Wang GuiYing, Zhou Xinyi and Zhihao curiously looked at Li Ling as if waiting for the man to say something.
Li Ling was shocked and when the initial shock had settled in, he broke out laughing as he asked, "You're kidding... Right?"
Zhihao lightly shook his head, "I'm as serious as I can be."
Li Ling was silent.
He could very well lead and if he were to lead, they would win this level with ease, however, he didn't want to lead. He wanted to see how Mastermo deals with this level. He wanted to observe the decisions Mastermo makes and how he'll be solving this puzzle. He didn't want to make it easy for everyone nor did he want to make it difficult. He wanted to be the person that tags alone and helps you only in need and lounges around doing nothing the rest of the time..
Wang GuiYing wasn't sure about what Zhihao was planning but since this was Mastermo, he was going to trust him and his decision.
"So," Wang GuiYing smirked, "What's the plan, little lover?"
"Uh..." Li Ling knew the time was running out and to argue over who was going to lead was pointless since he knew that Mastermo would not go back on his word. The only option there was for him was taking the lead.
Li Ling looked around and calculated the time it would take for the army of bees to reach them, "3 minutes."
"Hmm?" Zhihao's lips turned upwards as he heard this.
"We have 3 minutes to run. That's it." Li Ling spoke up as he looked around, "We need to go somewhere crowded."
Wang GuiYing, "Yeah... I don't think you'll be able to find a crowded place around here."
They had already established the fact that they were in a city from where all humans had simply vanished or had been evacuated so it was only natural that the first reaction of Wang GuiYing would be like this, but unlike him, although Zhihao didn't say anything, he furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Li Ling with great interest.
"Not that type of crowd," Li Ling suddenly started running along with Zhihao sitting on his shoulder.
Wang GuiYing and Zhou Xinyi took a whole minute to react but they were soon able to follow after him.
"Where are we going?" Wang GuiYing shouted.
Li Ling, "A congested place."
Zhihao was about to ask what Li Ling was thinking but before he could question it, he suddenly realized what Li Ling meant when he said 'congested'.
Of course, humans weren't the only things that could congest a place.
If a lot of buildings were built close to each other and left only narrow alleys in between, weren't they also said to be congested?
The only question left was: Why congested? Why was Li Ling taking them to such a congested place?
He probably had something in mind but Zhihao was unsure what Li Ling's plan was.
Thankfully, Li Ling didn't wait around for Zhihao to ask him the question, instead, he readily gave the answer first, "Narrow spaces restrict movement and are great hiding places."
"Restrict movement?" Zhihao suddenly frowned, "They are bees."
There was no way Li Ling was that dumb, right?
They were fighting against robotic bees. The bees didn't care about narrow places and their movements would not be affected, instead, this plan would surely backfire on them by restricting their own movements.
Li Ling could understand the confusion in Zhihao's mind and so, he explained, "Bees are the least of our worries."
Zhou Xinyi was hardly able to fit inside the narrow alley. Both his shoulders were touching the two walls on their right and left sides making it look as if this huge robot had suddenly become a huge road blocker for them.
When Wang GuiYing saw Zhou Xinyi becoming a robotic wall that closed the street off, he suddenly exclaimed happily, "Good idea! We can use him as a shield!"
"..."
It just so happened that Zhou Xinyi became a shield. This was definitely not a part of Li Ling's plan.
Alvi suddenly chuckled as she asked, "Are you guys going to hide in here forever?"
Wang GuiYing, "that doesn't sound like a bad idea."
"..."
Li Ling suddenly looked at Alvi and asked, "Alvi, track down something for me."
[Hmm]
Alvi smiled as she looked back at him and waited for further directions.
Li Ling looked around as he scanned through the place and made sure that there wasn't anything else here except for them.
Li Ling, "Track down Ribots."
[Okay!~]
Alvi beamed
[Give me a few minutes.]
Zhihao couldn't help but be impressed as he asked, "If I'm not wrong, Ribots are supposed to be on our side, right?"
Li Ling nodded as he answered, "Trash and Hulk are Ribots. Me and A-Zhi are Captains who are in-charge of Ribot armies."
Zhihao nodded. Although he didn't attentively listen to what Alvi had told them before, he still kinda remembered hearing something along the lines of Ribots and them being some sort of Captains.
"I remember that!" Wang GuiYing cried out, "Mastermo is supposed to be Captain Burn in charge of Ribot army 2X and Little lover is supposed to be captain Liv in charge of Ribot army 3X"
Li Ling shook his head, "You have it the other way around."
"Eh?"
"Zhihao is Captain Burn in charge of the RIbot army 3X and I am supposed to play Captain Liv in charge of Ribot army 2X."
"Isn't that what I said?" Wang GuiYing tilted his head.
Li Ling sighed, "You got the numbers wrong. He's in charge of 3X and I'm in charge of army 2X."
"Does that make a difference?"
Li Ling was almost about to answer but stopped himself when he realized that if he gave an answer to that question, he would be outing himself and drawing suspicion on how he knew all this.
He changed what he was about to say, "Since the numbers are different, I'm sure they are different."
This answer was acceptable and nobody questioned it.
[Area scanned!]
Alvi suddenly opened up a map in front of them and on the map were different colored dots with numbers and letters under them. These dots were distributed throughout the map and while some dots were isolated from the rest, few of them were in the same place.
[The blue dots are 3X Ribots and the green dots are 2X Ribots.]
[The purple are the XY Ribots and the orange ones are the newly created Ribots.]
It seemed that Li Ling was right about the Ribots being different.
Zhihao, "What's the difference between them?"
[XY Ribots are the very first batch of Ribots that were created. They are complete Robots that do not need to be controlled by a human. The 2X and 3X were created later and would only listen to orders from their assigned captains. The Newly created Ribots are the latest batch of Ribots who aren't complete robots, nor are they complete humans.]
"Eh?"
When Wang GuiYing digested this information, he looked down at the chest of his suit and read the number that was displayed on it: Ribot 68.
If he was guessing right, He was also considered to be a part of the newly created Ribots... Right?
[The newly created Ribots are hybrids between a human and a Ribot that have been synthetically made.]
Zhihao and Li Ling looked at Wang GuiYing with great interest as they realized that he was also a Newly created Ribot.
Wang GuiYing, "I think I don't have my complete body with me."
"Huh?" Zhihao looked at the suit that covered Wang GuiYing and it was only at this moment that he noticed the subtle changes in the suit. This suit was not the same suit that Zhihao and Li Ling were wearing. It was different but the difference wasn't too big.
Wang GuiYing looked down before he spoke, "This isn't a suit."
"..."
[Newly created Ribots have the head of a human but the body of a Ribot to help them think like a human while having the physical capabilities of Ribots.]
Zhihao didn't know why but when he heard this, he had the sudden urge to laugh at it.
"So you are both Ribots?" Zhihao couldn't help but be amazed as he added, "What a fate."
Wang GuiYing sighed as he waved his hand around and spoke, "I don't know anymore!"
[What are you gonna do with this information?]
Li Ling had his eyes focused on the map as he searched through it.
A minute passed and when he was sure that he had a plan, he spoke up, "We'll collect them."
"Huh?"
"Is they can be scanned, it means they still have their GPS turned on and that means, these Ribots aren't dead yet."
Zhihao was amazed at how much Li Ling had thought and planned in such a short span of time. Just as he had expected, he felt that Li Ling really was a better player than him.
"We'll first pick this one up," Li Ling pointed at a blue dot that was nearer to their current location.
Zhihao frowned as he pointed at another area on the map and asked, "Wouldn't it be better to start off from here? There are more Ribots here and the distance isn't that different."
Li Ling pursed his lips, "A-Zhi, I'm in charge."
"..."