Chapter 131 - A Controversial Figure
The party that that was originally grinding at a distance rushed toward Gu Fei and Luo Luo. The Archers Royal God Call and Right Hand of Cool were the fastest, and they arrived just in time to end the entire skirmish by activating Snipe to instkill No Smile.
"You killed five players again!" Royal God Call indignantly exclaimed as he pointed at Gu Fei.
"Hey, don't casually say 'again'," Gu Fei chastised.
With their slower movement speed, Drifting and the ladies only arrived at this moment. They had originally seen quite a few figures from afar, yet only three people were at this location when they arrived.
"You've already resolved the matter?" Drifting asked Gu Fei as he looked around. He very much wanted to observe Gu Fei's fighting techniques. On his way here, Drifting saw white lights flashing one by one. Looking at the three people at this spot, he noted that Luo Luo and the other lady were Priests and only Gu Fei as a Mage was capable of turning the enemies into white lights.
"It's fine already; everything is over. You lot can go back to grinding!" Gu Fei clapped his hands to get their attention.
"You killed five people again," Royal God Call mumbled bitterly. He got Gu Fei as his 'Bounty Mission' target, so he could check the latter's PK value anytime.
"Just what is going on?" Given the gossiping nature of the present ladies, they would naturally not leave without knowing what had just happened in this location. Everyone kept on asking this question as they glanced over at Vast Lushness.
"Hey, aren't you…" Royal God Call immediately recognized Vast Lushness. Although the two only met for a short period of time a month ago, Royal God Call was a scoundrel whose interest lay in women. Given Vast Lushness' pretty looks, remembering her was very easy for him. "You're Vast Lushness of Yueye City's Past Deeds Guild!" He might have recognized her at a glance, yet it had taken him quite a while to recall her name.
"Do you know each other?" Luo Luo's eyes sparkled. Gu Fei's odd attitude toward this woman made her feel that there was something more to the matter than what was seen on the surface, and she became even more convinced of this when she saw Royal God Call's reaction toward Vash Lushness.
"And… you are?" Vast Lushness hesitantly asked as she looked directly at Royal God Call's eyes. She clearly did not recognize him anymore. Since Young Master Han introduced him back then as 'one of his four lackeys', he only left quite a limited impression on her.
"I went to Yueye City and met you before," Royal God Call explained.
"Oh…" Vast Lushness acknowledged lightly. She then turned her gaze toward Gu Fei and said, "Thank you. Yunduan City sure is a place filled with experts."
Gu Fei only smiled thinly.
Given how women were naturally closer with their fellow women, the Amethyst Rebirth's ladies immediately surrounded Vast Lushness and began to ask her all sorts of questions, such as "Why did you come to Yunduan City", and so on.
Thus, Vast Lushness summarized her situation to everyone. It was just as Gu Fei had thought; Past Deeds had gained many enemies in Yueye City, so many players supported Dusky Cloud and his gang as they fought against her guild. Silver Moon continued to use his OP skill, King's Command, that boosted his party's fighting prowess. However, those precious seconds in which he was able to dominate the PvP field were not enough to affect the ongoing war.
During Past Deeds' glorious days as the sole large guild in Yueye City, its members were indeed very arrogant and tyrannical to the other players in Yueye City. Now that the roles were reversed, these players began exacting their crazy revenges on the already meek Past Deeds Guild, killing and beating its few hundred members that that had become street rats at first sight without mercy. In fact, these members would still get hounded by others even when they quit the guild altogether.
Without any choices left, some Past Deeds' members quit the game entirely. Some even began to journey far and wide to look for another city to call home. Only a handful members of the guild stubbornly stayed in Yueye City.
Vast Lushness was evidently among those stubborn members. Her situation was the worst compared to the other guild members because she was the most hated figure of the Past Deeds Guild. People in Yueye City often formed hunting parties to slay her. Grinding, drinking, and killing Vast Lushness became the three big items on some players' daily to-do list. "Have you killed Vast Lushness yet?" became a common question in Yueye City.
In such a terrible environment, Vast Lushness actually continued to survive like a cockroach, without even conceiving the thought of leaving Yueye City. Everyone was puzzled as to why she persisted like so, but Vast Lushness did reveal anything about it. As for why she was at Yunduan City, she said she was looking for someone.
"Are you looking for Silver Moon?" Royal God Call asked aloud. He actually wanted to ask about Silver Moon even earlier, yet he only recalled his name now.
Vast Lushness silently nodded her head.
Thus, the ladies began to question her anew on who was this saint-like Silver Moon. When they learned that Silver Moon and Vast Lushness were interwoven in a story of romance, sympathy instantly poured from the ladies to her, barring actual tears from being shed. Furthermore, the turbulent and barbaric customs in Yueye City left a deep impression in these ladies. Everyone began to wonder, "Just how did June's Rain survive in Yueye City?"
Xiaoyu had yet to return from her questing in Yueye City and only kept constant contact with the ladies of the guild through messaging. The new members of Amethyst Rebirth already knew that a glorious player of their guild had yet to return from her questing in Yueye City for over a month.
"I'll bring you back to Yunduan City, so you can log off and rest first!" Luo Luo said to Vast Lushness. Anyone could tell how tired she was from just a glance.
"Won't… Won't I be troubling you?" Vast Lushness could tell that this party was here to grind levels.
"It's no trouble," Luo Luo smiled.
"It's better if I take her back to the city," Gu Fei suddenly spoke.
"You?" Luo Luo asked, surprised. Gu Fei's treatment of Vast Lushness was cold and distant since they met. He even appeared apathetic when she told her sob story to everyone. Why would he suddenly feel compelled to do her this favor?
Could it be… Luo Luo had a sudden thought so she dragged Gu Fei to a side, "What are you doing? Are you trying to take advantage of her precarious situation?"
"What?"
"That Silver Moon that she spoke of…" Players could exchange messages with one another more easily in the game than in reality. It was possible for someone to forget their phone, for the phone to run out of charge, or similar situations that made contacting another person difficult in reality, but those unfortunate circumstances were impossible in-game. For Vast Lushness to not be able to meet or contact someone for days, it was easy to consider the possibility of Silver Moon actively avoiding her. Everyone had this suspicion, yet not one actually mentioned it.
"F*ck! What are you thinking?" Gu Fei indignantly asked as he regarded Luo Luo derisively for a bit. He then walked toward Royal God Call and said, "I'll go back to erase my PK value. I'll contact you when it's time."
"Okay…" Royal God Call replied.
"Let's go!" Gu Fei said to Vast Lushness, not a hint of ulterior motive could be detected from his tone of voice.
"Sorry to trouble you, then," Vast Lushness could only accept this kindness.
"Everyone, keep on grinding. I'll be back in a while," Gu Fei waved to everyone. With Drifting around, it was not an issue if he was there to help out or otherwise.
As he made two steps toward the direction of Yunduan City together with Vast Lushness, Gu Fei distantly heard Royal God Call begin to tell the ladies, "That Vast Lushness…" He was most likely telling everyone about her past glorious and arrogant days in Yueye City.
Although Gu Fei proceeded toward Yunduan City at a steady gait to match Vast Lushness' movement speed, he did not start a conversation with her. Gu Fei's dislike for her was evident that even Vast Lushness was very aware of it. Thus, she resolved not to say anything to Gu Fei if he would not do so first.
As a result, the two arrived at Yunduan City in total silence. Gu Fei pointed to a direction and said, "That should be the nearest log-off point."
"Thank you," Vast Lushness said.
Gu Fei nodded his head and prepared to leave without saying goodbye.
"Hey!" Vast Lushness suddenly called after Gu Fei, halting his footsteps as he turned his head around.
"I still haven't gotten your name," Vast Lushness stated this fact.
"Thousand Miles Drunk," Gu Fei said. Usually, players would take this chance to open their friends list and mutually add one another as a friend, yet Gu Fei and Vast Lushness did not do this at all.
"Thank you," Vast Lushness thanked him once more before turning to leave.
Gu Fei stared at her departing figure for a moment before heading toward the Quest Assignment Hub to accept 'Bounty Mission'.
Obtaining a mission and chasing a target were almost a routine to Gu Fei. There happened to be several players with 3 or 4 PK points displayed on the board. Gu Fei easily accomplished the hunt and lowered his PK value back to 1 PK point. With all that done, he left the city once more and returned to the grinding party. The ladies were still discussing about Vast Lushness when he got back! But based on the content of their conversation this time, it was evident that Royal God Call had already filled them in on her past. This caused Vast Lushness to become a controversial figure to them.
The ladies were split into two sides with regard to whether Vast Lushness deserved sympathy or not. All separated into the two sides of the main body of the grinding setup and were incessantly debating about the matter while they dropped Descending Wheel of Flames on to the monsters' heads in the indicated circle.
Gu Fei smiled as he came up beside Luo Luo, "What's all this?"
"Do you think Vast Lushness deserves sympathy?" Luo Luo asked.
"Nope."
"Stand over there then!"
Gu Fei was speechless. He could not find it in himself to laugh or cry about this matter. From the number of people standing on the opposition with Gu Fei, it seemed that domineering and arrogant players were not popular among the ladies here.
Just then, Royal God Call came back from bringing a train of monsters, so Gu Fei casually asked him, "Royal, what do you think? Does that lady deserve sympathy?"
"Of course," Royal God Call nodded his head.
"Royal is the most obedient," Luo Luo nodded her head in satisfaction, even rolling her eyes at Gu Fei.
Royal God Call stood there with a smile on his face and acted cute in front of Luo Luo. When that was done, he made funny faces at Gu Fei and asked, "In the end, she's still a babe. So did you manage to score with her?"
"F*ck off over to the other side," Gu Fei cursed.
Royal God Call did not dare to offend Gu Fei so he quickly slinked off to pull more monsters.
"Drifting, what do you think of that lady?" Gu Fei asked, bored. Drifting was standing right in the corner of both sides. It was difficult to tell which side he was supporting.
"Nothing much. It's just a game," Drifting stated matter-of-factly, adding, "In this world, anyone with power would act the way she did."
"Is that so? But why aren't you like that?" Gu Fei asked.
Drifting stared at him, "I casually instkilled five men for you in that tavern just the other day."
Gu Fei was speechless once more. Casually instkilling five men without even finding out about the situation was indeed an example of arrogance.
Chapter 132 - Meeting Each Other Yet Again
After watching the ladies fight a few more waves of monsters, Gu Fei beckoned Royal God Call over, "Alright. You can complete your mission!"
Royal God Call felt stunned, "Now?"
Gu Fei nodded his head.
"But the level grinding has yet to end!" Royal God Call blurted out.
"It doesn't really matter whether I'm here or not!" Gu Fei stated bluntly.
"Actually, it's like this," Royal God Call came over to Gu Fei and pulled him to a side, whispering, " You see, there are so many ladies around watching. If I kill you off right under their gazes, although you're helping me with my 'Bounty Mission', I… I… I will definitely be hated by them."
Gu Fei laughed coldly, "You've got quite a lot of request for this."
"It's just a small request…" Royal God Call pitifully pleaded.
"Forget it. I may as well go all the way with helping you; we'll find somewhere without anyone around for you to do the deed!" Gu Fei decided.
"Thank you brother! My dearest brother!" Royal God Call emotionally cried out.
As both returned to the grinding party, Royal God Call went back to pulling monsters and Gu Fei went back to standing by the side while feeling totally bored. The nosy Luo Luo came by once more, "What were you two muttering over there all sneaky-like?"
Gu Fei glanced at her once, "Players who are sympathetic to Vast Lushness stand over there."
"Hmph!" Luo Luo pettily rolled her eyes, viciously bestowing Heal on to Gu Fei in retaliation before walking off in a huff.
Many people would be envious of Gu Fei being able to squat there and attain free experience points. However, the recent circumstance was far from why Gu Fei was playing this game. He cared naught about the experience points or equipment drop, as he only wanted to train his kung fu by fighting creatures that could react to his every move. If this simple wish of his could not be achieved, what was the point of even grinding like so?
Gu Fei squatted to one side while drawing circles on the ground as he groaned, attracting everyone's attention to him. They could not help but think, This b*st*rd is really hard to please. He seems dissatisfied with our current grinding efficiency.
Suddenly, Gu Fei stood up and waved to everyone, "You guys keep on grinding. I'll head over there for a while."
"Where?" everyone asked. When Gu Fei earlier said 'over there', he waved in a large circle.
"Over there!" Gu Fei circled a random area once more before turning around and running off. With his speed, his figure became a black dot in the distance very quickly.
"It's too boring. I'll go grind by myself. Call me when you're done over there," Gu Fei sent Royal God Call a message.
There were no words from him after this. Finding a spot not too far away, Gu Fei grinded on the monsters there alone. Luo Luo sent him messages from time to time to ask where he had run off to, yet Gu Fei casually found some excuse to stall her from finding him. He only returned to the party when Royal God Call messaged him that they were about to leave.
"Hi!" he cheerfully greeted everyone. After using his kung fu for a bit, Gu Fei's gloomy look from before was replaced by a happy expression now.
Everyone threw him side glances, yet he paid those no heed. Grabbing Royal God Call, he went toward a different direction as he announced, "You people go on ahead. I still have something to settle with Royal."
"Ah! Sis Luo Luo..." Royal God Call stared longingly at Luo Luo as she led the troop of ladies back to the city.
"Do you want the lady or the Windchaser's Boots?" Gu Fei asked him.
Royal God Call looked visibly conflicted when Gu Fei presented this choice to him. His face was scrunched up as if he was torn between the two most difficult choices of his life. He could only stare dumbly after the ladies as they slowly got further and further away.
"Do it! I'm facing away from you, or else my conditioned reflex will react," Gu Fei said as he turned around and faced his back to Royal God Call; he even went as far as to cover his ears with his hands. After practicing kung fu for so many years, his body had developed a reflex toward combat. He feared that if he faced an attack that he was aware of head on, he would instinctively dodge it. It was said that a conditioned reflex that did not require any thought was the fastest at reacting to an attack.
Royal God Call nocked his arrow, pulled the bow, and stared at Gu Fei. His hands were actually trembling slightly. Gu Fei was indeed true to his word, so how could Royal God Call do the deed knowing that?
He waited for quite a long while and still the arrow did not arrive. Gu Fei turned around and saw Royal God Call with his bow pulled, standing there in a daze! The dumb look on his face irked Gu Fei, "What are you hesitating for?! Quickly fire your arrow already. I need to head to prison soon since I still have class tomorrow!"
The shout shocked Royal God Call, causing him to release the arrow in his hand that flew out with a sharp whoosh. It was just as Gu Fei had suspected; his body already reacted accordingly before the arrow even struck his forehead. Turning his body sideways, he cleanly evaded the arrow.
Royal God Call instantly got mad. He had released the arrow after much intense and nerve-wracking thought, yet Gu Fei easily dodged it.
Gu Fei helplessly said, "That's the reflex I trained out as a kung fu practitioner. Try again!" With that, he turned around and covered his ears once more.
Royal God Call was immediately inspired by what Gu Fei had done. Nocking his bow, he shut his eyes. Indeed, his heart was much more settled now that he could not see Gu Fei. He gritted his teeth and released his arrow once more.
Royal God Call slowly opened his eyes after half a minute, only to see Gu Fei staring at him with a disgruntled expression.
"What?" Royal God Call asked, annoyed. Although his eyes were shut tightly when he fired off that arrow, he was confident that his hands had already achieved the steadiness that came from his familiarity with the various archery skills. He was therefore unlikely to miss a target that he had aimed an arrow properly.
Gu Fei expressionlessly reached his hand to his back and, after groping for a bit, pulled out an arrow shaft while gritting his teeth. He then returned the arrow to Royal God Call, saying, "Royal, my friend, please stop messing around and end it in one shot, alright?"
Royal God Call broke out in a cold sweat as he took the arrow back, "Sorry. I forgot to use my skill."
Gu Fei did not say another word and merely pulled his sword out of his dimensional pocket. Turning around and covering his ears, he lightly warned, "If I'm not dead with your next shot, it'll be my turn to slay you dead."
"Relax!" Royal God Call calmed him down. As the saying went, 'anything hard the first time around was easy the second time around.' Having shot Gu Fei once, Royal God Call no longer felt conflicted like before. He steadily nocked his arrow and aimed. Shutting his eyes tightly, he released the arrow on Snipe.
"How was it?" Royal God Call asked aloud with his eyes still shut tightly. No one replied to his question, though. When he opened his eyes to look, Gu Fei was no longer around. Upon seeing that the 'Bounty Mission' on his mission log was displayed as completed, Royal God Call heaved a long sigh of relief.
Opening up his friends list, he sent a message to Gu Fei, yet the system humorously stated: [Your contact is not within a serviceable area.]
"F*ck…" Royal God Call cursed as he walked back to Yunduan City alone.
When Gu Fei received Royal God Call's arrow on Snipe, his vision immediately darkened and, in the next moment, he found himself transported inside Yunduan City's prison.
The underground prison was dimly lit and the air was deathly cold. In conclusion, his surroundings were hardly inviting. Looking around him, he saw that the cell he was in was quite large and had three or five other occupants. Everyone curiously glanced over at the newcomer. Some people were about to call out to him, but they ended up keeping their mouths shut upon getting a clear view of Gu Fei's face who had just turned around.
Gu Fei looked around him and he became somewhat uncomfortable. Quite a few occupants of the surrounding cells were actually sent there by Gu Fei. In all honesty, nobody else, aside from him and Royal God Call, was actively doing 'Bounty Mission' in Yunduan City.
The biggest fear players had with PK value was the penalty of losing two levels if they died. It was actually not easy to die in Parallel World, as monsters in grinding maps were not exactly difficult to take on. A player with decent equipment would be capable enough of dealing with monsters of the same level. Thus, it could be said that the chances of them dying to the monsters while grinding were a lot lower than them dying as a result of PvP.
'Bounty Mission' was all about engaging in PvP, so players who were not confident of their skills would not risk their lives to go through such missions. This was how Yunduan City differed from Yueye City. Players over there embraced the risk of PvP every day as part of their online gaming lives. Naturally, they would try their hardest to protect themselves by not attaining PK value in Yueye City.
It could be said that Gu Fei was the reason why many players had to while their time inside Yunduan City's prison. Some with higher PK value had to squat there up to eight or ten hours, but not everyone had the patience to stay inside an enclosed space for such a long duration.
The game designers were kind enough to design the entire prison as a big safe zone. Thus, players could log off any time they wished, except their prison time would only get reduced when they were online.
Many players did not have the willpower to stay in this sort of dull environment. Thus, despite the time the players needed to spend inside the cell only being a few hours long, they would often log on and off daily until they finished serving their time in prison.
Among the players Gu Fei saw in front of him, two looked very familiar as he had just sent them in here earlier. Several others looked somewhat familiar; he reckoned that he must have sent them in here several days ago. Gu Fei did not recognize the rest. But since no one else currently did the 'Bounty Mission' in earnest, Gu Fei reckoned that these players must be Royal God Call's 'customers'.
Gu Fei blankly stared at these people, not knowing how to break the ice. In the end, one of the possible 'customers' of Royal God Call came over and asked, "Bro, who sent you here?"
"Is it an Archer?" Someone began to describe Royal God Call's general appearance to Gu Fei.
Gu Fei nodded his head honestly, "Yup!"
"F*ck that sh*tty twirp!" Some began to warm up a little with Gu Fei when they learned that he was sent here by Royal God Call as well.
Someone said a few consoling words to Gu Fei and pointed to the other players seated by another corner, "Those few over there, some sh*tty Mage sent them over here."
Gu Fei wanted to cry, but no tears came out. He smiled wryly as he admitted, "That sh*tty Mage is me…."
"Ah?!" Some exclaimed in shock, quickly bolting a few meters away from Gu Fei, and others crawled over to the front of Gu Fei's 'customers'. After confirming Gu Fei's identity, these guys began to stare at him with contempt in their eyes.
Gu Fei felt annoyed by all this. He was so focused on helping Royal God Call that he had overlooked this problem. These people currently gathered in this prison were the lot that that had the greatest hatred toward him!
But since the entire underground prison was a safe zone, players could not make any contact that would lead to PvP. Gu Fei was not afraid of being surrounded; instead, he was depressed that he could not use his kung fu to shock everyone into submission.
That crowd of men was not the least bit afraid of him as they gathered together and whispered in low voices, expletives being uttered every so often as they talked. Gu Fei sighed. It looked like these two hours here in this cell would not be easy. Maybe he should log off and try another day?
Just as he was pondering this, a few beams of white light shone as three players were sent in.
Chapter 133 - Endless Disdain
The three men who had just emerged from the white lights acted very differently from the other players inside the underground prison.
No one, including Gu Fei who had sacrificed himself to help Royal God Call with his 'Bounty Mission', entered the prison to serve time jovially. In contrast, these new arrivals openly expressed their excitement upon seeing that the cell had quite a lot of occupants.
At this moment, the players inside the cell were currently split into two factions. Gu Fei was the leader, as well as the sole member, of the 'depressed' faction. He was dazedly occupying the left corner of the cell while wondering whether he should log off or not. As for everyone else, they were part of the 'indignant' faction and were all standing by the right corner as they furiously regarded Gu Fei. A fight would have long broken out between the two factions had the entire prison not been designed as a safe zone.
The new arrivals saw this situation of Gu Fei being ostracized by everyone. All these prisoners barely knew each other and would mostly spend a couple of hours together here, so how did such a conflict occur in just a short duration? And yet, the current conflict seemed to be so serious that all were isolating Gu Fei.
After considering everything, the three began to move closer to the larger group first.
"Hello, fellow brothers…" The leader cheerfully greeted the lot. It was rare to see people who were jovial of being sent to prison, so the pack of players found their behavior to be somewhat odd and regarded the lot with raised eyebrows.
"Were you guys sent here by an Archer?" one of the players finally inquired.
"Ah? No. We came here of our accord," one of the three men replied.
Everyone felt shocked. They turned themselves in… Such an occurrence was much more infrequent, as most people would rather work to rid themselves of their PK value by asking their buddies to help them accomplish 'Bounty Mission'. This sort of honest players who would willingly turn themselves in could not be found PvPing in the first place.
The three men conversed with them for a while, before finally pointing at Gu Fei who was sitting by a corner on his own, "That guy…."
The group of convicts once more burst into an angry chatter, with some whispering to one another. Their indignation gradually became evident as their voices and swearing grew louder with each passing moment. Gu Fei could no longer bear it, so he got up from his corner and made his way to the front of the group.
"What are you trying to do," everyone stared at Gu Fei. Although the players who had fought with him and had mostly been instkilled by him knew of Gu Fei's fighting prowess, the fact that the deadly Gu Fei could not do anything to them inside this prison that was a big safe zone emboldened everyone.
"Say whatever you want, but don't speak such vulgarities," Gu Fei stood up, towering over them as he lectured the men squatting by the wall for their foul language.
"F*ck! Why do you care?" all arrogantly demanded with raised chins.
Gu Fei exasperatedly said, "I won't care if you are speaking of others; but you're cursing at me, right? Actually, we should be condemning that Archer together. I share the same fate with you all since I was also sent by that guy here!"
When he said that, over half the players present stirred emotionally. They were sent to prison by an Archer, so this Mage doing 'Bounty Mission' had nothing to do with them at all. Conversely speaking, Gu Fei was indeed on the same side as them as he was sent to prison by the Archer as well. Since Royal God Call had been busying himself with the bounty hunting business these past two days, most of the cell occupants were truly Royal God Call's doing.
When Gu Fei's 'customers' saw that a majority of the people were getting convinced by Gu Fei's words, one of them quickly voiced his opposition, "Don't be fooled, everyone. They must be working together."
Gu Fei took the lead in staring at the speaker as if he was an idiot. Even the three newcomers at the side chimed in, "Working together? Why would the Archer dump him in this prison if they are indeed working together?!"
"How would I know? There must be a reason behind this!" the person insisted.
All turned their noses to this fool. Gu Fei sighed in his heart. This saying really held some truth: 'The minority was the one who always had a good grasp of the truth!'
"By the way, did you guys see what that Archer looks like? The brat actually attacked me from behind, so I didn't get a good look of his face," Gu Fei began to dissect Royal God Call, planning to utterly divert everyone's attention from the recent allegation.
His plan worked perfectly as everyone began to discuss and partake in all sorts of gossips about Royal God Call. As Gu Fei had expected, many of Royal God Call's 'customers' were sent to prison without seeing a lick of his shadow due to his fighting method. Almost all of them were taken down by Royal God Call's sneaky shots from afar, so not one actually saw his face clearly.
"How utterly despicable and shameless!" everyone criticized Royal God Call severely.
"Very true!" Gu Fei agreed as he laughed inside. His 'customers' could not interject anything and could only stare at Gu Fei hatefully while squatting by a corner. Gu Fei no longer bothered himself with them and turned his gaze toward the three newcomers. The prison's lighting was slightly dim, so distinguishing the others' looks at a certain distance was hard. Unexpectedly, Gu Fei felt stunned when he recognized one of the three, "SILVER MOON!"
Who else could the person on the left be but the guild leader of Past Deeds, Silver Moon?
The three men were originally checking Gu Fei out with a slight smile on their faces. Evidently, they were quite interested in him. While the three viewed the others inside the prison as mediocre beings that had lost in PvP, they saw Gu Fei as a talented individual who had contributed to the population inside this prison by bravely doing 'Bounty Mission'.
As for how he got sent to this prison, the three heard everything clearly: 'An Archer attacked him sneakily!' Archers had an advantage when it came to PvP over Mages, so they thought it was still reasonable that Gu Fei was eliminated by an Archer no matter how strong he was, especially since it was a sneak attack that might have caught him off-guarded.
Unexpectedly, this Mage that the three were interested in actually knew Silver Moon.
"You're…" Silver Moon hesitated. Many people knew him, as he was a guild leader, but that was in Yueye City. It totally did not make sense for Yunduan City's players to recognize him - unless, they were from Yueye City.
Gu Fei promptly got a hold of his emotions and he schooled his facial expression into a neutral one, saying, "I once went to Yueye City in the past. I heard and even saw you at the time."
"Oh!" The three were visibly relieved by this.
Silver Moon was even pleased with himself, This proves that we are so well-known that even those from other cities visit Yueye City just to see us. Furthermore, some remember us to the point of recognizing us at a glance despite barely meeting us. As he relished in this thought, his impression of Gu Fei deepened by quite a lot. "Bro—" Just as he was about to ask Gu Fei's name, he discovered that the Mage had squatted down once more with the rest of the trashy players to deride the Archer that they all despised.
Silver Moon felt somewhat shocked. Why is this guy's interest in this bunch of commoners stronger than his interest in an important person like me? With this thought in mind, Silver Moon joined the crowd of squatting players and addressed them, "Gentlemen, what's the name of that Archer who bullied you? Since we met by fate in this place, I will take it upon myself to avenge you all when I get out." With that, he smiled cheerily at Gu Fei.
What are you smiling at me for, you f*ck*r?! Can't you see that I don't wanna associate myself with you? Gu Fei thought to himself as he shifted to the side by half a step. He felt as if someone wanted to get closer to him while he was taking a dump in a latrine pit… It was downright disgusting!
Meanwhile, Silver Moon mistook Gu Fei's action as him being afraid that the space was too cramped for Silver Moon, so the latter kindly gave the former more space. Silver Moon was instantly delighted by this as he glanced at everyone emotionally, awaiting their reply to his suggestion.
"Who are you?" Someone suddenly sank the spirits of Silver Moon with this seemingly innocent question, causing Gu Fei to sputter as he stifled his laughter.
Everyone curiously stared at him, not understanding what Gu Fei found so funny. Gu Fei quickly recovered himself and introduced the arrogant prick to everyone, "Silver Moon here came from Yueye City. Have you guys heard of the Past Deeds Guild?"
"Oh…" everyone chorused.
Silver Moon. That person was almost as famous as Close Combat Mage 27149 who had single-handedly cut down No Smile eight times. However, while the source of Close Combat Mage's fame lay in his PvP prowess, Silver Moon's fame lay in his OP equipment.
The story of the protracted guild war in Yueye City had long spread on the forums. The players of Parallel World were engaged in a verbal war on the forums as they wantonly discussed and analyzed Silver Moon's equipment. It was rumored that he had a top-grade sword that could bolster the stats of his teammates, turning them into monstrously strong PvPers. The skill was dubbed by others as 'City of Golden Armor'.
This topic had been debated for the longest time; it was only when Past Deeds was entirely eradicated that the interest for the OP equipment of Silver Moon waned and gradually disappeared. Silver Moon did not make any earth-shaking move after his guild collapsed, and rumors had it that he was on the run. It seemed that this was truly the case; otherwise, why would he be in Yunduan City's prison with them?
Everyone's "Oh" echoed for quite some time as they each entered a contemplative state for quite a while. Silver Moon was very ecstatic by their protracted "Oh", as he thought that he had brought everyone toward a new high. Silver Moon gazed at everyone with a satisfied expression on his face as he recalled his past glory.
While everyone was smiling on the surface, all of them were thinking inside, "F*ck! He's just a dog without a leash, yet he's acting as if he's an unparalleled existence!"
Silver Moon felt proud of himself despite leading a losing army because he still considered himself as an expert who left a lasting impression on others. However, no rule saying that experts should be spared from ignominy existed. Currently, Silver Moon was an expert being disdained by the surrounding players. Looking at his gorgeous equipment, they could only sigh, At least, this guy is handsomely attired!
Since Silver Moon did not know what the others were thinking right now, he even added, "I am currently in the midst of forming a mercenary group. Since we are now acquainted, I can help you guys get revenge and I won't even collect fees from you all."
Everyone felt ecstatic upon hearing that someone was willing to be their 'punisher' for free and began to enthusiastically describe Royal God Call to Silver Moon. Gu Fei listened by the side and provided input from time to time. In the end, Royal God Call turned out to be a tall, chubby individual who wore gaudy equipment; his heels never touched the ground when he walked and his eyes overflowed with wretched intent.
Gu Fei had no words to say if Silver Moon still found Royal God Call with such a 'helpful' description from him, as that would be heavens' will. If that is really the will of heavens, you're better off giving up, Royal!
During their animated discussion, the ignored 'customers' of Gu Fei coldly interrupted, "Big bro Silver Moon, shan't you help avenge us for our grudge as well?"
"Of cour…" Silver Moon began to unconsciously accept their request when he stopped. Aren't they the ones bearing a grudge against this Mage? He took a liking to the Mage Gu Fei who instantly recognized him, so Silver Moon swallowed the last word on the tip of his tongue. With that, he put on righteous expression on his face as he said, "We've all become acquainted through fate. This… Your request…. It's truly awkward to perform."
With that, he smiled at Gu Fei once more. Evidently, he said that to pull Gu Fei to his side. The men snorted and did not say another word. Silver Moon felt this exchange made him and the Mage closer, so he boldly moved nearer Gu Fei and asked, "Brother, what's your name?"
"Thousand Miles Drunk," Gu Fei replied.
"When did you visit Yueye City? I don't seem to recall seeing you!" Silver Moon asked.
"Long ago. Since you are quite the 'big deal', you probably won't recall meeting a nobody like me." As Gu Fei said this aloud, he thought to himself, You are someone I've defeated before, and it's not even worth mentioning. Do you know that this big bro right here has killed you twice?
Silver Moon nodded his head and continued, "So that's how it is. Now that I'm here in Yunduan City to play, I'm developing a mercenary group. Brother, I wonder if you're interested in joining my group?"
"Sorry, but I'm already in one," Gu Fei rejected him outright.
"Oh, which mercenary group would this be?" Silver Moon asked.
"Uhm. Our idiotic leader doesn't allow us to casually reveal our group's name to others. He said it's to maintain an air of mystery," Gu Fei fabricated. He did not know if Silver Moon was aware that Young Master's Elite mercenary group was the catalyst for the Past Deeds' fall from grace, but their identities would easily be found out once the three lay eyes on the other members. Young Master Han's and Sword Demon's unique appearance would be a dead giveaway, since none of them bothered to cover their faces during their participation in the guild war.
As for calling Young Master Han idiotic, that was simply a cathartic remark that Gu Fei often attached to the man's name whenever he thought of him. And yet, Silver Moon mistook his 'idiotic leader' comment as Gu Fei expressing his dissatisfaction toward his mercenary group, so he sighed sympathetically, "To actually have such a rule. How odd, indeed!"
Gu Fei merely smiled and did not pursue the subject, resulting in their conversation to end abruptly. A 'customer' of Royal God Call came over and interjected, "Big bro Silver Moon, what's your level now? We can't appraise it at all!"
Silver Moon laughed complacently, "Level 40."
Gu Fei felt shocked upon hearing his answer and he quickly used his Appraisal skill on Silver Moon as well. His Appraisal indeed failed. Although his Appraisal skill's rank was not high, it could still view some equipment information about his target provided that the player had the same or lower level than him. Gu Fei's Appraisal failing could only mean that Silver Moon's level was higher than his. He truly was at level 40!
Having the ability to maintain his level despite the tumultuous PvP in Yueye City, everyone saw Silver Moon in a different light than before. However, Gu Fei knew that things were not as simple as that. Players who had never been to Yueye City would never know the deep grudge existing between the two forces. After the fall of Past Deeds, Vast Lushness got hunted for a whole month and was only at level 30, so how did Silver Moon reach level 40? Was it possible for Dusky Cloud and his gang to treat him favorably?
Thinking of this, Gu Fei probed, "Oh, right. I remember that you've got a wife. What's her name again? It's a pretty long na—"
"Oh, her! Let's not talk about her," Silver Moon showed a crestfallen expression on his face.
"What's wrong?" Gu Fei asked.
"Women only bring you trouble! Let's not talk about it anymore," Silver Moon waved his hand, but his cadence was somewhat high that Gu Fei was not the only one who had noticed it.
Imprisonment was a very dull matter. Once all perceived that there seemed to be some sort of story behind a certain matter, they pestered Silver Moon into talking about it.
Silver Moon looked very unwilling. But since everyone continued on pestering him, he sighed deeply and said, "That woman… It was great when we first met; playing the game together, forming Past Deeds together, and developing it to the top guild in Yueye City. Yet, who knows that everything would begin to change after that. She associated herself with bad-mannered players, and began to act tyrannical and arrogant, causing trouble everywhere they went. For others, I could still give them a piece of my mind or kick them out of the guild; as for her, how could I deal with her? I could only pick up after her mess. We carried on like that until she offended nearly every player in Yueye City. After that… Well, you all know what happened afterward."
"Women only bring trouble," everyone sighed in agreement.
Gu Fei was unmoved by his emotional speech and asked instead, "Where is she now?"
"Who knows?! When Past Deeds fell, she went somewhere. I messaged her several times, but she didn't reply even once," Silver Moon laughed bitterly.
"Heartless and cowardly!" everyone commented.
Silver Moon did not say a word and only heaved a long sigh. All came over and gave their condolences; only Gu Fei remained motionless by the side with a cold expression on his face.
Silver Moon's emphatic speech might be enough to fool these few players of Yunduan City who were strangers to the matter in Yueye City, yet Gu Fei, as the main instigator that caused Past Deeds' demise, was different and he could easily tell who between Silver Moon and Vast Lushness was speaking the truth.
Vast Lushness' domineering and tyrannical actions were true, yet such behavior was normal in Yueye City; it could even be said that that was the norm in that city.
Silver Moon pushed all the Past Deeds' poor treatment of others toward Vast Lushness and several 'bad-mannered' members as if they were the only rotten eggs in the omelet. In actuality, all the Past Deeds' members were arrogant and overbearing. Silver Moon himself acted like that, as Gu Fei recalled that he was once Yueye City's top PKer on the Wanted Players list.
Right now, Silver Moon had a fresh set of level 40 equipment as he sat here in the prison, basking in everyone's sympathies and praises. As for Vast Lushness, she was being hunted - or being beaten - to death by their enemies outside. She might have brought him trouble, yet the real heartless and cowardly individual here was Silver Moon.
Disdain. Endless Disdain!