Former Brothers of Chapter Twenty
Thinking that there's nothing else to do, he headed to the government office to see if he could receive any tasks. Most of them were about where bandits, mountain thieves, and pickpockets were, but Xiao Ying didn't bother to look carefully. There were also some players' wanted posters, which Xiao Ying wasn't very interested in. After leaving the government office, he wandered around everywhere, watching the bustling scene of people rushing to and fro on the streets. He really couldn't understand what they were all busy with, especially since there weren't any large-scale wars going on at the moment.
He strolled all the way to the entrance of a huge auction house, thought for a moment and then walked in. Maybe he could stumble upon some rare treasures. After all, he was now a small rich man. Xiao Ying muttered to himself. The auction house not only served as an auction venue but also sold and purchased various weapons and equipment. The auction house was an eight-pillar, three-story wooden structure, about six zhang high. The pillars in the front and back of the main hall were square stone pillars, while those in the secondary hall were wooden pillars. The pillar bases were quadrangular inward-cutting stone foundations. Both the main and secondary halls had lintels, purlins, and ridgepoles, each with carved decorations such as jiandou and dingtou. Above the front and back of the main hall hung signboards, with thick and sturdy brackets, exquisitely crafted. The roof was made of thin bricks in a clear water ripple pattern, with carvings of auspicious flowers and grasses on the surface. At both ends of the main hall's ridgepole were dragon heads; at the ends of the secondary hall's ridgepole were phoenix heads, while the two sloping ridges had flying phoenix decorations.
As soon as I entered the gate, it was divided into three entrances on the left, middle and right. The place was bustling with people coming and going. The left and right sides were for buying and selling respectively. Since the items wouldn't take up much space in my inventory, I didn't bother to sell them. Who knows when I might need them? As soon as I entered the sales area, many people were selecting their desired items. However, someone immediately came over to greet me and ask what I wanted to buy. I don't know if it was a player or an NPC, but it didn't matter. Since I already had a good short-range weapon, I knew that nothing here could compare to the Silver Gun's weapons. So, I expressed my desire to purchase some high-quality bows and arrows. The attendant immediately led me to a place where the walls were filled with various types of bows and arrows, including recurve bows, reflex bows, compound bows, folding bows, etc. Below them were wooden arrows, iron arrows, steel arrows, and other protective gear.
Just as they were selecting, a commotion broke out and suddenly a large group of people walked in from the entrance, majestic and powerful. The people standing in front of them all stepped aside voluntarily or were directly pushed away by their subordinates. Not only were they domineering, but also very arrogant, at least in Xiao Ying's eyes. Upon closer inspection, several people seemed somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite recall where she had seen them before.
"Hey, brother, what kind of people are these? Why are they so overbearing?" Xiao Ying asked the person beside her who was also selecting bow and arrow type items, not knowing if he was a player or an NPC.
"Heh heh, you're new to Luoyang, aren't you?" The man asked with a knowing expression, looking like a local snake with an air of mystery. Seeing Xiao Ying nodding in agreement, he continued, "Just by asking this question, I can tell you're new here. Even the carefree gang's people don't know about it. The carefree gang is one of the top gangs in Luoyang, and I've heard they have tens of millions of members, not to mention owning a small city, three towns, and four or five villages!"
"Vagabond Alliance? The game has just started for a short while, and there's already a small city?" Xiao Ying asked in surprise, paused for a moment, and then continued: "Is their leader Vagabond You?"
"What? You also know the leader of their gang?" The man asked back in surprise, not expecting Xiao Ying to not recognize the people from the carefree gang but still know the name of their leader.
"Haha! I've heard others say that!" Xiao Ying said with a low head and a faint smile, her gloomy eyes flashing by as she muttered to herself: How could I not recognize Xiang You? I was wondering why he looked so familiar. I have a deep impression of him, after all. Back then, during the great upheaval of the Iron Blood Empire, Xiang You was one of the leaders who led the charge in driving me off the throne. Three years have passed, and I hadn't thought about seeking revenge. People die for wealth, birds die for food - it's all normal. Besides, I had also sworn not to play online games again, so there was no way for me to seek revenge anyway. I even thought that I had treated him quite well back then, and had a high opinion of him, granting him great power... who would have thought that the first person to betray me would be him? Now, running into him in this game, my heart is suddenly filled with boundless hatred. I didn't expect him to be doing so well now, actually owning tens of thousands of followers and a massive base... it's only been such a short time, but he's achieved so much - I have no choice but to admire him. However, it also shows that I wasn't wrong about him back then; I just didn't expect his character to be like this."
"It's indeed! The carefree gang is so famous! Carefree travel is also a high-ranking expert around level 30, it's normal to hear about them elsewhere. I heard their gang was formed after the collapse of the first powerful Iron Blood Empire in 'Dream Fantasy', and they're really something! They have a small city, what's surprising? If they hadn't been short on other building blueprints and merit points, they would've built a medium-sized city and a giant city by now. Now they're busy buying up blueprints and taking official quests non-stop! I heard they recently took on a big chain quest, I believe they'll be able to build their medium-sized city soon... people are just too different, it's suffocating! And here I am, not even having a village yet... sigh..." The other person also spoke with deep feeling.
"Hehe... the game has just begun, don't lose heart, brother. Opportunities will arise. By the way, do you know what big linked task they've recently taken on? One that can help them establish a stronghold in the middle city?" Xiaoying's curiosity got the better of her as she asked, though it was actually more about seeing how Xiangyang would react if someone else snatched away the benefits he had stolen from her.
"You don't even know about the largest SS-level task in Luoyang? Oh, right, I forgot you're new here! It's about eradicating the massive mountain bandit force that has been lurking around the Sanxian Mountains near Hongnong. I heard there are tens of thousands of bandits, and their leader is even over level 70! Only three forces have the power to eradicate them: the Wandering Heroes Guild, the Overlord's Manor, and the Emperor's Society! The government office has more details if you're interested in taking a look!"
He then asked the shopkeeper about the player forces in Luoyang and other situations. Xiao Ying chose a silver-grade strong bow with +3 strength and +4% archery, as well as a steel-grade long spear with +2 strength. He didn't want to choose better equipment, but he couldn't use anything better anyway - he was only level 9, while most players were already in their teens or even above 20 levels, which was considered high-level. The max level in "Yu Wang" was 100, and leveling up was extremely difficult. He also chose a gold-grade ring with +5 unified command (to protect his fingers from injury when drawing the bow), but it cost him one diamond coin - unbelievable! Afterwards, he chose two copper-grade rings, then followed the shopkeeper to the warehouse to buy bows and arrows. Confirming that the shopkeeper was an NPC, Xiao Ying bought 1 bundle of gold arrows, 10 bundles of steel arrows, 1000 bundles (one bundle = 100 arrows) of iron arrows, and 10000 bundles of wooden arrows, as well as 2000 iron bows in one go, storing them all in his ring. This was for the sake of Evil Shadow Village - if he had enough money, Xiao Ying would have bought out the entire armory at once.
