319 Chapter 319 - A Suspicious Trap (1/2)
The players from Yunduan City reorganized their formation once more before venturing into the jungle. Oathless Sword continued to take the lead, holding the map in hand as he directed everyone toward the indicated coordinates. But after taking several steps forward, he froze up, stared at the coordinates ahead, and compared them with the stated coordinates for Linyin City's location.
Oathless Sword rushed out of the jungle, checked the coordinates again, and ran back in to stare at the coordinates. Finally, he expressed his astonishment, ”This entire jungle is a Class 2 map!”
When the players heard of this, they were astonished as well, each of them starting to take note of the coordinates. Running to and fro to the jungle – much like what Oathless Sword just did – the fact that the jungle was a Class 2 map eventually spread among the players like wildfire.
”Class 2 map?” Gu Fei was unfamiliar with this term.
”It is the name for places that have a separate set of coordinates from the map,” Brother Assist explained. He felt that his explanation was still a little vague, so he cited examples, ”Most caves and the inside of houses have Class 2 maps; each of them having its coordinates.”
”Even a house would have different coordinates?” Gu Fei was positive that was untrue. Whenever he did 'Bounty Mission', he mostly found his targets indoors. Therefore, he was certain that the inside of houses had no unique coordinates.
”Well, small-sized houses are still reliant on the coordinates depicted on the world map, but there are slight variations in how things are depicted. For example, (R100,100) is the coordinates for inside the house, while (100,100) is the coordinates for the house's rooftop. Have you not noticed this?” Brother Assist asked.
”Oh.” Gu Fei immediately understood.
”However, for this entire jungle to actually be a Class 2 map… Just what sort of luck do we have to run into such a design?” Brother Assist murmured.
There was nothing really scary about a Class 2 map. In fact, this made it easier to identify the difference between the map coordinates more accurately. The problem was that in their current situation, the map Oathless Sword was using to lead the expedition was a Class 1 map, which the players had colloquially called as the world map. Since the coordinates within the jungle were of the Class 2 map, everyone could not help but suspect that this was the system making things difficult for them once more.
Some quests were not challenging in terms of combat or intellect, so MMOs would often waste players' time by incorporating those quests with long-distance travels or tedious steps. Obviously, this part of the expedition the Yunduan City players were currently doing belonged in this category. Each of them griped incessantly, with some even expressing their skepticism about the jungle only being a Class 2 map for the quest, much like how the system had eroded the road back in the Oolong Mountain Range.
”Everyone, pipe down!” All had retreated from the jungle by now, cursing loudly, so Oathless Sword had no choice but to step up and control the situation.
His shout was only heard by the first dozen or so players, yet these men dutifully turned to spread the word until everyone knew of this order. The jungle outskirt where their expedition was gathered became quiet.
”Now that we're aware of our current situation, let me ask everyone; do any of you have friends in Linyin City?!” Oathless Sword shouted. The best way for them to save time was to find a guide that would lead them to the city.
The players began to discuss this among themselves, yet no one answered. The closest form of discussion that was relevant to the matter was when some players mentioned how they had friends who used to live in Linyin City but later departed from it. Oathless Sword was very surprised by this turn of events, as he had never expected that out of this nearly one thousand-strong crowd, not one player actually had a friend in that city.
”Anyone? Anyone at all? You will be well thanked for your aid!” Oathless Sword did not give up. Originally hoping to play the friendship card, he now decided to offer up a reward. There was a saying that went: 'A brave soul will step up when a bountiful reward is present'. Oathless Sword was not looking for a brave soul right now, though, but a local, instead.
He swept his gaze through the crowd once more and only found a sea of shaking heads.
Oathless Sword was now blankly staring at Gale Force and Youthful Reflection. Neither of them seemed to have expected such an outcome, as well.
”Well, if that's the case…” Oathless Sword continued, ”I guess we'll have to rely on ourselves to find the city. Do you all wish to begin our search for the city or do you prefer heading back to Baishi City to rest up for the night and begin inquiring the next day?”
”Let's search for it now!” everyone shouted. This was a no-brainer. Heading back to Baishi City now would take more than three hours of travel time; they would easily waste another three hours or more getting back here tomorrow. Anyone with half a head on his or her shoulders would naturally choose to push onward now than to come back here tomorrow.
”That settles it, then! We'll get a lock on the horizontal coordinates of Linyin City from outside the jungle before we venture inward in a straight line. I'm sure we'll be able to find the city at this rate.” Once Oathless Sword finished saying this, he began to move and align himself toward the horizontal coordinates for Linyin City. The current plan was to arrive at Linyin City by walking into the jungle in a straight line. They were all rather confident of their ability to keep their bearings straight; after all, they were searching for a city. Just the area of the coordinates itself occupied at least the entire 'N' symbol on their mini-map. With their destination being that large, these players were certain that they could locate the city even if they were to stray a little off to the side while inside the jungle.
Thinking of this fact, all stopped their condemnations of the existence of this Class 2 map for the jungle as they courageously set forth into it once more.
A jungle with the atypical Class 2 map category was truly a different breed. The trees were sturdy and densely tangled; these trees were also overgrown from the boundary to the very depths of the jungle.
The battalion advanced in the same formation as before. Traversing Four Seas took the front, while the mercenaries followed closely behind. Young Master's Elite was once more trailing at the back, and the Amethyst Rebirth ladies were not too far away. Sakurazaka Moony and The Great Hunting were naturally lingering near the ladies. Sakurazaka Moony was currently walking alongside Vast Lushness as he said to her, ”It's really easy to put up traps in places like this. No need to even dig a hole; just toss a bunch of loose leaves, cover up the trap with more detritus, and no one will be able to detect it.”
As he said this, a scream was heard coming from the front of the pack.
That scream sounded exceptionally vivid in this remote jungle; when those at the back asked what had happened, the report from the front that reached them was: ”Someone stepped on a trap!”
Their hearts trembled as they each began checking the area beneath their feet, which thereby led to further questions. ”Did the person accidentally step on the trap that someone has forgotten to dismantle? Is the trap intentionally placed?”
There was no answer at the moment. Eventually, Oathless Sword called for the self-proclaimed number one trap expert Sakurazaka Moony to save that man.
Sakurazaka Moony quickly made a beeline for the man.