Chapter 204: Thing of Legend

“Well then, that means our cooperation was a success and is now over.”

Phoenix stood up and her gaze swept its way toward Chen Xiaolian. Looking into his eyes, she said, “Although I know you are concealing something from me… that is not important. I have no interest in exploring other people’s secret.”

After saying that, Phoenix smiled. “I have to say, this has been a very enjoyable partnership, Guild Leader Chen Xiaolian. Hopefully, we won’t meet as enemies next time.”

Chen Xiaolian too, stood up. He looked back into Phoenix’s eyes and said, “… … I wish you good luck.”

“That is hard to predict.” Phoenix shook her head and replied, “I have never been a huge believer of luck – I mean, if our world is an artificial world, then the so-called luck may just be a form of rule set by the system.”

“… … …” Chen Xiaolian did not say anything in return.

“Until next time.”

Phoenix waved goodbye to Chen Xiaolian.

Her team members: Monster, the Titan brothers and Dagger were standing not far away. Dagger threw a baleful glare toward Chen Xiaolian before turning his head away.

“Guild Leader, can I kill that brat?” Bei Tai muttered.

“Don’t go around causing a havoc. Our instance dungeon is not over,” said Lun Tai who went to pat his younger brother’s head.

…

Before Phoenix left, Chen Xiaolian moved to shake hands with her. Unexpectedly, the young woman stepped closer and gave him a brief, gentle hug. She then smiled. “Try to live longer oh.”

Phoenix and the others quickly left. They moved straight on without showing any hesitation.

Back in the warehouse, there were two other fellows beside Chen Xiaolian and his team.

Dr Mu and… Colombo.

A cold corpse was all that was left of Colombo now. His spirit body had been absorbed utterly by Bai Qi.

As for Dr Mu, he appeared to still be in an unconscious state.

“Do we need to get him to a hospital?” asked Lun Tai as he turned to look at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian considered the suggestion. Then, he shook his head. “This London instance dungeon had yet to end. If we send him to the hospital, the police will come. That might cause problems for us.”

He recalled what Colombo had said back then. He had only used a powerful and concentrated anaesthetic agent on Dr Mu. Thus, Chen Xiaolian decided against sending Dr Mu to the hospital.

“Find someplace to let him rest. Then… we’ll leave. Hmm, after the instance dungeon ends, everything should end up being refreshed.”

They were currently in London. Under these circumstances, for Chen Xiaolian and his team who were clearly Chinese people, looking for a hotel to stay in would prove quite difficult.

As the London instance dungeon had yet to end, London was still not refreshed. Due to that… the Jack the Ripper’s case had resulted in the police looking for them.

The three of them left the warehouse and Chen Xiaolian brought out a spare car from his Storage Watch. As they were getting on the car, Chen Xiaolian carried Dr Mu with him and placed him in the back seat of the car. He unintentionally reached into his pocket and felt something solid.

He pulled it out to inspect it…

A hexagram pattern.

Universal Access Badge?

Chen Xiaolian immediately recalled how Phoenix had given him a hug before leaving.

As he gripped the badge. Chen Xiaolian could not help but fall into a daze.

“Where do we go now?” asked Bei Tai, who was seated in the driver’s seat.

“… … just try to find a hotel.” Chen Xiaolian held on tight to the badge.

With this badge, things will become much easier.

Utilizing the badge, Chen Xiaolian was able to casually get a room in a hotel – even though he did not produce any documents to identify himself, no one became suspicious of him.

“This item is simply too useful,” said Chen Xiaolian with a sigh.

After placing Dr Mu in the hotel room and placing the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on, Chen Xiaolian left the hotel.

“Where do we go to next? Have the next phase of the quest been issued?” Within the car, the three of them rolled down the windows and breathed in the humid air coming from the outside.

It was presently past ten o’clock at night.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the time and said, “It should be coming soon.”

“Hopefully the second phase of the quest won’t be too difficult…”

“I wonder what the marks are for.”

The two brothers, Lun Tai and Bei Tai muttered.

It was at that instant that the system sent over a prompt.

[System prompt: Congratulations to Meteor Rock Guild for completing the first phase of the random quests x1.

[Second random quest issued is as follows: Please arrive at the Tower of London within 30 minutes.

[By arriving within the Tower of London area within 30 minutes, you will be able to acquire the follow-up prompt for this quest. If you fail to arrive there within 30 minutes, please wait for the next issue of random quests. The corresponding amount of marks will be deducted.

[Prompt: Completing random quests will garner you marks for this instance dungeon. Marks will play an important role in the follow-up phase of the quest and the ranking of the participants.

[Meteor Rock Guild’s current accumulated marks: 200 marks.]

“Tower of London?” Chen Xiaolian frowned and shared the system prompt with Lun Tai and Bei Tai. None of them was able to figure any clues out from there.

In the last random quest, the destination area was Whitechapel. Hearing the name, one could associate it with Jack the Ripper’s case… as for the Tower of London, it was an infamous ancient building in the UK. Trying to guess the contents of the next quest was no easy matter.

That was due to the amount of history contained within the Tower of London, one spanning up to a thousand years. Countless well-known historical events had occurred there… to speculate which one of those would be selected by the system to be the quest’s storyline would be too much of a task for Chen Xiaolian – even though he was a web writer who had read up on many information regarding the Tower of London, it was still too much for him.

“We’ll discuss about it after we get there!” Chen Xiaolian decided. “We’ll know the results in 30 minutes time.”

…

The Tower of London, located on the north of the River Thames and also situated near the famed London Bridge.

It had nearly a thousand years’ worth of history contained within.

This place was originally a military fortress. The origin of this place was somewhat interesting.

Roughly a thousand years ago, the King of England died, leaving no heir behind. Thus, the England noble Harold was appointed as the King.

That incident infuriated a certain fellow.

To be more exact, it was a certain Frenchman, the French Duke of Normandy. It was a fellow named William – this fellow was the cousin of the deceased King of England.

Thus, he became dissatisfied.

Damn it! The one to inherit the throne should have been ME!

It had to be said, in the history of Europe’s medieval period, the lineage of the various royals were very chaotic. Due to various matchmakings and marriages, the royal members of each kingdom were pretty much related to each other.

Thus, the Duke of Normandy did something incredible.

Invade England through the seas!

Hmm, he was the Duke of Normandy, that Normandy of France… the same one in the famed Allied Invasion of Normandy in World War II.

The Tower of London was constructed by this incredible person during the war – back then, he had already landed upon England and begun his attacks on the people of England. He had some men construct a military fortress at the north bank of the River Thames. This was in preparation for him to enter London and be crowned as King.

And so, the Tower of London was built.

In the beginning, this place was used as a military fortress. Then, it was slowly given other functions: military armoury, treasury, mint, palace…

On the way there, Chen Xiaolian told Lun Tai and Bei Tai everything he knew about the history of the Tower of London.

The two of them clearly did not know about that. However, hearing that the Tower of London was built by a Frenchman, they became curious.

“The Frenchman actually became the King of England?” Bei Tai stared.

“Yes, he was William, the Duke of Normandy. More accurately, he could not exactly be considered a Frenchman. Additionally… the royalty of Europe, their relations were interlinked and their lineage was a chaotic mess.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “However, he did indeed conquer England and become its King. His crown was passed down to four generations. In the history of the UK, the period of time was known as the Norman Dynasty.”

“I still don’t get it… some French dude actually conquered England. Did he bring a large army with him or something?” Lun Tai asked.

Chen Xiaolian considered the question and answered, “I am not too knowledgeable on this matter. However… from what I’ve read, his army was not that large. There were only around 10,000 men. Additionally… a large portion of it consisted of mercenaries.

“During the battle against the England army, William was extremely fortunate. It was said that the King of England was coincidentally shot down by an arrow in the middle of the battlefield. After hearing the news that their King had died, majority of the England army chose to retreat.”

“So, he was an extremely lucky fellow?” Lun Tai laughed.

“Hell knows. I am not an expert on UK history,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a smile.

At approximately eleven o’clock, their car arrived near the Tower of London.

The place had become one of the most famous attractions in London and it played host to millions of visitors each year.

At night, the Tower of London was naturally closed.

The street was very narrow… in fact; most of the streets in London were very narrow.

They parked their car by the street; Chen Xiaolian and his team members were in no hurry to get down from the car. Instead, they waited quietly for the next system quest to be issued.

Then, another car drove over from the other direction.

It was a black coloured Land Rover. The car was stopped opposite of Chen Xiaolian and his team. Soon, two men stepped out from the car.

One of them was an average looking figure wearing a thick outer suit commonly worn by people of the UK.

The other man had a larger stature, with a rather bulbous nose on his face.

The Briton with the average stature, who was standing far away, cast his gaze at Chen Xiaolian. A peculiar smile appeared on his face.

He even waved his hand toward Chen Xiaolian.

“… …could it be? Will we have partners for this time’s quest as well?” Chen Xiaolian was momentarily surprised.

The other party appeared very genial. He had a very wide smile on his face as he simply crossed the street to approach them.

He strode until he was standing before Chen Xiaolian. Then, he gently rapped the car window.

“Hi!”

…

Tian Lie stood outside the car with a smile on his face as he looked at Chen Xiaolian who was seated inside.

Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment. Then, he opened the car door and stepped out. Lun Tai and Bei Tai were quick to follow suit and they stood vigilantly behind Chen Xiaolian.

“What a coincidence. Did you also come here to accept the quest?” asked Tian Lie with squinted eyes.

Chen Xiaolian regarded the Briton before him whom he had never met before. He had a feeling that there was something weird about the warm-hearted expression on his face.

“Looks like we are the same type,” said Tian Lie. He turned his head around to look at the man with bulbous nose, who was standing behind. “This is my companion; his name is Jean, a Frenchman. We are also here after receiving the random quest telling us to come to this Tower of London. You guys too, right?”

“… …yes.” Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a bit. However, after the cooperation with Phoenix’s guild, he had become more experienced in dealing with such a situation. “We are from Meteor Rock Guild. I am the Guild Leader, Chen Xiaolian. If you don’t mind me asking, you are…”

"My name is Conan."

Cough cough cough cough!

Chen Xiaolian nearly choked on his own saliva!

“What? Your name is what again?”

“Conan,” Tian Lie answered with a smile. “The Conan from Conan Doyle, the fellow who wrote the Sherlock Holmes book.”

All right then…

As long as you are not the little kid with the big bowtie who brings death wherever you go, everything will be fine [1]!

Chen Xiaolian sighed. He then attempted to sound him out. “In other words… we received the same random quest?”

“It seems like it,” Tian Lie replied with a rather perplexing tone of voice. He continued, “This is truly surprising.”

Chen Xiaolian did not catch the other meaning in the other person’s tone. He considered for a moment before looking at the fellow before him. He asked, “If so… a cooperation?”

Tian Lie’s eyes exhibited a smiling look and he extended his hand out. “A cooperation!”

At the same time, the system prompt arrived.

[System prompt: Your team has successfully arrived at the designated area within the specified time. Acquisition of this random quest is successful. The random quest is follows:

[Enter the Tower of London and acquire the thing of legend!

[{ONLY_ THE_ KING_ CAN_ TAKE_ THE_ SWORD_ FROM_ THE_ STONE!}

[Quest must be completed before the first ray of dawn. Otherwise, you will have failed the quest and the corresponding amount of marks will be deducted. If all the team members die in the course of performing the quest, the quest will be considered a failure and the corresponding marks will be deducted.]

Thing of legend?

{ONLY_ THE_ KING_ CAN_ TAKE_ THE_ SWORD_ FROM_ THE_ STONE!}

Chen Xiaolian was shocked.

This thing ... ... isn’t it something that exists only in the legends? This is not true history oyy!

…

1 He is referring to the protagonist from the Japanese detective manga series Conan.↩

TL: If any of you are wondering why there is no references for the England history parts, all I can say is … … … nope! #homersimpsonnope#