Chapter 605: Finding Alice
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhang Yang divided the total number of [Armor Piercing Potion] that he made into two equal portions. Naturally, he kept all the [Armor Piercing Potion] that had gone through Transmutation for his own use. Then, he equally split the number of [Armor Piercing Potion] without going through Transmutation into two portions. Half of it was reserved for his own normal guild members. Whoever wanted to use the potions should accumulate guild points in exchange for the potions. The other half of the [Armor Piercing Potions] were placed on the shelves at his Little Merchandize Shop, ready for sale.
Not long after he placed the potions on the shelves, Zhang Yang received private messages from Amber Sunset, Sky High, Radiance and other guilds. They were all requesting for Zhang Yang to sell the potions to them. Some of them even wanted to make an arrangement with Zhang Yang saying that they were willing to provide materials for making the potions. In return, Zhang Yang would have to make the potions for them.
The opportunities for Zhang Yang to take advantage of them over the ‘deal’ had presented themselves. However, Zhang Yang did not reply them immediately. Instead, he tried to find some excuses to reject them, because he wanted to grind his level as quickly as possible. He would not have any time to spare at all if he wanted to focus on grinding up his level. However, these guildmasters decided to give Zhang Yang an even more appealing offer at the end of it. They were willing to give Zhang Yang 10 gold piece for each bottle he makes for them as a compensation for his trouble.
Truth to be told, Zhang Yang would not really mind about such little small amount of money. However, how would one reject a free gift when it is already being placed right in their hands? Furthermore, the main purpose would be swiping the transmuted [Armor Piercing Potions] into his own pockets, upon making the potions for the other guilds. So all he did was to pretend to reluctantly accept their offers.
Because Crimson Rage had purchased every single material for making the [Armor Piercing Potions] in the market, Greensleeves Prince and the other guildmasters could no longer get the materials from the market. Although there were still some left in the warehouse, the amount was not enough at all.
They quickly sent their guild members with Herb Picking professions out to gather as much required materials as possible. They were only gathering the materials across the Level 120-150 map. Most of them were just walking by the outskirts of the map. If normal players were to encounter monsters that were Level 140 or Level 150, they would be as good as dead.
For the following days, Zhang Yang continued to grind his level and make some potions. He was living a good and relaxing life in the game. On the outside of the game, he could hug Han Ying Xue on his left and hug Sun Xin Yu on the right. Although the two ladies were still quarreling, Zhang Yang was considered a lucky bastard that could live a happy life with more than 1 sexual partner in his life! Well, the downside of it was that he would feel his ‘little brother’ being overly exhausted every time he was done with the two of them.
Word about the [Armor Piercing Potion] got out with a bang. The potion would serve as a powerful ‘tool’ to slay a boss. Many guildmasters went up to Zhang Yang with tons of materials and gold. They begged by any necessary means just to get Zhang Yang into making the potions for them. They even wanted to pay him a substantial amount of fortune just to get Zhang Yang to do it for them. Fatty Han could not help but laugh at them quietly, saying that these people were ‘whoring’ around with Zhang Yang with money.
By the end of it, it only took about 7 to 8 days for Zhang Yang to earn over hundreds of millions of dollars just by making potions for the other guilds. Furthermore, he managed to secretly keep thousands of [Armor Piercing Potion (Grade 10 Transmutation)] for himself. Zhang Yang and his gang were very happy with the outcome.
Zhang Yang had not wasted much time in making the potion as well. Because he had attained Grandmaster for his Alchemist profession. Zhang Yang could make 10 potions in a row, making it possible for him to make 36,000 bottles of potion over an hour of time. Therefore, making millions of bottles would only take about 30 hours or more for him. It was only approximately half a day in the real time.
Currently, Zhang Yang was at Level 118. He was only two levels away from reaching Level 120. For normal players, it would take about 10 days to grind one level. However, with Zhang Yang’s capability, he would only need about 7 to 8 days to grind for a level.
On one particular day, Zhang Yang had just set foot into his office and signed into the game before he was added to Han Ying Xue’s party. Wei Yan Er was also in the same party.
"Yo! Why are you up so early today?" Zhang Yang could not accept the fact that the little brat woke up this early in the morning. Actually, ever since Wei Yan Er had gone to university, she had not been skipping classes. She would wake up early to join the classes early in the morning on Fridays. Therefore, she would usually sleep through the weekends.
Zhang Yang turned his head over and said, "Please don’t tell me that the little brat did not brush her teeth again..."
"Hehe!" Wei Yan Er gave him an honest smile without being courteous at all.
"Go brush your teeth now! Your breath smells!" Zhang Yang teased her on purpose.
"You bus tart! Stop bullying me whenever you see me! You better watch out, I might just go crazy on you!" Wei Yan Er flipped her eyes backward at Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang laughed out loud as he was teasing the little brat. For him, teasing the little brat was a happy thing to do in his life. Then he said, "So why did you add me to your party?"
"To complete a quest together, of course, you dumb *ss! What other use do you have for us other than being a meatshield for the monsters?" Wei Yan Er shrugged on purpose.
"Hey witch! Tell the little brat what else I am useful for!" Zhang Yang smiled viciously at Han Ying Xue.
Han Ying Xue could not help but recall what happened three hours back. Zhang Yang had taken liberty of her and Sun Xin Yu while they were still in a deep sleep. Her face turned red as she was overwhelmed with shame. She spat at Zhang Yang, trying to cover her shame as that the memory of that morning could shame her and Sun Xin Yu for quite awhile.
"What kind of quest are we talking about then?" Zhang Yang asked.
"Sister Snow triggered a hidden quest while she was hunting for the Cooking Materials. Didn’t she do great back there?" Wei Yan Er was the type who could not keep her mouth shut. She blurted it out to Zhang Yang immediately.
Zhang Yang looked at Han Ying Xue for one brief moment before he said, "I’m guessing you must have lost your way before you stumbled upon this quest. Am I right?"
"Bingo!"
Zhang Yang frowned intensely. So this witch was lucky enough to locate a quest by getting lost. She must have all the luck in the world!
"What’s the reward then?"
"We have no idea at the moment! Aiyo! Why are you being so long-winded! Just get over here and do it!" Wei Yan Er could no longer wait as she glared, "Come on! Let’s go!"
"Let’s contact Ice Queen and the others as well!"
"The quest said that only 3 members can participate!" Han Ying Xue shook her head.
"See? We always treat you very well! We reserved the last spot for you!" Wei Yan Er blinked her large eyes at Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang laughed out loud and pulled Han Ying Xue into his arms. Then he said, "You’ve got it all wrong! Your sister cousin is now my girlfriend. So it should be us who left the last spot for you, little brat! You must feel grateful for that!"
"You bus tart!" Wei Yan Er was boiling with rage towards Han Ying Xue who gave in to her own lust for Zhang Yang instead of defending her.
Han Ying Xue shared the quest out to the other two. Upon accepting the quest, the three of them departed for the location of the quest.
[Finding Alice] (Difficulty: Rank-A)
Description: That playful Alice is once again lost! Please, my fellow Adventurer. Please bring her back for me! She used to wander in the woods nearby, having fun all by herself. You should start by looking there.
Completion: Find Alice 0/1
Limitation: 3 Players Only
It would be impossible for Han Ying Xue to locate a specific location... definitely not possible at all! She was so terrible in directions that she would even walk a little off a straight line after walking straight for 100 meters. The route to that location had twists and turns, and one must be clear about the correct roads and intersections to take. Furthermore, they were required to mount on [Flying Mounts] in order to travel across the mountains. Han Ying Xue has always been practically blind whenever she travels. Whenever she gets lost, she would simply use her [Teleportation Scroll] to travel back to the Territory.
Therefore, not a single route would be committed to her memory. Even if she manages to arrive at her destination, it would be impossible for her to do it again! However, this woman knew her own flaws. She marked the exact location of the quest location in the party minimap. Therefore, Zhang Yang and Wei Yan Er would still be able to find the location, even if she does not find it.
The three left Tibanya Wasteland and travelled across mountains and rivers before they arrived at Flatlands of the Man Eating Monster.
Zhang Yang could not help but to wonder, so he asked, "Witch, where did you intend to find the cooking ingredients at first?"
"Apen Mountains!" Han Ying Xue answered.
Zhang Yang was speechless upon hearing it. The Apen Mountains was located at the Tibanya Wasteland map. However, she led them straight to the Flatlands of the Man Eating Monster. She had strayed too far from her original course! Furthermore, she did not encounter any enemy players along the way. It was considered as a miracle!
The Flatlands of the Man Eating Monster was initially the ‘Exclusive Map’ of the India Region. It was natural that there would be Indian players all around the area. Furthermore, the Indians were known to be a nation of the ‘almighty’ in the real world. The same applied to them in the game as well. Up to seven or eight players could be found mounted on one mount. 4 would be sitting together in a row on top of the mount, while the other three or four of them would be hanging by the sides of the mount. That scene would always amaze people who saw it!
Zhang Yang and the ladies did not want any trouble. So they adjusted their mounts to fly at a higher altitude. However, 3 red-name players flying across the sky would still be very obvious. Fortunately, as the Indian players were all ‘overloaded’ on their mounts, none of them could catch up to them. Without any problem at all, Zhang Yang and ladies had left them far behind and went on with their journey.
After flying for more than 2 hours, they finally arrived at their destination. It was a manor that seemed to be cut off from the outside world. There was a thick jungle right behind the manor. The jungle seemed very spooky and anyone would feel anxious upon seeing it.
As all three of them had accepted the quest, they no longer needed to waste their breath with the NPC all over again. They jumped right into the quest and entered the jungle. The three of them split up to search for clues. After half an hour of finding, the little brat discovered a strange tree stump under the shade of a large tree. So she quickly called the other two over to take a look at it.
There was a flashing large hole beneath the tree stump. It seemed like an entrance to another dungeon. Theoretically speaking, only players who have accepted the quest earlier on could see the entrance. Zhang Yang even experimented by deleting the quest on purpose before entering the hole. The hole no longer flashed and he could not find anything inside the hole, except that it was dark and empty!
He got Han Ying Xue to share the quest with him again. The hole flashed constantly once again. The three of them looked at each other and nodded. Then, Zhang Yang led the ladies into the hole. Han Ying Xue and Wei Yan Er followed closely behind him.
After passing through the hole, they got a completely different view right in front of their eyes. The three of them arrived at a strange and unusual place filled with all sorts of colors. It was a colorful jungle with colorful plants all over the place. There were coffee-brown, pinkish, milk-white flowers in the surroundings. The clouds in the sky had different sort of shapes, some of them even looked like monsters. The place was interesting.
Wei Yan Er suddenly squatted down and tugged some grasses out by their roots. Then she began to munch on them.
Zhang Yang felt disgusted, frowning intensely. Although they were now in the game, their 5 sense were all real. They would smell the scent of blood as they killed monsters. They would feel pain when they are punched. Men would feel ‘alive’ when they are seduced by women. Only the intensity of the senses could be adjusted accordingly to the players’ liking.
"What kind of show did you watch recently? You would actually behave like a cow or a horse instead of behaving like a human?"
"You dumb *ss! These are chocolate! They’re extremely tasty!" Wei Yan Er was already chewing up all the ‘grass’ in her mouth until the sides of her mouth were stained. She rubbed her mouth with her sleeves , not giving him a f*ck.
"What a strange place!" Zhang Yang wandered around nearby and realized that the trees and the flowers were all made of food and candy! There were bite marks left on some of the places. They could only deduce that those bite marks had been left behind by Alice.
"Let’s follow the trail!"
The three of them followed the tracks. Wei Yan Er was complaining that Alice was a gluttonous girl, judging from the number of bitemarks they found. Zhang Yang and Han Ying Xue could not help but laugh at her.
After just a brief moment of following the trials, the three of them had arrived at a small river.
The water flowing in the river looked more like milk as it was gliding smoothly according to the current flow. Wei Yan Er felt awfully thirsty after eating so much candy and chocolate. So, she immediately went up to the milk river and drank the milk as much as she could.
No far from them, there was a bridge. The three of them went over and began to cross the bridge. While they were at it, they saw that there were also small bite marks across the bridge railings. Wei Yan Er just could not help herself but repeat what she said earlier on. She squinted and complained, "This little girl is really greedy! She basically ate everything she saw!"
Then she broke a brick on the bridge and put it into her mouth, then she said, "Hmm, this tastes good! It’s strawberry flavored!"
Zhang Yang and Han Ying Xue could only remain speechless after seeing how she acted.
"Aiyo!" Right after they crossed the bridge, Wei Yan Er suddenly pressed her hands on her stomach and squatted down, "I’m having a stomachache!"
That was not it. Red damage values began to pop out constantly right on top of her head. It began by reducing the little brat’s HP by 10%, constantly.
Han Ying Xue quickly tried to heal her up. However, the HP bar of the little brat continued to drop by 10% at a constant rate. A short while later, the amount of reduction on her HP began to increase up to 20%. As time passed, the amount continued to increase up to 30%, then to 40%, and to 50%!
Han Ying Xue was still able to keep up with the 20% HP reduction. However, she began to panic when the little brat started losing 30% of her HP at that constant rate. She could no longer keep up with the HP reduction when it struck 40%. When Wei Yan Er was losing 50% of her HP at a constant rate, Han Ying Xue only managed to keep that little brat alive for 3 to 4 seconds before she collapsed onto the ground and died.
After getting the little brat back on her feet, the three of them were puzzled. It was really strange that the little brat would die all of a sudden! Without any reason at all, the HP bar of the little brat had been reduced to zero just like that. Wei Yan Er even brought up her battle log to check what was going on. However, nothing was recorded there.
"What is going on?"
Zhang Yang gave it some thoughts and said, "It is most probably because the little brat ate too much ... stuff... She was the only one who was eating all the way. There is no other explanation!"
Wei Yan Er felt angry as she said, "Bastard! Who would dare try to poison me! If I ever find out, that fellow will receive three chops from my axe!"
Zhang Yang frowned and said, "Oh, right! Alice must have been eating along the way. Even though characters from Story Mode might not die easily, but she must be in some sort of danger as well!"
"Let’s move then!"
After crossing the bridge, they realized that the bite marks stopped there. So the three of them continued down the path before they arrived at a small village. There were only about ten houses made of woods and dried grasses. An old man who looked like he was in his 60s was sitting by a small cottage located nearest to the three of them. He had his back hunched over while smoking a long-stemmed pipe.
The three of them approached the old man, and Zhang Yang said, "Granpa, have you seen a girl called Alice passing by a few days ago?"
"Alice?" The old man was named ‘Charlie Moto’. He was a normal Tiered Level 110 NPC. Upon hearing the name, he put down his pipe and said, "Two days ago, I picked up an unconscious girl by the bridge. However, I’m not sure if she is the Alice you are looking for or not."
Wei Yan Er quickly asked, "Granpa, is the girl in your house now?"
"Well, yes. But the girl has been poisoned. She had been having a fever ever since I found her. It seems that her situation is not good." Charlie Moto waved his tobacco pouch as he made a gesture, suggesting that the three of them should go into the house.
After entering the house, the three of them saw that there was a girl lying on a bed. She seemed like she was about 15 to 16 years old. Her hair was black and her lips were red. She had fair skin. Upon looking at her features, she would be a fine and beautiful woman in the future.
[Alice] (Normal, Humanoid)
Level: 105
HP: 5,000/ 16,200
‘Ding! You have completed a quest: Finding Alice. You have received a reward: 200,000 experience points!’
‘Ding! Although you have found Alive, that naughty little lady is on the brink of death. You wouldn’t want to bring her dead body over to her parents, would you? Find a way to save her as quickly as possible!’
‘Ding! Will you accept a new quest: The Way of Healing?’
Upon seeing Alice, the three of them received a system notification at the same instant.
Since that they had traveled from a long distance all the way here, there was no reason to stop here. So, the three of them accepted the new quest without any hesitation.
‘Ding! You have accepted a quest: The Way of Healing. You must find a solution to saving the little girl within 10 hours. Or Alice will die!’
Zhang Yang told Charlie Moto, "Granpa, thank you so much! She’s Alice alright. We received a request from her parents to bring her home safely! However, she’s really in a bad shape now. Do you have any idea what’s wrong with her?"
"She ate too many poisonous stuff!" Charlie Moto tapped his tobacco pipe and sat down. Then he said, "The milk in the river has Melamine in it. The jellies in the jungle have poisonous Shadow Glue in them. And the chicken chops... were fried with gutter oil! Argh!"
Zhang Yang and his two party member were ‘amazed’.