Chapter 842

It was early morning in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This place was the edge of the common city area. The slums were located just one block away. On either side of a certain road were buildings with completely different build styles. On the east side, there were high-rise buildings made from reinforced concrete while on the left side, there were roads with potholes and shacks made from planks and iron plates.

There was a pickup truck beside the road. Two people were seated inside it.

“You still want to enter the instance dungeon with me?” Tina, who was holding onto the steering wheel, turned to look at Yang Yi, who was on the front passenger seat.

“This time, the instance dungeon summoning did not include you. There are still 26 minutes left before the instance dungeon begins. There’s still time for you to leave this instance dungeon’s zone.”

“If you go alone, I won’t be able to feel at ease.” Yang Yi looked ahead, his voice dry.

“The same answer every time.” Tina sighed. “Are all you guys from Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild so stiff and boring?”

Yang Yi simply shook his head. He did not answer.

“Fine. No matter what, I thank you.” Tina gave Yang Yi a sideways glance and said, “If I die, help me take good care of Joshua.”

“Survive and take care of him yourself.”

Yang Yi shook his head again. Then, he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it up. Tina sighed and rolled down the windows on both sides of the truck.

“You’re smoking again? It’s such a hot day. Can’t you let me enjoy the air conditioner for a bit? I’ve never seen you so addicted to smoking in the past.”

“Previously, you were pregnant.” Yang Yi took a long drag of the cigarette before puffing smoke out the window. “Didn’t you notice? I have never smoked in front of Joshua.”

“So, that’s how it is.” Tina fell silent for a moment before smiling. “Thanks for taking care of us. If Gibbs is still alive, he will also be very grateful to you for taking care of our child.”

Yang Yi did not say anything. He simply shut his eyes and silently puffed the cigarette.

Soon enough, the time came and the two of them received a prompt from their personal systems regarding the start of the instance dungeon.

At the same time, a curtain of light enveloped the two of them.

[Prompt: Number SN-2166, the Rio de Janeiro instance dungeon has begun!

[Background story: After spending a long time battling one another, the merfolks residing deep in the ocean have finally united as one and launched an invasion against the land. They plan on becoming the rulers of both the ocean and land.

[First phase of the quest: The merfolks require a high humidity environment created by the Misty Ocean Tree. Destroy the Misty Ocean Trees and the merfolks will suffocate to death.

[A. The coordinates of the Misty Ocean Trees will be assigned to the Players’ personal systems at random. Once the Misty Ocean Tree assigned is destroyed, the coordinates for the next one will be given.

[B. The Misty Ocean Tree possesses regenerative powers and cannot be utterly destroyed using common methods. The Misty Ocean Trees’ growth ability can be stopped using high-energy radioactive particles. Each Player will be assigned with a high-energy radioactive particles unit. It can be dropped and collected.

[C. After 12 hours, the number of destroyed Misty Ocean Trees will be calculated. The difficulty level of the second phase will be adjusted according to the calculated number.]

Following the appearance of the prompt, both Yang Yi and Tina felt their breathing rate becoming slightly sluggish.

The level of humidity had suddenly increased and a faint mist suddenly appeared around them.

The increase in humidity was not high enough to suffocate them. Even so, the resulting feeling of wetness and stickiness on their bodies was still very uncomfortable.

In addition to the humidity level, their surroundings also changed. A row of low shacks that should have been standing in front of them had disappeared without a trace, replaced by a large and dense jungle.

Additionally, there was also a small mechanical injection device. Purple-coloured liquid could be seen moving inside through a small part of the device that was made from transparent glass.

“We have been… teleported.”

Yang Yi opened the door and got off the car. Turning around, he checked their surroundings before swiftly looking down. Retrieving a GPS device, he pressed it a few times and said, “Not far. It just teleported us outside the city.”

“This did happen before.” Tina also appeared very calm. “In order to transform the state of the instance dungeon’s inner area, it would teleport all Players out of the area.”

“According to the prompt given by the instance dungeon, at present, the entirety of Rio de Janeiro has been occupied by the monsters. Let’s go.”

…

A curtain of light disappeared and a crowded group of men appeared on a hilltop.

In addition to Aderick, who was leading the one hundred combatants from Zero City, there were also the other members of Meteor Rock Guild, all except Chen Xiaolian.

“Finally…”

Aderick turned around to look at the soldiers behind him.

With a uniform movement, one hundred Sentinel mechs were brought out simultaneously. After entering the mechs, they saluted Aderick.

Looking at the powerful team of mechs behind him, Aderick suddenly felt a trace of emotion stirring within his heart.

It had been two hundred and twenty-one days since Zero City fell.

For the past two hundred and twenty-one days, the men from Zero City had been living like sewer rats. They hid and hid and hid, not showing their faces at all since the fall of Zero City.

Finally… they have returned once more!

“In the previous instance dungeon, we had been fighting each other to the death. To think that we would be fighting alongside one another now.”

Lun Tai glanced at Aderick, who was standing beside him, and smiled.

However, this was nothing unusual in the world of the Awakened ones. He had only spoken those words at random. At present, Aderick had become Chen Xiaolian’s partner. Moreover, there was no enmity between the two parties. They were only fighting one another back then due to the instance dungeon’s quest settings.

“This instance dungeon, how should we complete it?” Aderick did not retort back. Instead, he asked frankly.

Before entering the instance dungeon, Chen Xiaolian had already informed Aderick that his guild possessed the ability to obtain the instance dungeon’s list of quests.

Given their current situation, there was no longer any need to hide it from Aderick. Sharing information with one another would be more beneficial for future developments.

“There’s that something something tree, a total of fifty-three trees in total. On the whole, they are evenly distributed within the Rio de Janeiro city area.” Qiao Qiao inspected her personal system. “The first phase is to destroy as many of the trees as possible. The number of trees destroyed will determine the difficulty level of the second phase.”

“Give us more specifics.” Aderick nodded.

“If a Misty Ocean Tree is not destroyed, it will mutate after twelve hours. It will transform into a Misty Ocean Beast. The mist emitted by the Misty Ocean Tree only maintains living conditions for the merfolk, but the Misty Ocean Beast is different. Not only can it move around on its own, the mist it emits also greatly enhances the combat power of nearby merfolk. The quest for this phase is to kill off all the Misty Ocean Beasts. Overall, this instance dungeon is not too complicated. All we need to do is fight. After completing both phases of the quest, this instance dungeon will end.”

“In other words, from a logical perspective, we should do our best to destroy as many Misty Ocean Trees in the earlier phase. That would be more beneficial towards the completion of this quest.” Lun Tai rubbed his chin.

“What’s the difference?” Roddy shrugged disdainfully. “Be it killing an ocean tree or an ocean beast, how much difference is there in the difficulty level?”

“Are there no hidden quests?” Lun Tai turned towards Qiao Qiao.

“There is, but only one.” Qiao Qiao nodded.

“There is a simple way of completing the quest. During the first phase of the quest, if we inject an excessive amount of the high-energy radioactive particles into a Misty Ocean Tree, a mutation will be triggered after ten minutes. The mist it emits will instead carry radioactive matter. It is fatal to any merfolk within the affected area. When the second phase arrives, it can also transform into a Misty Ocean Beast. It is capable of moving on its own and is under the control of the team that completes the hidden quest.”

“So good? Doesn’t that mean… as long as we control a Misty Ocean Beast, no matter where we go, all those merfolk will die? That’s a straight path to victory!” Xia Xiaolei’s eyes lit up.

“More or less.” Qiao Qiao nodded. “However, the key point here is that this will greatly reduce the rewards. In the first phase, the reward for killing each tree is 500 points. In the second phase, each beast gives 1500 points. At the same time, we will also get more rewards for killing the strengthened merfolk. But once a Misty Ocean Tree is transformed through the hidden quest, everything in this instance dungeon that could have given points or items, be it the merfolk or misty beasts, all of them would be reset to zero.”

“Understood.” Roddy clapped his hands loudly. “Simply put, the hidden quest for this instance dungeon is like the cheat codes of a game. If we play it honestly, we will be able to pass the level normally. But if we use the cheat codes, we won’t be able to obtain the rewards.”

“That would be very pointless.” Lun Tai considered it for a moment before shaking his head. “Zero City has been rebuilt and possesses a certain level of production capability. More, it is in the process of being upgraded. Even so, points are still very important. Furthermore, there is something even more important. The reason we entered this instance dungeon is to establish Zero City’s prestige!

“If we do this hidden quest, there would be practically no battles to be had. How are we to show off our combat power then? Aderick, do you agree?”

Aderick did not hesitate to nod. “Of course.”

“If so… the strategy for the quest… what’s your plan?” Lun Tai looked at Aderick. “Since our Guild Leader had us participate in this instance dungeon together, we will need to plan our actions together.”

Aderick shook his head.

“I have no issues with it. Like I said before we set off, we’ll listen to your orders.”

“Alright.” Lun Tai was just being courteous. Seeing Aderick displaying a subordinate behaviour, Lun Tai did not put on a hypocritical act.

“It seems like the difficulty level for this instance dungeon is not high. We can split our forces and take action separately. Divide your one hundred men into ten teams. We have a total of nine people here. If we add you in, we’ll have enough for one of us to lead each team. We’ll move out simultaneously.”

“As long as you guys are fine with it, I’ll be fine with it too.” Aderick was not worried at all. Every one of the one hundred men he brought with him had been equipped with a Sentinel mech. He and Tian Lie were [S] class experts while Lun Tai and the others were in no way weak. An ordinary instance dungeon could not give them much pressure.

“Let’s go! Let them know that Zero City is back!”

Soon enough, a hundred Sentinel mechs were divided into ten teams, which then dashed forward in a single file following the directions that Lun Tai had assigned to them.