GOR

“Steady! Don’t drop her!”

Chen Xiaolian was standing behind Roddy, looking over his shoulder to observe the monitor.

A chaotic mess of dots of light and lines were rapidly flashing through the surface of the monitor and it was impossible to make anything out from it.

Roddy however, stared at the monitor as he carefully twiddled with the controls. “Nonsense! Do I need you to tell me that? If you don’t agree, you can come try it yourself! All of the sensors got fried just now. Getting Adam to fly is about the best I can do right now!”

A slight amount of sweat began appearing on his face. However, his fingers remained as steady as a machine. “The trajectory is correct, so is the altitude. However, we are simply unable to determine the distance. Lun Tai, make sure you keep an eye on the radar. Although Adam is cloaked, once Zhao Yun comes within a certain radius, we should be able to see her on the radar. Once you see her, quickly tell me.”

“Understood.” Lun Tai, who was on the co-pilot seat, stared intently at the radar.

After a while, Lun Tai noticed a dot of light appearing on the radar. “I see it!”

Roddy released a sigh of relief as he reached out to press a button. Next, the screen switched to the Tidal Fighter’s external monitoring cams.

A black dot was quickly flying toward them from afar.

“Lun Tai, raise the fighter’s hovering altitude by 500 metres, 143 degrees. Keep it still. Xiaolian, go to the hatch and get ready to pick her up. We do not know if there are any pursuers. So, we will need to leave as soon as we pick her up,” Roddy uttered out in quick succession. “Zhao Yun retrieval operation, the final phase, start!”

The Tidal Fighter’s engine roared as it swiftly hovered for a bit before turning to face the incoming Adam. At the same time, its side hatch opened.

After opening the hatch, Chen Xiaolian, who was standing before the hatch, watched the black dot without blinking his eyes. The black dot gradually grew bigger in size.

“I am slowing it down! Xiaolian, catch it!”

Finally, the cloaked Adam, which was carrying Zhao Yun, flew straight toward the opened hatch. Roddy, who was in the cockpit, shouted as he steered the cloaked Adam, letting it perform a half-turn as it flew through the sky. With its back against the Tidal Fighter, Adam’s thrusters fired out at maximum output.

“Roddy, you bastard! Why are you only slowing it down at the final moment?!” Chen Xiaolian was almost hit by the flames ejecting from the thrusters. He had to swiftly jerk his body to the side while grabbing hold of Adam, which had only just turned off its cloaked state. In his other hand was Zhao Yun.

“There is no helping it! I am afraid there might be pursuers!” Roddy chuckled as he moved to close the hatch. Next, the Tidal Fighter made a turn. With its thrusters fully engaged, it immediately reached its maximum velocity.

…

“What is going on here?! Jiang Long! The quest objective no longer had the ability to fight back, how did he escape? Give us an explanation!”

Within the big tent in the middle of the camp, Jiang Long was seated before a table as he faced the several Guild Leaders before him. There was no expression on his face.

All of Cao Cao’s soldiers, from the lowest-ranking soldiers to the highest-ranking generals, have all been ordered by Tong You to keep a distance of 50 steps away from the tent. They were not to step in unless ordered to do so.

The one who had spoken up earlier was an old man whose face was filled with wrinkles. There was neither hair nor beard on his face. However, his pair of eyes glinted with light.

“Mr Luo Song, I understand your anger. This matter is truly unexpected.” Jiang Long stretched out one hand and made a pressing gesture. “We are all on the same faction. We all have the common goal of killing Zhao Yun. There is no reason for me to do something that will harm myself.”

The old baldie, Luo Song, slammed the table furiously and said with bulging eyes, “If all the participants are on the same faction, why did someone save Zhao Yun in the midst of the fight? Tell me, if you did not let him go, how could he have escaped?”

Those sitting around him were all Guild Leaders of the various Awakened guilds. All of them looked silently at Jiang Long, waiting for his answer.

“Everyone, I am not God.” Jiang Long smiled. “Oh, that is not right. This world does not have a God. Well… … I am not the Development Team. I am not the one who arranged this instance dungeon. How could I have the omniscience needed to answer all your questions?”

“If that is the case, this old man believes there is no need to continue being part of this alliance.” Luo Song glared at Jiang Long. “In the earlier fight, my guild lost three men! One of them was my guild’s core powerhouse! And now you are telling me that even if we join your alliance, you cannot assure that everything will develop according to your plan?”

“I never said that everything will go according to my plan.” Jiang Long spread his hands. “I am willing to repeat what I said to everyone before we entered this instance dungeon one more time. I wish that we can stand together, help and support each other in face of the difficulties of this instance dungeon. Doing so will increase our chances of completing the quest. Even so, I cannot guarantee anything within this instance dungeon.”

His eyes swept through most of the Guild Leaders within the tent. “I understand that everyone here had lost members back in the earlier surprise attack. In fact, those who had been close to the periphery are now completely wiped out.

“However, that is not something I can determine! This is an instance dungeon! There are dangers at all times! Just because this instance dungeon does not require us to fight against one another doesn’t mean it is easier. On the contrary, the system would only do so if the level of difficulty is at an unprecedented level!

“We, the Starfall Guild, hope to become the thread that binds all guilds into a cooperative whole. However, we do not have the ability to be the leader nor a protective umbrella. All of us here can only forge ahead while carefully checking and testing what lies ahead. The foundation for all this is trust!

“If there are any here who distrusts me, that is fine. You may choose to terminate our partnership at any time. Starfall Guild will summon back its liaison and stop its sharing of information.”

Jiang Long then stood up. With a passionate expression on his face, he looked into the crowd of Awakened ones and said, “Now comes the question. Are you all willing to trust me?”

“Cough! Cough!” An average-looking middle-aged man who was beside Luo Song let out a few light coughs. Then, with a smile on his face, he said, “Mr Luo Song is just being overly anxious. Since we have decided to partner up with Starfall Guild before this instance dungeon began, why would we distrust you? Manager Jiang Long, no need to be so serious. Mr Luo Song?”

He gently patted Luo Song’s shoulder and said, “I believe you just wanted to figure out what happened earlier by having a proper conversation with Manager Jiang Long, right?”

“That is what I meant.” Luo Song’s face froze for a moment before slowly nodding his head. “Manager Jiang Long, this old man’s words earlier were a little too harsh. It is not that I am unsatisfied with Starfall Guild. I hope Manager Jiang Long won’t resent me for that.”

“There’s no problem, then. How could I resent Mr Luo Song?” Jiang Long quickly smiled. He quickly turned to face the others. “Everyone here… … surely none of you are suspecting me?”

“Of course not.”

“Never.”

“Sincerity is the most important thing for unity.”

Seeing the many Awakened ones shake their heads, Jiang Long nodded his head in a pleased manner.

“Well, then. Manager Jiang Long, since everyone here has reached a consensus, can we finally get down to business and discuss the current situation and our next move?” said the middle-aged man with a smile.

“Naturally.” Jiang Long nodded. “That is exactly what I planned on doing. At present, all of Cao Cao’s soldiers have been given the order. We now hold the identity of foreign soldiers from the Western Region of Jinxian. No matter what we do, we will not raise any suspicions and lose our identity as Cao Cao’s soldiers.”

“Excellent.” Luo Song slowly nodded his head. “If this old man’s speculation is right…”

His gaze turned toward Tong You, who was behind Jiang Long. “This NPC Cao Cao has fallen under Starfall Guild’s control, no?”

Jiang Long laughed out. “Mr Luo Song truly do possess eagle-like eyes. That is right, our guild’s Tong You has taken over Cao Cao’s body. If not for this, would we have the confidence to let everyone reveal and use all types of weapons?”

“That explains everything.” Luo Song nodded his head. “Then, our present position and time, those things should have been confirmed no?”

Jiang Long turned his head back to look at Tong You and signalled him. Tong You took several steps forward and said in a respectful tone, “At present, we are 80 lis south of Xinye County. We are currently heading for Fancheng, Xiangyang. Cao Cao had only just accepted Liu Cong’s surrender and had found out about Liu Bei giving up Fancheng and escaping southward. This night’s surprise attack is something that none of Cao Cao’s soldiers expected. That includes Cao Cao.”

“In other words, the soldiers here make up all of Cao Cao’s southern expedition force? How many soldiers are there in total?” asked Luo Song.

“Some soldiers are stationed at Wancheng District. That force is led by Cao Ren and it consists of around 20,000 soldiers. As for this army, it has a total of 78,000 soldiers. However, the surprise attack earlier had killed quite a bit. At present, we do not have a detailed number yet,” said Tong You in a tone that was neither hurried nor leisurely.

“No matter how big the loss may be, there should still be at least 50 to 60 thousand soldiers left.” Luo Song stroked his bald head. “With so many cannon fodders, it won’t matter how strong that Zhao Yun is. He will get tired eventually. Besides, we have killed off all the horse riders that he brought over.”

“However, the number of horse riders is small. They are definitely not all of Liu Bei’s soldiers.” Tong You shook his head. “According to the report from Cao Cao’s generals, the total number of enemies this time amounts to only 500 horse riders. They must be Zhao Yun’s subordinates. Liu Bei’s full force should have around 5,000 soldiers. Those 500 horse riders only make up one tenth of his force.”

“Surely, not all of Liu Bei’s force possess that level of strength? If they do, how can Cao Cao win?” The middle-aged man laughed out. “The horse riders that the quest objective brought over are clearly the elites.”

“This old man agrees.” Luo Song slowly nodded his head. “Now, let’s go through the earlier battle. The quest objective had likely wanted to use the horse riders as bait to lure away the soldiers while it launches a sneak attack from another direction to kill off Cao Cao. However, thanks to our appearance, the quest objective’s goal failed. It is likely that we will not be seeing horse riders of that quality in Liu Bei’s army anymore.”

“The issue here is, although his plan failed, he ended up getting rescued.” The middle-aged man turned to look at Jiang Long. “Of course, we believe that Starfall Guild would not, for the sake of points, secretly release the quest objective. However, who exactly did it? Manager Jiang Long, what are your opinions on this?”

Jiang Long nodded his head before retrieving a small box. Placing it on the table, he pressed a button. Next, the box projected out a curtain of light upon the empty space before it.

“This is a holographic recording of the earlier battle. Everyone, please look.”

A blurry silhouette suddenly swooped down from the sky, hooked Zhao Yun by her armour, and swiftly flew upward. In but an instant, it had flown away from the camp.

“This is…”

Every Guild Leader stood up, moving closer toward the holographic projection, observing it all in detail.

As for Jiang Long, he reduced the playback speed of the recording to its lowest level.

“It is not a magic-type ability,” Luo Song slowly spoke up after a considerable amount of time had passed. “That object has a very squarish shape. Additionally, although it appears to be transparent, a detailed observation reveals that there is a certain delay between the images on its surface and its surroundings. This is a cloaking technology based on retro-reflective technology. This… … is a tech-based prop!”

Several of the Awakened ones there nodded their heads as they agreed with Luo Song’s words.

“The setting for this instance dungeon should be high-level martial arts. Thus, it is not surprising that soldiers and generals on both sides can use combat energy. However, it is impossible for a tech-based prop to appear. This is definitely not something from this instance dungeon,” said Luo Song with absolute confidence. “An Awakened did this!”

“This…” All the Awakened ones there exchanges glances.

Luo Song’s statement was correct. Of the many props produced by the system, there were a high number with the invisibility function. However, the different principles behind its invisibility function meant that each of them would display differing characteristics. This invisibility function could be detected at close range with the naked eye. It could only be generated through retro-reflective technology.

However, why would an Awakened do something like this?

“Not all guilds have joined our alliance, right?” A young man whose hair was dyed white spoke up. “Could the guild be trying to… … singlehandedly gulp down all of the quest reward?”

“Isn’t that the equivalent of pulling down your pants to fart?” A large figure beside him threw a glare his way. “If they really want to snatch all the points, then why didn’t they just kill Zhao Yun right there? If you say they snatched him away for the sake of points, then look at how long had passed since then. They should have killed him already. This instance dungeon has not ended. This means that Zhao Yun is still not dead. He was rescued, not captured, get it?”

“If that is the case, there is no other explanation.” The white-haired youngster spread open his hands with a rueful smile. “Every Awakened has the same quest. They have no reason to do this. As for the NPCs in this instance dungeon, they cannot possibly use tech-based props… … what other possibility is there?”

“There is.” Jiang Long, who had not spoken a word all this time, spoke up with a calm tone, “You all forgot about one thing.”

“What is it?” Everyone turned to look at him.

“According to the description given by the system, the quest objective is the common enemy of all Awakened ones. However… … did you all forget? Other than Awakened ones and NPCs, who else can appear in an instance dungeon?”

Jiang Long pressed the button on the box twice and the holographic projection transformed into a radar screen.

“As it happened too fast, we did not have the time to give chase. However, the impromptu mini radar that we set up managed to detect the trajectory of the other party. After the unknown flying object rescued Zhao Yun, it kept flying south at a high velocity. However, somewhere 30 kilometres away from our position, it suddenly slowed down. At the same time, a much bigger dot of light appeared on our radar. However, it only appeared for five seconds before disappearing together with Zhao Yun.”

“This is…” Luo Song narrowed his eyes as he watched the playback of the radar screen. A tone of uncertainty could be heard within his tone as he said, “Retrieval?”

“Mr Luo Song is truly an experienced veteran.” Jiang Long nodded his head. “I speculate that a large aircraft with cloaking function must have retrieved the quest objective.”

Everyone there sucked in a breath of cold air.

A large aircraft that could cloak itself… … for a guild to be capable of bringing out such a high-end equipment, there were only two possibilities.

The resident guilds of Zero City, and…

Thorned Flower Guild!

Luo Song’s face became somewhat ugly to behold. “Manager Jiang Long, you mean to say that there may be Players in this instance dungeon? Additionally, their quest objective is the opposite of ours? Or at the very least, there is a conflict of interest between us and them?”

“That is the most probably scenario.” Jiang Long nodded his head and released a soft sigh. “Since Zero City’s destruction, not a single member of Zero City had revealed themselves. Who knows where they had hidden themselves? The way I see it, even if they did enter this instance dungeon, they would never do something so attention-seeking. Besides… … they are also Awakened ones. There is no reason for them to stop the completion of the quest. So…”

Jiang Long did not finish his words. However, everyone there knew what he meant.

An invisible shadow quietly enveloped the interior of the tent.

“All right. There is no need for us to worry so much.” Jiang Long suddenly revealed a smile as he broke the silent atmosphere. “Even if it is Thorned Flower Guild, so what? We have tens of thousands of soldiers on our side. If the participants from Thorned Flower Guild are a bunch of experts, they would not have sneakily rescued the quest objective. No matter what, we have to complete this quest.”

Assenting voices gradually rang out and the intensity of their voices eventually grew louder and louder.

“From this moment on, we will not be following what Cao Cao did in history.” Jiang Long switched the holographic projection into a map. Extending a hand, he pointed at the map. “This time, the system did not designate a time limit. Thus, there is no need for us to hurry. At present, there are less than 50 lis between us and Fancheng, Xiangyang. We can arrive there tomorrow. Before that, we will continue to move together with the army. We will not be sending out any soldiers to give chase. Our target…”

His finger moved, moving past Fancheng, Xiangyang, moving down toward Jiangling County. “Remains the same, Jiangling County!”

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