Chapter 27.1 Virtual World
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Word quickly spread about Wen Shi checking in at the hotel owned by the second largest guild.
He appeared to be an odd character in every way. Even after leaving the instance, he didn’t bother changing much. He simply settled into a free room without any worries about what might happen later on.
Everyone seemed to be relaxed on the surface, but behind the scenes, some hidden forces had already started to show signs of activity.
At noon, Wen Shi received an unexpected visitor, A’Ling. She was a bit surprised to see him open the door with a smile.
Wen Shi got straight to the point, “Did the hotel send you as a mediator for their guild?”
A’Ling didn’t deny it when her secret was exposed with just a few words. “Yes, they wouldn’t have let me in otherwise.” As soon as she entered, she said, “I haven’t told anyone about your war general.”
War generals were a significant advantage. There weren’t many players in the game who had them.
“Doesn’t matter,” Wen Shi shrugged, “Everyone was going to find out soon anyway.”
From then on, he summoned zombies more frequently in the instance.
A’Ling frowned. “Usually, players keep their best items hidden, especially those without backing, after all… “
“When a tree stands out and excels among the others in the forest, it is more likely to attract attention, right?”
Wen Shi smiled casually and walked to the window, “In the virtual world, you can’t cause harm or kill people, so what do I have to fear?”
It was foolish to risk your life when you had something good and not use it.
A’Ling wasn’t sure if she should call him naive. “It’s true that you can’t cause harm, but there are plenty of ways to harm others. Besides, once you enter the instance, you can’t always escape from others’ deliberate harm no matter how smart you are.”
Wen Shi didn’t deny this point.
A’Ling: “You are now the target of everyone’s arrows.”
Calmly listening to her, Wen Shi asked in return, “And what about you? Don’t you want to know about the clues related to the instance?”
A’Ling shook her head. “The best opportunity has already passed.”
She couldn’t find a chance to act in the instance, and now coming out posed more problems. She didn’t even return directly to her original guild but took the initiative to find the Second Commandment Guild to undergo a truth test in front of everyone, or else no one would believe she hadn’t obtained any clues from the newbie.
“As far as I know, a notorious underground guild will soon come after you. Once you enter the instance, everyone will have their eyes on you. Without the protection of a large guild, you’ll find it extremely difficult.”
Wen Shi casually responded with a couple of ‘yeahs’ and sent A’Ling away with the phrase “I’ll carefully consider it.”
As soon as A’Ling left, the manager immediately approached, “How did it go?”
“It failed.”
This result was expected. They mostly wanted to probe each other’s thoughts through her.
A’Ling: “Pei Wenwei didn’t offer any conditions or show any willingness to cooperate.”
The manager frowned. Could it be that he was planning to confront everyone head-on? If he really had such thoughts, it wouldn’t even begin to describe it as foolish.
The manager couldn’t help but feel annoyed by Wen Shi’s arrogant behavior. With a little emotional intelligence, he should have shown some sincerity in return. So, in the afternoon, he didn’t stop the person who wanted to deliver the message, wanting Wen Shi to understand the predicament he was in.
In the end, faced with these letters promising benefits, Wen Shi left them untouched and had someone take them away as they were. Finally, he directly hung a wooden sign on the door, politely declining any further disturbances, without giving face to anyone.
This included even the First Commandment Guild.
…
It was the first time in his life that he had been snubbed. Upon his return, this member of the First Commandment couldn’t hold back laughing in frustration. As he walked along the road, he sent a message, “Boss, I didn’t even get a chance to meet the person.”
Just after teleporting there, he saw several suspicious figures wandering around the hotel, and he recognized two of them.
People recognized by the First Commandment Guild were naturally not good people. The member continued to voice input, “This newbie has offended quite a few people all at once. Troubles have already found their way to him.”
Wen Shi hesitated to take a stance, and the hotel wasn’t a charity organization, so they didn’t support him against those lurking forces.
Outside the hotel, a burly man leaned against a tree, chewing gum. In the virtual world, there was alcohol but no cigarettes, which was very unfriendly to an old smoker like him.
The burly man was hired to deal with newbies, to test their hidden strengths. His underground guild specialized in researching a series of methods that caused immense suffering without causing permanent harm.
One of his accomplices, who had gone to gather information, returned. The burly man spat out the gum and asked, “Did you find out everything? Which floor is he on?”
“Boss Zhang, I got all the information. He’s on the top floor, in the presidential suite.”
Boss Zhang cursed with a profanity, “This kid sure knows how to enjoy life. Let’s go.”
The accomplice was a bit worried, “Isn’t it a bit too blatant for us to just walk in like this? Should we try to trick him into coming down?”
This was the territory of the Second Commandment Guild, hence, being too aggressive would be suicidal.
“What’s there to fear? The people from Second Commandment are eager to use someone’s hand to teach that newbie a lesson.”
With each guild having its own plan, it was a race to see who could act faster.
The top-floor presidential suite.
Wen Shi was eating fruit. In the virtual world, the prices were high, especially for drinks and food.
While eating, the smoke alarm in the corridor went off. Wen Shi heard running and door slamming, seemingly from a guest on the same floor.
“Quick, run!There’s a fire!”
Wen Shi spat out grape skin, but instead of running, he pushed the sofa to block the door.
Clapping his hands, he turned around, and to his surprise, there was a face sticking to the window!
It wasn’t a human face. It resembled some kind of mechanical puppet with clearly assembled parts. The cheekbones were prominent, and it had exaggerated blush, somewhat similar to the bridesmaid makeup Wen Shi once painted on the Wandering Corpse. The mechanical puppet raised its right arm at a ninety-degree angle, holding a small hammer, and began banging on the window.
Its mouth corners stretched wide. When it moved vigorously, its bangs seemed welded to its forehead.
Wen Shi fell silent for a moment. If humans couldn’t kill each other, what about controlling machines or hiring someone to commit murder? He quickly dismissed this conclusion. Otherwise, the virtual world wouldn’t have the relatively peaceful facade it had now.
But as A’Ling had said, there were plenty of methods to harm people. For example, locking you up in a dark room without food or water for two days, not enough to kill you, but enough to make you suffer.
The lock outside had already loosened. Someone was picking it. Wen Shi was about to call the hotel front desk when suddenly, with a loud crash, the glass completely shattered.
He put down the phone receiver, feeling that making that call was unnecessary. With such a commotion, the hotel must have known by now.
The puppet doll leaped inside, and its palm flipped open, shooting out dozens of sharp thin wires. Wen Shi hurled the nearest chair, but before he could catch his breath from the mechanical puppet’s attack, the door behind him opened too.
The burly man who barged in signaled with his eyes to the person beside him when he saw the puppet doll. They were in sync–one quickly pulled out a small knife and swiftly cut the entangling wires. The other person approached Wen Shi directly.
Forced to retreat step by step, Wen Shi reached the floor-to-ceiling window. The wind was strong on the top floor, and the gusts blew in from the shattered hole. He glanced sideways and saw more people continuously coming into the hotel from outside.
As long as one person made a move, others wouldn’t be able to hold back for long.
At least now he was facing both sides.
Wen Shi looked serious as he addressed the burly man, “You didn’t strike immediately. You want to force me to use the communicator to contact that so-called vice guild leader, using it as a bet and gaining support from someone influential.”
The short person dealing with the puppet looked surprised and turned to the burly man, “Boss Zhang…”
Boss Zhang didn’t deny it. If he could get higher up, he could make the Second Commandment Guild owe him a favor. Of course, if the other party insisted on not contacting the vice guild leader, it didn’t matter. He would just fulfill the original employer’s task.
The bathroom was nearby. Boss Zhang casually pushed its door open and turned on the faucet. With the sound of rushing water, he asked through the frosted glass, “How’s your lung capacity?”
Wen Shi frowned, unable to help but say, “Conserve water.” After a pause, he added, “Even if you manage to get some information out of me, you won’t get out of this hotel.”
The hotel allowed these people to enter, intending to catch them after their actions.
Boss Zhang revealed a sinister smile. “Since we’re confident enough to get in, we’re confident enough to get out.”
Outside, chaos reigned as various low-profile underground guilds emerged, even the Second Commandment Guild found it difficult to completely control the situation. Seeing that Wen Shi had no intention of contacting the Second Commandment Guild, the burly man wasted no more time and strode towards him.
Wen Shi smiled when he noticed this. From two minutes ago, he had been receiving a series of private messages. It was evident that they were trying to force him to submit by creating a crisis.
“Player 372355 has sent you a private message through a special communication item. Do you accept?”
“Player 418921 has sent you a private message through a special communication item. Do you accept?”
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