Chapter 490 - Receptive to Neither the Hard nor Soft Approach
Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer proceeded to leave the underground chamber and make their way back to the firewood shed. After taking a quick peek at the situation outside through that hole in the wall, he was about to give further instructions to Svelte Dancer when he realized that she had already pulled open the door.
"F*CK!" Gu Fei yelled and dashed out right after Svelte Dancer without missing a beat.
The battle raged on outside. Svelte Dancer, who had daggers for eyes, was ready to kill the nearest player the moment she leaped out from the shed. In the end, Gu Fei was quicker to spy an opportunity. Placing his hand onto Svelte Dancer's arm, he held her back. "Wait a minute."
"Wait for what?"
"It's two different groups; kill those over there!" Gu Fei said.
"Why?"
"Just look at their eyes!" Gu Fei said.
At his cue, Svelte Dancer began to take note of the looks that the enemies were giving her and indeed found it to be different. The player she had been planning to attack revealed much surprise when the two darted out the door, while the player that this person was fighting against stared at them as if he had seen his adversaries.
With a flaming blaze, that second player was cleaved into white light by Gu Fei's sword.
"Keep fighting, everyone!" Gu Fei raised his fist high in the air and yelled.
"YEAHHHHHH! KEEP FIGHTING!" A bunch of players cheered along with Gu Fei. The eyes of that player he was standing in front of was all the more starstruck. Seeing the opponent he had been contending with easily get instkilled with one blow and proving for himself just what an indomitable expert Gu Fei was, this player could not help but look at Gu Fei in veneration.
"Bro, what guild are you from?" That man asked this when he did not find a guild emblem pinned anywhere on Gu Fei.
"We can chat later; there're more enemies coming!" Gu Fei wielded his sword and blocked a blow for the man before casually patting him on the back. "I'll leave this to you."
It was as if that man had received an important mission. Adopting the attitude of a man ready to risk blade and death, he nodded his head gravely and turned around to dive into the fray.
"This way!" Gu Fei beckoned Svelte Dancer over. He had previously made it a point to commit Flowergazing in the Fog's guild emblem to memory; thus, along the way, he would throw a warm greeting to anyone he met that did not belong to Flowergazing in the Fog, while he would slash anyone he met with that emblem before randomly patting someone genially. "I'll leave this to you…"
The black and red pair that was Gu Fei and Svelte Dancer smoothly traversed across the battlefield this way, without even needing Svelte Dancer to attack at any point.
"You're so cunning!" Svelte Dancer derided Gu Fei.
Gu Fei ignored the woman and continued to yell out, "Keep fighting, everyone!" Thus, making their way from the backyard of the city hall to their destination in such a fashion.
"This is the place right here!" Gu Fei led Svelte Dancer to the first of the emptier spots Giordano would pass by during his patrol. Naturally, this emptiness Gu Fei meant was in reference to the NPC and the absence of other guards in the vicinity for several dozen meters. Giordano would be hidden from anyone's sight once the fog appeared. Because the overarching battle was still ongoing between the guilds, even though they might be quite a distance from any potential NPC intervention here in this spot, there was nevertheless still sporadic fighting about.
"Alright, stay here and wait." Gu Fei instructed Svelte Dancer.
"What about you?" Svelte Dancer asked.
"It's too dangerous here; it's better if I hide in the building," Gu Fei answered.
"B*st*rd! Do you mean to leave a beauty like me here in such a dangerous position, while you leave for somewhere else safer? Do you even have a shred of human decency?!" Svelte Dancer was immediately infuriated when she heard this.
"You can rely on your Stealth, but I can't; I can enter the city hall, but you can't. As such, you will be safe here, while I'll be safer in the building. We're all safer that way," Gu Fei explained.
"How are you able to enter the city hall?" Svelte Dancer asked.
Gu Fei took out his Bounty License and showed it to her.
"How much?" Svelte Dancer revealed her true form, looking to buy anything good that appeared before her eyes.
"Sorry, but only I can use this," Gu Fei said.
"How did you get it?" Svelte Dancer asked.
"Get into Stealth first. We can chat about this over private messaging," Gu Fei said, turning in a hurry to leave in the direction of the Government City Hall. He continued to muddle his way through the battlefield like before. In such a chaotic engagement, everybody would only focus on their enemies. Gu Fei tried his best not to draw too much attention to himself. Sure enough, no one seemed to take notice of his presence, allowing him to successfully make his way into the building without much of a fuss. Sighing in relief, he sent a message over to Svelte Dancer: "Are you still safe?"
"Yes." Svelte Dancer, currently Stealthed, was squatting over in a clearing. She was safe enough to do whatever she wanted. "Tell me how you got that thing."
Gu Fei proceeded to the Vigilante Corps Chamber as he relayed a simple overview of the conditions and wondrous uses of the Bounty License over to Svelte Dancer.
"That's so troublesome…" Svelte Dancer was in a bind. She was already used to easily obtaining items and equipment she desired with money. Previously, waiting for the grind for the Windchaser's Boots to be completed had already challenged her patience, yet this Bounty License this time around apparently needed even greater perseverance. Svelte Dancer dithered.
"You don't have a use for it this time, right? It's not like you'd do 'Bounty Mission'," Gu Fei said.
"It is useless… but I still want it," Svelte Dancer answered. While she was not a fool that would treat money like waste paper, she was not someone who had a lack of it and needed to live her life carefully planning out her expenses. Even though the Bounty License was something that she had no need for, it was already a habit of hers to obtain things just because they were rare.
"Then, you'd better get grinding!" Gu Fei maintained his stance, saying this even as he pushed the door that led him right into the Vigilante Corps Chamber.
"Hi!" The moment he stepped inside, a man sitting on the couch greeted Gu Fei with a wave of his hand. That man was none other than Drifting.
"Are you waiting for me?" Gu Fei asked.
"Of course!" Drifting laughed.
"What for? Are you looking to die?" Gu Fei asked.
"How arrogant! You should at least be a little surprised and flustered after seeing me sitting here all calm and collected and waiting for you to serve yourself up on a platter!" Drifting said.
"I am indeed rather surprised. Even though you know about my mission target, you're actually boldly sitting here. Do you perhaps find the burden of being one of the Five Unyielding Experts too much to handle?" Gu Fei countered even as he pulled out his sword.
"Hold it!" Drifting quickly cried out. He knew how inhumanly fast Gu Fei would strike. All it would take was a single Blink, and Drifting would already be unsure of the outcome. He could not help but admit that, when it came down to a head-to-head confrontation, in terms of power, he was absolutely no match for Gu Fei.
"What?" Gu Fei was not in a hurry. That was because he knew that the city hall was not a place that anyone could enter as they wished. Thus, even if Drifting had set up any sort of trap or ploy, it would at most just be him and the Left and Right Hands duo. Taking on merely three players was nothing to Gu Fei; even if one of them was an apex expert that was one of the Five Unyielding Experts.
"Don't you feel that there's no longer any need for us to remain hostile with each other?" Drifting said.
"Oh?"
"We're all doing this for our quest! Quests are more important," Drifting explained.
"Oh? Do you need my help with your quest or something?" Gu Fei asked.
"You're thinking too much. Our quest is already completed," Drifting replied.
"Then, why the change of heart?" Gu Fei pressed on.
"Aren't you already privy to my original plan? We sought only to enter and exit the building as we wished when we were dealing with you and the others that day. Since we have already accomplished that, and the matter has been fully resolved, what's the point in us staying as enemies?" Drifting asked.
"Because I can't stand the method you've used to accomplish your quest!" Gu Fei sighed.
"Is that so? Then, I apologize; I'm truly sorry for that," Drifting said.
Gu Fei was in a daze. He found this sudden change in Drifting to be a little odd. Could he really be afraid of me? That was when he thought to ask, "So what about the matter with your guild?"
"Guild? I've already done all I can on that front; do you expect me to sacrifice even my life to the cause? After only these few days in this guild? I'm not that self-actualized." Drifting chuckled.
Gu Fei finally understood that Drifting really had no intentions of going against him. The way this man handled things had always been devious and polished. Having completed his personal quest, he was completely uncaring of the current mess surrounding the guild he had been part of for a short while. His goal here, at this moment, was to resolve the bad blood between him and Gu Fei and treat everything that had happened here as nothing. It was as though he had not offended anyone, so everyone could just go back to being friends.
"I should really bring Svelte Dancer up here and show her what it's truly like to be treacherous," Gu Fei said.
"That's right. I saw Svelte Dancer. You even managed to get such a powerful person to help you; looks like you've got this in the bag!" Drifting acted as if he had not heard Gu Fei call him treacherous.
Gu Fei, however, continued to stare at Drifting. "As an educator, I just don't feel good until I've corrected a problem I come across!"
"What educator?" Drifting was perplexed.
"Since you're an adult, it seems there's no need to work in the education aspect of things. Just bear with the consequences of your action!" Gu Fei said, instead.
The expression on Drifting's face changed, for he knew that his parley with Gu Fei had failed. This was also the point when he realized he was mistaken about Gu Fei, he believed that such an assertive man would have a tenacious temperament against confrontation that could be amenable to a soft approach. Unexpectedly, Gu Fei was the sort that was receptive toward neither the hard nor soft approach, and was unafraid of fighting at any cost to the point that he would actually ignore his efforts of reconciliation.
"I hope you wouldn't take this to heart; we're still friends even after I punish you for your deeds," Gu Fei said.
Drifting had already left the comfort of the couch and stood up, his magic staff placed across his chest, yet he was hardly panicking. What sort of joke is this? Taking on this man by myself, it's not like I'm a BOSS…
Icy Mirage? That's no use. This man can directly tell which one is the real me.
Blossoming Crimson Lotus? There's only so much space in this room; a Blossoming Crimson Lotus will only result in all the NPC guards attacking me in response. While there's no guarantee I can instkill Miles, it's almost certain these guards can instkill me.
Since I don't have any solution to this, I will just have to gamble and see if I can take him down along with me; I can't possibly die in too cowardly a fashion, right?
Drifting just started waving his magic staff and chanting when Gu Fei materialized right before him.
Blink! Drifting had already expected this… Does this man wish to use that same move as before? If that's the case, I shouldn't be too bothered with my bearing, either! Seeing that Gu Fei's arm was lifted and was indeed about to stuff it toward his mouth, Drifting made the decision to bite down at it.
Drifting nimbly extended his mouth forward and bit down hard. A crunching sound could be heard, and Drifting discovered an apple had actually been inserted to his mouth.
Muffled objection could be heard as Gu Fei firmly pushed the apple in. Drifting was still unable to say a word, as tears ran down his cheeks and in his heart. Shameless! Not even saying a word that he's going to use an item…
"Seeing as we're friends, I won't kill you by my hands. Let's see how lucky you are!" Gu Fei said, even as his right hand pushed the apple that Drifting had in his mouth and took a step backward. His left hand shot forth and pushed open the window right behind the man as his leg worked to trip Drifting over. The apple fell off from Drifting's mouth, but it was already too late for him to chant anything. All he could do was yell out, "What are you trying to do?!" as he found himself being hurled right out the window by Gu Fei.
"Cool Apple's dropping down!" Gu Fei shouted to the pack of players three floors below.