719 Chapter 719 - Love Ruining the Plan (2/2)

Foe-herder had been keeping a close eye on the lady, so he had noticed how Xi Xiaotian's expression flashed just the barest of astonishment. Just as he was about to add her as a friend when he heard her answer, someone in the guild reminded him, ”Guild Leader, this is basically an auction, so wouldn't it be possible for them to be up to some dirty tricks behind the scenes if we don't participate in person?”

Foe-herder realized that this was a valid criticism when he thought about it! If I can't hear the bids being called out by the other competitors in real-time; Won't I be making a fool of himself if Brave Surge calls out with a 1000 gold coins, but the lady decides to report it as 2000 gold coins to me instead? It would not work even if he were to contact Brave Surge directly about this matter either, since that might create a situation where Brave Surge called out 1000 gold coins as his bid, but privately told him it was only 500 gold coins; Foe-herder's response to that with a perfectly safe 800 gold coins bid would be lower than the actual bid. Ultimately, since this auction required everybody to be present for it, there was no reason for Foe-herder to hide behind in the background anyway, as that would only work if he had complete trust with the various parties participating.

Naturally, Foe-herder had issues trusting the lady organizing auction this as much as the other guild leaders from the various large guilds participating. He secretly sighed to himself over how foolish he had been, almost becoming the arrogant fool that was being taken advantage of in this situation. Foe-herder quickly corrected himself, ”It's only right that we add each other as friends, but we can forget about the matter with the bid quotations. I think I'll send one of my men over to participate when it happens! By the way, how are you going to conduct this auction?”

”It's like this. This quest seems like it could only be acquired by someone who is a guild leader. Because that NPC is rather conspicuous, none of our men managed to get anything when they interacted with it before. Finally, we were only given this quest after our guild leader spoke with it. That's the reason why our guild leader cannot appear out in the open. She's currently somewhere safe, and I'm the one organizing the auction for our guild. When it's over and the winning guild is announced, our guild leader will go according to his or her wishes and get herself killed, causing the quest to fail. This way, the winning guild leader like yourself would directly get the quest from the NPC in question. Does guild leader Herder have any question about how we're doing this?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

”Everything seems alright,” Foe-herder nodded. ”So where is this NPC you got your quest from?”

”Yunjiao Sawmill. If guild leader Herder has no issues with it, you can send someone you trust to go and participate in the auction. Once that is over, you can hand us the gold coins after you get the quest. Heh, the trustworthiness of a large guild is something that we all have confidence in, after all.” Xi Xiaotian said.

Not all large guilds would mean they were professional and proper in how they conduct themselves. It was only that the few large guilds in Yunduan City were all of good repute in this aspect, and no one would opt not to trust them. That was why Xi Xiaotian was not at all concerned with arguing over handing over the quest or being given the money first.

After Foe-herder heard all this, he felt that the arrangements made were all satisfactory, so he nodded, ”Then I'll send someone over as soon as I can. How will I contact you when the time comes?”

”Oh, if everything is fine on your end, do you mind waiting for a bit? I still have to head over and talk to Carouse. We'll head over together when that's done,” Xi Xiaotian said.

Foe-herder quietly cursed when he heard this, but a thought flashed into his mind as he suddenly blurted out, ”How much? How much are you willing to sell this quest to us right now?”

Xi Xiaotian smiled, ”This isn't something with a distinct price tag. We'll let the market decide its price.”

How very cunning… Foe-herder was grinding his teeth as he responded, ”Okay, what's your name? I'll add you as a friend and we can keep in touch later.”

”Xi Xiaotian,” Xi Xiaotian exchanged her name with Foe-herder and they added each other before she departed to where Carouse was currently situated.

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Over with Cirrus, the man had already finished relaying all the information to Black Index Finger. As someone who originally started a mercenary group, he was far more experienced than the usual guild leaders when it came to dealing with such transactions, so everything had gone very smoothly with him. The moment that Cirrus told Black Index Finger about the situation, the guild leader very quickly understood plenty of the underlying details toward the matter. He did not make a fool out of himself by even considering participating in this auction remotely, only caring about inquiring about the details related to the quest and other such questions. Since these answers were all part of the script that he had previously prepared together with Xi Xiaotian, Cirrus was not in the least bit flustered, and he managed to perform his part very perfectly, answering them one after another as how they had prepared. Ultimately, Black Index Finger had also very gladly accepted their invitation to participate in the auction.

Both Xi Xiaotian and Cirrus left to make contact with their next targets respectively. There had not been a need for Will-low, who had been specially prepared to be their guild leader for this scheme, to make her appearance, as both players from the two guilds they had approached thus far had not asked to speak to their guild leader. To either of these men, questions pertaining to the quest alone were enough to satisfy their curiosity, and there was no need for them to even be in contact with said guild leader.

Xi Xiaotian left Cloud Herder and arrived at the site where Carouse had set up camp. Carouse had slain Thousand Miles Drunk earlier in the day, so their morale surged high. It was only that the kill itself had been for naught, having not affected their guild quest in the least, so that had been quite a damper on their spirits. At the moment, aside from sending their men all over searching for quests like what Foe-herder had done with his guild, Brave Surge had also ordered the guild members of Carouse to keep an eye out for any trace of Sword Demon, as they had already viewed that man as their quest target.

Having met Xi Xiaotian in a similar situation last time, Brave Surge was evidently a lot more quick-witted than Foe-herder, and he was not in any rush to make a fool out of himself by suggesting his wish to remotely participate in the auction either. The same questions asked were met with the same explanations as answers, but the only difference was when Brave Surge asked which of the guilds were participating in this bidding for the quest.

”Carouse, Cloud Herder and Traversing Four Seas.”

”Oh? You're not approaching Colored Clouds about this?” Brave Surge asked.

”Knowing how guild leader Gu from Colored Clouds acts, we do not think she would be interested in this sort of activity,” Xi Xiaotian said.

”Hehe, I think there's a 50% chance that she would not participate in a fair and unbiased auction like this. However, even if you aren't asking her along, her guild would end up being there. Actually, the winner of this auction will be her as well, so Carouse will not be participating,” Brave Surge concluded.

”Oh? Why is that so? I'm a little confused,” Xi Xiaotian asked, surprised.

”Hehe, it's because you've invited Oathless Sword, and that man would surely hail Gu Xiaoshang. Even though she has not been invited, the moment she hears there is such news, and with Oathless Sword persuading her, the chances of her turning up increases. If she were to join in as part of this auction, I'm afraid Oathless Sword would only symbolically compete with her, and would even lend her a hand in the final moment. But if Gu Xiaoshang has no intention of competing, then Oathless Sword would in turn ask for her to help. That guy, be it owing Gu Xiaoshang a favor, or attempting to curry favor with her, he would always give it his all. Thus, there's absolutely no way that we would be able to compete with those two,” Brave Surge shrugged.

”Oh, by what you've said, Gu Xiaoshang might not end up coming. Are you sure you don't want to come and take a look, guild leader Surge?” Xi Xiaotian asked.

”Heh, I'm quite confident with my assessment,” Brave Surge smiled, and no longer said another word after.

Xi Xiaotian was a little flustered. She had calculated all the potential scenarios that could happen, yet she had overlooked the g*dd*mn power of love, the very power that was rumored to be able to conquer all… Would the player Oathless Sword actually abandon the greed of obtaining a quest during this City Wars event in the face of this power?

That was when Xi Xiaotian received a message from Cirrus, ”That Oathless Sword actually asked me if we've called Colored Clouds or not. I said we didn't so he asked me why we didn't, and proceeded to help us inform her about it. What are we going to do if people from Colored Cloud came?”

Because Xi Xiaotian had assumed that Colored Cloud's Gu Xiaoshang would not be interested in this auction, she had not considered any scenario to account for her appearance, but Sword Demon and the others also had another reason for not wanting Colored Clouds to join them: Young Master Han! Young Master Han was currently mixing around with Colored Clouds. Forget about the possibility of Young Master Han potentially having insights about this scheme, just from the fact that he and Gu Xiaoshang would be present, there was a high chance that they would not be able to fool them regarding the identity of Gu Fei, Sword Demon and the others, even despite the fact they had their faces covered! The moment that happens, the gig would most definitely be up, and the moment the five large guilds contacted each other, not even eight Thousand Miles Drunks would be able to escape their clutches.

”Don't panic and act your part as best as you can,” Xi Xiaotian reminded Cirrus, before turning back to face Brave Surge, ”If that's the case, then I'll be off now.”

”We're not sending you off!” Brave Surge was unperturbed, allowing Xi Xiaotian to leave just like that.

”The situation has changed.” The players hiding out by Yunjiao Sawmill had already received the news, ”Brave Surge will not be participating in this auction, but Colored Clouds will be taking its place instead.”

”What are we going to do?” The whole lot of them were panicking.

”What do you mean what are we going to do? It's still four targets. We can kill them all!” Gu Fei declared.

”Well, what if Young Master is together with them? I sincerely doubt we could hide from him.” Brother Assist began to worry again.

”Brother Assist, are you speaking to me?” Gu Fei asked.

”That's right!”

”Then where are you looking at?”

Brother Assist reluctantly turned his head round, but that one glance actually caused him to see Gu Fei's teapot lid haircut!

Don't you dare laugh! Laughter means death! Brother Assist severely chided himself as he continued to speak, ”Young Master and Colored Clouds have been together for quite some time during this City Wars event.”

”Why is Brother Assist speaking so strange all of a sudden?” Gu Fei asked.

”Am I?”

”Of course you are!” many of his guildmates shouted.

”B*lsh*t, how can I not sound strange? I'm biting my tongue while speaking! If I'm not in pain, how can I hold my laughter!?” Brother Assist was suffering.