“Let me give you a good lesson.”

Hui Bu Jian was planning to observe things for himself, but hearing the other party’s tone, it was clear that he intended to directly tell him where the difference lay. Hui Bu Jian immediately became unwilling again. He admitted in his heart that this person's level was probably higher than his, but that didn't mean he was willing to humbly ask for guidance, especially since this guy was acting so naturally, without the slightest bit of humility.

If there weren't really no other options now, Hui Bu Jian would definitely part ways with this person.

“In any situation, careful observation and collecting valuable information are the first things to do,” Ye Xiu said.

“Nonsense.” Hui Bu Jian’s attitude wasn’t proper at all; he wasn’t humbly seeking instruction.

“You know?”

“Hmph…” Hui Bu Jian thought this question was idiotic and was too lazy to answer. How could he not know? He always observed the situation carefully before scavenging, aiming to be effective. He was never like some scavengers who rushed in blindly, picking up whatever they found, without any plan.

“No, you don’t know. You don’t even know which empty house has a window,” Ye Xiu said.

“This…” Hui Bu Jian was stunned. He didn’t expect the other party to bring that up. And he couldn’t argue because he really didn’t know.

“Knowing which empty house has a window is very useful right now, isn’t it?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Yes…”

“But you don’t know any of them.”

“…”

“Intelligence is very important!” Ye Xiu said sternly.

“This, it happened rather suddenly. I didn’t have time to prepare,” Hui Bu Jian argued.

“Opening an external electronic map is all you need. If you don’t know about such things, then that shows you don’t value intelligence enough,” Ye Xiu said.

“I’m used to full-screen gaming…” Hui Bu Jian himself felt that this reason was somewhat weak.

“Heh heh.” So Ye Xiu smiled without saying anything, and Hui Bu Jian’s ninja blade slid slightly out of its sheath, but he finally restrained himself.

“What we need to do now is first get rid of these guys behind us,” Ye Xiu said.

“Nonsense.” Hui Bu Jian’s arrogance had been extinguished quite a bit. This time, those two words were merely a shell, lacking spirit and energy.

“The first thing to do is escape their line of sight,” Ye Xiu said.

“Of course.”

“Do you know why we’re doing this?” Ye Xiu asked.

“So they can’t see us,” Hui Bu Jian said.

“Are you in elementary school? Please try to answer with a little depth, okay?” Ye Xiu said.

“Is your question very profound!” Hui Bu Jian snapped.

“Our ultimate goal is to make them unable to find us, unable to see us, just to create a space that we can fully utilize,” Ye Xiu said.

“Heh heh, how profound,” Hui Bu Jian sneered.

“So, what kind of space is the best to utilize?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Hmm?” This question was a bit abrupt, and Hui Bu Jian was momentarily lost for words.

“The answer is: an intersection!” Ye Xiu said.

“Damn!” Hui Bu Jian felt like he was being played. Turning a corner at an intersection would, of course, temporarily make them lose sight of you. It was such a simple thing, yet this guy had to make it sound so profound, talking about space and whatnot…

“It seems you didn’t understand what I meant at all.” Ye Xiu said regretfully, “What I meant was, in an environment like an intersection, when they can’t see us in their line of sight, they have to split up. At an intersection with two roads, they have to split into two, and at an intersection with three roads, they have to split into three teams. Peeling them away layer by layer, we can ultimately shake off our opponents.”

“Hmm?” Hui Bu Jian paused. Finding more intersections and turning more often would make it easier to shake off pursuers. Hui Bu Jian understood this method, but he had never really thought about *why* doing so made it easier to shake them off. And the reason, once explained, was so simple, but only after understanding this principle could one apply it in many different ways.

Intersections were just a representation of this kind of space. The key characteristic of this space was to create a situation where, when out of sight, the opponents were forced to face multiple choices.

“Understanding this, you also need to have a plan when running away, to shake off the pursuers purposefully. Do you have a plan?” Ye Xiu continued.

“I do…”

“Tell me your plan,” Ye Xiu said.

“Keep heading north, jump across the Domain River.” Hui Bu Jian managed to say with difficulty. His plan was just a general direction, not the kind of detailed plan that Ye Xiu was talking about, with plans to shake off each individual person. But he had to prove that he did have a plan!

“Not bad.” Ye Xiu replied, his tone so bland that it was incredibly annoying.

“Alright, starting from this intersection, stick close!” Ye Xiu said, and at the street corner ahead, he turned left.

Hui Bu Jian didn’t say a word. He had listened to this guy spout a bunch of theories, but were those theories really that important? If it were just these people behind them, Hui Bu Jian wouldn't need to know any of these theories. He could just run around in circles for a few laps and shake them off. The key issue now was that these were the pursuers, but they weren’t the only ones. After the pursuers sent out their location, more teams would converge toward their position. Just as they shook off the old ones, they would encounter new ones, endlessly. That was why Hui Bu Jian hadn't been able to break out of the encirclement.

And now, he didn’t say anything. He wanted to see what kind of tricks this guy, who could turn even the simplest things into a bunch of theories, could pull off.

Turn left at the intersection?

There was nothing special about that. If it were him, he would turn too.

Hui Bu Jian thought to himself as he followed the turn.

“Go.”

As soon as they finished turning, Lord Grim immediately slipped into an empty house on the side.

This house had a window, so they went through the hall, jumped out the window, and switched to another street.

He didn't know about the windows himself, and Hui Bu Jian had to admit that, but the other party was just relying on an external electronic map. If he also opened an external map, he could make the same judgments.

Through the hall and out the window, then they climbed over a high wall.

The Desolate Town map didn’t have the regular streets of a city. There were wide streets, narrow alleys, and dead ends, and they were intertwined in many ways. And since the name of this map included “Desolate,” one could tell that it wouldn’t be as large and complex as a city. In fact, most of this leveling area was still wilderness, and the small town with buildings was just a corner of the map. That was why the three major guilds could keep such a close watch on this place. And as more and more reinforcements arrived, it became increasingly difficult to avoid being hunted down.

Hui Bu Jian followed Lord Grim like this, without saying a word. He just silently felt the route they were taking.

The area wasn’t large, but there were many changes. And they weren’t just running quickly without stopping. In some places, Lord Grim would tell him to stop and wait for a while.

Since the other party didn’t say anything, Hui Bu Jian resolutely didn’t ask why. But he vaguely felt that Lord Grim wasn’t just running around in circles to avoid the pursuers behind them; he was maneuvering against everyone who was surrounding and intercepting them. He seemed to have a certain calculation in mind about the other party’s deployment.

Was such a thing possible? Hui Bu Jian was somewhat shocked.

The escape led by Lord Grim wasn’t completely free of encounters with the other party, but at least it hadn’t led to the kind of predicaments that Hui Bu Jian had encountered many times. In the three minutes of running, they hadn’t fought anyone. Whenever they encountered someone, there was always another way out: scaling walls, jumping out of windows, going through alleys. The seemingly irregular route contained some planning, and the route provided options for dealing with various unexpected situations.

The concept of space wasn’t just about creating choices for the opponent, but also about leaving choices for oneself at all times.

Suddenly, Hui Bu Jian had another realization.

But to achieve all of this, the most basic thing was to have complete mastery of the terrain. And what Hui Bu Jian had consistently neglected was this most basic piece of information.

“How is it?” Ye Xiu suddenly asked at this moment.

“So-so.” Hui Bu Jian was still stubborn.

“But at least you’re safe now,” Ye Xiu said.

“What are you talking about? We haven’t escaped the other party’s encirclement. You’ve just been running around in a small area this whole time,” Hui Bu Jian said.

“Oh? You were paying attention to our movement route,” Ye Xiu said.

“…”

“Then didn’t you notice that you’re already out of combat?” Ye Xiu said.

“Ah?” Hui Bu Jian was stunned, and then he realized that at some point, his character had already entered a non-combat state. He could now use an even safer method than jumping across the Domain River: logging off.

“You can log off now,” Ye Xiu said.

“What about you?”

“Me? I didn’t think about leaving. I still want to scavenge!” Ye Xiu said.

“…”

“Not logging off yet?” Ye Xiu glanced at Hui Bu Jian, who hadn’t disappeared yet, “Could it be that you’re also interested in scavenging?”

“That’s my specialty!” Hui Bu Jian said this very confidently. If he claimed second place in scavenging, no one would dare to claim first.

“You’re still green.” As a result, someone immediately disagreed with him.

“…”

“Looks like I’ll have to give you another lesson,” Ye Xiu said.

Hui Bu Jian’s lungs were about to explode. Someone actually dared to give him a lesson in scavenging? He thought this was too ridiculous.

“What you’re doing isn’t called scavenging at all; you’re just directly PK-ing to get equipment,” Hui Bu Jian corrected Ye Xiu.

“Heh heh, actually, scavengers can’t help but want to PK and get equipment, but they don’t have the ability to do so, so they have to take advantage of the situation, right?” Ye Xiu said.

“Of course not! Scavenging is the simplest way to obtain the most equipment. Going to PK one by one, how can that yield as much as scavenging?” Hui Bu Jian said.

“Scavenging doesn’t yield as much? If I go to the leveling area now and kill everyone I see, do you think I’ll get more equipment in a day, or will you pick up more?” Ye Xiu asked.

“You… killing people all day, you’re a beast!” Hui Bu Jian said. He realized that according to this way of thinking, scavenging was indeed completely inferior to PK-ing for equipment. Scavenging required opportunity and waiting; unlike PK-ing for equipment, where the opportunity was entirely created by oneself, and it was easy to create – just chop down anyone you see…

“Scavenging isn’t that much better either. At least PK-ing has some skill involved,” Ye Xiu said.

“No, that’s not right, that’s not right…” Hui Bu Jian said repeatedly, but he couldn’t say what wasn’t right.

“What’s not right? Scavenging seems to be more moral than PK-ing for equipment, simply because scavenging is more passive. But in fact, in terms of intention, aren’t you scavengers also being proactive? You’re all greedy for equipment, so what’s the difference from PK-ing for equipment?” Ye Xiu said, “Instead of scavenging in a sneaky way, why not jump out and kill in all directions?”