Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Don’t panic!” Southern Lone Blade was actually super depressed deep down, but he still made sure to look calm and composed. He knew that he was the backbone of his team, so he needed to maintain a shred of aplomb. If he were to panic as well, the entire team was bound to break down in an instant.

“We gotta increase the price with Silver Moon first now that Thousand Miles Drunk is here,” Southern Lone Blade said as he led the others to consider the conventional business aspect of things. They should treat Thousand Miles Drunk as a trouble that required a price tag increase rather than an unavoidable disaster.

“How much more? 20,000?” Flame Singed Clothes’ words revealed how truly frightened he was when facing Gu Fei. There had yet to be a transaction that went over 20,000 gold coins in the whole of Parallel World.

Southern Lone Blade looked him in the eyes before he gazed at the rest. Realizing that his words had not managed to appease the fear in his comrades’ hearts, he continued to reason. “Our target isn’t Thousand Miles Drunk, so even though he’s here, he’ll surely be leaving sooner or later. I refuse to believe that he’ll stay at Vast Lushness’ side twenty-four seven. That’s why we don’t need to think of how terrifying it will be to face off against him. All we gotta do is keep being patient. If he refuses to leave, then we won’t choose to act, either. How many times have we been through such a situation before? What’s so scary about it? It’s just that we gotta avoid Thousand Miles Drunk; that’s all.”

The men slowly began to calm down after hearing Southern Lone Blade’s speech. Sure enough, because their previous assignment’s target being Thousand Miles Drunk himself, both parties had to clash head on, which resulted in the tragedy that befell upon them. However, right now, the man was no more than a hurdle to their real target, so he should be seen as no more than an insurmountable obstacle, and it was not as if they had not come across similar obstacles in their larceny career. Take Baishi City as an example; Southern Lone Blade and his team had once targeted a vice guild leader from one of the guilds there. In the beginning, when they located the target, he was busy fighting with monsters in a grinding map, and almost hundreds of players in the said map were members of the same guild. Southern Lone Blade’s team only had seven men, so it was only natural they were no match for them. That situation was similar to having a single Gu Fei right now. All they could do then was wait – patiently wait for the vice guild leader to leave the map or when there were not so many comrades around to aid their target.

Similarly, all they could do now was wait – wait until Gu Fei left Vast Lushness’ side and their opportunity to strike appeared.

“Big South is right.” Glue was the first to nod his head. “We should maintain our distance and keep our eyes on them for now. It’s no different from how we usually do things.”

“Let’s get to work, everyone!” Southern Lone Blade waved his hand, and they all scattered. When it came to trailing the target, Southern Lone Blade and his men had their own methods. They rarely ever needed to stick close to their target and rely on Stealth, and what they used was a relay tracking method that covered a wide area.

Take Vast Lushness and her group as an example; they were casually strolling down the street, so their speed was so slow that even Priests, the job class with the slowest movement speed, could easily outpace them. The method Southern Lone Blade’s team utilized had them first determining the direction their target was going before circling around to position themselves ahead to wait at the other end of the street. From there onward, each player would alternately conduct their surveillance. Furthermore, this allowed them to maintain quite a good distance from the target, such that the target would never suspect a thing.

“With someone like Thousand Miles Drunk that can recognize us even while we are hanging around, everyone gotta be extra cautious,” Southern Lone Blade instructed the others even as he messaged Silver Moon. “That matter with Vast Lushness is gonna cost you another 1000.”

“Why?” Silver Moon was shocked.

“Thousand Miles Drunk is in Baishi City, and he’s right by her side,” Southern Lone Blade replied.

“How is that possible?!” Silver Moon exclaimed.

“It is what it is. If you don’t believe me, you can come over and take a look yourself,” Southern Lone Blade suggested.

“How will I not believe what you’ve said?” Silver Moon was still really unctuous. “I’m just surprised. That guy was clearly in Linyin City earlier.”

“It’s not really strange for him to pop by a neighboring city. Is Thousand Miles Drunk and Vast Lushness well acquainted?” Southern Lone Blade asked.

“I don’t know…” The feeling Silver Moon got when he said those three words were only known by the man himself. When he had heartlessly abandoned Vast Lushness in the beginning and first learnt that she had gone all the way to Yunduan City in search of him, he was not at all touched by her actions and had instead felt a little pleased about it. He thought of himself as someone magnificent and believed that all he had to do was turn around and the lady would be there following right behind him.

Ultimately, when he turned around in all his magnificence, all he got was a middle finger.

That was when he realized that the lady and him had since drifted far from him. What he imagined to be transcendent had been nothing more than his wishful thinking.

Vast Lushness got herself new friends, which even included their old nemesis, Gu Fei. At that time, Silver Moon was still squatting over in Baishi City’s Knights’ Barracks, counting the number of players ready outside to take turns at beating him up.

“Half of the newly added 1000 gold coins should be paid out as deposit!” Southern Lone Blade sent another message.

“Okay…” Silver Moon replied numbly.

Gu Fei was clearly in Linyin City; how was he suddenly in Baishi City? Of course, there was only one reason for this: He went over there to lend a hand.

Thinking that Vast Lushness had actually gotten such a powerful helper, Silver Moon was filled with sadness, indignance, and jealousy…

“Uhm…” Silver Moon sent a message over to Ye Xiaowu. “The person selling the magic staff changed the price; he’s now asking for 4000 gold coins.”

“Why?” Ye Xiaowu asked.

“It’s a price hike; what else can we do about it? Why don’t we just drop it?” Silver Moon made a show to back off so as to move forward. He could already tell that Ye Xiaowu was not short on money, so adding an extra 1000 gold coins to something he was ready to purchase for 4000 gold coins would not be anything.

“There’s no need for that. 4000 it is!” Sure enough, Ye Xiaowu answered just as how Silver Moon had predicted he would.

“All right,” Silver Moon acknowledged, running off to the mailbox to send the additional 500 gold coins the group requested. He did not wish for Ye Xiaowu to know what sort of transaction this really was, which was why he paid the deposit out of his pocket. Everything would be settled once he got the bulk sum from Ye Xiaowu later. Even if the man refused to let the money go through him, at most he’d just ask Southern Lone Blade and his team to take it on his behalf and then transfer it over to him. He had quite the faith in Southern Lone Blade’s gang at the very least.

“Also…” Silver Moon continued to message Ye Xiaowu even as he made his way to the mailbox. “I received word that Thousand Miles Drunk is now in Baishi City.”

“I know that,” Ye Xiaowu replied.

“Now that he’s all alone… Don’t you think this would be a good chance to strike?” Silver Moon was a vicious viper. Southern Lone Blade and his team were busy with their task over there, so he hoped to maneuver Ye Xiaowu into participating as well by taking advantage of the situation, killing that detestable Mage with a borrowed knife.

“The opportunity isn’t ripe yet. It’ll be tough taking on Thousand Miles Drunk head on like this even if he is alone,” Ye Xiaowu rejected.

“Our manpower might not be enough, but I did hear that he has past altercations with some people over there. Look; at this rate, it’ll be as good as us gaining a few more helpers,” Silver Moon offered.

“Oh? Who are these people?” Ye Xiaowu quickly inquired.

“I don’t really know the details myself…” Silver Moon did not dare to drop the names of Southern Lone Blade and his team. He already had a general idea as to Ye Xiaowu’s thought process and how he went about doing things. The moment he learned that there were others who would consider Gu Fei as an adversary, Ye Xiaowu would proceed to contact and recruit the players. If Silver Moon were to offer Southern Lone Blade’s name right now, and if he were to make the trip over, there was a chance that once the two conversed, the matter of how he lied to Ye Xiaowu and hired people to target for another player’s equipment would be exposed. At the same time, he would be violating the rules of agreement between him and Southern Lone Blade’s gang about divulging information of his business. Silver Moon was entirely unwilling to sell out both sides like this.

“In that case… Old Broken happens to still be over there. I’ll first let him do the necessary digging,” Ye Xiaowu said.

“It’s a chance not to be missed! Perhaps, they happen to lack that bit of strength we can provide to annihilate Thousand Miles Drunk once and for all. Hesitating now might, instead, cause them to lose a level. By the time we recruit them over to our side, the power they possess will be so much weaker. Gathering a bunch of players that have yet to reach level 40 is a little…” Silver Moon’s voice trailed off; he was taking a huge risk obfuscating the truth like this here, but it just so happened that the words he had said struck a raw nerve with Ye Xiaowu.

In order to rectify Gu Fei, he had wasted much effort in formulating a plan. It took a lot out of him to finally gather these players together, and none of them were able to take on the opposing mercenary group. All they had done thus far was exchange a few blows with Gu Fei and Sword Demon, and that alone had already left them licking their wounds. Cool Apple was already no longer at level 40, and Broken Water Arrow only managed to escape without losing his level after being shown mercy. What Silver Moon had said was not entirely illogical; how could a bunch of players that did not even make it to level 40 fight against their enemy right now?

“Let’s head over for now. We can learn about the situation over there as we wait for an opportunity to strike; won’t that be the more prudent choice?” Silver Moon continued to coax Ye Xiaowu.

“What you said makes sense.” Ye Xiaowu finally agreed.

“I’ll go and get No Smile,” Silver Moon hurriedly sent a message over to No Smile. “Bro, Thousand Miles Drunk is alone in Baishi City right now. The time for our revenge is upon us.”

“Alone? Just with the few of us?” No Smile was astonished.

“No, there will be more! Just hurry on over here!” Silver Moon replied.

Even though No Smile did not completely trust Silver Moon, he at least knew that the latter was not the sort to put himself in danger. Seeing how confident the man was, there was a good chance that there was indeed a good show in stored for them, so he rushed over at the first chance.

When the three men met, Silver Moon looked to his left and right before wondering, “Isn’t there another player by the name of Cool Apple?”

“He’s not coming.” Ye Xiaowu sighed.

“Why is that?” Silver Moon asked.

“He like one-versus-one duels,” Ye Xiaowu helplessly answered.

“F*ck! What year is this; why is he still so hung up on duels?” Silver Moon had nothing but contempt, for he loved using his numbers to bully the few.

“Time to teleport,” Ye Xiaowu took out a Teleportation Scroll. Silver Moon did not bother to question him about his claim before about owning just a single scroll. The man had wealth and means; how difficult would it be for him to get his hands on another Teleportation Scroll?

White light flashed, and the teleportation was completed. Silver Moon quickly had a change of his equipment, even going as far as to keep his face covered. He had not forgotten that a whole lot of people here in Baishi City wanted his head on a stick!

“Is Old Broken coming?” Silver Moon had not met Broken Water Arrow before, but the way he spoke of this name held a sense of familiarity, as if they were not strangers to each other at all.

“I’ve informed him,” Ye Xiaowu replied. “Where’s Thousand Miles Drunk right now?”

“Let me find out,” Silver Moon said.