Virtual World: Close Combat Mage
chapter-75

Chapter 75 - Exposed

Gu Fei swiftly climbed up to his feet after being tossed away by the Fighter. Glancing back, he saw that all the Past Deeds’ guild members were now charging toward him. Gu Fei did not have time to admire such a spectacle and could only run for his life, as the Archers and Mages’ long-range attacks were presently sailing toward him. But while he was wary of Snipe, the rest of the attacks did not even cause him worry, and he easily waded through all of them.

Gu Fei actually ended up benefiting from the accuracy of Snipe. The Archers using Snipe were all aiming at the same spot, so evading one arrow on Snipe meant evading everything altogether.

The onslaught of projectile attacks had rendered even the Past Deeds’ melee players incapable of pursuing Gu Fei. In Parallel World, the attacks made by players could deal damage even to their comrades. Therefore, the melee units would only become victims of friendly fire if they persisted on chasing Gu Fei at the moment. Moreover, they thought that chasing him zealously was unnecessary. Since he had already been hit with Seismic Toss before, they assumed that another hit from an arrow or magic spell would render him dead. Hence, none of them expected Gu Fei to actually dodge every projectile attack they had sent his way.

“Does he have an extra pair of eyes on his back?” an Archer asked incredulously, as he watched Gu Fei effortlessly dodge their aerial attacks.

He got away even with all of us swarming him? The sight of Gu Fei's figure getting further and further away made the Past Deeds' guild members doubt their eyes. They could not wrap their minds around the fact that Gu Fei had managed to escape their concerted long-range attacks unscathed. The Past Deeds Guild had always been domineering and tyrannical ever since its establishment in Yueye City. Players could be seen meekly making way for its guild members whenever they navigated the city’s streets. And when they headed out to grind levels, other players would never dare seize the better grinding spots from them for fear of offending their guild. In fact, the Past Deeds’ guild members would not even wait for other players to offer their spots to them and would simply snatch the spots blatantly.

It seemed that such a puissant guild had finally met its match this very day. Not only did they fail to prevent their guild leader from being assasinated, they also let the assailant escape under the public’s gazes. Although some luck might have factored in on Gu Fei’s feats, he had still managed to tarnish their tyrannical reputation. The Past Deeds’ guild members would probably feel even worse if they knew that Gu Fei had manipulated the Fighter into tossing him out of their encirclement earlier.

“Did anyone manage to appraise that guy?” Seeing the implausibility of catching up to their target, Blue Ease, the vice guild leader of Past Deeds and the one in charge of the current operation, asked.

Blue Ease was a Mage. He had been feeling invincible when he had sent a fireball toward Gu Fei along with the other long-range assault troops earlier, thinking that their target would easily be blown to shreds. In the end, all he saw was the casted fireball trailing Gu Fei’s butt until it died down completely.

“Da*n it! Just how many points does his Agility have?” Blue Ease lashed out silently. Determining how their target had allocated his stat points without knowing his job class was hard. Blue Ease felt secretly grateful that he had not managed to say, “Back off, everyone. I’ll handle this!” back then; otherwise, he would be feeling embarrassed right now.

“No. Couldn’t appraise him at all,” the Appraisal experts said one after another to their vice guild leader.

“How is that possible? Isn’t your Appraisal skill at rank 10 already?” The few Appraisal experts glanced over at the top expert among them.

“I really couldn’t appraise him! Maybe, his Appraisal skill is at rank 10 as well, with a higher proficiency than mine...” the top expert defended himself weakly, his voice trailing off.

“Where did that guy come from?” Blue Ease asked.

“He said he’s from The Black Hand mercenary group,” the player who had previously interacted with Gu Fei said. He was that ‘dumb’ player who had crouched at the Quest Assignment Hub’s entrance while fiddling with his sword.

“That idiotic bunch?” Blue Ease felt stunned. He refused to believe that such an amazing player could belong to The Black Hand mercenary group.

“That guy’s stupid,” the ‘dumb’ player said, “He specifically came over to tell me he’s our guild leader’s killer before leaving. If he didn’t say anything, we’d never find out.”

“How audacious! We must eradicate him to avenge our leader!” the guild members exclaimed.

Seeing how the guild members’ emotions were running high, Blue Ease started issuing commands in high spirits. He divided them into teams and assigned each team to various corners in Yueye City.

“Look for any member of The Black Hand mercenary group!” Blue Ease ordered.

“Shouldn’t we leave someone over here?” somebody asked.

“No need! Our target already finished his business here,” Blue Ease rejected, not knowing that he had just issued an order advantageous to Gu Fei.

Gu Fei did not loiter around after he had escaped the ambush. Since it was along the way, he rushed toward the reported location of the target for the previous ‘Bounty Mission’ he had accepted. Truly, nothing could stop a person who was in luck. Sacred Flames of Baptism’s 30% fire attack had been procced thrice back when he was killing Silver Moon; following that, he managed to extricate himself from the enemy’s encirclement by taking advantage of a Fighter’s Seismic Toss. Lady luck was definitely on his side today, and the next event only cemented this truth. After he had run across two streets while following the coordinates, Gu Fei spotted someone running in panic toward his general direction. Gu Fei paid the guy no mind, as he saw no serial number on him. But immediately afterward, he saw another person holding a bow and arrow come out of a street corner. The Archer was obviously chasing after that panicky person just now.

Gu Fei was overjoyed. The serial number above the Archer’s head was a match with his current target. He did not know whether the Archer was on a killing spree or trying to erase his PK points. If it was the latter, then the target was quite the unlucky guy.

Pretending to be a spectator, Gu Fei moved to the side as the Archer continued his chase. When the Archer was about to pass by Gu Fei, the latter heartlessly stretched a leg out.

The Archer had quite the decent reaction speed, as he timely hopped over to skip past Gu Fei’s outstretched leg. Unfortunately for the guy, Gu Fei had a follow-up move even when he was merely trying to trip someone over. He brought his outstretched leg higher and forcefully hindered the Archer’s foot.

The Archer did not fall down when he landed his targeted foot, but he staggered all over the place for a bit. Gu Fei apathetically slashed the Archer as soon as he closed in on him.

The Archer’s fate was sealed now that Gu Fei had gotten near him. He fumbled with his bow and arrow in confusion, trying to counter the incoming attack. However, Gu Fei did not give him a chance to collect himself and immediately delivered his second sword strike. The Archer tried to dodge it, yet Gu Fei’s adaptive swordplay did not allow him to do so. When the Archer received that slash, he retreated to distance himself from Gu Fei. Sadly, the Archer did not have a full-Agility physique that was on par with Gu Fei’s, so he failed to create a gap between them. Gu Fei delivered yet another slash as he closed in on the target once more. With that third slash, the Archer was finally subdued. The sound of a slamming cell door echoed almost at the same time that the Archer faded into a stream of white light.

Gu Fei had to go back once more to the Quest Assignment Hub to claim his reward. He dared not be careless this time and remained vigilant with his every step toward 4th Night Main Street. When he arrived at the entrance, he circled the surroundings for a long while, checking every corner that might contain suspicious-looking individuals. He only entered the hub after confirming that no ambush had been laid for him.

As for inside the hub, Gu Fei saw that many people were coming and going. He believed that escaping an ambush inside would be easy with this huge crowd, so he walked right in straight away.

Just like when he had come here before, Gu Fei’s masked appearance attracted the attention of many. Gu Fei did not intend to stay here long, so he hurriedly claimed his reward and accepted a new ‘Bounty Mission’.

He aimlessly walked down the street as he waited for the mission’s latest coordinates to appear. Suddenly, Gu Fei sensed that something was amiss behind him.

Acting nonchalant, Gu Fei slowly increased his walking pace while he furtively took note of the situation in his surroundings. As he got closer to a junction, he abruptly dashed toward the next street. Making another turn at a bend, he then hid himself behind a wall column.

Gu Fei saw a skinny figure appear on the street not long after. This person looked around with an alluring gaze and entrancing demeanor. It was a lady.

Gu Fei inspected her attire closely and did not find Past Deeds’ emblem. Gu Fei was sure that the Past Deeds’ conceited players would be mindful of others not recognizing that they belonged to the guild. Therefore, all of them would surely place emblems on the most conspicuous parts of their bodies. In fact, every guild member he had encountered thus far acted that way.

She’s probably not from Past Deeds! If she is, there shouldn’t be just her.

With that thought in mind, Gu Fei stepped out from behind the wall. Still, he remained alert and had even placed a hand on the sword on his back.

“Lady, who’re you looking for?” Gu Fei asked.

The lady smiled widely as she turned around and saw Gu Fei, “I’m looking for you!”

Skinny. Too skinny. Gu Fei thought of this when he looked at the lady. He had this odd feeling that it would be satisfying to snap her in half.

“Who’re you?” Gu Fei inquired.

“Will-low,” the lady answered.

“The tree?” Gu Fei clarified, baffled.

“No. Just Will-low.”

“Quite a unique name you’ve got there,” Gu Fei commented.

“What about yours?” Will-low asked.

Gu Fei did not answer that, and he replied with a question instead, “Why’re you looking for me?”

“To catch you,” Will-low replied honestly.

“Catch me?” Gu Fei’s grip on his sword became firmer. His mind started simulating seven or eight different ways to eliminate the lady in one move under such distance.

“You’re Fugitive 27149, right?” Will-low smirked, “Yunduan City’s Close Combat Mage.”

Gu Fei received quite the shock. Although he was crazily wondering inside what had given him away to the lady, he remained calm on the surface, “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

Will-low smirked again, “I’ve accepted a ‘Bounty Mission’ targeting you, so I can see the serial number 27149 hovering above your head.”

Gu Fei felt stunned. The lady did not seem to be lying to him. He dropped the charade and asked straightforwardly, “How did you find that out?”

“In the Bounty Assignment Hall, I saw Fugitive 27149’s PK value drop from 10 to 6 on the Wanted Players list. It means that the fugitive accepted a ‘Bounty Mission’ to kill a player with 4 PK points. I happen to know a guy with 4 PK points in this city, so I became suspicious that you’re in here. To find out if I was right, I accepted the ‘Bounty Mission’ to hunt for you. And then… I waited at the hall to see if you’d come back to claim your mission reward. In the end, you did.”

Gu Fei sighed after hearing her explanation. One’s identity could easily get exposed when he or she had a high PK value.

“I actually wanted to trail after you back then. Unfortunately, you’re surrounded by Past Deeds’ players. I was preparing to look for you at the spawn point, yet you actually managed to get away,” Will-low said.

“I just got lucky,” Gu Fei said.

“I continued observing your PK value after that. If there was a change again, it would mean that you had accomplished another ‘Bounty Mission’. If that’s the case, you’d surely return to claim your reward. And so, I waited until you appeared again.”

“You’re clever,” Gu Fei smiled wryly, “Now, you’ve managed to catch up to me.”

“Can you do me a favor in exchange for not capturing you?” Will-low winked one of her eyes as she asked this.

“What favor?” Gu Fei asked. She should be aware that her words did not hold much weight to Gu Fei, so she had clearly said that as a joke. He naturally did not think much of her request and only followed up with a question.

“Take off your mask and let me see what you look like,” Will-low requested.

“No,” Gu Fei did not even think of it. It was as if he rejected her out of reflex. Concealing his identity had now become a habit for him.

“Why?” Will-low asked.

“No particular reasons.”

“How can I treat you to a drink if you don’t take your mask off?” Will-low winked again.

“Why do you need to treat me to a drink?” Gu Fei asked.

“Uhm… Since you didn’t agree to my earlier request, I’m changing it to another,” Will-low answered.

Gu Fei remained silent.

“Why did you hunt that fellow called No Smile?” Will-low asked suddenly.

“It’s a request!” Gu Fei explained.

“Can you also accept a request from me to hunt a person?” Will-low requested.

“No,” Gu Fei rejected her once more.