Chapter 567: Actual Combat?

Every word coming out from Phoenix’s mouth dripped with resentment. Chen Xiaolian, who was listening while standing beside her, sighed inwardly.

Truth be told, Chen Xiaolian disagreed with Phoenix’s perspective.

Seizing a spot on the list. What did that meant?

Instance dungeons were a place where either you die or I die. The winner would survive while the loser would die.

There was no fairness in it. In the punishment instance dungeon, the killing of other participants was necessary in order to earn a spot on the top six.

It was nothing more than I kill you and you kill me. To say that someone had seized Monster’s spot and that it was unfair was simply ridiculous.

In order to survive and gather the points, Monster had to kill off others as well. If so, where would those who died to Monster go to voice their grievances?

The reason why Phoenix would feel this way, so furious, so saddened, was because Monster was her companion.

Humans are creatures who care for their relatives and close ones after all. There is no place for reason at a time like this.

Hearing the tone that Phoenix was using, Chen Xiaolian was uncertain what to say. He simply remained silent and continued listening to her.

Suddenly, Soo Soo, who was beside him, said with an indifferent voice, “When other people kill your companions, it is a crime. So, when your companion kills others, is that justice?”

After Soo Soo said that, Phoenix flinched. She jerked her head to stare at Soo Soo.

Chen Xiaolian felt his scalp going numb.

Soo Soo calmly faced Phoenix’s gaze with an emotionless look of indifference. She continued to look at Phoenix with that cold and serene expression of hers.

“… … is this your companion?” asked Phoenix with a sneer.

Chen Xiaolian sighed and patted Soo Soo on her head. “Soo Soo, keep quiet.”

“Oh.” Soo Soo lowered her head.

Phoenix chose to let it slide. After taking several deep breaths, seemingly for the sake of recollecting herself, Phoenix said, “All right. Let us talk business. Why did you come all the way here to find me?”

Chen Xiaolian responded with a wry smile. He exhaled and tapped his nose. “Actually, it is nothing special.”

Phoenix sneered. “It is not easy to find me. I do not recall revealing my identity in this world to you. Thus, for you to find me, that must have taken quite the effort. I do not believe you would put so much effort to find me only for the sake of getting tea and reminisce.”

Chen Xiaolian revealed a slight frown.

He could clearly sense it. At this moment in time, there was a certain difference between the Phoenix standing before him and the Phoenix he met in the past.

The image of the young woman known as Guild Leader Phoenix who would smile gently, who possessed a calm and wise temperament, who had discussed matters with him on the rooftop and given him the spirit-force revolver seemingly blurred away…

This young woman before him was submerged within the rage and grief of losing her companions. There was a suppressed savagery swirling about her emotions.

Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Let us not go into other matters. Since I am here, you should at least treat me to a cup of tea.”

“… … fine.” After taking a deep breath, Phoenix’s face regained her calm demeanour. She pointed at the table and said, “Please sit.”

There was already a tea set placed on the table. Phoenix had a look of concentration on her face as she handled the items from the tea set. After brewing the pot of tea, she poured a cup and pushed it toward Chen Xiaolian.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the restrained expression on Phoenix’s face and smiled all of a sudden. He scratched his head and said in a whisper, “You learned tea ceremony?”

A trace of pride appeared on Phoenix’s face. “Is there a need for me to learn this? I figured out how to do it just by observing a few times.”

“Err… … as I recall, according to the process of tea ceremony, the first batch of brewed tea is to be poured away, not to be served.”

“… … …”

Chen Xiaolian was able to clearly see a hint of redness appearing across Phoenix’s face. A trace of embarrassment appeared within her eyes.

He smiled and picked up the teacup before him. As he was about to sip from it, it was seized by Phoenix.

Phoenix glared at Chen Xiaolian and said through clenched teeth. “Did you deliberately wait for me to pour you this cup before telling me that?”

“… … I am innocent. I am not that bad of a person.”

Phoenix paused. Then, she poured away all of the tea before her. “Since you know, you do it.”

“Actually, I do not know tea ceremony. I had just inadvertently read up on it in a book. Besides… … I rarely drink tea at home. I usually just drink plain water.”

The redness on Phoenix’s face gradually increased. Next, she pressed a button beside the table and spoke out while facing an intercom beside her. “Get me a pot of water! Plain water! Without anything! Also… … get me two bottles of wine!”

The transmission part of the intercom replied with a respectful voice. “Boss, what kind of wine?”

“… hard liquor! The more concentrated, the better!” said Phoenix through gnashed teeth.

After saying that, Phoenix glared at Chen Xiaolian and said, “It would take around two to three minutes before the wine gets here. Now, you better take advantage of this time to tell me why you came looking for me.”

Chen Xiaolian considered his words before cautiously saying in a hushed tone, “Do you know what has been going on for the past few days?”

Phoenix gave Chen Xiaolian a glance and said, “Don’t know. After the punishment instance dungeon ended, the foundation of my guild suffered horribly and its level was greatly downgraded. However, there is a silver lining. The instance dungeons had not selected me for a couple of months now.”

“So, you have been living comfortably as a mafia boss in Bucharest?” said Chen Xiaolian with a wry smile.

“You think being a mafia boss is very easy?” Phoenix threw a glare at Chen Xiaolian. “Out with it. What happened?”

“… all right. Although not many people know about this right now, it would be spreading out soon enough.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head and looked at Phoenix. He controlled his facial expression and said in a solemn tone, “Thorned Flower Guild has split apart. Their Guild Leader went missing and a civil war has broken out within Thorned Flower Guild…”

A slight flicker flashed through Phoenix’s face. However, she was able to remain calm. “This is quite the big news. However, what does that have to do with me?”

“… … I am not finished.” Chen Xiaolian slowly continued, “At the same time, another major event happened. Zero City, has fallen!”

Bang!

Phoenix shot up to her feet. Due to her excessive use of force, she knocked the corner of the table, causing the tea tray to bump aside and the tea to spill out.

“Are you telling the truth? Zero City? Fallen?”

…

“Sir, we received the special contact code from the emergency channel again.”

Guan Shan stood before Aderick, a serious look on his face. “This is the fourth time! In other words, among the emergency contact personnel we left in this world, four of them have been activated. Our personnel who were assigned to this world and some other peripheral members are all trying to contact us through the emergency contact personnel.”

Aderick stood silently before the window and looked out.

Snow filled the air and ice covered the lands. The area around them was pure white.

One minute later, Aderick turned his head and said, “How many emergency contact points in this world do we have in total?”

“There are 11 in total.” Guan Shan said before slowly continuing, “I had checked the numbers. Each of the seven resident guilds has one each while the Angel Corps have three. Additionally, the Board of Patriarchs set up another one five years ago. So, there are a total of 11 of them.”

“So, Zero City has fallen for so many days, but only four of the eleven emergency contact points were activated?” There was a dark look on Aderick’s face. He turned to look at Guan Shan. “Do you know what this means?”

“I do not.” There was a pale look on Guan Shan’s face.

“It means we may be facing defection, or leaks,” Aderick said icily. “We have 11 contact points, so why are the others silent?”

“Maybe… … maybe…” Guan Shan murmured. However, after stuttering out those words, he found himself incapable of continuing.

“It is possible that the emergency contact points that have yet to make contact with us were involved in certain unexpected situations. These unexpected situations could involve many types of scenario, such as: Defection, leaks, leading to them being dealt with by our enemies!”

“But… .. our enemies? In this world, our enemies are likely limited to only those Players. For example, Thorned Flower Guild. Even so, could they? Considering the abilities of their Awakened members, I doubt they possess what it takes to deal with seven of our contact points.”

“Who said our enemies are limited to the Player faction?” Aderick sneered and continued, “Originally, we were part of Zero City, the mighty Zero City! But now that Zero City has fallen, we have been reduced to homeless dogs! Our resident guilds, Angel Corps… we have lost 90 per cent of our combined combat powers. At the same time, we also brought out large quantities of materials and equipment from Zero City… but we have already suffered from heavy losses!

“Under such circumstances, what are we? We have become a three-year-old with millions worth of cash in hand walking carelessly through the city despite having no ability to protect ourselves.

“We are no longer a tiger-like existence revered by all. Instead, we have become a big piece of juicy meat!

“When the Players see us, they will want to take a bite out of us!

“Do you think those Awakened ones in this world would not consider us as a slab of juicy meat?”

“You mean… …”

Aderick sighed. “Truth be told, I have always, since the beginning, disagreed with the development of that many peripheral members outside of Zero City. Back then, Zero City was the apex of the Awakened circle, a holy land. However, that status came to being because we possessed an eternally invincible fortress. We also possessed a foundation that allows us to sweep the other Awakened ones away. At present however, we have neither… …

“What is the world of the Awakened ones?

“There are none of those so-called feelings or loyalty.

“Within instance dungeons, there are only the rules, only ‘you die or I die’, survival of the fittest!

“The other Awakened ones would not come help us because we are now in a weakened state… … some of them would treat us like a weakling who possesses a vast amount of wealth and think about how to make a move on us.

“I have never trusted human nature!

“This is the way of ordinary humans to begin with. What more, these are Awakened ones we are talking about, people who have had to adapt to the environment of ‘either you die or I die’ and survival of the fittest.”

Guan Shan bit his lips.

“Although I have no evidence, I am certain of one thing. Among those seven emergency contacts whom we had lost contact with, some must had been either dealt with or devoured by ‘our own men’, those who had once depended on us and served us. Maybe, they have begun thinking about targeting us by making use of the emergency contacts to find us… …

“As for the four emergency codes we received, I myself cannot be certain. Are our own men who are anxious to meet up with us behind those emergency codes, or… … our enemies who are eagerly sharpening their blades!”

Guan Shan sighed and said, “So, your orders?”

“Maintain our state of radio silence. My order is very clear: No information must be sent out. No matter what news we receive, we must not respond. My order must be firmly implemented. It is an absolute command! Maintain silence!”

“For how long?” Guan Shan sighed. “Our Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild also has members outside. I cannot just give up on them. You know as well, I am now the leader of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.”

“Just be patient a little more, Guan Shan.” Aderick turned to look at the young man standing before him and sighed. “If your teacher, Bluesea, is here, he would understand my the difficulties I face in making these decisions. As for how long we will be maintaining our state of silence, I have presently no way of giving you an accurate answer. All I can say is: I too, hope that it would not last too long.”

Guan Shan let out another sigh. After a few seconds of silence, he then began his report on other matters. “At present, the construction of our encampment is basically complete. Our patrolling personnel had also finished setting up the alarm and security perimeter.”

“Mm, how is the arming of our personnel progressing?”

“… … you know as well. It is not going too well.” Guan Shan gave a bitter smile. “Most of the evacuees are not front-line combatants. Especially on the Angel Corps’ side… … only a few of them made it out. As a whole, our Zero City forces have lost too much in terms of combat power! We had lost our most elite warriors in the battle of Zero City. These men who made it out… … many of them used to be technical and administrative staff members. In order to arm them, we need to train them.

“Although they are all Awakened ones, they have not served as front-line combatants for so long now. Many of them had not gone out for fieldwork for years. To just suddenly arm them would probably not bring much results. At least, without any actual combat experience… …”

Aderick sighed. There was a tangled look in his eyes. “Actual combat experience… … I fear, the opportunity for actual combat will be coming soon enough.”

“… … …”

“Don’t forget, we are no longer under Zero City’s protection. We… … every one of us, could be selected to participate in instance dungeons at any given moment!”

…