Chapter 1018: The Thief Lord
Chen Junnan and Tiantian walked into the second room from the left, the one marked with the character "Ugly".
As soon as they entered, the door behind them clicked shut. All the doors here seemed to work like spring doors—closing automatically once someone stepped inside. If two people, one from each side, entered the same room, the doors would lock.
This rule interfered with both sides' line of sight, making it difficult to gauge the situation on the battlefield.
Tiantian felt a bit dizzy standing in a room surrounded by doors on all sides. If not for the single, isolated door standing in the center, it would be easy to lose one's bearings.
But Chen Junnan had experience with this. Back in the "Earth Rabbit" game, he had already gone through a disorienting experience, though he had managed to charge his way out thanks to his remarkable sense of direction.
Seeing that the room was empty, Chen Junnan was about to head straight for the next room when Tiantian stopped him.
She felt the situation was a bit dangerous right now. Even though they had more people, there was a good chance they'd run into the opposing side the moment they opened a door.
Qi Xia had said the enemy "might" be scattering to invade, but if they were gathering together like their own team, opening a door would mean facing a real fight for the tiles.
"Let me listen first."
Tiantian walked over to the door directly opposite, pressed her ear against it, and listened. Hearing nothing, she moved to the door on the right.
"Little Zhang San, is it really necessary to be this cautious?" Chen Junnan asked.
"Huh...?" Tiantian was taken aback. "What did you call me?"
"Oh, I mean, Sister Tiantian." Chen Junnan shook his head. "You're the 'Scholar,' and I'm the 'Commander.' I feel like neither of our characters are much use here. I'm probably the most useless 'Left-Right Structure' in the whole place."
"Better to be careful..." Tiantian said. "I can't afford to lose this 'character.' Let's scout around a bit. If we don't run into any enemies, we'll head back first."
"And how do we scout?" Chen Junnan asked. "Just press our ears to the doors and listen?"
"Huh?" Tiantian paused. "What else?"
"I've been through quite a few games, big and small," Chen Junnan said. "Generally, the soundproofing in these games is excellent. Some venues are so well-insulated you can't even hear the 'bell.' So I'm not sure we'll be able to hear anything from the rooms nearby."
Tiantian frowned. Chen Junnan's words made some sense.
Back in the "preparation area," they couldn't hear sounds from other rooms. Could it be that this place had some kind of soundproofing treatment?
As she was thinking, the door handle in front of them suddenly moved.
The door slowly pulled open, and Yan Zhichun appeared on the other side.
"Oh." Chen Junnan smiled. "Life is full of unexpected reunions."
Yan Zhichun cautiously surveyed the room. Seeing Chen Junnan and Tiantian together, she wisely chose not to step inside.
"Want to come in and sit?" Chen Junnan asked.
Yan Zhichun tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, "Are you two planning to stick together the whole time?"
"Hey, how could that be? Let's all three move together!"
Chen Junnan naturally knew what kind of person Yan Zhichun was. He decided not to follow her line of thought, just laughed it off, then grabbed Tiantian's arm and walked with her into Yan Zhichun's room.
After a few seconds, the doors around them didn't lock—they just stood slightly ajar. It seemed that having three people in one room didn't force the game to trigger.
Chen Junnan and Tiantian's actions made Yan Zhichun frown, but she still stood still.
Chen Junnan looked up and saw the character "Monkey" written in Yan Zhichun's room.
"Sister Yan," Chen Junnan said. "Long time no see. I've missed you so much. How many minutes has it been since our last meeting?"
Yan Zhichun let out a cold laugh. "You know what I'm capable of. Coming to me like this—what's the difference from handing me the 'character' directly?"
A scene flashed through Chen Junnan's mind. In the "Earth Snake" game, Yan Zhichun had controlled his own right hand to choke himself.
"Sister Yan, what are you saying?" Chen Junnan frowned, feigning calm. "Your puppet-master ability—I wouldn't dare mess with that. But I've heard..."
Chen Junnan took a slow step forward, carefully eyeing the white dress Yan Zhichun was wearing. There was a pocket on her right leg, and the faint glint inside seemed to be a chain.
"Heard what?" Yan Zhichun asked.
"I heard 'Echo' is pretty hard to use here. Can you still control me?" After saying this, Chen Junnan intended to add something, but then suddenly froze, staring wide-eyed.
This sudden change confused both Tiantian and Yan Zhichun.
Chen Junnan slowly raised his hand, pointing behind Yan Zhichun. After a few pauses, he exclaimed excitedly, "Holy shit... Aaron Kwok?"
"What...?" Yan Zhichun was startled and instinctively turned to look.
Chen Junnan seized the moment. As Yan Zhichun turned, he took a quick step forward and reached for her pocket. To avoid accidentally grabbing her thigh, he deliberately held back some force.
This surprise attack probably used up all of Chen Junnan's luck. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance, and his index and middle fingers, like a pair of chopsticks, precisely clamped onto the chain in her pocket.
Before Yan Zhichun could react, Chen Junnan yanked the chain out of her pocket, stepped back quickly, and dropped into a half-kneeling pose with an extremely suave flourish.
Yan Zhichun gasped and spun around, covering her pocket.
It all happened so fast that even Tiantian was stunned.
A few seconds later, Chen Junnan smirked, lowered his head, and said, "A fine 'Flying Dragon, Probing Cloud Hand'... Ladies, do I look like the 'Thief Lord' Chu Liuxiang?"
Neither Tiantian nor Yan Zhichun said a word. They just stared at Chen Junnan dumbfounded.
Chen Junnan moved his right hand in front of his face and opened his palm—
All that was in his hand was a single chain.
"Hey...?" Chen Junnan was taken aback. "Come on... why does everyone pull this trick on me?"
"You..." Yan Zhichun sighed. "Do you have some kind of obsession with chains...? If you really like them, you could have just asked. I'd have given it to you willingly."
"What the hell 'obsession with chains'?" Chen Junnan stood up in frustration. "You had just a chain in your pocket. If you were trying to bait me, shouldn't you have let a bit of the chain show?! You hid it so well—who would've guessed it was just a damn chain again?!"
"That's right." Yan Zhichun nodded. "But letting a bit of the chain show would only fool ordinary people. To trick someone like you, I had to make it look like it had a 'character' on it, keeping it deep in my pocket."
Chen Junnan looked down at the chain in his hand. He supposed it wasn't a total loss.
Who else could steal a chain from someone like Yan Zhichun's pocket? Only him.
"You didn't actually think a trick like 'Aaron Kwok' would distract me, did you...?" Yan Zhichun looked at Chen Junnan with some confusion. "Did your 'Commander' order you to 'steal'?"