Chapter 153 River Valley

The Cloud Riders who climbed out of the river channel each headed in their designated direction. At this time, the number of players in the Zongheng Sihai guild, along with the various mercenary groups, was roughly seven hundred. Compared to when they departed from Cloud City, they had already lost more than half. They were now divided into four large teams of nearly two hundred people each, and as soon as they left the river valley, they headed in four directions.

Of course, it wasn't exactly the four cardinal directions; they were generally moving forward, but there were clear boundaries between each team, making it absolutely impossible to encircle them all at once. The opposing side would also have to divide their forces into four groups to stop them.

Following the orders of Wushi Zhi Jian, everyone cautiously looked around as soon as they climbed out of the river valley. In particular, the sharpshooter players who had been observing the map situation earlier easily spotted the changes.

In the short period of time that they had descended into the river valley, many of the monster-grinding players who were scattered across the map had suddenly evolved into clustered creatures, and their target was clearly the river channel. However, they had only just started when these Cloud City players had already climbed out of the river valley and split into four. The opposing team suddenly looked like they were spelling out the words: "Completely Lost."

The Cloud Riders completely ignored them, each going their own way according to the established plan. And with the enemy's movements now basically clear, they naturally had to avoid them as much as possible. The longer they dragged it out, the farther they led them, the better. Todd's safety was paramount; as long as Todd safely reached the dungeon, everything would be over! The strategy for this operation couldn't be clearer.

The mercenary group alliance was, after all, a temporary team, so any talk of coordination was a joke. When faced with a situation requiring a new plan, even the most decisive action would take some time. Seeing the four Cloud City teams spreading out, they were still slow to react.

Jian Nan You, seeing this, shook his head repeatedly. "Looking at them, it can't be that they don't even have a unified command, right?"

However, just as he finished speaking, the players finally took action. As Han Jia Gongzi had predicted, they had no choice but to divide into four groups as well, heading to intercept the four Cloud City teams. It was difficult to judge who had the upper hand in terms of numbers in the chaotic situation.

"At least they didn't react too slowly," Jian Nan You sighed.

"Why do you seem so concerned?" a priest in the group asked him.

"The number of players coming out of the river valley doesn't seem to have decreased, which means there are very few of them left in the river channel. The fewer there are, the more elite they are. Do you know who the elites among them are?" Jian Nan You said.

"Besides that video mage, who else could there be?" someone asked.

"Yan Gui Jiu Gui! Yu Tian Shen Ming! Zhan Wu Shang! You Ge!" Jian Nan You paused after each name, his expression serious.

His companions' mouths dropped open when they heard these names.

"No way!" one of them exclaimed. "Are all these top players in Cloud City?"

"That's right, and I met them when I came to Linshui City," Jian Nan You said.

"Oh, is that the group you said your friend took you to see?"

"Yes, You Ge is my friend," Jian Nan You said.

"These people are indeed famous in the online gaming world, but this is a brand-new game mode. We'll have to see who's really good. If they're so great, why aren't any of the Parallel World's Five Strong mentioned? So, we're not necessarily outmatched," the thief in Jian Nan You's group of seven was a burly man who spoke heroically.

Jian Nan You smiled and said, "It's hard to say who's stronger, but we only have one goal: to avoid conflict with these experts if possible. The lowest cost for the greatest return—that's business!"

"Then what do you plan to do?" the thief asked.

"I hope that Luori City also has experts who can see through their plans. Then, we'll let the people from Luori City clash with them first, and we'll keep a close eye on things from afar. Even if they can defeat all the experts from Luori City, they'll definitely be exhausted. We'll strike at that moment..." Jian Nan You trailed off.

"That's your usual style," the other six companions, who had clearly been working with Jian Nan You for a long time, could only admire his plan.

Although the seven of them were constantly chatting, their feet never stopped moving. However, they didn't jump into the river valley; they stayed on the riverbank, keeping an eye on the situation on the large map and constantly checking whether they were approaching the people in the river valley.

On the large map, the two sides were divided into four teams each, eight groups in total. After playing a game of cat and mouse for a while, it looked like two teams were about to make first contact.

This contact was necessary. Don't forget, the Cloud Riders' mission was to escort Todd into the city. If they kept dodging and evading outside the city without any intention of entering, the stalling tactic would be too obvious. So, after failing to detour around, they would inevitably have to make a feigned assault on the city.

The first team to make contact with the enemy was the one led by Gu Xiao Shang. Gu Xiao Shang was both a mercenary团长 (tuanzhang, leader/chief), the president of a guild, and someone whom Wushi Zhi Jian often tried to please, so it was understandable that she was entrusted with this important task. This girl was also quite skilled at commanding team battles. She remained calm in the face of the enemy, issuing orders layer by layer.

The Cloud Riders were originally a motley crew, but after traveling together for the past few days, wandering outside the city, fighting together, and occasionally sharing drinks under the moonlight to build camaraderie, they were a bit more organized than the average hastily assembled group.

In particular, they had become accustomed to following unified command these past few days. Regardless of whether they agreed with Gu Xiao Shang's arrangements, they all followed them, which was better than the disorganized rabble rushing up to them.

The group in front of them had no fewer people than the Cloud Riders, and their formation was also orderly. But this orderliness revealed its flaws at a glance. Why was it orderly? Because everyone was unfamiliar with each other, so they stood at a distance. Now that a group battle was about to erupt, there was no command at all, and everyone was improvising. As soon as the two sides clashed, the difference was immediately apparent. The Luori City players were being slaughtered. Two rows of people fell as soon as the fight began.

Only then did the opponents realize that they weren't dealing with pushovers. So, someone volunteered to take command. Generally, players work in mercenary guilds and rarely focus on just one aspect. So, the guys in the mercenary团 (tuan, group) also had experience in large-scale guild battles. With unified command, things weren't as ugly as they were at the beginning. After all, they were top players from Luori City who had formed an alliance to carry out this major task. They weren't necessarily inferior to the Cloud Riders. The two sides fought evenly for a while.

As for the Cloud Riders, they seemed to be charging fiercely, but in reality, they were prioritizing survival. Seeing that the opponents had stabilized and stood their ground, they immediately focused on defense. The Luori City players immediately felt like they were awesome. It seemed like the opponents had no way to fight back as soon as they showed their power. So, they were full of fighting spirit, and shouts of battle filled the air.

Interspersed among them were shouts similar to "Lay down your weapons and you won't be killed!" Of course, the content was "Hand over Todd, and we'll spare your lives."

The Cloud Riders' goal was to hide Todd's location, so they couldn't let the opponents realize that Todd wasn't in their formation. The best way was to keep them guessing. So, after the opponents shouted this, Gu Xiao Shang immediately retorted, "That depends on whether the sword in my hand agrees."

After shouting, she waved her arm and threw off the shawl on her back. The flying shawl covered someone's head, and Gu Xiao Shang took the opportunity to kill them with two slashes.

"Wow wow wow! This woman is so despicable!!" the opponent roared, and the clash between the two sides became fierce.

It's true that different personalities of leaders determine the temperament of the entire team during battle.

Gu Xiao Shang's team started fighting as soon as they met, as straightforward as the girl herself. On the other hand, the team led by Black Finger was dragging its feet after encountering the enemy.

"Greetings, brothers, I wonder what you want to ask!" Black Finger greeted the rushing enemies with a smile.

As the saying goes, don't hit a smiling face. Black Finger's actions made it difficult for the opponents to directly slash at them. They quickly stopped and said hello, greeting them like two sides meeting for a normal dual task: "Sorry for the offense, dual task."

"Oh, what's the task?"

"Assassinate Todd!" the opponent was honest.

"Todd isn't in our team!" Black Finger was even more honest than the opponent.

The opponent smiled slightly after hearing his honest words. "Is that so? Can we take a look?"

"Haha, he's really not here. You don't trust me, brother!" Black Finger chuckled with the others. Make the unreal real, and the real unreal. Black Finger played this strategy quite skillfully, making the opponent deeply suspect that Todd was in their formation. This was the mission given to them by Wushi Zhi Jian. Then, he would dawdle and chat with them, which was Black Finger's way of stalling for time. This guy was still quite cunning.

The other two teams naturally had their own ways to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations. At this time, inside the river channel, Han Jia Gongzi's elite group finally encountered their opponents.

The opponents were filled with killing intent, and their purpose was obvious. When You Ge and the others saw that Han Jia Gongzi's plan had been seen through, they were all shocked. But the fact that there weren't many opponents blocking their way made them somewhat pleasantly surprised.

"There aren't many people. We can handle them," Yu Tian Shen Ming said bluntly, completely ignoring the opponents.

"That's right!" Han Jia Gongzi actually took over Yu Tian Shen Ming's words. "It's rare to have such an opportunity. If it were me, after seeing through the opponent's tactics, I definitely wouldn't tell my allies. I'd pretend not to know, then quietly bring a few of my own brothers and make a fortune in this river valley. That's great, isn't it,团长 (tuanzhang, leader)?"