Chapter 162 - The Corridor of Time (XVIII)
Editors: Humu & Kitty
“Hehehe—” Little Ah Lan laughed strangely. That was a strange sound that he would never make. It was like his voice was squeezed out of his throat. He said, “Go to h.e.l.l.”
When the child finished speaking, he suddenly raised the blade of the pencil sharpener he held in his hand and stabbed it hard at his temple.
A hole in a temple would be a fatal wound to any human.
Duan Li could not go any faster because he did not have that kind of strength now, and although he had the ability to move at an amazing speed in the future, he could not react in time now. He even felt a little desperate when he tried to stop Ah Lan.
However, Luo Jian would not let this happen. He morphed his weapon. At this moment, nothing was faster than the speed of a gun bullet. There were many players who used guns in the Asura Realm. They had all kinds of guns. These guns could also shoot strange bullets, and the most common one was a type of—anaesthetic bomb.
So Duan Li only heard the sound of gunfire behind him. He felt the heat brush past his ears again. At that moment, his heartbeat thumped violently. He even thought that Luo Jian wanted to kill the child.
But no.
Luo Jian’s aim was not particularly good when compared to those sharpshooters. However, he was proficient in all kinds of weapons. He could still hit nine out of ten rings with a gun, especially when shooting at close range. He did not need to adjust his own collimation and calculate the trajectory and wind speed.
However, close-range shooting would cause an impact force. Luo Jian first hit Ah Lan’s arm. He thought that the bones of the child’s hand would fracture or the child would experience some other problems akin to that. The anaesthetic bullet would only take effect in a few seconds. After that, the child would be unable to move.
Ah Lan, who was unable to move, fell head-down as he collapsed to the ground but was caught by Duan Li in time. Duan Li brought Ah Lan to his arms.
“Did you come to test me?” Luo Jian walked over and muttered in a low voice.
Duan Li did not understand the meaning of his words, but something unexpected happened. Suddenly, Ah Lan, who was in Duan Li’s arms, opened his mouth. He said in a very rigid and mechanized tone: “The program number is 39450. Answer: This is only a temporary plan because we have monitored that you are in a close position with Duan Li, the player, and we have made contact with you. We tried to get in touch with you using players as a medium.”
Luo Jian laughed, “I see: not only do I want to contact you, but you are also trying to contact me.”
Luo Jian approached Ah Lan. He changed the gun into an umbrella again and let the handle of the umbrella lean on his shoulder, “So, the purpose is?”
Ah Lan continued to reply stiffly: “The inference is that you are a trapped player in the Crimson Asura Realm. You know part of the truth about us by having contact with Ying and his team. The body you have now is the best proof. But we have no intention of being in a conflict with you. Because of our programming, we can’t interfere with the actions of roles holding the highest authorization. And to implement protective measures, we decided to have a face-to-face negotiation with your esteemed self.”
Luo Jian was silent for a moment. He said softly, “Well, what kind of results do you want to achieve in this face-to-face negotiation?”
Ah Lan did not answer immediately. Instead, he first looked at Duan Li, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with icy-cold intent. It was unknown what Ah Lan was feeling. Duan Li was puzzled. He did not understand what they were talking about, but he only listened to Ah Lan mechanically continue: “To ensure the confidentiality of this negotiation, we earnestly ask you to help eliminate the relevant insiders. Otherwise, it will be considered as the negotiation having broken down.”
Luo Jian could not help but show a ferocious expression. He laughed: “Are you threatening me?”
“Humans define this behavior as a threat.” Ah Lan’s tone was serious: “So, yes, we are really threatening you.”
At this moment, even if Duan Li was stupid, he would be able to understand the significance of the inexplicable conversation between them. It seemed that Duan Li was a sacrificial victim in their negotiation. The one controlling Ah Lan obviously wanted to kill him.
Duan Li could not help but take a look at Luo Jian, but in the dim light in the alley, he couldn’t see the expression of the boy with the red umbrella. For a moment, he felt cold sweat constantly emitting out from him. He knew that his strength was inferior to the other party’s. In addition, the child in his arms had completely become a controlled chess piece. Such a situation was really horrible.
Luo Jian, who was silent for a while, laughed again. He acted leisurely and seemed to have an indifferent att.i.tude. His disguising technique was that good. He simply whispered: “You want me to kill this poor…… what’s his name, Duan Li fellow?”
“Yes. Do it in pa.s.sing after the negotiation,” Ah Lan said solemnly, “Wipe out the body that I currently control now as well.”
Luo Jian had a slightly gloomy expression. Under the cover of his red umbrella, no one could see what he was thinking. He sneered and said, “Oh! I don’t know if you understand an important principle of human negotiation.”
“What’s the principle?”
“Sincerity.” Luo Jian let himself appear a little lazy. He continued: “When the negotiations have not yet come to an end, you wantonly order me to do this and that, but I cannot see your sincerity at all. Why should I obey your orders? Just because the negotiation will break down? Come on, what if the negotiation broke down? Would you kill me?”
The GM’s ident.i.ty was his trump card. It was a role that Ying and his team set up using future technology to interpret and decode the system’s pa.s.sword. This role was directly linked to the core program of the system. Therefore, Ying a.s.sured Luo Jian that the secret chamber might restrict and detain his body, but there was absolutely no way it would kill him. Instead, the secret chamber would even protect him. Because as soon as the body died, the system in the secret chamber would collapse.
At that time, Luo Jian could not help but ask, “So why not just kill this GM’s body and let the system crash?”
“It’s not that simple.” Ying in the memories replied: “If the system crashes, as long as it reboots, there will be no real damage to the system. However, the current secret chamber cannot easily take such a risk because if it collapses, all the secret chambers will collapse together. The game players, the various props, the transformed monster settings, and other systems in the secret chamber will collapse together. In this period, if the secret chamber system cannot establish any effective defence measures, it is likely to suffer from various players’ attacks or attacks from other forces established on Earth. It will cause incalculable losses, so the secret chamber absolutely does not dare to take such risks.”
Luo Jian suddenly understood what Ying meant. “This is really interesting. I think this is your plan—if I fail to destroy the secret chamber, I can still use suicide to create opportunities for you. Am I right?”
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but that’s exactly what I planned.” Ying stared at Luo Jian.
Luo Jian understood that Ying was only using him to accomplish his own purpose, but there was no way he was going to refuse Ying’s obvious intentions of making use of him.
Ah, he had no other way! It couldn’t be helped because, like Ying, Luo Jian urgently wanted to let the secret chamber completely disappear from this world! This idea seemed to be rooted in Luo Jian’s heart. Except for this, he couldn’t think of any other thing that he wanted to live for.
In that case, what was there to fear?!
So Luo Jian arrogantly raised his face, and at this moment, he challenged and ridiculed the entire secret chamber. He opened his umbrella, spread his arms, and said grimly, “Kill me if you can do it!”
The secret chamber, who was controlling Ah Lan, was silent for a long time. Of course, it could not kill Luo Jian. So it finally said, “Well, how would you like us to show our sincerity?”
“I’m actually really scared.” Luo Jian did not answer the question posed but blatantly talked nonsense instead, “I’m not interested in destroying you. I was selected by that man. He thought I had such a qualification, so he let me inherit this body. But what benefits can I get? I just want more power and freedom.”
Ah Lan, who was over at the other side, was silent for a moment. Then, he answered Luo Jian: “We can give you more freedom and strength.”
Luo Jian showed a smile that revealed that his schemes were successful: “Well, let’s negotiate first. As for the two insiders…… Why kill them? With such good qualifications, they will certainly become excellent players, and most importantly…… if all the insiders died, if I were killed by you one day, wouldn’t everyone else not know that I’m dead. That would be horrifying, right?”
The meaning behind Luo Jian’s words was very obvious. He was actually threatening the other party. He wanted Duan Li and company to live. This would not only make Duan Li an insider, but also make him a witness in this negotiation. Having the ident.i.ty of an insider or a witness might make Duan Li and Ah Lan’s standing different, and that might save Duan Li and Ah Lan’s lives.
However, the secret chamber was afraid that Luo Jian had truly not dared to act upon it. Now, both sides had to step back because they both hoped that this negotiation could be successful.
“Of course, I won’t make things difficult for you,” Luo Jian said, “I have a way to erase their memory. After our negotiation, I will make them forget everything. But you have to pay attention to the fact that if I die one day, their memory will be restored immediately, and the contents of this negotiation will be publicized to the world.”
“We understand what you mean. You want to set up two witnesses for this negotiation to ensure the safety of your life.” Ah Lan’s rigid tone was rarely accompanied by a trace of a cold sneer: “It is all but a human’s stupid behavior…… But we accept such conditions and we are willing to show our sincerity. But first of all, we must remind you that although your ident.i.ty makes us fear you, it does not mean that we really care about your life. If you do something out of line, we will take action regardless of the cost.”
“I know that very well. May I begin?”
The negotiation was carried out in this quiet alley. It happened in an old alley where no one pa.s.sed by, in the corner where no one noticed.
And Luo Jian imperceptibly accomplished something that would alter every secret chamber player’s fate.
He might have been aware of this, but Luo Jian was not willing to think about it. He would rather think that this was just an ordinary day in his life. After today, tomorrow would still follow after.
The contents of his negotiations with the secret chamber were also very simple.
The secret chamber regarded Luo Jian as a time bomb. It thought that Luo Jian would explode at any time and anywhere. It wanted to closely monitor him and even lock Luo Jian up directly and efficiently.
But Luo Jian was not willing to be locked up. He needed a wide range of personal s.p.a.ce and the ability to move autonomously.
If he was unwilling to do something, the secret chamber couldn’t coerce him. Although the chambers could monitor and limit the behavior of Luo Jian, it would aggravate his rebellious mentality, and that would cause conflict to arise between them. Both parties were not willing to see a lose-lose situation.
So, they gave way.
The secret chamber said that it would not restrict his actions and monitor him unless he violated some regulations in the chamber. At the same time, the secret chamber would unlock the GM privilege for Luo Jian, and he could possess all rights and authorization. Similarly, on this basis, the regulations could not be violated.
At the same time, the secret chamber decided to allow Luo Jian to cooperate with the secret chamber’s action, that was, to allow Luo Jian to help the secret chamber carry out relevant work. For this, the chambers would reward Luo Jian. It would help him enhance and train his strength.
Luo Jian thought that the secret chamber system was trying to turn their relationship into a kind of employment relationship similar to that in society. It was similar to the kind of relationship where ‘if you help me, I will give you some benefits’. Moreover, the secret chamber was likely trying to let Luo Jian rely on the secret chamber slowly. Because any human being who had tasted the power of dominating everything would be willing to endure hardship gladly for it and even be unable to extricate themself from it.
At that time, it would be effortlessly easy to control Luo Jian.
However, Luo Jian did not care so much about that. His goal had been clear from the beginning. No matter what moves the enemy dished out, he did not feel that he would shrink back.