Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

“Where’re they?” Gu Fei asked the garrisoned players of Past Deeds Eradication Army outside.

“They logged off!” everyone replied with a grimace.

Gu Fei finally realized why he had not heard the sound of the coordinates refreshing as he made his way over to this spawn point. He opened the mission log and took a look. As expected, the ‘Bounty Mission’ target was tagged as ‘offline’ in the column where the coordinates were displayed.

These people are so shameless! Gu Fei thought to himself in dissatisfaction. When he took the ‘Bounty Mission’, the target was clearly shown as online. If that guy’s got a shred of decency, he should’ve waited for me to off him before going offline! Gu Fei sighed in frustration.

The target going offline was a frustrating matter to a player because he or she could not cancel the ‘Bounty Mission’ on his or her volition. This was currently among the most illogical features of Parallel World.

Gu Fei gazed forlornly at the deserted Warrior Encampment for some time. Meanwhile, the players of Past Deeds Eradication Army outside the safe zone were at a loss at what to do next. The Past Deeds’ players were waging intense battles in the other spawn points, yet the Warriors in this safe zone had simply logged off. Just how could this be explained? Were these Warriors not the main force of Past Deeds?

When the news reached Dusky Cloud, he rushed toward the Warrior Encampment. Sword Demon had relinquished his duties as the Past Deeds Eradication Army’s commander and Dusky Cloud became its de facto leader.

“Past Deeds is done for!” Dusky Cloud cheered upon seeing the empty safe zone for Warriors. Gu Fei looked backward when he heard Dusky Cloud’s voice. Awkwardness swiftly pervaded the air as their gazes coincidentally collided.

Eight hours ago, Dusky Cloud, along with some of his buddies, had tried to kill Gu Fei to avenge his best friend, No Smile. Eight hours later, Gu Fei, along with his friends, had greatly helped Dusky Cloud’s gang wage war against Past Deeds. From start to finish, he had been instrumental in starting the guild war and in turning the tide of the battle in favor of the Past Deeds Eradication Army.

Presently, Dusky Cloud was in a dilemma on how he should treat Gu Fei. Recalling Celestial Pig’s admonition to him earlier about treating matters separately, Dusky Cloud could not help but reflexively nod his head in agreement. He was about to thank Gu Fei for what he had done earlier when he saw the latter take two steps forward. Gu Fei was gone in a flash of white light immediately after entering the safe zone. Dusky Cloud bewilderedly opened his mission log and saw that Fugitive 27149 was tagged as ‘offline’.

Having spent over eight hours in Parallel World, Gu Fei considered it as a day’s work done. After he said his goodbyes to Sword Demon and the others on the private mercenary channel, Gu Fei logged off to rest.

Gu Fei going offline naturally did not mean that the war had ended. Yueye City remained as a huge PvP field, persisting even when he entered the game the next day.

When he logged in at the Warrior Encampment, his spawning location happened to be in the middle of the two opposing sides: the Past Deeds’ Warriors behind and the Past Deeds Eradication Army in front. Gu Fei blinked his eyes in disbelief at what he was seeing. He hurriedly exited the spawn point when he felt killing intent emanating from behind him. These Past Deeds’ Warriors had at least learned their lesson, so they did not chase after him this time.

“Have you guys... been online all this while?” Gu Fei asked in astonishment, eyeing the players outside the safe zone. Each of them looked weary.

“We took turns resting offline,” the person facing Gu Fei answered.

“Don’t you guys have places to be in reality?” Gu Fei almost uttered this sentence but stopped himself. He recalled Young Master Han and the others’ reaction when he had asked them this question before. The idea was... foreign to people whose lifeblood was playing online games.

Gu Fei was not standing in the Warrior Encampment for long when Sword Demon and the other mercenary group members sent him messages. They had agreed to return to Yunduan City together, so the others were waiting for Gu Fei to come online.

“I’m off!” Gu Fei bid the players around him goodbye. Although they barely knew one another, they had at least spent some time together and shared the same side in this guild war.

These people were momentarily stunned, before hurriedly asking, “Where to?”

“Yunduan City!” Gu Fei answered, as he recalled something, “Oh, yeah! Almost forgot!”

Gu Fei darted back inside the Warrior Encampment and swept his gaze around. He then rushed toward a Warrior while wielding Moonlit Nightfalls in hand. The said Warrior could only gape at Gu Fei’s approaching figure, not knowing what to do as he died under Gu Fei’s sword after a few slashes. By the time the other Past Deeds’ Warriors reacted, Gu Fei had long since dusted his hands and left the safe zone. The Warriors all thumped their chests and cursed at Gu Fei’s shamelessness for not showing any indication that he was about to kill one of them.

Gu Fei smiled amiably as he bid the players of Past Deeds Eradication Army goodbye. He also did not neglect to sincerely thank the Past Deeds’ Warriors for helping him clear off his PK value. After all, his high PK value was the reason he had come to Yueye City after fleeing from Yunduan City. Finally, Gu Fei was a free man once again.

Gu Fei’s PK value reset to zero when he turned his mission in at the Bounty Assignment Hall. Upon exiting the hall and seeing no one present, he quickly took off his mask with a relieved sigh. From this moment onward, the serial number 27149 would be relegated to the annals of history of Parallel World.

On his way to meet up with Sword Demon and the rest, Gu Fei remembered Xiaoyu and hurriedly fired off a message to her.

Xiaoyu was surprised, “We just got here the day before, yet we’re already leaving?”

To think it’s only been two days. Everything feels surreal... Gu Fei was slightly maudlin. Having experienced many things in these past two days, he could not help but feel that time was passing by quite slowly.

Xiaoyu had spent her time repeatedly completing normal quests, so she of course found the passage of time to be much faster. Xiaoyu had wholly submerged herself into finding a way to retrieve the riches found within NPC Adrian’s cellar in Yeguang Village; thus, she knew nothing of the happenings in Yueye City yesterday.

“When you logged off, did you notice anything strange?” Gu Fei found himself admiring Xiaoyu’s ability to evade trouble.

“Nothing at all!” Xiaoyu answered.

“Where did you log off?” Gu Fei asked another question.

“Fighters’ Dojo,” Xiaoyu replied.

Gu Fei somewhat got it. Since few players had chosen the Fighter job class, the Fighters’ Dojo had not been one of the PvP fields. Thus, it became the only real safe zone in Yueye City. “How coincidental for you to log off there!” he commented.

“Mhm. I logged off at the Warrior Encampment on day one, and—heh. It’s kinda embarrassing but I couldn’t find my way back to that safe zone on day two. When I asked people for directions, they told me to log off at the Fighters’ Dojo instead,” Xiaoyu explained.

“Didn’t they tell you why?” Gu Fei probed.

“No need to. It’s obviously because that safe zone is the closest. You’re so silly!” Xiaoyu teased Gu Fei.

Gu Fei was quite annoyed, finally asking, “When are you returning to Yunduan City?”

“Ah! I don’t intend to head back yet. There’re lots of quests in Yueye City! I feel I could spend a lifetime doing them. When you get back, please help me convince Sis July to move Amethyst Rebirth Guild’s base over here!” Xiaoyu requested.

“Sure... I’ll try...” Gu Fei wiped nonexistent sweat off his forehead. Speaking to Xiaoyu was much more exhausting than clashing with Silver Moon.

After ending his conversation with Xiaoyu, he sent Will-low and Coward’s Savior a message each. The two were his freshly acquired friends while adventuring in Yueye City, so it was only right to say goodbye to them as well.

Coward’s Savior was not online. As for Will-low, she replied at once, “I’m going to Yunduan City as well!”

“Why?”

“Have you forgotten? All my friends moved to Yunduan City, so I’m going there to meet up with them,” Will-low reminded Gu Fei.

“Oh. If that’s the case... wanna go together?” Gu Fei asked.

“Sure!”

Gu Fei told her the meet-up location.

Outside a tavern’s entrance by Yueye City’s north gate, Gu Fei spotted Sword Demon and the rest. However, he did not expect Dusky Cloud and his buddies to be present as well. Gu Fei wondered if he should cover his face or not.

“Don’t come over. Act as if you don’t know us!” Sword Demon had obviously spotted Gu Fei as well.

“Roger!” Gu Fei replied, as he continued walking toward the tavern. He casually swept his gaze over the people that that had gathered by the entrance. Right before entering the establishment, Gu Fei overheard Dusky Cloud saying, “It’s not every day that you’d find yourself in Yueye City. Why not spend a few more days playing around here before heading back?”

Man, that line’s so cliché... Gu Fei thought to himself. Suddenly, he received a message from Young Master Han, “Do you realize how fake your casual glance was?”

“What do you mean?” Gu Fei asked, puzzled.

“Seeing my peerless beauty, anybody would linger their gaze on me. You should’ve been in a daze for quite a while before realizing my good looks are for real. That would’ve been far more convincing,” Young Master Han criticized.

Gu Fei felt goosebumps rose on his skin. “Your beauty doesn’t excuse your grossness!” Just as this message was sent out, Young Master Han appeared right in front of him with a blackened expression. Gu Fei immediately warned, “Don’t forget you’re a Priest! I can easily kill you.”

Young Master Han exited the establishment with a ghastly expression. Gu Fei had no choice but to sit alone in the tavern as Dusky Cloud’s gang and Sword Demon conversed outside.

Suddenly, a lady entered the tavern, stood within arm’s reach of Gu Fei, and looked around. Will-low messaged Gu Fei, “Where are you?”

He tugged on her cloak, “Right here.”

Will-low lowered her head, looked at Gu Fei, stepped away from him, and sent another message to Gu Fei, “Where? I’m here.”

“I’m here! Didn’t I tell you I’m right here?” Gu Fei tapped on the table.

Will-low skeptically looked at him once more. Gu Fei felt somewhat annoyed. Were his looks so different from how she had imagined him to be? That was illogical! Only Sword Demon had the looks that could subvert someone’s imagination to such a degree.

Looking at each other for this long was getting awkward. Gu Fei coughed lightly, “Why’re you just staring at me?”

Will-low quickly came over and took a seat beside Gu Fei, asking softly, “Did Thousand Miles Drunk ask you to wait for me here?”

“What’re you talking about? I’m Thousand Miles Drunk,” Gu Fei replied indignantly.

“How is that possible?!” Will-low exclaimed. Gu Fei waited for her to refute him more, but she bewilderedly blurted out instead, “Eh? Why is the mission gone?”

“What mission?” Gu Fei asked.

“The ‘Bounty Mission’ for Miles that I’ve obtained,” Will-low sputtered.

“Oh!” Gu Fei finally understood. Will-low did not recognize him because the serial number 27149 was no longer displayed on him. He quickly explained to her, “I’ve already erased my PK value.”

“What? I remember you having 29 PK points last night! How did you get rid of it this fast?” Will-low asked.

“Mhm. There’re lots of fights going on all over the city, so many people accumulated high PK value!” Gu Fei explained.

Will-low instantly understood.

“Oh, right. I’ve a minor issue I hope you can help me with,” Gu Fei said.