518 Chapter 518 - The Fake Assassination Plan (2/2)
”When will that be?” Gu Fei hurried to ask. By the time the two had their fill of sleep, there was no way he would still be online, right? If they slept for only two or three hours, then they could still somewhat make it. When they got online again, they would most likely enact their plan, and Gu Fei did not wish to miss that good show.
”Oh, that's right. We've yet to fill you in on the plan.” Coco seemed to have thought of something, but she quickly waved her hands dismissively. ”You can ask Xiaotian when you hand the item over to her. We're taking our leave first.”
The two Thieves departed just like that, leaving Gu Fei holding onto that spell scroll, contemplating a very important question: If Xi Xiaotian were to never get online, how long would he have to wait? They shouldn't have given this scroll to me… Despite having such a thought, Gu Fei did not chase after the two players who were so tired that they could barely stand. Instead, he headed off to the mailbox to send it over to Xi Xiaotian. Even though he did not wish to miss the show, he figured it was better not to delay the business at hand since he was just a spectator to this debacle…
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It was six in the morning.
Three figures sneakily appeared on a certain street in Linyin City. This was the time of the day when there would be the least number of players online – a break when the interchange of the gamers who played the game overnight and players who were about to begin their gaming sessions were due to log off early or log on late, respectively. This street was empty at the moment, and the mess of muddy footprints on the street had all been removed by the system's routine refreshes.
The three walked down the east entrance of the street toward the west before walking from the west back to the east. Looking around for a moment, someone pointed to the rooftop at one side as another appear up on that rooftop instantly while another slowly disappeared into thin air.
Blink and Stealth.
These two were naturally Gu Fei and Sword Demon. Last night, Xi Xiaotian happened to log on just as Gu Fei was about to mail the scroll over to her. She proceeded to inform him of their plan before finally convincing him to go in accordance to their schedule. Thus, Gu Fei did not bother playing any longer last night. He had logged off early to rest up for the day so that he could get up earlier the next day, which led to this moment here in this quiet street.
”Hey!” Gu Fei, who had gotten on to the rooftop, poked his head out. ”Are you certain he's gonna walk this way? There won't be any surprises, right?”
”There's no guarantee, but this is the street closest to the designated log-off point. If he happens to have other business and doesn't head straight to log off, then he may not take this path,” Coco was the one still on the street as she answered Gu Fei.
”Then, are you certain he would pass by before seven?” Gu Fei asked again.
”Hey. Of course, I'm not certain. That's why we we're here at the earlier time of 6,” Coco replied. According to the usual habits of the late-night gamers, most would log out at around 7, but Coco had taken the precaution to get everyone in place at the earlier time of 6 to cover their bases.
”I hope he would log off earlier,” Gu Fei mumbled as he retracted his head. He was now prone on the rooftop to reduce his visibility.
”Call me when he's here!” Gu Fei shouted.
”Got it!” Sword Demon replied; he was soon gone from the naked eye.
”I'll leave the two of you waiting here. I gotta go and get ready too,” Coco said as she turned to leave the street.
Lying prone on the rooftop was the most Gu Fei could do to hide himself, while Sword Demon down below, after having come into contact with someone like Gu Fei, knew very well now that Stealth was not entirely reliable. He spotted a stack of filled sacks in front of a random house, so he darted over behind it, only peeking half his head out from behind the cover from time to time to take note of any movement down the street.
Xi Xiaotian's plan was far more complicated than what they had thought, and it was not as simple as her acting in place of another workshop, attempting to recruit Broken Water Arrow with the skill scroll in hand. Gu Fei originally thought that he had no business with this part of the operation, and the show he wanted to watch was Xi Xiaotian getting the record of the conversation and showing it to Deep Waters. He was utterly mistaken, for what was important was finding a way to get that conversation on record.
Trust. They first had to swindle Broken Water Arrow's trust.
Broken Water Arrow would of course not reveal his scheme arbitrarily to a complete stranger whom he was suspicious with, so they must lower his guard down first in order to successfully extract this confession.
This was originally a rather thorny issue, but they were given a window of opportunity since both Sword Demon and Gu Fei had coincidentally made an attempt on his life and succeeded once. Right now, Broken Water Arrow was already aware that Sword Demon no longer cared for what Deep Waters think and had made the conscious decision to slay him until the end. If he struck once, there was bound to be a second time, and this second time became a part in this drama that Xi Xiaotian had concocted.
This second attempt was nothing but Sword Demon and Gu Fei play-acting. Xi Xiaotian would appear in a critical moment to save Broken Water Arrow.
”Clever. Too brilliant! This way, getting close to Broken Water Arrow will be a piece of cake!” Xi Xiaotian decided to go with the flow and use the situation to her advantage, using Sword Demon's first assassination attempt to be the first act of this entire operation, which garnered the praise of Royal God Call and War Without Wounds. These two already dropped all pretense the moment they saw this pretty lady.
”It's not that simple,” Xi Xiaotian said. ”After all, I'm going to be talking business with him soon after, so he'll immediately understand that my rescue attempt is not simply a chance meeting. However, having been on the receiving end of my kind assistance, he's sure to soften to me, which itself is an opportunity to get him to let his guard down and let me in. There're still plenty of things we will need to do after this, but that will be my job! You guys just need to act your part, and everything will turn out well.”
They did not have enough manpower to properly act out a good show, so they had no choice but to grab Royal God Call and War Without Wounds along as support, working together with Xi Xiaotian to act the part of the rescuers. After all, the strength that Sword Demon and Gu Fei possessed was undeniable, randomly getting any player to beat these two would be far too ridiculous.
In this time, everybody also considered that, given how powerful Gu Fei was, would it still be too unconvincing for him to lose just with the addition of two helpers? In the end, Gu Fei patted his chest and guaranteed that he would give a credible performance for the defeat. This was actually a skill in itself, and Gu Fei was no stranger to it. This was something he would often do when he sparred with others, especially with his elders. The lowest form of this act was to nakedly allow the opponent to win, which was far more painful of a reality than directly beating the opponent; a more skilled practitioner would be able to enact an exchange where both parties fighting would be aware of the skill disparity, but the audience would be left in the dark. The audience might see it as a tie, but the combatants themselves would know who was truly victorious. Meanwhile, the level that Gu Fei was currently at could be considered as the highest attainment: even the opponent he was facing would be unaware, allowing them to emerge victorious gleefully without even realizing that Gu Fei had secretly allowed for the win to happen.