Chapter 1

Gu Fei walked alone on the street, no one else around. With nothing to do, he couldn't resist taking out the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword to admire it once more. As a martial artist, Gu Fei wasn't particular about clothes, but he had a special love for weapons. He found this sword very handy, and its design suited his taste perfectly. He had never owned such a satisfying weapon in reality.

He was admiring it when he suddenly heard a commotion ahead. Then, he saw a group of people appear at the end of the street, waving weapons and clanging them together. As they fought, the battlefield moved from the street corner into the alley. Someone shouted loudly, "Don't let these guys get away!"

Gu Fei frowned. He had been lazy and taken the shortcut the guide had recommended. This wasn't a street; it was just a narrow gap between two rows of houses, pitifully narrow. When this group of people rushed in and started fighting, the entire path was blocked. Gu Fei figured there was no way they would stop fighting to let him pass.

Turn back? Gu Fei looked behind him. It was a long way back, and he felt exhausted at the thought. He really didn't want to backtrack, so he gripped his sword in his right hand, took out the Baptism of the Flame in his left, and continued forward.

In the blink of an eye, he was upon them. Both sides of the fight naturally noticed Gu Fei, and their fighting eased slightly.

But Gu Fei acted as if he didn't see the fight. He lowered his head and plunged straight into the middle.

"Hey! Watch out!" someone on the left shouted. He had just thrust his dagger forward when Gu Fei forcibly squeezed between him and his opponent. But even as the man shouted a warning, his hand didn't stop moving.

Gu Fei didn't mind the man's attitude. As he stepped forward, he raised the Baptism of the Flame in his left hand, blocking the thrust. With another step forward, he was out of the range of their fight.

"Ah!" This time, a guy on the right cried out in alarm, his greatsword raised above his head, ready to strike.

Gu Fei wouldn't dare to block an attack from such a heavy weapon head-on. Seeing that the two fighters in front had paused, he quickly stepped forward. With a "whoosh," the greatsword swung down past the back of Gu Fei's head.

At the same time, he thrust out both hands, blocking two attacks from the left and right. He took another step forward, avoiding another pair of attacks.

In the blink of an eye, he had passed three pairs of fighters. Gu Fei weaved through the fighting groups, dodging, deflecting, and yielding, his pace now fast, now slow, forcing his way through the middle.

He returned the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword and the Baptism of the Flame to his pockets, patted his sleeves, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked away without looking back.

The fighting in the alley had stopped. Both groups were frozen in place.

After staring at each other for a moment, the crowd hadn't quite processed what had just happened.

"That guy? Just walked through?" one person said, looking at the weapon in his hand, doubting the reality of the situation.

"It seems like he did?" someone replied, equally doubtful.

"How did he walk through?" someone continued to question.

"It was like this... like this... and then... Ouch..." This person was imitating Gu Fei's earlier movements, and doing a pretty good job of it, when he suddenly clutched his waist in pain.

"What's wrong!" everyone exclaimed.

"I twisted my waist. These moves are super difficult. You guys try it," the man cried out.

So everyone tried. Half of them couldn't do the moves at all, and the other half twisted their waists from using too much force. The degree of the twist depended on the amount of force they used.

"Ouch! Ouch..." a chorus of groans and yells rose up.

"What's going on?" A figure gradually materialized from the air and ran over. It was the guide who had pointed Gu Fei in this direction. Because movement speed was greatly reduced in stealth mode, he could only stare at Gu Fei from a distance. He watched him get further and further away until he turned into this alley. When he realized Gu Fei was gone and his brothers were groaning, he quickly revealed himself and ran over.

"That guy got away? You guys couldn't stop him?" the guide asked in surprise. More than half of his ten-odd brothers looked injured.

The crowd blushed. How could they explain it? They had unconsciously let Gu Fei pass. And these injuries were self-inflicted while trying to relive what happened. It was too embarrassing.

"What class was that guy?" someone asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah! What class? He's got some weird skills!" Seeing someone do something they couldn't, everyone assumed Gu Fei must have a special skill they didn't have.

"That guy? A mage, maybe?" the guide said hesitantly.

"Didn't you say you couldn't identify him?" someone pointed out. "How do you know he's a mage?"

"Didn't you see him wearing a mage robe?" the guide replied.

"Who says wearing a mage robe makes you a mage? None of us thought he looked like a mage!" someone said.

"Yeah, yeah, not a mage!"

"Besides, we're not even sure if that was a mage robe. It was black! You didn't identify it to confirm," someone added.

So far, there hadn't been any black mage robes in the game. Players thought that mages and priests were considered to be holy and righteous classes and wouldn't wear black. Black was probably reserved for sneaky classes like thieves.

The guide stammered, unable to answer. Finally, he said, "If it wasn't a mage robe, then what was he wearing?"

No one could answer. Someone just added, "That sword he had was super cool. I've never seen anything like it."

"Damn it, what are we waiting for? Let's go after him!" someone shouted.

"Quick, quick, speed it up. Where will he go next?" someone said, pulling out a map.

"I gave him directions. He should go this way..." The guide pointed on the map.

"But he's already seen us. He'll probably recognize us if we meet again," someone said.

"Looks like we can't pretend it's an accident anymore. Let's go at him directly!" someone said.

Everyone nodded.

"Let's cover our faces!" someone said.

Everyone excitedly pulled out triangular face coverings from their pockets, looking very solemn.

"Thanks to the players in Cloud City for coming up with such a good way to hide our identities. We will be on the road to prosperity from now on," one person said seriously.

"Thanks, thanks!" everyone nodded.

"This is the first time we've used them. Let's be professional and not let the players from Cloud City laugh at us," the person said.

Everyone nodded solemnly again.

"Good!" This person looked around at his brothers and pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which was written "27149" in large numbers.

"This is the pioneering grandmaster-level figure of our school. Although we don't know his name or what he looks like, his glorious record of 15 PK points in a day will live on forever. May he bless us," the person said and lit the paper.

Everyone put their hands together in front of their chests and prayed silently.

Someone broke the silence and raised his hand. "Boss, I heard that this guy didn't even pick up the equipment when he killed someone. He doesn't seem to be in the same line of work as us."

"Don't worry about that too much. It'll have to do!" the boss said.

Everyone continued to pray, and the ceremony ended. A hundred meters away, Gu Fei sneezed the loudest sneeze he had ever sneezed in the game.

"How are you guys doing?" the boss asked several people. These people were standing in the same pose, one hand holding a knife, the other on their hip. They were the ones who had twisted their bodies imitating Gu Fei's movements.

"We're fine. We must participate in this first masked operation!" the men declared.

"Good," the boss nodded. "Okay, everyone get ready, mask up!"

At the boss's command, everyone covered their faces.

"Let's go! Let the players of Cloud City see the masked professionalism of Moonlit Night City," the boss shouted.

"Let's go! Let's go!" the group of bandits set off valiantly. The boss frowned. Half of the group still had one hand on their hips, walking with a twist, which was unsightly and ruined the image of the entire team. But then he thought, they're wearing masks so no one will recognize them anyway. What does it matter?

Masks are so good. You can't even lose face if you want to! The boss sighed, feeling even more admiration for the inventor of the mask.

"Just to be safe, I'll put on another one!" The boss put another mask over the first one, feeling smug. This was definitely a trick the inventor hadn't thought of.

The dozen or so people rushed out of the alley, immediately drawing surprised looks from the players on the street.

But everyone clearly knew that they couldn't lose face while wearing a mask, so they ignored the stares and continued on their planned route.

"Who are those guys?" a player asked.

"The Black Hand Mercenary Group," someone replied.

"How do you know?"

"Someone is wearing the mercenary group's badge. I recognize it," the person said.

"They didn't even take off the badge. What's the point of wearing a mask? Are they stupid?"

"Probably..."

The group continued to move forward. Suddenly, a player walked out from the side of the street and grabbed a masked man who was hurrying along. "Coward! You said you'd give me two rolls of hemostatic bandages yesterday! Give them to me!"

"I'm not a coward!" the man said calmly.

"I know, you're Coward Savior! Four words is too annoying. Two words is easier," the person said.

"How did you know it was me?" Coward Savior asked in surprise.

"I recognize your equipment! By the way, what are you guys doing?" the person asked.

"Boss! I've been exposed!" Coward Savior said in anguish in the mercenary channel.

"As a masked person, you can't even hide your identity. I'm sorry, you are not a qualified member of our mercenary group," the boss said coldly.

With a cruel system notification, Coward Savior was kicked out of the mercenary group.

"Damn it! I'll fight you!" Coward Savior tore off his mask and pounced on the player who had exposed him.

"Don't leave him, keep moving forward," the boss shouted, stopping several who were hesitating.

"Boss, I see him, he's up ahead," the player at the front reported.

"Spread out, surround him. We must not let him reach the safe zone. This is our only chance," the boss ordered.

"Go! Go! Go!" everyone scattered, some shouting.