What Are You Looking At?

What Are You Looking At?

"Flap, flap, flap..." Just as Ye Weiming was feeling depressed over losing the criminal suspect, a white pigeon fluttered down onto his shoulder.

This kind of white pigeon was a uniquely special communication item in the game, known as a Carrier Pigeon Message.

The instant the pigeon landed on his shoulder, it vanished. In its place, a flashing message appeared in his inbox:

Zhang Cuishan did not flee before the battle. He noticed someone escaping from a hidden place within the escort agency and went after them before he had time to notify the others. Among everyone present, his cultivation was the highest, and he was the only one who noticed the movement.

Although he failed to catch the person, we have successfully regrouped. We will continue gathering information in Hangzhou City. If you are interested in cooperating, meet us at Broken Bridge tomorrow at dusk.

—Yin Bukui

After his exchange with the Man in Black, Ye Weiming was now more than ninety percent certain that the Massacre Case at the Dragon Gate Escort Agency had not been committed by Zhang Cuishan or the Wudang Sect disciples.

Moreover, their goals were the same: uncovering the truth behind the Dragon Gate Escort Agency massacre. Cooperating with Wudang Sect was indeed not a bad choice.

Having sorted out the key points, Ye Weiming immediately sent Yin Bukui a reply containing only four words: "See you there!"

He returned to the escort agency and continued encoffining corpses. Once he had filled his inventory, Ye Weiming carefully searched the agency once more. After confirming there were no further clues, he activated the Eight-Step Toad Leap movement technique and ran toward the outskirts of Hangzhou City.

Digging holes to bury people, returning to the escort agency to collect corpses, then heading out of the city to dig more holes and bury more people...

The back-and-forth kept him busy for more than half the night. By the time Ye Weiming had buried the last corpse, the eastern sky was already turning pale. The grave mounds he had made earlier had long since been refreshed away by the system, leaving only level grassland behind.

Perhaps minor figures like Du Dajin were destined to leave behind no name for future generations to remember, not even a trace proving that they had ever existed in this world.

Taking a deep breath of the dawn's fresh air, Ye Weiming did not return to Hangzhou City. Instead, he unfolded the Eight-Step Toad Leap and sprinted directly toward Sunset Mountain.

Since he had found no clues within the Dragon Gate Escort Agency, Ye Weiming could not be bothered to waste time asking around Hangzhou City blindly. Before meeting up with Yin Bukui, he might as well retrieve the secret manual Old Man Li had left behind and improve his strength as much as possible.

He had a feeling that the coming mission would definitely not be as simple as solving a case through deduction.

The route from outside Hangzhou City to Sunset Mountain was straightforward. He only needed to follow the shores of West Lake southward. Along the way were groups of humanoid monsters called the West Lake Bandits. They were aggressive monsters ranging from levels 10 to 12. As ordinary mobs, their strength was naturally nothing special. They were basically just a group of somewhat fiercer ordinary people, and with Ye Weiming's current strength, killing them was effortless.

Compared to their pathetic strength, the West Lake Bandits' drop rate was fairly decent. Every one he killed would usually drop a few scattered copper coins. The amount was not much, but grinding enough of them still made for a decent income.

After all, animal-type monsters did not drop money.

Besides that, there was Realgar Wine. Almost every West Lake Bandit dropped a bottle.

Realgar Wine: After drinking, Attack Power +5 for one hour. Has a chance of entering a drunken state, reducing movement by 5 and reaction by 5. (The chance of drunkenness depends on the player's alcohol tolerance.)

Its effect was rather like Chicken Ribs, but it could still be sold to general stores in town for money, making it another decent source of income.

Ye Weiming tested his Corpse Handling Method on the West Lake Bandits again, but the results were far from satisfactory. After encoffining ten corpses, he obtained only one copy of "Blade Technique Insights."

Blade Technique Insights: Insights into the blade techniques used by the West Lake Bandits. Can be applied to a designated blade technique to increase its Proficiency by 5 points.

With a casual slap, the secret manual vanished. Through Cross-Discipline Comprehension, his swordsmanship proficiency increased by 1 point!

After encoffining ten corpses, he had received only 1 point of swordsmanship proficiency. No matter how Ye Weiming calculated it, he felt he had suffered a huge loss.

Not to mention that buying straw mats cost money, the time spent encoffining and burying corpses would have yielded far greater returns if used for killing monsters or training instead!

Having confirmed that these constantly respawning wild mobs had no value for corpse encoffining, Ye Weiming could not be bothered to waste any more effort. He quickened his pace and charged straight toward his destination. Whenever he encountered aggressive bandits along the way, he killed them in passing, but he did not take the initiative to provoke the others. After all, he had come here today to hunt for treasure, not to kill monsters and level up.

Yet the closer he got to his destination, the more densely the West Lake Bandits were distributed. When he arrived on Sunset Mountain, he found the entire mountaintop packed with them.

The monsters were numerous, their strength was average, and their drop rate was decent. Together, these conditions made for an excellent grinding spot. Groups of three to five players could be seen everywhere in the forest, teaming up to farm monsters. It was incredibly lively.

By the time he fought his way to the outside of Leifeng Pagoda, he could see three groups of players grinding separately. Among them was a female player leaning against the pagoda, using a hand crossbow to pick off bandits. Even when one closed in on her, she calmly kicked it away and resumed firing, killing to her heart's content.

Seeing this, Ye Weiming could not help but feel his head grow twice as big.

He had come here to seek treasure. If so many players were around when he opened the Underground Palace, what treasure would he be seeking? Just shaking off the tails behind him would be enough to give him a headache.

"Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo..."

Suddenly, the crowing of roosters sounded in the distance. As though they had received some command, the bandits all fled toward hidden places with flying speed. The bandits near Leifeng Pagoda rushed directly toward the pagoda's entrance, only to vanish the instant they crossed through its doors.

In just a few seconds, apart from the dozen or so bandits still fighting players, the rest seemed to have vanished into thin air, disappearing completely from everyone's sight.

After the remaining bandits in battle were hacked to pieces by the players, the once-lively grinding spot was entirely devoid of monsters. All that remained was a group of players staring at one another.

"The West Lake Bandits only respawn at night. They disappear after the rooster crows and will not reappear until nightfall. Everyone, disperse." The speaker was a sword-wielding player dressed in Mount Hua Sect attire. However, his sect set was incomplete; he only had a long robe, still far from the full set worn by the sect guides back in the beginner village. Perhaps even the longsword in his hand was the same?

But this was undoubtedly good news for Ye Weiming.

With no more monsters, the players naturally would not linger here. Once everyone had left, he could search for treasure in peace.

After calling out to his teammates, the man led them away without looking back. The other groups soon left as well. Ye Weiming, meanwhile, sat down cross-legged on the spot and began restoring his inner energy.

This was a perfectly normal operation in the game and would arouse no suspicion.

About ten minutes later, Ye Weiming's inner energy had fully recovered. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the beautiful woman who had been leaning against the pagoda and firing shots earlier was now sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed at the entrance to Leifeng Pagoda, apparently restoring her inner energy as well. If Ye Weiming wanted to enter the pagoda, it would be difficult not to alert her.

His gaze unconsciously settled on the woman blocking the entrance. She wore a fitted black outfit that showed off her curvaceous figure. Her chin-length short hair and delicate face gave her an air of shrewd competence.

What drew the most attention was the long, thin scar on her right cheek. It was like a crack in an exquisite piece of porcelain, making anyone who saw it feel a sense of regret.

Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes, and they met Ye Weiming's gaze.

Their eyes locked. Ye Weiming saw thirty percent displeasure, thirty percent disdain, thirty percent provocation, and ten percent indifference in her eyes.

In summary, there were only three words.

What are you looking at?

Thanks to reader Mu Daoran for the 100 Qidian coins!

Thanks to Yu Qin for the 2,000 Qidian coins!

And while I'm at it, please send some recommendations, follows, investments, and reading-list adds my way. The other books launched at the same time are way too fierce—I need your support! (/▽＼)