“Outta the way, outta the way!” A group of mounted players brazenly burst a way through the crowd and arrived before Fatty’s Treasures Galore Auction House.
“The owner isn’t inside, there’s only an NPC steward,” a player reported to the leader of the mounted group after going inside to check.
“Who’s the owner?” The leader swept a look around.
Not a single sound could be heard from the surrounding crowd. Seeing the face of this man, some players who had complaints about his manners, also swallowed their words.
Invincible East, the guild master of the Sun Moon Cult. Since the guild’s establishment, Invincible East had spread the details of how he’d massacred an enemy of his, the guild master of a small guild, to the point where that player deleted their character. Now that everyone in Black Tortoise City was well informed of his notoriety, no ordinary player dared to mess with him anymore.
“The owner isn’t present?” Invincible East furrowed his brows and lashed his whip at the ground. “Drive away the people inside and seal the entrance.”
Attacks couldn’t be used inside a city, so no matter how many people they had, they couldn’t use brute force. The only way was to block the entrance to force a stop to Fatty’s business.
After all the players inside were chased out, six players of the Sun Moon Cult spurred their mounts in front of the entrance and tightly blocked it. No one was able to enter.
“They’re too arrogant! Out of this many guilds in Black Tortoise City, I have never seen one more outrageous!”
“Nothing we can do about it. They just have the qualifications to be arrogant.”
“The owner. Where’s the owner? Why haven’t they come yet?”
“This is going to be a great show. Anyone who can open a store right now is definitely no simple person.”
……
Behind the crowd, East Gate BlowingWind, Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord and other familiar guild masters stood together, quietly watching.
“Say, can you guys guess who this owner is?” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord was dragging a long halberd with him. From the weapon’s appearance, it was the legendary Heaven Painted Halberd1, a classic Chinese weapon. There was a hint of boasting about his manner as Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord fiddled with the halberd while he spoke.
“How would we know?” East Gate BlowingWind looked nolens volens at Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord showing off his halberd. Ever since the grand fight in Mass Graves, plus getting involved with Fatty, they had been out doing missions together several times and built a bond. Despite the never-ending competitiveness amongst the guilds, their personal relationships remained good.
“Invincible East is too arrogant.” Rosethorn was here as well. However, Ice Witch wasn’t. Otherwise, she could have some good guesses about the owner’s identity.
“He actually makes it convenient for us, though. Let’s see who would have such a heaven-defying ability to open a store right after the developer released news of it,” Wind God’s World remarked coldly.
Nowadays, people took advantage of any and every chance they got, and no one would say it was wrong to do so. However, when the ones taking the advantage weren’t themselves, people felt unbalanced in their hearts.
“So you guys are all here.” Fatty suddenly popped out from behind. His voice made everyone nearly jump in surprise.
“Damn! You’re also here to watch the show? I heard you joined God Familia?” East Gate BlowingWind asked with a smile.
“Heheh, God Familia’s winning odds are quite high.” Fatty laughed awkwardly. Everyone here had invited him to join them, but he had turned them all down.
“Invincible East is pretty arrogant huh?” Craning his neck to see the situation around the shop, Fatty saw that all the players had consciously moved back when the Sun Moon Cult members guarded the entrance. No one dared to even say they wanted to go in. Fatty encouraged his friends, “You guys, there are skill books inside, as well as some superb gears just suitable to use in the tournament. Let’s go check them out?”
“Why do I feel like you mean nothing well when you say these words?” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord flung the halberd on his shoulder and looked toward Fatty.
“Why are you saying that? Don’t taint my dignity. If you guys don’t go, I’m going myself.” Fatty pushed away the players and headed toward the store.
“Stop! What are you doing?” A member of the Sun Moon Cult blocked Fatty.
“Doing what?” Fatty lazily asked back.
“I’m asking what you’re doing!” This player looked down at Fatty from his mount.
“Going in to buy stuff, what else? Didn’t you hear the announcement that there are skill books and superb gears inside? If I go too late and someone else has already bought them, are you going to pay me for it?” Fatty snorted, then walked around this player to continue forward.
“Stop!” Invincible East strode to Fatty and scanned him from top to toe. “If I’m not wrong, you must be Money Grubber. Is this store yours?”
“Nope. I only came to buy stuff.” Fatty lightly kicked Invincible East’s mount on its leg. “This piggy isn’t too shabby. Where you get it?”
“Pfffff!” Some onlookers couldn’t help burst out laughing. Invincible East’s mount was a level 55 Ironback Bear. This monster had immense physical strength and should not be judged by its fat figure, because when it ran, it wasn’t any slower than a Holy Unicorn.
“So it seems that this store really is yours.” Invincible East wasn’t angry at all. He slightly nodded. “Say it. How much money would you be willing to sell it to me for?”
“You seriously want it?” Fatty tilted his head and asked.
“Of course.” From the start until now, Invincible East had remained seated on his mount and looked down at Fatty from above as they conversed.
“Fine. This number.” Fatty put up a finger.
“One million gold coins?” asked Invincible East.
Fatty shook his head with a mocking smile.
“Ten million gold coins?” Invincible East knitted his brows. Ten million gold coins for a single store? This is a bit too much.
Fatty still shook his head.
“Don’t tell me it’s one hundred million.” Invincible East’s tone began to sound a little irritated.
Again, Fatty shook his head.
“Oh gosh. He’s not selling it for even one hundred million gold coins. Just how much does he want?” The onlookers whispered amongst themselves.
“Heh, fine. Say your price.” Invincible East laughed at the peak of his rage.
“Ten billion gold coins,” Fatty softly breathed out the number.
Ten billion gold coins? Everyone nearly fainted at this. Not mentioning one store, even twenty of them wouldn’t be able to sell for such a price. Has this person gone crazy from poverty or something?
But, is a person who is able to get a store is a poor man? You’re kidding.
“You’re messing with me?” Invincible East pressed in a low tone.
“That’s right. So you’ve realized that already? You’re so smart! No wonder you are the guild master of the Sun Moon Cult. Indeed, ‘the sun rises in the East, only I’m invincible2.’” Fatty wasn’t stingy with his praise.
“Heh, good. You’re really good.” Invincible East’s face had been restored of its calm. No one could see what he was thinking right now.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please make way. Please don’t hinder my business,” Fatty called out toward the players blocking the store entrance.
Checking their guild master’s expression, these players didn’t move one bit.
“You wanna do business?” Invincible East slightly leaned backward, as if wanting to find a more comfortable posture. “I say you can’t, so you won’t be able to do your business no more.”
“Oh, really?” Fatty asked, seemingly surprised.
“Brother East, if he doesn’t want to sell, you shouldn’t make it hard on the other like that.” East Gate BlowingWind and the group of guild masters stepped out from the crowd.
“Heh, what is it? Teaming up to threaten me?” Invincible East gave a cold snort.
“Wrong.” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord plunged his halberd onto the ground. “You’re giving yourself too much face there, man. I, LittleOverlord, alone is enough to handle you. There’s no need for all of our guilds to team up for that.”
“Is that right? Then we might as well fight it out for real and find out?” Invincible East responded with a chilling smile.
“If you wanna fight then let’s fight! This Lord has soon found you drama queen annoying!” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord rested the halberd on his shoulder. “Come. Let’s not decorate this as some friendly learning duel. Meet me at the city gate. Whoever doesn’t come is the grandson.”
“Gentlemen, there’s no need to get so riled up over this,” Rosethorn tried to smooth with a charming smile. “We all exist and develop in the same city. Shouldn’t we help each other out?”
“Help what? In bed?” Invincible East squinted his eyes at Rosethorn.
“You?!” Rosethorn was flustered and exasperated. She never thought Invincible East would be the type of person to let out such vulgar words.
“Go. Let me see how the old-brand guild Overlord League is qualified to be in the top 10 of Black Tortoise City.” Invincible East spurred his mount. No longer bothering with Fatty, he took the lead to head toward the city gate.
“Humph! This Lord shall show you the hard way that there’s no market for drama queens anymore.” Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord didn’t lose this verbal fight. He also summoned his mount and rode out of the city.
“Go, go quick! The guild masters of two big guilds are gonna PK. Let’s hurry, we’ll miss it if we’re late.”
“Let’s hurry and take a good spot to watch. Our Black Tortoise City hasn’t been this bustling for a while now.”
A herd of players followed them out of the city in a hubbub. Everyone had forgotten about Fatty.
“They’re ignoring Lord Fatty?” Fatty looked left and right. The vicinity was deserted as the players had all left to watch the PK.
“Damn it! Lord Fatty spent 5,000 gold coins on the ad! You ruined Lord Fatty’s business and just left like that?!”
……
“Please!”
“Please!”
Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord and Invincible East were both Warriors. After exiting the city, they dismounted and stood ten meters away from each other. The onlookers stood in a hundred-meter-diameter circle around them, conveniently drawing the boundary for their battlefield.
Despite Invincible East’s strong words earlier, he didn’t really look down on Jiangdong’s LittleOverlord. Slowing unsheathing his sword, he summoned his pet, who was also an Ironback Bear. Then, the two warriors made a salute of courtesy to each other and readied themselves to attack.
Whoosh! All of a sudden, a figure appeared behind Invincible East, acting as if they wanted to hit him.
Invincible East reacted extremely quickly. Virtually the instant the figure appeared, he stabbed out with his sword and leaped away at the same time.
Clang. His sword hit the target, but Invincible East felt a bad omen rising in his heart as something suddenly dawned on him.
“Heh heh.” With a chuckle, Fatty jabbed his Elemental Sword forward. Since Invincible’s sword had struck him, Fatty had gained the permission to legally counter-attack and kill within a certain time limit.
“Money Grubber, you…” Invincible East didn’t get to finish even a sentence when a rat not any smaller than his Ironback Bear abruptly emerged behind him. With a gentle nudge, a faint yellow light instantly shrouded him. Just like that, he unlucky guy was petrified.
“Damn you! You messed up Lord Fatty’s business and thought you can just walk away like that?” With a ferocious smile, Fatty smeared a layer of Royal Winged Ant Poison on the Elemental Sword. Then, he stabbed Invincible East’s body.
“Wheat, pounce!” Fatty shouted, and Wheat let out a shrill squeak. The rodent didn’t use any skill; it simply leaped in the air with dexterity seemingly impossible for its massive body and violently smashed itself onto Invincible East’s head.
Creak… creak… The sounds of bone snapping rang out non stop. Even several dozen meters away, the onlookers felt a chill run down their spine upon hearing those sounds. Death wasn’t scary, the scary part was being smashed to death by such a huge rat.
The most valuable feature of the Royal Winged Ant Poison was that its paralysis couldn’t be broken by attacks. Invincible East already lost half his life after that single pounce from Wheat, yet he still had no way to move; he couldn’t even utter a word.
“Damn you! You didn’t even ask around first to know who Lord Fatty is, and yet you had the guts to take my stuff?! You’re seeking death!” Fatty strode before Invincible East. Gunning for that face, he directly raised his leg.
1. Lü Bu’s weapon.↩
2. Dongfang Bubai’s signature phrase. ↩
