Chapter 282 Bounty (Part 2)

“Fleeting Time?” Ye Ci furrowed her eyebrows. It was a name that she had not heard for a long while. So long, in fact, that she had forgotten about the man. She was worried. Fleeting Time was a difficult opponent to deal with, and he was just slightly better than her as a Hunter. With how shameless that guy is, I’ll never be able to guess what he’s thinking in a conventional way.

“How did you know that Fleeting Time has accepted the bounty?” asked Ye Ci.

Tan Polang rolled his eyes. Well, I can’t just tell her that I have an account and am a long-time lurker in Genesis’s forum, can I?

He had immediately logged into his forum account when he saw the bounty on Gongzi You. And as expected, Fleeting Time was one of the first among the members of Genesis to accept the guild, “I took a look at the namelist from an NPC, he did not remain anonymous when he accepted the bounty.”

Bounties could be accepted from specific NPCs that allowed players the option to remain anonymous. Most of the players in Fate would of course select the option to hide their name so that they could keep their identities hidden and avoid retaliation. But Fleeting Time was not afraid of retaliation, nor did he wish for his identity to be hidden from Ye Ci. In fact, he was probably hoping that Ye Ci would see his name.

Love is a very powerful force. Thought Tan Polang. Even someone like Fleeting Time is acting dumb when he is struck by love. Does he not realise that he’s being childish? The boy then stared at Ye Ci’s face, hoping to capture any and all emotion displayed on her face.

As expected, Ye Ci’s expression was wonderful.

She pursed her lips and her eyes were narrowed, “Come get me if you can, b-b-b-baka…” she snorted coldly.

Tan Polang lowered his head and spoke up after a long while, “Sister Ye Ci, do you think that Fleeting Time can kill you?”

Ye Ci pondered the question for a brief moment before offering an impartial answer, “It depends on the environment. I should be able to kill him if I have the high ground. If I don’t, it’s hard to say.”

Red Lake City pet shop.

Ye Ci handed the Magic Crystals from the Doluo Tribe to the Undead NPC, “Are these enough?”

The NPC stared at Ye Ci, then at the Magic Crystals on the table. She lifted one of the crystals and studied it under the sun, “Ahh, this crystal is very pure. This is some fine stuff you have here.” and the NPC continued to pick out a few more pieces of crystals from the pile that Ye Ci had placed on the table, “Good, good. They’re all very good.”

And the NPC began to sweep the crystals into her drawer.

Ye Ci who was observing the NPC from the side immediately grabbed hold of its hand with a sneer on her face, “Did I say that they’re for you?”

It was as if the Undead NPC had only just realised her presence. She cast a sideway glance at Ye Ci and chuckled, “You seem familiar.”

“Ah, so you recognise me.” Ye Ci responded with a chuckle of her own.

“Oh, I remember now. Are you the owner of this egg?” she pulled her hand free from Ye Ci with a flick of her waist and pulled out a transparent container filled with thick green liquid and an egg before Ye Ci could react.

The egg was about the same size as when Ye Ci had left it with the NPC. She opened its status panel, and was able to confirm herself as its owner, “Yes, it is mine.”

“Good. Give me the crystals.” and the Undead began placing the crystals one at a time into the container. Each crystal landed in the container with a loud “Bang!”. This feels more like some sort of magical experiment than the process of hatching an egg. Thought Ye Ci.

When there was only one final piece of crystal left, the Undead NPC chuckled at Ye Ci, “Hatching the egg would usually cost you a lot of gold, but if you can give this crystal to me, I think I’ll be very motivated to complete my job.”

Ye Ci stared at the Undead NPC, “What do you need it for?” her curiosity was aroused.

The Undead NPC placed a finger on her lips and smiled, “It’s a secret.”

Ye Ci decided to not intrude upon the secret of an NPC, and instead shifted her attention to the egg, “Are the Magical Crystals that you’ve thrown into the container enough?” she still had a sizable stockpile in her inventory, but the crystals were essential for the construction of fortifications according to Alaunar. They were a resource that she wished to preserve.

“They are enough.” the Undead fiddled the Magical Crystal between its fingers and replied absentmindedly. But it was quick to sense Ye Ci’s dissatisfaction, “They’re definitely enough. In fact, they’re more than enough. It’s just an egg, why do you need so many crystals for?” she said with a smile.

“When will it hatch?” Ye Ci asked the question that she needed an answer the most.

“Ten days. You can come back for your egg in ten days.” replied the NPC as it dipped its finger into the greenish solution, to Ye Ci’s disgust, and she immediately left the shop.

With the release of the new expansion creeping closer, Ye Ci’s life as a gamer had slowly calmed down. She had cleared all of her quests before the update, and the quests that followed could only be unlocked after the Middle Continent was finally released to players. With her level dropped during her exploits in the Northern Continent, the only thing left she could do was to farm for EXP points and regain her losses before the update.

But things were not entirely smooth for her due to the bounty on her head. She was hounded by bounty hunters wherever she went. She had never encountered a player from opposing continents, but it did not mean the seduction of the bounty was simply too great to players from the Eastern and Southern Continents. They have never succeeded in killing Ye Ci, but the sheer number of players that attempted to hunt her down was still a source of great annoyance.

It was not easy to evade so many players despite the disparity of their strength and levels.

After 3 hours and 24 dead bounty hunters, Ye Ci was finally at her limit. With dinner time arriving, Ye Ci entered stealth, searched for a safe spot, and logged out of the game.

“The update is coming tomorrow, how’s your progress in leveling up?” asked Bai Mo. With the rare presence of Tan Polang in the house, the dishes on the dining table had multiplied.

“Forget about it. Things have been annoying thus far.” Ye Ci had spent half her time online evading or fighting against players who were after her bounty.

“What is there to be annoyed at? This is life. If you treat life with contempt, then life will treat you with contempt as well. Having patience will bring you a long way in life.”

Ye Nantian and Zuo Xiaolan were worried when they learned that bounties have been placed on their daughter by the three major guilds of the Northern Continent. But as time passed, so did their worries. They even began to see the bounties as a challenge that Ye Ci had to overcome in life.

“Alright. I understand.” Ye Ci nodded as an affirmation to her parents words. She did not want to worry her parents.

Tan Polang cast a sideway glance at Ye Ci before speaking up, “Are those people from our continent or have players from hostile continents showed up?”

“No, not yet.” Ye Ci paid the matter no heed, “Players from hostile continents will have to go through a lot of our own players to get to me. I doubt that they will be much of a problem for now.” Despite her words, Ye Ci found her thoughts wandering towards a certain person.

Fleeting Time.

He was someone who could not be judged like a normal player. His appearance in the Eastern Continent is almost guaranteed the moment he accepted the bounty.

Having an unknown factor like him was a thorn in Ye Ci’s side.

Bai Mo, of course, knew that Fleeting Time had accepted the bounty on Ye Ci. But judging from Ye Ci’s response, he was certain that she was not troubled by it, which was why he changed the topic, “We’ll need to update our games tomorrow because of the new patch. And with Golden Era’s arrival, I think the game server will be clogged with traffic when it reopens. Why don’t you take the time to go to the hospital for a reexamination? Oh you can also take the opportunity to go to campus as well.”

Ye Ci agreed after a moment of consideration. The server will be under maintenance during the day, and Golden Era’s members would begin swarming into the server when maintenance was over. It was naturally a wise choice to avoid the chaotic hour.

Ye Ci left with Bai Mo and Tan Polang early the next day. Ye Nantian lent his car to the trio due to Ye Ci’s injuries so that Bai Mo could send Tan Polang to school and Ye Ci to the hospital. Ye Ci was worried when Bai Mo was doing the driving because of her experience in her past life, but Tan Polang remained relatively calm.

Luckily for the trio, Bai Mo was able to handle the car steadily, and he dropped Tan Polang off at school before heading to the hospital.

A place like the hospital would always be packed full of patients. And it was already 1pm in the afternoon by the time Ye Ci was done with her checkup, “Damn, the hospital is packed.” mused the duo as they sat panting in the car.

“The service is faster in the emergency room. We did not have to wait. We were sent right in.” Bai Mo who was passed out during that night did not experience what went on when they were sent to the hospital, but he could still understand what Ye Ci was hinting at, “Don’t jinx yourself. Why would you want to get sent into the emergency room anyways?” he rolled his eyes at her.

Ye Ci let out a chuckle and studied her medical report, “Look, look at this. This shattered bone right here is quite serious. I wonder how long will it take for my leg to truly heal.”

Bai Mo could feel needles pricking into his heart as he glanced at the x-ray film of Ye Ci’s leg. In the end, he had failed to protect his little sister, “If something like this happens again, I want you to leave me behind and run.”

Ye Ci stared at Bai Mo, and remained silent.

“Did you hear what I said?” asked Bai Mo when he noticed the smile on her face.

“I did. But do you seriously think that I’ll listen?”

Bai Mo raised an eyebrow. She’s right. She might’ve heard me, but she might not listen.

He knew that Ye Ci was a very stubborn person. She would still make the same decision if the same thing was to happen. Bai Mo let out a long sigh, and tossed the report card to the backseat, “Thank God you’re not a ballerina, or your career is finished.”

This elicited a fit of laughter from Ye Ci. This was the first time she was thankful that she was not a dancer. It’s good to be a normal student. Thought Ye Ci as she rubbed her nose, “Alright, drive. Let’s head to the campus. I’m sure that my head of department is missing me a lot.”

The duo stopped by a roadside stall for some food, and arrived on campus by 2pm.

Ye Ci’s Head of Department was a man who knew little laughter. He let out a sigh when Ye Ci limped into his office, “What caused you to fall down like that, Ye Ci?”

Ye Nantian did not tell the truth when he requested a leave of absence in Ye Ci’s stead. He simply made up a story that Ye Ci had suffered an injury in an ice skating accident, “To tell you the truth, sir, I want to know the answer to that question as well.”

Ye Ci handed her homework to the Head of Department as well as her medical report after some small talk, and she was sent home with an advice to rest at home until her finals arrived.

Classes were in session when the duo was ready to leave the campus. Ye Ci limped her way into the car with help from Bai Mo, and the duo immediately sped home.

Today was a different day for Ye Ci, Bai Mo, and every other player in Fate.

It was the day where the storm that would change their fates would finally arrive.