Chapter 183: Strange Name

“Yes,” The chauffeur took a deep breath and said. “For this time’s instance dungeon, a third-party might participate in it.”

“Third-party?” Chen Xiaolian became puzzled. “I do not understand? What do you mean by third-party?”

“Neither a Player nor an Awakened,” The chauffeur slowly answered. “It has come to my attention that the system had generated several special accounts. Based on past experience, these special accounts are settings made by the Development Team. They are special accounts used to enter the game.”

“GM?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. He asked. “Doesn’t that make them the same as you?”

“No no no, I am not an account. I am a management program within the system itself,” The chauffeur answered slowly. “This special account… how should I put it… it is similar to a specially assigned investigator, an overseer or inspector… something along those lines.

“At times, these special accounts would be generated in order to inspect whether or not an instance dungeon is working normally. It is also used to test out an instance dungeon to find BUGs. If anything irregular is detected, they can make a report to make changes etc…

“It is similar to a… pipe cleaner, a member of the investigation team.”

Chen Xiaolian was shocked.

“What is that supposed to mean? An official minister sent by the government? How are the Players and Awakened ones supposed to fight under such circumstances? They might as well just surrender,” Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly.

“This is a different matter,” The chauffeur said coolly. “Naturally, this special account has special abilities. However, the special abilities will not be overpowered to the point of tipping the balance of the game. Rather… in certain areas, they will have functions that are different from the game participants. For example, an immortal body, special protection by the system or access to special password for clearance right from the beginning… and so on and so forth. My point being, this special account would usually not find itself in too much of a conflict with Players. Also, its objective is not to complete the instance dungeon quest and it will not compete against Players for resources.

“Naturally, there would only be no conflict when they are facing Players. If they meet Awakened ones, they won’t hold back and would kill.

“Generally speaking though, these special accounts would hide themselves and do their best not to expose themselves.”

After saying that, the chauffeur looked at Chen Xiaolian. “As for you, you should practice caution. If you encounter a special account, you would do well to keep your head down. Do not let them find out that you are different. Otherwise, I need not tell you what the consequences would be.”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart became heavy and he sighed. “It’s getting even more complicated.”

“This occurrence does not happen all too often. Although, it does routinely happen,” The chauffeur smiled and patted Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder. He then retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up. Taking a puff, he said. “Don’t worry; I will give you some special treatment.”

“Oh?”

“I cannot give you too many benefits. As part of the system, I cannot undermine and go against the fundamental directives of the system. I can only make use of loopholes to give you some benefits, within certain limits of course. Take for example, the Exchange System.”

Chen Xiaolian was quick to speak out. “That is right! Last time, you said you would compensate me for that. Now, you should be able to do it, right?”

“Don’t you already have a humanoid discount card?”

“But, if I have to go through others whenever I want to buy something, as time goes on, the risk of exposure becomes higher. Besides, Xia Xiaolei won’t be following me into an instance dungeon every time. When he is not around, if I am to ask other guild members to help me purchase something…”

“Your compensation will arrive soon. That I promise you,” The chauffeur took another puff and the smoke exhaled covered his eyes from sight. “This time, after you enter the instance dungeon, your personal Exchange System will be opened. It is something I made for you using the loophole in the system. However, there will still be some restrictions.”

Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Restrictions? I knew it. Spit it out then, what is the restriction.”

“… your Exchange System can only be opened during instance dungeon periods. It will be unusable during normal times,” The chauffeur slowly said. “When an instance dungeon is opened, the instance dungeon and its surrounding areas will be separated from this world. Thus, the amount of surveillance placed upon it would be less.”

Chen Xiaolian considered it.

If it could only be used during instance dungeon period, then so be it. At the very least, it was still better than having none.

“For this London instance dungeon, I will be able to use this Exchange System?”

“Err… the function of the Exchange System that you get might differ slightly from other Awakened ones,” The chauffeur threw a glance at Chen Xiaolian. There was seemingly an expression of guilt in his eyes. “I won’t go into the specifics for now. When the time comes, you will understand. Additionally… the types of items available are somewhat reduced. Naturally, some necessary items would still be available. It’s just that, for weapons, equipment, skills, materials and the likes, those would not be complete. Additionally, there will also be… a slight difference.”

After saying that, he saw Chen Xiaolian glaring at him and he quickly added. “However, I will continue to help you fill in the missing items. That takes time, so we’ll have to proceed step by step.”

The two of them got onto the MPV once more and Chen Xiaolian had the chauffeur drive him back to the hotel.

After getting into the MPV, the chauffeur no longer said anything. Moreover… after a moment of silence, Chen Xiaolian regarded the chauffeur from behind. This action of his caused a peculiar reaction from the fellow.

“Mr? Is there any problem with my service?”

“… … no,” Chen Xiaolian sighed.

He knew that the GM had left.

The MPV’s stereo was still playing John Lennon’s song. The chauffeur hesitated for a bit before asking in a low tone. “Do I need to turn off the music?”

Chen Xiaolian raised his eyebrows. “No, just leave it open, It is quite a good song.”

After listening for a few minutes, he began to hum gently along with the rhythm.

“{Imagine_theres_no_heaven ...}”

Hmm, this game world really have no Heaven… perhaps, even Hell does not exist.

…

In the evening, just before 10 o’clock…

In the hotel room, Chen Xiaolian, Lun Tai and Bei Tai had finished the necessary preparations. The three of them left the hotel room and walked toward the parking area. There, they got onto a car that they had prepared early on.

“Let’s start!” Bei Tai, this reckless fellow appeared to be in a very excited state.  He exclaimed. “London baby!”

“Bei Tai, shut your mouth!” Lun Tai frowned. “Be vigilant! Don’t go play around with your life!”

Bei Tai grumbled. “This is not the first time though.”

Chen Xiaolian sat at the front passenger position and he silently stared outside the window.

“Guild Leader, has the information regarding the instance dungeon been sent over?” Lun Tai asked.

“It has,” Chen Xiaolian furrowed his eyebrows and he quickly sent the details through the guild channel.

…

[System prompt: London instance dungeon has been opened. This instance dungeon number is D066. This instance dungeon will involve the accumulation of marks and Players will enter immediately after the instance dungeon is opened, no delay in time of arrival.

[The first phase of the quest is a random quest.

[Quests will be distributed at random…

[Meteor Rock Guild’s selected quest: Please rush to the following address within 30 minutes, Whitechapel in East London. After entering the Whitechapel area within 30 minutes, you will receive the follow-up quest prompt. If you fail to arrive at the location within 30 minutes, please wait for the next random quest to be issued. Also, marks will be deducted.

[Prompt: In the first phase, completing the random quest will garner you marks for this instance dungeon. These marks will serve an important role in the following phases and the ranking of the participants.

[Meteor Rock Guild’s current marks: 0 marks.]

Random quests, marks…

All those key points appear to be very important.

Chen Xiaolian pondered it through. “The quests are randomly distributed while the completion of one will garner us marks. If we are unable to reach the designated location, our marks will be deducted… if I have to guess, if we fail to complete the random quest, we will also suffer from a deduction of marks.”

Pausing, Chen Xiaolian quickly continued. “There should be a considerable number of those random quests… I think, the number of Players and Awakened ones participating in this instance dungeon should be quite big. I wonder if there is any overlap in the random quests we receive.”

“Hard to say,” The veteran Lun Tai forwarded his opinion. “This time, there is no delay to the arrival time for Players… in other words…”

“Perhaps there is no competition involved in this first phase of random quests. Thus, the system did not place a delay in the arrival time of Players,” Chen Xiaolian slowly said.

Bei Tai shouted. “Who cares! What is the location of the address? We should go there first!”

“Let’s move out! We’ll get to the first random quest first! Otherwise, we will have our marks deducted. We presently have 0 marks. If a deduction happens, it will become negative,” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head.

Lun Tai quickly started up the car and activated the GPS navigation system.

Under the night sky, their car rushed out of the underground warehouse and galloped through the streets of London.

Target location: Whitechapel in East London!

…

In the history of the UK, East London was a long-time slums area, one associated with the words backward, poor and dirty.

However, during the London Olympics… because the Olympics were to be held in the East London area, the UK government implemented a thorough transformation of the East London area, giving it a vast face-lift.

The car quickly charged its way to Whitechapel in East London. Seeing a junction, they stopped the car before the entrance to a subway station.

To Chen Xiaolian and his team’s surprise, another car rapidly charged forward from a distance away on the street in the quiet night. When the car came to a halt, the harsh sound of brakes rang out and it came to a stop by the side of the street.

“Looks like we have someone on the same path as us!” Lun Tai grunted. He turned his gaze out through the window to look at the other car. The one driving the car was giving them a cold stare.

Peng peng.

The doors of the car were opened and several people jumped down from the car. The number of people on their side was clearly higher than them, a total of five.

The driver was a lean man who wore a leather vest on his body and a large belt. He tied up several knife sheathes on his arm; all of them were filled with daggers.

The other two wore black suits and fedoras. They were actually a pair of twins who looked exactly the same.

The most conspicuous one among them was a thickset man with towering stature. He sported a short hairstyle and his muscles rippled outward explosively. As he was jumping down from the car, his hand was also gripping onto a hammer – most peculiarly though, was that a monkey was placed on his shoulder.

The monkey was wearing mini-sized clothes and it chattered about a few times. Then, it climbed up to the thickset man’s head and shrank its body.

The thickset man stepped forward before turning sideways, making way for the female coming down behind him.

It was a young woman.

Almost instantly, the young woman attracted everyone’s gazes!

There was no need for words. This young woman standing before them was definitely a calamitous beauty with no equal [1]!

She had a tall, exquisitely slender body with ample breasts and shapely waist. It almost seemed as though a breeze could blow her away. She had long, black coloured hair with a slight natural curl. Her face was flawless and extremely delicate despite not having the slightest makeup on it. Her fine and delicate white skin exhibited a rosy flush of youth and vitality. Her eyelashes were long and a pair of bright eyes added to her beauty. A casual glance exuded an indescribably gentle charm.

She was the most beautiful woman that Chen Xiaolian had ever laid his eyes upon!

Appearance wise, this young woman’s beauty had surpassed both Qiao Qiao and Miao Yan!

Chen Xiaolian had never seen such a beautiful young woman before!

As Chen Xiaolian was observing her, the young woman’s eyes swept over. After sweeping over the three of them, her eyes then locked on decisively onto Chen Xiaolian.

Both sides were separated by a street and they stared at each other. There was a faint atmosphere of confrontation in the air.

Both Lun Tai and Bei Tai were quietly getting ready for a fight.

At that moment, the young woman pursed her lips and smiled.

That smile of hers seemingly wiped away the tense atmosphere, leaving no trace of it behind.

The young woman maintained her smile and crossed the street. Taking wide strides, she walked over.

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. He determined that the young woman’s eyes held no traces of hostility and gestured to Lun Tai and Bei Tai not to take action. Then, he took a few steps forward.

“Same kind?” The young woman asked. Her voice was sweet and gentle, without being repulsive. Although she had a soft and charming face, her words were spoken with gentleness and attention. “Are you not going to introduce yourself?”

Chen Xiaolian considered her words and said. “Same kind? How would you know?”

“What is the difference?” The young woman’s eyes revealed a smiling expression. “Not all Players are hostile toward Awakened ones.”

“You did not answer my question,” Chen Xiaolian said with care.

“We are Awakened ones,” The young woman showed no qualms about answering the question. “By my guess, you fellows are also Awakened ones.”

Chen Xiaolian had wanted to ask her: How did you know that?

Before he could forward his question, the young woman had already stretched out one hand and said. “Let’s introduce each other. The one standing behind me, the driver’s name is Dagger. The one with the pet is called Monster. As for the two fellows with the same appearances, they are the Titan brothers. Don’t ask me who is the older brother and who is the younger brother. Truth be told, there are times when even I get confused.”

After saying that the young woman deliberately winked.

Chen Xiaolian did not say anything. He shook hands with her and immediately let go. He could feel the softness of her slender fingers.

“The two fellows behind me is Lun Tai and Bei Tai. They are also brothers.”

The young woman smiled. “What interesting names. What about you?”

“Chen Xiaolian, Meteor Rock Guild Leader.”

The young woman appeared shocked for a moment. Then, she smiled. “Meteor Rock Guild? If I recall correctly, your Guild Leader should be Qiu Yun.”

“I am the Guild Leader now,” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. He was not interested in delving too deep into it.

“Well then, Guild Leader Chen Xiaolian,” The young woman smiled. “We are the Coffeehouse Guild. I am the Guild Leader. My name is… Phoenix.”

Phoenix?

What a… strange name.

…

…

Dagger. Raw: ‘匕首’, pinyin: ‘bǐ shǒu’.

Monster. Raw: ‘怪兽’, pinyin: ‘guài shòu’.

Titan. Raw: ‘泰坦’, pinyin: ‘tài tǎn’.

Phoenix. Raw: ‘凤凰’, pinyin: ‘fèng huáng’.

1 An idiom indicating that a woman is so beautiful, she could cause kingdoms to collapse. This usually happens when 2 or more kings catch sight of said woman… or princes… you get the idea…↩