Chapter 70: Familiar Faces
Huo Zhongfei said, "Ah, I remember now. It looks like From South to North and Against the Current are good friends. But... isn't a bounty of one hundred thousand credit points a little stingy?"
Wuxing Feiwo nodded.
"Yeah, it is a little stingy."
A moment later, he also used a World Horn.
Wuxing Feiwo: "Want to compare who's richer? Fine. I'm putting a bounty on From South to North. Anyone who forces him to quit the game gets 500,000 credit points."
Nan Yu glanced at it and let out a laugh.
Compete with him in terms of money?
The fortune he had earned from commissions over the past while certainly wasn't just sitting there for decoration.
He edited his previous announcement.
Then another World Horn echoed throughout the server.
From South to North: "Bounty on Tian Zhongyao, Shui Zhongyou, Di Zhongbeng, Huo Zhongfei, and Wuxing Feiwo. 1,000 credit points per kill. 5,000,000 credit points for forcing any one of them to quit the game! Send screenshots to me through private messages. Payment transferred immediately!"
The entire server exploded.
If anyone had previously ignored the one hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, or even five hundred thousand credit point rewards...
Now they were all tempted.
The reward had jumped from one hundred thousand...
To five million.
A full fifty-fold increase.
One kill was worth one thousand credit points.
Driving one player out of the game was worth five million.
Driving all five of them out...
That would be twenty-five million credit points.
"Boss! Did you see it? The World Horn! That World Horn! We have to grab this commission! If we pull it off, those five together are worth twenty-five million! Liu An can be saved!"
"I know. Notify Second Brother, Third Brother, and the others. Tell them to log in immediately. We have to secure this commission!"
There were seven of them altogether.
Back in the early days of the server, they had been acknowledged as the strongest seven players.
Their character names were as straightforward as could be.
Big Brother.
Second Brother.
Then Third Brother, Fourth Brother...
And the youngest was simply Little Brother.
The Seven Brothers had once been legendary throughout the server.
Later, for some unknown reason, they gradually disappeared from the game.
As a result, many newer players no longer recognized them.
After all, veteran players rarely logged in anymore, while newcomers had never known them in the first place.
One after another, the remaining six logged in.
Big Brother spoke.
"Everyone's here?"
"We already know their location."
"They're in the pavilion at the summit of Ice Velvet Sea."
"They can't log out directly from inside that pavilion."
"If they want to log out, they'll have to leave first."
"And when they leave, they'll appear near one of the teleportation points around Ice Velvet Sea."
"There are several common spawn locations."
"Each of us guard one."
"We absolutely cannot let them escape."
—
Yang Zhou stared blankly at Nan Yu while he continued sending out World Horn announcements.
Although Yang Zhou had inherited his grandfather's fortune—several hundred million credit points—and never had to worry about living in poverty...
He still couldn't bring himself to spend twenty or thirty million credit points in one go the way Nan Yu just had.
After all, he couldn't earn money himself.
He couldn't afford to spend recklessly.
"Are you really okay spending this much?"
"Isn't it a little excessive?"
Nan Yu shook his head.
"Do you know how much I make from a single commission now?"
Yang Zhou blinked before shaking his head.
"At least fifty million."
"Now tell me..."
"How many commissions do you think I've completed so far?"
Yang Zhou counted on his fingers.
"At least ten?"
Nan Yu winked playfully.
"So there you have it."
"You don't need to worry about me wasting money."
"When you have more money than you can spend, this is exactly what it's for."
Yang Zhou had completely calmed down now.
He knew very well that Wuxing Feiwo—the cousin he despised most—absolutely loved this game.
If they really managed to drive him out of the game...
He would definitely be furious.
—
Six completely unremarkable-looking players quietly arrived at the edge of Ice Velvet Sea and hid among the pale-colored flowers.
By now, the area around Ice Velvet Sea was packed with players.
Some had come simply to watch the excitement.
Others hoped to steal a few kills and collect the bounty.
The entire area had become incredibly lively.
Only the little corner where Nan Yu and Yang Zhou were hiding remained unusually quiet.
It didn't stay that way for long.
Someone soon found them.
Nan Yu and Yang Zhou had already hidden the names floating above their heads to avoid unnecessary trouble.
Yet the newcomer still immediately called out Nan Yu's character name.
"From South to North?"
Nan Yu looked at him.
"You know me?"
His gaze shifted to the player's displayed name.
Big Brother.
Nan Yu suddenly remembered.
"...It's you?"
Big Brother smiled.
"So you still remember us."
Nan Yu nodded.
"What do you want?"
"You're here for the bounty, aren't you?"
"That's right."
"I wanted to ask..."
"You know our strength."
"Could you entrust the entire bounty to the seven of us?"
Nan Yu asked casually,
"Short on money lately?"
The moment he recognized Big Brother, he also remembered how strong the Seven Brothers were.
As far as combat ability went...
There really weren't many people on this server who could match them.
Still...
He hesitated.
After all, he had only just announced the public bounty.
After thinking for a moment, Nan Yu nodded.
"Fine."
"It looks like you've run into some difficulties recently."
"I'll hand this bounty over to you."
"But if those five start calling in reinforcements and overwhelm you with numbers..."
"Can you handle it?"
Big Brother answered calmly.
"We've never had a problem."
"If they call helpers..."
"We'll kill those too."
Nan Yu smiled.
"That works."
"But I won't be paying for anyone except the original five."
"No problem."
Nan Yu immediately stopped the automatic World Horn broadcasts.
Then he sent the following announcement three times in succession.
From South to North: "The bounty has been accepted by a certain expert team. The reward for forcing the targets to quit the game now applies only to them. Everyone else is still welcome to hunt the targets. One thousand credit points per kill. Just send me a screenshot."
The announcement immediately caused another uproar.
Truthfully, most players had never expected to force those five to quit the game.
They had come hoping to earn one thousand credit points per kill.
So although some people felt dissatisfied...
It wasn't enough to cause any real complaints.
Big Brother asked,
"One more thing."
"What's considered 'forcing them to quit the game'?"
Nan Yu thought for a moment.
If they simply refused to log in for a month or two...
That clearly wouldn't count.
From South to North: "Every death costs experience."
"Reduce them below Level 10."
"That'll count as forcing them out."
Big Brother nodded.
"No problem."
After getting the answer he wanted, he immediately left and relayed everything to his brothers.
Group Chat
Big Brother: "Done."
Second Brother: "Awesome! Congratulations! Congratulations! Big Brother, do you know that From South to North guy?"
Big Brother: "We played together back when the server first opened."
"So I know him."
"He hasn't played much lately."
"Only old players still remember who he is."
Fourth Brother: "Big Brother is amazing! We have to work harder! By the way, did he say what counts as forcing them to quit?"
If those five simply stayed offline indefinitely...
None of them had time to wait forever.
Big Brother: "Reduce them below Level 10."
Fifth Brother: "Everyone's Level 100 now."
"Each death removes five percent of the current level's experience."
"So dropping ninety levels..."
"At twenty deaths per level..."
"That's one thousand eight hundred kills per person."
"For all five..."
Big Brother finished the calculation.
"Nine thousand kills."
"Do you have confidence?"
Second Brother burst out laughing.
"Big Brother, you're joking."
"Of course we do."
"Remember back then?"
"The seven of us fought over a hundred enemies and wiped every last one of them out."
"We probably racked up seven or eight thousand kills in that battle alone."
Sixth Brother frowned.
"The issue isn't whether we can manage nine thousand kills."
"It's whether those five log off and refuse to come back."
Big Brother suddenly said,
"Remember that bug location?"
Fifth Brother's eyes lit up.
"Right!"
"If they get stuck there, they can't log out for a while."
"But how do we lure them over there?"
Big Brother smiled.
"Fourth Brother."
"You're up."
Fourth Brother laughed confidently.
"No problem."
"Leave it to me."
For the Seven Brothers...
This bounty wasn't [N O V E L I G H T] merely about money.
It was directly connected to Little Brother's life.
Everyone took it more seriously than they had ever taken anything else.
They knew perfectly well...
For From South to North, this bounty was simply a way to vent his anger.
But for them...
It was hope.
"Everyone ready?"
"Ready."
"Let's reduce all five of them below Level 10 within a week."
"After that..."
—
Meanwhile, Wuxing Feiwo and the others still hadn't realized how serious the situation had become.
Nothing like this had ever happened to them before.
Naturally...
They didn't understand what they were facing.
Shui Zhongyou said,
"See? Nothing's happened to us yet."
"Looks like everyone's just watching the show."
Tian Zhongyao nodded.
"This is a private instance."
"They can't get inside."
"They're probably all waiting outside."
"When we leave later..."
"Be careful."
"Don't get caught off guard."
Wuxing Feiwo said,
"I know."
"I've already contacted members of my guild to scout outside."
"They said the situation is pretty bad."
"A professional team has accepted From South to North's commission to force us out of the game."
Tian Zhongyao frowned.
"Who exactly is this From South to North?"
"Why is he targeting us?"
"Did any of you offend him?"
Shui Zhongyou shook his head.
"We've never offended him."
"We didn't even know his name until he posted the bounty."
"By the way, Wuxing Feiwo."
"Didn't you use to play this game before?"
"You should know who he is."
"I only know a little."
"He's friends with Against the Current."
"I already said that."
Shui Zhongyou smirked.
"Just friends?"
"If they're just friends, why would he spend so much money helping him get revenge?"
"I think..."
"Maybe he's a sugar daddy."
Wuxing Feiwo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"...You're right."
"Why didn't I think of that?"
Then another thought crossed his mind.
That little bastard Yang Zhou had inherited so much money from the old man.
Maybe he was simply using From South to North as a front while paying the bounty himself.
After all...
No matter how rich From South to North was...
There was no way anyone would casually throw away tens of millions of credit points.
Driving all five of them out of the game wouldn't be easy.
They were all max-level experts.
How could they possibly be—
Huo Zhongfei interrupted.
"Time's almost up."
"Are we letting the system teleport us out automatically..."
"Or renewing the reservation?"
Wuxing Feiwo shook his head.
"We have to leave sooner or later."
"We can only log out after leaving."
"Are you planning to stay inside the game forever?"
Everyone knew that was impossible.
So when their reservation expired...
They allowed themselves to be teleported out.
Beforehand, they had already prepared their defenses.
Guild members had also warned Wuxing Feiwo that many people were waiting outside.
His vigilance had reached its highest level.
Once attacked...
Their characters would enter combat status.
And while in combat...
Logging out was impossible.
Unless their mental fluctuations became excessive and the system forcibly disconnected them.
Nan Yu smiled.
"They're out."
Yang Zhou hurried over and looked at the shared chat window Nan Yu had opened.
Already...
Ten different players had privately messaged him screenshots showing kills on one of the five targets.
Whenever a player killed another, the system generated a kill notification along with the killer's red-name status and corresponding value.
Nan Yu carefully checked every screenshot.
Everything matched.
Without hesitation...
He transferred one thousand credit points for each.
The money arrived instantly.
Many players immediately posted excitedly in world chat.
"It arrived! It really arrived! I earned a thousand credit points today! My luck is incredible!"
Actually...
Even if Nan Yu logged out now, it wouldn't matter.
As long as he set his outside smart terminal to receive in-game messages, he could even enable automatic transfers.
It was extremely convenient.
Nan Yu looked at Yang Zhou.
"Feeling better now?"
In barely twenty minutes...
The five targets had already been killed thirty or forty times combined.
Ever since leaving the pavilion...
They hadn't been able to move more than a few steps.
Every time they revived, the instant their protection period ended...
They immediately died again.
The corners of Nan Yu's lips curved upward.
Only now did he remember something.
Among those five...
There was actually someone he knew.
Shui Zhongyou.
That's right.
That female-player character...
Actually belonged to Yun Feiyu.
Nan Yu hadn't known this at first.
But in his previous life, Yun Feiyu had admired how powerful Nan Yu's account was and kept pestering him to carry him through the game.
Nan Yu hadn't had anything better to do then...
So he had played with him for a while.
If he hadn't run into Shui Zhongyou again today...
He probably never would have remembered.
Nan Yu said,
"I think Shui Zhongyou is Yun Feiyu."
Yang Zhou froze.
"...Huh?"
The next second he scooted right beside Nan Yu.
"Holy crap, seriously?!"
"The one who used that control skill on me earlier was him!"
"So it was Yun Feiyu!"
"I knew it!"
"He acts all soft and innocent like some pure white lotus in real life, but inside he's rotten."
"You can even see how black-hearted he is in a game."
Nan Yu smiled.
"So..."
"Half this bounty was actually for my own reasons."
"You don't need to overthink it."
Yang Zhou awkwardly turned his head away.
"I'm not overthinking..."
"But..."
"Thanks."
"You definitely didn't remember this at the beginning."
Nan Yu didn't deny it.
"Just enjoy the show."
"When it's about time, we'll log out."
"We can still read the chat through our smart terminals."
"We'll just enable automatic transfers."
"No need to waste any more time staying online."
"Kite:" "This From South to North..."
"Morning Star:" "Uncle, I'm not sure either... but he does look a little familiar."