Among the eight teams that entered the quarterfinals this time, only Seven Seas and Prisoner could be said to be friendly teams. For the remaining five teams, they would have no problem meeting any other team, but they happened to meet the Jazz team. No matter how they looked at it, they seemed to be enemies.
Chi Ting considered himself someone who didn’t hold grudges, especially in the unlimited world where everyone relied on their abilities to find a way to survive. However, he wasn’t naive to think that others would be as indifferent as him.
But there was obviously no other way now. After all, judging from the current situation, these communicators were probably the only way for the teams to communicate with each other. Now that they had contacted each other, it was still necessary to meet up with the Jazz team.
All the way there, Chi Ting kept holding the communicator in his hand.
He quickly switched between more than a dozen communication channels in succession, but received no signals from other teams.
Right now, it seemed that the worst-case scenario was that there were only two teams, them and the Jazz team, in this No 1 stronghold.
Chi Ting didn’t give up and continued to search for other signals that might flash around at any time.
Sometimes he did need to prepare for the worst, but no matter how he looked at it, if all the teams were dispersed to different bases at the beginning, then the subsequent contribution value competition would be unfair. The instance designer shouldn’t make such a low-level mistake.
According to the looted map, Chi Ting and the Jazz team agreed to meet next to the pool in the center of the No 1 stronghold.
Chi Ting tinkered with the communicator without any results. Then at Lou Yueren’s request, he gave the communicator to Lou Yueren to play with.
He looked up after turning the corner and saw several figures waiting there in the distance.
It seemed that the Jazz team’s spawn location was much closer than theirs. At this time, the captain Qu Leng also noticed the arrival of the Dawn team and walked over first. “Long time no see, Captain Chi. I didn’t expect that we would be in the same instance again by chance.”
He was still as gentle and elegant as ever, with that warm smile. Just looking at his gentle greeting, one would’ve thought he was meeting an old friend after a long separation.
On the other hand, Chi Ting never hit a smiling person. He glanced at Qu Leng’s hand and was happy to be kind to others. He stretched out his hand and shook it. “It is indeed fate.”
The harmonious scene of the two people was broadcast live to the screens outside. Everything seemed normal in front of the Dawn team’s screen, but the crowd in front of the Jazz team’s screen became agitated.
Any team that could enter the quarterfinals attracted a lot of attention. In some ways, the Jazz team could be regarded as a dark horse that had made its way through the siege. Naturally, they were no longer low-key at this moment.
Those watching the team’s live stream at this moment were basically the players who had been following the team since the first round. When they thought of the various methods displayed by this team during the first round of instances, and seeing the Dawn team appearing in front of him in such a harmonious and friendly scene, they couldn’t help feeling a trace of sympathy that was beyond words.
Some new players asked in confusion, “What is going on? Nothing has happened yet. Why are people reacting so strongly?”
The moment this sentence was uttered, it immediately sparked a conversation.
“I can tell from your expression that you haven’t paid attention to the previous instance. If you had seen how the Jazz team cleared the instance, you never would’ve asked such a question.”
“Hmm, to be honest, this is the first time I’ve seen a team so ruthless as to ‘make the best use’ of their players.”
“Huh? What’s going on? I was staying with the Dawn team in the last instance. Did I miss something?”
“It’s nothing. Other teams relied on exploring to pass the level, but the Jazz team relied on backstabbing to pass.”
“It is a pity that we couldn’t record a replay video, or I would’ve really wanted to show you how someone could drain all of his teammates’ memories and cut his body into pieces, serving them on the table without blinking an eye. I’ve only seen Qu Leng so cold.”
“F*k, he passed the level by stepping on his teammates’ corpses? Why don’t the others make a fuss? Who knows if they will be the next one?”
“Haha, as long as it isn’t their own corpse, why bother making a fuss? We really don’t know who will be pushed out, but if they made a fuss at that time, it would definitely be them.”
“I see that the captain of the Jazz team seems to have a good temper. Is his core really like this? Then what about the Dawn team…”
“It looks like they have met before. I hope Captain Chi has seen through the other person’s true face, or it would be really dangerous. You never know when you will get stabbed in the back.”
It could be seen that the Jazz team’s method of passing the first round was indeed not glorious. It was to the point where all the players were subconsciously worried about the safety of the Dawn team, fearing that they would be courting disaster.
In fact, Chi Ting knew very well that Qu Leng wasn’t a good person.
The fact that there were eight teams with only 41 people when they entered the instance showed that one of the teams had personnel shortages. Chi Ting briefly greeted Qu Leng and got straight to the point. “Captain Qu, we inevitably need to fight together in the future. I would like to ask, how many people are there in your team now…”
Qu Leng smiled. “Oh, there are three members in my team, including me. The remaining number is small. I’m afraid Captain Chi will need to take more responsibility.”
A hint of surprise flashed across Chi Ting’s face.
On the way here just now, besides Qu Leng, he only saw another team member, Diao Baiwei, whom he had met before in Strange Stories Arcade. It turned out that there was another one. Was it the strong man from the instance at that time?
Chi Ting was about to look to the side when he heard Qu Leng laugh with an ambiguous tone. “Come to think of it, the new member who joined our team not long ago seems to be an old acquaintance of yours, Captain Chi.”
As he spoke, Chi Ting noticed that Qu Leng’s gaze shifted slightly to the side. He followed this gaze and saw the figure walking out from the shadow of the wall behind him.
It was originally just a casual glance, but his gaze suddenly froze. “Qi Xiu?”
There was a rare hint of tension in his usually calm tone. This made Lou Yueren, who was fiddling with the communicator in the back, raise his head very keenly.
The man who came out was wearing a black jacket. On his fair and handsome face, a pair of eyes as deep as obsidian stared straight at Chi Ting.
At this moment, he seemed unaware of the existence of other people. He walked past Lou Yueren without looking around and came straight to Chi Ting.
The surroundings fell into a brief silence. After a long time, as if he had finally digested the complicated emotions, the man named Qi Xiu slowly exhaled. His smile was full of complicated emotions. “At first, I thought it was just someone with the same name. I didn’t expect… Ah Ting, it is really you.”
Lou Yueren hadn’t taken it to heart when he was ignored, but when he heard this, the fingers holding the communicator tightened, and the corners of his lips curled up in a smile.
Oh, Ah Ting?
The name was quite intimate.
Lou Yueren looked at Qi Xiu carefully with a scrutinizing gaze. Then he turned to look at Chi Ting, his eyebrows twitching slightly.
He might be too fussy sometimes, but in the current atmosphere, it didn’t look like he was overthinking, right?
“I just checked with Captain Qu. I heard that you came from the 13th World? I am a player from the 3rd World. It seems that after I left, you have experienced a lot of things on your own.”
“Qi Xiu.” Chi Ting slowly exhaled and interrupted the other person’s words. There was a long pause before he continued to ask, “Are you okay?”
Qi Xiu looked at Chi Ting steadily. Then he lowered his eyes and slowly smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. You don’t need to care about what happened at that time. You just made the choice you should make.”
“…Yes.”
The air became quiet again and was filled with a frozen atmosphere.
This was until a click sound was heard. The tiny crack in the communicator instantly drew everyone’s attention.
Chi Ting looked back and immediately understood what was going on. He was speechless for a moment before he said, “We need to use this to contact other teams. Don’t break it.”
“Okay, dear.” Lou Yueren’s expressionless face suddenly showed a bright smile. He walked to Chi Ting’s side with one step of his long legs. He naturally put an arm around his shoulders and said in a familiar tone, “Speaking of which, is this your old friend? What is his name? Do you want to introduce each other?”
Chi Ting glanced at him and laughed a bit at the strong sour smell in the air. He simply introduced him to Qi Xiu. “This is Lou Yueren, my boyfriend.”
The word ‘boyfriend’ obviously made Lou Yueren very satisfied. In the blink of an eye, he stretched out his hand with a smile. “Hello, my name is Lou Yueren. I am his boyfriend.”
Chi Ting continued the introductions. “This guy is called Qi Xiu. He was my first partner before I founded the Dawn team.”
Qi Xiu also reached out and shook hands with Lou Yueren. “Hello.”
The first partner.
The other members of the Dawn team were all stunned when these words came out.
It took Ji Xingque a long time to recover from his shock. He turned to look at Lu Nanling for confirmation. “Little Brother Lu, this Qi Xiu, is he…?”
Lu Nanling was obviously also very surprised. He looked the man up and down and nodded. “It should be correct.”
Ji Xingque let out a deep hiss. His shocked expression seemed as if he was looking at an ancient fossil. Even Song Xuefeng was rarely interested and looked over curiously.
Lou Yueren withdrew his hand and saw the other people’s fierce reactions. He glanced at Qi Xiu a moment longer. Then he smiled and leaned close to Chi Ting’s ear, gently biting it. “The first partner. The moment I heard this title, I know that your relationship must be very good.”
Chi Ting felt a sudden pain from his ear. He knew that this man was having another attack.
But inexplicably, this undisguised jealousy made the complicated mood he felt when he saw Qi Xiu again ease a lot.
“Yes, we were indeed good comrades.” Chi Ting slightly emphasized the last two words. The scenes he had experienced in the past emerged in his mind. His eyes flickered slightly, and he said slowly, “I will tell you slowly when I have time.”
Lou Yueren chuckled. “Okay.”
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