Chapter 855

Suddenly, Shen’s body erupted with a sphere of light, which spread out with him at its centre.

The figure behind him was sent flying by the light only to quickly stabilize themself, seemingly unscathed from the move.

In but a flash, Shen’s face turned pale even as the injury on his chest slowly healed up.

Only then were Chen Xiaolian and Shen able to get a clear view of the attacker’s face.

It was an unusually handsome face. Unlike Shen, it seemed as though almost every inch had been carefully designed after going through a strict degree of consideration. Even the figure’s body had the same perfect proportions.

To put it in another way, this person was like a character that had been plucked out from an online game.

Add the pair of pure white wings flapping gently behind, Chen Xiaolian almost couldn’t stop himself from uttering a cry.

Chen Xiaolian had seen these guys before within the memories he had gleaned through the wings.

The flawlessly perfect appearance, the pair of wings on its back and the terrifying power emanating from its body. All those aspects indicated their identity… the Exclusive Accounts used by the Development Team.

The Development Team… has once again appeared in this world?!

Suddenly, a chilling sensation rose up from Chen Xiaolian’s back, like a venomous snake slithering up his spine.

Back when he saw those few Players, he had grown concerned about the possibility of the Development Team paying attention to everything that was happening here.

When the Pope, the final BOSS of this instance dungeon disappeared, he became certain of it.

However, never in his wildest imaginations did Chen Xiaolian expect the Development Team to personally come here.

Chen Xiaolian had once asked Miao Yan before if there were any rumours about the angel-like Exclusive Accounts used by the Development Team amongst the Players only to be informed that she had never heard of it before.

It meant that, after the first GM’s betrayal, the Development Team had never entered this world ever again.

Why then did they enter now?

Could they have… figured out his discovery?

That was Chen Xiaolian’s biggest concern at the moment.

“Development Team?”

The two words hissed out through the gap between Shen’s teeth.

He had also gleaned the records left inside the wings. Naturally, he too could – with a glance – recognize the appearance.

In addition to the one who attacked Shen earlier, there were two other angels hovering up in the air. They cast a cold look at Shen.

“I was wondering who it might be. So, it’s Shen?” The frontmost angel regarded Shen from head to toe before sneering. “You have been absent for so long, everyone thought you dead already.”

Shen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The tone… did not sound like that of the Development Team.

“My name is Moonlight. This here is Shockbolt and Swift Swallow. The one who died by your hands earlier was our Squad Leader, Tempest.” Hatred seeped out from the eyes of the frontmost angel and he stretched his hand to point behind him. “The Development Team thinks that you are not qualified for them to personally take action. That is why… we will be dealing with you two troublemakers in their place.”

“The Development Team… they gave you guys Exclusive Accounts?” Chen Xiaolian was quick to respond.

These fellows were the Players who had attacked him in the fourth temple earlier.

Shen had been constantly on his tail. Most likely, he had killed one of those Players.

As for those who remained, the Development Team had ‘granted’ them, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, they had ‘lent’ them these angel Exclusive Accounts.

Moreover, the Players had also received the order to kill him and Shen.

“The former Guild Leader of Thorned Flower Guild and the strongest amongst all the Players.” Swift Swallow flapped her wings to move forward slightly. “No wonder you were able to so easily kill off Tempest just now. We couldn’t even get a good look at you. But that’s alright. You will be dying soon. I believe… you must also be capable of sensing just how strong the power hidden within our bodies are, right?”

“The Development Team gave you your current bodies?” Colour slowly returned to Shen’s face. It seemed the previous attack had managed to inflict considerable damage upon him. “Despite using angel bodies, you guys still needed to resort to a sneaky ambush. You guys truly disappoint me.”

“No, no, no. You’re wrong.” Moonlight calmly shook his head. “That just now was just a greeting. At any rate… you also killed Tempest before he could figure anything out. That same feeling, it is only natural for you to taste it as well. But do not misunderstand. Even without resorting to an ambush, we are still capable of killing off you guys.”

After saying that, Shockbolt and Swift Swallow appeared simultaneously around Chen Xiaolian and Shen. The three of them formed the ‘品’ shape around the two to surround them.

“Then…”

The killing intent within Moonlight’s eyes that were already intense to begin with, swelled up once more.

“Die!”

“Hold it! Hold it! Time!”

Just as the three Players in angel bodies were about to make their move, Chen Xiaolian suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs. “Why is it ‘you guys’? What does this have to do with me?”

“What did you say?”

Moonlight, who had already raised his hand, lowered it. With a frown on his face, he turned to regard Chen Xiaolian.

Immediately, Chen Xiaolian forced out a smile and point at himself. “Look. Do you see the wounds on my body? Can you tell who did this to me?”

Next, he pointed at Shen. “The wounds on his body. You guys see them too, right? You guys also know who did that to him, don’t you?”

Seeing Moonlight show no immediate intention of attacking again, Chen Xiaolian took a deep breath. Putting on a bitter face, he shouted, “Just now, he had been constantly on my ass trying to kill me. Surely you guys saw that in 4K. And the one who killed your Squad Leader is him as well, not me. On the contrary, I’m the poor victim here! The one that you guys ambushed! You guys ambushed me, but I didn’t even attack you back, isn’t that right? You guys want to kill him? You won’t hear any objections from me. But why lump me in with him?”

“You are also an irregularity in the system. Now that you have been discovered, how high do you reckon your chances of surviving could be?” Moonlight sneered at Chen Xiaolian. “One of the conditions for letting us use these bodies is to kill the two of you!”

“Even if that’s true, a 3 versus 1 followed by another 3 versus 1 is much easier than 3 versus 2, isn’t it? You guys want to kill him? I don’t care. I’ll just watch your fight from the side. You guys can just kill me after you guys are done killing him, can’t you?” Chen Xiaolian put on an honest-looking face as he looked at Moonlight.

Moonlight hesitated for a moment before turning to exchange glances with Shockbolt and Swift Swallow. There was the same look on all three faces.

This guy. Is he an idiot?

Even if there was some grudge between the two in the past, their group had already made it clear that they wanted to kill the two of them. To think that he would still be unwilling to join forces to fight against a common enemy. Rather, he wanted to stay out of it first?

That said, Chen Xiaolian’s words rang true. Killing them one by one was indeed much easier compared to killing two of them together.

“Not a bad proposal.” Moonlight nodded, his face revealing a satisfied smile. His eyes turned towards Shen, his face looking like he had just seen his prey falling into the palm of his hand.

Shen cast a cold look at Chen Xiaolian but said nothing. Instead, he tightened his grip on his bronze sword.

Chen Xiaolian, on the other hand, swiftly moved backwards, escaping from the encirclement of the three angels. He smiled at Shen, who was trapped in the centre, and waved at him.

Shen responded with a harrumph. He did not wait for the three angels to unleash their attacks. Instead, he took the initiative to attack first, stabbing Moonlight, who was in front of him.

“How confident!” Even before Shen’s sword could arrive before Moonlight’s face, countless motes of light had converged into a lance, which flew forward to meet the tip of the incoming sword.

A ripple spread out from the point of collision and the entire instance dungeon trembled slightly from the clash.

Moonlight retreated a little, but he appeared completely unscathed. Behind Shen, the other two angels attacked him at the same time.

Forming the same lance in their hands, they vaulted high into the sky and stabbed at Shen with the lances.

Although the lances had yet to stab Shen, the power of the lances had transcended space to firmly lock Shen down.

Shen’s expression flickered and he swung his sword gently around himself to block the attacks from the two angels. However, he could not endure the combined force of the three angels. His entire figure seemed as though it had been struck by lightning and he spat out another mouthful of blood.

Chen Xiaolian, on the other hand, had his hands behind his back and a smile on his face as he watched the three angels besiege Shen.

At that very moment, everything within his eyes, the four who were engaged in battle were seemingly moving in slow motion. Chen Xiaolian could see the movements of every limb clearly.

Simply by concentrating, all of Chen Xiaolian’s senses would be magnified countless times.

He could see how every muscle – even the most slender of them all – belonging to both the angels and Shen were moving; how each ripple of power was generated and spread out.

He could even see the digital forms of the four and how the green-coloured streams of digital code were swiftly changing.

If Shen was in his normal state, even the act of facing three angels simultaneously would not have given him too much pressure. However, with a large portion of his power stripped away, he had to give it his all just to barely hold on.

Although Chen Xiaolian was also facing a Shen who was going all out just now, as the one being attacked, how could he calmly focus all his attention on observing the fight back then? But now he could.

Moreover, he was currently presented with not one but four observation targets.

Not long after Chen Xiaolian began observing, Shen fell into a disadvantaged position.

By working together, the three angels were able to field a power that surpassed the current Shen. In but moments, their lances had successfully struck him several times.

However, as he was on guard, the lances did not pierce through his body. Even so, every strike would cause him to spray out a mouthful of blood.

Meanwhile, not once did Shen’s attacks succeed in hitting the three angels.

“Hey, if you keep leaving that power unused, you’ll die.” Chen Xiaolian picked his ear and shouted lazily at Shen. “Surely you’re not going to insist on keeping me here even if it means getting killed by those three, are you?”

As Chen Xiaolian was saying that, Shen was once again struck by two lance attacks, one on his chest and the second on his back.

His body had immediately erupted with a golden light – covering every part of his body – that knocked away the two lances but Shen sprayed out yet another big mouthful of blood. Finally, he began gasping for breath.

Giving Chen Xiaolian a glance, Shen then weakly waved his left hand to the front. Instantly, his aura grew, becoming much stronger.

“See? You’re not stupid to the point of being unable to determine the gravity of your situation. Then…”

Chen Xiaolian raised his head and laughed before waving furiously at Shen and the three angels.

“Until next time, mina-san![1]”

The very next instant, his figure disappeared.

“What happened?”

Seeing Chen Xiaolian disappear, Shockbolt, who had been about to stab forward with the lance in his hand, immediately frowned.

“This guy…” Moonlight extended a hand to point at Shen. “Looks like he had been allocating a portion of his power earlier to lock this instance dungeon so as to stop that kid from running away. Now, it would appear that he has cancelled the lockdown. He has also recovered a portion of his power.”

“He has yet to recover to the point where he can escape our combined might.” Swift Swallow regarded Shen. “Only, what do we do about the kid who escaped? The Development Team stated that the condition for giving us these bodies is for us to wipe out these two BUGs.”

“It’s not like they gave us a time limit,” Moonlight responded with a leisurely smile. “Finish this one off first. As for the remaining one, we can take our time in tracking him down. Even if we fail to find him, the Development Team will help us track him. At any rate… they are even more anxious than us.”

“Makes sense.” Swift Swallow tilted her head and considered the issue for a moment before nodding.

“In that case, let’s continue! Kill this BUG!”

1 Mina-san is Japanese for ‘everyone’. The -san gives it a more polite gesture.