Chapter 182 - A Bunch of Bad Friends
Seeing the ugly expression on Gu Fei's face, the three men hurriedly said, "Don't misunderstand. We were just inquiring out of curiosity and don't plan to betray you."
"Actually, it's no big deal even if we do," Brother Assist said before asking, "Miles, you have set your gaming account into one that only accepts the friend requests that you approve of, right?"
"You sold him out?" Royal God Call and War Without Wounds asked Brother Assist.
"Of course, not!" Brother Assist denied, saying, "It is just 20 gold coins…."
"That's what they offered if someone manages to provide Miles' name to them. But if we could arrange for them to meet him in person, they would probably offer a larger sum, right?" War Without Wounds asked.
"Definitely!" Royal God Call nodded his head incessantly.
Everyone gazed at Gu Fei eagerly, as if they had just found a really top-grade item.
"Let's do a 3-7 split! You can take 70% while the three of us can take 30% together," Royal God Call suggested.
Gu Fei's face turned cold.
"They've expended so much effort looking for you, so you ought to give them a chance at least!" War Without Wounds cajoled.
Gu Fei did not really take it to heart, but he still found it somewhat strange that he was now an 'offering' to a business deal. Not to mention that this bunch of bad friends were eagerly trying to push him to the market... It was truly a hard to swallow experience.
"Stop messing around!" Young Master Han finally said.
Oh. To think that this guy actually has some decency! Gu Fei did not know how to answer Royal God Call, War Without Wounds, and Brother Assist's proposition, yet Young Master Han actually stepped in to help him out, which left Gu Fei feeling gratified.
Young Master Han unhurriedly waxed, "Only two guilds have their eyes on Miles right now. We should wait till the later stages of this PvP tournament, when there are more eyes on him and his guild; that would give us far more leverage to obtain a higher price!"
Gu Fei was speechless at misjudgment of Young Master Han's character.
"That makes sense!" War Without Wounds enthusiastically slapped the table.
"Miles, you gotta do well in the upcoming PvPs!" Royal God Call looked forward to his performance earnestly.
"What do you think is the appropriate amount for us to charge for a face-to-face session?" Brother Assist began to practically breakdown this operation.
"Oi!" Gu Fei felt that these people were treating him no better than a corpse.
"A name is worth 20 or 30 gold coins, so maybe a face-to-face meeting is about 50 or 60 gold coins?"
"50 or 60? We have to charge them at least 100! We shouldn't give them a discount here! You've done research on the mentality of these guild leaders. In their hearts, a person like Miles is extremely precious. To willingly put forth 20 or 30 gold coins for just his name, it shows just how desperate they are to get close to him."
"You're right! Meeting Miles once, there's no way that they can convince him to join, right? As long as they don't add one another to their friends list, they will only be able to get to Miles through us, allowing us to charge them more. So if Miles actually rejects them for ten or eight times, won't we all make it rich?"
"That's too optimistic! At this rate, they will be able to tell that we are blatantly using this method to pry them off their gold coins."
"That's right. We will arrange a meeting between them and Miles and make Miles pretend that he has no knowledge about it. That way, we can prevent our customers from having their guards up!"
"Oh, yes. We will look dirty if they know that we are using such a method to earn their gold coins."
"So you guys know how dirty this whole thing is? I'm definitely against this!" Gu Fei yelled.
These men wore an awkward expression on their faces. Silence permeated the room for a while before Brother Assist laughingly said, " Ha ha ha! We were only kidding. Don't take it to heart!"
Gu Fei solemnly gazed at them. War Without Wounds and Royal God Call smilingly said as well, "It's a joke! A joke!"
"Is there anything else that we need to go through together? If there's none, I'll be taking my leave first," Gu Fei looked at Young Master Han. Usually, he would give them a rundown of their next opponents.
"Nope!" Young Master Han answered. Today's enemy is weak, so there's no need to brief them about it.
Gu Fei bade his fellow mercenaries farewell and exited the room.
The room descended into silence once more. Royal God Call raised the curtain and peered outside.
"Is he gone?" War Without Wounds asked after a beat.
"He's gone!" Royal God Call nodded his head.
"Alright, everyone! We don't really need to tell Miles about this," Brother Assist began. "Let's invite those bigwigs, like Foe-herder and Brave Surge, for a meeting and then proceed to call Miles over. That solves the matter entirely! Not many guilds out there know of Gu Fei's prowess, and we can actually disseminate this information to those who are not in the know! Since many wanted flyers and posters for Miles are circulating in the city, I reckon many people out there have become curious of his identity. Brave Surge of Carouse is hoping that the others wouldn't find out that the wanted posters is actually a disguise for an attempt to poach Miles to their side, but I am sure they couldn't hide that fact for long. Just look at us, didn't we all learn about it ourselves?" Brother Assist continued.
"You guys wouldn't even know of this if I haven't told you," Young Master Han snorted.
"Of course you would spread the news, and so would others if they grab hold of such a juicy scandal. Don't forget that there are still people from those two guilds who are busily inquiring all over the city about Miles' IGN, so when this goes on for a while any observant individuals would be able to tell that the posters and flyers were distributed under the orders of those two guilds. Sooner or later, people are going to realize that this wanted Mage is someone who is more than what meets the eyes. What I am saying is… We only need to get the word out to increase this spread of information. In fact, we don't need to depend on Miles to win every stage of the PvP event for him to garner the attention of others. There's no telling too if today is the day that Amethyst Rebirth gets eliminated from the PvP tournament despite having him," Brother Assist explained.
"Man, Brother Assist. You're a lot dirtier than I imagined!" Royal God Call sighed in admiration.
"I'll go stir up the hype on the forums today by using my ten or so different forum accounts. I guarantee that everyone will know of Carouse and Cloud Herder's intention by tomorrow," Brother Assist said, adding, "Guilds like Traversing Four Seas might be compelled to join in on the search by then. It's hard to tell if Traversing Four Seas or Carouse is stronger precisely because neither has a player like Miles. Whoever gets a hold of Miles first will more or less win the title of the number one guild in Yunduan City. I believe any level 4 guild and higher will be moved into action by this news," Brother Assist continued speaking.
"We're gonna be rich!" War Without Wounds became very excited.
"But... How are we going to explain things to Miles?! I feel that he's not going to be happy about this," Royal God Call cautioned.
"That… Let's just treat it like we're making a joke at his expense! Miles isn't that petty of a man, anyway!"
"Given his personality, it's unlikely that he'll want the money we make out of this," Royal God Call added.
Brother Assist smiled faintly and did not say another word.
Royal God Call finally realized that this was all part of his plan, "Brother Assist, you're too despicable and shameless."
"Are you saying you want no part in this?" Brother Assist asked nonchalantly.
"Of course, I want in!" Royal God Call hurriedly shouted.
"What about you guys?" Brother Assist looked at the rest of the group.
"I'm not participating in this!" Sword Demon lightly replied as he stood up, adjusting his cape before leaving.
Brother Assist was not surprised by this and merely gazed over to War Without Wounds and Young Master Han next.
War Without Wounds nodded his head slightly, while Young Master Han shrugged his shoulders, signifying that he had no particular qualms about the plan. With that, each of them continued drinking at their pace.
"Would Sword Demon inform Miles?" Royal God Call asked, worried.
"No, he's not that sort of guy," Brother Assist replied.
"You've got a pretty good read of his character!" Young Master Han arched his eyebrows.
"He he!" was Brother Assist's only response.
"We have to move fast! What if someone else steals the initiative from us?" Royal God Call asked.
"That will depend on Amethyst Rebirth. Besides them, Miles doesn't have many friends. Aren't you two quite familiar with the ladies over there? Why don't you try and find out what's their take on the matter!" Brother Assist said to Royal God Call and War Without Wounds.
"True!" The two men quickly stood up and left. A private message from them would suffice to find out about this matter, yet these two would naturally not give up a chance to meet up with the ladies.
Only when the two left did Young Master Han faintly say, " Amethyst Rebirth will not be a hindrance to that money-making plan of yours. If they had any intention of revealing Miles' identity, those two large guilds would already be aware of his IGN by now. This could only mean that they have no intention of making a fortune from this, right?"
Brother Assist merely smiled.
"Have you already readied the posts on the forums?" Young Master Han asked.
"Mhm-mhm. They are designated to automatically refresh and post. The first thread should be up already," Brother Assist replied.
"This scheme of yours... you could have done this on your own without involving any of us," Young Master Han said.
Brother Assist only smiled, not saying a word.
"You're just afraid of Miles exploding from anger in response to your action, so you strung the rest of us along for extra insurance," Young Master Han surmised.
"What? It's just a good opportunity for all of us to profit!" Brother Assist weakly denied.
"What for? If it is properly arranged, Miles won't even have a clue of this plan," Young Master Han said.
Brother Assist politely laughed, "He'll become suspicious of too many chance encounters. It's nothing if he occasionally meets someone who brings up the matter to him, but if everyone he meets approaches him for the same reason, he will definitely wise up regarding the plan."
"You've planned this in great detail, I see," Young Master Han remarked dryly.
"He he he!"
"I wish you success," Young Master Han said.
"Oh, come on. You've got a stake in this, as well!" Brother Assist exclaimed confidently.
At this time, Gu Fei who had just left Ray's Bar, made his way over to a generic tavern in Yunduan City's central plaza. Xi Xiaotian waved him over from a corner once he entered the tavern.
Gu Fei walked over. When he said that he had something on, it was actually Xi Xiaotian calling him out to meet. Although they had long added each other as friends, this was the first time she had sent him an invitation to meet. Gu Fei was curious of the reason behind it, so he agreed to meet up with her.
Someone else was sitting beside Xi Xiaotian by the corner table. This person turned his head over and felt shocked when he saw Gu Fei, "It's you!"
"You guys know each other?" Xi Xiaotian was mildly surprised.
"Young Master's Elite and Amethyst Rebirth… My guild and mercenary group were defeated by them, and you just happened to belong to these two groups…" The person sitting with Xi Xiaotian on the table was the guild leader of Cloud Herder, Foe-herder. "In a sense, you can say that we are fated to meet each other."
Chapter 183 - He that runs fastest gets the ring.
Foe-herder had suffered many hardships to get the IGN 'Thousand Miles Drunk'. Just this afternoon alone, he had experienced being disdained by over fifty Amethyst Rebirth ladies - a matter that any man would find heartbreaking.
At his wit's end, Foe-herder finally emailed Xi Xiaotian to discuss the matter at hand. Nonetheless, no sane person would purchase a name at the high price of 1000 gold coins. Foe-herder decided that if the lady still insisted on the price of 1000 gold coins for just a name, he would slay her where she stood.
In the end, Foe-herder was rather satisfied when Xi Xiaotian said that she would not only provide the Mage's name but also set up a face-to-face meeting between them.
Both parties made their way to the tavern by the central plaza once they had come to an agreement on the payment. Along the way, Foe-herder was wondering how he could test the Mage's capabilities as the possibility existed of Xi Xiaotian teaming up with a random Mage to trick him. But when he saw that the Mage who had showed up was Gu Fei, he immediately felt assured.
Foe-herder recognized Gu Fei as the Mage who had crossed swords with him before at the mercenary PvP tournament. Although Gu Fei's job that day was to run and hide, Foe-herder could tell that he was a skilled player. He quite believed that he was the Mage that he had been looking for.
As Foe-herder thought of this, he noticed Gu Fei's expression turning dark as he fixed Xi Xiaotian a vicious glare.
"Bro, take a seat!" Foe-herder feebly offered.
Gu Fei sat down.
"Let's add each other as friends!" Foe-herder requested. Laying the groundwork was important in building a solid foundation, as Foe-herder knew that Gu Fei would not defect over to his guild just because he asked him to. But as long as they added each other as friends, he would have the means to contact Gu Fei and slowly persuade the latter into joining his guild. That alone was worth spending this large amount of money.
"What for?" Gu Fei asked Foe-herder. After hearing from the ladies about Foe-herder's deplorable actions, Gu Fei no longer viewed him in a favorable light. He knew very well of Foe- herder's intention, so he planned to reject him outright.
"Oh, it's nothing serious… I just wanna be friends with you, bro," Foe-herder decided to proceed with his recruitment plan slowly. Why would a player agree to switch guilds for no good reason? Therefore, it was better for him to add Gu Fei as a friend first while he thought of ways to entice the latter into joining his guild.
Foe-herder had calculated his every move, yet Gu Fei unexpectedly denied his request, "I don't want to!"
"Why… Why not?" Foe-herder asked, perplexed.
"Uhh… I don't like your name," Gu Fei replied.
The reason he gave was very childish, yet Foe-herder could not find a way around it, leaving him speechless for a moment.
"We're leaving!" Gu Fei stood up and dragged Xi Xiaotian along with him.
"Huh?" Xi Xiaotian was at a loss as Gu Fei continued to drag her toward the tavern's doorway.
"Sigh…" Foe-herder finally realized what was happening and quickly got up to chase after the two.
Xi Xiaotian kept pace with Gu Fei as she looked backward to address Foe-herder, "Hey!" To those not privy to the situation, she and Foe-herder appeared to be a pair of lovers that was being forcefully separated by the evil Gu Fei. "You haven't paid me fully, so I'll contact you later." These words of hers effectively broke that illusion.
Gu Fei and Xi Xiaotian finally exited the tavern. Foe-herder tried to chase after them, but he was soon left in the dust.
With Gu Fei being a full-Agility Mage and Xi Xiaotian being a full-Agility Archer, Foe-herder could only helplessly watch them became distant blurs.
Only when Foe-herder was no longer in sight that Gu Fei stopped rushing forward. Xi Xiaotian was nonplussed, "What's with you?"
"How much did you charge for this meet-up between me and Foe-herder?" Gu Fei asked.
"Umm... 400 gold coins, to be exact. I originally wanted 1000 gold coins, but all seem to be suffering from financial crisis nowadays, so they were grinding their teeth in anger and refused to do business with me when I asked for that kind of payment. In the end, we agreed on 400 gold coins. I have yet to collect the total fee since he only gave me a deposit of 100 gold coins just then, so I am still missing 300 gold coins… Oh, and the remaining 300 gold coins are meant for you, you know! But since we've ditched him, I bet he is thinking twice about giving us the rest of the payment... Since I'm such a nice lady, I'll just split the 100 gold coins I've gotten from him with you!" With that, Xi Xiaotian took out her coin purse from her dimensional pocket. Dangling it before Gu Fei, Xi Xiaotian made it look as if she was about to pour all its contents, "Reach out your hand!"
Gu Fei wanted to spit out the anger welling up in him, yet he could not bring himself to do so and only shake his head, "No, thanks."
"Why not?" Xi Xiaotian asked.
Gu Fei took a deep breath, "Next time you think of a scheme to get rich quickly, please do it without involving me." He then walked away.
Xi Xiaotian stood on one spot for quite a while before coming back to her senses and quickly running after Gu Fei. It was at this moment that an arrow on Snipe whistled through the air from a side alley.
Xi Xiaotian's reaction speed was good and she managed to dodge that arrow. A shout of "Over here!" made Gu Fei look backward, only to see a bunch of players surrounding Xi Xiaotian.
Gu Fei was about to pull out his sword from his dimensional pocket when he heard the surrounding players say, "You're a swindler!" Pausing, he eased his grip on the sword hilt inside his dimensional pocket.
"Who swindled whom?!" Xi Xiaotian tried to defend herself from the accusation, but the group of men was clearly not here to listen to her explanation, and they proceeded to bombard her with their attacks.
Xi Xiaotian tried to slip through a gap among them, yet she was hurtled back into the encirclement by a Warrior's Cyclone. With only a sliver of HP, the two Mages' spells promptly turned Xi Xiaotian into a beam of white light.
"Let's head to the Archer Range next!" some men shouted as they moved to run toward the said direction. Gu Fei spotted a few familiar faces among them and exclaimed, "Are you guys from Cloud Herder?"
The men regarded Gu Fei with suspicion as one of them nodded his head, "Yup!"
"How did that woman just now swindle you guys?" Gu Fei asked.
"Who are you?" The men suspiciously asked Gu Fei as they exchanged glances with one another.
"I've also been cheated by her before." This statement of Gu Fei held some truth.
"We actually don't know how, but our guild leader said that she had swindled us," someone among the men replied. The rest disregarded Gu Fei and rushed toward the Archer Range.
Waiting for a bit, he also headed to the Archer Range using a different path.
Along the way, he saw quite a few players making their way toward the same direction. Quite a few familiar faces that he had seen during yesterday's match clued him to the fact that they were all members of Cloud Herder Guild.
Gu Fei was faster than the average players, yet quite a few players were already gathered at the Archer Range when he arrived.
The place he and Xi Xiaotian had just been was not far from the Archer Range. Nonetheless, only one thing would explain why Gu Fei with his fast movement speed arrived later than so many others: this was a premeditated hunt.
This ambush of theirs is ridiculous! Who would be foolish enough to leave the safe zone if they're openly blocking the entrance like that?! The experienced fighter Gu Fei muttered to himself as he looked at the sight in front of the Archer Range and eavesdropped on the Cloud Herder men's conversation.
"Where is she?" someone shouted.
"I don't know. I haven't seen her at all," someone answered, clearly at a loss himself.
Many entered the safe zone and searched the place, yet they saw no traces of her.
"She must have logged off!" someone guessed.
Gu Fei opened up his friends list and glanced at it. Indeed, Xi Xiaotian's name was darkened on the display. It seemed that she knew how to deal with people trying to take revenge on her and promptly logged off after getting killed once. This caused the ambushers outside to doubt if she had been sent here in the first place.
It was truly disappointing to discover that their target had logged off despite making many preparations to hunt her. Whoever experienced this would only feel helpless inside, as this was not a problem that could be resolved in-game.
The Cloud Herder's players were about to leave the area dispiritedly when someone shouted, "Guild Leader is here!"
Everyone turned toward a certain direction. Gu Fei, who was wedged among them, stretched his neck out to have a look toward that direction as well. Indeed, Foe-herder and several other guildmates were striding over. "Where is she?" Foe-herder immediately asked once he was close enough to his men at the Archer Range.
"She logged off," everyone reported to him regrettably.
Foe-herder checked his friends list and saw that this was really the case. "F*ck!" he cursed.
"Guild Leader, what exactly happened?" some of them were clueless as to what had prompted their guild leader to order this manhunt.
"That woman colluded with another Mage to pose as the man we are looking for!" Foe-herder replied.
"I'm sure some of you have seen that fake Mage before. It's that Mage of Young Master's Elite, the one whom we've fought in the mercenary PvP tournament!" Foe-herder explained further.
Gu Fei quickly lowered his head in the crowd. Only a few members of Cloud Herder could actually identify him, as not many of them had fought with him directly. They might even have an easier time recognizing the back of Gu Fei instead of his face since his back was what they could see when they were chasing after him during their PvP match.
Each of them immediately condemned the swindling duo openly. Gu Fei could not stand being accused like that and promptly squeezed his way out of the crowd, saying, "Excuse me. Isn't this just a misunderstanding?"