Chapter 27 - A Misunderstanding Caused by a Burlap Sack

Ye Xiaowu did not idle around when he went offline; his mind was still mulling over the oddity that was Gu Fei. After pondering for a while, he sprang up in an instant, leaving his office and heading straight to the Game Administration Department of the company. The gaming company behind Parallel World was in fact a company that handled their own R&D¹ and game administration. Ye Xiaowu was someone from the R&D Department, and the department which was in charge of the daily activities and maintenance of the game was actually the Game Administration Department.

In the Game Administration Department, there was a small group of people in charge of monitoring the various in-game data. Once an anomaly was detected, they would keep track of and analyze it further to check if the anomaly matched the settings of the in-game data. In short, it was a checkup to see if the players hacked the game.

There was an old saying that went: "While the priest climbs a foot, the devil climbs ten." No matter how advanced the technology used, being hacked was almost inevitable, even for a game like Parallel World that had achieved the full-immersion technology. For online games, it was only natural to prioritize the elimination of hackers, as the benefits of having zero hackers outweighed the risks by far. Even though Parallel Word was implemented with cutting-edge technology, which was impossible to be cracked by the work of individuals or rogue hacker groups, the company did not dare to be sloppy in this particular aspect. 

Some employees of the monitoring team were so shocked that they leaped from their seats when the office door was shoved open by Ye Xiaowu. It was not until they saw clearly who it was that they breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, it's Chief Ye. Have you noticed yet another bug that needs fixing?"

As a core member of the R&D Department, Ye Xiaowu constantly pointed out the bugs for the game designs before going to the monitoring team to make adjustment for the in-game data. They often collaborated for work, and since it was usually Ye Xiaowu who noticed the bugs before the monitoring team could fix it, everyone on the team usually addressed him as Chief Ye.

"Gaming account's name is 'Thousand Miles Drunk.' Do a checkup on the data of this account," Ye Xiaowu said.

"That's..." the members of the monitoring team looked one another in the eyes, before one of them blurted out, "That's against the rules!"

Normally, anything that involved the in-game data for the game was out of bounds for someone from the R&D Department like Ye Xiaowu.

"There's something fishy about this player," Ye Xiaowu said.

All were alerted by what Ye Xiaowu just said, as this was exactly something that they were in charge of. They stopped their on-hand tasks immediately to direct every data monitoring system at Gu Fei, who was currently grinding inside the game. Someone could be heard mumbling, "Nothing unusual could be detected at all!"

To be frank, if someone like Ye Xiaowu had to remind them personally to check on a suspicious looking gaming account, it meant that the monitoring team had not been doing their job well. The entire team felt on edge right now.

Ye Xiaowu did not even care about how they felt. He fixed his gaze on the screen, as he wanted to confirm something with Gu Fei's data. In the end, all the data monitoring systems had confirmed something for Ye Xiaowu; what he presumed before was right all along.

The rest of the employees had their eyes fixed on the screen as well. After staring at the screen for a while, they all looked at one another to confirm before breathing a sigh of relief. The result from the monitoring system was apparent: This account did not rely on any external applications.

However, Ye Xiaowu was still paying attention to the screen. Everyone followed along as they looked at one another once more. After observing for a while, everyone wore a surprised look.

"Just who is he?" one of them asked.

Ye Xiaowu remained silent. He had his reasons, of course. As stated by his boss before, all the employees were prohibited from playing the game directly. Even though his boss had turned a blind eye over this matter, he was still required to keep this a secret.

The employees took a closer look, and one of them muttered, "This person manages to deliver maximum damage output with every single attack… Is that really not a result of hacking?" Gu Fei's remarkable performance had left these professional game employees skeptical of their judgment.

But after another round of checking with all the monitoring systems, the result was still the same: There was zero hacking involved.

"Goodness! Is he even human? Chief Ye, how did you find him?" one of them asked, astounded.

"I heard it from the others," Ye Xiaowu spoke in an offhand manner before he changed the subject, "There's nothing wrong with this account, right?"

"None at all!" everyone answered firmly.

"And the thing he's doing is permitted, right?"

"Of course," an employee smiled, "Maximum damage output can be delivered by the precision of attack and power. This is the concept which was designed by you and the rest of the R&D. You must be pleased seeing that someone is actually capable of doing this."

"Yes, very pleased," Ye Xiaowu nodded.

"Conventionally speaking, this person is the top expert of control for Parallel World already," one of them said.

Ye Xiaowu laughed and waved his hand, "Alright, there's no issue now that we are sure that the account isn't hacked. I am leaving; carry on everyone."

On his way back to his office, Ye Xiaowu was still pondering on a question, "Thousand Miles Drunk, can he be considered as a game balance breaker?"

At this moment, the suspected game balance breaker Gu Fei was heartily practicing his kung fu in the map. All of a sudden, he received a message from Fireball, who was eagerly trying to invite Gu Fei for a drink.

Gu Fei considered Fireball to be the first person he befriended inside the game. Even if they did not grind together, they would still meet each other once in a while. Recently, he had not been keeping in touch with Fireball. Gu Fei packed his stuff instantly and embarked on the road back to the city. 

The amount of weight Gu Fei could handle was actually very low. Unfortunately for him, he was very efficient during grinding, so there were heaps of items to loot every time he finished grinding. For this reason, he had to make a sack for himself to store all the miscellaneous loots. Unlike those items stored inside the pocket, Gu Fei could clearly feel the weights of these items when he carried them with his hands. At the same time, these items were not protected by the system.

As of right now, Gu Fei was actually walking with much difficulty as he carried the burlap sack with him. He got a boost of Strength from the emblem that he acquired today. That boost of Strength meant he was able to grind at a faster rate and he managed to loot more items. Nothing really changed as his increase in Strength was evened out by the heavier loot that he had to carry.

As he passed by another map for grinding, his footsteps had gotten even heavier. He forced himself to walk two more steps before dropping the sack on the ground. He planned to rest for a few minutes as he leaned on a tree and gasped for air.

The players grinding in this map had noticed this weird occurrence. A few players' eyes were glowing as they saw this, and the next second they could be seen scrambling over to where Gu Fei was.

"Do you need help? Let me carry that for you!" Several people rushed to the front of Gu Fei, and were yelling the same thing at him as they tried to push one another aside.

"Oh, there's no need for that. I am actually—"

"Oh, you are too modest! Just let me help you!" one of the players barged onward without waiting for him to finish his sentence. He grabbed Gu Fei's sack and swung it across his shoulder. His eyes were already looking afar as he said, "Tell me! Where are you headed to?"

"Yunduan City," Gu Fei answered, "But I—"

"Let's go, then!" the person said nothing more, and just dashed forward ardently. The others players around them all revealed looks of jealousy and unwillingness at what had transpired.

"But I am not a NPC! I am a player, too!" Gu Fei said after a while. However, the person, who was already way ahead, failed to hear what he just said. As for those who were still surrounding Gu Fei, they had certainly heard him loud and clear. After being dumbstruck for a moment, they proceeded to sneer at the person who had stormed ahead. All of them stifled their laughters so as to not alert that person. They all gave Gu Fei a big thumbs-up, "Dude, you did that on purpose, right? Solid move man; top notch!"

Due to the influence of trashy webnovels, many players were itching to find hidden quests that could be set into motion by all kinds of mysterious events. All were looking forward to a day when they could have their own amazing encounter. Gu Fei's weird attire and the fact a burlap sack item was not available at the moment made people doubt he was a fellow player.

Misunderstandings were inevitable these days whenever Gu Fei dragged along his huge sack back to the city and passed by the grinding players in different maps. But every time that happened, Gu Fei would explain himself and the other players would leave dejectedly after using Appraisal on him. Unlike the others, this particular player he met today was exceptional. He craved a hidden quest so much that he did not even bother to listen to what Gu Fei had to say and just snatched the burlap sack away.

"Hey, you!" Gu Fei chased after him and yelled.

The other person simply waved gracefully and said, "Nothing is stopping me from helping you carry this back to your destination today!"

Gu Fei kept his mouth shut. Considering that person had made such a firm decision already, he might as well just let him do as he pleased. Gu Fei was never one to force others to do things his way. Carry it then if you are so eager to do it! Gu Fei was happy with his new-found easiness, and he walked leisurely behind the person. The person was equipped with heavy armor all over, and Gu Fei's burlap sack which was rested on that person's shoulder seemed very light by the way he was carrying it. It was obvious that his job class was a Warrior, the one with the most impressive physical abilities. But the person seemed to be very skinny judging from his stature.

Of course, a fat or skinny stature did not indicate how strong a player was in the game. A good example would be Gu Fei, who was as frail as paper in the game even though he had been honing his body for more than twenty years.

From their current location, they still needed a few more minutes to reach Yunduan City. Gu Fei noticed that the player helping him with the sack was standing proud and tall along the way. And this had him in anguish again as he thought, A Warrior would have been a great choice as well if not a Fighter! The physique of a Mage is just too weak.

Finally, the two reached the city, and the person put down the burlap sack from his shoulder as he gazed warmly at Gu Fei's eyes.

"Thanks a lot!" Gu Fei patted the person's shoulder, lowered himself to lift the burlap sack up, and proceeded to stagger forward.

The other person was confused for a moment, but he snapped right back the next second and chased after Gu Fei as he said affectionately, "Where are you carrying all these to? I'll help you!"

"Oh, that won't be necessary. The warehouse is just in front of us, right?" Gu Fei said.

"Warehouse?" The person was stunned. The warehouse was truly a short distance away from them, but it was something that was reserved for players. The person sensed that something was not right, and said to Gu Fei, "Are you...." 

"Hello, I am Thousand Miles Drunk," Gu Fei said.

"Are – Aren't you a NPC?" The other person had a dumbfounded expression.

With a deep sigh, Gu Fei said, "I am not."