Chapter 143 The Diary

After pausing their discussion in the channel, everyone agreed to meet at the tavern. Besides giving Sword Demon his money, the main topic of the gathering was to analyze and study the diary that Gu Fei had looted.

Brother You proclaimed, "If all that was looted was a normal, blank diary, it wouldn't be worth mentioning. But now it's a diary with content, so there's likely to be something significant inside."

Everyone thought it made sense, so they asked Gu Fei to bring the diary for everyone to see. Gu Fei naturally had no intention of hiding anything. So the group met up, gave Sword Demon his money first, and then Gu Fei tossed the diary onto the table.

"Looks pretty ordinary!" everyone said.

"It's the content that matters, the content!" Brother You reached out to grab the diary, asking Gu Fei, "Have you read it?"

"I just glanced at it a few times when I first got it," Gu Fei replied.

Brother You took it in his hands, carefully opening the first page, as if the slightest force would turn the diary to dust. The handwriting was clearly handwritten, and there was very little content, just a few lines. Brother You carefully studied it.

"I, Andrew Su, the Mist Shadow Assassin. I am insignificant, and therefore I am still alive. This is the rule that an assassin should follow. The day I become famous will surely be the day I die.

Oak Tree Forest, small wooden house.

The newly grown oak leaves are bright red. Grew says they look like blood. Humph, what does he know? Has he ever seen real blood?

The 142nd time I've seen Grew, I've received the 187th mission of my assassin career. It is said that when I complete 200 missions, the Assassin Alliance will give a special reward. Only 13 missions left. This number doesn't seem very auspicious."

Everyone was stunned. Royal Sky's Pride was the first to speak, "A novel?"

No one paid attention. Brother You had already turned to the second page. The second page had even less content.

The air in Linshui City is still so humid, but I like it.

But the usually quiet docks are gone. There are suddenly many people here, which is lively, but also a pity.

The second page ended, and Royal Sky's Pride had something to say again: "Many people? Could it be referring to the players?"

No one wanted to delve into the question. Brother You had already turned to the third page, which had even less than the second page.

The fog is so thick. In this kind of environment, it's easy to strike and escape. It seems this mission will go smoothly.

Then came the fourth page, which had the least content of all, just five words in total.

Crap! I'm lost.

Everyone couldn't help but glance at Royal Sky's Pride, who had a very understanding expression on his face, deeply sighing and lamenting, "How pitiful."

"Is there anything mysterious about these few pages?" War Without Wounds said.

"Doesn't seem to be... it just seems to be this Boss's background information," Sword Demon said.

"There's more in the back!" Brother You had already turned to the fifth page.

"Are we just going to sit here and read a diary all afternoon?" War Without Wounds thought the matter was truly terrifying.

"This diary must be strange. I think there must be something hidden inside, perhaps a clue to a mission," Brother You said.

Using an item to trigger a mission was a common technique in online games. But in the past, after using an item, people would immediately go to the mission list and follow it. It wasn't like now where they actually needed to interpret the item in detail. These experts all valued efficiency. They only did missions for the rewards, so they quickly completed them by looking at the most direct prompts, without any inclination to savor the mission's storyline. This kind of situation that required careful examination was somewhat impatient for them.

"There definitely will be," and this just happened to be Brother You's interest.

"Then I'll leave it to you, Brother You. Call me if there's a mission." War Without Wounds stood up. "I'll go take a walk."

"Hey, wait for me!!" Royal Sky's Pride jumped up. He needed someone to accompany him in this place, so sometimes he was helpless. Seeing that someone was going out, he quickly grabbed the opportunity!

Sword Demon also got up at this time: "I'll go take a walk too!" He owed a mountain of debts and wanted to seize the time to find a way to make money. He really didn't have the patience to carefully interpret this diary here.

"Go, go!" Brother You waved goodbye to the group while continuing to flip through the diary, but at a much faster pace than before.

"What's written in the back?" Since Brother You didn't continue reading aloud, Gu Fei and Young Master Han asked. The two of them hadn't left yet.

"It's about how he tried to find a way to get back on track after getting lost," Brother You said.

Each page was a solution that the Mist Shadow Assassin thought of.

He tried to fix the compass, but after taking it apart, he couldn't put it back together. The compass was completely reduced to a pile of parts.

He tried to look up at the sky, but the fog in Xiawu City didn't distinguish between day and night. Looking up, it was always fog. He couldn't see the sun, let alone the stars.

He tried to distinguish north and south from the lushness of the tree branches or the density of the rings, but also because of this incomprehensible fog, the sunlight in Xiawu City seemed to have no distinction between yin and yang. The branches and rings grew very evenly.

He made marks along the way, so he returned to the starting point countless times.

He even shouted for help, but he couldn't get any response.

And so on and so forth...

"Then why isn't he dead yet?" Young Master Han couldn't help but ask.

"It says here: As an assassin, wilderness survival is the most basic thing. I can definitely persevere. I can definitely get out of this fog and complete my mission. I, Andrew Su, the Mist Shadow Assassin, can never die in the fog!" Brother You read.

After reading, Brother You frowned. Then he read the passage again carefully twice. He looked up at the two and said, "What do you think?"

"Think about what?" the two asked in return.

"Could this be a clue?" Brother You said.

"You're saying that the uncompleted mission of this assassin is the mission given to the players?" Gu Fei said.

Brother You nodded.

"In that case, you should have received it!" Young Master Han said to Brother You. "Does anything show up in your mission list?"

Brother You shook his head.

"If there's nothing showing, who knows what the mission is?" Young Master Han said.

Brother You shook the diary. "There's more content in the back."

"Keep reading," Young Master Han took a sip of wine.

"Hey, it's tiring!" Brother You complained. He was in the mood to read a few paragraphs at the beginning, but who would be interested in reading something out loud all the way through! This wasn't Brother You's hobby.

"Let's read together." Gu Fei went over and squeezed next to him. The two looked up at Young Master Han, asking if he wanted to come over and take a look.

"Just tell me the results after you've finished reading!" Young Master Han continued to sip his wine calmly. He thought it was stupid enough for two people to squeeze together to look at a small book, but to have three people squeeze together was simply childish.

So the two ignored him. Brother You took a deep breath and turned to the next page.

"47 days, probably! I've been lost in this fog for 47 days. Birds, beasts, and even insects have become my food. The dew condensed on the blades of grass is more abundant than I imagined. This may be the only benefit of the fog. I won't give up. I will continue to move forward in one direction, and I will definitely be able to escape this predicament."

"47 days..." Brother You looked back roughly at the pages. "It seems he doesn't write in this diary every day."

"Only elementary school students write in their diaries every day, right?" Gu Fei said.

"That's true," Brother You nodded in agreement.

"Continue," Gu Fei waved his hand and turned the page.

"I thought that walking in one direction would eventually lead me out of the predicament, but it seems I was wrong. The place I passed this morning seemed a little familiar. I don't want to admit it, but deep down I know that I rested here a few days ago. The modifications I made to hide my tracks are actually a kind of mark for myself. Perhaps my subconscious is making marks again. How many such marks have I left behind?"

"This, this!!" Brother You said excitedly, "Marks! Could this be another hint?"

"What kind of hint is this? To let us also walk on his winding road?" Gu Fei asked in return.

"Every path leaves its mark," Brother You said. "Maybe in the places he's been, there will be some information left for us, you never know."

"Don't worry!" Gu Fei comforted Brother You. "Even if we know this is a hint, we need to know what the hint is, right? Are we just going to go out of the city and look around blindly? Look for what?"

"Right, right, right!" Brother You nodded repeatedly. "Quick, continue!"

So Gu Fei turned another page.

"I don't know how many days it's been. Really, the last time I recorded the date was the 47th day. But how long has passed since then? I suddenly feel dazed. This is really a terrible thing. How can an assassin not remember the date? Even if we misremember by a minute or a second, it's enough to be fatal for us. This fog is slowly eroding my will. I can feel it."

"Uh, it feels like it's getting heavy," Gu Fei said.

"Look at the back." Brother You didn't think there were any clues to be found in this kind of mood description, so he didn't care and couldn't wait to turn the page.

"No movement, no movement all day. This isn't the first time. When I wake up, I sometimes forget which direction I came from and which direction I should go. That's right, I know I should have my head facing the direction I came from and my feet pointing in the direction I'm going, but now I actually continue to change positions when I sleep. When I woke up this morning, I reached out and didn't grasp my dagger. It was a full two yards away from me... Is my body starting to become sluggish?"

"Why is it all this again!" Brother You was a little impatient and turned the page anxiously.

"I saw an oak tree, orange-red. I've seen such leaves with Grew a few times, every time in September. September... Have I been in the fog for half a year? Is Grew still waiting for me to return the mission? Can I still do it? Perhaps he should find someone else to do this mission."

"Ah ah!!! I know!" Brother You shouted again, "We should find the NPC named Grew in the Oak Tree Forest small wooden house. If we show him this diary, we will definitely be able to receive the mission!"