground. The figure’s silhouette suddenly transformed into the same appearance as that of the ground that the figure was crawling on, just like a chameleon. Without a detailed inspection, one would never be able to notice the figure.
The figure quietly crawled toward the SUV.
The person was very cautious.
…
“How is it? The harvest should be quite good, right?”
“I met another three guilds and gave them the map and drawing.”
“Mm, keep it up. Good luck,” said Chen Xiaolian who had both his legs resting on the steering wheel while his hand held onto a cigarette.
This was part of his plan. Have Roddy go around impersonating a member of Thorned Flower Guild.
The biggest advantage in doing so was… isolating their target objective!
The preparation phase of this instance dungeon allowed for the formation of alliances. Thus, Chen Xiaolian deduced alliances would become something important in the later phases of this instance dungeon! Perhaps, gathering a stronger force during this preparation phase would prove very helpful for the later phase of this instance dungeon.
Thus, what Chen Xiaolian was doing was reducing his opponent’s possibility of making alliances!
Just think about it. The infamous Thorned Flower Guild had gone around the wasteland announcing to everyone that this person was their enemy…
Would any bystander still choose to form an alliance with this fellow?
Perhaps there may be some who were unafraid of Thorned Flower Guild’s power. However, was there any reason for those parties to make enemies of Thorned Flower Guild for someone unrelated to them?
Not only would the announcement bring about this effect. At the same time, it would gather an alliance designated to kill Culkin!
Naturally, Roddy would do so in broad daylight.
As for Chen Xiaolian, he would do so secretly…
Although his actions had appeared leisurely, he had been constantly monitoring his personal radar and the rear view mirror on the SUV.
“What are you being so sneaky for? Since you are here, come out!”
Chen Xiaolian suddenly shouted out.
At a distance less than 100 meters from the SUV, a piece of gravel suddenly nudged!
He found me? How is that possible?
The figure’s heart trembled and he hesitated. In the end, the figure chose to stand up in frustration.
“Eh? There’s actually someone?” Chen Xiaolian was surprised. Then, he could not help but smile to himself.
Truth be told, he did not discover anyone closing in on him – the reason he was willing to take this risk was because they were in the preparation phase where participants were prohibited from killing each other. This was the rule set down by the system.
As for the words he just shouted out earlier, those were just part of his strategy.
He had planned to shout those words every few minutes to put on an act.
Unexpectedly, he managed to scare someone out of hiding.