Chapter 732: What The Hell

Chapter 732 What The Hell?

Hearing the sound of explosions outside, Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to go check it out.

After assigning Qiao Qiao, Lun Tai and Bei Tai to protect Roddy, who was in the midst of restoring the computer systems, Yu Jiajia and Qiao Yifeng, Chen Xiaolian rushed toward the other end of the main building.

As he was rushing through the corridor, he saw that the wall in front had been bombarded apart. By then, the sound of explosions had come to a halt.

After jumping down the corridor to the ground, Chen Xiaolian saw Zhao Yun, who was clad in white clothes. She had her back against him as she stood near the edge of the distant bamboo forest. There before Zhao Yun was a woman in red-coloured skin-tight attire.

There was a large crater on the ground beneath him, the result of the earlier series of explosions.

The destructive power of the intruder shocked Chen Xiaolian. The resort had been renovated by Adam, the mini robot, before. Although its durability was not quite at the level of a fortress, the concrete and other materials used for its construction were the best that money can buy. And yet, in mere minutes, the intruder had bombarded down even a wall. Those attacks were truly powerful.

Thankfully though, Zhao Yun had already taken action. There was naturally no need for Chen Xiaolian to worry.

Stop joking! She was a monstrous existence on par with Shen and Mr San. With her here, what was there to worry about?

A certain Awakened guild was launching a surprise attack? Screw them! Even if all the Players involved in the destruction of Zero City were to come together, minus Shen of course, Chen Xiaolian was certain that Zhao Yun could kill them all.

However, Chen Xiaolian was shocked to hear the woman in red call out his name.

Leaping his way through the crater, Chen Xiaolian made his way to the bamboo forest. There, he stood beside Zhao Yun and regarded the woman in red.

Both her hands were held aloft, each of them holding on to a freshly-cut bamboo pole. It was apparent that she had wanted to hurl them forward when she was abruptly stopped. There was no need to question it. Zhao Yun was surely the one who stopped her.

The woman appeared to be less than 30 years old. Her elegant facial features revealed a violent temperament. As for her body, with the skin-tight attire accentuating her bodily curves, she appeared almost perfect.

And yet, after carefully considering it, Chen Xiaolian was unable to recall ever meeting this woman.

“Who are you?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “I am sure we have never met each other before. How do you know my name?”

“You have never met me, but I have seen you before,” said Aunt Flame with an icy tone. “Is Qiao Yifeng here right now?”

“As expected, you are here for him.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “However… … you can forget about it. He is currently under our protection. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can just forget about getting your hands on him.”

“Chen Xiaolian! Is that you?” Chen Xiaolian’s ears caught the faint voice. Although it sounded faint, it would appear that the speaker was doing his best to shout out those words.

Chen Xiaolian’s mind raced and he shifted his attention toward Aunt Flame’s ear to see a miniature communication device hanging down from her ear. The voice had come from the device.

“It’s me! Fatty! Damn, why are you on the island?”

Fatty Fan!

Skyblade’s son, the non-Awakened member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.

While the majority of Meteor Rock Guild’s current assets had come from the negotiation results between Chen Xiaolian and Bluesea, a small portion of them was actually a gift from Fatty Fan. Were it not for his actions back then, sending Chen Xiaolian to retrieve the painting, Chen Xiaolian would not have ended up entering the painting and meeting Skyblade, thereby obtaining Skyblade’s power.

When he finally met up with Bluesea in Zero City once more, he had wanted to meet Fatty again, only for Bluesea to inform him that he had already sent Fatty out of Zero City. Since then, the two of them had not met each other again.

Chen Xiaolian hastily stepped forward, moving to stand beside Aunt Flame. Reaching his hand out, he plucked out the communication device and placed it on his ear.

“I am the one who should be asking you, what are you doing here? And this woman, who…” After saying that, Chen Xiaolian suddenly stopped. He turned to look at Aunt Flame. “You are… … Thunderflame?”

“That is right! Damn it! This is so awkward…” Fatty sounded extremely anxious. “Uhh… … did Aunt Flame hurt you?”

“No…” replied Chen Xiaolian with a wry smile.

“Please don’t fight! We are all on the same side! I will hurry over and explain the situation. Control your island’s defensive system and don’t let it shoot me!”

“All right.” Chen Xiaolian ended the call before informing his guild members about it, dismissing their state of high alert. Then, he turned towards Zhao Yun. “Thank you, Sister Yun. However… … she is actually our companion. Only, there was a misunderstanding. I will have to trouble you to undo her restraints.”

Zhao Yun nodded her head. Without making any overt movements, the restraints on Aunt Flame suddenly came loose and both her hands, which were still holding onto the bamboo poles, hung down.

“Go ahead and chat amongst yourselves, I will be heading back now.” Nodding at Chen Xiaolian, Zhao Yun then walked towards the main building. She did not jump into the main building through the busted wall. Instead, she slowly made her way through the main entrance, pushing open the glass door as she did.

“Thunderflame… … mm, you are Qiao Qiao’s aunt. So, I should be addressing you as aunt.” Chen Xiaolian turned to face Aunt Flame only to find her looking at Zhao Yun. There was more shock than rage in her eyes.

“Who is that woman?” It wasn’t until Zhao Yun’s figure had disappeared did Aunt Flame turn around to look at Chen Xiaolian. “I did not expect your guild to have an [S] class expert. However, even though she is still so young, she is quite arrogant.”

“What do you mean?” Chen Xiaolian was surprised.

“How old do you think I am?” Aunt Flame suddenly asked Chen Xiaolian. It was an unexpected question.

“Thirty… … something?” Judging by Aunt Flame’s face, she would appear to be around twenty something years old. However, Chen Xiaolian knew that the physical bodies of veteran Awakened ones would look younger compared to their real age. Since Aunt Flame was Qiao Qiao’s aunt, she must be at least over 30 years old.

“I am already 45 years old,” answered Aunt Flame with a sneer. “How could that little girl be older than me? And yet, she dared to call me little girl just now?” 

Aunt Flame gave Chen Xiaolian a glance and said, “Don’t tell me that she is already in her eighties with that kind of tender face. By enhancing physical attributes, Awakened ones can indeed make themselves look younger. However, there is a limit to such a method.”

Chen Xiaolian lowered his head, a rueful smile on his face.

There was a trace of aggrievement in Aunt Flame’s words. However, Chen Xiaolian could also sense a trace of boastful arrogance within her words.

“I am already 45 years old, but I look to be in my twenties. This is not simply due to the enhancements to my attributes, but also due to my perfect maintenance regiment.”

“Sister Yun… … she is not a member of my guild. She is just a friend who is temporarily staying here. I am myself uncertain regarding her age,” said Chen Xiaolian coolly as he shook his head.

He had considered it for a moment. In the end, he decided against revealing Zhao Yun’s identity.

“According to what you said earlier, you did not capture Qiao Yifeng. Instead, you are protecting him?” Aunt Flame chose to move away from the earlier topic of discussion. “Where is he now?”

“He is in the building. My guild members are protecting him now.” Chen Xiaolian knew what Aunt Flame meant. “Some miscellaneous guilds have set their sights on him and his bodyguards ended up dying. So, he came looking for me. I had only just brought him here myself. To think that you would appear here this very night.”

“Bring me to him. There is no problem with that, is there?” Aunt Flame nodded her head.

“Of course not.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. He turned and walked toward the main building. “This way, please.”

He brought Aunt Flame to the conference room. By then, Roddy and the others have already brought Qiao Yifeng there. As Yu Jiajia was still drunk, Qimu Xi brought her to another room to rest. Xia Xiaolei went to the dock to accept Fatty. 

When Qiao Yifeng saw Aunt Flame, a look of disbelief abruptly appeared on his face.

“What are you staring at me for?” After entering the conference room, Aunt Flame sat herself down on the biggest sofa there. Next, she rolled up her eyes. “If you don’t like seeing me, I will take my leave.”

It was apparent that she was still nursing a feeling of irritation after getting easily subjugated by Zhao Yun earlier.

“No. I just didn’t expect you to appear here, Ah Yu…” All this time, Qiao Yifeng had maintained the same attitude toward Chen Xiaolian. However, after seeing Aunt Flame, all traces of his ill-temper disappeared. Instead, there was an awkward smile on his face as he spoke. But he was quickly interrupted by Aunt Flame. “What Ah Yu? Is that something you get to say? Do I not have a name?”

Despite Aunt Flame’s retort, Qiao Yifeng dared not say anything in response. He simply sighed and said, “Yun Yan…”

“Call me Thunderflame!” Aunt Flame raised her legs. Next, her feet, which were wearing high heels, descended heavily upon the coffee table.

“All right, Thunderflame…” Qiao Yifeng revealed a wry smile. “How did you find me?”

“What else should I have done? Should I have allowed you to be caught and killed?” Aunt Flame glared at Qiao Yifeng. “Who could have known you would run over to Chen Xiaolian?”

“He is my daughter’s boyfriend. Back then, I had nowhere else to go to, so…” Qiao Yifeng furrowed his brows. Just as he was about to continue his words, Aunt Flame interrupted him, “I know, Fatty had already informed me about him being in a relationship with Qiao Qiao. However, there is one thing I am unaware about. When did Qiao Qiao become an Awakened?”

“Aunt Flame, what are you talking about?”

The door to the room was pushed open and Xia Xiaolei led Fatty into the room. Fatty, upon entering the room, heard Aunt Flame’s words and stared with peculiar look on his face. “I never said that. Who is Qiao Qiao?”

Aunt Flame turned and threw a glare at Fatty. “Back then, you were the one who told me that Chen Xiaolian is in a relationship with Qiao Yifeng’s daughter. What, have you forgotten about that?”

“That is true.” It would appear that Fatty had rushed over. He was wiping away the seat on his face with his sleeves when Aunt Flame threw the glare at him, causing him to tremble in fear. “But… … who is Qiao Qiao? Uncle Qiao’s daughter… … isn’t it Yu Jiajia?”

Hearing the exchange between the two, Qiao Yifeng’s face turned grim once more.

“Aunt Flame, I am Xiaolian’s girlfriend.” Qiao Qiao walked over and sat down beside Aunt Flame. Holding her hand, Qiao Qiao then whispered into her ear. “This matter… … is slightly complicated. I will explain it to you.”

As Qiao Qiao was her niece, all Aunt Flame did in response was to cast a puzzled look at Qiao Qiao. She did not throw a temper. Instead, she simply nodded her head.

“All right, Fatty. Explain to me what is up with you two.” Seeing Qiao Qiao explain the situation to Thunderflame, Chen Xiaolian turned to Fatty.

Fatty sent a cautious glance at Aunt Flame. Seeing her leaning to the side to listen to Qiao Qiao’s explanation, he wiped off the sweat on his face. “We… … didn’t know this island is yours. We thought that Uncle Qiao and Jiajia were captured…”

After listening to Fatty’s brief explanation, Chen Xiaolian was able to understand what was going on.

Thunderflame had also been forced to participate in the previous Changban Hillside instance dungeon. As she was a member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, she did not make contact with Jiang Long before entering the instance dungeon. Moreover, she left Cao Cao’s camp right after entering the instance dungeon, making zero contact with any of the other Awakened participants throughout the instance dungeon.

After leaving the instance dungeon, however, she happened to encounter a member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild who was on the verge of death.

The fellow had seen Thunderflame before in the past. Thus, he was able to recognize her. Before passing away, he informed Thunderflame that two guilds have figured out his group’s identity as members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild. In order to figure out the whereabouts of the remnant forces of Zero City, the two guilds wanted to capture Qiao Yifeng. His group had been protecting Qiao Yifeng to allow him to escape. However, they were helplessly outnumbered and he finally received a fatal wound.

Although Thunderflame had already left Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, she could not simply let this slide. Relying on the tracking capabilities of Fatty’s electronic devices, the two of them pursued Qiao Yifeng’s trail all the way to Jinling.

Back then, Qiao Yifeng, who was being pursued by the two guilds, never realized that Thunderflame was also trying to track his whereabouts.

Later Thunderflame and Fatty arrived at Tuping Mountain only to see the remnant traces of a battle there.

Thunderflame thought that Qiao Yifeng had finally been captured and was taken to the enemy base. Even though the Tidal Fighter that Roddy piloted had been equipped with cloaking function, Fatty’s detection device just happened to be capable of detecting Tidal Fighters. Thus, they followed the Tidal Fighter’s trail and reached the island.

After all, that equipment was a product of Zero City.

“Back then, I did not even consider that it might be you…” Fatty scratched his head with a sheepish grin on his face. “You’ve seen Aunt Flame’s temper for yourself. Was there anything I could say to dissuade her?”

“Come to think of it, I have never met her before, did I?” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “So why did she call out my name when she saw me just now?”

“About that…” Fatty appeared troubled by the question.

“We stalked you once before,” Aunt Flame answered bluntly. “I have already seen a hundred of your pictures. How can I not recognize you?”

Chen Xiaolian was stunned.

Prior to when Nightmare launched a sneak attack on him, Chen Xiaolian had sensed that someone was stalking him. However, he managed to shake them off. When Nightmare then utilized his mental skill to trap Chen Xiaolian in the dreamscape, he encountered Fatty.

Back then, Chen Xiaolian felt puzzled by the experience. Why did Fatty appear in the dreamscape? Later on, however, he placed those thoughts aside. Only now, having heard Fatty’s explanation, did he finally understand.

“At that time, we thought that you were somehow connected to Zero City’s disappearance…” Fatty cast a wry smile at Chen Xiaolian. “I had wanted to directly go meet you and ask you about it. However, Aunt Flame did not trust you. Thus, we secretly followed you. In the end, though, you shook us off and never appeared again…”

“So, did you manage to make contact with Zero City’s forces?” Chen Xiaolian asked Fatty.

“No.” Fatty shook his head helplessly. “Aunt Flame and I have tried countless methods, but all the communication channels have been cut off. We are simply incapable of finding them.”

Chen Xiaolian gently nodded his head and pondered the matter. “You should take Uncle Qiao with you.”

“Huh?” Fatty was stunned. Then, he cast a cautious glance at Thunderflame before leaning in closer towards Chen Xiaolian. He whispered, “The relationship between Aunt Flame and Uncle Qiao is not that good. When we found out that there are those who would capture and kill Uncle Qiao, her feelings of comradeship spurred her to take action. However, now that you have a safe place here for him, I think…”

“My place is more unsuitable.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. He turned towards Aunt Flame. He could see that Qiao Qiao had finished explaining the matter to her. Chen Xiaolian then spoke to Qiao Yifeng, “Uncle Qiao, if you are unwilling to trust me and Qiao Qiao, you should at least believe that Aunt Flame would never lie to you, right?” 

Qiao Yifeng’s head was lowered and he remained silent. Earlier, when Qiao Qiao was explaining the matter to Aunt Flame, she did not lower her voice. Thus, Qiao Yifeng had been able to hear her as well.

In the beginning, Qiao Yifeng was still feeling dubious about it. At any rate, Qiao Qiao was not refreshed as a normal human after her death. Instead, the system erased all traces of her existence. This case was a completely unprecedented one. At present, however, he could see that Aunt Flame remembered Qiao Qiao’s existence while Fatty, an ordinary human like him, could not. Putting all those factors together, it would appear that what Chen Xiaolian said was most likely the truth.

“Despite your age, you can’t even remember the daughter from your first wife. Is there a difference between you and trash?” Aunt Flame glared at Qiao Yifeng and snorted coldly. “Instead, you are holding onto the illegitimate one like a treasure.”

Qiao Yifeng had always harboured a sense of guilt towards his deceased wife. Thus, he remained silent despite the harsh words from Aunt Flame. He simply hung his head down in silence.

“Fine, you will be following me after this.” After Aunt Flame was done lecturing Qiao Yifeng, her voice took a more gentle tone despite the displeased look on her face. “Even though the members of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild are disappointing, they are not so bad that they will need to ask other guilds for help. Chen Xiaolian…” 

She turned to face Chen Xiaolian. “Back then, what happened in Zero City?”

Chen Xiaolian shrugged. “I had already informed Uncle Qiao about it when I saved him. You can ask him yourself later on. I…”

Halfway through, Chen Xiaolian’s voice came to a halt. 

He had suddenly disappeared from the sofa.

Everyone in the room was stunned.

There were no traces of a struggle, no indication of anything. And yet, a living human had simply disappeared.

Silence.

Silence…

“Xiaolian? Where did you go?”

After a few seconds of silence, Qiao Qiao tried calling out with a frown on her face.

No response.

Qiao Qiao’s face sank and she jumped to her feet. Her trembling eyes were fixed upon the sofa that Chen Xiaolian was seated upon.

There was a concave shape on the leather sofa, indicating that there had been something weighing down on it earlier. At present, however, it was gradually rising back to its original shape.

Everyone else had gotten to their feet, looks of confusion on their faces.

“Xiaolian, come out! Don’t joke around with us!” Qiao Qiao shouted as loud as she could and there were traces of sobbing in her voice.

“Xiaolian, answer me!”

“Guild Leader, can you hear me?”

Both Lun Tai and Bei Tai were using their guild channel to message Chen Xiaolian. However, neither of them received any reply.

Roddy immediately retrieved out the four Sentinel mechs from his storage equipment. Ignoring how far down the ground was relative to their present room, he sent the mechs smashing through the windows. After landing on the ground, they activated their automatic enemy lock-on mode.

At the same time, Roddy also pulled out a portable computer. Opening it, he hastily checked the resort’s security system.

Likewise, the others had also entered a battle-ready stance.

Roddy carefully checked through all the systems before looking up. He laboured to utter out, “No… … enemies.”

The security system had been fully restored earlier and nothing irregular had occurred since then. Even Xia Xiaolei’s radar revealed that no one was using any skills nearby.

In other words, this was not an enemy attack.

However, Chen Xiolian was not the one who left… … even if something urgent did pop up, requiring his leave, he would have at least informed them about it first.

The current situation was something beyond their understanding.

A living person, who was in the midst of speaking, had suddenly disappeared into thin air before their very eyes.

This is…

What the Hell?

[TL: Umm, if you notice any discrepancy in details… … remember to just keep calm and blame magic. ]