158

What was Gu Zhan going to do?

He hadn’t really thought about this issue.

But he wasn’t troubled like Yu Yezhou and the others.

Because Gu Zhan’s wish was simply to find a place that suited him, a place that would accept him.

To fulfill that wish, it seemed there was no need to leave this world.

But telling them he planned to become a monster seemed a bit too shocking.

While Gu Zhan hesitated on how to speak, Yang Lin sighed deeply and said, “You’re definitely planning to stay, right?”

Gu Zhan wasn’t sure how to explain it, so he didn’t say anything.

Yang Lin continued, “But are you sure this place is reliable?”

Gu Zhan remained silent for a moment, shaking his head.

They were all characters immersed in this world; how could they possibly know whether this world was reliable or not?

Yang Lin sighed deeply, her gaze fixed on Gu Zhan. That look seemed to transcend time and space, as if it glimpsed their inevitable separation.

She still wanted to say something, but just then, Gu Zhan was suddenly tugged, stumbling backward.

Mo Tuo, who had been sitting by the window, had unknowingly turned his gaze toward them. He still wore a smile, but his eyes were full of warning.

The words Yang Lin wanted to say were instantly swallowed back down.

What could be said in front of this monster?

The conversation ended there. Afterward, Yu Yezhou and the others left, leaving only Gu Zhan and Mo Tuo in the room.

Gu Zhan moved to the window, looking out in the direction where Mo Tuo had been gazing.

He remembered some things, but due to the suppressive power of the game world, although his memories were clear, the emotions and feelings from that time were faint.

It felt like someone else’s story.

It was as if his life within the game was truly his own, while the players coming and going downstairs were nothing but fleeting figures in his life.

As he gazed out, Gu Zhan suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder.

Turning around, he saw Mo Tuo, clearly unhappy, leaning heavily on his shoulder, almost hanging all over him.

“What’s wrong?” Gu Zhan reached up to touch Mo Tuo’s face.

Mo Tuo wasn’t happy. “Are you planning to leave?”

Gu Zhan looked into his eyes, feeling like something in their relationship had shifted.

After a while, Gu Zhan gently stroked Mo Tuo’s face again and said, “No.”

---

Mo Tuo wasn’t suited to wandering around the guild, so Gu Zhan took him back to his own room.

After a simple meal, Gu Zhan turned off the lights and lay down to sleep. In the dim room, Mo Tuo clung to Gu Zhan, lying beside him on the bed.

Gu Zhan helplessly said, “I just came out of a dungeon. I’m really tired and need rest. Do you need to rest too?”

Mo Tuo shamelessly responded, “I helped build the dungeon too. I’m tired.”

“Fine.” Gu Zhan didn’t say much more, tolerating the monster lying beside him.

After a good night’s sleep, Gu Zhan was awoken by a system notification.

The usual calm voice today held a bit more turbulence.

[Large-scale PVP Dungeon <Base Capture Battle> will soon begin. All players are welcome to participate.]

[The <Base Capture Battle> will be the second-to-last dungeon of this season, and rewards will no longer be given in the form of points, but will be settled with "Settlement Points," which can be directly exchanged for an Exit Scroll after the season ends.]

[Settlement Points will be calculated by squad. Squad members can share the points.]

[...Once the base battle starts, all players will receive an attack/defense map. Yellow-marked locations on the map are capture points. Player factions are divided into Red and Blue factions. Except for some fixed initial players, others can choose their factions freely.]

[The attack/defense battle will begin soon... Countdown: 3... 2... 1...]

Gu Zhan suddenly opened his eyes wide, sitting up in bed.

The final dungeon was starting?

He looked around, but Mo Tuo, who had been lying next to him, was gone.

Mo Tuo had left.

A system private message appeared, and when Gu Zhan opened it, it was a map of Chun Bai Cheng.

As the system had mentioned, the map marked 12 bases. One was red, one was blue, and the rest were yellow, indicating points that could be contested.

Gu Zhan opened his personal panel, and sure enough, it clearly showed that he was in the a Faction

It seemed that he and his companions, as well as the entire guild, were in the same Faction.

What he didn’t know was who was in the opposing Faction.

Gu Zhan opened the map again and looked at the base occupied by the opposing Faction. The map showed the owner as “Hai Chao Guild.”

As expected.

Gu Zhan immediately contacted Yu Yezhou, and they had heard the broadcast too. Yu Yezhou wanted to meet up to discuss things.

About ten minutes later, they met, and Yu Yezhou kept glancing behind Gu Zhan.

Gu Zhan knew he was looking for someone, so he spoke first. “He left.”

“He left?” Seeing Yu Yezhou’s expression, he seemed relieved.

Gu Zhan didn’t think Mo Tuo’s departure was a good thing, but it didn’t matter. They couldn’t rely on Mo Tuo’s power to win the Settlement Points.

“Have you seen the detailed information about the Red Faction?” Gu Zhan asked.

Yu Yezhou nodded, his expression serious.

Gu Zhan said, “It seems like we’re not at our own base right now.”

“Hmm?” They had just received the information a few minutes ago, and Yu Yezhou hadn’t noticed this detail. He opened the map again and said, “Our base... is at the warehouse we previously occupied?”

Yang Lin also pointed at the map. “It looks like all the bases are warehouses.”

“Attack/defense battles must have a time limit. Looking at this, the time limit is likely tied to the rate at which the warehouse’s supplies are consumed.” Sang Yue quickly operated her device. She was inquiring with the guild members stationed at the base to estimate how long the supplies would last.

Soon, she looked up and said, “About ten days.”

Yu Yezhou furrowed his brow. “Ten days... That’s a long time.”

Indeed, ten days was a long time. A lot could happen during that time. The Hai Chao Guild would definitely not give up easily and might even release those who had already turned into monsters and been expelled from the dungeon.

Yang Lin worriedly asked, “In PVP mode... is it possible to kill each other?”

“...” Everyone fell silent.

In PVP mode, of course... killing each other was allowed. Otherwise, what would be the point of PVP?

Although they already knew that there were two possible outcomes when dying in the game: one was to turn into a monster and remain in the game forever, and the other was to be stripped of their right to continue and have their memories erased, expelling them from the game.

For some, being expelled from the game is no different from death.

For example, the moment of death frozen in time for Yu Yezhou.

Realizing this, Yu Yezhou smiled bitterly. "I now feel that turning into a monster might not be such a bad thing after all."

"No," Sang Yue frowned in disdain. "Most monsters are really ugly."

Yu Yezhou immediately smiled wryly. "Your perspective is always so unique."

Sang Yue said, "That's exactly it. The reason Hai Chao studies these dark arts is because they weren't satisfied with the monsters they became. If they could transform into something powerful, maintain their original appearance, and move freely, why would they go through all this..."

As she spoke, Sang Yue looked at Gu Zhan.

Some people want it but can't get it, while others already have a ticket in hand.

Some can even briefly retain both the monster and player identities.

It's truly a case of "life’s unfair."

Sang Yue muttered softly, "They must hate you to the core."

Gu Zhan didn’t care. "Let them hate," he said indifferently.

He then asked Yu Yezhou, "What are your plans now?"

Yu Yezhou thought for a moment and replied, "We should contact others and try to pull more people into our camp."

Sang Yue asked, "Are there still people who want to join Hai Chao's camp?"

Yu Yezhou said, "You can't be sure. When people are faced with danger, they'll do anything."

They decided to split up. Yang Lin would take people to guard the resource points they had already occupied, while Yu Yezhou stayed at the guild to contact other allies.

Sang Yue and Xu Yu followed Yang Lin, while Gu Zhan thought for a moment and decided to stay in the guild.

"Thanks, brother." During such a time, Gu Zhan still stood with them, which made Yu Yezhou feel quite touched.

After Yang Lin left with her group, Yu Yezhou patted Gu Zhan on the shoulder and smiled. "The one thing I don’t regret about coming here is talking to you that day at the bar."

Gu Zhan didn’t say anything but patted Yu Yezhou's shoulder in return.

Soon after, Yu Yezhou sent messages to the leaders of other guilds, inviting them to discuss the upcoming offensive and defensive battles.

A few people showed up, including three larger guilds and several smaller ones just trying to profit from the situation.

There are about a dozen or so legitimate guilds in the game, not too many, not too few.

During the meeting, Gu Zhan didn’t participate but instead walked around the guild. It seemed that everyone was tense because of the system's announcement about the battles. Whenever he passed by a guild member, they looked serious, walking briskly.

Some even stopped to ask Gu Zhan in concern, "What are we going to do now? Will we really fight?"

Gu Zhan noticed that these experienced dungeon players, who were so calm in front of monsters, seemed unusually nervous when it came to PvP.

He recalled a question from long ago.

If a person gets used to killing in the game, are they still human once they leave the dungeon?

Gu Zhan didn’t try to predict the future situation and simply reassured them with a few words.

The people knew their concerns had no answers, and they left feeling disheartened.

Yu Yezhou's meeting lasted the whole morning, and it finally ended at lunch.

Two vice presidents of guilds stayed behind to eat with them, signaling that the deal had been struck.

Gu Zhan was invited as well. One of the vice presidents was from "Red Cloud" and the other from "Nightingale."

The man from Red Cloud, Xiao Su, looked serious, a middle-aged man. The vice president from Nightingale was a gentle-looking woman dressed in a white gown that seemed out of place for a dungeon game, with chestnut brown hair cascading over her shoulders.

She introduced herself simply as "Nightingale."

Her real name was clearly not that, but in such places, no one cared about the authenticity of names—it was just a nickname.

"So you're the legendary Gu Zhan?"

After they sat down in the guild cafeteria, Nightingale stared curiously at Gu Zhan.

She said, "The reason our guild leader sent me is largely because of you."

Gu Zhan paused slightly in his actions and replied, "If that's the case, you might as well go back. You'll be disappointed."

Nightingale blinked in surprise before laughing, looking even more pleased than before. "Hahaha, it’s truly better to see it for oneself. Don't worry, we’ve discussed it thoroughly, and we stayed because we thought it was worth it..."

Xiao Su added, "And besides, if we don’t join you, we'll have to join the blue side, and I don’t want to team up with Hai Chao and their bunch."

"Right," Nightingale agreed.

"What about the others?" Gu Zhan asked curiously. "The people who came here to discuss, have they made up their minds?"

Nightingale shrugged. "They probably want to keep their options open. Honestly, the system said we have to fight for territories, but it never specified when it ends. Until the time's up, everyone can stay undecided, right?"

"Exactly," Xiao Su confirmed. "If we take control of a territory early, we can take the resources and join whichever faction we want when it’s all over. Isn’t that better?"

Gu Zhan hadn’t expected them to be so shrewd. He exchanged a glance with Yu Yezhou, who seemed to have anticipated this.

It seems that when people want something badly enough, they'll do just about anything.

Previous Chapter 157 Next Chapter 159