Chapter 70. The staff in the points vault...
Xiao Weizhi stood by the door and gently knocked a few times on the study door. The wooden door made a crisp sound as his knuckles touched the door: 'Knock, knock, knock—'
It was these knocks on the door that woke Lin Xiaoxiao from her deep thoughts.
She sat on the sofa, grabbed the token she had been tossing between two fingers, held it tightly in her hand, and turned her head to ask, "Has Mr. Guo left?"
Xiao Weizhi reached out and loosened the tie around his neck, walking closer to her as he did so: "Hmm."
Lin Xiaoxiao leaned slightly to one side, one hand supporting her cheek, the other holding the token in her hand. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked up and asked with a bright smile, "Weizhi, are you curious about where the Land of Divine Favor is?"
Xiao Weizhi took off his glasses, bent down, placed his right hand on the sofa armrest, reached out with his left hand to lift her chin, tilted his head and pressed his thin lips to her rosy lips. Soon, sticky sucking sounds filled the study.
A moment later, both of them were a little out of breath, and a faint sheen of water appeared on their lips.
He extended his right thumb and gently wiped the water from the corner of her mouth with his fingertip, his voice low and husky: "Not curious."
He wasn't curious about any place that posed a danger to her personal safety.
Moreover, Xiao Weizhi also knew a little about the City of Divine Favor, although not much, only some extremely rare and one-sided information.
However, it can be vaguely inferred that ordinary professionals without strength would not have a good ending if they entered that place.
Lin Xiaoxiao's breathing became a little rapid. She reached out and pushed Xiao Weizhi's shoulder, widening the distance between them: "I'm a little concerned, Mr. Guo, about what you said..."
Before Lin Xiaoxiao could finish speaking, Xiao Weizhi swept her up in his arms and carried her to the room, his voice calm: "You don't care, it's past 2 a.m. in Beijing time, we should rest."
Lin Xiaoxiao put the token in her hand into her spatial storage, leaned on Xiao Weizhi's shoulder, and swung her left leg as he carried her back to her room.
The next day, Lin Xiaoxiao slept until noon without opening her eyes.
Redtail jumped around on the bed, from one end to the other, calling out in her childish voice, "Get up! The sun's already high in the sky!"
Lin Xiaoxiao pulled the blanket up over her head, curled up into a ball to the side, and said in a tired voice, "Red Tail, I'm so sleepy, I'll sleep a little longer."
Redtail pounced on Lin Xiaoxiao: "No, don't sleep, go play."
Redtail knew that after the banquet, she would go on a trip to the resort with her teammates.
Having waited for days, they weren't giving Lin Xiaoxiao a chance to stay in bed any longer, determined to get him up.
After the commotion, Lin Xiaoxiao followed Hongwei downstairs with her eyes half-closed. She sat on the dining table in a daze, looking sleepy and not fully awake.
After Xiao Weizhi returned, he brought back a message: the Operations Department had opened the upper layers of the exchange vault.
The original wording of the announcement from the operations department was: "In order to reward the professionals who assisted in defending the city, the last four floors will be opened a year ahead of schedule."
Redtail was sulking for several days because her planned vacation was postponed.
[Points Exchange Vault: Divided into nine levels, most of the resources are rare and valuable items, containing many treasures collected by the predecessors of the Combat Department from various secret realms throughout history...]
The first five tiers of the exchange vault open once a month, with each opening lasting five days.
The last four floors open once every five years, and each opening lasts for half a month. If you miss it, you have to wait another five years.
Therefore, after the fourth floor of the exchange vault was opened ahead of schedule, all members of the Dragon Fang Squad agreed on a time to go there together to see if there were any suitable items, weapons, or resources to exchange.
Three days later, Chen Feng drove a silver-white flying car with ten seats.
After making a roundabout way and picking up all the team members, they drove to the [Imperial Capital Professional Combat Command Center].
This command center is divided into more than twenty departments:
The first ten divisions are all combat divisions in the lower secret realms. The commander (minister) of each division is a well-known powerhouse in the capital. The higher the number, the stronger the combat power of the members in the division.
The following departments are: Logistics Management Department, Document Management Department, etc.
The [Points Item Redemption Vault] is located in the very center of the command center. To redeem items, you need to register and make an appointment in advance using the software, and you can only enter after going through multiple layers of checks.
After registering and going through layers of checks, Lin Xiaoxiao and her friends successfully entered the exchange vault.
Despite being called a vault, it's actually just an ordinary ten-story building.
Apart from the use of high-strength, impact-resistant materials during casting and extremely tight security, its exterior is not much different from the office buildings of other companies outside, and it looks rather ordinary.
Each member of the team has different points and goals.
Therefore, not long after entering the building, they split into several groups to find what they needed.
Since Lin Xiaoxiao had no destination in mind, she followed Xiao Weizhi straight to the top floor.
After the elevator doors opened, two security personnel dressed in black combat uniforms and carrying weapons checked their identification information and points before allowing them to enter.
There aren't many items to exchange on the last floor; there are only about a dozen, and the lowest level is diamond-grade.
Each item was placed on a small platform, covered by a completely transparent glass dome made of special materials, with an explanatory display board hanging next to it.
The sign displays the item's name, grade, attributes, and the number of points required to redeem it... information.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi walked hand in hand into the innermost part of the building.
There are only three items at the very back, displayed high up:
The first one is a 2.5-meter-long platinum greatsword (color-tricolor grade); value: 40 million points.
The second item is a (color-level five-color) book with dazzling light, a magic weapon; value: 59 million points.
The third item is a (colorful - seven-star level) staff inlaid with a huge blue gem; value: 72 million points.
The staff is 2.3 meters long, entirely black, and its shape resembles a tree branch that can be picked up casually by the roadside, with some rounded protrusions in its twists and turns.
The top of the staff is shaped like a hollow crescent moon made of twisted, forked tree branches, with an irregularly shaped sapphire about 26 centimeters in size set in the very center.
Under the light, sapphires radiate the unique and captivating fire of gemstones, making them both beautiful and mesmerizing.
When Lin Xiaoxiao saw the staff, her eyes were irresistibly drawn to it.
To be precise, she was drawn to the huge sapphire on the staff, and a strange feeling welled up inside her—that this gem should belong to her.
She took Xiao Weizhi's arm and stood in front of the staff display stand, staring intently at the staff with longing in her eyes, but the number of points required was too high.
Seeing that she kept staring at the staff, Xiao Weizhi asked in a low voice, "Do you want it?"
Lin Xiaoxiao nodded: "I want it."
Xiao Weizhi's gaze fell on the amount of points exchanged for the staff. After pondering for a few seconds and calculating the value of the points and supplies in his hand, he nodded and said softly, "Okay, then exchange."
The two of them together only have a little over 40 million points, which is still more than 32 million short.
In the end, Xiao Weizhi exchanged 90% of the resources in his space, and Lin Xiaoxiao exchanged them for an Ice Elf she obtained from Darlin, finally accumulating enough points to redeem the staff.
Having received the staff, Lin Xiaoxiao hummed a happy song while riding her flying car on her way home.
Xiao Weizhi sat beside him, listening to the intermittent singing. Although his gaze was fixed on the documents in front of him, he couldn't help but slightly curl the corners of his mouth.
After arriving home, Xiao Wei patted Lin Xiaoxiao's head and then went straight to his study to handle his work.
As soon as Lin Xiaoxiao returned to her room, she saw Hongwei sitting on a chair, puffed up with anger, glaring at her furry face. The downy hair on her little face was all puffed up with rage.
She explained helplessly, "The place we went to today doesn't allow pets."
Red Tail ignored Lin Xiaoxiao's analysis, snorted coldly, and turned its head away, making it seem like it didn't want to talk to her.
Lin Xiaoxiao took out chestnuts that she had specially gone out of her way to buy from her spatial storage and handed them to Hongwei: "Don't be angry, okay?"
Then, Red Tail told us that Boss Black Cat had taken Treasure-Hunting Mouse out and said they would be back later.
Lin Xiaoxiao was both amused and exasperated, and instantly understood why Red Tail was so angry. She and Xiao Weizhi hadn't taken it with them when they went out, and neither had Black Cat and Xunbao.
It took quite a while to calm Redtail down.
After calming down Redtail, Lin Xiaoxiao immediately took out the staff she had redeemed with a high amount of points from her spatial storage.
After more than ten minutes of struggling, they finally managed to pry the sapphire off the staff.
As she held the sapphire, pondering what to do with it.
The sapphire, radiating a gem-like fire, flashed a few times, as if saying, "Please place me between your eyebrows."
Lin Xiaoxiao held the sapphire in both hands and gently pressed it against her brow. A surge of air burst forth from the point of contact, and the strong wind quickly blew everything in the room into disarray.
What followed was:
[Special presence detected. Contract automatically established.]
Congratulations on obtaining: Omnipotent Repair Sprite (Epic) (Upgradeable)
【All-Powerful Repair Sprite (Epic): These sprites are born from weapon ruins. They are born with the ability to repair damaged items and weapons with minimal resources, making them the most sought-after partners by countless master blacksmiths.】
Moments later, the sapphire shattered into dust.
An elf, dressed in work shorts, carrying an oversized brown tool bag, wearing small inspection glasses, and with messy short flaxen hair, materialized from the illusory and appeared out of thin air.
It flew around Lin Xiaoxiao a few times, then floated down in front of her, rested its chin on its little hand, and nodded as if very satisfied: "Hello, the new successor to the treasure chest merchant, I am the repair elf - Hill."
Lin Xiaoxiao responded gently, "Hello, I'm Lin Xiaoxiao, nice to meet you."
Hill nodded and asked bluntly, "It's nice to meet you. Since you don't have a spirit library, where am I supposed to stay? I need a crafting table...blah blah..."
Lin Xiaoxiao was initially able to listen carefully to what the elf was saying, but as time passed, its little mouth didn't stop for more than ten minutes, chattering away as if it wanted to say all the things it hadn't said in all these years.
Her head began to throb slightly, and she felt utterly helpless; this little sprite was more talkative than Wang Hao and the others.
Because Hill is not a skill-based being, she cannot, like Quan Zhi, use physical illusion to reside on Lin Xiaoxiao's character panel.
As for the Elf Storage that Hill mentioned, Lin Xiaoxiao knew it was a special space used for elves to live in, and it was currently one of the lost items waiting to be found.
Before leaving, Lin Xiaoxiao arranged for the talkative little elf to stay in the room with Redtail and the others, and repeatedly reminded them: 'Make sure to conceal your whereabouts at all times, and don't reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary.'
After everything was settled, the entire Dragon Fang team went to the resort for a good two weeks before continuing their journey of entering and exiting various secret realms to level up.
Time flies, spring comes and autumn goes, and more than nine months have passed in the blink of an eye.
Many major events occurred during this period:
The first major event was that Chen Feng reached level 160. While completing the leveling-up quest for the sixth job advancement, he got separated from his teammates for 'certain reasons' and almost died in that A-level secret realm.
After returning, Cheng Cheng relied on his family connections to find a master-level priest (the same priest/bishop who greeted Cheng Cheng at the cemetery [bishop: a rank in a certain organization under the Great Eagle)) to save his life.
Lin Xiaoxiao, because of the person Cheng Cheng brought, was reminded of a very mysterious character from the original novel:
[A saint who returned halfway through her journey; no one knows what she went through before, and no one has ever seen her face.]
All that is known is that this saint has a deceased lover and hates the people of the Dragon Kingdom. She is always accompanied by a blond middle-aged priest or bishop, who always carries a black holy book in his hand... Later in the story, this saint causes a lot of trouble for the male and female protagonists' team.
Based on the existing information, it is highly likely that Cheng Cheng is the Saintess who was extremely talented but returned halfway through her journey... So Chen Feng is the Saintess's deceased lover?
The second important thing: After Lin Xiaoxiao re-contracted with the Omnipotent Repair Spirit, she asked Xiao Weizhi to help her find many damaged and unusable weapons and props, and asked Hill (the Omnipotent Repair Spirit) to help repair them.
Then a large batch of bronze-grade treasure chests were made. A small portion was placed in Consort Wen's appraisal shop for cooperative sale, with the proceeds split 30/70.
The other part was bought by those 'customers' (divine relatives) who always appeared out of nowhere and exchanged contact information.
It was at this moment that Lin Xiaoxiao learned that most of the treasure chests of low-level BOSSes were actually placed inside the bodies of monsters by these divine beings through special means.
To use an analogy: it's like putting a seed pearl into a pearl oyster. How big the pearl grows later depends entirely on how hard the oyster works.
The third major event: The male and female protagonists level up at the same rapid pace as in the original story. In just a few months, they went from the C-level team to the B-level team and are currently heading towards the A-level team. Occasionally, you can encounter them in certain secret realms.
Just as described in the original work, the relationship between Longya and Xu Ri deteriorated, even showing signs of becoming irreconcilable.
The reason is that the male and female protagonists repeatedly took advantage of the gaps in Longya's monster-clearing abilities to quietly flank and intercept supplies; there were also instances of luring monsters and setting traps...
...
In a secret realm filled with black rocks, the entire Dragon Fang Squad is desperately fleeing on flying vehicles.
Behind them billowing dust followed a large horde of thousands of beasts that resembled both cows and horses, with seven or eight pairs of twisted horns on their heads that looked like welded metal horns, which kept poking at the back of their flying vehicle.
Wang Hao, sitting in the back seat of the flying car, cursed angrily: "Jiang Tao, are you out of your mind? It's one thing to wander the streets all day, but this time you brought back a bunch of angry beasts that almost made us fly into the sky."
Jiang Tao, who was in the car next door, looked a little embarrassed: "I was just taking a stroll, I didn't expect to bring these monsters back with me."
Jiang Tao would stroll around the secret realm and bring back a large group of monsters, a regular and recurring performance.
Cheng Cheng, sitting behind Chen Feng, chuckled and added, "That's right, that's right, Xiao Tao loves to go for walks. It's just that he's always unlucky and manages to bring back a whole bunch of monsters."
Lin Xiaoxiao hugged Xiao Weizhi's waist, rested her face on his shoulder, and listened to their bickering, laughing uncontrollably.
Xiao Weizhi sighed helplessly as he drove the flying car. These troublesome guys dared to act so recklessly even in an A-level secret realm. He reminded them in a deep voice, "Find a suitable position and prepare for a counterattack."
"Received" - a tacit reply *9.
Lin Xiaoxiao pinched Red Tail's mouth, which was already sparking, and reminded her with a smile, "Red Tail, not now."
The fireball that was about to form suddenly went silent in his mouth, and Redtail shook his head in frustration: "When can it be done?"
Three months ago, Redtail successfully upgraded to Diamond level. Its voice has grown from a tender baby voice to the voice of a 7 or 8-year-old child, and it has also become more and more mischievous and aggressive.
As for the Treasure-Hunting Rat, it is also on the verge of a breakthrough. It only needs one more push to advance from Diamond to Epic.
Over the past few months, the black cat has been disappearing and reappearing intermittently. When it has free time, it follows Lin Xiaoxiao into the secret realm, but when it doesn't, no one knows where it goes.
The thought of going to the City of Divine Favor was something Lin Xiaoxiao usually kept firmly in her heart.
She often comforted herself, telling herself not to rush, to wait a little longer, and that she would eventually find out what those people were really up to.
The five flying cars headed north and found a suitable point for a counterattack at a slightly higher elevation.
After several hours of coordinated efforts, they quickly wiped out the horde of angry beasts.
[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for annihilating the Angry Beast Horde, gaining 9432 experience points...]
While cleaning up the harvest, Wang Hao, Jiang Tao, and Li Junxuan would frequently look around, wondering if that ghostly Rising Sun Squad would suddenly reappear.
Lin Xiaoxiao took the equipment from Xiao Weizhi and put it into the bag she was carrying. She asked in a low voice, "Weizhi, are you about to reach level 160?"
Xiao Weizhi bent down to pick up the gold coins scattered on the ground, picked out the lighter ones and handed them to her: "Hmm, we still need 2 million experience points."
Upon hearing Xiao Weizhi's answer, Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes darkened involuntarily.
It's coming; Xiao Weizhi's second ordeal is about to begin.
This time, he reached level 160 more than a year earlier than in the original story. Will he be able to successfully avoid this 'unjust disaster'? Or is the fate of the plot simply unchangeable?
Seeing that Lin Xiaoxiao did not take what he offered, Xiao Weizhi turned his head and saw that her brows were furrowed tightly, as if she was worried about something. He chuckled and comforted her gently, "The sixth job advancement quest for magic users is generally not very difficult, so don't worry."
Lin Xiaoxiao pursed her lips and forced a pale smile: "Yeah, I'm not worried."
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