Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

This person, who was neither flustered nor curious when he stepped into the Government City Hall with his measured steps, was evidently a player. Gu Fei peeked from behind the door; he was hoping that the person would turn his head over, but he never once got his wish. He watched as this person walked through this short corridor before turning and disappearing from view.

Gu Fei was stewing in regret when he suddenly heard Two softly mention, “That’s Three!”

He faced the voice’s direction and saw that Two had also been peeking through the door seam all this while.

“How can you tell?” he asked.

“Well... It’s profession; I’m a little discerning when it comes to a person’s physique,” Two replied.

“Oh...” That was when Gu Fei realized that, although the poncho he was given looked simple, it was actually made by a professional!

“Why would Three come in? Isn’t his quest at the backyard?” Two asked.

Gu Fei stared at the empty hallway before replying, “I suppose this has been his plan all along.”

“What?”

“Gather a group of people together, create a mess in the yard as diversion to sneak into the Government City Hall,” Gu Fei explained.

“What?” Two was confused.

“Is he the one who suggested for everybody to cover their faces?” pressed Gu Fei.

“Ah... Yeah!” Two answered.

“That’s most likely done to make it convenient for his plan. During that battle, having one’s face hidden from view was the key indicator of our identity as trespassers. If anyone were to remove their bandana, change their equipment and blend into Flowergazing in the Fog... Those guild members would most likely depend on their guild emblem to distinguish friends from foes and not their faces, so at that time when their targets were clearly identified, it’s highly possible for those players to overlook this fact, which made it that much easier for him to blend into the crowd,” Gu Fei explained.

“So what are say is...” Two could feel an icy sensation come over him.

“From the very beginning, he did not gather everybody out of good will. Rather, he’s hoping to use us as diversion for him to complete his quest... It’s apparent now that his quest is inside the Government City Hall, but he instead claimed earlier that it is somewhere in the backyard. The point of doing that is to avoid attracting too much attention to him from the very start. He’s already considered the fact that Flowergazing in the Fog would prioritize those attempting to enter the building,” Gu Fei continued.

“That... That’s too devious!” Two exclaimed. He was already thinking that some players in this haphazardly formed gang would be the selfish sort, but it seemed that was just his naivety, for selfishness was far from being the worst thing about this group.

“But he shan’t be too happy so soon.” Gu Fei smirked mirthlessly. “No doubt Three didn’t expect that we would succeed in entering the city hall, or that we would spot him while hiding behind the alcove of this innocuous-looking door; even more so, he would never have considered the possibility of you identifying him just by physique alone.”

“What are you thinking of doing?” Two asked.

“Teach him a lesson, of course. To leave as deep as an impression as possible,” Gu Fei replied.

“What’s your plan?” Two was almost worshipping him.

“Plan? Uhm... I don’t have any at the moment.” Gu Fei sighed. “No matter the case, I have to wait till my PK value drops by 1 point, or there’s no way I can move freely in this building. Those NPC guards are everywhere.”

“So how much longer will that be?” Two asked.

Gu Fei heaved an even deeper sigh as he answered, “A little over an hour... Actually, I’ve only recently gotten it to 20, and not much time has passed since, yeah?”

“Not much at all...” Two confirmed. “But if it is a little over an hour, even though we have no idea what Three’s quest is about, wouldn’t that be enough time for him to accomplish it?”

“It’s entirely possible,” Gu Fei nodded. “But he had overlooked a little problem.”

“What’s that?” Two asked.

“The current situation has totally gone off track from his plan. Many of us didn’t die by the hands of Flowergazing in the Fog and managed to make our way into the Government City Hall, instead. Think about it, would the guild be kind enough to form up and bid us farewell as we leave? I reckon they’ve already started to position plenty of their men right outside the front and back doors, awaiting our exit so that they can properly do a show of force,” Gu Fei said.

“This... This isn’t really just a little problem?” Two instantly paled after hearing his explanation, as this matter was not only an issue for Three but for himself as well, given how he was also currently in the Government City Hall.

“That guy seems to be focused on the quest at hand that he overlooked this potential problem. He may hold on to his life getting into the building, but can he do the same stepping out?” Gu Fei happily chuckled.

The expression on Two’s face was not in the least bit happy, but he nevertheless gazed toward Gu Fei expectantly. “You should’ve thought of such a situation, yes?”

“Naturally,” Gu Fei affirmed.

Two’s spirit rallied somewhat when he heard this. “So you’ve got a plan to leave this place as well?”

“Yup,” Gu Fei confirmed.

“How are we getting out?” Two asked.

“We’re gonna get out exactly the same way we got in!” Gu Fei answered.

“What you mean to say is...”

Gu Fei clenched his fist confidently. “We kill our way out...”

Two was speechless.

“Hey, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“I lost consciousness for a second there. Let me just sit down and calm down for a bit...” Two hugged both his legs as he sat behind the door in a dark corner.

“Okay!” Gu Fei nodded. “You’ll need to expend quite a lot of your energy getting out, so it’s best if you rest up. I’ll recover a little as well.” Gu Fei pulled out an apple and began munching on it once he said his piece.

Two lifted his head and took a look at Gu Fei. He wanted to say something but ended up stopping himself. Right now, all he wanted to do was cry: Bro, do you really think this matter would really be resolved with resting up? At this moment, Two was feeling exactly what it felt like to be a part of the crew on a pirate boat.

Leaning behind the door, Gu Fei was entirely at peace and even felt slightly bored. The space they had was limited, so there was no way he could do some boxing to while his time. Two looked to have composed himself quite a bit in his corner while Gu Fei did not hold further conversations with him as they passed the time in this manner.

I wonder what progress did those other guys make on their quest now that they’ve gotten in... Gu Fei suddenly wondered to himself. Taking a look at the time, 30 minutes had passed since they entered the Government City Hall. Could they still be busy? Yes, that was entirely possible. After all, this was the first time getting in. This huge building has plenty of rooms to lose oneself in, they might still have problems getting things done even with the aid of the NPCs present, especially if they were looking for a specific item. Gu Fei could feel his hair stand on end the moment he thought of this. He suddenly recalled that he had just taken up one such errand moments ago, and it would even require him to do something as shameful as to steal said the item. Surely, that would be even more troublesome, right?

Losing himself in his thoughts in this manner, a full hour had passed just like that. That was when Two took the initiative to break the silence. “Uhm, looks like it’s been an hour.”

“Yeah!” Gu Fei nodded. He was now seated on the ground.

“Why isn’t there any news from any of the other guys?” Two asked.

“Are you friends with any of them?” Gu Fei asked.

Two shook his head.

“Then, how would you know there’re no further developments?” Gu Fei inquired.

Two had no idea, but he equated being unaware to having no news. At the moment, he was feeling a little guilty. The more people trapped in the city hall, the more he gained courage from it. He really had no idea how Gu Fei could be so calm. Could he really be able to slay his way out like what he did coming in? The problem was that the two’s situation was entirely different. They might have managed to sneak their way in before, but they would have to clash with the players from Flowergazing in the Fog head-on for the escape.

“Ahh... At most, I’ll just die; what’s the big deal...” This was the only way Two could think of to console himself, and it was the worst sort of solace he could find in this game.

“It’s done!” Gu Fei called out energetically. After stewing here for quite some time, he finally picked himself up from the ground.

“I’ll go find those rascals. It’s best if you stay put and not move,” Gu Fei said.

Two nodded.

Gu Fei took two steps out and suddenly turned around. “If you trust me, add me as a friend. It makes it easier to communicate.”

“Of course. The name’s Scissorhands,” Two said.

“Okay. I’m called Thousand Miles Drunk,” Gu Fei added Scissorhands as a friend once he was done introducing himself and then waved his hand while stepping out from behind the door.

“Thousand Miles Drunk? Thousand Miles Drunk... That name sounds so familiar—ah!” Scissorhands racked his brains as he squatted behind the door and then suddenly turned pale. “F*ck me. I actually spent an hour squatting together with a PK maniac, which is far more frightening than Cool Apple, yet I’m still alive?” Scissorhands touched his limbs to check if they were still intact. He then took a peep out from the crack and saw that Gu Fei was already gone.

-----------------

Now that Gu Fei had 19 PK points, he felt as if he were walking on a knife’s edge, experiencing an inexplicable thrill as he crossed that hallway. Aside from locating the item he needed to find, which he was yet to be informed of what it was, there were still the evil Three, Four who was looking for someone, Five who was searching for something, and Six who was retrieving an item...

D*mn, why must all their quests be so vague... Gu Fei swore to himself. Thinking this through for a moment, he donned on his bandana to cover him face again and made sure that his poncho with the sewn number ‘9’ on it was prominently shown. With a wave of his arm, he pushed that large door before him.

A spacious hall, with a spiral staircase on its left and right, greeted his eyes. Right in front of him was the main entrance of the Government City Hall. Gu Fei reckoned that the others had probably finished their quests by now, so if they intended to leave the city hall, they would most likely be spirited away in white light by the hands of those members from Flowergazing in the Fog. Alternatively, the moment they realized something was off when they stepped out the door, they would likely be pacing about right here in this main hall, right?

In the end, looking all around this large hall, pushing every door he could find, he simply did not see even one of them.

“These rascals, are they all dead?” Gu Fei suddenly realized that there was a high possibility that they had yet to accomplish their quests.

As he was heading up the stairs to look, he suddenly heard a flurry of footsteps. Gu Fei, who was already several steps up on that spiral staircase, quickly flipped off it as he quickly darted to take cover behind a huge pillar.

The footsteps thundered as this person stomped his way down the stairs, when this sound came to a sudden stop. Gu Fei was about to stretch his neck out and take a look when he felt a thick and heavy gust of wind churn. A deafening sound soon followed as this person landed somewhere near Gu Fei. Gu Fei felt the ground tremble, and he could tell from the heavy-handedness of the man’s actions, that this person must be a Warrior.

Gu Fei poked his head out from behind to take a peek, and sure enough, there stood an armored Warrior. He was holding a claymore in each hand as he nervously roamed his eyes up the stairs and to his left and right; he seemed to be searching for a place to hide.

Not wearing a bandana or a poncho... Not even reveal any identifying feature at all, Bro, do you take me for Two, who is able to tell people apart just by their physique? Gu Fei found this to be extremely tragic. Dressed in a nondescript attire, he simply could not tell if the man was one of the nine. He could only blame himself for being too honest; everybody wanted to hide their identities, so he did not even seek to appraise any of them when he had the chance.

This man’s a Warrior... mhm! He’s not Six! Gu Fei concluded. Six was the same person who had first led him to the ruins and, with the quick movement speed he had displayed, he eliminated Six from being a Warrior.

Just who could be chasing this man, though? Gu Fei could not help but pitch his head up toward the stairs to look as well.