Chapter 388: We Are Brothers

As Chen Xiaolian recounted his stories, the others did not interrupt him. Instead, there were increasingly shocked expressions on Lun Tai, Bei Tai and the others.

There were times when Bei Tai gave a whistle. It happened twice and it seemed he had wanted to ask something but was stopped by Lun Tai. Among the two brothers, Bei Tai was the more reckless one while Lun Tai was more detailed and had a more profound mind-set.

Chen Xiaolian had begun by recounting how he was first sucked into an instance dungeon through the plane crash. Finally, he talked about their London instance dungeon, how he had met Mr San… his conversation with the GM, his participation in the punishment instance dungeon and also the harvest he acquired from his trip to Africa.

The process took up more than one hour. After he was done, Chen Xiaolian’s throat felt hoarse. As for the others, they felt their minds spinning from this revelation.

When Chen Xiaolian was finally done, he unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and gulped down two mouthfuls of the mineral water before looking at the others. He asked, “So, are there any questions?”

Lun Tai, Bei Tai and Xia Xiaolei raised their hands.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and said, “Ask on then.”

Xia Xiaolei asked, “Boss, does that mean we now have that something something mine? A very overpowered mine?”

Bei Tai asked, “Guild Leader, when you put it that way, you only have one life? After you die, you cannot be resurrected back as an ordinary human?”

Chen Xiaolian revealed a wry smile. He looked past those two unreliable fellows and turned his attention to Lun Tai.

There was a more solemn expression on Lun Tai’s face. He knitted his eyebrows as he looked at Chen Xiaolian. “Xiaolian, can we talk in private?”

Chen Xiaolian thought about it and glanced at the others. He saw that they weren’t saying anything. Qimu Xi appeared to want to say something but the solemn atmosphere caused her to simply zip her mouth and timidly sit in a corner.

“Come one, then.” Chen Xiaolian gestured toward a distant room.

Lun Tai followed Chen Xiaolian into the Weapons and Equipment room.

The room was empty and spacious. After they had both entered the room, Chen Xiaolian moved to close the door.

“Let’s talk here.”

Chen Xiaolian looked at Lun Tai and pulled out a piece of cigarette from his pocket and handed it to Lun Tai.

After accepting it, Lun Tai looked at Chen Xiaolian. “You didn’t use to smoke much before. Why are you smoking more now?”

“Worries.” Chen Xiaolian smiled bitterly and lit up a cigarette for himself and took a drag. “Just speak your mind, Lun Tai.”

Lun Tai stood before Chen Xiaolian and took a puff himself. After slowly exhaling, he said in a whisper, “Why tell us about this? You can continue to hide this matter. This base and the mine… if you had wanted to hide it, you can do so together with Roddy.”

“Because…” Chen Xiaolian’s smile faded and he said with a solemn expression. “We are brothers.”

Those words caused a trace of emotion to surge out from Lun Tai’s eyes.

“Brothers…” He mumbled to himself and seemingly let out a smile.

“We are brothers. That is how I think of us. Moreover, I believe that you and Bei Tai think this way too. We had fought together, spilled blood together. Thus, I wholeheartedly think of you two as brothers. The same goes for Roddy.”

Lun Tai nodded his head. Suddenly, he tossed the cigarette down the ground and used his feet to snuff it.

Chen Xiaolian looked at Lun Tai and said slowly, “I know, this matter is rather… strange. Clearly, my identity would lead our future path toward some… mm, variables. It may become more difficult, more dangerous and more troubling. The things we face would become more complicated. Our rate of survival might become lower. Additionally, considering our identities, if it gets exposed, we may end up becoming enemies to many parties. After all, the existence of us Irregularities could trigger a natural sense of hostility from Awakened ones. But…”

“But you still decided to tell us the truth?”

“Yes, I can’t just keep hiding this from you all,” said Chen Xiaolian as he shook his head. “If we want to fight together, going through life and death together in the future, then this cannot be kept hidden. Perhaps… some difficulties and enemies will be brought upon us due to our special identities. If so, to pull you all into this dangerous situation… that is unfair toward all of you!”

Lun Tai regarded Chen Xiaolian for a good half a minute without saying anything.

Finally, he extended his hand to pat Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder.

“All right, understood.”

“Eh?” Chen Xiaolian felt confused. “This…”

Lun Tai smiled. It was a very sincere smile. He looked at Chen Xiaolian with a warm expression and said, “You’ve said it earlier, we are brothers. Since we are brothers, no matter what happens, we must face it together.”

Chen Xiaolian appeared somewhat moved. “You… accepted it?”

“I cannot choose not to accept. We are brothers after all. Or what? Now that your identity is different, I will have to ignore you?” Lun Tai smiled and said, “Besides, we Awakened ones live by the day. There is no telling when we would die in some instance dungeon. Dangerous or not… even if it’s more dangerous… there isn’t really any difference in it. By walking alongside you, we can see things that are different and this short future of ours would become more wondrous. The way I see it, that’s not so bad.”

“That…”

“There’s nothing else to that.”

Lun Tai directly said, “Come on.”

After that, he turned around and walked toward the door.

Chen Xiaolian who was behind him watched Lun Tai’s back and he suddenly opened his mouth. “You…”

“What is it?” Lun Tai turned his head.

Chen Xiaolian studied his face and said, “It’s that simple?”

“It’s that simple. What else is there to it?” Lun Tai looked into Chen Xiaolian’s eyes and said, “Actually, only one sentence was sufficient.”

“Which sentence?”

“We are brothers.”

…

When Lun Tai and Chen Xiaolian came to the central area, those outside gave clear sighs of relief. That was especially true of Roddy and Xia Xiaolei.

Bei Tai on the other hand was still as muddle-headed as before. This fellow probably did not even know the meaning of the word worry.

“Did you finish your talk?” Roddy moved over and asked Chen Xiaolian in a whisper.

“Mm, finished.”

“What did you say?”

“We are brothers, that’s all.”

Roddy smiled and looked at Lun Tai. Next, he hammered his chest and laughed loudly. “Ha ha ha! I said there won’t be any problems! This Xiaolian had been constantly worrying about this.”

Lun Tai also gave Roddy a punch before smiling and sitting down beside Bei Tai. He looked at Chen Xiaolian. “Guild Leader, just continue on. It would appear that our guild is getting more powerful. As for how we are going to develop our guild, we’ll listen to your suggestions.”

“That’s right. We’ll listen to you, boss.” Xia Xiaolei laughed.

“Then, let’s talk about this base.” Chen Xiaolian walked to the middle and looked at everyone. “I have just now informed everyone of this base’s function. It is a mini Zero City and can act as our refuge. The biggest advantage from this is that we can choose to avoid certain instance dungeons that are dangerous. Naturally, this ability to avoid instance dungeons is not all-powerful. After using that avoiding ability, we will have to recompense. Thus, the next instance dungeon becomes unknown to us. Additionally, we cannot just hide inside forever and not come out. If we don’t participate in instance dungeons, our guild rank will fall. That will cause problems for our development in the future.

“However, this base is the equivalent of acquiring another set of insurance, one that can be used to preserve our lives in times of crisis.”

Lun Tai nodded his head.

Lun Tai then interjected, “Personally, I feel that there is one other matter that we need to seriously think about. It’s what Guild Leader had mentioned earlier, the previous owner of this base, those Players!”

Chen Xiaolian’s face turned solemn as well.

Lun Tai continued, “The previous owner of this base, those Players are all dead. This means… this base is not 100 per cent safe! We cannot rely and put too much trust into this refuge.

“That is the first issue.

“The second… who exactly finished off those Players? Who were their opponents? Players? Why would the system send Players to lay siege to another group of Players?

“If they are Awakened ones, how did the system get the Awakened ones to go kill off the Players? Those scenarios are illogical.

“I thought about it and the only explanation I can come up with is, the existence of this base is something that goes against the will of the system! Thus, the previous owner of this base, those Players became targets for the system.”

Chen Xiaolian nodded and said, “Lun Tai is correct. There is another thing… what was it that caused this base to become exposed. This was something that we need to figure out. Otherwise, who knows when we will be the ones to be besieged.”

Lun Tai sighed and continued, “Indeed. Although this base is a good thing, we must be careful and keep our guards up regarding this matter.”

Chen Xiaolian then said, “Let’s wrap up the matter of this base, for now. Let’s talk about the mine now. The Star Sand is a good item. However, the present us cannot truly utilize it to its fullest. We do not have enough Star Sand to enhance Roddy’s mech. Thus, we can only… enhance our own personal equipment.”

“Especially your Sword in the Stone!” said Roddy with a smile. “The Sword in the Stone is already a high-grade equipment to begin with. After using the Star Sand to enhance it, it will become even sharper!”

“I have something to say about that,” Lun Tai said loudly. “Although the Star Sand is good, we need to use it sparingly. I disagree with Xiaolian’s idea on using it on all our personal equipment… let’s be honest, with the exception of Xiaolian’s Sword in the Stone, all our other equipment are common goods. It would be too much of a waste to enhance these common goods using Star Sand. I suggest that we only enhance high-grade equipment, those that could bring value to us with the Star Sand. It would be better for us that way.”

“I agree.” Roddy nodded his head.

“I agree!”

“I agree!”

Both Xia Xiaolei and Bei Tai nodded as well.

Qimu Xi hesitated for a moment before speaking out in a whisper, “I agree.”

Chen Xiaolian appeared somewhat moved. He looked at them and said, “However, by doing this, I am the only one who will be able to enhance my weapon. You all would not be able to enhance…”

“What is there to be afraid of?” Bei Tai suddenly laughed out. “Our guild is now powerful. We have our own base and a mine. I believe we will quickly become very powerful. By then, is there any need to worry that we would not have any powerful equipment?”

“That’s right.”

“All right. If so, we’ll proceed that way for now.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and continued, “I will try to quickly get high-grade equipment for everyone. Mm… right, talking about equipment…”

He turned to Lun Tai. “Lun Tai you have the highest amount of combat experience among us all. Make the necessary calculations and create a list out. Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had promised to give us a batch of equipment and supplies. We can’t just treat this casually. Check to see if there is anything we need or lack. Then, make a list for me so I can discuss it with them.”

“Sure, leave that to me,” replied Lun Tai who nodded his head.

“Additionally, there is the usage of this base.” Chen Xiaolian looked at them all. “Before this, we had all been working out inside the fitness centre. But now that we have this base, I suggest moving here. The training function of this place is very powerful; it can simulate out many different kinds of environment specifically tailored for our training. Cold weapons, firearms, various types of terrains and climates can be simulated out. This way, our rate of training would become more efficient.”

“That is a good thing.” Lun Tai nodded and continued, “It will be closer to actual combat training.”

“Roddy,” said Chen Xiaolian who turned to Roddy. “You are responsible for procuring a batch of supplies for living purposes. We’ll store it here. In the future, we may spend a long time here.”

“Leave it to me,” said Roddy with a laugh. However, he quickly gave a frown. “But, I don’t have too much money left.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and pulled out one of the boxes within his Storage Watch. It contained gold. “This is the wealth acquired from the trip to Africa. I had finished off that dictator President before he could run away and taken these assets that he had with me. This will be enough to deal with our monetary issues. Oh, there are also some firearms. When I finished off the guards there, I also took quite a number of their firearms. We can use it.”

Chen Xiaolian looked at them and said slowly, “In addition, I am going to assign tasks for the guild members. Lun Tai.”

“Mm?”

“From now on, you will be the Deputy Leader.”

Lun Tai was slightly shocked.

Chen Xiaolian said solemnly, “You are the one with the highest amount of combat experience among us all. You also have a calm disposition. As Deputy Leader, when I am not around, you will be responsible for making decisions! Don’t say no, this is for the sake of the guild.”

“Very well, I accept.”

“Bei Tai.”

“Me? What can I do?”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and said, “You are familiar with various kinds of firearms and weapons. You will be our training instructor. Generally speaking, me, Roddy, Xiaolei and Qimu Xi will be spending most of our time here. You will have to train us all.”

“No problem! I won’t be holding back!”

Xia Xiaolei shrunk his neck – before this, he had been specially trained by Lun Tai and Bei Tai and had to suffer quite some under them.

Roddy who had been remaining silent for some time suddenly spoke up, “Xiaolian, I thought of something.”

“What is it?”

“That mine, I want to go there and see it.”

“Mm?” Chen Xiaolian was somewhat puzzled.

Roddy slowly said, “You mentioned that the mining process of the mine uses machines to automatically mine. My skill is Mechanical Heart; I will go there and look around. Who knows… I might be able to do something. Maybe my ability can allow the efficiency of the mining machines to increase slightly!

“Considering how precious the Star Sand mine is, even a one per cent increase in mining efficiency would give us a huge profit!”

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes lit up!