Chapter 95

Luo Lie chose a Barbarian Warrior, just like Fang Yi did in *God of War* back then. The arena for this match was the ancient Roman Colosseum. After entering the game, Fang Yi drew his two-handed sword and waited for the countdown to end. He then noticed that his opponent, who was 20 meters away, was waving his arms and sending him a voice message.

"Are you Fang Yi? If so, I'll immediately quit."

Fang Yi thought to himself, "Don't be ridiculous. If I admit it here, should I just go home and sleep?" Luo Lie was jumping around, afraid that Fang Yi wouldn't see the message, but Fang Yi remained silent. As soon as the countdown ended, the bald human warrior picked up his two-handed sword and charged at his opponent.

Luo Lie didn't hesitate either. He wielded a massive eight-sided hammer, almost as tall as Fang Yi, and swung it down at Xia Hua's head. However, in the game, strength had nothing to do with size. At this moment, both of their attributes were almost equal. Fang Yi raised his sword to block the heavy hammer and countered with a swift strike!

The clash of warriors always sparked some passion, and it was also the best way to test a player's basic skills. Luo Lie suddenly appeared with a well-hidden backslash, causing the audience to gasp in surprise. However, Fang Yi seemed to have foreseen it and leaped high into the air, his shiny bald head particularly eye-catching in the dimly lit arena.

With a deafening metallic clang, the two figures collided and then separated. The crowd was surprised to find that Luo Lie's character had lost a significant portion of his health compared to Xia Hua. Upon closer inspection, there was a clear footprint on the head of Luo Lie's Barbarian Warrior!

"Sure enough, it's you!" Luo Lie wiped his face, saying angrily, "In the game, you're the only one who likes to add extra moves."

Fang Yi chuckled but didn't respond, and instead charged at Luo Lie again. Although the fight was intense, Luo Lie's overall strength was still inferior to Fang Yi's. After 13 minutes and two intense battles, Luo Lie was defeated with a score of 0-2.

Luo Lie was a top-tier player in *God of War*. If one were to pick the best warriors in the game, Luo Lie would definitely be included. Being defeated by an unknown player was a huge surprise to everyone. Fang Yi, who had defeated Luo Lie, remained in the game pod and started chatting with Luo Lie, who also hadn't left the arena, much to the dismay of the crowd who wanted to watch.

"Can't you give me a little face? What's wrong with 2-1?"

"Pay up."

"… You've also entered *Miracle*?"

"Of course."

"ID?"

"…"

"We all entered *Miracle*, but you're sneaking around. What are you up to?"

"…"

"Midnight should be able to make it to the finals. Don't mess up this time and give him a good lesson!"

"Is there any extra reward?"

"… Why don't you just die!"

Fang Yi and Luo Lie sat cross-legged on the ground, chatting, completely ignoring the angry crowd in the hall. The match had to continue, and it wasn't until Fang Yi's next opponent finished that Luo Lie left the arena with a mischievous smile.

An hour later, Fang Yi left the hotel through the back door, satisfied, and managed to evade the people still looking for him at the closing ceremony.

"I knew you were the best," Xiao Lei said excitedly, leading the way, "Finally avenged the arrow from back then."

"Of course," Fang Yi's chin lifted, "But back then, Midnight was at his peak during the Sharp Peak competition, so losing to him wasn't a disgrace."

"If it weren't for…." Xiao Lei stopped mid-sentence, looked at Fang Yi's expression, and mumbled, "Midnight got first place in that round."

"You still have to wait a while before you can play, right? How about we go out and play nearby?"

"You're a working person now, with so many team matters. Where do you have time to play? Weren't you still training new members a few days ago?" Fang Yi tapped Xiao Lei's head and said with a smile, "Once things in *Miracle* stabilize, we'll go to the beach."

"Great, great, pinky promise!" Xiao Lei laughed slyly and extended her little finger.

Fang Yi smiled helplessly, made a pinky promise with Xiao Lei, and watched the little girl leave. Thinking about the 9,999 gold he was about to receive, Fang Yi laughed triumphantly, but then checked his phone and immediately groaned.

"… Damn, it's almost 9 o'clock! The last bus…."

Duan Xiaoyao looked at the figure sprinting towards the train station and then at Mo Caisang, puzzled, "Why not go over and say hello? It's not easy to see him."

"… Maybe it would be a bit presumptuous," Mo Caisang pressed her long hair down with her palm, clearly in a good mood, and smiled, "There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Despite his best efforts, Fang Yi missed the last bus and had to spend over 30 gold on a taxi. Being robbed in the game and then being left behind by the bus in real life, was he just having a run of bad luck with transportation?

When Fang Yi returned to his small apartment, it was almost 10 PM. He sadly discovered that his fridge was still empty. He had to go down to the convenience store and buy a box of instant noodles to get by.

After some exercise and a bit of forum browsing, he found a post about the Crocodile Boss. The first 20+ level Crocodile Boss in Faerun had attracted a lot of attention.

According to a post by a Silver Scepter official, after realizing that the Crocodile Boss was not as easy to defeat as they had thought, Silver Scepter and World Domination eventually reached an agreement. They expelled the troublemakers and worked together to defeat the boss.

However, the Crocodile Boss was extremely devious, hiding in its lair like a rat. The narrow passage in front of the lair allowed only a few players to stand, and the players from World Domination were not very ethical, causing the passage to become extremely crowded. In the end, most of them were crushed by the boss's belly, and the boss disappeared.

In contrast, the post by World Domination claimed that the members of Silver Scepter were not following orders and were only pushing forward, leading to the collapse of the battle.

The two guilds were bickering, but Fang Yi didn't care. At the time, the two sides must not have been in the same group but were competing to see which team could deal more damage to the boss. The loot would go to the team that dealt the most damage. This strategy was obvious, and with the quality of the elite teams from both guilds, such a fiasco shouldn't have happened. It was probably because of the long-standing enmity between Silver Scepter and World Domination.

However, the most important information in the post was that the Crocodile Boss was still alive! If the Crocodile Boss's mutation ability was indeed extraordinary regeneration, players would need to wait until they reached level 20 and changed their class to break the DPS bottleneck.

Before the carriage reached the West Gate, Fang Yi took some time to practice at the Combat Expert Community. Wu Gou Bai's appearance reminded Fang Yi that there were many professional players with skills similar to his. He had started playing the thief later, while others were already experts in their chosen classes. He shouldn't be complacent.

Seeing that the time was right, Fang Yi reconnected to the game.

The West Gate's station was not in the city but at a separate stable near the West Gate Harbor. As Fang Yi stepped off the carriage, he immediately smelled the fresh scent of the sea. The rising sun from the Falling Star Sea was already casting its heat onto the coastal land, so the breeze was not as cool as he had expected.

Fang Yi looked at the giant city sprawled out by the sea, the first large city he had seen since the beta test. "Let's see what you can bring me!"

***

"Viscount's youngest son was killed?" When Hei Shan Xiao Yao and Caisang logged in, they heard this unexpected news from Turner.

"Yes, it happened a few days ago. Viscount Valier only has one son, and he's almost driven mad with anger," Turner said with a hint of schadenfreude, indicating that the lower-class citizens of the West Gate didn't have a good impression of the upper-class nobles. "But his youngest son wasn't a good person. He was beheaded on a baroness's bed."

Caisang thought for a moment and said, "So the viscount wants to gather information from the Dark Mask, but he doesn't know that Thor has a connection with them?"

"Exactly. So he wants to use Thor to open a line with the Dark Mask."

With a lead, their next move had a clear target. Caisang and Hei Shan Xiao Yao staked out at the viscount's mansion and soon followed Thor, finding an opportunity to act. To their surprise, Thor's skills were weak, completely out of character with his fierce, scarred appearance. They easily overpowered him.

"I'm from the viscount's mansion!" Thor, holding his bleeding nose, shouted with a weak voice, "Viscount Valier won't allow such an insult!"

"Oh? If the viscount's mansion has such a good relationship with the Dark Mask, why did you secretly contact them without the viscount's knowledge?" Hei Shan Xiao Yao pressed her creaking fists and smiled at the scrawny, scarred man in front of her.

Thor's bravado instantly crumbled at her words, and his voice became stammering, "What do you mean, secretly…."

"Enough! I don't have time for your nonsense," Hei Shan Xiao Yao, who had already seen through his bluff, said, "What did the Dark Mask want from you? If you have any dishonest thoughts, I'm sure Viscount Valier wouldn't mind me helping him clean house!" She pressed the hilt of her sword, and the sound of her glove rubbing against the hilt was ominous.

The intimidation skill worked, and Thor quickly spilled the beans. Caisang, watching Hei Shan Xiao Yao's performance, barely managed to suppress a laugh. She knew exactly how Hei Shan Xiao Yao had leveled up her intimidation skill, which had shifted her alignment towards chaos by two points.

It turned out that Thor often frequented casinos and brothels. A few days ago, someone from the Dark Mask approached him, asking him to monitor the viscount's investigation into the murder and report back. Of course, Thor received a substantial reward for this.