Chapter 95: Entering the Advanced Dungeon

Before Chen Mo could answer, more than twenty streaks of blue light descended one after another around him. In all, nearly twenty people appeared, all of them classmates from Pingli Middle School. Most of all, Chen Mo noticed that Zhang Shengmo, one of the Five Great Geniuses, was among them.

Feng Jing, a girl from Class B, asked in surprise, "Why are there only a few of us? Where is everyone else?"

Tang Qi, ranked twentieth in Class A, with his wildly spiked hair, looked especially conspicuous. He stepped forward with complete confidence and explained, "What is there to find strange about that? Do you not know that most high-level instances are matched randomly? For so many of us to be matched together like this is already very good indeed."

"So that is how it is. Tang Qi, you know so much. You are amazing!"

Although Feng Jing was not the most beautiful girl in school, her hair was tied into a bun, her eyes were large and bright, and she was very cute. She was extremely popular with the boys. Most importantly, her voice had a sweet, coquettish lilt to it, and any boy who heard it would feel his bones go soft.

Tang Qi kept showing off his theoretical knowledge, and before long he had won the favor of the other students. They gathered around him, and Tang Qi thumped his chest with great confidence, promising, "Relax. As long as you follow me and listen to my commands, I can definitely get you through this instance!"

Chen Mo did not join in the conversation. Instead, he carefully observed his surroundings. Blue light continued to descend all around, but unfortunately Ning Xuan was nowhere to be seen.

It was just like an online game: on the same map, there could be dozens of server shards. Even if you were in the exact same place, if you were on different shards, you still could not see one another.

Ning Xuan should be on another shard. Chen Mo was not worried about her results. The only thing he feared was whether Ning Xuan's beast personality would emerge and enter a killing mode. However, Ning Xuan's beast personality was even more afraid of death and more cunning than her ordinary self, so it probably would not trigger a massacre mode.

If only the instance shards could be switched freely. Then Chen Mo could go to whichever shard he wanted.

Ding!

Second sophon component, 23 of 100.

As if it had heard Chen Mo's thoughts, the central intelligence very cooperatively popped up the sophon information. The message was blatantly direct: if he wanted more functions, then he needed to seize more sophons.

Blue lights rose and fell one after another, until their number neared a thousand. Aside from this small group from Pingli Middle School, more and more new groups kept arriving.

Chen Mo guessed that players who belonged to the same Evolution Sphere had a certain chance of being teleported together.

From the faces of these people, most were students, very young.

Besides students, there were also some guild groups.

For example, Chen Mo spotted at once, five hundred meters away, a group of people with a stern and murderous bearing. At a glance, it was obvious they had been tempered by bloodshed. Among them was a girl with twin tails, and Chen Mo recognized her immediately. She was the girl he had saved at the abandoned factory, Liu Zijun.

It seemed that Liu Zijun's Nirvana Fire Phoenix Guild was doing quite well, having even entered a high-level Evolution Sphere.

At that moment, Liu Zijun was talking with Tian Xing, the chairman of the largest Sophon Guild in China's northwest region, Xingtian.

Chairman Tian Xing looked rugged and wild. He was bald, with an axe and shield tattooed on the top of his head, and a necklace of beast bones around his neck. Behind him trailed twenty subordinates, all bald as well, each with the same axe-and-shield tattoo on their scalps.

"Tian Xing, there is no need to persuade me any further. Our Nirvana Fire Phoenix has indeed had a very hard time lately, but we will absolutely not be swallowed up by you!"

Tian Xing stroked his gleaming bald head and grinned. "Heh, heh, heh. Liu Zijun, what are you saying? What do you mean, swallowed up? We are talking about a merger, a partnership. If you are willing, after our two guilds merge, you can even have the chairman's seat."

"Laughable!" Liu Zijun said coldly. "Tian Xing, I know exactly how you built yourself up. You killed your first chairman, usurped his position, then used both threats and inducements to absorb more than a dozen small guilds and become the largest Sophon legion in the northwest. If I cooperate with you, would I not be walking straight into a tiger's jaws?"

"Hahaha!" Tian Xing laughed three times. "Good. Very good. Liu Zijun, let me make myself clear today. If you agree to merge, then our Xingtian will be your ox and horse. We will kill for you, farm points for you, and let you develop in peace. If you refuse, then I am sorry. I will activate the guild transmission. Not only here, but every member of your Nirvana Fire Phoenix in other instances will be hunted down by us Xingtian. From now on, whenever any of your Nirvana Fire Phoenix instances appear, our Xingtian will be waiting at any time!"

Liu Zijun's expression did not change. "Then I will wait for Xingtian to come."

Tian Xing's face twisted fiercely. "You... you really are as heartless as the rumors say. In that case, do not blame me!" he snarled.

Chen Mo opened his mental power to the full two hundred. Even five hundred meters away, he could hear every word clearly.

Who would have thought that the world beyond school had already become so splendid? The major guilds and organizations had begun to fight for territory and resources.

When Chen Mo was young and living in the orphanage, he loved reading historical novels, especially tales like Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Sui and Tang Legends, stories of rising warlords and bloody battlefields. He had once dreamed of becoming a great general like those in the books, commanding armies of thousands and tens of thousands, planning from behind the lines, sweeping across the land, and contending for the throne.

What had once been only a child's fantasy had unexpectedly become a stage that truly existed in reality.

However, now was not yet Chen Mo's time to step onto that stage. Fate, terrain, and opportunity had not yet all arrived.

"Zhang Shengmo, long time no see!"

Just as Chen Mo was still eavesdropping on the conversation between Liu Zijun and Tian Xing, a shrill voice interrupted his train of thought.

A group of young people dressed in varied, fashionable styles walked over.

On the left chest of their clothing was the same logo: Changjun Middle School.

Zhang Shengmo gave them an uninterested sideways glance and did not answer at all. Instead, he calmly and intently wiped his sword sheath.

The leading boy from Changjun Middle School had a very cool look: he wore a black cloak, carried a two-meter-long scythe on his back, and had white bangs that made him seem exceptionally cold.

He was Shen Yifei of Changjun Middle School, nicknamed the Death Scythe. Shen Yifei, Zhang Shengmo, and Young Master Wei all came from very ancient martial arts families in Star City. The three of them had been very close playmates as children. Later, however, because of the meteorite incident, when they were ten years old and training out in the wild, they discovered a meteorite that glowed at night. Shen Yifei and Zhang Shengmo ended up quarreling over it, each claiming he had found it first, and the two came to blows. From then on, they went their separate ways.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. The young master of the Zhang family, the biggest conglomerate in Star City, is actually wearing a pink shirt. How embarrassing! Hahaha!"

Changjun Middle School placed great importance on individuality. Although it also divided students into A, B, C, D, and F classes, the school uniforms could all be custom-made with the help of professional designers, so the uniforms of Changjun Middle School always looked very fashionable, distinctive, and cool.

Zhang Shengmo still ignored him and continued wiping his weapon.

Shen Yifei glanced coldly at the meteorite necklace around Zhang Shengmo's neck and sneered, "I have to say, that pink shirt really does suit you. Have you not liked Young Master Wei since you were little? Hahaha. Who in Xing City society does not know that the two of you are an item?"

"You are asking for death!"

Whoosh!

Zhang Shengmo's white sword flew out of the black scabbard by itself.

Slash!

The white blade stabbed straight toward Shen Yifei.

Shen Yifei smiled, showing no intention of dodging at all.

Just as the white sword was about to pierce Shen Yifei's throat, it suddenly stopped and hovered in midair.

At last, Zhang Shengmo spoke. "Shen Yifei, after all these years, you are still as despicable and shameless as ever. You deliberately tried to anger me so that I would attack you, and then have the system punish me and strip me of my qualification, is that it? Hah. Lowborn."

Hum.

The white sword gave a clear, ringing cry, then curved through the air in a graceful arc and flew back into the black scabbard by itself.