Chapter 1018: The Thief Lord

Chen Jun Nan and Tian Tian entered the second room from the left, which had the character "Chou" written on it.

Once inside, the door behind them closed automatically. It seemed that all the doors here were like spring-loaded ones—they shut as soon as someone entered a room. If two people from opposing sides entered together, the door would lock.

This rule disrupted both sides' visibility, making it hard to grasp the situation on the battlefield.

Tian Tian felt a bit dizzy standing in this room surrounded by doors on all sides. If not for the lone door standing in the center, it would be easy to lose one's bearings.

But Chen Jun Nan had experience with this. In the "Di Tu" game before, he had gone through a disorienting ordeal, though he eventually escaped thanks to his remarkable sense of direction.

Seeing the room was empty, Chen Jun Nan was about to head to the next one, but Tian Tian stopped him.

She sensed the situation was a bit dangerous. Even though their side had more people, opening a door could mean running into the enemy.

Qi Xia had said the opponent "might" be invading separately, but if the enemy was sticking together like them, opening a door would turn it into a direct confrontation.

"I’ll go listen first."

Tian Tian walked to the door directly across from them, crouched down to listen, and hearing no sounds, she moved to the door on the right.

"Xiao Zhang San, do we really need to be this cautious?"

Chen Jun Nan asked.

"Hmm…?" Tian Tian paused. "What did you call me?"

"Oh, I meant Tian Tian Da Jie." Chen Jun Nan shook his head and said, "You’re 'Shi', and I’m 'Shuai'. I feel like our characters aren’t much use here. We’re probably the most useless 'left-right structure' in the whole game."

"Better to be careful…" Tian Tian said, "I can’t afford to lose this 'Zi'. Let’s scout around, and if we don’t run into any enemies, we’ll head back."

"How do we scout?" Chen Jun Nan asked. "Just by listening at the door like this?"

"Hmm?" Tian Tian hesitated. "What else?"

"I’ve been in quite a few games, big and small." Chen Jun Nan said, "In most of these games, the soundproofing is top-notch. Some venues are so quiet you can’t even hear a 'Zhong Sheng', so I’m not sure if we can pick up any noise from nearby rooms."

Tian Tian furrowed her brow, thinking Chen Jun Nan had a point.

Back in the "Bei Zhan Qu", they couldn’t hear sounds from other rooms. Had this place been treated for soundproofing?

As she was pondering, the door handle in front of them suddenly moved.

The door slowly opened, and Yan Zhi Chun appeared on the other side.

"Ah." Chen Jun Nan smiled. "Life really is full of unexpected meetings."

Yan Zhi Chun cautiously scanned the room and saw Chen Jun Nan and Tian Tian standing together. She wisely stayed put and didn’t enter.

"Come in and sit?"

Chen Jun Nan asked.

Yan Zhi Chun reached up to smooth her hair and said:

"Are you two planning to stick together the whole time?"

"Hey, not at all—we could all three move as one!"

Chen Jun Nan knew exactly what kind of character Yan Zhi Chun was, so he decided not to follow her line of thinking. He just chuckled, then grabbed Tian Tian’s arm and led her into the other room.

After a few seconds, the doors around them didn’t lock; they just stayed ajar. Apparently, having three people in one room didn’t trigger the game automatically.

Chen Jun Nan and Tian Tian’s move made Yan Zhi Chun frown, but she remained standing in place.

Looking up, Chen Jun Nan saw the character "Shen" written in Yan Zhi Chun’s room.

"Yan Da Jie." Chen Jun Nan said, "It’s been ages— I’ve missed you so much. Has it already been several minutes since we last met?"

Yan Zhi Chun let out a helpless cold snort and said:

"You know what I’m capable of. Coming here now is basically handing over the 'Zi'."

An image flashed in Chen Jun Nan’s mind from the "Di She" game, where Yan Zhi Chun had used her right hand to choke herself like a puppet on strings.

"Yan Da Jie, what are you talking about?" Chen Jun Nan furrowed his brow, pretending to be calm. "I wouldn’t dare mess with your puppet-controlling ability, but I’ve heard…"

Chen Jun Nan slowly stepped forward and carefully examined Yan Zhi Chun’s white dress. On her right leg, there was a pocket with something faintly shiny inside—it looked like a chain.

"Heard what?" Yan Zhi Chun asked.

"I’ve heard that 'Hui Xiang' doesn’t work well here. Can you still control me?" Chen Jun Nan finished, about to add more, but the next second, he suddenly froze in place, staring blankly.

His abrupt change left both Tian Tian and Yan Zhi Chun puzzled.

Chen Jun Nan slowly raised his hand, pointing toward the direction behind Yan Zhi Chun. After a pause, he said excitedly:

"Holy… Guo Fu Cheng?"

"What…?" Yan Zhi Chun was startled and turned to look back.

Seizing the moment, Chen Jun Nan quickly stepped forward and reached toward Yan Zhi Chun’s pocket. To avoid grabbing her leg directly, he eased his grip.

This surprise move must have used up all of Chen Jun Nan’s luck. Even though he closed in lightning-fast, his index and middle fingers, like a pair of chopsticks, precisely clamped onto the chain in her pocket.

Before Yan Zhi Chun could react, Chen Jun Nan yanked the chain out and swiftly retreated, ending in a stylish kneel on the ground.

Yan Zhi Chun exclaimed and spun around, hurriedly covering her pocket.

Everything happened so fast that even Tian Tian was stunned.

A few seconds later, Chen Jun Nan smiled and said, head bowed:

"What a Flying Dragon Snatching Hand… Ladies, does this make me look like 'Dao Shuai Chu Liu Xiang'?"

Neither Tian Tian nor Yan Zhi Chun said a word; they just stared at Chen Jun Nan in a daze.

He brought his right hand in front of him and opened his palm—

In it was just a single chain.

"Huh…?" Chen Jun Nan was stunned. "Seriously? You’re all pulling the same trick?"

"You…" Yan Zhi Chun sighed. "Do you have some obsession with chains…? If you really like it, I could just give it to you."

"What the hell kind of obsession with chains…?" Chen Jun Nan stood up, annoyed. "There’s only a chain in your pocket. If you’re luring someone in, shouldn’t you at least show a bit of it? I thought you were hiding it so well— who’d guess it’s just a damn chain?!"

"Oh, right." Yan Zhi Chun nodded. "But if I showed the chain, it’d only fool ordinary people. To trick you two, I had to pretend it had a 'Zi' on it and keep it deep in my pocket."

Chen Jun Nan glanced down at the chain in his hand, thinking this wasn’t a total loss.

Who else could steal a chain from someone like Yan Zhi Chun? Only me.

"You didn’t actually think a trick like 'Guo Fu Cheng' would distract me…?" Yan Zhi Chun looked at Chen Jun Nan, puzzled. "Did your 'Zhu Shuai' order you to 'Qiang Duo'?"