I could not hide my surprise and immediately exclaimed:
-"You've only completed three missions, which means you only have a maximum of ten months of survival time in this world. How on earth did you manage to rise to wealth and power so terrifyingly fast in just ten short months?" - I paused slightly, quickly explaining: "I don't mean to doubt your ability, but this is truly too astonishing, it goes way beyond normal logic."
The smile on Xi Yong'an's lips froze for a beat. He dropped his playful demeanor from earlier, slowly sat up straight, and looked at me seriously:
-"You're right. If I had to rely on my own strength alone, I wouldn't be able to do it even in my dreams. But actually, I was lucky enough to get help from a few other formidable veterans in this world."
I quietly stepped closer, placing Xi Yong'an's sunglasses on the tea table right next to him, a gleam of deduction flashing in my eyes:
-"So... this is the reason why you only set up camp on the 29th floor even though there is still one more floor above, right? That highest floor must be reserved for the powerful 'veteran' you just mentioned, isn't it?"
-"Holy shit!" - Xi Yong'an widened his eyes, unable to hold back a curse: "Your sharp deductions are giving me goosebumps over here. But... you guessed completely right."
Yashu also stepped closer, comfortably sinking into the sofa nearby, enthusiastically joining the conversation:
-"Just who on earth is this veteran? Tell us, you're making me die of curiosity here."
-"Actually, I only know that his name is Que Yun, an extremely formidable senior player. As of right now, he has successfully completed thirteen life-or-death missions."
Hearing the name of this veteran, my footsteps and thoughts instantly froze for a beat. ( Que Yun? ), I thought to myself, my eyebrows unconsciously knitting tight together. A sharp train of thought flashed through my brain: The girl named Que Er that the bizarre ancient mirror mentioned before... could she have some connection with this person named Que Yun? How coincidental is it that both of them bear the surname "Que" - an extremely rare surname? [ If you don't remember this detail, you can check back Chapter 46! ]
Xi Yong'an spoke while shrugging, his tone carrying a bit of pride:
-"We accidentally got to know each other on my very first day when I was still wet behind the ears entering this world. Perhaps he was attracted to my innate business talent? That's why he took the initiative to invite me to build a company of our own."
Speaking up to this point, Xi Yong'an paused slightly, his expression becoming more serious: "Right now he is busy carrying missions for a few other players, so he temporarily handed over all the operational control of the company to me and a few others to manage."
Hearing that, I frowned slightly, repeating the phrase that had just appeared in his words to mull over it:
-"You just said 'carrying missions'... What does this term mean?"
Seeing the completely clueless expressions on my and Yashu's faces, Xi Yong'an instantly opened his eyes wide in surprise:
-"Huh? Don't tell me you two have never heard of this concept before?!"
Yashu, while curiously spinning a small decorative statue placed on the table, honestly shook her head:
-"Never heard of it before. Sounds totally strange."
Xi Yong'an coughed lightly, stood up from the sofa, and strode into the inner room. Only a moment later, he came out, holding a large tablet with an extremely modern design:
-"You two come over here and sit down, look at this."
Yashu and I moved closer, sitting on either side of him and intently watching the screen. Xi Yong'an slid his finger, tapping on an app with a strange icon bearing the name: "TRAVEL TOGETHER".
He curled his lips into a smile, not forgetting to throw in a teasing comment to increase the solemnity:
-"I must trust you two a lot to let you see this trade secret, you know."
After the app's status bar finished running and the screen fully loaded, what struck our eyes was a long, dragging leaderboard consisting of exactly one hundred names. What made my blood run cold was that almost everyone present on this list had completed thirteen or more missions.
At the bottom corner of the screen, this app was also divided into many small categories with an intuitive interface:
-Shop
-Leaderboard
-Personal Info
-Friend List
-Mailbox
-World Channel
Xi Yong'an continued to tap and switch over to the "World Channel" section. Instantly, a barrage of messages from players kept jumping up continuously at a dizzying speed. He scrolled through the screen while slowly explaining to us:
-"As you can see, once we possess our own separate phone or personal device in this world, the 'TRAVEL TOGETHER' app will automatically be pre-installed. How should I put it to make it easy to understand... It's like a miniature social network where we can freely interact, make friends, exchange confidential information, or trade items with other players."
Xi Yong'an suddenly paused, his expression becoming incredibly dramatic and full of excitement:
-"And this is the most special thing! We can completely spend money or resources to hire high-level players to carry missions for us. However, the System regulates that the level gap between the carrier and the carried person must not exceed three missions. Um... This mechanism is actually quite similar to those grinding games. If we accept to carry other players, after successfully passing the stage, we won't be counted by the System as 'having completed one more mission' to increase our months of survival, but in return, we will receive extremely lucrative compensation rewards."