Volume 4, Chapter 17 – Reconnecting

Most of the small towns on No. 1886 were poor.

Perched on the fringes of prosperous areas, even getting to a major city required multiple transfers.

Places like that had lots of trouble and all kinds of people. They were chaotic, but they also had fewer rules, which was why many towns were chosen as newbie spawn points.

It was only after entering the town that Anran realized this was also a newbie spawn point.

From time to time on the road, she could see players walking past with IDs floating above their heads.

“Anran, why do you keep staring at them?” Aila asked in confusion.

“These people are strangers.”

Anran explained.

“Really?”

Oh.

Right.

Anran remembered that ordinary NPCs could not see the IDs above players’ heads.

“Let’s not worry about that for now. Let’s first see if there’s any cleaner restaurant nearby.” Anran took Aila by the hand.

“Hello, is there anything I can help you with?”

While Anran was looking around, a player walked up to her.

ID: Yumo.

A two-character ID. She had probably entered the game very early. Who would have thought she would still be stuck so miserably in a newbie village?

Anran sized Yumo up.

She was a girl who looked extremely plain.

Not that her face was plain.

It was her clothes and overall style.

She wore simple gray clothing with a classical feel, and even her hair was tied up with cloth strips.

Most notably, there was a wooden sword hanging at her waist.

“In Qinghe Town, if you have any questions, you can ask me. My rates are very cheap.” The player Yumo looked at Anran with wide eyes.

Her gaze was very clear, yet within that clarity was an indescribable kind of resolve.

Why would an information broker dress like this?

“The most basic information only costs 1 Bilu.”

“Mm…” Anran pondered for a moment. “How about this? I’ll give you 20 Bilu. Tell me where I can find a relatively clean restaurant in this town, and where I can buy or sell cars. Also, I need you to help me contact two people.”

“Contact people?” Yumo frowned. She would not be leaving this town anytime soon, and these two NPCs clearly looked like outsiders.

“They’re strangers,” Anran said.

“Strangers?”

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Yumo’s eyes widened. Strangers meant players. Why was she looking for players?

“So? That’s a pretty good deal, right?”

Anran revealed a kind smile, the sort a devil would wear.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

She could order players around for just 20 Bilu. What could she say?

“I know you strangers have a very special way of contacting one another.”

“No problem.”

Yumo nodded. “Who are you looking for?”

“One is called Leading the Escape, and the other is called Monster Mountain Hermit.”

“Mm, wait a moment.” Yumo opened the game panel.

Anran had no choice either. Although she had a game panel, she could basically be considered an unregistered person. Without authentication through a game pod, she had no official identity on record, and therefore could not use any function that required identity verification.

If she needed anything done, she could only ask other players for help.

Zhou Jieyu and Li Zhuying were both channels she could make very good use of.

…

“Huh, an unfamiliar person is contacting me?”

Sitting in the car, Zhou Jieyu muttered softly, instantly attracting Leading the Charge’s attention.

“What’s up?”

“Let me reply first.” Zhou Jieyu waved her hand. Her rifle rested in her arms as they traveled toward Wutong City.

“You are…”

Zhou Jieyu was still slowly typing out what she wanted to say.

A message had already popped up from the other side.

[I’m contacting you on Anran’s behalf.]

Anran? Which Anran?

[If you get any news about Morningstar in the future, you can send a message to 1316…]

Huh?

So it was that Anran!

Anran’s image immediately flashed through Zhou Jieyu’s mind.

“Quest triggered: [Confidentiality Agreement]. Accept?”

Zhou Jieyu was still recalling things when the quest suddenly popped up.

This was a timed quest.

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The time limit was one year.

The longer Zhou Jieyu kept the secret, the more EXP she would receive. If she made it to a full year, she would get 36,500 EXP.

Measured across the span of a year, the EXP reward for this quest was actually not that much.

But broken down by the day, it was still a fairly decent bit of extra income.

Even better, the intelligence-gathering quests could continue to be turned in.

Zhou Jieyu was not some shameless girl, and besides, she had no reason to leak Anran’s information.

So she decisively accepted the quest.

“What is it?” Leading the Charge asked.

“Nothing. Anyway, it’s none of your business!” Zhou Jieyu turned her head away.

“…”

This little sister…

…

“Then I’ll contact the next person,” Yumo said.

“Mm, go ahead.”

…

Li Zhuying logged in the very moment game maintenance ended.

Sitting in the familiar little room, breathing in the fresh air, stroking the photograph on the table, and letting her thoughts drift to Anran’s intimate clothing.

It just so happened to be daytime in the game.

Full of energy, she walked out and headed straight for the Nine Songs base.

After pushing open the door, she saw only Daogu lying on the sofa.

“Where is everyone else?” Li Zhuying asked.

“The injured are recovering, and the others are training.” Daogu showed no intention whatsoever of getting up.

“What about Anran?”

“She got hurt.”

Li Zhuying’s expression immediately grew tense.

She remembered that Anran was an NPC. If she died, then she would really be dead.

How could she not be nervous?

“It’s nothing serious, probably. She even came here yesterday to borrow a car,” Daogu replied.

That’s good. That’s good.

They still did not know that Anran had already driven off.

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So when Li Zhuying went to find her, all she saw was a tightly shut door.

And that room had even become available to rent.

“Huh?”

Where was she?

Where had Anran gone?

Li Zhuying was completely dumbfounded.

She could not reach her by phone at all, either.

She realized that something seemed to have happened, but there was nothing she could do.

She could only worry helplessly.

The first hour after Anran disappeared: missed her.

The first day after Anran disappeared: missed her.

The second day after Anran disappeared…

Beep beep!

Li Zhuying, who had sunk into a dejected state, climbed up from the bed. Someone had tagged her in the chat system.

“!”

After reading the message, Li Zhuying immediately became energized!

Just passing along a message was such a simple task? Being able to grind favorability like this was fantastic!

…

“Minister, Anran has already been gone for two days!”

Lü Changming was handling official business when the secretary who had been reporting to him all this time quietly reminded him from the side.

“She still hasn’t come back?” Lü Changming looked up.

“I think…” The secretary paused for a moment. “I think she probably isn’t coming back.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lü Changming asked, puzzled.

The secretary explained, “I just had people check. On the day Anran left, she took everything she could carry, terminated her lease, and now her phone can’t be reached at all. Most likely, she’s already run off.”

“What!”

Lü Changming shot to his feet. “You still can’t reach her at all?”

“That’s right.”

Lü Changming’s face darkened at once.

They could not reach her.

“That car…”

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“She probably borrowed it to make her escape. It’s not coming back!”

Lü Changming’s face darkened even further.

After all, he had been the one who approved Anran borrowing the car.

And besides the matter of the car, there was also the plan he had painstakingly thought over for half a day…

Lü Changming glanced at the papers still lying in the document bag, his face looking as though someone had pressed it against an iron wok and smeared it around twice.

He was about to explode from anger!

Smack!

Lü Changming slammed the table in rage.

The steel cup on the desktop jumped.

He had finally made the same move as that detestable Minister Wu.

“Minister, this…”

“Contact the other branches. Search for her. We must find her!”

Lü Changming angrily pounded the desk again.

“Yes, yes…”

The secretary hurried off to make arrangements.

Not long after, Anran was placed under another new “bounty.” This time, the bounty was much more targeted.

It included her appearance, the car’s license plate and exterior, and the information was clear. It was just that the reward was not very enticing.

It could even be called mild.

Only 10,000 EXP.

But Lü Changming was not after Anran’s life.

He just wanted to bring Anran back and teach her a lesson.

…

“The food in restaurants in small towns really isn’t that good.”

As Anran walked, she complained to Aila.

Aila played the role of listener very well.

They were heading back toward the off-road vehicle. Yumo had just told them that there was a black market on the east side of town, and if they were lucky, they could buy a car there.

Anran planned to switch cars first. Otherwise, she was too obvious a target.

“Boss, that’s the one.”

In the shadows, two ordinarily dressed people pointed at Anran and Aila.