Chapter 684: Partially burnt scrap of paper

Leaving Traversing Four Seas’ site, Gu Xiaoshang asked Young Master Han in her surprise, “Why don’t we just wait together with the rest of them until Thousand Miles Drunk and Sword Demon appear, instead of just specifically coming over to report this information?” She had thought that was what they were going to do in the beginning, only for Young Master Han to end up doing no such thing. Gu Xiaoshang was a woman of her word when she said Young Master Han would be in command. She never once interrupted with her own questions, only asking for clarification afterward.

“There’s no way we can just camp them out till the bitter end, those two still have a bit of brain between them. They would surely do their own reconnaissance and search for the best opportunity to strike. We can’t let them scout out our presence. We only need to keep watch in secret, maintaining our composure and surround them once they strike,” Young Master Han said.

“Then why do we have to inform Oathless Sword about the matter? The chances of them revealing themselves would increase further if Traversing Four Seas was caught off guard, right?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

“The problem is that they would have surely guessed that I would be here attempting to ambush them. That is why if Traversing Four Seas was not taking any precaution in the least, that would only serve to make our trap all the more obvious,” Young Master Han said.

“Are you certain they would know this much?”

“Of course.” Young Master Han confidently stated. “It’s because we have a good friend that loves capitulating to both sides.” Young Master Han said this as he sent a message to Brother Assist, wanting to find out if there were any new updates regarding what Gu Fei and Sword Demon were doing, but he ended up receiving the [The other party has blocked all incoming messages] prompt from the system.

“F*ck*ng hell. He actually dares to reject receiving messages from yours truly,” Young Master Han muttered viciously. Brother Assist would surely be crying till the morning had he known this would happen. As it turned out, he would still end up offending Young Master Han no matter what he did.

“So what now? Actually, all we can do now is wait for them to act, right?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

Indeed, Young Master Han had nothing to do now that Brother Assist had blocked all incoming messages. He could only helplessly answer, “I originally wanted to use that good friend of mine to spy on those two and see what they were up to. Who knows, perhaps we could learn something about what they would be planning to do. But who would have guessed there would be times when our good friend would actually stand his ground, to actually steel his heart and not help either side.”

“Who’s your good friend?” Gu Xiaoshang cannot help but be curious.

“Just a noob,” Young Master Han said.

Brother Assist would be in tears, would you die letting my name get exposed to any bit of light?

“Split our men into three groups and send them out to these three separate sets of coordinates, respectively. None of them should have their guild emblem on display either. There’s no need to get flustered if any of you catch sight of either target, much less make any move without hearing any order given to do so, since there’s no way that they would know that you’re their enemy. Otherwise, if they were to begin avoiding people at the stir of the wind once alerted, there’s no way that any of you would have the movement speeds necessary to be able to catch up to either of them.”

“What’s their movement speed?” A handful of players from Colored Clouds were disgruntled and they were naturally those who were very confident of their own movement speed.

Young Master Han glanced at that player who spoke up, “Just running alone isn’t any good. How much HP do you have?”

“HP?”

“With so little HP, wouldn’t you just be insta-killed if you were to chase them?” Young Master Han added.

“We would still be able to stall them and give everyone the time to catch up!” that man replied.

“I’ve never ever heard of how being insta-killed would be considered as stalling for time… How are you going to buy us time? A second with every death?”

That man did not say a word, and Young Master Han gestured toward him, “Come over and give me a hand.”

“Give you what hand?” this person was confused.

“Hoist me up,” Young Master Han pointed to a tree branch above his head. He had been looking left and right when he got to the forest, and he had actually been searching for a suitable vantage point. This was the style that he had consistently used. Only by getting a clear overview of the situation would he be able to demonstrate a comprehensive and effective command.

That man came over and offered his arm as a step, allowing Young Master Han to climb up to the tree branch before continued to ascend the tree. Gu Xiaoshang lifted her head up and asked, “Can you see everything just by getting up on that tree?”

“I’ve got a tool,” Young Master Han pulled out his spyglass and showed it to her.

“So you’re gonna stay up there?” Gu Xiaoshang asked.

“For the moment, yeah. Unless the people from Traversing Four Seas change their location, we should all split up!” Young Master Han said.

Young Master Han might be the overall commander, but it was still Gu Xiaoshang who gave the orders to everyone. Young Master Han was smart enough to know that everyone would surely be unhappy if he were to begin bossing everybody about as someone new, so he did not bother making that mistake. The position and general strategy they employed was largely related to the rest through Gu Xiaoshang, leaving it up to the woman to assign her manpower to their relevant tasks and to make sure everything was perfectly organized.

“We’ll be taking our leave then.” After Gu Xiaoshang was done assigning everyone into groups, she had gotten ready to lead one group herself and bade Young Master Han farewell.

“Go on. When you bump into any suspicious character, fire a message with their coordinates to me. I’m 80% certain that I would be able to recognize either of the two even if they are disguised,” Young Master Han said.

“Gotcha,” Gu Xiaoshang waved her hand and led her men away.

——————————————-

As a spectator who seemed to know the most about everything that transpired, Brother Assist had always been lurking in an area close to where Traversing Four Seas was located, ready to watch the show unfold. He reckoned if Young Master Han were to come over and directly cooperate with Oathless Sword, he would surely have brought men from Carouse to come and help. But in the end, Young Master Han had gone about this business in a manner which Brother Assist never would have expected and actually turned up together with Gu Xiaoshang.

Brother Assist was a clever man so he, of course, knew about the unique feature Colored Clouds brought to the table, and he could not help but praise Young Master Han’s foresight. As for how he had managed to make a partnership with the guild, Brother Assist had impulsively wanted to fire a message over to ask about it, but he managed to keep it in check. Having blocked all incoming messages, if he were to open it again, it would make him look too spineless in retrospect. Brother Assist contemplated this as he did his best to repress his strong curiosity. Actually, he had really wanted to inform Gu Fei and Sword Demon about how Young Master Han had collaborated with Colored Clouds. He believed that this move that Young Master Han made was not something that Gu Fei or Sword Demon would have expected, so they would only consider the players from Carouse and Traversing Four Seas as enemies. And there was a possibility that the two of them might be negligent and overlook these men from Colored Clouds when they bump into them.

Ah! I really wanna butt in! Brother Assist endured this painfully.

——————————————————–

A good distance away from Yunduan City, Gu Fei and Sword Demon had finally arrived right by the side of the lake in Yunjiao Lake. The two men looked to their left and then right, and then Sword Demon began to offer his analysis based upon what gaming experience he had, “Often, this sort of quest requires the player to investigate for clues, but without any obvious information on how to go about doing it, players would usually be sent to search for a certain NPC to find out further details. Otherwise, the system would automatically update them that the investigation was over once the player arrives at the location. Take a look, have you gotten any prompts from the system?”

“Nope,” Gu Fei answered.

“Then that means we’ll have to find someone to speak to about this. I’m not too familiar with this map. Where can we find some NPCs?” Yunjiao Lakeside was a grinding map that was popular with lovers of all ages. Sword Demon had never had his breakthrough in this aspect of his life, so he never had the opportunity to visit such a place. He might have passed by the map on occasion, but he never had a thorough understanding of the place.

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“There’s a wooden structure over there,” Gu Fei swept his gaze around the surroundings and pointed in the southwest direction of the lakeside. A simple log cabin was right by the lakefront, and it could be considered to be the only sign of life in this wild expanse.

“Let’s go take a look,” Sword Demon headed over right away. Gu Fei saw that there were common reeds that reached waist height all around them, so he quickly reached out and reminded Sword Demon, “be careful not to step on people.”

“People?” Sword Demon was confused.

“Just look if you don’t believe me,” Gu Fei removed his equipment and stowed away his sword. He raised his hands to chant a spell directed straight at the huge patch of reeds right in front of him as flames instantly appeared in the sky. Three pairs of men and women leaped out from this entire patch of reeds and the reactions that all of them had were all different. One pair was looking all around in a state of confusion, another did not even turn to look back as they fled in their panic, while the final pair had already begun cursing indignantly. Their eyes were glaring daggers as they swept right over to Sword Demon, and the man yelled, “You there, Thief. Did you see who did this?”

Sword Demon was astonished. He subconsciously turned around, but Gu Fei was no longer there. He then crooked his head down and saw that Gu Fei was actually squatting among the tall reeds, his finger extended over his lips, miming a shushing sound. So Sword Demon had no choice but to help cover for him, “I didn’t see anyone.”

While the pair barked out their expletives, countless other heads poked out from the reeds almost instantly, looking all around as they tried to find out what just happened. There were even two heads that popped out less than five meters away from where Sword Demon was standing, which gave him quite the fright.

“See that!” Gu Fei sent a message to Sword Demon.

“Amazing.”

“Everyone has their own pursuits,” Gu Fei mused.

“Indeed.”

“Tell me after they’ve settled down…” Gu Fei said.

These players with their own pursuits slowly submerged themselves back into the sea of reeds after they poked their heads out that one time and the lakeside returned to being a place of peaceful tranquility. Sword Demon called Gu Fei and pointed in a certain direction, “Let’s go that way.”

The location that Sword Demon had pointed toward was close to the lake. It was just mud and water around there, so there should not be anyone there seeking to set the mood. Thus, it could be seen how much more considerate Sword Demon was as Gu Fei had merely used his magic staff as a guide cane to beat the bushes and tall grass when he had been searching through the area the last time to stop himself from stepping on people.

As the two men continued their way over to the log cabin, Sword Demon began to express his concerns, “Could there be an NPC hiding out in the reeds here? It would be quite difficult to locate.”

“It would be great if we could contact Brother Assist and ask. He should probably know more about this,” Aside from knowing what made Yunjiao Lake unique, how much more would Gu Fei even know about the place?

They circled around a quarter of the lake and finally made it to the log cabin. The log cabin had seen years of disrepair, and they could already get the musty smell without stepping through the door as a result of the location being exposed to moisture. Inside was a fireplace left in disuse, a collapsed bed frame, an empty bookshelf and a desk with a thick layer of dust on it. There was also a pile of wood pieces right by the desk which looked to be the remains of a chair.

Everything could be seen in a glance, yet Sword Demon did not become dejected so soon. He proceeded to check behind the bookshelf, the cracks amidst the collapsed bed frame and the drawers in the writing desk, till he finally stuck his neck into the fireplace to see if there was anything in the chimney.

“There’s no need to do that, right?” Gu Fei exclaimed at how meticulous Sword Demon was being.

“Wait, there seems to be something here. Do you have anything that can illuminate this chimney?” Sword Demon’s voice echoed out from the fireplace.

“Oh?” Gu Fei hurriedly pulled out a lantern, lighting it before handing it over to Sword Demon. Sword Demon lifted the lantern and his voice could be heard just a bit after, “Where did you get this?”

“Xiawu City. Yan Xiaozhu mailed this to me before we left,” Gu Fei said.

“Oh, that place…” Illumination tools were local products from Xiawu City. The players in that city would often bring along something to shine light into the gloomy fog that pervaded the region so as to indicate their position. The torch was the most convenient creation, but a player’s wants were not so plain and simple. Gradually, there were people who began to craft lanterns and such handheld illumination tools as ornaments as well. The more intricately made ones even utilized elemental gems found in the game, making them into pendants that hung about their necks or their waists, which became wildly popular in Xiawu City. Rumor had it that the Xiaowu City of today had plenty of trendy men and women who began to popularize using their lanterns to communicate with each other through morse code, creating a very romantic sentiment unique to Xiawu City.

“Did you find anything?” Gu Fei was not in the least bit interested in any of that.

“There seems to be a piece of paper stuck inside the fireplace!” Sword Demon said.

“What sort of discovery is that…” Gu Fei had no idea if he should laugh or cry. He had thought Sword Demon had discovered some switch that would open a secret passageway or something.

Sword Demon’s reply was very somber, “This is a game, so everything would be programmed into existence. For there to be a page stuck inside the chimney here, that naturally means that it was specifically placed there for a reason.”

“Who’s to say that it’s not just some scrap of paper someone tossed away that happened to find its way into the chimney. Look at just how many players visit this map, I reckon they must surely produce plenty of waste paper. Perhaps someone was being a litterbug, so it fluttered all the way into that chimney.” Gu Fei was poking fun of Sword Demon’s discovery even as he sat fitfully on the table that Sword Demon had wiped clean in the process of his inspection.

“We’ll know what it’s about once I get it out. Give me something longer, like a magic staff or something,” Sword Demon called out.

Gu Fei pulled out a magic staff and handed it over to Sword Demon. After a good moment of fiddling, Sword Demon finally ducked out of inside the fireplace with half a page in hand and he was eager to study it.

Gu Fei came over to take a look and saw that the paper itself was browning. However, it was not what would come from age, but a coloration that was the result of being treated by intense heat over a period of time. There was only half a page, and it was obvious from what was left that the other half bore the traces of being burnt.

“What’s drawn on it?” Gu Fei saw that there was an image drawn on the paper, but Sword Demon was holding on to the paper trying to examine it as well.

“Go and wash your face first!” Gu Fei could not help but chide him. After he searched around in the chimney this whole time, it was obvious how he looked now he was out. To put it into words that Sword Demon had used, even the soot found inside was programmed onto his face.

“There’s no rush!” Sword Demon was a person with his pursuits as well.

“The story for this scrap of paper should go something like this: It was originally thrown into the fireplace to be burnt, but the intense heat gave off a burst of hot air that sent it flying upward, sticking it to the walls of the chimney before it burnt fully. Thus, it appears as what we see of it now. As for what was drawn on it, we will need to find some in-game specialist to decipher it,” Gu Fei said.

Sword Demon saw the drawing of circles and crosses and was deep in thought. Suddenly, he stuck his hand into his dimensional pocket, pulling out a huge piece of paper and began unfolding it onto the desk.

“What’s that?” Gu Fei could not help but ask.

“A map of Yunduan City,” Sword Demon answered, pointing to a certain point before picking the scrap of burnt paper up, “Look here. Doesn’t this image look like Yunjiao Lake?”

Gu Fei gave it a few glances over and quickly pointed out seven to eight differences between the two.

“Of course it cannot be completely the same. This map I have is drawn by a player, so I reckon it would not be very detailed. This is created by the system, so it would naturally be far more precise. We can clarify these differences by going to the site themselves and compare them in person.”

Sword Demon enthusiastically gathered up the scrap of burnt paper and the map before running out of the cabin. The player-made map had a rough estimation of coordinates, even listing a scale pretentiously on it. A simple calculation would yield the approximate location of the area depicted. Sword Demon first chose a location nearby and very quickly found it. He was holding the scrap of burnt paper and slowly became lost. The real world and the map were completely different; the map showed a hook in the bend, but in actuality, Sword Demon saw that it was bent in an N-shaped.