Chapter 40

– Mercenary group! Roll out!
Luo Luo left Ray’s Bar grinning from ear to ear.
Although Young Master Han had not revealed who the other group members were, she at least learned that they were all level 30 experts. As for that ‘strongest Mage’, Young Master Han only said,
He soloed the Mountain Bandit Leader Sooto.

In truth, Gu Fei was only able to solo-kill Sooto through a series of lucky coincidences. But for anyone not privy to the inner workings involved, hearing about Gu Fei’s singular achievement made it seem like he was monstrously strong. After talking to Young Master Han, Luo Luo now had absolute faith in the mercenary group’s strength, particularly in that mysterious Mage.
Still, a sliver of doubt lingered in Luo Luo’s heart. Young Master Han had remained tight-lipped about his fellow group members’ names for some unknown reason. Nevertheless, she had managed to acquire their service in exchange for helping Young Master Han clear his bar tab. Although he did not say how much their exact service fee was, he would at least feel indebted to her for footing the bill. Given Young Master Han’s extreme narcissism, Luo Luo was certain that he would never be able to live down owing somebody anything, and thus would not renege on their deal.
However, the mission she gave them was not to kill any particular Traversing Four Seas guild member back to level 0, as she knew that doing so would not resolve the problem. Instead, she requested the mercenary group to convince Traversing Four Seas to not make things difficult for Amethyst Rebirth again.
Young Master Han still agreed to such a vague request; his parting words to her were,
Don’t worry. I’ll ensure that No Smile won’t be smiling for real.

He did not reveal how they would accomplish the mission, though. He just told Luo Luo to relax and watch the show as it unfolded.
I hope he can make good on his promise, Luo Luo thought.

Young Master Han immediately rallied his troops once he had sent Luo Luo away. He was prepared to settle the score about the bill with Gu Fei as well, yet he became vexed instead when he saw on his friends list that Gu Fei was offline.
The others quickly arrived at Ray’s Bar. War Without Wounds carried Sword Demon back inside from the side alley.

Why’s this guy sleeping out there?
War Without Wounds asked.
No one knew the reason except for Brother Assist, who was trying to hold back his laughter. Sword Demon was clearly still drunk as he managed to resume sleeping in one corner after being carried back inside.

Let’s hear about this mission first,
Royal God Call said.
Young Master Han briefed everyone about the matter at hand. July’s Heat and No Smile’s drama was public knowledge in the online gaming community. Since all were veteran online gamers aside from the absent Gu Fei, they were able to speed things up.

Although killing No Smile is easy, ensuring that he won’t bother Amethyst Rebirth afterward is not. We need to plan this long term. Brother Assist, please gather intel about No Smile from Traversing Four Seas,
Young Master Han dictated.
Brother Assist nodded as he turned to look at Royal God Call,
Royal, you’re Traversing Four Seas’ member, right?


How did you know?!
Royal God Call was stunned.
Everyone shifted their gazes on to him. Their present task was to takedown Traversing Four Seas, yet one of them actually belonged to that guild!

Don’t look at me like that! I only joined that guild for fun,
Royal God Call hastily explained.

Royal, today, over by Yunjiao Lakeside—


Alright, Brother Assist! I give up,
Royal God Call was dumbfounded,
You really are an information expert. How did you find out?

Brother Assist’s smile was as calm as ever.

What’s the matter?
Young Master Han asked.

Just this afternoon, Traversing Four Seas put together a party to interfere with Amethyst Rebirth’s guild quest over by Yunjiao Lakeside. I was a part of that party. I even met Miles there.


Miles?


He was with a girl who is most likely from Amethyst Rebirth,
Royal God Call said.

And then?


Let’s not talk about it. I heard that Amethyst Rebirth is an all-female guild, yet the ones I saw attempting to snatch the treasure chest were all men except for that girl. Since I was shooting from afar, I did not monitor my immediate surroundings. Someone crept behind me and kicked me down the hillside, causing me to faint. When I came around, I saw Miles. He seems to know the girl so I gave her the chest,
Royal God Call explained.

Who hit you at the time?


I don’t know. I asked Miles but he didn’t see anything either,
Royal God Call said.

Weird. That person had gotten behind you, killing you would have been super easy. Why did he leave you alive?
everyone wondered.

Luck! It’s luck!
Royal God Call felt thankful inside that that person had only kicked him downhill and not killed him outright.
Players incurred severe penalty for dying in Parallel World. Not only would they drop a whole level, they could also possibly lose an item from their inventory. This design was created with the players who would join the game at a later stage in mind. At present, the only operational server of Parallel World was this one, so the officials placed a cap on the number of players that could play the game. But once the number of gaming server increased, the game company would definitely pull in more players. Evidently, the new players would be weaker compared to the old players; the game company was worried that that might lead to the new players’ losing interest into continuously playing Parallel World. Hence, the developers had increased the amount of experience points needed to level up and came up with the severe penalties for dying. This way, the newbies would be able compete with the veteran players.

From what I heard, all the Amethyst Rebirth’s members were insta-killed. How come the one you met actually succeeded? Your party must have been really mad at you!
Brother Assist guffawed.
Royal God Call immediately lifted his nose high,
Those people don’t know jack sht about how things were on my end! That girl wouldn’t have managed to escape if I had not held back for Miles’ sake. Fck, they even dared to call me an unskilled Archer! Cnts, I’ll quit that guild right now.


Wait. Don’t leave that guild yet,
Young Master Han stopped him.

Why?
Royal God Call asked.

Stay in Traversing Four Seas. It might come in handy,
Young Master Han suggested.

Act as a spy!
Royal God Call easily understood his intention.

Okay, that’s all for now!
Young Master Han declared,
This mission is unlike those garbage system-generated quests, so we must be careful and prepare thoroughly. If anyone sees Miles online, immediately inform him as well.


And him?
Brother Assist pointed to the snoring Sword Demon in the corner.

Wounds, where did you grab him from?
Young Master Han asked.

The side alley behind the bar,
War Without Wounds answered.

For god’s sake, why didn’t any passerby kill him? This guy’s useless; how can he be my partner when his alcohol tolerance is so low. Get up Sword Demon. GET UP!
Young Master Han laid two well-placed fists straight toward Sword Demon’s noggin.

I’ll leave you guys to it… We’re going to take our leave.
The three could no longer bear to look on and left the premise.
Gu Fei did not get online again yesterday, so it was only at this moment today that he received Young Master Han’s urgent message. Gu Fei thought that his little ploy of shoving his drinking bill to Young Master Han must have been found out by him already, so he took his money pouch and made his way over to Ray’s Bar. He was only trolling Young Master Han and had no intention of making him pay the total bill.
When he lifted the curtain to their usual room, he saw all his teammates seated and glaring at him. Young Master Han’s eyes even had a hint of murderous intent. Gu Fei felt a chill in his heart as he wondered, What’s all this about? It’s just a harmless prank. Are they planning to beat me up for that?! He touched his small money pouch as he cheekily said,
Everyone’s here!


We’ve waited for you for hours!
Young Master Han hollered,
Can’t you spend less time out in the sun and more time doing meaningful stuff online?

Gu Fei was speechless. What logic was this?

Fine, that’s enough. Let’s not waste anymore time. Get seated and hear Brother Assist’s briefing for our current situation,
Young Master Han seethed.
Gu Fei felt like commending Young Master Han for not bringing up yesterday’s bill issue. He sat down and nudged Brother Assist,
What is it about?


Our new mission,
Royal God Call replied instead.

Oh…
Gu Fei responded.
Brother Assist cleared his throat to begin,
No Smile is—


Eh?!
Gu Fei cried out,
No Smile?!

Everyone stared at him.

I know that guy,
Gu Fei hurriedly clarified.

What are you shouting for? We all know him too,
Young Master Han said,
You want others to find out we are plotting his death?!

Gu Fei quickly whispered,
We’re killing him?


Shut up! Listen to what Brother Assist has to say,
Young Master Han was clearly still pissed at Gu Fei for his yesterday’s stunt even if he had not brought it up.
Brother Assist cleared his throat once more,
The name ‘No Smile’ is quite famous in the online gaming community. I’m not going to talk about his past, since I’m sure we’ve all heard of it before. This time, his job class in Parallel World is Thief. He’s at level 30 and is ranked eleventh on the experience earned efficiency leaderboard for the Thief job class. He is also one of the four core members of Traversing Four Seas. His stat point distribution seems to lean toward Strength, but we’re not sure about his equipment. Movement wise, he’s spotted grinding at Yunxia Valley, in the western side of Yunduan City. He usually tags along with his fellow guild members and is never seen alone.

Brother Assist paused for breath before he continued,
Yunxia Valley’s monsters are at level 40. Sword Demon, you’re also usually grinding there, right? The monsters over there have high Attack but low Defense. It’s more suitable for players with job classes that have high dodge rating as well as high Attack, like Thief.

Sword Demon nodded and added,
Miles grinds there as well.

Brother Assist was momentarily stunned and unwittingly commented,
It’s better for Mages to grind higher level monsters over by Yunwu Basin! The monsters there move much slower and have lower magic defense. Most Mages are found grinding there.


Oh, I’ll check it out next time,
Gu Fei said.
Everyone stared at Gu Fei blankly. Brother Assist calmed himself down before continuing,
That’s what we know so far. If we want to get more details, it will require more time.


It’s enough. Let’s show them what we got with a little shock and awe,
Young Master Han said this as he retrieved some cloth from his pocket and threw the stack on the table,
Take one each.


What’re these for?
Gu Fei picked one up and noticed that it had a triangular shape.

For covering our faces,
Young Master Han said.

What for?!
Gu Fei was startled.

This mission is different from the one we did last time. What we’re going up against isn’t a dumb AI but other players just like us. The Appraisal skill can view our level, job class, and equipment, but not our names. Covering our faces will circumvent this problem of being identified,
Young Master Han said.

There’s no need for this!
Everyone was clearly against the idea.
Young Master Han’s nostrils flared as he said coldly,
I did not tell the employer your names. If you think this is an unnecessary precaution and refuse to wear the cloth, I won’t force you to do it. But I’ll warn you; if one of our faces isn’t covered, we might indirectly trouble our fellow squad mates. I’ll be wearing mine. You guys do yours.

Silence ensued. After a while, Sword Demon took a piece from the pile in front of them and stuffed it into his pocket.
War Without Wounds, Brother Assist, and Royal God Call proceeded to take apiece. Gu Fei hesitated for a bit before finally taking one piece himself, so as to avoid inconveniencing the others.

Why are there two pieces left?
After taking a piece, Gu Fei realized that there were still two strips left on the table.
Young Master Han kept the last two as he said lightly,
Just these two strips may not be enough to mask my peerless beauty entirely.


Fck off!
everyone exclaimed in unison.

Okay, set your conversation window to the private mercenary group channel. Once we’re all ready, make your own way toward Yunxia Valley.

The six members of Young Master’s Elite group set off once again.