“Thank you for your kindness. I truly appreciate it.”
Ye Lian spoke while walking.
“Even in the real world, I’m pretty strong.”
“Alright,” Bai Xue said, a little disappointed.
“If you ever change your mind, Master, just contact me. Oh, and my phone number is…”
She recited a string of digits.
“Got it,” Ye Lian nodded.
Then she got back to the main topic.
“Bai Xue, what made you enter the game?”
“Me? I guess… for myself, and for my family. To be honest, my parents work in the field of researching dream invasions. I was worried they might end up in danger. So I joined the closed beta, hoping I could find something useful that might help.”
Bai Xue let out a soft sigh.
She had signed up for the beta without telling her parents.
“Oh? Then do you know anything about dream invasions?” Ye Lian asked quickly.
“I don’t know more than you, Master,” Bai Xue shook her head.
“My parents haven’t been home for a long time.”
Ye Lian finally understood why Bai Xue had said no one at home would bother her.
It turned out her family wasn’t home at all.
“I originally joined the test on a whim… but then that happened.”
Bai Xue bit her cherry-pink lips, guilt flickering in her eyes.
‘Even if she hadn’t killed anyone, the killer was someone she knew.’
“Let the past stay in the past. There’s no point dwelling on it. You need to learn to look forward,” Ye Lian said.
“Yes.” Bai Xue nodded, but her heart was still heavy.
This torment would only end once Zhao Gang was dead.
“Then why did you join the beta test, Master?”
She suppressed the complicated emotions in her heart and asked curiously.
“I’m a severe victim of Dream Invasion. If I hadn’t joined the closed beta, I would’ve had no path but death.”
Ye Lian didn’t try to hide it.
Hearing this, Bai Xue didn’t know what to say.
She had only been lightly affected by the dreams—’what did severe mean exactly?’ She could only learn about it through other people’s stories.
“Let’s not talk about that. We should speed up and take over Mo City. Maybe the way to eliminate the Dream Invasion is hidden somewhere inside.”
Ye Lian changed the subject.
She had only asked about Bai Xue’s situation on a sudden whim.
***
After searching the fortress, the two of them made a remarkable discovery.
They found over three thousand mechanical puppets of various designs and countless spare parts.
All the puppets were dormant.
Ye Lian didn’t awaken them.
After completing the invasion process, she and Bai Xue left for the next location.
Mo City was massive.
Just walking would take half a day to get through the outer district alone.
So Ye Lian simply used a puppet spider for transportation.
Riding on the back of the puppet spider, Bai Xue experienced a thrill even more intense than a rollercoaster.
Calling it fast or bumpy didn’t begin to describe it.
This spider didn’t just move at high speeds on the ground—it also leapt over buildings and walls, taking shortcuts wherever possible.
Up and down, fast and slow—it was pure torture for Bai Xue’s stomach and heart.
‘I’m going to throw up…’ Clearly, this wasn’t her kind of ride.
Thanks to the puppet spider’s speed, Ye Lian managed to seize control of all puppets in the outer district in under an hour.
What surprised her was that, even after she had brought all the puppets under her command, the system still hadn’t made an announcement.
Logically speaking, since she now controlled all armed forces in the outer district, the ownership of that area should be clearly determined.
‘So why hadn’t the system registered it?’
“Did I miss something?” Ye Lian murmured in confusion.
“Master, could it be that we haven’t triggered some critical mission yet?” Bai Xue offered her guess.
“That’s very possible,” Ye Lian said as she glanced at the locked inner city gate.
Then she turned to look at the open outer gate.
“Maybe the key to triggering the mission is the number of players.”
***
At that moment, twenty or so figures appeared a few hundred meters from the stone bridge.
“Quick! Get into the city!” Boyang shouted as he ran, gasping for breath.
He was covered in wounds, his clothes stained with blood, his handsome face dirtied with mud and fresh blood.
His breathing was ragged, and his pupils were unnaturally constricted.
It was clear he was terrified of something.
Behind him were the surviving members of the Atlantic Federation.
Counting Boyang, there were only twenty-five of them left.
They had suffered terrible losses.
Not far behind, nearly fifty horned wolves were in hot pursuit.
Leading the pack was a massive, muscular wolf king.