Chapter 075: Negotiations for Peace

The heavily armored warrior at the front, "Farewell," was silent for a moment before saying, "I challenge you to a duel! No one else is allowed to interfere! I'm level 23! What about you?"

Lin Jia and his brothers were momentarily surprised and couldn't help but find it amusing. This guy probably wanted to be the boss and couldn't back down now. The fourth brother grinned slyly and glanced at the other's equipment panel: a mismatched set of top-tier gear and wielding an Asura Axe just like the one they'd seen in the hands of the novice warrior earlier. After comparing attributes, he noticed that the man's stat points were just a bit higher than his own. After some thought, the fourth brother replied, "I'm level 22! If it's a duel, no health potions—fight to the death! Do you dare?"

"Farewell" must have calculated the attribute points as well and now responded fiercely, "Whoever uses a potion is a coward!"

The two warriors stood face to face, four or five steps apart, simultaneously counting down: one, two, three. A large group had gathered around from both sides, making the whole scene feel like an old Western cowboy shootout—though, in a game, it all seemed a bit foolish.

At the count of three, the two burly warriors charged each other like enraged bulls, hacking away with axe and sword in a straightforward, brute-force exchange. It was rather hopeless, really—low-level warrior duels had little to do with skill or finesse. They simply stood there trading blows, and it all came down to who had the better connection, better equipment, and better luck. With the current mechanics causing characters to stagger when hit, movement-based tactics were impossible; such maneuvers belonged to the future.

Clearly, though "Farewell" had better equipment and attributes, his connection wasn't as fast as the fourth brother's. For every three swings "Farewell" managed, the fourth brother got in four, and his skeleton set seemed to grant him a significant attack bonus. In the end, when the fourth brother was down to about a tenth of his health, "Farewell" couldn't take it anymore and ran off.

After a moment of silence, "Farewell" said, "You're good! Why is your connection so fast? We'll give up the spot!" This guy was actually rather admirable; not many people in the game could admit defeat and keep their word.

He had conceded, but among the dozen or so players with him, not everyone was content. The first to pick a fight with Lin Jia and his group, a particularly arrogant Taoist, shouted, "Why should we give up just because you lost? I won't! Why should the three of them hog such a great leveling spot!? Damn it! If you come here again, I'll kill you every time I see you!" The heavily armored warrior next to "Farewell" spat out threats and shamelessly refused to leave. It wasn't surprising, really—what was surprising was that even though their leader had given in, his underlings still dared to cause trouble. Clearly, their organization wasn't too disciplined—unlike the unity of Lin Jia and his brothers, as close-knit as a revolutionary cell.

"Farewell" cursed, then strode over and brought his axe down on the Taoist. Perhaps taken aback by the sudden attack from his own leader, the Taoist didn't react at first. Only when his health was nearly gone did he begin to fight back, but with inferior equipment and little health remaining, he was cut down in two blows.

Lying on the ground, the Taoist cursed, "Farewell, you son of a—! Damn you! Killing your own people! You mother—"

Standing over the Taoist's corpse, "Farewell" scornfully spat, "Idiot! You know exactly what you are! When you need gear and money, you wag your tail behind me like a dog. But when there's profit to be had, you don't even see me as a person! I paid for your leveling and now you dare to mouth off at me? Ungrateful bastard! If you weren't my classmate's little brother, I'd have finished you off long ago! If you've got guts, strip off your gear and hand it over! Let's see how you survive here with no money or equipment! Big mouth with no skill—if you're so tough, stop relying on others and win a duel on your own! And you say you'll kill us every time you see us? Get lost! Don't ever let me see you again! Every time I do, I'll kill you myself!" The Taoist was left speechless and logged off.

Seeing the Taoist gone, "Farewell" turned to his own group and said, "A man should keep his word! This game will allow the creation of guilds eventually! I plan to found one, and if I have no honor or integrity, who would join me? I meant what I said! Anyone who wants to stay here is free to do so, but don't count on me for handouts! The gold I paid for won't be wasted on traitors! Let's go!" With that, he teleported out of the dungeon.

The remaining players either immediately teleported after him or hesitated a moment before leaving the Fragrant Stone Catacombs. Only three players remained: the lone mage and two warriors. Seeing them linger in silence, Lin Jia knew they must be allies of the Taoist who'd just been killed. It seemed this secret map was no longer safe.

After some discussion, the three brothers agreed that "Farewell" was a decent guy—at least he kept his word. Besides, the spot would be discovered sooner or later, so they might as well do him a favor. Plus, the dead Taoist would likely be back for revenge, and while the brothers were strong, they were only three in number. Constant fighting would make leveling impossible.

So Lin Jia messaged "Farewell": "You there?"

"Farewell" replied, "Yeah! What's up?"

Lin Jia said, "Man, let's forget what happened earlier. You're all right—let's be friends!" After a while with no response, Lin Jia tried again: "About earlier, I’m sure you know we found this secret map first. When you guys came in to level up, we didn't plan to say anything, but that Taoist was too provocative... We're not unreasonable. This secret map will be discovered eventually, and there's no way the three of us can monopolize all three areas. We think you're a good guy, so you and your friends can have the first and second levels of Fragrant Stone. We'll just take the third. Sooner or later, more people will come—let's just make the most of it while we can!"

"Farewell" finally replied, "Sorry about earlier! I even killed you once. Seeing how well you guys know this place, I figured you were here before us. Honestly, there are too many people in this game—trying to level up outside is a waste of time with all the fighting and PKing. Otherwise, we wouldn't have started trouble... Thanks! Let me pay you some compensation?"

Lin Jia couldn't help but laugh—who talks about compensation in a game? Since they'd already decided to be generous, there was no point in taking his money, especially as they weren’t short on cash. "Farewell" might have been high-level and well equipped, but it was clear from his words that most of his gear was bought with real money—he was the kind who would spend for fun.

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[Note from the author: I'm back! Rumors sure are wild—I was gone for just one day and all sorts of things were being said... Nothing serious happened. Yesterday afternoon, someone invited me out for drinks, and on the way back I was cycling a bit too fast and got sideswiped by a car. I lost my balance and crashed into a flowerbed. It was nothing, really—I tumbled into the flowerbed and didn’t even scrape my skin. The problem was, I landed first, and my bike followed, landing right on top of me—yeah, I was on the flowers, and the bike was on me.

Everything else is fine, but my knee is swollen. My family worried it might be fractured, so they wouldn't let me come home. Got an X-ray today and it looks like just a bruise or soft-tissue injury. I thought I’d be stuck away for a couple days, so I had the fourth brother post an update for me. But after the checkup, they said it's nothing serious, so I came home to rest. My left leg can't take any weight and I can’t bend it, so I had to hop upstairs when I got back—exhausting!

This morning, my friend "Crow Afraid of Heights" texted me saying he "got into a car accident and had to pay a lot for damages." I thought it was quite a coincidence, so I replied that "I got into an accident too, but the other guy owes me a lot!" and asked him to let everyone online know. But when I got home, I found out the rumors made me sound like some kind of hero... I'm speechless!

But thank you all for your concern! Thanks to everyone worried about the lack of updates, and to the brothers in the book club for your messages and calls. Thanks to Crow for spreading the rumors—no, for letting everyone know! And thanks to "Floating with the Book," that sharp-tongued friend who cursed me! Thanks, everyone!

Finally, to Xiaoyu who asked me which leg I broke—don't worry! The one in the middle is perfectly fine!]