Chapter 623: I Refuse

Chapter 623 I Refuse

Without showing the slightest hesitation, Chen Xiaolian hacked the blade down at the Thunderstorm Tank.

The blade descended.

After getting struck by the resulting shockwave from the clash between Wu Ya and the Karra beast, the energy reserve for the Thunderstorm Tank’s shield generator had fallen terribly low. It would require time to recharge. Thus, after the concrete sent over by Chen Xiaolian broke through, the shield utterly dissipated.

Despite the special alloys used to create the body of the tank, it was incapable of stopping the sharp attack that Chen Xiaolian had just executed. It was like cutting tofu.

Although the blade in Chen Xiaolian’s hand was only slightly longer than one metre, the faint golden light shining upon its surface extended up to several metres in length, outspanning the entire Thunderstorm Tank.

It is done.

Chen Xiaolian thought to himself as the blade was just cutting into the Thunderstorm Tank.

The Irregularities in this world were clearly more knowledgeable about this world. Take the thin man from earlier as example. If not for the emergence of the monster, Chen Xiaolian would have been able to gather more information from the thin man.

Although Chen Xiaolian did not know if the thin man was inside the Thunderstorm Tank or if it was some other Irregularity, he had hoped to be able to capture one alive to slowly interrogate them.

However, the current situation would not allow him to do so.

Despite the feelings of regret in his heart, there was no other way around it.

However, as the blade was halfway through the tank, it suddenly stopped.

Originally, it had felt as though he was cutting tofu. Now, however, Chen Xiaolian felt as though there was a stone hidden within the tofu.

A muffled sound of collision rang out from within the Thunderstorm Tank. Although the tank had covered the source of the sound, Chen Xiaolian could still hear it clearly.

Chen Xiaolian’s heart immediately turned tense as he felt a powerful force travelling through the blade in his hand toward him.

“Ten Thousand Streams, Quick!”

Countless water arrow shot out from within the body of the Thunderstorm Tank, drilling numerous holes on the surface of the tank in an instant and transforming it into something like a hornet’s nest.

Before that happened, however, Chen Xiaolian had already pulled his long blade back. He thrust the blade down before him to create another golden barrier before him. Not a single water arrow managed to make it past him.

…

At that point in time, the SUV behind him had made it onto the bridge.

The bridge area there had tilted down as a good portion of the support provided by the vertical suspenders had been lost. It teetered about while releasing a bone chilling, creaking sound. It felt as though the bridge might fall at any given moment. However, Bluesea appeared ignorant to all of that. He continued stepping down on the accelerator to the max and the SUV continued speeding forward.

“Stop! Stop! We cannot go forward!”

Grace grabbed onto the headrest of the front seat and screamed furiously.

Even Daniel and Yang Lin were displaying slight looks of anxiousness.

Daniel whispered, “Bluesea, we… … let’s retreat first! We’ll circle around for some other place. We… … we will still be able to return.” 

“Impossible. They will not give us that opportunity.”

Without looking back, Bluesea sighed and continued stamping down on the accelerator.

There were still over 100 metres between them and the Thunderstorm Tank. Bluesea watched as the turret atop the partially hacked tank was knocked over 10 metres up into the sky.

A figure stood above the tank and looked down at Chen Xiaolian. There was a cold look on his face.

Chen Xiaolian looked at the figure, his hand holding onto the long blade.

Neither side moved.

By then, the SUV was already charging across the bridge. The body of the SUV was tilted by several degrees due to the state of the bridge. However, its forward speed was not diminished at all.

And yet, neither of the two moved.

The SUV charged forward, moving past the Thunderstorm Tank from its side. As it did, the resulting wind blew the corners of Chen Xiaolian’s clothes.

Throughout all of that, neither of them moved.

After the SUV made it past the two of them, Chen Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief.

The steel cables for the bridge area on the other side were still intact. Bluesea’s group had, at the very least, made it out of danger.

“Wait for me at the end of the bridge.”

Chen Xiaolian had said that when the SUV was moving past him. Although it was not spoken loudly, it was enough to overwhelm the roar of the SUV’s engine and everyone in the SUV could clearly hear it.

“Aren’t you confident, kid? What is your name?”

Wu Ya stood atop the Thunderstorm Tank and looked down at Chen Xiaolian, who continued standing on the surface of the bridge. There was an odd smile on Wu Ya’s face.

“Shouldn’t I?” replied Chen Xiaolian as he waggled his eyebrows. “Chen Xiao Lian.”

Wu Ya shrugged and said, “Confidence is a virtue. However, there is a premise – and that is when you have a strength worthy of that confidence.”

“You think I am not worthy?” Chen Xiaolian sneered.

“Mm…” Wu Ya suddenly revealed a smile. “So far, your performance has been pretty good. Your strength, rate of reaction, your mind, I have to applaud you for those. Although you destroyed by Thunderstorm Tank, I have decided to temporarily forgive you. So, I changed my mind somewhat.”

“Go on.” Chen Xiaolian nodded.

Unless it was necessary, he did not want to start a fight for no identifiable reason.

Since entering this World’s End, Chen Xiaolian had not taken the initiative to attack anyone. The thin man from earlier and this man on the Thunderstorm Tank had suddenly attacked without reason. They had not even given him a chance for a conversation.

At present, it would appear that the man before him had no intention of continuing his attacks. It was only natural that Chen Xiaolian would be willing to listen to what he had to say.

“My name is Wu Ya. The one you encountered earlier, Deiha, is in the same coalition as me. However, that trash is now dead. The Coalition requires manpower, especially one as strong as you. So, if you are willing to join, I can be your guarantor in the Coalition.”

“Be clear about it. Who are your Coalition’s enemies?”

Wu Ya laughed out. “Enemies? Within this World’s End, what enemies are there? All we do are some necessary clearing work.”

“Clearing?” Chen Xiaolian keenly caught onto the important detail within Wu Ya’s words. He turned to look at the SUV that was close to reaching the end of the bridge. “You mean, them?”

Wu Ya nodded. “Right, according to Deiha, you are a newcomer who have just arrived within this World’s End. If so… … as long as you can kill off those four Awakened ones, you will be able to prove your innocence.”

Chen Xiaolian did not immediately refuse him. His mind raced and he said, “Then, I have two questions.”

“Speak up.” Wu Ya extended his hand to make a ‘please’ gesture. 

“First question, you said that they are all Awakened ones. How do you know that? Second questions, the clearing work that you mentioned, what is the objective behind that work? Right, there is a third question. Since you already know that I am an Irregularity, I should not be a target of your clearing work. Why is there a need for me to prove my innocence?”

“Those are three questions. You don’t appear all too proficient with numbers.” Wu Ya ridiculed Chen Xiaolian before continuing, “Your first question is very simple. There are only two types of people who will enter this World’s End after dying – Irregularities and Awakened ones who were refreshed into ordinary humans after their deaths.”

“No ordinary people?”

“No.” Wu Ya shook his head.

Chen Xiaolian nodded. With Wu Ya’s reply, he had finally managed to answer the question that had been troubling him.

There were over 6 billion people in the outside world and the daily death toll was over 150,000.

If all the dead people entered the Recycle Bin, this World’s End should not be so empty.

Within this large Manhattan Island instance dungeon, Chen Xiaolian had only encountered a total of six people – Deiha, Bluesea and his group, and this Wu Ya.

According to Bluesea, after all this time, only tens of people had gathered within their village.

If Wu Ya was telling the truth, then everything could be explained.

Chen Xiaolian was acquainted with Bluesea. Thus, it was only natural for him to know that Bluesea used to be an Awakened. As for the other three, they too, must have been Awakened ones.

Only, all four of them had died twice.

The first time was as Awakened ones. After which, they were refreshed back into ordinary humans, losing their memories as Awakened ones.

The second time was as ordinary humans. After which, they entered this World’s End.

Within this World’s End, they do not possess any abilities nor their memories as Awakened ones. However, the Irregularities here do.

After all these time, the Irregularities here must have encountered some Awakened ones whom they had encountered before, people who had lost their memories of their time as Awakened ones.

All that, coupled with the huge difference in the number of people here, led to this conclusion.

“What about the second question?”

“Firstly, you need to understand what this World’s End is.”

“A Recycle Bin. It is the place which keeps all the data that the system wants to delete.”

“Yes.” Wu Ya smiled. “If so, you should also know that the Recycle Bin has to be emptied. It is just like in the computer. The data inside this World’s End will be regularly emptied. The things emptied include the discarded instance dungeons and dead Awakened ones.”

“Leaving you Irregularities.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. He had already speculated this earlier. Now, he finally gained confirmation through Wu Ya’s mouth.

“Us Irregularities.” Wu Ya deliberately placed emphasis on the word. “At present, however, a problem has occurred with the refreshing process of the Recycle Bin.”

“The Recycle Bin is not refreshing?” Chen Xiaolian recalled what Deiha had mentioned earlier.

“Yes.” Wu Ya nodded and continued, “Originally, the Recycle Bin would refresh itself once every three months. Everything except Irregularities will be emptied. At present, however, it has been five months since the last refresh.”

“And?” Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows. “I do not understand why this is a problem for you people. Could it be you people prefer a world without anything?”

“Of course not.” Wu Ya scoffed. “Who would think of such a life as flavourful? If not for the fact that the cleared instance dungeons will be sent into this World’s End, we would not be able to survive until now. We may be here because we died once, but we are not undead. We need to eat, we need clothes, we need sleep.”

“From the sound of it, your lives are not easy.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “There aren’t many city-type instance dungeons. Whenever these rare instance dungeons appear, you fellows will surely snatch up the resources inside it.”

“It has been pretty good recently.” Wu Ya extended his hand and pointed down at the damaged Thunderstorm Tank. “The ones to enter this World’s End are not limited to people and instance dungeons. Equipment destroyed in battle will enter this place as well. However, the degree at which they are damaged after entering this World’s End depends on how badly damaged it was. Not too long ago, who knows what happened in the outside world, a large number of high-grade equipment was suddenly sent in. Things like Thunderstorm Tanks and Sentinel mechs, and all in good condition. That can only mean… … they were utterly destroyed. Right…”

He suddenly stared at Chen Xiaolian. “Since you have only just entered this World’s End, you should know what happened outside, right?”

Chen Xiaolian shook his head. He looked right at Wu Ya, his face showing nothing to arouse suspicion and said, “If I am not selected for an instance dungeon, how could I know what happened?”

Wu Ya had been staring intently at Chen Xiaolian, not diverting his gaze at all. However, there was no flicker in Chen Xiaolian’s expression at all and he had replied calmly.

“Fine. At any rate, there is no need for me to worry about it.” After a while, Wu Ya smiled and said, “After entering this World’s End, there is no need for us to think about leaving. Even if they start some outrageous battle in the outside world, it is of no concern for us.”

Chen Xiaolian smiled without revealing any emotions. “You haven’t answered my question. Isn’t the halt on the Recycle Bin’s refresh process a good thing?”

“Surface wise, it would appear to be the case.” Wu Ya grunted. “However, did you not think about the consequences?”

“The consequences?”

“The periodic refresh process was originally automated. Now, however, that mechanism has stopped. If this is just temporary, no one will notice it. However, as time goes by, someone will notice this BUG.”

Chen Xiaolian’s heart skipped a beat. He understood whom Wu Ya was referring to. “You mean, the Development Team?”

“After an automated mechanism fails, the normal course of action will be to switch to manual. What do you think the Development Team will do once they find us inside World’s End?”

Chen Xiaolian nodded. “I understand. We are Irregularities, a BUG within the system. That is why the automated refresh process did not delete us after we enter this Recycle Bin. However, if the Development Team discovers this irregular situation, they will discover our existence. When that happens…”

Wu Ya sneered. “What that happens, we will suffer the same fate as those Awakened ones, emptied. I believe no one will be willing to see such a result.”

“When you put it that way, that Coalition you speak of is established for the sake of restarting the refresh function of this Recycle Bin? However, I do not get it. How did you conclude that killing off all the other Awakened ones will restart the Recycle Bin’s refresh function?” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “Besides, I am an Irregularity, not one of the targets for automated clearing. So why did you and Deiha immediately attack me once you saw me?”

“Those two questions are actually part of one. It is very simple.” Wu Ya spread his hands. “Consider every existence within this Recycle Bin, be it people, instance dungeons, or props, to be items with a ‘code number’. Naturally, we Irregularities are the exemption. The automated clearing follows the order within the code number. However, the automated clearing mechanism is not a human, it is without a mind and can only clear the items following the order of the code numbers. Now… … when an item with a certain code number cannot be cleared, the mechanism will fail. In other words, it has become stuck.

“In order to restart the clearing process, we will need to ‘manually’ clear that stuck item.

“The Awakened ones in this World’s End have all lost their memories and abilities, reduced to ordinary humans. They have no understanding of how this world works at all. What is the system? What is the Development Team? What is the Recycle Bin? The only one who can do something like this can only be an Irregularity! A… … traitor among Irregularities!”

Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows. “Why?”

“Who knows?” Wu Ya scoffed. “Irregularities will not be cleared by the system as they do not have a code number on them. There is only one possible deduction – an Irregularity is using a certain prop to protect an Awakened to protect that Awakened from being cleared by this Recycle Bin. As for the consequences of such an action, that Irregularity may not have considered it. Or perhaps – that person simply does not care.”

Chen Xiaolian sighed. He was silent.

He could sense that Wu Ya was not lying. Since he wanted to recruit him, there was no need for Wu Ya to lie.

Although it sounded very cruel, there was no way for Chen Xiaolian to criticize Wu Ya and the Coalition as wrong.

Every man for himself, and the Devil takes the hindmost!

Everyone was on the same boat, but one of them had suddenly wanted to sink the boat, dragging everyone down with him. In such a situation, having the others kill that person was very reasonable.

“However, you only want to kill one person. The others are innocent.”

“So what?” Hearing Chen Xiaolian’s words, Wu Ya sneered. “We only have that speculation to work with. We do not know who the traitor is. So, we can only kill all of them indiscriminately. Did you forget? If not for the fact that there is an issue with the refresh mechanism of this Recycle Bin, all of them would be cleared a long time ago. To be able to live until now is already a boon for them.”

Chen Xiaolian frowned. “However, you and Deiha had tried to kill me earlier. I am an Irregularity.”

“When he attacked you, Deiha did not know that you are an Irregularity.” Wu Ya shook his head. “Besides, you were together with those four people. It is as I had said, the Awakened who managed to avoid the system’s clearing process must have an Irregularity backing him or her.”

“If so, how do you know I am not that Irregularity?”

Wu Ya laughed. “Because you do not recognize me. In this World’s End, other than those Irregularities who had just arrived here, there is none who does not know the name … … Wu Ya!”

“Besides, I did say that you still need to kill off the four people inside the SUV to prove your innocence.” Wu Ya looked back at the end of the bridge and lifted his chin to indicate the SUV there. “Kill them, and you are clean. I will be your guarantor and let you join the coalition.”

“Thank you.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “Thank you for your willingness to talk to me and thank you for telling me so much. However…”

He raised his head and cast a firm look at Wu Ya. “I am sorry, I refuse.”

…