Chapter 433: Drawn Into Trouble

“I have always been able to see them… … I don’t know when it started. Perhaps that was how things were since I was small. It was only after I had grown older that I gradually came to understand that these ‘things’ that I can see, others cannot see.

“I had informed others of this before. However, as I have no evidence, no one was willing to believe me.

“Those ‘things’; I have always been able to see them, but… … they would never talk or communicate in any way with me.

“You cannot imagine what kind of life I have had.

“When I am eating in the dining room, I will see a ghost sitting beside me. When I am waiting for a cab beside a street, I will see ghosts wandering about.

“Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and when I turn my head, I will see a ghost fly by!

“And when I am standing before a mirror, behind me…

“No one believes me. Everyone thinks that I am a child who loves to lie for the sake of attention.

“My friends, my school teachers, none of them were willing to believe me!”

Will's words were full of grievances.

When Qiao Qiao heard that, she regarded the pale little boy and gently rubbed his head before saying in a whisper, “What of your family members?”

“Family members?”

Will pursed his mouth to the side.

After hesitating for a moment, he slowly said, “My family member, you have seen him just now.”

“That fat man? Is he your father?” Qiao Qiao sighed and gently held Will’s shoulder. “Does he mistreat you?”

“He is not my father.” Will raised his head and looked into Qiao Qiao’s eyes, which were exuding traces of emotions. Then, he shook his head. “He is my Uncle Rosen.”

“Uncle? What of your parents?” Qiao Qiao frowned.

“… dead.” Will shook his head and his tone turned dispirited.

Qiao Qiao fell silent. Chen Xiaolian looked at her and shook his head.

“I am sorry.” There was an obvious expression of pity in Qiao Qiao’s face.

“It is fine.” Will sniffed hard. Although he appeared very much on the verge of crying, he instead held it back and wiped his eyes before whispering, “My parents left me when I was still very young. They tell me that my parents had gone somewhere far away to do something, but they ended up dying in an accident.

“My aunt adopted the young me. She treated me quite well, but she too died a few years ago.

“Thus, I have been with Uncle Rosen since.”

“Does he mistreat you?” Qiao Qiao frowned.

Will revealed a bitter smile before raising his head to look at Qiao Qiao. “Just now, when you three came up, I thought you had come to collect on debts. These things happen often in Uncle Rosen’s house. He owes quite a significant amount to many people because he loves gambling. When my aunt was still alive, we had a little bakery. However, after my aunt died, Uncle Rosen quickly lost the bakery.

“He is also very fond of drinking. Every time someone comes to collect on his debt, he would end up drinking quite a lot of beer. And after that, he would become temperamental…”

There was no need for him to elaborate.

Chen Xiaolian sighed.

It would appear that Will was a very pitiful boy.

Qiao Qiao, who was clearly moved, extended her hand to gently stroke Will’s curly hair.

It was at that moment that Soo Soo chose to suddenly jump down from the stone platform. She then walked to face Will.

The little girl looked at Will and pulled out a few pieces of candy from a small handbag. She handed the candies to Will.

Will looked at the jade like little girl with pink makeup on her face and his face suddenly turned red; he was at a loss at what to do.

“For you to eat,” Soo Soo said softly. “Actually, I am the same. My parents are no more, but… … my sister and oppa treat me very well.”

Will was dumbfounded and he turned to look at Qiao Qiao, moisture collecting in his eyes.

Soo Soo tugged Chen Xiaolian’s sleeve and whispered, “Oppa, he is really pitiful. We came here to find him; do we take him with us? Can we take him with us? Can we make him a member as well?”

Chen Xiaolian crouched down and looked at Soo Soo without saying anything.

Will, who was beside them, was puzzled. However, when he looked at the gentle expression on Qiao Qiao’s face, a hint of eagerness appeared on the little boy’s face.

“Will, I have something to talk to you about.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. He carried Soo Soo up and put her on top of the stone platform again before moving to face Will.

He was silent for a bit before slowly speaking up, “We… … came from overseas.”

“Mm, you people are Orientals, right?” Will revealed a look of curiosity. “I had heard of this before in Geography class.”

“Mm, we came from the far east.” Chen Xiaolian smiled and did his best to put on a look of gentleness. “We came here looking for you because we need you to come with us and help out with something. Simply put, we may require some help from you.”

“Help?” Will was stunned. “What can I help you with? I… … I am only eight years old. If, if you need a tour guide, I can bring you to check out the nearby sights, but… … are you people really not ghosts?”

“Of course not,” answered Chen Xiaolian with a smile. “You have already felt my hand just now and can feel my pulse.”

“But… why does it seem like the others cannot see you?” Will became somewhat nervous. “Just now, two pedestrians who were walking past us… … the way they looked at me was very strange. It was as though… … I am talking to myself here.”

Chen Xiaolian found himself in a bind and he clutched his head as he thought about it with a wry smile. “This… … is because… we… … mm, we have magical abilities. You can consider it as… … a type of spell? Magic?”

“Magic?” Will’s eyes suddenly lit up!

He suddenly jumped down from the stone platform and gazed excitedly at Chen Xiaolian. “You mean to say… … magic? Just like Harry Potter?”

Chen Xiaolian saw the fires of hope raging within the boy’s eyes.

He understood that line of thought.

This little boy known as Will was pretty much another version of Harry Potter.

Just like Harry Potter, both his parents had died; he was adopted by an irresponsible relative and subjected to certain abuses.

Additionally, he also possessed special abilities beyond the norm.

And then, a group of strange people had come knocking on his door claiming to know magic…

At that moment, the thoughts running through this boy’s head was not hard to guess. He was most probably waiting for Chen Xiaolian to bring him to a ‘certain’ magic school.

Honestly, Chen Xiaolian did not wish to shatter the hopes of this boy, who was beset by problems.

“Will, due to some reasons unknown to even us, you are very special – you see, you can see things that others cannot. You can see those ghosts, thus proving your uniqueness. I believe that there is a reason why you were born with this special ability.

“As for us, we are here to find you precisely for this reason.

“At present, I have no way of explaining too much to you. I can only tell you that we need you to come with us for a trip.

“This trip might be somewhat dangerous and some things that have never happened before may happen. However, that is also the reason why we are here.

“So, are you willing to follow us on this trip? I must make this clear, but it might be risky.”

Will’s hesitation was obvious.

However, Soo Soo smiled at him. “Don’t worry, my sister and oppa will definitely protect you. Sister and oppa are very, very powerful!”

Seeing Soo Soo’s smiling face, Will blushed again.

Will lowered his head and clenched his fist. When he raised his head, there was a look of utter determination on his face.

“I, I am willing to go with you people.” Will said loudly. “At any rate, no one will care about me if I stay here. I… I am willing!”

“That is great!” Soo Soo was overjoyed.

Will cast a furtive look at Soo Soo before turning to face Chen Xiaolian. “Mister, what can I help you with?”

Hearing those words, Soo Soo, without waiting for Chen Xiaolian’s response, spoke up, “Ah, you should call him Guild Leader. Right now, you are considered one of us!”

Guild Leader?

The amount of excitement and happiness in Will’s eyes grew.

Seeing that, Chen Xiaolian did not have the heart to explain it to them.

Clearly, Soo Soo had misunderstood him. She thought that he was accepting Will into their guild.

Will too had obviously misunderstood him.

However… … when he saw the excitement and happiness in the boy’s eyes, Chen Xiaolian found himself incapable of explaining it.

Qiao Qiao reached out to hold Chen Xiaolian’s hand and she silently shook her head.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and simply chose not to say anything. “Now, let us move and meet up with the others. They should be moving toward us. Qiao Qiao, contact Lun Tai and set up a rendezvous point.”

Their jeep was parked not far away; Chen Xiaolian walked over and opened the door. Soo Soo bounced quickly until she was beside the jeep. When she saw that Will was moving gingerly behind, she turned around and pulled him up the jeep.

After the two kids had gotten into the back seat, Soo Soo, without waiting for them to be seated properly, quickly spoke to Will, “There are many others in our guild! There is Uncle Lun Tai, the strictest, but also the most soft hearted; Roddy, who is always smiling, but is in fact a scoundrel who likes committing mischief. Ah, there is also Xia Xiaolei, who is especially easy to bully… … and also Sister Qimu Xi, who is not much of a talker…”

Chen Xiaolian exchanged a bitter smile with Qiao Qiao and the two of them got into the jeep.

Getting into the jeep, Qiao Qiao used their guild channel to make contact with Lun Tai’s group.

According to Lun Tai, they were already on their way to Alfasi Street and will be arriving in around 10 minutes.

Chen Xiaolian pondered and said, “Let us head toward them and meet up somewhere in between. Staying here where no one can see us feels peculiar.”

Qiao Qiao nodded her head and said, “Roddy tells me that there is a park between us and Lun Tai. We can rendezvous in the park; it is also relatively more spacious there.”

“Good, we will do that, then.” Chen Xiaolian started up the jeep.

The time allocated for the quest in the first phase of the system was 60 minutes.

At present, 48 minutes had passed.

Although they had completed the first phase’s quest, there was a faint feeling of oddity in Chen Xiaolian’s heart.

After the first phase was over, what will happen in the second phase?

Generally speaking, a quest involving searching for someone will be followed by a much harder quest.

For example, in the Tokyo instance dungeon, they had received a quest to find a girl. The quest was followed by a series of intense dangers.

Chen Xiaolian’s instinct told him that it would be for the better for him to immediately meet up with his other team members!

Additionally, someone was fishing in troubled waters here in this first phase. The battles that had erupted as a result made Chen Xiaolian even more vigilant.

Logically speaking, there should be no competition in the first phase of an instance dungeon quest. So why would the Awakened ones end up fighting each other?

After starting up the jeep, they left Alfasi Street. When they made their way into the square again, Will, who was seated behind, exclaimed in shock.

“The… outside…” Will stared with widened eyes. “The street outside, everyone there disappeared? Where did they go?”

Chen Xiaolian maintained his silence as he concentrated on driving. Qiao Qiao turned around to smile at Will. “Don’t worry kid. You are with us right now!”

For some unknown reason, hearing those words caused a feeling of intimacy to grow within Will’s heart. He subconsciously glanced at Qiao Qiao and said, “I understand.”

“You can call her sister, just like how I always do. However, when addressing oppa, you must call him Guild Leader. I am the only one who can call him oppa.” Soo Soo, who was beside him, said with a smile.

After moving past the square, they entered an empty street. Thus, Chen Xiaolian pressed the throttle to its limit and their jeep charged through the street.

To his surprise, a loud “boom” erupted from somewhere far ahead of them!

Next, he saw a ball of flames rise to the sky from behind a row of buildings.

The others inside the jeep were able to see what happened as well.

Chen Xiaolian’s face swiftly sank!

That direction… … was where Lun Tai and the others were heading!

Chen Xiaolian quickly halted the jeep and called out loudly through the guild channel.

“Lun Tai! Lun Tai!”

After a few seconds, Lun Tai replied, “Damn it, we are in trouble.”

Chen Xiaolian was furious. “You were ambushed?”

“No…”

…

Before Lun Tai and his group’s jeep was an overturned bus; it lay in the middle of the street, blocking the way.

Beyond the bus, on both sides of the street, two groups were firing at each other using firearms!

As the sounds of gunfire continued, Lun Tai quickly reversed the jeep, bringing the vehicle backward and into an alley beside the street.

“… no… someone started fighting and we got caught in the crossfire.” Lun Tai clenched his teeth.

He looked out the window.

He watched as the two groups fired at each other on one end of the street.

Then, a Thunderstorm Tank suddenly turned into the street from an intersection on the other end! The Thunderstorm Tank proceeded to slowly close the distance!

The parked vehicles on the street were all trampled by the Thunderstorm Tank’s unstoppable tracks! Scrap metal was all that remained in its wake!

“Get out! Get out of the jeep!” The instance he saw the Thunderstorm Tank, Lun Tai’s face twisted!

A Thunderstorm Tank by itself was not that shocking. Their guild, Meteor Rock Guild had a few of its own.

But what caused Lun Tai’s face to contort was the crest on the surface of the Thunderstorm Tank!

Thorned Flower!

…

Rosen. Raw: ‘罗森’, pinyin: ‘Luō sēn’.