Chapter 453: Public Enemy

Various thoughts raced through Chen Xiaolian’s mind as he faced Shen.

Shen simply looked at him with a smile on his face, seemingly waiting for Chen Xiaolian’s reply.

At that moment however, Chen Xiaolian’s face abruptly flickered.

He had also received the series of system prompts.

Seeing those prompts caused his thoughts to roil about. However, he maintained a calm façade before Shen.

“It would seem… … the change in the situation is more complicated than I had expected.” Shen gave a light sigh. “Chen Xiaolian, your teammates are more outstanding that you had expected.”

“… … …”

“It seems you have received the system prompt, right?” There was an odd expression on Shen’s face. “The only force in the demon faction… … truly interesting!”

Chen Xiaolian’s face sank.

He quickly felt a sense of foreboding.

Maintaining his smile, Shen suddenly waved his hand and a screen resembling a curtain of light appeared before him. On the surface of the screen were a series of system prompts.

[System prompt: This instance dungeon’s assignment of factions has been decided ahead of schedule due to the completion of a branch quest by a certain guild, thereby giving them the identity of the demon faction. The other game participants of this instance dungeon are assigned to the light faction by default. From this moment onward, the non-killing prohibition rule shall undergo a change. The change is as follows:

[First: Members of the same faction are not allowed to kill each other.

[Second: Members from different factions are allowed to kill someone from the other faction.

[Third: Whenever someone from the light faction kills a member of the demon faction, they will be rewarded with 500 points.

[Fourth: Whenever someone from the demon faction kills a member of the light faction, they will be rewarded with 1,500 points.

[Fifth: Members of the demon faction are now the public enemy of this instance dungeon. After every 60 minutes, members of the light faction can view the coordinates of the demon faction members through their personal radar. This will last for 5 minutes and both the movements and position of the demon faction members will be shown.

[Sixth: By successfully killing off every member of the demon faction, all the surviving members of the light faction will receive a one-time special exemption pass, granting them exemption from any instance dungeon once. Additionally, they will also receive a Blessing of Light (one-time consumable). The rewards will be directly sent to their personal systems after the instance dungeon is over.

[Note: Blessing of Light, a [B+] blessing that can effectively eliminate all invasive darkness attribute powers. It will also increase whatever light based powers the user has by 5 %. The Blessing of Light cannot be used by someone with darkness attribute powers.]

Chen Xiaolian quickly glanced over the prompts and his heart sank even further.

“It seems you have become public enemy number one.” Shen shook his head and he cast what seemed to be a look of regret at Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian’s face was ugly to behold and he harrumphed. “Public enemy number one? So what?”

Shen looked at Chen Xiaolian, the fires of interest in his eyes seemingly growing brighter. However, he shook his head and said, “Since there has been a change in the situation, I will have to change my decision as well. Although I am interested in you, my guild is also a participant in this instance dungeon. So…”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart trembled.

If Shen were to make a move on him now…

Shen was able to see the concern weighing down on Chen Xiaolian and he smiled. “Don’t worry, I will not be taking action against you for now. Unless a day comes when I believe that you will become a threat to me. Besides, I am still interested in you. What I mean is, I will have to put my desire to recruit you on hold. Honestly, I doubt you can even make it out of this instance dungeon alive.”

Chen Xiaolian remained silent.

“Although I can take action to help you, my guild is also a participant in this instance dungeon. Not to mention, they are in the opposing faction. As a fair Guild Leader, I cannot do something like this. So…” Shen spread out both hands. “This time, I can only choose not to interfere.”

… … what nonsense is this? How is this fair?

Your guild is participating in this instance dungeon, but you, the Guild Leader are not going to take action?

As nonsensical as his actions were, Chen Xiaolian was relieved.

“I will be seeing you again after this instance dungeon is over. If you survive, that is. Chen Xiaolian, I hope you can survive.” After saying that, Shen laughed. “That doesn’t sound right. If you survive, that would mean my guild lost this instance dungeon.”

He then waved, turned around and strode away.

After Shen took several steps, Chen Xiaolian was unable to stop himself from shouting, “Hey!”

“What is it?” Shen turned his head.

“You are leaving just like that?” Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath.

Shen thought about it. Then, he said, “Fine, I can give you some information for free… … about your teammates, the place where they completed the branch quest should be at Stonecutter’s Mountain just up ahead. Mm, that was in the description for the storyline. If you want to meet up with your teammates, you can try to go there to find them.”

Chen Xiaolian gritted his teeth. “My guild channel has been blocked. Did you do it?”

“Me?” Shen smiled. “Trust me, if I made a move against you, the result would have been much uglier.”

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Chen Xiaolian. “Back in Jerusalem, what you did, who you killed, what you harmed… think on that yourself. I can only give you this advice out of good will. Those lunatics from Jerusalem are not people you want to provoke. They are all bona fide psychos.”

After saying that, Shen left with a swagger. He walked along the road toward Jerusalem.

Chen Xiaolian observed Shen’s back as he left and did not know what to make of how he felt at the moment.

This Shen, the way he acted was most bizarre, ridiculous even. However, Chen Xiaolian got the feeling that this fellow was…

Absolutely terrifying!

Chen Xiaolian shook his head vigorously and discarded those thoughts.

At present, it was imperative for him to meet up with his teammates.

Just now, Shen had given him a very important information.

His Meteor Rock Guild had become the common prey of every game participant in this instance dungeon.

Every 60 minutes, the system will reveal the position of Meteor Rock Guild members for a duration of 5 minutes.

This brought a huge increase in the risk of being hunted.

This was something that the other members of Meteor Rock Guild were unaware of. It was only thanks to Shen, who showed Chen Xiaolian those prompts earlier that he was made aware of this.

…

“Things are going to get interesting.”

Tian Lie stroked his head and turned to look at Nicole, who was accessing her GPS.

“Who do you think will be in the demon faction?” Tian Lie asked curiously.

“How would I know? But whoever they are, they are a bunch of ill-fated bastards.” Nicole shook her head. “Even Thorned Flower Guild is participating in this instance dungeon. Additionally, everyone had been assigned into the light faction. To have so many people going up against them, those fellows are goners.”

Tian Lie sighed. “That is what I am worried about… … what if, those ill-fated bastards are Chen Xiaolian’s team?”

“… … …” Nicole fell silent.

“We need to hurry!” Tian Lie laughed and moved to the side. There, he pulled out his means of transport.

Surprisingly…

Two warhorses!

Warhorses with police badges and equipment on them.

The two of them had actually seized two warhorses used by mounted police from who knows where.

Tian Lie jumped onto the horse and looked at Nicole. “Do you know how to get on?”

Nicole was no weakling. She jumped up the horse with a clean jump. Next, she urged the horse forward. Tian Lie smiled and moved to follow.

The two of them did not choose to take the road. Instead, they moved into the forest, going northwest toward Tel Aviv.

“Hey, woman. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“If those ill-fated bastards who ended up in the demon faction are really Chen Xiaolian and the others, what will you do?”

“… … if that is the case, I will have to kill you first before I figure out what to do.”

“Wa ha ha ha! Don’t be like that oh! I didn’t say I will be enemies with them. The faction assigned by the system? So what? I can choose to reject it. At most, I will just have to go through a punishment instance dungeon once. So, if I am willing to help Chen Xiaolian’s team, what will you do?”

“I will still kill you first!”

“Why?”

“Because your mouth is too annoying!”

…

“We had better leave this place right now!”

After a moment of silence, Lun Tai and the others quickly came to that decision.

“Go get Roddy out first. I had already devoured the power of darkness corroding him. He should have recovered by now.”

There was a frown on Qiao Qiao’s face.

The other members of their team followed Qiao Qiao as she ran back into the corridor. This time, Lun Tai took the rear.

He followed Will closely, his pair of eyes regarding Will’s back contemplatively.

Why would the system put so much importance on Will?

If he were to die, two of their teammates would be killed at random.

Just how important was he?

…

When Chen Xiaolian reached Stonecutter’s Mountain using the motorcycle, he saw flames raging on the first floor of a distant building.

The building had begun collapsing. After the explosions rocked the building, the structure of the building became deformed. Now, the fires ravaged what was left, making its collapse a matter of time.

Chen Xiaolian furiously charged forward until he was before the building. He shouted loudly but got no reply.

Damn the guild channel blockade!

Chen Xiaolian was feeling anxious.

Shen’s words made Chen Xiaolian aware of something.

This power to block off his guild channel might be due to his encounter with those strangely dressed knights.

He had killed of one of their members and also harmed a unicorn.

Maybe they had engaged in a certain power to deal with him.

Now the problem was… … how was he going to find his teammates?

As Chen Xiaolian was racking his brains, he heard a sound.

It came from a ventilation pipe of a collapsed underground part of the building.

It was a sharp sounding alarm.

Ignoring the searing heat from the flames, Chen Xiaolian quickly charged inside. After taking a few steps inside, he heard the alarm. It was an electronically synthesized warning.

“Red alert! Evacuate immediately! A-level members, please leave through the special passageway! The special shuttle train is now operational!”

Chen Xiaolian narrowed his eyes. Hearing the contents of the alarm, he hesitated for a moment before coming to a decision.

He quickly charged into the burning building.

…

“This thing is operational!”

At a certain location within the underground research centre…

There were tracks here and several carriages rested upon the tracks.

The door of the carriage was open and Roddy stood beside the control panel.

There was seriousness in his eyes as he sighed deeply. “I have configured the controls here, but there is not enough power. I have already checked it. It should have been able to go all the way to Tel Aviv. However, due to the power shortage, we might only be able to make it halfway.”

“No time to care about that, go up! It is at least better than going by foot.” Lun Tai decided. “Leave this place first. I have a feeling that this place is too dangerous. The longer we stay here, the more dangerous it will be for us!”

They quickly made their way up one of the train carriages. After the door closed up automatically, the train carriage quickly moved out along the tracks, leaving the place…

Around 10 minutes later, Chen Xiaolian’s figure, wrapped in flames, charged in through the door leading to the underground station. After reaching the station, he unwrapped the fireproof blanket covering his body and tossed it away. Next, he looked at the blinking control panel.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the other train carriages resting on the tracks. After a moment of consideration, he too, jumped inside it.

Ten seconds later, the train carriage moved out as well.

…

“Our target is in Stonecutter’s Mountain… … eh, they are moving!”

An armoured vehicle was quickly moving along another highway leading to Tel Aviv. Inside the vehicle were several Awakened ones with varying equipment. They inspected their equipment.

“Killing one will give us so many points. This is worth the risk!”

“Then let us go for it!”

…