Chapter 20 Two Small Boats

The two small boats of Young Master Han's elite team docked at the shore. The six of them jumped out of the boats, paid the fare, and the two players sailed back. Young Master Han looked through his telescope in the direction Jian Nan You and the others had gone, but the lens was filled with a vast expanse of white.

"Damn it!" Young Master Han cursed under his breath. The other five gathered around, took the telescope, and after each had a look, they shook their heads and sighed.

"Let's go to Xiawu City and see what's what," Jian Gui suggested.

Everyone nodded. They had finally made it here, and even though Jian Nan You and the others were nowhere to be seen, they couldn't just turn back. They would lose face.

"Wu Shang, go chop up their boats," Young Master Han said.

Everyone was in a foul mood, and Zhan Wu Shang was no exception. He strode to the place where Jian Nan You and the others had hidden their boats, dragged the two small boats onto the shore, pulled out a giant axe from his pocket, and vented his frustration with a series of "clang, clang, clang" sounds. In the blink of an eye, the two small wooden boats had become a pile of splintered wood. Young Master Han had already gathered a large bundle of dry firewood and grass from the surrounding area, piled it on the ground, and tore a small notebook from his pocket. He turned to Gu Fei and said, "Expert, lend me a flame."

"Fireball!" Gu Fei chanted, extending his sword, and a ball of fire danced at its tip. Young Master Han reached out and lit the small notebook in his hand, then stuffed it into the pile of dry grass. He then turned to Zhan Wu Shang and said, "Cyclone Slash."

"What for?" Zhan Wu Shang asked.

"Give it some wind."

So Zhan Wu Shang performed a Cyclone Slash, the fire borrowed the wind's power, the paper burned the grass, the grass burned the wood, and the wood burned the splintered planks. But the planks were too waterlogged, so when the fire reached them, there was only billowing smoke and no flames. The group surrounding the fire coughed and scattered in all directions, cursing.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Zhan Wu Shang, who had been fanning the flames with his Cyclone Slash, had barely stopped when he was enveloped in a cloud of ash and smoke. He coughed violently as he ran away, shouting to the others, "With this much smoke, won't we be exposed?"

Young Master Han continued to admire the mist through his telescope, muttering, "It would be best if we could attract Jian Nan You and the others back."

But whether it was because the fog was too thick, or because Jian Nan You and his seven companions had gone and never looked back, the fire and smoke failed to attract any attention, and it became a purely cathartic exercise. In the end, the splintered planks were too wet to burn completely. Zhan Wu Shang stared dejectedly at the large pile of debris, and said resentfully, "I really want to piss on it."

The others glanced at him, ignoring his vulgarity. In the game, you could eat and drink because these were a form of enjoyment, but there was no simulation of boring things like going to the bathroom. If you really felt the urge, you should log off immediately, or you'd be wetting your pants!

"Let's go to Xiawu City!" Young Master Han pointed forward and strode off. Jian Gui and You Ge followed behind. Gu Fei put his arm around Yu Tian Shen Ming's shoulder: "Yu Tian, why are your legs shaking?"

"Nonsense, they're not!" Yu Tian Shen Ming looked down, realizing he was indeed a little nervous, but saying his legs were shaking was an exaggeration. Gu Fei smiled and said, "Better keep up." Yu Tian Shen Ming hurried to follow. In the game, location recognition was aided by coordinates, so the fog wasn't really a big deal. But for Yu Tian Shen Ming, who was useless with coordinates and could only identify directions by landmarks in his field of vision, Xiawu City was like a nightmare.

The six of them walked away from the shore for a while, gradually becoming immersed in the mist. Looking back, they could no longer see the vast expanse of water behind them, their vision completely blocked by the fog. Young Master Han, who was extremely sensitive to distance and coordinates, made a rough estimate and said, "The visible range is probably only fifty or sixty meters. Yu Tian, can your Eagle Eye see any further?"

"Huh?" Yu Tian Shen Ming looked around, unsure if he could see further. Young Master Han had to find him a landmark, pointing in a certain direction: "There's a blurry tree over there, can you see it?"

Yu Tian Shen Ming squinted: "Where? I can't see it!"

"Damn, and you call yourself Eagle Eye..." Young Master Han scoffed.

"Is that a tree? I think it's a house. Yu Tian, do you see that house?" Gu Fei looked in the direction Young Master Han was pointing, but he didn't see any trees, just what looked like a house.

"No, I only see a big rock," Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

Everyone was speechless, as it was too blurry. They said the visible range was fifty or sixty meters, but at that distance, they couldn't even distinguish between a rock, a house, or a tree. It hardly qualified as visible.

"Let's just hurry on, maybe it will be better in the city," You Ge said, flipping through his small notebook. He also had the coordinates of Xiawu City and some simple information. He had neglected the city's existence before, because he had been too confident in the system's waterways.

"Let's go this way!" You Ge looked at the coordinates and led the way, briefly introducing the situation in Xiawu City to the others: "You've already seen the characteristic, which is the heavy fog. It's said to be slightly better in the city than outside. The largest guild here is called 'Watching Flowers in the Mist', it's a level six guild; there are also many level five mercenary groups; as for experts, four of the top ten characters are here. Liu Feng San Tan, the seventh-ranked warrior, his guild is Watching Flowers in the Mist; also, Apple Cider, the fourth-ranked thief, Wind String, the eighth-ranked fighter, and... Gui Tong, the second-ranked mage, who is also one of the new Five Little Strong Ones. You should all know this person, right?"

"Yes, I know," Gu Fei replied.

The others looked at Gu Fei in surprise: "How do you know him?" They knew exactly what kind of character Gu Fei was. He wasn't very interested in online games, and any expert was just cannon fodder in his hands. He would never care about the famous names in the eyes of the players. He actually knew this player called Gui Tong, could there be something going on between them?

"Do you know each other?" You Ge asked, thinking that the only way Gu Fei would know this person was if they knew each other in real life, and therefore knew their identity in the game.

"No, I just saw this name before," Gu Fei said.

"Where did you see it?" The experts were all very interested.

"The forums," Gu Fei said.

"You also go to the forums?" You Ge was excited. Could it be that spending so much time with him had made him develop this hobby? See, that's personal charm!

"A long time ago," Gu Fei said. It was indeed a long time ago, when Gu Fei first revealed his talent, continuously killing Bu Xiao eight levels higher than him. His mage equipment was identified and put on display in the forum, causing controversy. At that time, a user named Gui Tong made a comment that caught Gu Fei's attention. Although he didn't know that Gu Fei's main strength was his Kung Fu, all of his analysis after excluding that factor was insightful. Although he didn't know if that user and the current Gui Tong in the game were the same person, Gu Fei at least remembered the name.

"Oh, I see!" You Ge was surprised after hearing Gu Fei's explanation. It had been so long ago, but Gu Fei still remembered everything. You Ge was sure that he had also browsed those posts that Gu Fei had caused such a stir in back then, and he vaguely remembered the analysis Gu Fei had mentioned, but he had completely forgotten who the user was who had posted it.

"Judging by this analysis, he seems to be an expert. But it's not certain that the person on the forum and in the game is the same person," You Ge said.

Gu Fei nodded. Actually, when You Ge had said "You should all know this person, right?" he had just casually answered "I know," but he didn't expect these guys to react so strongly, digging up so much old history. He thought these guys had way too much free time.

"Don't pay too much attention to these rankings," Jian Gui said at this time. "The leveling difficulty is so high, the level difference between everyone is very small. Skill and equipment are more important. Although Jian Nan You lost a level, I don't think anyone in the top ten warriors would dare to say they can beat him for sure."

"That's right, Jian Gui is right, that idiot Piao Liu looks like the number one mage, but if you let him fight with Qian Li, it would be a piece of cake!" Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

Everyone glared at him. This analogy was a bit too far-fetched, because Gu Fei was not representative at all. For a monster like him, it was hard to say even if the level difference was five or ten levels. Suddenly, Jian Gui recalled how Gu Fei at level 10 had defeated him at level 25, truly a past not worth remembering.

The discussion about Gui Tong came to an end, and You Ge continued to share information: "Also, one of the Seven Idlers is here this week, Yan Xiao Zhu, the eleventh-ranked thief."

"Hey, this name sounds like a female player!" Zhan Wu Shang said.

"And it feels like she's a beauty," Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

"We need to find a chance to spar with her," Zhan Wu Shang said seriously.

Gu Fei really wanted to introduce these two guys to the land of eternal flirtation, they would definitely be a perfect match.

The six continued on their way. Gu Fei then received a message from Bai Shi Jing Lun, asking for his location.

"Xiawu City, you know it?" Gu Fei replied to him.

"How do I get there?" Bai Shi Jing Lun asked.

"The system doesn't have this route. Rent a boat from the guild at the Sand Beach Tavern to take you over," Gu Fei instructed in great detail, mainly because Linshui City wasn't very peaceful either, and randomly finding a boat could very likely lead to boarding a pirate ship. But the businesses under the big guilds should pay attention to reputation, so it should be safe to find them.

Bai Shi Jing Lun was also waiting at the dock to catch a boat. When he heard that he had to find a boat himself, he went back to the tavern to inquire. The guilds running the tavern did indeed兼营 (jianying, also run, operate) this service, and they naturally wouldn't neglect customers who came to their door. But going to Xiawu City was really expensive, because it was a route not provided by the system, so the players themselves had to seize the opportunity to be a little unfair.

Although Bai Shi Jing Lun was one of the Five Little Strong Ones, he was a genuine pauper, because like Gu Fei, the time he spent in the game every day was quite limited compared to the average player. He emptied his pockets and counted out 98 gold coins, 76 silver coins, and 54 copper coins. The other party took one look at his appearance and estimated that he was really short of money, not trying to haggle over a small amount, so they generously waived him five gold coins and charged him 95.

Bai Shi Jing Lun boarded the boat and set off, feeling that this trip to make money was really risky. If he chased after Jian Nan You this time and couldn't kill him or get any money, he wouldn't even have enough money for the return trip. It was too miserable.

He really couldn't understand why the heroes of ancient times didn't seem to have jobs, but never lacked money. Bai Shi Jing Lun rested his head on his hands, crossed his legs, and lay on the boat, thinking as he swayed.

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I coded one hundred words more for the second consecutive day, I'm really energetic! Applause!