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Chapter 147 - The Corridor of Time (III)

Editor: Kitty

When Luo Jian woke up again, he found himself standing in a busy, market-like place. He stood in place as he held the umbrella. People were coming and going around him. Countless people wearing masks passed by him. They may have seen Luo Jian, but they thought he did not exist, and their bodies all subconsciously bypassed Luo Jian.

Luo Jian opened his red umbrella and raised his head as he gazed around. He found that this was a very interesting place. In the distance, there were wonderful colors—pink, purple, and dark blue interlaced in the sky, and in the boundless sky were dense clouds, ethereal and capricious.

Yes, this was a sea of clouds, and Luo Jian was standing on a strange platform in this sea of clouds.

The platform under his foot was a metal structure, a metallic silver floor. It was a very large circular platform, and it was like a raft floating in the sea of clouds, slowly moving forward with the undulation of the clouds and smoke.

Because the platform was very huge, there were many people on it. They were dressed in strange clothes, wearing masks or cloth scarves, heavily dressed, or ugly beyond recognition. But these people had all kinds of weapons in their hands, which also made it easy for Luo Jian to figure out the identity of these people—they were all players.

Thus, Luo Jian could also guess where this strange platform was. This was the legendary trading market for senior players built by the secret chamber and the only platform that allowed players to communicate face-to-face with each other.

Because it was a trading market, there were many stalls near the center of the huge platform. They openly sold some oddly-shaped props. A group of people in front of the booth strolled by and occasionally bargained with the store owners when they encountered some props they were interested in.

There was a huge stone slab in the middle of the circular platform. There were many players looking at the board. There should be some information about the secret chamber there, such as the rank of each team in the chamber, the ranking of the strongest players, and various strategies and information about different secret chambers.

“If they’re all players...” Luo Jian said to himself. He felt very lucky that he had accidentally crossed time space and could even run into this place. He had to remember the coordinates of this place.

However, perhaps here, he could obtain more information.

Luo Jian walked towards the huge stone slab in the middle of the platform with his umbrella. As he walked, he paid attention to the people around him. However, to Luo Jian’s disappointment, all he saw were unfamiliar faces.

When he came to the huge stone slab and read some basic information at the bottom of the stone slab, he suddenly found something not quite right.

On the bottom of the slate was written the basic information about the ‘players’ trading market.’ It said that this huge platform was named ‘A Lone Boat,’ and it served as a communication and trading hub for players. Players exchanged props and intelligence, formed teams, and disbanded teams here.

In order to ensure the fairness and security of the platform, no weapons and skills could be used here except for the opening and closing of the carry-on secret chamber. Moreover, the players who logged in here would be automatically covered with the ‘cannot be destroyed—attacks towards target are all invalid’ buff, and all attacks and attempts to use skills to fight would not be activated.

In addition, all the information registered on the platform would be displayed on this stone slab in the middle of the platform. The secret chamber could ensure that the information on the billboard was absolutely fair and correct. Players could write messages independently and register on the billboard. Whether it was recruitment, summoning, offering a reward, or even applying to duel other players, it could be displayed through the billboard, and the secret chamber would verify the accuracy of the information and publicize it.

“That’s interesting. If you can’t use any weapons here&#k2026;” Looking at the message on the billboard, Luo Jian instinctively spun the handle of his red umbrella. Thereafter, he turned his head and took a look at the players standing beside him.

This player, like Luo Jian, was also looking up at the billboard. He was wearing a strange costume similar that of an assassin one would see in a game. His face was also covered with a black scarf. His weapons were two short knives pinned to the back of his waist. That player did not seem to have noticed Luo Jian. After slight consideration, Luo Jian reached out and tugged at the corner of the player’s coat.

The player froze momentarily. Obviously, he felt that someone was pulling his clothes. He lowered his head and looked in Luo Jian’s direction, but he did not see anything. He looked around in doubt for a while and found that the people around him were all busy with their own errands. Not a single soul was paying attention to him.

The player thought he probably had imagined it. Seconds later, he raised his head and continued to glance at the billboard.

Luo Jian thought it was very interesting, so he reached out and pulled the helm of the player’s clothes again with a little effort. The player felt the tug particularly obviously this time, so he bowed his head, muttered, “Who is it?” and continued to look around.

Luo Jian had been staring at the player and paying attention to the man’s eyes. The player had a pair of black pupils that a typical Asian would have, but he had a burly stature. He wore clothes similar to an assassin’s, and unexpectedly, he was quite handsome.

Actually, this player saw Luo Jian, but he was hypnotized and forgot him in that instant when he saw Luo Jian. Luo Jian could see this from his eyes. Luo Jian suddenly realized that his ability had not been deactivated, and his weapons could still be used in this platform that obviously restricted players’ abilities.

“Is it because I came in by abnormal means?” Luo Jian said to himself, “Or is it because of my body’s special identity?”

Because he entered the platform, ‘A Lone Boat’ by abnormal means, the secret chamber had no time to put that special buff on him. Moreover, since this body held the chamber’s authority, it could not interfere with Luo Jian’s actions.

Luo Jian’s new body...... Since it was first created, Ying and his team had set it as ‘highest authority,’ similar to the identity of a GM, that is, the so-called game manager.

A GM was the biggest bug in the secret chamber. It was an existence that even the secret chamber had no right to interfere with. It was a special program and the final trump card left by Ying. When Ying used the core of the reincarnation system to design this game, he naturally designed the GM because he only wanted to design a holographic simulation game. Later, Ying realized that the secret chamber had completely spiraled out of his control, and his team almost lost their lives when they sought to temporarily reset the program for the GM. Therefore, other than Ying, all of his companions lost their lives for this.

But Ying could not assume control of the trump card himself, so he had to wait for a hundred years in the Asura Realm, waiting for the person who could turn defeat to victory.

Maybe that person was the current Luo Jian.

“Although this is interesting, I shouldn’t be that aggressive. If I’m found by the secret chamber, I’ll be forced out of here.” Although the identity of the game manager was quite lofty, if he interfered too much with the players’ actions and destroyed the props in the secret chamber, the secret chamber would still have the right to punish Luo Jian.

And Luo Jian could not act rashly and alert the enemy now.

He had to pretend that he was really a nonexistent person, shuttling around every player like he was in a vacuum, premeditating.

Luo Jian did not continue to tease the hapless player. The player, muddleheaded, looked to his left and right again and again, but soon, he could not care more about it. He moved to another place, leaving Luo Jian standing alone in the same spot, raising his little head to see the ranking on the platform.

That slab had written on it the rank of each team, and the one in the first position appeared a little familiar to Luo Jian—Team Ghost Shadow.

It seemed that Duan Li had mentioned this. He had been in Xing Yan’s team previously. It seemed that he had joined in after the death of a member in the team. Moreover, Duan Li did not seem to like this team even though he called Xing Yan his team captain.

So if I want to find a breakthrough point, I must start from this team.

Luo Jian thought this and went to see the other information on the slab. He saw that there was a ranking of the strongest players on the slab. There was also Xing Yan’s name on it. But interestingly, he was not the first. The first one was a person named ‘Hong.’

Maybe during this time period, Xing Yan was not the reigning strongest player in the beginning. Even if his team remained at the top, it just meant that the overall strength of their team was greater than that of other teams.

“That also mean that the current timeline is still in a relatively early period?”

Luo Jian did not see any information about his cousin Luo Feng from these rankings, but after deliberating about it, he knew why. Luo Feng was a person who had signed a life-long contract with the secret chamber. No matter how strong he was, he could no longer escape from the secret chamber. Therefore, players who become ‘Specters’ would be deprived of some rights.

However, in Luo Jian’s impression, his cousin spent a little less time in the secret chamber as compared to Xing Yan. Unfortunately, he did not disclose more about his past, otherwise Luo Jian could have collected a lot of clues now.

Luo Jian was not in a hurry. He silently circled around the whole platform, confirmed the coordinates of ‘A Lone Boat’, and began to acquire information from the conversations of the players around him. He tried to pay attention to people who were discussing Team Ghost Shadow. It happened that there was a group of people around the stone slab talking about them.

“The team is a black horse that popped out from nowhere. Not a word was heard and they moved to the top.”

“Isn’t that right. Even my team is going to be pushed out of the rankings.”

When these people talked about this, Luo Jian realized that the current timeline may still be during the moment when Team Ghost Shadow first appeared. The members of the team may not be complete, but he could confirm Xing Yan would be there. He was the founder of the team.

How should he get in touch with Team Ghost Shadow?

As Luo Jian thought about this problem, he felt this problem was tricky. Every team in the secret chamber was going through the cycle. It was not easy for him to encounter them. The only way he could encounter them was to stay on the platform of ‘A Lone Boat’ and wait for Team Ghost Shadow to appear. Since they were already the strongest team, they would always head here to exchange and transact information.

But this time, a problem popped up.

Luo Jian could not stay in the same place for more than three days. He absolutely could not. Traces of him would be left in this strange space if he stayed for too long. These traces were easily traced by the secret chamber’s will. The secret chamber’s will would be able to detect his existence and create several disadvantageous restrictions and oppression on Luo Jian during the time when he had yet to stabilize his abilities.

“Before I’m discovered by the secret chamber, I must grasp its lifeline and secure my GM’s authority so that even if I’m detected by the secret chamber later, I will have the strength to resist.”

In this regard, it was not particularly urgent to come into contact with Team Ghost Shadow. Although this action was motivated by one of Luo Jian’s selfish desires, he still wanted to see Xing Yan very much, even if this Xing Yan was not the one he knew.

The Xing Yan that Luo Jian fell in love with was a stalker. His soul was born in the dark. Maybe it was the accidental product of various masterpieces of the secret chamber. Luo Jian believed that this Xing Yan also had the ability to resist the secret chamber’s will. This was the best explanation why this stalker’s ability could break the ‘punishment chamber that holds no route for escape’ in an instant and send him out.

“Well, since contact with Team Ghost Shadow is not my top priority, I’d better look for other breakthroughs.” Luo Jian judged his own situation, but at this time, he suddenly found an interesting character.

It was a very interesting person, and he was someone that Luo Jian knew.

The man still had a teenage appearance, but the make-up on his face had already made Luo Jian recognize him with a mere glance. It seemed that this was the first time that this young man had come to ‘A Lone Boat’ trading grounds. He curiously looked around the place. His face was covered with twisted clown makeup. Like a villain from some American superhero movie, he appeared a bit ragged. At a glance, he really seemed to be like a funny clown on a stage.

However, Luo Jian knew him. This was the first time that Luo Jian met a guy who could be called ‘familiar’ in this chaotic time-space. He just did not expect that this guy had been in the secret chamber for such a long time, and he even appeared in front of Luo Jian in this timeline.

Since he appeared, there was no reason not to stay in contact with him. Luo Jian waved and withdrew his umbrella. He walked with light footsteps as he tried to integrate himself into the crowd and then unconsciously walked in front of Clown.

Clown was still a teenager and even if he had painted such ridiculous makeup onto himself, but in most people’s eyes, he was just a newbie.

“Hello.” Because Luo Jian had already withdrawn his umbrella, he would naturally appear in view of people’s eyes as if he had been there all along. But when he propped his umbrella up, he would naturally disappear from wherever he was.

Clown lowered his head and looked at the little boy who was talking to him. This was a child who looked 11 or 12 years old at most. He appeared...... rather cute, but his temperament was a little gloomy. Pale cheeks, a grey and simple short sleeved shirt and trousers, and bare feet made the child look like a ghost.

A child with a red umbrella that was bigger than himself. Probably a player.

Clown hesitated for a moment, but he still squatted down so that his line of sight would be in line with the child’s. He gently reached out to touch the child’s head and said with a smile, “Hello.”

The makeup on his face twisted with his smile. Although it appeared that his makeup was streaking across his face, strangely, Luo Jian still felt the young man’s kindness.

Luo Jian was a little surprised. The youth was completely different from the man he had seen later, but his voice sounded very familiar. Even through his voice, Luo Jian would also realize that the boy was indeed Clown, who he met much later.