Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-73

Chapter 73 - Framing Others

Fugitive 29527 sure was unlucky. Sacred Flames of Baptism’s 30% fire attack got procced in all the three slashes Gu Fei had sent his way. Fugitive 29527 was engulfed by fire before he could speak a word, fading away with a confused look on his face. The disappearing stream of white light was accompanied by the sound of a slamming cell door, which indicated that the player had been sent to jail. If a wanted player was killed by someone who had accepted the ‘Bounty Mission’, he or she would be sent directly to one of the system-managed prisons and would not be subjected to a death penalty akin to dropping a level.

One could say that trying to evade capture in Parallel World was similar to resisting arrest in reality – it was considered as a more serious offense. The imprisonment duration for the fugitives who had been caught was different to the fugitives who had turned themselves in. If the players with PK value turned themselves in, they would lose 1 PK point for every one hour. If the fugitives were killed and forcefully put into jail, they would lose 1 PK point for every two hours. This was the same as dropping PK points while fleeing in the wild; the only difference was that the players would lose their freedom during imprisonment. It was a truly sad fate.

Fugitive 29527 possessed 4 PK points. This meant that he would have to stay in prison for eight hours. His only consolation was that he would not be subjected to the penalty of dying.

Soon after the player’s death, Gu Fei received a system notification. [‘Bounty Mission’ for Fugitive 29527 has been completed! Player can now go claim the reward at the Quest Assignment Hub.] Gu Fei breathed a sigh of relief. The wanted player’s confused look had made Gu Fei wonder whether he got the right person or not. It had even caused him to hesitate in his attacks ever so slightly. Now that he received the system notification, he was finally at ease.

After putting away Sacred Flames of Baptism, he headed to the bar counter while rubbing his hands together in satisfaction. He only took a sip from the drink he had ordered earlier, so he decided to finish it first before leaving the tavern to retrieve the reward.

The people sitting at the surrounding tables near Fugitive 29527 a while ago stared at Gu Fei strangely. He returned their odd gazes with a smile and a nod. As he arrived at the bar counter, he noticed that everyone was still staring at him. He started to consider whether his actions just then were too domineering. As he pondered on this, he lifted his glass toward the other tavern patrons as a sign of goodwill.

Someone kicked a table over right after that, producing a loud bang. The players from the surrounding tables seemed to have been jolted to reality by that sound, as the muddled look on their faces had turned into an angry expression. Their anger was of course directed at Gu Fei. The remaining tavern patrons apparently possessed an acute awareness toward PvPs just like the other players of Yueye City, as they all hurriedly left in bulk upon sensing trouble in the air.

“Oh, hi there, Master Kang! Is that really you? I didn’t notice you’re here, too!” Gu Fei’s eyes sharpened. When he spotted a familiar face among the crowd, he did not hesitate to greet him loudly.

Master Kang’s face paled like a ghost, as he hurriedly replied, “Who are you?! I don’t know you!”

“I’m that guy! You don’t remember me?” Gu Fei answered, as he swiftly approached Master Kang. Once he arrived beside Master Kang, he grabbed him by the shoulder, “What’re you standing still for? Let’s make a run for it!”

“You screwed me up big time, bro!” Master Kang cried as he made his way outside. Gu Fei had reacted faster than him and was already outside.

“F*ck! He ran away!” The bunch of angry-looking people inside the tavern was jolted to reality once more at the sight of the two’s fleeing figures. They continued hollering as they proceeded to rush outside.

Gu Fei was running a few meters ahead of Master Kang. The bunch of players who had hurried outside saw Gu Fei and Master Kang getting further and further away. Someone yelled, “OVER THERE! THERE’RE TWO OF THEM, DON’T LET EVEN ONE ESCAPE!”

Master Kang cried in anguish again when he heard that. He roared to Gu Fei who was in front, “Why did you have to greet me?! Couldn’t you have pretended to not see me?!”

Gu Fei felt very remorseful, “Sorry. I was trying to distract them.”

“Who’re those guys, anyway?” Gu Fei asked as he turned his head around. The group chasing after the two seemed to lack speed. It was clear that they could not keep up with Gu Fei and Master Kang.

“They’re members of Past Deeds, the largest guild in this city. The guy you just killed is called Silver Moon. He’s their guild leader,” Master Kang explained dejectedly. He did not forget to lament at the end, “What’s with you killing him all of a sudden?!”

“I’m doing a ‘Bounty Mission’,” Gu Fei answered.

“Why him?! There’re clearly so many others on the Wanted Players list?!”

“He’s got 4 PK points. It’s the highest,” Gu Fei replied.

“Can’t blame you for that,” Master Kang sighed as they kept running, “IGN isn’t stated on the ‘Bounty Mission’. Plus, you didn’t know Silver Moon since you’re not from around here. Why do you think he had the guts to sit and drink like that when he’s got 4 PK points? He knew that a player could only fall back upon finding out that the mission’s target was him. A ‘Bounty Mission’ isn’t worth that much trouble. How can a player survive if he or she pisses off Past Deeds Guild?”

“Oh… I see, I see,” Gu Fei understood everything now. The reason that guy had such a confused look on his face when he died was most likely this. Gu Fei had of course thought of such a possibility. He just did not care either way. After all, he had always been up for a challenge.

“It’s fine even if you killed him. But you should’ve left once you’re done! You actually dared stay behind and have a drink. You even greeted me! You’ve screwed me up big time! How am I supposed to live here from now on?!” Master Kang wept bitterly.

“It’s fine… You can come with me to Yunduan City two days later. Surely, they won’t pursue us all the way there?”

“It’s not fine at all, and you can never be too sure,” Master Kang answered sullenly.

“Sh*t, really?!” Gu Fei felt shocked.

“You don’t know how those PvP fanatics’ minds work. All they think about is coming up with an excuse to engage in PvPs. It’s even possible for them to consider hunting someone over a span of a thousand miles as cool,” Master Kang explained.

“Cool, my *ss! I think we’ve already ditched them,” Gu Fei looked back and saw that not one of their pursuers could be seen around.

The two’s speed was not slow since Master Kang was a Thief and Gu Fei was an all-Agility Mage. Apparently, the group of pursuers lacked Agility-based individuals, so they could not catch up to the duo.

“What do we do now? We might already be surrounded,” Master Kang asked, terrified.

“Here’s what you do: change your attire and cover your face like this,” Gu Fei instructed Master Kang, as he covered his face with a piece of cloth and put on Midnight Spirit Robe.

“Cover my face? Won’t that be too obvious?” Master Kang asked.

“Nah. Lots of players are wearing masks in the city today,” Gu Fei said, refraining to mention that those who had masked their faces were actually after his life. He was somewhat annoyed that he had attracted those robbers toward him when he had been keeping a low profile all this while. He had gotten rid of a PvP fanatic for the people, yet he ended up provoking trouble for himself. Gu Fei, however, conveniently neglected to consider the fact that he was more of a PvP fanatic than Silver Moon if he compared his PK points with the latter.

Master Kang followed his advice. After changing his equipment and covering his face with a piece of cloth, he swept his eyes around them twice, “Alright, I’m ready. Let’s leave Yueye City and make our way to Yunduan City!”

“No can do!” Gu Fei rejected him on the spot.

“Why?”

Gu Fei confessed, “I’ve got PK points, too. It’ll be troublesome if I return to Yunduan City right now. That’s actually why I’m here in Yueye City. I’m trying to escape from all that heat.”

Master Kang’s expression could not be seen as his face was covered by a piece of cloth. However, he had retreated by a few steps before exclaiming, “So you’re a PvP fanatic, too! Can it be that you’re actually THAT top killer in Yunduan City?!”

“Of course, not! I’ve only got a little PK points on me,” Gu Fei denied vehemently, seeing that Master Kang was very sensitive when it came to PvP. He must have suffered a lot because of PvP, so he had developed a strong aversion toward it.

“In that case, I’ll head to Yunduan City first. I just have to trek through the Oolong Mountain Range, right?” Master Kang asked.

“Yeah!” Gu Fei nodded his head.

“Be careful now! Let’s meet in Yunduan City again if there’s a chance,” Master Kang’s voice sounded as if he would never see Gu Fei again. He turned around and disappeared into a street after saying this.

He even activated his Stealth! Why bother covering his face and changing his clothes when he has that? He’s far too cautious, Gu Fei thought to himself, as he turned around to leave as well. He headed to 4th Night Main Street where the Bounty Assignment Hall was located. He just caught himself a fugitive and had yet to claim his reward!

He hurried toward the Bounty Assignment Hall, which was situated inside the Quest Assignment Hub. The players on the streets looked curiously at his getup.

“I’m from The Black Hand mercenary group,” Gu Fei explained to the confused players.

Everyone was still perplexed. Gu Fei had been saying that on his way to the destination. He felt slightly worried for the members of The Black Hand now. That mercenary group would probably be the main suspect whenever some masked figures caused a scene in Yueye City.

The Quest Assignment Hub was just ahead of Gu Fei. He peeked from a corner of a wall before swiftly retreating to the alleyway he had been hiding. Gu Fei spotted a few familiar faces brimming with killing intent. They were the same Past Deeds’ guild members back at the tavern. They were currently lying in wait at the hub entrance, fiddling with the weapons in their hands.

They seemed to know that the one who had accepted the ‘Bounty Mission’ to slay their guild leader would have to come back here to claim his reward. Hence,they had resolved to wait for Gu Fei’s arrival here instead of chasing after him all over the city. However, Gu Fei could not understand why they chose to make themselves visible in broad daylight instead of hiding inside the hub. Did the players in Yueye City possess relatively low IQ levels?

People with low IQ levels tended to resolve issues through violence just like animals. This was quite similar to how things were in Yueye City. Gu Fei now thought that it should be relatively safe for him to walk over there with the opponents’ levels of IQ.

With that thought in mind, Gu Fei walked out from the alleyway and headed straight toward the Quest Assignment Hub.

The cloth on his face immediately attracted much attention.

“I’m from The Black Hand mercenary group,” Gu Fei said to those who were eyeing him.

“I’m from The Black Hand mercenary group,” Gu Fei specifically said this to the Past Deeds’ guild member who was fiddling with his sword when he arrived at the Quest Assignment Hub’s entrance.

“Scram!” the person said impatiently to Gu Fei.

For the first time in his life, Gu Fei felt overjoyed to be yelled at. He happily walked inside the hub. As he claimed his reward, the system notified him that 4 PK points had been cleared off from his PK value. He proceeded to choose a new ‘Bounty Mission’. Unfortunately for him, there was no longer any big target like Fugitive 29527 on the Wanted Players list. The rest of the fugitives only possessed 1 PK point each. Everyone who was here for the ‘Bounty Mission’ could only sigh at this. They felt embarrassed that the average PK points here were rather low considering that the city had such a prevalent PvP culture.

Gu Fei randomly picked a new ‘Bounty Mission’ and made his way behind the players. He then changed his clothes into the beginner mage robe and covered his face with a piece of cloth when nobody was looking. After changing his getup, he exited the hall and said to the guy fiddling with his sword once more, “I’m from The Black Hand mercenary group.”

“F*ck!” The guy sprang up with his sword in hand, “There’s no end in sight for you lot!”

“I. Slew. Your. Boss,” Gu Fei said every word clearly before promptly turning away to escape.

“Oh, sh*t! It’s that guy! Don’t let him get away!” the guy bellowed.