GOR
Zhao Yun slowly opened her eyes to see a green canopy of leaves. The light of dawn filtered through the gaps to shine down upon her, causing her to squint her eyes.
However, she was quick to flip herself up. Next, she warily inspected her surroundings.
“You are finally up.” Chen Xiaolian was seated a small distance away from her, a slice of pizza in his hand as he munched on it. Seeing Zhao Yun get up, he picked up another slice of pizza from the pizza box and lifted it toward Zhao Yun. “Eat first. If you have any questions, ask them after you have eaten.”
Zhao Yun looked around and nodded her head. Without saying anything, she accepted the slice of pizza that Chen Xiaolian had handed over. After taking a bite of the pizza, she raised her brows slightly. Shifting the pizza aside, she lowered her head to look at it.
“Does it not suit you?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a smile. “You have never eaten this before, right?”
“It is acceptable.” Zhao Yun shook her head, regaining her calm expression. After finishing the slice of pizza in three bites, she did not hesitate to reach into the pizza box to take another slice, which she shoved into her mouth.
“Seeing a beautiful woman like you eat so ravenously, this is a first for me.” Chen Xiaolian smiled as he pushed the pizza box toward Zhao Yun. “It is all yours.”
Zhao Yun swiftly finished off the pizza within the box and wiped off the grease on her hand on her cloak. Then, she looked at Chen Xiaolian and said, “The rest of them… … are all dead?”
“Who? Ah, you mean the horse riders?” Chen Xiaolian quickly answered. “I did not get to personally witness it. However, by the end of the fight, they were all besieged. So… … they are probably all dead.”
“Mm.” After hearing that, Zhao Yun maintained an impassive expression. She simply nodded her head gently before standing up.
“You… … are there nothing else you want to ask of me?” Chen Xiaolian blinked. “Right now, you should have no memories of me. This food, even that huge thing behind you… …they are all things that you have never seen before. And yet, why is it you don’t appear curious at all?”
“I do not have time to be curious.” Zhao Yun shook her head and said, “Where are we? How far away are we from Jiangling?”
“You want to go find your Lord Liu Bei?” Chen Xiaolian smiled in response. “I suggest you forget it. It is pointless.”
Zhao Yun ignored Chen Xiaolian and raised her head to estimate the position of the sun. Then, she turned and left. “If you are not going to tell me, I will find out myself.”
“Hey, can you at least listen to what I have to say first?” Chen Xiaolian released a helpless sigh. “All of this is fake, you know?”
“Fake?” Zhao Yun stopped and turned to look at Chen Xiaolian. “What do you mean?”
“Chen Xiaolian.” Chen Xiaolian stretched out his hand to point at himself. “We met before, in another world. You were the one who wanted me to come find you. At present, all that is happening, your Lord, your subordinates, your memories, all of them are fake!”
Zhao Yun sneered in response. The expression on her face was like that of one looking at an idiot. She turned and continued moving away.
“Listen to what I have to say. If, after I am done, you still want to go find Liu Bei, I can send you.” Chen Xiaolian spread his hands. “Roddy, let her see you fly one round.”
Roddy, who had been sitting down with his back against the Tidal Fighter, nodded his head and jumped into the fighter through the hatch. It did not take long for the Tidal Fighter’s engine to come to life.
A near imperceptible thrum rang out and the Tidal Fighter rose into the sky. It flew a circle in the sky before landing once more.
The moment the Tidal Fighter took off, Zhao Yun’s eyes stared intently at the fighter in disbelief.
“Contraption techniques?” Zhao Yun lowered her head to look back at Chen Xiaolian. “How fast can this thing fly?”
“Very fast. In less than half an hour, we can bring you to Liu Bei,” Chen Xiaolian replied with a smile. “Now, are you willing to sit down and listen to me?”
…
“Thus, we saved you and brought you here.” Chen Xiaolian spent an hour to finish telling Zhao Yun all about Awakened ones, Players, Irregularities and instance dungeons.
Zhao Yun had not interrupted Chen Xiaolian at all, instead opting to simply stay quiet and listen.
Only after Chen Xiaolian was done speaking did she slowly nod her head. “You mean to say, my loyalty toward my Lord is something the so-called system created?”
“It is something that once existed,” Chen Xiaolian had to ponder for a moment before replying. “However… … at present, in this instance dungeon, be it Liu Bei or Cao Cao, they are all just NPCs created by the system. Your loyalty is for the real Liu Bei and not… … this NPC.”
“If what you say is true, then my Lord is just an NPC, right?” Zhao Yun revealed a faint smile. “Even though your words are bizarre, it does sound reasonable. And then there is that…”
She pointed at the Tidal Fighter parked some distance away. “Big thing. I am willing to trust you. However, how do you intend on bringing me out? Additionally, I do not know the whereabouts of the Qiao Qiao girl that you are looking for. “
“I do not know myself.” Chen Xiaolian revealed a rueful smile. “Your state is too different from Bai Qi’s. Back then, he did not have any sense of self-awareness at all. He was just a puppet of the system. As for you, you have memories and the ability to think for yourself. Back then, I had a prop from the instance dungeon, a Tiger Token, with me and he automatically became my War Soul. As for you… … the same method probably won’t work.”
After considering the issue, Zhao Yun said, “Let me meet him. The one you call Bai Qi, that is. Maybe he knows something.”
Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment.
Back in World’s End, Bai Qi went nuts the moment he met Zhao Yun, going all out to start a fight with Zhao Yun. To summon him out now… what if a fight starts again?
“What are you waiting for?” asked Zhao Yun with a frown.
“All right.” Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. “This fellow… … I myself cannot control him properly. You need to be careful. He might attack you later.”
Zhao Yun gave a faint smile and nodded her head.
“Then…” Chen Xiaolian cautiously took several steps back before summoning Bai Qi.
A gust of black-coloured air condensed together before dispersing to reveal a figure in ancient robes.
The moment Bai Qi appeared, his eyes were fixed upon Zhao Yun. To Chen Xiaolian’s relief, this time, he did not attack. Instead, he simply gazed at Zhao Yun without uttering a single word.
“You are Bai Qi? Do you know me?” Zhao Yun regarded Bai Qi from head to toe. “Before leaving World’s End, you asked me to come find you. Although I am not the one who came looking for you, we are now standing face to face.”
“You… … more complete… than me… … tampered with… …” After looking at Zhao Yun for a long time, Bai Qi finally spoke up, stuttering as he did. “Instance dungeon… … complete… … be… free… …”
After saying those few words, Bai Qi then closed his eyes.
Next, Chen Xiaolian repeatedly asked Bai Qi some questions. However, Bai Qi had seemingly fallen into a state of death and he no longer moved nor said a word.
Helpless, Chen Xiaolian could do nothing else but to summon Bai Qi back into the Tiger Token. There was a frown on his face.
“The words he said… I don’t quite understand.” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “Complete this instance dungeon and be free. What does that mean?”
“Didn’t you say that every instance dungeon has a quest objective? By completing the quest objective, I will be free of this instance dungeon’s control. Is that hard to comprehend?” Zhao Yun turned to look at Chen Xiaolian.
“I think, I have not informed you what this instance dungeon’s quest objective is, right?” said Chen Xiaolian with a bitter smile. “It is… … to kill you!”
Zhao Yun was stunned. Next, she too, gave a bitter smile.
…
“My idol, hello…”
Roddy rubbed his hands as he slowly stepped forward. Even so, there were still a few metres between him and Zhao Yun. “When I was young, I read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and came to admire you a great deal! In the Battle of Changban, you singlehandedly killed your way left and right through Cao Cao’s army to save your Lord’s son, what a spectacular feat! However, I never imagined that you could actually be such a beautiful woman!”
When Chen Xiaolian and Zhao Yun were talking earlier, he had Roddy and the others move away for the time being so that they could chat in private. At present, in order to figure out the meaning behind Bai Qi’s words, he had them gather together.
“Enough, leave your nauseating words for later.” Chen Xiaolian punched Roddy’s shoulder. “Just now, Bai Qi had said something to Zhao Yun. However, I do not understand what he meant by it.”
“In other words, it is time for me to show off my intellect?” Roddy quickly patted himself in the chest. “Sister Yun, you can be absolutely assured! Meteor Rock Guild’s think tank is none other than me! I am definitely in no way inferior compared to Zhuge Liang!”
“This is Roddy, my bro. He is usually a flippant fellow. However, he is still reliable during crucial moments.” Chen Xiaolian smiled as he introduced Zhao Yun to the members of the guild. After that, he repeated Bai Qi’s words to them all.
“Complete the quest?” Roddy stared with widened eyes. “But… … the quest that the system gave us is to kill… … kill her!”
“That is why I hope you all can help me think it through.” Chen Xiaolian spread his hands open. “Literally speaking, that is what it means. However, I dare not take this risk. In the event that we do so and Sister Yun perishes for real, we will be unable to even regret it.”
“Besides… … I don’t think Sister Yun will just let us kill her, right?” Roddy cast a fawning smile at Zhao Yun.
“From a logical point of view… … it makes no sense,” said Lun Tai in a serious tone. “The reason the system issued out this quest is because it had detected Zhao Yun’s existence. Thus, it had summoned so many Awakened ones to enter this instance dungeon at the same time to assist with its attempt to kill her. Assuming that her death in this instance dungeon equates to freeing her, why would the system do all this?”
“Let’s go through the words again… … we need to go through every word carefully,” said Roddy as he looked at Chen Xiaolian. “You more complete than me tampered with instance dungeon complete be free… … those are it, right, Xiaolian?”
“There should be nothing that requires consideration for the first few words.” Chen Xiaolian sighed. “You more complete than me. Those words probably meant that although Zhao Yun had lost her memories, she did at least maintain her personality and the ability to think. This is different from Bai Qi, who lost a part of himself. Tampered with. It meant she has been given a new set of memories. Even her strength has been greatly reduced. Next, instance dungeon complete be free… … I simply cannot figure out what other meaning are there besides the literal one. Additionally… … I don’t think Bai Qi is someone who would come up with riddles.”
“Could it be… … he was not talking about this instance dungeon?” Bei Tai interjected. “Maybe, we can only save Zhao Yun by completing another instance dungeon?”
“Firstly, I have never heard of two separate instance dungeons affecting each other. Secondly, without completing this instance dungeon quest, how will we get out from this instance dungeon?” Lun Tai shook his head.
With the exception of Zhao Yun, every one there had their heads lowered as they pondered the issue. After pondering it over for a long time, they were still incapable of coming up with any results.
“You more complete than me, tampered with, instance dungeon complete be free… … you more complete than me, tampered with, instance dungeon complete be free…” Roddy had his eyes closed as he repeated those words. After repeating them for who knows how long, he suddenly shouted aloud, “I get it! I get it!”
“What did you get?” Chen Xiaolian looked at Roddy in surprise. “Hurry up and tell us!”
“That Bai Qi keeps stuttering with his words. That is why… … your interpretation of his broken sentences is wrong!” Roddy excitedly punched the ground with his fist. “The words tampered with are not directed at Sister Yun. It was directed at this instance dungeon!”
“That makes sense.” Lun Tai considered it for a moment and quickly understood what Roddy meant. “The original quest objective in this instance dungeon is not to kill off Zhao Yun?”
“Yes!” Roddy gushed out in excitement. “Just think about it. Were it not for the fact that Sister Yun is so powerful, this instance dungeon would be too easy! Cao Cao’s army consists of tens of thousands of soldiers while the Awakened ones were sent into Cao Cao’s army right from the start. On Liu Bei’s side, his soldiers are mostly old and weak men. Given this advantageous condition, this instance dungeon’s level of difficulty is practically non-existent.”
“Thus, in the original setting, while there may also be a Zhao Yun, that person must be a virtually created NPC and not Sister Yun here. Additionally, that Zhao Yun will definitely not be the quest objective. In order to make it difficult for Players and Awakened ones, the designated enemy can never be Liu Bei’s army. Instead, it should be Cao Cao’s army!”
“It is also possible to be on either side,” Chen Xiaolian added. “Do you remember the London instance dungeon? In the Battle for the Throne, both William and Harold were assigned with both Players and Awakened ones. There is also the Jerusalem instance dungeon. We became the only members of the Dark faction while the other participants were in the Light faction.”
“True. That sounds more reasonable.” Roddy agreed with Chen Xiaolian’s guess. “So, joining Liu Bei’s faction will be riskier. However, the rewards will be higher. Joining Cao Cao’s faction will be easier, but the rewards will be smaller as well. Whichever side completes their quest, the instance dungeon will end. That should be the original setting for this instance dungeon!”
“Then… here comes the question.” Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows. “In the system prompt we received, the only quest objective we have is to kill Zhao Yun. Since the system has tampered with this instance dungeon, how do we complete this quest?”
“I feel that… … since Bai Qi had told us to do it, it should be possible to complete it,” Roddy was quick to answer. “If I have to guess, although the system had added in a quest into this instance dungeon, it did not delete its original quest. Instead, it is only shielding its prompts from being issued. If so, those quests are the equivalent of… … hidden quests! While we are incapable of seeing its description in the system prompts, it can still be completed! However, only after we have completed the hidden quest will the system notify us.”
“The possibility of this scenario is not 100 per cent. However, it is worth giving it a shot.” Chen Xiaolian nodded his head. “First, find Qiao Qiao. Then, finish the quest and conclude this instance dungeon. However…”
He turned to look at Zhao Yun, a wry smile on his face. “If I say we want to kill Liu Bei, would you mind?”