Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-364

Chapter 364 - A Humorous Pantomime

Gu Fei held a rod of fish in his left hand and drank liquor from the glass in his right. He turned his head to look at the source of the shout while the liquid made its way down his throat and he munched on the fish in his hand, looking far more like a ne'er-do-well than Young Master Han.

Young Master Han also turned his head in the direction of the shout. Glancing at the man who had shouted, he looked back at Gu Fei. “Looking for you?”

“Probably!” he replied uncaringly. Picking out a slim fish bone from between his teeth, he gently placed his drink down on the table, and then lifted his hand once more. However, he had pulled out his Moonlit Nightfalls now.

There were only six men coming after him, so he was not worried about his safety. He was more concerned over increasing his PK value, which was already at 29 points. He figured it was more difficult to make these men beat a hasty retreat than just insta-killing them.

The six men had already made their way over by now. Gu Fei was still eating fish, but he was prepared for a fight to begin at any moment, so he was not in the least bit negligent. Unexpectedly, just as the six men were halfway to him, the two players tending the bar and setting the table intercepted them. “Gentlemen, I’m sure you are all well aware of the rules?”

“Of course, we are,” the six men smiled. “We are only stretching our legs, though. Surely, that doesn’t violate the rules, yeah?”

The two players hesitated for a moment when they heard this, but eventually let them pass. Still, the two watched the six men’s every move with hawkish eyes.

The six players indeed headed straight to Gu Fei. Many of the surrounding players turned their gazes away from the scene when they noted the men’s purposeful stride and the aggressive air they were exuding.

Gu Fei and Young Master Han, who had overheard the conversation between the barkeeps and the six men, made the conjecture that some unspoken rules must be in place. Since they were foreigners to Linshui City, they naturally did not know of these rules. However, they did not need to make a wild guess. Turning to the table with two players next to theirs, Gu Fei asked, “Bro, do you know anything about the rules those guys were talking about?”

The two players were startled. Considering how near the approaching six men were to him right now, this Mage was surprisingly still inquiring after something trivial instead of making his getaway. Nevertheless, despite their astonishment, the two players still explained the matter to him. Their answer was more or less in line with what Young Master Han and Gu Fei had guessed: Since this was a business owned by a particular guild, the guild’s protection extended beyond just preventing people from eating a free meal, but also covered preventing any sort of fights from occurring, which might affect their business.

“Does that mean that as long as I stay here, those guys can’t do anything to me?” he asked.

“Well… I guess so!” The two were even more surprised by his question, thinking that even if this establishment was a PvP-free zone, it was still not a log-off point, in the end. Just how long could he sit still here?

Gu Fei relaxed when he received this answer. Stowing away his Moonlit Nightfalls, he picked up his drink once more and told Young Master Han, “It is fine. They can’t act freely around here.” With that, he merrily took another bite out of his fish and drank another swig down

Young Master Han merely arched his eyebrow, not saying a word, and continued to sip his own drink. The six men quickly made their way over to their table. It turned out that their intention in making their way over so menacingly was to make Gu Fei turn tail and run. That way, they could give chase and leave this area, which was unofficially under the jurisdiction of a particular guild, striking once they were outside it. They had never expected him to actually remain where he was, causing them to be at a loss as to what they should do as they stood by the table. They felt uncomfortable just standing there without attacking the man, but they knew that attacking the man would invite even greater trouble for them.

What infuriated the six men was the pair’s act of ignoring their existence, drinking and eating as they saw fit, despite them standing right beside the two. The two would even occasionally raise their heads to squint at the piercing sunlight that broke through the blue sky, totally unmindful of their presence.

Someone among the six finally lost his patience and addressed Young Master Han, intending to get him to leave and create more pressure on Gu Fei. “Hey, bro, mind if you leave, if you have nothing else to do?”

“But I do have something here,” Young Master Han remained seated, brushing off these men with this curt reply. The six men were vexed, but were unable to do anything to him. Honestly speaking, although Young Master Han and Gu Fei shared a table, they could not tell if the two knew each other given how they barely spoke to one another. Right now, they seemed to be completely unrelated.

Thus, these six men could only concentrate their attention to Gu Fei. Staring him down, one threateningly said, “Hey, let’s have a word outside!”

Gu Fei finished eating his first fish, so he brought the second fish to his mouth as he looked at the six men. “What do we have to discuss?”

The six men were speechless. They were obviously not here to discuss anything, they were here to fight. Why was it that everyone they had met today seemed so tactless? This place just so happened to be a restricted area for fighting. If not for that, they would not be having so much difficulty dealing with this man right now. They were not good with their words, so when the two statements they used most often were rebutted, they found themselves at a loss for words.

“Let’s get some more men! Anyway, we can’t do anything if this guy wants to be so shameless. Since he wants to drag things out like this, let us call more men to watch this place properly, so that he can’t escape even if he wants to.” The six men started discussing this matter among them.

“Let’s do that, then!” The six men proceeded to call all their comrades that were still online to this area, while they neatly arranged themselves around Gu Fei’s table.

Witnessing this comedic pantomime made all the players around the bar laugh openly. This also displayed just how safe these players felt being on this beach. In actuality, the various guilds that had gotten themselves spots on the beach were not acting alone in their respective areas, and were actually in league, so any players would likely receive the collective wrath of several guilds if they caused a mess by the beach. Every player in Linshui City was made aware of the guilds’ determination toward their businesses after they made an example out of the first troublemaker, so no one ever dared to cause trouble in this area again.

Quite some time had passed before Gu Fei finished the second rod of fish. Lifting his head to gaze at the six men, he exclaimed, “Why are you guys still here?!”

“Hmph! Kid, stop pretending to be calm. There’s no way you’re getting out of here alive today!” someone retorted.

“Who says I’m not thinking of leaving?” he countered. He then waved his hand to order two more sticks of fish.

The fish came quickly, fragrant and inviting. He could hear the sound of the six men swallowing.

About then Young Master Han suddenly raised his head and regarded the six players. “When will those guys you’ve called for arrive?”

The six men were visibly surprised when they heard this. It took them a moment to realize that the man was speaking to them. Naturally, their shock stemmed from this Priest knowing their action of calling for more men.

What they did not know was Young Master Han was merely making a guess, but their reaction only made him more confident of his conjecture. The six men were standing there like fools, neither saying a word nor leaving. Their faces would occasionally reveal a grim determination. He reckoned that they had probably called for more helpers to prevent Gu Fei from escaping, so he casually probed them, and their expressions utterly betrayed the answer.

“Tell your men to hurry; otherwise, it won’t be fun,” he continued.

With stupid expressions on their faces, the six players wondered if he was intentionally showing false bravado, or hiding some trump card. The six hoped to get a hint from the two men’s expressions, yet one merely focused on his drink while the other merely concentrated on eating his fish. They could only come to a single conclusion after this simple exchange: these two men were friends!

The six men began to discuss this matter privately. “This person… could he be from Linshui City?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve never seen such a person before,” someone replied.

“Neither have I,” the others agreed.

“Nor have we heard about someone like him,” another added.

Young Master Han was of course someone people would find hard to forget, given how he looked and behaved. All it would take was a busybody catching a glimpse of him, and he would easily be well-known throughout the city.

This was precisely what had happened in Yunduan City.

“There is a really handsome male Priest in the city! Heh… Have you seen him?”

This question was still being asked around Yunduan City even now.

No one from Linshui City had heard such a question before, so the six men actually came to the right conclusion: this Priest was not from this city!

About this time, Gu Fei finished the two fish he had recently ordered. He realized that eating six of those fish was not exactly a difficult task. The invisible hand of the system was probably at it again, tinkering with everyone’s appetite to make them become big eaters in an effort to further stimulate food consumption.

He had ridiculed Young Master Han earlier for eating six rods of fish, so he decided to stop himself from eating more. He had finished drinking his huge glass of liquor by now, while Young Master Han had polished off the rest of the bottle. As such, the two of them were left with nothing to do now.

No wonder he’s anxious for those men to arrive…, he thought to himself ,as he began to look around.

“Just four rods of grilled fish is good enough for you?” Young Master Han gazed at him.

“Yup!” He nodded his head decisively. There was no way he would give the man something to mock him with.

Young Master Han dropped the subject with his answer and turned to look at the six men again, before checking the time.

Meanwhile, the six men began to reveal expressions of sheer delight. Gu Fei and Young Master Han followed their gazes and saw some players hurriedly making their way down from the harbor. When he saw that the two players in the lead of this procession were the two Thieves he had toyed with using the doors by the Bounty Assignment Hall, he could not help but break out into laughter.

The six players simply could not make sense of why this person would laugh despite the situation he was in.

He looked at six men as he laughed. “What are you guys so happy about?! I have yet to leave the premises. What can they do to me even if they are here?”

“You wish to leave?” the six laughed mirthlessly. Obviously, their comrades’ arrival had boosted their confidence.

“Of course, I intend to leave. Are you guys ready?” He chuckled as he stood up. The six men received a fright from his action, and hastily retreated.

No one would dare make a move in this establishment, but since Gu Fei was an outsider, he might not be clear about the rules in place, and his troublesome action could implicate them.

Unexpectedly, Young Master Han spoke up at this moment. “What’s the rush? Take a seat.”

“Eh?” Gu Fei was nonplussed.

“Another bottle, please.” Young Master Han told the barkeep before turning to speak at him, “Sit down and enjoy the show.”

“What show?” He realized that the man was probably up to something. Knowing that the people whom Young Master Han toyed with usually ended up in a sorry state, he felt that it would be quite enjoyable to see these men miserable, so he sat down once more.