Chapter 328: Nicole

The metal door of the base opened up and Chen Xiaolian was the first to walk out.

The light outside was dim and Chen Xiaolian who stood in the doorway looked around before heaving a sigh of relief.

They were in an underground parking lot. While it was unknown how far deep down they were and their surroundings appeared to be rather aged, judging by the English words written on the walls, he believed that they had returned to the real world.

As Chen Xiaolian walked out, Roddy and Nagase Komi followed behind him.

There was a very anxious expression on Nagase Komi’s face. She quickly used her guild channel to contact Sawakita Mitsuo. Immediately after, her face turned ugly to behold. She had not gotten any reply.

Chen Xiaolian said in a whisper, “You can’t contact him? Don’t worry. There is a saying, no news is good news. Check your guild channel for system prompts. Normally, if someone from your guild dies, there will be a system prompt for it.”

After hearing that, the look of anxiousness on Nagase Komi’s face lessened. She bit her lips and turned to face Chen Xiaolian. “Guild Leader Xiaolian… for this matter, I thank you!”

“No need for thanks,” said Chen Xiaolian who looked at the bald girl. “Now…”

“I’ll be heading off.” Nagase Komi thought about it and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else about this base.”

Chen Xiaolian and Roddy exchanged glances and they nodded their heads.

Nagase Komi was still very anxious and she quickly said good-bye to Chen Xiaolian and Roddy. Carrying the still unconscious and injured middle-aged man, she left.

In the process of leaving, the girl also ‘acquired’ a car from the underground parking lot.

After having seen Nagase Komi off, they still had two ‘outsiders’ in their base.

Qimu Xi appeared to be trembling. Although she knew that they had safely made it out from the instance dungeon, the girl simply gave a sigh of relief while occasionally casting looks of astonishment at Chen Xiaolian.

“You aren’t planning to develop a lover are you? This girl is too young for that.” Roddy smiled as he rubbed his chin.

“Put your dirty thoughts away.” Chen Xiaolian harrumphed.

He walked toward Qimu Xi.

Qimu Xi tensed up, just like a frightened cat. Seeing that Chen Xiaolian was approaching, her face revealed a look of helplessness. Both her hands hung down as her fingers gripped her sides tightly.

“The instance dungeon is over,” said Chen Xiaolian calmly.

“… mm,” Qimu Xi nodded her head and lowered her gaze.

“Back in the instance dungeon, I said that if you follow me, I will ensure your safety – I have already held my end. Now the instance dungeon has ended and you are safe.”

“… oh,” Qimu Xi answered, her head still facing the floor.

Chen Xiaolian frowned and looked at the little girl. He sighed, “What I mean is, now that the instance dungeon is over, our employment relations ship is over. Now, you are safe and you may leave this place.”

Qimu Xi suddenly raised her head to reveal eyes brimming with tears. However, she forced the tears back and sniffed. She nodded her head and said, “I… I’m leaving now…”

Pausing, she clenched her teeth and continued, “I… I will definitely keep my mouth shut and not say anything regarding your matters.”

“… thank you.” Chen Xiaolian watched as the short figure of the little girl walked past him. After she had taken a few steps, Chen Xiaolian suddenly said, “Wait!”

Qimu Xi quickly turned her head around, her eyes filled with anticipation.

Chen Xiaolian was silent for a moment and he looked at Roddy. “Do you still have money on you?”

“Eh?” Roddy was momentarily shocked. However, his hand moved to his pocket and he pulled out his wallet.

Chen Xiaolian accepted it and pulled out the wads of cash inside it. He walked over and shoved them into Qimu Xi’s hands. “Take this. If I have to guess, you probably don’t have any money on you – you’ve lost your backpack. At least now you will have money for food and flight tickets.”

“… thank you,” answered Qimu Xi. A flame that was seemingly burning within her eyes was quickly extinguished.

Looking at the lost puppy look on the little girl’s face, Chen Xiaolian felt a heaviness in his heart. He turned to look at Roddy and saw a faint grin on his face.

He sighed

Roddy walked over and smiled, “All right, all right, look at that pitiful look on her face. Even if you don’t feel bad for her, I do.”

Roddy stood before Qimu Xi and said in a serious tone, “Little miss, I am going to ask you a few questions. You must answer me honestly.”

“Mm!” Qimu Xi nodded her head vigorously while casting a furtive glance at Chen Xiaolian.

“Are you alone and without any other companions?”

“… I have no one else.” Qimu Xi’s eyes turned gloomy.

“Do you belong to any guild?”

“No.”

Roddy scratched his head and thought about it before continuing, “Do you know how to use household electrical appliances? Things like washing machine, microwave oven and others of the like.”

“I can learn, I… I’m a fast learner! I’m really very fast!” Qimu Xi’s eyes swiftly brightened and she anxiously said. “Additionally, when I eat… I eat very little as well. It’s very, very little! I can make do with just two meals a day… one meal a day is possible as well.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!!” Roddy broke into a loud laugh and he poked Chen Xiaolian. “Where did you pick up this high-grade girl?!”

After saying that, Roddy waved his hand and said, “All right, I’ll be making the decision here. If you are willing, you can follow us and join our guild.”

Qimu Xi cast another furtive glance at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and looked at Qimu Xi. He spoke in a very gentle tone; however, there was seriousness within his tone, “You must think this through carefully. You might think that you can feel safe by following us. But truth be told… following us might put you in greater danger. Additionally, after joining us, you will have no chance of backing out! If you wish to back out in the future, we would not let you do so, understand?”

“I understand! I will be very loyal!” Qimu Xi was quick to reply.

“Then, you can follow us.” Chen Xiaolian waved his hand. Then, he glanced at Qimu Xi and said, “Right, for now, don’t follow us. We still have some business to attend to. You go on ahead first. I will give you the address and you can head to our house to wait for us first. There will be someone waiting for you… mm, do you still have your passport and the likes? If you lost it, then you will need to go through some trouble.”

“I have my passport!” Qimu Xi was quick to shout out. “I, my documents are all hidden on me… my brother told me before that these important items must be kept properly on my person so that it does not get lost.”

After saying that, the girl patted herself on her chest area. Then, seemingly aware that there was something wrong with her actions, her face suddenly blushed.

Roddy forced himself not to laugh out and said, “Ha! Then you can go on ahead first. I will give you the address.”

After that, they gave her their address and had Qimu Xi leave first.

Although the little girl was feeling curious, she dared not inquire too much and chose to leave first.

“Why not have her join the guild right away?” Roddy asked.

Chen Xiaolian shook his head and said, “I’ll add her after we meet up back at home. Right now, we have too many secrets. Accepting a stranger into our guild requires some consideration. Besides… there are some other things that I have to consider. It’s just that I have yet to properly figure it out right now. So, I need some more time to think about those matters.”

“I know you like to think about many things. I’ll let you handle those matters. I am just too lazy to think about those befuddling matters,” said Roddy with a wave of his hand. Then, he asked, “What do we do now?”

“Did you forget? You still have a guest.” Chen Xiaolian laughed.

Selina was still unconscious. Clearly, the use of the metal chain and the final explosion of light had brought upon her a significant amount of internal injuries. Like the Japanese middle-aged man, Selina had been unconscious since before entering the base.

First, Chen Xiaolian miniaturized the base.

The base, with GM as its master, miniaturized into a rather small metal ball.

The miniaturization allowed the base to be easily transferred away. By putting it into a storage equipment, they could bring it anywhere.

However, this did not come free. Every time the base underwent miniaturization and re-enlargement, a certain amount of energy would be consumed.

Chen Xiaolian placed the miniaturized base into his Storage Watch before bringing the unconscious Selina, together with Roddy, away from the underground parking lot.

After reaching the ground level and the outside, they saw that they were really in New York City.

Clearly, after the instance dungeon had ended, the base slipped away as well and automatically returned to the area they were in before entering the instance dungeon.

Chen Xiaolian flagged a cab and they found a hotel to stay in.

After placing Selina on the hotel room’s bed, Chen Xiaolian turned to face Roddy and said, “Now, you decide, how do we deal with her? Could it be you want to bring her back and make her a guild member?”

Roddy shook his head and said, “All her guild members are probably dead. To be the only one left, that is also a form of misfortune. Besides, during the battle earlier, she had helped me out. I did use her once back then; I guess I am feeling guilty.”

“We’ve already given her a healing substance.” Chen Xiaolian frowned before continuing, “How about we just leave her here. You did say that she is not some weakling. When she wakes up, she will be able to protect herself.”

Roddy pondered the matter and said, “I want to wait for her to wake up first. At any rate, it would be best if I talked to her before leaving.”

Chen Xiaolian stared at Roddy with widened eyes and blurted, “You… by any chance, did you fall for this woman?”

Roddy was shocked by the question and he hastily shook his head. “Of course not!”

After that, Roddy said, “Just now there were too many people inside the base. Now, explain it to me in detail. What is all this about? Especially regarding this base, where did you get it from?”

Chen Xiaolian looked at Selina who was lying on the bed. He walked over to check up on her and verify that she was indeed unconscious. After that, he led Roddy away from the bedroom; the two of them sat down in the living room outside.

“This is how things went…”

After about 20 minutes, Chen Xiaolian finished explaining the incident. Roddy’s eyes were wide open as he was in a deep state of shock!

“Conqueror Guild? Base? Kaiser… what a domineering name [1]. Also, you mentioned that… they might be acquainted with Mr San and Bai Qi?”

Chen Xiaolian sighed and said, “It’s about what I told you before, the thing relating to GM. Before GM came to find me, there is a possibility that something like that had already happened once. That time, GM had chosen to cooperate with Mr San and his group. However, they ended up failing. So, it is possible that the system had reset GM and this GM that had been reset now came to find us to form a cooperation…”

“What a bloody complicated mess.” Roddy kneaded his head.

“No matter how you look at it, getting this base is a very valuable harvest for us,” Chen Xiaolian said solemnly. “Its most powerful function is the ability to block off the system rules. Especially… the selection for participation in instance dungeons!”

“A refuge, I get it.” Roddy frowned and continued, “However, what do we do after this? We can’t possibly just live inside the base and not come out forever.”

He revealed a wry smile and said, “If it was as big as Zero City with an area comparable to a city, it might be possible to live inside forever. At any rate, most people live their lives without leaving their hometowns. But, this base is too small. It’s not even comparable to our school. Living in there for too long… will suffocate us.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and replied, “When the moment between life and death arrives, would you rather feel bored or die?”

“… there is that.” Roddy smiled.

“Naturally, we cannot stay inside the base for the long-term. That would be an unrealistic scenario.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “We can use the base to save our lives during critical moments. Besides, this base possesses other functions waiting for us to unravel. Sigh, what a pity! There were so many good items inside the little town but we were unable to take any of them with us.”

“That’s right. Those mechs and weapons are all good stuff.” Roddy too, expressed his regret.

Pausing, Roddy suddenly smiled and said, “There is one thing I want to tell you. However, you must remain calm while listening.”

“What?”

“That… our enemy, the one who looks like Qiu Yun, Culkin is… dead!”

Chen Xiaoian was surprised. “Dead?”

Roddy then recounted how he encountered Culkin. He shortened the story – however, he intentionally left out the part with Han Bi.

He simply mentioned how he and Nagase Komi joined hands to deal with Culkin before entering the little town.

“Later, we fought against the Mohican-haired fellow, the Feral Tiger Angel and the town was destroyed along with the fight. So, Culkin is likely dead. Even if the explosion did not kill him on the spot, after we left, how could he engage in any other battles. So, he had surely met his end inside the instance dungeon.” Roddy shook his head and said, “So, this debt of blood between us is over.”

Chen Xiaolian considered it and sighed emotionally. “That fellow is quite powerful. When I went against him, I nearly died myself. I didn’t think that you would be able to send him to his grave. That’s good… consider this as repayment for Bei Tai and his brother.”

…

In the street outside the hotel.

A Volvo was parked beside the road across the street. The one sitting inside the car was Nicole, who held a mobile phone as she spoke with someone.

“… thank you, I’m at the location now. Again, thank you for giving me this address. Mm, I will give my regards to Charles.”

After she was done, she ended the call and raised her head to observe the hotel just opposite her position.

Her colleague, Charles’ friend from the New York Police Department had provided her information and the suspicious people that she were pursuing were inside this hotel!

These fellows were quite brazen. They had openly used their identification cards to rent a room in this hotel.

Back then, she had speculated that they might be in the same profession as her, special agents of the government. However, they had used their own identity cards to rent a room. Do they not understand the meaning of confidentiality?

As Nicole was feeing puzzled, she suddenly saw a police car driving up to the door of the hotel. Then, two police officers quickly stepped out and strode into the hotel.

Nicole furrowed her eyebrows and got out from her car. Then, she moved across the street and entered the hotel lobby.

1 Kaiser is a pretty cool name by itself. But the raw ‘凯撒’ could be more or less be interpreted as ‘proliferation of victories’.↩