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“We’ll hold him off. You go help Xiaolian knock Liu Bei out!”
As Qiao Qiao moved past Zhao Yun, part of her body condensed to form a tangible human state while the rest remained as the black mist. She whispered to Zhao Yun, “Thirty seconds. Otherwise, Liu Bei will die!”
Guan Yu’s crescent blade hacked down. However, it hacked right through Qiao Qiao’s mist form.
The black mist appeared to be an intangible object. And yet, when the blade hacked into it, it felt as though it was hacking down on a pile of sticky paste.
The black mist rapidly travelled across the surface of the crescent blade’s handle and the combat energy enveloping the surface of the weapon was immediately devoured, leaving only a thin layer of it behind.
“Demon, you dare!” Seeing the black mist travelling through the handle of the weapon toward him, Guan Yu roared out. His body pulsed, causing the black mist to disperse.
However, in but moments, the black mist had clumped up once more before flying toward Guan Yu.
Chen Xiaolian was fighting non-stop against Liu Bei when he heard Xia Xiaolei’s scream. Shocked, he shouted, “Xiaolei? Who told you to come down?”
“Brother Lun Tai said since I won’t die from this, just come down and train myself!” Even as he spoke, the charging Xia Xiaolei had arrived before Zhang Fei. Each of his hands was wielding a blade and he hacked forward with the blades.
Zhang Fei bellowed in response. With a jab of his serpent spear, he knocked Xia Xiaolei’s blades away. Then, with a backhand move, he sent the tip of his spear piercing into Xia Xiaolei’s abdomen area.
The pain caused Xia Xiaolei’s face to contort. However, only a small amount of blood came out from the resulting wound, which immediately healed up. Next, kicking his feet, Xia Xiaolei’s figure shot toward Zhang Fei’s chest. Xia Xiaolei then bit him.
Zhang Fei roared out furiously and stretched out his left hand to grab Xia Xiaolei before forcefully smashing him onto the ground. However, Xia Xiaolei wrapped both his hands and legs around Zhang Fei’s left arm tightly.
As a result, both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were held back by Qiao Qiao and Xia Xiaolei for the moment. And yet, Zhao Yun did not choose to rush toward Liu Bei. Instead, she released a faint sigh.
“I am sorry.”
Her spear made a half-twirl before the back of the spear jabbed out twice, hitting Guan Yu and Zhang Fei’s chest areas.
After that, both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei revealed odd looks. Next, their bodies staggered and they fell limply onto the ground.
“Yunchang! Yide! [1]”
Liu Bei’s two swords had been constantly unleashing sword beams, putting Chen Xiaolian in a difficult spot. However, when he saw Zhao Yun knock out both Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, Liu Bei released a pained cry. He turned his attention away from Chen Xiaolian and instead charged toward Zhao Yun.
“Forgive me, my Lord. After we arrive in Jiangxia, I will apologize for this.”
Right after uttering those words, Zhao Yun’s spear transformed into a soaring dragon, shooting toward Liu Bei.
Liu Bei’s right sword came up to protect his chest while his left sword made a dextrous turn to stab toward Zhao Yun’s chest.
On Zhao Yun’s side, she was seemingly ignorant of the attack from Liu Bei’s left sword and her spear continued to stab toward Liu Bei, leaving her chest unguarded.
Liu Bei’s pupils contracted as the tip of his sword stabbed into Zhao Yun’s body. At the same time, Zhao Yun’s spear jerked, knocking aside Liu Bei’s right sword. Next, the butt of her spear struck Liu Bei’s neck.
This one attack from Zhao Yun managed to disperse the golden-coloured combat energy emanating off Liu Bei’s body. Then, he staggered a few times before falling to the ground.
Seeing Liu Bei fall, Chen Xiaolian leapt over. He pulled out a syringe and plunged it into Liu Bei’s neck.
“Just kill me… … don’t hurt my Second Bro and Third Bro…” As Chen Xiaolian was administering the contents of the syringe, Liu Bei muttered those words while his eyelids snapped shut. After that, he slumped down on the ground.
“Let’s go!” Chen Xiaolian heaved Liu Bei onto his shoulder and rushed toward the edge of the wall.
Seeing Chen Xiaolian pick Liu Bei up, the Tidal Fighter, which had been hovering around in the sky, dived down. It hovered along the edge of the wall.
Lun Tai, with tens of scars on his body, held Bei Tai with him as he rushed over as well.
The top part of the Tidal Fighter slowly opened up and all of them jumped on. After that, Roddy set the Tidal Fighter to accelerate and it disappeared into the sky, leaving only a faint plume of flames.
…
Inside the cabin, Lun Tai gasped for breath as he glared at Zhao Yun, seemingly wanting to eat her alive.
“Brother Lun Tai…” Xia Xiaolei carefully poked at Lun Tai from behind and handed over a bottle of Healing Beast Blood.
“I’m not taking it!” shouted Lun Tai without even turning his head around. His shout shocked Xia Xiaolei so much, he nearly dropped the bottle.
And yet, Zhao Yun, who was seated right before him, maintained an emotionless expression. She was not even looking at Lun Tai.
“You nearly got us all killed, you know that?!” There was a livid expression on Lun Tai’s face. Blood trickled down from a wound in the corner of his eye.
“None of your men died, right?” replied Zhao Yun faintly.
“Yes, no one died. However, this was supposed to be a very simple task. Why did it have to become so complicated?!” Lun Tai’s chest heaved up and down. “How many times have we told you? This is an instance dungeon! It is fake! They are just NPCs generated by the system. They are not the real Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei that you once knew!”
“Lun Tai…” Chen Xiaolian was about to speak up when Lun Tai turned around to look at him. Gritting his teeth, Lun Tai said, “Xiaolian, you are the Guild Leader. After you have made the decision, we should give it our all to follow the plan without hesitation. But right now, the battle is already over. I want to ask you. Just now, when your first move failed, why did you not change the plan and directly kill off Liu Bei?”
“I am sorry, Lun Tai. It is my mistake.” Chen Xiaolian cast a sincere gaze at Lun Tai and said in a serious tone, “If I have to do it again, I will definitely choose to kill Liu Bei.”
Chen Xiaolian stood up and patted Lun Tai’s shoulder. “I know you are feeling dissatisfied. However, Bei Tai is only suffering from the backlash of having his Air Incarceration skill being broken. He won’t be too seriously injured. You go care for him. I will talk to her.”
“Mm.” Lun Tai nodded his head before walking toward the rear of the cabin. After taking a few steps, he turned and said with a sigh, “I am sorry. I should not have lost my temper with you.”
Chen Xiaolian made a ‘don’t mind’ gesture at Lun Tai before seating himself opposite Zhao Yun.
“I am very angry. Although I can fully understand you, I am still feeling very angry.” Chen Xiaolian cast a calm look at Zhao Yun. “You may not like what I am going to say next, but I still have to say it.
“The easiest method of completing this instance dungeon is to kill off Liu Bei. We can understand that you are unable to accept such a move. Thus, I had finally made the decision to bring him to Jiangxia instead of killing him. I had even promised you to do my best not to kill him. This is not because I like taking the long way and bring problems upon myself. It is because I respect you. I respect your character!
“You are a smart person. Thus, after getting rescued by us, you could easily understand what I told you. You even choose to believe in us.
“That is not an easy thing to do. Thus, I am hoping I can reciprocate your trust.
“However, I cannot use the lives of my guild members for it!”
Chen Xiaolian’s words were spoken calmly. However, they contained the anger within his heart.
Their decision to capture Liu Bei alive and bring him to Jiangxia was solely because they were being considerate toward Zhao Yun’s feelings. Were it not for that, Liu Bei would have died long ago.
Technology-type equipment was not restricted within this instance dungeon. Now that Roddy’s time limit in deploying the four Sentinel mechs have been pushed to a maximum of five minutes, forget killing one Liu Bei, even levelling the entire Jiangling City was not a difficult matter.
Besides, if not for the time constraint, they could just use the Tidal Fighter. Just keep a sufficient altitude and slowly bombard Liu Bei and his army to their deaths.
“I understand.” Zhao Yun turned her head to look at Liu Bei, who was lying down beside her. After Liu Bei was knocked down, Chen Xiaolian had injected him with a strong dose of anaesthetic. Additionally, both his hands and legs were cuffed with heavy alloy cuffs.
“However, emotions are not something that you can control just because you understand the truth of the matter.” Zhao Yun turned toward Chen Xiaolian and said in a solemn manner, “I am sorry. I promise you, there will not be a next time.”
“There are still 15 minutes left before we reach Jiangxia. Once we reach Jiangxia, the quest will be completed.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “By leaving this instance dungeon, you will change back to the Sister Yun that I know.”
…
Cao Cao’s army was heading south. The long stretch of soldiers was such that it was impossible to see the end of the army convoy.
Most of the Awakened guilds were not too powerful and less than half of the guilds could afford to bring their own transport into the instance dungeon. The majority of the Awakened ones there could only walk on their two feet as they marched alongside the army.
In the centre of the army, a Thunderstorm Tank was slowly moving forward. Jiang Long had chosen not to sit inside the tank. Instead, he stood atop the tank turret with his hands behind his back as he looked forward, seemingly in a daze.
In half a day’s time, they will reach Jiangling.
Although most of the Awakened ones had stayed behind to march alongside the army, Jiang Long had still sent out a good number of his own guild members to perform reconnaissance and investigate about their quest.
Awakened ones in Thorned Flower Guild had never been given any positions of importance and have almost no authority to manage the supplies. Thus, the supplies they managed to take away when they rebelled were practically a hair off nine oxen. Even so, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. Those with single-capacity flight equipment and high-altitude monitoring devices only needed to hover far away as they kept an eye on their target. There was no need to worry too much about their safety.
Not long ago, the scouts sent to Jiangling had reported in, confirming that Liu Bei had led his army into Jiangling City. Additionally, it would appear that he intended to fortify the city and defend it, not moving elsewhere.
The news pleased Jiang Long a lot.
Instead of looking around the world for Zhao Yun, it would be more reliable for them to trap Liu Bei.
It would be for the best if Zhao Yun was in Jiangling. But even if he was not, they could earn themselves a bunch of points along the way. At any rate, there was only one quest objective for this instance dungeon. Furthermore, there was no time limit. No matter how much time went by, all will be well as long as they can find Zhao Yun.
Jiang Long pondered on how to coordinate all the guilds to fight alongside Cao Cao’s army when they arrive at Jiangling City. Suddenly, the guild member that he sent to scout the objective sent him a private message. “Manager, a battle had erupted in Jiangling City.”
“Jiangling? A battle?” Jiang Long frowned as a slight feeling of befuddlement arose. “Who are the ones fighting?”
“One of them is Liu Bei while the other… … either Awakened ones or Players.” The scout was somewhat hesitant. “I was too far away. That is why I do not know all the details. However… … the attacking team is piloting a Tidal Fighter.”
“A Tidal Fighter?” Jiang Long’s face turned grim. “Are you sure you did not make a mistake?”
“Impossible,” the scout replied firmly. “Besides the Tidal Fighter, which other aircraft could have that same shape and size while also having the ability to cloak?”
Jiang Long was silent for a moment. “What is the situation there?”
“I cannot be certain of the details. I estimate that the Tidal Fighter had utilized its cloaking function to launch a surprise attack on Jiangling City,” replied the scout quickly. “The battle occurred on the wall. The number of people involved in the fight is not high and the fight itself did not last long. After only around two minutes, the team retreated. However, when they did, it seemed as though they took a prisoner with them.”
“Which direction did they take when they retreated?”
“Probably…” The scout considered it for a moment. “Jiangxia.”
“Jiangxia?” The perplexed feeling within Jiang Long grew. “Who is the prisoner?”
“I am sorry, Manager. It was too far away. There is no way for me to find out.”
“All right, I understand.” Jiang Long nodded his head and ended the conversation.
“Chen Xiaolian… … could it really be you?”
Jiang Long silently mumbled to himself. Then, after considering it for a moment, he tapped open his guild channel once more.
“Nightmare, report your position.”
1 Yunchang is Guan Yu’s courtesy name. Yide is Zhang Fei’s courtesy name.↩
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