The Key

Shua!

Miao Yan suddenly pulled out a gun, aiming it at Chen Xiaolian.

Her chest heaved, evidently caught in tumultuous emotions.

However, Chen Xiaolian looked at the muzzle, inexplicably having a peculiar and unwavering confidence in Miao Yan, trusting fully in her intelligence and rationality!

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Miao Yan took a deep breath, swiftly holstered the gun, her eyes squinting into a smile as if scrutinizing Chen Xiaolian closely, finally sighing.

"...What happens next?"

Chen Xiaolian chuckled, "You believe me?"

"Although it's absurd, if you were a fraudster, you could easily concoct a less far-fetched lie. If a swindler were to fabricate such a tale, it would be an insult to intelligence. So... perhaps what you said is indeed the truth."

Miao Yan shook her head, "I'll tentatively trust you for now. However, you'd better provide some convincing evidence. Just relying on that piece of paper isn't enough."

Chen Xiaolian quickly continued, "The place we're in now is a mercury chamber. Beneath the mercury lies a valve. If we find this valve and release the mercury, we can escape. Moreover, there are creatures here, refreshed every thirty minutes, with moderate combat abilities, primarily relying on close-range attacks with a rocky physique. Also..."

Chen Xiaolian sighed, "I've forgotten the exact time, but in a while, you'll be able to see 'me'."

"Hmm?" Miao Yan's eyes flickered, but clever as she was, she instantly understood Chen Xiaolian's meaning.

"Are you implying we'll meet the 'you' from this timeline?" Miao Yan smirked.

"Yes, according to the correct historical course, the two of us first met and got acquainted in this mercury chamber."

"I see." Miao Yan nodded, "Go on."

"I know your ultimate goal is to enter the Palace of the King of Qin and find Emperor Qin's coffin, then..."

Just as Chen Xiaolian reached this point, suddenly, he noticed Miao Yan's gaze toward him becoming extremely peculiar, instinctively halting his narrative. "Why... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Your... your body!" Miao Yan's tone turned serious.

Chen Xiaolian looked down and was shocked!

His body was rapidly becoming transparent!

He watched as his legs vanished, the disappearing portion swiftly spreading up to his chest!

Chen Xiaolian was astounded!

What the hell was going on?!

At the same time, he received a message in his personal system.

"????": "For leaking crucial information to a third party, immediate forced relocation!"

Chen Xiaolian's heart sank suddenly!

As he watched his arms vanish, Miao Yan ran up a few steps, shouting at Chen Xiaolian, "Is there anything else! Hurry up! There's no time!"

Gritting his teeth, Chen Xiaolian said, "You'll meet me later... and I'll be with a little girl. In this timeline, I'm still a rookie. If you could take care of her... in the future, I..."

His words trailed off.

Miao Yan watched as the strange man in front of her disappeared completely.

Furrowing her brows tightly, she stood on the rocky platform, carefully surveying her surroundings. Various thoughts raced through her mind until finally, they transformed into a faintly eerie smile at the corners of her mouth.

"This world... is becoming more and more interesting!"

She sat cross-legged on the ground, then strained to recall the words the mysterious man had just said to her.

Mercury chamber... valve...

She took out a curved knife and swiftly marked lines on the ground, indicating all the pillars in the chamber. After marking them all, she began to calculate rapidly in her mind.

After an unknown amount of time passed, suddenly, she heard a faint rumbling from above the cavern.

Miao Yan looked up and saw a gap appearing on the left in front of her. Then with a thud, a pair, one large and one small, fell from above, landing on a rocky platform.

Observing these two figures, Miao Yan's eyes widened slightly beneath her hair.

The man appeared to be in his youth, with a somewhat delicate appearance, a hint of elegance in his features, and a touch of innocence... yet he was undoubtedly the mysterious young man who had been with her just a moment ago!

Their faces were identical!!

Miao Yan's gaze gradually became more complex.

"Awakened?"

"Hey! What are you staring at?"

"How did you get in here?"

"Is there no way out of here?"

It wasn't until the young man couldn't help but ask the fourth question that Miao Yan inwardly sighed.

Although they looked the same, their expressions, tone, and manner of questioning were evidently imbued with a sense of youthfulness, distinctly different from the maturity and composure of the guy earlier.

It seemed... that guy hadn't lied.

Miao Yan finally lifted her head, her slender eyes glancing sideways.

"Could you please quiet down a bit?"

Seeing the young man seemingly taken aback by her, Miao Yan couldn't help but chuckle inwardly.

Alright... mysterious guy, I'll take good care of "you"!

...

"What's going on?"

Chen Xiaolian muttered irritably.

He had suddenly disappeared from Miao Yan's presence, without having remembered to convey many important things.

For leaking crucial information to a third party? So he was forcibly teleported away?

Was this some sort of limitation imposed by the system?

The Zero City's program allowed him to traverse through time and space, but it couldn't risk revealing too much vital information to the people of this timeline?

He sighed in resignation, then got up from the ground.

Chen Xiaolian found himself transported to a place unfamiliar yet... familiar.

An ancient-looking room.

To say it was ancient-looking might not be entirely accurate; it was more accurately described as antique! And extremely simple.

A short square table, a lamp stand made of bronze vessels, a long couch...

Chen Xiaolian got up and surveyed the room. After taking a glance around, he walked towards the door.

Pushing the door open, Chen Xiaolian peeked outside and immediately understood his situation!

The Palace of the King of Qin!!

He found himself within the palace buildings of the Palace of the King of Qin, in one of the rooms!

Outside the door was a long corridor, and Chen Xiaolian instantly recognized the architectural style as undoubtedly belonging to the Palace of the King of Qin—how could he forget, having almost died here once?

As he glanced around, suddenly, a series of orderly footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor!

Chen Xiaolian saw a group of terracotta warriors and horses, holding long spears or swords, marching in neat formation!

These were the monsters patrolling the Palace of the King of Qin.

Instinctively, Chen Xiaolian reached out, preparing to summon the Stone Sword.

But with a clatter, his hand found nothing!

The Stone Sword... couldn't be summoned?!

Chen Xiaolian was stunned.

But in the next moment, he realized.

In the Palace of the King of Qin... metal objects were not allowed inside!

This meant that within this instance area of the Palace of the King of Qin, participants couldn't bring in their own metal equipment and couldn't use them inside.

Chen Xiaolian vividly remembered that during his initial experience in this instance, neither his own team nor the player group known as the Wind Slayers used their own equipment and weapons. Instead, they seized weapons from the terracotta warriors during battles or improvised using bronze vessels found within the palace.

Seeing the group of terracotta warrior monsters getting closer and closer, Chen Xiaolian frowned and immediately retreated into the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

He pressed his ear against the door, listening carefully. Once the footsteps faded into the distance, Chen Xiaolian turned back to the room, lifted a bronze lamp stand, and held it in his hand. Then, he pushed the door open and quietly made his way along the corridor towards the palace.

"If the passage of time hasn't changed after the teleportation just now, then according to the timeline, at this point in time, no one else should have entered the Palace of the King of Qin yet.

In other words, neither my past self, nor Qiuyun and the others, nor Captain Nangong's team, nor the player group, the Wind Slayers, have arrived here yet.

Now, I'm the first to arrive at the Palace of the King of Qin!"

Chen Xiaolian's eyes lit up.

What is the ultimate challenge, the core of the mission in this instance of the Palace of the King of Qin?

Undoubtedly, it's...

Bai Qi!

The God of Slaughter, Bai Qi!!