Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-585

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

“F*CK F*CK F*CK!” Svelte Dancer wished she could just spit at Gu Fei.

Seeing the gloomy look on the two women, Gu Fei shook his head. “Looks like you two have yet to see the wrongness of your ways ideologically!”

“Go and die as far away as you can!” Svelte Dancer’s face was filled with anger.

“This isn’t a bad spot.” Squeezing himself beside the two and poking half of his head out from the side of the wall, Gu Fei said, “I still have to watch Southern Lone Blade’s movement!”

Svelte Dancer and Vast Lushness lost their position as a result of him squeezing in like this, leaving Svelte Dancer at a loss whether she should be laughing or crying as she complained to Vast Lushness while stomping her feet in frustration. “Why is this person so insufferable‽”

Vast Lushness could tell that he had sat here precisely to make them give up on using such unconventional means to retrieve the Utopian Magic Staff, so all she could do was pat him on the back helplessly. “Keep watching, then! If you see the person who won the auction for the magic staff, ask him if he is willing to sell it back at a higher price.”

“Sure thing. I’ll help you ask if I do see the person.” Gu Fei nodded.

“I’ll be leaving first, then.” Vast Lushness waved goodbye to the two.

When Svelte Dancer saw that she was saying goodbye to her as well, she was nonplussed. “What are you doing?”

“I’m leaving, of course!”

“Then, I’m leaving, too!”

“What are you leaving for? Aren’t you seeking Southern Lone Blade for revenge? You can do that with Miles!” Vast Lushness reminded her.

“That’s right!” Gu Fei’s head poked in and interjected to the conversation.

Svelte Dancer thought that this made sense. Ultimately, this was the goal she was busying herself with the whole day, but why was it that she felt so unsatisfied about this?

“I’m going.” Vast Lushness waved once more and left.

Svelte Dancer remained where she was. Looking at Gu Fei’s furtive action of hiding behind the corner of the wall, her anger rampaged within her, and she could not help but wishing to give this man a quick stab or two. In the end, before she got herself in position to do just that, Gu Fei warned her without turning to face her. “Enough with your nonsense!”

Svelte Dancer banged her head against the wall, feeling like she was about to die from exasperation.

“How long are you prepared to wait still?” Svelte Dancer asked.

“Until he gets out,” Gu Fei replied.

“Just what sort of enmity do you have against that man?” Svelte Dancer wondered why Gu Fei was so persistent.

“To eliminate a threat to society, of course!” Gu Fei said matter-of-factly.

Svelte Dancer was left speechless, for she had no idea just how she should criticize such an act.

“Then, what if he doesn’t come out forever?” Svelte Dancer was now speaking through gritted teeth.

“I’ve come prepared.” Gu Fei’s hand went into his dimensional pocket and pulled out a book. “If he’s gonna spend his time reading inside, why can’t I do the same?”

“Where the heck did either of you get books…” Svelte Dancer was stunned.

“I don’t know where he got his, but this one here is something Eternal Dominion his students made,” Gu Fei said.

“Eternal Dominion… Is he a teacher as well?” Svelte Dancer’s final shred of hope was snuffed out. She had originally been thinking that, while Gu Fei was a teacher, Eternal Dominion might not be one as well. As such, Gu Fei would still be here now, but Eternal Dominion might quickly go offline, which meant that Gu Fei had no way of comprehensively covering both sides like what he was doing now. However…

“I guess the nature of his work is around the same…” Gu Fei did not bother elaborating as he turned to smile at her. “All you gotta know is that there’s such a thing as winter holiday for them too.”

Ahhhhhhh! Svelte Dancer whined in her heart.

“What are you reading?” After she had somewhat recovered, Svelte Dancer tried taking a look at what Gu Fei was reading.

Gu Fei lifted the book up and showed her the cover: ‘Gate-Opening Baji.’

“What’s that?”

“It’s about Baji Quan ¹ ,” Gu Fei answered.

“Let me see.” Svelte Dancer truly squatted beside Gu Fei. Reading is a pretty good way to pass the time; I’ll take the book off your hands and let you stew here in boredom while you camp out here.

Without another thought, Gu Fei handed the book over to her.

Svelte Dancer flipped it open and read the first line: ‘Outside the nine provinces are eight terrestrial branches. Beyond the eight earthly branches are the eight perimeters of heaven and earth. Past the eight perimeters of heaven and earth lies the eight extremities.’ Svelte Dancer shuddered as she swiftly dropped the book onto the ground. Gu Fei hurriedly went to pick it up, afraid that the book would be gone if the system refreshed. He had reacted with such anxiety that no one had ever seen him do before; not even when he dropped his Moonlit Nightfalls to the ground.

Just as he was about to speak to Svelte Dancer, he instead saw the lady running away while wailing her heart out.

“You can just ask me if you don’t understand what you’re reading! Seriously…” Gu Fei mumbled, dusting the dirt of the book.

The crying Svelte Dancer soon caught up with Vast Lushness, hugging her tightly with a grab.

“I’m never playing with that monster anymore!” Svelte Dancer cried aloud.

——————————————

Inside and outside the Auction House, the Bounty Assignment Hall, Archer Range, and Thieves’ Union.

Nine players, five places, two books. Everybody was all camped out in each location waiting for their respective targets as time trickled by. There were no changes in any of those places. People who should arrive never arrived, while those unwanted flocked without a break.

“Ahhhh! This paragraph here is written beautifully!!” Gu Fei typed out a passage and sent it to Eternal Dominion.

“Yes, yes. I really like that bit, too!” Eternal Dominion began an animated discussion with Gu Fei after he received his message.

Southern Lone Blade was engrossed in his reading as well. Holding the book with one hand while he extending his two fingers in the other like a scissor, he often moved it as if he were catching a fly. His actions created quite the confusion in the crowd that gathered, with people guessing it to be a new gesture of showing contempt, causing it to elicit even greater curses flung his way. As Southern Lone Blade reached the part where a masked killer appeared, he felt it connect to him on an intimate level, so he pulled out a piece of cloth and covered his face as well. In the end, the players that joined in on surrounding Southern Lone Blade thereafter did not even know how he looked, which only caused them to swear at him all the more intensely.

As for the other two places, neither was lonely since there were more people. One team was playing Landlord ² , while another team played Tie for Golden Flower ³ . They were things that Southern Lone Blade’s gang would do to pass the time while waiting for their target to appear, so nobody felt tired playing the game for long.

In the blink of an eye, it was already 11 PM. This was about the time when Gu Fei would normally log off. Gu Fei, who had once been Southern Lone Blade’s target for assassination, had also been his imaginary opponent for a time. Thus, Southern Lone Blade understood Gu Fei’s routine as well as those he deemed as friends, so when he saw that it was about time, he pulled his friends list and tried testing it out. The result: [You’ve added Thousand Miles Drunk as a friend.]

Southern Lone Blade nearly vomited a mouthful of blood. Thousand Miles Drunk was too m*th*rf*ck*ng vicious; He did not even restrict his friends list.

Next, he heard the system prompt. [Thousand Miles Drunk has added you as a friend.] After adding someone as a friend, there was no way for a player to reject when the other player reciprocated. This was a system rule.

“So, are you coming out yet?” Gu Fei’s sent a message thusly.

Southern Lone Blade did not answer, for his intentions had already been seen through by the other party.

“I’m not sleeping tonight. I’ll wait for you till daybreak.” This was bad news that caused Southern Lone Blade to feel a breakdown coming on, trembling as he asked, “Why must you pester me and my bros to death, never letting go?”

“To eliminate a threat from the society, of course!” It was still the same answer.

“You’ve eliminated us plenty enough as it is; why don’t you change your target over to some other scoundrels?” Southern Lone Blade pretty much admitted that he was not a good egg.

“Then, introduce them to me,” Gu Fei said.

Southern Lone Blade was depressed. He, of course, knew plenty of peers in the same line of work, and everyone would work together, compete, bear hatred, and even exploit one another as and whenever the need arose, but directly betraying their counterparts’ identity was something anyone within the circle of this profession would despise. Southern Lone Blade was a professional and would never be that unprincipled.

“Then, when are you letting us off?” Southern Lone Blade ultimately gave up. He had long accepted that he was no match for Gu Fei, but never would have thought that this person would sacrifice so much time and effort on him in such a fashion. After all, there must be the presence of benefit of sort when spending time like this, yet Gu Fei would gain no such benefit to speak of. All for the sake of killing him, that Mage had sacrificed a whole week’s worth of game time; a week’s worth of game time was very precious in MMOs. Southern Lone Blade was well-versed when it came to gaming and he knew that, the more expert the player was, the more unlikely it was that they would willingly make such a sacrifice. Experts like Sword Demon and the other would not be willing to squander their whole week on this, but Gu Fei was an anomaly. In fact, he was not really a professional as far as an online gamer went.

“Hmm. I’ve never really thought about this question…” Gu Fei was telling the truth; he truly had never once considered it before. Even though losing a level was a very severe punishment, there was no way for him to truly kill the man at the end of the day. All it would take was a turn of their heads, and players could start anew. Until he turns over a new leaf? Gu Fei did not think of himself so highly that he could influence these men on such a spiritual level. Moreover, forcing them to become better men was all the more illogical. He might be able to camp out here for today, but did that mean that he was he about to do this for the rest of his life?

What an astute question! Gu Fei scratched his head.

Southern Lone Blade was all the more despondent now, for this meant that they had been hunted down without any clear reason whatsoever. Is he thinking of forcing me to the point where I give up larceny as a profession? F*ck! If I can’t rob people, what the hell am I even playing games for? Does he want me to go back to being a gold farmer? Southern Lone Blade, who had been a professional gamer for many years, never had any great ambitions of his own, or even considered setting up his workshop to get into any legitimate business. He was an advocate of freedom. Merely wanting to work in something casually, it was fine as long as he could put food on the table.

His early days gaming had been spent doing the simplest menial works, such as gold farming. However, with the increase in his gaming standards and a few lucky breaks, he managed to join in some farm teams that required higher standards from players. Meanwhile, Southern Lone Blade had long had his eye on the larceny profession after seeing Parallel World’s rules and its huge player base.

Southern Lone Blade was a renowned professional gamer, but he was not a peak expert like Sword Demon, Royal God Call, and the others, that would be known the moment his name was mentioned.

“Southern Lone Blade? Oh. I know that guy. He’s a professional.”

Those three words were the extent of Southern Lone Blade’s reputation in the MMO community. “He’s a professional.” It was only after he started his time here in Parallel World, when he sought this particular avenue of work, and when he made a mad rush for levels all the way until he became one of the Five Unyielding Experts that he gained a bit of fame.

Southern Lone Blade had keen eyes, and Parallel World’s larceny business developed with great prosperity. It was like the saying: ‘It is easy to change from living sparsely to that of great abundance, but it’s difficult to adjust from living a life of luxury to that of scarcity.’ He simply could not accept going back to the tiring and hard life of gold farming after having a taste of the good life. Asking him to make an occupational change here would require finding him a more lucrative line of work than what he was currently doing.

There were really such options available in Parallel World. Take that map that Glue had for example; items created by players often sold really well on the market. Similarly were the boat building in Linshui City, fashionable outfits and inner wear in the various cities, creation of attractive accessories, and even talk of someone managing to create cigarettes in-game.

Still, all these works had distinguishing traits, and they were all products which required professional expertise. A cartographer would be able to draw maps, and those in the profession of making apparel in real life could create clothes without the aid of the tailoring system the game had in place. Sadly, for Southern Lone Blade, the man knew nothing beyond gaming; he was a professional gamer from head to toe. Besides being able to conduct larceny through the use of his skill in gaming, there was really no other line of work that he would be better at.

That f*ck*ng b*st*rd, Thousand Miles Drunk, why must he oppose me to such an extent? He’s unwilling to tell me what I should do to get off the hook, either. Does he truly want me to die‽ Southern Lone Blade thought to himself with great resentment and agony, suddenly standing up from the floor of the Auction House.

“Ah!” The players surrounding the man all got a fright, none of them expecting him to stand up after lazing about on the ground this whole time.

“What are you looking at me for? Look anymore, and I’ll loot your equipment tomorrow!” Southern Lone Blade suddenly bellowed at the onlookers around him.

“F*ck! He still dares to be so arrogant!” The curses began to flood in.

Southern Lone Blade did not respond, merely flashing them a cold smile as he stared at a few players fiercely swearing at him.

These players suddenly felt their hearts shudder, for if they were truly targeted… None of them was acquainted with any of the players around them.While we have the numbers now, who will really know me after? Who’s going to take care of me? Who’s going to protect me? These thoughts ran through these players’ heads as the swearing slowly simmered.