706 Chapter 706 - United for One Second (1/2)
”Why would they eliminate all of you for no rhyme or reason?” Skygazing Under the Tree found this a little hard to believe. There was no cause for such baseless hatred!
Wind Seal helplessly answered, ”Young Master Han is ultimately someone who once belonged to Carouse, and killing us was as easy as turning over the palm of his hand, so…”
”Why must that guy be so meddlesome!?” Skygazing Under the Tree wanted to cry, but no tears would come out. He had calculated everything from start to finish, but never did he expect that this had been akin to drawing water with a basket; everything he had done was now in vain. Skygazing Under the Tree had already given the benefit that Wind Seal wanted, and for such matters to result in his quest failure, the responsibility of this eventuality naturally could not be placed upon Wind Seal alone. In other words, Skygazing Under the Tree had definitely gotten the short end of the stick with his investment for this operation. From what he understood of Colored Clouds' guild leader, Gu Xiaoshang, and how the woman acted and conducted herself, there was a good chance that her guild might not pick up the quest. But nevertheless, there was no guarantee that he would have the chance to claim it back now that the quest was just left up for grabs! He looked at his own guild, Disembodied Spirits Under the Tree. They did not have plenty of members to begin with, and they even had people who had been kicked out of the City Wars event after dying too much now.
”Let's head on over and have a look for ourselves!” Ultimately, Skygazing Under the Tree was unwilling to just give up on it. He gathered what remained of his men, and got ready to set off for Yunjiao Lakeside.
”This will surely be a waste of a trip,” Wind Seal said.
”You don't have to go. I'll be the one having a chat with them,” Skygazing Under the Tree said. Now that the quest was out in the open, there was no need for Wind Seal to be the point man for this quest. To Skygazing Under the Tree, he was no longer worth anything. And because of his background as someone who defected from Carouse, it was better to lose him, seeing how he had even garnered Young Master Han's animosity.
As he made his way over, Skygazing Under the Tree contacted the spy that he had in Colored Clouds, inquiring about their activity and the general situation over by Yunjiao Lakeside. If Colored Clouds were the ones who picked up the quest, Skygazing Under the Tree was prepared to bribe this person just like what he had done with Wind Seal and do the same as before...
Colored Clouds was quite an open guild, and nothing was kept secret inside the guild. As such, the spy very quickly came away with a detailed report as to what was happening over by Yunjiao Lake. Skygazing Under the Tree read everything, and sure enough, Colored Clouds did not pick up the quest, but Young Master Han had randomly pulled a player from Carouse that happened to be passing by to do it. This was all done in an effort to take the initiative in their confrontation between him, Thousand Miles Drunk and Sword Demon. Skygazing Under the Tree was rather speechless at that. What was seen as a highly sought after quest was no more than a somewhat valuable tool by that person.
”We could negotiate…” Skygazing Under the Tree pondered over this. Right now, what he could not make sense of was whether Young Master Han had grabbed some random passerby to get the quest out of convenience, or if he still had some sentimentality toward Carouse. He would have more room for negotiations if it was the former, but Young Master Han was someone who was famous for being hard to deal with, so Skygazing Under the Tree felt that he had to plan this out properly if they do end up talking.
Perhaps we don't have to negotiate… Skygazing Under the Tree suddenly thought. Since Thousand Miles Drunk was able to take on the entirety of Carouse on his own, Colored Clouds would most likely not be any better off. Currently, the advantage that Colored Clouds have should be the fact they were in position to ambush Thousand Miles Drunk, as well as the fact that they had someone like Young Master Han on their side, a friend of Thousand Miles Drunk, who would have an understanding as to how that man operated. If he were to first make contact with Thousand Miles Drunk and leak this information to him, he could very well kill someone with a borrowed knife and snatch the quest right out from under everyone's noses during the ensuing chaos…
Skygazing Under the Tree felt that this was a great plan the more he thought about it. The strength that Thousand Miles Drunk possessed was indomitable to the point of frightening, and that could be used to his own benefit. Young Master Han might be familiar with him, but the same could be said about Thousand Miles Drunk toward Young Master Han as well. As such, as long as he revealed this information to Thousand Miles Drunk, the knowledge they had on each other would cancel out.
But where do I go to contact Thousand Miles Drunk? Skygazing Under the Tree had eyes and ears everywhere, and he quickly contacted his man inside Carouse, asking him if he had noted which direction Thousand Miles Drunk had departed toward.
”He left. He most likely went to meet up with the people from Forever In Flowers, but I've got no idea what he's up to after that,” that spy reported.
”D*mn…” Skygazing Under the Tree cursed. Finding someone in-game was the most painful thing to do. Forever In Flowers was a completely inconspicuous guild that he naturally did not waste his manpower infiltrating their ranks, especially when the guild in question had such a unique characteristic. It was really difficult for him to find someone as reprehensible as those men from Forever In Flowers.
Halfway leading his men to Yunjiao Lakeside, Skygazing Under the Tree began to waver about his decision. Suddenly, a sharp eyed underling quickly pointed down the path ahead and yelled, ”Look who's there!”
Everyone turned to where he pointed and saw Thousand Miles Drunk with two ladies, walking right over in their direction.
”No way, are the heavens looking out for me?” Skygazing Under the Tree was excited. However, when he thought of how he had previously played a role in tricking Thousand Miles Drunk, the man might very happily slay him immediately seeing how excitedly he ran right into his arms! Upon considering this point, Skygazing Under the Tree casually delegated two of his men for this task, deciding to let them be the ones in charge of the communication. He only needed Thousand Miles Drunk to know that there was an ambush waiting for him over by Yunjiao Lakeside, so there was no need for his personal involvement in relaying this piece of information.
Both players were hardly afraid when they heard what their guild leader had instructed them to do. After having experienced what it was like to go through the cycle of life and death over by the spawn point in the encampment at the hands of those Thieves and Archers from Carouse, they had long since been numbed to the reality of dying, so risking themselves once more like this was hardly a big deal, thus they very openly walked right up toward Gu Fei and the two ladies.
”There are two men coming toward us!” Gu Fei had of course very quickly noticed them.
”They seem to be coming right for us,” Gu Fei had pulled his sword out.
”Don't be so rash, perhaps they wish to speak to us,” Slyris said.
”Why would you say that?” Gu Fei asked.
”I think anyone who would attempt to fight you would not send just two men over,” Slyris reasoned.
”That makes a lot of sense,” Gu Fei nodded approvingly.
The two men had reached the three by this time, and after exchanging a cordial greeting, they addressed Gu Fei as ”big brother Miles”.
The men from Disembodied Spirits Under the Tree did not don their guild emblems, and Gu Fei did not really recognize the two random members either. Seeing that the two did not seem to harbor any ill intent, he asked, ”Do you two have any business with me?”
”Oh, we simply have news to inform big brother Miles.”
”What is it about?”
”It's regarding the continuation of your quest.”
”My quest?”
”Yes, with Guillermo,” the two men answered.
”And you guys are?”
”We're from Disembodied Spirits Under the Tree,” they said.
”What are you guys up to this time?” The moment Gu Fei heard where they are from, he immediately suspected that this was a trap. However, there was nothing to be afraid of since it was just the two of them alone, and it did not seem like there was any ambush in their immediate surroundings.
”Oh no, our quest has already failed.” they hurriedly assured.
”Oh? What happened?”
”Well, the person who was holding the quest escorted Guillermo out to Yunjiao Lakeside, only to end up stumbling upon an ambush there. With our men eliminated, why would the quest still be available? However, Guillermo is currently holed up in the log cabin there. What our guild leader figured, since we've lost our chance to accomplish the quest ourselves, he would make it more convenient for big brother Miles. He was prepared to send you a message detailing all of this to you, but we happened to have run across you three here!” These two were very eloquent, and with how adept Skygazing Under the Tree was using his sources, not only did he want to borrow Thousand Miles Drunk's strength to kill the others, he wanted to make him feel indebted to him as well.
”Oh, in that case, thanks a lot!” Gu Fei said.
”There's no need to be courteous,” the two men quickly diffused. ”We've also identified the enemy guild, and they are men from Colored Clouds. Furthermore, there seem to also be your good friend, the Priest by the name of Young Master Han, among their ranks.”
”Oh, I've already guessed that it was them,” Gu Fei nodded.