Letting a thief lay an ambush while still in stealth was not easy. Because they couldn't see each other, even a slight bump could expose both of them. This was something thief players needed to pay close attention to in a team. The game settings in the parallel world weren't complicated, even simpler than many old online games, but the "holographic simulation" aspect made everything a learning experience.

How the thieves lined up in a row was anyone's guess, but at least no one collided and exposed themselves. Over on this side, Gu Xiao Shang looked at Gu Fei with some surprise. "What about your spells?"

"They take a while to cast." As soon as Gu Fei finished speaking, flames erupted from a large patch of empty ground around him. Five thieves instantly appeared in the flames, revealing their true forms.

Gu Fei's casting movements were very subtle, and the other side didn't expect that the person in front of them could see through their stealth, so they weren't on guard. Everyone who should have been hit by the spell was hit. Gu Fei raised his hand and pointed in another direction. "Heavenly Fire Wheel, descend!"

Before the fire wheel appeared, three thieves had already flashed out of the ground and scattered in all directions.

There was no other way! Moving in stealth was just too slow; it was impossible to dodge area-of-effect spells. Since they were going to be exposed anyway, it was better to reveal themselves and avoid the damage.

Gu Fei had set his empty hand as his primary casting hand, so neither of the large-area spells did much damage. The eight thieves who had revealed themselves were just confused, not knowing how they had been discovered.

Gu Xiao Shang took a step forward with unmatched momentum. Her left hand lightly tugged at the clasp of her cloak, and with a "whoosh," the wind automatically blew it off her shoulders, a display of dashing coolness beyond words.

"Who are you people?" Gu Xiao Shang asked in a deep voice, her right hand gripping the longsword stuck in the ground.

Gu Fei gently leaned in and whispered, "Your cloak blew away."

Gu Xiao Shang quickly looked back and, sure enough, her cloak hadn't obediently fallen to the ground. Due to the strong wind, it had simply floated away. But she didn't panic. She snapped her fingers into the wind, and immediately a thief by her side revealed his true form and hurried off to chase after the cloak. Everyone was dumbfounded… such a cool and showy girl was a rare sight indeed.

"Ahem…" Gu Fei coughed to remind everyone to get back to the task at hand.

Everyone snapped back to reality, and Gu Xiao Shang waved her hand. "Surround them."

The eight people were naturally surprised because they only saw three people, one of whom was chasing after a cloak. Of course, from the movements of the person chasing the cloak, the eight quickly realized that their opponents also had thieves lying in ambush.

The eight immediately stood back-to-back in a circle, wildly waving their daggers to prevent being ambushed by the hidden thieves.

"Who exactly are you people?" Gu Xiao Shang asked again.

The eight didn't answer.

"Who are you looking for?" Gu Fei's question was insightful. At the same time, he was wondering how he should throw the fight if these eight people were looking for Yin Yue…

But the eight still didn't answer. This made the two of them hesitate. Gu Fei needed to determine the other side's identity, and Gu Xiao Shang's actions were also aimed at finding out their intentions.

"If you don't speak, we're going to attack," Gu Xiao Shang threatened.

In response, one of the thieves actually revealed a disdainful expression and finally replied to Gu Xiao Shang, "Attack? How many people do you have?"

"Hmm? What do you think?" Gu Xiao Shang smiled.

"Heh heh!" The opponent also gave two dry laughs and suddenly shouted, "White Stone Asks the Way!"

Gu Fei and Gu Xiao Shang were both stunned. What kind of skill was that? They had never heard of it.

Then they saw the eight thieves standing back-to-back in a circle each pull out a small packet from their pockets and fling it in several directions. The packets suddenly opened in mid-air, and a burst of white ash mixed with gravel spewed out with a "whoosh," like a white fog. Immediately afterward, the encircling thieves revealed their true forms, covered in white patches.

Gu Xiao Shang's mercenary group, Seven-Colored Clouds, was a level 4 mercenary group with 80 members. There were only 10 thieves in the group. Two of the girls got scared when crossing a ditch in the Black Dragon Mountains and turned back. The one who went to chase the cloak hadn't returned yet, so there were only seven thieves. They were all exposed by the handful of ash thrown by the opponents.

"Hmph! This is the White Stone Ash produced in our White Stone City. Never seen it before, have you!" The thief said smugly, then swept his gaze over the encirclement. Seven thieves, plus Gu Fei and Gu Xiao Shang, made a total of only nine people, just one more than them. It wasn't much of an advantage at all. He couldn't help but laugh. "This is what you call a surround?"

Gu Xiao Shang had already called for reinforcements from Unsworn Sword and the others. After all, no one had expected that the people tailing them would bring so many people; they thought it would be just two or three at most. At this time, Gu Xiao Shang intended to stall for time and didn't really want to start fighting with them.

"What exactly do you want?" Gu Xiao Shang tried to say a few more words to the opponents.

"Don't waste time. Break through quickly." The thief ignored Gu Xiao Shang completely, turned to his brothers, and said, taking off in a sprint towards one of the thieves. The others immediately followed him in that direction.

Gu Xiao Shang saw that the direction they were attacking was the weakest of the seven thieves. Who would have thought that her stalling for time had given them the time to assess everyone and pick out the weakest link…

"This…" Gu Xiao Shang turned to speak to Gu Fei, but Gu Fei was nowhere to be seen. Turning her head back, she saw that Gu Fei had already flashed in front of the leading thief, his longsword flying and slashing out a burst of fire. The thief didn't have a chance and was instantly killed. The remaining seven were immediately stunned and stopped in their tracks, involuntarily retreating and creating distance from Gu Fei.

Gu Fei had been forced to act. If he had confirmed the other side's identity, he could have just watched them break through and leave without taking action. But the guys stubbornly refused to say what they were doing. As a responsible mercenary, Gu Fei couldn't just let them leave.

Dark Sword, black robe, instant kill, Double Flame Flash!

This was already a symbol. After a moment of stunned silence, the seven people all realized it and exclaimed, "Thousand Miles Drunk!!!"

"Oh, you recognize me?" Gu Fei said.

"Video celebrity…" the people muttered.

"You know how powerful I am now, right! Hurry up and tell me who you are, what you're doing, where you came from, where you're going, what you're trying to do by following us. Speak!" Gu Xiao Shang also came over.

The seven people looked at each other. They still didn't speak. Gu Fei was also in great distress. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he casually asked one of them, "What's your name?"

"Wild Boar…"

"What kind of terrible name is that…" Gu Xiao Shang couldn't help but laugh. Gu Fei wasn't in the mood for that. He frantically tried to add the other person as a friend. It wasn't convenient to talk face-to-face; maybe they could communicate privately! But the result: The other person's friend request option wasn't turned on…

Gu Fei was really helpless, so he had to continue to prompt, "Wild Boar! You're following us. Are you trying to find someone? Or is there something you need? If you're looking for someone or have some private matter, tell us the name, and we'll call them over. It's not difficult, right? Why do you have to fight? Right, Xiao Shang?"

"That's right!" Gu Xiao Shang nodded. "If that's the case, what's so hard to say?"

"Even if we have some enemy of yours in our group, we can all sit down and discuss a solution!" Gu Fei felt that he had prompted them to the limit.

"That's right, sit down and discuss it!" Gu Xiao Shang also said.

The seven people still didn't speak. Gu Fei weakly supported his forehead and waved his hand repeatedly. "I can't help you anymore. You're on your own. Don't say I didn't try to help you…" After saying that, Gu Fei retreated to the side to eat an apple.

That was still a hint! I don't have any mana right now. If you want to run, do it now! Gu Fei felt that since he had already discovered them, it was the same as having already disrupted their tracking. His mercenary mission was considered complete, so letting them leave couldn't be considered irresponsible, right?

But Gu Fei's hint was still ignored. They were still standing foolishly in the circle. Gu Fei finished his apple, his mana was full again, and Gu Xiao Shang had persuaded them for several sentences. Her cloak had even been retrieved. But the people were still silent.

"Forget it!" Gu Xiao Shang lost her patience and waved her hand at Gu Fei. "Thousand Miles, let's do it!"

"You still want me to do it?" Gu Fei said, stunned.

"You're so fierce. If you don't do it, who will?" Gu Xiao Shang said.

"Actually, with my mana, I can't kill all these people," Gu Fei said to Gu Xiao Shang in a very secretive manner.

"Nonsense. You can take down more than 20 in the video," Gu Xiao Shang said.

"Taking down people like that depends on fate!" Gu Fei said.

"What nonsense is that?" Gu Xiao Shang said.

"The videos only pick my best moments, and the opponents are also very cooperative and aim upwards when getting hit. All the embarrassing moments when I don't have enough mana are deleted," Gu Fei said.

"That's too much. How can you do that!" Gu Xiao Shang said.

"Yeah! It's too irresponsible," Gu Fei said.

"You should post an explanation," Gu Xiao Shang said.

"Explanation? Explain what?"

"Fake videos can't be trusted!!!"

"It's not exactly fake! It's just that they only picked the good parts."

"That's still not okay. It's not real!"

"That's true…"

"Hey hey!!! You two…" Finally, someone interrupted the two people's whispered conversation.

"What?" the two of them turned back together.

"Are you going to attack or not?" Gu Xiao Shang's subordinate thief asked.

"Attack! Everyone attack together!" Gu Xiao Shang quickly said, pointing to Gu Fei at the same time. "Including you!"

"Sigh!" Gu Fei sighed deeply and pointed his sword at the people. "Last chance, if you don't speak, we're going to attack!"

The people surrounded them, and the guys in the middle were standing so close together that Gu Fei could wipe them all out with one big move. This was fate!

"If we talk, can we really leave?" someone suddenly spoke up.

"Hey!!!" someone next to him immediately glared.

"I don't want to lose a level!" This person jumped out from among the seven.