Chapter 461: Race Against Time

By the time Chen Xiaolian made it into the submarine cabin, everyone inside had gotten up.

Little Will, who had been sitting in the corner, had fainted. There was a bewildered look on Qimu Xi’s face – she had been sitting beside him. Seeing Chen Xiaolian’s arrival, she quickly said, “I, I don’t know what happened. Just now, he just suddenly fainted…”

Chen Xiaolian gave Qimu Xi a light nod before turning to the others.

“Have you all read the system prompt?”

The members of his team nodded their heads.

There were grim looks on their faces. That was especially true of Roddy and Qiao Qiao. There were looks of uncertainty on their faces as well.

Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. “Roddy, change our course… … move at full speed!”

Hearing that, Roddy showed no hesitation and headed toward the control panel immediately.

Chen Xiaolian had not said where to go. However, Roddy understood.

Everyone here understood.

There was only one place to go… … the place indicated by the system prompt, the final destination for this instance dungeon, the Demon Island!

Seeing the expressions on everyone’s faces and sensing the heaviness of the atmosphere, Chen Xiaolian slowly spoke up, “Everyone, there is no need to be so pessimistic.”

Chen Xiaolian did his best to insert a sense of energy into his voice and he spoke loudly, “Instance dungeons have always been this way. They are damned things that would never give us an easy path. Have we not experienced this before? We have experienced things like this before. And now, we have to experience it again, that is all. Since this instance dungeon wants to cause problems for us, we can only fight it head-on!”

As the Deputy Guild Leader, Lun Tai opened up his mouth to support Chen Xiaolian in a timely manner. Clenching his fists, he shouted, “That is right! Guild Leader had taken the words straight out of my mind! Although things did not go as planned, this has always been the way of instance dungeons. There is nothing to feel sad about. We just need to counter soldiers with arms and water with earthen weir [1]! Additionally, Guild Leader had analysed this situation just now. There is still another round of opportunity. The system will definitely assign factions one more time before the final quest begins. That means we are not the only ones in the Demon Faction.”

Listening to Lun Tai’s words, Qiao Qiao and Roddy involuntarily exchanged looks.

As Chen Xiaolian’s close and personal friends, Qiao Qiao and Roddy had to admit that Chen Xiaolian’s decision to make Lun Tai the Deputy Guild Leader was a very wise one.

Lun Tai had done an impeccable job of assuming the responsibilities of a Deputy Guild Leader.

Besides taking over the position of leadership when Chen Xiaolian was not around, he also made sure to maintain Chen Xiaolian’s authority as the Guild Leader.

Lun Tai was a cautious and detailed person. There was no doubt in his abilities in many areas.

One such example was the way he addressed Chen Xiaolian. As he was much older than the other members in the guild, he would occasionally, jokingly address Chen Xiaolian as ‘Xiaolian’ to show a sense of affection.

However, in formal situations, or when they were making serious decisions when inside instance dungeons, Lun Tai would never call him ‘Xiaolian’. He would call him ‘Guild Leader’.

This seemingly minute detail was enough to show how smart Lun Tai was.

After the two leading members of the guild spoke up, the morale inside the submarine rose slightly.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at Lun Tai and gave him a nod before speaking loudly again, “All right. I will now go into our present situation again.

“Firstly, little Will has been formally recognized by the system as the demon candidate! This is a very important piece of information. I believe this will bring a huge impact to the following storyline.

“Additionally, little Will’s life force is declining and can only hold on for another 59 minutes… … mm, there is only 56 minutes left as of now.

“Even so, the second phase of this instance dungeon has yet to end.

“Originally, we had planned to waste the time away until the second phase ends. That way, we will be able to leave this instance dungeon easily. But now that little Will is in danger of dying, our plans have been ruined.

“No matter what happens, we cannot allow little Will to die. Even more so, we cannot allow ourselves to be subjected to the punishment where two of our members will be forcibly exterminated at random!

“Thus, I have decided to immediately head toward the final destination of this instance dungeon, the Demon Island. We must, before little Will dies, activate the whatever magic array!

“We have no choice in this matter.

“Furthermore, I found an information within this system prompt that might be of use to us.”

“Oh?” Xia Xiaolei looked at Chen Xiaolian with a curious expression. “Guild Leader, what did you find?”

“The reason little Will’s life is in danger is because some other team had completed the second phase quest, the quest to reach Tel Aviv. Following the storyline, they had activated some power of Light. This is what caused little Will’s life to be in danger.

“However, there is something else stated in the system prompt: The countdown for the second phase had yet to end. It is still counting down!

“There are still more than 10 hours left in the countdown timer.

“By my speculations, there should still be many other participants who have yet to finish the second phase quest. They are still on the way to Tel Aviv!

“As you all can see in the system prompt: Once the second phase ends, the participants who have yet to complete the second phase will be forced out of this instance dungeon. They have failed the quest and will be punished

“The choices we face in the second phase is to either reach Demon Island and activate the magic array or to let the timer end.

“Theoretically speaking…”

Chen Xiaolian spoke with firm voice, “Theoretically speaking, we must choose the first one! We need to quickly make our way to the Demon Island and activate the magic array – this is not just for the sake of little Will.

“Doing so will give us another benefit. Once we activate the magic array, the second phase will automatically come to an end!

“When you consider the fact that we are presently the only ones in the Demon Faction… … as long as we quickly activate the magic array, we can end the second phase. The more participants we kick out through this method, the weaker the opposing faction becomes!”

This explanation from Chen Xialian boosted everyone’s spirits.

Chen Xiaolian turned to face Roddy and asked, “Roddy, how far are we from the coordinate for the Demon Island? How long will it take us to reach it?”

“If I push this submarine to its maximum speed, we can probably reach the island in around 30 minutes.” Roddy thought about it and continued, “However, if we are to move at maximum speed, our chances of being discovered will be increased.”

“Push it to maximum speed!” Chen Xiaolian decided immediately. “We need to hurry up right now!”

…

Tian Lie and Nicole received the system prompts at the same time.

[System prompt: Some participants had completed the second phase quest by reaching Tel Aviv first. Power of Light activated, assignment of factions now in motion.

[Participants who chose to kill off their quest targets in the second phase are fixed members of the Light Faction.

[Participants who chose not to kill off their quest targets must make it to Tel Aviv. There, they will be subjected to the faction trial battle. After completing the specific quest, their faction alignment will be re-determined.

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

[After the countdown timer for the second phase has ended, those who cannot complete the second phase quest will have failed the quest. They will be unable to enter the third phase and will be forced out of this instance dungeon.]

Tian Lie laughed. “It seems my guess is pretty accurate. As expected… … our faction alignment will need to be re-determined. Leaving these two fellows alive was not in vain.”

As he spoke, he patted the sack on the back of the horse.

There was a very grim expression on Nicole’s face. “We had better find out which faction Chen Xiaolian’s team is in… … is there any way to make contact with them?”

“I am more worried about how we are going to explain ourselves to them when we meet them.” Tian Lie shrugged. “I believe you probably don’t wish to reveal your identity to them.”

Nicole hesitated.

Tian Lie picked up a mobile phone and checked the GPS. “We are already very close to Tel Aviv. Only three more kilometres and we will be able to enter… … I am curious. We have not encountered any obstructions along the way. This is not right. Logically speaking, the second phase should not be this ea-“

Before he could continue, Tian Lie suddenly shut his own mouth.

There on the stretch of wasteland before them was a rising cloud of dust.

Nicole knitted her brows and turned around to look at the rising dust cloud. After giving it a glance, she sighed. “The obstruction you are talking about is here.”

Dust clouds rose up from the distant wasteland. Those were heavy cavalry in black. They wore ancient looking armour and brandished cold weapons the likes of long swords. spears, war hammers. They assumed an attack formation and charged.

Tian Lie frowned.

“Is this the trial that we must face before entering Tel Aviv?” Tian Lie continued furrowing his brows and said, “If our quest target dies in the middle of the battle, what will the system decide?”

“If I were you, I won’t consider that. No matter what, I will bring my quest target into Tel Aviv alive!”

After saying that, Nicole grunted and leaned down to pick up a sword placed on the horse’s saddle. Next, she put her body close to the horse and kicked the horse’s belly, urging the horse into a charge.

…

“How is he?” Chen Xiaolian sat down beside little Will and looked at Qimu Xi, who was in charge of taking care of little Will.

“He has not awoken. There is no sign of him waking up at all.” There was a rather anxious look in Qimu Xi’s face. “I gave him some water.  Also, Brother Lun Tai had given him some healing substance earlier, but there was no effect.”

“Mm, don’t waste the healing substance anymore.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “Since this is an instance dungeon storyline, it doesn’t matter what type of healing substance we use, it won’t work on him. When we reach the island, everyone must be ready for battle. This time’s final quest is more difficult. I don’t think the island would have no danger at all. The system would not allow us to arrive on the island easily and just put on a big and obvious button for us to press in order to activate the magic array…. I believe it is not that simple.”

After saying that, Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Thirteen, who was in a corner.

There was a very nervous expression on Thirteen’s face.

He had already found out about the change in plans… … he had originally thought that by enduring through the second phase, his deal with Chen Xiaolian would end and he would have the opportunity to leave.

But now…

“Thirteen.” Chen Xiaolian looked at Thirteen and called out, interrupting his thoughts.

Thirteen promptly raised his head and saw Chen Xiaolian directing a very serious gaze at him. Chen Xiaolian said slowly, “Look at your personal system. How long before the system reveals our coordinates to your Light Faction?”

“There are 30 more minutes until the next announcement.”

Chen Xiaolian nodded. “Mm, that is just about when we will be reaching the Demon Island.”

1 Idiom. Meaning: Adopt countermeasures depending on what situation you face.↩