453 Chapter 453 - Andrew Su’s Diary (1/2)

The discussion on the mercenary channel was put on hold as everybody headed toward a tavern to meet up. Besides handing over the money to Sword Demon, the main reason they were meeting was to further research and analyze the diary that Gu Fei had picked up.

Brother Assist said, ”There's really nothing much worth mentioning if that BOSS dropped just a blank diary, but since it's a diary that has entries, there may be something worth noting within.”

Everybody thought that what he had said made sense, so they requested Gu Fei to bring the diary over for everyone to pore over. Of course, the man had no intention of hiding it either, so he casually tossed the diary on to the table after handing over the money to Sword Demon once they were in the tavern.

”It looks really ordinary!” they commented.

”It's about the content. CONTENT!” Brother Assist reached over to take the diary even as he asked Gu Fei, ”Have you looked through it?”

”I just skimmed through a few random pages,” Gu Fei answered.

Brother Assist took it into his hands and carefully turned it open to the first page, as if the diary would turn to dust the moment he exerted any amount of strength on it. The text was very clearly handwritten, and the content was sparse beyond a few lines. Brother Assist prudently read the content out loud.

”'I am the Shadowmist Assassin, Andrew Su. Unremarkable and of no repute, which is why I am still alive. This is a rule that an Assassin must adhere to. The day my name become renowned, that will surely also be the day I die...

”'Oak Forest, a small log cabin.

”'The newly sprouted oak trees have bright-red leaves, which, according to Gru, resemble blood. Hmph. What does he know? Has he even seen real fresh blood before?

”'This is the 142th time I met Gru and received my 187th assignment in my Assassin career. It is said that the moment I accomplish my 200th assignment, the League of Assassins will confer me a special reward. Just 13 more to go. This number doesn't seem to be very auspicious.'”

Everybody was stunned as they listened. Royal God Call was the first to speak up, ”Is this a novel?”

Nobody bothered with him. Brother Assist flipped to the second page, and the text was even more sparse.

”'The air in Linshui City is still as humid as ever, but I like it.

”'But the quiet days by the harbor are long gone. Plenty of people have suddenly appeared around here, making it extremely crowded, which is such a pity.'”

At the end of the second page, Royal God Call once more piped out, ”Many people? Did he mean the players?”

None of them wanted to get to the bottom of this question, and Brother Assist merely flipped to the third page, which held even less text than the second page.

”'What a heavy fog. In such an environment, it is extremely easy to strike and slip away. Looks like the mission this time will go extremely smoothly.'”

The fourth page had even less text than the page before, totaling up to three words.

”'CRAP! I'm lost.'”

Everyone could not help but glance at Royal God Call; the boy had a very empathetic expression on his face, sighing deeply as he became emotional. ”Poor thing.”

”Is there any mystery within these few pages?” War Without Wounds asked.

”Don't think so… It seems to be the background information of that BOSS,” Sword Demon said.

”There's more at the back!” Brother Assist had already flipped over to the fifth page.

”Are we gonna spend a whole afternoon sitting here reading this diary?” War Without Wounds found such an eventuality to be utterly terrifying.

”This diary sure is strange. I feel that there must be something hidden in this. Perhaps, it is a clue to a quest,” Brother Assist conjectured.

MMOs often used items like this as a key to start a quest, but the other MMOs always immediately listed this on the players' quest logs and never required players to painstakingly read diaries like this. Efficiency was the key to these experts present, and they would only do quests for the rewards that came within. As such, they always looked for the most direct approach to completing quests fast and did not care much to savor the plot at all, which was why they were quite annoyed at the discovery that this matter required them to pay attention to details.

”I'm sure there's something here.” It just so happened that Brother Assist was someone who enjoyed this sort of endeavors.

”In that case, we'll have to rely on you for this. Call me if you find a quest in that.” War Without Wounds stood up. ”I'm going to take a walk around the city.”

”Hey, wait for me!” Royal God Call leaped to his feet. He needed someone to accompany him from place to place in Xiawu City, so he had no choice at where to go and could only rely on others to guide him around. Seeing that somebody was about to leave, he did not let go of the chance!

Sword Demon got up as well. ”I'll take a look around the city, too!” He now had a buttload of debts to pay off, so he must seize every moment he got to earn money; he just did not have the time to carefully pore over the diary.

”Go on, then!” Brother Assist waved these people off as he continued to flip through the diary, except his speed was much faster than before.

”What else is written in there?” Since he was no longer reading the text aloud, Gu Fei and Young Master Han had to ask; the two of them remained at the tavern.

”It goes on about how he's trying different ways to find his way back,” Brother Assist answered.

Every page was filled with solutions that the Shadowmist Assassin had come up with.

He tried to repair his compass, but he had no idea how to fit it back after dismantling the compass, and he utterly ended up turning it compass into scraps.

He tried to get his bearings by looking up the sky, but the fog in Xiawu City was ever present, be it night or day, no matter which direction he looked. He could not even see the sun, much less the stars.

He tried distinguishing the poles through the lushness of the tree branches and leaves or density of the annual rings of the trees, but because of the persistent fog pervading the region, the sunlight in Xiawu City seemed not to make a difference across the day, while the annual rings were all evenly proportionate.