Chapter 23: Smart Territory

Lu An was chased by Crusher relentlessly, he thought it, with its big body, Crusher would have a low speed. He underestimated his opponent, Crusher caught him. It grabbed his feet and slammed him down to the floor.

"WAAAAAAA!!!!"

When his face was about to crash on the floor, Lu An woke up from his nightmare with sweat covering his face. His back was wet from sweating, his heart was thumping madly, and his breathing was ragged.

"Hah... Hah... Hah... It's just a nightmare? Eh, wait... Nightmare? But I and Boss are currently fighting against Crusher... Crusher!" Lu An's eyes opened wide as he jumped out of the bed and checked his surroundings.

He was surprised as he found himself in a luxurious room. At least, this room was much better than his room before the zombie appeared and the absurd game started. With just one look, he realized he was in a hotel room.

Just as Lu An was confused with everything, a familiar voice entered his ears, "Ah, you woke up!"

He turned around and saw his Boss in a bathrobe with his hair still wet. It was clear Tang Shaoyang just finished taking shower.

Tang Shaoyang approached his confused subordinate and sat on the king-size bed before asking a concerned tone, "How is it? Do you feel uncomfortable somewhere?"

Lu An was still trying to comprehend what actually happened to him. He recalled his last moment before losing his consciousness. It was when Crusher leaped to the air and formed hammer-shaped black gas and suddenly slammed at him at a frightening speed.

He barely escaped from that weird and scary skill. Without a doubt, he would be a meat paste if that hammer-shaped black gas landed on him. He barely escaped from that weird skill, but later he was unlucky as Crusher [Strengthening Fist] slammed at him.

After that, he did not remember anything which meant he passed out after getting hit once. Scanning the room before looking back at Boss, Lu An badly wanted to know what happened.

"Boss, what actually happened? What about the Crusher? You have killed them, right? We won the mini-game, right?"

*** ***

[ Congratulations! You have killed the keepers and finished Mini-Game: Killed or Get Killed! ]

[ You gained a reward, 1 Level 9 treasure chest, 1 Level 8 treasure chest, a territory, and +1 Level!]

[ Congratulations! You are the third person that won against a big scale mini-game and gained a Smart Base! ]

[ You leveled up! ]

[ You gained 2 attribute points! ]

[ You leveled up! ]

[ You gained 2 attribute points! ]

[ You leveled up! ]

[ You gained 2 attribute points! ]

...

It was the notification Tang Shaoyang received after killing the last Crusher. Even though he won the fight, he did not feel anything. He won the fight, but he lost his only subordinate. Yes, back then, Tang Shaoyang thought Lu An was dying.

He dejectedly walked back to the young Lu An's body. As Lu An was his first subordinate and had a decent relationship, he was rather down from losing Lu An.

When he reached Lu An's body, he noticed the red blood covered around his mouth. Even though he was not a doctor and with his experiences from fighting on the street. Tang Shaoyang knew Lu An suffered internal injuries.

If not, Lu An would not spit blood like this. He moved his index finger to Lu An's nose and he sensed faint breathing. However, with what he had now, there was no way he could save Lu An.

Looking at Lu An who was breathing weakly, there was a thought flashed in his mind.

'Should I end his suffering?'

Yes, he did not have any means to save Lu An and he was suffering from heavy internal injuries. It was a torture for Lu An to keep living like this even only for a short moment. So there was a thought in his mind, telling him to end his subordinate's suffering.

"Don't kill him! At least, not now as you still have a chance to save him, Master!"

Then, suddenly there was an enthusiastic voice resounded at the messed up lobby. Tang Shaoyang jolted awake and he turned around. He scanned the surroundings to find where the voice came from.

"Master, you will not be able to see me, but you can always hear me. I am the smart and unique AI, an AI of your smart base!" The enthusiastic voice resounded again. The voice seemed to be coming from every direction, but Tang Shaoyang failed to spot any living creature nearby.

"AI?" Tang Shaoyang asked in a doubtful tone.

"Yes, an AI! But I am not just an ordinary AI, I am unique as I have my awareness and I will be actively helping you to reach the next stage of the game!" The longer the AI spoke the more it became even more excited.

Meanwhile, Tang Shaoyang was still clueless about the thing called AI, but it was not his concern now. Lu An was his concern and AI said he had a chance to save Lu An.

"You said I have a chance to save my subordinate? How?"

"Yes, even though the chance is so low, but might as well try rather than doing nothing, right? The chance I am talking about is the treasure chest. I believe you got treasure chests from capturing this base and that treasure is your chance to save your subordinate, Master!"

"There is a possibility you might get healing potions from the treasure chest. With healing potions, your subordinate could be saved!"

As for what happened next, he opened the treasure chest and got a healing potion. That was why Lu An was saved.

After hearing all of those, Lu An rushed and gave his Boss a bear hug while crying, "Thank you, Boss! Thank you! Thank you for saving me, again and again!"

Lu An was getting emotional and crying on Tang Shaoyang's chest. However, Tang Shaoyang's reaction was throwing his subordinate to the bed and said in an odd tone, "Get away, I am straight! Even if all the women in the world are gone, I will not even touch you!"

"No, Boss, don't misunderstand me! I am also straight, but I am just getting emotional that you are willing to use the rare healing potion for me. Thank you, Boss!" Lu An voiced his honest thought and truly felt grateful.

Yes, the healing potion was a rare commodity at this earlier stage and for Tang Shaoyang willing to use it on him, Lu An was touched. His Boss could save the potion for himself and let him die, after all, he was just a weakling subordinate, and Tang Shaoyang could look for another Lu An to be his subordinate.

However, Boss did not do so, he used the precious healing potion for him.

Of course, Tang Shaoyang's action was not without consideration. He used his healing potion because of Lu An's improvement in the last few days. From the weak-looking youth, he braced himself to face thousands of zombies with him.

From the scaredy-cat boy, he transformed into a boy who willingly to be a bait against a Stage 3 Zombie. With all these improvements, Tang Shaoyang was willing to use the healing potion for Lu An.

"Don't get too emotional with such a thing. I give you a healing potion because I still have two with me. Giving you one is out of my consideration of your contribution to completing the mini-game! Don't get your head with those useless thoughts!"

"Boss, can you not break the good atmosphere between us? I thought we will become even closer, our bond will be strengthened further!" Lu An said those with a big laugh etched on his face.

"It's cringe and creepy, don't ever say it again or I am going to kick your ass! Get up, I will bring you to a place!" Having said that, Tang Shaoyang walked out of the room.

Lu An followed Tang Shaoyang closely as he was curious about what Boss wanted to show him. When they came out of the bedroom, it was a spacious living room that greeted Lu An.

He scanned the surroundings fervently like a bumpkin who just entered a five-star hotel. Meanwhile, he noticed his Boss was pretty calm and not that amazed by this room.

This only made Lu An even more curious about Boss's background. Before, he noticed that Boss was also pretty familiar with Changshou Mall.

As his thoughts went wild, they reached the elevator. He looked at the button and saw his Boss's hand pressed B3. Currently, he was on the fifteenth floor.

'Basement? What's so special about the basement?' From his knowledge, usually, basements were used to be a parking lot.

"All this time, you are very frustrated with not being able to receive talent, right?" Then, the silence was broken by Tang Shaoyang's calm voice.

"It turned out that you will not be able to get talent except for killing a thousand zombies on the very first day or twenty-four hours after the game started!" Tang Shaoyang told him crucial information.

Ting!

"But you don't have to worry, with the smart base, you can get a talent!" As Tang Shaoyang finished his words, the elevator's door opened and a robotic voice resounded.

"Welcome to Evolution Floor, Your Majesty!"

Lu An was startled with the robotic voice. The voice was clearly different from the voice he heard from leveling up. The robotic voice from leveling up was void of emotion while the robotic he just heard was full of enthusiasm in greeting them.

"Is that the AI you were talking about, Boss?" Lu An asked excitedly.

"Correct! Also, don't call me AI as Your Majesty has bestowed me a name, Origin!" The one who replied was not Tang Shaoyang, but the AI as it introduced itself as Origin.

"Can you stop calling me that? It's cringe, you know!" Even though he was dreaming to be an Emperor of his empire, but as a man born in the modern era, he felt cringe being called Your Majesty.

"It won't do, as an AI, my purpose is serving my Master, helping him to achieve his dream. Your dream..." Origin spoke fluently and excitedly when it talked about its Master's grand purpose.

However, Tang Shaoyang immediately cut it off halfway, "Alright! Alright! Stop already, just explain to this boy about the talent!"

He immediately walked out with Lu An followed him closely with a confused gaze. He was still clueless as to why Origin called his Boss with Your Majesty. However, he did not think much about this as he was excited about the talent.

When he stepped out of the elevator, he was greeted with a spacious room, but also an empty. It was more like a hall than a room and at the end of the hall, Lu An spotted two doors that led to a different room.

The door on the left was green while the door on the right was blue. There seemed to be writing on the door. When he got near, he was finally able to read the word.

On the green door, Talent was written on it. As for the blue door, Advancement was written on it.

"Hear me out, little boy! Go to the left room and I will elaborate more when you enter the room!"