Chapter 497: What Is Going On?

The best personnel from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s technical department had been dispatched to the main control room. Even the outstanding technical personnel from the other guilds had arrived.

The Angel Corps had initiated a state of emergency and began giving out orders, one after another.

Bluesea, who was in the main control room, did not give out orders like Angel Wu. Instead, he sat quietly in a chair with a solemn expression on his face. Bystanders were unable to tell what this leading figure from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild was thinking.

At that moment, a member from the Angel Corps rushed inside. After saluting Angel Wu, he quickly said, “Sir, the other Patriarchs have arrived. The only exception…”

“Very well, let us begin our meeting.” Angel Wu waved his hand. He already knew that one of the Patriarchs was trapped within a resource pocket space. Additionally, there was another who was presently outside Zero City. At present, not everyone from the Board of Patriarchs was available. However, this was not the time to be concerned about that.

Angel Wu glanced at Bluesea, who nodded and stood up. “Let us go. Some matters require the collective assent of us all.”

Angel Wu took the lead and strode out the room. Bluesea followed behind him. Seemingly inadvertently however, he fell behind by a few steps.

Guan Shan realized that Bluesea was looking at him and he quickly moved closer.

He soon received a message from Bluesea, sent through the guild channel.

“Go check up on Chen Xiaolian! I want to know if he is in his room right now and what he is doing!”

“Are you suspecting…”

“I am not suspecting anything. I just want to confirm something. Hurry and go!”

Guan Shan quickly nodded.

Subordinates of the two leading figures followed them as they moved forward. When Guan Shan quietly left in the middle of the way, no one took much note of it. Those who did saw it simply assumed that Bluesea had sent one of his subordinates to handle some guild related affairs. They did not think too much about it.

When Guan Shan stepped out of the building, he looked at the streets of Zero City that was now dark as night. All the lights on the streets had gone dark and the streets were empty. Occasionally, he could see two to three warriors from the Angel Corps patrolling about. They were not piloting their Sentinel mechs. Instead, they wielded energy-tier guns and patrolled about using flashlights.

Guan Shan was stopped twice. However, he had Bluesea’s badge with him. With the high-level clearance of the badge, he was able to easily make his way to the hotel that Chen Xiaolian was staying in.

Observing the hotel that was suffering from power outage and was enveloped in darkness, Guan Shan could not help but frown.

The lobby of the hotel was all dark. The AI holographic projection of the attendant that would normally serve the customers had disappeared. Naturally, even the elevators had stopped. Guan Shan did not hesitate to climb up using the stairs. Thankfully, the stairs were not locked. When Guan Shan reached the door leading into Chen Xiaolian’s room, he saw that the door was locked. He hesitated for a moment.

He did not choose to break open the door. Instead, he rapped on the surface of the door a few times.

“Xiaolian! Are you inside? The Mister sent me to check up on you…”

Bang! Bang!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After waiting for a few seconds, there was no response from inside. Guan Shan immediately felt something strange was up.

He… … is not in his room?

Could it be as Mr Bluesea suspected… … this matter is related to Chen Xiaolian?

Guan Shan hesitated for a while again. As he was hesitating between breaking open the door to enter the room or returning to report this incident, a sound suddenly came from inside the room.

“I… … am all right.”

Guan Shan was stunned.

That… … was Chen Xiaolian’s voice.

Although it sounded slightly faint, after meeting and following him for the day, Guan Shan concluded that this was certainly Chen Xiaolian’s voice.

He… … is actually obediently staying inside his room?

…

Let us return to 10 minutes ago…

Go through a screening process and obtain the authority.

After that, he would be able to issue out instructions to Zero City, just like Mr San and the other founders.

With such an opportunity before Chen Xiaolian, could he not grow excited?

“So, what is this method of screening?” Chen Xiaolian hastily asked.

“Are you certain you wish to go through the screening process?” Zero City’s voice remained unemotional.

“… yes.” After considering it, Chen Xiaolian clenched his teeth.

“Very well, following your request, now entering screening program.”

Swoosh!

The scene before Chen Xiaolian flashed and he was pummelled by a feeling of high-speed spatial movement once more. That instant made him feel weightless.

When the feeling of weightlessness disappeared, Chen Xiaolian slowly regained the ability to move his body smoothly. Then, he looked around. A frown subconsciously appeared on his face.

He was in… … an underground palace.

Additionally, from the design and layout of the walls, this was unquestionably as Eastern-style underground palace.

The illumination here was very faint. Raising his head, he saw that ceiling area above the underground palace was inlaid with some fluorescent pearls. The faint rays of light coming off them caused Chen Xiaolian’s brows to be knitted together.

He was able to confirm now that this was most likely a tomb like place.

Next, he received a prompt from his personal system.

[????: Instance dungeon number (Unknown).

[Entrant: Inceptive template holder.

[Quest: Obtain this instance dungeon’s highest authority. Highest authority includes, but is not limited to: Complete both factions’ quests, or disrupt both factions’ quests, or kill off every participant from one of the factions, or kill off every participant from both factions. Complete one of the above conditions and you will have completed the quest.

[Instance dungeon time limit: Unknown.

[Instance dungeon restriction: Futuristic and advanced weaponry are weakened.]

Seeing that, Chen Xiaolian was unable to stop himself from smiling wryly.

As expected…

Instance dungeon!

This was another instance dungeon.

While observing the gloomy atmosphere of this underground palace, Chen Xiaolian could feel the faintly chill air coming from the walls. Chen Xiaolian furrowed his brows. He spent around five seconds to recollect himself before quickly taking action.

First, he checked his Storage Watch. Thankfully, there was an abundant amount of reserve equipment and supplies within his Storage Watch.

Chen Xiaolian produced a spicy bar ([Beginner] class Healing Substance), folded it up and placed it inside his mouth, ready to gulp it down at a moment’s notice. Next, he produced a helmet equipped with flashlight and wore it. After that, he summoned the Sword in the Stone in one hand while his other held onto his spirit-force gun – considering this was a tomb-like instance dungeon, Chen Xiaolian believed there was a high likelihood of encountering vengeful spirits or monsters of the ghost type. Thus, using spirit-type weapons was most suitable.

After examining the underground palace, he saw that there was only one entrance. All others were sealed off.

Seeing no other choice, Chen Xiaolian walked in through the door.

As he walked through the long corridor, a strange feeling grew within Chen Xiaolian.

Although he had never been through this underground passage, it gave him a feeling of familiarity.

Next, Chen Xiaolian walked into a tomb area and saw some funerary objects in it. When he saw those objects, he became shocked.

The greenish black terracotta soldiers, the rearing warhorses and the chariot brimming with the atmosphere from the Warring States Era. There were also the pike-wielding soldiers above the chariot…

Chen Xiaolian stared with widened eyes.

“This… this…”

Shockingly, those were… Qin Shihuang’s terracotta soldiers!

In his shock, Chen Xiaolian nearly gulped down the spicy bar he placed inside his mouth.

He stared at the terracotta soldiers for a long time before subconsciously taking a few steps back.

He recalled his experience in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon. In the instance dungeon, these terracotta soldiers could all come to life and serve as guardians for the tomb.

Chen Xiaolian quickly put a safe distance between himself and them.

Thankfully, it would appear that these terracotta soldiers were not going to come to life.

Chen Xiaolian then frowned and the odd feeling in his heart grew.

There was a series of passageways linking the tomb to other tombs.

After some time passed, Chen Xiaolian had made his way across three tombs. Everywhere he turned, he saw row after row of terracotta soldiers.

His heartbeat grew more intense.

When he found the fourth tomb, he heard a voice coming from before him, shocking him.

He swiftly shrunk back and darted beneath the wheel of one of the bronze chariots. He held his breath as he hid.

Soon, three people rushed out from the other passageway.

Seeing those three figures, Chen Xiaolian, who was hiding beneath the wheel, became dumbfounded.

He was utterly dumbfounded.

The one on the left was a man with a beefy body and a prominent square shaped face. There was a firm expression on his face.

The one of the right was relatively thinner. However, he too, possessed a well-trained body.

Chen Xiaolian was very familiar with these two figures.

Surprisingly, they were Lun Tai and Bei Tai!

However, what shocked Chen Xiaolian the most was the figure standing between the two brothers.

Shockingly, it was…

“Guild Leader, I am pretty sure I heard a strange sound just now,” said Lun Tai with a frown. Then, he whispered, “It seems there is someone around…”

“Don’t be hasty.” The Guild Leader’s replied in a thick voice. “First, find what we need. Right now, making contact with others is pointless. Identifying our enemies is a difficult matter. Also, our objective for this instance dungeon is different from others. As long as we meet up with Qiu Yun…”

Chen Xiaolian, who was under the chariot, felt his throat going parched.

This ‘Guild Leader’ was shockingly… … Lun Tai and Bei Tai’s former leader.

He was the one who had died in the previous Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, Guild Leader Nangong.

Qiu Yun? Guild Leader Nangong?

Could this be…

The Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon?

The very Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon that he had experienced before?

Time… … travel?!

Chen Xiaolian was utterly flabbergasted.

Those three figures failed to discover Chen Xiaolian’s existence. It would appear that they were looking for something. They hastily left the place, disappearing into one of the underground passageways.

It took Chen Xiaolian a full minute to recollect himself. He got out from beneath the chariot’s wheel and looked at the passageway that the three figures had disappeared into.

“This… what the *** is going on here…”

Chen Xiaolian bit his lips heavily and the resulting pain caused him to flinch.

After a moment’s hesitation, he decided not to go into the same passageway taken by the three figures. Instead, he walked into the passageway that the three of them had emerged from.

After carefully walking a distance of around 50 metres, Chen Xiaolian reached an open area.

Surprising, this place was… … an underground river.

Chen Xiaolian thought back to his experience in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon. Back then, he had not encountered this place – it seemed that he had not covered the entire underground palace back then.

The water in the underground river was very dirty. At the very least, that was how it appeared surface wise. Pilings were hammered into the ground in a row along the underground river’s banks.

There at the river bank was a tall stone monument. It was twice Chen Xiaolian’s height.

Out of curiosity, Chen Xiaolian walked over. Raising his head, he looked at the densely packed text written on it…

As Chen Xiaolian was trying to read what was inscribed onto the surface of the stone, a strange sound suddenly came from the other side of the underground river. Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat and he hastily jumped up to the top of the stone monument.

The top of the stone monument was very wide. After making his way to the top of the stone monument, Chen Xiaolian was able to lie down on the top of the stone monument.

After 10 seconds, an elegant figure ran out, emerging dextrously from the darkness like a ghost.

Glancing over, Chen Xiaolian was stunned once more.

A form-fitting black leather jacket and long leather boots.

Black hair.

An exquisite and alluring face.

And the iconic pair of smiling eyes.

That woman was surprisingly…

Miao Yan!

Additionally, looking at the way she was dressed, this was the way Miao Yan had dressed the first time he met her, back in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon.

Exactly the same.

“Seriously… … *** time travel?” Chen Xiaolian was unable to stop himself from pulling a face.

…