Chapter 624: Three Houses Become Four

That's also our own affair; going by what Minister Han said, could it be that the rebel army also has to send someone?

People say family scandals shouldn't be aired outside, but the internal chaos of the Dome is unimaginable; if it weren't for the major enemy at hand, the Dome would definitely be heading toward self-destruction due to internal strife.

Perhaps because the biggest enemy can no longer pose a threat for the time being, it looks like the Church and the Dome, which had barely managed to form a united front, are about to quarrel again.

Squeak—

That was the sound of the door being pushed open; as soon as the door opened, Han Huan and Chen Xiao Shuang, who had been tense and ready to draw swords, simultaneously fell silent.

An old man in a Sun Yat-sen suit walked in through the door; even though his sideburns were already white, his full vigor radiated from his confidently straightened chest.

The person sent by the authorities to negotiate with them turned out to be such a kindly-looking old man?

The old man looked at the two people inside the room and gave a hehe laugh.

Young man, don't be so hot-headed.

He walked slowly to the main seat and sat down; accompanying him were a woman wearing glasses and professional attire, and a youth in a black combat uniform with a cold, hard gaze.

Han Huan is about thirty or forty; because his abilities are strong, the aging of his appearance has also been delayed, while Chen Xiao Shuang is genuinely in her early twenties.

But in the old man's eyes, they're all just young people.

After entering, the old man slowly took a seat, lifted the tea cup in front of him, brought it to his nose to sniff, as if the tea fragrance soothed his restless mood.

"You both came from far away," the old man finally spoke slowly, "Are you both from the Floating City? Oh no, I recall that the city where this person from the Dome is located is quite far away, right?"

Such a matter shouldn't originally have been handled by Han Huan, but after the merger, other cities kept squeezing into any uninhabited spots they could find; the city where Xie Jingnian is located was thrown far away, making it impossible to catch up.

Han Huan forced a smile, "It's fine, the journey went smoothly."

"That's good, that's good," the old man nodded, took a sip of his tea, and asked, "After arriving in the capital, have you walked around here? How do you find it?"

Han Huan's fingers tapped silently twice on his knee; he had already sensed something was off.

The rhythm of the negotiation table is usually controlled by the side that raises the questions, but this old man, from the moment he entered until now, every sentence seemed merely to 'care' about them, with no substantive point, yet he firmly controlled the pace of the conversation.

Old ginger is still spicy..........

He seemed to have all evening to sit here and chat casually with them, but he just wouldn't talk about what exactly happened between that floating city hanging above their heads and the two worlds.

Chen Xiao Shuang's fingertip lightly slid along the rim of the tea cup, unable to figure out what the old man was really planning.

Is he stalling for time? Is he waiting for someone?

But what person would require all of them to be present before beginning to wait?

"Pretty good," Chen Xiao Shuang naturally followed the old man's rhythm and picked up the topic, "We haven't seen such harmless greenery over there in a long time."

"Isn't that the case?" the old man continued, "Our greening efforts have taken a lot of work; you may see only cars on the roads now, but back when we planted trees, it was tough—we planted them one by one, waiting for them to grow—"

Han Huan could no longer sit still, his body leaning slightly forward, "Sir, shouldn't we first discuss the main matter?"

The old man's words were cut off; he merely turned his head toward Han Huan, his kind smile still at the corners of his mouth, yet inexplicably it sent a chill down people's backs.

"'Main matter?' He repeated the word, 'Young man, what do you think counts as the main matter while we're sitting here?'"

"When a tree dies, its stump remains in the soil, its leaves fall to the ground; at least we know where its roots once were, and those who miss it will from time to time touch its trunk, sit on the stump for a while— that counts as a lingering thought."

"But what about the people who die in your world?"

"Some of them can't even leave intact corpses behind, their faces twisted into monsters, and some even actively leave their souls in your world to avoid bringing disaster back."

"This is the reality faced by ordinary players; in an era filled with war, dying in a foreign land with a body that isn't their own is the choice of most people."

"The reason this old man before us is the one negotiating with them is not because of his deep experience or top-notch negotiation skills."

"It's simply because he is the most rational when facing such sacrifice."

The conference room fell into silence; the Dome had once conducted large-scale arrests and research on players, and although the Church has always maintained a friendly attitude toward the Undead, the claws hidden in the dark still revealed their fangs.

Faced with such an accusing old man, they who had forcibly squeezed into this world to gain vitality had nothing to say.

Thump thump thump—

The door was suddenly knocked on; Han Huan and Chen Xiao Shuang both looked up, and they heard the old man seated at the main seat already speaking.

Come in.

The door was pushed open; the first foot stepping in wore black soft-soled shoes, and Hua Jian Lei didn't rush in, but instead turned sideways to make space, tilting his head slightly toward the direction behind him.

When Han Huan clearly saw who had come, his eyes gradually turned cold.

After all, over the past year or more, the rebel army inside the Dome has been able to stay active, with Entropy Increase inevitably meddling from within, and Hua Jian Lei is also well known as a spokesperson for Entropy Increase.

Behind him was a youth with a healthy wheat-colored complexion, wearing a dark gray coat with the zipper pulled up to cover his chin.

His steps were neither hurried nor slow; he stepped half a pace behind Hua Jian Lei, and upon entering, his gaze naturally swept across the interior of the room.

Chen Xiao Shuang unexpectedly locked eyes with that pair of pure black, penetrating pupils for a second; in that moment, she almost thought she was seeing another terrifying figure with the same dark eyes.

Although the youth before her looked quite ordinary, it reminded her of the madman Chi Jinan.

If she didn't know that Chi Jinan had been severely eroded by the annihilation curse, leaving him unconscious for a long time, she might have thought it was Chi Jinan disguising himself to sneak in.

But this person before her had definitely done a disguise.

Chen Xiao Shuang instantly became alert, and then saw the old man raise his hand toward the two of them, saying, "Come? Have a seat, we've already been chatting for a while."

Hua Jian Lei nodded, without further pleasantries, and took a seat with Yang Yixie on the last side; the original three-party negotiation thus became a four-party one.