Chapter 665: Slightly Lacking

Chapter 665 Slightly Lacking

“But it doesn’t make any sense!” Qiao Qiao frowned. “According to you, I was imprisoned before you arrived here in World’s End.”

“Yes.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “As of now, I have been here for only around 100 hours. By then, you had already been captured. That is why this feels incredulous to me. However, no matter how I think about it, this is the only possibility.” 

Chen Xiaolian smiled wryly and turned to face Bluesea. “Mr Bluesea, your opinion should be the same, right?”

“Yes,” replied Bluesea with a heavy tone. “We rushed in and rescued Qiao Qiao. Although it can be considered dangerous… … when you consider it in detail, there is a peculiar smoothness to it all. That Irregularity had taken the initiative to lead us into the Pantheon Temple and pointed us toward Qiao Qiao. And… … after we killed him, his corpse disappeared all of a sudden. That is something that I still cannot understand.”

“Thinking back on all that had happened, I get the feeling that fellow had long since realized that I will be coming to save Qiao Qiao.” Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows. “Right, the Irregularity mentioned before that their leader’s name is… … Abertoni.”

“Wait…” Qiao Qiao suddenly interrupted Chen Xiaolian. “That name you just mentioned, Abertoni?”

“That is right, what of it?”

“But…” Qiao Qiao furrowed her brows. “The man who captured me and brought food for me, I had once heard an Irregularity call him. His name is… Lei Hu!”

…

Sister Yun’s whole body was lying on the horse’s back, her face as pale as paper. The colour of blood could not even be seen on her lips.

The horse galloped through the sky, vaulting through Mt Olympus as it moved toward the designated rendezvous point within the snowfield instance dungeon. The horse’s movements were also somewhat shaky.

It continued forward for some time. Then, the moment it arrived at the edge of the snowfield instance dungeon, the horse seemingly grew incapable of continuing. Slowly, it descended down to the ground.

When there was still a distance of tens of metres between the horse and the ground, the white horse’s front legs suddenly fell limp, causing Sister Yun, who was upon its back to fall down. As for the horse, it transformed into a clump of silver light, which slowly dissipated away.

Sister Yun’s body slammed onto the ground, going deep into the thick layer of snow.

Lying on the ground for some time, she then slowly used her elbows to prop herself up as she entered a seated position. A fine trickle of blood could be seen from the corner of her mouth.

Wiping off the blood stain, Sister Yun looked forward. Deeply inhaling the surrounding air, which was filled with snow and cold, she then closed her eyes to sense the air around her.

Who knew if it was because she had left Mt Olympus or if it was because her injuries were to severe, but the powerful aura that she had faintly sensed earlier was no longer perceivable.

Back then, she noticed from up high that Chen Xiaolian had successfully saved the person he wanted to save and defeated their pursuers. Not too long ago, Sister Yun had sensed her spear being broken. The broken spear had left a signal and a coordinate for her mind.

Judging by these factors, Chen Xiaolian and his group must have found a safe spot of sorts within this snowfield and was waiting for her to meet up with them.

Sister Yun’s legs stepped forward unsteadily as she moved deep into the snowfield. Not long after trudging through the thick layer of snow, however, her rate of breathing grew somewhat ragged.

Raising her hand, she looked down at her palm and revealed a slightly bitter smile.

This time, the injury is a bit too much.

Breaking the restrictive barrier that Bai Qi left behind had taken up more than half of her power.

The Irregularities were not weaklings in terms of skills and strength. That purple-faced warrior, the strongest among them, was quite close to Sebast in terms of strength.

The spell array that they put up using the bronze mirrors was very powerful.

There were so many factors against her. However, Sister Yun pondered. If it was Bai Qi in her shoes, if it was him facing all those, he would not end up in such a miserable state that she was in.

It had been so long since Bai Qi left. Sister Yun had originally thought that she was not that much weaker compared to the Bai Qi from back then.

From that earlier fight, however, she came to understand just how powerful the Bai Qi who killed off nearly every single Irregularity within World’s End was.

“Still slightly lacking compared to you? Humph!”

Sister Yun scoffed and slowly walked deeper into the snowfield.

Just slightly…

…

“Lei Hu?” Chen Xiaolian frowned and pondered upon the name. “I think I’ve heard that name from somewhere before. However… … not from World’s End.”

“You have heard of it before?” Qiao Qiao was surprised.

“When your father had you under house arrest, we participated in a certain instance dungeon. He was a minor character in the opposing faction.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “It is not a real name, just a nickname. So, this could simply be a case of two people using the same name. I am more curious about why the name you mentioned is different from the name we heard.”

“I am certain I did not mishear it.” Qiao Qiao cast a resolute look at Chen Xiaolian.

“Me neither.” Chen Xiaolian glanced at Bluesea. “Mr Bluesea, what do you think?”

“A trick to ascertain our identities.” Both of Bluesea’s palms were clasped together to prop up his chin. Lowering his head, he slowly continued, “Let’s assume that the name Qiao Qiao mentioned, Lei Hu, is the real one. If so, when a member of the Coalition or a senior Irregularity hears the name, their first reaction would be to say that it is wrong. However, we do not know the real name of the Coalition’s leader. Despite hearing the name Abertoni, we simply followed along.”

Chen Xiaolian considered his point and slowly nodded his head.

“Since we displayed such a reaction, it becomes possible for him to tell that we are outsiders.” Bluesea spoke slowly, thinking about it while he spoke. “We can assume that – although he suspects we are the ones he was waiting for, the ones coming to save Qiao Qiao, he could not be certain.”

“You think that person is Lei Hu himself?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “But we killed him already.”

“There are many possibilities. Although I no longer possess my memories from my time as an Awakened, I believe there must be skills to create doppelgangers or skills to control others.” Bluesea thought about it. “Of course, we have too little information. So, I can only speculate by going about with this idea for now.”

“It is possible.” Chen Xiaolian turned toward Bluesea and smiled. “I think I finally understand how Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild can maintain its position and not fall for so long after Skyblade’s disappearance. They are blessed to have a leader like you.”

Bluesea waved his hand and continued, “If so… … let me organize the points.”

“Regardless of what the reason may be, Lei Hu had imprisoned Qiao Qiao before you arrived in World’s End. For now, we can speculate that he may believe that there is a chance for him to return to the outside world through Qiao Qiao.” 

“Thus, Lei Hu found Qiao Qiao and had her captured. Then, he waited for the chance to come, a chance that he himself does not understand.

“Then, something happened to World’s End and it stopped refreshing. Lei Hu was uncertain how that is connected to Qiao Qiao. All he could do was to contact the other Irregularities to establish a Coalition and begin clearing operations to ensure that he does not die from a manual clearing by the Development Team.

“At the same time, he also deployed men to defend Mt Olympus. He made it so it was just enough for us to smoothly save Qiao Qiao without arousing any suspicion.

“Naturally, we succeeded in saving Qiao Qiao.

“However, I believe that Lei Hu should be monitoring all of it. Additionally, there are more plans set in place to be executed.

“So, how much longer is there before you return?”

Chen Xiaolian thought about it for a moment. “Around another 15 hours.”

“If my guess is right, in this remaining 15 hours, he will appear.” Bluesea nodded his head. “Who knows what plan he has in mind? During these 15 hours, we will have to remain vigilant.”

“Yes.” Chen Xiaolian forced out a smile.

After analysing their current situation with Bluesea, the joy that Chen Xiaolian felt after escaping from Mt Olympus sank somewhat.

“Enough. Don’t think too much about it first.” Qiao Qiao’s soft hands pressed down on Chen Xiaolian’s shoulder and she patted him. “All of it is just Uncle Bluesea’s speculations. It might not be the case. Besides, even if it is true, that fellow has yet to make his appearance. Worrying about it now is useless.”

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Qiao Qiao had just finished speaking those words when the clear sound of someone knocking the door rang out. The faces on all three of them quickly twisted.

They had long since sent out their coordinate to Sister Yun and were waiting to meet up with her.

However…

The two of them had been paying close attention to their surroundings.

Bluesea’s Bug Armour possessed a detection radius of two kilometres. As for Chen Xiaolian, he had turned on the life signature detector and was carrying it with him at all times.

Until this moment, neither of them had managed to detect that someone was approaching.

Even now, the two of them could not detect anyone in front of the door.

If so… … who was the one knocking the door?

Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea exchanged glances. Three more knocks rang out.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Tendrils quickly emerged from both of Bluesea’s arms to form a bone blade and an organic high temperature blaster.

Qiao Qiao, too, rushed to position herself behind the door, ready to enter her Anti Materialization form at any given moment.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Xiaolian slowly opened the door.

A figure stood in front of the door.

It was not Sister Yun. It was, however, a face that they had seen before.

It was the Irregularity that had led them into the Pantheon Temple.

The one that Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea had chopped into four pieces.

…