What a Troublesome Dilemma

Ye Ci was momentarily stunned. It seemed that she underestimated Thousand Sunsets. She thought that her action of supporting Unbridled Willow would definitely topple Thousand Sunsets from his seat of power. She was still too green compared to the Old Master. Ye Ci grimaced at the thought. I'm still too naive.

She looked at Green Hill's Moon and sighed. She wanted to speak her mind, but decided against it.

"I know there's something that you wish to say." as a private investigator, Green Hill's Moon was an expert when it came to human psychology. He knew that Ye Ci had a question for him just by studying her expression.

"So what am I going to say?" Ye Ci smiled at Green Hill's Moon. Funny, this guy is smart, will he be able to guess it correctly?

"You're going to ask about Leftie and Gleaming Sunshine." Green Hill's Moon was always correct when he made an assumptions.

Ye Ci frowned.. Even if she admired Green Hill's Moon's intellect, she was still slightly uncomfortable when somebody was able to guess her thoughts so easily.

"Don't be angry. I've never mentioned this to anyone. You should trust my work ethics. Besides, I'm a man with a conscience. You've shown me kindness in my most desperate moment, I will never do something that will cause you harm." said Green Hill's Moon who noticed Ye Ci's frown.

Ye Ci slowly relaxed her eyebrows, but the scowl remained on her face. She continued staring silently at Green Hill's Moon.

Green Hill's Moon pursed his lips and continued, "They're not as lucky as Thousand Sunsets. They've lost all their investments. Hell, none of them even came online. I bet their families are in a complete mess right now. If I'm not mistaken, Gleaming Sunshine's family will soon declare bankruptcy, and Leftie's family is not doing any better. Don't worry about it. Just think of it as a side story. Their condition is not within the scope of my job, so I will not dig up any more information about them."

Ye Ci was dumbfounded. She knew that the two families had invested quite a fortune into the game, but she did not expect them to go all out. Both Dong Yin's and Yi Cang's fathers were rational men. They would never take such a huge risk without reason. So what caused them to entrust all their money to Thousand Sunsets?

Although Ye Ci could not fathom the reason behind their actions, it no longer mattered to her at this point.

After all, it was not her intention to hurt them, but they had to pay for the choice they made.

"Will they be able to recover from this?" Ye Ci raised her head and looked at Green Hill's Moon after a long moment of silence.

A faint smile appeared on Green Hill's Moon's lips. His smile was beautiful under the sun, "Who knows? Nobody can predict the future."

Ye Ci shared the same sentiment as well, "You're right. Nothing is certain in this world. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow."

When he was almost done with his meal, Green Hill's Moon stood up and stretched himself, "I'll give you another piece of information for free."

"What is it?"

"Thousand Sunsets is selling some of his shares of Steel-Blooded Battle Spear. If you have the money to spare, perhaps you can consider to try buying some." Green Hill's Moon chuckled, "To be frank with you, I've bought a few shares just for the fun." he then turned towards the doorway, "If you're going to make a move against him, I hope you can let me know. I don't want to lose money."

Ye Ci stared silently at Green Hill's moon, and shifted her gaze the the scenery outside the window.

Has everything finally ended?

Everything that happened in this world was like an interlude in the life of a human. Something might be sorrowful when it happened, but when we look back in time, it seemed so insignificant.

As foretold by Green Hill's Moon, Steel-Blooded Battle Spear made an announcement that the guild will be split into two. One half will form the Bloody Steel, while the other half will be known as Battle Spear. Thousand Sunsets will be in charge of the former while the latter will be under the command of Unbridled Willow. The glory of Steel-Blooded Battle Spear ended here.

Thousand Sunsets was still Thousand Sunsets, but Dong Yin and Yi Cang were no longer relevant. Ye Ci no longer heard about them from Liu Chang since that night, as if they had disappeared along with Steel-Blooded Battle Spear.

Ye Ci continued her life of dungeon exploration and completing her Epic-tier quest. Her days were dull at times, yet full of fun. Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan received a storefront from Ye Ci in the heart of Red Lake City when they joined the game. From that place, they started their gaming experience in Fate.

There was no escape from running errands for NPCs even during an Epic-tier quest. Ye Ci had to run countless errands for the NPC. She had to deliver letters, buy groceries, and perform a lot of other trivial tasks. However, the quest chain was more complicated because it was an Epic-tier quest.

Ye Ci's current task was such an example. She was required to make contact with the bandits that were based northwest of Red Lake City. Great, that's great!

Ye Ci called up her quest menu, and found a side quest that she had been neglecting for a very long time. She was required to scout out the same bandit hideout. This meant that she could kill two birds with one stone.

Ye Ci teleported back to Red Lake City and headed northwest after summoning Ol' Four.

The Silvery Tin Vein is a map northwest of Red Lake City. It was a very special place. There were elite monsters ranging from lvl 1 to lvl 100 in the vicinity, and the place was rich with herbs and ores. However, not many players ventured to this map due to the presence of the bandit lair.

The bandits were one of the factions in the Eastern Continent.

There were many different prestige rankings in Fate, including Continent Prestige, City Prestige, Race Prestige, as well as Faction Prestige. The so-called Faction Prestige could be earned from all the different factions that existed in different continents. If players were able to gain the prestige rank of Respected and above with any faction, they would benefit greatly from their relationship with them. There were different NPC communities within Fate, including bandits, criminal organizations, and even different clans of monsters and all races.

One of the factions that existed within Silvery Tin Vein was the Doran Thieves Guild.

Of course, the Doran Thieves Guild in the area was not the main force of the faction. They were merely a tiny branch that set up shop in this area, robbing and stealing from players and NPCs alike.

Despite Red Lake City's large population, the areas in the outskirts were city were quite deserted. The presence of the Doran Thieves Guild was one of the contributing factors to such a phenomena. Players who decided to level up in Silvery Tin Vein would always travel in groups. Those who preferred to go alone were easy pickings for the bandits.

This was exactly why Ye Ci became the center of attention of the other players when she entered the Silvery Tin Vein alone. In fact, she had the experience of being robbed by the bandits in her last life. Back then, despite her high level, she was still overwhelmed by the bandits as she was travelling alone, and lost quite a number of good quality equipment.

Ye Ci was deeply traumatized by that incident, which was why she had ignored the side quest from Red Lake City.

The bandits were unable to run rampant in the area just beyond the Silvery Tin Vein due to the high number of players. They would surround and annihilate any bandit that appeared, and the bandits were forced to lurk in more secluded areas, picking off targets of opportunity.

Ye Ci avoided the main roads, and travelled down the narrow and more secluded mountain roads. This would definitely draw the attention of the bandits in the area. As expected, it did not take long for Ye Ci to run into a squad of bandits.

The leader of the squad was a ugly looking man. He laughed at Ye Ci with his hands on his hips, "Brothers! I told you there will be idiots walking into our ambush! See? I was right!"

"Boss, she looks tough." said one of the snivelling bandits as he studied Ol' Four.

The squad leader noticed Ol' Four as well. Unlike players, the NPCs was able to tell Ol' Four's stats. He knew that Ol' Four was a tough opponent. The bandit squad leader then glared at Ye Ci, "Oi, why don't you work with us here and leave some of your belongings behind. It's that, or you'll be in a world of pain."

Ye Ci smiled, "I'm actually looking for someone."

"You're looking for someone?" the bandit squad leader was momentarily stunned. "She says she's here to look for someone" the bandit squad leader let out a laugh, and his subordinates followed suit, "We're all bandits here! Who do you think you're looking for?"

Ye Ci knew that she could not reason with the bandits. She took out a badge and said to the squad leader, "I'm looking for your boss."

"Wow! That thing looks expensive!" one of the bandits immediately stepped forward with the intention to snatch the badge away from Ye Ci, but the squad leader immediately shouted out loud, "Back off! All of you!"

Despite their confusion, the bandits backed off, staring carefully at Ye Ci and their squad leader.

"Where did you get that?" the squad leader asked carefully.

Despite his ugly appearance, the squad leader was slightly intimidating. "I came here from Dark Clay City." Ye Ci smiled.

"Dark Clay City?" the squad leader narrowed his eyes. He studied Ye Ci closely, and sneered coldly, "But why do you reek of the smell of someone from the Red Lake City?"

"So what? I live in Red Lake City. Is there something wrong with that?" Ye Ci's smile remained on her face.

"That makes you our enemy." the squad leader waved at his men, and Ye Ci was immediately surrounded by the bandits.

Some of the many factions in Fate were hostile against one another. The Doran Thieves Guild, with their branches stationed in the vicinity of large cities, was naturally in conflict with the NPCs with the city. They were hunted down and killed on sight by the cities' NPCs, and the NPCs in the cities would often be robbed by the bandits. If was only natural for the Doran Thieves Guild to be enemies with the cities.

As a citizen of Red Lake City, Ye Ci was in an opposing faction of the bandits. That was why they was immediately surrounded Ye Ci when her identity as a Red Lake City citizen was revealed. She was like a fat goat that walked willingly into the midst of a pack of hungry wolves. The bandits would shame their guild if they did not kill Ye Ci and wipe her out from the face of the world.

However, Ye Ci remained calm and maintained her smile, "Yes, I am indeed a citizen of Red Lake City, and it is true that you're enemies with Red Lake City. However, I believe that this has nothing to do with my business here. I'm running an errand in the stead of Lord Moore of Dark Clay City. Why would you stop me just because I'm a citizen of Red Lake City? Why don't you allow me to settle my assignment from Dark Clay City first?"

The bandits were confused by ye Ci's words. After remaining silent for a long while, the squad leader replied, "You make sense. If I stopped you from completing your task just because you're a citizen of Red Lake City, it will be troublesome for the lord of Dark Clay City. I'll be in deep shit if my boss finds out!"

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. She had long suspected that the bandits had ties with Dark Clay City. She was proven to be correct. However, she was still not sure if it was the mayor of the city or Lord Moore himself that had dealings with the bandits. After all, she has never even seen the face of Lord Moore before.

Just like that, Ye Ci was escorted by a large group of bandits into their hideout deep in the Silvery Tin Vein.

The hideout was actually a small village packed full of men, women and children. There were even merchants within the village. However, their names were all red to Ye Ci, and she was sure that her name was red to the NPCs as well. They would definitely have torn her apart if not for her escort.

She was like a mobile aggro generator in the village.

Ye Ci was led into a slightly beautiful house, and was stopped in front of an NPC named Millard . From his appearance and demeanor, he was the boss of the bandits, which meant that he was the person Ye Ci was looking for."

"Boss! Boss! I've caught somebody from Red Lake City!"

"Why didn't you kill her right away? Why did you bring her here? You're useless!" Millard stared at Ye Ci with disgust written all over his face. It was obvious that the bandits harbored a deep hatred for red Lake City.

"I was going to do it, but… But…" the squad leader in an awkward spot. He looked at Ye Ci, and then at Millard , as if he was a rat trapped between two monsters.

"But what?" Millard lost his patience. He stood up, flinging the book that he was previously reading aside, and glared angrily at the squad leader.

"But she said that she was here to do Moore's bidding."

"Moore?" Millard was slightly stunned, "What Moore?"