ATFBETIBM 172.1 – ETERNAL DIAMOND MOUNTAIN ARC

Immersive Escape Game Lobby

[Ding! Welcome to the Immersive Escape Game lobby.]

With a bright white light, nearly a hundred new players appeared in the game lobby.

The somewhat confused and terrified new players looked left and right, not knowing what to do.

“Where is this?”

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“How did I end up here?”

“What the hell is this place?”

Just as the new players were looking at each other, a few attractive men and women came over.

“I’m sorry to welcome you to the immersive escape game.”

At the head of the group was a man in his mid-twenties, with hair that was meticulously slicked back in a very standard elite hairstyle.

He spoke first, with a detached yet polite smile on his stern face: “Let me introduce myself, I am the Vice President of the Core Fire Guild, my name is Zhou Guang, and this is a meeting gift to you all.”

As he spoke, he took out a stack of prop cards from his backpack and handed them out to the newcomers in front of him.

The newcomers took the cards in a daze, and one of them came out of his daze and asked in confusion, “Are you NPCs?”

“No,” replied another tall, sunny boy, “we’re players too.”

Time passed, and the new players came to terms with the system’s prompts.

The newcomers looked at each other, somewhat confused by the situation before them.

One of the players, who looked like a fitness trainer given his muscles, asked, “Why are you helping us? Did you say you are the Core Fire Guild? Are you inviting us to join?”

Zhou Guang: “Nothing else; we’ll talk about joining later; providing necessary help to new players is the aim of our guild.”

“I don’t need you to join, but I have a small suggestion. I’m helping you out today, so I hope you’ll help someone else when you can.”

The sturdy man finally took the prop card and said, “Ah, thanks then, if others help me, I will help others in the future.”

He looked up and took a serious look at the people before him. In addition to the elite-looking man named Zhou Guang, there was another handsome boy who spoke up earlier. He looked to be only 18 or 19 years old and the tallest of them all.

There was also a girl and another young man. The girl had long, fine hair, wore a red jumpsuit and had a very heroic face. She carried a bow and arrow about half a man’s height behind her.

Compared to the others, the young man was much gentler. He wore a simple shirt underneath a white coat and came across as a doctor.

When the sturdy young man saw the girl, his eyes lit up, and he walked straight up to her and said, “Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Li Cangshan; may I ask what your name is?”

The girl obviously did not expect the man to be so abrupt, she froze for a moment before she spoke hesitantly, “My name is Li Cancan.”

Li Cangshan’s eyes lit up again, his mouth grinning wide, and revealing rows of white teeth that could be used for toothpaste advertisements, “We are destined to be together.”

“We are both surnamed ‘Li’, I have the word ‘shan’ in my name, and you have two ‘can’ in your name. Our two names add up to three mountains, which is…er…”

“Three mountains, pronounced ‘shi’.” The handsome boy beside the four rolled his eyes and said, “Dude, you’re scaring our Sister Cancan.”

Li Cangshan scratched his head in embarrassment and continued to speak eagerly to Li Cancan, “Sister Cancan, are you also from the Core Fire Guild?”

Li Cancan coughed lightly, “Hello, player Li Cangshan, I am the vice president of the Core Fire Guild.”

Li Cangshan: “Don’t be so formal; since we are related, you can just call me Cangshan, Sister Cancan.”

“At the risk of asking, can I join your guild?” Li Cangshan gazed towards the handsome boy and the gentle young man and asked, “May I ask which one of you two is the president?”

Handsome boy: “My name is Xia Chi, I am also a vice president.”

Gentle young man: “Hello, my name is Liang Xi, and I am also a vice president.”

Li Cancan: “Our president position is still vacant; there is an official channel if you want to join. Just apply for membership, and you can join if you pass it. There is no need to ask us.”

“Huh, the president’s position is vacant? That’s weird, but it’s okay,” Li Cangshan said seriously to Li Cancan, “I want to join now, please give me an application form for membership.”

“Ha, I advise you to think twice before you join. How far do you think the future of a guild with a president whose life or death is uncertain can go?”

Just as Li Cangshan was saying something about joining the guild, an abrupt tone suddenly splashed cold water over him.

Li Cangshan followed the tone and saw several people walking toward them in a mighty procession.

The leader was a man with long hair tied into a high ponytail and sharp eyes; he didn’t look like someone to be messed with.

He stopped in front of them and spoke arrogantly: “I am the vice president of the Canglan Guild, and our guild is ranked eighty-sixth. Player Li Cangshan, your performance in the trial copy was very amazing, don’t join a bumpkin-like guild.”

“Their guild ranking is over two hundred and has just been established, not even a year ago. There are only about a hundred guild members, of which a large percentage are low-ranked players. In comparison, our guild has been established for fifteen years and has thousands of guild members.”

“Let’s talk about the president again. Our president has now reached over seven hundred levels and is a veritable master of strength. Whereas their president? It’s just a flash in the pan, having been in the time cage for over two years.” The pony-tailed man swept a glance at Zhou Guang and the others and said, “Oh, no, I was wrong. That man isn’t the president yet, after all, he had already gone in before the Core Fire Guild was even formed. Maybe he is already dead.”

“How many resources can the Core Fire Guild provide for you guys? How many resources can we give you? You should know very well in your heart, right? You’re a smart person, and I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.”

Xia Chi frowned. He was about to make a move when Li Cancan beside him pulled him back, “Xia Chi, calm down, brawling is forbidden in the game lobby.”

Xia Chi withdrew his hand, his murderous eyes glanced at the ponytailed man, and said coldly, “What’s your name?”

Strands of the ponytailed man’s hair dangled from the corners of his eyes as he raised his head arrogantly and said, “This master has never changed his name, his name is Zhao Sen. Remember it.”

Xia Chi sneered, “Zhao Sen, right, I’ll remember; you better pray you don’t run into me during the copy.”

How dare you curse my brother? I’ll kill you.

Zhao Sen cast a disdainful glance at Xia Chi and said, “You, what can a rookie of 400 floors do?”

Li Cancan, Zhao Sen, and then Xia Chi, suddenly turned their heads towards Li Cangshan, who suddenly spoke up, “President Zhao? May I take the liberty to ask a few questions?”

Although Zhao Sen was pulling people into the guild, the person’s eyes still carried a sense of self-important nobility: “What kind of questions?”

“Canglan Guild was established 15 years ago and is ranked 86th, right?”

Zhao Sen had pride in his eyes: “Yes, isn’t it great to have such a strong guild invite you?”

“I just looked up the guild ranking, there are more than a thousand guilds in the whole game. Core Fire Guild has only been established for half a year, and it has already entered the top 250, which is equivalent to a rise of over 700 positions in a year. At this rate, Core Fire Guild will be able to surpass you in a few years.”

Zhao Sen’s face suddenly changed, and Li Cangshan’s gaze was glued to Li Cancan as he spoke, “The fire of a wick can start a prairie. I think the Core Fire Guild has a better future than the Canglan Guild, I choose the Core Fire Guild.”

Zhao Sen took a deep breath and was about to open his mouth to curse when Zhou Guang suddenly spoke coldly, “Zhao Sen, I know you. You’ve been in the Escape game for over ten years and are currently on the 600th level.”

“Heh,” he narrowed his eyes and gave Zhao Sen a contemptuous glance, “What a turtle’s speed, it took our Xia Chi a little over two years to climb to more than 400 floors, and will soon be on the 500th. God Xin is Xia Chi’s idol, yet you just dared to curse God Xin, prepare your coffin, and wait for death.”

Xia Chi cooperated by raising his head and giving Zhao Sen an eye of absolute contempt.

Zhao Sen’s face was a mixture of blue and purple, and his chest was heaving violently up and down. He roared as he drew a dagger from his backpack and charged toward Xia Chi.

The man beside him scrambled to grab his arm, but because Zhao Sen was too fast, he couldn’t grab it in time.

A gleam flashed through Zhou Guang’s eyes, and he silently exchanged a glance with the people around him. They tacitly retreated at the same time, leaving only Xia Chi standing in place.

As Li Cancan backed away, she also very considerately pulled Li Cangshan as well.

Xia Chi did not panic and dodged Zhao Sen’s first attack. Just as Zhao Sen’s second attack came, Xia Chi’s eyes flashed, and he quickly pulled out a long knife from his backpack.

The long, cold, glowing blade slashed down from on high, instantly cutting through the middle of Zhao Sen’s short sword as if he were cutting a piece of tofu.

While Zhao Sen was stunned, Xia Chi lifted his foot and kicked him so hard that Zhao Sen instantly flew about five meters away.

The bamboo behind him was smashed into a large crater, and Zhao Sen spat out blood, staring at the short sword in his hand in dismay.

How could this be?

His short sword was an S-rank prop, a prop that he had obtained after a lot of hard work and survival; how could it be easily cut into two?

Who the hell was the boy called Xia Chi?

He looked up at Xia Chi in shock and saw the expressions of the other people from the corner of his eyes.

No, who were these guys from the Core Fire Guild?

They didn’t seem surprised by the current outcome at all, and they just backed away in unison and silence.

F*ck.

That man named Zhou Guang had deliberately provoked him.

[Ding! Warning! Player brawl found, and the judgment begins now.]

Zhao Sen used a healing card himself and had just gotten halfway through healing when the cold electronic tone of the system rang above the heads of the crowd.

[Judgement over. Player Zhao Sen attacked a player and will be punished by the system. Player Xia Chi was judged to have defended himself and will not be punished.]

With those words, two NPCs in the lobby immediately walked toward Zhao Sen. Under Zhao Sen’s horrified gaze, they grabbed him by the arms and dragged him toward the darkness.

Zhao Sen shouted angrily while being dragged, “It’s not me! It was them, they deliberately provoked me, system are you a fucking pig? Are you a pig in the head? It’s them you should punish, not me.”

[Ding! Player Zhao Sen was found to have insulted the system, he’ll receive additional punishment.]

Zhao Sen: “…… Fuck!”

The sound of Zhao Sen wailing in pain was soon heard in the darkness. A few of Zhao Sen’s subordinates looked at each other and fled in a panic.

While the farce ensued, some newcomers who did not want to get involved in strife chose to leave early, having already gotten their prop cards.

Only a few of the hundred newcomers had remained in the same place.

When the fun was over, some of the newcomers also left in a hurry.

In the end, only a few of them remained in the entire novice teleportation area.