Chapter 10 - Particr Tastes


    Gu Fei noticed on his way back that the number of yers gradually increased the closer he got to Yunduan City. A majority of yers had yet to focus on leveling; instead they were reveling in the wonders of full-immersion gaming. Even just holding hands with someone or patting a person’s shoulder was a novel experience to them.


    Gu Fei entered the city gate and headed toward the central square after asking Fireball where the tavern was located.


    Three important structures, the tavern, auction house, and bank, were spread out around the square.


    Gu Fei made his way over to the tavern and pushed open its door.


    The ce was not as dimly lit as Gu Fei had imagined; rather, the lighting had a natural glow that created a warm and cozy atmosphere. There were many yers inside; most of them were boisterous and joyful. As for those who were supposedly drowning their sorrows in alcohol, they had not appeared just yet. The wooden racks behind the counter were filled with various alcohol bottles; the NPC bartender had a friendly attitude, serving and greeting every customer with a smile.


    Gu Fei looked around, yet it was Fireball who found him first from the crowd. He called out from the table he was upying, “Drunk bro, over here!”


    “Hey, Fireball!” Gu Fei greeted back. With a whoosh, a fireball ignited right in front of him. The yers around him were momentarily shocked, but theyughed in unison upon realizing what had happened.


    “Hey, isn’t that...” Gu Fei suddenly noticed someone familiar in the tavern.


    Fireball turned to look before smiling, “Yeah that’s Sword Demon. He arrived not too long ago.”


    “He took a detour, yet he had arrived before me!” Gu Fei said in surprise.


    “What?” Fireball asked nkly.


    “He was grinding at the same map as me before. I saw him,” Gu Fei exined.


    “Oh... His level must be pretty high,” Fireball said as he poured Gu Fei some liquor. “Come on, Drunk bro. Try this alcohol. You must surely love alcohol with your name, right?”


    Gu Fei grimaced, “Did you forget? My username was also given by someone else, just like yours.”


    “Oh, right... I forgot!” Fireball smacked his forehead. “I wouldn’t have invited you for a drink if I had remembered. I’ve spent a whole silver coin for this!” Fireballmented. A silver coin was equivalent to 100 copper coins. He could have bought one beginner weapon from the cksmith in the early stages of the game with the money. Fireball must have spent quite some time killing monsters to umte that amount.


    “No worries. My treat!” Gu Feiughed. Since he fought monsters of a much higher level than Fireball, his ie was naturally significantly higher as well.


    Sword Demon had also noticed Gu Fei’s presence by now. Their eyes met and he nodded at Gu Fei, which could be considered as a form of greeting.


    A huge racket pervaded the whole tavern.


    Suddenly, the tavern door squeaked open. The whole ce descended into silence. The remaining, scattered sounds all came from the people who had their backs to the door, including Gu Fei.


    Gu Fei followed everyone’s lustful gazes and saw ady.


    The robe she wore was familiar, but Gu Fei was unsure if she was the same woman he had seen back at the hillside. He saw plenty of simr outfits along the way back, which meant the robe was job-ss-specific clothes.


    Clothes in the game would automatically fit the form of a yer. Thus, everyone’s body shape could clearly be seen. The body of thedy was slender and svelte, curvy in the right areas with no apparent ws; her whole body did not have a shadow of excess fat. With such a perfect figure, it was no wonder everyone in the tavern was dumbfounded.


    Her looks were not as stunning inparison. Still, she had a fairlyely face. Her eyes beheld a watery gaze that captivated people’s hearts, and the delicate corners of her mouth formed a smile that made everyone feel a sense of warmth and closeness. With that dainty smile, thedy nodded slightly at everyone in the tavern.


    The tavern patrons returned back to normal, breaking into a hubbub once more. The ogling looks from them at thedy were now reced with an air of false sanctimony and disregard. They could only sneak in a few nces if they wanted to continue ogling.


    The tavern was packed, so there were currently no tables avable. Some tables had empty seats and the male yers at these tables all revealed looks of excitement. However, no one was foolish enough to take the initiative and personally invite thedy over; whoever made the first move would suffer the wrath of the people. Even just being in temporary close proximity to thedy might have guaranteed being tied up and thrown into a river after leaving the establishment. To maintain peace, everyone waited patiently for the beautifuldy to make her choice.


    Fireball was visibly excited as thedy walked over gently. He and Gu Fei sat at a table with four seats; this was an excellent arrangement since there were only the two of them there. He had never thought that thedy would only gaze past the two empty seats before making her way past them.


    Fireball’s eagerness vanished right then, before sniffing in the end, “Wow. How fragrant.”


    “It’s a game... How could there be perfume?” Gu Fei threw a withering look at him.


    “It’s body fragrance! The game simted body fragrance!” Fireball insisted.


    Gu Feiughed. He could no longer be bothered insisting with him. By now, thedy had already made her way past a vast portion of the tavern, yet she had still not chosen a seat. She seemed like she was about to leave through the other door. Suddenly, she stopped right beside Sword Demon.


    Sword Demon sat at a table with two seats, so there just happened to be a free seat since he was alone.


    All held their breath, while many were stumped. Thedy sure had very particr tastes! To think she would pick the person who was possibly the ugliest one out of all of them.


    Although Sword Demon was an online gaming professional, he was still just an ordinary man. His heart surged a little when he saw the beautifuldy stop beside him. However, thedy did not take a seat and instead patted him on the back with her right hand.


    The whole ce fell silent again. Did they know each other? Everyone wanted to know the answer to this question. It was Beauty and the Beast! That was probably what arge number of them were thinking, while some had even thought it out as a case of ’a flower betwixt cow dung’.


    Sword Demon was ttered, but he obviously knew he was not acquainted with thedy at all. Just as he was about to talk to her, thedyughed and pointed at his feet, “You dropped your coin!”


    Everyone, including Sword Demon, bent over and looked.


    A shiny gold coiny beside Sword Demon’s foot.


    “Oh, thanks!” Sword Demon bent over instinctively to pick it up, still pondering inside if this was a good excuse to share a drink with her.


    “You’re wee,” thedy replied, leaving toward the exit just as he picked up the gold coin. She smiled as she looked back at him before she left the establishment.


    Sword Demon was in a daze. He held onto the gold coin with so much strength that he seemed to have mastered a kung fu technique.


    “She has a good figure, beautiful looks, and even her voice is so pleasant! Ahhh! I think I’m in love with her,” Fireball sighed, “Drunk bro, you—eh?” Fireball had waited until thedy left the tavern before turning to Gu Fei, yet he saw Gu Fei suddenly stand up and run out.


    “You really are my idol!” Fireball stared at Gu Fei’s back with a look of astonishment.


    Gu Fei rushed out of the tavern and looked around. He caught a glimpse of thedy taking a right turn into an alley and immediately gave her the chase.


    Sword Demon, you idiot! Gu Fei swore in his heart silently, Did you really fail to notice that the Frost Memories you left on the table had already been stolen as you yed with the gold coin?


    No one would have suspected ady like that would do such a thing. Gu Fei would not have believed it either had he not seen it with his eyes.


    It was far too despicable. Gu Fei gritted his teeth as this incident had made him recall a dark memory from his childhood.


    When he practiced martial arts, every day was very demanding. Gu Fei had to follow a strict diet with minimal food. Whenever he was eating, his second uncle’s jinx of a child who would alwayse, “Hey, Xiao Fei, you dropped food on the ground again. You better pick it up, or else third uncle is going to beat you.”


    “Oh!” the young Gu Fei hurriedly bent down to pick it up, but by the time he got back up again, his bowl of food had already been devoured by that child.


    That was not the only time his cousin fooled him. All sorts of tricks, such as telling him that there were flying saucers, his father was looking for him, or even “ck Cat Detective” was on television, were used on him until Gu Fei finally developed a resistance toward schemes of misdirection. By the time he had learned to deal with the deceptions and violently beat up the cousin, the other had already be tired of eating Gu Fei’s meals and stopped ying tricks.


    After so many years, Gu Fei would still feel a burning desire to serve justice whenever he thought of those incidents. Today, he was finally given a chance.


    It was a pity the target was ady. No matter what he did, he needed to have some discretion.


    Gu Fei pondered as he turned into the alley. He ended uping face to face with someone else.


    The first thing he thought was, Oh. What a smell! He reacted afterward and hurriedly took a step back. Thedy observed him with squinted eyes, “Why are you following me?”


    “Return it to me!” Although his face flushed from that close contact just now, Gu Fei suppressed his sudden impulse to do it again and gave her a nasty look instead.


    “Return what?” thedy asked innocently.


    “Are you trying to y the fool? You just took that dagger from the tavern. Return the Frost Memories!” Gu Fei said.


    Thedy was stunned. She was not actually ying the fool; she just had not expected Gu Fei to be here, attempting to reim the stolen weapon that was not his. She was rather confident in her beauty, so she thought he was some lustful person with nothing better to do than to flirt with her.