Chapter 32

After ten consecutive hours of leveling up, a significant number of players had already reached level twelve—Fang Yi knew it should have been higher, but the challenge difficulty sharply increased after level ten. For example, the recent encounter with the dog demon caused many players to drop back to level ten, which was considered the first real test for the players.

While processing this information in his mind, the virtual helmet's time limit warning became ineffective, and Fang Yi immediately connected to the world of "Miracle."

In the real world, six hours had passed, but in the game, a day and a half had gone by. It was around eight in the morning in the game. After a slight dizziness, the character loading was complete.

Fang Yi instinctively shielded his eyes from the glaring sunrise, suddenly feeling something different. The faint sounds of insects chirping reached his ears, and Fang Yi easily identified the source as the grass to his left front; the intermittent sound of flowing water came from behind, and he spotted fish stirring up ripples in the water a few feet deep in the river—this feeling was truly amazing. Was this the 99% realism? To put it in terms of the players from the era when graphics cards determined visuals, it was like jumping from a GT610 directly to a GTX690!

Feeling refreshed, Fang Yi didn't forget to enter stealth mode, wary of being tailed by the Heaven's Domination, who had embarrassed him twice.

It turned out Fang Yi was a bit too cautious. An hour later, Fang Yi, who had used the disguise skill, appeared at the Golden Straw Hat Inn in the western part of Tashlith, sitting in a corner and munching on a fresh lemon fruit—this was incredibly sour, incomparable to the ones cultivated in the real world.

Due to being logged out by the system at six in the morning, Fang Yi only saw the messages from Fairy Foot and others after logging back in. It turned out that Fairy Foot and Brick had left Farview Town and headed east, reaching the most important trading storage location on the Merchant's Avenue—Avenso, a small town. The current mayor of Avenso was two beautiful women of the good alignment, and the group was particularly interested in the tasks issued by the mayor to combat slave traders, bandits, and cultists, planning to stay there for a while.

Feyun was full of adventure, and this statement was undeniably true. There was no need to go to large cities like Baldur's Gate to find quests. After sending blessings to each of them, Fang Yi looked at the "Thief's Step" quest on his task list.

The room at the Mistletoe Inn where Karl stayed was already empty, and there was no sign of the red-robed thief at the Astorian guild's location in Tashlith. Fang Yi couldn't possibly go around asking for a thief's whereabouts—this was why he came straight to the inn.

Inns in Feyun were the central places for the exchange and spread of all kinds of gossip, and the Golden Straw Hat was the best among them in Tashlith. Located near the port, sailors who took a break from their busy schedules often chose to rest and chat here, and all kinds of messages from all directions couldn't escape the extraordinary hearing of the innkeeper, Lauren Vain.

"So, sir, you want to inquire about Jim's whereabouts?"

"The latest and most reliable information~" Fang Yi took out a gold coin (an NPC engaged in ordinary labor earns about 2 silver coins a day in the game) and pressed it on the cold marble countertop with his index finger, ready to listen attentively.

The sound of the gold coin hitting the marble was crisp and pleasant, and the attractive golden color and the exquisite dragon head engraving indicated that it was a high-quality gold coin minted by the official mint of the Westgate Commercial Association—Lauren Vain's dark brown beard trembled with a satisfied smile.

The innkeeper glanced at the two drunkards on the left side of the bar, ensuring they weren't paying attention, then leaned forward slightly and began to talk about the recent strange events in Tashlith.

As everyone knew, the Astorian headquarters in Tashlith had suddenly become empty half a month ago, and the idle thieves in the city had also disappeared. However, before the people of Tashlith could celebrate, they found that life in the city had fallen into a new and more intense turmoil: a thief guild from Westgate called "Night Mask" had taken over Astorian's position comprehensively and swiftly, and the new master of the city's underworld was even more violent and bloody.

"The constable of the North District often comes here to drink. According to him, there have been over a dozen missing cases in Tashlith in the past two weeks, and all the missing are young girls," Lauren Vain said with certainty, his tone filled with anger. "I can guarantee that this has something to do with the new group."

Fang Yi habitually rubbed his chin and took a sip of fruit wine, waiting for the innkeeper to continue.

Seeing that Fang Yi didn't show even the slightest interest, Vain was slightly disappointed but still vividly continued his description. "Jim's daughter is one of them, yes, the Jim from 'Jim's Warehouse.'" Seeing Fang Yi's raised eyebrow, Vain finally chuckled again.

"Slave trading... Are they not afraid of the temple knights in Tashlith?"

Feyun was full of darkness and intrigue, and slave trading was a common occurrence, a major source of quests for non-evil alignment players. However, Tashlith was filled with temples of various good-aligned deities. If a priest heard about this, even the powerful Night Mask would have a hard time in the city.

"You're absolutely right, that's the crux of the matter," Vain deliberately paused until Fang Yi placed a second gold coin in his palm, and then the innkeeper lowered his voice mysteriously.

"Originally, no one dared to provoke the thief guild, but recently, someone suddenly went to the Temple of Tyr to report this to the paladins. Not long after, Jim disappeared."

Fang Yi didn't feel the slightest bit of regret about spending two gold coins in less than five minutes. He rinsed his mouth with a low-alcohol rum, looked at the sun, and knew it was time.

A day in Tashlith starts at the port, and this was no exaggeration. The port was bustling even before dawn, with workers moving goods from the warehouses to the docks, preparing to load them onto the incoming cargo ships. This happened every day, and people were accustomed to starting their new day with the noise from the port in the north of the small city.

Beneath the prosperous facade, the port was now controlled by the Night Mask. Fang Yi had noticed many fierce-looking thugs and guards around the port yesterday, who were likely the Night Mask's informants. If there was no collusion between the Tashlith authorities and the Night Mask, no one would believe it.

However, these matters could only be handled by someone like Somanthu. Fang Yi was currently crouching in the shadows, patiently waiting. After more than half an hour, he finally saw the Night Mask agent Vain had mentioned. The mysterious figure covered most of his face with a hat and hid his entire body under a large cloak, making it difficult to identify his race or class.

He's really cautious, Fang Yi thought, touching his chin. Checking his friend list, he saw that Caisang and Xiaoyao were not online yet, so he decided to investigate on his own.

The black-cloaked figure soon left Tashlith, heading west with three bodyguards. Fang Yi didn't know the man's level and didn't dare to use the detection skill rashly. He carefully followed them, entering stealth mode as soon as they left the city. Fortunately, his perception was high enough, and he didn't lose sight of the target. They soon arrived at a wilderness a few miles west of the city.

Fang Yi was wondering why they came to this desolate area when he saw the group relax and start chatting, indicating they were about to reach their destination. The black-cloaked figure also relaxed, removing his hat to reveal a long, pockmarked horse face.