Chapter 2 The Second Round of Footsteps

The second set of footsteps on the stairs was much lighter. Just listening, you could tell it wasn't a heavy-duty professional. To be able to chase someone into such a desperate escape, was it a player or an NPC in the building?

Gu Fei craned his neck, but before the person upstairs could see him, he saw the warrior looking around left and right, then finding a pillar to hide behind. His hands continued to grip his greatsword tightly, his body like a taut bow, ears perked up, clearly intending to hide here and give the opponent a heavy blow when they appeared.

In the end, he didn't wait for the opponent but for their attack.

Gu Fei looked up to find the person and saw a flash of fire in the upper part of the high hall: Heavenly Fire Wheel.

Damn, how grand! Gu Fei reacted extremely quickly. The range of this Heavenly Fire Wheel meant the warrior couldn't escape, and he would unfortunately be grazed. He quickly darted to the side, diving behind another pillar. Then he saw the Fire Wheel descend from the sky. The warrior couldn't dodge in time and was roasted, grimacing in pain. As he shook his head, he happened to see Gu Fei.

Gu Fei's attire was much more distinctive than his. The mask, and the "Nine" deliberately placed in a very conspicuous position. The guy was pleasantly surprised when he saw it: "Number Nine!"

Sure enough, one of us! Gu Fei thought, but before he could greet him, the guy rushed excitedly towards Gu Fei, as if he had suddenly found a life-saving straw while drowning.

As a result, he didn't even get to touch this straw. After rushing out from behind the pillar, the guy stepped onto the rising "Fiery Tree Thousandfold Flames." Gu Fei retreated quickly to avoid the spell. He was truly powerless to help this unknown-numbered warrior and watched helplessly as he disappeared in the sea of fire.

Two spells to take down a warrior were something most mage players couldn't do. Gu Fei was naturally one of the exceptions. So, who else could it be?

Drifting? Gui Tong? Or was it the NPC mage guarding the Government Affairs Hall?

Before he figured it out, Gu Fei decided not to act rashly. If it really was a player expert like Drifting or Gui Tong, that would be fine; Gu Fei was definitely not afraid. What he feared were those strange and powerful system NPCs. It was best not to provoke them for now.

Gu Fei continued to hide motionless behind the pillar, and the footsteps on the stairs no longer sounded. The hall returned to silence.

Gone? Or still looking for me? Gu Fei didn't know if the other party had noticed him. After all, the guy had excitedly shouted "Number Nine" facing him earlier. He didn't know if the one on the stairs had seen or heard it.

Leaning against the pillar, Gu Fei slowly moved, gradually changing his field of vision, but still saw nothing. Gu Fei simply took out an apple and threw it forcefully at the stairs.

"Pa," the apple fell on the stairs and bounced down the steps, the sound clear and bright throughout the hall.

"Really gone…" Gu Fei walked out from behind the pillar, came to the staircase, caught the rolling apple, and looked up. The stairs were indeed empty.

Walking up the stairs, he had only taken a few steps when he suddenly heard footsteps from the hall below. Gu Fei turned his head and threw the apple in his hand.

"Ouch!" Although the apple thrown by Gu Fei caused no damage, its accuracy was no less than any skill in the game. It hit the person squarely on the head, and he cried out in surprise, clutching his forehead. Then he noticed that what had hit him was an apple, and looking in the direction it came from, he saw a masked man in black tumbling down the stairs, rushing towards him nimbly.

"Number Nine!!" the person shouted quickly.

Gu Fei stopped, but still maintained a distance. After all, one of the nine, Number Three, was to be regarded as an enemy, and Gu Fei dared not relax his guard.

"It's me! Number Four!" Seeing Gu Fei's suspicion, the person quickly put on his raincoat-battle robe embroidered with the number Four.

"Oh, it's you…" Gu Fei smiled. He could recognize Number Four because Number Four talked the most. Although he couldn't recognize his face, after a few more words, Gu Fei recognized his voice.

"Where are the others?" Gu Fei asked.

"After coming in, everyone went to do their own tasks. I don't know!" Number Four said.

With Number Four right in front of him, and Number Six definitely not a warrior, then the one who had died earlier must be Number Three or Number Five. But Number Three was the schemer who had entered the hall secretly. Seeing himself, he shouldn't have had that reaction like he had met a savior. So, the one from before must have been Number Five.

"Number Five is a warrior, right?" Gu Fei confirmed with Number Four. He guessed that not many people were as honest as him and didn't appraise other people's professions.

"Yeah, that's right!" Number Four was indeed one of the dishonest ones. Gu Fei despised him in his heart while accepting the information he provided.

"Number Five is dead," Gu Fei said.

"Ah? How could that be?" Number Four was surprised. "Did the person from Misty Flower come in?"

"Don't know…" Gu Fei said, "Shouldn't be…" He had been squatting behind the back door for more than an hour. Besides Number Three, no one else had entered from there. If someone from Misty Flower wanted to chase in, they wouldn't go around to the front yard and enter through the main entrance, right?

"Then who was it?" Number Four asked.

"Don't know yet. Have you completed your task?" Gu Fei asked.

"I've completed it, but it seems I can't get out now," Number Four said.

"Hmm… did you see the people outside?" Gu Fei asked.

"Should say, besides people, I can't see anything else outside the door," Number Four said with a wry smile.

Gu Fei really admired his ability to maintain a bit of humor at a time like this. Number One, Number Seven, and Number Two were all a bit flustered in times of crisis. Gu Fei was almost used to their performance. Number Four seemed a bit different.

"Do you have any ideas?" Gu Fei asked. This Number Four had some ideas and was quite the leader among the Nine-Party. Gu Fei had found this a bit strange at first, but after understanding the relationships between the characters, he understood.

Logically, the initiator of such a group would generally be the leader. However, Number Three, the initiator of the Nine-Party, had ulterior motives. To facilitate his muddying of the waters, he couldn't put himself in a leadership position where he would be easily noticed. And the guy who had been pushed to the top by Number Three, Number One, was hesitant about the plan itself. How could he make any decisions? As for Number Two, he was obviously a daydreaming comic book enthusiast… As a result, Number Four had come from behind to become the leader.

"I wonder if this Government Affairs Hall has a secret passage or something that leads directly out?" Number Four said.

Gu Fei immediately withdrew his opinion of Number Four. This guy was also a daydreamer.

Number Four received Gu Fei's gaze and said sheepishly, "Actually, I've been looking for a while, but I haven't found anything. It seems impossible."

Gu Fei sighed. He understood. Number Four wasn't really a daydreamer. This was called clutching at straws in desperation.

"Don't know where Number Six has gone. Let's find him first and then think of a solution together," Gu Fei said.

"Will the person who killed Number Five come out and attack us again?" Number Four looked around nervously.

"Very likely!" Gu Fei was always so frank, not knowing how to comfort others at all.

"Ah… that might not be a bad way to leave quickly," Number Four said.

"Hehe…" Gu Fei appreciated his sense of humor. "How about I take you to a safe place first? I'll go find Number Six, and then we can leave together."

"Oh? What safe place?" The word "safe" was the most interesting to Number Four right now.

So, Gu Fei led him to the dark corner behind the back door. "Wait here for a while!"

"Ah, Number Two, what a coincidence!" Number Four exclaimed as he flashed behind the door. Then he poked half his head out and said to Gu Fei, "Number Two is here too."

"I know…" Gu Fei said, "You guys wait for me together!"

"Okay, okay, come back soon!" Number Four waved to Gu Fei.

Damn, am I finding lost children one by one? Gu Fei thought irritably as he set off from behind the back door again.

Returning to the front hall, Gu Fei went back up the stairs on the left. The guy who had killed Number Five had disappeared from here. Gu Fei decided to go and see if he could find anything… And, he also wanted to visit his mission target: Giordano.

After wandering around the second floor for a long time without finding anything, Gu Fei went straight to the third floor and directly to Giordano's office. The scene was extremely disappointing to Gu Fei. This Captain of the Guard didn't pay any attention to his personal space. He was with a bunch of soldiers all day long. Programmed things really didn't have any life.

Gu Fei didn't have time to sit on the sofa and wait leisurely for an opportunity. He still had to go out and find the lost Number Six.

He pulled open the door to leave when a message came. He opened it and saw it was Number Two, Scissorhands: "I'm dead!"

"What happened?" Gu Fei was surprised.

"It was Number Four."

"Number Four?" Gu Fei was a bit confused.

"Yeah… we chatted for a while, and he suddenly asked if I wanted to make a bet," Scissorhands said.

"A bet?"

"He said he would bet me to see who could leave the Government Affairs Hall first, the bet was 100 gold coins…" Scissorhands said.

"…"

"I didn't think too much about it and casually agreed. Then he immediately gave me 100 gold coins and said I had won. By the time I reacted…"

"This person… is he crazy?" Gu Fei was shocked. He understood what it meant that there were all kinds of wonders in the world.

"Sigh…" Scissorhands said.

"Sorry, my fault…" The image of himself inhumanely leading the Big Bad Wolf into Little Red Riding Hood's bedroom appeared in Gu Fei's mind.

"It's okay. You should be careful. Maybe he will play some tricks with you," Little Red Riding Hood, oh no, Scissorhands, said.

"I will. I will definitely bring out your quest item for you!" Gu Fei said.

Another player in the Government Affairs Hall had disappeared.