David Harris received the letter and hurried over, only to suddenly realize that not all the disciples guarding the Wudang Mountain gate were NPCs—there were actually players among them. Especially that one—wasn’t he the top Wudang player expert, Brian Scott?

“Brian!” David Harris quickly went up to greet him. He knew Brian Scott was a skilled player and had tried to befriend him before, so at least they were on speaking terms.

“Oh? David Harris!” Brian Scott turned and responded.

“What’s going on here...?”

“The mountain is sealed off, to recover the stolen sword,” Brian Scott said.

“Who gave the order?” David Harris asked.

“It probably wasn’t a direct order from the sect leader—more likely the idea of those two in charge of the matter,” Brian Scott replied. Those two, of course, referred to Matthew Turner and Ethan Brooks, two of the six senior disciples. David Harris cared about this detail for a reason: if it was the sect leader’s order, then any outer disciple wanting to go up the mountain would need the sect leader’s written command, and Ethan Brooks wouldn’t dare let anyone up privately. But since it was the idea of these two disciples, then Ethan Brooks had full authority here, and if David Harris could get a word in with him, maybe he could bring people up the mountain.

“I have a few friends who want to go up and take a look. Is there any way?” David Harris didn’t rush to find an NPC, but started discussing with Brian Scott.

But before Brian Scott could answer, Ethan Brooks suddenly called out coldly from the side, “There’s no way.”

The two of them were instantly stunned. This NPC’s hearing was astonishing—clearly his internal skills were extraordinary. In the game, vision, hearing, even touch sensitivity could all be altered by martial arts training. You could really feel the changes martial arts brought to your body, so the game officials kept stressing that players should distinguish between the game and reality—don’t go home thinking you can leap to the second floor or smash a wall with one palm.

With hearing like Ethan Brooks’s, it was an unbelievable level by current player standards. Players weren’t yet at the point where they could interact much with the top disciples, so no one really knew what kind of person Ethan Brooks was. Now, with that one sentence, David Harris immediately felt a chill—he had no idea how he could bring people up the mountain now. Brian Scott gave a wry smile and said, “I think we’d better forget it.”

“Sigh...” David Harris let out a sigh. He wanted to bring some helpers, partly to ensure he could handle Edward Thompson with absolute certainty, and partly to maintain his own competitiveness. Although the mountain was full of Wudang disciples searching for Edward Thompson, they were all after the reward, hoping to earn the sect’s favor by resolving this major event. So, at this moment, the Wudang players weren’t united at all—instead, they saw each other as rivals, each afraid someone else would benefit while they ended up empty-handed.

“You guys just wait here for my news!” David Harris could only tell the classmates who had come to help.

The classmates looked at each other, but could only nod in agreement. David Harris said goodbye to Brian Scott and was about to leave when he suddenly grew curious: “Brian, why aren’t you going after the sword thief?”

“Heh.” Brian Scott chuckled. “If you could actually recover the stolen sword, the credit would be huge. But with so many disciples searching and only one sword, finding it is about as likely as winning the lottery. Actually, in the process of resolving such a major event, there are bound to be many side quests to do. Recovering the sword is the main quest, the ultimate goal, but as for me? By helping Ethan Brooks seal off the mountain, I’m also contributing to the matter, right? And my contribution is pretty much guaranteed—though it’s nowhere near as great as recovering the sword, at least I won’t end up empty-handed, right? So rather than gamble on lottery odds, I’d rather do something with a sure payoff.”

Brian Scott’s reasoning made David Harris genuinely impressed, but he had no intention of changing his mind. He just nodded and laughed, “You’re right, but I still like the feeling of hitting the jackpot.”

“Then good luck!” Brian Scott smiled slightly.

“I’m off.” David Harris said goodbye to Brian Scott and headed up the mountain on his own.

This little back-and-forth had delayed him a bit, but David Harris really had no clue how to find Edward Thompson at this point, so he didn’t mind wasting a little time.

How to find Edward Thompson was something David Harris had been pondering all day. At first, he thought he had some advantage. He knew how far Edward Thompson could have gotten after stealing the sword—David Harris had a good sense of it.

As soon as David Harris logged in, he started searching in a circle around the Sword Pool, calling for help, but hadn’t expected his helpers wouldn’t be able to get up the mountain. Still, he didn’t want to waste his hard-won advantage, so he kept circling the area. Unfortunately, after all that searching, he still didn’t see Edward Thompson. As time passed, David Harris realized his advantage was slipping away, so he reluctantly went down the mountain to see what was going on—only to find it was a wasted trip. Returning to the mountain and seeing Wudang players searching everywhere for Edward Thompson, David Harris felt utterly frustrated.

“What are you doing?”

“Hand over the sword!”