"She's out on a mission, why don't you leave it in her office?"
The person pointed him in a direction.
"Okay, thanks."
Duan Chen breathed a sigh of relief and led them into Yan Qiuren's office to wait.
Before long, Yan Qiuren came in, followed closely by Jun Wuchen.
"Brother Wuchen, how did I do on this mission?"
Yan Qiuren, wearing a high school uniform, hopped into the office. Jun Wuchen patted her head, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Very good, you're starting to look like a senior agent."
"I have you to thank... Who are you guys?"
Yan Qiuren looked at Duan Chen and the others, her surprise evident.
Jun Wuchen also turned his gaze towards them.
"The files."
Duan Chen held up the A4 paper.
"Let me see, is it a new mission?"
Mi Xue'er couldn't understand Yan Qiuren's excessive liveliness. She nodded, "I suppose so."
"I didn't ask you!"
Yan Qiuren surprisingly showed hostility towards her. At the same time, Duan Chen noticed Jun Wuchen staring at him with an unfriendly gaze.
Could it be that their respective counterparts in this world harbored hostility towards their original selves?
Duan Chen took note of this.
Mi Xue'er gritted her teeth in anger. If Jun Ci and Qin Nanyuan hadn't held her back, she would have drawn her sword and killed Yan Qiuren on the spot!
"Xue'er, calm down."
"Oh~ So you're Mi Xue'er, the rich young lady?"
Yan Qiuren's expression was mischievous. Duan Chen couldn't resist taking a photo.
"Don't just take pictures!"
Jun Wuchen's voice was cold as he scolded.
Mi Xue'er couldn't believe that her counterpart in this illusion was Yan Qiuren. How could this girl be so infuriating? She didn't act this annoyingly in the real world!
Yan Qiuren stepped forward and surprisingly reached out to snatch her sword-shaped pendant!
"What are you doing?!"
This was something her father had left her; how could she let someone easily take it?
"Give it to me!"
Yan Qiuren directly tried to grab it.
Sensing that things were going south, Duan Chen was about to intervene when Jun Wuchen suddenly stepped in front of him.
"Behave yourself."
Duan Chen frowned.
He saw that Jun Wuchen indeed had a chess piece within him, but it was a gray one, completely different from the piece within himself. And in the depths of Jun Wuchen's eyes, there was a hint of longing?
Longing for what?
Duan Chen then looked at Yan Qiuren. She also had a sword-shaped pendant at her collar, also gray.
And she was constantly staring greedily at Mi Xue'er's pendant.
"Xue'er! Don't let her get the pendant!"
"Got it!"
"What have you discovered?"
Jun Wuchen let out a cold laugh.
Duan Chen guessed that each of them had a corresponding token. If this token were snatched by their counterpart in this world, they would likely be trapped here forever.
And after the counterpart took their token, a vacant spot on their person would be filled, granting them the abilities of the token's owner.
It seemed his guess was correct. Jun Wuchen grinned menacingly, "Give me your chess piece!"
"You wish!"
Duan Chen sneered coldly.
"Sequence 016: [Fey Law!]"
"Sequence 035: [Raven Tide!]"
"Damn it!"
Fortunately, the counterparts in this place did not possess their own abilities.
Jun Wuchen fled in disarray, but Fey Law had already locked onto him.
"Ching!"
With a crisp sound, his brow was pierced, and he fell straight to the ground.
Duan Chen saw the gray chess piece within him disappear.
On the other side, Mi Xue'er was still entangled with Yan Qiuren.
Duan Chen couldn't stand it any longer and took care of it with a single electromagnetic cannon blast.
He explained his deductions to Jun Ci and the others.
"Then let's hurry!"
"Alright!"
After consecutively dealing with Niya, Jia Yunlian, and Chen Ao, Duan Chen and the others discovered another pattern.
That was, they had to defeat their own counterparts personally. If others intervened, they couldn't harm the counterparts in the slightest.
Mi Le's face instantly turned grim.
His counterpart was Bai Ye!
"What should I do? I can only make contracts!"
As the heavily made-up Bai Ye approached him menacingly, Mi Le's face turned green.
"Let's confirm the tokens first!"
Bai Ye was adorned in a riot of colors, dazzling Duan Chen. Finally, his gaze settled on the pocket watch at Bai Ye's chest.
The pocket watch was gray.
Duan Chen quickly took Mi Le's pocket watch.
"Give it to me!"
Bai Ye's voice shrieked, almost deafening Duan Chen.
"Just a moment!"
Mi Le, in his panic, directly blocked Bai Ye.
"What are you doing?"
He had a displeased expression.
"Uh... I can't give you this pocket watch right now."
"Why?"
"Raven Tide!"
Duan Chen's expression changed, and he unleashed his ultimate move.
"Bang!"
"Huh?"
He discovered that although he couldn't kill Bai Ye, his spiritual energy could still be effective. As long as the final blow was delivered by Mi Le, it would work.
He exchanged glances with the others.
Not long after, Bai Ye was beaten to the ground by a group attack. Mi Le seized the opportunity, grabbed a dagger, and plunged it into Bai Ye's neck.
"Oh dear— I don't want to kill you! Bai Ye, don't come looking for me after you get out!"
Duan Chen rolled his eyes.
The moment Mi Le struck, a white light erupted from the entrance of the Spirit Hunter Guild.
"Let's go!"
Behind the white light was, as expected, more darkness.
This time, Duan Chen chose to rest for a while before attempting the sixth floor.
"I'm exhausted..."
This 263rd floor was truly difficult to breach.
...
Qi Qing sat idly on a flowerbed between buildings 262 and 264, a blade of grass in his mouth, occasionally cursing.
"Damn it, why can't I get in?"
Where had things gone wrong?
"Brother, excuse me, could you tell me where building 263 is?"
Qi Qing didn't look up and replied indifferently, "Found it, can't get in."
"Huh?"
"How can you not get in?"
"Oh— sorry, I didn't see it before, but I see it now."
Qi Qing's heart leaped. He looked up and saw a plain-looking middle-aged man. He asked in surprise, "You can see it?"
The middle-aged man smiled and nodded, "Yes, I couldn't see it before, but I can now."
"Then take me in!"
He hesitated for only a minute.
"Sure! Just follow me, don't fall behind!"
With his previous experience, Qi Qing was determined not to be left behind this time.
He followed the middle-aged man and asked, "Can you make me see this building too?"
The man shook his head, "That's probably not possible."
It seemed not everyone possessed Duan Chen's abilities.
Qi Qing didn't get discouraged. As long as he got in, he would eventually meet Duan Chen and the others. It was just one building, after all.
"Then let's go."
"Alright!"
Qi Qing followed the middle-aged man and stepped into a dark corridor.