Chapter 74: The Mistress
The person Yang Zhou had spotted was actually Bai Zhouyun.
The moment Bai Zhouyun logged into the game, he immediately sent Yun Feiyu a private message. After Yun Feiyu revealed his location, Bai Zhouyun left the main city without hesitation and took the teleportation array straight to Ice Velvet Sea.
Yun Feiyu had already been killed countless times. If the game hadn't forcibly logged him out, he probably would have been killed many more times. After all, even lying there as a corpse came with a countdown timer—you couldn't just remain dead forever.
Once the corpse timer expired, he would automatically revive near the nearest teleportation array. After reviving, he would receive a brief protection period... and then be killed again.
After being forcibly kicked out of the game, Yun Feiyu had remained dazed for quite a while. Fortunately, his mental power was still stronger than that of ordinary people, so he recovered before long.
Even though logging back in meant getting killed over and over again, staying offline wasn't an option either. He had invested far too much time and effort into this character.
Especially since much of the money he'd spent had come from Bai Zhouyun.
He simply couldn't bear to abandon it.
More importantly...
Bai Zhouyun also played this game, and he was very good at it. The two of them had spent plenty of time together in the game.
Of course, all of that had happened without Nan Yu knowing.
Yang Zhou asked, "Shouldn't we follow him and take a look? I wonder where he's going."
Nan Yu replied, "That Shui Zhongyou is Yun Feiyu. Didn't you know? Bai Zhouyun is definitely heading to Ice Velvet Sea to rescue him."
Yang Zhou blinked.
"Holy crap, seriously? He hid it pretty well. But what good can that Bai guy do by himself?"
Nan Yu shrugged.
"I don't know either. Let's go have a look. Just make sure we stay hidden."
Yang Zhou had nothing to worry about, since Bai Zhouyun and the others didn't know his game account.
Nan Yu's character, however, had crossed paths with Bai Zhouyun before.
Fortunately, in this life, his game character had never interacted with Yun Feiyu's account, so when Yun Feiyu came begging him for mercy, Nan Yu could simply blacklist him without listening to a single explanation.
In any case, Yun Feiyu wouldn't reveal his real identity to Nan Yu at this point.
As soon as Bai Zhouyun arrived at Ice Velvet Sea, he saw several scattered corpse-camping locations.
Among them, the players whose names were such a dark crimson that they were almost black stood out immediately.
Above their characters' heads floated the names Eldest Brother, Second Brother, all the way to Sixth Brother.
Together with the remaining players who were still tirelessly camping the corpses, there were around fifty or sixty people in total.
That number wasn't even enough to match a small guild.
The problem was that every single player here was an absolute powerhouse.
Each one alone was practically worth an entire guild.
After observing the area for a while, Bai Zhouyun didn't linger. After confirming Yun Feiyu's location, he quietly sat down near the edge of the teleportation array and began chatting with him through private messages.
The corpse campers had long grown accustomed to people wandering over to look around before leaving, so hardly anyone even spared him a glance.
That was exactly what Bai Zhouyun wanted.
Before long, he noticed that Shui Zhongyou had the fewest people guarding him.
After all, he was the easiest target to kill and by far the frailest of the bounty targets.
Since Nan Yu and Yang Zhou wanted to observe the situation first, they didn't teleport directly to Ice Velvet Sea.
Instead, they teleported to the nearest teleportation point.
It was also by the seaside. Technically, this was still part of Ice Velvet Sea, but it lay at the border between Ice Velvet Sea and another stretch of ocean.
Under normal circumstances, traveling from there to the teleportation array at Ice Velvet Sea at top speed would still take over half an hour.
But Nan Yu had money.
He directly purchased one of the fastest flying mounts in the game. Carrying Yang Zhou with him, he soared toward Ice Velvet Sea.
This reduced the trip to roughly ten minutes.
Hopefully, by the time they arrived, Bai Zhouyun would have made his move.
Soon enough, Nan Yu and Yang Zhou stood atop a distant mountain.
From there, they looked toward the corpse-camping area near the Ice Velvet Flower Sea.
Although they were still quite far away, they could clearly make out the players gathered there.
Yang Zhou gasped.
"My god... those guys' names are so red it looks like blood is about to drip from them. They must have the highest kill counts."
Nan Yu glanced at the statistics his smart assistant had compiled.
Indeed.
Those six players had done the overwhelming majority of the killing.
Together, they had already accumulated nearly fifteen or sixteen hundred kills.
In other words, close to one million credits had already been transferred into their accounts.
Yet Nan Yu wasn't bothered in the slightest.
It was only a little money.
Yang Zhou grinned.
"They're pretty efficient!"
Nan Yu nodded.
"Yeah. Now all we have to do is wait for them to grind those people's levels below ten."
Below Level 10 was the beginner protection period.
In other words, players under Level 10 couldn't be attacked by other players.
Likewise, players below Level 10 couldn't attack one another either.
But the instant someone reached Level 10—even if they exceeded it by only a tiny amount—they were considered Level 10 or above.
That was why most newcomers deliberately spent as much time as possible below Level 10 getting familiar with the game.
From afar, Nan Yu watched Bai Zhouyun's character sitting quietly beside the teleportation array.
His eyes were unfocused, as though he were thinking about something.
Nan Yu guessed that he was probably contacting members of his guild.
Come to think of it...
Wasn't Bai Zhouyun's guild... the very same guild Nan Yu belonged to?
Sure enough.
With an utterly speechless expression, Nan Yu saw Bai Zhouyun's message appear in the guild chat.
Daylight Sky: "Everyone, I need a favor. Shui Zhongyou has a bounty on him. He's my friend. If anyone helps rescue him back to the main city, I'll pay 10,000 credits per person."
Bai Zhouyun probably didn't have much money left by now.
He was spending credits everywhere these days.
Being able to offer ten thousand credits per person was already no small amount.
Nan Yu had never once seen Bai Zhouyun willing to spend money on him.
Not in his previous life.
Not in this one.
Bai Zhouyun had always revolved around Yun Feiyu.
There had been a time when Nan Yu genuinely wondered whether he simply wasn't attractive enough.
But now, whatever the reason had been no longer mattered.
The only thing that mattered was that Bai Zhouyun no longer had anything to do with him.
Yang Zhou glanced over.
"What's wrong?"
Nan Yu replied, "Take a look at the guild chat."
Naturally, Yang Zhou belonged to the same guild as Nan Yu.
After all, they were friends.
Yang Zhou blinked and opened the guild channel.
The very first message was Bai Zhouyun's request.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
"That Bai guy really has some nerve. Doesn't he know how this whole thing started? And he's actually asking the guild for help?"
Nan Yu rolled his eyes.
Actually...
Maybe Bai Zhouyun really didn't know what had happened.
Perhaps Yun Feiyu had only told him he'd run into some trouble, that people were corpse camping him, and asked Bai Zhouyun to save him.
But whatever the truth was didn't matter anymore.
Someone in the guild had already spoken up for Nan Yu.
Quiet Down (Guild Leader): "You said Shui Zhongyou is your friend?"
Daylight Sky: "That's right. Can anyone come help?"
Quiet Down (Guild Leader): "Well... it's not that we don't want to help you. It's just that the one who posted the bounty also belongs to our guild. Why don't you talk it over with him first? From South to North, you're online, right? Say something."
Nan Yu twitched the corner of his mouth but still typed.
From South to North: "You want to help him?"
Daylight Sky: "You posted the bounty? Why?"
From South to North: "You said Shui Zhongyou is your friend. Then tell me—who exactly is he?"
Quiet Down (Guild Leader): "Whoa... this feels like catching someone cheating."
Take It Easy (Vice Guild Leader): "I think so too. So is this Shui Zhongyou the mistress?"
Hurry Up (Vice Guild Leader): "It really does look that way, but..."
The moment Bai Zhouyun saw those messages, he knew they couldn't continue this discussion in the guild chat.
He tried to send Nan Yu a private message instead.
Nan Yu ignored it completely.
From South to North: "Why are you sending me private messages? Is there something you can't say in front of everyone?"
Left with no choice, Bai Zhouyun gave up on the private chat.
From South to North: "Tell me then. Who exactly is Shui Zhongyou? Don't tell me he's really your sweetheart? You're pretty generous. Ten thousand credits for every person who goes to rescue him. You sure have plenty of money. Before this, you kept saying you were broke..."
From South to North: "Turns out you were lying to me the whole time. I actually believed you'd changed. Who would've thought you're still fooling around with people in the game? I'm so mad. Don't ever come looking for me again!"
The moment he finished typing, From South to North immediately blacklisted Bai Zhouyun, closed the guild chat, and logged out without another word.
Bai Zhouyun stared at the notification showing he had been blacklisted.
Then someone in the guild mentioned that From South to North had gone offline.
Only then did he realize that he had completely ruined everything again.
He immediately began asking the guild members what had actually happened.
The guild members weren't very clear about it either.
Quiet Down (Guild Leader): "Honestly, we don't really know. One day he suddenly posted the bounty. Since it's a personal dispute between them, there's nothing the guild can do. He hasn't caused the guild any trouble. If you really want to know, ask the people involved. Aren't you acquainted with Shui Zhongyou? Go ask him."
Bai Zhouyun's mouth twitched.
No wonder Yun Feiyu hadn't explained everything earlier.
The person who had posted the bounty was actually Nan Yu.
Judging from Nan Yu's tone just now, it sounded like he'd finally started to soften and trust him again.
But Bai Zhouyun had personally destroyed all that with this single reckless move.
Daylight Sky sent Yun Feiyu a private message.
"What exactly happened between you two? I asked the guild to help rescue you, but Nan Yu saw it. Now he's angry with me again. All the effort I'd put into repairing our relationship has gone completely to waste."
Yun Feiyu was still lying there as a corpse, waiting for Bai Zhouyun to rescue him.
When he read the private message, he froze.
Only then did he remember that Nan Yu and Bai Zhouyun belonged to the same guild.
A guilty feeling immediately rose in his heart.
Shui Zhongyou: "Um... does he know Shui Zhongyou is me?"
Daylight Sky: "Not yet. If he knew, he wouldn't just be angry and blacklist me. He'd completely cut ties with me."
Shui Zhongyou: "Th-Then... should I apologize to him?"
Daylight Sky: "Are you trying to get yourself killed? It was fine when he didn't know it was you. But if he finds out it's you, and remembers how openly intimate we were in the game, do you really think he'll forgive me?"
Shui Zhongyou: "Zhouyun... are you really going to be so heartless? I only started playing this game because of you. I was a complete newbie. I didn't know anything..."
Shui Zhongyou: "If even you won't help me now, then I'll have no choice but to quit the game. But I still want to play together with you..."
The string of pitiful private messages gave Bai Zhouyun a splitting headache.
In the end, he decided to spend money and hire a professional game studio to try instead.
During this time, he had learned just how terrifying the players camping the corpses really were.
The guild members had introduced them one by one.
There was simply no way he could remain ignorant.
After contacting numerous studios, almost none of them were willing to accept the job.
The few that did agree all quoted the same price—
30,000 credits per person.
Not to rescue one person.
But per person they sent.
If the studio dispatched thirty players at once, that would cost nine hundred thousand credits.
Bai Zhouyun's heart ached just thinking about it.
Still, he knew the price was actually reasonable.
The players camping the corpses were all terrifyingly powerful.
The studio members would probably serve as little more than meat shields, dying over and over while escorting Yun Feiyu back to the main city through the teleportation array.
Considering that, charging 30,000 credits per player honestly wasn't unreasonable at all.
After all, the studio had no way of knowing how many times they'd have to throw themselves in front of attacks before they could successfully escort someone back to the main city.
Bai Zhouyun understood that.
The problem was that he simply didn't have that many credits available.
He tried negotiating with the studio, asking if they could send fewer people.
The other party rejected him outright.
"Thirty is the absolute minimum. If we send any fewer, they won't even revive fast enough to keep getting chopped down, let alone escort your little sweetheart back to the main city."
Bai Zhouyun sighed.
He could only send Yun Feiyu another private message.
"You should stay offline after this logout. I couldn't find any studios willing to take the job. We'll have to wait."
Yun Feiyu had also considered simply paying those players to leave.
But the bounty for forcing someone to quit the game was five million credits per person.
They simply didn't have that kind of money.
If it had been the old Bai Zhouyun, he might have been able to produce that amount.
The current Bai Zhouyun, however, couldn't even come up with nine hundred thousand credits.
Most of his credits had been frozen by his grandfather, who had told him to leave the money alone.
Once Bai Zhouyun successfully became a High-Tier Ability User, his grandfather promised to return it to him tenfold.
Having no other choice, Bai Zhouyun settled down and devoted himself to training.
Several days passed, but his progress was minimal.
Especially with the Mid-Tier Mental Power User his family had hired.
Perhaps that Mental Power User also disliked the way Bai Zhouyun treated Nan Yu.
Whenever he looked at Bai Zhouyun, his expression was full of disdain.
Fortunately, since he had accepted the money, he still fulfilled all of his duties.
From Bai Zhouyun's perspective, however, that Mid-Tier Mental Power User was nowhere near Nan Yu's level.
He simply couldn't make Bai Zhouyun truly relax.
Each session of Mental Contamination purification had to be split into several treatments.
As a result, the interval between consuming Ability Beast meat became much longer.
Fortunately, it didn't interfere much with his combat training.
Bai Zhouyun explained everything to Yun Feiyu.
In short, the players there were simply too powerful.
No studio wanted the job.
He couldn't persuade the guild members either, especially since the person who had posted the bounty belonged to the same guild.
Besides...
The guild had just witnessed one enormous scandal.
No one had expected Daylight Sky to be two-timing.
Even after the main partner found out, instead of immediately logging off to chase after him and explain himself, he stayed in the game trying to help the mistress.
Countless guild members were whispering through private messages.
Everyone agreed that Daylight Sky was unbelievable.
Maybe he'd truly found his one true love.
In any case, everyone was busy gossiping.
Before long, many players spread the story even further.
As a result, the bounty now had an official title.
The Main Partner Places a Bounty on the Mistress and His Accomplices!
The name Shui Zhongyou also became widely known.
So this was the person...
Very few people actually knew the real truth.
Apart from Nan Yu and Yang Zhou, only the five bounty targets themselves knew what was really going on.
Those five, still lying there as corpses, understood everything perfectly well.
The incident with Wuxing Feiwo had merely been the fuse.
Now Shui Zhongyou's situation had only poured fuel onto the fire.
The five of them had their own group chat.
Everyone was desperately trying to think of a solution.
Wuxing Feiwo: "Any ideas?"
Tian Zhongyao: "Hah! The three of us were dragged into this because of you two. Who would've thought that player, who looked like a nobody, would actually be so terrifying? Did From South to North switch sides too? He spent so much money just for Against the Current."
Shui Zhongyou replied, "From South to North and Against the Current really are very close."
It was an ambiguous statement.
He wasn't lying.
He simply hadn't told the whole truth.
As expected, everyone immediately began making their own guesses.
Eventually, however, the conversation returned to the real issue.
Di Zhongbeng said, "So have you come up with any way to get out? The bounty is five million credits for forcing each of us to quit. That's twenty-five million for all five of us. Damn... even I'm tempted."
Huo Zhongfei laughed.
"Hm? Then why don't you announce you're quitting the game yourself and go collect the money from From South to North? Let's see whether he'll actually pay."
Wuxing Feiwo snorted.
"Are you idiots? He posted the bounty to have us hunted down. If we could collect it ourselves, why would he bother posting a bounty in the first place?"
He continued.
"Think of another solution. During the protection period we can stand on the teleportation array, but once the protection expires, if we haven't teleported yet, we'll die."
After all, even while standing on the teleportation array, players couldn't activate it during their protection period.
They had to wait until the protection ended.
The problem was...
There wasn't enough time.
The corpse campers moved far too quickly.
Tian Zhongyao suggested, "Then how about staying offline for a month or two? They can't possibly keep waiting here for us the whole time. Once we come back, as long as we find a gap of a few seconds, we can teleport back to the main city."
Wuxing Feiwo frowned.
"But if we can only stay inside the main city after logging in, what's the point of playing this game?"
That argument made perfect sense.
If logging in only allowed them to remain inside the main city and other safe towns, then they might as well not play at all.
After all, every dungeon and most monsters existed out in the wilderness.
Huo Zhongfei sighed.
"So what do you expect us to do? Talk to those big shots? It's useless. They won't listen to a single word we say. Especially those six big brothers over there—they're all monsters."
Wuxing Feiwo was beginning to regret everything.
If he'd known this would happen, he never would have gone after Yang Zhou in the first place.
No matter how satisfying it was to vent his anger in the game, it couldn't affect real life.
Besides, Yang Zhou was now a student at the Royal Military Academy of the Capital Star.
That status alone completely overshadowed anything Wuxing Feiwo could ever boast about.
To put it bluntly...
He had simply been jealous.
Wuxing Feiwo muttered, "I'll just try apologizing to Against the Current."
He said that, but he knew perfectly well the chances of success were practically zero.
He searched for Against the Current's character name and tried sending a friend request.
It failed.
Either friend requests had been disabled...
Or he'd already been blacklisted.
Wuxing Feiwo typed,
"Try adding Against the Current as a friend. I can't send one."
The others tried as well.
None of them succeeded.
Apparently it wasn't just him.
Maybe all five of them had been blocked.
Or perhaps friend requests had simply been disabled altogether.
Wuxing Feiwo said, "Then I'll try sending a temporary private message."
But the system immediately displayed a notification.
The target player is offline.
The drawback of temporary private messages was that they only worked while the other player was online.
Messages sent to an offline player weren't saved.
Even after that player logged back in, they would never see them.
Wuxing Feiwo cursed.
"Damn those... he actually logged off!"
Huo Zhongfei suddenly exclaimed,
"Huh? I actually have From South to North on my friends list! I never noticed before!"
Di Zhongbeng immediately asked,
"No way! Seriously? Is he online?"
Huo Zhongfei checked.
"No. It says he logged off a few minutes ago. Looks like we'll have to wait until next time to contact him. Oh, right, Shui Zhongyou—doesn't your lover know who From South to North really is? Tell us. We'll contact him in real life and explain everything. This whole mess barely has anything to do with the three of us!"
The three of them really had been dragged into this.
After thinking it over, Shui Zhongyou finally agreed.
If they could explain everything clearly to Nan Yu...
Maybe he would let him off too.
As for Wuxing Feiwo...
None of them had any idea whether that would help.
Shui Zhongyou said,
"I'll ask him."
Yun Feiyu discussed it with Bai Zhouyun.
Originally, Bai Zhouyun had already planned to log off and personally explain everything to Nan Yu.
Now, however, Yun Feiyu's suggestion also seemed workable.
But if those people really contacted Nan Yu and Nan Yu asked where they had obtained his contact information...
Wouldn't that expose Bai Zhouyun anyway?
Since that was inevitable...
He might as well go to Nan Yu himself.
Daylight Sky: "That's not a good idea. I'll go talk to Nan Yu first. Wait for my message."
Yun Feiyu couldn't simply hand over Nan Yu's contact information either.
After all...
He had Nan Yu's contact information himself.
The moment Bai Zhouyun logged out, he immediately dialed Nan Yu's communicator.
As always, the call failed to connect.
In fact, it was cut off almost immediately.
He let out a deep sigh.
Nan Yu really was angry this time.
Still, Bai Zhouyun refused to give up.
He climbed into his hovercraft and headed straight for the Nan residence.
He knew that if he failed to explain today's events clearly...
It would become nearly impossible for them to communicate again in the future.
What he forgot was one very important detail.
School had already ended.
Quite some time had passed since dismissal.
Which meant Nan Yu had already arrived home.
And Nan Yun and Nan Zhen were definitely there as well.
Especially Fu Yu'ang, who had only recently moved into the Nan household.
He was almost certainly home too.
But Bai Zhouyun was so focused on explaining himself to Nan Yu that he never thought about any of this.
He only realized it after arriving at the gates of the Nan residence.
The gates slowly opened.
Standing inside were two people cracking their knuckles...
Nan Yun grinned fiercely.
"I've wanted to beat the hell out of you for a long time. Couldn't find you anywhere at school before, but now you've delivered yourself right to my doorstep. I really ought to thank you."
Nan Zhen sneered.
"You've enjoyed bullying our little brother all this time, haven't you? Well, today we'll make sure you enjoy yourself too!!"