He was simply the most shameless person that Chen Xiaolian had ever met.
Back then, Chen Xiaolian had taken him to be a simple-minded fatso. Now that he thought about it, Chen Xiaolian felt that he must have gone blind!
Once again, ten thousand ‘son of a bitch’ stampeded through Chen Xiaolian’s mind.
The problem was, no matter how much he cursed, Chen Xiaolian was well aware that he had been forced into a corner.
He had no choice!
Unless he was willing to accept the loss.
This fellow was extremely ruthless. Additionally, he had already made it clear to Chen Xiaolian that he was not afraid of the consequences.
If you don’t agree to my request, I will immediately destroy your items. As for what punishment comes later, this senior does not care.
What could Chen Xiaolian do in face of this dilemma?
Moreover, Chen Xiaolian had realized that he was being set up even now.
This request by Fatty to help him fetch those items was certainly not that simple!
For him to be making such a shameless threat, how could it be merely for some ordinary items?
Chen Xiaolian’s rate of breathing turned heavy and he gently kneaded his face to force himself to calm down.
“… out with it then! What do you want me to do?”
Fatty’s laughter could be heard and he said, “That’s more like it, brother. As long as you are willing to help me out, I assure you that nothing will happen to you.”
“Enough nonsense. Just tell me what you want me to do!”
…
Chen Xiaolian’s figure appeared in the lobby of the honeycomb structure.
He walked carefully, his body seemingly sticking to the wall.
Two Sentinel mechs slowly walked past the lobby. The radars on their shoulder that were used to identify enemies maintained their green colour, indicating that they would not harm anyone.
Those two had clearly noticed Chen Xiaolian. However, the two Sentinel mechs appeared to be turning a blind eye toward his existence and they slowly walked past him.
Chen Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief.
Fatty’s words were true. He had modified the watch that Chen Xiaolian was wearing.
According to Fatty, the watch had been installed with a type of identification device and it will not trigger any alarm within the honeycomb structure.
Chen Xiaolian watched as the two Sentinel mechs gave him as much attention as one would pay attention to air and secretly felt disappointed.
He would rather be discovered!
If he was discovered and this task was to fail, then no matter how shameless Fatty was, surely he would not destroy his items, right?
As for how he was to explain matters to Bluesea later on, Chen Xiaolian was not fearful of that. He was the one being blackmailed into it, so there was no difficulty there.
Having thought about that, Chen Xiaolian became excited and he suddenly stepped forward, moving toward the two Sentinel mechs.
“What are you planning on doing?”
Fatty’s voice came from the watch on his wrist.
Chen Xiaolian was startled. “What?”
“I asked: what are you planning on doing?”
Chen Xiaolian. “… … …”
Fatty snickered. “Let me guess. Seeing that the mechs did not identify you as an intruder, you became disappointed? So, you wanted to take the initiative and move toward them and even attack them. Next, trigger the alarm and cause the task to fail, right? That way, I would have nothing to say toward you, right?”
Chen Xiaolian’s heart turned tense. “You… you can see?”
Fatty continued snickering and said, “I forgot to tell you. I had installed nano-surveillance probes into the watch. Thus… surely you understand. That means I have another pair of eyes on your watch. I can see where you are and what you are doing. Nothing can escape my eyes, do you get it, brother? So, don’t try anything funny.”
Chen Xiaolian felt a wave of suffocation hitting his heart.
This damned cunning Fatty!
He looks like a pig, but is even smarter than a monkey!
“So, you’d better not try anything to deliberately trigger the alarm. Brother, I’ll be honest with you. This task, you are mine. You can either help me finish this task or I will immediately destroy your watch. Then, we’ll go our separate ways.”
Chen Xiaolian cursed out furiously.
A few minutes later, Chen Xiaolian entered an instant teleportation device once more. He followed the instructions coming from the watch and slowly controlled the operation of the instant teleportation device.
Soon, he was teleported to a certain spot.
A hexagonal hall stood before him and the six walls each had their own passageway. Chen Xiaolian stood there in the middle of the hall.
Observing the quiet and empty hall, Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Am I underground now?”
“Bingo. Unfortunately, there is no reward for this,” said Fatty. “Brother, this is the place I told you about, the one reserved specifically for our guild members to store their personal items.”
Chen Xiaolian snorted. “As if I’ll trust you. This place must be the storage place for some important items! Damned Fatty, you’ll be the death of me.”
“Ha ha ha… you think too much.” Fatty shook his head and said, “If this is the storage area for some valuable items, would it be so easy to access? It doesn’t even have an access control. Don’t worry, I am really not trying to set you up.”
Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat.
He looked to his left and right and saw that this place truly did not have any security. There were neither Sentinel mechs nor access controls.
The passageways on each of the six walls had no doors either. It would appear that anyone could enter and exit as they please.
“Now, look carefully. Although there are six passageways around you, each of them has a number on them. First, walk into passageway no. 1.”
Chen Xiaolian followed Fatty’s instructions.
The passageway was not very long. After walking for over around ten plus metres, he reached the end of the passageway. There at the end of the passageway was a door… this door too, did not have any access control on it. Rather, it was an automatic door. When Chen Xiaolian approached the door, it automatically opened up.
Chen Xiaolian knitted his eyebrows together and said, “Fatty, you did this, didn’t you?”
“Of course not!” Fatty replied in an indignant manner. “Like I told you, this place has no access control. It is not a place that stores some valuable items! You’re the one who refuses to believe me!”
Chen Xiaolian shook his head and walked through the door.
Once he made his way inside, Chen Xiaolian was immediately stunned!
This place… why does it look so… familiar?
A spacious hall with a control station in the centre…
On the walls surrounding him were several doors.
It did not appear to be anything of note… however…
Chen Xiaolian regarded the metallic walls that were as smooth as a mirror and the structure of the hall and his heart instantly roiled for a moment!
The structure of this place was exactly like that of his own ‘base’!
However, in his base, the thing in the centre of the hall was a floating metal orb. Here, the thing in the centre was a control station.
With the exception of some minor differences, the layout was exactly the same.
One such example was… although this place appeared very clean, Chen Xiaolian could sense an atmosphere of age here.
It would appear that… it’s been a long time since someone had come here?
“Fatty, tell me the truth. Just what exactly is this place?” Chen Xiaolian suddenly stopped in his tracks. “I’m being forced by you to do something risky, so I know this would likely end up causing a huge problem. But you should at least let me know what I’m risking myself for! What is this place?”
Fatty fell into a momentary state of silence before slowly saying, “Xiaolian, truth be told, I did not lie to you. This place is really not the storage area for the guild’s important equipment. This place… is actually an abandoned living quarter.”
“Living quarter?”
“Correct. When our guild had just become a resident guild of Zero City, this place was the base for the old members of the guild. It was only after our guild had grown larger and expanded did we come to have our current honeycomb building.
“The place that you are standing in right now is the home of the first generation members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.”
Chen Xiaolian was stunned.
“Then… what exactly is it that you want me to help you fetch?”
“It’s very simple. I want you to go to my old home quarters and fetch some old items from my place.”
Chen Xiaolian was taken aback and he said, “Didn’t you say that this is the home for the first generation of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild? How did it become your home?”
There seemed to be a smile on Fatty’s face as he said in a complicated tone, “Because… I am the son of a first generation member. I stayed here before.”
The son of a first generation member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild?!
Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had been a resident guild of Zero City for 30 years.
Putting that into consideration, this fatso’s age was about right.
However, his background was indeed extraordinary! No wonder Bluesea would treat him as such. He was actually the child of a founding member.
“Look carefully. The wall to the left of where you are presently standing has a row of doors. Each room beyond those doors is the living quarter of the first generation members. However, this place had long since been abandoned and the items inside had mostly been moved away. My home is beyond the first door on the left. There is a number on the door, 001.”
Chen Xiaolian moved over and was able to find said door. However, the door was locked.
“How do I unlock it?” Chen Xiaolian sighed.
“Things were relatively simple when the first generation members came to reside here. So, the doors utilize an iris scanner. See the scanning device on the door? Place the watch close to it and press the centre button on the watch. Press it three times in a row and press the top surface area of the watch on the device. I had already copied the necessary iris data onto it.”
Chen Xiaolian followed his instructions. There was indeed a scanning device on the door. Chen Xiaolian did according to Fatty’s instructions, pressing the centre button three times in a row and a strange pattern appeared on the surface of the watch.
He placed the surface over…
After a green light swept over it, the door silently opened.
Chen Xiaolian was surprised.
After he walked into the room, something in the room automatically detected his presence and the lights were slowly lit up.
The door behind him slowly closed up.
…
The room… how should he describe it?
It was as though he had walked into a standard house in China in the 1980s.
Traditional furnitures, traditional round table…
There was also a traditional looking tablecloth placed on the table.
The living room was very spacious.
There was a traditional looking sofa in the living room. Beside it was a five-layer storage drawer. It’s drawers were all square-shaped, the style of the 1980s.
Chen Xiaolian noticed that there were two to three glass frames placed on top of the storage drawer.
He was puzzled to see that two pictures of the three photo frames had been taken out, leaving only one with a picture.
Chen Xiaolian walked over to check the remaining photo frame that had a picture in it. There in the picture was a chubby little boy, grinning to the point of exposing his teeth.
The little body appeared no more than five to six years old. He still had his primary teeth that were incomplete. But his smile was very bright.
The area between the brows of this chubby boy in the picture was somewhat similar to Fatty.
“See my childhood photo?”
Fatty’s voice came from the watch.
Chen Xiaolian nodded and said, “Mm, I see it.”
“Now you believe me, right? I did not lie to you.”
“Mm.” Chen Xiaolian nodded again. “This is really your home?”
“Former home,” Fatty said coolly. “This room had been left empty for a long time now.”
“What about your family members?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.
Fatty was momentarily silent.
“My mother is an ordinary human,” said Fatty in a rather heavy tone. “My father is a first generation member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.”
Chen Xiaolian slowly circled his way around the living room.
Although no one had lived here for a long time, the place remained clean and tidy – the place must have some form of special ventilation system to prevent the build-up of dust.
Some appliances could be seen in the kitchen. Old-fashioned blue side bowl, wooden chopsticks, water pot and pitcher for warm water.
“Although this place has many advanced items, my father is a conservative fellow. After coming here, he did not like those advanced items and prefers to use these things that were commonly used outside. Thus, everything here is different from the outside.”
Fatty spoke in a monotonous voice. However, some traces of heaviness could be heard in his tone. “Back then, father had stayed here while my mother was an ordinary human. I was born outside. Later on, after my mother passed away, my father brought me into Zero City.”
“… wait!” Chen Xiaolian’s flinched! He suddenly realized something important!
“You say you are born in the outside world?”
“Yes.”
“When you were still young, your mother died. So, your Awakened father brought you into Zero City?”
“Yes.”
After hearing that, Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. “Your father is a founding member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. It is only natural that he can bring someone into Zero City.
“But… Fatty, surely you did not become an Awakened the moment you were born?!
“When you entered Zero City, you were still a little boy. You should still be an ordinary human!
“So, how did you end up becoming an Awakened?”
This was an important issue!
It was not as though Chen Xiaolian had never encountered such a situation before.
Back then, the Floating Angel Nicole was one such example.
However, Nicole had become an Awakened from the moment she was young. Back then, Nicole had been rather vague when she was explaining her circumstances. It could generally be understood that some time when Nicole was still young, an accident occurred and both her and her father became Awakened ones. Later on, they joined Zero City and were accepted into the Angel Corps. Thus, both father and daughter became members of the Angel Corps.
In other words, both father and daughter were already Awakened ones even before entering Zero City.
As for the ‘accident’ that Nicole mentioned, Chen Xiaolian speculated that it should be around the same as Han Bi’s awakening.
…
But what about Fatty?
Could it be that the child of an Awakened would automatically awaken as well?
That was unreasonable!
…
After hearing Chen Xiaolian’s question, Fatty laughed for a bit.
Then, he slowly let out a sigh. “Xiaolian… when did I tell you that I am an Awakened?”
“!!!” Chen Xiaolian was dumbfounded.
Chen Xiaolian was stunned for a good ten plus seconds before blurting out, “You are not an Awakened?!”
“Nope.”
“You… you mean to say, you are just an ordinary human?!”
“Correct.”
Fatty spoke in a provoking manner, “I am just someone who was brought into Zero City by an Awakened father. I had lived my whole life in Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s base as an ordinary human, an ordinary fatso.”
“… damn it!” Chen Xiaolian was unable to stop himself from cursing. “Then… what is up with your skill? Didn’t you say you have skills in the mechanical field?”
“Yes, what about having skills in the mechanical field? I never said that I had super skills like you Awakened ones. The mechanical skill that I am talking about is the skill I developed by growing up in this place. You know full well that this place has too many black technology. As for me, I’ve loved tinkering with electronics since my younger days. However, children in the outside world could at most tinker around with some electrical appliances, remote control toys, radio or the likes.
“As for me, the things I tinker around with during my younger days are things like Ion Beam Launchers.
“I never said I have some unique skill.
“Mm, one way of looking at it is that I am a mechanical genius who grew up surrounded by various science fictional techs.”
A group of lovable ‘son of a bitch’s stampeded through Chen Xiaolian’s mind once more.
Ordinary human!
This fatso is actually just an ordinary person?!
A super powerful resident guild of Zero City like Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had actually chosen to keep an ordinary human around?
Wait a minute!
“Fatty, you have a high level of strength. I could feel that! What is up with that?”
“Nonsense, even though I am not an Awakened, genetic strengthening agents are not that expensive. When I was still very young, my father had given them to me,” replied Fatty with a laugh.
Chen Xiaolian fell into a silent state of contemplation, his mind working hard to digest the shocking news that Fatty had revealed to him.
After a while, Chen Xiaolian finally asked, “All right then… just what is it that you want me to help you with?”
“The innermost room here is the one that my father had used as his study back then. Go inside and help me find something. I remember that it had always been placed on top of the bookcase.”
Chen Xiaolian moved inside. Sure enough, after making his way to the end of the corridor, he found a study.
The door to the study was unlocked. After opening it, he saw that it contained the same old-fashioned furnishings.
The only difference was…
After stepping into the study, Chen Xiaolian noticed that a blade was hanging on the wall.
It was a very old but simplistic looking Chinese long blade.
Its shape was somewhat similar to the Japanese military blade. However, the blade was wider and not that long.
This blade was clearly a model type of blade. Its size had been reduced compared to the genuine article.
Holding it in his hand, he felt that it was rather small.
Chen Xiaolian was unable to help himself from weighing it. It was quite heavy.
However…
“Mm?”
Chen Xiaolian’s hand suddenly recoiled.
Just now when he was fiddling with it, his thumb had accidentally applied a bit more pressure and the blade had made a small cut on his thumb, causing blood to trickle out.
“Eh? This thing is quite sharp,” said Chen Xiaolian in a puzzling manner.
This was clearly just a model, but it had managed to make a cut?
Leaning closer to inspect the blade, Chen Xiaolian saw that the pattern on the surface of the blade’s steel was very beautiful.
“The material used is good!” said Chen Xiaolian with a sigh.
“Enough, stop playing with my father’s toy. Look at the top of the bookcase, there is a mahogany box. The size is… about the same as that of an ashes casket…”
“… damn you! You really know how to make comparisons!” Chen Xiaolian clenched his teeth.
Still, that item was not that hard to find.
It was clearly placed atop the bookcase.
To Chen Xiaolian’s surprise, there was a book placed on top of the bookcase…
“Mao Zedong’s Selected Works… your old man really is a guy from that era!” said Chen Xiaolian with a sigh.
“Don’t worry about that. Did you get that box?” Fatty asked.
Chen Xiaolian weighed the box in his hand.
“I got it. It feels very light; it might be empty.”
Chen Xiaolian rattled the box but no sound was forthcoming.
“Don’t worry about that. Just bring that item to me.” A tone of impatience could be heard in Fatty’s voice.
“All right!” answered Chen Xiaolian without any hesitation.
As the box did not appear to be some rare item, he simply took it with him in his hand in a casual manner.
Unknown to him, the fine little cut he suffered from the blade earlier was now trickling out minute amounts of blood. It was as though some form of suction power was in play and little by little, the blood dropped onto and was absorbed into the mahogany box.
Due to how little the amount of blood being lost was, even Chen Xiaolian himself was unaware of what was transpiring.
“Do I just follow the same way back?” Chen Xiaolian asked loudly.
“Mm, right.” Fatty’s voice seemed to had become somewhat dejected.
Chen Xiaolian casually walked out of the study. Observing the room he said, “Fatty, your father is presently…”
“Not around.” Fatty grunted. “My father has not been around for a long time.”
“… sorry.” Chen Xiaolian felt that he had said something wrong and he whispered, “I’m very sorry.”
“Sorry your ass!” Fatty immediately became enraged. “My father is not dead! He is just missing! He’ll be back someday!”
When he heard that, Chen Xiaolian intended to apologize again. However, his heart suddenly tensed up!
A first generation member!
Not dead! Just missing for a long time!
And then there was the sharp miniature blade in the study.
“Fatty… your old man, who is he? He, he…” Chen Xiaolian suddenly thought of something…
“Ha ha ha!” Fatty said in a rather hoarse tone. “You caught on pretty quickly. I won’t hide it from you. My old man’s surname is Fan. His nickname, Skyblade! The Blade of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild!”