Fatal Shot

Night. Dongsang City, red-light district, Kabukicho.

Yes, that’s right! It was that kind of red-light district.

It was already 7:00 p.m. Feng Luo, disguised as NPC Kofuji Shinichi, changed into black formal attire, holding his “limited-edition business case” in hand as usual and walking on the street that was now full of human traffic.

The streets on both sides featured all sorts of colorful electronic signboards and shop entrances. Feng Luo’s eyes were drawn to the seemingly flawless women—created by virtual imaging and used to attract customers—as well as the tall, handsome, well-built men. He walked through the streets alongside NPCs and many joyful-looking players. This was not only an NPC’s heaven, but similarly, it was also heaven for some male and even female players!

******

At the edge of Kabukicho, “Night’s Charm” Bar!

This was a building comprised of only three stories, looking very retro on the outside and appearing quite unique amid the surrounding modernized buildings of at least six or seven stories.

It was actually not difficult at all for the technology in War to create tall buildings as tall as 1,000 stories, but, in fact, tall buildings were scarcer than buildings with few levels. Other than aesthetics and lighting, the reason was also due to the fact that many cities occasionally met with all sorts of sudden occurrences—even unique situations like the intrusion of a Boss. If a gigantic building of a few thousand meters collapsed, it would undoubtedly cause a horrible disaster, and the loss would be immeasurable.

“Welcome, sir!”

As Feng Luo walked up along the white-stoned path, two beautiful NPC ladies wearing light-yellow kimonos printed with lotus flowers and wearing light but very delicate makeup spoke softly and bowed to him. After which, following the lead of one of the beautiful NPC ladies, Feng Luo followed entered a similarly retro and more dimly lit bar lounge, after cutting through a long wooden corridor.

Compared to other shops—especially “Night Tease” Bar, not far away and currently with large numbers of people streaming in—this bar appeared much more serene. In the whole lounge, there was only light, slow music coming from the stage at the center.

A female NPC dancer wearing a kimono and holding a sky-blue-colored umbrella danced gracefully to the slow, comforting music in rain created by the environment simulation system!

Counting Feng Luo, the audience was only 10 or more scattered people. With one look, Feng Luo realized that all of them were NPCs. Or at least they looked like NPCs.

The beautiful NPC lady in kimono who had led him in smiled as she asked, “Sir, what would like to drink?”

“A mix of a quarter each of margarita, Glenlivet, whiskey, and tequila,” Feng Luo answered, raising his head to look at the kimono lady’s reaction. “Add a slice of lemon and two pieces of crushed ice…”

“Sure, Sir, please wait…”

The face of this beautiful NPC lady in the light-yellow kimono showed no change at all, but as she bowed and left, her footsteps had quickened.

Hmm. It doesn’t look wrong. There’s indeed a Hidden Mission here, Feng Luo thought as he sat at the table, appearing to be watching the performance on the stage.

He had come here at this time after having decoded the secret hidden in the words on the screen during the prior Shangri-la Hotel investigation. Decoding the words through a certain pattern, he’d obtained a message containing the time, location, and contact.

In Feng Luo’s message, the time was tonight, while the location in the message was this “Night’s Charm” Bar, which was a little distinctive from its surroundings! His instincts told him that this must be a Hidden Mission within this investigation—a Hidden Mission that could only be discovered by decoding the secret in the words!

There was another point, which was that the Hidden Mission on that screen encompassed not only his but also other competing players’ Hidden Mission times and locations—only without others’ contact methods.

This was the “great weapon” that Feng Luo had spoken about, which probably would be of use!

Of course, this was his weapon, but Feng Luo was worried that this was others’”great weapon” as well. It was possible that his Hidden Mission location had been decoded by others, too. If that was the case, then in this bar, there could be someone disguised as an NPC who had arrived long before, waiting for him to “walk right into the trap”!

But it seems that now, there isn’t anyone lying in ambush. I worried too much, Feng Luo thought. He had already carefully observed the 10 scattered NPCs in the bar, now realizing that they did not look like disguised players participating in the mission.

Of course, that did not rule out players who had such great acting skills that even he couldn’t tell! Hence, he continued to act like an NPC. Perhaps he still needing to “up his game” when it came to acting!

But what Feng Luo had not expected was that the time when he’d need to “up his game” would begin so soon.

Feng Luo had been sitting in the bar for about a minute. Just then, another person was led in from the entrance.

“Eh? Why are y’all so quiet here? Business seems average… but the class doesn’t look bad…”

Furthermore, to Feng Luo’s surprise, the voice was very familiar to him.

That voice…

Feng Luo paused and borrowed the reflection of the glass in his hand, turning it to a suitable angle to look toward the person who had just entered without altering his expression.

The one who had entered this time was a player (Feng Luo’s current identity was an NPC). He was a short, small-statured, dark-skinned player who looked Indian. The player was following a beautiful female NPC in a kimono, his eyes continuously darting around, glancing up and down the neck and buttocks area of the woman walking in front of him, even repeatedly inhaling with his nostrils.

How could it be such a coincidence?!

Viewing the person through the reflection of his glass, Feng Luo had, for a moment, almost forgotten about his disguise. Watching the player behaving so wolfishly and with a wretched expression, Feng Luo felt a sense of fondness. Because this person was not only a familiar face but also a familiar face with whom he had done missions.

Big Pineapple! Why would this guy have come here? Is it just for leisure, or has he also joined this mission? If he has joined the mission, could it be that he also decoded the mission message hidden in the words on the screen?

Feng Luo was indeed flabbergasted; he hadn’t assumed that he would be the only one to decode the message of the Hidden Mission hidden in the words. However, if even a brain like Big Pineapple’s had decoded it, didn’t it prove that the difficulty of the Hidden Mission was a little low?

Furthermore, the mission players here tonight seem to be Number 33, Number 105, Number 183, and Number 294… Three among them have already been eliminated. Could Big Pineapple be Number 105 left?

Feng Luo’s face still did not show any change, but he was truly shocked inside.

Big Pineapple… Could this guy have been “pretending to be a pig to prey on a tiger” all along?!