330 Chapter 330 - Whitestone Dust in the Jungle (2/2)

Now that they were at the crucial stage of their operation, no one was holding back anything anymore, and the players from various teams each took out a small pouch and tossed it out, as though they were Maoshan Taoists exorcising the area around them of evil spirits.

This one move they did proved to be very effective. Just as Deep Waters had said, some Thieves from Yunduan City had indeed located a few of them and were presently observing their movement. Any Thieves from Baishi City would immediately understand what was happening if they were the ones experiencing this, but since these Thieves from Yunduan City were new to this part, they failed to understand that an anti-Stealth method was being used on them. Quite a handful of them were hit by the scattered dust and were forcefully revealed, with some reacting too slowly to this, remaining unaware that their Stealth had been broken as they stood out in the open in a perfect display of foolish brazenness.

There was nothing much that needed to be said when teams of ten faced only one Thief each. Youthful Reflection quickly received the scattered reports of the Thieves who had been eliminated. ”Not good! It seems that the enemies have a way to counter Stealth!”

”No way. There are so many of them that can counter Stealth?” The death count continued to pile up, a clear indication that it was not just one player that could counter Stealth, which blew Oathless Sword's mind.

Still, his reaction reminded Gu Xiaoshang, who was standing not too far from them, of Baishi City's Whitestone Dust that her group had encountered earlier.

”Why didn't you say anything about this earlier?!” Youthful Reflection was angry.

”Nobody asked me.” Gu Xiaoshang shrugged.

”Quickly call them all back!” Oathless Sword said.

”There's no rush for that.” Youthful Reflection remained composed. ”It's very easy to hide in this jungle. Our men only suffered a loss here because they were thinking that their Stealth was foolproof. I'll tell them to be careful, but their reconnaissance task continues.”

”Are all the players you sent mercenaries?” Oathless Sword softly murmured to Youthful Reflection. Gu Xiaoshang was still nearby, and he had no intention of letting the woman he was fond of know about this calculated plan of his.

Youthful Reflection nodded his head with the slightest hint of delight. ”And none of them asked for additional pay.”

”Ha ha!” Oathless Sword relaxed when he heard this. He had an expression that showed his apathy toward their survival. Waving his hands casually, he said, ”Let's have them continue their surveillance, then.”

”Of course.” Youthful Reflection disseminated this order to the various mercenary group leaders.

”Has anyone tabulated our losses thus far?” Oathless Sword asked Youthful Reflection.

”146 men so far!” Youthful Reflection replied, explaining, ”This includes those players that did not turn up from the start and the cowards that backed down in the Oolong Mountain Range. Still, this trip to Linyin City has the most casualties as of date.”

”D*mn! I'll make that guy pay for what he has done.” Oathless Sword was extremely incensed, and the very thought of Deep Waters ignited a fiery hatred in his belly. ”How's the losses from the mercenary groups?”

”This… I didn't calculate in detail, but their losses should be about the same as ours,” Youthful Reflection answered. The number of mercenaries was substantially fewer than Traversing Four Seas' members to begin with. The fact that their losses were about the same clearly showed just how strong their sense of self-preservation was. This entire conversation had been discussed in hushed tones. Although those mercenaries in the know were aware of the nature of their employment from the very start, it was still not good to mention such matters openly.

While these two's hushed talk was underway, Deep Waters was attempting to get a handle of the situation on his end. Just as Youthful Reflection had said, once the Thieves learned that the enemies had means to counter Stealth, they became more careful with where they hid themselves. It was not easy to be discovered in this dense jungle, after all. Once Deep Waters received the count for the eliminated Thieves, he immediately understood that the enemies began to be more careful with where they hid. He did not have any direct solution to this problem, so he and his comrades could only adopt a casual approach to it and depended on sheer luck to stumble on the enemies.

Still, having played in this jungle of Linyin City since level 0, these local players were accustomed to this type of terrain. The skills that they had employed in this covert warfare clearly showed their experience when compared to the sloppy attempts of those from Yunduan City. Many of the Thieves carefully hiding themselves were still discovered and exterminated by those from Linyin City. Naturally, there were some that managed to get away thanks to their superior movement speed. Nevertheless, Youthful Reflection's expression was looking worse by the moment. It was obvious that the enemies were eliminating their comrade Thieves so as to conceal their movement from them, yet Youthful Reflection could not think of what sort of devious trap the enemies were planning to spring on their expedition.