Chapter 200 Canglin Tournament (15)

After discussing their plan, Feng Bujue decided what action they would take the following day.

Young Master Ji Bu’s main task was gathering intelligence. He was going to ask the waiter in the hotel to find out which room Ms. Murong occupied, then he will visit and see if this NPC is willing to let him ask for advice. It looked like it was a simple job and there wasn’t much risk, but there were some flaws to the plan.

The immediate problem was getting the information out of the waiter. They didn’t have anything on them that could be used as money in this world and it would be difficult to find discover anything without tipping the waiters.

Feng Bujue didn’t seriously consider the problem of money, now it had become such a hassle. If the six swordsmen hadn’t given them this room, it would’ve been awkward for them to stay in the hotel. Of course, in their plan, Feng Bujue tossed aside the matter of settling debts, they would disappear after two days after all.

As for the hotel’s fees… They didn’t care about their reputation after they were done with this scenario. And… Even if Ji Bu was able to find out which room Murong Ying lived in, the language and manner of negotiations would require careful consideration.

Of course, the so-called “professional gigolo” was just a joke. Ji Bu also understood, now that Feng Bujue had established an image in these people’s eyes, what with his “who dares to accost my wife, I will slap him to death” act. Feng Bujue was unable to carry out this task. If he did go, he’d be called a hypocrite or that he still had the consciousness of going back and being hacked to death by his wife.

To put it bluntly… Not only will it not help the progress of their quest, but it would also negatively impact dealing with the NPCs.

As for Little Tan, although Ji Bu didn’t know him very well. Having been with him for some time now, this boy was too naive and adorable. A person like this was extremely unsuitable for intelligence work… Therefore, Ji Bu was stuck dealing with it. He had opened a studio and had some ability with handling its affair anyway. Even though he couldn’t compare with those big studio professionals, he was at least not inferior to an average player.

From the game’s perspective, this was just a test to see the level of communication between the players and the NPCs’. If the players followed the script’s worldview and engaged politely and reasonably, there would be no reason for them to get nothing. 70 years ago, NPCs in small games would just keep repeating the same words to the players, and now, the system made big changes on the NPC’s AI level.

As for their plan for the four from Hell’s Frontline [1], their plan divided them into two groups.

Feng Bujue and Like Rain would go to the mountain north of the town and explore the plot of the “Ghost Temple” while Little Tan with Dispirited will conduct a thorough search in town to look for items and skills.

This plan of action was proposed by Feng Bujue. Of course, him being him, he based his decision according to the script’s actual circumstances for making the most secure and efficient allocation of his teammates. He didn’t just rely on what he liked to call “male-female pairing, where work is not tiring”.

While he was listening to the synopsis, Feng noticed that it didn’t specifically state that there were ghosts in this world, just using the word “rumor,” just ending with “what really happened with this duel? What is the truth about this ghost town? Was there some kind of hidden conspiracy behind all this?”

This kind of brief seemed to provide the players with information, but in fact, it was designed to mislead the players. They wouldn’t be sure if the town was really haunted or it was just human mischief.

So, Feng Bujue just took the “rumor” as the truth and even if the temple on the mountain were to have an evil spirit, Like Rain and Feng Bujue could handle it. Feng Bujue had his death poker, and Like Rain had skills and a title that could restrain spirits. With their combined strength while also being resourceful people, if they explore the temple’s FLAGs, wouldn’t that be too easy?

On the other hand, clearly, acting alone would be very stupid while searching Cangling town. Even just one person could be so dangerous if something like that were to happen again… And there were so many abandoned houses in town. So, it was hard to say what would happen. In some cases, wherein some remote corner, there’d be people hiding corpses, poison, or weapons… if the players met them, a fight would definitely occur.

It was much safer to searching with two people. Little Tan and Dispirited had guns after all. They could fire as a last resort against human NPCs’ and their combination was very complimentary if they encountered any puzzling element, Dispirited handle that and if they needed to move huge or dirty objects then Little Tan was just the loyal worker. Even if their furtive movements were noticed by outsiders, they wouldn’t suspect that they were searching for game items.

All in all, it was a three-pronged attack. One would gather intelligence, another would search for items, and the last team pursuing the clues provided by the system. They all agreed to rendezvous in the room before sunset. If someone was missing, the remaining people would discuss countermeasures.

The morning had passed quickly, and Cangling Hotel’s lobby of even more crowded than before.

For the first-rate bosses, they would usually only go the lobby in the morning for their morning cup of tea, taking their meals in their rooms.

Currently, the people sitting inside the lobby, eating and drinking were basically those who lived outside the hotel. There were a lot more of people like this compared to those who lived in the hotel, so the lobby was a bit livelier than it had been in the morning.

The rumor about the Breaking Sword Tea Shack naturally spread, but those people were mostly absent in the morning, so it wasn’t clear what they looked like. In addition to that, the lobby was very noisy and there were many people walking around. Therefore, when the four players came downstairs one after another and left the hotel, they didn’t attract too much of the people’s attention. Only a few people recognized them, but these people at most just whispered about them.

After leaving the hotel, Feng Bujue and Like Rain took the road leading to the north. It was around 12 o’clock and they walked hastily for a while slightly feeling hot. This kind of feeling only had a small effect on their stamina value. They kept their pace for about twenty minutes before they arrived in the northernmost edge of the village. There were a few houses here and there, their view unhindered. A few deserted farmlands could be seen in the distance where the original farmhouse had already collapsed, leaving only a heap of black wood and ashes.

Further north, the mountains, which had been dimly visible, were now close at hand. The road was more pronounced and inclined upward. There was only one road left under their feet, and the further they up went, the narrower and shallower it became until it was completely gone. By the time noon came rolling by, they had already climbed into the mountains. Dry earth and weeds were growing under their feet and the surrounding foliage was beginning to thicken. Feng Bujue thought that he was going to be stuffy in such a thick forest, but the truth was the temperature around them was getting cooler and cooler.

“Strange… The slope of the mountain was quite steep. It doesn’t look like there would be a building on this mountain.” Feng Bujue said. He felt a bit strange under the current circumstances.

“Let’s walk around a bit more “Like Rain quickly answered.

“Well…” He nodded and continued to lead. It was a weird situation, but there was no reason to stop exploring. Their stamina value and time were both abundant, so it was ok for them to wander about for another two or three hours.

They walked for about ten more minutes when Feng Bujue stopped and turned his head, “Have you noticed?”

Rain asked: “What?”

“During our trek, I haven’t seen any animal tracks or droppings. There wasn’t even a bird or any insects. In fact, there aren’t any singing cicadas. The forest is incredibly quiet…”

He paused and frowned, “and don’t you think it’s getting cooler?”

When Like Rain heard his words, she thought for a few seconds, then said, “Spiritual setting?”

“This environment shouldn’t have been the phenomenon appearing in the martial arts world anyway” Feng Bujue replied, “it might be spiritual, an illusion, or their science that we don’t understand. This forest is clearly out of whack.” He looked left and right then continued, “there are no creatures, and the closer you are to the center, the colder you will be. ”

“Because this is THE FOREST WHERE NO ONE CAN RETURN” Suddenly, a miserable female voice sounded out.

Like Rain shivered slightly, her fear value rising a little.

It was nothing to Feng Bujue at all, he quickly turned to face where the sound came from and his gaze landed towards a big tree to his left.

The tree’s trunk was thick and the speaker was completely hidden behind it.

However, when they saw the tree, there was half of a waxed out human face, slowly appearing from the back of the tree trunk…

 

 

 

[1]Could refer to Devil May Cry: Hell’s Frontline