Chapter 1 The Two Teams

Two purely professional teams appeared outside the political compound of Xiawu City, one composed of six mages and the other of six thieves. The players leading the teams were also well-known figures in Xiawu City: the mage Gui Tong and the thief Yan Xiaozhu.

During their conversation with Young Master Han, when they learned it was also for Gu Fei's quest, the two sisters, who had already been interested in Gu Fei's quest, immediately expressed their willingness to continue helping. Young Master Han was happy to be relieved of the burden, so he simply handed over the task of organizing the team to Gui Tong, who had more connections. Of course, Gu Fei paid for the quest; Gu Fei also owed the favor; Young Master Han was ultimately just an intermediary who did some talking.

As for the imitation part… that was really just Gu Fei and Jian Gui's wishful thinking. In fact, Young Master Han's strategy didn't involve imitating them at all; he simply wanted to create some chaos to distract the opponents.

The mages and thieves introduced by Gui Tong were indeed not weak, and each of them was skilled. The mages randomly threw spells in the fog, moving to a different location after casting each spell. The thieves specialized in targeting slow professions, sneaking up to stab people before running away, a style very similar to the Fog Shadow Assassin.

But after a few minutes, the two teams discovered that there seemed to be no one left outside the walls of the courtyard.

"Sis, where are the people?" Yan Xiaozhu asked strangely.

"It seems they've all retreated into the courtyard," Gui Tong said.

There was no fog in the courtyard, so the harassment tactics could no longer be implemented. The two Gui Tong sisters didn't expect to be finished so quickly, and they didn't know if they had already fulfilled their mission. In any case, they truthfully reported the situation to Gu Fei.

"Ah?? How could this be…" Gu Fei was stunned. They had been thinking that the constant harassment and attacks on the periphery would force the opponents to strengthen their defenses outside the courtyard, thus drawing away defensive forces from inside the courtyard. Who knew that the other side would retreat to advance, harassing outside the courtyard? Fine, I'll simply withdraw the people outside the courtyard back inside, so you have nothing to harass.

So Gu Fei and Jian Gui watched as the guards inside the courtyard not only didn't decrease or become disorganized, but actually increased in number. They couldn't help but smile wryly.

"Hey, your method doesn't work!" Gu Fei sent a message to Young Master Han. After preparing carefully for an hour, it was already showing signs of failure so quickly. It really didn't seem like a strategy designed by Young Master Han.

"What?" Young Master Han asked.

Gu Fei explained the situation.

"There's no change inside the courtyard?" Young Master Han asked.

"Yes, there is, there are more people…" Gu Fei said.

"Be patient and take another look," Young Master Han said.

"What else is there to see?" "Huh!!!" Gu Fei was writing a message to Young Master Han when he suddenly noticed that the players in the courtyard, who had been like flowers in the fog, really did suddenly take action.

Many players, scattered throughout the courtyard like stars in the sky, suddenly began to move towards the front yard, as if they had heard a call. Because Gu Fei and Jian Gui were currently in the back courtyard, their view was mostly blocked by the political office building, so they didn't know what was happening in the front yard. Could it be the effect of the harassment? But the harassment clearly forced the enemies back into the courtyard, so why did it suddenly seem like they wanted to redeploy?

"Of course, it's the effect of the harassment!" Young Master Han said, "Harassment is simulating you two experts? I really admire how you two came up with such a genius idea. Did you even figure out what those guys are doing?"

"…"

"They're on a quest. The purpose of the quest is to maintain the peace in that broken courtyard, not to come out and hunt you two down. If you two just keep harassing on the periphery, they'll be happy. Why would they be attracted to your attention?"

"Then now?"

"Now? The current harassment is also a kind of simulation, but it's not simulating you two, but the guilds in Xiawu City!" Young Master Han said.

"Guilds? Why guilds again?"

"Because of the trouble you caused the day before yesterday, Misty Flowers is currently on high alert. This situation is not a good time to mess with their quest, so no guild would be willing to take action at this time. The strategy of linking up vertically won't work at this time. But to truly attract the other side's attention, you have to make them think that a guild is about to launch a large-scale attack on them," Young Master Han said.

"So? Have they been fooled?" Gu Fei looked at the players running around busily in the courtyard.

"How would I know… aren't you on the scene?"

"Just the harassment from twelve people?" Gu Fei couldn't believe it.

"These aren't ordinary twelve people." Young Master Han's smile couldn't be seen at this time. "They were recommended by Gui Tong, one of the Five Little Strong Ones, and are at least well-known experts in Xiawu City. It's difficult to carry out stealthy attacks without revealing any traces in the thick fog. We don't know the true identities of these twelve people, but the people of Misty Flowers should be able to see something. In online games, a well-known expert, in a sense, symbolizes a guild, or rather, gives people the illusion of symbolizing a guild."

Gu Fei suddenly realized: "You're saying that these twelve experts with some background will make the people of Misty Flowers mistakenly think that their guild is taking big action?"

"That's right, that's the real meaning of finding Gui Tong…" Young Master Han said.

Sure enough! Gu Fei sighed. This was a typical Young Master Han strategy. The chess pieces in the game didn't even know the real meaning of their move, just letting themselves be manipulated, being sold off while still helping to count the money. Poor Gui Tong and her friends… At this time, Gu Fei only hoped that they wouldn't suffer any losses because of this.

Young Master Han continued, "They've developed this misunderstanding, so they should be massively mobilizing their manpower to concentrate their defense on the main gate, but this illusion won't last long, so you guys should hurry up and do your thing!"

"Okay!" Gu Fei and Jian Gui responded.

"How's your side?" Gu Fei asked Jian Gui.

"There's someone near the sleeping assassin, I have to take him out," Jian Gui said.

"Can't you just sneak past?"

"I'll be exposed if I try to search the assassin in stealth," Jian Gui said.

"Oh, then be quick about it, and then get up the wall and get out of there," Gu Fei said.

"Wait, we still don't know if this assassin has anything related to that small woodshed. How about I go down first, and you wait for my message? If there's nothing related, I'll get out of there and you can continue. If there's something related, you should get hold of the information on my side before taking action!" Jian Gui said.

"That makes sense," Gu Fei agreed.

"Wait for me!" Jian Gui didn't say anything more, and hurried to drop the long rope of his flying hook. With a "swoosh," he slid down. As soon as he landed and turned around, he saw that the person was already looking in his direction. The other party's attention was already on the wall, and they had noticed almost as soon as Jian Gui threw the rope.

Jian Gui landed, turned around, and immediately used "Fog Shadow Assault" without saying a word. He had already chosen a position while he was on the wall. The landing point was within the range of the "Fog Shadow Assault" sprint to the person's location.

"So fast!" the person said in surprise.

Jian Gui also stared at the other party. A fighter… Jian Gui thought, that's really too bad. Fighters had neither strong nor weak vitality, belonging to the middle class. They definitely couldn't withstand Jian Gui's skill, which could kill opponents above his level in one hit. He could only regretfully kill him.

However, Jian Gui, who was always serious, never took his enemies lightly. Although "Fog Shadow Assault" caught many people off guard with its high speed alone, Jian Gui still always seriously used the "disappearing for two seconds" effect. This time was no exception. When he saw the distance between the two, Jian Gui activated the skill effect and instantly disappeared.

Even Gu Fei had said that this disappearing effect was extremely troublesome, which couldn't help but make Jian Gui full of confidence in this move. Gu Fei was already the most powerful existence in his eyes.

However…

Just as Jian Gui's dagger was about to stab the person, the person suddenly made a move. His body suddenly sank, and he thrust out his open left hand from below. Jian Gui was shocked, unable to dodge, and watched as the other party's left hand caught his dagger.

The disappearing state was immediately interrupted, and Jian Gui's face was full of surprise. However, he also saw the same surprise on the other party's face. He seemed to hear the other party mutter, "Is it really that fast?"

His dagger was grabbed by the other party, and his disappearing state was cancelled, but the skill was not completely interrupted. Jian Gui reacted quickly, and didn't hesitate. He continued to thrust the dagger out with all his might. However, the other party's reaction was equally fast. He quickly realized that the impact hadn't stopped, and immediately reached out his right hand and grabbed his left hand. He straightened both arms and held Jian Gui firmly away from himself.

Jian Gui was depressed. If it had been any other profession, they would have been seriously injured at this point. Hands were also part of the body, so resisting the skill with a dagger like that would cause their vitality to drop rapidly. But this guy was a fighter. Fighters' weapons were gauntlets, so their hands were equivalent to weapons. Holding the dagger was like an ordinary player using a weapon to block Jian Gui's dagger. Most of the damage was negated.

The damage was negated, but the impact didn't diminish. Jian Gui's "Fog Shadow Assault" was indeed powerful, and actually pushed the person out a distance.

But at the moment the skill ended, Jian Gui found himself in an awkward situation. His dagger was still being held tightly, so how could he continue his attack? Should he let go of the dagger and start over? He couldn't bear to do that.

Helpless, Jian Gui could only kick out a leg. The damage from this attack wasn't great. Jian Gui only hoped to make his opponent take a step back and let go of his dagger.

Who knew that the other party would turn his body 180 degrees to dodge Jian Gui's kick? At the same time, he took a step back, his back against Jian Gui's chest. He released the dagger, placed his right hand under Jian Gui's armpit, arched his back, and swung his arm, tossing Jian Gui onto the ground with a shoulder throw.

"Crap…" The other party's movements were smooth and skillful, making Jian Gui feel very bad. Could this guy be a martial artist like Qian Li or Bai Shi? If so, he probably wouldn't be a match for them…

Lying on the ground, Jian Gui looked up and saw the other party's face upside down in his eyes.

"This person seems a little familiar?" Jian Gui suddenly thought.