Chapter 27: Fruit Candy's Phone

Trampling Yu Wei's head drained the last ounce of Chen Shicheng's strength.

He hadn't even had time to read the panel's prompt before the scene vanished, and he collapsed helplessly onto the ground.

The nearby personal guard watched the brutal melee and swallowed nervously.

As guards of Ironforge Town, the two were merely the general's personal guards, yet they often accompanied the squad to clear wild monsters around the town and had seen plenty of such fights.

But this kind of life‑or‑death duel between humans, fighting as if death mattered not, even maiming themselves to tear a piece of flesh from the enemy, was truly their first time seeing it.

The two, stunned, didn't dare to approach the unconscious Chen Shicheng for a moment, just standing there dumbfounded.

Squeak squeak squeak!

La Tiao anxiously licked Chen Shicheng's face; seeing no response, it hopped side to side in panic, and its peripheral vision caught two personal guards still trembling nearby.

It rushed forward, desperately biting one guard's armor and pulling toward Chen Shicheng.

"Quick, hurry and take the young hero to find the physician!"

Feeling the tug of the pant leg, the guard snapped back to his senses and, in a frantic rush, hoisted Chen Shicheng and ran toward the medical hall.

Meanwhile, the unconscious Chen Shicheng wasn't oblivious as if he were asleep.

Though he couldn't feel his body, his consciousness remained fully clear; only darkness filled his view, and aside from a system prompt, he saw nothing.

【You are unconscious, expected to awaken in 3 hours 42 minutes. Exit the game?】

He roughly estimated the timing: he entered Ironforge Town at about ten a. m., spent a little over twenty minutes wandering the town, but the deadly clash with that pervert Yu Wei only took a few minutes.

Nevertheless, by calculation it was nearly noon.

Considering this sensation‑less prison‑like state and the need to change lodging, he logged the unconscious time and immediately exited the game.

After a quick tidy‑up, Chen Shicheng prepared to grab his bag and run.

"Blue Lotus~~~~"

The phone suddenly rang.

Seeing a string of zeros on the caller ID, Chen Shicheng hung up without a second thought; scams were so brazen now, even using such obvious numbers—did they think he was clueless? Yet before he could lift his suitcase, his mobile let out a "ding‑dong" and a text message arrived.

【Chen Shicheng! Why aren't you answering my call? I'm Shuigu Tang!】

Reading the message, Chen Shicheng hesitated briefly, but when the phone rang again he answered, "How did you find my number?"

"I know what you look like, I even know your name, and with the game's region mapping, a little cash solves it!"

On the other end came a smug voice; aside from sounding female, there was nothing distinctive, not even matching Shuigu Tang's voice in the game.

Chen Shicheng looked at the phone, puzzled, and asked, "Your voice?"

"Hidden identity, in the game you only see a fake appearance of me."

"Heh, a woman."

"What did you say? I didn't catch that."

"I didn't say anything; you misheard." Chen Shicheng quickly changed the subject, "That day in the game, didn't you say you heard nothing? Then why are you contacting me in reality?"

"To confirm whether you're dead or not!"

"Are you a university student?" Chen Shicheng asked through clenched teeth. "Why do you ask that?"

"If you're not, then you already have a way to die."

Gagagagaga.

The Shuigu Tang on the other end let out a duck‑like laugh, which lasted a good while before stopping, then, panting, said, "Enough jokes, did anyone try to kill you in the game?"

"How did you know?"

"The murder case in C City blew up on short videos; I saw the victim's name resembled yours, looked it up, and found the culprit seemed to be that dog‑thing that keeps hunting players, so I contacted you to confirm."

Talking about the murder case made Chen Shicheng recall Yu Wei's earlier description of the killing, and his mood dipped. "I've encountered it twice in the game, and now I know that person's appearance, I definitely—"

"What are you going to do?" Before Chen Shicheng could finish, Shuigu Tang asked nervously, "Don't be foolish; as a rookie you can't possibly beat them."

"I"

"If you insist on being foolish, I won't stop you, but could you sell me your in‑game currency before you look for him? Otherwise it'd be wasted."

Sure enough, you can't expect anything from these veteran players; each of them only shows up when there's profit.

Chen Shicheng twitched his mouth and said bluntly, "I won't sell, not even for death. Forget that; I have other questions for you."

"Is it about the game?"

"Right?"

"Then better not say it over the phone; it's unsafe. Where is your game character right now?"

"Ironforge Town."

"Oh?" Shuigu Tang sounded surprised, "Your luck's good. If it's Ironforge Town, then tomorrow—I'll go to Ironforge Town to find you."

"You can come, but don't think I'll hand over any in‑game money." Chen Shicheng gave the scheming Shuigu Tang a preventive jab, "I'll wait for you at the Rolling Cloud Pavilion in Ironforge Town; hurry up."

After saying that, Chen Shicheng hung up, looking thoughtful.

When Shuigu Tang mentioned Ironforge Town, she seemed to say her luck was good—what does luck have to do with Ironforge Town? He racked his brain for a while but couldn't find a link, so he just filed it away and hurriedly grabbed his bucket and ran.

This woman is terrifying; she managed to get my phone number in such a short time. Give her two more days and she'll be standing right in front of me.

But if I think from another angle, could telling her Yu Wei's name and appearance let me locate that pervert's identity in reality a step earlier?

Given the current situation, both I and Yu Wei are in a dead‑locked, unending state.

Even if that pervert doesn't seek me out, his guilt toward me will drive him to go to Yu Wei and avenge the person named Chen Shicheng.

But with a disparity in strength, if I can uncover his identity first, I will hold an absolute advantage.

After all, no matter how high his rank, Yu Wei is still a mortal flesh, unable to ignore modern firearms.

Then, with the police's help, the gap between us should be completely reversed!

"After meeting Shuigu Tang, try to see if she can do a favor; at worst, give her some gold."

Determined, Chen Shicheng glanced at the sun overhead and hurried off toward his next lodging.

(End of chapter)