Chapter 109: Don’t Stop Now

In the dimly lit G-Point, Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao sat side by side in the corner. Behind them, the wall was covered in rows of green breathing lights that flickered rhythmically, their glow reflecting onto Gu Jinxing’s face.

Hu Jiayao gripped his sledgehammer in one hand, rested his chin on the other, and turned to look at Gu Jinxing. "Since we can't find the entrance, why not let me smash this whole room? We’re bound to find the door to that so-called confidential laboratory eventually."

Gu Jinxing clutched the key Wen Nan had given him, his expression grim. He shook his head and gestured toward the green breathing lights behind them. "Every one of these lights is connected to critical equipment belonging to the Irene Group. If you damage them, it will immediately trigger the company’s highest-level alarm. Within five minutes, every security guard in this building will be here. Given our current player levels, we might handle one or two NPCs, but how much of a chance do you think we have against an entire building’s worth of them?"

Hu Jiayao was stunned. He turned his head to look at the green lights behind him. "These things are connected to critical equipment? I thought they were just decorative wall lights. I was just wondering which dim-witted designer came up with such eerie décor."

As he spoke, Hu Jiayao reached out, intending to pull one of the lights off to see what exactly it was connected to. "Is this thing embedded into the wall?"

Before his fingers could touch the light, Gu Jinxing grabbed his wrist. Hu Jiayao stopped and turned toward his brother. Gu Jinxing shook his head. "It’s best not to touch anything here."

"Is it really as serious as you say? What highest-level alarm? Where is it written? I didn't see anything." Although he questioned it, Hu Jiayao obediently withdrew his hand.

Gu Jinxing pointed to a sign beside the display case they had previously smashed. In bright red, menacing font, the word [WARNING] was written.

"Fine, I guess it really is there." Hu Jiayao relented and even stowed his sledgehammer back into his system’s equipment slot. "We have the key, but we can't find the door... What are we supposed to do now?"

Gu Jinxing turned to look at Zhang Tianyu, who was huddled in the corner, tied up tightly. Ever since they had taken the row of soft, pink, dough-like items from the display case, this controlled player had lost his sense of purpose and remained docile and motionless, like a frightened quail. It seemed his subconscious goal had been to retrieve those pink items from the G-Point; he had nothing to do with the confidential laboratory mentioned in the second main quest.

There was no way to use this player as a navigator anymore. Just then, the system pinged with a notification from the core chat group of the Wen Nan Guild.

[Huo Huo Huo: Holy crap! There’s an NPC here with the exact same symptoms as that possessed guy we pulled into the guild last time!]
[Huo Huo Huo: [Video]]
[Huo Huo Huo: Is he another player who couldn't make it out? Should we pull him into the guild?]
[Huo Huo Huo: @Nine, Boss?]

Huang Yan’s messages went out, but there was no reply from the guild leader. Gu Jinxing opened the video and saw a man, much like Zhang Tianyu, repeatedly slamming himself against a wall. It appeared to be another controlled veteran player. However, Gu Jinxing surmised that while Zhang Tianyu had been controlled during the first quest, this player had likely been taken over after the second main quest began.

If that was the case, he was exactly the navigator Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao needed. Based on the background, doors, windows, and corridor layout in the video, their location was horizontally very close to the G-Point where Gu Jinxing was—only the G-Point was on the fourth floor, while the video showed the third floor, directly beneath them.

In that case...

[Jinxing: @Huo Huo Huo, share his location.]
[Huo Huo Huo: [Location Shared]]
[Huo Huo Huo: What do you need that for?]

Gu Jinxing didn't reply. He moved quickly to the spot corresponding to the shared location, crouched down, and pressed firmly on several floor tiles. Hu Jiayao followed him. "What is it?"

Gu Jinxing pointed to a tile in front of him. "Here. Smash it open, but be careful not to damage anything else around it."

"Got it!" Hu Jiayao retrieved his sledgehammer, spat into his palms, and swung it high. "Eighty!"

With a sharp crack, the roughly one-square-meter marble tile shattered, revealing a hidden door beneath. There really was something there. Gu Jinxing aligned the key with the central lock, and with a click, it opened easily. It really was the place!

The two exchanged a look and excitedly pushed the hidden door open.

On the third floor, Huang Yan kept messaging the system while watching the brother slamming against the wall, but he received no response. He grew restless. Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao had stopped responding the moment they got a clue, and now they were going to take all the credit for cracking the quest again. It was simply too much! If this continued, his status as a veteran core member and his importance in the boss's eyes would be in jeopardy.

Just as he was thinking this—

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A shrill alarm cut through the air, and the red warning lights along the wall illuminated. "What’s going on?! It can't be time for the quest to end already? It shouldn't be this fast..."

Huang Yan looked toward the warning lights and realized—it wasn't an alarm from their game system, but an alarm from the Irene Group.

"Phew, that’s a relief..." Huang Yan let out a long breath, but before he could finish exhaling, his heart tightened again. "Wait, no, this alarm..."

[Huo Huo Huo: No, what did you two do?]
[Huo Huo Huo: Did you trigger this alarm? @Jinxing @Yao]
[Xiaofu: I heard it too. A whole squad of heavily armed security NPCs is heading to the fourth floor. This is scary.]
[.z.: Do you need backup?]
[Huo Huo Huo: They probably don't have time to check the group messages right now.]
[Xiaofu: Boss, what should we do? @Nine]
[Huo Huo Huo: Boss, say something! @Nine]

A string of messages tagging Wen Nan appeared in the core guild group, but Wen Nan saw none of them. At that moment, he had no capacity to spare for the guild chat. His entire focus was fixed on the car seat, and on the soft, delicate body pressed beneath him.

The car windows were well-insulated. Inside the cabin, one could hear little more than the woman’s soft, breathless whimpers and the rhythmic sounds of their intimacy. Yet, a faint, distant alarm still managed to reach Wen Nan’s ears.

Wen Nan paused and tilted his head to listen. Yang Jingyuan had been caught in the whirlpool, rising and falling, her consciousness fading. When the movement suddenly stopped, she tumbled to the floor. Dissatisfied, she lifted her eyelids to look at him. She raised a leg, her rounded toes pressing against Wen Nan’s sweat-slicked abdominal muscles.

"Keep moving," Yang Jingyuan whispered, a hint of coquettish annoyance in her voice. "Don't stop..."