Chapter 800
“Thanks, guys.”
Nicole was seated against a tree. Even though she had already taken a lot of Healing Beast Bloods, her face remained somewhat pale.
Tian Lie seemed to be in a better state. His body remained incomplete, only left with a head, half a body and a right arm. Thus, he could only lean against a tree. Even so, his face was already showing that usual look of unruly arrogance.
“How unexpected. To think that this time, you fellows would end up rescuing us.” Tian Lie used his remaining hand to rub his bald head as he grinned at Lun Tai and the others. “Normally, I should say thank you to you fellows. But thinking about how I’ve helped you fellows quite a bit last time, let’s just consider us even.”
“Becoming a security guard for us… does that also count as help?” Qiao Qiao cast a smirk at Tian Lie. The last time they saw Tian Lie like this was back in the Tokyo instance dungeon, where they had a fight to the death against him. However, Chen Xiaolian had informed them that Tian Lie was Da Gang. Thus, seeing Tian Lie now, they felt a slight feeling of comradeship with him.
“The King Arthur instance dungeon and the Jerusalem instance dungeon. I participated in those two instance dungeons.” Tian Lie chuckled.
“Do you still remember the leader of those religious lunatics, Mene? Even until the final battle, he did not appear. Did you think he simply went fishing? If not for me holding him down, all of you might have died once he joined the battle against you all.”
Except Nicole, everyone else became stunned.
Although they had heard from Chen Xiaolian long ago that both Tian Lie and Nicole had been resurrected as Irregularities, they did not think that they were resurrected that early.
“You two… formed a guild?” Qiao Qiao asked while casting an impassive glance at Roddy.
Naturally, that question was not for her.
“We don’t have the option to establish a guild in our personal systems. You fellows are also Irregularities. So you should know that our system functions are incomplete.” Tian Lie shook his head.
“Then… how did you two end up appearing together here? Were you two selected for this instance dungeon?” Qiao Qiao smiled. “Surely, it’s not that coincidental, right?”
“I just followed him into this instance dungeon to play around.” Nicole shrugged, casually answering for Tian Lie. “Previously, I had stayed in Los Angeles for a while. So, I am more familiar with this place.”
Qiao Qiao did not say anything, the same smile on her face. However, she was inwardly sighing for Roddy.
Even if they were all in the same guild, a Guild Leader had to thoroughly think things through when deciding who should enter an instance dungeon. The right to be exempted from entering instance dungeons was the greatest desire of all Awakened ones.
If it weren’t for that, why would the qualifications to become just a peripheral guild of Zero City be so highly-sought after? Almost all the guilds would fight to the death for that position.
At any rate, entering an instance dungeon meant putting one’s life at stake. The participant could die at any moment.
To take the initiative to accompany someone entering an instance dungeon, that relationship was beyond ordinary.
It would appear that Nicole and Tian Lie…
“Enough. Now is not the time to be asking about unrelated matters.” Roddy seemed somewhat irritable as he interrupted Qiao Qiao. “Thorned Flower Guild has killed off all the US soldiers here. Their investigative forces will probably arrive very soon. If we don’t want to get into a pointless battle with the US Army, we cannot stay here for long. Moreover, the alien meteorite has been snatched away. We have to snatch it back to complete the quest…”
After saying that, however, Roddy suddenly jumped to his feet.
The faces of the others, too, sank.
Earlier, everyone’s personal radar had been showing the location of the alien meteorite, somewhere tens of kilometres in the northwest direction. At that very moment, however, the meteorite’s location had suddenly disappeared.
This… what was happening here?
Everyone from Meteor Rock Guild turned to look at Qiao Qiao.
“What are you looking at me for? It’s not as though I know what happened.” Qiao Qiao shook her head, a wry smile on her face. “Let’s go to the last known location of the meteorite first.”
…
Inside the motel room that Aderick and Theodore had been staying in earlier…
The nine of them squeezed themselves into the small room. Almost every one of them had a frown on their faces and they pinched their noses.
Xia Xiaolei and Tian Lie were the only exception. Xia Xiaolei had covered his face with the Bug Armour while Tian Lie had a normal expression on his face.
On the table was the meteorite. It had been cut in half, revealing a hole in the middle while a faint-yellow fluid flowed down around it.
Nicole, still pinching her nose, asked in a hushed tone, “This… what the hell is this?”
“It’s the meteorite. It contained an alien embryo. And now… someone has taken it out.” Lun Tai’s face had turned very contorted.
“Alien lifeform? How do you know about that?” Tian Lie swaggered forward to stand before the table. Looking down at the two broken pieces of the meteorite, he said, “Heh, it really does look like a broken egg shell. Surely, they didn’t fry it and eat it, did they?”
“It stinks so badly, which part of it looks like an egg? Don’t you feel disgusted?” Nicole’s face was pale and she cast a fierce glare at Tian Lie.
“My body is liquid metal data, so… I can just seal my sense of smell.” Tian Lie shrugged, revealing a smug smile.
“It’d be best if you seal your mouth as well.” Nicole rolled her eyes.
Roddy secretly raised his eyes to glance at Nicole before lowering his head again.
“We… collected some information regarding this meteorite. It contained an alien embryo,” Lun Tai slowly said. Even though they had known each other for some time, Lun Tai dared not completely let his guard down towards Tian Lie and Nicole. The guidebook BUG that Qiao Qiao possessed was Meteor Rock Guild’s biggest secret. It was not something that can be casually disclosed.
“Is that so?” Tian Lie gave Lun Tai a deep look before nodding. “Then, what should we do next? Do you fellows have any good suggestions?”
At that very moment, the prompt within their personal systems remained the same. They had to kill the meteorite holder. However, the coordinates for the meteorite holder’s location had disappeared.
While this instance dungeon was the Los Angeles instance dungeon, the area involved was far greater than just the Los Angeles County. Rather, it stretched all the way to the state of Arizona, spanning nearly half of the state of California. Within such a big area, finding their target without any help from the system was like trying to find a needle in an ocean.
“Let’s wait and see, then.” Lun Tai thought about it for a moment. Then, shaking his head, he looked at Tian Lie. “I propose for us to work together for this quest. For now, I am temporarily acting as the Guid Leader in Chen Xiaolian’s stead. I can establish a temporary agreement with you two to settle the quest target together. Are you fine with that?”
“Naturally.” Nicole nodded without hesitation.
“Sure,” Tian Lie said lackadaisically while digging his ear.
This instance dungeon had not clearly stated what punishment they would face if they fail. Even so, no matter how they looked at it, working together now was the best option.
“The enemy is very strong.” Lun Tai sat down on the bed, a grim expression on his face.
“That Team Leader from Thorned Flower Guild, he is quite strong. Even though we fought him for a while, Xia Xiaolei and Qimu Xi were only able to entangle him and not inflict much damage to him. For the other fellow to be able to kill off that Team Leader with one attack, I speculate that they are most probably… [S] class.”
“Not probably, definitely.” Tian Lie shook his head. “I was with Thorned Flower Guild in the past. That Team Leader, Gaza… I know him very well. His Magic Mech is not something redeemed from the system. Rather, it is a reward from an instance dungeon. An [A+] class reward. For someone to kill him off with one attack, that person can only be [S] class. More… a senior [S] class expert.”
The expression on Nicole’s face suddenly flickered, but only Roddy noticed it.
“Damn it!” Lun Tai had only suspected that, but hearing the confirmation from Tian Lie, Lun Tai could not help but swear.
Now an [S] class expert was their enemy?
Additionally, if he was not mistaken, after that [S] class expert snatched away the meteorite, he had started the hidden quest.
At present, that person must have taken the route of devouring the embryo. That was how he could stop the radar from revealing his location.
He had become the Species Lord of the alien creatures. Within the next 100 hours, he would be able to absorb genes, using them as supply for his own growth.
After the 100-hour period was over, that fellow, who was originally an [S] class expert, how strong would he become?
…
Griffith Park…
It was one of the largest urban parks in North America, home to wildlife in Los Angeles. It also featured facilities like zoos, golf courses, museums, an astronomical observatory, hiking and equestrian trails, train rides, etc.
It was already night and the zoo was empty. Not a single tourist was there.
A tiger roared and a figure emerged from the shadows of the cage. Then, the roar came to an abrupt halt.
The figure stood straight before the tiger, its left hand clamping the tiger’s throat.
Several tendrils extended out from his fingertips to pierce into the tiger’s skin.
Instantly, the tiger shook its fur. Then, taking several steps back, it crouched down.
Aderick’s body fell into the shadows beneath his feet. Instantly, he re-appeared in the next nearby cage.
The brown bear inside the cage had seemingly sensed danger. It got up and stared intently at Aderick, who stood before it.
The very next moment, its large paw, which it had raised up high, suddenly fell down. Soon enough, the brown bear was crouched down on the ground like the tiger earlier.
It did not take long before Aderick finished going through every cage in the wild beast area.
Behind him, every one of the caged wild beasts were lying on the ground, having fallen into a deep slumber.
“Sir Guild Leader, is that it?” Theodore, who was following Aderick, revealed a look of surprise. “I thought they would be devoured, or…”
“There is no need to do that. We also cannot do that now.” Aderick shook his head.
“Let’s go. There are still the insectarium and aquarium. We should also go to the botanical garden.”
Three hours later, two figures flew up into the sky, disappearing into the darkness of the night.
…
“Guild Leader, I still don’t quite understand what we are doing right now.”
La Canada Flintridge, a small town tens of kilometres northeast of Los Angeles.
Inside a small bar within the town, Theodore and Aderick were seated in a corner, listening to the country music there.
“There wasn’t enough time earlier. Now, let me explain to you the function of the embryo inside the meteorite.” Aderick lifted up the cup of beer placed before him and took a sip.
Theodore quickly nodded. Earlier, they had been in a hurry to leave. Thus, Aderick had no time to explain matters to him in detail. He was very curious. What kind of state was Aderick in now?
“Even though I devoured it, I can’t say that the embryo has fused with my body. Rather, it is more like… a symbiosis.” Aderick opened his mouth. In the dim light of the bar, Theodore could see it. Inside Aderick’s mouth, near the throat area, a piece of meat was slowly palpitating, like a heart. Tens of tendrils were sticking out from it and they were all inserted deep into the walls of Aderick’s mouth.
“This…” Even though he was already a senior Awakened one, seeing that had still given Theodore a wave of disgust. Hastily, he gulped down a big mouthful of beer.
Aderick ignored the disgusted expression on Theodore’s face and continued, “At present, the relationship between it and I can be considered as symbiotic. We are able to share a gene pool. Back when we were in the zoo earlier, I had collected the genes of all the animals and plants that I came in contact with. At the same time, I also injected the genes of the embryo into them.”
“Inject? How are they now?” Theodore grew puzzled.
“The alien genes are hiding within their bodies. The moment they are activated, they will combine with the genes of their host body, resulting in a strengthening mutation.” Aderick paused. “However, for now, I am having the genes stay inside their bodies and remain inactivated. We still cannot put on an eye-catching show right now.”
“We… still need to wait?” Theodore was somewhat surprised. “Haven’t you already obtained enough genes?”
“Firstly, the obtained genes have to be integrated. Secondly, there are still many other participants in this instance dungeon. Until we obtain overwhelming power, we should not casually expose ourselves.”
“You’re an [S] class!” Theodore smiled. “Is that not overwhelming power? That guy from Thorned Flower Guild, his strength is probably around the same level as me, no? Didn’t you kill him with one attack all the same?”
Aderick shook his head. “That was a sneak attack. Although I can indeed kill him without a sneak attack, it would likely not be that clean. Moreover, back then, the candle was already about to burn out. I did not have the time to kill off the others there. That Tian Lie managed to survive. He is a very troublesome guy.”
“Given my current level of strength, I might be able to kill off all the enemies in this instance dungeon in a straight-up battle. But, with my fighting style, there is no way for me to fight without revealing myself. If they choose to run away, I am not sure if I can stop them all from escaping. At any rate, after the protection period is over, we will only have three days to kill off all the participants in this instance dungeon. After the three days are over, should we fail to kill them all, we will fail the quest. Then, we will have to accept the punishment.”
With a serious look on his face, Aderick continued, “The punishment aside, it is imperative that we do not leak any information. Letting even one person go will be a disaster for Zero City.”
“Then, how much longer do you need?”
“Around… three days.” Aderick thought about it.
“Next up, I will enter a state of deep slumber. Together with the embryo, we will integrate the absorbed genes.”
“What will happen after three days?” Theodore revealed a look of excitement. “Will you become even stronger?”
“Naturally. Only, the more genes absorbed, the more time is needed for evolution.” Aderick smiled lightly. “The system prompt has stated that the genetic enhancement obtained in this instance dungeon can be brought outside this instance dungeon. If so, I will have to make good use of this opportunity.”
“I am really… looking forward to see how you would look like!” Theodore clenched his fists in excitement. “Then, do we start with this town?”
“Of course not.” Aderick shook his head.
“If you’re done resting, let’s head out.”
“Head out? Isn’t this it?” Theodore was stunned.
“We’ll continue heading northeast.” Aderick stood up.
“The Rosemont Preserve. That place is big enough, with a high amount of vegetation. And most importantly… there is practically no one there.”
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