“Should we go take a spin around town?” Ye Zhi said after reading the quest details. “So far, there haven’t been any events that limit the players’ freedom to explore or even a time limit. Theoretically speaking… we should find a place to hide as far as possible from the mountain until sunrise. Then we should find some heavy machinery or explosives before returning to the mountain. After all, the scenario did not say that it is not possible to destroy the well in the most direct way.”
Ye Zhi was assigned to focus on her Medic mastery not because she was a female player and the superior was sexist but because, like Feng Bujue, she was a puzzle-solving player.
Of the trio, it was Ye Zhi who was responsible for coming up with the strategy and to provide support during battle. Invincible Champion was the fighter and tanker. Lastly, Zen Dream, as one of the top players at Regulation, could be seen as the team leader, and he made all the crucial decisions.
In other words, this group of three had the power to clear most four- to five-player scenarios on their own, no matter how weak the teammates they were provided with. After all, as the first gaming studio, they were expected to have such confidence and the ability to back up that confidence.
“We are in a non-sleeping mode scenario, and if we do commit to the strategy of dragging it out until sunrise… perhaps the system will punish us for AFK-like behavior,” Feng Bujue said before providing his opinion. “But I do think it should be beneficial for us to visit the small town first. One, we can gather some information, and two, we might come across useful items.”
AFK-like behaviour… Indeed, I have forgotten about that. Ye Zhi glanced at him. She then added, “In any case… we should go to the town first. I believe there is no objection to that, right?”
“I have no problem,” Feng Bujue said.
Invincible Champion nodded. “Me too.”
Zen Dream stood to the side, drinking and smoking. He probably had no opinion.
Copernicus and Galileo shared a look before saying, “Okay, let’s go to the town first, but I don’t think we should stay there for long. After all, that is against the main quest’s direction.”
What he meant was, since the majority of them had come to a consensus, there was no reason for the two of them to object. However, he thought that they should climb up the mountain as soon as possible, following the quest objective.
Feng Bujue observed Galileo and Copernicus’ actions silently, wishing to find some clues. Before confirming whether those two were GMs or not, he would probably keep on doing that. The thing that irked him the most was a puzzle that he could not solve. He could not walk up to them and ask, “Hey, are you two GMs? Is there an Anomaly in this scenario?”
If they were really the GMs, they would not admit it honestly, and if they were not, this would only lead to more unnecessary trouble.
After their discussion, they changed direction and headed down the mountain to the town. However, after a ten-minute journey, they noticed a problem. The distance between the town and the mountain was bigger than they anticipated.
The edge of the town was ringed by large pieces of farmland with few residents living there. It was night, and even though the moon hung in the sky, the moonlight was weak. The road that they walked on had electric poles and streetlights. Even though there were not many of them, at least there were lights at regular intervals. However, beyond the stretch of road was a world of darkness. They were surprised to notice that there were bus stops attached to the road, but the signs said that there were only two buses passing by there every day.
At the far end of the road, one could see the lights of a city. That should be Sakura Town.
Even though from the opening cinematic, the mountain was right next to Sakura Town, after they trekked the journey themselves, the players slowly realized the actual distance that cut through the darkness. The road itself might be ten kilometers or even longer. To reach Sakura Town, with the speed they were travelling at, it would take more than one hour. Only by sprinting could the time be shortened.
“Hmm… Looks like we have miscalculated,” Feng Bujue said as he slowed down. The rest knew what he was referring to, so they stopped walking as well. “If we continue like this, before reaching the edge of the town, the system will warn us from wandering too far away from the quest objective and deem us as AFKing. By then, we will have to trek back up the road to remove the AFK status, and that will only be a waste of Stamina Points.”
“Sigh… I should have known using these little tricks at the start of the scenario would be pointless.” Zen Dream’s words always sounded like a lament no matter what, and they were often coupled with a smoke ring.
“I’m sorry, this is my mistake.” Ye Zhi admitted to her mistake easily. “Sorry for wasting everyone’s time. Since we’ve not wandered too far away, let’s go back.”
“No, this is not a waste.” Feng Bujue shook his head. “If our journey so far has been a pointless activity, the system would have warned us about AFKing already.”
He paused before continuing with more confidence. “At the start of this scenario, there was only one road, and we were given two choices. One was to go up the mountain, and the other was to walk back to the town. However, we now know that the system doesn’t plan for us to reach Sakura Town, but there has to be something about this stretch of road that is related to the plot. That is only reason we have not been warned by the system thus far.”
At that moment, Copernicus used a strange gaze to study Feng Bujue. He did it stealthily; he did not turn around, merely moving his eyes. However, Feng Bujue had been studying them, so Copernicus’ action did not escape his observation.
Feng Bujue was calm and cautious. He would not allow himself to have accidental eye contact with the man. He studied the two suspected GMs out of the corner of his eyes while he kept giving his analysis. His eyes were not focused, like he was lost in thought.
At the time, in this team of six, an undercurrent of a contest beyond the scope of the scenario had already initiated. For Feng Bujue, the fastest way to discern the existence of the Anomaly was to discover whether his two teammates were GMs or not. Only by having one hundred percent confirmation could a lot of things be discussed.
Several seconds later, Galileo whispered something to Copernicus, and then the latter suddenly told the rest, “Brother Feng, you’re not wrong. I think I see something.”
He raised his arm to point down the road. “There is an outline for a large building about one kilometer ahead of us.”
“Oh? How come I don’t see anything?” Invincible Champion added. He squinted like he could see further down the distance that way.
“I specialize in sleuthing. With no obstacles in the way, with just a little bit of light, I can see further than most,” Copernicus explained.
Feng Bujue snapped his fingers.
“Very good, the place you saw probably will trigger some event,” he said excitedly. “It is like those auto-scroller games that always push you to the right side, but at a certain level, you will find a hidden treasure if you decide to move left a certain distance.”
“I do hope so,” Copernicus answered, but his tone sounded weirdly weak and defeated.
