Chapter 180 - Blank Wall

[Ding!]

[Player San Zhe has killed 1x Rat Counsellor.

Gained one Level 3 grade B Monster.]

San Zhe looked at the ceiling of the room for a brief moment before getting down.

"Brother San!"

He looked up to find Cheng Xiu had run up to him. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Sister Xiu."

"Did you get a Monster core too?"

San Zhe blinked and nodded. "Did you too?"

"Yeah," Cheng Xiu said to him. "How are you feeling? Does it hurt too much? Hurry, and eat the monster core. It will give you more energy and will heal you!"

San Zhe stared at her for a moment.

Cheng Xiu stopped her fussing as she realised that San Zhe's reactions were a bit weird. "What happened? Does it hurt too much?"

San Zhe shook his head.

"I…am a bit overwhelmed."

He had never really pushed himself to fight in battle ever before as much as he did at that moment. Fighting that monster was not just exhilarating. It was also liberating in a way. His mind fell into a trance like state and the only think that existed for him was fighting that rat and ensuring that he won.

He was a Level 6 Player. It would have been too embarrassing if he had died from the attacks of a level 3 monster.

"You are a Level 6 player," Yaksha said to him. "Why did it take you so long to defeat a rat?"

"I…I just…"

"How are you going to keep your friends safe if-"

Cheng Xiu jabbed the side of Yaksha with her elbow to stop him from continuing, a scowl on her face.

Yaksha looked at her for a moment before turning away from her.

San Zhe stared at the expert who was mocking him a few seconds ago walk towards the wall, and lean on it, completely ignoring their exsitance.

San Zhe blinked. Was-was the great expert of the game pulling the 'Petulant Child' act? What the hell?

San Zhe could not help thinking that his impression of the expert was shattering.

Why? Why was this happening? He could not help crying as the image he had created in his mind about the expert started have cracks on it. The image was being held up in his mind only by lying to himself that Yaksha was just joking around. He was not actually acting as a child.

"Childish," Cheng Xiu hissed under her breath as she looked at Yaksha's side profile.

"Sister Xiu!" San Zhe scolded her.

Cheng Xiu pouted her bottom lip out, though he could not see it. "I am right."

Yaksha sighed. "Come on. We have to go meet the rest of them before the rats all manage to climb the wall and trespass on other's property or level."

Cheng Xiu sighed and nodded."Okay. You know, this is really inconvinient. Why can't the monsters come to us? Why do we always have to go to them?"

Yaksha rolled his eyes and did not answer her.

"That…sister Xiu," San Zhe said to her. A pair of phoenix eyes looked at him expectantly. "We are the ones who want to stop them so…"

"I know that," Cheng Xiu said to him with a strained voice. "I just wish it wasn't like that. Can't a girl wish things like that anymore."

San Zhe sighed. He could understand this big ancestor but he could not help thinking that Cheng Xiu seemed to be far too different from the first impression that she had given him.

Cheng Xiu suddenly patted him on the shoulder, pulling him from his thoughts.

San Zhe looked at her.

"Lets go. We have some beasts to kill."

San Zhe nodded.

The two walked off.

Yaksha watched them leave with a complicated emotion in his eyes.

Cheng Xiu stopped abruptly, making San Zhe crash against her back.

"Sorry," San Zhe said in embarrassment.

Cheng Xiu waved his apology away and turned to Yaksha. "Yaksha ge, bigbrother, what you doing, leaning against the wall like you are posing for a picture? Are you not coming with us?"

Yaksha looked at her with narrowed eyes, his eyebrow twitching in irritation. "Not going."

Cheng Xiu felt like that there was something wrong with the way that Yaksha was acting though she was not able to pin point on what it was that he was doing differently.

"What happened?" Cheng Xiu asked in a serious voice.

Yaksha shrugged. "Nothing. I was just teasing you."

Cheng Xiu glared at him, wanting to give him a good thrashing but she held herself back in time.

She turned around without looking at him and walked off to the other side of the room.

She stood in front of a blank wall, trying to figure out how to get to the other side.

"Maybe there is another iron door hidden behind this one," San Zhe said to her.

Cheng Xiu thought for a moment and then nodded.

She took out her sword.

"Please don't tell me that you are going to break down the wall," San Zhe said to her in a strained voice.

"Do you see any other option for yourself?" Cheng Xiu asked.

San Zhe stared at the wall for a moment and then looked at the destroyed Iron Door behind them. "Maybe we can try to walk the other paths that we did not choose."

Cheng Xiu hmmed. "Do you think that is possible?"

"Isn't it?"

Cheng Xiu waved her hand towards the destroyed opening. "Try it for yourself."

San Zhe looked at her for a moment and then at the blank wall. He made up his mind and walked to the door.

He crashed onto an invisible wall. "What the hell?"

Cheng Xiu patted his shoulder comfortingly. "I did try to see if I could throw a small coin before. It bounced back."

San Zhe looked at her with an uncomprehending eyes. "When did you do that? Why did you do that? Why didn't you tell me before?"

Cheng Xiu shrugged. "Right after we had entered the room. I wanted to see if there was any hidden attack that we should be aware of. I did not think that it would bounce back. I guessed that there might be a barrier here. The thing is…I did not think much about it. I did not know if the barrier was for everything or only stopped equipment. The fact that Brother San crashed into it means that even humans are restricted by it."

"So I was an experiment?"

"Yes."

San Zhe felt a sharp pain in his heart. "Shouldn't you hide that kind of thinking from me!"

"Why should I?" Cheng Xiu asked in a confused voice. "You have the right to know."

"Then you should have told this to me sooner, before you did the experiment."

Cheng Xiu tilted her head, and considered his words. She nodded. "Brother San is right. I am sorry for keeping it from you."

San Zhe looked at her for a moment and then sighed. Why did she admit her faults so easily?

He asked her that.

"I don't," Cheng Xiu said in protest. "If you insult my intelligence, that would be a different matter. I would argue back even if I am in the wrong. But social cues are different. I have always felt that it was better to straight up say things in such cases because I have not been able to understand human nature that well. I try my best…but…well…my friendly interactions are limited."

San Zhe nodded in understanding. He did not agree with it, he thought she was very understanding of humans but perhaps that was how she saw herself. Once they were done with the Quest, he had to reassure her.

"So the door we came through is no longer accessible," San Zhe said with a sigh.

"Does it look like a door at all?" Yaksha asked him. "I think it looks more like iron debris and shards. And to think…this damage was done by Little Sela. Not at all cute."

Cheng Xiu glared at him. "I don't exist for you entertainment or appreciation any way."

"So fierce," Yaksha said with a smile in his eyes. "That is very uncute."

Cheng Xiu gritted her teeth. Why was this man able to get on her nerves so easily?

San Zhe tried to distract them before Cheng Xiu offended another big shot of the game and had to change the account itself later. "I guess this means we are breaking the wall."

"We are breaking the wall," Cheng Xiu conformed.

"Such Violent people," Yaksha said with a sigh. "Just send your Qi into the wall. A black Iron door will appear in its place."

Cheng Xiu gritted her teeth. "You knew this method…"

"Yes."

Cheng Xiu stared at him for a moment. So annoying! Why was she upset? Yaksha was not obliged to tell them thing.

Cheng Xiu decided to not to respond to him just in case she would be forced to die of anger if she did.

She walked back to the blank wall and placed her hand on it. She sent a small strand of Qi into it.

The wall glowed, making the three people close their eyes.

When their vision cleared, they were met with another Iron Door.