Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Even after his death, Howard’s corpse still didn’t dissipate… Though Wang Yu didn’t have any sort of fetish for it, he still went forward to step on it to prevent any surprises from happening. After making sure his body was secure Wang Yu messaged Li Xue and said: “You can come get the key now, I’ve convinced this old fool!”
“Convinced?” Li Xue was extremely puzzled. The look on Howard’s face just now was crazed beyond all reason.
Returning to Howard’s wooden house again, Li Xue saw Wang Yu standing atop Howard and finally realised that he had “convinced” Howard with his fists…
After her initial shock due to Wang Yu’s overwhelming strength, Li Xue was already numb to what he could accomplish.
Taiji Quan really was too well known. Watching Wang Yu using it to deal with the boss, Li Xue really thought that Wang Yu had been able to easily deal with Howard.
“Is he dead?” Li Xue sheepishly asked from a distance. Though she hadn’t personally slain a boss before, she knew that most bosses outside of dungeons would dissolve into white light after their deaths.
With a kick to Howard’s head Wang Yu replied: “Officially he is dead… but he hasn’t dropped any items yet… what kind of poor boss is he supposed to be…”
“…”
No matter what, Howard was still an old man. Looking at how roughly Wang Yu was treating him, Li Xue was silent for a moment before quietly saying: “Maybe it’s a quest boss so the drops are the rewards for the quest?”
“Hmmm that does make sense. Quickly go find what you need then. I really don’t trust the system so I’ll just stand on him until you’re done!” Wang Yu nodded.
Without another word, Li Xue entered the wooden house. After searching high and how for some time, Li Xue dejectedly walked out and sighed: “That’s weird… there’s nothing inside…”
“You sure you checked everywhere? Behind the walls and under the floor?” Wang Yu fully expressed his lack of faith in the system.
“This little house is the location for the quest, but there’s no cracks or items inside. I’ve really searched everywhere but other than this there’s really nothing inside…” Li Xue replied as she took out a beaker that was filled with a reddish liquid.
Scratching his head, Wang Yu then pointed at Howard’s corpse and said: “Maybe there’s a clue on his body?”
After the incident with Wharton’s head, Wang Yu had learnt that these kinds of bosses that didn’t disappear after death definitely had some purpose.
“It could be…” At this point Li Xue had complete faith in Wang Yu. These NPCs really couldn’t be trusted at all!
Bending down, Wang Yu lifted Howard up and said to Li Xue: “You search him. I’ll hold him still.”
Under normal circumstances, Li Xue definitely wouldn’t have tried to search an old man even if he was an NPC. Yet now, no matter how realistic this virtual reality game was, for the hidden quest she would do whatever it took!
With a growing blush, Li Xue reached towards Howard’s chest.
“Cough… cough…”
Right at this moment, Howard coughed a few times before opening his eyes, frightening Li Xue out of her wits. The current Howard was weak to the point where he didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger.
When Wang Yu saw Howard wake up he was slightly stunned as well. He was still alive even after being kicked by Wang Yu with no health… this really was one of the legendary story bosses.
“G…gi…give it to me…” Howard croaked as he stared at the breaker in Li Xue’s hands.
Right as Li Xue was about to have it over, Wang Yu blocked her and smilingly said: “Give us the key first!”
“Urk…” With a sigh, Howard reached into his shirt and pulled out an old and rusted key.
Taking the key, Wang Yu stared at Howard and sternly said: “Give us the key that Winston wants!”
“?” Hearing his words Li Xue couldn’t help but be completely confused.
Howard stared at Wang Yu with a gaze full of enmity before finally pulling out another key and handing it over to Wang Yu.
Watching from the side, Li Xue was completely confused. This Howard really wasn’t any average AI! He even knew how to play with words like this! However what was even more impressive was that Wang Yu knew exactly how to deal with him!
“M…me…medicine… Give me my medicine…” Having handed over the keys, Howard pitifully begged again.
Taking the beaker from Li Xue, Wang Yu shook his head and asked: “If I kill you what will you drop?”
“Shameless! I’ve already given you the keys!” Howard angrily cursed.
“It’s not like I promised you I would give you the medicine if you passed me the keys…” Wang Yu laughed. Having dealt with the Informant, Wang Yu learnt that the only way to deal with these shameless NPCs was too be even more shameless himself!
“You!” Right as Howard was about to curse again, he noticed that Wang Yu was holding the beaker at an angle like he wanted to pour it away and hurriedly took out four small bottles and said: “These are for you! Please give me my medicine!”
It really was a good thing that Wang Yu hadn’t been conceited previously. This old coot still had four more potions on him! Who knew what kind of buffs it would have given him? Based on all the life preserving methods that the system had given him, it was very likely that it would have been some kind kamikaze potion that buffed him while damaging ordinary players!
“You’re trying to trick me? I know these will kill me once the buff ends!” Wang Yu angrily growled.
“There’s a chest in my house… you can open it with the first key I gave you…” Howard dejectedly squeaked. “This really is all I have… if you don’t believe me then just kill me…”
“You actually managed to extort it out of him? The game game really be played like this?” Watching the interaction between Wang Yu and Howard the Alchemist with one trying to cheat his way out and the other shamelessly extorting him, Li Xue had long since be shocked senseless.
Seeing that there really was nothing left, Wang Yu smirked as he grabbed the four vials and said to Li Xue: “Watch him, I’ll go inside and search the house again.”
The moment Howard took out the second key, Li Xue had already received a notification that her quest had been completed. Hence Wang Yu didn’t really have any worries that Howard would continue to resist.
“What about my medicine? Where’s your integrity?” Howard ranted.
“I am a man of integrity but I just don’t trust you at all! I need to go check your chest first then I’ll think about it.” Wang Yu coolly replied.
Tossing Howard away, Wang Yu walked towards the house and realised there really was a chest inside.
After using the key to open the chest, Wang Yu found two skill books and a few gold coins.
[Craft: Corrosion Potion]: Uncommon skill that allows the user to craft a potion with corrosive properties.
Job Requirement: Dark Shaman
[Craft: Toxic Potion]: Uncommon skill that allows user to craft a potion with toxic properties.
Job Requirement: Dark Shaman
From the looks of it, these were the contents of the two test tubes that Howard had thrown at him previously.
Just by looking at these two skill books Wang Yu could tell how dishonest the designers were. Li Xue was a Bishop and yet the two skills the bods have were meant for Dark Shamans! Where would there even be a Bishop who used poisons?
However it should be known that the two skill books weren’t something that was meant to appear in this quest originally. They only spawned due to Wang Yu’s repeated extortions. Someone with the Bishop job would definitely not have done anything similar. Anyway, someone evil like Howard definitely wouldn’t have any items for Bishops.
Leaving the house, Wang Yu walked towards Howard and said with dissatisfaction: “That’s it? Just these two little toys? What about the recipe for that potion you drank at the start?”
“Don’t have it!” Howard resolutely replied. “Only our teacher has the recipe for it! When me and that old scoundrel Winston graduated we each stole five bottles from our teacher…”
It turned out that these two sly old men were previously fellow disciples.
“Ai … a pity…” Wang Yu sighed. He didn’t know what was worst. Their losses or the fact that they couldn’t obtain the recipe for the secret potion. He could only shake his head as he handed the beaker to Howard.
Grabbing the beaker out of Wang Yu’s hand, Howard immediately gulped it down, causing his constitution to greatly improve.
After regaining his strength, Howard coldly stared at Wang Yu and Li Xue and shouted: “Now get out of my sight you shameless bastards! Don’t ever let me see the two of you again!”
It was merely the rants of an NPC so there real wasn’t any need to take it to heart. Especially not from one that they had successfully extorted.
Wang Yu and Li Xue lightly smiled to each other before turning around and leaving.
“Do you want these two books?” Wang Yu asked Li Xue on the way back to the pharmacy.
“I have no use for Dark Shaman skills so you can just sell them Brother Yu.” Li Xue lightly sighed.
“Alright then.” Wang Yu straightforwardly replied. There was no need for him to be courteous since these were his spoils in the first place.
“Oh right Brother Yu how did you know the first key was fake just now?” Li Xue curiously asked.
Wang Yu profoundly stared in the direction of Twilight City and said: “My teacher told me that in this game NPCs were designed to trick players so I just decided to give it a try. I didn’t think it’d actually work either.”
“Then what if the key was real? Wouldn’t you have asked for nothing?” Li Xue giggled.
“It’s not like it cost me anything to try anyway. And we have nothing to lose!” Wang Yu shrugged.
“…”