Chapter 249 Guild Affairs (Part 1)

It was much simpler to return to Eastern Continent from Hurricane City. Ye Ci bought a few flying shards and headed towards the teleport crystal. Once there, it would only take but mere moments for her to return to Eastern Continent.

As Southern Continent’s capital, Hurricane City was far more prosperous compared to smaller cities. The city design was very different from the layout of Champion City. While Champion City was set up like an eight trigram, with the administrative area in the center, surrounded by different districts with roads providing easy to all parts of the city, Hurricane City was built like an inwards sinking basin. The administration hub of the city was located at its center while its districts were scattered around the slopes of the basin. From afar, one could see that the administration area was at a slightly lower elevation than its surrounding districts.

The city’s terrain was deemed disadvantageous for any defenders, but Hurricane City had the best fortifications among the four major cities. Any attackers would find themselves at odds against the formidable defences of the city. The developers did their best to eliminate the presence of BUGs from the game, which was why BUGs were very few and far between in Fate.

Ye Ci followed the crowd towards the administrative district’s largest teleportation crystal. This was the city’s main crystal. It was the best choice for another continent’s player like her as the main teleportation crystals was connected to all of the major cities in the other continents.

The Hunter enjoyed high Agility and Balance, while having a slightly lower Perception. Even when Ye Ci’s Perception could not compare to a Rogue’s, it was still considerably high when compared to the average player. She could feel gazes locking on to her as she waded through the crowd, but could find nothing suspicious whenever she turned around. Was it just my imagination?

Ye Ci sighed and continued with unhurried steps. She spotted a group of soldiers patrolling the streets, and immediately ducked into their midst, disappearing into a nearby alleyway. She activated Camouflage and immediately and melted into her surroundings.

Two Rogues appeared just when Ye Ci activated her abilities, and she was not familiar with the faces she saw.

“Where did she go?” one of the Rogues was a Human while his companion an Undead. The one who spoke up was the Undead Rogue. His skin was pasty white, and his grey eyes that were unique only to his race shone with a hint of ferocity. With a glance, Ye Ci could tell that the player was clad in Purple quality equipment. This meant that he was no ordinary player.

“I have no idea. She disappeared right as she passed by the sentries.” thought slightly inferior to the Undead, the Human’s equipment was quite decent as well. It was apparent from the conversation of the duo that the Human was a subordinate of the Undead Rogue.

“What the heck were you doing? How could you lose her like that?” The Undead Rogue frowned. His voice was fairly calm, but one could tell that he was reprimanding the Human Rogue.

The Human Rogue shrugged, “Boss Ghost Cat, she is Eastern Continent’s top-tiered player......”

Ghost Cat waved his hand dismissively, cutting the Human Rogue off before taking in a deep breath. He knew that the Human Rogue was not the one to be blamed. The Human Rogue was right; their target was the top player of the Eastern Continent and a renowned solo player. A player like her would have an in-depth knowledge of shaking off potential pursuers. Even though Ghost Cat and his Human subordinate were some of the best trackers in their guild, there was still a chance that they might be discovered by Gongzi You.

He lowered his head, appearing to be deep in thought, “Cabin In The Woods, head back to the guild first. Get the Rogue squadron to send 20 more men over. We must locate Gongzi You.”

“Boss Ghost Cat, will Gongzi You still be in Hurricane City? Wouldn’t she have already escaped after noticing our presence?” Cabin In The Woods was anxious.

Ghost Cat shook his head and studied his surroundings carefully, and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, “Nope.”

“Ah? Why are you so sure?” Cabin In The Woods was confused. How can he be so sure? It’s not like he knows Gongzi You. Why is he speaking as if he knows her well?

“She’s a top-tier player, and top players are strange creatures. They have a strong sense of curiousity, especially under circumstances like this. There’s no way she’ll leave before finding out why she was followed.” said Ghost Cat as he twirled his dagger. The smile on his face gave him a scary expression as he surveyed his surroundings with an intense gaze, “If I’m not wrong, it’s very likely that Gongzi You is just nearby.”

“Really?” Cabin In The Woods immediately studied his surroundings as well, but to no avail.

The duo was at a level disadvantage against Ye Ci, which meant that they would not be able to see through her Camouflage easily. This was why she was not worried as she eavesdropped on them. Despite their lowered voices, Ye Ci could still hear their conversation due to her heightened hearing as an Elf. She smiled as she stared at Ghost Cat’s plain face.

His deduction of the situation is correct, and he was able to track me despite the large crowd. Even if he’s not a top-tier player of the Southern Continent, this man sure has the potential.

But why is someone like him going after me? Ye Ci was puzzled. The Southern Continent is allies with the Eastern Continent. Conflict between us is next to impossible. Besides, I’ve never done anything bad in the Southern Continent! Why are people out for me? Ye Ci, who had just returned from the Western Continent was baffled by the absurdity of the situation. What the heck is going on? Why am I treated like a VIP in a hostile continent, but is tailed like a criminal in a friendly continent?

Ye Ci knelt in a corner as she studied Ghost Cat and Cabin In The Woods. Cabin In The Woods left after receiving an instruction from Ghost Cat, who immediately entered Stealth.

Since they were players of allied continents, it was more difficult for them to locate an ally player than to find and enemy. Besides, Ye Ci could not activate Detection while she was in Camouflage. She chose to close her eyes and sensed her surroundings with her high Perception. It’s so quiet. Has Ghost Cat left?

Impossible.

Ye Ci was certain that Ghost Cat had already discovered her existence during his conversation with Cabin In The Woods. But where is Ghost Cat?

Suddenly, Ye Ci felt a sliver of cold air directed right at her head, its speed made dodging almost impossible. Ye Ci knew that the incoming attack was Staggering Blow, a skill frequently used by Rogues. A hit will take away a large chunk of her HP, and stun her for a significant period of time. Despite the differences in their levels, a Rogue would receive bonus that could ignore level penalties when attacking from the back.

Ghost Cat narrowed his eyes, his vision turned green, allowing him to see the form of a person in Stealth or Camouflage. This was a high-tier Rogue skill, Expose, that had a very low drop rate. Ghost Cat had never missed a person with his Expose.

Then again, Ghost Cat was faced with a major blunder: His opponent was Gongzi You. He had been trying to detect the presence of Gongzi You with Expose during his conversation with Cabin In The Woods, but had only detected her presence when he was within 20 yards of the Gongzi You.

She’s not a Rogue, but she’s better at hiding than most of us. Ghost Cat was not stingy with his praise, As expected of a top-tier player. She’s a tough one. Despite his orders to simply observe the actions of Gongzi You, Ghost Cat’s thirst of battle drove him to send Cabin In The Woods away. He then launched an attack at Ye Ci. Even when he was ranked high in the ranking board of the Southern Continent, Ghost Cat was still not qualified as a top-tier player.

Ghost Cat had no previous gaming experience, and Fate was his first virtual reality game. However, some people were born with an innate talent for gaming, and Ghost Cat was one of them. He was able to quickly to hone his techniques through countless battles, and even when he was unable to reach the very top, he had few equals in the Southern Continent.

In a fight between a Rogue and a Hunter, both sides would have an even chance of winning. Hunters were better at dodging, while Rogues excelled at closing the gap with their opponents. The two classes also shared a similar amount of points in terms of Agility, which meant that it was rather difficult for both combatants to keep a distance from each other. But if a Rogue could was able to remain within 8 yards of the Hunter, then victory is certainly assured for the Rogue.

This was the experience gained by Ghost Cat after his fight against some of the Southern Continent’s best Hunters. He applied his experience in his fight with Ye Ci, but he had forgotten a very important thing: the gap between a top-tier and an expert player is vast.

Ghost Cat’s eyes were filled with bloodlust as he took at swing at the back of Ye Ci’s head. It’s a hit!

However, Ye Ci seemed to have subconsciously shifted her body slightly to the left a second before his dagger connected with her head. They were half a yard away from one another when he decided to strike, but his had missed its mark completely. Ghost Cat’s heart stopped. What was going on? How did Gongzi Yo avoid my attack? Was her action intentional or did she do it unintentionally?

A person caught hold of the wrist of Ghost Cat’s hand that was holding his dagger while he was still deep in shock. He lowered his head and saw a pale arm with long fingers and an ornamental ring on the thumb. This was the hand of Gongzi You.

Ghost Cat froze.

He knew that he was fast, and he knew that his attack was swift. Gongzi You was able to dodge his blow and grab on to his wrist despite his speed. Just what sort of ungodly reaction time does she have?