Chapter 160 - 147: D-level World ’Autumn Tomb

After finishing a day of work, Guan Lan returned to the door of her hotel room just as her special assistant, Wang, called her again.

Guan Lan took a deep breath and answered the phone.

"Chief Commander, after filtering through the data with our colleagues at the Information Center, we’ve locked onto a metaphysics master named Bai Chongli. However, he passed away a year ago. Bai Chongli has no children, and his only living relative is his sixty-seven-year-old sister, Bai Shan Yin.

"Bai Shan Yin lives in Bai Family Town over in Hua City. She’s been unmarried her whole life and has no children. Do you think it’s still necessary to invite his sister over? The passing down of these metaphysical arts has strict rules, traditionally given only to sons, never to daughters."

Guan Lan thought for a moment before replying. "There’s no need. Invite the masters from all the relevant regional associations over. We will first provide the members of Kunpeng with some basic knowledge. Once they return from their first crossover, we can decide which research direction to pursue next."

After hanging up the phone, Guan Lan pushed the door open and walked in. The nanny was in the living room accompanying Guan Xing as she watched TV. A classic zombie movie was playing. The nanny was clutching a throw pillow, too scared to look, while Guan Xing, draped in a blanket and holding a reading pointer, stood on the sofa with her hands on her hips, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"Swift as the law commands, Supreme Lord Laozi manifest your power! Take this!"

Guan Lan sighed. Not being afraid of ghosts was at least a good thing.

After sending the nanny away, Guan Lan turned off the TV and sat down across from Guan Xing.

She could temporarily hide the truth about Guan Heting and Nan Jiamu from Guan Xing by saying they went to work abroad, but she couldn’t hide the impending game.

"Xing, I have something very important to tell you."

Guan Xing keenly noticed the change in her mother’s tone. She immediately sat down properly, hugging her octopus plushie, and looked at Guan Lan with blinking big eyes, showing a bit of curiosity and a trace of subtle nervousness.

"Xing, we are soon going to enter another world. You are the protagonist, and I only obtained my Player qualification by being forcibly teamed up with you as your guardian. When the time comes, I might not necessarily be by your side. In that world, the situation will be very complicated and dangerous. You must learn to rely on yourself.

"You can’t be like you are now, shouting out whatever comes to your mind and telling everyone who you are. In that world, exposing your true Identity, especially your Identity as the ’protagonist’, will bring immense danger. You need to learn how to hide yourself, observe your surroundings, and then make judgments. Do you understand?"

Guan Lan’s words were blunt and calm, completely devoid of coaxing or sugarcoating. She treated Guan Xing like an adult, clearly laying out the cruel reality they were about to face. Guan Lan believed that Guan Xing was smart enough. Rather than letting her learn the hard way in the midst of danger, it was better to teach her the rules of survival in advance.

"Mom, am I... am I going to that world to fight ghosts? Just like in the movies?"

"Yes," Guan Lan didn’t avoid the question. "You will encounter many terrifying things that are hard to comprehend. They will appear silently by your side to hurt you. The first thing you have to do is overcome your fear."

"Fighting ghosts..."

Guan Xing’s small face grew tense. She lowered her head as if trying to hype herself up. Just when Guan Lan thought her daughter was scared and considered whether she should soften her tone, Guan Xing suddenly raised her head and puffed out her little chest.

"I’ve decided! From today on, I am no longer an Ancient God. I am the reincarnation of the Nine Heavens Profound Lady, descending to the mortal realm specifically to slay demons and vanquish evil!"

A deep sense of powerlessness surged into Guan Lan’s heart. She rubbed her throbbing temples and decided to temporarily give up on diving deeper into this topic.

"Alright, whether you’re an Ancient God or the Mystic Maiden, go finish your math homework for today."

Unexpectedly, Guan Xing raised her hand and pointed. "Bold monster, to think you’d disguise yourself as my mom! Swift as the law commands, take this!"

"DO! YOUR! HOMEWORK!"

Guan Xing’s small face fell. "But Mom, didn’t you say the end of the world is coming? We’re both going to fight ghosts and save the world, so why do I still have to do homework?"

"As long as I am still your mom, you have to listen to me. Go do it now. Immediately."

The scientific parenting theories spouted by experts only looked good on paper. When dealing with a child, only this kind of assertiveness actually worked.

Guan Xing lowered her head, then suddenly lifted it again. "Auntie, can I watch TV for a bit?"

Guan Lan was utterly speechless.

Time passed day by day amidst everyone’s active preparations. At seven in the evening on August 14th, the long-silent system finally came online.

[The second round of the invasion game will begin in 24 hours. Objective: D-level World ’Autumn Tomb’.]

[The Player limit for a D-level World is 2,000. The system will randomly distribute 679 invitations to existing Players. Players can invite newcomers to join the game. Once the Player limit is reached, no new Players will be added in subsequent games.]

[Players will obtain new Character Cards in Autumn Tomb. Existing Character Cards, Items, and Titles can be used normally in the Autumn Tomb World.]

[Players can form teams for this round of the game. With the exception of golden card Players, other Player squads cannot exceed 3 members. Once a team enters the game, the squad cannot be disbanded until the end of the Autumn Tomb World. Players, please choose cautiously.]

[After teamed Players enter Autumn Tomb, they will become Characters with interconnected relationships. Every round, they will draw team-exclusive Event Cards to obtain additional rewards.]

[The final interpretation of the game belongs to the official invasion game authorities. We wish all Players a victorious start in the new round.]

After the system announcement ended, all the Players in the forums were boiling with excitement.

Naming is So Troublesome, representing Kunpeng, immediately posted a thread stating that Kunpeng was willing to pay a high price to collect all the invitations from the Players’ hands. Kunpeng also issued a notice to all its internal members, forbidding the casual use of invitations and demanding that they all be handed over.

As for forming teams, Kunpeng held meetings late into the night to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of playing the game in squads. During this period before officially entering, the Players of Ancient Abyss were destined to have a sleepless night.

Bai Qiang was the same. She had just finished a good crying session to soothe the Sorrowful Ghost when she saw the system announcement.

Just as she was about to message Yin Zhen to ask about teaming up, the system popped up a notification first.

[You have been removed from the squad by ’Blossoming Prosperity’.]

Bai Qiang sprang up from the sofa. What was the meaning of this?

Furious, Bai Qiang called Yin Zhen. The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered. During this time, Bai Qiang’s rationality gained the upper hand, and she realized that not teaming up was actually the right choice.

Everyone’s abilities were uneven. If the difficulty of a squad event was too high and someone became dead weight, the team couldn’t be disbanded. It would be too easy for the entire squad to get wiped out. On a more cruel note, it was entirely possible for teammates to intentionally get each other killed. No matter how rare the rewards were, one had to be alive to claim them.

Going solo was actually much better. If help was genuinely needed, they could still assist each other without being formally teamed up. Chi Hai’s Extraordinary Ability didn’t give her much of an advantage when dealing with ghosts. If a Player equipped a Blood Clan Character Card over there, they might even be judged as a new type of monster and hunted down by the Abnormal Investigation Bureau.

The call connected right on the final ring.

"What are you doing? You operate so fast in the forums, yet you’re this slow to answer the phone?"

"Working."

"You still need to work?"

"Did you need something?"

"Can’t I call you even if I don’t need anything?"

"Hanging up."

"Hey!"

BEEP—BEEP—BEEP—

"..."

Bai Qiang gripped her phone tightly and bared her teeth. Sure enough, she was still extremely angry!

What Bai Qiang didn’t know was that Yin Zhen was genuinely very busy. In Grandma Bai’s shop, Yin Zhen had changed into a set of an elderly person’s old clothes. Covered in paper scraps and paste, she was diligently practicing Paper Binding to make wreaths and Papermen. Beside her, a pitch-black shadow with blood-red eyes held scissors, cutting the paper for her.

She had been caught red-handed stealing Grandma Bai’s blood. Even though she had acquired Grandma Bai’s knowledge, she couldn’t utilize it. Grandma Bai said her Taoist mastery was insufficient. If she wanted to learn true skills, she had to slowly start from making Papermen and wreaths.

Therefore, Yin Zhen stayed behind in Bai Family Town and started working as a laborer.

Bai Chongli had been a very famous spiritual consultant in the circle. It was a family legacy built over three generations and passed down from father to son. However, no one knew that Bai Shan Yin, who had secretly learned the craft since childhood, possessed an even higher natural talent than Bai Chongli.

Grandma Bai was the true master hiding in the mundane city, unlike those fake experts who insisted on living isolated in the mountains.