Chapter 215: An Acquaintance

Nan Yu and Yang Zhou exchanged a glance before following the others. They also wanted to see exactly who had the guts to do something like this.

When they arrived, they saw the dozen or so guild members who had just left the headquarters locked in battle with several dozen players on the opposing side.

Nan Yu had sharp eyes and quickly spotted a familiar figure hiding behind them.

He sent a message in the guild channel.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "I can see Shui Zhongyou on their side. Looks like they've come looking for trouble because of what happened before."

There was no need to explain who Shui Zhongyou was.

Nan Yu hadn't expected Yun Feiyu, who had vanished without a trace for so long, to suddenly appear again! And he had even appeared so openly right in front of him.

Not only that, but he had brought along the new backers he'd found to ambush and kill members of their guild. Of course, it was possible he was merely taking revenge over the previous bounty incident, but Nan Yu was still pissed off.

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "That's one of the other main people involved in the bounty incident we told you about before. His name is Shui Zhongyou. Looks like he definitely has something to do with this."

Night Walker: "It's fine. They have more people, but it'll only take us a few minutes to deal with them. Just wait for us."

At this point, Long Wind Across the Sky also chose to revive.

"Fuck! I got caught off guard just now. What a fucking embarrassment. Just watch me get my dignity back!"

And so Nan Yu watched as the dozen or so members of his guild slaughtered their way across the battlefield. The opposing players didn't even have enough strength left to resist.

Some of them did notice Nan Yu and Yang Zhou and tried to attack them.

Unfortunately for them, every single one was killed before they could even get close.

However... even so, their current position was somewhat dangerous, because players who chose to revive after being killed would respawn near the teleportation array.

And Nan Yu and Yang Zhou were currently standing right beside it.

Nan Yu pulled Yang Zhou forward until they were a safe distance outside the fixed respawn range around the teleportation array, then stopped.

"If someone attacks us later, the two of us can try working together. I haven't played in several months, so I'm a little rusty. I need some practice."

"No problem at all! I'll give you a good look at my skills later. I haven't spent the last few months just casually playing around."

However, even after all those players had gone back to the main city to revive, no one actually managed to attack them.

Or rather, there were people who wanted to attack them, but not a single one succeeded.

Long Wind Across the Sky and the others walked over to Nan Yu.

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Boss, we killed them all. More than eighty percent of the members from one of the guilds were present, and ninety percent of the players here belonged to two hostile guilds, so it automatically triggered a small-scale open-world guild battle."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "So that's why you could kill them so many times without getting red names?"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Yeah. And there were actually a lot of red-name players in their guild. We killed them several times, and I've already completed my mission! Oh, and they dropped a lot of good stuff when they died. Guild Leader, want to take a look?"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "No need. Those are your spoils, so keep them yourselves. I don't log in very often, so they'd just go to waste if you gave them to me."

Long Wind Across the Sky didn't argue.

"Okay, no problem. Then we'll divide everything among ourselves."

"Hey, come on, come on! Time to split the loot! There's a lot of stuff here that none of us can use, so we'll just throw it into the auction house and make some money. Oh, right, is anyone short on money right now? If someone is, I won't take a share."

Night Walker said, "I'm a little short on money lately. Give it all to me. I'll pay you guys back once I'm doing better."

No one objected. Some even said he didn't have to pay them back and could simply treat them to a meal later.

Night Walker agreed to all of it. They were all grown men; there was no need to make such a fuss over things like this.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "All right. Now let's talk about the important part. Which guild did those people belong to? The way they ambushed you makes it look like they'd planned it in advance, but..."

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Actually, I wasn't the only one. Treasure was ambushed before too. It's just that she was moving so fast that she didn't even realize she was being ambushed. She actually left their encirclement before they could finish surrounding her, so their ambush failed. That girl didn't even realize she'd nearly been ambushed until a few days after she came back, when we happened to learn about it while gathering intelligence."

Treasure Girl sounded slightly embarrassed. "Oh, come on. I was busy doing a mission at the time, so I was moving a little faster. How was I supposed to know that bunch of grown men would be so slow?!"

I Am the Hero: "They really are pretty useless. Actually, they surrounded me once too, but there were only two or three of them at the time. I casually took care of them and didn't think anything of it. Now that I think about it, does that count too?"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "You were attacked by two or three people at once?"

I Am the Hero: "Yeah, Guild Leader. But none of them were strong."

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "When you killed them, did you notice the titles above their heads? The titles displayed underneath their game names."

I Am the Hero fell silent and thought carefully before finally saying, "Ah, I think so. I seem to remember seeing something like 'Vice Guild Leader.' I didn't get a good look at the other two. They were too weak. I took care of them in a couple of moves."

Everyone stared at him.

They all felt like he was showing off, but they had no evidence.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "This guild is called Heaven on Earth. Have any of you dealt with them before? Do you remember when they started targeting you? And have any of you noticed someone called Shui Zhongyou? He's one of the people involved in that bounty incident I told you about."

Everyone nodded. Clearly, they all knew at least a little about it.

Miss Treasure: "The vice guild leader told us about some of our guild leader's glorious exploits before, so we know a little about it. But I don't remember their game names."

Starry Sky Stars: "That's not important anymore, right? We can basically confirm now that this Shui Zhongyou is behind it. What I don't know is how he managed to get involved with Heaven on Earth. That guild is absolutely massive. We can all be considered veteran players on this server. The earliest among us entered when the server first opened, while the latest joined one month after launch. I'm the one who joined the latest. When I arrived, Heaven on Earth had already successfully established their guild and taken first place in the guild rankings! They've remained number one all the way until now. They're the undisputed Level Ten super guild! They have more than a hundred thousand members. The people who ambushed us probably aren't even important enough to make a ripple inside that guild."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "In other words, whoever Shui Zhongyou hooked up with probably doesn't have a particularly high position in that huge guild. They just have a little bit of authority?"

Starry Sky Stars: "Right. If they actually held a high-ranking position, we wouldn't be dealing with only this many people. In my opinion, they're probably nothing more than a minor team leader."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "In that case, let's discuss what we should do."

They exchanged glances.

Nan Yu found their reaction a little strange. "What's wrong?"

Above You explained, "Ordinary players really can't get in touch with the higher-ranking members of a guild that large. They're usually either leading teams through difficult content, taking newcomers through dungeons, or working on first clears."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "In that case, we'll wait for them to come to us. If players from Heaven on Earth keep causing trouble in the future, then deal with them however you think is appropriate. One way or another, once the situation gets big enough, someone will eventually come forward, right?"

Treasure Girl: "Whoa, Guild Leader really is the Guild Leader. That's exactly what I was thinking too. Then it's settled!"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Then it's settled. All right, I only logged in today to take a look around. If you guys have things to do, go ahead. I'll top up the guild account and then log off. Have fun. If something happens that you can't make a decision about, contact the vice guild leader and have him notify me."

Everyone said there was no problem.

Nan Yu opened the guild interface and directly topped up the guild account with twenty million gold coins.

There had already been around ten million remaining, which meant there were now thirty million gold coins sitting there.

Just looking at that amount was enough to make anyone drool.

Afterward, Nan Yu noticed that a new guild-specific account had been added for credits. He didn't think much of it. After all, the guild now had a guild mission that rewarded credits, so it wasn't strange for there to be a dedicated credit account.

As a token gesture, he deposited one million credits into it.

"All right. If there are any problems, you can have the vice guild leader tell me. The next time I log in, I'll discuss them with you."

Nan Yu chatted with his adorable guild members for a while longer before preparing to log off.

Yang Zhou said he wanted to stay a little longer and told Nan Yu not to wait for him.

Before logging off, Nan Yu thought for a moment and ultimately spent ten thousand credits to change the guild's name.

Fengyu Guild.

Hehe!

Nan Yu changed it without telling anyone and immediately logged off.

His optical computer was alerting him to an incoming communication request. Perhaps it was Yu Lanfeng calling.

After Nan Yu logged off, everyone stopped joking around.

Of course, none of them had missed the notification in the guild channel informing them that the guild's name had been changed.

But that was only a minor matter. The guild's name wasn't important to them.

What mattered was...

One after another, they all turned serious gazes toward Yang Zhou.

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "What do you think?"

I Am the Hero: "The Guild Leader is unexpectedly innocent, and he's got an insane amount of money! Everyone, look at the guild accounts! So many gold coins, so many credits! When are we ever going to empty them out?"

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "Emptying them is impossible, so don't even think about it. The Guild Leader is insanely rich. Even if something like what happened today happened ten more times, it wouldn't be much of a problem for him. So make sure you cling tightly to his thigh. That way, even if he doesn't log in very often in the future, he definitely won't forget to top up the accounts."

Starry Sky Stars: "Just for being generous and rich while also not bossing us around and interfering with everything we do, I'd give him a hundred thumbs-up."

Illegal Intrusion, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.

"He's definitely pretty good. I like having freedom."

But because he didn't have much money, that had always caused him trouble.

If he joined a huge guild or some other guild, there would inevitably be countless requirements and rules. Every time he collected money, it became an ordeal.

He had clearly earned it himself, yet in the eyes of the guild officers responsible for distributing funds, players like him were practically parasites trying to drain the guild dry!

That was especially true for a player like him, someone with considerable strength who preferred operating alone. When the guild needed him, everyone happily called him "Boss" and treated him like some great expert. But when nothing was happening and he withdrew a large amount of gold coins, the people responsible for guild finances looked as though their hearts were bleeding.

Illegal Intrusion might not have had much money, but he wasn't willing to put up with that kind of treatment.

As for guilds that treated him like that, Illegal Intrusion would never look back at them again.

He felt that this guild was excellent.

The Guild Leader didn't simply hand out money all the time. The gold coins and credits they received normally came from completing guild missions, which gave them the perfectly justified feeling that they had worked for their compensation.

Besides, completing those missions didn't just earn them gold coins and credits. They also gained plenty of experience and helped the guild level up. They did all of it voluntarily.

Not to mention, their Guild Leader was ridiculously generous.

More than thirty million gold coins were sitting in the guild account.

It was practically shamelessly tempting them!

Of course, more than anything, it made them feel secure. The gold coins were right there, and there were so many of them that they never had to worry about completing a mission only to discover there wasn't enough money to pay their reward.

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "All right, I'm logging off too. He's at my house right now. If he needs to leave later, he'll still have to say goodbye to me. You guys play for now. I'll log back in tonight and run some dungeons with you."

Starry Sky Stars: "Got it, Vice Guild Leader! No problem!"

Yang Zhou quickly logged off as well.

Once the vice guild leader had gone offline, only fourteen guild members remained online.

They formed a circle and fell silent, as though no one knew what to say.

Big Brother looked around at them. "None of you have anything you want to say?"

Starry Sky Stars said, "I don't really have anything to say. This guild is great. It meets every requirement I have. There are rewards, we can earn credits, and most importantly, no one controls me. Apart from doing the daily missions and weekly mission, there's a lot of freedom. And if you're not short on money, you can even stop doing guild missions for a few days. The vice guild leader and the others don't care, as long as you don't stop doing them forever."

Miss Treasure looked at her slender, pale fingers. "I think it's pretty good too. The most important thing is that nobody covets my beauty!"

Long Wind Across the Sky immediately looked at her.

"You?"

Miss Treasure instantly stood up and walked over to him in a few quick steps.

"What did you just say?"

Long Wind Across the Sky immediately played dumb. "What did I say? I didn't say anything."

His survival instincts were still very strong.

Miss Treasure didn't bother arguing with him. After all, she'd encountered plenty of teasing like this before.

Night Walker said, "Anyway, I plan to stay in this guild for the long term. What about you guys?"

Everyone nodded.

"There's nothing bad about this guild. Of course we're staying. Seriously, you couldn't find another guild this good even if you searched with a lantern. Anyone who quits would have to be an idiot, right?"

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently some people quit before. Do you guys know who they were?"

"I think it happened sometime during the past few months, while the Guild Leader wasn't logging in. The important thing is that the Guild Leader doesn't know about it, right? The vice guild leader wouldn't let anyone tell him."

Starry Sky Stars said, "There were five or six in total. They're all old acquaintances. You guys have worked with them before. They were..."

He listed five game names.

Everyone immediately showed expressions of realization.

Above You said, "So it was them. If it was those guys, then there's nothing worth saying."

Miss Treasure snorted coldly. "Exactly. They're all mighty experts with sky-high opinions of themselves. Little shrimps like us could never compare! They're amazing!"

Long Wind Across the Sky said, "Oh, you guys have no idea. Even the reasons they gave when they left sounded incredibly grand. They said they wanted to join the best guild and become the strongest experts, and that they couldn't fulfill their ambitions here. They even said there wasn't enough money here for them and that they looked down on what we offered."

Big Brother said, "I don't think that's exactly how they said it."

Long Wind Across the Sky replied, "Same meaning. Don't be so particular."

Big Brother said, "Fine. What they actually said was much more diplomatic, but yeah, that was basically what they meant."

Night Walker asked, "Several months have passed now. Have any of you heard their names mentioned in any of the super guilds?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Big Brother said, "All right. If there's nothing else, let's go do something useful. Dismissed? If you want to chat, we can talk in the guild channel."

Everyone really did have their own things to do, so they walked over to the teleportation array and left.

However, the very next second after their figures vanished through the teleportation array, new figures began gradually materializing on that exact same array.

By the time all of them had fully appeared, there were nearly two hundred!

But when they looked around at the completely empty area, the man leading them asked, "Where are they?"

Shui Zhongyou stood behind him.

"Looks like they ran away. They were still here a few seconds ago. I think they used the teleportation array and left just two seconds before we arrived."

"Everyone, go see where they went. Forget it. Let's just issue a challenge. Let's see whether their guild has the guts to accept."

Very quickly, Heaven on Earth issued a guild challenge to the Fengyu Guild.

However, the members of the Fengyu Guild could only see the system notification in their guild channel. None of them had the authority to accept the challenge.

After all, both the guild leader and vice guild leader were offline.

So what were they supposed to do now?

At the same time, a system announcement appeared in the World Channel. Because Heaven on Earth was a super guild, any guild challenge it issued would automatically trigger a system-wide announcement.

World Channel.

Quietly Eating Melon: "Does anyone know what this Fengyu Guild is?"

Little Meimei, Beautiful as a Painting: "Who the hell knows? Never heard of it. Maybe someone offended some big shot from that huge guild, and now the big shot is coming to settle the score."

Qin Like a Dream: "Oh, I know! I think it's an elite guild that was established less than a year ago. It's only Level Six, and it has just sixteen members! But their guild leader is insanely rich. Apparently, he normally keeps twenty or thirty million gold coins sitting in the guild account! And everyone they recruit is a top expert. You know that seven-person group, Big Brother through Sixth Brother plus Little Brother? They're all in the Fengyu Guild."

Noob Isn't Noob: "Whoa! That's incredible. By the way, who's their guild leader? From South to North? That sounds kind of familiar. Anyone know him?"

Quietly Eating Melon: "Let me explain. From South to North is that insanely rich big shot who once stood up for his friend by directly putting up a bounty worth several million credits to have five players killed until they quit the game!"

Crazy Shaking: "I remember now! That's the super-rich big shot whose wealth rivals a nation!"

Little Meimei, Beautiful as a Painting: "Huh? When challenging an elite guild, both sides have to field the same number of players, and the number has to be based on how many people the elite guild sends. So can Heaven on Earth... actually win? I know Heaven on Earth is genuinely an insanely powerful super guild, but this isn't a fight where they can just overwhelm the other side with numbers."

Quietly Eating Melon: "Mm, wait. Let's wait a little longer. Why hasn't the Fengyu Guild accepted the challenge yet? Are they scared? No way, right?"

The messages below quickly filled with mindless followers jumping on the bandwagon and mocking them.

Some said that if the Fengyu Guild had waited this long without accepting, they were obviously afraid. Others said they had definitely chickened out. Still others said the so-called experts their guild had recruited were apparently nothing special after all.

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Oh my, I'm a member of the Fengyu Guild. Sorry about this, but why does Heaven on Earth specifically choose to issue a challenge when both our guild leader and vice guild leader are offline? Did you do that deliberately?"

Quietly Eating Melon: "Whoa!! Long Wind Across the Sky! It's Boss Long Wind! He's actually in the Fengyu Guild? Suddenly I have absolute confidence in the Fengyu Guild's strength!"

Yang Zhou, who had only logged off a short while ago, received an urgent message from the game.

It had been sent by Long Wind Across the Sky.

Yang Zhou said, "Nan Yu, Heaven on Earth issued a guild challenge against us. Want to log back in?"

Nan Yu had just answered a communication request. As expected, the person on the other end was Yu Lanfeng.

When Yu Lanfeng discovered that Nan Yu was at Yang Zhou's place, he didn't demand that Nan Yu hurry back. He simply told him to make sure he stayed safe.

"Sure, no problem. Let's log in and take a look."

As a result, less than ten minutes after logging off, the two of them logged back in again.

All sixteen members gathered at the guild headquarters.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "So what exactly does Heaven on Earth mean by this? Do they seriously want to make an enemy of us?"

Nan Yu didn't go around looking for trouble, but that didn't mean he was afraid of it.

As soon as he logged in, he saw the pop-up notification displaying the guild challenge.

He directly clicked confirm and accepted the challenge.

The very next moment, a system announcement appeared in the World Channel stating that the Fengyu Guild had accepted Heaven on Earth's challenge.

And the challenge was scheduled surprisingly soon.

They had only two hours to prepare.

Each side would send ten players, and the match would take place at a large competition arena east of the main city.

Nan Yu sat down cross-legged on the ground, completely ignoring how many people were discussing the situation in the World Channel or how heated the discussion had become.

"Everyone, sit down. Come on, volunteer yourselves. Anyone who wants to participate can tell me."

The result was that all fifteen of them raised their hands.

Even Yang Zhou joined in.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Do we need a healer and support?"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Of course we do. We can't go without them. One healer and one support, and the rest should be damage dealers and tanks. So..."

In the end, they selected ten people.

What Nan Yu hadn't expected was that Yang Zhou was actually chosen.

That was because Yang Zhou could do the work of two people.

Why?

Because he was both a support and a healer.

Nan Yu looked at him.

"You didn't play this kind of class before, did you?"