Chapter 303

The Sword of No Oath, in a mournful tone, recounted the whole story from beginning to end. The six members of Young Master Elite Squad listened in agony, because holding back laughter was as painful as holding back tears.

The Sword of No Oath sighed and repeated the story, ending with a puzzled expression, "What do you think is going on?"

The six exchanged glances. Han Jia Gongzi coughed and said, "Uh, could it be some kind of quest plot?"

"That's what we thought too. That's why we followed them to see what they were up to!" said The Sword of No Oath.

The ending was not unexpected. The large group of players were escorted back to the city by guards and went straight to the dungeon, disappearing into the dark, yawning doorway right before everyone's eyes.

Although imprisonment forcibly cuts off all news, there is a setting for prison visits. The key to visiting is one word: money. As long as you pay, you can do anything with the prisoners inside, except bail them out, and there's no time limit. It's very popular with couples who can't bear to be apart for a moment.

After his subordinates were locked up and the team of NPC guards left, The Sword of No Oath cautiously approached the dungeon. He put as much effort into it as he did when knocking on Adrian's door: three parts forward, seven parts ready to retreat. He was worried that the system gods would immediately recognize him as the leader of the criminals.

But what he feared didn't happen at all. The dungeon guards still followed procedures as usual. The Sword of No Oath paid a considerable visiting fee and went in to comfort his brothers.

The imprisoned players were as clueless as The Sword of No Oath. The only thing they knew more clearly than The Sword of No Oath was that they had to serve four hours. As for the reason, the system didn't issue any formal message, but the word "robber" appeared frequently in the dialogue between the NPCs, making everyone feel extremely wronged.

In their opinion, they had only made a gesture of surrounding Adrian... which, come to think of it, did look a lot like robbery. But they had never heard of being arrested and imprisoned for surrounding an NPC! When did NPCs become so human rights-conscious? The imprisoned players were all furious.

The Sword of No Oath looked depressed when he went in, and when he came out, his expression seemed to indicate he was about to fall into depravity. He stared blankly at the Young Master Elite Squad waiting for him outside the dungeon for a long while before finally reacting and asking, "Is there anything else?"

Han Jia Gongzi sighed, "Did you forget? Give Gu Fei the note so he can try it with Adrian."

"Oh..." The Sword of No Oath was in a state of bewilderment and handed the note to Gu Fei without thinking.

"How long will they be in jail?" Gu Fei asked, taking the note.

"Four hours!" The Sword of No Oath replied.

"Then we can't continue the quest today, right?" Gu Fei asked.

The Sword of No Oath nodded, then turned his gaze to Han Jia Gongzi, "Can you contact the other mercenary团长 [tuanzhang, or leaders]?"

Han Jia Gongzi shook his head.

The Sword of No Oath looked utterly defeated, "Damn, I still have to inform these people." Apparently, it was Fallen Year who was usually responsible for contacting these guys. The Sword of No Oath, as the guild leader, didn't seem to bother dealing with these trivial matters.

"Then I'll continue with this tomorrow?" Gu Fei asked, waving the little note at The Sword of No Oath.

"Of course." The Sword of No Oath felt annoyed just looking at the little note, so he simply turned a blind eye. After casually greeting the others, he went off with his remaining brothers, cursing under his breath.

"Should we... try it now?" Gu Fei asked the other five for their opinions.

"Of course, how else are we going to sleep tonight?" You Ge said.

"Do you guys sleep at night?" Gu Fei asked, puzzled.

"Nonsense!" The five scolded Gu Fei for not treating them like human beings.

After asking around, the six finally found the system appraiser in Moonlit Night City: a masked woman in wizard robes, the鉴定术 [jianding shu, or appraisal skill] teacher for all players in Moonlit Night City.

"Bring the ledger," Gu Fei signaled to Han Jia Gongzi.

"Wait!" You Ge spoke up.

"What is it?" Everyone looked at You Ge.

"Let me try first, to verify whether this quest can only be completed by Qian Li, who has a relationship with the werewolves," You Ge said. "Let's see what kind of logic this parallel world setting is all about."

"If that's the case, you can't try! You went to see the werewolves with Qian Li. Logically speaking, it seems like you accepted this quest with Qian Li," Sword Demon said.

"That makes sense," You Ge nodded.

"I'll try!" Sword Demon reached out and took the note and ledger.

Gu Fei watched these guys go about their business. Their tireless research into online games moved him a little. How great would it be if so many people had such dedication to kung fu!

Sword Demon, with the note and ledger in hand, asked the appraiser to鉴定 [jianding, or appraise] the handwriting on both. Just as everyone was worried that the NPC wouldn't understand what they were talking about, the appraiser nodded and held up two fingers: "Two hundred gold coins."

"Damn it!!!" The six cursed in unison.

"Too shameless!"

"A profiteer."

"Despicable."

"The system is broke."

"The game company is desperate for money!"

The discussion of denunciation went on for a full ten minutes before Sword Demon weakly interrupted everyone, "Hey, are we appraising or not?"

"Appraise it. The money comes from them anyway," Han Jia Gongzi said.

So Sword Demon took out two hundred gold coins, flung them at the appraiser, and handed over the note and ledger.

The appraiser glanced at the note, then picked up the ledger and flipped through it "whirr, whirr, whirr." Just as the six were guessing which page she would stop at, the appraiser had already handed the note and ledger back: "It's the same handwriting."

The entire appraisal process didn't take more than five seconds. The six didn't even have time to experience the tension of holding their breath and staring before it was announced that it was over. Two hundred gold coins had been spent, but they didn't experience any entertainment value. The six felt that the system was too贱 [jian, or cheap/low]. Since they charged such a high price, they should at least put on an appraisal pose. This perfunctory performance was really annoying.

But in any case, since the system had spoken, it meant that two things were clear.

First, Adrian was indeed the mastermind behind the scenes.

Second, this plot wasn't only something Gu Fei could complete. Han Jia Gongzi hid Adrian's ledger, which did a lot of damage to Zongheng Sihai.

"Does this count as completing the plot? If we go back to Adrian, will he admit it?" Sword Demon asked everyone.

Everyone was also puzzled. The logic in the parallel world wasn't parallel to reality at all. Sometimes it could be speculated and guessed like in reality, and sometimes it was a set of rules like in online games. It was this unpredictable nature that tormented the players' nerves...

To be on the safe side, the six asked the appraiser to issue a certificate confirming that the note and ledger were written by the same person. The six thought that this appraisal certificate would be an important tool to make Adrian confess his guilt.

"Proof? My word is proof!" The masked woman was surprisingly arrogant. The six great experts were despised by an NPC, and they left in displeasure.

"Are we going to find Adrian now?"

"Yeah, how else are we going to sleep..."

So the six set off again towards Nightglow Village. On the way, they encountered many Cloud City players returning to the city. After being told by The Sword of No Oath that they couldn't continue today, everyone felt unpleasant, having wasted an evening.

"This Zongheng Sihai quest seems like it will offend a lot of people!" You Ge said with emotion, watching these unhappy players.

"Lack of professional mercenary qualities," Han Jia Gongzi said. The five looked at him in unison.

"Including us," he continued.

"Tsk!" The five鄙视 [bishi, or despised].

"It's impossible for so many scattered mercenary groups to become a united whole. If Zongheng Sihai succeeds in this quest, they'll be lucky; if they fail, it will definitely be ruined by this flaw. Let's wait and see," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"You... you look like you're hoping they fail!" Gu Fei said.

"I'm just annoyed by this atmosphere. They invited us over, but they don't have enough trust. Tsk, do they really think that spending a little money can make others work wholeheartedly for them? It's obvious that he's not material to be a boss," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"I think you're overthinking it again..." Gu Fei said, "It's not necessarily that they don't trust you, it's just that your frequent extortion has scared them. They're starting to avoid us in everything. Look how畸形 [jixing, or twisted] this is."

"Extortion? If it were really extortion, it wouldn't be these prices. It's their inner jealousy that's at work. They resent that we always have to step in at critical moments to get through, so they deliberately avoid letting us help. Frankly, there are only six of us. Do you think the fees they pay us are more than what they pay the Black Hand Mercenary团 [tuan, or group] of a hundred people? Let me tell you, it's far from it! We're probably only worth the price of twenty people from the Black Hand Mercenary团 [tuan, or group]!"

"That's too much!" Gu Fei was angry. "I killed twenty people from the Black Hand Mercenary团 [tuan, or group] by myself!"

"That's what I'm saying! There's no extortion at all. The prices I set are all reasonable," Han Jia Gongzi said.

Sword Demon, who was beside him, nudged him, "There is extortion. You hid their ledger."

Han Jia Gongzi鄙视 [bishi, or despised] him, "This isn't extortion, this is competing for business."

Everyone was speechless.

Chapter 304

Early in the morning, Hu Die, carrying "Chapter 304," came to the tree of "Update," nervously watching the passing students. Do you have... a monthly pass in your hands?