Chapter 131: Recognition and Trust

“I’ll be damned!”

Roddy slammed his foot down on the brake and their minibus halted in the middle of the road.

The monsters far away bolted toward them. The distance between them was now only an estimated 100 metres.

Chen Xiaolian jumped into the bus through the window.

“What now?” Roddy turned his head to look at Chen Xiaolian.

“Hurry up and turn around!” Lun Tai shouted. “There’s too many of them!”

“No!” Chen Xiaolian’s eyes struggled momentarily. Then, he gritted his teeth and shouted. “Roddy! Start it up and charge forward! Forward at full speed! We cannot retreat!”

“What?” Lun Tai was furious. “Xiaolian, did you not see…”

“Listen to me and do as I say! There is no time to explain! Everyone, pay attention! Qiao Qiao, look after Takeuchi Mikiko! Lun Tai, Bei Tai, take care of the two sides. I will take care of the front. Nicole, you take the centre!”

Lun Tai’s face distorted but he finally said in a firm tone. “All right, you are the Guild Leader!”

Their vehicle roared and they charged forward!

Bei Tai’s arm was covered in blood. But he clenched his teeth and used his other arm to hold his weapon. “All right! Chen Xiaolian! We will trust you on this one! Hopefully, you are not making a mistake!”

Chen Xiaolian did not have the time to explain as he leapt to the front. Standing beside Roddy, he slammed open the side window and opened fire wildly.

Chug chug chug chug

The sound of gunfire rang out without respite and the minibus barrelled forth like a monster!

The minibus raced forward at full speed. Its horsepower and weight came together to turn it into a tank like existence!

The monsters ran toward them across the surface of the road. The minibus charged into the incoming crowd of monsters, first sending several monsters flying away, some of them directly falling off the bridge.

Next, the minibus steamrolled its way through!

The body of their vehicle shook continuously and the sharp shrieks of the monsters rang out from the outside. Chen Xiaolian spared a glance at the rear view mirror and saw that no small number of monsters was sent rolling backwards after emerging from under the wheels of their minibus.

“Take care of the two sides!”

Chen Xiaolian yelled out.

Although the minibus was charging ahead at full speed, monsters were still climbing up the two sides! These monsters possessed tall bodies, long arms and legs. Their fingers curved into sharp hooks and they easily pierced through the metal body of the bus! Their fingers were like hooks!

Some monsters hung onto the two sides of the vehicle and the vehicle’s movement lurched non-stop.

Lun Tai had already opened up a window, unleashing a barrage of bullets madly. The monsters were struck one after another as they fell down…

Bei Tai’s side was more pressing. He could only use one hand to hold onto his rifle and open fire, causing a reduction in his accuracy. Seeing that two monsters had climbed onto their bus and were about to enter through the windows, Chen Xiaolian rushed to the side. As his submachine gun had run out of bullets, Chen Xiaoian just pulled out his PS9 semi-automatic and pointed it at the monster’s forehead.

“Get out of my car!”

Bang bang bang bang bang…

In just one breath of time, Chen Xiaolian emptied his magazine and the monster was forced off the bus!

Then, he turned around to see that a monster had entered and was pressing down on Bei Tai. Showing no hesitation, Chen Xiaolian summoned out Bone Crusher Axe. Seeing that he would not reach Bei Tai in time, he chose to hurl the axe forward!

With a bang, the Bone Crusher Axe hacked into the monster’s head from behind! After having its head cleaved into, the monster’s body tilted to the side and Bei Tai let out a sigh of relief. He turned his body and rolled out of the way.

Nicole stepped forward, her Remington shotgun firing out consecutively and the monster was turned into Swiss cheese.

Boom!

Their bus had smashed aside the two police cars obstructing the road, punching out a gap in the middle of the two police cars and breaking out of the closure…

“Victory is in sight!”

Chen Xiaolian panted and howled out in a loud voice. “Finish off the last of them!”

There were still monsters crawling in from the two sides of the bus. Lun Tai frantically emptied his ammunition at them. Qiao Qiao was kneeling beside Takeuchi Mikiko and she fired at the monsters to repel them.

Chen Xiaolian was no longer able to help out much and he summoned out Garfield instead.

The Four-Eyed War Cats appeared within the vehicle, their massive bodies taking up nearly half the available space of the bus!

Garfield whose evolution had given him metallic claws, roared out and launched a Tiger Rush at a monster, pinning it down on the floor! His pair of claws instantly crushed the monster’s sternum. Opening his huge mouth, Garfield tore the monster in half!

There were three Garfield doppelgangers. The other doppelgangers quickly made short work of the other monsters who managed to slip into the bus. Feeling exhausted, Chen Xiaolian could only sit on the floor and gasp for breath. Even though he saw that the dangers have been eliminated, he dared not summon back Garfield. Instead, he had Garfield sit inside the bus.

Chen Xiaolian gasped for breath and glanced at his own body.

In the fight earlier, the monsters had clawed at several areas of his body, each leaving bloody cuts on him.

“Son of a bitch… I won’t get infected like Resident Evil, will I?” Chen Xiaolian grumbled.

“We charged through!”

Roddy who was seated in the driver’s seat was also sweating all over, seemingly exhausted. He shouted out. “We managed to charge through!”

Their vehicle rapidly moved out of the bridge and onto flat ground. They sped hastily through the road – no monsters or police cars chased them anymore.

“Water, can someone give me water?” Chen Xiaolian sighed.

The adjacent Qiao Qiao had already unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it over. Chen Xiaolian gulped down several mouthfuls of water. Then, he poured the remainder onto his wounds. After pondering, he decided not to use Healing Type Beast Blood – superficial injuries such as these can be recovered quickly, given his [B] Class Physique.

Bei Tai’s injuries were somewhat heavy. He had been constantly getting the short end of the stick since last night.

First, the car driven by the Angel Killer, Tian Lie, had pummelled him. In the battle just then, no one suffered much. However, Bei Tai had once again been accidentally wounded.

Lun Tai had already taken out a first-aid kit to bandage his wounds. Just as he was about to give Bei Tai a Healing Type Beast Blood, Nicole stopped Lun Tai’s hand. She produced an item and handed it over. “Use this, its effect will be better than Healing Beast Blood. This is a medicine produced by Zero City. Also… you probably do not know this. Using too much Healing Beast Blood will put a big burden on the body.”

“… thank you,” Lun Tai looked at Nicole and said in a solemn manner.

Nicole smiled. Then, she turned to face Chen Xiaolian. “Now… can you please explain, Sir Temporary Guild Leader? Back then, you clearly could order a retreat for us to avoid those monsters. Why do you insist on going forward?”

Chen Xiaolian looked at Nicole and then at the grim-faced Lun Tai.

Chen Xiaolian slowly spoke out. “I do not have sufficient evidence. However, I believe in my judgement. The reason I wanted to move forward is… her!”

Chen Xiaolian pointed at Takeuchi Mikiko.

“The police cars were adamantly following us, refusing to back away. Not only that, other police cars were also lured over… I deduced that our vehicle may have something, which lured those monsters over,” Chen Xiaolian quickly explained. “Then, there is the blockade on the bridge. The police-turned-monsters were originally stumbling about in the area. However, once we got close, they seemingly became mad and charged over. I believe that they were attracted by something.”

“I believe this source of attraction is this person that we should protect.”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian glanced around. Seeing no one objecting, he continued. “The quest given by the system had clearly stated, our quest target will face threats to her life. As of now, it appears that those monsters are it. These monsters will be attracted by the quest target and they will attempt to kill her.

“While we were on the way earlier, there were only two police cars chasing after us. Then, it became four… if we had turned back when we were on the bridge and return to that district, I fear… we might attract even more of those monsters over!

“The road that we have taken… that district will certainly contain even more monsters who have gathered together to chase after us. If we were to turn back at that juncture… I fear that our situation would not be any better compared to that of the bridge!

“Our objective is to escort her to the designated location as soon as possible. Since that is the case… rather than turn back, why not charge forward?

“If we had turned around back then… that would give the monsters more time to assemble their forces. The gravity of our situation would only increase!”

Just then, Chen Xiaolian suddenly received a prompt from the system.

[System prompt: Meteor Rock Guild has successfully reached their quest target and made contact with the hunters. Second phase’s storyline activated. After five minutes, bio-transformed monsters will appear throughout Tokyo City. Area of effect: All instance dungeon area within Tokyo].

Chen Xiaolian remained silent and shared the prompt with his team.

Following several seconds of silence, Nicole opened her mouth.

“You were right,” Nicole nodded her head. “If we had turned back around, we would be in trouble. Bloody Hell… the entirety of Tokyo will transform into monsters? If we had turned back earlier, we will be trapped inside the city district! Just consider how many people are there within Tokyo. Those endless waves of monsters would pounce on us from all directions…”

Lun Tai suddenly stood up and walked to stand before Chen Xiaolian.

He then extended his right hand towards Chen Xiaolian.

“From now on, I will recognize you as a true Guild Leader! I will also fully accept any order you give!”

Chen Xiaolian looked into Lun Tai’s eyes and he slowly grasped his right hand. “Thank you for your trust!”

“Your actions have earned my trust!” Lun Tai nodded his head.

“Enough! Are you two adult males done creeping us out?”

Roddy who was driving suddenly turned his head and shouted. “Where do we go next? There is a main intersection up ahead.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and walked up towards Roddy. Taking out the map, he gave it to Roddy to peruse.

“Saitama Prefecture, Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel!”

“What? That legendary infamous underground drainage system of Tokyo? The place known as the ‘Underground City’?” Roddy was instantly excited.

Chen Xiaolian left the map with Roddy and walked back into the bus. He then sat before Takeuchi Mikiko.

“Can I talk to you?”

Chen Xiaolian did his best to use a steady tone to speak out.

Takeuchi Mikiko grasped her head, burying her head down. She shook her head vigorously and cried out as she trembled. “I beg you, I beg you to let me go! I beg you, please just let me go! I want to go home… I don’t need your money anymore. I don’t need any of them! I want to go home! I beg you…”

…