Chapter 1608 Cottney's Activity Route

All roads lead to Rome. The Cloud Suburb Lakeside was just an open-air location, so naturally there were countless ways to get there. The biggest advantage of the roads opened by the system wasn't their proximity, but that they allowed people to focus on their journey without being harassed by small monsters along the way. However, if players tried to be original and take a shortcut, they would inevitably be harassed by small monsters along the way. If they stumbled into a high-level area, not only would they be unable to pass, but they might even lose their lives trying to force their way through.

These problems weren't much for the four of them. First, they were fast. Second, Gu Fei's Xi Yao Wu and Yu Tian Shen Ming cleared monsters quickly. They avoided the monsters they could, and quickly dealt with the ones they couldn't. Before long, they had circled around to the back of the mountains next to the Cloud Suburb Lakeside.

"Let's go up from here!" Xi Xiaotian said, looking up.

The other three nodded. It was as if they had already entered the territory of the Cloud Suburb Lakeside. There weren't many monsters, and an ambiguous atmosphere permeated the air. Yu Tian Shen Ming was clearly a little excited.

The Cloud Suburb Lake was extremely large. After the four of them climbed to the top of the mountain, they could only see the shimmering blue lake and the reed marshes where the wind blew the grass low, obscuring people from view. It was really quite far.

"The cabin is over there," Gu Fei pointed. The target was relatively close to them.

"Haha, isn't that where you were honorably killed?" Xi Yao Wu laughed.

"Look, what a big lake," Gu Fei said.

The three of them looked at him strangely, wondering what he was suddenly feeling emotional about.

"Someone once swam across like this," Gu Fei gestured.

"You're asking for it!" Xi Yao Wu gritted her teeth.

Xi Xiaotian smiled and looked around. "I don't see any NPCs here."

"But there are already trees here. If there's a forest ranger, he'd be guarding the forest, right? Looking for someone in the forest is troublesome," Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

"Well, stick close and don't get lost," Gu Fei said.

Yu Tian Shen Ming was on the verge of tears, but he knew that Gu Fei wasn't mocking him this time, but was genuinely reminding him, which made it impossible for him to complain about Gu Fei not keeping his promise.

"I think it would be more efficient if we split up," Xi Xiaotian suggested.

"Or we could shout her name loudly, maybe she'll come looking for us," Yu Tian Shen Ming said.

"Well, that's it then, the three of us will split up and search, and Yu Tian Shen Ming, you stay here and call out her name," Gu Fei nodded.

"I..." Yu Tian Shen Ming felt like he was just asking for trouble.

So the three of them split up, and Yu Tian Shen Ming's affectionate calls for Cottney began to echo across the hillside. As a result, Cottney didn't appear, but many players were awakened. Figures emerged from the piles of grass and bushes, all trying to see which idiot had lost his wife.

Gu Fei and the other two each chose a direction and scattered, being careful of ambushes, which was Gu Fei's reminder to everyone. Fortunately, NPCs had a certain style and wouldn't crouch down to deliberately hide in the reeds, so the target should be quite conspicuous. The three of them separated and searched for a short time before Xi Xiaotian sent a message to the other two, saying that he had found the target by the lake. Gu Fei and Xi Yao Wu quickly rushed over, and Yu Tian Shen Ming sent a message to Gu Fei: "Are you coming to pick me up?"

Gu Fei sighed and had to run back to pick up the guy. Xi Xiaotian and Xi Yao Wu didn't act rashly, and remained standing on the hillside, following Cottney from a distance. When Gu Fei and Yu Tian Shen Ming returned, Xi Xiaotian pointed and said, "It seems you were right, there is indeed an ambush."

Gu Fei took a look and couldn't help but laugh. The reeds were tall, but Cottney was walking normally, so half of her body was exposed. It was just that her movements seemed a bit too exaggerated. The reeds within a radius of dozens of meters were shaking, and the figure inside was constantly appearing and disappearing. This ambush was too weak.

Of course, Gu Fei couldn't imagine the complexity of the situation. With Ye Xiaowu, the four major guilds had rushed here directly from the Cloudend Mine. With their manpower, finding Cottney was naturally much faster. The four guild leaders had sent their trusted aides to try to get the mission from Cottney, but to no avail. Ye Xiaowu hadn't given them any clear hints, which made them a little unhappy. The fact that they had set up such a weak ambush was naturally due to the four of them competing with each other, all wanting to get the mission. So they personally led their men to circle around Cottney, and no one was willing to back down. At every critical moment, the cooperation of these guys was always a joke.

"There's a problem. Even if Han Family Young Master knew we were coming here for a mission, how would he know we were looking for this NPC? Ordinary players wouldn't know about this NPC at Cloud Suburb Lakeside, right? Is Han Family Young Master someone who often comes here to play?" Xi Xiaotian said.

"Probably not..." Gu Fei said. Han Family Young Master was such a terrible guy that no one could stand him. Romance? Adding such a beautiful word to that guy was simply a waste of God's gifts. Just thinking about it felt like a crime.

"And it shouldn't be him. I don't think that guy would set up such a ridiculous ambush. Look, look, that guy's butt is sticking out, and he's still crawling!" Gu Fei said.

"No matter who it is, how did they know we were looking for Cottney?" Xi Xiaotian said.

"There are so many players, there must be someone who knows there's such an NPC here. Isn't a mission just about interacting with NPCs, so they came to try?" Gu Fei said.

"Is there really such a thing?" Xi Xiaotian said.

"Also, you said their layout is very exposed. Well, if it's an ambush, it's exposed, but maybe their original purpose was protection, to stop us from contacting Cottney, and the ambush is just a side effect?" Xi Xiaotian continued to analyze.

"What you're saying makes sense," Gu Fei nodded, turning back to look at the other two. "What do you guys think?"

"There should be a lot of couples in the bushes, why didn't they step on any of them when they walked over here?" Yu Tian Shen Ming was also capable of thinking.

"This..." Gu Fei was stunned, and immediately realized, "Are all the people in the bushes their people?"

"It seems so..." Xi Xiaotian nodded. "They arrived earlier and had already made arrangements. Those who aren't moving in the reeds are the real ambush, and those following are probably just a smokescreen, right?" Even Xi Xiaotian couldn't guess that these followers were ready to pounce on the mission at any moment.

"They made arrangements in advance, did they even know Cottney's activity route?" Xi Yao Wu said.

"Well, maybe there are players who are familiar with this NPC and often stay here?" Xi Xiaotian said.

"Wait, could it be that guy!" Gu Fei suddenly thought of someone, pulled up his friend list, and sure enough, he was online. So he sent a message: "Are you here to make trouble again?"

"Qian Li Zui has arrived," Ye Xiaowu, who received the message, ignored Gu Fei and quickly revealed the information to the four guild leaders.

"How did you know?" The four of them were shocked. They had each left informants along the way, but none of them had received information about Qian Li Zui's appearance. How did this guy know first?

"He sent me a message, he guessed I was here," Ye Xiaowu said.

"What... is your relationship?" The four of them were puzzled.

Ye Xiaowu didn't answer the question, but instead asked, "You've all set up some informants, right?"

The four of them nodded and explained the situation of their informants.

"It seems they didn't take the main road, they detoured from somewhere," Ye Xiaowu said.

The four guild leaders nodded. This was unavoidable. The map was so big, and there were small paths everywhere. The manpower of the four major guilds wasn't enough to keep an eye on the entire Cloud Suburb Lakeside.

"He noticed I was here, so it seems he's already noticed the situation at the NPC. That means he's already nearby," Ye Xiaowu said, looking around.

The four guild leaders were full of confidence: "We've already laid out manpower in the reeds, and the most elite members of our guilds are following the NPC. No matter how strong Qian Li Zui is, I don't think he can directly confront our four major guilds."

"He has to contact this NPC, right?" Finally, the four of them asked Ye Xiaowu.

"Although it's not absolute, there's at least an 80% chance that he'll take this route. Now that he's already here, it's confirmed," Ye Xiaowu said.

"Then let's wait for him to walk right into the trap!" The four of them were happy, they could kill Qian Li Zui again.

"Unless he..."

"Unless he what?" The four of them were alarmed when they heard the change in tone.

"Qian Li Zui!!" Suddenly, someone in the reeds exclaimed, obviously having discovered the target.

"Where?" The four guild leaders said in unison.

It was really inconvenient to observe the outside while crouching in the reeds. Now that they had received clear information, they slightly poked their heads out. Sure enough, on the northwest hillside, that familiar and terrifying black figure was rushing down. The four guild leaders, who had been full of confidence before, suddenly felt a little nervous for no reason, and each gave the order: "Get ready!"

Everyone gripped their weapons, hidden and unmoving, preparing to launch a siege after Gu Fei had gone deep into their encirclement. Who would have thought that Gu Fei wouldn't run over at all, but stopped a hundred meters away from them and shouted, "Cottney! Angus is not dead!"

These words clearly entered the ears of everyone in the reeds. The players were greatly puzzled, not knowing what trick Qian Li Zui was playing this time, but Ye Xiaowu was already depressed and said, "He really came up with this move."

"What's going to happen?" The four guild leaders were shocked.

The answer had already come out. Cottney, who had been tightly surrounded by them, suddenly froze when she heard the shout, and then quickly turned to look at Gu Fei. Gu Fei reinforced his efforts and shouted again. Without saying a word, Cottney ran quickly towards Gu Fei's direction.

"Damn it!" The four guild leaders finally knew what Gu Fei's trick was. This NPC didn't need players to actively serve her, but could be summoned by shouting. This was too contrary to the common sense of online games. Generally, in online games, players acted like grandsons and NPCs acted like grandpas, carefully serving them in exchange for rewards. But this NPC was too useless. Looking at her appearance, it seemed like she was eager to complete some mission.

"Stop her, stop her!!!" The four guild leaders were also quick-witted, deciding to trap the NPC.

"Don't!" Ye Xiaowu hurriedly stopped them. But the players were of course listening to their own guild leaders, who would care about Ye Xiaowu! They had already stepped forward to block the way.

"What's wrong?" The four guild leaders quickly asked Ye Xiaowu.

"Blocking her is going to make her an enemy, what do you think will happen?" Ye Xiaowu said.

Two beams of white light. The seemingly inconspicuous female forest ranger was surprisingly merciless when she attacked. The players wanted to trap the NPC and prevent her from leaving, but she waved her hand and stabbed two people to death. Then, she didn't make things difficult for the others, but continued to run quickly, and her speed was quite fast.

"Is she a thief?" NPCs who could fight also had professions. The players saw that the NPC was using a dagger and was moving so quickly, and quickly came to the conclusion.

"God Thief, God Archer, Lurker, three professions," Ye Xiaowu said. This was the NPC's rogueish aspect, they didn't have the same professional system as players, and often held multiple positions at once.

"If we kill her, won't Qian Li Zui's mission be impossible to complete?" The four guild leaders asked.

Ye Xiaowu was stunned, and then nodded: "That line will indeed be impossible to complete."

"You should have said so earlier!" The four guild leaders blamed Ye Xiaowu and immediately ordered the players to attack and prepare to kill Cottney.

A hesitant expression appeared on Ye Xiaowu's face, but he finally opened his mouth: "If you kill her, your mission will also be stuck here!"

"Stop, stop, stop, stop!!!!" The four guild leaders roared together, finally turning to glare at Ye Xiaowu, "What exactly is going on?"

"You are both in the same mission system," Ye Xiaowu said.

"But didn't you say there would be multiple routes? We can take other routes, can't we?" The four of them said.

"That's right, but I have to remind you that my purpose is only to prevent Qian Li Zui from causing damage and influence, not to help you with the mission," Ye Xiaowu said.

"You said that a long time ago!" Yun Zhong Mudi said.

Ni Liu Er Shang heard the deeper meaning in his words: "You mean, you won't provide us with any hints for other routes, is that right?"

"Correct," Ye Xiaowu nodded.

The four guild leaders looked at each other. In the guild channel, their subordinates were anxiously urging: "Are we going to attack? Are we going to attack? She's about to run out! She's about to run out!"

"Attack!" Wu Shi Zhi Jian blurted out. Yun Zhong Mudi and Black Finger also nodded firmly. This priest claimed that he wouldn't provide help on other branches, but on this branch, had he ever given any hints? The four major guilds had been busy until now, and they still didn't understand what the mission was about, what information or background there was, what Qian Li Zui's shout meant just now, and why this NPC ran when she heard it?

The four guild leaders all realized that whether it was the branch in front of them or other branches that hadn't been discovered yet, it was the same for them. If they kept this NPC, they wouldn't know how to trigger the mission, but instead give Qian Li Zui a chance to complete his mission, which was too unworthy. Rather than that, they might as well bury the opportunity together. What was even better was that Ni Liu Er Shang's mission was also interrupted!!!

Perhaps this last item was the reason why Wu Shi Zhi Jian and the other three were determined. Ni Liu Er Shang didn't even have time to express his opinion, and the three of them had already directed their own guilds to attack Cottney.

"Damn it, you three!" Ni Liu Er Shang's thoughts were more meticulous, and he had considered the gains and losses of the mission. But he was a little surprised by how quickly the other three made the decision. Then he saw that the three of them completely ignored him and rushed up to attack, and in an instant, he realized that he was different from the other three! His mission was still on this line, he wasn't ignorant, he had a chance to carry out this mission.

"Guild Leader Ni Liu, the overall situation is important!" Wu Shi Zhi Jian said earnestly.

"We know that your guild seems to be involved in this mission, but look, Qian Li Zui is closer to the end right now, we have to do this," Yun Zhong Mudi said.

"We will remember the sacrifices of the All Talk No Action Guild," Black Finger said, pretending to be a representative.

The three guys sang in harmony, and Ni Liu Er Shang was so angry that he wanted to die, but what could he do? Even if he could protect her, he was actually completely clueless. The kid thirty miles away who had the mission was running around like a dog during this time, exchanging information wherever there was a situation. Before, when he learned that this Cottney was an important figure, Ni Liu Er Shang sent Thirty Miles Away to repeatedly probe her eight hundred times, but he also gained nothing. In this way, whether he had a mission or not made no difference, he had no idea how to continue. Ni Liu Er Shang thought, and hardened his heart, he had no choice but to say nothing. Actually, what was the use of saying anything? Turn hostile? His guild couldn't beat the three of them.

The guild leader issued a kill order, and the players weren't just blocking Cottney anymore. The thick-skinned warriors stacked together and began to provoke Cottney.

Ye Xiaowu couldn't help but say from the side: "It's useless, she won't generate aggro now, she'll only go to Qian Li Zui."

"Damn it, what kind of freak is this!" The four guild leaders cursed.

"Circle her with a human wall," Ye Xiaowu reminded.

"We've done that a long time ago," The four guild leaders said. In terms of command, none of them were weak.

But everything wasn't so easy. How could they just focus on killing the NPC? Gu Fei had discovered that these guys wanted to go down with them, and had rushed over to respond. With a flash step, he flew into the encirclement and coordinated with Cottney's attack, cutting out a gap with one sword.

"What did you just say?" As a result, Cottney actually didn't run, and pulled Gu Fei to start exchanging lines.

Gu Fei didn't answer, and casually took out the necklace for Cottney to see. Cottney took it, tears welling up in her eyes, and murmured to herself, "Angus, it really is Angus!"

"Where is he?" Cottney hurriedly asked Gu Fei.

Suddenly, there were chaotic screams around him. Gu Fei looked around in surprise, wondering what was wrong with the surrounding players. They were suddenly attacking and screaming at the same time, making it impossible to hear anything.

"Is this useful?" The four guild leaders asked Ye Xiaowu, hoping that the sound waves would interfere and prevent Gu Fei and Cottney from talking to each other.

Ye Xiaowu didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's useless against NPCs, it might work against players..." The players' strange tricks were really beyond his imagination as a designer.

"Don't dawdle! How can you see Angus if you don't escape!" Gu Fei roared.

The NPC really wasn't disturbed by the noise and nodded firmly: "I must see Angus!!!"

"It's over..." Ye Xiaowu shook his head.

"What's over?" The four guild leaders were puzzled.

Cottney took off the longbow on her back, loaded ten arrows at once, and released them with a wave of her hand. The arrows flew out in a fan shape, instantly killing ten people!

"Damn, she's even fiercer than me!" Gu Fei was surprised.

"The boss has gone berserk," Ye Xiaowu said to the four guild leaders.

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Four matches left, the third and fourth place doesn't matter, can't miss the other three!