Chapter 635: Aunt Yun

Chapter 635 Aunt Yun

Night.

On the island resort …

Xia Xiaolei twisted the door handle and gently pushed open the door.

There were stacks of cardboard boxes placed tidily in the corner. There in the centre of the room was a table with nothing on it save a bowl.

A lit wick protruded out from the bowl and it emitted a faint light.

Xia Xiaolei pulled out two candles from an opened cardboard box before moving toward the table. There, he retrieved a lighter from his chest to light up the two candles.

Next, he brought the two candles close to the bowl and tilted them at a certain angle, causing the flames on the candles to lick the surface of the candles’ bodies, melting them. The melted wax from the candles dripped into the bowl.

After the two candles were completely melted down, the bowl, which only had a small amount of wax inside it earlier, was nearly full once more.

After he was done melting down the two candles, Xia Xiaolei brushed his hands and moved toward the door with a satisfied expression.

However, the moment he turned toward the door, he suddenly felt something amiss. Frowning, he turned to look around him.

The room was silent. The one source of light in the room was the size of a bean, capable of illuminating only a small area around the table while the corners of the room remained shrouded in darkness.

The light from the wick shone upon Xia Xiaolei, casting a shadow upon the wall, which swayed non-stop.

“Is… … is someone here?”

Standing still, Xia Xiaolei took a deep breath and shouted out loudly.

The room remained silent. No response.

However, that peculiar sensation inside Xia Xiaolei’s heart did not disappear.

It was as though… … someone was watching him.

“Just who is it? Don’t… … don’t mess with me!” Xia Xiaolei forced out a laugh as his eyes darted around, his gaze sweeping through all four corners of the room. “Qimu Xi? Brother Lun Tai? Brother Bei Tai?”

Xia Xiaolei gulped as his face turned pale.

Although there was no response, Xia Xiaolei had noticed something. There was a faint silhouette in one of the room’s corners.

The silhouette looked very faint. Even by looking hard at it, he could barely notice the faint outlines of the silhouette. It was shifting about.

“Guild… Guild Leader? Did you return? Brother Roddy?” Xia Xiaolei’s teeth chattered uncontrollably. “Qiao … … Sister Qiao Qiao? Surely, it is not… you?”

Xia Xiaolei had called out the names of every member of their guild, but the silhouette remained still.

Drumming his courage, Xia Xiaolei attempted to take a step forward. However, he quickly withdrew his feet and moved backward, step by step.

Even after he reached the door, Xia Xiaolei’s eyes remained fixed upon the faint silhouette in the corner. His right hand reached backward to feel the wall behind him as beads of sweat oozed out from his forehead.

“Where is the switch? Where is the switch?”

Xia Xiaolei grew increasingly anxious, disrupting his ability to find the switch on the wall behind. His eyes kept staring at the silhouette before him, not daring to turn back. It was such that he felt himself on the verge of crying.

As he was about to mentally collapse, his fingertips finally felt the switch.

When the room’s lights finally lit up, Xia Xiaolei released a sigh of relief.

Thanks to the illumination from the room’s lights, the silhouette, which still looked faint, grew clearer, albeit by a bit.

However, despite the fact that the lights were now on, the silhouette remained in the same spot, not a change in its posture. It was as though the lights turning on had not affected it at all.

After turning on the lights, Xia Xiaolei’s courage grew as well. He stared at the silhouette for some time and was gradually able to make out its shape.

Rather than a silhouette, that thing was more like a piece of mosaic. Although it was still possible to see through it, the places behind it looked blurry.

The humanoid-shaped mosaic had not made any overt moves so far. Seeing how the mosaic was seemingly not reacting to his existence, Xia Xiaolei pondered for a moment and speculated that it probably did not possess the ability to attack. Drumming up his courage, he stepped forward.

After moving closer, Xia Xiaolei crouched down and carefully examined the piece of mosaic. Judging by its shape, he could roughly make out a human silhouette. However, that human silhouette was not tall. It was, in fact, much shorter compared to Xia Xiaolei.

At that moment, it appeared to be seated. However, it was not seated on a cardboard box. Rather, it had both hands around its knees as it sat on the floor.

While a good portion of its body could be seen, a small part was connected to a cardboard box. Neither one appeared obstructive toward the other. 

Xia Xiaolei reached out curiously with his hand and cautiously attempted to touch the mosaic. Although the tip of his finger had clearly touched the mosaic, Xia Xiaolei realized that he could not feel anything.

Xia Xiaolei strengthened his resolve and continued extending his hand forward. His hand continued to move through the piece of mosaic all the way back until it hit the cardboard box behind it. Throughout all that, Xia Xiaolei had not felt anything from the mosaic. 

As for the piece of mosaic, it simply continued to sit on the floor. It was as though it simply did not care about Xia Xiaolei’s existence one bit.

This… what the Hell is this?

After confirming that there was no danger, Xia Xiaolei gradually grew curious.

After becoming an Awakened, Xia Xiaolei had not participated in too many instance dungeons and can only be considered a rookie. However, he still knew enough of the common knowledge shared among Awakened ones.

When within an instance dungeon, it was natural to encounter all kinds of things. Any and all types of monsters could appear, even spirit-type monsters. However, outside of instance dungeons, Xia Xiaolei had never seen such supernatural occurrences.

After considering it, Xia Xiaolei then accessed the guild channel and sent a message to both Lun Tai and Bei Tai.

…

Sebast flapped his wings gently. However, his figure was shooting through the sky at a velocity that was out of sync compared to the beat of his wings.

Although his face revealed no expression, his eyes blazed.

That is Wu Ya! One of the few [S] class powerhouses within World’s End!

After acquiring his blood and essence, Sebast felt his body brimming with power. He had to fly forward at such a high velocity in order to release the power within him. Otherwise, his boiling blood might burst out through his chest.

Although he had yet to test it out in actual combat, Sebast was certain that his strength had broken through his original level of [A] class and even [A+] class to reach [S] class.

Perhaps… … if there is a chance… …

A figure began to appear within Sebast’s mind.

A figure standing at the peak of World’s End.

As Sebast was just about to lose control over himself due to overexcitement and howl out, a black dot suddenly appeared in the distant horizon.

A woman was flying through the sky on a skateboard.

The woman noticed Sebast and her skateboard veered as she adjusted her flight trajectory. She then flew swiftly toward Sebast.

Sebast spread his wings and flapped it to hover in the sky as he watched the woman approach him.

“Mister… Mr Sebast? Seeing you here is just wonderful!” After reaching Sebast, she hovered before him and performed a bow even as she was standing on the skateboard. There was a respectful expression on her face.

“You are?” Sebast took off his sunglasses and regarded the woman from top to bottom while revealing a bright smile.

“My name is Jaina. You probably do not remember me, but I once saw you from afar. It was three refresh cycles ago.” The woman raised her head and smiled at Sebast.

“Ahh… …” Sebast looked at the scar on Jaina’s face and released a gentle sigh. Shaking his head, he said, “Truly… … a pity.”

Jaina lowered her head and a brief look of rage flashed across her face. “I am sorry, Mr Sebast, that you had to see my face. That was impolite on my part.”

“No matter, no matter!” Sebast laughed and put the sunglasses back on his face. “At the very least, of all the bodies I have seen in World’s End, yours is the best.”

“Thank you,” replied Jaina with a slightly prideful smile.

She had always been satisfied with her body.

“Are you returning to the Palace to report after clearing your instance dungeon?” Sebast turned to see where Jaina was flying to.

“No.” Jaina shook her head. “We have yet to finish our clearing operation. I wanted to return to the Palace to seek support. As you know, not all of us has communication devices. I can only rush back like this…”

“Support?” Sebast laughed. “Who did you get you grouped up with? You can’t deal with some Awakened ones who no longer have their abilities and memories?”

“No, it is not that…” There was a rather awkward look on Jaina’s face. “I am with Duan Gang. We had only just reached the instance dungeon and have yet to attack. That place… … there is a little town there and a number of Awakened ones had gathered there. There are roughly over a hundred of them there. Neither of us possess any area-clearing skill or equipment nor do we have any restriction-type skill. With only the two of us, should some of the Awakened ones make a break for it, it would be difficult to hunt them down.”

“Over a hundred? That will definitely be hard for you.” Sebast nodded. “However, clearing operations are undermanned right now. Do you really think the Palace can give you much in way of support?”

Jaina gritted her teeth. “Regardless if it is possible or not, I will still need to report this situation to Sir Lei Hu first. If he refuses to provide support, then, whatever happens after we attack will no longer be our responsibility.”

“I had just come out from the Palace and cleared an instance dungeon. I have nothing to do right now. Why don’t I… … accompany you fellows?” Sebast smiled.

“Really?” Jaina’s eyes lit up. “With your help, surely…”

…

“It’s over, Toto.”

Aunt Yun looked down at the two corpses on the ground with a look of indifference before turning to look at Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea. Only then did she turn back to the little boy behind her.

The lamp on Toto’s head flickered for a bit before gradually turning dim. Then, it disappeared without a trace.

At that very moment, a stormy wave raged within Chen Xiaolian’s heart.

The lamp above Toto’s head just now was definitely the one he left back on the island resort.

Back when he was inside the painting, he had heard Mr San’s instructions. Thus, after obtaining the wick, he lit it up again, after returning to his base. Before he left, he had instructed Xia Xiaolei to replenish the amount of wax in the bowl regardless of what was happening.

Chen Xiaolian could still recall how he had randomly picked a bowl to use as a container for the wick and wax.

Just now, when the lamp had appeared on Toto’s head, the pattern on the surface of the bowl containing the lamp was exactly the same as the one Chen Xiaolian had bought.

But… … why would it appear here?

The Irregularity known as Terry was not too strong. However, Hammer’s strength was not to be underestimated. Every time he brandished his bone blades, the surrounding air would be rent apart to create incomparably sharp wind blades. With the exception of Aunt Yun, the many trees behind her had been struck by it.

Just with a slight graze, the wind blades had been able to cut down the trees. The fight between them had only lasted for a short time but nearly all the trees in the forest had been cut down as a result. Toto, however, had remained calm. He kept his arms around his knees and sat on the ground while calmly observing the battle. It was as though the fight had nothing to do with him.

The wind blades that were capable of cutting steel and splitting rocks had struck his body a few times during the fight, only to move right past him. The wind blades had seemingly struck an illusory silhouette, not affecting him at all.

Chen Xiaolian even noticed Hammer’s bone blades slash right through Toto’s body a few times. Even so, Toto had not shown any response.

When the lamp had disappeared, Aunt Yun moved over to pull Toto’s hand, helping him up.

“You two, you are their captives?” Aunt Yun turned around and looked at Chen Xiaolian.

“Something… like that.”

Chen Xiaolian lowered his head and looked at the two corpses on the ground with a wry smile.

The man known as Hammer was very strong. However, from the beginning to the end, the one known as Aunt Yun faced zero need to exert any effort for the fight and had casually killed Hammer.

Naturally, Chen Xiaolian cared not for Hammer’s life or death. However, there was now an issue… … without Hammer, how was he to get to the headquarters of the Coalition, the one they had called the Palace?

This World’s End was too big. Compared to the vastness of this place, there were simply too few Irregularities around. Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea had flown around in the Devourer fighter aircraft for several hours before bumping into these two fellows.

To once again encounter two Irregularities who in the middle of clearing an instance dungeon would likely very difficult.

His plan had been going smoothly. Unfortunately, it had now fallen apart thanks to this woman known only as Aunt Yun…

“Something like that?” Aunt Yun gave Chen Xiaolian a glance. “Whatever, I have no interest in getting involved with your matters. Since you two are not in league with them, you are now free.”

After saying that, she moved to stand before Chen Xiaolian. Extending her jade-like hands, she gave the handcuffs restraining both Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea a light tap.

The black handcuffs were made from some unknown material. Back when it was put on Chen Xiaolian, he had tested it. Although he had recovered a little bit of his attributes, he was still incapable of breaking open the cuffs. Now, under the might of Aunt Yun’s finger, the tough handcuffs appeared to have been crafted from sand. In just an instant, they broke apart.

“Let’s go.” Aunt Yun turned around and moved toward Toto. She stretched out her hand, wanting to pull his hand as they moved.

“Wait!”

Hearing Chen Xiaolian’s voice, Aunt Yun stopped and turned to look at Chen Xiaolian with a questioning gaze. However, no words came out from her mouth.

“That lamp, just what is it?”

Chen Xiaolian pointed at Toto.

Aunt Yun looked at Toto, whom she was holding, before turning to face Chen Xiaolian once more. The same look of indifference remained on her face. “It has nothing to do with you.”

After saying that, she made to leave. However, Chen Xiaolian’s next words caused her to halt her steps. She turned, her eyes gleaming.

“That lamp is mine.”

…