Chapter 169: Finding the Organization

Yet... what on earth was the origin of this tiny chip? How could it exert such a massive influence on that instance copy, leaving the copy's built-in system utterly helpless against it, to the point where the system had to resort to altering its own main quest and borrowing the players' hands to eliminate it?

This question flashed through Wen Nan's mind before he quickly pushed it down.

Any problem that could not be figured out for the moment would be set aside for now. Besides, bringing this chip out was not solely because of its ability to disrupt the instance system; most importantly... Guan Ailin needed this chip.

However, how could he utilize this chip to restore Guan Ailin's memories and turn her back into that cold-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside formidable CEO?

In the office instance he had just left, the answer to this question was self-evident—the Ailin Building.

The reason the Ailin Building was able to connect this chip with Guan Ailin was clearly not because of its reinforced concrete structure itself. Wen Nan believed the most crucial reason was that the confidential laboratory housed a cluster server that controlled the entire instance.

He needed to find another building or item similar to the Ailin Building, one equipped with a large-scale computing cluster server, plug this tiny chip—possessing the power of "resurrection and eternal youth"—into it, and then allow Ailin's soul threads to attach to it, thereby re-establishing a connection with the chip.

Wen Nan guessed that this was the best way to restore Guan Ailin to her ten-star state and free her from that locked card.

So...

Where could he find such a building that housed a cluster server? Should he hack the system of the next instance when he entered it?

Thinking of this, Wen Nan smiled self-deprecatingly.

By the time his first trial map was about to end, it had been turned completely upside down by the academic prodigy Yu, to the extent that even the respawn point was destroyed, and his settlement had to be processed at a temporary respawn point.

The second junior instance map had bugs right from the start, and he had defied the system's orders to smuggle the bug out with him. That direct action caused the Ailin Building to go berserk, almost destroying the core of the map, the Ailin Corporation.

Now, to make matters worse, before even entering the next map, he was already pondering how to hack into the instance's system and hijack the cluster server within the map...

Couldn't he just honestly and properly walk through an instance by the book?

It seemed that following the rules was never his style anyway.

With that thought, Wen Nan shrugged. Raising his head, his gaze caught Yu Shujun not far away, noticing that the man's eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the tiny chip in Wen Nan's hand.

That look was simply like a stray dog starved for three days, staring fixedly at a steamed bun in a passerby's hand.

Wen Nan pinched the chip and nudged it slightly toward Yu Shujun.

Noticing Wen Nan's movement, Yu Shujun hurriedly withdrew his gaze and looked up, only to see Wen Nan asking him with his eyes: *You recognize this chip?*

Yu Shujun shook his head, denying it flatly.

Wen Nan quietly watched him.

Feeling somewhat uncomfortable under the stare, Yu Shujun averted his eyes, lowered his gaze, and leaned against the wall, reverting to his appearance as an emotionless guardian deity.

Wen Nan smiled helplessly and did not press further.

Inside the system interface, however, a message popped up—

【Slave-Master-Jun: Items like this should not be casually taken out anywhere outside the guild teleportation point, Master.】

Wen Nan naturally knew this logic; otherwise, he wouldn't have waited until entering the teleportation point to dare open that ring. Within this teleportation point, Guild Master Wen Nan made the rules, and no one could trouble him. But once outside this place, if other players or NPCs discovered that he was illegally harboring an important instance item, there was no telling how much trouble it would bring. Yet, looking at that message, the corners of Wen Nan's lips curved upward. Even though he was sitting right across from Yu Shujun, he typed out a reply—

【Nine: A slave's body, yet worrying about the master's concerns?】

Seeing the message, Yu Shujun stood like a statue at the stairwell, unmoving, but the corners of his lips tightened noticeably, and his chest rose and fall with uncontrollable breaths.

Wen Nan put the chip back into the ring, tossed it into the spare equipment slot, and then stood up in high spirits, walking toward the stairwell.

On the way, as he prepared to close the system chat window, he noticed that the guild chat group had exploded with activity, with countless frantic messages tagging him popping up simultaneously—

[FireFireFire: Boss, say something! Boss! @Nine]

[FireFireFire: This child wants to return to the organization, this child doesn't want to cyber-wander in this unfamiliar game lobby anymore, save the child.]

[LittleFu: Where did the guild master go? Why haven't I seen a single message for so long @Nine]

[Yao: Damn, the guild master couldn't have gotten into trouble, right? Did he meet with misfortune in the game lobby? @Nine]

[Jingxing: Activating the teleportation point still takes some time; perhaps he is making preparations. Just wait a little longer.]

Closing the chat window, Wen Nan retrieved the system's earlier invitation message for new members and forwarded it with a single click.

Just as Wen Nan stepped back into the first-floor living room, with a series of "whoosh," "whoosh," and "whoosh" sounds, one familiar figure after another appeared around him amidst successive bolts of lightning-like light.

The first to arrive was still the striking head of yellow hair, closely followed by the other four arriving one after another.

Just as Wen Nan was about to say something, a series of dull "thud," "thud," and "thud" sounds echoed, and dark figures fell heavily to the ground one by one like sandbags.

There were four people lying scattered across the floor in disarray.

Looking at their faces, which carried a mix of familiarity and strangeness, Wen Nan instantly recognized them as the four rebellious players he had recruited in the junior instance.

The four lay flat on their backs, initially looking around blankly before their gazes drifted across the faces of those standing around.

Wang Defu, the last player recruited who had interacted with them back at the respawn point and had become familiar with everyone in the guild, swept his gaze across the room and finally landed on Wen Nan. He immediately lunged forward, grabbed Wen Nan's hand, and shook it vigorously.

"Guild Master! You really brought us out of that ghost place! From now on, you are my rebirth parents, Wang Defu!"

Though not as flamboyant as Wang Defu, the remaining three players looked at Wen Nan simultaneously, their faces glowing with the joy of surviving a catastrophe and deep gratitude toward him.

Wen Nan smiled at them and said, "Welcome to the Win-Win Guild. Get up first."

The few of them propped themselves up on their arms and stood.

One of the youngest players, seeing the young man beside him, smiled and shouted, "Brother!"

Bang!

The young man ignored the boy's cry of "brother," swung his arm, and punched the boy straight in the face.

It was a punch delivered with full force, sending the boy staggering and crashing back to the ground. Nosebleed immediately gushed out, dripping steadily onto the floor.

Before anyone could recover their wits, the two brothers were already entangled in a brawl on the floor.