Four Split Personalities

At this moment, West Gate Fire is feeling extremely good. As a veteran player who has maintained a full 24 hours of game time every day since the first week of logging into The Realm of Innocence, he is particularly fond of this world, which is almost as real as the Real World. Moreover, unlike the real world, the degree of freedom here is so high that it’s almost outrageous—in some domains, there are still those less-than-pleasant system restrictions, but compared to the real world where spitting on the street might get you dragged away by a red-armbanded lady, this place is already very, very free.

In such an unfettered virtual world, many people naturally reveal sides of themselves that they normally have to carefully disguise, and since these aspects are usually hidden away, they objectively wouldn’t look too pretty.

For example, West Gate Fire, who is currently spiritedly shouting "This is a holdup!" In the game’s outside world, he is polite to others, diligent and responsible at work, seen as a good son by parents, a respected senior by junior female students, a model employee by leaders, and a great partner in the eyes of his colleagues. Although he doesn’t excel in looks or abilities, he never causes displeasure, his temperament is mild and stable, and he doesn’t show off, making it easy for people to like him.

But this is not all there is to him...

Putting aside the Real World, the online West Gate Fire is completely different. He acts impulsively, is stubborn and opinionated, vengeful, unpredictable, and argumentative, and even uses a person’s skin color or region as an excuse to attack them. Whether it’s using an alternate account on a social platform or a virtual character in a game, as long as he’s sheltered by these avatars, West Gate Fire will immediately transform into a different person. Not only is he uninhibited, but he also has a psychological resilience that lets him stand unshaken in the face of widespread criticism, never bothering with the meaningless talk—flirting with pretty girls, snatching good items, hitting people who look ugly to him, embodying the classic villain amidst a virtual world filled with hypocrites, he could be considered a refreshing current.

[After all, the ’me’ here is not the real me.]

With this mentality, West Gate Fire’s gaming life in The Realm of Innocence is also pretty breezy. Especially after becoming thoroughly addicted to the game, this seasoned player has diligently researched and eventually become one of the first to reach the frontline players who are above level 40 in their main profession. According to the current world’s strength ranking, he’s already stepped into the Advanced Stage.

However, due to the game’s style, the character named ’West Gate Fire’ could naturally not be considered a righteous one. After all, a phony gentleman is not a gentleman—so if you’re a true scoundrel, then that’s what you are. After half a year of playing, this fellow has built some notoriety in the places he’s been, which is all scorn.

But West Gate Fire, who originally didn’t care about being liked, doesn’t mind because in his view, this character has nothing to do with his own self. Even if people cursed West Gate Fire’s ancestors for eighteen generations, what does it matter? After all, his surname isn’t West Gate, nor can he spit fire.

But on the other hand, after playing the game for more than half a year, West Gate Fire naturally also has his own circle of acquaintances in The Realm of Innocence, and the three people he gets along with most, which can also be understood as birds of a feather, are named Dog Takes Good Name, Fei Fan, and Auntie’s Cappuccino...

No matter what kind of people they are in the real world, at least in The Realm of Innocence, the few of them get along quite well.

As for strength, like West Gate Fire, Cappuccino and Fei Fan are level 40 players, their main professions being Thief and Martial Monk respectively. Although they are not high in the combat power rankings, they are still among the group at the top of the player pyramid. Dog Takes Good Name, who joined the game later, has a slightly lower level, with his main profession just reaching level 37.

As for why they turned to banditry, it all started with an accident half a month ago. On their way to Anka Market to find Cappuccino, West Gate Fire, Fei Fan and Dog Takes Good Name ran into a group of bandits robbing people. However, since the strongest bandit was only Middle Rank, and there were quite a few apprentices and Low Rank Professionals among them, the outcome was naturally that the three level 40 players beat them easily. Afterward, West Gate Fire, having found nearly a hundred Gold Coins on the bandits, had a sudden inspiration and suggested, "How about we start a business like this too!"

So the trio, who hadn’t totally annihilated the bandits, directly absorbed this group of green forest heroes and even took over their stronghold.

From then on, the three players, who had originally planned to meet up with companions at Anka Market and experience the Adventurer profession, became highwaymen and even cleverly played the ruse of "playing possum to catch the tiger". Although they were personally involved in every robbery, they never exerted their full strength.

It must be said that this was a wise decision. If the Anka Market got wind of a band of thieves nearby with three Advanced Stage Professionals, they would probably have issued an emergency mission to have them eliminated.

Therefore, thanks to the trio’s caution, the once lightly-regarded bandit group’s activities went exceptionally smoothly. They not only stripped many travelers and Caravans bare but also successfully robbed a sizeable middle-sized Caravan twice, earning so much that they couldn’t stop grinning. Each even made a special trip to Anka Market to buy a new set of equipment, significantly boosting their strength. And because their recruitment methods were rather modern, the quietly expanding band of bandits grew smoothly, while not having attracted any other High-level Professionals, the total number has reached over sixty people. Excluding the apprentices and Low Rank weaklings assigned to logistics, the number of Intermediate Professionals has reached nearly forty. For a middle-and-lower-end bandit group dedicated to highway robbery, this size is already not small.