The Labyrinth of the Monsters

In the early morning, the four of them put on the Zodiac masks and arrived at the Ten Dragon Fortress.

Originally, they could have arrived before 12 o'clock, but according to White Rabbit's request, they parked on the street and had a meal of flavored clams before leisurely heading to the Ten Dragon Fortress, which caused them to be nearly 20 minutes late.

This is exactly what White Rabbit wanted, "Only fools arrive on time. Those who are late have face. Understand?"

"Got it." Gao Yang was deeply inspired.

The Ten Dragon Fortress is a "city that never sleeps," with colorful lights and flashing neon lights.

To the north is a magnificent building that looks like a modern casino. There is a huge LCD billboard on the top of the building, with a shining golden Kylin on it, majestic and imposing. This is the branch of the Kylin Guild in the Ten Dragon Fortress.

The four of them walked into the revolving door. The lobby was magnificent and luxurious, with two young ladies in cheongsams standing in front of the service counter. One in black and one in white, both with the golden Kylin pattern.

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"We have a reservation for a transaction at midnight for the Zodiac." White Rabbit said as she approached.

"Hello, please show your reservation number and password."

"A19, password is four eights."

The receptionist quickly checked the information on the computer, respectfully walked out from behind the counter, and gestured for the four of them to follow, "Hello, Transaction Hall No. 6, please follow me."

The four of them walked through a quiet white corridor and arrived at a metal door at the end. The lintel of the door read "Transaction Hall No. 6".

The waiter entered the password, and the door slowly opened as the four of them walked in.

Gao Yang remained silent throughout the process. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked when he entered!

——There were too many people inside!

The transaction hall was about the size of a self-media classroom. In the middle was an item trading counter, and an elderly man in a suit stood next to the counter, looking professional, serious, and authoritative.

On both sides of the trading counter were two guest sofas. A man and a woman sat on the left sofa, wearing masks. Behind the two of them, there was a large crowd of people, all wearing masks. From their body shapes, there were people of all ages and genders. Gao Yang roughly counted and there were nearly forty people.

White Rabbit, Tengu, and Wu Dahai were very calm about this, as they had expected it.

White Rabbit and Wu Dahai confidently sat down on the sofa opposite, while Tengu and Gao Yang silently stood behind them, like two emotionless bodyguards.

"You're 21 minutes late." The male representative of the Hundred Rivers Group's voice sounded displeased, but he tried his best to restrain himself.

"Sorry, we had a lot of things to deal with." White Rabbit apologized, but there was no remorse in her voice. "Let's get started."

"Alright." The female representative had a delicate black box on her leg. She was about to open it, but was stopped by the male representative. "Show us your goods first."

White Rabbit shrugged indifferently, "Electric Mouse, show them."

Wu Dahai, with his legs crossed, took out a rune circuit from the pocket of his jacket and casually threw it towards the trading counter. The trader caught it skillfully.

Although the people on the opposite side were wearing masks, their slight physical reactions revealed their astonishment: That was a rune circuit, and they just threw it around so casually! Although this was the territory of the Kylin Guild and ordinary people wouldn't dare to act recklessly, they were still too confident.

The trader took out a magnifying glass and carefully examined it for half a minute, then placed it in an embedded groove on the trading counter. Soon, the light bulb on the trading counter started to flicker frequently.

"This rune circuit is genuine," the trader's voice was old but steady. He looked at White Rabbit, "Please guarantee in the name of your organization that this rune circuit is indeed of the Mental Strength attribute."

"I guarantee in the name of the Zodiac that this rune circuit is indeed of the Mental Strength attribute." White Rabbit raised her hand to guarantee.

"Good." The trader turned to the two representatives of the Hundred Rivers Group.

The male representative gave a signal to the female representative, and she carefully walked to the trader's side with the black box. The trader opened the box and took out a rune circuit to verify its authenticity.

The process quickly came to an end, and the representatives of the Hundred Rivers Group also guaranteed that the rune circuit was of the Damage attribute.

The transaction ended smoothly.

White Rabbit and the male representative of the Hundred Rivers Group both walked to the front of the trading counter and took the rune circuit.

"The transaction is successfully completed." The trader announced, "Next, one member from each side, please leave the trading room first, and the other member please wait inside for half an hour."

"You were late, so we'll leave first." The male representative said.

"Please go ahead." White Rabbit remained seated on the sofa, with a gesture of seeing them off.

The male and female representatives couldn't wait to get up and led the group of people out of the trading room. Then, the trader also walked out of the trading room. Before leaving, he politely reminded, "Please wait in the trading room for half an hour."

The metal door slowly closed, and the trading room became quiet.

Seeing that there were no outsiders, Gao Yang couldn't hold back anymore and muttered, "They brought too many people, didn't they?"

"You're quite smart, use your brain and think about why they brought so many people." White Rabbit said as she took off her shoes and socks, and took out a bottle of red nail polish from her pocket.

"They're afraid of us?" Gao Yang guessed."Exactly!" Wu Dahai was quite proud, "Don't be fooled by the numbers of the Hundred Rivers Group; there are actually a lot of good-for-nothings among them. Good-for-nothings need to huddle together for warmth. Something as important as a rune circuit can't fall into the wrong hands."

"People might be weak, but they're not useless," White Rabbit corrected.

"Hmph, it's pretty much the same," Wu Dahai said, crossing his legs, "They don't allow us to leave at the same time to avoid snatch-and-grabs after the deal. After all, once we leave this room, there's no Kylin Guild to ensure justice."

"I see," Gao Yang suddenly felt a pang of sorrow: indeed, no matter which world, the weak always have a hard time surviving.

After White Rabbit examined the damage-type rune circuit in her hand, she tossed it to Wu Dahai. Wu Dahai, with his elemental Talent, had no use for it. He glanced at it indifferently before passing it to Tengu. Tengu studied it for a while and then handed it to Gao Yang.

Gao Yang took a closer look. Its appearance was not much different from that of a mental strength rune circuit, the only difference being the totem carved in the center of the rune—a cluster of sharp, irregular geometric shapes, resembling a prickly sea urchin.

"Gao Yang, keep the runes with you until we get back to base," White Rabbit said.

"Ah?" Gao Yang was flattered, "Such valuable items..."

"That's why we need to train your mental fortitude," White Rabbit said, painting her toenails but speaking authoritatively, "What's that saying? 'Remain calm even if Mount Tai collapses before you.' Junior brother, you still have much to learn."

"Okay," Gao Yang agreed, finding the reasoning sound.

...

Half an hour later, the four of them left the Ten Dragons Stronghold and drove back to the Millennium Building.

After the underground base of the Millennium Building was completed, it was designated as the new headquarters of the Zodiac. Most people and items had gradually moved there, except for the Captain—Dragon.

Privately, Gao Yang had also asked Wu Dahai why Dragon was so mysterious and why they had never met him. Wu Dahai replied with a sneer, "You're just starting out; I haven't even met the Captain, let alone you."

Gao Yang knew better than to ask further, only feeling that Dragon was even more enigmatic.

"How have Qing Ling and Officer Huang been doing lately?" Gao Yang asked the others in the car on the way back, "Qing Ling hasn't been to school these past few days."

Wu Dahai laughed, "They're undergoing devilish training with Fighting Tiger. Now that they've got the damage rune circuit, Fighting Tiger wants to help them level up to 4 quickly. They'll probably be skinned alive."

"Is leveling up to 4 very difficult?" Gao Yang asked, then remembered something, "Oh, sorry, you're only level 3..."

"Who are you looking down on, you jerk!" Wu Dahai got annoyed and lunged to grab Gao Yang's hair, "I'll show you..."

"Bang—"

A muffled sound, the car braked sharply, and Wu Dahai, who hadn't buckled his seatbelt, lurched forward, his head banging hard against the car window. He howled, "Tengu, what the hell are you doing? You could kill someone!"

"That," Tengu said, looking ahead with some difficulty in his voice, "I think I might have hit someone."