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Chapter 21

I like this gang.

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Xie Chengyan was too astonished and immediately called him.

Fang Jingxing thus called out a farewell to Escape Empath and left the game running, going offline.

Just as he pressed connect, he heard Xie Chengyan speak impatiently on the other end. “Are you sure?”

Fang Jingxing said, “Not definitely.”

He explained his speculations once through and continued, “Therefore, based on the time, he has this possibility.”

Almost everyone entered the closed beta immediately after receiving the equipment.

Amongst the thousand players, those who dragged out their entry for a very long time should not exceed ten people. And within these ten people, there were even fewer who could coincidentally enter when he returned to his home country.

He pondered for a moment and then added, “However, he said that he had a surgery at that time, so perhaps his health was the reason why he could not play, which dragged his closed beta entry behind by a month.”

Xie Chengyan suggested, “Then is there the possibility he had actually entered earlier but played some other race. Later, he felt that playing it was no good, so he switched to Seal Master and wanted to play again, just happening to meet you?”

“There is, but the possibility is small.” Fang Jingxing said, “He said he likes your little uncle. Your little uncle precisely played the Seal Master.”

Xie Chengyan was once again astonished. “He is my little uncle’s fan?”

Fang Jingxing said with a laugh, “Isn’t the possibility even larger?”

Xie Chengyan nodded.

First, his mom rarely sought him out to borrow things; second, that boy was his little uncle’s fan; third, that time could match Fang Jingxing’s return time; fourth, that boy confirmed his identity by asking for his mom’s name and birth month…… If all of this was a coincidence, then it was too coincidental!

As a result, he was leaning even more toward the idea of having some kind of internal connection.

For instance, that boy knew his little uncle through his mom, so that boy liked the Seal Master profession; another example was that the boy originally liked his little uncle and his mom knew, so she helped borrow the equipment.

He strongly felt that “fate bringing people together” was an extremely fantastical saying. “Speaking of which, it is me who allowed you to obtain a fierce general?”

Fang Jingxing responded absolutely straightforwardly: “Go ahead and say whatever you want.”

He asked, “When will you return?”

Xie Chengyan said, “Friday night, still three more days.”

He couldn’t sit still. “You made me want to go back now and take a look to see whether it was actually him.”

Fang Jingxing was eager for his immediate return and considerately said, “I’ll personally drive to the airport to receive you and then personally send you back.”

Xie Chengyan hesitated for two seconds before decisively giving up.

That was too much tossing back and forth. During this time, he still wanted to get a decent amount of sleep. In any case, it was only three days away.

Fang Jingxing did not force him further and simply chatted for a few more lines. He then ended the call.

He cheerfully finished eating lunch and went back online at two in the afternoon, on the dot. He waited for his teammate.

Jiang Chen looked at the empty seat between them and asked, “He finally finished crying?”

Fang Jingxing recalled how the other had kicked the NPC and couldn’t help but want to laugh. “En, he stopped crying after you kicked him.”

Jiang Chen thought to himself, this NPC that could be moved by kicks from players should have originally had this setting to be used like this. Once again, he felt that this hidden plot was a bit cheap.

If it were instead looked at with honest eyes, he was afraid that they would have been waiting the entire time for the NPC to finish crying. How long would the wait have been?

The two got down from the roof. Jiang Chen glanced at the new “Look For The Diviner” mission and asked, “Finding someone again?”

Fang Jingxing dispelled his doubts for him. “Because he is also unclear as to where Jiali is, it’s making us find a Diviner to do the calculations.”

At present, Captain Jiang’s mood was stabilized. He did not intend to take the life of a living creature, so he asked quite serenely, “Then where was the point in us running around?”

Fang Jingxing smiled and pointed at his belt. “In order to obtain Jiali’s possession, to give to the Diviner to use as a medium.”

Jiang Chen bowed his head to look and discovered the guard had returned Ling Huai’s token and had attached a metal pendant beside it. This should be Jiali’s.

Fang Jingxing knew he was impatient to run the mission and was afraid he would be straightforward again. He swept his gaze to the gang’s pond to the side and said, “This lake here has higher earnings than the one outside. How about you give it a try?”

Jiang Chen had already come to accept the unpleasant truth about that nonsense but recalled the krypton gold changing fate this morning. He could thus not withstand this temptation and nodded in agreement.

The members of the gang all come here to leave the game running. At the moment, a circle of five stood around the pond.

The two of them found an open space, took out their fishing rods, and flung them in. After waiting a short while, Jiang Chen sensed his fishing rod tremble and reeled it in.

Fang Jingxing watched this with neither a word nor movement. For the first time ever, he actually felt a bit nervous.

He knew the probability of rubbish appearing was very low, but he was also worried the gang’s lake would be unable to save a certain person’s black hand. If it happened to be a broken shoe again, this boy’s mood might worsen.

Jiang Chen reeled it in further and saw that it was a gold coin.

Captain Jiang — who had fished only five copper coins at most up until now — reacted to this gold coin after a moment. He earnestly said, “I like this gang.”

Fang Jingxing immediately burst into laughter. He felt this boy was too interesting and schemingly thought about pulling for himself a favorable impression. “So there is no loss in following me in, right?”

Jiang Chen said, “No loss.”

Fang Jingxing thought to himself; there would also be absolutely no loss when you follow me into the team in the future. His mouth was tender as he asked, “Still fishing? I’ll accompany you.”

Jiang Chen said, “Not fishing. You ask then if they want to hit the hidden plot.”

Fang Jingxing asked, “Want to add people?”

Jiang Chen voiced an “En.”

Fang Jingxing was not surprised about this at all.

This Seal Master’s temperament leaned cold. He looked somewhat difficult to approach and interact with, but if one could step on his soft spot, he would usually take the initiative to release goodwill on his own accord, becoming especially easy to talk to. For example, when Fang Jingxing pulled his newbie acting cute performance, he had stepped on the two points of “Xie Chengyan” and “Jiang Chen.” Now, he relied on the strength of this pond belonging to the guild to pull for himself a wave of favorability, and so the other party wanted to put a team together.

Of course, excluding his impatience to run the mission, he was also thinking about recruiting manpower.

Fang Jingxing said, “Okay, wait a moment.”

Escape Empath was standing beside them, having left the game running.

Fang Jingxing was actually not very familiar with the gang members, so he directly contacted the other. After chatting a few words, he came back and said, “Ah Escape said to have us wait ten minutes. He’s going to call for people.”

Jiang Chen then decided to fish for ten minutes.

Fang Jingxing seized the opportunity to explain to him the plot. “The guard said they were originally a party of four: Ling Huai, Jiali, him, and his younger sister. They all left their homes toward the continent to make their way in the world, so their bond is deep. Afterward, the tribal war of three broke out, and it was very chaotic everywhere. One day, Ling Huai and Jiali fought due to conflicting views. Ling Huai ran off in tears.”

Jiang Chen understood. “And then she went missing?”

Fang Jingxing said, “En, they looked for her for a very long time without results. The guard’s family had protected the city for many generations. He had no choice but to return. His younger sister and Jiali are still outside looking for her, but to this day, they have disappeared without any contact.”

Jiang Chen asked, “Then how come he reacted like that when I previously mentioned Jiali?”

Fang Jingxing suggested, “Maybe there are some inner feelings we do not know about, or he thinks Jiali has also met with an accident?”

His mind opened a pit. Laughing, he suggested, “Perhaps Jiali and Ling Huai are not blood-related siblings. When the guard heard Ling Huai only mentioned Jiali and not him, he knew he had no chance?”

Jiang Chen thought about the appearance of the guard crying like a dog and replied, “Possibly.”

The two of them chatted as they waited for the others.

Even though Jiang Chen fished up a few rubbish items, the net earnings were not bad. He was still very pleased.

Ten minutes later, Escape Empath came online.

He consulted which professions Jiang Chen wanted and found out the other did not care at all. He thus directly asked in the gang channel.

Members of As One Wishes were a bit surprised, but pleasantly so.

Formerly, when a new instance, activity, boss, and such things came out in the game, the bosses would all come together and discuss countermeasures and strategies. When players found interesting sequences, they would be willing to go to the forum to share as well.

However, hidden plots were different. The first kill reward was double the usual reward, so even if they saw Ah Escape pull that duo in, they did not ask if they could hit it as well. There were enthusiasts like King Flying Bird who were curious about this hidden plot and could even go streaking for it, but they were also not going to ask the duo how to trigger the plot. Ah Escape also naturally could not ask.

Then this must have been mentioned by the other party first.

Aiya, those two bosses were good men ah!

Within the gang, apart from the small minority who had no interest in hitting plots, the majority of members began bubbling instantly.

However, according to the information available, each hidden plot had an upper limit to the number of people within the allowed party. All of them definitely could not join.

Escape Empath asked, “How many people can be in the party?”

Jiang Chen answered, “Eight.”

He looked at Fang Jingxing and asked, “When will he no longer be busy?”

Fang Jingxing heard this and knew the one being referenced was Xie Chengyan. He replied, “This Friday.”

Jiang Chen looked at Escape Empath. “I want to leave a spot for my side; you can decide the rest.”

Escape Empath then told the members four spots were remaining, because he had shamelessly claimed one.

The guild members all had no objections. After all, the duo was pulled into the gang by him.

They discussed for a while, giving King Flying Bird a spot to avoid Old King believing in the rain on hearing the wind^[1] and running around streaking again, causing more screenshots to be tossed onto the channel to be put on display.

That left only three spots remaining.

[Guild] Most Beautiful Royal We:^[2] Come fight ah, this time We will not let it go!

[Guild] Pork Chop: Gratitude and grudges last only for this day; afterward, we are still a family!

[Guild] Careless Magnificence: Less nonsense. Today isn’t you all dying; it’s me living!

[Guild] Passion Deepening Eternally: Who is willing to let me take it; next month, I will belong to you!

[Guild] Squeezing Purple: Are you giving sleep?

[Guild] Passion Deepening Eternally: Give, will you let me?

[Guild] Squeezing Purple: See ID [blow a kiss]^[3]

[Guild] Old Wutong Germinating: Let me translate for the newcomer boss. Squeezing Purple, complete scum.

[Guild] Imbibing Fluid Orally: Don’t waste time, come fight!

Jiang Chen watched them become livelier the more they argued and asked, “How are the people being chosen?”

Escape Empath said, “Drawing lots.”

He explained, “Our gang’s tradition; as long as we encounter something like this with a limited amount of slots, we will always draw lots.”

Jiang Chen stood silently for two seconds and then recommended, “Actually, it can be switched to a more scientific method. For example, comparing their strengths.”

“Don’t worry, their strengths are all very good.” Escape Empath said with a smile, “Besides, PK is too boring and also hurts feelings. It is better to let fate decide.”

Jiang Chen: “……”

Ok Fine.

Fang Jingxing tried hard to suppress his laughter and kept silent.

It seemed that when encountering situations that necessitated drawing lots in the future, he must think of ways to give this Seal Master a spot.

The speed of drawing lots was very quick. In less than five minutes, the people were chosen.

Seven people gathered at the teleportation formation within the main city, arriving at a remote small town.

According to the guard’s intelligence, the Diviner was a handsome warlock with a tattoo on his right hand and black plume feathers atop his head. He was a Crow Supernatural. The guard had even considerately given them a portrait.

The party originally thought the tattoo would be very distinctive, so the target should be easy to find. When they arrived at the destination and looked around, subsequently, the NPCs in the small town all had feathers atop their heads. It was simply a town of crows.

There was nothing to be done. They could only split up to search for him.

“Oh,” Fang Jingxing voiced. “The tribal war of three……according to the game’s background, this happened ten years ago.”

Jiang Chen asked, “So?”

Fang Jingxing elaborated, “The guard returned home to guard the city the year the chaotic war broke out. Afterward, he never left since. Then he and the Diviner should not have seen each other in person in ten years.”

Jiang Chen examined the portrait. “The target looks the least like this portrait?”

Fang Jingxing reasoned, “Right.”

The two of them passed on the main idea and continued searching for the target.

Over ten minutes later, they succeeded in finding the target in a nook.

They saw the wrinkles all across this Diviner’s face, and the burnt right hand was a spectacle too horrible to endure. They were led to a small wooden house to the side a few steps and a turn later. The diviner held the portrait and recalled, “Ah, I have not seen my previous appearance in quite a while.”

He touched his face. “Back then, I wanted to become even more handsome. Unfortunately, the refined medicine failed and caused this appearance.”

He touched his bony right hand as well. “This was the result of another refined medicine, alas.”

He fondled his leg with tenderness. “This was another one.”

There was silence within the small wooden house.

A few seconds later, King Flying Bird choked on his saliva and said with a trembling voice, “He caused himself to reach this degree of appalling devastation, and we’re looking for him to obtain a divination……is he reliable?”

⬖ ⬩F⬩L⬩Y⬩ ⬗

The author has something to say:

Here, in the previous chapter, the Film Emperor revealed he bound the equipment to his iris, so how could Jiang Chen use it? Look at Chapter 2; at that time, it was a newly opened package. Naturally, it was clean and unused. It must have been bound later.

Thanking everyone for their overlord tickets and nutrient solutions, muah

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Footnotes:

[1] believing in the rain on hearing the wind: idiom that means to believe in rumors

[2] Royal We: 本宫 is the form of address used by princes, a majestic plural basically

[3] purple = eggplant. All the innuendos are meant to be there~ and as dirty as you imagine

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