Chapter 40 Part 1

The teleportation ended. Xia Xifeng was still latched onto Qin Lang, refusing to let go.

Qin Lang shoved at Xia Xifeng. “Let go.”

Xia Xifeng kept his face firmly buried in Qin Lang’s shoulder, eyes squeezed shut. “First, check the surroundings for me. Are they scary? Let me mentally prepare.”

Qin Lang said, “You’re clinging too tightly. I can’t turn my head properly.”

Xia Xifeng arched his back, nestling his head against Qin Lang’s chest without obstructing Qin Lang’s view.

Qin Lang looked down at the giant lump of childhood friend attached to his chest, utterly speechless.

If his reputation was ruined, it was entirely Xia Xifeng’s fault.

He scanned the area, then reached up and patted the top of Xia Xifeng’s head. “Nothing scary.”

Xia Xifeng said, eyes still closed, “Don’t lie to me.”

Qin Lang retorted in annoyance, “So what if I do? You planning on never opening your eyes?”

Xia Xifeng grumbled a few curses at Qin Lang, then cautiously peeled his eyes half-open, sneaking furtive glances left and right.

“Phew.” Xia Xifeng straightened up, clutching his chest and taking deep breaths. “Alright, alright. Where is this?”

Qin Lang replied, “Must you say the exact same thing every time you’re transported to a dungeon?”

“You’re so full of pointless words.” Xia Xifeng shot Qin Lang a sideways glare.

He eagerly examined this new dungeon.

Once again, the dungeon had deposited them right at a city gate.

This time, however, the city wasn’t in ruins. It looked quite prosperous and peaceful.

Xia Xifeng first walked a few steps away from the city. He quickly felt a resistance, like an invisible wall in a game.

Clearly, the clues lay inside the city. The dungeon wasn’t about to let Xia Xifeng wander off.

“In reality, they’re still pulling this invisible-wall routine.” Holding Qin Lang’s hand, Xia Xifeng walked toward the city gate.

Qin Lang tried to shake his hand free, but failed. “Why are you holding hands?”

Xia Xifeng answered, “Worried we’ll get separated.”

Qin Lang: “…”

Forget it. Considering Xia Xifeng hadn’t yet recovered from his fright, he’d endure it.

The guard at the city gate was dozing.

Seeing someone approach, the guard immediately demanded a travel permit.

Xia Xifeng asked, “I’m a traveling adventurer without a pass. Can’t I enter?”

The guard replied, “One silver coin per person.”

Xia Xifeng checked his inventory and retrieved three silver coins. “Can I use coins not from around here?”

The guard had intended to give Xia Xifeng trouble, but seeing the three silver coins, he immediately changed his tune. “Usable, as long as it’s genuine silver.”

Putting on a smiling face, he not only swiftly permitted Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang entry but also enthusiastically recommended places to visit, telling them where to buy a city map.

Xia Xifeng: [This time, our interface is max-level game stats again. Seems this dungeon isn’t set in reality.]

Qin Lang was currently adjusting his equipment.

His stats and inventory had switched. All his preparations before the teleport were wasted.

Xia Xifeng: [Following the pattern from that last parallel-world dungeon, we’re not going to have to slaughter another actual Evil God this time, are we? Hopefully, it’s one you’ve farmed before. Any impression of this dungeon?]

Qin Lang: [None.]

Xia Xifeng started to worry.

If it was a new boss Qin Lang had never fought, even a top-tier player like him might fail on a blind run.

Though death in these parallel-world dungeons didn’t mean real death, failing the dungeon could have unknown consequences for reality.

But worrying wouldn’t help. Xia Xifeng only felt dejected for a moment before quickly rallying, searching the city for clues.

For this kind of thing, he couldn’t rely on Qin Lang.

Xia Xifeng: [This city’s architectural style is Elven. I’ve traveled through every Elven city in the Dream World, and I’ve never seen one like this.]

Xia Xifeng: [Huh?! Why is that Elf randomly whipping someone?! The person he’s whipping doesn’t even know him! They just glanced at him while walking by!]

Xia Xifeng: [What’s going on?! Why are these Elves so arrogant?!]

Xia Xifeng: [Ah, crap. They’re coming for us!]

Qin Lang reached out and snagged the whip the Elven man lashed at them. With a flick of his hand, he used Mage Hand to yank the Elven man over, then slammed him hard onto the ground.

Xia Xifeng was astonished. “Qin Lang, isn’t that a bit too brazen?!”

Qin Lang replied, “You and I are at demigod level.”

Xia Xifeng: “I count as a demigod too? Uh, the base stats are demigod level, right, but I can’t use combat skills…”

He thought about the positioning of demigods within the game’s NPC world.

While among players, demigods (i.e., max level 200) were a dime a dozen, in the game’s lore, demigods were the peak of mortal existence, capable of wrestling with gods.

Xia Xifeng immediately puffed out his chest. In a single small city, what could possibly suppress two demigods? Rounding up, he and Qin Lang were invincible! They could swagger sideways!

“Be even more brazen!” Xia Xifeng urged. “Since we can beat them anyway, instead of sneaking around for information, let’s force the lord to deliver the intel straight to us!”

Qin Lang nodded.

He selected an intimidation skill to reveal his power level.

The City Guard Captain, who had rushed over to arrest Qin Lang, was crushed to his knees under the pressure.

He said with difficulty, “Sir, why do you make enemies of us?”

Xia Xifeng answered, nose in the air, “Who’s making enemies? We were walking peacefully when some maniac suddenly whips at us. We merely tossed him aside, and now the city guards are surrounding us. I’d like to ask you—making enemies of us, is that your lord’s command?”

Cold sweat poured down the Captain’s forehead. He couldn’t help but glare back at the unconscious Elven man.

So what if you’re the city lord’s son? When you go on drunken rampages through the city, can you at least look at your target? Not all humans are your slaves!

The men standing before him had unfathomable strength, clearly beyond his ability to handle. The Captain immediately spoke placatingly, claiming it was all a misunderstanding, willing to offer compensation.

Xia Xifeng had Qin Lang retract his skill aura and named the inn where they’d be staying—the one the gate guard had recommended—telling the City Guard to send someone capable of handling matters to address the offense done to them.

Watching Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang leave, the Captain hurried to the castle to find the city lord.

Even if they might not necessarily be outmatched in a fight, there was no reason to antagonize passing experts.

Especially now, with the Elven Empire at war with the resistance forces—better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Xia Xifeng: [Someone’s tailing us. Must be plot-related!]

Qin Lang: [I’ll leave it to you.]

Xia Xifeng: [Never expected to rely on you anyway.]

Perhaps because they were in a dungeon, the gold and silver coins in Xia Xifeng’s inventory were usable here too.

Xia Xifeng booked the best suite available.

The moment they entered the room, he told Qin Lang to grab the person tailing them.

The stalker hadn’t expected to be discovered. “I’m a Legendary Professional!”

Xia Xifeng studied the man before him. Unfamiliar face, never seen him before.

Qin Lang, however, recognized him. [That’s one of the corpses lying at the altar, the one closest to it.]

Xia Xifeng couldn’t suppress a shudder.

Dead corpses coming back to life. With difficulty suppressing the tremor in his voice, Xia Xifeng said, “That simply means my companion and I are far stronger than Legendary rank. So, speak. Why were you following us?”

Seeing Xia Xifeng showed no obvious hostility, the man hesitated, then cut straight to the point. “Are you with the Resistance Army?”

Xia Xifeng: “Huh?”

What was the Resistance Army? Even the lore expert Xia Xifeng’s mind blanked for a second.

Qin Lang answered: “No.”

Xia Xifeng nodded. “Right. We’re just passing through. What’s this Resistance Army about?”

The man asked suspiciously, “How could you not know about the Resistance Army? The Elven Empire is already in full-scale war.”

Xia Xifeng: “…” This is really ancient history. Let me think…

The Elven Empire… the Resistance Army… what era was this?

Xia Xifeng frowned, racking his brain. [Qin Lang, isn’t this the time period before the Human Empire was even established?]

Qin Lang: [Don’t ask me.]

Xia Xifeng was speechless. He could only think on his own.

Before the apocalypse descended, when the world was still at peace, the Elven Empire and the Human Empire, as the world’s two largest empires, had long since signed peace treaties and engaged in close exchange.

But from the history books players unearthed from post-apocalyptic ruins, and from the official timeline published by the game developers, the Elves and other races shared a bloody history of hatred.

Elves were the “firstborn” of the gods, the self-proclaimed “chosen” of the divine, innately possessing long lives and exceptional talents.

They established the very first empire in the Dream World.

Unlike the later Elven Empire, this empire nominally ruled the entire continent. All intelligent beings on the continent were its subjects.

The Elves, standing high and lofty, looked down upon other intelligent life, viewing them as inferior beings.

The sole weakness of the Elves was their extremely low fertility, making reproduction difficult.

Though they possessed great power, their numbers were few. The edges and corners of the world gradually filled with other “lesser intelligent creatures,” birthing countless small kingdoms.

The Elven Empire was forced to slowly adjust its foreign policy, but toward non-Elf races within the Empire, they remained cruel and ruthless.

Until the Elven First Empire’s capital was breached by the Resistance Army, and the Eternal Elf King fell in battle.

That among the lesser races, a Legendary Professional capable of slaying the Elf King had emerged, forced the Elves to truly reckon with the other races.

This became the catalyst for the founding of the Human Empire.

But what did any of this have to do with the Silver Moon?! Which era had this dungeon thrown them into?!

Xia Xifeng felt a headache coming on. “You’re saying… you’re a member of the Resistance Army? And you thought we were too?”

The man also looked pained. “You’re not Elves. How could you possibly not be part of the Resistance? I assumed you had some mission that required you to intentionally draw attention to yourselves.”

He and Xia Xifeng stared at each other, bewildered.

Xia Xifeng said, “We really were just passing through.”

The man’s mouth opened and shut. Finally, he smacked his forehead. “I can see that. So… sorry for the disturbance? As fellow humans, I trust you won’t report us?”

Xia Xifeng hurriedly threw an arm around the man’s shoulders. “Hold on! I find this Resistance Army fascinating. I’ve decided… to join the Resistance Army right now!”

The man: “…”

He immediately turned to leave.

Qin Lang produced a short sword.

The man silently sat back down.

Xia Xifeng laughed cheerfully. “That Elven man whipping people around—he had to have some high status, right? My partner and I have probably offended the local bigwigs anyway. Why not just rebel?! Come on, introduce yourself.”

Xia Xifeng first introduced himself, claiming he and Qin Lang hailed from the Wastelands and were demigod-level.

The man’s mouth twitched. “The gods have a pact not to personally intervene in this war. A demigod counts as a god.”

Xia Xifeng amended, “A few steps short of demigod! Half-step demigod!”

The man thought: If I wasn’t completely powerless to resist, I’d seriously think this guy is just messing with me.

With no choice, the man, though his mind was somewhat fraying, introduced himself: “My name is Taylor. I am a Holy Word Knight of the Church of the Silver Moon.”

Xia Xifeng’s eyes lit up.