Chapter 198 – A Bro at the Bottom of a Well
Outskirts of Congee City: Hades Village. Inside a dried up well. Steamed Bun Invasion stood upright and exposed a small bit of himself in order to take a quick sweep of the surroundings.
Initially, Steamed Bun Invasion had randomly hopped down during his escape. His reason for doing so: because it was close. Unexpectedly, this seldom-visited well gave him a hiding place. Steamed Bun Invasion had bravely begun a game of hide-and-seek with his pursuers.
The originally tranquil village had become a noisy mess because of Steamed Bun Invasion’s intrusion. The NPCs were still calmly following their predetermined routes, but the rampaging footsteps of a dozen players, who were chasing Steamed Bun Invasion, resounded throughout the village. The communication between them also came into Steamed Bun Invasion’s ears from time to time.
Steamed Bun Invasion hastily ducked down and listened intently to the what his pursuers were saying.
“Where’d he go?”
“He can’t have run too far. He has to be in the village.”
“What a cunning guy to run to such a place.”
Some footsteps were far. Some were close. They were clearly looking everywhere. Steamed Bun Invasion was listening and just happened to be pondering whether he should stand up straight to take a quick glance around, when a white light suddenly flashed in front of him and a character appeared. Not waiting for Steamed Bun Invasion to open his mouth, that character cried out in fright: “Who are you?”
“Quiet!” Steamed Bun Invasion hurriedly stopped the person from saying anything more.
“What a coincidence! To think I’d bump into someone in this type of place.” This person had absolutely no idea what was going on and continued talking.
Steamed Bun Invasion heard footsteps coming closer and closer. He didn’t know whether it was because of the noise coming from here. Even though this type of hiding place was difficult to find, if he was found, then it’d be difficult to escape from. Steamed Bun Invasion understood this, so as soon as he heard footsteps coming closer, he wouldn’t take any risks and immediately jump outside to escape.
Just as he was about to jump out, he suddenly heard the guy in front of him shout out loudly: “Huh? Steamed Bun Invasion? Are you the Steamed Bun Invasion in Lord Grim’s team on the dungeon record rankings?”
“Yup, that’s me, but right now, I don’t have time to accept your interview. I’m currently hiding from an intense chase. I’m about to rush out!” Steamed Bun Invasion said with a low voice when he suddenly leapt out from the well. He looked around him and sure enough, people were heading towards the well. Seeing him come out, they immediately shouted: “He’s over here!”
Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t stop. As soon as he landed on the ground, he took off.
“Hey, wait up!” The person in the well yelled and then immediately took off too. However, he didn’t use enough strength and didn’t jump high enough. His character’s two feet hit the side of the well, and he was knocked back into it.
None of the pursuers knew who this guy was, so they also called: “There’s even one waiting to ambush us here!”
“Uh oh! It might be a trap!” Someone said. Some of the players immediately stopped, fearing that there might be hidden troops hiding in the well.
The number of players chasing Steamed Bun Invasion wasn’t as numerous as the number of players chasing Su Mucheng and Qiao Yifan, though because of this, they were more unified. There were a dozens players here, from a total of two guilds and they weren’t mortal enemies like Tyrannical Ambition and Excellent Dynasty either, so there was room for discussion.
In this short moment of hesitation, that brother in the well used enough strength this time and jumped out of it. This character was wearing cloth armor and his hands clutched a magic rod, indicating that he was a Mage. After jumping out of the well, he ignored the pursuers and chased after Steamed Bun Invasion.
Seeing him run, the players realized that it didn’t seem to be an ambush. The chances of one were too small, so they immediately began chasing.
Each of the two guilds had separate leaders, so there wasn’t much confusion. The pursuers chased after him closely. Steamed Bun Invasion hastily glanced around to see if there were any places to hide, like before. Just as he was looking, he heard someone yell from behind him: “Run towards the left.”
The voice sounded a bit familiar. Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t think too much about who had said it and headed towards the left. There wasn’t anything special to the left, only an ordinary straw cottage. Steamed Bun Invasion ran behind the straw cottage and temporarily left his pursuer’s line of sight.
“Jump in from that window.” At this moment, that voice came again. Steamed Bun Invasion searched for the so-called “window” when he realized who the person giving him directions was. It was that bro he met at the bottom of the well.
“You’re a really good guy!” Steamed Bun Invasion said and saw which window the bro was referring to and jumped in. The bro from the bottom of the well quickly caught up and crouched down to jump in like Steamed Bun Invasion. The first time, he crashed into the window sill and fell down. The second time, he crashed again and fell. The third time….. Steamed Bun Invasion was at a loss: “What are you doing!”
“I’m jumping in.” The bro from the well said.
“I really can’t tell.” Steamed Bun Invasion said.
The bro from the well understood that he wasn’t skilled enough. His movements weren’t precise enough. After failing three times, he gave up and continued to run left.
“Hey, where are you going?” Steamed Bun Invasion stuck his head out and asked him.
“Put your head back! Add me as a friend and then let’s talk.” The bro from the well ran as he turned his head back to say.
Steamed Bun Invasion pulled back his head and received a system prompt: Concealed Light requests to be your friend.
After accepting the invite, he received a message from Concealed Light: “After 8 seconds, come out through the door.”
Even though Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t know what was going on, he did as he was told. He counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and then ran out of the straw cottage’s door, bumping into Concealed Light, who had just come in from the entrance.
“Over here!” Concealed Light led the way, while Steamed Bun Invasion followed. The two weaved around Hades Village. At first, they could still hear the footsteps and voices of the pursuers, but gradually, the sounds died down and seemed to have returned to the sounds of the NPC’s slow steps and calm village.
“Did we throw them off?” Steamed Bun Invasion glanced around.
“Quiet!” After confirming the situation, it was Concealed Light’s turn to warn Steamed Bun Invasion.
One of Steamed Bun Invasion’s strength was that he was able to listen to other’s suggestions and immediately shut his mouth. At this moment, Concealed Light’s line of sight fell to the Sandstorm Claw that Steamed Bun Invasion was holding, a Brawler weapon.
“Your weapon isn’t an Orange weapon?” Concealed Light suddenly asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why don’t you use one?”
“I don’t have one.”
“What do you mean you don’t have one?”
“It was too expensive. Senior wouldn’t buy it for me.”
The two talked like this with one asking and one replying, but they weren’t on the same page. This Concealed Light was that author of the Idiot’s Series, the Level 32 Summoner, Concealed Light, and was absolutely confident in his judgement. He was certain that Lord Grim’s team all had Orange equipment, but seeing that Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t have one, he refused to believe his judgement was wrong. His intent wasn’t being picked up by Steamed Bun Invasion, who was answering the questions honestly.
“Senior? You mean Lord Grim?” Concealed Light said.
“Yeah! You know him?’ Steamed Bun Invasion was pleasantly surprised.
“I don’t…..” Concealed Light said, but was still confused on how his judgement had been wrong: “How do you not have an Orange weapon?”
“Because we didn’t have enough money.” Steamed Bun Invasion replied as before.
“Their footsteps are coming closer.” Steamed Bun Invasion suddenly heard footsteps.
“Let’s go along this road! We’ll definitely be able to run back to the city before they catch up.” Concealed Light began running forward.
“I’m not going back to the city.” Steamed Bun Invasion said.
“Then where are you going?”
“I’m getting ready in a bit to meet up with senior.” Steamed Bun Invasion said, “Are you going back to the city? That’s perfect! You can lead them away and I’ll be good then.”
Concealed Light coughed up blood. Shouldn’t he be the one without any problems? He still didn’t know why Steamed Bun was being chased. The only reason he was helping Steamed Bun Invasion was because he was a member of the dungeon record team, one of his researched subjects, a character whose equipment he had deduced.
A luxurious Orange equipped team. This was an unrealistic argument and Concealed Light understood this.
Compared to the other Idiot’s Guides, he spent more time for the Boneyard record. Unfortunately, that was the only conclusion he could come up with. He was absolutely confident, but he just couldn’t convince others of it. He really hoped that he could verify his judgement, but he was never able to.
Even after knowing that Steamed Bun Invasion didn’t have an Orange weapon, Concealed Light refused to give up.
Steamed Bun Invasion’s very casual suggestion to let Concealed Light lead the pursuers away did make him want to cough blood, but he wouldn’t argue over something like this. He turned his head to look at Steamed Bun Invasion and suddenly shouted: “Wow! You’re Level 31 now? You’ve probably switched equipment! You previously used a Level 28 Orange weapon right?”
“Nope. I’ve never used one before.” Steamed Bun Invasion said.
“Impossible.” Concealed Light was concerned about this.
“Why aren’t you going back to the city! They’re coming closer.” Steamed Bun Invasion was concerned about this.
“They’re not chasing me, so why should I care?” Concealed Light said.
“What? Then why are you running?” Steamed Bun Invasion asked in curiosity.
“……..’ Concealed Light was speechless.
“If you won’t run, then I’ll be running.” Once Steamed Bun Invasion saw that he wasn’t going to lure them away and there was no way he could stay in the same place for too long, he immediately began running again.
“No! No! You can’t go that way!” Seeing where Steamed Bun Invasion was running, Concealed Light blurted out.