“Anyway, there's a bend here, but look, the player's map doesn't show it. This paper one does,” Jian Gui said.

Gu Fei also looked carefully, then surveyed the surrounding terrain, and finally said, “I think that’s because the player’s map has a smaller scale, and this tattered paper has a larger scale, so this place is marked in more detail.”

“Well, then this place marked with an ‘x’ must be over here!” Jian Gui said, holding the paper and referring to the terrain as he continued forward. After a moment, the two arrived at the place marked with an ‘x’ on the tattered paper. The shoreline of the lake was much simpler here. Jian Gui compared it to the map and was truly pleased. “This is it, see, it’s spot on!” Jian Gui said, pointing to the drawn line on the paper.

“Then this ‘x’… isn’t it in the water?” After Gu Fei said this, the two looked out at the lake surface together. The blue waves rippled, with no sign of an ‘x’ whatsoever.

“Could it be at the bottom of the water?” Jian Gui said.

Gu Fei spread his hands. “I’m out of ideas. I can’t swim.”

Jian Gui picked up a stone and threw it towards the center of the lake. With a muffled thud, the stone sank. Jian Gui also shivered. “I don’t think just knowing how to swim is enough; you have to know how to dive.”

“What’s the difference between that and swimming?”

“Swimming is on the surface of the water; diving is under the water,” Jian Gui said.

“Looks like you can’t do it…” Gu Fei said.

“With my skills, I can get to the bottom of the water quickly if I’m not careful, but that’s not called diving; it’s called drowning,” Jian Gui said with a wry smile.

“Then do you have any friends who can?” Gu Fei asked.

“I do, but I can’t contact them now!” Jian Gui said.

“Oh? Who?” Gu Fei asked out of curiosity.

“You know him, Shui Shen,” Jian Gui said.

Gu Fei suddenly understood. “Oh, aptly named! How didn’t I think of that ID!”

“He says he even has a diving certificate,” Jian Gui said.

“Well, that doesn’t help now,” Gu Fei sighed.

“And there’s no diving equipment in the game, right?” Jian Gui said.

“How would I know…”

The two squatted by the lake, worried. Jian Gui held the piece of paper, dazed. The target was right in front of them, but they encountered this problem. In an ordinary online game, this wouldn’t happen. If there was water, you would just go in. You might drown, but the system would give you a breath bar to pay attention to. But Parallel World wasn’t like that. It was a realistic simulation; if you couldn’t swim, you could just wait to drown.

“I’ll swim over to that spot and take a look,” Jian Gui said.

“Alright,” Gu Fei agreed, and watched Jian Gui get into the water. Jian Gui was truly an honest person. What he meant earlier was that his swimming skills weren’t very good. Now it was clear. After entering the deep water area, his limbs were thrashing frantically. It was the famous dog paddle. The waves he churned up were so great that you couldn’t even see him.

After paddling around like this, Jian Gui stirred up the waves and came back, wiping the water off his face and saying, “There’s nothing on the surface of the water, but there seems to be something underneath.”

“Something?”

“Can’t see it clearly, you really have to dive down. But I don’t think it’s too deep there, maybe three or four meters at most,” Jian Gui said.

“Is that so… I’ve got an idea!” Gu Fei said.

“What idea?” Jian Gui asked.

“Grab a rock and sink down,” Gu Fei said.

“If I go down, I won’t be able to get back up,” Jian Gui said.

“Don’t worry, get another rock and tie it to yourself. Hold your breath and dive once. If you can’t make it, send a message, and I’ll drag you up,” Gu Fei said.

“Can you drag me?” Jian Gui expressed doubt.

“I’ll find someone to help!” Gu Fei said.

“Who?” Jian Gui asked.

“It’s easy to find people!” Gu Fei gathered up his equipment and randomly cast spells, shouting, “Is anyone there? Is anyone there!”

Could there be no one in this reed marsh? A bunch of people were blasted out immediately. This time, Gu Fei didn’t hide, enduring some curses, and said with a smile, “Is there any kind soul who can come and help?”

Most people wanted to kill him and were already doing well by not attacking. How could they be in the mood to help with anything? They glared and shouted that they were busy before diving back into the reeds. But you have to say that there are many good people in the world. Some players asked what was wrong.

Gu Fei roughly explained his idea, that Jian Gui would go into the water, and if he couldn’t make it, everyone would pull him up together. Some players thought it sounded interesting and said they were willing to help. Gu Fei thanked them repeatedly and took out a rope from his pocket, preparing to tie it around Jian Gui’s waist.

This wasn’t as commonplace as PvP, so Jian Gui was a little nervous, looking at Gu Fei. “You’re not messing with me, are you?”

“Of course not.” Gu Fei threw the rope to Jian Gui. “Tie it tight!”

Jian Gui took the rope and hesitated for a moment. Just as he was about to tie it around his waist, he suddenly remembered something, and his eyes lit up. “No, I can’t go.”

“What’s wrong?” Gu Fei asked, puzzled. Jian Gui wasn’t the kind of person who would back down!

“Look, this quest is actually yours. What if this step has to be triggered by the quest giver? What’s the point of me going down?” Jian Gui said.

This made a lot of sense. Gu Fei was stunned for a moment and said, “Didn’t you take out the piece of paper too?”

“But it’s safer for you to go, right? If I go and nothing happens, we’ll have to wonder if it’s because I’m not the quest giver. Then you’ll have to go down again anyway, so it’s better for you to go once and for all,” Jian Gui said.

“I can’t swim!”

“What do you need to swim for? Grab a rock, hold your breath, and sink. If you can’t make it, send me a message, and we’ll drag you up.” Jian Gui sent Gu Fei’s original words back to him.

Gu Fei was speechless, but he always felt like he was being played. Jian Gui had already thrown the rope back. “Tie it tight!”

“You’re not messing with me, are you?” The roles of the two had completely reversed.

“How could I!” Jian Gui said seriously, and then went over to thank the players who were helping. “Thanks, guys!”

“You’re welcome. What kind of quest is this?” one player asked.

“City war,” Jian Gui said.

“Oh!” These were all wild players. The city war had nothing to do with them. As soon as they heard it was related to the city war, they lost any interest and approached Jian Gui’s rope.

“Where are the rocks?” Jian Gui looked around.

“You want to add weight and sink to the bottom, right? Take my great hammer!” a helpful warrior offered.

Jian Gui took it and saw that it was a piece of junk white equipment, but the weight was definitely real. Weight had no absolute relationship with the equipment level; both low-level and high-level equipment could be light or heavy. And the game had to have some design that fit the game. Things in your pocket couldn’t have their weight added up, otherwise it wouldn’t be scientific. Weight was calculated based on what was on the surface. In other words, if Gu Fei held this great hammer in his hand, it would be heavy; if he put it in his pocket, the weight would be calculated separately.

“This is great!!” Jian Gui nodded repeatedly, handing it to Gu Fei and saying, “When you’re ready for us to pull you up, put the great hammer in your pocket.”

“You can throw it away too,” the warrior said generously.

Gu Fei had already tied the rope, but now he remembered another problem. “But that location isn’t on the shore. How do I get there? Am I supposed to walk underwater?”

Immediately, a passionate participant came up with a plan. “First, grab a piece of wood and float over. When you get to the location, let go of the wood and take out your axe to sink to the bottom.”

“How are you so smart?” Gu Fei stared at this person expressionlessly.

“Haha, I’ll go find some wood.” This person ran off.

“What’s wrong, buddy, can’t you swim?” the player who provided the great hammer asked strangely.

“No,” Gu Fei said.

“Then find someone who can swim!” the great hammer player said.

“It’s his quest,” Jian Gui pointed at Gu Fei and said.

“Good luck! You can do it!” The great hammer player patted Gu Fei on the shoulder.

“The wood is here!!” In no time, that player had dug up a piece of wood from the mud by the lake, a tree stump that had floated over from somewhere.

“Can this even float?” Gu Fei thought the tree stump looked unreliable.

“It’s fine.” That player threw the wood onto the water. The wood wobbled, but it was actually floating.

“Won’t it sink as soon as I hold it?” Gu Fei asked.

“Don’t worry,” someone said. “We’ll pull you up.”

“Go, go!!” Everyone was very enthusiastic.

Gu Fei went out bravely, got into the water, grabbed the wood, and pushed it into the deep water. The wood didn’t sink, but at this point, Gu Fei’s feet were no longer touching the bottom. He clung to the wood, and the people on the shore gave advice, some telling him to paddle with his hands, others telling him to kick with his feet. A feeling of despair rose in Gu Fei’s heart.

Jian Gui wasn’t idle either, loudly giving Gu Fei directions. “Left, go left, go left! Left, it’s left!!!”

After shouting for a while without a response, Jian Gui thought Gu Fei couldn’t hear him, so he sent a message. “You’re veering off, go left!”

“I know, let me figure it out! Have you ever paddled in water with a piece of wood!” Gu Fei said angrily.

“Oh, oh…” Jian Gui calmed down.

Fortunately, stamina consumption was very slow in the game. Gu Fei didn’t get tired from studying the wood, and after a while, he finally figured out some tricks. He began to move forward purposefully with the wood, and enthusiastic applause erupted from the lakeshore.

“Alright, alright, you’re at the location, don’t drift forward anymore!!!” Overall commander Jian Gui spoke again.

As a result, Gu Fei continued to drift forward as if he hadn’t heard. Jian Gui thought he couldn’t hear again, so he quickly sent a message, and Gu Fei said angrily again, “How can I stop? Let me figure it out!!!”

“What’s there to stop? Take out the hammer, let go of the wood, and sink,” Jian Gui said.

Gu Fei thought that made sense. He was also a decisive person. He waved his hand, took out the hammer, and let go of the wood. With a splash, not even a bubble appeared, and only half of the wood continued to drift forward on the water surface.

Gu Fei was, after all, a true martial arts expert who cultivated both internally and externally. When it came to holding his breath, he could hold it much longer than ordinary people. He didn’t panic when he sank into the water. It was just that he was a little afraid to open his eyes. Later, he thought it was just a game, what was there to worry about? He hardened his heart and opened his eyes. It stung. It was still a little painful when the water suddenly hit his eyes. Gu Fei adjusted slightly, frowned, and looked down. He was only a few steps away from the bottom of the water.

Immediately, he twisted his head and looked around. It was only three or four meters underwater, and the light was already not very good. It was dim, and a pile of microorganisms floated around, making Gu Fei feel very unhygienic. After looking around, he found something noteworthy, less than two meters away. Something that looked like a tunnel stood there. You couldn’t see it at all from the shore! At this time, Gu Fei’s feet had touched the bottom. He drifted a few steps in that direction. When he got close, he saw that it was really a cave entrance. He wanted to go in and see what was inside, but when he reached out, he felt something soft on the cave entrance.

Gu Fei was startled. He touched it again with his other hand. Sure enough, there was something blocking it. This feeling was hard to describe. It seemed like a thin film was covering it. Gu Fei thought about taking out his dagger and stabbing it, but this thing was really stretchy. When Gu Fei stabbed forward, it shrank inward, but he couldn’t stab through it. As it stretched, the surrounding water flowed, and Gu Fei saw it completely. It was this film-like thing that was blocking the cave entrance.

Stabbing didn’t work, cutting didn’t work, and tearing didn’t work either. Gu Fei tried several methods to no avail, but time was running out. Gu Fei had basically reached his limit of holding his breath, so he had to send a message to Jian Gui, signaling him to pull him up.

Jian Gui received the message and quickly signaled everyone to use the rope. The rope was long enough and strong enough, and everyone moved quickly. Soon, it was taut. Gu Fei took advantage of this time to study the film. Suddenly, his waist tightened, and he drifted out backwards. Taking advantage of the buoyancy, he drifted higher and higher. Gu Fei was enjoying himself, but he had already drifted to the end. The water level suddenly became shallow, and the buoyancy was insufficient. Gu Fei sank and hadn’t even stood firm when he was dragged directly into the mud. Then his head came out of the water, and the players cheered, pulling him ashore.

“Thank you, thank you everyone,” Jian Gui thanked everyone.

“Is there anything else we can help with?” The good people in the crowd wanted to see it through to the end.

Jian Gui looked at Gu Fei. He didn’t know what was at the bottom of the water, so he didn’t know if he needed any more help. Gu Fei wiped the water off his face, thanked everyone, and said, “No need for now, everyone can go back to what they were doing! This brother, your hammer.” Gu Fei returned the hammer to the other player. These players were naturally matched with men and women, and when they saw that there was nothing else to do, they held hands and dispersed. Only then did Jian Gui come up and ask, “What’s underwater?”

“A very strange thing.” Gu Fei described it.

“This… did you see anything inside the cave?”

“No.” Gu Fei shook his head. “There’s no light inside the cave, so I can’t see anything. And you can’t call it a cave. I think it’s like a tunnel. Come this way.” Gu Fei led Jian Gui around the lake again, went down into the water at a certain spot, and Jian Gui followed him. Gu Fei pointed to the bottom of the water in front of him and said, “Look, you can still see it vaguely, right?”

Jian Gui took a look, and sure enough, he could vaguely see a shadow rising in this area of the water.

“A strange thing.” Jian Gui could only conclude this.

“I wonder what’s inside after you go in? Does it lead somewhere?” Gu Fei thought of the secret passage in Wulong Mountain.

“Could it be a secret passage directly into Cloud-Piercing City? If the siege players knew about it, they could use this secret passage to directly break into the city!!”

“Seems a bit possible.”

“Think about it. The initial content of this quest is related to that civil engineer. That engineer may be the person who designed this secret passage. Then, Against the Flowing Song received the quest to use this NPC to attack the city. It’s very possible that if they complete their quest, they’ll know the location of this secret passage and then go directly into the city through the secret passage!” Jian Gui thought his analysis was very reliable, and he became more and more excited as he spoke.

“Well, makes sense.”

“Then why haven’t Against the Flowing Song’s people appeared near here? Haven’t they completed their quest yet?” Jian Gui wondered.

“In that case, their quest is to use the secret passage to enter the city, and mine is to stop them. Does the next part of my quest involve destroying this passage? Collapsing it? How do I do that?” Gu Fei said.

“This… players don’t seem to have such strong destructive power right now. I think your investigation may be considered complete. You have to go back to the main city and report on the quest,” Jian Gui said.

“Then I’ll die and go back!” Gu Fei attempted to drown himself.

“No, no!” Jian Gui quickly stopped him. “This investigation quest is so vague with no hints. Who knows if you’ve completed it? If you jump, what if you fail the quest because of death? You should just make a trip back!”

“Ah, troublesome. I’ll go check out the situation on All Directions first!” Gu Fei said.

“I’ll go turn in the quest first. I’ll sneak over and take a look,” Jian Gui said.

“That works too.” Gu Fei nodded.

Just as the two were discussing this, the message prompts rang out at the same time. Neither of them paid much attention to it, but when they opened them, they were both shocked. What they opened was their mercenary channel. The person sending the message was Han Family’s Young Master. “You Ge, what are you hiding for? Get out here!!!”

“Yo, yo, what’s going on? How can the channel be used?” Gu Fei said.

“Yeah, wasn’t it hostile before?” Jian Gui.

Han Family’s Young Master was also startled. They had been stationed around All Directions’ territory for a long time, but the two hadn’t appeared. Han Family’s Young Master was a little anxious. You Ge had closed his private chat messages, so he wanted to try the mercenary channel to see if he had blocked that too. Who knew that as soon as he spoke, You Ge hadn’t come out, but these two had jumped out. Han Family’s Young Master was also puzzled. How did they get in touch?

“What’s going on? Could it be that the mercenary channel can be used after you leave the city?” Gu Fei asked.

“What kind of logic is that? Strange, strange.” Jian Gui also muttered.

On the other side, Mity Sky and Battle Without Wounds also howled in surprise. “Where have you two deadbeats been???”

You Ge silently watched all of this. He endured! He hadn’t blocked the mercenary channel, because as long as you didn’t say anything in this kind of team channel and pretended to be underwater, you could say you had blocked it afterwards. At this time, Gu Fei and Jian Gui suddenly spoke in the channel. He was shocked and almost opened his mouth. When he thought about how hostile they were now, he had to live in the cracks if he showed his face, so he quickly restrained himself.

“I heard you two are going to assassinate Oathless Sword?” Mity Sky asked.

“Yeah, where is he?” Gu Fei asked.

“He’s in the guild. Don’t come. The whole guild is waiting for you two. No matter how good you are, you can’t wipe out a thousand people, right?” Mity Sky said.

“Mity, which side are you on?” Han Family’s Young Master asked coldly.

“I can’t stand being in this broken guild anymore. Let’s form our own guild!”

“Our Warrior’s Home is pretty good, very casual,” Battle Without Wounds said proudly.

“Does Rebirth have any openings? Qian Li, can you ask for me!” Mity Sky said.

“Cough, well, actually, I’ve been a little dissatisfied lately. If Rebirth has any openings, I wouldn’t mind you asking for me too,” Battle Without Wounds changed his tune.

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A long-awaited 5,000-word chapter! I’ve been writing 5,000-word chapters for three consecutive months, and I’m used to it. Now it’s easiest to write 5,000-word chapters! When you see a 5,000-word chapter, is it especially easy to vote for a monthly ticket?