Chapter 140
Chapter 140
Real World, 7:00 a.m.
Wei Sen opened her eyes. Outside the window, a ray of morning light fell across the wedding photo at her bedside.
No matter how many times she woke from the dream, every time she came to and saw everything around her, it still felt unfamiliar.
Her phone by the bed chimed with a WeChat message.
[Xu You: Awake? I think I should come over first.]
[Wei Sen: Okay.]
[Xu You: Don’t cook noodles. I’ll do it.]
Wei Sen shook her head.
[Okay.]
Half an hour later, Xu You arrived as promised, carrying a pile of vegetables and eggs before heading into the kitchen to get busy.
Wei Sen closed the bedroom door and checked the System Space.
When she closed her eyes and summoned the System Space in her mind, the appearance of the items inside would surface in her thoughts.
When she left the Origin Land, she had put that green-glowing sphere into the System Space.
[System, can I take items out of the space now?]
///Ding~ Host may store and retrieve items at any time. However, friendly reminder: this item has been detected to possess extremely strong radioactivity. Are you sure you wish to retrieve it?///
If things stored in the System Space could be taken out in the Real World, then…
If she stored valuables from the Eerie World in the System Space, waited until the Instance ended, then took them out to resell them, and after reselling them donated the money to Project Hope…
Wei Sen pressed her lips together and nodded slightly. It was a bit troublesome, but it was still a good idea!
[Do not retrieve.]
For the time being, she still needed to take care of her body in the real world.
Wei Sen thought to herself.
///Ding~ Received.///
“Sister Sen, breakfast is ready!” Xu You’s voice came from outside the door.
The moment Wei Sen opened the door, she smelled the aroma.
“Try my cooking.” Xu You made no attempt to hide her pride.
Wei Sen took a bite, and a faint light flashed through her eyes.
So noodles could actually taste like this?!
“Not bad.”
“Hahaha. Then how about it? Want to consider having me cook for you every day?” Xu You grinned crookedly, her eyes darting shiftily as she looked at Wei Sen.
Wei Sen stopped moving her chopsticks. “No.”
“Come on, think about it. My cooking is pretty good.”
“Just say it. What are you plotting?” Wei Sen asked directly.
“Sister Sen, can’t you be a little less sharp sometimes?” Xu You smiled, her gaze drifting toward the sofa in the living room. “I noticed your sofa’s pretty big. It should be able to fit one person sleeping on it, right…”
“No.”
Xu You let out a long sigh and put on a melancholy expression. “As expected, you’re a cold-blooded, heartless person.”
“If you don’t have anywhere to stay, the second bedroom is empty.” After saying that, Wei Sen lowered her head and continued eating.
Xu You immediately straightened her back. “Then it’s settled! Don’t worry, I won’t stay for free. I’ve got plenty of strength to pay with!”
Not long after breakfast, almost at the exact same time as yesterday, the two of them received another Invitation. It was still at the library in the city center.
Soon, Lin Xiaoxue sent a message as well. She had the driver pick up Chen Lin first, then come over for Wei Sen and Xu You, and the four of them headed to the library together.
As they sat in the van, their Watches received messages from Huang Xinze one after another, reporting that he was safe.
“Huang Mao got out pretty fast,” Xu You said.
Chen Lin said, “Time inside there is different from our current time. For Huang Xinze, several days probably passed.”
“True.”
“Beep, beep, beep. One hundred thousand yuan has been deposited into your account. Please check it!” A notification suddenly rang out in the quiet car.
Everyone looked at Lin Xiaoxue.
Lin Xiaoxue picked up her phone, looking troubled. “Sister Lan, honestly… I promised to pay her double, but she insisted on refunding the extra money to me.”
Xu You leaned over. “Xiaoxue, let’s discuss something. Once I make it onto the Hero Ranking, you come find me, and I’ll carry you. How’s that?”
Chen Lin was the first to let out a low laugh. “By then, Xiaoxue will probably be on the ranking too.”
Lin Xiaoxue took a deep breath. “Exactly! Sister You, don’t look down on me.”
“Sigh. I calculated on my fingers and saw that Guo Lan has windfall luck. As for this humble Daoist… I was just a little short.”
“None of you have any idea how Sister Lan barely escaped with her life. She earned that money.” Lin Xiaoxue transferred the hundred thousand back, then recounted to the others what she had learned from Guo Lan.
Back in Origin Land, Guo Lan had been too badly injured to talk about what had happened inside the Instance.
Worried about her condition, Lin Xiaoxue had messaged her as soon as they returned to the Real World.
Guo Lan had suffered such severe injuries in the Eerie World that when she woke up in the Real World, much of her body was covered in bruises. Her joints, in particular, had no open wounds, but they hurt terribly. She would not be entering another Instance anytime soon.
And those injuries had come from the Faceless Woman smashing her into a tree again and again in the Eerie World.
Later, the Faceless Woman used Eerie Entity power to hang her from a tree. While the Faceless Woman was hunting Zhou Jie and He Xu, Guo Lan used the last of her strength to take out the final Life-Saving Anomalous Artifact she had on her.
That was the reason she had dared to take missions in the Eerie World: an S-Rank Life-Saving Anomalous Artifact. She had never intended to use it unless her life was truly on the line, but this time, she had no choice.
…
Before long, the four of them arrived at their destination. The driver took off his earpiece, got out, and opened the door.
“Miss, we’ve arrived.”
“Wait for us outside.”
“Yes, miss.”
The group made their way familiarly to the second basement floor of the library. CC was already waiting in the room.
When she saw them arrive, surprise still flickered deep in CC’s eyes.
After learning that half of their ten-person team had made it out alive, even she had to marvel at their survival rate.
“Congratulations, everyone,” CC said.
But none of them looked pleased.
Wei Sen sat down and said coldly, “What good would it do The Organization if we died?”
CC arched a brow. “Hm?”
Lin Xiaoxue took over and questioned her. “You clearly knew the dangers of an S-Rank Instance and the things we needed to watch out for, but you didn’t warn us at all.”
CC understood at once. With a faint smile, she said, “Only the truly strong are worthy of joining The Organization.”
Everyone sucked in a sharp breath.
This Organization really might not be some upright faction.
They needed Order Keeper members to join them, but their requirements were strict. They only wanted people truly capable of clearing Instances.
So even though they knew how dangerous an S-Rank Instance was, they had not given a single hint. They had let them charge in blind, using death to eliminate those unqualified to join The Organization.
“Then can we join The Organization now?” Wei Sen cut straight to the point.
“Are you… truly ready?” CC swept a solemn gaze over them.
“Of course,” Wei Sen said without hesitation.
Lin Xiaoxue also said gravely, “Let’s do it.”
Xu You and Chen Lin exchanged a glance, then nodded to CC as well.
CC stood. “All right. Come with me.”
The group looked at one another, then resolutely chose to follow.
What none of them expected was that there was a hidden door behind the room’s bar counter. Beyond it was another elevator.
When the elevator doors opened, however, the inside was completely different.
There were six seats in total, and in front of the foremost seat was an enormous touch display.
“What… is this?” Lin Xiaoxue asked, staring at CC in surprise.
CC sat down at the operator’s console and pressed a red button. Instantly, every light inside the “elevator” came on.
“Find a seat and fasten your seat belts,” CC said, not sounding the least bit like she was joking.
After a moment of hesitation, the others each chose a seat and buckled themselves in.
Xu You looked around and said, “With this setup, anyone who didn’t know better would think we were about to take off.”
After CC performed a series of operations, a mechanical voice sounded from the elevator’s internal broadcast system. “Passengers, please remain seated. The Transit Pod is about to depart. Estimated travel time is approximately thirty minutes. Destination: Taoyuan.”
Everyone looked at one another, still unable to make sense of what was happening, when there came a loud clang, as if all the steel cables above the elevator had snapped at once.
The entire elevator plummeted straight down. The intense feeling of weightlessness made Lin Xiaoxue and Chen Lin shriek at the top of their lungs.