Chapter 314: Escape from the Desert 18

Although the water source had disappeared, it was only the first day. Under the firm hand of the Oasis Guards, the entire Oasis had yet to descend into chaos.

Watching the Oasis Guards gravely maintaining order outside, not searching for any sign of her, she figured they had their priorities straight.

They knew that under these circumstances, continuing the search would only sow more panic among the people.

Perry Yates lay in her room, toying with a glittering, palm-width bar of gold in her hand.

Her Safe House held many more just like it.

It was a good thing she had previously upgraded her Safe House to five stars, increasing its internal space. Otherwise, she really wouldn’t have been able to fit so many gold bars.

Now, everything was ready. All she had to do was wait.

Speaking of which, Candice Sawyer had been gone for several days and still hadn’t returned. Perry had no idea what she was up to.

Just as Perry Yates was thinking this, her eyes suddenly glanced outside.

With that single glance, she immediately noticed a familiar figure flashing past outside. Behind Candice Sawyer, two other people, similarly bundled up from head to toe, seemed to be following.

Seeing this, driven by curiosity, Perry Yates released a Spiritual Body to follow them.

Meanwhile, Candice Sawyer led the two individuals back to her place.

Unlike Perry Yates, who was staying in a guesthouse, Candice Sawyer had spent a large sum of money to rent a house with a courtyard for her own convenience.

When Candice Sawyer had told Perry about her accommodations before, Perry hadn’t paid it much mind. Now, arriving at the small courtyard, she discovered six fat, healthy camels being raised inside.

Before Perry Yates could even be surprised, the two people who had returned with Candice Sawyer removed the coverings hiding their faces, revealing their dark skin and features.

"The water in the lake has completely disappeared. When do you plan to make your move?"

Candice Sawyer got straight to the point the moment they entered the room.

The two men, however, plopped down into chairs and said unhurriedly, "What’s the rush? We still have a few days before we have to leave. We’ll just wait for word from the boss."

Hearing this, Candice Sawyer frowned, but she felt a sense of helplessness in the face of their attitude. After all, she was already in too deep. It was too late to back out now.

Besides, she couldn’t find any better solution than cooperating with these people.

Although Perry Yates was in the same game as her, Candice Sawyer was used to being a lone wolf and preferred to solve problems her own way.

And Perry Yates was clearly a person with her own ideas, unwilling to follow Candice Sawyer’s arrangements.

Meanwhile, through the conversation between Candice Sawyer and the other two, Perry Yates had already figured out their identities and purpose.

These two were the infamous Desert Robbers.

The reason they were here was that they had made a deal with Candice Sawyer. The terms were very simple: Candice would help them take the place of the Oasis Guards, and in return, they would help her leave the desert.

These Desert Robbers had once been Desert Guards themselves. They were stripped of their titles by the Oasis Guards for breaking the rules and ended up becoming Desert Robbers.

Now, the only way for them to escape their current status was to usurp the positions of the Oasis Guards.

Perry Yates listened to their plan. Making the water source disappear was the first step. Next, they needed to plunge the Oasis into chaos, which would allow them to fish in troubled waters.

As for how these people made the lake’s water vanish in just a few days, she learned the answer to that as well.

The answer was the quicksand streams.

The Desert Robbers had somehow managed to drive the quicksand streams beneath the lake, not only blocking the spring that fed it but also carrying away all the water that was originally in the lake.

Although the water source would slowly recover after the quicksand streams moved on, that would take ten days to half a month.

Moreover, no one else knew that the water source would eventually be restored.

Just as Perry Yates was processing this information, on the other side of the Oasis, a player was starting to get ideas about his neighbor.

He held a dagger in his hand, which he was currently polishing to a mirror sheen with a cloth.

As he polished, his gaze flickered from time to time toward another house not far away.

Through its small window, he could see the room inside piled high with supplies and water.

This person was a Dealer Player from Cerulea, ID 786787, named Tristan.

Because the system’s backpack function was disabled for this round of the game, and he didn’t have a Space Backpack Card when selecting item cards, he had been left with no other options.

At first, though, he hadn’t thought much of it.

After all, he had always managed to live quite well in the game even without a Space Backpack Card. His method was simple: live off the spoils of war.

As the saying goes: when your neighbor hoards grain, you hoard guns. Your neighbor is your granary.

Tristan had taken this saying to its absolute extreme.

Upon arriving at this Oasis, he immediately contacted an Oasis Guard and learned the way to leave the desert from him. The only catch was that it required a vast amount of money.

To secure a spot to leave, Tristan sold off all the supplies he had, but it still wasn’t enough. He also robbed several wealthy people, killing them and taking their treasures.

He had just barely managed to scrape together enough money to buy a spot when the once-abundant water source suddenly vanished, just as he was about to use his remaining funds to purchase supplies.

With the disappearance of the water, the prices of other supplies began to skyrocket, and some merchants had even stopped selling altogether.

Now, Tristan was left holding a pile of Gold that he couldn’t spend.

Left with no other choice, he was forced to once again set his sights on other people.

After surveying his options, he locked onto two targets. One was the person he had just been watching—his neighbor, a native of this place. The other was an extremely arrogant player.

The card this player had fused with was of the spatial attribute. He could further expand item cards that originally had limited space.

The reason he chose two people was that the player didn’t have many supplies on him, so he also needed a truly fat sheep.

He had been observing both of them for several days. The native was no threat, but as for the player, he had to be killed in a single blow, or he would escape.

After wiping his dagger clean, it flashed with a metallic glint in the sunlight. His gaze was dark as he looked into the distance, then he stood up and walked outside.