Not Laughing, having dropped to level 20, was completely dumbfounded. He stood motionless in the Thieves' Guild, allowing the surrounding players to point and stare.
"Did you see that? The guy ranked eleventh on the Thieves' experience list has been knocked down to level 20. Tsk, tsk, tsk!"
"Damn it, what are you doing standing in there dazed? Hurry up and come out! I want to see the masked assassin!"
"Hahaha, I've already seen him twice!"
"I chased him through five streets!"
"Why isn't this guy coming out? He's making me anxious!"
The players all looked anxious, wishing Not Laughing would quickly come out of the safe zone and accept his death. If the safe zone offline didn't prevent physical contact, the scenario Gu Fei had mentioned earlier about "being thrown out of the safe zone to be killed" might have already happened to Not Laughing.
Instead of the masked assassin, the crowd saw Unsworn Blade and Wind Walker. Like Not Laughing, these two were core members of Traversing Four Seas. But players in the know were aware that Traversing Four Seas had been started by Unsworn Blade, Wind Walker, and a player named Reflection of Time. Not Laughing was just a latecomer.
The two saw the large crowd of onlookers and, without a word, walked straight to Not Laughing inside the safe zone.
"Not Laughing," Unsworn Blade called out.
Not Laughing looked up, his eyes a deathly gray.
"People from Rebirth of the Purple Crystals talked to me," Unsworn Blade said.
Not Laughing remained silent, listening.
"They said they can return your Wind Whisper dagger, but the condition is that you leave the Traversing Four Seas guild." Unsworn Blade looked at Not Laughing intently. "What do you think?"
Not Laughing's lifeless eyes flickered back to life: "That's easy. I'll leave the guild first, and then rejoin after I get the Wind Whisper."
Unsworn Blade's eyes widened in disbelief. This Not Laughing was truly a scoundrel. How could he come up with such a wretched idea so quickly? His swindling nature was truly obvious!
Unsworn Blade suddenly felt that kicking this kind of guy out of the guild was definitely worthwhile in the long run. If your character is bad, everything becomes difficult. Thinking this, Unsworn Blade took out the Wind Whisper and tossed it to Not Laughing.
"That's that!" Unsworn Blade said, turning to leave with Wind Walker.
"What does this mean?" Not Laughing was stunned.
He soon received an answer. System message: Due to repeated violations of guild rules, player Not Laughing has been expelled from the Traversing Four Seas guild. We hope other guild members will take this as a warning.
"Unsworn, what do you mean by this!" Not Laughing roared. When people are angry, they often throw things to vent their emotions. Not Laughing had already raised his hand, but quickly remembered the Wind Whisper he had just retrieved and hurriedly retracted it, stuffing it into his pocket.
"Damn it!!!" Not Laughing shouted.
"Boo..." A chorus of boos erupted from the crowd. Everyone was hoping that Not Laughing, in his frenzy, would throw the Wind Whisper out!
Gu Fei, mixed in with the crowd, was also rubbing his hands in anticipation. Not Laughing had been squatting in the safe zone for quite a while. Now that he had retrieved his precious dagger, would he come out for a happy stroll?
But Not Laughing, after carefully stowing away the Wind Whisper, logged off quickly.
"Tch..." The crowd booed again. Seeing that there was no more excitement to be had, they finally dispersed. Gu Fei, feeling quite disappointed, followed the departing crowd. Suddenly, he received a message from July: "What are you doing? Come back to the guild!"
With Not Laughing offline, Gu Fei really had nothing to do for the moment. He crossed a few streets and arrived at the Rebirth of the Purple Crystals guild. Quite a few girls had already gathered. Gu Fei estimated that he was the last to arrive. As soon as he entered, he heard July happily announce: "Not Laughing has been kicked out of the Traversing Four Seas guild!"
The girls cheered. Gu Fei stood alone in the corner, smiling, his heart filled with a sense of accomplishment.
"Sister Luo Luo, thanks to the mercenary group you found, they were so amazing! Who are those people?" The girls asked curiously.
Luo Luo said regretfully, "I only met their leader. The others didn't show their faces. They were all masked when they attacked, so it seems they didn't want to reveal their identities."
July nodded and said, "I originally wanted to thank them in person, especially that mage among them. But now it seems it's better not to cause trouble for them."
The girls all felt incredibly sorry, especially Lie Lie, whose face was full of regret: "I really want to know who that mage is!"
Gu Fei listened silently, continuing to smile.
But while the girls didn't know everything Gu Fei had done in secret, they saw his contributions in the open. July continued, clapping her hands: "Besides the mercenary group that Luo Luo found, we also owe a lot to Thousand Miles this time. Thanks to his unexpected theft of Not Laughing's superb dagger, we had a more powerful bargaining chip when we negotiated with Traversing Four Seas."
This time, the girls' emotions weren't as high as before. It wasn't that they had any deep-seated prejudice against Gu Fei. It was mainly that most of them had adopted a dismissive attitude towards Gu Fei. Now that they saw he had been a great help, it felt awkward to suddenly show such fiery enthusiasm. Girls were usually more sensitive and couldn't handle such a large shift in attitude. For a moment, they were all a bit embarrassed.
However, just as there were excellent items, there were also excellent people.
Lie Lie, who had always disliked Gu Fei the most, now happily changed her attitude. She walked up to Gu Fei and said, "I didn't expect you to be so capable!"
Gu Fei simply smiled, offering a lukewarm thank you for Lie Lie's praise.
Lie Lie, feeling rebuffed, walked away awkwardly.
July also sensed that the atmosphere was a bit cold, and quickly continued: "Alright, this matter is over. Everyone can continue to play the game with peace of mind in the future!"
The girls clapped and cheered, then gathered to the side again to gossip about the legendary masked assassin.
"Thank you!" July said earnestly, walking up to Gu Fei at this moment.
"Hehe, it's nothing. Although I'm just a temp, I'm currently a member of the guild! Of course, we should protect each other," Gu Fei said with a smile.
July didn't know what to say. They had never regarded Gu Fei as a member of the guild, and Gu Fei didn't seem to consider himself part of it either. But at this critical moment, the person who had played the biggest role in the entire guild was precisely this so-called temp.
"Don't mind their attitude! They're just... uh..." July couldn't find the words to explain.
"It's nothing," Gu Fei said. "If there's nothing else, I'll leave now?"
"Okay, okay, go ahead!" July said.
Gu Fei turned to leave, but July suddenly called out to him again.
"What is it?" Gu Fei turned back.
"Uh, what about your straw hat? Didn't you always wear a straw hat?" July asked.
Gu Fei's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly replied, "Hey, I didn't know how to play before, and I didn't know that you couldn't just wear any equipment. That thing isn't suitable for a mage at all. I've already thrown it away."
"Oh..."
"I'm leaving," Gu Fei waved his hand and left the guild.
"What's wrong? Do you think Thousand Miles is that masked assassin?" After Gu Fei left, Luo Luo came to July's side.
"I heard that the masked assassin also wears a straw hat, wears a mage newbie robe, and is level 30. Isn't that very similar to Thousand Miles?" July said.
"Indeed. Besides, Thousand Miles, like that person, also likes to use a knife. The time he fought with Little Rain, he used a knife," Luo Luo said.
"However..." Luo Luo said, then continued, "Thousand Miles couldn't beat Little Rain last time. If I hadn't been there, he would have died once."
"Did he let Little Rain win on purpose?" July asked.
"I couldn't tell," Luo Luo replied.
"If he can't even beat Little Rain, yet he can so swiftly take care of Not Laughing, then it shouldn't be the same person," July said.
"Who knows, maybe that assassin saw Thousand Miles's comical appearance and deliberately dressed like that to hide his identity!" Luo Luo said.
"Then he really has a sense of humor," July laughed.
"In any case, there's a pretty good chance that it's Thousand Miles," Luo Luo said.
"Yeah. There will always be a chance to meet again..." July said.
Gu Fei, who had left Rebirth of the Purple Crystals, had also realized this problem. Because his attire had always been so unconventional, July, Luo Luo, and the others who had seen him before would probably guess that it was him. This was really frustrating! He should go find Han Jia Gongzi and the others to discuss it. Just as he was thinking this, Han Jia Gongzi's message arrived: "How did it go, assassin?"
"Not Laughing logged off," Gu Fei said.
"It's been 10 times already. You should take a break too! Come back to the tavern, there's something important," Han Jia Gongzi said.
"What is it?" Gu Fei asked.
"Dividing the money," Han Jia Gongzi said.
"Oh, I'll be right there," Gu Fei said.
Inside the Little Thunder Tavern, the five of them sat around a table waiting for Gu Fei. Ten bulging money bags were piled on the table, resembling a small mountain.
"Open them and pour them out!" Yu Tian Shen Ming's voice trembled slightly. "A thousand gold coins! It must be spectacular when piled together. I want to see it."
"You're so uncultured!" The other four criticized while swallowing their saliva.
"How much did we earn from the last mission?" Yu Tian Shen Ming asked.
"210 gold coins. Thousand Miles took 60 gold coins, and we each took 30 gold coins," Han Jia Gongzi said.
"This time there's actually so much... Those women from Rebirth of the Purple Crystals are really rich!" Yu Tian Shen Ming said.
"How should we divide it this time?" Brother You asked.
"Uh... Thousand Miles really contributed a lot this time. How about he takes half, and the five of us split the remaining half?" Han Jia Gongzi asked.
"That's fair," Jian Gui nodded.
"500 gold coins." Yu Tian Shen Ming looked lost.
"100 isn't bad either, be content!" Zhan Wu Shang said, "At least I can buy a slightly better weapon."
Brother You glanced around: "Now, the only excellent items among our group are Jian Gui's Frost Memories and Yu Tian's Vast Moon Divine Bow, right?"
"What excellent item is mine? It's just that the attack power is a little higher than a normal bow. Jian Gui's is the real deal, 30% critical hit rate. If my bow had that attribute, I would snipe everyone in the world!" Yu Tian Shen Ming exclaimed.
"Keep a low profile, the King of Assassins is right behind you," Zhan Wu Shang patted Yu Tian Shen Ming and said.
Yu Tian Shen Ming turned around and saw Gu Fei standing behind him, having lifted the curtain.