Volume 1 Chapter 7 (1/2)
Chapter 7 – Plan Concoction
Li Yiming collected his thoughts, along with all the information he just received. 'Wills… Domains… Guardians… Camouflagers… Talents… Life Marks…
'To be is to possess a soul, and to possess a soul is to have a will. Some wills disappear naturally, and some don't. The ones that linger around will eventually form a virtual world called a Secret Domain, and, if left for long enough, these domains will merge with our world and influence it. To prevent this from happening, the Heavenly Laws that govern our world has selected a group of people and made them into Guardians. Guardians have extraordinary abilities called Talents, and they are responsible for erasing any domains that may appear. The more domains they are able to erase, the more Life Marks they are rewarded and the stronger they become. On the other hand, if they do not carry out the task properly, not only will they fail to become stronger, they will…die…'
'Finally, Camouflagers are the beings created by a domain to protect itself and to fight back against the guardians. They have the same kind of powers.'
'What the heck is going on?' Li Yiming's tumultuous thoughts echoed within his own heart. He remembered the flames from the explosion earlier and turned his head to look at the blood stains on Grandma w.a.n.g's garment. '…I knew they were doing something big, but this big?'
”What should we do now?” Qing Qiaoqiao asked, somewhat dispirited.
”We must see through the end of this domain. The price to pay for failure is too great… but with the camouflager, the rules should have changed. s.h.i.+t, why is there a camouflager in a low level domain?” Eyegla.s.ses's voice sounded in the earphone.
”I've never heard of camouflagers in low-level domains, not even in intermediate ones.” Grandma w.a.n.g remarked in a frustrated voice.
'There are three levels? Low, intermediate, high?' Li Yiming rubbed his hands: this was no moment for him to interject.
”My apologies, if it weren't for me…” Qing Linglong apologized dispiritedly. After all, she was the proposer for this domain.”
”This isn't your fault, taking care of domains is the natural duty of guardians. This was just an accident,” interrupted Grandma w.a.n.g with a hand gesture. ”Let's think about what we should do now.”
”It's unfortunate that we are isolated from the outer world. Otherwise we would be able to ask other people about the reason behind such a big change.” Eyegla.s.ses's did not sound very happy either.
'Wait… Could it be because of me?' Li Yiming's heart skipped a beat.
”There's no use in complaining now. The moment we walked into that teahouse with the invitation, our fates have been sealed together. If we try to back off now, Heavenly Law's will have no pity in wiping us out.” Grandma w.a.n.g seemed to have read on Eyegla.s.ses's intimation.
'No way out? Wiping us out?' Li Yiming, who, just now, was thinking about finding a way to leave the place, sat straight at once.
”The only way to erase this domain is to follow its rules and finish the mission. From the information we've already gathered, the collapse of Highway 208, for which undeniable responsibility lies with the Yunlong Construction Group, should be the key. We need to collect enough evidence to put the people in Yunlong behind bars. This should be enough for to complete the domain's mission, since it was a low-level domain in the first place. The highest person we would need to pull down is probably the chairman, Guo Tai, and not to his father who is retired in the capital.” Qing Linglong held the wheel and spoke out her thoughts with a pensive look. ”But with a camouflager, and the first target of our mission dead…. The rules of this domain must have changed…”
”How did you handle it the last time you encountered a camouflager?” Qiaoqiao tried to bring some ideas out of the group, but her question was met with embarra.s.sment from all sides.
”I've never met a camouflager…”
”Me neither…”
”Me neither…”
Eyegla.s.ses, Grandma w.a.n.g and Qing Linglong said one after another. Then, after a brief pause, they looked in unison toward Li Yiming. 'He didn't say anything yet, unless this mysterious young man…'
”I haven't either,” said Li Yiming as soon as he noticed their attention.
The three turned their heads back, disappointed.
”Well then, if no one here has ever met one, then how can you be so sure that whoever Grandma w.a.n.g saw was actually a camouflager?” Qiaoqiao indeed has a sharp mind, and her question brought some hope to Li Yiming.
”There's no mistaking it. There's no way a normal person would know something like Thunder Palm. As for other guardians, they wouldn't try to damage the rules of a domain, that would only lead to everyone's demise.” Grandma w.a.n.g twisted her right wrist; it seemed like the drug had extraordinary effects. It was probably some kind of item only guardians would be able to get their hands on.
”I've seen a post once about camouflagers on an online forum ran by guardians,” said Eyegla.s.ses, with serious self-doubt in his voice.
”About camouflagers?”
”Yes, but it was a cursory post and lacked details. After all, you guys all know that whatever happens in a domain cannot be talked about.”
”Tell us.”
”It mentioned two ways to deal with camouflagers when you meet one inside a secret domain.”
”Oh?” Everyone's attention was aroused.
”The first one is to kill the camouflager. The rules will then be restored.”
Grandma squinted as she reminisced her encounter with the camouflager, and weighed out the risks.