524 Chapter 524 - This Again (1/2)
Linyin City, Coco's empty cottage.
Besides leaning against the wall or sitting on the ground, there were no other positions for people to take up. Sword Demon, Coco, Royal God Call, and War Without Wounds each stood in a corner together and gnawed at their fingers with downcast faces. They had just received Xi Xiaotian's message about how the operation had failed. The four were now gathered here to watch the four-minute footage Xi Xiaotian would be bringing back.
Someone knocked on the door; Coco darted over to open it. Xi Xiaotian was standing there with the scroll in hand.
”Sorry,” she apologized with a slight hint of disappointment.
”Come in first.” Coco pulled her into the cottage. ”It's fine. There's no guaranteed success when it comes to such stuff!”
Xi Xiaotian's mood did not improve despite being consoled. She extended her hand out. ”Here's the scroll. Shall we watch it once together?”
”Yes, let's!” Royal God Call and War Without Wounds immediately came over. Toward these two heartless cads, everyone in the room had reasons to believe that the sadness they had been showing was all just for show. Honestly, the emotions these two had regarding this matter could not match what Sword Demon and Coco was feeling at all. They could essentially be seen as strangers on this matter.
”Do we wait for Miles?” Sword Demon raised the question.
”Uhh… This place is quite a distance from the Bounty Assignment Hall, so it's going to take some time,” Coco answered.
Gu Fei had of course faked his death in that fight just then. Even if Gu Fei was willing to sacrifice a level to make their ploy succeed, given Sword Demon's bro code, there was no way he would let Gu Fei do such a thing. Thus, while they were studying the lay of the land on that street, they devised a method to fake his death by hiding behind that pile of sacks. It was rather simple: create a flash of white light after pretending to be struck by an attack and then disappear. These conditions could all be achieved through skills. Hence, as long as Gu Fei was able to grasp the instance when he would be attacked to use some sort of teleportation skill and 'disappear' from that place, with Broken Water Arrow's line of sight being blocked, there was no way for the truth to be exposed.
Originally, they thought of getting Gu Fei a Teleportation Scroll, but he simplified this by making use of Windchaser's Emblem to achieve such an effect.It would be far more economical of him to simply refrain from teleporting back immediately after completing a 'Bounty Mission' and saved it for that critical moment.
Furthermore, the arrow that ended Gu Fei's life had to be sudden and surprising. He felt that dying to a basic attack from an Archer would have been too unrealistic, while Homing Projectile looked like a joke in his eyes despite having the supposed 100% guarantee to hit its target. Why would such a slow-moving arrow be able to hit and subsequently finish him off? Perhaps if a hundred of these arrows were shot all at once…
In the end, it was Xi Xiaotian who offered to use a unique skill she had: Targeted Double Shot. The skill name had an additional 'Targeted' as compared to the usual Double Shot, and it was precisely because of this ”Targeted” that set it apart. The two arrows from this skill were split into two stages. The first shot would be released just like a basic attack in terms of damage and speed. If this shot failed to connect to the target, the second shot would not exist. But if it did hit, then this second shot would automatically seek the target that the first shot had struck, and this arrow would even possess the power and speed above that of Snipe. It could be considered as the evolved version of Homing Projectile.
Before the operation began, Xi Xiaotian already shot Gu Fei with the first arrow. Thus, as long as she did not carry out any other attack after, the state of the Targeted Double Shot would be preserved, and it would naturally seek out for Gu Fei at high speed once the battle started and she unleashed the second stage of the skill. Gu Fei ultimately found this level of surprise attack to be acceptable for him to 'die' under.
At the moment, Gu Fei hurried to meet up with the others after leaving the Bounty Assignment Hall when he received the message from Xi Xiaotian informing him of the failed operation. The message did not elaborate on the specifics, so all he could do was continue to pick up his pace.
”Where's that guy? Does he want to come over and watch this or not?” Coco asked Sword Demon as they waited for Gu Fei to arrive.
”I'll ask him.” Sword Demon knew Coco was referring to Young Master Han. Young Master Han and Deep Waters' relationship fluctuated between good and bad from time to time, more often stagnating at being terrible most of the time. Deep Waters would be gnashing his teeth eight times out of ten whenever his name was mentioned, so it was only natural for Coco to have been influenced by this given her relationship with Deep Waters. Besides, it was normal not to like someone with Young Master Han's unlikeable personality. Still, Coco was well aware of the man's capabilities, which was why she hated him like so many others but would still trust his judgement. Those like Brother Assist, Royal God Call, and War Without Wounds dealt with him in such a manner as well, but this man seemed to relish how they locked horns like this, which really served to rile the rest up even more.
Soon, they heard a series of knocks on the door, and the newcomers were of course Young Master Han and Brother Assist. The two, who had been watching the fight through the spyglass, were already much closer to this place than Gu Fei to begin with. Thus, when Coco opened the door and saw the face that irked plenty of women, holding a gaze that regarded the world with much disdain, and the smell of alcohol that followed the man wherever he went, she hurriedly fanned herself. ”This smell!”
”Smell? You mean this wondrous scent.” Young Master Han stepped into the cottage, his eyes quickly landing on Royal God Call.
”What?” Royal God Call's voice was quite bright, but his lack of confidence was apparent. Reality proved that Young Master Han had never plainly shown disdain or ridiculed someone for no rhyme or reason. There were usually good reasons why someone would be mocked openly by the man, or at least he would always have justifiable reasons to show such open contempt toward someone.
”Fool!” His naked contempt began showing.
”He means you!” Royal God Call solemnly looked over to War Without Wounds. The latter reached out to grab his head, but the former nimbly avoided it. He was an expert, after all, so he could not possibly let War Without Wounds pick him up and toss around so easily. How else would he last at that rate?
”You're both fools,” Young Master Han remarked.
”You're the fool!” Both men immediately allied up against a common foe.