They were left speechless.
“Let me try.”
Lei Yan reached for Du Fei’s outstretched hand but he still came out empty. Lei Yan was incapable of touching the gems.
Lei Yan was so stubborn in his attempt, he tried a couple more times to ascertain the stark truth that disappointed him so..
‘Just what is going on?’
“This abode must have belonged to an immortal. Such a figure pays close attention to fate and Du Fei here is the one destined to come here.”
Xin Xiaowei was the second Chinese citizen to have joined this in-house testing, besides Du Fei. Just that Xin Xiaowei was much more skilled than him, ranked 3rd nationally.
Du Fei was dazed.
Xin Xiaowei said, “Du Fei, see if you can take all gems.”
Du Fei reached on the bed and not one escaped his grasp.
Lei Yan woke up and said, “Du Fei, hold on to them for now. We will handle this when we get out of here.”
Du Fei just nodded as he kept taking the gems.
The rest scoured the room but the abode had nothing left of value. Lei Yan ordered for them to leave this place.
The team of a dozen testers, plus captain, left the cave and returned to the real world through the time-space crack.
Under the soft sound of spring water surrounded by lush forest, the singing of birds made the scenery a view of great beauty.
Bang!
The time-space crack flickered for a few times before popping out of existence.
This was only natural. Once the items inside the crack were removed, it would be gone forever.
“Du Fei, come here, let me have another try.”
Now that he was out, Lei Yan was restless in getting Du Fei’s gems.
Du Fei handed a red gemstone and this time Lei Yan managed to get hold of it.
Lei Yan was in glee, “Give me all of them.”
Amidst Du Fei’s hesitation, Xin Xiaowei spoke up, “Leader Lei, you may be in charge of this team, but all of us braved dangers. Don’t you think it’s unfair for you to hog all of Du Fei’s gems?”
Lei Yan’s face darkened, “Xin Xiaowei, let’s be clear about something. The in-house testing is directed by our company, Thunderstruck Enterprise. Do you see the rest of the gamers? Don’t they all listen to their leader, me?”
“If it weren’t for Du Fei, none of us would’ve gotten those gems. You can’t deny this.”
“You already got the immortal’s sword and Daoist robe. So one gem per person isn’t too excessive of a request, Leader Lei.”
“A gem per person? Is this a joke? You won’t get even half! You are all employees who came into my company and shall obey my orders!”
“You’re being unreasonable!”
“Indeed. Your tone implies we were the ones begging to come here. Don’t forget, Lei Yan, it’s your Thunderstruck Enterprise who invited us!”
“Hear, hear. If there were any dangers, we would’ve been first to fall. And now that there’s treasure in sight, it belongs to you? Where is the logic in that?”
The testers began shouting their reproaches to Lei Yan’s overbearing tone.
Lei Yan’s face twisted.
“Leader Lei, I think Xin Xiaowei’s proposal is best, one gem per person. I was the one who found them, so me taking two isn’t overstepping. The rest will be yours.”
“Fine!” Lei Yan snorted, walking before the ten foreign testers, “These are Chinese artifacts and you can’t take them.”
“And to compensate for your loss, I will give you ten thousand RMB per gem.”
“Xin Xiaowei, Du Fei, you are Chinese. You are qualified to hold one.”
“F*ck!”
The Caucasian man named Korov was enraged and was about to argue with Lei Yan by taking a threatening step.
Lei Yan’s hand ignited and pummeled Korov’s two meter tall body into the air.
Korov’s chest had a burning gaping wound on his chest and was howling on the ground.
The fire on Lei Yan’s hand died out followed by his cold tone, “Step forward if you have any complaints.”
Xin Xiaowei raised an eyebrow in thought.
Korov’s teammates helped him up. Lei Yan’s fire fist only burned the skin, not endangering his life.
Cowered from Lei Yan’s display, none dared raise any objections.
Du Fei gave a blue gem to Xin Xiaowei. He kept a white gem and a rainbow colored gem to himself, while giving the remaining ten-odd gems to Lei Yan.
Lei Yan was pensive as he took them, “Du Fei, isn’t one gem enough?”
“One is for me and the other for my friend.”
“Quite the loyal type.” Lei Yan squinted.
“We shall stop this time’s in-house testing here. You may all descend the mountain by yourselves. There is a car waiting for you at the foot.”
The testers were leaving as Lei Yan said, “Du Fei, stay. There’s something I want to say to you.”
“Eh? What? Can’t you say it now? I-I need to get back too.” Du Fei’s step didn’t falter. He saw Lei Yan’s cruelty first hand. Was he an idiot to stay here with him?
Lei Yan said, “Didn’t you tell me you wanted to bring Li Mo too?”
Du Fei halted.
“In-house testers don’t stop participating after just one time. There are many more occasions in the future. Don’t you think so?”
Du Fei was overjoyed, “Leader Lei, you agree in letting my friend participate in the next testing?”
“Naturally. Didn’t you say your fighting strength will greatly increase when you’re together with your friend? Du Fei, I’ll be honest with you. Don’t imagine every testing will be a breeze like this one. Do you know how many have died since the testing began?”
“Died…” Du Fei trembled.
Lei Yan nodded, “Yes, died. From the first testing up till now there have been an account of 781 casualties.”
Du Fei stuttered, “No way, how can there be so many?”
“Our company didn’t know of the dangers the instance contained in the first testing and of the 750 people sent inside, none returned…”
“The rest were gamers that died in the subsequent testings.”
A shiver ran through Du Fei. He was weak-hearted from the start, and this tale only worked to amplify his fear.
Lei Yan patted Du Fei’s shoulder, “Du Fei, if you want your friend to join, you must prepare your heart for his untimely demise.”
Lei Yan gave a cursory glance and found the rest were far enough.
“If what you say it’s true, t-then I won’t bring him.”
“Ha-ha, Du Fei, you are truly loyal. In that case, there’s no need to give him a gem, is there?”
Du Fei shook his head unconsciously.
“Du Fei, the gem is an immortal’s item and your friend has yet to even step inside Starscape. Giving this to him will be pointless.”
“Leader Lei, you don’t need to say it, I still want to give my friend…”
“Good man, what a good man!”
Lei Yan gave Du Fei a thumbs up, then his sudden punch sent Du Fei flying.
“Screw you. You’re so fat and you still don’t know when to quit?”
Lei Yan rained kicks and fists. Spiritual qi had begun strengthening his body and was already tens of times stronger than the average man.
He didn’t use the fire fist because of his lack of control over fire. He needed time after each use.
Lei Yan clobbered until Du Fei was knocked out.
The rainbow gem was quickly snatched from Du Fei’s body, but even after searching for a long time, the second one wasn’t there.
“Damn, where is it? Shitty fatso, stop faking it and get up!”
Lei Yan slapped him a few times but Du Fei was still as a rock. Lei Yan was in the Enhancing Stage, it was only natural for Du Fei, a normal man, to find his strikes heavy.
Lei Yan’s phone started ringing and, after raising to his feet, he answered.
“I’ll be right there!”
Only now did Lei Yan found the second gem, in Du Fei’s clutch. He was about to smash Du Fei’s arm for it, but after a pensive moment, he let the gem go.
“If Xin Xiaowei finds out about this, it’ll be annoying. Whatever, consider yourself lucky, damn fatso.”
Lei Yan dragged Du Fei down the mountain.
