Theodore and Jacob showed clear signs of shock.
A few seconds later, Theodore threw his Mechanical Arms to the ground and swore.
Jacob’s eyes flashed as he gazed sharply at his surroundings.
“What did you say? Rodriar Guild? Who are you?”
However, Chen Xiaolian had already cut off the line of communication.
Talking too much here would create the risk of exposure.
Neither too little nor too much. That one sentence was sufficient.
Chen Xiaolian sat before the metal screen and a devious smile appeared on his face.
…
“The people from Rodriar Guild had already entered?”
Theodore spat and swore furiously. Then, he said in a hushed tone, “Son of a bitch! When did they get inside? How could they be even faster than us?”
Jacob narrowed his eyes but did not say anything.
“Who did Rodriar Guild send this time?”
Jacob broke his silence. After pondering for a moment, he said with a wry smile. “I know who. It’s that bastard who practices magic.”
“Him?” Theodore harrumphed and replied, “That idiotic self-proclaimed magus? I’m not afraid of him!”
“I’m not afraid of him either.” Jacob gritted his teeth only to whisper out. “If he is alone, we can finish him off. But, can you be certain that Rodriar Guild only sent out one member for this? As long as they send one more member out, this would become a close match – no, maybe it won’t even be a close match. They are already one step ahead of us.”
Theodore suddenly struck the wall of the passageway, causing a great deal of gravel to fly out from the immense power of his punch.
“I am unwilling!”
“What’s the point of being unwilling?” There was a certain maliciousness within Jacob’s voice as he coldly continued, “By the time we dig our way through, we would already have exhausted part of our strength or more. Then, do we fight against them? What do you think our chances will be? Fine, let’s not talk about our chances of winning. What if they had finished occupying this place by the time we finished digging our way through?” Jacob stared at Theodore and said, “I know you hate failing. I bloody *** hate it as well. Naturally, I hate you even more. However… at this point in time, I believe that there is no reason for us to continue.”
“Are you suggesting we give up?” Theodore cast a vicious stare at Jacob.
Jacob ignored that vicious gaze from Theodore and he revealed a ridiculing smile. “What else? Theodore, could it be you have never failed a quest before? Don’t put on that damned façade of a first failure in front of me. I know that you’ve failed before; you’ve even had your ass handed to you.”
“One more word from you and I will kill you right now.”
“Bring it!” Jacob suddenly tossed his Mechanical Arms away as well and growled. “Bring it on! Let me see how courageous you are! You ***! Do you only know how to show off your fangs to your own companions? Or are you actually feeling fearful right now? You are fearful that you will end up being punished by the Guild Leader after returning because of this failure? Ha ha ha…”
Theodore already had his swords out and he cast a savage look at Jacob. In the end however, he sighed as he quickly composed himself. Then, he sneered and said, “You nearly got me, Jacob. I’ve said it before, our duel will only happen after we return. Engaging in a fight with you here will only further enrage the Guild Leader. I won’t let you succeed. You want to provoke me into taking action first to fight you. Then, when we return, you will tell the Guild Leader that my recklessness is what caused us to fail this quest, right? You despicably cunning asshole.”
A hint of disappointment flashed across Jacob’s eyes and he sighed. “Fine, you got me. So… when we return, we’ll settle our differences.”
“Mm, we’ll settle it after we return.” Theodore harrumphed.
…
Chen Xiaolian who was seated before the screen was watching what happened through the screen. Seeing that the two of them were quarrelling to the point of fighting each other, Chen Xiaolian nearly broke into an applause.
Unfortunately, the fight did not come to pass. That caused Chen Xiaolian to feel somewhat disappointed.
The two fellows shown on the screen finally gave up and left.
Chen Xiaolian gave a sigh of relief.
Before leaving however, the tall fellow, Theodore, turned toward the mine and made a throat cutting gesture.
Chen Xiaolian understood that the gesture was directed at him.
Chen Xiaolian laughed loudly. “Good! Very good! Feel the hatred and resentment coursing through you! Now go find Rodriar Guild and take it up with them! Ha ha ha ha…”
After the two fellows left, the mine became silent.
However, Chen Xiaolian did not let down his guard.
He waited for a good two hours and ascertained that they were really not coming back before breathing a sigh of relief.
Too dangerous!
Chen Xiaolian was uncertain how strong those two were.
However, there were two of them. Additionally, they were likely members of some super powerful resident guild of Zero City. That must mean they were masters!
Even though Chen Xiaolian could summon out Bai Qi to do battle, he might still be unable to win the fight.
To be able to deceive them with this little ploy was quite the achievement.
If there was a choice to not risk their lives, everyone would certainly choose not to risk their lives.
“Now then, time to consider the next issue.”
Chen Xiaolian sighed.
The immediate crisis had been resolved. However, this hot potato was still in his hand.
This C11 mine!
The biggest issue was as the silhouette had described.
To steal the food from the mouth of tigers, he must prepare himself to be targeted by tigers!
The silhouette owner represented Rodriar Guild while the other two fellows were most likely the representatives of another resident guild of Zero City.
His actions toward the silhouette and his deceptive ploy on the two fellows would quickly be found out.
Next, even though the C11 mine belonged to him…
Would those fellows seek retribution?
What a joke!
They would definitely seek retribution!
That was especially true of the silhouette owner. That arrogant fellow had suffered so badly in his hands, it was only natural for him to seek retribution.
And then there were the two fellows that he had deceived. After returning, they would come to realize that the members from Rodriar Guild were not the ones who had occupied the mine. It probably wouldn’t be too difficult. Once they realized what had happened, even though the ownership right had been decided, they would still not let go of this ‘deceiving bastard’.
Thus, the biggest issue was how would he conceal his identity?
Would Zero City’s system announce the identity of the mine owner… thinking about it, Chen Xiaolian speculated that it probably would not.
If that was the case…
Chen Xiaolian carefully recalled all of his actions before this, including the words he exchanged with the silhouette. He ascertained that he had not revealed anything that could expose his identity…
“The only one who can expose my identity is Father Qiao.”
Chen Xiaolian was able to quickly identity the crux of the matter.
The only one who was aware of his involvement in this matter was Father Qiao.
As for the others, they had met him and seen his face. Thus, they might try to find him.
However, there was no such thing as a registration in the Awakened world.
Even if they could create a picture of him, do they intend to use that picture to find him across the globe?
There were billions of people in the world! Even if they were to narrow it down to Asia or even Chinese, there were still a billion people there.
Take your sweet time finding!
Firstly, he had to get to Father Qiao!
Chen Xiaolian sighed.
The one thing he prayed for was that Father Qiao’s guild was not Rodriar Guild or the guild that the two fellows were from.
Otherwise…
He’ll have to spend his future days in hiding.
Mm, he had talked to the silhouette earlier about how he had been to Zero City before and had lived in a lodging belonging to Rodriar Guild.
He was not concerned about that. Back then, he had used a fake name – Chen Xiaolian felt thankful for his act of vigilance back then.
No matter how the other party tried to find him, they would only be able to get some pictures.
Finding someone within the circle of Awakened ones was not something easy to do.
Every Awakened was very concerned about keeping their identities a secret in the real world.
…
“Where are we?”
On the riverbank, the first to wake up was Lin Leyan.
She kneaded her temple roughly. There was a feeling of heaviness and dizziness in her mind.
Beside her, Hans and the other two volunteers woke up with dazed looks on their faces.
“Just now… what happened?”
“I don’t know…” Hans clutched his head and grunted. “I think… I think I saw a green light.”
“Why are we beside a river?”
“Where is this place?”
“Eh? I seem to recall that we were on a truck earlier. Weren’t we heading somewhere?”
“Where is this?”
“Wait, my head feels so confused right now… why…”
Lin Leyan bit her lips heavily and sat there in confusion. She carefully recalled her memories.
She remembered a lot of things.
She recalled how she was together with her companions inside a chapel and was besieged by rebel soldiers.
She recalled that they were all rescued and had returned to Kabuka.
She recalled the rebel army laying siege to the city and that she was surrounded by bandits inside a shop.
She recalled herself escaping from Kabuka and encountering her companions…
She recalled that she was on a boat…
She recalled that their fleet of boats were attacked and everyone had to escape…
But… there seemed to be something important, someone important that she had… forgotten?
Wait, who was the one who saved her?
She wracked her brains to search for the answer. There seemed to be fragments left and the fragments gradually came together to form an illusory looking silhouette, however…
It continued to fade away!
The silhouette was swiftly fading away!
In just a few seconds, the silhouette had grown increasingly dim and transparent… in the end, it disappeared.
Lin Leyan struggled to hold onto the silhouette within her mind. However, the silhouette was disappearing all too quickly.
“Are you regretting it now?”
“My intestines are already green from regret!”
In the end… a burst of green light appeared!
Then, all those fragments of her memory… disappeared!
“I feel like… there is something… I can’t recall?”
Lin Leyan cast her gaze at her surroundings, at the wilderness and the riverbank. Suddenly, she felt an intense feeling of aching within her heart.
What did I forget?
…
In an unfamiliar looking city…
Nicole stepped out from the subway and into the street. She swiftly made her way into a shabby looking tall building.
The security guard seated inside the lobby was dozing off and did not notice her at all.
With a calm expression on her face, Nicole walked into the fire escape.
She walked down the stairs and reached the underground garage. However, she did not step through the door of the fire escape. Instead, she walked toward the end of the corridor.
Before her was a greyish white wall.
Nicole moved until she was standing before the wall and her lips curled into a smile.
“I wonder if my return key has expired…”
…
Roughly one minute later, a security guard who had a flashlight in his hand walked down the stairs. When he reached the end of the corridor, he glanced at the wall before him.
“Mm? Did I misheard?”
…