The fleeing Gu Fei suddenly thought of unleashing Repeating Fireball on to the Traversing Four Seas' guild members who were presently chasing after him. This was the first time he had considered using a spell in an actual fight. Initially, he had only been trying to delay them for a bit so that he could make a successful getaway, yet the end result was actually gratifying: Two opponents were eliminated.
Unfortunately, Gu Fei saw players charging toward his direction from every street corner. They were probably the additional backup called here by No Smile. Gu Fei had to give up his plan of returning to kill No Smile, the sole survivor among his three original pursuers, and focused on escaping from the scene of the crime.
Gu Fei threw the pursuers off his track by circling the chaotic streets of Yunduan City. He then found a quiet and isolated alley to take the straw hat off his head, remove the piece of black cloth covering his face, and put away the Flames of Baptism. After doing all this, he blatantly walked out of the alley with a magic staff in hand.
More and more players could be seen heading toward the Thieves' Union, with a handful being members of Traversing Four Seas and the rest being the onlookers. Gu Fei felt bad for them since there was nothing to see over there anymore.
Gu Fei, the culprit, walked nonchalantly on the streets and reached Ray's Bar in no time. Ray was already quite familiar with their gang of six, especially when two out of the rest could leave a lasting impression with their looks alone. As Gu Fei entered the bar, Ray greeted him with a smile and pointed toward their usual room.
Gu Fei walked over and lifted the curtain to take a look inside. He saw that these five were truly men of their words, as they truly went drinking at Ray's Bar after saying that they would!
The five raised their heads and saw Gu Fei. Young Master Han looked at the time and said, "Six minutes."
"Sorry, guys. It's my win," Sword Demon said blankly, and then he laid his hand with palm up onto the table.
The other four put their hands dolefully into their pockets, each taking 5 gold coins out and tossing them onto the table. Sword Demon collected the coins with absolutely no consideration for the others, before reaching his hand out again toward Royal, "You should be giving me ten."
"Oh, come on! It's just a casual remark! You can't be taking that seriously?!" Royal God Call was not pleased.
"Of course, I'm taking that seriously. A man should always mean what he said," Sword Demon's hand was still hanging out toward him.
"Just give it to him. Otherwise, we can't continue drinking," Young Master Han said.
Royal God Call unwillingly handed additional 5 gold coins to Sword Demon.
The five only started paying attention to Gu Fei after settling their little dispute. Young Master Han took the lead and applauded, "Welcome! A warm welcome to our top slayer!"
Gu Fei stared at Sword Demon, who was putting the gold coins into his pocket, and asked, "What's all this about?"
"Oh, it's nothing really. We're making a bet on how long it would take you to fight your way out from there," Young Master Han said.
"Betting, eh? And Sword Demon won?" Gu Fei sat down while saying that.
Sword Demon nodded.
"Well half of that ought to be mine!" Gu Fei laughed.
Sword Demon nodded again. He reached into his pocket and took out the gold coins. After counting the coins thoroughly, he separated 12 gold and 50 silver coins from his pile and pushed them toward Gu Fei, "Half for you and half for me."
Gu Fei felt stunned, as he was simply joking with Sword Demon. Young Master Han let out a long sigh, "Just take it! Remember not to joke with those who lack a sense of humor next time."
Sword Demon remained very serious, "You earned it. I'd split the coins with you anyway even if you didn't say that."
Gu Fei was laughing dryly at Sword Demon, "In that case, thanks!" He put the coins inside his pocket while Royal God Call looked on with a sorrowful expression.
"So what happened? How is No Smile now?" Young Master Han asked Gu Fei.
"I don't know. I came here straight after breaking through that blockade. You're not expecting me to go back and have a talk with him after all that, right? There're quite a lot of them over there now," Gu Fei said.
Royal God Call nodded, "Those heading to Yunxia Valley have been summoned back as well."
"Has No Smile said anything yet on the guild channel?" Young Master Han asked Royal God Call.
Royal God Call stared intently at the chat history of the guild channel, "Hmm... Everyone is either asking what happened to him or the identities of his attackers. But he has remained silent all throughout."
"Oh, wait! He posted something!" Royal God Call said suddenly.
"What did he post?"
"'Avenge me, my fellow brothers!'" Royal God Call read it out loud for everyone.
Everyone looked at one another.
"That guy is such a pain in the a*s," Young Master Han sighed.
"But if he starts holding a grudge against us, he'll stop messing with Amethyst Rebirth, right? Our mission is complete, then," Brother Assist reasoned.
"Not likely. He doesn't know who we are, so how's he going to hold a grudge against us? In the end, he can only vent his anger on to Amethyst Rebirth," Young Master Han said.
"I think our approach to this mission might be somewhat skewed from the get-go," Gu Fei said, "No Smile and July's Heat's online drama happened way back. Him being this vindictive after all this time proves just how petty he is. Wasn't he the one in the wrong for whatever that had happened in the past? Yet here he is, stirring things up in Parallel World by sabotaging Amethyst Rebirth's guild quest. That means he's malicious as well. He even said 'Avenge me, my brothers!' even though we killed him four times already, which indicated how vindictive he is. He'll eventually become a scourge if he remains in this game. He'll probably jump out and harm others whenever the opportunity presents itself."
"What could we do? Kick him out of the game? That's impossible no matter how capable we are," Young Master Han said.
Gu Fei was about to share his thoughts to everyone when Brother Assist said, "Why don't we check the aftermath of the situation first before we decide on our next step?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. And with that, Gu Fei swallowed what he was about to say.
Meanwhile, most of the people's conversations everywhere in Yunduan City seemed to revolve around a major affair that had just occurred. The news spread at an unprecedented rate since people were sharing it across various chatting channels.
There had not been any PvP situation involving an entire guild since the game's released. And yet today, the members of Traversing Four Seas, the largest guild in Yunduan City, were seen rushing toward Yunxia Valley from the city, before hastily making their way back from the valley toward the Thieves' Union in the city.
According to the eyewitnesses at Yunliao Farm, No Smile of Traversing Four Seas was passing by the central pathway when a Thief on Stealth suddenly revealed himself. The Thief, whose face was covered by a piece of black cloth, killed No Smile before leaving casually.
An onlooker from the Thieves' Union described what he saw as well. A hotshot, whose face was covered by a piece of black cloth, slashed No Smile to his death with a Chinese broadsword. This masked man left for a while before returning to hack No Smile again, casually leaving the fight after breaking through the encirclement formed by numerous people.
Afterward, an interested player tallied the exact time when No Smile had been executed in the two different places, and realized that there was a connection between the two incidents. Combined with the fact that the slayers had their faces covered with a piece of black cloth, he came to a conclusion: This was a well thought-out and organized assassination attempt that targeted No Smile.
'No Smile' was a famous IGN, so it was not long before someone recalled the previous online drama associated with the name. Everyone learned that 'July's Heat' was still an unoccupied IGN after searching for it in Parallel World. Although there were people who believed that July's Heat was the mastermind behind all these, they lacked solid proof as she was unavailable for questioning.
This matter had caused quite a ruckus all over the city, so the ladies of Amethyst Rebirth were already aware of it. July had summoned all the members back to the guild house at the first chance she got.
The others, except for Luo Luo, were unaware that the current affair was related to the past online drama. Now that the issue had escalated to such a scale, it was pointless to bury the truth. Nobody, with the exception of Xiaoyu, would believe July even if she claimed that she did this purely because their guild quest had been sabotaged. July received unanimous support from all the ladies after she had come clean to everyone and explained everything about her past conflicts with No Smile and her reason for hiring a mercenary group to deal with him.
July did not intend to associate with him, and it was No Smile who had started this whole mess by interfering with their guild quest. No matter how mild-mannered a lady was, she would still snap when dealing with a prick like No Smile. Take the ill-tempered Lie Lie for example; she had already kicked a nearby stool after hearing July's confession and told everyone that she was leaving to beat No Smile's sorry a*s.
Of course, she was restrained by the others immediately. July solemnly said to everyone, "I asked for outsiders' help because it's clear that the opposing party is leagues beyond us. What happened in the city just now is probably their doing. But with my understanding of No Smile, simply killing him a few times is not enough to intimidate him. This matter is far from over, so please be careful out there, everyone. It'll be best if… you can all remain offline for a few days."
"Sis July, hiding is not the answer! We have to fight as well!" a lady said emotionally.
"But—"
"Sis July, don't worry about us. It's just a game! PvP is part of the game. It's not like we're trying to trample everyone here. So what if we lose a few levels when we die? It's nothing scary!"
"Yeah!"
"Everyone, please calm down," Luo Luo stood up and said, "It's true that receiving a level drop after dying is not scary. But we can't just die for nothing! Traversing Four Seas is the largest guild in Yunduan City, with a total of 300 members! The number of level 30 players that that guild has even surpasses the total member of our guild! We'd be facing high caliber players in such a kind of PvP engagement. How much fight can any here bring to the table at such standard? "
Everyone turned silent. Even Lie Lie, who excelled in PvP matches in this VRMMORPG, was tongue-tied. Although she disagreed with Luo Luo's opinion, objecting right now would make things awkward for Luo Luo. She might have a bad temper, but even she had a soft spot inside her.
Seeing that nobody spoke, Luo Luo continued, "Which is why everyone should listen to July's advice for now. Be careful out there, and avoid clashing with others. As for what comes next, just leave everything to July, me, Lie Lie, Xiaoyu, and those people that we've asked for help. What does everyone think?"
All the ladies nodded. The other three mentioned by Luo Luo conformed as well. This was a natural arrangement as July was the involved party, Luo Luo was the guild's highest level Priest, Lie Lie was their best PvP fighter, and Xiaoyu had the highest level among them. Speaking of 'highest level', Xiaoyu asked softly, "Are we not calling Miles?"
"What's the point of calling him?" Lie Lie said impatiently, "He's just a trashy Mage. What use could his high level be?"
July nodded as well, "Let's not bother him with this!"
"Let's go!" Luo Luo said, "I need to contact that mercenary group. Let's meet up with them first."
The four left the guild house after saying this. As they arrived on the street, towering shadows from a large crowd could be seen blocking their way. The one leading them was none other than No Smile.
"It's been a while, July!"