Chapter 335: Meeting

"Looks great."

Lin Xiaoran happily admired the photos she had just taken.

"Let me see."

Shen Youran hurried over, but Lin Xiaoran raised the camera and turned to run.

"No way!"

The twin-tailed girl standing nearby sighed.

"Can you two act a little more mature?"

She pulled a lollipop from her pocket and popped it into her mouth.

"We're here to meet an old friend today. You're embarrassing me."

Yan Jing chuckled and held out a hand.

"Can I have one?"

"Grape or apple? Which do you want?"

The twin-tailed girl reached into her pocket.

"Strawberry is fine."

Yan Jing had seen her pop a strawberry one into her mouth just a moment ago.

"No. There was only one strawberry," the girl refused firmly. "You get apple."

"Alright."

Yan Jing wasn't picky. He took the lollipop, peeled off the wrapper, and put it in his mouth.

They had agreed to meet at 10:00 AM so they could grab lunch together right afterward.

Around 9:50, people gradually began to arrive.

The first to walk through the door was a young-looking man in a baseball jacket and cap. The moment he spotted Shen Youran, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Over here."

Shen Youran waved back.

"Big Sister Shen, this place is a bit remote."

The man immediately started complaining.

"I took a flight from the Fourth Ring Domain to the Fifth Ring Domain, and then caught the high-speed rail to Rainbow City. That was two full transfers, and when I finally got to Rainbow City, you told me I still had to transfer to Ling'an."

"Is there something wrong with your development planning? What kind of treasure could the Inner World version of this backwater possibly have to make you stand guard here?"

Shen Youran sneered.

"Should I have booked a five-star hotel for you instead? Maybe thrown in a few beautiful tour guides?"

"I won't need the guides." The man didn't consider himself greedy. "Just remember that thing you mentioned last time."

He paused, then added, "Though I definitely still want the five-star hotel."

With that, he turned to Yan Jing, who was standing beside Shen Youran.

"And you must be Brother Yan. Ah, I've heard so much about you. They say you have an extraordinary bearing and unparalleled talent, and seeing you today, it's absolutely true. You're clearly a dragon among men."

He grabbed Yan Jing's hand and shook it vigorously.

"Don't worry, Brother Yan. In this Dungeon, whatever you say goes. If you point east, I won't head west."

Then he lowered his voice.

"I just feel bad for you, having to follow a tigress around."

"Heh." Hearing his words, Shen Youran smiled without it reaching her eyes. She turned straight to the twin-tailed girl sitting behind Yan Jing.

"You heard what he just said, right?"

"Mhm. I heard it."

The twin-tailed girl nodded, her expression blank.

"It doesn't matter, though. I already knew he was a piece of trash."

Only then did the man realize there was someone else behind Yan Jing. Hearing the girl's voice, he gasped and immediately turned to flee, but Shen Youran called out to stop him.

"Didn't you want to have dinner with that teen idol? She's staying right upstairs in this hotel."

But the man didn't slow his pace in the slightest.

"What teen idol? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Just as he reached the door, a well-built, dark-skinned woman in sportswear happened to walk in. Seeing him, she asked in confusion, "You're here too. What's wrong, isn't this the meeting spot?"

"Stop him! He's trying to run!" Shen Youran shouted.

"We can't have that."

The woman flicked her ponytail and instantly blocked his path.

"I only came because I heard we were having a reunion. Why are you leaving?"

"Oh... I get it. Don't tell me Tongtong is here?"

She peered past him into the room and, sure enough, spotted the twin-tailed girl.

This fired her up even more. She grabbed the man by the shoulder and hauled him back inside.

"Motherf—"

The man wanted to resist but couldn't bring himself to actually fight her, leaving him no choice but to be dragged backward by the woman's grip.

"So this is the monster you guys were talking about?"

The woman looked at Yan Jing beside Shen Youran and held out her free hand.

"Hello, I'm Pan Yue."

"Hello, I'm Yan Jing."

Yan Jing smiled faintly and reached out.

But seeing Pan Yue extend her hand, Shen Youran's expression instantly changed.

"Pan Yue, I'm pretty sure I warned you about this."

"It shouldn't be a big deal," Pan Yue smiled, and their hands met.

The moment their hands clasped, Yan Jing felt a tremendous force crushing inward from her fingers.

He let out a chuckle.

"It seems you don't really trust me."

"In our old team, anyone who wanted to be the boss had to prove they could command respect," Pan Yue said with a smile.

Yan Jing nodded.

"Agreed."

As soon as he said that, Pan Yue's expression drastically shifted. Her smile vanished without a trace, and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. Even the hand gripping the man's shoulder unconsciously let go.

The man noticed this and his eyes went wide.

"Hey, hey, hey. No way, Pan Yue..."

But Pan Yue could no longer spare the breath to answer. Weird energy flowed from her body, rippling outward like liquid. It was obvious she was exerting herself to the limit.

Yet the situation didn't improve. She grew paler and paler, and it wasn't until a purple light blossomed behind her that Yan Jing finally let go.

Pan Yue looked like someone who had just broken out of a cage. She gasped for air, her pupils trembling, and the hand that had just gripped his twitched uncontrollably.

The man swallowed hard.

Although Pan Yue wasn't an official member of Zhoulin, as the strongest combatant on the auxiliary team, he knew exactly how capable she was. She definitely wasn't weak; among the seed players in the Fourth Ring Domain, she would easily rank in the top twenty.

More importantly, all of Pan Yue's Rituals were strength-based. Even he couldn't beat her in raw physical power. Yet the man standing in front of them had forced Pan Yue to activate her Ritual without even seeming to use his own weird energy.

At that thought, he looked at Yan Jing and began to reassess him.

A few seconds later, Pan Yue, having caught her breath, looked at Yan Jing with a grave expression.

"Are you strength-type too?"

"Not really." Yan Jing smiled.

"..."

Taking a deep breath, Pan Yue bowed slightly to him. "That was presumptuous of me. I look forward to your command in the Dungeon."

"The honor is mine," Yan Jing replied politely.

"Is there anyone else?" the man asked Shen Youran.

"One more." Frowning, Shen Youran picked up her phone. According to her intel, the last person hated being late.

Right then, a buzz-cut man wearing sweatpants and a polo shirt walked into the hotel.

His expression was cold, making him look incredibly stern.

Yan Jing froze slightly when he saw him.

It was a familiar face.

The number one figure in Rainbow City: Zhou Xian.

Upon spotting Yan Jing, he immediately walked over and stopped in front of him.

"Long time no see."

"Long time no see." Yan Jing nodded. "You reached the Fourth Tier?"

"Mhm." Zhou Xian's face showed very little emotion, just like before. "I was in the Third Tier for a long time. It was time for the Fourth Tier."

At this point, he noticed the man in the baseball jacket. He paused in surprise and asked, "Are you... Qi Ming?"

"That's me."

The man nodded, surprised. "You know me?"

"You could say that."

Zhou Xian nodded. He left out the fact that the man standing in front of him used to be his idol.

"Makes sense."

Qi Ming familiarly threw an arm over Zhou Xian's shoulder.

"I used to be pretty famous back in the day. And I know you too, buddy. Zhou Xian, right? I read your file before I got here."

"Hey, Brother Zhou, do you have time later to show me around? You've been in Rainbow City for a long time, you must know all the fun spots, right?"

Zhou Xian frowned.

His former idol seemed quite different from what he'd imagined.

"Alright."

Shen Youran clapped her hands.

"Today is mainly for everyone to meet, get acquainted, and confirm a few things. We only have one rule for entering the Dungeon this time: everyone obeys Xiao Yanzi completely. Can you do that?"

"No problem."

The three of them nodded. They had agreed to this beforehand.

Besides, all three of them were curious to see exactly how far Yan Jing could go.

Afterward, the group had lunch together.

Over the meal, Yan Jing learned about the structure of Shen Youran's old team.

Zhoulin's official squad consisted of six people. In the later stages, Shen Youran had stopped running Dungeons, and Qi Ming had slacked off to the point where his strength fell behind, so he rarely went in either. As a result, only four of them consistently ran Dungeons.

On top of that, there was a six-person auxiliary team.

Lin Xiaoran, the twin-tailed girl Ren Tongtong, and Pan Yue were all members of it.

Yet those twelve people had once been able to stand their ground against Shen Youran's enemies.

According to the others, a few years ago, the twelve of them working together could match a Sixth Tier expert.

It was a truly astonishing display of strength.

After lunch, they chatted casually.

"Did you guys hear about the recent news regarding Dalao and the Beast Lord organizing an exchange with us?"

Qi Ming looked at the group.

"I heard the slots have already been finalized, and the Beast Lord's people have already arrived in our Yueyin."

...

...

Second Ring Domain.

Inside a hotel meant for foreign guests, a man with golden eyes was holding a video conference.

There were six people in the meeting, including him.

They were his personal team.

They had all grown up with him since childhood.

Although the resources given to him by the Beast Lord were plentiful—and he could easily team up with the other Monarchs under the Beast Lord if he wanted to—when it came to entering a Dungeon, having the greatest strength didn't always guarantee safety.

The team you knew best was always the right choice.

At that moment, they were discussing entering a Dungeon.

"Boss, the exchange is only a dozen days away. There's no need to enter a Dungeon right now, is there? Won't that be too exhausting?"

The vice-captain asked.

"The exchange is to fight for resources, and entering a Dungeon is also to fight for resources. There's no difference."

The man replied softly.

"Giving up a Dungeon run for the sake of the exchange would be putting the cart before the horse."

"Besides... I already received the intel on our opponents this time. They're too weak. They aren't worth much of my attention."

"If I devoted all my focus entirely to them, my rank would probably drop when I got back."

...

...

"You guys will never guess who Yueyin is fielding this time!"

Qi Ming chuckled smugly.

"Who is it?"

Ren Tongtong didn't give him a chance to build suspense and immediately asked.

With her speaking up, Qi Ming withered like a frosted eggplant and had to abandon the suspense.

"It's the number one seed from the Fourth Ring Domain."

As soon as this title was mentioned, everyone at the table—aside from Yan Jing and Zhou Xian—stiffened.

Only because the person Qi Ming mentioned was Zhoulin's original fourth member.