Chapter 127: Team Leader "Incognito Town"
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Zhang Yuanqing was momentarily stunned, his mind filled with disbelief.
Could such a coincidence exist in the world? He had just listened to an audio message from the Demon Lord, gaining information about Incognito Town, and immediately entered this instance.
Coincidences, like the last time he had found a lead on Soldier Brother and immediately entered Golden Water Amusement Park.
Maybe it wasn't just a coincidence. Soldier Brother's prediction told him that the instances he entered weren't random; they could be predicted. And the Cat King Boombox had self-awareness, not being a living being but not devoid of thought either.
Is it possible that this independently thinking Cat King Boombox, like Soldier Brother, predicted that someday he would enter Incognito Town, so it played this audio message for him?
But what was the basis for this prediction? The Demon Lord's character card?
Various speculations flashed through Zhang Yuanqing's mind. He quickly put on his shoes, fastened his waist pouch, stowed away the Cat King Boombox, and then swiftly moved to the other side of the bed, opened a drawer, and swallowed five or six blue pills.
After completing these actions, he grabbed his phone and dialed Guan Ya's number, only to find that she was on another call. So, he called Li Dongze and discovered that he was also on a call.
What was going on with these two? Time was limited, and he couldn't afford to think too much. Zhang Yuanqing opened a messaging app and sent a voice message: "Commander, I've entered the instance, Incognito Town!"
He spoke rapidly and clicked send.
Coincidentally, at this moment, the scenery in the room began to distort like water ripples; the 60 seconds were up.
"Incognito Town, Guan Ya, be careful, make sure to come out alive," Li Dongze said with a serious expression.
Incognito Town was an A-level instance, a death-type one, and even though Zhang Yuanqing had significantly raised his True Eye's threshold, he couldn't forget the terror of an A-level instance.
S-level instances were the nightmares of all spirit realm travelers, like a sword hanging over everyone's heads, rarely encountered but highly sought after.
A-level instances, on the other hand, were the trials for the genius talents from both the Order and Evil factions, where they had to consider life and death. There weren't too many examples of acknowledged prodigies dying in A-level instances.
That's also why completing two S-level instances had drawn the attention of both the authorities and evil organizations.
Otherwise, with Elder Dog's level, even if a prodigy's talent was outstanding, he would at most say, "Well done," and wouldn't deliberately come to the capital for a mere item belonging to a minor character. He also wouldn't act like nothing had happened after getting teased by Elder Dog.
"I understand, Commander. If I don't make it out alive, please apologize to Fu Qingyang for me and also to everyone else. Tell Yuan Shi not to be too sad," Guan Ya said with a smile.
Li Dongze was about to reply when he heard a muffled "thud" coming from the speaker, as if the phone had fallen to the ground.
He knew that Guan Ya had entered the instance.
Sighing, Li Dongze hung up the phone and only then noticed a missed call: Primordial Celestial.
He raised an eyebrow and called back, but couldn't connect. He checked his messaging app and saw a voice message from Primordial: "Commander, I've entered the instance, Incognito Town!"
Li Dongze couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, my God, are you playing with me?"
Guan Ya and Primordial had entered Incognito Town together? If the mission failed, the second squad would directly lose two excellent team members.
After the initial shock, for some reason, he felt strangely reassured. On one hand, it was because Primordial, the unlucky kid, wouldn't be entering an S-level instance again. On the other hand, having him with Guan Ya significantly increased their chances of success.
Li Dongze pondered for a moment and then dialed Fu Qingyang's number.
"Ring, ring~"
The ringing continued for a while, and Fu Qingyang's voice, cold and reserved, came through: "Calling this late must mean something important."
His tone didn't sound quite right, as if he was displeased at being disturbed. As a scout, Li Dongze could sense his superior officer's dissatisfaction and spoke with a serious tone: "Captain, Guan Ya just entered an instance, A-level, Incognito Town, death type."
A-level death-type instances were much more challenging than non-death-type ones.
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Li Dongze could understand Captain Fu's concern, but he was a person who was too serious and too proud. Even if he was worried about Guan Ya, he wouldn't show it.
"I understand," Fu Qingyang's voice sounded somber.
Li Dongze continued, "Primordial also entered Incognito Town, and they should be together."
As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Qingyang's tone noticeably shifted. "Primordial also entered Incognito Town?"
"Yes," Li Dongze confirmed.
"Understood, wait for their updates tomorrow," Fu Qingyang said.
His voice remained cold, but his tone suddenly became lighter, no longer heavy.
The scene transitioned from blurry to clear, and the first thing that appeared in his field of vision was a quaint town with a timeless charm, reminiscent of a southern water town. White walls, black tiled roofs, stone-paved roads stretching into the heart of the town.
On the streets, in corners, clusters of greenery thrived.
The sky was a brilliant blue, and the time in the spirit realm was daytime. In the grasslands beyond the town, a few black water buffalo grazed while a young herder leaned against a tree, taking a nap.
Zhang Yuanqing raised his gaze and found himself standing under an archway just outside the town. The archway bore three characters carved in a dragon and phoenix style:
"Incognito Town"
This was a constantly changing instance, and the challenges faced by each entering team were different, depending on the path the spirit realm assigned to them, leading to the town square.
Although it wasn't an S-level instance this time, it was still a death-type one. My luck can't be easily categorized as good or bad.
What was the hidden mission the Demon Lord mentioned? What item did Yin Yang's Hermit hide here?
As he recalled the information about Incognito Town, he subtly summoned and put on the black-framed glasses, scrutinizing the "companions" around him.
Hmm? Among the crowd, Zhang Yuanqing saw a familiar face, a tall figure, delicate mixed-race features, and eyes that shone like fireflies.
Guan Ya?!
And at that moment, Guan Ya's gaze happened to land on him, and when she saw the familiar face, her beautiful eyes radiated an indescribable brilliance.
Primordial? I actually got matched with him. I really got matched with him. Guan Ya quickly concealed her joy, looked away, and observed her other teammates without approaching to greet me.
She seemed very happy to see me, huh? Well, of course, who wouldn't be happy to encounter a pro player like me. She doesn't intend to acknowledge me first; let's see the composition of the team. After analyzing Guan Ya's mindset, Zhang Yuanqing shifted his attention to the other companions.
There were a total of six teammates besides Guan Ya, consisting of one woman and four men, all of them young.
*Clap, clap!*
At this moment, the woman clapped her hands to get everyone's attention and said, "Everyone, I'm a member of the Five Elements Alliance, ID: Please Call Me Queen, a level 3 Water Spirit."
Please Call Me Queen? That name sounds familiar. Oh, isn't she the colleague from the Water Forum? Zhang Yuanqing carefully examined "Queen."
She was a woman in her mid-twenties, wearing black capri pants, a black T-shirt, white running shoes, with a striking and confident appearance. She had smoky eye makeup and two large silver hoop earrings dangling from her ears.
Queen? What kind of queen is she, the nightlife queen? Zhang Yuanqing wondered.
Queen's eyes moved, sweeping over everyone, and she continued, "I've read the strategy for Incognito Town in the spirit realm. This is a team-versus-team instance, and our opponents are evil professionals from the other end of the town. Two teams enter the ancient town from different entrances, and the team that reaches the central square first will receive a reward.
It could be some form of power, it could be an item, in any case, whoever reaches the square first will have a greater chance of winning. This is an instance that requires teamwork. Any doubts or internal conflicts will lead to the team's demise.
So, my suggestion is to select a team leader."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing immediately understood her intention. In a team-versus-team spirit realm instance like this, this was the only instance that could award faction tokens.
Queen revealed her official identity and level first to become the team leader. If she could lead everyone to complete this instance, the probability of receiving the faction token reward would be extremely high.
As if to verify Queen's words, everyone received a prompt from the spirit realm: "Please enter Incognito Town within three minutes. The team that arrives at the central square early will receive a reward."
The expressions of the group changed slightly.
The guy in the tank top, eyeing her, asked, "You want to be the team leader?"
Queen didn't deny it and nodded openly.
The guy in the tank top contemplated for a few seconds and said, "I'm a level 3 Pyromancer, ID: Firestar Military. The official Firestar Celestial has already been registered by someone else. If you really know the spirit realm strategy, then I agree to have you as the team leader."
At this point, another slightly chubby-faced young man chimed in, "I'm a level 2 Earth Elemental, ID: Lotus Eater. Big brothers and sisters, please take care of me."
The other two also voluntarily disclosed their levels and professions. The bespectacled young man with a weak demeanor was a level 3 Scholar, ID: Li Chunfeng. This profession was not good at combat during the Transcendent Stage.
Scholar Brother willingly gave up the chance to become the team leader.
The last member was a quiet and melancholic young man, who claimed to be a level 2 Wood Nymph, ID: Grass Grows by the Stream. He didn't seem to like talking much and wasn't particularly interested in the people around him, not even paying much attention to Guan Ya and Queen, both of whom were excellent beauties. He glanced at them briefly before losing interest.
Zhang Yuanqing, wearing black-framed glasses, observed everyone's subtle expressions and analyzed their true thoughts.
Firestar Military obviously also wanted to be the team leader but immediately compromised upon hearing that Queen was an official member who understood the strategy. However, in reality, the strategy for Incognito Town was only for reference, and she had already revealed all the valuable information. Firestar Military hadn't really thought about competing for the team leader position once he saw that.
Li Chunfeng frowned all along, and he didn't hold high hopes for this instance, showing a somewhat pessimistic attitude. Grass Grows by the Stream was young but had the aura of a recluse and lacked the fierceness of a warrior.
In any case, their teammates seemed to be considerate of the bigger picture, not blindly rash, which was the difference between team-versus-team and party mode.
In this mode, even the reckless ones had to endure for the greater good.
At this moment, Li Chunfeng sighed and said, "Now there are three level 3 practitioners among us. According to the spirit realm matching mechanism, the Evil faction should have at least two level 3 practitioners, and someone like me at level 3 is just for show. I'm not good in combat. After observing you all, except for Firestar and Queen, the rest of you seem somewhat lacking."
Is that the reason for your pessimism? Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself.
Firestar Military furrowed his brow and said, "Don't dampen our spirits!"
He then looked at Guan Ya and me. "What are your professions and levels?"
Queen glanced at Guan Ya.
Guan Ya smiled slightly and said, "I'm a level 2 Scout, ID: Guan Ya."
A level 2 Scout. The others seemed slightly disappointed. Scout's combat capabilities were only average, not as strong as Pyromancer or Wood Nymph, but at least stronger than Scholar.
"Also, I'm an official member," Guan Ya added.
"I remember now; you're from the Pine Sea branch, I've seen you on the forum. When we enter Incognito Town, don't stray too far from me," Queen said with a smile.
Among official members, there's always a closer bond. Queen's implicit meaning was, choose me as the team leader, and I'll protect you. Even though Guan Ya was also an official member and definitely knew the strategy for Incognito Town, her level 2 Scout status and level were far behind Queen's, so Queen wasn't worried about her competing for the team leader position.
Besides, even if Guan Ya wanted to, the others wouldn't choose her.
Guan Ya nodded with a smile.
Satisfied, Queen turned to Zhang Yuanqing. "Young man, what about you?"
Zhang Yuanqing surveyed everyone and said, "I'm a level 2 Night Roaming God, ID: Primordial Celestial. I believe I'm more suitable to be the team leader than you."
(End of this chapter)
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