722 Chapter 722 - Lumber Pile (2/2)
”Hmm, it's not too bad,” Oathless Sword acted like he was unaffected by this outcome.
The representatives of the other two guilds expressed the same views as well, strongly condemning Young Master Han's actions this time around even as they indicated how they would only end up severely injuring themselves in the end. There was no need for such an outcome, so it was preferable to just concede the quest to them.
After 30 seconds passed, none of the three representatives made any move. Xi Xiaotian had begun her final call, yet the three men remained silent. Young Master Han flashed a slight smile raising his glass to the people as he called out, ”Thank you.”
”This quest is sold, for 30,000 gold coins, to Colored Clouds!” Xi Xiaotian's hand finally lowered, and the auction ended just like that. Gu Fei and the others were all hidden in their respective hiding spots, grinding their teeth. They were also listening in to the process of the auction and they were completely convinced that Young Master Han must have uncovered certain insight, and was intentionally causing trouble.
”Congratulations!” Xi Xiaotian came forward and gave her well-wishes to Young Master Han.
”There's no need to be so polite, just call them all out here!” Young Master Han replied.
”Call who?” Xi Xiaotian was nonplussed.
”What are they still hiding around for?” Young Master Han patted that lumber pile behind Xi Xiaotian.
”Whatever do you mean?” Xi Xiaotian was still very lost.
Young Master Han jerked his head over at the pile, and those men he brought along with him made their way over. ”Push it over.” Young Master Han pointed to the lumber pile as the men immediately went forward and push and tugged, yet the lumber pile did not budge at all.
”What are you doing?” Xi Xiaotian asked him, confused. At the same time, a flurry of footsteps could be heard from all around them as a huge swarm of men from Colored Clouds unexpectedly descended upon the sawmill. Young Master Han waved his hand out and pointed at the piles of lumber all around him, ”Moved them all and see what you find.”
”Wait!” Xi Xiaotian suddenly stepped out to stop them.
”What's the matter?” Young Master Han flashed a meaningful smile as he sent Gu Xiaoshang a message, telling her to prepare for battle. Gu Xiaoshang understood what he was hinting, so she secretly gave the order in the guild channel, with her men forming into circles surrounding each of the various lumber piles.
Unhurriedly, Xi Xiaotian pointed to the NPC Walter, sitting up on the lumber pile beside her, ”This is the quest giver, and the storyline of the quest happens to be related to the lumber piles we see around here. What you guys are doing now will change the configuration of these piles. Who's going to take the blame if the quest can't be picked up because of this?”
”Oh, I didn't know this would be the storyline of the quest. Tell me, what do these lumber piles have to do with the quest?” Young Master Han asked.
”You need to count the total number of logs here,” Xi Xiaotian said.
”Oh? And your guild lacks the manpower to accomplish a quest that merely requires you to count?” Young Master Han chuckled.
”Of course there's more to this quest; we had no problem with the counting, but we can't get past the stage of the quest that requires us to go up against and kill NPCs. Now that you're dissembling the log piles, I don't dare to guarantee that the quest would still remain. May I ask if you'll still pay us the 30,000 gold coins if you guys can't pick up the quest after we abandoned ours?
”So that's the reason. That's easy. We'll pick up the quest first, and then dismantle these lumber piles. You should have no problem with that, right?” Young Master Han said.
”Oh, and if you guys can't obtain the quest in this way, that means the system did not have such a function, we'll just have to accept that we're just unlucky,” Xi Xiaotian said.
”You've got your back road all mapped out!” Young Master Han laughed.
”Are you ready to pick up the quest?” Xi Xiaotian affirmed.
The guild leader was required to pick up the quest, and Gu Xiaoshang had already hurried over by this time at Young Master Han's request. When the lady nodded her head to acknowledge this, Xi Xiaotian appeared to send out a message, before nodding her head soon after, ”Okay. We've abandoned the quest on our end. Please pay up the moment you receive the quest.”
”Okay,” Gu Xiaoshang nodded. Meanwhile, the NPC Walter was up on the lumber pile, and Gu Xiaoshang was already climbing up to pick up the quest. Young Master Han stood next to Xi Xiaotian and turned his head sideways to ask, ”Is there really a quest?”
”Of course,” Xi Xiaotian tittered.
Gu Xiaoshang was already halfway up the lumber pile, when Young Master Han suddenly had a thought, immediately called out, ”Wait a minute, don't go up there yet.”
Gu Xiaoshang turned her head back, perplexed.
”Is the lumber pile sturdy enough?” Young Master Han suddenly stepped forward and patted a log on the pile.
”What do you mean?” Xi Xiaotian asked.
”If we dismantle the log pile and we can't get the quest, we'll still pay up. There's no problem with that, right?” Young Master Han asked.
”As long as we're paid, we don't really care what happens,” Xi Xiaotian shrugged nonchalantly.
”What's going on?” Gu Xiaoshang was very confused by this time.
”Come on down!” Young Master Han beckoned toward Gu Xiaoshang as he called out to the other players, ”Dismantle these lumber piles. Forget about the rest and just focus on this one.”
The men from Colored Clouds immediately got to work, transforming into laborers working in the sawmill as they came over to move the lumber pile. These players were simple and brusque, not caring about structural integrity or which log would be easier to move. After a few seconds of moving the logs, the entire pile began to collapse as the logs rolled all over the place. Obviously, the NPC Walter was no longer standing atop the lumber any longer and had fallen along with it. The players from Colored Clouds were already waiting for further instructions, everyone battle ready, yet nobody had appeared from amidst the tumbling logs like Young Master Han had said.
The representatives from the other three large guilds had not departed yet, and none of them could make sense of what was happening when they saw what Colored Clouds was doing. There were several players around that were doing their normal quests that heard the commotion and came running over, breaking out into a discussion over just what sort of vital quest was going on here.
Xi Xiaotian acted like nothing had happened, waiting for every one of the logs to stop rolling before she said to Young Master Han, ”You can pay me the gold coins now. We are no longer responsible if the quest is no longer there.”
An utterly distasteful expression was etched onto Young Master Han's face. Did I miscalculate this time? But the fact was staring right at him in his face. There was indeed no one hiding in ambush in the sawmill. He had originally thought the lumber piles were hollowed out within, and that there would be players hiding within once they topple them. The NPC Walter was up on the lumber pile, requiring players to climb up in order to pick up the quest. If these piles of wood were hollow, a single strike would immediately send Gu Xiaoshang plummeting into a trap and end up getting killed. Young Master Han had homed in on the other party using the auction to achieve this end, yet there was no one… Worse was that if there was no quest, the opposing party had already been resolved of any responsibility, and the 30,000 gold coins price tag still had to be spent.
Gu Xiaoshang was not really bothered by everything. She stepped forward and interacted with the NPC Walter, yet the youngster merely exchanged a few lines of no importance, not at all seeming like the sort that held a quest. Xi Xiaotian very sympathetically gazed at Young Master Han, ”How unfortunate!”
Young Master Han stared at Xi Xiaotian, not saying a word as he casually pulled out three bags of gold coins from his dimensional pocket. Perhaps there had been a quest, perhaps there had not been one; but because Young Master Han had made the wrong judgment call, he was backed into a situation where he still had to pay up even if there was no quest. Young Master Han did not hesitate in the least, freely taking on the burden of his decision as he tossed the three bags to Xi Xiaotian as he said, ”You're unflinching.”
”Same to you,” Xi Xiaotian smiled. Turning around to address Gu Xiaoshang, ”It's very unfortunate that guild leader Gu did not end up getting the quest. Perhaps you guys can try and put all the logs back into a pile, take the NPC back up and try again.”
Youthful Reflection and the other representatives were elated as they watched this unfold. The quest was gone, and the coins had exchanged hands. Furthermore, it was Young Master Han who had paid out from his own pocket; none of the three men had thought they would be able to witness such a satisfying conclusion, all of them trying their best to curb their own laughter. Youthful Reflection and them had been fleeced by Young Master Han plenty of times, and now that he had personally seen the man lose 30,000 gold coins for nothing, he felt as if he had just been presented with an eye-opening experience.
Gu Xiaoshang walked right over to Young Master Han, clicking her tongue as she smirked, ”Aren't you the wealthy one!?”
”I'm doing alright,” Young Master Han nonchalantly brushed her comment off.
”Don't say your big sister here lacks a sense of righteousness; here, take the 20,000 gold coins I've gathered, so as to better assuage your heartache,” Gu Xiaoshang said.
”There's no need. That was but a trifling sum,” Young Master Han dismissed.
”What are your thoughts about this?” Gu Xiaoshang was a straightforward person. She did not bother going back and forth courteously with Young Master Han, directly tossing the two bags of coins she collected into Young Master Han's hands as she shifted the conversation back to the matter at hand.
In the end, Young Master Han did not even catch the two bags, letting them fall to the ground, kicking them away from him like they were trash even as he replied, ”There's definitely no quest here, but something that I can't wrap my head around is whether this was something that Thousand Miles Drunk and the others had been up to, or if this lass set up this scam just so she could earn some gold.”
”If Thousand Miles Drunk and his people had been the ones setting this trap, their goal could not possibly have been the coins, right?” Gu Xiaoshang wondered out loud.
”Of course not…” Young Master Han swiftly rejected this suggestion.
The other three guilds had already gathered their men after the 30,000 gold coin quest had been auctioned off. They were of course still very concerned about the quest, so aside from leaving behind the three representatives themselves, they had also left a few of their men behind to see if there was any chance to benefit marginally from things. As for the others, they had all been sent back to their various posts from before, be it continuing the quests and missions that they had on hand or to resume their reconnaissance. The guild leaders had brought the remaining members and were headed back toward their respective sites back in the encampment.
”Guild Leader, a situation has cropped up ahead!” Foe-herder, who had been making his way back to the encampment, suddenly received a report from one of his Sharpshooters with Eagle Eyes.
Several hundred meters ahead of their troops, a singular figure had appeared, standing up against the billowing wind with a dark purple sword planted in the ground beside him.
”1000 players might be a little tough, but I think I can still give 300 players a shot…” Gu Fei played with the rings on his fingers as he nodded.