Chapter 195
Chapter 195 Gathering
The goosebumps segment ultimately ended with Xia Xinyan leading Ling Mo around in circles until he was completely lost.
Anyway, looking at the outcome, Xia Xinyan was quite satisfied.
Next up was the time to deal with serious matters.
Later that morning, all of them received a message regarding the Resistance Army, stating that preparations were complete and the task to destroy the Control Hub was about to begin, hoping for their help in returning.
However, Fatty and the others ignored that message.
The Resistance Army clearly wanted to separate them for individual action, which might be why there were more than thirty players in this Dungeon. If they followed the Resistance Army’s plan, it would be nearly impossible to regroup until the mission was cleared.
At least they understood that more people meant greater strength; as for the Resistance Army… they definitely weren’t one of their own.
So after some discussion, Ling Mo and the others decided to follow him and Xia Xinyan to join the demolition team’s mission. They were going in guns blazing, directly hitting the Control Hub—whatever tricks and schemes there were, they just needed to blow it up.
Mainly because Fatty couldn’t deal with the nonsense, while Murong Yue had the intention but her Abilities were too limited, it was safer to stick together. And since they were all in it together, Tian Yi and Zhu Di had no choice but to join in—especially since they already had the idea of forming a group.
Thus, Gao Tian and his group waited for a squad of players similar in size to their own.
Gao Tian looked a bit dazed: “Ling Mo, what’s going on here…”
“Oh, these people are my former colleagues from the company; they’re skilled in demolition work,” Ling Mo smiled as he introduced Fatty and the others, “Unemployed workers finding new jobs; after all, we shouldn’t let their demolition skills go to waste.”
Gao Tian pointed awkwardly at Tian Yi: “…Uh, that’s fine. But what’s up with that dude?”
Ling Mo’s expression didn’t change: “Oh, after he got laid off, he couldn’t find a good job, so now he’s doing performance art—y’know, all artists are a bit out there.”
Tian Yi: “…Yeah, just ignore me.”
Did he really want to keep butting in? He didn’t want that either; his Abilities were just like that, what could be done?
Gao Tian thought for a moment and nodded: “Alright, then we’ll…”
“Wait,” another voice suddenly interrupted from the side, “Count me in.”
Turning his head, they saw the speaker was Summer Jincang.
His expression was somewhat subtle, but upon his gaze landing on Xia Xinyan, he immediately switched to a very friendly smile—although it seemed a bit silly.
Gao Tian was stunned again: “Who’s this…”
“My brother,” Ling Mo said with a friendly smile.
Summer Jincang’s expression immediately soured: “Who’s your…”
Then, as soon as Xia Xinyan glanced over, he put on that same smile: “Right, he’s my little brother.”
Ling Mo’s smile remained unchanged.
He knew Summer Jincang didn’t like him; while he might have cared a bit before, he certainly didn’t anymore.
In the story Xia Xinyan told him, her tragic experiences were definitely tied to the Summer Family—such a big family, yet they couldn’t even protect their only young lady.
Perhaps Xia Xinyan’s cold attitude toward Summer Jincang stemmed from this?
This diminished Ling Mo’s respect for the Summer Family considerably, leaving only the most basic level of respect.
After all, no matter what, the Summer Family was still Xinyan’s home.
However, if the Summer Family couldn’t protect Xinyan, then he would take on the responsibility of protecting her for life.
Summer Jincang was even more displeased with Ling Mo’s reaction.
In his mind, Xinyan was almost like his own sister; he hadn’t acknowledged this guy as her husband, and getting past him? Not so simple.
The others were completely oblivious to this covert clash. Once the personnel were confirmed, they prepared to head to the Control Hub.
The number of people this time had far exceeded Gao Tian’s expectations, and the vehicle they had prepared couldn’t hold this many, so he scrambled to find another vehicle for Ling Mo and the others: “Can you drive?”
“Sure, I can handle it.” Ling Mo took the car keys and got in first.
Speaking of which, he had a vehicle in this Dungeon too; that woman had even mentioned taking Xia Xinyan to work. But after they regrouped, he left that car behind—since it only had two seats, it wouldn’t fit this many people.
Thinking about going back to drive it now? Too far.
But it didn’t matter; riding together, they could share information along the way. Although he really wanted to enjoy a moment of two-person world with Xia Xinyan, completing this Dungeon was a priority.
There would be plenty of time in reality to enjoy.
Fatty and the others were quite curious about Summer Jincang’s sudden arrival, so after setting off, they began to ask questions.
Summer Jincang also shared his findings with them.
He had infiltrated the Resistance Army’s ranks yesterday; although their organization rules were a bit whimsical, their scale was indeed considerable, and other aspects were relatively regular.
Summer Jincang hadn’t detected any unusual movements from the Resistance Army, but he did notice a lot of oddities.
The most noteworthy was that the technology level in this world seemed to far exceed that of the real world. At the Resistance Army’s headquarters, he saw a number of devices that one would only encounter in sci-fi movies, yet…the anomaly was that, from the outside, this city looked like a rundown third-tier city in reality, everywhere exuding a sense of decay.
For instance, it was like an old dusty computer chassis from the last century housing all the latest computer hardware—greatly reminiscent of cyberpunk. Although, technically speaking, there was nothing wrong with this setup, it always felt bizarre.
It was as if this city was hiding something; under normal development conditions, this phenomenon wouldn’t occur.
Unfortunately, time didn’t allow him to investigate further—mainly because after knowing the Resistance Army was about to take action, he was worried about his sister’s safety. So he left the others to keep investigating and hurried over.
Upon hearing Summer Jincang mention the word “cover-up,” Xia Xinyan recalled the bind she encountered yesterday with that beggar.
And then there was that sentence Monica had said.
After thinking for a moment, she shared the beggar incident: “Yesterday, I ran into a beggar with Mo Mo on the street…”
Even though her animosity toward Summer Jincang had nearly seeped into her bones, it was undeniable that this guy indeed had decent skills. She wasn’t one to act recklessly at any time; when necessary, she’d set aside prejudice to cooperate with those she didn’t see eye to eye with.
Her reaction lifted Summer Jincang’s spirits considerably—his sister was finally willing to take the initiative to speak to him; that was a great start!
However, what she mentioned didn’t attract the attention of the others.
“Maybe he just looks similar; a beggar probably can’t be tied to the main storyline,” Fatty shrugged.
“It can’t just be a lookalike. I’ve seen the photo; they are identical,” Ling Mo interjected while driving. “And how do you explain him running away upon seeing us?”
“The cops said he’s a wanted criminal, right? If you suddenly walk up and ask if he knows you, he’d surely think you recognized him and run too. If I were him, I would!” Fatty thought it made perfect sense.
Tian Yi couldn’t help but chime in: “Could just be a model glitch? The system might have fitted that beggar’s model to that guy? I’ve seen that happen all the time in the potato PC games I used to play.”
Xia Xinyan held a somewhat baffled expression.
They still saw this game as just a game, huh…
