Chapter 44: Acquaintances
“Neither Song Jiang nor Lin Chong ever visited Twin Dragon Mount. This shrine seems to be a temple for monks that was repurposed into something else. The decorations are fine, which means this place is still in the middle of development. Considering this, I’d say that the ‘hero’ who lives here might be Lu Zhishen the Flowery Monk, Wu Song the Pilgrim, or Yang Zhi the Blue-Faced Beast. It could be either one of them.”
“Geez. The young generation has completely forgotten about the country’s literary jewels already? We should teach more of them in textbooks…”
The speaker was another white haired old man who was shorter compared to the other one. He didn’t speak until then because he had been busy reading the archaic signs and tablets scattered around the shrine.
Xu Xue felt her face burning in embarra.s.sment after hearing his sarcastic words. But she was not going to protest yet because this old man was clearly more educated.
“Precisely, my friend.” The taller elder smiled. “However, those three are top-level heroes as far as the story is concerned. According to the forum, we will need a legendary offering medium or something better to summon them. This sounds… difficult to handle. Perhaps we’ll get someone not as brilliant? Say, Sun Erniang the Female Yaksha, Zhang Qing the Gardener, or Cao Zheng the Knife Wielding Demon. They all seem to be good companions.”
“Or maybe it’s Deng Long, the original owner of Twin Dragon Mount who was later killed by Lu Zhishen?” the fat office man chipped in. “The players did say that the hero we’ll get wouldn’t necessarily align with the timeline of the story. As long as someone’s related to this place, they could show up at some point. Oh… don’t look at me like that, please. My company previously made a game that uses Water Margin as the main theme. Of course I read the book.”
“Why don’t we just ask around?” Xu Xue recovered from her awkwardness and wanted to talk to the guards again.
However, someone beat her to it. It was another middle-aged man in his thirties who did not say anything during the whole process. Just like the shorter old man, he spent his time checking the environment as soon as he arrived. But compared to the old man, he was more focused on the people outside.
“Our leader?” the first guard answered him, more relaxed this time. “You mean Lu Da the Chief?”
“There you have it. That’s Lu Zhishen, right?” The man returned inside and said to the older members.
“So it is Lu Zhishen then! Whoever secured this settlement did a fine job at it!” the taller old man exclaimed in awe.
“Are you sure you heard that right?” Xu Xue looked displeased again after failing to “seize control” of the situation. “Those guys are from old times. Maybe they have weird accents or something.”
“We’re not wrong!” the office man suddenly yelled in excitement while looking at the door, where two people were fast approaching.
One of them was so large and burly that people simply couldn’t overlook him. Not to mention that the large beard, his bald head and all the eye-catching flower tattoos that covered his entire upper body couldn’t be missed.
Actually, most of the new players had never read Water Margin when there were books that suited them more. Even so, they all knew the famous name of Lu Zhishen the Flowery Monk, who was more or less the signature of Water Margin.
“Wait, there’s someone else…” People soon noticed the smaller figure who was walking ahead of the big man.
In the next second, three of them widened their eyes at the same time, since they recognized the person who was approaching.
“Mister Ji??”
“Oh? Mister Jiang and… Doctor Shang.” Ji Ye also saw two familiar faces inside the shrine, after hearing what the guards had to say.
Jiang Wenming was the “snake expert” who gave him lessons on how to identify the structures and weaknesses of different snakes, while Shang Yan was the psychiatrist from the city hospital. Ji Ye had just met her before entering the Land of Inheritance.
“Woah, I never thought I’d see you again. Here, of all places!” Both Jiang Wenming and Shang Yan looked thrilled due to their encounter. Since Ji Ye was there, they could tell that it wasn’t a dangerous “bandit camp.”
Meanwhile, Shang Yan could tell that Ji Ye was an important guest in this settlement by reading Lu Zhishen’s body language. She also knew that Ji Ye was one of the few players who had pa.s.sed the “initial trial.”
“Chief, master, welcome back!”
“Greetings, master!”
The way all the guards spoke to Ji Ye helped her confirm her theory.
“He’s called Ji Ye, huh?” Su Nongying carefully inspected the man she used to watch a lot online. In her view, this man didn’t look evil or threatening. But somehow, she felt her heart racing faster when he was this close.
“You’re a player?” Xu Xue also checked Ji Ye’s impressive image with slight surprise.
As a famous entertainer, she knew how to read people as well. She could see that Ji Ye had a very special spot around here, just by telling how Lu Zhishen was patiently waiting for him like a dedicated bodyguard.
A player became the master of this very settlement? No way… Xu Xue thought with a frown.