Chapter 50 Sharing a Bed

Qiantiao was taking a bath.

Sullen, having nothing to do in bed, simply took out his alchemy books and began to read.

He now spends almost all his free time digesting knowledge.

This was a habit he had developed before transmigrating; reading calmed his emotions.

Before long, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped abruptly.

Qiantiao came out wearing a loose bathrobe, naturally with nothing underneath. Looking up, one could see a large expanse of white flesh and a deep V on her chest. It had to be said that close-combat professionals really had appealing figures.

"Hoo~"

She walked to the dressing mirror and let out a long, satisfied sigh, "Finally comfortable..."

Her smooth green hair was unbound, making her look less fierce.

Qiantiao pulled a towel from the hanger and tilted her head, wiping her wet hair. As she raised her hand, both the wide sleeves and the neckline gaped open, revealing a large expanse of her chest.

However, both people in the room remained calm.

Sullen looked at his book, glanced at her, and then averted his gaze.

The shower had been running earlier, so they hadn't spoken in detail. Now that things were quiet, Qiantiao continued the previous topic. "Sullen, kid, I heard you have a puppet that's immune to the Hypnos's Night Black Scythe? Mr. Black's plan is, it would be best if you could bring that puppet along."

"Yeah, it's a kind of ghoul."

This information was already on the wanted poster, so there was nothing he couldn't lend.

Moreover, Sullen had used the Abomination so many times that Mr. Black, being such a polymath, had probably already guessed the origin of the ghoul.

As he spoke, he thought of something else and said, "But that corpse is a bit troublesome to control. It's difficult for anyone who isn't a puppeteer. And precisely controlling the scythe's strikes requires a lot of practice..."

Although Sullen thought Mr. Black and the others were strong, he didn't see them efficiently using an unfamiliar sealing item.

Hearing this, Qiantiao glanced at him in the mirror.

She happened to meet Sullen's questioning gaze, and added, "Mr. Black said that you should be interested in seeing it. So... actually, I'm here to borrow you."

.......

"Borrow me???"

As soon as Sullen heard this, a voice in his heart instinctively responded.

No, I'm not interested!

Although he didn't know why Mr. Black and the others wanted to intercept the Duke's little princess, that battle would definitely be extremely dangerous. Even the leader of the Umbrella organization had secretly come to scout, so the little princess must be surrounded by top experts.

Moreover, the Black Tower was a very special place.

The inner city housed top tycoons, who, no matter how strong, had a limit.

But now that Sullen knew that the Black Tower was a passage connecting to the upper world, he knew that the Duke's foundation was unfathomable, absolutely beyond his imagination.

Otherwise, with the strength of Mr. Black's group, wouldn't they be able to push through any big family in the inner city without thinking?

The fact that they were still hiding must be out of fear of the Black Tower.

This battle was bound to be an intense fight between top professionals.

Sullen was very self-aware.

He was just a small fry who had just entered Tier 2. Although he had a few tricks up his sleeve, he wasn't capable enough to mess around in that kind of situation.

Even the aftermath of a battle between top professionals would be enough to give him a hard time.

Lending the scythe was fine...

But lending a person...

Wait, did Mr. Black say that?

Sullen instantly thought of something and didn't rush to express his opinion.

He looked at Qiantiao and asked doubtfully, "Mr. Black said that?"

"Yeah. Although I also thought you wouldn't want to go. But Mr. Black said that if we told you our plan, you would want to go..."

Qiantiao glanced at him.

After a pause, she said something that would shock anyone who heard it, "After all, we're going to intercept a real super-tier expert this time. According to ancient sayings, that person should be... a Tier 5 professional!"

......

"Tier 5?!"

When Sullen heard this, he was stunned at first, and then he realized what she was saying.

This was indeed something he hadn't expected.

The strongest known experts in Old Lingdon were Tier 3, like the three underworld bosses of the outer city, the chairmen and vice-chairmen of various guilds, and the top experts in the inner city... all were Tier 3.

What was Tier 5?

According to the texts unearthed from the ruins, ancient alchemists certainly didn't stop at Tier 3.

After all, the master of the Dawn Ruins, Sir Isaac, was known as a "demigod" a thousand years ago.

Hearing Qiantiao's words.

Sullen was surprised for a moment, but his first reaction was: how many alchemy fragments could a Tier 5 professional yield?

Hearing this, he immediately became interested!

It wasn't just the amount of knowledge, but the level of comprehension of the laws.

It also meant... vision!

"A linear equation with one variable" was already difficult for elementary school students, but for middle and high school students, wasn't it just an introductory question?

This rule also applied to the field of alchemy.

Without crossing certain tier thresholds, many super-tier knowledge could not be comprehended.

Sullen now felt this deeply.

Before, when he was Tier 1, learning Tier 2 rune knowledge was very difficult, hard to understand, and hard to comprehend. But now, after advancing, many of the difficult knowledge from before were almost instantly understood, and the learning difficulty was reduced by at least several times!

One could imagine, if he stripped the soul of a Tier 5 professional, and truly comprehended knowledge related to the laws, what would Sullen's learning progress be like?

Even if he couldn't harvest finished knowledge fragments, Sullen felt that just gaining "vision" would allow him to understand and learn other Tier 2 and Tier 3 alchemy knowledge with just a glance!

Super-tier knowledge had been monopolized by the Black Tower, which couldn't be obtained by harvesting any number of Tier 3 professionals!

If it were a group of Tier 3 enemies, he really wouldn't want to go.

After all, the little princess would have no less than ten or eight Tier 3 bodyguards.

If Mr. Black couldn't take care of them and he had to face one, Sullen wasn't confident that he could survive against a Tier 3 professional.

But now, hearing this,

It turned out,

They weren't intercepting the little princess, but intercepting a Tier 5 guard?

......

"How strong are Mr. Black and the others..."

Hearing Qiantiao tell their plan, Sullen instantly felt that he had underestimated the strength of the Mirror organization.

But admiration aside, he was indeed very interested in this plan!

If Mr. Black and the others dared to act, they must have been confident in their ability to do so!

"Looks like you've decided to go."

Qiantiao caught the change in Sullen's expression and said calmly.

Sullen nodded, "Yeah."

"It's good that you've decided."

Hearing this, Qiantiao didn't say much.

At this moment, she had already dried her hair and looked at Sullen, who was lying sprawled on the bed, and grumbled, "Hey hey hey~ Sullen, kid, move over a bit, okay? You're taking up the whole bed. Can you leave me some space?"

Sullen's thoughts had already drifted away, and his mind was filled with the gains after stripping the fragments of a Tier 5 expert.

Hearing this, he glanced at the scantily clad Qiantiao.

This boss seemed to really be planning to squeeze in with him.

Since the gambling addict didn't mind, he naturally didn't mind either.

"Oh."

Sullen responded and moved his butt, leaving half the bed. Then, as soon as he moved, he suddenly felt a sharp blade aura brush past him.

With a "swoosh," the sound was very light, like a quick blade cutting through the air.

Looking again, the big bed had been split in two from the middle.

Because the blade was too fast, even the sheets and bedding on the bed hadn't deformed. The cut was smooth and divided the bed into two, with a wide gap in between.

"..."

Sullen looked at it, a helpless expression on his face.

He had seen Qiantiao draw her blade, but he hadn't dodged. Obviously, this boss was scaring him, probably retaliating for the teasing during the shower just now.

But thankfully, the mattress was supported by countless individual springs, so cutting it in half didn't cause it to collapse.

"Alright, let's sleep."

Qiantiao saw that Sullen wasn't frightened, and pouted, finding it boring.

She didn't treat herself like an outsider at all, and happily lay down on the other half of the bed.

She crossed her legs, revealing her fair thighs.

.......

Since he was going to participate in the battle, Sullen naturally had to ask about the situation.

He turned his head to look at the other half of the bed and asked, "Sister Qiantiao, when are we leaving?"

"Don't know, waiting for notification."

Qiantiao didn't even open her eyes, and responded lazily, "The plan is for Mr. Black and the others to figure out. I'm only responsible for fighting."

She seemed to not care about the details of the plan at all. Professionals should do professional things. The matters of conspiracy and trickery should be left to intellectuals like Mr. Black.

There was no awkwardness in the atmosphere with the two of them sharing a room.

Thinking about how they were going to besiege a Tier 5 professional, Sullen was indeed very curious, like about their strength.

Since Qiantiao didn't treat him like an outsider, Sullen naturally didn't stand on ceremony. He asked directly, "Sister Qiantiao, what tier are you now?"

After pondering for a moment, Qiantiao slowly uttered three words, "Hard to say."

Sullen, "Hard to say?"

Qiantiao suddenly opened her eyes, looked at the ceiling, and didn't hide it from Sullen, "I broke through to Tier 3 half a year ago. But because of talent re-awakening and some special inheritance, my combat power is much stronger than ordinary Tier 3s. If you really want to say... barely a Tier 4."

"Oh."

Hearing this, Sullen's expression was slightly different.

These words tonight had indeed refreshed his understanding of the world.

Sullen was still thinking about what Tier 4 meant, when Qiantiao took the initiative to say, "Aren't you curious why we're intercepting that Tier 5 guard captain?"

Sullen originally thought that this might involve some secrets, and didn't want to pry.

But now that she mentioned it, he took the opportunity to ask, "Why?"

Qiantiao said, "Advancing to Tier 4 requires something special—the Sunstone. The underground world, which isn't exposed to sunlight, doesn't produce that special energy crystal. Those super-tier professionals from outside the tower might carry them, and their corpses can also aggregate them. And if we want to break through the Black Tower's blockade, we must have enough power. Right now, we're far from it."

Her tone was very calm.

But Sullen heard a hint of gravity.

He wondered if it was because he was planning to join the battle, but he felt that Qiantiao's attitude towards him was obviously different.

Perhaps as an ally?

In the past, they would just laugh it off, but now she chose to reveal to Sullen some of the most hidden secrets that only a few people knew.

She asked again, "Want to hear some secrets that will cause trouble?"

Sullen heard her tone was very serious, thought for a moment, and then answered, "Yes."

Qiantiao looked at the ceiling, her gaze a little detached, and started talking directly.

"When you left Old Lingdon before, didn't I tell you to get stronger?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Actually, I just didn't want you to bear that kind of pressure too early... like when I first learned the truth, it was really despairing."

"..."

"When you realize that the world you live in is a big prison, everything you pursue seems meaningless. The Black Tower has a despairing power of control. So no matter how hard you try, you can only live in the dark dungeon forever. What's the point of that kind of life? Until I met Mirror..."

Saying this, the gambling addict suddenly turned over.

She supported her head with her hand, looked at Sullen, and smiled, "You're doing very well, I've been hearing news about you, and I know you've been getting stronger."

"..."

Sullen listened quietly.

He had never seen Qiantiao so serious.

Although she was smiling.

Qiantiao continued to speak.

"Do you know how Old Lingdon came to be?"

She answered herself.

"About a hundred years ago, someone found the Black Tower through an ancient map. That person was Raphael I. That is, the current Raphael Grand Duke's grandfather. At that time, Old Lingdon was a ruin, without any humans. Then, they filled in a large number of war slaves and prisoners from the outside... The slaves had their memories of the outside world erased, and then they began to reclaim and multiply in the underground world, and there was a new order..."

"Actually, whether it's the tycoons in the inner city or the commoners in the outer city, there's no difference in essence. In the end, everyone is a 'miner' under Raphael Grand Duke, extracting the treasures of this thousand-year-old ancient ruin for the duchy for generations."

"Those inner-city tycoons think the wealth is in their hands? Heh... unable to get rid of this cage, everything they have belongs to the Black Tower."

"..."

This news was indeed heavy to hear.

But Sullen was a transmigrator, so it wasn't too hard to accept.

Ever since he learned from Number Nineteen that his predecessor was sent from outside the Black Tower, he had guessed that there was a surface world.

Hearing this, he asked, "Can't we reveal the truth of this matter?"

There were so many people in Old Lingdon, if they really started a revolution, it would be a terrifying force.

Hearing this, Qiantiao shook her head.

"There was an uprising fifty years ago. That time, the rebels even entered the Black Tower. Then, despair began. Without warning, a group of super-tier experts came down from above, effortlessly killing the leading top professionals... The rebels had no power to resist and were quickly cleaned up. In the end, that riot slaughtered hundreds of thousands. Everyone involved in the uprising was slaughtered on the charge of 'rebellion'."

So they had tried it...

Hearing this, Sullen could already imagine the scene at that time.

A group of level twenty or thirty players went to raid the tower, and then a bunch of level fifty or sixty bosses appeared in the tower.

With a wave of their hands, they were wiped out.

This matter seemed to have touched some of Qiantiao's unpleasant past, and she frowned slightly, adding, "Perhaps some old people in Old Lingdon still remember this, but no one dares to mention it again. Once the Umbrella organization learns even a word of this topic, there will be an immediate risk of extermination."

"If everyone in Old Lingdon knew the truth, the only consequence would be that the Black Tower would send top experts to cleanse the entire 'prison'. Then send another batch of people over... To them, the lives of the miners are worthless."

"So, do you know why we have to do that?"

......

After listening to Qiantiao's story, Sullen also showed a thoughtful expression.

This was really despairing for ordinary people.

Advancing to Tier 4 required the Sunstone, which could only be produced on the surface, meaning that the people in the caves could only reach Tier 3 at most.

If there was Tier 5, there might be Tier 6, Tier 7, or Tier 8.

Sullen had completely lost the concept of professionals of that level.

Thinking about it, it was probably the difference between ants and elephants?

Maybe a lot of ants could bite an elephant to death.

But in the world above the Black Tower, there were countless elephants, and maybe even dinosaurs?

No wonder Mr. Black and the others were going to intercept that Tier 5 commander this time.

The lesson of the uprising fifty years ago had already taught them that numbers were useless, and that top experts were the key to determining victory.

If Qiantiao and the others could advance to Tier 4, they might have a chance to break through the shackles.