Chapter 186 - Valiant Battle (IV)
Editors: Humu & Kitty
The current situation in Burial Grounds.
Xing Yan, the stalker, was now officially on the side of Duan Li and company, and he was now fighting against the NPC in God’s tomb vault. He was instructed by the former Luo Jian and took the initiative to fight with the NPC.
As a stalker, Xing Yan had the basic attribute of ‘can’t be destroyed by anything except players.’ Therefore, as an NPC, it was absolutely impossible for the god to defeat the stalker. Halfway through the fight, the NPC was no longer able to withstand the attacks, and he quickly and tactfully distanced himself from Xing Yan.
Now, Xing Yan had become the cruel and cold-blooded stalker in Abyss’s memory.
In the past few years when Abyss and Clown were training together and chasing to kill each other, they always joined different teams, but Abyss had never tried to return to Team Ghost Shadow. When he separated from Xing Yan at that time in the spaceship at Ancient Remains, he had not seen this man again for a long time.
After that, Abyss would only listen to information about Team Ghost Shadow from some senior players. They all said that Team Ghost Shadow was becoming more and more powerful, but the mortality rate was also very high. Batches and batches of team members of Team Ghost Shadow changed. In addition to the captain, Luo Jian had only heard that Jiang Li remained there.
He did not know where Wang Yue and John went, and thereafter, Abyss also roughly understood Duan Li had recently joined. But soon, Team Ghost Shadow disappeared in the currents of history. They seemed to have failed in the secret chamber’s final trial. After that, Abyss never heard of Team Ghost Shadow again.
When Abyss found that he was back in the Burial Grounds secret chamber, he thought that he might see Xing Yan again, but he didn’t expect to see Xing Yan so quickly because the man was standing in front of him now.
It might be just a subconscious instinct; therefore, Abyss did not use his ‘transparent person’ hypnosis ability on Xing Yan. So when Xing Yan retreated from the battlefield and came to his companion after fighting with the NPC, he naturally noticed little student Abyss standing beside Feng YuLan.
A flash of bright red.
Xing Yan noticed the child. He was carrying a big red umbrella. The umbrella made him feel very familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere long ago. The color seemed to represent blood and death. At the same time, the color also made Xing Yan feel unspeakable pain in his chest.
It seemed that a long time ago, he also felt the same kind of pain, which filled his soul and made him at a loss.
Xing Yan’s attention was almost completely attracted to the child, and hardly concealing it, he stared straight at Abyss.
In fact, the child was also looking at Xing Yan and even smiling towards him.
The stalker could not move his eyes away. Instead of paying attention to Luo Jian’s line of sight that was floating over, he focused all his attention on the strange boy who almost appeared out of thin air. The boy was not surprised by Xing Yan’s gaze sweeping over. His smile grew even brighter. He even said to Xing Yan—
“Hello, Xing Yan, I really miss you.”
Abyss, who said this sentence, suddenly felt agonized. He could even recall when he and Xing Yan were still in the Ancient Remains secret chamber. Their feelings at that time were very strange and abrupt. They seemed to have a sudden burst of emotions, but at the same time, it seemed reasonable to possess these emotions.
But at that time, Abyss did not care. He just missed this man madly. In moments when he climbed out of the Asura Realm and was resisting the secret chamber alone, he missed and detested Xing Yan.
Detest, he detested him.
Xing Yan noticed that the child’s face in front of him was pale. It was obvious that the child’s smile was extremely mild, and his tone was quite gentle. However, Xing Yan still felt a little uncomfortable. He felt that there was a ferocious convulsion in his heart, pulling out the blood vessels connecting his internal organs, causing him to tremble in pain.
However, as a stalker, Xing Yan knew that he should not have such feelings. On the surface, he was still expressionless, and that made him even appear heartless.
Luo Jian nearby noticed how unusual the stalker was acting and could not help but stretch out his hand and pull the stalker’s hem, “……Yan, what are you looking at?”
The stalker was finally pulled back to his senses by Luo Jian. He moved his eyes from Abyss and looked at the man beside him again. Luo Jian was a player Xing Yan knew from one of the small secret chambers. He was not strong enough, he might even be ordinary, but he gave Xing Yan a strange feeling.
Why did he feel that Luo Jian was very similar to that child at that very moment?
But what were the similarities?
The stalker felt that his heart still felt very painful, but the pain was relieved by the man in front of him. The stalker could not help but raise his hand and rub Luo Jian’s head. Luo Jian was half a head shorter than him. His hair was very soft and comfortable to touch. Occasionally, this feeling would give the stalker a familiar misconception.
It was because of this wonderous misconception that he had a feeling that he already loved Luo Jian. Everything Luo Jian gave him was so familiar yet so foreign. Every time he tasted him, Xing Yan would find something in Luo Jian’s body that he had once lost, back into his embrace again…… It was a wonderful and happy feeling.
So Xing Yan began to want to protect Luo Jian, want to have him, want to possess him, want to never lose him again.
He did not want to ever regret, to ever lose him, and to ever experience pain!
Xing Yan put his claw on Luo Jian’s head and could not help rubbing it. However, he did not consciously turn back to take a look at the child. However, he was surprised to find that the mysterious little boy had disappeared, as if he had never appeared before.
But he did appear just now. Xing Yan frowned inwardly though his expression did not change.
Probably because of the disappearance of the child, Xing Yan felt that the unexplained pain in his heart was relieved a lot.
At this time, only Feng YuLan noticed how unusually the stalker acted, so Feng YuLan also kept his eyes on Xing Yan. Ah Lan understood that just now, this stalker, like him, noticed that there was an extra child standing among the team! But it was a pity that the stalker couldn’t talk; he couldn’t tell their team that there was a dangerous person near them!
Ah Lan was a little flustered. He had been controlled by this strange child once before. The other party had means to strongly influence others, and that had always caused Ah Lan to act in accordance with the child’s orders unconsciously. He tried to resist the child’s hypnosis and the cues given to him, but whenever he wanted to open his mouth to tell his team members…
That kind of strange power would stir trouble within him and try to stop Ah Lan’s action.
Feng YuLan was extremely anxious. He felt as if he had become another stalker now. He couldn’t express his words correctly. What was the difference between him and a stalker who could not speak?
It was probably because Ah Lan had descended into a spiral of restlessness, and at the same time, changed the way he would typically behave as well. Several people in the team were discussing for quite a long time. In the end, it was Luo Jian who knew him really well to notice that Ah Lan had never said a word, so he immediately asked.
“Ah Lan, why are you not talking?”
Feng YuLan shook his head and could not help looking at the stalker. He knew that miracles would not happen, but he still wanted miracles to happen. Similarly, he also responded to Luo Jian and said, “I’m fine.”
This sentence left a trace of doubt in Luo Jian’s heart, but he did not express that doubt immediately. After thinking about it, he decided to ask Duan Li. Duan Li had been staying with Ah Lan all the time. Maybe he would know something.
Therefore, Duan Li also roughly explained, “When Specter was fighting with those monsters that appeared n a large scale, because Specter is a long range attacker, I went to support him and left Ah Lan at that same spot for the time being. However, because I had been paying attention to him, I found that there was someone around Ah Lan at that time, and that person had a long conversation with him. But when I rushed back to Ah Lan, the figure disappeared. Ah Lan also said that he didn’t see anything…… No matter what I asked, he denied that he had such a person around him.”
After Duan Li said this, he simply expressed what he meant by that. He said that he intuitively felt that there was someone in the enemy team that could manipulate people because Duan Li confirmed that Ah Lan would never lie to him. Moreover, they were now in the same team, and for the sake of mutual interests, Ah Lan did not need to lie.
Since Ah Lan did not lie, Duan Li also confirmed that what he felt was not wrong.
Duan Li thought that there must be someone among the enemies who was close to Ah Lan and had spoken to him. But when the man mysteriously disappeared, Ah Lan’s memories were wiped out. This method of controlling memories must be based on the weapons related to controlling people’s minds.
After Duan Li expressed his opinions, Abyss, who had been ‘invisible’ beside Feng YuLan, couldn’t help nodding. Duan Li was rather smart and could analyze what had happened. Of course, he was a very talented person. If given more time, he should be able to reach greater heights.
Although several people in the team discussed for a long time, they did not come to an accurate conclusion. So they decided on what they should do next. The stalker and Luo Jian would remain at this spot to deal with the ‘God’ NPC that would pop out while the others went to meet with the group of enemies from the enemy team.
Abyss did not stay with Luo Jian and the stalker but continued to follow Ah Lan.
Of course, Abyss knew that Luo Jian would not be in danger if he stayed with the stalker. He was very relieved to place him there. Even now, he felt that he missed his best friend more. He wanted to stay with Ah Lan, a friend who always supported him. He always knew that only this friend would never betray him.
So Abyss took small steps as he followed behind Ah Lan. He hesitated for a moment, but he could not help but stretch out his little claw and grasp Ah Lan’s finger. At this time, Abyss suddenly remembered that time when he met the young Ah Lan. At that time, little Ah Lan had shown extraordinary perception abilities…… It could even be said that Feng YuLan’s perception was more sensitive when he was younger.
Because when he was younger, he was innocent and not polluted by the secular world, the power Ah Lan possessed would be the purest power in that period.
Abyss could not help talking to Ah Lan. He did not know what he should say. He just said what he knew. For example, he analyzed the current modus of the two teams and analyzed the combat effectiveness of his side and that of the enemy.
Abyss always felt that he was still Ah Lan’s best friend and companion, so he unconsciously put his position to Ah Lan’s side. He tried to recall the scene in which he fought together with this friend of his at the beginning, although they were very new, ignorant, and stupid at that time.
Yet, they were all so staunch.
Ah Lan, who had his fingers grasped by him, did not answer Abyss, but Abyss noticed that he unconsciously bent his fingers and grasped Abyss’s small claws. This was an unconscious action, which might not even be noticed by Ah Lan himself.
However, Abyss noticed that; somehow, he was suddenly a little happy. Compared the fear and vigilance on Ah Lan’s face just now, he liked the tenderness that the other party had shown inadvertently.
Mutually, they definitely did not have feelings of love, but Abyss still felt that this feeling was very precious.
Perhaps because of the past experience, Abyss could not help the waves of those emotions. He could not help but recall some of the times he and Feng YuLan spent a long time ago. Finally, he took out a thing from his pocket.
It was an ear stud.
Abyss thought that he had to go back to the punishment chamber, but the positioning of the punishment chamber became a big problem. Now, Ah Lan happened to be here. Anyway, he would like to enter the punishment chamber in the future. It would be better to place a position marker on Ah Lan’s body.
This way, it would be easy to track him…… Moreover, Abyss also had a plan. He wanted to use the ‘train carriage that infinitely looped’ in the secret chamber of the train to do something important. This matter would have a bearing on whether he could successfully snatch the ‘lock’ hidden by the secret chamber’s will. As long as he grabbed the lock first, Abyss would have already succeeded halfway.
After that, Abyss only needed to send several of his team members to Asura Realm to avoid the pursuit of the secret chamber. Anyway, the secret chamber would not act against Abyss, but he was not so sure about others. Moreover, if he sent them there, they could also practice in the Asura Realm.
As he thought of this, Abyss acted upon it. He took out the prop he specially created himself. The prop created by him was a prop made by players using their skills and weapons. In any secret chamber…… whether it was a punishment or other secret chambers, they would not be confiscated or be disposed of by the secret chamber’s will, and their existence would be the key to victory.
Abyss took the ear studs and could not help saying to Ah Lan, “Your ears were pierced, I remember…… When you were in middle school, you liked those actors with temperament. You thought they were very handsome when they wore ear studs, so you decided to try it too.”
But after he had gotten his ear pierced, he howled in pain for about a week. Everyday, he would be at Abyss’s side, wildly shrieking and howling as he begged for Abyss to comfort him.
As Abyss thought about it, he felt it was funny, but after that, he suddenly felt that he had exposed something that the current role he was acting should not know. When he raised his head to look at Feng YuLan, he saw Ah Lan staring at him unbelievably.
“You…… Could it be……”
Abyss was flustered and could not help but float up and interrupt Ah Lan’s words. He put the ear studs on Ah Lan. Fortunately, although Ah Lan did not like to wear earrings most of the time, his piercings were not closed.
“Don’t make guesses. Also, don’t say what you know. Forget me,” Abyss absent-mindedly said. He tried to hypnotize this person again, but he found that his hypnotism was useless now. He could only lower his head, upset. He nervously spun his red umbrella.
He said, “You must lose this team battle, for fate has decreed that you will have to face this loss.”
It was such a pity that the current Abyss had no other alternatives but to heed to fate’s flow, but he forgot that he had to continuously resist fate.
T/N: Ah Lan is such a great friend. Honestly, for Luo Jian to have a friend like Ah Lan…he already won in life.
Bonus chapters #5- #8 will be published from Sun-Weds.