GOR
“Actually, there is a third option.” Roddy suddenly slapped his head. “Liu Bei’s death is one of the conditions for completing this instance dungeon. However, it did not state that we have to kill him ourselves! We can just board the Tidal Fighter and fly far away. Given how many Awakened ones Cao Cao’s faction has, killing Liu Bei should be easy, no? As long as we ensure Sister Yun’s survival, we can just wait for this instance dungeon to end.”
“Are you for real…” Lun Tai burst out laughing and patted Roddy on his shoulder. “Lately, your IQ has been going up!”
“Sister Yun…” Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Zhao Yun and saw rejection in her eyes.
“Forget it…” Roddy sullenly lowered his head. “Idol, I simply considered it from a logical point of view and gave a suggestion on one of the possibilities. However, I swear, in the name of my character, I will never agree with this option!”
Zhao Yun nodded before turning away, no longer paying any attention to Roddy.
“Very well. In that case, we will ensure Liu Bei’s survival.” Chen Xiaolian shrugged.
“Killing Cao Cao is too difficult.” Lun Tai shook his head. “Besides us, every other Awakened is standing on Cao Cao’s side right now. Given our numbers, going for that option is just suicide. The difficulty level for escorting Liu Bei to Jiangxia is better.”
“That may not necessarily be true…” Bei Tai argued against Lun Tai’s opinion. “Liu Bei’s original objective is Jiangling. In the end, he changed his plan and went to Jiangxia after the pursuing Tiger Leopard Cavalry under Cao Cao caused the Battle of Changban to happen. If nothing happened to him during his retreat, he may not change his plan and go to Jiangxia. In other words, we will still need to confront Cao Cao’s army one more time. Moreover, ensuring Liu Bei’s survival under those conditions… … I feel that the difficulty level involved is no lower than killing Cao Cao.”
“What if we get Sister Yun to persuade Liu Bei?” said Chen Xiaolian after a moment of silence. “Isn’t Liu Bei someone who readily follows good advice? If she can persuade him to change his plan and head to Jiangxia…”
“No.” Zhao Yun firmly shook her head. “I am a general who only knows how to fight in wars. This proposal is one that will affect the larger picture. My Lord will never listen to my opinion.”
“We can at least try…” said Bei Tai anxiously.
“Sorry. Xiaolian, Lun Tai, Bei Tai, your discussion is now moot.” Roddy, who had been tapping a tablet earlier, raised his head and said, “Earlier, I had replaced Adam’s sensors with some spares and sent him out the moment we reached Jiangling for reconnaissance. This is the high-altitude image that Adam had just sent over.”
Roddy handed the tablet in his hand forward. “According to history, after Cao Cao’s army reached Xiangyang, he should immediately lead his cavalry to give chase before getting halted in the Battle of Changban. At present, however, there are no traces of Cao Cao’s army from Jiangling to Dangyang. Instead…”
Chen Xiaolian took the tablet and looked through a few of the images. He sighed.
Roddy shrugged. “Liu Bei had just safely arrived at Jiangling City. Right now… … there is probably nothing that can get him to leave.”
“Your discussion… … I don’t get it.” Big Miss Qiao’s knowledge of history was lacking and she could not understand what they were talking about at all. She looked at the others and said, “After all this blabbering, you all just want Liu Bei to get to Jiangxia, right?”
“Yes. However, that is not easy to accomplish.” Chen Xiaolian nodded as he considered how to explain it to Qiao Qiao in the simplest way possible. “Given the current situation, there is no way Liu Bei would make the decision to leave Jiangling for Jiangxia. Because…”
“Why must he be the one to make the decision?” The look of confusion remained on Qiao Qiao’s face. She blinked and continued, “I don’t have [Liu Bei’s army register] on me, do you?”
“No.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “This instance dungeon was changed by the system. When we entered, the only prompt we received was about killing Zhao Yun. Additionally, it had directly assigned us into Cao Cao’s faction. However… … we became deserters and lost that identity.”
“So, we have no way of completing the quests of either faction, right?” Qiao Qiao stared at Chen Xiaolian. “The killing of who and who and getting how many points or protecting who and who to get how many points have nothing to do with us, right? Isn’t our objective simply to end this instance dungeon?”
“You… … you mean…” Roddy, who was beside her, jumped to his feet and slapped himself on the head.
“Go find Liu Bei, tie him up, stuff him into the Tidal Fighter and fly all the way to Jiangxia.” Qiao Qiao reached out and ran her hand through her hair before making a beautiful smile. “Won’t that solve the problem?”
“Seems… … that seems to be the case…”
Chen Xiaolian thoroughly went through the list of quests for the instance dungeon and noticed that it was as Qiao Qiao had said. That was the best method of dealing with their problem.
No one in that instance dungeon possessed the identity of Liu Bei’s soldier. Thus, they will not receive any reward from completing the quests on Liu Bei’s faction. Instead, they will simply end up failing the quest as part of Cao Cao’s army.
Besides, compared to the rapid completion of the instance dungeon and ensuring the safety of Qiao Qiao and Zhao Yun, the opportunity to obtain more points was not important.
Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Zhao Yun. “Sister Yun, what do you think?”
“Can you promise me not to harm a single person?” said Zhao Yun after a moment of silence.
“Not a single person?” Chen Xiaolian frowned. “You mean, even an ordinary soldier…”
“Those are my fellow soldiers.”
Chen Xiaolian hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “We can do our best to not kill anyone. However, should a critical situation arise, I will not be soft-hearted and place my guild members in danger.”
Zhao Yun looked at Chen Xiaolian. Then, she nodded her head and stood up.
“Come on, let’s get on the fighter.” Chen Xiaolian clapped his hands and led the way as he walked toward the Tidal Fighter. Since they had decided on what to do, they should not waste any time at all.
The Tidal Fighter roared as it rose up. Activating its cloaking technology, it then flew toward the distant Jiangling City.
“Is there any news from your guild channel? Did Jiang Long assign out any tasks?” Chen Xiaolian turned to look at Nightmare.
“There is. However, I am not certain of the specifics,” Nightmare quickly answered. “He said through the public channel that we Awakened ones should do our best to follow Cao Cao’s army and not split up. Still… … he did talk to several reconnaissance teams. However, the details of the team members, where they went, when they set out, the area that they are scouting, I have no knowledge about those.”
“Mm…” Chen Xiaolian fell silent for a moment. “He should be using a private channel to coordinate the reconnaissance teams. It seems he is on the alert…”
Suddenly, Chen Xiaolian looked up. Staring intently at Nightmare, he asked, “Zhao Tiezhu, did you say anything through the guild channel?”
“Where would I get the courage to, boss? I need you if I want to stay alive!” Nightmare hastily gesticulated with both hands, his face filled with dread. “Since leaving Cao Cao’s camp, I had followed your request and had not participated in any discussion within the guild channel. I… I swear! I did not say a single word!”
“Then, did Jiang Long start a private conversation with you?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.
“No.” Nightmare shook his head gingerly. “What is wrong, Boss?”
“Xiaolian, what are you worried about?” asked Lun Tai.
“I keep getting the feeling that someone as smart as Jiang Long is not the type to make such a conservative move.” Chen Xiaolian pondered the issue for a while before saying, “After Zhao Yun’s sneak attack failed, he should have at least made a list of the casualties. Our entire guild has disappeared, but he did not suspect us at all. This is very unusual.”
“Maybe he thinks we are dead?” Lun Tai gave a casual smile. “When the surprise attack occurred, we were quite close to the attacking horse riders. It is not surprising for us to all die there, no?”
“Even so, what about Zhao Tiezhu?” Chen Xiaolian pointed at Nightmare. “Jiang Long is the Guild Leader of his guild! He can check out whether Nightmare is dead or alive by looking at the guild’s list of members. He can see that Zhao Tiezhu is still alive, but not within Cao Cao’s camp. Where then did he go to?”
“When you put it that way… … it is quite peculiar.” Lun Tai slowly nodded his head. “It has been several hours since last night’s raid. To not question Zhao Tiezhu after so long is indeed illogical.”
“Bo… Boss…” Nightmare emboldened himself to look at Chen Xiaolian. “Can you… … call me Nightmare. I know my name is a very uncouth one. Can you stop humiliating me?”
“All right, Nightmare.” Chen Xialian laughed. Although he was using the Blood Controller Pill to control Nightmare, dictating his life and death, Chen Xiaolian did not want their relationship to be too stiff. A forceful control with a certain level of kindness was the best way to deal with him.
Disregarding what might happen in the future, Nightmare’s role in this instance dungeon was of great importance. Through his guild channel, their Meteor Rock Guild could gain complete access to the public information of the alliance of Awakened ones.
Jiang Long’s plan was to have an observer in each guild. However, in Meteor Rock Guild’s case, Nightmare ended up becoming Meteor Rock Guild’s observer instead.
“I have been thinking about it. Maybe Jiang Long has already realized that we are planning something. However, he doesn’t have the courage to confirm it just yet. That is why he is still unwilling to question Nightmare. Once he does, he will be letting us know that he is suspecting us,” said Chen Xiaolian after silently considering it for a moment. “For now, he probably thinks that maintaining a state of ignorance is the best option.”
“However, if he finds out what we plan on doing, he will immediately turn on us, right?” Lun Tai cackled loudly. “In the original quest list for Cao Cao’s faction, killing high-ranking generals like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei will only give 300 points. But right now, even a single horse rider under Zhao Yun is worth 1,000 points. In order to make use of us, the system is giving out quite the hefty reward. In their eyes, every general and soldier in Liu Bei’s army is probably a precious object, mobile piggy banks filled with points! Right! There are still the two madams and A’dou (Liu Shan)! In this instance dungeon, they are probably worth over 10,000 points!”
“Even if there are plenty of points, he alone could not seize them all.” Chen Xiaolian shook his head. “This guy’s ambition is too big. Besides, rather than getting points, he is more concerned about the ability to exert control over all the Awakened guilds. This instance dungeon is the best opportunity for him to improve Starfall Guild’s influence upon the Awakened guilds. Letting others get wind of our guild rejecting his proposal to mobilize together will greatly impact his reputation. Thus, he decided not to question us all together. He will wait for us to do something noticeable before reconsidering his course of action.”
“By then, it will be too late!” Roddy, who had been focused on piloting the Tidal Fighter, gave a satisfied laugh. “We are presently right above Jiangling City. Liu Bei’s coordinate is confirmed. Airspace is safe and we can drop down to initiate our surprise attack at any time to capture Liu Bei! Guild Leader, your instructions?”
“Sister Yun, it is time to move.” Chen Xiaolian turned toward Zhao Yun, who had her eyes closed.
“Let’s go.” Zhao Yun’s eyes snapped open to reveal a chilling light within. “I, Zilong (Zhao Yun) refuse to be a traitor as long as I live. But today, I will have to be a rebellious vassal for once!”