Chapter 199 Mutual Benefits (Part 2)

Chapter 199 Mutual Benefits (Part 2)

Even if Ye Ci did not pay attention to the impact of her First Blood to the World Channel, it did not mean that everybody else was ignorant of the fact. Perhaps due to the fact that he had gotten used to Ye Ci’s many First Bloods, Bai Mo was not surprised when Ye Ci achieved yet another First Blood on Buru. He let out a smile, “Ah, great!”

“What do you mean?” asked Ye Ci as she nibbled on a piece of pork rib.

“Somebody set up a betting ring on the forums when Werebeast Shaman Buru was slain. They say it was set up by the Fate officials.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The Swamp of Sorrows is a neutral territory. So it’s possible that the BOSS was slain by players from any continent. The player who did it hid his or her ID when the system announcement was made. So the Fate officials have set up a betting ring where players can bet on the names of the top players from all 4 continents. Each player could bet for a minimum of 100 gold coins and the result will be released 3 days later. So…” Bai Mo was grinning with joy.

“Why are they so lame?” Ye Ci creased her eyebrows. She hid her ID to keep her deed a secret, but it was used by the officials to set up a betting ring. If that was the case, she would rather not hide her name.

“Say, both you and Fleeting Time were included,” Bai Mo winked at Ye Ci, “And both of you have the highest amount of votes.”

Ye Ci was dumbfounded, “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. I’m just telling you that I’ve bet 10,000 gold on you. I wonder how much I will earn…” annoyed by Bai Mo’s sly smile, Ye Ci continued wolfing down her dinner.

“What?” Ye Ci rolled her eyes at Bai Mo, “You want me to thank you for having so much faith in me?” Why is Bai Mo such an asshole?

“Eat, eat.” Bai Mo did not continue the squabble. He patted Ye Ci on the head, and began briefing her about the guild’s progress. “Purity Essence is assigned to the second squadron. I’ve placed him there to get to know the members. He’s not a commander yet. Since you’ve recruited him as a battle commander and we haven’t had a guild war in ages, I’m going to assign him to dungeon-clearing for the time being.”

“Alright. His equipment is bad anyways. It’s good for him to go explore dungeons.” Ye Ci was satisfied with Bai Mo’s arrangement. She did not have any objections to Bai Mo’s way of handling Purity Essence, “Oh, by the way, keep an eye out on how Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu react to Purity Essence.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that. I’ve put this into consideration.” Bai Mo stretched his body, he was tired, “We’ve tried taking on the 5th BOSS today, but we failed.”

“How’s Wolf Pack doing?”

“I have no idea, but rumors have it that they’re doing better than us. Although they’re also bogged down by the 5th BOSS, they’re still having a better time than we are.” Bai Mo took in a deep breath, “Truth to be told, with the non-stop dungeon exploration, our members are tired. We’re not a major guild like the Wolf Pack. A lot of our members are not used to this.”

“Once we’ve cleared this dungeon, we’ll be done with the Beginner lvl 30 dungeon cluster. We can give the members some rest, and perhaps some reward for their hard work.” Although she was rarely involved in managing the guild, Ye Ci could understand Bai Mo’s worries. A small fledging guild like ‘Upwards Ho!’ could not keep up with the pace of larger and more established guilds like Wolf Pack and Tang Dynasty. Both of the guilds have 3 squadrons assigned to dungeon exploration while the other guilds like Steel Blooded Battle Spear, Blank Space and World Conqueror have at least 2 squadrons which are exploring dungeons.

However, ‘Upwards Ho!’ could barely gather enough members to form a single squadron. The rest of the players in the guild were either not overly reliable, did not have a high enough level, or were guild hoppers.

“Bai Mo, I’m really not good with managing the guild. I am depending on you people for that. I have no problem rampaging around in the frontlines and an obtaining First Bloods, but managing the guild is just not my forte. Perhaps we could change the topic. It gives me a headache.” Ye Ci was still wary of dealing with people. She was weary whenever anything regarding guild management was mentioned.

“Alright. We’ve drew up a plan for the development of our guild, you don’t have to worry about that. Since you’re so worried about the First Blood of Castle Ruins, why don’t you help Overflowing Ink and Mi Lu out? I think they’re at their wit’s end.” Bai Mo knew that Ye Ci was very worried about the First Blood on Castle Ruins. He was concerned when Ye Ci did little to help out the 2 commanders. He dropped Ye Ci a hint, telling Ye Ci that if she did not act sooner, Wolf Pack might be able to secure the First Blood.

Ye Ci, of course, understood the hidden meaning of Bai Mo’s word. She let out a sigh. With all said and done, there are things that she needed to deal with herself.

“Alright, so when is the next scheduled exploration?”

“10am tomorrow.”

“Alright, I’ll be joining the expedition. After all, I did not help out much with the first four BOSSes. If this keeps on, people might think that I’m just a mascot.” Ye Ci began mocking herself. Bai Mo, who remained silent, offered Ye Ci a smile.

Ye Ci slept very early that night. Perhaps due to her exhaustion, she slept like dead for the entire night, and was woken up by the sound of Bai Mo pounding on her bedroom door.

“Little Ci, it’s 9 o’clock! Get up, clean up, and have some breakfast! We’re getting ready to head into the dungeon.” Bai Mo was acting like a good househusband. He prepared breakfast every morning and had to act as Ye Ci’s alarm clock. He managed to do his job perfectly fine as well.

“Got it.” Ye Ci was still groggy when she woke up. When she was reminded that the guild was going to take on the fifth BOSS, she immediately got out of bed.

Ye Ci logged into the game immediately after cleaning up and finishing her breakfast. She took a glance at her quest tracker out of habit. She had completed the objective for the quest to look for the Spirit Soothing Grass for Lord Moore of Dark Clay city, but decided against handing in the herb first. After all, she did not complete such a quest in her past life, and could hardly remember anything about the quest from the forums. With the lack of a walkthrough and other vital information, she had to figure things out bit by bit and on her own. There was no time limit for the current stage of the quest, but if a time limit was imposed on her in the next stage of the quest, it would be troublesome.

After all, failing to complete any stage of an Epic-tier quest would result in the reduction of the rewards received from the NPC. The player might even be denied from proceeding with the quest.

With the fact in mind, Ye Ci was reluctant to proceed to the next stage of the quest. Clearing the dungeon was a better option.

With her decision made, Ye Ci teleported back to Red Lake City.

As the spell began the channel, Ye Ci received a message. She was surprised to see the name of the recipient.

It was Unbridled Willow. With the relationship between herself and Unbridled Willow, it was normal for her to receive a message from the man. But as Gongzi You of ‘Upwards Ho!’ and Unbridled Willow of Steel-Blooded Battle Spear, the chances of him sending a message was lower than the chances of the sun rising from the west, especially regarding such a sensitive topic. Ye Ci was still looking for a means to get chance to get in touch with Unbridled Willow, but before she could act, he made a move. Ye Ci was relieved. That was one problem solved.

There were times where people might not even talk to each other after adding each other as friends.

The relationship between Ye Ci and Unbridled Willow was just like that. Despite adding each other as friends, they have not had a single conversation with each other. There was really no need for Unbridled Willow to talk to Ye Ci especially with her conflict with Thousand Sunsets.

This was why Ye Ci was wary. After reading the message from Unbridled Willow, she canceled the channeling of her teleportation and connected to a voice chat with Unbridled Willow.

“Gongzi You, long time no see.” Unbridled Willow spoke up, as if they were friends who have not seen each other for a long time.

Returning the favor, Ye Ci replied with a laugh, everybody was capable of pulling small word games like this, “Yup. It seems that we’ve both been busy.”

Some things just came naturally. Thought Ye Ci. The cunningness of businessman, the hypocrisy of politicians and the ingenuity of the common people were all written into our being when we were created by God. Even after being cast aside from by his family for years, Unbridled Willow retained the quality of a businessman. According to Green Hill’s Moon, he was smarter than Thousand Sunsets.

He had a clear grasp of the situation. He knew what was beneficial to him, and what would cause him great harm.

Ye Ci felt lucky. She had been categorized by Unbridled Willow as a person that was of use to him, while Unbridled Willow was also one of the people that was useful to her. Ye Ci did not feel unpleasant about her relationship with Unbridled Willow. To her, it was natural for things to turn out as they were.

The scariest thing in this world was not when people took advantage of someone.. The scariest thing in this world is the fact that there was nobody that could be used. That was why Ye Ci did not mind the fact that Unbridled Willow was simply using her for his benefit. She would, of course, use him in return.

After a small talk, Unbridled Willow began to lose his patience. After all, it did not matter to Ye Ci if Thousand Sunsets managed to clear the dungeon. However, to Unbridled Willow, it was the deciding factor to him to gain power within the family.

“Gongzi, I heard that ‘Upwards Ho!’ has been busy with Castle Ruins?”

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. As expected, he was the one who gave in first. It seemed that Unbridled Willow had been backed into a corner by Thousand Sunsets. Based on what she knew, although Unbridled Willow’s team had a faster progress than Thousand Sunsets’s, he was still new to the guild. This meant that he was unfamiliar with the ways of managing his own team. Even with the help of Zero Arsenic, he could not depend fully on that man, as his loyalty was only towards the Old Master. There was no way Zero Arsenic would serve him sincerely.

On the other hand, Thousand Sunsets was very familiar with his men. Even if he had less elite players allocated to his team, he had the loyalty of his men. The players in Steel-Blooded Battle Spear knew nothing about the conflict between Thousand Sunsets and Unbridled Willow. In their eyes, Thousand Sunsets was their leader. Besides, even after losing the favor of the Old Master, Thousand Sunsets was the heir apparent in the family for quite some time. He had many connections which granted him access to quite a number of resources. In this situation, Thousand Sunsets appeared to be able to emerge victorious in his competition with Unbridled Willow even when the latter had the advantage.

How could Unbridled Willow not be desperate? Despite his apparent advantage, he knew that he was surrounded by enemies. In a situation like this, he knew he could not depend on Zero Arsenic, and could do nothing against Thousand Sunsets. There was only one way: to look for outside help.

However, there were a lot of limitations when it came to seeking for outside help. The person must have a good relationship with him, and was an enemy of Thousand Sunsets. This would eliminate the possibility of the outside help’s betrayal. There was only one person that fits both of his criteria: Gongzi You.

He did have his own suspicions that his run in with Gongzi You was actually set up by her. But… Does it matter? As long as he could bring down Thousand Sunsets, no cost was too high.

After all, there is no everlasting friendship in this world, nor there is an endless hostility. There is only eternal benefit.

Unbridled Willow did not know what happened between Gongzi You and Thousand Sunsets, but based on the information he received, she might be happier than him if Thousand Sunsets would topple from his seat of power. With such mutual benefit at hand, Gongzi You was definitely the right person to work with.

However, Gongzi You had never expressed her dissatisfaction towards Thousand Sunsets. The assumptions he made were of course the best case scenario. But… What if Gongzi You refused to work with him? Would she sell him out? Won’t it make the situation worse if it happens?

That was why Unbridled Willow chose to beat around the bush as he talked to Ye Ci. He intended to test the waters out. But… He had heavily underestimated the girl. She did not take the bait, and had even pretended that she did not understand what he was talking about, and that she had no intention at all to deal with Thousand Sunsets. Unbridled Willow was forced to get straight to the point.

“Aren’t you guys exploring the Castle Ruins as well?” Ye Ci chuckled. She was satisfied with how things went. The best way to reap the most benefits was to lead your victim on and deliver the killing blow when his interest was piqued.

Hiya minna-san! I was supposed to post a chapter yesterday, I'm so sorry!!! Please forgive me!! I've been so caught up with the Malaysian Election hype and all... Hell, I didn't even sleep on Wednesday, sitting in front of my laptop waiting for the election results.. ahahahahaha...

I won't comment much, but it's a heart warming moment to see the people work together in this election to really make a change in our country. I salute those who sacrificed their time and sleep and stayed up all night, camping outside the polling station despite their exhaustion. You who have worked together so that Malaysians will have a clean election. You are the unsung heroes of Malaysia.

Also... Ohohoho... Look at the chapter we're at! We're finally done with Chapter 199 people!!! Woooohhh!!! We're going to have our 200 chapter anniversary soon!!! YEAYYY!!! GIMME SOME HYPE IN THE COMMENTS PEOPLE!!! OORAHH!!!

Don't forget that we have a teaser next page! First comment type... FIRST BLOOD!!!

Desu vult!

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