Chapter 229: Random Quest Cancelled

Do you consider yourself as one?

This was Ambler's answer.

Those precise words had caused Chen Xiaolian’s heart to race and his face to become twisted.

It would appear that Ambler had not answered Chen Xiaolian’s question – was he an Awakened or not.

Instead, he had answered with a question, which seemed to contain various meanings.

Do you consider yourself as one?

Chen Xiaolian was very clear that he… was not an Awakened!

If so, what did Ambler meant by answering his question with that?

Was it because he determined that Chen Xiaolian was also an Awakened, thus he had meant: You are one and thus, so am I.

Or perhaps… … he saw through Chen Xiaolian’s special identity?

Irregularity!

Presently, this was Chen Xiaolian’s biggest secret! It was also a secret that must never be leaked!

The Sword in the Stone was still in Chen Xiaolian’s hand and it weighed heavily upon his hand.

Ambler’s figure rapidly disappeared from his view.

…

“Cough cough cough…”

Culkin walked up the side of the river, struggling every step of the way. He knelt down upon the riverside with both hands placed upon the ground for support while he sputtered and coughed with all his might. Vast quantities of blood flowed out from his mouth.

Numerous fine scars had appeared upon his body and blood flowed out rapidly from the many open wounds.

That included even his eyes!

Culkin retrieved a [High] class Healing Beast Blood and swallowed it down. Then, he turned over and laid his body upon the riverside. He lay there amid the damp mud as he gasped for breath.

A few moments later, Lei Hu’s message came over through the guild channel.

"Culkin? Are you there? How are you?"

“… … alive, I didn’t die.” Culkin suddenly laughed out. He raised his head up to the sky and said, “I suddenly realized that my luck is simply bad to the extreme, yet it is also good to the extreme.”

“… … wut?”

“Only one with terribly bad luck would end up encountering that terrifying old monster from the legends in this instance dungeon. And yet, my luck is so good that I managed to escape from the old monster… … ha ha ha ha ha! He attacked me, and yet I did not die! Ha ha ha ha ha!”

"What old monster?" Lei Hu asked anxiously. "Where are you?"

"Where am I? I do not know." Culkin shook his head and asked, "How about you? How is the situation on your end?”

Lei Hu sounded relieved and he said, “There’s no problem on my end. I used my skill to lure the fellow away. After leading him around in a big circle, I shook him off.”

“Come find me right now. Remember; don’t ever return to the museum. Stay as far away from that place as possible!”

“… … very well. However, there is one issue,” said Lei Hu with a tone of frustration. “I cannot get in contact with Sasha. I fear that something might have happened to him.”

Culkin frowned and a slight cloudy look flashed across his face. However, that slight cloudy expression was quickly swept aside as he laughed out. “If there is a problem, then so be it… … ha ha ha ha ha ha! I actually managed to escape from the old monster with my life intact! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!”

“Just what are you talking about? What old monster? Who is it?”

…

“Sir Tian Lie… … that, that fellow with the umbrella, just who is… …”

Sasha quietly observed Tian Lie.

Tian Lie stared at the wreckage that was once a computer. Suddenly, he stood up, picked up a can of beer on the table and pulled it open. He gulped its content down in one gulp before exhaling long and hard.

“I do not know his name. All I know is… … among the true long-timers, seniors and masters of both the Players and Awakened ones, there is a legend about him. They all refer to him as… … Mr San (umbrella) [1].

…

An hour later…

“Mr San?”

Lei Hu stood before Culkin, his face indicating that he was somewhat lost in thought. He said, “I have never heard of that name before.”

“That is because you are still not qualified to know about his legend,” Culkin said coolly. “In fact, there are not many people who have heard about him. Even less have personally met him. Today, I got to personally meet Mr San! Humph!”

Lei Hu was seemingly unconvinced… … after all, he did not personally witness how Mr San had defeated Bai Qi. He did not witness how he had easily wounded Culkin.

It was hard for narrative alone to produce true sensation of awe.

“So, what should we do now?” Lei Hu furrowed his brows. He said, “The sacred artefact…”

“Don’t even think about it. Give up on this random quest,” said Culkin as he shook his head. “With him around, we’d better not get involved with this sacred artefact.”

As he spoke, he seemingly noticed the unconvinced expression on Lei Hu’s face. Culkin said with a solemn voice, “I am not joking. With our present level of strength, there will certainly be some existences that we cannot afford to provoke.”

“Very well, you are the Guild Leader. You have the final say.” Lei Hu exhaled. “So now, we…”

Culkin thought about it and moved to the roadside.

A car had been parked by the roadside. It was the car that Lei Hu had driven over.

Culkin gently patted the trunk of the car and struggling sounds could be heard coming from the inside.

“There is no point in keeping him anymore.” Culkin sighed.

He gently opened the trunk to reveal a middle-aged man lying inside it.

“I beg you, I beg you all! Please don’t kill me! I… …” After Culkin pulled out the piece of cloth that was stuffed into the man’s mouth, he begged over and over and swore he did not know anything. “I really do not know where that thing is! I really do not know!”

“Originally, I too did not want to hurt you. However, within the British Museum, you are the foremost expert in the research of the Norman Dynasty. Originally, I had only wanted to get you to identify that item. Unfortunately… … I have no more use for you right now.”

After saying that, Culkin showed no hesitation and used his hand to twist the man’s neck!

[System prompt: Due to the death of an important guide character, Winter Rock Guild’s quest, the search for ‘Doomsday Book’ is determined to have failed. Marks to be deducted: 100 marks.]

Despite receiving the system prompt, Culkin remained calm.

Lei Hu walked over and regarded the corpse lying within the trunk of the car. Then, he simply closed the trunk.

“Doomsday Book… … are we really not going to look for it?”

“We won’t be able to find it. The woman is likely already dead. Besides… … even if she did not die, with Mr San there, there is no chance for us.”

…

Chen Xiaolian did not know that the item that Culkin was looking for was not the Sword in the Stone. Rather, it was the ‘Doomsday Book’.

At present, Chen Xiaolian and Bei Tai had just found Lun Tai two blocks away.

Lun Tai’s mind appeared to have cleared up a little.

Once again, Lun Tai had been lured away by the Aura of Enmity skill. After he recollected himself, he felt greatly enraged and guilty.

Chen Xiaolian patted Lun Tai on his shoulder and said, “Enough. At least this time we did not suffer too much losses.”

Lun Tai sat down on the ground and thought about it. He said, “We’d better figure out what the deal is with that skill. Otherwise… … even though the skill does not have a lethal side, it can set us back a lot.”

Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and said, “I was also affected by it. When I was fighting against the man earlier, Bei Tai had locked the man up with his Air Incarceration skill. I had a clear shot at him but I suddenly changed the direction of my attack. I could not control myself at all. My attack target shifted onto the fellow who lured you away. If not for that, if that attack of mine could heavily damage that fellow who looked like Qiu Yun, we would not have suffered so badly later on.”

“Perhaps… … this enmity taunting skill is somehow connected to the degree of enmity.”

“Mm… that makes sense,” said Chen Xiaolian with a frown. “Just now, I was closer compared to you. However, the effect on you was stronger. Maybe it was because… … the enmity you have toward that man was much higher. After all, he did cause your little brother to lose an arm.”

“Also, the body technique he used to escape was very fast. He is an Agility type of opponent,” said Lun Tai with a sigh.

“The most important aspect is still that Ambler!” said Chen Xiaolian with a solemn face.

He recounted what happened after Lun Tai was lured away. As he listened, Lun Tai’s face gradually became heavy.

However, it was apparent that neither Lun Tai nor Bei Tai had heard of the legends regarding ‘Mr San’. Thus, they were unable to tell anything.

At that moment, Lun Tai, Bei Tai and Chen Xiaolian had the same impression of Ambler: immeasurably powerful.

“It seems we may have encountered an incredibly powerful fellow. Perhaps he is an extremely senior Awakened,” said Lun Tai after he considered it. “However… … I do not know much about the masters in the legends. Although Bei Tai and I have been through no small number of instance dungeons, our strength is only average. Thus…”

Pausing for a moment, he turned to look at Chen Xiaolian and said, “Xian Yin…”

“I’ve already moved Xian Yin’s corpse into the museum.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “The Sword in the Stone is in my hands. However, that Ambler told me to go look for him after this instance dungeon is complete. He will wait one day at the museum for me. Other than that, he did not say anything else.”

“Pulling out the soul… … remodel a new body?” Lun Tai sucked in a deep breath and said, “Something like this is at a level that not even we could imagine.”

Chen Xiaolian had a complicated expression on his face.

Unlike Lun Tai, he had more things to consider.

Xian Yin had died.

In other words, following the completion of this instance dungeon, the London area will be refreshed. According to the laws of the system, a new ‘Countess’ will be refreshed out.

Which meant that… … Miao Yan will obtain a new Exclusive Account, an NPC that was the same as before.

However… … the original Xian Yin’s soul was currently within his Sword in the Stone.

If Ambler was right and a fleshly body could be remodelled out…

Then… … doesn’t that mean… … later on, there will be…

One Miao Yan and one Xian Yin?

Moreover, when Miao Yan is not taking over her body, this world will have two Countesses?

This… this is really giving me a headache.

Then, Chen Xiaolian received a message from the system.

[System prompt: You have obtained the complete version of the Sword in the Stone. The next random quest to be issued is automatically cancelled. Unable to obtain marks from the random quest].

[System prompt: Important storyline character, the Norman Countess had died. Automatically cancelling all series of ‘Search for sacred artefact’ in this instance dungeon and all related random quests].

[System prompt: Meteor Rock Guild has completed the Sword in the Stone by piecing it together ahead of time. Each participating member will receive additional reward: 500 points].

[System prompt: The random quests phase will end in 24 hours. Please take note when the information for the next phase of the instance dungeon is issued out].

“It seems we’ve gotten ourselves 24 hours of resting time.” Chen Xiaolian gave a sigh of relief.

1 The word San (伞) here means umbrella.↩