Chapter 386 Good Friend

Leaving the Four Seas Guild's headquarters, Gu Xiaoshang asked Han Jia Gongzi curiously, "Why aren't we waiting there with them for Qianli Zui and Jian Gui to show up? Was it just a special trip to deliver a message?" That's what she initially thought, but Han Jia Gongzi didn't do that. Gu Xiaoshang kept her word and let Han Jia Gongzi command, without interfering in the process, only asking about it afterward.

"You can't defend by just sticking around. Those two guys have some brains. They'll scout and look for opportunities. We can't let them detect our presence. We just need to pay attention secretly and surround them quietly," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Then why tell Wu Shi Zhi Jian this news? If the Four Seas Guild is negligent in their defense, wouldn't their chances of appearing be greater?" Gu Xiaoshang said.

"The problem is, they can definitely guess that I'll be here to ambush them. So if the Four Seas Guild has absolutely no defenses, it would become an obvious trap," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Are you sure they can know that much?"

"Of course," Han Jia Gongzi said confidently. "Because we all have a good friend who likes to play both sides." As Han Jia Gongzi spoke, he sent a message to You Ge, wanting to find out if there were any new developments with Gu Fei and Jian Gui, but he received the cold reply, "The other party has turned off message reception."

"Damn it, they actually dare to refuse my messages." Han Jia Gongzi muttered fiercely. If You Ge knew this, he would cry until dawn. It turned out that either way, he was going to offend someone.

"So what now? We're basically just waiting, right?" Gu Xiaoshang asked.

You Ge turning off messages was something that Han Jia Gongzi couldn't do anything about. He said helplessly, "I originally wanted to use this good friend to find out more about those two, maybe get a hint of their movements. I didn't expect our good friend to have firm principles sometimes. This time, he's determined not to help either side."

"Who is this good friend of yours?" Gu Xiaoshang couldn't help but be curious.

"Just a newbie," Han Jia Gongzi said.

You Ge was in tears. Would it kill you to reveal my name?

"Our people are now divided into three groups, going to the coordinate areas xxxx, xxxx, and xxxx respectively. Take off your guild badges. Even if you see those two, don't panic, and don't take action without instructions. They shouldn't realize you're their opponents. Otherwise, once they realize something's up and start to run, it will be hard for us to catch up with their speed."

"How fast are they moving?" Someone from Colorful Clouds Guild was quite unconvinced, naturally someone who was very confident in their own movement speed.

Han Jia Gongzi glanced at the speaker and said, "It's useless to just run fast. How much HP do you have?"

"HP?"

"If you have so little HP, are you going to chase them just to get one-shotted?" Han Jia Gongzi said.

"We can stall for time and wait for everyone to catch up!" the other person said.

"I've never heard of being one-shotted counting as stalling for time... How would you stall? One second per person?"

The other person wanted to say something, but Han Jia Gongzi beckoned him over. "Come here, give me a hand."

"Give you a hand for what?" the other person asked blankly.

"Help me get up there." Han Jia Gongzi pointed to the branch above his head. He had been looking around ever since he arrived in this forest, actually choosing a suitable observation point. This was his usual style. Only by seeing the situation clearly could he command effectively and comprehensively.

That person came over and clasped his hands together. Han Jia Gongzi stepped on that tree branch, and then climbed up a bit more. Gu Xiaoshang looked up from below and asked, "Can you see everything just by climbing a tree?"

"I have a tool." Han Jia Gongzi took out a telescope and gestured to her.

"Then you'll stay here," Gu Xiaoshang asked.

"Let's do this for now, unless the Four Seas Guild moves. Everyone, act in groups!" Han Jia Gongzi said.

Han Jia Gongzi was said to be the commander-in-chief, but the specific orders were actually issued by Gu Xiaoshang. Han Jia Gongzi also knew that if he had just joined them and started bossing everyone around, it would definitely make people feel uncomfortable, so he didn't do that. The deployed tactics were basically said in the manner of talking to Gu Xiaoshang, and then Gu Xiaoshang would organize everyone to do things, and everything was handled in an orderly manner.

"Then we're leaving." After Gu Xiaoshang finished dividing the groups, she herself prepared to lead one, and greeted Han Jia Gongzi.

"Go ahead. Immediately send me the coordinates if you encounter anyone suspicious. I can recognize those two guys even if they're disguised eight layers deep," Han Jia Gongzi said.

"Roger." Gu Xiaoshang waved her hand and left with her group.

You Ge, as a spectator who knew almost all the inside information, had been wandering around the Four Seas Guild's headquarters, preparing to watch the show. He himself estimated that Han Jia Gongzi would either come over to directly cooperate with Wu Shi Zhi Jian, or bring some of the Against the Drunken Song people to help. But Han Jia Gongzi's actions were indeed beyond his expectations. He actually appeared with Gu Xiaoshang.

You Ge was also a sensible person, knowing the special nature of the Colorful Clouds Guild. He couldn't help but admire Han Jia Gongzi's vision. As for how he had achieved the cooperation, You Ge was very tempted to send a message to ask, but he held back. Message reception was already turned off. Turning it on and then off again would be too pathetic. You Ge thought, restraining his strong curiosity. In fact, he also really wanted to notify Gu Fei and Jian Gui about Han Jia Gongzi's cooperation with Colorful Clouds Guild. He believed that even Gu Fei and Jian Gui wouldn't have expected this move. They might only regard the Four Seas Guild and the Against the Drunken Song people as imaginary enemies, and might be careless when encountering people from Colorful Clouds Guild.

Ah, I really want to gossip! You Ge painfully endured it.

At Yun Jiao Lake, quite a distance from Cloudbreak City, Gu Fei and Jian Gui finally arrived in this area. The two looked left and right. Jian Gui analyzed from his game experience: "Generally speaking, for tasks like this where you're looking for clues but there's no clear hint, do you usually ask NPCs, or does the system automatically prompt you that you've finished exploring the map area? Check, is there a hint in the task?"

"No," Gu Fei said.

"Then it's asking people. I'm not familiar with this place. Where are the NPCs?" Yun Jiao Lake was a leveling area favored by couples in love, but Jian Gui hadn't had any breakthroughs in this regard and hadn't had the opportunity to come to this kind of place. He had only occasionally passed through this leveling area and didn't know much about it.

"There's a wooden house over there." Gu Fei scanned around and pointed to the southwest corner of Yun Jiao Lake. There was a simple wooden house by the lake, which was the only sign of life in this wilderness.

"Let's go take a look." Jian Gui walked towards it. Gu Fei saw the reeds almost reaching his waist all around and quickly reminded Jian Gui, "Be careful not to step on anyone."

"Anyone??" Jian Gui was puzzled.

"If you don't believe me, watch." Gu Fei took off his clothes and didn't take his sword. He raised his hand towards a dense area of reeds and chanted a spell. Flames soared into the sky, and three pairs of men and women instantly jumped out of the reeds, reacting in different ways. One pair looked around blankly, one pair fled in panic without looking back, and another pair righteously began to curse. They scanned around and glared at Jian Gui. The male player shouted, "Hey Thief, did you see who did that?"

Jian Gui was stunned. He subconsciously turned his head, but Gu Fei was gone. He glanced down and saw Gu Fei squatting in the reeds, making a "silence" gesture to him. Jian Gui had no choice but to cover for him: "Didn't see."

As the cursing began, countless heads popped up from the reeds, looking around and asking what had happened. There were even two heads that came out less than five meters away from Jian Gui, scaring him.

"See!" Gu Fei messaged Jian Gui.

"Too awesome."

"Everyone has their own pursuits," Gu Fei said.

"Yes."

"If they weren't making noise, I'd have..." Gu Fei said.

After these players with pursuits showed their faces and bubbled for a while, they gradually submerged and disappeared again. The reeds by the lake returned to their previous calm. Jian Gui called out to Gu Fei and pointed in a certain direction: "Let's go from that side."

The place Jian Gui pointed to was right next to the lake. It was full of mud and water, and probably no one would seek artistic inspiration here. This showed that Jian Gui was kind. At first, Gu Fei, afraid of stepping on people, had used his staff as a cane, knocking around in the reeds.

As the two continued towards the wooden house, Jian Gui worried, "What if some NPCs are also squatting in the reeds like that? That would be hard to find."

"It would be great if we could contact You Ge. He probably knows more." Gu Fei only knew about this one feature of Yun Jiao Lake. How much else could he be expected to know?

The two circled a quarter of the lake and finally arrived at the small wooden house. This wooden house was also dilapidated and had such close proximity to the water, that before even entering the door, there was already a musty smell. Inside the house was a fireplace, a collapsed bed, an empty bookshelf, and a desk covered with a thick layer of dust. In front of the desk was a pile of broken pieces of wood, which used to be a chair.

It was simple and clear at a glance, but Jian Gui didn't give up so quickly. He checked behind the bookshelf, in the gaps of the collapsed bed, in the drawers of the desk, and finally even stuck his head into the fireplace to observe the chimney.

"Isn't that a bit much?" Gu Fei exclaimed at Jian Gui's meticulousness.

"Wait, there seems to be something. Do you have something to light it up?" Jian Gui's voice came from the fireplace.

"Really?" Gu Fei quickly took out a lantern, lit it, and handed it to Jian Gui. Jian Gui took the lantern inside, and after a while, the sound that came out was: "Where did you get this thing?"

"Xiawu City. Yan Xiaozhu sent it to me before leaving, saying it was for me," Gu Fei said.

"Oh, there..." The lighting item was a local product of Xiawu City. The players there often carried lights to mark their position in the fog. Torches were of course the simplest, but players' pursuits couldn't be so simple. Gradually, some people began to make lanterns, which could also be considered decorations when held in hand. More exquisite ones even used luminous gems of some elemental type in the game, made into pendants hanging around the neck or waist, which were very popular in Xiawu City. It was said that in Xiawu City now, many trendy men and women were starting to use lantern language to communicate, creating a romantic atmosphere unique to Xiawu City.

"Did you find anything?" Gu Fei wasn't interested in these things.

"It's hanging on the fireplace. It seems to be a page of paper!" Jian Gui said.

"What kind of finding is that..." Gu Fei didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He thought Jian Gui had discovered some kind of secret passage.

Jian Gui's tone was very serious: "This is a game. Everything is designed by the program. If a page of paper is hanging on the chimney for no reason, it's naturally specially designed."

"Maybe someone just threw it away, and it accidentally floated into the chimney. Look, there are many players here, so there will probably be a lot of waste paper. If someone isn't careful about environmental protection and throws it away randomly, it will float into the chimney," Gu Fei joked as he sat on the table that Jian Gui had wiped clean during his research.

"Let's take it down and see. Give me something long, like a staff," Jian Gui said.

Gu Fei pulled out a staff and handed it to Jian Gui. After another bout of tossing and turning, Jian Gui finally crawled out, holding half a piece of paper in his hand, and couldn't wait to study it.

Gu Fei leaned over to take a look. The paper was dry and yellowish, but it wasn't the kind caused by being left for a long time, but by being baked at a temperature that was neither too high nor too low for a long time. The paper was only half, and there were obvious scorch marks at the halfway point.

"What's drawn on this?" Gu Fei saw that there was a pattern on the paper, but Jian Gui was also eager to see it.

"Why don't you wash your face first!" Gu Fei couldn't help but say. One can imagine what he looked like after crawling around in the chimney. In Jian Gui's words, the stove ash was also a certain degree of design.

"No hurry!" Jian Gui was also someone with pursuits.

"The story of this piece of paper should be like this: it was originally thrown into the fireplace to be burned, but the high-temperature airflow blew it up, and then it stuck to the chimney. It didn't burn completely, so it became what we see now. As for the circle and cross on this picture, we need a game expert like you to analyze it," Gu Fei said.

Jian Gui looked at the circles and crosses, lost in thought. He suddenly touched his pocket and pulled out a large piece of paper, spreading it out on the table.

"What is it?" Gu Fei couldn't help but ask.

"A map, of Cloudbreak City." As Jian Gui spoke, he pointed to a certain place on it, and then took the half piece of paper: "Look, this picture, doesn't it look like Yun Jiao Lake?"

Gu Fei took a few glances and quickly pointed out seven or eight different places.

"Of course it can't be exactly the same. The map was drawn by a player, and I estimate it wasn't done with too much care. This one was made by the system, so of course it's more accurate. We'll check the different places in person, and we'll know."

Jian Gui actively took the small piece of paper and the map and ran out. The player-made map had slightly rough coordinates, and also pretentiously marked a so-called scale. Calculating it, it was also known that the approximate coordinates of the area to be found were roughly how much. Jian Gui chose the nearest one, found it quickly, and looked left and right with the piece of paper, gradually becoming lost. The real thing and looking at a picture were really two different things. In the picture, there was a bend here, but in the real thing, Jian Gui saw n bends.

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A four-thousand-word chapter! I don't know why I'm so tired these days. Asking for votes with a weak voice...