Chapter 370: C11

Things are getting more interesting!

Humph!

Chen Xiaolian sneered to himself.

First, Zayad had emerged from the warehouse with a Sentinel mech. Next, killing Zayad had become a quest from the system.

After that, Zayad’s daughter became the system’s quest target no. 2. Most importantly, it had given the prompt to tell him that killing Zayad’s daughter meant going against the first quest.

And now, Zayad’s daughter had revealed to him the secret about a mysterious mine.

Mysterious mine?

Mysterious my ass!

After listening to it, Chen Xiaolian quickly understood. This was simply a stunt pulled by a group of Awakened ones.

Back then, the so-called exploration team must have been part of some Awakened guild. They had utilized their power to suppress the dictator, Zayad to gain control over a piece of land here.

The mine? Hell knows if that was true.

Chen Xiaolian speculated that the so-called mine simply never existed to begin with. The more likely scenario was that some people had chosen this spot to set up a secret base.

What happened afterward was easy to understand.

However, the problem… the original question remained.

Why would Zayad and his daughter Una become part of the system quest?

They simply weren’t inside a bloody instance dungeon!

Chen Xiaolian sneered to himself.

Old Father Qiao had set me up, eh?

Chen Xiaolian pulled out a piece of map and placed it before Una.

“Pinpoint the location of the mine.”

Una did not resist. She obediently found a pen and made a mark on the map.

At the same time that Una made the mark on the map, Chen Xiaolian received a system prompt!

[System prompt: You have acquired the location of the C11 mine from quest target no. 2. Sub-quest activated: Seize the controlling right over the C11 mine. State: C11 mine is currently without an owner.

[1 . Reach the C11 mine within 24 hours and gain control over the mine’s control centre.

[2 . Occupy the C11 mine for 48 hours while repelling the attempts by other participants to seize it. Success in doing so will complete the occupation of the C11 mine, giving you full ownership of the C11 mine.

[3 . Once the mine had been taken over, the system will begin to recognize the ownership of the mine. The ownership of the mine cannot be changed for one year and other forces cannot enter to seize it.

[Conditions for failure:

[1 . If the participants are to die during the occupation period, quest fails.

[2 . If other participants succeed in seizing the mine’s control centre during the occupation period, quest fails.

[3 . Once quest target no. 2 dies, quest fails.

[Suffering from quest failure means the participants will be forced to participate in the next punishment instance dungeon.

[Do you accept this sub-quest?

[Yes/ No.]

Yes/ No.

Seeing that option, Chen Xiaolian hesitated.

C11 mine?

There is actually a mine?

What mine is this? What is it for?

But, the problem is… this is clearly not an instance dungeon! We are in the real world! Why would a system quest appear here?

Chen Xiaolian had only hesitated for a few seconds. Then, he made his decision.

Accept the quest!

No matter what it may be, he decided that he must figure out what this strange matter was!

If he failed, then he would just have to participate in an instance dungeon.

But, what if he successfully complete this quest?

First, let’s ignore what this C11 mine was.

Why would a system quest appear in the real world? Chen Xiaolian had a faint feeling that there was a need to figure out the answer to this question! His senses were telling him that this was not a small matter!

It was as though a voice was telling him: There is a need to figure out what this is all about!

Chen Xiaolian glanced at Una before putting the map back into his chest. At the same time, he also retracted the gun in his hand.

Walking back to the truck, Chen Xiaolian stood at the side and looked at Lin Leyan who was standing beside the truck. There were also the three volunteers who were seated at the back of the truck.

“I’m very sorry. We’ll be changing our target destination.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. Fortunately, the location of the C11 mine was not too far from the border.

Lin Leyan cast a puzzled look at Chen Xiaolian and asked, “We… aren’t going to the border anymore?”

“Mm, we’ll be going to another place first.” Chen Xiaolian pondered about it and continued, “Reaching that place is important for me… however, after we reach there, you all can use the truck to head to the border.”

Lin Leyan did not say anything. She simply nodded her head.

Likewise, the other three volunteers too did not say anything. As for Hans, his condition was not too good. He had been suffering from a constant fever; it was likely that his wound had become infected.

Chen Xiaolian considered the situation for a moment before retrieving a spicy bar ([Beginner] class Healing Substance). He went to give Hans some water to drink, and secretly stuffed a small bit of it into Hans’ mouth.

He also brought out a bit of the medical supplies he brought with him in his Storage Watch. Taking the antibiotics out, he fed them to Hans.

After doing all these, Chen Xiaolian got back into the driver seat of the truck. He started up the truck. This time however, he uncuffed Una.

“From this moment onward, I will be protecting your life,” Chen

Xiaolian said to Una. “I hope you think things through properly and don’t cause any problems for yourself.”

…

It was a bumpy journey. In the evening, Chen Xiaolian stopped the truck to refuel.

Una and Lin Leyan did not say anything about the barrel of gasoline that Chen Xiaolian had pulled out of nowhere. As for Chen Xiaolian, he had no intentions of explaining it to them as well.

He did not stop to rest as he was not feeling tired at all. His enhanced body did not require too much rest, allowing him to continue onward.

Chen Xiaolian had only stopped the truck twice along the way for the engine to cool down.

He also saw that the pursuing rebel soldiers had not made an appearance. However, that did not cause him to lower his guard in the slightest.

He was very clear that the ones he faced now were no ordinary rebel soldiers. Rather, they were most likely Awakened ones!

The system prompt had been very clear on that.

[If other participants succeed in seizing the mine’s control centre during the occupation period, quest fails.]

Other participants!

Since that was what the system prompt had stated, Chen Xiaolian was certain that other participants would appear!

As to whether these participants were Awakened ones or Players… there was no way to know.

The truck continued onward for around 18 hours before reaching a mountainous area that was not too far from the southern border of Kombia.

It was a typical mountain area that could be commonly seen in the continent.

These mountains were mostly volcanic mountains. However, they had remained inactive for thousands of years.

Dense forest trees covered the surrounding areas of the mountain area.

After the truck entered the forest, it could only barely move forward.

On the way, Chen Xiaolian observed the animals that appeared within the forest. These animals do not appear fearful of humans. That was especially the case for some mountain gorillas. Those gorillas would puff up their chests, holler, jump up and down and strike its own chest while facing the truck

Chen Xiaolian understood that they had trespassed into its territory.

However, he did not stop down; he continued moving the truck forward. His destination was the mountain area before him.

Their truck made its way through the forest until it reached the area beneath the mountain. Then, Chen Xiaolian stopped the truck and looked around carefully.

There were no traces of man-made buildings here. There were also no mining related buildings here.

He turned around to look at Una and said, “Just now, you said you came here before?”

Una observed their surroundings with a blank expression and she said with a rather odd expression, “I…”

She gulped down her saliva before smiling wryly. “I feel… like I’m dreaming.”

“What is going on?”

“There should have been a road through the forest. Every time I came here, I would only come to the area outside of the forest. Then, they will send an expedition vehicle out to receive me. And, there should have been a building beneath the mountain.”

“What kind of building?”

“It’s a… very big building made of glass, one with a very modern and civilized look.” Una thought about it and continued, “All four sides are glasses and the temperature inside is comfortable and very soothing…”

Una looked out the window of the truck and pointed to a spot beneath the mountain. “The building should have been there. But… but… why is it not there anymore?”

Chen Xiaolian stared at Una’s face for a brief moment and determined that the African woman was probably not lying.

The road and building had disappeared?

The disappearance of the building could be explained. It was possible that it had been demolished.

But, how could a road disappear?

Demolishing a building was quite easy. But to make a road through a forest disappear? That was no small feat.

“Interesting…”

Chen Xiaolian mumbled to himself. He stepped forward and jumped out of the truck alone. Looking around, he ignored the fact that there were others nearby and summoned out his Four-eyed War Cats.

When the three identical looking Four-eyed War Cats appeared around the truck, the people inside exclaimed in shock.

Chen Xiaolian got Lin Leyan and the rest to get down from the truck and handed a handgun to Lin Leyan. He also brought out some other firearms from his Storage Watch to give to the volunteers.

Those firearms were the ones Chen Xiaolian had seized after defeating the rebel soldiers.

“Everyone, from this moment onward, do not scatter around. Walk beside me. It would be best if you don’t go more than 10 metres away from me.” After saying that, Chen Xiaolian gave a whistle.

The three Four-Eyed War Cats instantly split up to form a ‘品’ formation, guarding the team.

Chen Xiaolian led the way and brought them toward the mountainside.

…

The first mountainside was not very high. After reaching the place, Chen Xiaolian stopped there for a moment. He carefully inspected the place that Una had said was the spot where there used to be a glass building.

He found something!

Although the glass building that Una mentioned had vanished, Chen Xiaolian found that there was something special about the place. In all the mountainside area, this spot was the only place where the terrain was flat. It was the most suitable place to construct a building.

Clearly, the African woman was not lying.

Additionally, after carefully inspecting the spot for a while, Chen Xiaolian was able to find some strange looking stones.

Weighing the shiny stone in his hand, Chen Xiaolian casually tossed it to Lin Leyan and asked, “Do you recognize this?”

“It’s quartz.” Lin Leyan hesitated for a moment before continuing, “These quartz are formed when certain rocks are exposed to high temperature… usually, it would only appear in volcanic mountains. But… even though this place is a volcanic mountain, minerals formed from high temperature should not appear here. This volcanic mountain is an inactive one. Additionally, there was no eruptions recently…”

“It’s not necessarily formed from a volcanic eruption.” Chen Xiaolian smiled and said, “Fire does not have to be from the volcano. It could also be manmade.”

After saying that, he turned to look at Una and said, “Didn’t you saw that there used to be a glass building here? It seems you weren’t lying.”

There was a complex expression on Una’s face who said, “But… the building is gone.”

“It’s simple. Since it’s made of glass, it will surely leave traces if it had been demolished… maybe it had been burnt, burnt until there was nothing left.”

Standing on the mountainside, Chen Xiaolian gazed into the distance.

Lin Leyan who was beside him whispered, “There… over those mountains, around 20 lis away is Congo.” (1 li = 0.5 km)

“Mm.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head.

“Just what is it you are looking for? Can you tell me?” Lin Leyan said in a hushed tone. “Maybe we can help you out.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly and replied, “I am looking for… something that may not exist at all.”

Knitting his brows together, he stood on the mountainside and carefully surveyed his surroundings.

There was another mountainside before him. However, there were no clues to be found there.  The mountainside there was bare and bereft of any traces of manmade items.

If there is a mine here, then where is the hole leading to it?

Where is the mining site?

Where is the building?

Nothing?

Chen Xiaolian took in a deep breath and muttered to himself.

“Where is it hidden…”