Chapter 577: The Dark Clouds Will Eventually Fade

Chapter 577 The Dark Clouds Will Eventually Fade

At some unknown point in time, clouds had begun gathering up in the sky.

Shen had his head lowered as he looked at the little boy beside him. Adam was crouched on the ground, a tree branch in his hand. It was unknown where he had obtained that tree branch. Adam used it to overturn the pieces of gravel on the ground, seemingly in an attempt to find something.

Shen sighed and raised his head to look up the sky. Rays of light seeped out through the gaps between the dark clouds, creating a lingering atmosphere of sanctity.

“Humph, it does give off a somewhat holy atmosphere,” said Shen with a rather disdainful tone. “Creating such a sky, are you feeling too bored, Zero City?”

No response.

“Let us go.” Shen stretched out his hand to pull Adam by the hand – Adam should have been intangible, without body. He was supposed to be a holographic projection. However, for some unknown reason, Shen was able to clearly grip Adam’s arm, allowing him to pull him up. He had a warm smile on his face.

“Come, I will show you this world – even if all of them… are fake.”

There was hesitation on Adam’s face. “I… … have never seen this world.”

“… … it has to be seen.” Shen smiled. There in his eyes was a strange hint of confidence.

Mm, it was confidence.

It has to be seen.

…

“It is already three out of five.”

Chen Xiaolian exhaled. “I wonder who the others in this instance dungeon are. Maybe… … they are the old friends in the list.”

Phoenix did not say anything. Instead, she quietly balled her fists. Soo Soo, who noticed the minute detail, blinked and reached out with her hand to lightly touch Phoenix’s fingers. She said in a hushed tone, “You, are you feeling nervous?”

Phoenix lowered her head to look at the little girl. Then, she quietly relaxed her fists.

By then, Chen Xiaolian had already found something.

At a corner of the tent, he slowly picked up something that was hacked off by the sword.

It was a black coloured piece of metal, very sharp. It had been neatly hacked off and was only around several centimetres in length. He used two fingers to hold it as he leaned closer to examine it, even going so far as to sniff at it.

“The black colour comes from rust and blood,” said Chen Xiaolian with a frown. “It looks like… … the fragment of a weapon. Maybe something like a sword was hacked off, leaving this behind.”

At that moment, they received a prompt through their personal system.

[System prompt: … … item (4/5), access to a new… …]

The details there were not important. Clearly, Chen Xiaolian had found something useful. The number of quest items found had gone up to (4/5).

However, the final sentence in the prompt caused their faces to change.

[ … Instance dungeon countdown: 299 minutes 58 seconds.]

It had finally ticked down from ‘299 minutes 59 seconds’!

One second.

Just one second.

However, after falling to 299 minutes 58 seconds, the time stopped once more.

“One second.” Chen Xiaolian lowered his head and he pondered the issue. When he raised his head, there was a bitter smile on his face and he said, “I… … understand now.”

“Oh?”

“The time here is not stopped. Rather, it has been slowed down,” Chen Xiaolian said in a very grim tone. “Although we have lost all time measuring devices since this instance dungeon began, we can more or less gauge it ourselves. At least one hour must have gone by. After one hour, the time in this place is only … … one second. In other words, the world did not come to a halt, it is being slowed, by a great deal. About… … mm, assuming one second equals one hour, 3,600 times. Time is now 3,600 times slower.

3,600 times.

“Who could do something like this? The system?”

“Obviously not.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “Although I do not know who, but to be able to do something like this, that person must be very powerful! Very, very, very powerful!”

Chen Xiaolian patted his clothes and pulled Soo Soo over. “Come on, we will return to the castle. We have reached four out of five. In other words, the areas of this instance dungeon are about all open to us. As long as we can find the final item, we can complete this instance dungeon. Additionally… … there are some old friends that we may be able to meet here.”

Phoenix pursed her lips. “You seem to be forgetting something important. Players! There is a Player faction in this instance dungeon.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled and pointed to his forehead. “This may sound puzzling, but I have this strangest feeling. It is possible that we will not be encountering any Players in this instance dungeon.”

“Why?”

“I do not know. Something like a sixth sense, I suppose.” Chen Xiaolian’s response, which sounded as though he was dodging the question, caused Phoenix to enter a state of silence.

The three of them entered the castle. The moment they stepped past the castle gate, Chen Xiaolian halted his steps. He seemingly gave Phoenix a thoughtful glance. “Your wand…”

Phoenix positioned her wand behind her back and said, “What is it?”

“Have you made the preparations for a fight?”

“We are in an instance dungeon. It is only natural.”

Chen Xiaolian suddenly loosened his grip on Soo Soo’s hand. He turned to stare right at Phoenix. Next, he did something to cause Phoenix to blush.

Chen Xiaolian reached out with his hand and placed it upon Phoenix’s shoulder. He leaned his face forward until there was less than 20 centimetres between the two of them. It was such that they could hear each other’s breath.

“I am very thankful that you are willing to enter this instance dungeon to help me, Phoenix.” He did his best to speak in a warm and gentle tone. “For you to suddenly change your mind and enter this instance dungeon, besides feeling happy, I also did think about it. I can more or less guess there is some reasoning behind that. Although I do not know the exact details, what I want to say to you here is… … Phoenix, we are friends, are we not?”

“Some… … something like that.” The young woman’s voice sounded lacking in conviction.

“Of course, it is like that.” Chen Xiaolian smiled and continued, “You helped me out a lot back in London. We also fought side by side in the punishment instance dungeon. Although… … in the later phase of the London instance dungeon, the system assigned us to different factions and my victory caused your guild to be sent to the punishment instance dungeon. Even so… … at the end of the day, I think of you as a friend.”

“Just what is it you are trying to say?”

“Since we are friends… … some troubling matters, you can leave it to me.” Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows. However, his eyes remained clear. “I will help you – those troubling matters, I will help you deal with them, together.”

Together.

When the word fell upon her ears, Phoenix’s body turned taut. Then, for some unknown reason, her body immediately grew slack. She looked at him with a look that she had never revealed before.

He was just a teenager. When he spoke, it was inevitable for his expression to reveal the bashfulness unique to boys. His shoulders were not wide enough and his voice not hard enough. Upon his chin were fine little – he did not even have a beard.

A teenager like him had stood before her, pressing down on her shoulder and said “together” to her in such a way… …

Somewhere within Phoenix’s heart, something moved, a very light and gentle movement.

The young woman turned her face the other way and said, “I have never needed anyone to help me deal with anything.”

“But I am willing, as a friend.” Chen Xiaolian smiled and retracted the hand pressing down on Phoenix’s shoulder. As he did, however, his hand moved to hold Phoenix’s wrist instead. “Let us go. We will go in together.”

“Hey! What are you doing? Did no one tell you not to casually pull a girl’s hand?”

“We are friends, the life and death type.” Chen Xiaolian responded with a roguish smile.

…