The day started with a quick breakfast made of a bottle of water, and few pieces of beef jerky. I left one of the orcs crystals on the cart and the other hid in my pocket. Then I headed to Zhang Yong. He was already awake when I knocked on his door.
- Come in.
- Hi - I said after opening the door. - Can we talk?
Zhang Yong looked completely different. He was wearing something that I later discovered was called the Mao suit. Completely black. It was tightly wrapped on his muscular body. He was sitting behind a heavy desk, with a glass of water in his hands. There was a crystal bottle standing next to him filled with this liquid.
- Oh, Peter. Yes. We can, but I would actually prefer if Blue would also listen to our conversation. I want to hear his thought.
- Fine - I answered while sitting down on the chair on the other side of the desk.
- Give me a moment - he said, and headed outside.
Still holding the glass. I finished my breakfast while waiting for his return. It only took a couple of minutes. Blue was with him. He was wearing a long black jacket and a grey turtleneck underneath. To me, both of them looked very stylish and very different from me, a dirty vagabond.
- Morning Peter.
- Morning Blue.
- Now, tell us what you found out - said Zhang Yong while sitting down on the other side of his desk.
- So first of all... - I took the crystal out of my pocket and placed it in front of Zhang Yong. - This is what you get after killing an orc. And after facing them I can say, that hunting them like goblins, is impossible by now. Grand battle like you do with rats, is out of the question probably for a very long time. The entrance to the canyon is terrible. It will be hard to go there with large forces, and on top of that, I doubt all of your men are equal fighters to those guys. I would even go so far as to say that only a few could go one on one with any orc. They are less coordinated than wolves, but at least as smart as them, maybe even more. They have their own language.
- What?! Do you think we could communicate with them? - asked Blue.
I couldn't tell if he was curious, shocked, or mad about what I just said.
- I... I have no idea. They seemed to communicate. I think they tried to talk to me. It's hard to tell. I didn't answer, so they attacked. I managed to kill one before the rest got to me, and I had to run away. But they tried to take me down with bows. Unfortunately, it was impossible with the angle they had to shoot at me.
- So you think there is no way for us to hunt them for a long time? - finally, Zhang Yong opened his mouth.
- No... yes... maybe...
- What? - asked Blue. - Can't you speak clearly?
He obviously couldn't understand my mumbling.
- I saw something that could be useful, but I need to go there again. This time stronger. I need to make my way past the first group and check what's further. Maybe I could circle around the whole canyon, and gather some more information in that way.
- That's not a bad idea. If there is a way - Zhang Yong put the glass finally down and reached for the crystal to picked it up and have a good look at it. - It could benefit us greatly, and speed things up. You should definitely try it. If you need anything...
- No, I'm fine alone. I don't need to worry about others when I'm alone.
- Good. Head out as soon as possible.
- How about the duel?
Zhang Yong smiled.
- We are waiting for the right time. We need to finalize some of our preparations. It will be soon. Very soon - said Blue.
It was hard to tell if he was lying, or telling the truth. Also, Zhang Yong's smile was very confusing.
- Look, Peter. We here are by no means trying to deceive you in any fashion. The duel will happen. The timing just needs to be right. Do your part, and we will do ours. I gave you my word, and I will keep it.
- Why do you need to hunt orcs so badly? Wolves would be way easier.
Blue let out a short sight. Clearly disappointed with my question, that only could seem dumb to him.
- We are planning to build greenhouses. Enough to support us all, so there will be no need to hunt anymore. Only those who want to will keep doing so. It's summer all year here. We have been in this world for around half a year now, and days look almost the same. Plants seem to not need water here, and even if that assumption is wrong, water is cheap to buy from the device. I'm sick of seeing people suffer on the streets. That's why we want to upgrade the device once more. Blue thinks it will give us access to almost anything we could wish for. Clothes, foods, raw materials, and whatever else is there. Then we will proceed with building greenhouses. We will establish a country here. A true paradise. I believe that both of you. Blue and you Peter, are the key to achieving this. You brought me amazing tactics to hunt rats, and Blue proved to me many times how smart he is. He perfected your tactic. You both can provide us with a plan to earn mountains of crystals. I know it. That's I won't betray you. The duel will happen. That's what we agreed on.
- Yes. We also need to fix the problem with Blood Brothers - Blue quickly agreed with Zhang Yong. - They are making more hostile movements each day. We were planning to deal with them, but way later, to reduce the number of possible casualties, but your request changed our plans. Now we have to rush with the conflict. But doing so without preparations is simply dumb. We can't tell if the rest will submit after our leader will win the duel. They might try to fight us anyway. We can't just go with the most positive outcome. We need to be prepared for everything.
I couldn't ignore his logic. Even though, I still wanted to help Aisha as soon as possible.
- How about you just save one girl, instead of all this conflict? I just want to save my friend.
- No. I told you already. Wuxia is not your toy, or Blue's, or mine. We do what's necessary for the benefit of all of us.
I could swear that I saw a slight twitch in the corners of Blue's mouth when Zhang Yong said those words.
- I only agreed to this because we already were planning to deal with them. They are a treat to us all - he continued. - Thus they need to be dealt with. But don't mistake this with me trying to please you by granting your wishes. We do what's right, not what's convenient for our members.
I took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled the air. I could understand his logic, even though it was alien to me. Somebody used to people abusing their power for personal benefit. This man was clearly different. Uncorrupted. It made me understand why Wuxia remained intact while The Mariachis fell apart.
- Fine. I'll wait, but please hurry. I will bring you the way to hunt orcs. I just need a week to prepare. I'll go and hunt wolves, gather crystals, and get stronger. Then I will go again to orcs. Is that fine with you?
- From what you just said I get that you want to confront them, yes? - asked Blue, but didn't wait for my answer, and continued. - Couldn't you just scout the canyon? You said it's possible to circle around it.
- If you want tactic to hunt, I need to confront them. And on top of that, there is no way of telling if they don't try to ambush me now. They are smart, and they remember, unlike rats that seem to reset every single time.
- You said they tried to communicate. What did they say, or yell?
- I can't repeat it. Now they just want to kill me.
- It's very unfortunate that I didn't manage to hear it. Maybe they had a clue about this world.
- Maybe. You are free to go there and check if they will communicate with you.
- Very funny Peter. Very funny. Now I shall excuse myself. This meeting seems to be done - with those words he just went out.
I on the other hand moved my focus on Zhang Yong.
- Can I proceed?
- Do what you think is necessary. I can provide you with few people to aid in your hunting.
- No. I want to go alone.
- Then see you in a week, Peter.
- Yes. See you, Zhang Yong.
With those words, I also went outside. I had a clear purpose and wanted to just focus on fulfilling the task given to me. I knew that I can trust Zhang Yong. I fucked with him, he fucked with me, but now we were square. Blue was a blank card for me. I knew him for a way too short amount of time, but overall it didn't matter. I just needed to trust Zhang Yong, and fulfill my part.
Then I started thinking about my importance in this grand task. Nobody ever saw anything in me, so I was kinda pride of what achieved here. Maybe I could get some glory out of it? Maybe for one in my life, people would admire me? I quickly pushed those thoughts away. I had to remain focused on what was important. I swore this to myself.
I have made way too many mistakes, and now there was no place for them anymore. I exhausted the limit. "Fuck glory. Fuck pride and recognition" - I thought to myself. - "All you need to do is help Aisha. Pull her out of that place."
It gave me new energy. I went back to get the cart and made my way to the device. It looked like its a free day for Wuxia members, so it was quite crowded. I had to wait in line for my turn to buy and sell. Hatta was again on duty. I exchanged nods with him and proceeded.
First I sold the 31 goblin crystals, for 3100 points, then I sold the single orc one. It was worth 1k points. Clearly, it didn't calculate in terms of power. A single orc would easily take down 10 goblins. I would bet that even 20 wouldn't stand a chance with those green bests.
With 7 745 points on my account, I bought some rations, filled bottles with water, and was on my way to the wolves.
It was getting dark when I was setting up my camp by the wall. Tomorrow was gonna be very busy for me, and probably very fruitful in terms of crystals. Now with a sharp weapon, I had no doubts I can face them.
Day ended with 7 505 points on my account.