As a proper man, it's downright impolite to dwell on a woman's flaws. Naturally, Ye Weiming, understanding he had crossed a line, did not return her gaze with "What are you looking at?" Instead, he respectfully averted his eyes.
This wasn't being a pushover—it was good manners!
The woman didn't seem interested in continuing their argument and stood up from the ground, making her way to the woods not far from the pagoda.
Before Ye Weiming could even catch his breath, however, the woman came back from her quick roundabout in the woods with handfuls of dry twigs and straws.
Then, under the corner of Ye Weiming's watchful eye, she returned to the front of the pagoda and lit a bonfire. She skewered a feather-plucked chicken on a stick. Judging by her actions, it looked like she planned to roast the chicken right there, eat, and then leave!
Ye Weiming could only groan in disbelief at the woman's unpredictable behavior.
Feeling hungry after a full night's affair, Ye Weiming decided to stop bickering with her.
If I can't win the fight, can't I still retreat?
He stood up, utilizing his movement technique, and charged towards West Lake. He first washed his face with the lake water, which seemed to rejuvenate him entirely. Then, he devoured three buns from his backpack in one go and washed it down with a bottle of strong liquor.
As to why he washed his hands before eating the buns?
Don't forget that he had been dealing with corpses all night. Although it was unlikely bacteria or viruses would harm him in the game, it was still off-putting to eat without washing his hands.
Having filled his stomach with plain food, Ye Weiming picked up a shovel, ready to dig a hole by the lake.
This was the greatest downside of the corpse-disposal skill. There were only two ways to take care of disposed corpses.
The first option was to send them to the undertaker. However, they would only accept bodies that could serve as evidence or clues in an unsolved case.
Otherwise, you'd have to dig a hole and bury them.
Dumping them anywhere willy-nilly would cost you righteousness points!
After spending almost an hour burying the bodies, he reckoned that the woman had probably finished her meal and left. Therefore, he returned to the entrance of the pagoda only to find a dying bonfire.
As expected, the woman had left.
To avoid any unnecessary trouble, Ye Weiming circled the pagoda and saw no other players. He then stepped into the pagoda and followed the instructions written by Farmer Li to twist a semi-circular dragon carving on the left wall.
With a light "clack", two tiles on the pagoda floor sprang up, revealing a downward metal chain ladder below.
He descended the ladder into the underground palace, where the pathway was wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Charcoal-coated walls illuminated the subterranean world.
Ye Weiming twisted another dragon carving on the right, identical to the previous one, closing the opening above.
He proceeded down the corridor until he turned a corner to find two bodies lying on the ground. These corpses belonged to the West Lake bandits he had spotted earlier.
Are there still West Lake bandits lurking within this underground palace of the pagoda?
No mention of this was found in the note left by Old Man Li.
Although puzzled in his heart, Ye Weiming nonetheless quickened his pace unconsciously. Since what he saw was the deceased West Lake gangster, and his body was still warm, it was not difficult to draw one conclusion. He was not the first player to enter here, there were now other players who had arrived at this underground palace ahead of him!
Could it be that the clue left by Old Man Li was not only in his hands?
While contemplating, Ye Weiming changed two more forks, finding more and more gangster corpses on the ground, which made him even more worried that the early bird seemed to have a good understanding of the layout of this underground palace. The route the other party took was directly leading to the depths of the palace. There were also gangsters wandering on other forks, but there were no traces of combat.
Seeing that his treasure was claimed by someone else, Ye Weiming was anxious and unconsciously applied the movement technique of "Toad Leaping in Eight Steps", which made his speed soar several times. Only after passing two more junctions did Ye Weiming finally breathe a sigh of relief.
There was a three-way junction ahead. The location of the treasure as indicated on Old Man Li's map was on the right side of the palace, while all the gangsters on the left had become corpses.
This means, beginning from this junction, finally the direction of the other party diverged from his target?
It's good to have a divergence!
You're busy with yours and I'm looking for my treasure, no one bothers anyone, isn't it harmonic?
Drawing his longsword, Ye Weiming was about to go towards his target, when he suddenly heard a flurry of frantic and chaotic footsteps coming from the left. They were particularly grating in this enclosed tunnel. Next, he saw a woman, her hair cut short around her cheeks, she was dressed in black and stepping back while fighting. It was the same scarred woman he had met outside the pagoda.
Earlier, Ye Weiming had been wondering why this sister was still lingering and not willing to leave after the gangsters had disappeared. Turns out, her target was also this underground palace.
However, her complexion was currently very bad, a bit greenish, clearly indicating she had been poisoned. Behind her, a dozen gangsters wielding swords and knives were in hot pursuit.
Normally, a player who has learned movement techniques could easily shake off these ordinary mobs. A player proficient in using dark weapons like the scarred woman could kite at will. But now, seemingly due to the poison, her steps seemed very light and her speed had dropped to about the same level as the gangsters chasing her. She couldn't shake off her pursuers.
Seeing Ye Weiming appear in front of her, the scarred woman was startled. But she had no heart to care about this right now. She just brushed past Ye Weiming without stopping, and the gangsters chasing her rushed up to him closely.
Seeing the gangsters with their guards down next to him, Ye Weiming unconsciously thrust his longsword forward, piercing through the throat of the one running in front.
-286!
A big critical hit number jumped out from the gangster's head, instant kill!
Ye Weiming's move was like a stone thrown into a lake, causing a ripple effect. The hatred of those following gangsters was immediately attracted to him by this sword, all brandishing their swords and attacking him together.
As for these gangsters with almost zero force, Ye Weiming was not concerned at all. Especially in this narrow tunnel, the advantage of a large number of people can't come into play at all. Plus, these pursuers had already been kited around by Scarred Woman for a long time, they weren't at full health. Under Ye Weiming's fierce attack, they all became his experience in an instant.
After casually picking up the loot dropped by the gangsters, Ye Weiming found that the experience and loot rate of the gangsters in this underground palace were much higher than outside. It was definitely a good place for leveling.
Turning his head, Ye Weiming noticed that the Scarred Woman was not far away. She had sat down not far behind him, threw an elixir into her mouth, sat down cross-legged right on the spot, and started to rest and recuperate in quite a grand manner.
"I mean..." Ye Weiming said half-jokingly: "This palace's location is quite concealed, aren't you afraid that I might take advantage of your condition to kill you, in order to keep all good things to myself?"
Scarred Woman gave Ye Weiming a calm look and murmured two words: "As you wish."
Having said that, she closed her eyes and ignored Ye Weiming. She had a heroic appearance, like a lamb to the slaughter.