306 Chapter 306 - Mark of the Wolf (1/2)
”So what you are saying is that if we have managed to stop that pigeon from flying off, it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the quest for Traversing Four Seas?” Brother Assist asked.
”Not necessarily. The difference between a prepared opponent and one that is not should only affects the next ordeal's difficulty!” Young Master Han replied.
Everyone found his explanation to be plausible, and any discussion on this topic ceased as a result. This quest still belonged to Traversing Four Seas through and through; as a bunch of 'mediocre' mercenaries in terms of professionalism, none of Young Master's Elite really cared whether the difficulty of Traversing Four Seas' quest increased or not.
”So how are we going to resolve this matter now? Are we bringing Mr. Adrian's corpse over to meet the Werewolves?” Gu Fei lowered his head to look at the NPC corpse that lay sprawled on the floor as if Mr. Adrian were just sleeping.
”I doubt that's necessary. We'll just inform the Werewolves, and the system will probably take care of the rest. But we can't conclude this quest at the moment,” Young Master Han said, explaining, ”If we talk to the Werewolves now, they'll simply disperse, allowing Traversing Four Seas to smoothly continue the journey tomorrow. Since this quest isn't showing on our quest log, we can't prove to Traversing Four Seas that we are responsible for it.”
”Guess we'll continue this tomorrow, then!” Gu Fei said.
”Yup. You can go log off now!” Young Master Han dismissed him.
Gu Fei went to inform June's Rain of Mr. Adrian's departure so that she could continue digging out a passage. June's Rain happily resumed her work as Gu Fei returned to Yueye City and logged off.
Four hours later, Youthful Reflection and the other Traversing Four Seas members were released from prison. Naturally, the first thing they concerned themselves with was the progress of the quest. When they learned that Young Master's Elite had still intervened in the end, Youthful Reflection immediately contacted Young Master Han.
”Miles went ahead and did it. He logged off just a while ago, so I have no idea what happened. Guess we'll find out tomorrow!” Young Master Han replied.
”And that note?” Youthful Reflection inquired.
”You want it back now?”
”Of course.”
Young Master Han did not tell him that the issue had already been resolved, so Youthful Reflection did not give up on his end. He remained convinced that they could complete the quest by themselves. His line of thought about the situation completely matched Young Master's Elite's, and he was adamant that Mr. Adrian was the manipulator, and the search for proof to expose him would come later.
After taking back the note from Young Master Han, Youthful Reflection quickly began interacting with Mr. Adrian. He repeatedly questioned the NPC about the letter as he searched through the mansion, keeping watch on the latter the whole time, but it turned out to be a fruitless endeavor. Youthful Reflection tried all sorts of methods that he could come up with, yet Mr. Adrian's reaction to this matter remained the same: He was absolutely clueless about it.
Mr. Adrian was not faking it, either. This was because the current Mr. Adrian was already the third iteration. The Mr. Adrian that had blackmailed the Werewolves in relation to Traversing Four Seas' guild quest was no longer alive. While the NPC before Youthful Reflection bore the same task and name and would probably be the antagonist of a different quest, he was no longer relevant to Traversing Four Seas' current escort mission. It was only natural for the NPC to be clueless with regard to the matter.
Unfortunately, Youthful Reflection was completely unaware of this. He busied himself over this matter from dusk to dawn. Youthful Reflection was completely worn out, yet Mr. Adrian was still spiritedly oblivious to anything pertaining to his quest. Youthful Reflection could no longer deny that he had failed.
Perhaps, it was just as what everyone had said before; the quest was already assigned to Gu Fei, so only he could accomplish it. If only Youthful Reflection knew that the reason he had made no progress at all was that this stage of the quest that he was attempting to advance had already been completed.
Youthful Reflection placing all his hopes on to Gu Fei was exactly what Young Master Han was after. Everything else that followed from there was really simple. Young Master Han did not even have to negotiate with Traversing Four Seas further. As long as the matter was settled before the guild's eyes, Traversing Four Seas would naturally pay the expected remuneration. After all, Oathless Sword and the rest knew how they should act in such situations.
For the whole day of the following day, the over seven hundred members of Traversing Four Seas blankly waited for the great Gu Fei to come online at 7 P.M.
Without wasting any time or words, Gu Fei quickly took the road to the Werewolves before the rest of the players set forth. Indeed, once Gu Fei informed them that he had taken care of Mr. Adrian, the Werewolves readily packed their things up and happily made their way back to Yeguang Village. Gu Fei waited eagerly for the hulking figure of the Werewolf Wally, who walked over without shifting to his human form, to hand him some sort of reward. He patted Gu Fei's shoulder with his humongous paw as he howled. Sadly, Gu Fei could not understand wolf language. Wally shifted back to his human form and solemnly expressed his message to Gu Fei once more, ”We will forever remember your kindness.”
”Take care!” Gu Fei waved to the Werewolves.
”Please accept our gift.” Wally took something out from his pocket. The eyes of Gu Fei, who was not usually passionate about in-game equipment, could not help but light up when he saw this. This was the same NPC who had given him his Moonlit Nightfalls last time! Although he did not put much value to equipment, it was undeniable that Gu Fei had only made such a torrential impact in Parallel World all thanks to his Moonlit Nightfalls. Surely, anything the Werewolves gifted would be top grade.
As he was thinking of this, Wally presented him his quest reward.
It was a belt. To be precise, it was an exceptionally gross-looking belt. A wolf's head was right where the buckle should be. Ignoring how fierce the wolf's head looked, the reason he found the belt very gross was that the half-agape wolf's maw was made to have a salivating look. The wolf head's fierce appearance was practically ruined by this. No matter how cold or fierce its gaze was, it felt off the longer anyone looked at it. Only one word crossed Gu Fei's mind: lecherous....
”Is this belt a joke?” Gu Fei muttered as he took it in his hand.