Chapter 856
Chapter 856
The surrounding view instantly changed as Chen Xiaolian reappeared in the real world’s Athens in front of the gate of Parthenon.
It was afternoon, the time when there were most tourists around. Chen Xiaolian’s sudden appearance scared some of the surrounding tourists who exclaimed in shock.
However, Chen Xiaolian simply had no time to care about all that. He instead shouted skywards, “GM! Send me back to Zero City!”
A pillar of light descended and Chen Xiaolian instantly disappeared once again, eliciting yet another wave of exclamation.
“What happened inside the instance dungeon?”
Inside Chen Xiaolian’s room within Zero City, a hologram of the GM was standing in front of Chen Xiaolian. It looked at Chen Xiaolian and said, “Judging by your appearance, the negotiation must have failed. Thankfully, you managed to escape.”
“I nearly couldn’t escape. Luckily, three disruptors appeared.” Chen Xiaolian lowered his head to look at the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour on his body that was still slowly repairing itself. He broke into a bitter smile. “However, with this… the situation has become even more problematic!”
Although the final clash against Shen did not last too long, the damage Chen Xiaolian took from it was terrifyingly heavy. The power within his body had practically bottomed out. In fact, he could feel himself close to collapsing from the exhaustion.
“More problematic? San and the others are still trapped inside the spatial rift caused by the collapsing Zero City. At this moment in time, who else could disrupt your plan?” The GM frowned.
Despite being the main control program of this world, the GM could neither enter nor probe what was happening within instance dungeons.
“The Development Team! Damn it! They have finally directed their attention towards me! Today, I finally got a good look at their Exclusive Accounts!” Chen Xiaolian clenched his teeth forcefully.
Even though he was the GM, even he could not stop his surprise upon hearing Chen Xiaolian’s words. “Exclusive Account bodies? The Development Team personally descended?”
“No. The Development Team did not appear. They just gave their Exclusive Accounts to three Players.” Chen Xiaolian grunted. “Those Exclusive Accounts are simply too formidable. They were even able to suppress and beat up Shen.”
“Why did the Development Team direct their attention towards you? By chance, did you mention anything about ‘God’ to Shen when you were inside the instance dungeon? I remember you saying firmly in the past that not even a hint of information regarding that should be divulged outside Zero City.”
“Damn it! I did not!” Chen Xiaolian then let out a heavy sigh. “It’s just, when Shen and I were fighting, the two of us went all out. The Development Team simply picked up on the abnormal energy fluctuations.”
“In other words… at present, they have yet to raise the severity of this situation to the highest level. If not, when you consider what transpired in the past, they would have personally come down.”
“Not… necessarily.” To the GM’s surprise, Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “I have a different guess. Enough, let’s not talk too much. Shen will probably be killed off soon.”
“You are the only one who left the instance dungeon. Although I cannot see what’s happening inside, I can tell that the instance dungeon has yet to end. In other words, Shen is still inside the instance dungeon. Meaning, the angels have yet to kill him.”
“That’s true for now. However, judging by how things were looking… it won’t be long now. I was able to successfully weaken him with the code given by Osgiliath. At present, he is still slightly stronger than me, but he is likely still incapable of beating the three angels.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “So, we need to hurry!”
“Hurry? What are you planning?” The GM cast a somewhat confused look at Chen Xiaolian.
“Naturally, I’ll be summoning reinforcements!” Chen Xiaolian replied with a wry smile. “If Shen dies to them, the next one will be me! Am I supposed to hide inside Zero City and never come out forever? Besides… with how strong the angels are, if they ever find a chance to break into Zero City, we’ll be utterly doomed!”
“The strongest combat power left in Zero City, excluding you, are Aderick and Tian Lie. But I doubt even they possess the power to match either you or Shen. As for the others, they are even more useless.” The GM shook his head.
“Nonsense! Do you think I’d be that stupid as to send my companions as cannon fodder? Enough talking. Send me into the power room!” Chen Xiaolian glared at the GM.
“You plan on… helping those guys?” The GM finally understood Chen Xiaolian’s plan. “But if not even Shen could beat the angels, won’t it be useless even if you add those guys in?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve done the math.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head.
Earlier, he had carefully observed the battle between Shen and Moonlight’s team of three. Through the observation, he was able to confirm how strong the three of them were.
The Exclusive Accounts were indeed very formidable, extremely so.
Just by looking at the energy waves emanating from their bodies, he could tell that they had reached a level capable of laying waste to the world.
However, just because they possessed formidable bodies did not mean that they could display the corresponding level of combat power.
Moonlight’s team of three were originally just ordinary Players. They did not know how to truly make use of the power.
Having the ability to ‘see through’ this world’s entire source code did not mean they could ‘master’ it.
At any rate, they were not the real Development Team.
The GM nodded. Pondering for a moment, he then said, “But if you take away the Oddity, this new Zero City that you built through so much effort will enter a state of collapse like the previous one.”
“Of course, I don’t plan on taking all of it away.” Chen Xiaolian smiled, shaking his head. “But since the building has been fully constructed, temporarily removing a section of its walls – as long as it’s not the load-bearing wall – should be fine… I just need to temporarily open up a little bit of space for them so that they can escape. I will be putting it back quickly!”
…
“Do you understand now? In the face of the Development Team’s power, you are but nothing!”
Shen stood unsteadily, the bronze sword in his hand placed upright against the ground to barely prop up his body. Raising his head, he looked up at the three angels up in the sky.
The entire holy mountain had been razed. In fact, there were no longer any traces to show that the surrounding city area of Athens once existed. All that was left there were gutted ruins.
Shen’s body was filled with countless wounds.
Given Shen’s current level of power and his comprehension of the laws, he could easily recover from ordinary wounds. On the day Zero City was destroyed, Miao Yan had severed one of his hands but he was able to swiftly heal it.
However, by using the Development Team’s exclusive bodies, the strength of these three Players had soared to around the same level as Shen. Even through their individual strength had yet to reach Shen’s level, their combined strength was not something that the weakened Shen could match.
Their every attack would not only leave a wound on his body, it would also invade and damage the core of his power.
The present Shen had become so weak that his body was wobbling despite his attempts to stand straight.
The next attack might be… the end.
“I had to work so hard to finally reach here… what a pity.”
There wasn’t a hint of fear on Shen’s face. There was only a bitter smile and an endless feeling of helplessness.
“Then… come! This will be the final attack.”
He did his best to straighten himself and raise his bronze sword once more, aiming it at Moonlight’s team of three that was up in the sky.
“Don’t worry. Although I do not know why you want to kill that kid. Hmm… according to the Dev, his name is Chen Xiaolian, right? After killing you, we will fulfil your wish. We will find him and kill him.” Moonlight grinned, revealing a smug smile.
The three of them raised their lances up high at the same time. The solemn atmosphere made it look as though they were lifting up a mountain and the resulting undulations of power once again shook the instance dungeon.
“There’s no need to go find me. I’m already back.”
Just as the three of them were about to attack with all their might to finish off Shen, a familiar voice rang out from behind them.
Abruptly, Moonlight turned his head back.
Chen Xiaolian had his hands clasped behind his back and the wings on the Moonless Fivefold Light Armour flapped gently, allowing him to hover in the sky not far away from them. There was a faint smile on his face.
“You…”
Moonlight grew dumbfounded.
This fellow’s brain circuit… is it out of whack?
For a brief moment, Moonlight found himself incapable of understanding what he was seeing and his mind went blank.
Just now, this kid was clearly the one begging for mercy, figuring out all possible means to escape from this instance dungeon.
Just moments ago, Shen was chasing after this kid to kill him and he nearly succeeded even.
And now… this kid actually came back?
Just what is he thinking? And what is he planning to do?
“No, no, no, no…. don’t insult me with those eyes that’s reserved for idiots.” Chen Xiaolian smiled as he waved at Moonlight. “Don’t worry. I’m neither crazy nor stupid. More, I did not run back here to commit suicide.”
“Not committing suicide?” Moonlight burst into a loud laughter. He then pointed at Shen, who was on the ground. “Do you see him? Surely, you are not thinking that, by working together with him, you would be able to fight against us, are you? Look properly! What we are using, are the exclusive bodies of the Development Team!”
The expression on Shen’s face had also changed as he raised his head to look at Chen Xiaolian, a look of disbelief on his face.
“I know…. I know…” Chen Xiaolian dragged his words. He even yawned slightly.
“Believe me, I know all too well just how powerful the bodies you guys are using right now are. Rather, I know about it even more than you do. As for Shen, after everything he did to me just now, whether or not I want to hate him or take revenge against him, that’s my business. So, since I’m back, it means I know very well what I’m doing.”
“You mean… you plan on killing us off with him?” Shockbolt swung the lance in his hand at the sky with the force of a raging wave, splitting the sky above his head into two. “See that? This is the power we now possess!”
“I see.” Chen Xiaolian nodded meekly. “I cannot defeat you. Even with Shen, I still cannot defeat you guys. However…”
Chen Xiaolian suddenly snapped his fingers. Then, he revealed a smile that did not reach his eyes at them. “I thought about how much you guys liked to kill BUGs, so I decided to help save you guys some trouble and brought a couple more BUGs over for you to kill.”
A spatial rift appeared and Zhao Yun leisurely walked out from it. Her gaze swept over the three angels coldly. “These are the angels you mentioned? Interesting.”
Another spatial rift appeared and Gabriel strutted out from it. He turned to look at Shen for a moment before abruptly bursting into a chuckle. “Chen Xiaolian told me that you most likely got your ass handed to you. But I never imagined it would be so bad.”
A third spatial rift appeared and Bai Qi’s quaint white robes fluttered as he formed his sword. He said coldly, “These so-called angels are only so-so. They’re still no match for us.”
The fourth spatial rift appeared. Mr San looked at Bai Qi and said with a smile, “They are not the Development Team, after all. Even though they came here with these exclusive bodies, it is not possible for them to exert its full power.”
The fifth spatial rift. Cheng Cheng gave Moonlight’s team of three a glance before looking at the wounds on Shen’s body. Suddenly, a hint of happiness appeared on her face. “It’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time now. To think that these Players would beat me to it.”
The sixth rift. Du Wei stood in front of Shen, leaving his back exposed to Moonlight’s team of three. And yet, there was a lackadaisical look on his face as he showed not a hint of wariness. “We are able to meet one another again so soon. Do you feel happy?”
“You guys…”
Even though Shen was good at keeping his emotions hidden, seeing the six of them reappear before him here with such leisurely looks on their faces, he could not stop himself from becoming stunned.
Just not too long ago, he had planned to send them all to World’s End before retrieving the Oddity and patch up the world.
It also meant that all the Irregularities, including them, would disappear completely.
But now… they were acting as if nothing had happened.
“Nothing to feel surprised about. Times change. At present, the Development Team has become our biggest enemy. Besides… you should already be able to tell the changes in their bodies, no?” Du Wei smiled.
Shen snorted but said nothing.
Originally, among his old friends here, only Du Wei, who managed to obtained the wings and the code within them, had the power to barely face him in battle. As for Bai Qi and the rest, there was a sizable difference in power between them.
But now, the same energy waves were emanating out from their bodies.
It would appear that Chen Xiaolian did not rush over right after rescuing them. Instead, he had given them the wings, allowing all of them to obtain the power of the source code.
“Alright. We can chat once we return. Now…”
He turned around to look at Moonlight’s team of three. Although his voice was not loud, his words resonated within every corner of the instance dungeon.
“Let’s have some fun and kill a few angels.”