304 Chapter 304 - Yueye City’s Master Appraiser (2/2)
”F*CK!” the six men cursed.
”That's so shameless!”
”Profiteer!”
”Despicable.”
”The system's greed knows no bounds.”
”Is money the only thing the gaming company cares about?!”
They flung insults at the system for almost ten minutes before Sword Demon feebly interjected, ”Hey… Are we still having these items analyzed or what?”
”Of course, we are. A sheep's wool grows on a sheep, after all,” Young Master Han replied.
Thus, Sword Demon forked out the fee of 200 gold coins and handed the sum over to the Master Appraiser along with the ledger and note.
The Master Appraiser glanced briefly at the note before flipping through the ledger noisily. Just as the six were starting to wonder which page she would stop at, the Master Appraiser returned the two items to Sword Demon and declared, ”It's the same handwriting.”
The entire process of analyzing the handwriting did not take longer than five seconds. The six men did not even get to experience the anxiety that came with not knowing what the final outcome would be. They spent 200 gold coins just like that, yet they did not even get to properly enjoy any bit of thrill from this. They could not help but feel that the system was being too cheap; the system should at least show them the process of analyzing the handwriting since it was charging such a high price. Such perfunctory action left them thoroughly unsatisfied.
Whatever the case might be, the system's action clearly proved two things. First, Mr. Adrian was indeed the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes. Second, Gu Fei was not the only one who could complete the quest. Therefore, Young Master Han absconding with Mr. Adrian's ledger had truly brought Traversing Four Seas unnecessary trouble.
”Have we completed this quest? Will we get Mr. Adrian's confession if we head back now?” Sword Demon asked everyone.
These men were still suspicious. The logic behind Parallel World was hardly congruent with reality. Things would progress according to how reality worked at times, and matters would rigidly be constrained according to how MMO worked at other times. It was this unpredictability that tortured the players endlessly....
Choosing to play it safe, the six men requested the Master Appraiser to provide evidence to back her findings that the writer of the note and ledger was the same person. They believed that any proof she provided them would automatically cause Mr. Adrian to confess.
”Proof? My word is all the proof you need!” the Master Appraiser said haughtily.
The six men left the premise in great displeasure after being regarded so contemptuously by a NPC.
”Should we see Mr. Adrian now?”
”Let's go; no way I'm getting any sleep if we don't….”
Thus, the six men once more rushed toward Yeguang Village, meeting quite a few Yunduan City players along the way. After being informed that the quest could not continue today by Oathless Sword, these players felt very unhappy at essentially having wasted a whole night in-game doing nothing.
”Looks like Traversing Four Seas has offended quite a lot of players due to this quest,” Brother Assist commented as he looked at the disgruntled faces around them.
”They are lacking in the necessary qualities of professional mercenaries,” Young Master Han said. As the five men looked at him, he added, ”Us included.”
”Tsk!” everyone scorned.
”There's no way to inculcate unity into this mess of mercenary groups, anyway. The Traversing Four Seas' players should thank their lucky stars if they do succeed in this guild quest; them failing would be entirely due to this very fact. Just you wait and see,” Young Master Han predicted.
”Why are you like this? You seem to actually be wishing for them to fail!” Gu Fei remarked.
”I'm just disappointed with this situation we've found ourselves in. They hired all these mercenaries for the quest, yet they don't show enough trust in us. He he he… Did they really think money is enough to make everyone work for them? They just don't have the right qualities to be the boss,” Young Master Han scoffed.
”I think you're just overthinking things again…” Gu Fei said, adding, ”It may not be the lack of trust, but rather your frequent extortion attempts that have caused them to be fearful, causing them to avoid us. This whole situation is whacked.”
”Extortion? You can hardly say that the meager sum we've gotten from them is that. They're merely jealous of us being the ones to resolve their problems at crucial moments. This is exactly why they've refused our help time and time again. Honestly, we are just six men. Do you really think the fee that they are paying us is more than that of The Black Hand's hundred men? Far from it, I say! We are only costing them probably just twenty of their men!”
”That's ridiculous!” Gu Fei was now pissed. ”Just I alone can take down twenty men of The Black Hand!”
”That's what I've been telling you! We haven't been extorting really. The price I've given them has been extremely reasonable!” Young Master Han justified himself.
Sword Demon, who had been standing beside him all this while, nudged him. ”You did extort money from them, though. After all, you hid that ledger from them just then.”
Young Master Han eyed him with disdain. ”That's not extortion; that's competition.”
Everyone was simply speechless.This idiom means that the benefits of a particular action have already been paid for, that it pays for itself, profitable, etc.