A Stumbling Block

[The Scattered Wind and Water] Guild Hall.

Within an antique-style garden complex, a man dressed in a vintage Chinese-style short jacket sat in a pavilion, fiddling with a tea set.

The man appeared to be in his thirties, his slanted-collar frog buttons fastened meticulously up to his neck. His hairstyle was a slightly dated, rigid side-part, yet paired with his deep, melancholic eyes that held a hint of a smile, he looked natural and harmonious.

At a glance, he looked like Tony Leung having walked straight out of Days of Being Wild into reality.

Accompanied by the birdsong and floral fragrance of the courtyard, a young man in a grey long gown walked quickly along the corridor into the pavilion, bowing respectfully toward the man sipping tea.

"Master, it's confirmed. It is in that trial map, exactly as you calculated."

"Mm." The man took a sip of tea, offering nothing more.

The young man, feeling uncertain, probed, "Master, should we send someone over to take a look?"

"Send someone? How?" The man turned his head slightly to look at his disciple, his tone calm, devoid of much emotion. "That is a novice map. The system randomly matches players to enter. Once the mission begins, under the operation of system laws, we have no right to interfere."

The young man, feeling somewhat unconvinced, lowered his head and muttered, "But I heard that someone from the Ghost Tamer Alliance hacked directly into the NPC's system..."

The man glanced sideways at his disciple. "Others may do things that violate system rules, but we may not."

Realizing his words had displeased his master, the young man replied with an "understood" and dropped the subject, though he couldn't help but grumble, "That prophecy was clearly given to Jun Wuming by you in secret. The Ghost Tamer Alliance must have intercepted our message halfway; how shameless of them."

The man took a sip of tea and said indifferently, "They won't intervene."

"They won't?"

The young man found this strange, thinking to himself that since the other side had already hacked into the NPC system, how could they possibly not intervene? But if his master said they wouldn't, then they certainly wouldn't.

The man continued, "The Ghost Tamer Alliance is not stupid. They won't enter a game that is guaranteed to be a loss."

The young man seemed to understand yet remained confused, asking, "Master, what should we do now?"

The man lowered his eyes to the teacup in his hand, ripples forming in the clear tea. "Go to Game Lobby 36792. After they leave this current trial map, they will be teleported there."

As he spoke, the man looked up and chuckled. "If Jun Wuming fails to succeed within the map, he will have no choice but to hand over the item in the lobby."

Seventh High School campus, center of the playground.

Wen Nan stood on the grass, watching Yu Shujun, who looked like a street vendor, laying out items from her school uniform one by one—

Two holey athletic socks, two deformed wire hangers, a blackboard eraser covered in chalk dust, a pair of panties worn so many times they were nearly translucent, a weed covered in bloody clumps of dirt, two crushed mineral water bottles, an Empty Cola Can...

As Yu Shujun laid out the items, Wen Nan squatted down beside her and picked up the blackboard eraser. "The old man who collects scrap near the flower bed in front of our teaching building doesn't even have as complete a collection as you."

Yu Shujun glanced at him, then continued pulling out items without a word.

A glimmer of golden light flashed over the blackboard eraser in Wen Nan's hand, and the system prompt sounded in his mind.

9527: [Hidden item detected in this map: Blackboard Eraser.]

Wen Nan asked in his mind what the item was for, only to receive the reply: [This item has been locked by another player or character; detailed introduction cannot be viewed.]

It wasn't his item, so he wasn't even granted permission to view the description?

Wen Nan placed the eraser in his palm, tossing it casually. "I thought you would drag it out until the very last moment to find me."

Hearing this, Yu Shujun's hand paused, and she turned to look at the person beside her.

Seeing that the other party's expression was casual, as if it were just an offhand remark rather than an intentional probe, the anxiety in Yu Shujun's heart eased slightly.

In reality, Yu Shujun had indeed planned to wait until the very last moment to find him—

She had already swept this map entirely. Aside from the Empty Cola Can taken by the man named Ye Jiu halfway through, all the hidden items here had been collected by Yu Shujun.

However, she had been dragging it out, delaying the meeting, specifically to wait until the final moment to fulfill the agreement right at the settlement time.

According to Yu Shujun's original plan, she had hoped to make her move only after the settlement, once they had left the map and entered the game lobby.

After all, it would be more convenient to act there without being tied down.

But...

The plan had changed.

People from the [The Scattered Wind and Water] guild had already headed to the game lobby corresponding to this map.

Thinking of that refined and elegant man in [The Scattered Wind and Water], Yu Shujun felt a headache coming on—facing him head-on, the current Yu Shujun was absolutely no match for him.

She had to resolve this matter within this map.

Given that man's style, Yu Shujun believed he would not violate system laws, nor would he ever pull strings within a trial map.

The only ones here who could potentially cause an obstacle were the people from the [Ghost Tamer Alliance] guild.

But Yu Shujun didn't take those clowns seriously at all—unless their Guild Master acted personally, but she believed that with the Guild Master's temperament, he wouldn't lower himself to enter the fray.

Therefore... Yu Shujun felt she was certain to succeed.

In this map, no one could stop Yu Shujun... could they?

With a sudden thought, Yu Shujun turned to look at the man squatting beside her.

Could this man become the final stumbling block?

This thought flashed through her mind, only to be quickly suppressed by Yu Shujun—

It couldn't be. Although this person possessed a bit of petty cunning, he was ultimately just an inexperienced novice with neither power nor influence. When it came down to it, he was no different from the clowns in the Ghost Tamer Alliance; he wouldn't be able to stir up any real trouble.

"What are you thinking about? You're so deep in thought."

Wen Nan raised his hand and waved it in front of Yu Shujun.

Yu Shujun reined in her thoughts and tilted her chin to gesture at the items spread out before them. "These are all the props. They all need to be placed into your equipment backup slot."

Wen Nan glanced at the "junk" covering the floor and couldn't help but sigh again, "With this much stuff, how on earth did you manage to cram it all in?"

Yu Shujun remained silent for a moment. In the end, she ignored Wen Nan's question and simply pulled up her character interface in her mind to perform a few operations.

The next moment, a message appeared in Wen Nan's system—

9527: [Character Yu Shujun detected, requesting to enable your equipment backup slot sharing function. Do you accept?]