Volume 3, Chapter 23 – Timely Rain, Zhou Jieyu

Although she stood there looking a little foolish, Aila did not resist when Anran suddenly hugged her.

She could not feel warmth, and even her response to touch was unclear, but being hugged like this by Anran felt different from when Colin and Eudora held her.

It was a feeling impossible to describe clearly. Aila had countless words in her mind, but right now she did not know which one to use for this sensation.

Happy?

Nervous?

Anxious?

Warm?

For Aila, the words she felt most deeply were things like curiosity, confusion, and surprise.

Surprise at things she did not know.

And the desire to know more.

She knew she was not a normal human, yet she still kept thinking about how she could try harder to become like one.

“Let’s go back.”

Only after a long while did Anran let go of Aila. She realized she had gotten a little carried away, but Aila did not seem to have much of a reaction.

So Anran waved a hand in front of Aila’s eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Aila asked.

“Let’s go back,” Anran said.

“Mm.”

Aila followed behind Anran.

Stepping on her own shadow, with the sun at her back, she walked one step at a time toward Eudora’s home.

…

In the afternoon, Anran returned to the research center alone.

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She was in no hurry to challenge the dungeon inside Nine Songs.

Instead, she continued making things to farm EXP.

Anran’s goal was very clear now. After learning that the people from Morningstar had come back again, and after getting through the initial chaos, she had found her direction once more.

Leaving No. 1886 and heading for Sea Blue Forest was her long-term goal.

So before she had saved enough money, taking out the Morningstar people who were hostile to her was an important story quest on the road toward that goal.

After farming another 3,600 EXP and raising her Free EXP to 9,900, Anran finally stopped working.

It was getting late as well. By this point, because they were running low on stamina, not many players were still gathered around the entrance to Nine Songs.

It was said that clearing this dungeon rewarded 3,000 EXP. An Apprentice Mechanic needed 15,000 EXP to reach Lv8. Once she cleared it, if Anran pushed a little harder, she could reach Lv8 today.

Anran put her things into her backpack, but she did not take the backpack with her.

She did not know whether there would be inspections over at Nine Songs, so she decided to finish the dungeon first and come back for it later.

After being authenticated, the main door to this workshop unlocked by fingerprint. Right now, only Anran could open it.

…

By evening, the huge crowd of players on Qiuyang Road had mostly dispersed.

They only came to farm the dungeon when they still had stamina and confidence. There was no way they could stay here every moment of the day. Otherwise, not only might they fail the dungeon, they would also waste this critical period for leveling up.

So far, only a little over a dozen players had cleared the dungeon. Most players were too low-level, and they still had not adapted to the game. The moment they entered the dungeon, they were utterly stomped by the villainous Morningstar Resistance and blown up on the spot.

When Anran arrived at the entrance to Nine Songs, she did not attract any attention.

The players here were already quite familiar with her and Aila.

A girl who seemed to work at the research center.

And a little pastry-stall owner.

A strange but very endearing combination.

Anran strode straight into Nine Songs.

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No one was checking people at the entrance, but there was a security scan.

Once inside, what Anran saw was a very ordinary interior layout. The lobby looked more like the reception area of some company, but a room nearby immediately caught her attention.

“Assessment.”

Two plain words.

This was the place.

Anran walked over.

Someone came up to her at once. “What do you need?”

He was a young man with a faint scar on his neck.

He was tall and solid, standing before Anran like an iron tower.

Even the way he spoke was a little stiff.

“I’m here to take the assessment,” Anran said.

“You?” the young man said in surprise.

He looked Anran up and down, her figure reflected in his pupils.

From that look, Anran could almost hear him saying, “Someone this short dares to come too?”

Anran frowned, but she was not foolish enough to start a conflict with him. Her gaze swept aside, and she suddenly pointed at a player who had just come out of the room.

“If she can do it, why can’t I?”

That player’s ID was “Monster Mountain Man.”

The young man followed where Anran was pointing.

“Monster Mountain Man” was a female player. She looked a little taller than Anran, but the key issue was that she was wearing shoes with fairly high heels.

Anran, on the other hand, was wearing a very ordinary pair of sneakers.

The young man curled his lip. “You’re different.”

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“Just because she’s an Outlander?”

“Looks like you know yourself pretty well. Even among Outlanders, she’s one of the most outstanding,” the young man said.

“…”

Although this dungeon did not limit participation to players alone, it was clearly not so easy for “locals” to slip in.

“All right, if there’s nothing else, leave. Nine Songs and the Security Department aren’t places just anyone can join. People really die here. This isn’t some place for fun and games.” The young man waved a hand and shook his head.

Looks like I’ll have to think of another way, Anran thought.

She was just about to leave.

At that moment, the door to the assessment room suddenly opened, and she saw two familiar figures walk out.

“This dungeon is kind of hard,” Leading the Charge said.

Zhou Jieyu puffed out her cheeks. “It’s obviously because you were too bad, bro. That Hunter class is way too lousy.”

“Hey, are you already dumping the blame on me now? Who was it that threw a bomb at her own feet after getting surrounded?” Leading the Charge shot back.

“You definitely saw it wrong. That bomb was thrown by someone from Morningstar!” Zhou Jieyu said, shuffling her feet.

This…

Should she say this really was worthy of Leading the Escape?

Anran was stunned.

But then a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed her mind.

Right. If she teamed up with players and entered the dungeon with them, then this young man blocking the way should have no reason to refuse her, right?

“If I take part in the assessment together with Outlanders, then there’s no problem, right?” Anran asked.

“Well…” The young man hesitated. His orders from above were that as long as Outlanders wanted to participate in the assessment, they were to be let in.

Anran immediately understood the answer. She quickly waved at Zhou Jieyu.

“Huh!”

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Zhou Jieyu’s eyes lit up at once. She saw Anran, and she also saw the quest marker over Anran’s head.

“What a coincidence!” Zhou Jieyu said with a grin.

Leading the Charge came over as well.

“Can you help me with something? I want to take this assessment, but this person is stopping me. Can you team up with me and take the assessment together?”

E-rank quest: Bring Anran into the assessment. Reward: 300 EXP.

Zhou Jieyu’s eyes lit up at once.

“Sure, sure!” Zhou Jieyu quickly called Leading the Charge over.

“But we’re out of stamina,” Leading the Charge said, a little troubled.

This…

Anran’s eyes widened.

But Zhou Jieyu said carelessly, “No big deal, no big deal. I brought something.”

As she spoke, she pulled several osmanthus cakes from her pocket. “To keep something like this from happening, where you’re just a little short of clearing the dungeon and want to keep farming it but don’t have any stamina left, I specifically made a few extra osmanthus cakes. Once we eat them, we’ll have just enough stamina for one more run.”

“…” Leading the Charge and Anran opened their mouths at the same time.

This…

Munch munch.

Anyway, this was a good thing.

“You’ve worked hard!”

As she passed by the young man, Anran smiled especially brightly. Heh. I can summon players, you know!

“…”

The young man could only watch Anran walk into the room. He shook his head in rather helpless resignation.