Chapter 122: Brother Ling
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Business Building, Landing Terminal, Storm City.
When Feng Luo entered the lobby, he saw Sister Rui and Mu Zi, who were wearing the same SU series combat uniforms, unexpectedly walking in from the other exit.
“Brother Feng!”
Mu Zi’s sharp eyes spotted Feng Luo immediately.
“Hey, Mu Zi! Sister Rui! What a coincidence!”
Feng Luo was actually preparing to go directly to the gathering place, but it was actually better that he had unexpectedly met the other two. His relations.h.i.+ps with Sister Rui and Mu Zi was much closer than those he had with his colleagues.
Mu Zi was pretty observant, so he noticed Feng Luo’s new tactical belt straight away. “Huh? Brother Feng, you leveled up so quickly? The tactical belt you’re wearing is Level 41. I was using it, too, previously.”
Tactical belts in War were, in fact, tactical vests. But compared to the tactical vests used by armies or mercenaries on Earth, the suspension module was more centered around the waist, as it combined waist and thigh guards. Also, because players usually liked to match it with Energy Manipulator and Warrior gear, it was known as a “belt” by the players.
This tactical belt was Feng Luo’s latest addition—a Level-41 Excellent-grade piece of equipment that could hold up to ten detachable modules for carrying ammo, small arms, and daggers.
Carrying ammo was the greatest function of the tactical belt. With this, time would not be wasted in combat to retrieve magazines from one’s backpack, and it would be easier to switch to small weapons like pistols or sabers.
As a Sniper, Feng Luo typically did not use this kind of complex tactical belt because they could not be hidden like accessories, and they would inhibit certain actions when worn on the body. But considering what might happen during this mission, he had secured a tactical belt from the Exchange.
“I’ve completed a few hunters’ wanted missions these past few days, so I leveled up by a level or so!” Feng Luo answered.
“Hunter missions?” Mu Zi said with a smile on his face and walked closer. “That’s no easy task, and it’s pretty risky. But with your peerless marksmans.h.i.+p, I’m sure it was just a piece of cake for you to complete the task.”
“You little kiss-a.s.s!” Feng Luo laughed.
“Let’s go together!” Sister Rui said and nodded to Feng Luo.
Together, they headed to the scheduled meeting place, which was a teahouse on the 20th floor of this business building.
As they entered the door of the teahouse, a player waitress in a blue and white cheongsam, bowing slightly to them.
“Welcome,” she said. “Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes!” Sister Rui placed a terminal identification system above the scanner on the side.
“Oh, you’re Mr. Ling’s friends,” the player waitress said with a smile. “Please come with my colleagues. They are waiting for you in the Xi Zhu Hall.”
Another female player who was also wearing a blue and white cheongsam led them inside.
The two female players were extremely good looking, and the cheongsams made them looked even more interesting. However, the cost of hiring NPCs in the game was usually only one-tenth the cost of hiring players. The owner of this teahouse was clearly quite special if he used players as servers.
The three of them followed the female player, and Feng Luo noticed that Sister Rui kept looking at the blue and white cheongsam the waitress was wearing.
“This kind of dress is very popular among the rich ladies these days,” Sister Rui whispered to Feng Luo, the excitement in her eyes overflowing with her wish to try on the clothes. “I’m really curious which famous fas.h.i.+on designer the game hired. Surprisingly, there are a lot of beautiful clothes!”
Feng Luo smiled after listening to Sister Rui. Speaking of which, ever since War’s server opened, the culture of the Star Federation had been impacted by “Earth culture” every day, from the language to the food, from the clothing and apparel to the art.
Feng Luo felt this the most. Since War started half a year ago, he had begun to see more and more familiar things in real life, such as jeans, cheongsams, hamburgers… Many times, it made him feel like he was back on Earth. A game had unexpectedly combined two worlds together!
Mu Zi looked around and tutted. “Storm City has a population of more than 50 million, and Landing Terminal 1 is the largest among them. To establish such a large teahouse here must have cost a lot of credit points!”
“At least 50 million credit points,” Feng Luo said, also looking around as he walked.
The layout and adornment of this teahouse were quite cla.s.sical. Either the owner had really good taste, or it had been designed by some master designer NPC.
They followed the waiter all the way until they came to a door in the middle with several bamboo plants. As the door slowly opened and the three of them entered, the scene changed suddenly. The interior of the antique teahouse, located in a building dozens of meters tall, suddenly transformed into an outdoor bamboo forest with sunny skies.
The sea of bamboo was so large that its ends could not be seen. The green leaves rustled in the breeze, and the bamboo forest had two connected wooden pavilions where eight or nine players were already seated. And next to the pavilion flowed a crystal clear stream with fish swimming back and forth.
In this environment, the trio could even feel the humidity on their faces from the moisture and the breeze.
“An environment simulation system!” said Mu Zi. “A set costs at least two million credit points in the game!”
He knew a lot about the luxuries in this game. His eyes glowed with excitement as he looked around. But the trio was not too surprised, as it was well known that the Star Federation had a sophisticated and widely used environmental simulation technology.
“The basic infrastructure costs 2.5 million credit points and would cost more depending on the area,” said the waitress. “Hence, the cost is much higher than in real life. If you’re interested, our boss can help you to get a contact.”
She smiled and bowed before leaving.
At this time, a rather deep and steady voice rang out.
“Brother Feng, you are late. As punishment, you have to drink three cups of tea!”
A young Light Armor Warrior stood up from the pavilion in the bamboo forest and walked toward Feng Luo and the gang, laughing at Feng Luo down the road as he spoke.
“Brother Ling?” Feng Luo said.
He was surprised to see this middle-aged male player with thick eyebrows and big eyes. Although he was not tall, he seemed to be very stocky and powerful.
Feng Luo realized there had been a mistake in the information provided by Mu Wu. Actually, there was another “acquaintance” involved in this mission—this over-40-year-old middle-aged player in front of him.
Brother Ling was the bodyguard of the Lu Conglomerate’s big boss and had followed him for more than 20 years ever since the big boss first made his fortune. However, he was no longer in his position as a bodyguard. Over the past year, it had been arranged by the boss for him to take office into the Lu Conglomerate, and he was currently a member of the top management in the headquarters. Feng Luo had a good relations.h.i.+p with him. They weren’t close, but they knew each other well.
The middle-aged man suddenly got up and left. The remaining players in the pavilion looked at each other in astonishment. For as long as they had known him, they had rarely seen Vice Manager Ling take the initiative to greet a player. It seemed that the relations.h.i.+p between Ling and these newcomers were not bad. Or maybe they were special. But there were exceptions.
A Sniper player in a combat uniform sat alone in another pavilion. He was disa.s.sembling and working on a conspicuous gray and black sniper rifle that was more than 1.5 meters long on a table in the middle of the pavilion.
He was not surprised when he saw the situation, but he was interested in the trio.
To be more accurate, he was only interested in Feng Luo. His sights fell on Feng Luo with a trace of scrutiny in his eyes.
With a click, he a.s.sembled the Rare-grade Level-45 sniper rifle in his hands—the “Python of Death”—while exuding an unmistakable killing intent.