Chapter 147: Never Surrender

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Online Game: The Legend of Piracy

After logging in, Xinyu and Xu Lin had been leveling not far away. The two worked together quite well; when facing a single monster, they could already kill it instantly from a distance.

When Xu Lin saw me log in, she immediately gave me an ambiguous smile and walked over. “Xue Han still hasn’t come. I wonder what happened...”

“How would I know?”

I had barely finished speaking when Xue Han appeared beside me, logging in at that very moment.

“Come clean. What did you do to our beautiful Xue Han just now?” Xinyu draped herself over my shoulder, and my arm immediately felt the astonishing softness of her chest.

“Ask Xue Han. I’ve forgotten everything!”

I said this utterly irresponsibly, lowering Xinyu’s hands and, by the same motion, putting an arm around her shoulders.

If I had feelings for Xue Han, then I had feelings for Xinyu as well. After everything we had been through, I truly did not want to see her hurt again. I never wanted to see that sorrowful look on her face a second time in my life.

Xue Han’s face flushed crimson. After stammering for a long while, she suddenly stomped over beside me, punched me, and said, “You tell them!”

I could not help laughing. Turning to Xinyu and Xu Lin, I said, “It’s just as you’re imagining. I don’t need to describe the details, do I?”

Xue Han stared at me in astonishment, while Xinyu patted my shoulder. “Stop bragging. You? You don’t have that kind of nerve. You’ve got plenty of courage when it comes to killing people in the game, but in every other respect, you’re completely useless.”

I gave an embarrassed laugh. “Enough talk. Let’s hurry up and level.”

And so everyone immediately resumed our frantic monster-burning expedition. There were still very few people on Silvermoon Mountain. Occasionally, a solitary player would pass along the mountain paths, but after watching the way we leveled, they would only drool with envy before leaving.

We kept fighting until after eleven that night. The girls were all exhausted, so they logged off to sleep first, while I stayed behind to finish processing the herbs.

After a full day of gathering, my inventory was nearly overflowing with all kinds of medicinal plants.

I went down the mountain and repaired my equipment first. When I noticed that Murong Shanshan’s name was still lit on my friends list, I opened a private call. “Why aren’t you asleep yet? Take care of your beauty, or you’ll never get married!”

“That’s none of your business!” Murong Shanshan replied with a laugh, then added, “I’m going to sleep now. You should turn in early too. Don’t stay up so late all the time.”

“Got it!”

...

Murong Shanshan logged off afterward, but I decided to finish processing the herbs before doing anything else. The result far exceeded my expectations: merely processing the herbs in my inventory took three hours. At two in the morning, thanks to my tireless efforts and the support of my abundant resources, my alchemy skill finally reached level three. I immediately checked the properties of the level-three potions.

I clicked open the blue skill bar, and the ingredients required for level-three alchemy instantly appeared before me: apple mint, ten units; lemongrass, five units; butterfly flower, one unit; and one empty bottle.

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I was stunned. Xinyu and the other girls and I had spent the entire day fighting here, yet we had not obtained a single herb called butterfly flower. Could this mean that my path to becoming an alchemy master had come to an end?

Unwilling to accept that, I returned to the city to see whether there was any way to obtain butterfly flowers.

My luck was excellent. Just after I entered the gates of Silvermoon City, I spotted a player named Medicine Jar selling alchemy materials. His stall was piled high with all kinds of herbs, including the butterfly flowers I needed.

“Master, may I ask where you obtained these butterfly flowers?” I crouched down and asked him.

The herbalist was a fairly old player; the wrinkles on his face made that obvious. He looked up at me, surprise flickering across his features.

“Aren’t you the number-one warrior in the city? Why have you taken an interest in alchemy too?”

I gave an awkward smile. “Not really. I only learned the alchemy skill after accepting a quest. I’ve just raised it to level three, and I never expected to be missing an ingredient called butterfly flower. So I’ve been wandering around to see whether I could find some. I didn’t expect to see you setting up a stall here the moment I entered the city.”

Medicine Jar laughed. “Heh, I never thought a high-level player like you would be interested in medicinal herbs. I won’t hide it from you. Ever since I reached level thirty, I haven’t fought monsters at all. I learned the gathering skill and have been searching the mountains for materials. These butterfly flowers and the like were all gathered on Silvermoon Mountain.”

I asked in surprise, “You dare go up Silvermoon Mountain at such a low level?”

“Of course not. I can only wander around the foot of the mountain. I’ve nearly been killed by monsters several times. Fortunately, I’m a rogue. Otherwise, I probably couldn’t have obtained even these herbs.”

Only then did I notice that Medicine Jar was a rogue, and that he was merely level thirty—the minimum level for entering the city. It seemed he truly had never trained in combat at all.

“Master, did you decide to specialize in gathering before entering the game?”

Medicine Jar chuckled. “I wanted to, but later I learned that this game doesn’t have a profession specializing in gathering. So I chose a rogue instead. In any case, a rogue’s stealth is very useful for gathering.”

I nodded. “You still need to raise your level. Otherwise, you definitely won’t be able to gather high-level materials. By the way, where did you take up this secondary gathering profession? Could you point me in the right direction?”

“In the small woods south of the city. I heard there’s an NPC who appears at random among several coordinates there. Go try your luck. You can accept the profession quest from the NPC.”

I thanked Medicine Jar repeatedly, then bid farewell to this unusual player and headed south. If possible, I would complete this secondary profession tonight.

Just outside the southern gate stood a group of players waiting to form a party and head out to level. Several of them spotted me and immediately began gesturing. Only then did I notice that all of them had the guild name Romantic World above their heads.

So I had run into people from Romantic World!

Not wanting to invite trouble, I immediately activated stealth. The players reacted as though they had seen a ghost, their mouths falling open one after another. It was no wonder: a swordsman had suddenly vanished in broad daylight without even returning to the city. Anyone with the slightest common sense would have thought they were witnessing a ghost.

The woods were not particularly dense. In places without trees, I could still see the yellow earth beneath the grass. Yet I saw no quest NPC like Medicine Jar had described. The woods were not small, either. A systematic search would leave my legs numb with exhaustion. Besides, the NPC’s location was not fixed. It changed every hour, appearing at random somewhere in the open woodland before the southern gate.

As I searched, the sound of fighting suddenly reached me from ahead. I hurried over to watch.

Something entirely unexpected happened. I was not the only spectator at the scene. More than a dozen other players were standing nearby, watching coldly, while some whispered among themselves.

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I squeezed into the crowd and finally saw what was happening. A level-thirty-two warrior was surrounded by three other players. All three had names beginning with Justice; they were clearly members of the same family. Judging by the situation, the level-thirty-two warrior was in grave danger.

I asked the player beside me, “Brother, who are those people? What’s going on here?”

“You don’t know them? They’re quite famous in Silvermoon City. See that level-thirty-two warrior? His name is Never Yield. He was level thirty-nine to begin with, but they’ve killed him back down to thirty-two over the past few days. I hear he’s fallen from thirty-three to thirty-two seven times in a row, only to train back up each time.”

I was stunned. “What happened? Who killed him?”

The man was clearly patient, and he had a real talent for storytelling.

“Who else but the people standing opposite him? From Justice One to Justice Fifty-One, that family has fifty-one players in all. I heard it started with Justice Four. He stole Never Yield’s monsters while the latter was leveling in Shadowmoon Valley, and then even attacked him in a player-versus-player fight. Never Yield turned out to be one tough bastard. He trained like a madman for two days and eventually surpassed Justice Four. Then, over the next few days, Never Yield killed Justice Four three times in succession. That finally enraged the Justice family, so they mobilized the entire clan to hunt him down!”

“And then? What happened next?” I pressed eagerly. People like this were rare.

The man continued, “After that, things were only natural. How could one person possibly stand against an entire family? In half a day, they killed him from level thirty-nine all the way down to thirty-two. Damn, though, that kid really has guts. He knew they had a huge advantage in numbers, yet he still kept going after Justice Four. And he really did kill Justice Four several times, which is why Justice Four’s level never managed to rise.”

I marveled inwardly. At that moment, someone in the middle of the crowd spoke—and it was Justice Four.

“Little bastard, how many times do you have to die before you’re satisfied? Damn it, I’ve never seen anyone so fucking persistent!”

Never Yield stared fixedly at Justice Four. “One more level and you’ll be back at twenty-nine. This isn’t a place for trash like you!”

Justice Four’s voice faltered, and his face instantly turned ugly. Then Justice One, who looked like the leader, stepped forward with a sigh.

“Brother, I know our Fourth had a grudge with you, but aren’t you tired of this? Do you really think one person can stand against an entire family? Our family has more than a hundred people.”

Never Yield’s gaze was resolute. “I’m only here to tell you this: whoever steals monsters and kills people deserves to die! I don’t care whether there are a hundred of you or a thousand. Why should I fear you?”

Nearly everyone was stunned. This strange man truly lived up to his name. Even when facing a large family of more than a hundred players, he showed no fear whatsoever. What kind of courage did that take?

“Damn it, he really doesn’t know when to quit! Brothers, kill him!”

The members of the Justice family attacked almost instantly, giving no one else a chance to react. To my surprise, Never Yield did not die. His health had merely been reduced by half.

“Stop!”

I stepped out of the crowd and shouted. Everyone immediately turned their eyes toward me.

“Ah! It’s Jade Soup with Greens!”

The members of the Justice family were aghast. “What do you want?”