Chapter 120 Transitions

Climbing mountains, crossing ridges, fording rivers, traversing valleys. The terrain around Xiwu City was not so simple; the only constant was the thick, impenetrable fog. The six traveled with great difficulty, knowing only the direction of Xiwu City but not the roads. They were forced to proceed in a straight line, overcoming any dangerous paths or difficulties they encountered. As they slowly began to encounter other players, their journey became much easier, as they could finally ask for directions.

With the increasing number of players, the six felt that they were getting closer and closer to Xiwu City. Brother You ran over again after asking for directions, happily announcing, "That player was only level 14. I estimate we won't be long now."

Sure enough, after another stretch of walking, the outline of Xiwu City finally appeared in the fog. The six were almost at the foot of the earthen city wall. The fog in Xiwu City was truly irresistible, able to completely obscure even a town of this size.

At the city gate, players came and went. The instant Han Jia Gongzi brushed past someone, he immediately asked, "How do I get to the tavern?"

The other person first gave Han Jia Gongzi's appearance a surprised once-over, then gave him the coordinates of the nearest tavern. Han Jia Gongzi turned back to see the five of them looking at him with disdain.

"We seem to be here to chase Jian Nan You," Gu Fei said.

"I know, but I've asked many players along the way, and no one has seen a group like them. So, we currently don't know their whereabouts. As the团长 (tuanzhang, leader), I've decided to find a tavern as a base and have a couple of drinks before making a plan. Perhaps Jian Nan You's wisdom is slightly closer to mine. Thinking of this arrangement as brilliantly as I have, we might just meet in the tavern," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Brilliantly my ass," the others muttered, but the situation Han Jia Gongzi described was indeed possible. After rushing around for so long, having finally arrived at a new place, finding a tavern to rest in was perfectly reasonable.

Subsequently, the six of them went to the nearest tavern together. Pushing open the door, they began to search anxiously, but to no avail. Jian Nan You and his group of seven were obviously not so delicate. Although they had been desperately fleeing all day, they were still out somewhere, busy with who knows what.

Han Jia Gongzi's purpose seemed to be just to drink. While everyone else was looking for people, he had already gone to the counter, ordered two bottles, and settled into a seat. By the time everyone came over, he had already finished one glass.

"Brother You, ask about Jian Nan You. When are you going to pay the other half of the money?" Han Jia Gongzi said.

"I already asked, but he's been ignoring me," Brother You said.

"Could it be that he's blocked you too?" Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Why 'too'?" Brother You asked curiously.

"Never mind, it's none of your business," Han Jia Gongzi said, then drank two more glasses and said to the others, "Let's analyze the current situation."

"The first, and worst, possibility is that Jian Nan You and those seven guys just wandered around in the fog and didn't come to Xiwu City, but went somewhere else. That's such a bad omen, I need to spit, spit, spit." Han Jia Gongzi said, pouring a glass of wine and passing it to Zhan Wu Shang beside him.

Zhan Wu Shang was bewildered: I'm not the one with the bad omen, why should I spit?

"Aside from that, of course, they could have also arrived in Xiwu City. Everyone, let's do some role-playing. When you first arrive in a main city, what would you do? What we're doing now is my answer," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Go to the resurrection point and register," Jian Gui said, representing the steady and cautious type.

"Wander around the city, chat with players, go to the guild and labor union buildings," Brother You said, representing the intelligence-gathering type who likes to quickly grasp the distribution of power in a city.

"Walk around a lot, familiarize yourself with the terrain, and mark key locations," Yu Tian Shen Ming said, representing the geographically challenged type.

"Go to the trading street and auction house, see if there's any equipment I haven't seen before," Zhan Wu Shang said, representing the type who is always looking for practical benefits.

Finally, there was Gu Fei: "Uh, wash off pk..." This was the killer type who always had pk value.

Six people, six answers.

Among them, Gu Fei, Brother You, and Yu Tian Shen Ming all had special attributes that were unlikely to apply to Jian Nan You and his group. And the situation Han Jia Gongzi described had also been basically ruled out; this was the closest tavern to the city gate. If Jian Nan You and his group wanted to sit down, they should be here.

"So, they're either registering, or... shopping?" Brother You summarized. Hearing this answer, everyone instinctively leaned toward the first option. Seven big men arriving in a new city and immediately going shopping sounded strange no matter how you put it. The others thought, looking down on Zhan Wu Shang's suggestion: That's just too unmanly. The first thing you think of when you arrive in a new city is shopping?

So, in the end, Han Jia Gongzi made the arrangements: "Jian Gui, go wander around the nearby resurrection points!"

Jian Gui nodded and left.

"Qian Li, you wander around the various taverns," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"What for?"

"A seventh possibility: Jian Nan You and his group have friends here, so after arriving, they met up with their friends for a get-together."

"That makes sense," Gu Fei nodded and left as well.

Jian Gui had stealth and wouldn't be noticed. Gu Fei would be noticed, but he could just kill anyone who was. These two were relatively safe acting alone, so Han Jia Gongzi assigned them tasks. The other three didn't have any tasks. But drinking was just Han Jia Gongzi's interest; the three of them couldn't sit still after a while.

"I'll go wander around too!" Brother You said. "Maybe I'll find something."

"Me too," Zhan Wu Shang also stood up.

Han Jia Gongzi had no objections, but after seeing Yu Tian Shen Ming also looking eager to try, he patted him and said, "The fog is heavy, don't run around."

Yu Tian Shen Ming looked dejected.

Gu Fei left the tavern and immediately asked someone for directions to other taverns. The person looked at Gu Fei strangely and pointed behind him. Gu Fei quickly explained that he wanted to know all of them, and soon obtained the location coordinates of all eleven taverns in Xiwu City.

Of the eleven taverns, six were system-owned and five were player-run. Gu Fei specifically asked for details, because based on experience, players seemed to prefer going to player-run taverns for gatherings with friends. These taverns had decorations that catered to players, and their business was more personalized, with occasional "buy six, get one free" type promotions, which were very popular among players.

Gu Fei found a tavern and was about to set off when someone called out from behind. He turned around and saw Yu Tian Shen Ming. Foggy dared not run around alone, but compared to drinking with Han Jia Gongzi alone, he felt it was better to get lost in the fog. As a result, he saw Gu Fei had just finished asking for directions and hadn't gone far, so he quickly called out, determined to travel with Gu Fei.

The two of them arrived at a nearby player-run tavern. After confirming it was the right place, Gu Fei pulled out his weapon and stepped inside. If he found Jian Nan You, he would definitely attack immediately, no need to say more.

This tavern was much smaller than the system-owned ones or the Thunder Tavern in Cloudrise City, but the atmosphere was very good. The bar was filled with laughter, and even the tavern owner behind the bar was chatting animatedly with familiar patrons. Gu Fei carefully scanned the area twice but didn't see Jian Nan You's group. However, although small, the sparrow had all its vital organs. Although the tavern wasn't big, the owner still had small private rooms. Not finding anyone in the hall, Gu Fei walked toward the private rooms.

There were four private rooms in total, with a piece of cloth hanging over the door like in the Thunder Tavern.

Gu Fei didn't think much about it. He reached the first room and boldly reached out to lift the curtain, only to see a man and a woman inside, heads close together, intimately whispering sweet nothings. Feeling someone lift the curtain, the two of them looked up in a panic, but the curtain-lifter Gu Fei was even more panicked than they were. He said "Sorry" and hurriedly returned the curtain to its original position.

"What's wrong?" Yu Tian Shen Ming behind him hadn't seen the scene inside. He had just never seen Gu Fei appear so flustered, so he was curious and wanted to lift the curtain as well. But Gu Fei slapped his hand down, "They're busy inside."

"Busy with what?"

"A man and a woman," Gu Fei said.

"Wow!" So Yu Tian Shen Ming wanted to lift the curtain even more, but Gu Fei glared at him, and in the end, he didn't make a move.

At the second private room, Gu Fei didn't dare to mess around anymore. He knocked on the partition with his hand.

"What's that sound?" After hearing someone mutter inside, Gu Fei lifted the curtain and saw four players inside, holding homemade playing cards and gambling. There were piles of gold coins on the table.

"Sorry, wrong room," Gu Fei quickly retreated.

At the third room, he knocked again as before, but there was no response. He knocked again, but still no sound. Could there be no one inside? Gu Fei thought and lifted the curtain, only to see a girl sitting facing the door, with a cold expression and an iceberg-beauty aura. Gu Fei stared at her in a daze, because the girl's black mage robe was somewhat similar to his own attire. In those few seconds of being stunned, the girl still didn't say anything, just stared at Gu Fei. Gu Fei reacted and said, "Sorry, wrong room," then dropped the curtain and retreated. Behind him, Yu Tian Shen Ming grabbed him excitedly, "Beauty."

Gu Fei ignored him and reached the last private room. He casually knocked and lifted the curtain, then paused, "Why are you guys here?"

Yu Tian Shen Ming poked his head out from behind him and immediately jumped up, "Damn, why are you here!"

In the private room were Piaoliu and the Left Hand Writes Love, Right Hand Writes Handsome trio. They had separated from everyone after the Zongheng Sihai quest. He had heard that they had even left the Black Hand Mercenary Group. Everyone guessed that these three might be wandering off somewhere again, not planning to return to Cloudrise City, but who would have thought they would run into them here?

"Why are you guys here!" Actually, Piaoliu was even more surprised than Gu Fei and Yu Tian Shen Ming to see them. After all, he was used to wandering around various main cities, while most players stuck to their own territory. People like Gu Fei should be in Cloudrise City at this time.

"That's a long story. Why are you here?" Gu Fei asked.

"This... has to start with our gaming philosophy," Piaoliu said.

"Tch, trying to sound profound," Yu Tian Shen Ming scoffed, "Why don't you come out and duel me?"

"I think I'll pass!" Piaoliu laughed, "The fog is too heavy here. I'm afraid I won't be able to find my way back after going out. It's safer to stay in the tavern."

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The recent content is transitional and a bit bland, haha~~