The Thief in the Room
After Chen Shanqiang's visit, Lister's room at the Evergreen Inn suddenly became much livelier.
Although everyone on the public chat said the one gold coin was hard to earn, their actions told a different story.
In just two days, no fewer than thirty players had come to Lister. Nearly a tenth of the players had accepted the quest.
And that number was still growing.
Just after the latest player entered the room, Lister scanned his information and suddenly noticed something was wrong.
[Target found: Whether You Like It or Not (Zheng Qiang)] [Scanning relative strength... scan complete...] [Level: Lv10] [Class: Mechanism Apprentice (mechanical type)] [Health: 301/301] [Stamina: 104/104] [Attributes: Strength 2, stamina 2, intelligence 4, agility 2] [Skill: Beast Trap (F-rank) Lv1: Places a simple trap that causes an enemy to bleed and reduces their agility.] [Overall rating: F]
There was nothing wrong with this player's attributes, but another system scan immediately appeared.
[Target found: Unknown] [Scanning relative strength... scan complete...] [Level: Lv33] [Class: Rogue (supernatural type)] [Health: 2501/2501] [Stamina: 904/904] [Attributes: Strength 17, stamina 25, intelligence 33, agility 33] [Skills: Extreme Concealment (A-rank) Lv31: Enters a shadow form for 180 seconds while releasing an aura that reduces the opponent's perception by 62% (subject to change based on intelligence and the opponent's attributes). Universe in the Sleeve (B-rank) Lv33: Completely conceals the user's presence. Has a 90% chance of stealing an item and a 33% chance of stealing a specific item from an opponent (note: inanimate objects only). Shadow Stealth (B-rank) Lv33...] [Overall rating: C]
Had a thief slipped into my room too?
Lister chatted with the player as he pondered the matter.
The thief's level was fairly high, and by the looks of it, they weren't from Jiangling Prefecture either.
The thief had mastered a high-level A-rank (perfect) skill. Lister secretly searched for a while out of the corner of his eye, but he really couldn't sense them in the room.
If he hadn't just scanned the player in front of him and had the system pick up this person as well, he really would have fallen for their trick.
After inviting the player to sit down, Lister concentrated and looked around the room again.
But even when he deliberately searched, he couldn't find any trace of the person in the room. A-rank skills really did have their own special qualities.
The thief wasn't particularly strong, but their concealment ability was definitely top-notch.
"Count, I'm willing to accept this quest."
Lister had long since grown tired of going through the simple quest routine.
It had been novel the first couple of times, and he could still keep up the act for three or five, but after dozens of times, he really wanted to get away.
Fortunately, this quest assignment was different. There was also a little thief in the room.
For once, Lister took the initiative to open the door and see the player out.
Then, standing by the door, he focused all his attention, but still couldn't sense anything unusual.
He closed the door and scanned the room with the system once more.
The enemy's information popped up again. The person was indeed still there.
Pretending to relax, he waited quite a while, but the thief still neither left nor attacked him.
It looked as though the thief hadn't come to assassinate him, but rather to steal his things.
As a foreign envoy whose room had seen so many people coming and going over the past few days, it was normal for him to attract a thief.
It was just that this thief's ability seemed a little excessive. Lister really couldn't sense them at all, which left him somewhat helpless.
If he encountered this situation in a real fight, even if his opponent wasn't strong, he would have to take a hit before he could find a chance to counterattack.
"What are you looking for?"
Lister spoke rather abruptly in the quiet room, as if he were talking to himself.
Although he knew the thief's concealment lasted only 180 seconds, if their time was almost up and they decided to leave, Lister really wasn't confident he could catch them.
At the same time, something else occurred to him: the thief's stealing ability seemed useful to him too, so he decided to get straight to the point.
At that moment, Wu Yan, the thief stealing items from Lister's luggage by the bed, froze and grew wary.
She was an experienced thief, after all. Without panicking, she turned to look at Lister behind her.
Seeing that Lister wasn't looking in her direction as he spoke, she immediately concluded that he was only trying to bluff her out.
She had sensed Lister's presence before, and he was far stronger than her. That was also why she had obediently refrained from attacking.
She now concluded that Lister might have sensed something unusual in the room because of his exceptional strength, but couldn't sense her. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to bluff.
She breathed a sigh of relief, but couldn't help picking up the pace as she continued using Universe in the Sleeve.
Although her skill didn't have a high chance of stealing a specific item, it should at least have had a one-in-three chance.
Yet, to her surprise, she had used Universe in the Sleeve seven times in a row today and still hadn't found what she wanted.
She couldn't help wondering whether Lister had the item at all.
"Could you show yourself so we can talk?"
"Don't worry, I mean you no harm. I just have something I'd like your help with."
"If you're willing, I'll give you anything in my room that catches your eye."
The players could only help him gather information about Assistant Commander Li.
What Lister most wanted to find out was whether the visualization diagram was actually in Assistant Commander Li's possession.
He had been at a loss until now. His worst option was to force his way in using his strength, but even if he got inside, he might not find the visualization diagram.
Now, this thief's appearance had given Lister a new possibility.
But the thief was highly wary and remained completely unmoved.
Seeing this, Lister stopped talking and concentrated, keeping his eyes fixed only on the window and the door where he stood.
His intelligence was fairly high, after all. The instant the thief opened the window to leave, he sensed the fluctuation of her presence and drew his blade.
He didn't need to aim much. Already poised to strike, he leaped forward and slashed.
Lister wholeheartedly acknowledged the thief's superiority in concealment, but when it came to attacking, he was confident in the speed of his blade.
Sure enough, he felt his blade strike flesh, and the thief's figure began to appear.
She was about 1.7 meters tall, dressed in black with a black cloak. His slash had struck her back, and blood streamed down it.
"Attack: Dealt 1909 damage."
He had nearly killed her in one blow, even though he had held back a little.
She leaped out the window, and he followed, but just as he was about to give chase, the thief suddenly yanked hard on the cloak behind her.
Her whole body vanished, disappearing in an instant on the crowded street.
Only the spots of blood left on the ground marked her passage.
Unfortunately, once the thief concealed herself, the trail of blood she shed afterward vanished as well.
In the end, Lister shook his head helplessly and returned to the room to check his belongings.
His luggage looked intact, but the contents had long since vanished, leaving only an empty frame.
As soon as he touched it, the whole piece of luggage instantly collapsed.
Fortunately, there was nothing essential in his luggage. Lister had kept his important potions in the system inventory ever since the closed beta began.
Messages continued to fly back and forth in the public chat.
"Anyone still keeping watch?"
"Anyone low-level want to sneak in and take a look?"
"Why don't you go in yourself? You just want to wait until someone finishes the quest and freeload off them at the end, right?"
"How is that freeloading? I'm willing to pay fifty silver coins for the quest information."
In the public chat, the investigation quest Lister had issued was becoming increasingly popular.
But not many people were actually doing it. Most of them had the same idea.
They would wait for someone to uncover the key information, get it for free, and then come to Lister to claim the reward themselves. They were all ready to reap the benefits without lifting a finger.
Lister had experience with this too.
Although he had set no limit on this quest, for the next one he planned to restrict rewards to the first few players.
In any case, he had achieved the goal he had set for the moment.
With the players helping gather information, he could at least get a fairly comprehensive initial account of Assistant Commander Li.
At the same time, he planned to issue a second side quest for the players to investigate the thief who had just been in his room.