The Great Thief

Translator: Exodus Tales  Editor: Exodus Tales

“Come in,” Lu Li said in front of the computer as he sloppily typed some words.

With the current intelligent technology that existed, it wasn’t difficult to form text with your own thoughts. But sometimes, people felt curious and wanted to know what it felt like to experience a keyboard.

When Short Road came in, he saw Lu Li tapping the keyboard with two fingers. The speed of his hands was nothing like the star Thief in the game.

There had to be something wrong with this guy.

Although his face seemed calm and respectful, Short Road actually had no respect for Lu Li. He would often fantasize about Ruling Sword going bankrupt, and thinking about what he would do next.

When Lu Li saw him, he immediately stood up and went to the water dispenser to pour a cup of hot water. This was the kind of thing he had to do as the Boss.

“How is your health?”

“I’m much better now. Thanks Boss. Thank the club as well.”

Short Road was actually quite touched. Lu Li had given him two million dollars to pay for his medical fees, but he saw this as an exchange, so he didn’t feel too emotional about it. Lu Li was pouring him a glass of water so that he would be overwhelmed by emotion.

“In that case, can I trust that you will be participating in the guild event?” Lu Li got back into his seat and temporarily gave up on the folly of typing on the keyboard.

“Of course. I have been farming for the last few days,” Short Road said with some eagerness.

In fact, he had almost died doing that.

Short Road fainted easily because of his health, but that didn’t mean he was lazy. He was someone who just couldn’t sit still and would rather faint unexpectedly than idly letting time pass.

When he receive the money, he immediately began his treatment. Since the treatment didn’t affect his ability to game, he continued to level while recovering by using the Mages in the guild. That way, he would just need to sit there to gain EXP.

This was the kind of treatment only larger clubs could afford.

Everything was built around the professional players, despite the fact that Short Road wasn’t formally a professional player yet.

However, for this older member of the Novice Training Camp, Lu Li did not intend to let him go through the step by step training. Actual combat was the best way to gain experience and Lu Li already knew what he was capable of.

“Be prepared to enter the Molten Core Instance Dungeon. We’ll be starting tomorrow and it is fairly long and intense. If you can’t take it, be sure to let me know in advance,” Lu Li said. He was still a bit worried.

He didn’t want Short Road to join the battlefield so soon, because he wanted him to take care of his body.

However, Short Road was a very impatient person.

The time in the game was very precious, and Lu Li was giving him an opportunity to fight in the Instance Dungeon, which was usually only reserved for the main players. In fact, there were at least two other Ice Mages ready to replace him if he said that he couldn’t do it.

The place where Short Road would truly shine was in a match. This was just a small test and he could also gain some Skill Points from the Instance Dungeon.

“I noticed… that you seem to eat…”

Lu Li was currently at a café, sitting across from Water Fairy, or Shen Yan Xue. Calling someone by their game ID was always weird in real life, unless you were lazy like Lu Li and just used your real name.

“I eat a lot, right?”

Shen Yan Xue didn’t seem to mind that Lu Li said that about her.

“It is quite a bit, but I don’t think it’s too much. I’ve definitely had more food than this before.” Lu Li had always thought he ate a lot, but he never thought that Water Fairy would eat a lot as well. Water Fairy’s body also seemed quite slender, especially since she was stretched even thinner as a Night Elf in-game.

“I was watching some anime till very late last night, and I haven’t had the chance to eat until now,” Water Fairy explained with a shrug, not thinking there was anything weird about a goddess staying up to watch anime.

“Oh, the cartoons from that country…”

Lu Li did not hate anime itself, but he bore some resentment towards its country of origin because of the second world war. That country’s economic system had since completely collapsed, and they were now only producing anime and small movies.

“Well, you should watch some with me if you have the time,” Water Fairy suggested as she ate.

Even her movements as she ate were very elegant. You could see from the way that she moved that she ate a lot. She was an elegant snacker.

“Ahem, I… need to make some time to visit soon.”

Lu Li was somewhat uncomfortable. He had some reservations about entering her ‘inner chambers’. Six months ago, he was a gangster struggling in the Common District and trying to become the godfather of the Common District’s gangsters. He was also trying to take care of his sister.

Lu Li had always known that he and Water Fairy were from different worlds.

He remembered when they met for the first time. A few transactions meant that Lu Li had made a lot of money from Water Fairy. While being happy and grateful that had happened, Lu Li also subconsciously regarded her as a customer, even though he had felt something when he saw her.

This feeling had been stamped out as quickly as it arose, but the embers still remained. Even though Lu Li hadn’t come to fully understand his thoughts of Water Fairy, he didn’t refuse to maintain frequent contact with her.

Whenever he heard people talking about them as a couple, he didn’t feel anger.

Lu Li had worked hard for his sister, for himself and perhaps for Water Fairy too – even though he would never admit it.

Now, it was time to meet her family.

After Water Fairy had the falling out with her father, her grandfather seemed like the most important person to her.

He was a successful old man, and they were typically quite stubborn. He would feel like he was an authoritative source and wouldn’t change his mind easily. Lu Li didn’t know how he would be seen, and had never felt so afraid of meeting someone in his life.

“Are you afraid?” Water Fairy asked, putting her chopsticks down when she finally finished her food. She found that she was caring less and less about politeness.

She wasn’t sure if it was because she had been away from home for so long, or if it was because of Lu Li.

“No, of course not,” Lu Li refused to admit, before pausing and saying, “I’m just worried that he will misunderstand me.”

Water Fairy pouted and was too lazy to prod much further.

“Well, since you’re buying me food, do you want to talk about something?”

“It’s nothing major – I just want to ask if you want to combine forces for the Molten Core Instance Dungeon,” Lu Li said, breathing a sigh of relief. He didn’t really want to talk about that other topic right now because there were so many things currently uncertain about the future. The main thing was that he had not achieved what he wanted yet.

“Really?” Water Fairy asked, her eyes widening.

“Are you not interested? I thought it would be easier if we combined forces. According to our scouting parties, the regular monsters inside are comparable to the strength of a Boss. They haven’t even seen an actual Boss yet,” Lu Li said innocently.

Now that he was in this position, he naturally wasn’t the one to scout out the Instance Dungeons anymore.

Moreover, although he had sent a group of forty people to scout out the Instance Dungeon and collect information on the monsters inside, the results were minimal. The ordinary Elite group players were obviously not strong enough for this task.

“Of course I’m interested; you don’t have to be so polite. It is never a bad thing for us to work together,” Water Fairy said quickly.

On the surface, this looked like Lu Li asking Drizzle Court for assistance.

In fact, everyone knew that Drizzle Court had made no achievements when it came to Instance Dungeon strategies. They were far behind Ruling Sword, Glory Capital, Blood Red War Flag, Stellar Union, Seventh Heaven, Azure Guard and Wings of Dawn.

They lacked a commander who was skilled in Instance Dungeons.

These players were generally smart and very determined, and wouldn’t hire themselves out to a group of women.

Ruling Sword was different. From the starting Spider Instance Dungeon, Lu Li had already been leading a motley crew of players. He was capable even of beating major guilds with a group of random players.

On the commander rankings, Lu Li might not have been at the top. However, in terms of Instance Dungeon commanding, Lu Li was definitely number one.

The best commanders were the ones who could lead any group and still find a way through the Instance Dungeon.

Now, since Lu Li had asked Drizzle Court to join their line-up, it meant that Drizzle Court would be able to share in the final victory. They had many Elite Groups, so their benefit would definitely exceed the effort that Ruling Sword was putting in to lead them there. Lu Li wasn’t asking for help; he was doing them a big favour.

According to Square Root 3, this was basically a free gift.