Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Players that had PK value of 20 to 30 points would cause the system to send out guards after them, but that did not mean stationary guards would let those in their sight to get away scot-free. Gu Fei wanted to generate this very reaction from the two NPC guards stationed at the back door of the Government City Hall.

Just as he had hoped, the sharp eyes of the guards shifted and very quickly identified him as a fugitive with over 20 PK points; they began to rush to where he was.

Two, who was feeling very puzzled by Gu Fei’s instructions moments ago, saw the two guards leave their post. Naturally, he was unaware that he had intentionally used this simple stipulation to generate such an effect. All he thought was that Nine was becoming more and more mystical with every passing moment.

“Quickly get in!” Gu Fei shouted to him. Two no longer hesitated and dashed right into the back door, following Gu Fei’s instruction to the letter. He instantly ducked in a corner behind one of the double doors and did not take a step further.

As for the two guards, Gu Fei already had plenty of dealings with such NPCs in the past. Because these two had their stations to hold, there was no way either would leave too far from their original posts, so all he had to do was escape their range. This worked similarly to how players could escape from the usual monsters out in the grinding maps by getting out of their aggro range.

Thus, the members of Flowergazing in the Fog were more of a problem to him at the moment. These players were already infuriated when they saw that a good half of the nine trespassers had successfully entered the Government City Hall, so all the anger in them could only be released on to the two targets right before their eyes.

Although the backyard was smaller than the Government City Hall’s courtyard, their scope of vision here was not as wide as in the courtyard since plenty of obstructions and hiding spots existed all over. Gu Fei was dragging Seven along with him and was currently engaged in a game of hide-and-seek, so the members of Flowergazing in the Fog simply had no means to vent their anger; each man was on the verge of having a stroke as they repressed their burning rage.

“Just who are these people?” was the first question Three Sighs of Flowing Maple asked his guild members.

“We don’t know... They’re all wearing face covers.” Such an answer was also very vexing for them all, as it meant that they did not even have a chance to take revenge in the future.

“D*mm*t!” the usually calm and collected Three Sighs of Flowing Maple finally spat out an expletive. “We must find those two guys!”

“Yes!” Everybody was very confident of this. While they had no idea where the two men were hiding, the backyard was only so big. Locating the two men would only be a matter of time.

Seven, who was hiding all over the place with Gu Fei, was feeling extremely nervous right now. He trembled at every disorderly footstep he heard around them. “We can’t continue hiding like this...”

“Hide?” Gu Fei turned to stare at the man. “We’re currently searching for your quest target, bro!”

“Qu-Quest?” Seven almost forgot about his reason for being here in his anxiety.

“Aren’t we looking for that lethargic Assassin?” Gu Fei asked even as he continued to search all about.

“Over here!” A shout suddenly rang through the backyard. Following this, they heard many Mages starting to loudly chant. Seven, who abruptly lay flat on the ground in fright, heard Gu Fei sigh. “It’s not us... It’s Eight...”

Their mass search for the two men ended up uncovering Eight, instead. The man was hiding in the thicket. Speaking of which, Eight was perhaps too passive in dealing with the enemies. He became overly cautious when he saw more and more players from Flowergazing in the Fog gathering and moved far too slowly, ending up dead once the enemies caught up to him.

“We killed one!” those players excitedly announced as they continued their search.

“Snap out of it and hurry!” Gu Fei was entirely unaffected as he continued to spur Seven on.

Hard work paid off, but more importantly, Gu Fei’s line of thinking was spot on. Searching for the slumbering Assassin meant that they had to look for a suitable spot for it to sleep. They finally located their NPC under a big tree, hugging a shrub and sleeping soundly as if it were dead to the world.

Just how tired must this Assassin NPC be feeling for it to end up sleeping in a place like this?! Gu Fei wondered as he saw Seven lower his head and interact with the NPC before getting up to say, “It’s done.”

“Why isn’t it waking up?” Gu Fei asked.

“I don’t know...” Seven replied. “Anyway, the quest is completed, so I can return to hand it in.”

Gu Fei nodded his head as he kept his ear to the ground for the cacophony of footsteps around them. He spoke to Seven, “Stay here and don’t move.”

“What?” Seven was nonplussed.

“I’m gonna go lure them away,” Gu Fei said.

“Ah! Thank you so much...” Seven was warmed. He had really met a real life Lei Feng1!

“Don’t mention it... My quest is in the building, so I gotta get in. Luring them away just happened to be something I can do on my way there. You’re lucky Eight has become your scapegoat,” Gu Fei said.

“Eh?” Seven was momentarily stunned before realizing what he meant. Flowergazing in the Fog had set their sights on the two of them. With Eight’s death, they would only have one target left in mind, and that would be Gu Fei as he ran to the Government City Hall. This meant that Seven would no longer be in any sort of danger, which made Eight his incidental scapegoat.

“I’m off!” Gu Fei said his goodbye and then dashed out from the shrubbery.

“Over here!” A shout rang about just like last time. Following this, another bunch of Mages began to loudly chant their spells. However, Gu Fei was not like their previous target and was not even ruffled by this circumstance. How would mere spells even hit him? Everybody saw Gu Fei speed off in a cloud of dust, leaving behind a trail of Mage fire bombardment as he ran.

The Archers were similarly unable to lock their shots on this speedy figure; meanwhile, the Homing Projectiles that they fired off had limited speed, so Gu Fei easily bat them away.

The whole lot of them was hopping mad, yelling as they rushed to surround Gu Fei. The final unlucky ones were naturally those players he was running straight toward; an unrelenting slash sent two players down to the ground as he trod on them and went past. Gu Fei avoided insta-killing any of them not out of mercy but because he did not want to increase his PK value further.

While the players from Flowergazing in the Fog were plentiful, it was instead the two guards that Gu Fei found to be far more troublesome opponents. At the moment, he had already entered the range of the two, and upon perceiving him to be a fugitive, the two bravely left their post.

Gu Fei came charging to them head-on, but right in the moment before he clashed into these guards, he promptly Blinked away with a swishand appeared behind them; he was hoping to use that extra distance he had gained to make it into the Government City Hall. Only then would he consider his next step. The resulting racket behind him caused Gu Fei to look backward, only to discover that the men from Flowergazing in the Fog, who had been attacking him as they gave chase, ended up hitting the guards with their attacks instead, thanks to his sudden and inexplicable disappearance using Blink.

This was truly an unexpected trouble; since there was no reason for these guards to ignore the threat generated from these attacks, the two abruptly gave up on chasing Gu Fei as they dashed to confront those brave souls who had accidentally struck these NPC guards.

Death was only their secondary concern when they were attacked by this guards; what pained Flowergazing in the Fog was that their accidental assault on these guards would most likely adversely affect their quest progression. They were supposed to be guarding the courtyard but ended up attacking the NPC guards the system had stationed over there, instead. It was truly a heinous crime! At this moment, Three Sighs of Flowing Maple was just about ready to give everything up. He reckoned Giordano would most likely reduce their completion progression down to zero when they next met...

Gu Fei was feeling quite remorseful about this as well, shrugging to those who were still chasing after him. “I swear that this is not intentional...” With that, he bolted right through the double doors and entered the Government City Hall.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” Those members from Flowergazing in the Fog were in severe agony. They urgently needed to vent, yet they did not dare to even touch one blade of grass and a leaf of the trees in this yard. Everybody felt like vomiting blood.

Seven, who was still hiding in that same spot Gu Fei had left him, was trembling uncontrollably as he heard this lot of men cry out in exasperation, mentally fighting with himself from giving into his fear.

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Gu Fei did not hesitate to turn and hide behind the door once he entered the building, only to find Two squatting there, unsure of what to do as well. The man was elated when he suddenly saw Gu Fei arrive. “You’re here, too!”

“Yup!” Gu Fei nodded before peeking out to check the situation in the intersecting hallway outside. He was well aware of the existence of the guards flanking the wall on either side. The last time he was here, he swaggered through them without one of them flinching, but now that he had 20 PK points on him, he did not dare to be as arrogant. Thus, all he could do now was hide here and wait until his PK value was reduced by 1 point over time...

“What’s the gist of your quest here?” Gu Fei asked Two.

Two’s situation was a little more problematic. The man originally did not have permission to be in the Government City Hall and only managed to sneak his way in thanks to the opportunity Gu Fei had created for him. While Gu Fei needed only to wait for his PK value’s reduction to overcome his current dilemma, what recourse did Two have if he could not even openly reveal himself at all?

“Ah? My quest?” Two currently had absolute faith toward Gu Fei, so he did not see a need to hide any bit of information from him.

“You’re stealing something! No wonder you don’t have the permission,” Gu Fei said as he removed his bandana from his face and used it as a towel to wipe the sweat off his face. He gave a long exhale.

“I wonder if I’m able to go get the item and pass it over to you,” Gu Fei thoughtfully said.

“That... I have no idea, either!”

“I’ll give it a shot later!” Gu Fei decided as he sat to the ground.

“Eh?” Two was confused why he was hiding here and not moving at all.

“I have 20 PK points right now; guards will attack me on sight, so it’s easier for me to act after I lose a point,” Gu Fei explained.

Two came to a sudden realization. Finally understanding why those two guards had left their post, he was abruptly overcome with emotions. It was apparent that Gu Fei had only intentionally increased his PK value to 20 points to help him out.

“Thank you!” All Two could do was express his gratitude through words.

“Welcome...” Gu Fei was not modest, casually asking, “You are number ‘2’, but you’re considered as the eldest among our bunch!”

Two was slightly embarrassed. “I just joined earlier than the rest; that’s all.”

“Was One the guy who started it all?”

“No... That’s Three,” Two answered, “but because he preferred the poncho with ‘3’, he took that number.”

“No wonder...” Gu Fei said.

“No wonder what?” Two asked.

“No wonder One was the first to withdraw. I’ve been finding it strange this whole time. According to the number sequence, if One started all this, he would naturally be more confident in our operation than the rest. He shouldn’t have been that hesitant back then...” Gu Fei explained.

“You even noticed this detail...” Two was deeply awed.

“But Three is nowhere to be found,” Gu Fei said.

“Eh? He died?” Two asked.

“I don’t know...” Gu Fei shook his head. “I haven’t found any traces of the man by the time I took stock of the situation—someone’s here!” Gu Fei suddenly made the hand signal for silence as he heard footsteps coming from outside. Was someone about to enter the Government City Hall?

Sure enough, a figure dashed into the building!