Chapter 488: Deep Understanding?

Thunderflame was a woman.

That was unexpected.

Bluesea observed Chen Xiaolian quietly, not showing any surprise at Chen Xiaolian’s reaction. “Yes, Thunderflame is a woman. Is that very strange?”

“I remember… … the four founding members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild were members of the army…”

“Could there be no women in the army?” Bluesea shook his head and smiled. “You fell for an old-fashioned line of thought.”

Chen Xiaolian considered it before finally nodding his head. “That is right. No matter how you cut it, there is nothing wrong with that. I was the one to misunderstand.”

Pausing, he then looked at Bluesea. “If so, you believe that Thunderflame will come looking for me?”

“If Thunderflame finds out about it, then yes. From what I know of that person’s character, that would certainly happen.”

Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Does Thunderflame know about it now? I mean, as one of the leaders of the guild…”

Bluesea gave a heavy sigh and looked to the distance. He whispered out in a seemingly unconcerned tone, “This is the other thing that I wanted to tell you about.”

“What is it?”

“Thunderflame is not with Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.” There was a trace of sadness within Bluesea’s voice. “It would be more accurate to say that Thunderflame had… …, she left Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild a long time ago.”

Chen Xiaolian. “… … …”

This was an unexpected reveal.

Thunderflame… … left? She left Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild?

This…

Chen Xiaolian’s eyes shone as he contemplated the information. He came to realize that this was actually understandable.

Perhaps…

If Thunderflame was still with Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, why did Bluesea alone had to step forward to support everything during Blood Verdict? Why did Thunderflame, who was one of the four pillars of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, not show up?

Bluesea was about to kill himself in the competition arena in order to buy time for the guild. Despite that, Thunderflame did not show up.

This had always been a huge question within Chen Xiaolian’s mind.

“You mean to say that Thunderflame is not in Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild?”

“Yes, she is not with the guild,” Bluesea replied directly. “I should be more detailed. When I said that, I did not mean she is out somewhere or doing something elsewhere. Rather… … she is no longer a member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. More accurately, she had already quit the guild. She is surviving on her own.”

“… … breaking off?” Chen Xiaolian had blurted out those words and he quickly regretted it. He turned sheepishly at Bluesea.

There was a desolate and somewhat lonely look on Bluesea’s face. He observed the distant beach and whispered, “Breaking off? You have no need to feel guilty. Those words aren’t exactly wrong.”

After saying that, Bluesea turned to look at Chen Xiaolian. “This matter with Thunderflame is Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s biggest secret. In order to maintain morale of the men, the matter of her leaving the guild has never been publicized. The guild has had to deal with so many hardships during these past years. Skyblade’s disappearance alone was so difficult to deal with for me; if they were to find out that Thunderflame had left, their morale would probably had shattered apart long ago. Thus… … the number of people who knows about Thunderflame’s matter does not exceed five.”

After a pause, Bluesea sighed. “That year, she had a disagreement with me. She was too temperamental and overbearing. She was unable to agree with my methods of compromising. Most importantly, she refused to stay low. In the end, we had an argument and she left out of anger. However, for old times’ sake, she did not make this incident public. She secretly left and changed her name. She no longer used the name Thunderflame. As for the guild, I announced that Thunderflame had gone to look for Skyblade. Thus, she could not be found within the guild. Hiding this secret for so many years is quite hard.”

“… … no one suspected anything?” Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows.

“She would come every year and show her face in Zero City every now and again. However, she would quickly leave after that. Thus, even though there are those who suspected something, I was able to continue hiding it.” Bluesea smiled wryly.

Hearing that, Chen Xiaolian did not know what to think about it. The relationship between the four founding members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild was complicated and beyond imagination.

After considering it, Chen Xiaolian said, “Since we are at the subject, I have to ask. Is this the only thing you wanted to discuss with me?”

“Qiao Qiao’s matter is related to Qiao Yifeng. There is a need for me to ask about it. As for whether anything bad would happen due to that matter, it is as I had said, in light of the favour Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild owes you, I will not be troubling you. As long as you are unwilling to reveal it, I will not forcibly probe anything from you. However… …” After saying that, Bluesea cast a hesitant gaze at Chen Xiaolian.

“Just be frank.”

“This matter is too unbelievable. I have never encountered such an incident before. For the system to erase all traces of an Awakened after that person died… although we no longer find it strange for an Awakened to be refreshed, this whole no resurrection as an ordinary human and the complete erasure of the person’s existence is simply too strange.” Bluesea looked at Chen Xiaolian. “It is clear that you know something and that you are hiding it. Although I do not plan on forcing this issue… … I have a faint guess about this matter. I fear this is not something negligible.

“I believe that someone will look for you and question you about it. Perhaps it would be Thunderflame, or perhaps information on this matter would leak out and find its way to the other guilds. They would never ignore such a bizarre incident.

“All these years, every guild in Zero City would tirelessly attempt to seek the truth of this world. Should they receive word of such a bizarre incident, they would never let you go. Even though I can try to help you conceal it, I won’t be able to do so for long. Eventually, someone who knows you and Qiao Qiao would find out about this. When that time comes…”

Chen Xiaolian smiled. “In the end, you still want me to tell you about it.”

“If this matter is very important, you might as well cooperate with me instead of taking it on alone. At the very least, there is some form of friendship between Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild and you. There is a basis for us to cooperate,” Bluesea said frankly. “If you insist on not talking, then… just forget that I asked. I just did not want to hide my intentions from you.”

“So, you are scheming openly?” Chen Xiaolian sighed.

“Even if I don’t investigate into it, eventually, someone else would. Even if I don’t interrogate you, eventually… someone else would.”

Chen Xiaolian raised his head to observe the artificial, clear blue sky. It was clear and transparent, without any of the smoke usually seen in the sky in the outside world.

Chen Xiaolian observed the sky for a few seconds, contemplating. In the end, he slowly nodded his head. “Your words are right. Even if you do not interrogate me, someone would do so, eventually. Even if you do not investigate this matter, someone would do so, eventually. Instead of taking this whole matter alone, I might as well cooperate with a reliable partner. How about this? Mr Bluesea, this matter obviously has a hidden aspect. However… … before I cooperate with you, I need you to help me with one matter.”

“… … tell me about it.” Bluesea did not directly agree. Instead, he prudently asked for more details.

Chen Xiaolian looked around. “I want a deeper understanding of Zero City.”

“Deeper? How deep?”

“Very deep.”

…

The golden wheat within the farm were like glittering waves.

On an open space beside a farm, an agricultural tractor was stopped there. Its tracks had been disassembled.

A man slid out from beneath the chassis area, his hands stained with black coloured oil. He raised the sleeved part of his arm to wipe the sweat off his forehead. After taking a deep breath, he swore. “Damn it, looks like this cannot be repaired by today. There is a need to go to the town and find someone from the agricultural equipment company.”

The man stood up to reveal a stalwart body, thick eyebrows and large eyes. The angles on his square shaped face were prominent. The sleeves on his shirt and trousers were rolled up high, revealing his bronze coloured skin. His face exuded an indomitable spirit.

There were two men beside him. One, a thin man in long sleeve work clothes was sitting under a tree. He carried with him a jug of tea and drank the tea before glancing at the man. He shouted, “Brother Feng, if even someone like you can cuss out at this machine, I fear those from the agricultural company would be in worse shape. Weren’t you dealing with machines back when you were serving with the army? I hear you could repair even tanks. Could this guy be more complicated compared to the toys you get back in the army?”

The stalwart man smiled. “It has been years since them. My skills have long since gone rusty. Spending all my years farming, not many skills from back then remains.”

Somewhere on a hillside located several hundred metres away.

A fat figure was seated on the ground. Beside him were a camo sleeping bag and various foodstuffs. Chocolates, mineral water, cola, biscuits, bread etc. There was also a bag of opened sausages.

Fatty held a pair of military binoculars in his hand and observed the laughing stalwart man who was standing in the faraway farm.

He himself was uncertain how long he maintained that position. He kept on watching and watching. Then, he suddenly broke out in tears and snot flowed out from his nose.

Fatty finally put down the binoculars and wiped the snot away. He mumbled to himself, “Dad…”

After crying for a while, Fatty watched as the stalwart man pulled a bicycle up from the ground. After tying up his work kit to the back of the bicycle, he got on the bicycle. He rode the bicycle along the path between the wheat fields as he left. Fatty quickly jumped up.

Ignoring the sleeping bag and foodstuffs lying on the ground, Fatty quickly pulled out a bicycle from his Storage Watch. Next, he got on the bicycle and rode desperately after the man.

The stalwart man rode in front while Fatty was at the back, a distance of 100 metres between them.

Tens of minutes later, they approached a town. The stalwart man got down his bicycle and pushed it along through a bridge. He made way for an agricultural vehicle carrying bags of something. Then, he entered the town. On the way, he greeted his acquaintances, the shop owners in the town.

“Aunt Ta, have you eaten yet?”

“Little Zhu, are you skipping class again today?”

“Ross! Playing cards again? Careful you don’t get caught by your wife!”

“Ha ha, Director Zhang, I will find you for a drink tomorrow!”

It was clear that this stalwart man had a good affinity with the others. He laughed heartily and an endless number of greetings was sent his way.

Fatty slowly followed from behind. Seeing the man pull his bicycle with him into an alley, he hastily gave chase. The moment he stepped into the alley however, a hand came down upon his shoulder.

“Who are you? Why are you following me?”

Fatty turned around and saw that the stalwart man was staring at him with a sharp gaze.

Fatty was stunned. Seeing the face that was both familiar and unrecognizable, his nose suddenly felt sour and he nearly broke into tears again. Thankfully, his mental fortitude was fairly good and he was able to endure. Instead, he smiled and said, “I… … when did I follow you?”

“You have been following me all this time. You even followed me into this alley, now you dare deny it?” The man shook his head and continued, “You are not from around here, are you? I have never seen you before.”

“That… … you are going your way and I am going mine. Why did you say I am following you?”

The stalwart man smiled. “This alley is a dead end. The only thing you will find there is a fertilizer plant. Who are you looking for there?”

“I… I am looking for the fertilizer plant!” Fatty replied firmly.

The man grunted in response. He exerted some force through his hands and pushed Fatty, slamming him against the wall. Next, he shouted, “Still talking nonsense? Two sentences were enough for me to expose you! There is no fertilizer plant inside! Speak, who are you? Sneaking around like that, were you thinking of stealing from us?”

…