455 Chapter 455 - City Hall Courtyard (1/2)

”It's really difficult to relay information like this. Why don't we meet up?” Yan Xiaozhu asked.

Gu Fei thought that Yan Xiaozhu seemed to have an understanding of the situation and was about to ask if she had the time to meet up, so when she suggested it herself, he was naturally more than delighted to.

Since the matter of inquiry was related to the Government City Hall, the two of them decided to meet up right outside the entrance to that building for convenience's sake.

The entrance he was pointing out was the gates right by the Government City Hall's courtyard, where a single guard stood in place. Players were allowed to have access to this large courtyard, but permission was required to enter the Government City Hall itself. Gu Fei was the first to reach the gates of the courtyard, proceeding to stand right in the middle of them once he confirmed that Yan Xiaozhu was not there yet.

Before he could see someone appear from the fog, he first heard a sound nearby, but this sound was not a human sound made from the one he was waiting for. This sound was the soft yet distinct sound of clitter clatter, and as he was wondering what it could be, he spotted Yan Xiaozhu conscientiously kicking a piece of rock as she stepped out from the fog. The sound was from that rock rolling along the ground.

With her head lowered, Yan Xiaozhu continued to focus on what she was doing despite already reaching the entrance to the courtyard. A rock steadily rolled forward as she dribbled it between her feet, and only when that rock bumped into somebody's foot and got stepped on did she finally raise her head and realized that Gu Fei was already there.

”Hey, you got here before me!” she greeted.

Gu Fei nodded his head. She's got talent! he exclaimed in his heart. He had watched Yan Xiaozhu dribble that rock for 30 meters, and from a professional standpoint, he could say that she had a rather outstanding lower body coordination and would be a good candidate for studying kung fu. This was naturally just a thought he had as he had seen plenty of good candidates throughout his life.

”Tell me what you know!” Gu Fei immediately dove straight to the topic at hand.

”Come take a look.” Yan Xiaozhu brought Gu Fei into the courtyard and pointed over to a bunch of players at the southeast wing. ”See those people over there?”

”I see them.” Gu Fei nodded his head at that group of seemingly bored players. This was the prime time in the game, yet these players were not grinding, questing, running errand to earn money, or even grinding for gear. Instead, all of them were squatting by the corner of the wall, looking bored to death. The expression etched on their faces clearly said, ”I'm bored.”

”They are from the guild, Flowergazing in the Fog,” said Yan Xiaozhu.

Gu Fei had heard of this guild. Brother Assist briefly introduced it as the largest guild in the city when they first arrived at Xiawu City. He could not recall what the guild leader's name was called, but if he was not mistaken, the man should be a Warrior. This information came to his mind even as he nodded his head.

”What do they have to do with Giordano?” Gu Fei asked.

”Well, it's like this,” Yan Xiaozhu began. ”Their guild was rewarded a quest for placing first in the PvP tournament. This quest required them to meet the NPC called Giordano in the Government City Hall, but because the quests and missions found in the game could randomly result in a battle, they were worried that speaking to Giordano would lead to some BOSS battle despite the quest prompt not explicitly stating this possibility. As such, they gathered a bunch of people from the start and gotten quite a number of high-level individuals to help. I happened to be one of those people they gathered,” Yan Xiaozhu explained.

”Oh. Then, what happened?”

”What happened? Well, we did find Giordano and heard it issue the Flowergazing in the Fog their quest. Apparently, there's not enough manpower in the Government City Hall, so he was hoping that the Flowergazing in the Fog Guild could help supplement this and bear some of the work. That NPC left after saying that,” Yan Xiaozhu said.

”What sort of guild quest is that?” Gu Fei asked even as he wondered if this had any relation to his intention to assassinate Giordano. From the incident that had happened in Yueye City, there was no way Parallel World could simply be seen as just a game. In many ways, it would also develop along with the changes in the world, and Gu Fei's interaction with the Werewolves in Yeguang Village was a good example of this. He soloed that chain quest, yet the fact that it happened to have something to do with the quest of Traversing Four Seas, a guild that was far from related to him in any sense, just went to show this problem.

”I'm not too sure of the specifics because those invited, including me, left at that moment, but what followed only required the participation of the Flowergazing in the Fog's members. I heard that they have to make certain progress with that quest. Requiring them to complete chores every day to make any headway, at first, even simple tasks, such as cleaning the courtyard by cutting the grass, helped further their progress, but the things they could do dwindle with each passing day. Eventually, they could no longer make progress by repeatedly cutting the weeds. As such, they are unable to find anything to do to complete the mission 100% even to this day. That's why those people are still wasting their time here.” Yan Xiaozhu pointed over to that bunch of people at the corner again.

”To think there would be such a thing!” Gu Fei wiped his sweat in his anxiety. He had initially thought that Traversing Four Seas' guild quest was troublesome enough, but now he knew that there was an even more inhumane mission here. Traversing Four Seas' guild quest at least had clear targets and goals for the players to work toward, yet this quest here in Xiawu City had a completion bar without a hint on what sort of general activities the players were expected to do to complete it. Seeing all these players while their time here with a listless look, Gu Fei asked, ”So what are they trying to accomplish by squatting over there?”

”That's not it! I heard that they originally expected to achieve a 100% completion rate for the quest, but some random noob came running around the place without knowing anything and even went as far as to attempt to enter the Government City Hall, ending up getting executed on the spot by the guards. Those Flowergazing in the Fog's players that were in the courtyard at that time, even watched the spectacle unfold. In the end, when Giordano came out to announce the progress of their quest, it reprimanded them for being ineffectual and went ahead to dock 10% off their progress, pissing those guys off to no end,” Yan Xiaozhu explained what had happened next.

So I see, Gu Fei thought even as he swept his gaze over to those men at the corner of a wall. Suddenly realizing a huge problem, he asked, ”Wait a minute. Why is it this courtyard of the Government City Hall doesn't have fog?”

Gu Fei was carefully looking all over the place when he asked this. All was foggy beyond the gates, yet everything was visible to him in this courtyard, which lacked the ever-present moisture thickly pervading the air in Xiawu City.