“Didn’t you manage to find one?” Chen Xiaolian raised his brows. “If you can find one, why can’t I?”
“You think it was easy for me to get it?” Miao Yan released a soft sigh. “I nearly died in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon.”
“Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon?” Chen Xiaolian was stunned. “Could it be… … the coffin that you took back then…”
Back then, during the final moments of the instance dungeon, Miao Yan had taken away a jade coffin. Then, Chen Xiaolian was only a rookie. It was only natural for him to be in the dark about what Miao Yan had acquired.
Judging from what she had said, there was a seed of the World Tree hidden inside the jade coffin?
“No.” To Chen Xiaolian’s surprise, Miao Yan shook her head. “I simply… … made a deal with Shen. This seed of the World Tree originally belonged to Shen. I had exchanged the jade coffin for the seed.”
“However, I do not know how Shen obtained the seed of the World Tree.”
“You do not know what is inside the jade coffin?”
“No.” Miao Yan shook her head. “According to the agreement we made beforehand, I cannot open the jade coffin to see what is inside it.”
Chen Xiaolian nodded. “Truth be told… … it may have been better for you if you hadn’t traded the jade coffin for his seed of the World Tree.”
He recalled Shen mentioning that he had acquired more than one pair of the angel wings.
Perhaps, the jade coffin contained another pair of the angel wings.
What other item was valuable enough to be exchanged for the seed of the World Tree?
“At any rate, what I am trying to say here is, the existence of the seeds of the World Tree is something of a whispered legend. Additionally, there are no clues about where they are.” Miao Yan shook her head and continued, “Before I had personally received the seed from Shen, I myself was doubtful of their existence. As for how Shen found the seed, I am even more in the dark. Thus…”
Miao Yan then smiled and continued, “At present, both of us have one each. Five more are needed and we do not know where and how we should go about finding them.”
“That issue is not that difficult.” Chen Xiaolian suddenly revealed a confident smile. “Be it Shen or Du Wei, both are much more experienced and stronger than me. However, at the very least… … I have connections that they do not have.”
“Connections?” Miao Yan cast a puzzled look at Chen Xiaolian.
Chen Xiaolian did not answer her. Instead, he stood up, stretched his hand towards the bar counter and snapped his fingers.
The bar was not too large. Additionally, there were not many customers within the bar at the moment. Besides the two of them, the only other person inside the bar was the bar owner who lay on the bar counter with a bored look. His eyes were half closed and it was hard to tell if he was actually awake or asleep.
Since Chen Xiaolian and Miao Yan walked through the doors of the bar until now, the only thing the bar owner had done was to bring over the fruit juices and the hookah. He had made no other overt movements since then.
Only when Chen Xiaolian snapped his fingers did he raise his head to look at the two who were seated within a corner of the bar. Lazily, he stood up, walked around the counter and moved towards them.
“What do you need?” the bar owner asked lazily in Arabic.
“This thing. Have you seen it before? There are five more in total. Where are they?” Chen Xiaolian raised his hand to place the seed of the World Tree on the smooth table surface.
“Chen Xiaolian?” Miao Yan was flabbergasted.
Has he gone mad?He is showing this item to the owner of a small bar? An ordinary NPC?
Miao Yan raised her head to carefully regard the bar owner.
Typical Arab appearance, white robes, slightly dark skin and a large headscarf wrapped around his head. It was a very ordinary look.
Miao Yan had met two of Chen Xiaolian’s guild mates before back in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon. Those two were clearly from China.
When the two of them were leaving the Blessing of Osiris instance dungeon earlier, Chen Xiaolian had mentioned that he was bringing them to a random place. After leaving the instance dungeon, the two of them arrived in a city within Cairo, where they immediately entered this small bar.
The owner of this small bar. He just so happened to be an Awakened? Or was he one of Chen Xiaolian’s acquaintances?
The possibility of that was practically zero!
To Miao Yan’s surprise, after looking at the seed on the table, the bar owner sat down beside them.
“A very peculiar item.”
After sitting down, the bar owner’s demeanour seemingly underwent a slight transformation.
Although Miao Yan was unable to tell just what about him had changed, she felt that… … this bar owner had seemingly become a different person.
The bar owner turned his head slightly to give Miao Yan a glance. Then, he turned to Chen Xiaolian and said in a collected tone, “You have made up your mind to act alongside this Player?”
Miao Yan felt somewhat astounded.
Earlier, this small bar’s owner had casually sat down.
And, with just a glance, he could tell that she was a Player?
Just who is he?
However, it would appear that Chen Xiaolian had no intentions of explaining it to her. He ignored her and looked at the bar owner instead. “Although you are unable to sense what happened inside Zero City, you should have heard everything I said to her, right?”
“Yes.” The bar owner nodded, a very tangled expression on his face. It contained shock and sadness. “The truth, is beyond what I had imagined.”
“If so, you should know what I want to talk to you about.” There was a calm look on Chen Xiaolian’s face. “Let’s continue our cooperation. It will be beneficial for the both of us. You should understand. If Shen can get his hands on the Oddity and complete his World Patching Plan… … he will become this world’s one and only God. And when that time comes…”
“I will no longer exist. I understand that.” The bar owner nodded. “I will help you. However, it is not as easy as you think.”
“What do you mean?” Chen Xiaoian’s brows furrowed slightly. “Aren’t you omnipotent?”
“Almost, but not completely.” The bar owner sighed softly. “For example, I cannot enter instance dungeons and Zero City. You know that already. Besides, this item…”
He reached out with his hand, using two fingers to pick up the seed that Chen Xiaolian had placed on the table. After scrutinizing it for a moment, he said, “Fundamentally speaking, it is not an item that belongs to this world. Naturally, it also does not exist within this world’s ‘database’. I am unable to look it up.”
Chen Xiaolian’s face turned grim. “You mean to say, not even you can find them?”
Even though others might be incapable of finding it, Chen Xiaolian had assumed that it would not be a difficult matter for the bar owner.
Unexpectedly, this would happen.
“What I mean is, this will take longer.” The bar owner shook his head. “Although I cannot directly look for this item, I can go through the data of every person and check to see if they have ever made contact with this item… that includes the Awakened ones and Players who are logged in.”
“Sounds like a very big project.” Chen Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief. At least it was not impossible. “So, how long will it take?”
“It’s much bigger than you can imagine. By my estimate… … around two weeks,” the bar owner said coolly. “I am talking about the time it would take me to go through all the data available. I will be able to find the seeds one by one between now and then. Whenever I find one, I will immediately notify you about it.”
“Good.” Chen Xiaolian nodded. Although the two-week period was considerable, it was acceptable.
Hopefully… … Shen would not escape so quickly.
After saying that, the bar owner moved back to the bar counter and sat back down.
Miao Yan had been constantly staring at the bar owner. When the bar owner made his way back to the bar counter, the ‘special feeling’ he gave off disappeared and he lay down on the bar counter again. Once again, his eyes became half closed as he went back to sleep.
“He… … who is he? Chen Xiaolian, do you have no intentions of explaining this to me?” Miao Yan rapidly jerked her head to look at Chen Xiaolian. “He says he could go through every data in this world, could he be…”
“My partner, the GM.” Chen Xiaolian smiled. “He doesn’t want to be refreshed along with this world. For that sake, he is able to provide me with some handy assistance. It is something of a mutually beneficial relationship. As the GM, he can monitor everything within this world. And, as you have witnessed earlier, he can also insert himself into anyone.
“If there is anything in this world that he cannot find, no one else would be able to find it.”
