Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-685

Chapter 685 – Gu Fei the Diver

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

“No matter how you put it, there’s a bend here. But look here, the player has not drawn it here in their map, yet the scrap of burnt paper has depicted it here,” Sword Demon said.

Gu Fei took a closer look and observed the surrounding terrain before finally saying, “I think that’s because the player drawn map here is in a smaller scale, while the scrap of burnt paper was scaled larger, which means it could be a lot more detailed in what is depicted on it.”

“Yes, so this place marked with an X must be here!” Sword Demon said as he lifted the paper, examining it even as he began to walk in search of their destination. After a good moment, the two men were standing on the spot marked with an X. The tracing of the lakeside was a lot simpler here. Sword Demon matched it to the map and was really pleased. “Here’s the place. Look, hardly any difference!” Sword Demon pointed to the drawing as he declared proudly.

“Isn’t the X… Isn’t it in the water?” Both men looked out in the same direction after Gu Fei said this. The drifting waves bobbed, and there was hardly any trace of anything marking the spot in the real world.

“Could it be underwater?” Sword Demon said.

Gu Fei shrugged, “Welp. I can’t do anything about that. I don’t know how to swim.”

Sword Demon picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it right into the center of the lake. The sound of the water swallowing that rock sounded as it sank, and Sword Demon sighed as well, “I think not only do you have to know how to swim, you would need to dive as well.”

“What’s the difference between that and swimming?”

“Swimming is just moving about on the surface of the water, while diving means moving about underwater,” Sword Demon gave a simple explanation.

“Looks like you can’t do it either…” Gu Fei said.

“Given my rudimentary skill, I should be able to get underwater really quick. Though I would not qualify it as diving; It’s more like drowning,” Sword Demon laughed dryly.

“Do you know any friends who know how to dive though?” Gu Fei asked.

“There’s one that I know, but I can’t contact him right now!” Sword Demon reminded.

“Oh? Who could that be?” Gu Fei curiously asked.

“Who do you think? Deep Waters,” Sword Demon said.

Gu Fei immediately made the connection, “Oh, just as the name suggests! His IGN, how did I not think of that!?”

“I heard he might even own a diving license,” Sword Demon said.

“But he can’t help us now either,” Gu Fei sighed.

“I doubt the game has any tools that could help us dive in the water, right?” Sword Demon asked.

“How would I know…”

The two men squatted by the lakeside stewing in their melancholy. Sword Demon was still holding on to the scrap of burnt paper, dazed. The target was right in front of his eyes, yet they now faced a problem like this. If this was a normal MMO, it would hardly be an issue. If there was water, so be it. Players could still drown, but the system would at least have a breath indicator for players to take note of. Parallel World did not function like this at all. It was a simulation game that strove to be as close to reality as possible. If players did not know how to swim, they would surely experience what it was like to drown.

“Let me swim over to that position and take a look first,” Sword Demon said.

“Alright,” Gu Fei agreed. He watched as Sword Demon went into the water. The man was truly an honest person. He had previously mentioned how he was not particularly adept when it came to the water, anybody could tell that his four limbs were flailing vigorously the moment he entered the water and see him showcase the good-to-honest doggy paddle style. Even Gu Fei had a hard time making out his figure with the amount of splashes he created from all his movement.

Sword Demon struggled his way over to the middle, then he circled his way around back. As soon as he got to the bank, he wiped the water off his face and said, “There’s nothing on the surface of the water, but there really does appear to be something deep underwater.”

“What precisely?”

“I can’t make it out too clearly. We will really have to dive down to get a look, but from what I could tell, it isn’t particularly deep there. The depth was at most three to four meters,” Sword Demon said.

“In that case… I’ve got an idea!” Gu Fei said.

“What’s your idea?” Sword Demon asked.

“You can hug a stone and sink down,” Gu Fei gave his suggestion.

“I can’t come back up if I sink down like that,” Sword Demon said.

“Not to worry. I’ll tie a heavy rock to your body, so all you have to do is hold your breath for the entire ordeal. And when you can’t do it any longer, send a message to me and I’ll drag you up.” Gu Fei said.

“Can you really pull me up?” Sword Demon expressed his skepticism to that claim.

“I’ll find someone to help!” Gu Fei declared.

“Where would you find such manpower?” Sword Demon asked.

“That’s real easy!” Gu Fei stowed his equipment and weapon away once more and tossed out a spell as he shouted, “Is there anyone out there? Anyone at all!”

How could there be no one hidden in the swathe of common reeds? They had already bombarded a bunch before and this time Gu Fei was not hiding. He brushed off the whole bunch of swearing upon him that followed and laughed, “Any of you kind hearted souls coming out to help me?”

Most of these people wished they could just kill him. The fact that they did not even make the attempt to do so was good enough, why would they be in the mood to lend a hand? Many of them glared at Gu Fei and shouted their share of curses before going back to hide in the field of reeds. However, there were still kind Samaritans in the world, and these players asked what sort of help was needed.

Gu Fei gave these people a general idea of what he intended to do, which was to wait for Sword Demon to get underwater and to get everyone to lend a hand in pulling him up when he could not stay under any longer. Some players felt this to be a rather refreshing use of their time so they agreed to help. Gu Fei thanked them profusely before pulling a rope out of his dimensional pocket for Sword Demon to loop it around his waist.

What they were doing was not a common recurrence like PK, so Sword Demon could not help but feel a little nervous, looking at Gu Fei, “You’re not trying to take the mickey out of me, right?”

“Of course not,” Gu Fei tossed the rope over to Sword Demon, “Hold onto it tightly!”

Sword Demon grabbed the rope, hesitating for a good while and just as he was about to wrap it around his waist, he suddenly remembered something, his eyes shining with realization, “No, I can’t be the one going down.”

“Why not?” Gu Fei found this odd. Sword Demon was not the sort to back down over a challenge!

“See, you’re the one who actually has the quest. What if this portion of the quest requires the player who actually took the quest to interact with it? What good will me going down there do?” Sword Demon asked.

What he said made sense, Gu Fei paused for a moment before he said, “but weren’t you the one who retrieved that scrap of burnt paper before?”

“But isn’t it safer for you to be the one going down? If I was the one who went down and there was nothing, we’ll have to suspect that it might be because I’m not the quest holder. In that case, you’ll still have to go down yourself, so why don’t we just get you to be the one doing it right from the get go?” Sword Demon reasoned.

“But I don’t know how to swim!”

“There’s no need to know how to swim. Just hug a heavy rock and hold your breath while you sink down. Send a message to me if you can’t hold it anymore and we’ll pull you out,” Sword Demon had used the same reason Gu Fei pulled on him.

Gu Fei had no response to this, but he felt as if he had been lassoed into the matter no matter how he looked at it. Sword Demon had already tossed the rope back to him, “secure it tightly!”

“You’re not trying to take the mickey out of me, right?” the roles of these two men were thoroughly reversed now.

“Of course not!” Sword Demon replied seriously, before expressing his thanks to the players who had volunteered to help out. “Thank you all for helping!”

“It’s nothing. What quest are the two of you doing anyway?” A player asked.

“It’s related to the City Wars,” Sword Demon answered.

“Oh!” They were all unaffiliated players, and the City Wars was of no concern to any of them. Once they learnt that it was related to the City Wars, any intention to pry further was lost as they went to grab a hold of the rope Sword Demon was holding.

“Where’s the rock?” Sword Demon was looking all around.

“You wanna sink to the bottom by increasing your weight, right? You may take my great hammer!” A helpful Warrior offered.

Sword Demon glanced at the item and identified it as a white tier trash weapon, but the weight was the real deal. The weight of an item had nothing to do with the level of an equipment; no matter if it was high or low leveled, all equipment would have their respective weight. Meanwhile, the game had to observe a degree of science to it. There was no need to calculate anything placed into the dimensional pocket as part of the weight, otherwise it would not make scientific sense. Weight was thus calculated by what was explicitly on the outside, which meant Gu Fei had to hold on to the hammer to sink. Its weight would essentially be disregarded if Gu Fei put it into his dimensional pocket.

“This will do!” Sword Demon nodded his head vigorously, handing it over to Gu Fei even as he said, “when you’re ready to be pulled up, just put the hammer into your dimensional pocket.”

“It’s fine if you toss it too!” That Warrior called out generously.

Gu Fei had secured the rope to himself and that was when he thought of a problem, “that position isn’t anywhere near the bank. Does that mean I’ll have to walk over to it while underwater?”

It was at that point when someone from the enthusiastic crowd came up with an idea, “float over while holding a piece of driftwood, exchanging it for the hammer once you drift into position so you can sink down.”

“Why are you so clever?” Gu Fei regarded that person expressionlessly.

“Haha, I’m off to find a piece of driftwood,” that person ran off.

“What? Don’t you guys know how to swim?” The player who provided the great hammer wondered aloud.

“Nope,” Gu Fei answered.

“Then find someone who can!” the player fired back.

“It’s his quest,” Sword Demon pointed to Gu Fei.

“Oh, good luck! You can do it!” The player patted Gu Fei on his shoulder.

“The driftwood is here!!” In no time at all, that player had already fished out a piece of driftwood from the muddy bank and a dead tree branch appeared out of nowhere.

“Can that even float?” Gu Fei did not think what that player found looked safe.

“It works,” the player threw it in the water and the piece of wood bobbed along on the water, floating.

“It’s not gonna sink once I sling myself on it, right?” Gu Fei asked.

“Relax,” someone else called out. “We’ll pull you back up.”

“Go on then!” Everyone was very enthusiastic about this.

Gu Fei bravely set off towards the water, hugging the piece of wood as he pushed into deeper waters. Sure enough, the dead tree branch held and there was already no ground beneath Gu Fei’s feet, so all he could do was hug onto the wood tightly. The players back on the bank were all coming up with ideas, one calling out to Gu Fei to paddle while another suggested he kick with his legs as a feeling of abject despair came over Gu Fei.

Sword Demon was not idling by while this happen either, shouting loudly to give Gu Fei directions, “To your left. Left, LEFT! No, left, LEFT!!!”

After shouting for such a long time with no response, Sword Demon thought that Gu Fei could not hear him, so he sent a message, “You’ve strayed off course. Go left!”

“I know! Let me acclimatize first! Have you tried going through water by just hugging a piece of wood?” Gu Fei was angered.

“Okay…” Sword Demon calmed down.

Fortunately, physical exertion was slow in Parallel World, so Gu Fei barely expended much energy while hugging the dead tree branch. He was soon able to grasp a semblance of technique and began to progress through the water hugging onto the piece of wood with a target in mind, as a storm of applause exploded from the lakeside.

“Alright, get in position. Stop drifting forward!!” Sword Demon began speaking once more.

In the end, Gu Fei continued to float forward like he had not heard a word being said, which Sword Demon once again mistook for being unable to hear him. So he quickly messaged Gu Fei, only to get an angry reply back, “Let me figure out how to stop first!!”

“What’s there to figure out? Just take out the great hammer and sink,” Sword Demon said.

Gu Fei felt that made sense when he heard it. He was not one to beat around the bush, quickly pulling out the hammer and letting go of the piece of wood. With a glug sound, Gu Fei did not even leave behind a single bubble and all that remained was the dead tree branch that was still drifting forward.

Gu Fei was a true kung fu expert that had trained his body both externally and internally. As such, he was more than capable of holding his breath much longer than the average human, not in the least bit panicked when sinking either, though he was a little afraid to open his eyes. That was when he remembered that this was just a game, so what was his hesitation even for? He steeled his heart and opened his eyes. He felt the stinging pain and it still continued to sting as he kept his eyes open while submerged in the water. Gu Fei took a good moment to adapt to it and knitted his eyebrows as he lowered his head. He was now just a short distance away from the bottom of the lake.

Gu Fei turned his head to take in his surroundings immediately. The water was only about three to four meters deep, but the lighting was already poor, and everything looked dark and gloomy. A whole cloud of microbe drifted by made Gu Fei feel completely unclean. When he looked around, he found something worth his attention no more than two meters away from where he was. Something that looked like a tunnel was poking out, something none of them saw from the bank! Gu Fei’s feet finally touched the base of the lake and he began moving in the direction of the tunnel. It really was an opening, and just as he wanted to enter it and investigate, how was he to know that the moment his hand went out to touch it, he instead felt a mass of something soft in it.

Gu Fei had quite the fright, as he reached out his other hand to touch it. Sure enough, there was something that obstructed the opening. He could not describe what he was touching as it seemed like there was a layer of film that covered it. Gu Fei wanted to pull out a dagger and poke it, but he did not expect the layer of film to be so stretchable. When Gu Fei plunged his dagger right into it, it rapidly shrunk inward, but no hole was created in it. Furthermore, the stretching it did cause the flow of water around it to fluctuate. Gu Fei registered everything that happened and could tell that this layer of film-like substance was blocking the opening.

Poking it, slashing it or even tearing it would not work either. Gu Fei tried a few other methods as well, but to no avail. There just was not enough time to keep trying, and Gu Fei was at his limit as far as to how long his breath could last. So he had no choice but to send a message to Sword Demon, indicating it was time to pull him up.

Sword Demon received the message and quickly directed everyone to pull. The rope was long and sturdy enough, quickly became taut with how quickly everyone worked on it. Gu Fei used the remaining time that he had to further examine the thin film. Suddenly, he felt the rope around his waist tighten and he began being dragged backward forcefully till he was off the ground. The sudden buoyancy he gained allowed him to float higher and higher, and just as Gu Fei was finding the experience to be interesting, his head was already near the surface. Gu Fei was now close to the water surface, but he lacked the thrust to maintain buoyancy, so he sunk before he could even get himself stable footing. However, because he was still being dragged, he soon found himself seated in the mud as his head finally broke the surface. Everyone cheered as they continue to pull him back onto the bank.

“Thanks everyone,” Sword Demon expressed his gratitude to all the players that came to help out.

“Is there anything else you need help with?” The whole lot of good Samaritans were keen to help them to the end.

Sword Demon turned to gaze at Gu Fei. He still had no idea what was underwater, so of course he was uncertain if they needed more help. Gu Fei wiped his face and thanked everyone, “We temporarily do not need any of your help, so you guys can go about your own business! Bro, here’s your hammer.” Gu Fei returned the weapon back to its owner and the players were of course paired up man and woman, so they held hands and left once they saw there was nothing else. That was when Sword Demon came forward and asked, “Was there anything underwater?”

“There was something really strange…” Gu Fei began describing what he found.

“This… opening. Did you see what’s inside?”

“Nope,” Gu Fei shook his head. “You can’t see anything inside the opening without any light source and you can’t really call it a opening. I think it is a tunnel. Come here,” Gu Fei led Sword Demon along the bank and arrived at a certain position. He stepped into the water and with Sword Demon right behind him, Gu Fei pointed toward the water ahead, “Look there, you can see something murky over there, right?”

Sword Demon turned his gaze to where Gu Fei pointed and sure enough, he could see something murky, which made it appear as if there was an unknown shadow in that region of the water.

“How strange,” That was the only conclusion Sword Demon could draw.

“I wonder what would happen after we enter? Where could it lead to?” Gu Fei thought back to the secret passageway he found back in Oolong Mountains.

“Could this be a secret passageway that leads directly into Yunduan City? If the attackers were to find out about this, they could very well use this passageway and make it right into the city!!”

“That’s a possibility.’

“Think about it. The content of the very first step in this quest had something to do with the master civil engineer. That NPC might have been the one who designed this secret passageway, and Carouse could have gotten a quest that utilizes this NPC to successfully assault the city. There’s a very good chance that if they ended up completing their quest, they would learn about the location of this secret passageway and be able to use it to make it right into the city!” Sword Demon got more and more excited the more he felt that he was making a reliable assessment of the situation.

“Yes, that’s reasonable.”

“So why hasn’t any player from Carouse appeared near here yet? Could they have failed to accomplish their quest?” Sword Demon was skeptical.

“From what you’ve said, their quest might be to utilize this secret passageway to make it into the city, and our objective is to stop them. Does that mean that the continuation of the quest would require me to destroy this passageway? Collapse it, somehow? How would I go about doing that?” Gu Fei said.

“This… I don’t think any of the players have the power to be destructive to such a degree presently. I think your investigation should already be considered complete, so you just have to make the trip back to the city and give your account to complete the quest,” Sword Demon deduced.

“Then I shall kill myself to head back!” Gu Fei planned to kill himself by drowning.

“NO DON’T! Sword Demon quickly stopped him. “With how vague this quest is, lacking any sort of prompt in any sense, who knows if you’ve already completed it or otherwise? What if your death end up causing the quest to fail? You’ll still have to make another trip out here in the end!”

“Argh, this is so troublesome. Guess we’ll swing by where Traversing Four Seas is to see how are things there!” Gu Fei said.

“You should head back to complete the quest first. I can just Stealth my way in and take a look,” Sword Demon said.

“That’s true,” Gu Fei nodded.

The two were discussing their course of action when they suddenly saw their message prompt light up. Neither gave too much thought to the matter at first and casually pulled it up, only to end up getting quite the surprise. It was actually their mercenary channel, and the person sending the message was actually Young Master Han, “Brother Assist, where are you hiding? Come on out and show yourself!!!”

“Hey, what’s going on here? How is this channel working?” Gu Fei messaged out.

“That’s right, isn’t this restricted due to us being the hostile force?” Sword Demon added on.

Young Master Han was greatly surprised by this as well. Gu Xiaoshang and her men had not seen either of the two men appear despite having positioned themselves all around Traversing Four Seas’ campsite this whole time. Even Young Master Han had gotten a little anxious. Brother Assist had blocked all incoming messages, which was why he had wanted to see if he could use the mercenary channel itself to get through. But how was he supposed to know that the single message that he sent did not get Brother Assist to appear, but had instead seen those two men turn up. Young Master Han found this completely inexplicable, how were they able to contact each other this time?

“What’s going on? Could it be that even the mercenary channel is accessible once we leave the city?” Gu Fei asked.

“What sort of logic is that? This is very strange indeed,” Sword Demon concurred.

On the other side, Royal God Call and War Without Wounds had both howled in their surprise as well, “Where the hell did the two of you die off to?”

Brother Assist was quietly watching everything unfold. He needed to endure! He did not block messages from the mercenary channel because he was able to pretend to be AFK in this sort of channel as long as he did not speak, claiming to have blocked the messages afterward. Now that Gu Fei and Sword Demon had suddenly spoke in the channel, he nearly spoke up in his astonishment. But upon thinking about his current predicament and how revealing his presence might result in him reliving the experience of being between the two parties, he hastily stopped himself and curbed his curiosity.

“I heard that you two are looking to kill Oathless Sword?” Royal God Call asked.

“That’s right, where is he?” Gu Fei asked.

“With his guild. Don’t come over though. The whole guild is waiting for the two of you to arrive. No matter how powerful the two of you are, I doubt you can kill a thousand players, right?” Royal God Call said.

“Royal, where are you?” Young Master Han asked coldly.

“I can’t be bothered with staying in this sh*tty guild any longer, let’s go form our own one again!”

“Our Home of the Warriors is still doing fine, it’s pretty fun,” War Without Wounds boasted.

“Does Amethyst Rebirth want more players? Miles, help me ask them!” Royal God Call quipped.

“Ahem. Actually, things haven’t been great recently. If Amethyst Rebirth needs people, I would not mind if you help me ask about it as well,” War Without Wounds was quick to change his tune.