Chapter 151

Wen Nan’s resolute words caused the noisy dormitory to instantly fall into a profound silence.

...A distractor?

Every single word of this mission description was written clearly; there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it...

If they weren't supposed to directly use Mr. Horn to clear away this knot... then how else could it be solved?

The six members present each had a question mark floating above their heads.

Yet not a single person actually voiced their doubts—

Every member harbored absolute, unshakable faith in the guild master's judgment.

"Guild master, just give the order! Tell us what we need to do!"

Huang Yan let out a roar, his stance suggesting that if Wen Nan told him to commit murder and arson right now, he wouldn't even blink an eye.

Before the mission countdown had refreshed, Wen Nan had actually considered letting them follow their own intuition by using Mr. Horn to shred that classified document in order to test their hypothesis. But right now, they only had fifteen minutes left, with zero margin for error. Once a wrong choice was made, time would inevitably run out.

There was no time to explain.

"Give Mr. Horn to me."

Before Wen Nan's voice had even faded, Yang Mingzhong had already handed the black beetle-like device over to him.

"Stand by at your positions and wait for my word!"

Taking Mr. Horn, Wen Nan sprinted away from the spawn point, rushing at maximum speed toward the third floor of the Erin Group headquarters building.

At the end of that corridor, the secret door that Guan Erin had unlocked the previous night was still embedded in the wall.

Walking up to the secret door, Wen Nan raised his hand and pressed it against the door lock.

Sensing Wen Nan's body temperature, the lock flashed with a beam of light, followed by a "ding" sound as it swung inward.

It seemed that Guan Erin had honored the message she left him when he completed the sub-quest earlier—she had left this secret door open for him at all times.

Pushing the secret door open and passing through the "Rich Woman's Happy Room," Wen Nan walked straight to the corner and stood before the door leading to the classified laboratory. He pulled out the [Laboratory Keycard] and opened the door with a sharp click.

Stepping into the classified laboratory, Wen Nan headed straight for the administrator's desk, grabbed the two marker pens lying on the tabletop, and examined them closely.

Sure enough, upon closer inspection, the two pens that looked identical at first glance had subtle differences on their barrels—

One of the pens was imprinted with the "·" logo, while the other was completely blank, bearing nothing at all.

Every single item in the Erin Group, regardless of size or value, was stamped with the "·" logo.

And throughout this entire classified laboratory, from the rows of black metal boxes on the shelving units to the desks and chairs in the corner, down to the water cups and desk lamps—including the documents and notebooks that Gu Jinxing and the others had carried out—all of them bore the Erin Group's corporate logo.

Yet this object, deliberately crafted in the exact shape of an Erin Group standardized marker pen, was the only anomaly in the entire room.

And this anomaly was the true root cause of the ailment.

Hu Jiahao had triggered the completion of the second main quest the moment he stood by this desk, flicked open this marker pen, and picked up that classified document.

The true triggering action was not "picking up the document," but rather "flicking open the marker pen."

Because Hu Jiahao had accidentally touched the critical prop, he had stumbled his way into completing the mission.

This mission required neither picking up nor scanning for verification; the simple action of "searching" was entirely sufficient.

The reason only the act of "searching" was needed was because this critical prop was firmly anchored to the floor of the classified laboratory and could never be brought back to the spawn point.

To remove it from the laboratory, one had to sever the spiral cord connected to its base, and this cord could only be cut using Mr. Horn.

Locating Mr. Horn and severing the root cause were tasks that could only be accomplished across the subsequent missions.

This explained why the critical prop [Mr. Horn] required scanning and verification, whereas the critical prop [Root Cause of the Ailment] did not need to be verified at the spawn point.

The exact moment Wen Nan picked up that marker pen, the system notification chimed—

9527: [Congratulations to the player for successfully picking up the critical prop for Main Quest 2: The Root Cause of the Ailment!]

Wen Nan brought Mr. Horn, which rested in the palm of his hand, close to the pen.

The moment it neared the marker pen, Mr. Horn instantly sprang to life as if injected with adrenaline. Its antennae and alloy pincers began to spin rapidly like a little top. Snapping and crunching as it locked onto the spiral cord connected to the base of the marker pen, it devoured the metal wire entirely in less than half a minute.

The marker pen fell neatly into Wen Nan's palm.

The next instant, the system notification rang out in his mind once again—

9527: [Congratulations, player! Main Quest 4, current completion rate: 100%.]

9527: [You may choose to return to the spawn point immediately for confirmation, or return at any point before the mission countdown ends to ensure your mission rewards are settled.]

9527: [Due to the unique nature of this critical prop, it cannot be evenly distributed to all players. Therefore, this main quest accepts shared mission progress. Would you like to share your progress with the other players?]

Wen Nan clicked [Confirm Share] without hesitation, grabbed the marker pen and Mr. Horn, and strode back toward the spawn point.

The moment he stepped through the door of the spawn point, a burst of cheers erupted within, as if welcoming a triumphant hero.

"Boss! That's epic! How did you pull that off?!"

"It really wasn't about shredding that classified document? Then what on earth was the root cause of the ailment? Guild master, where did you find it?"

"I thought it was a gimme question, but it almost turned into a death sentence. Thank goodness the guild master was here to save us from the fire! We are deeply grateful!"

Several members crowded around Wen Nan, showering him with overlapping praises.

In the blink of an eye, the red warning light of the final countdown lit up on the overhead screen.

The members' smiles instantly faded as they arranged themselves in order within the settlement zone.

Unsurprisingly, Wen Nan, who had turned the tide single-handedly, was the MVP this time, securing the highest score of 79 points.

The rest of the players, who had barely scraped past the passing line, immediately began voicing their grievances on behalf of the guild master, arguing that given his performance this time, he deserved an "Excellent" rating no matter what.

Wen Nan, however, wasn't particularly surprised. He suspected that the highest score in this dungeon simply wouldn't exceed 80 points, specifically designed to deny him lottery eligibility.

Surely the system wasn't targeting him just because he had drawn a divine staff fragment in the previous trial map, right?

Then again, the main quests in this dungeon were seamlessly linked together; even if he had obtained lottery eligibility, he wouldn't have had the time to draw anyway.

As he was thinking this, the overhead screen flickered and updated—

[Congratulations, players! Main Quest 4 has officially ended!]

[The countdown to Main Quest 5 is about to begin—]

[00:00:03——]

[00:00:02——]

[00:00:01——]

[Beep!]

[New player mission has arrived. Please check it!]

[Main Quest 5: Eradicate the root of the disease, and achieve ultimate life harmony with Erin!]

Well, eradicating the root of the disease must refer to the pen Wen Nan was currently holding in his hand, right?

可是…… Achieving ultimate life harmony... what on earth is that supposed to mean?!

(End of this chapter)