Upon hearing that Xue Jian had a stable camp, and that their leader didn't treat them badly, Liu Gan had no plans of recruiting these players into his squad. So after that topic, Liu Gan only talked about their previously played game [Dominion], how things have been different for the past year for both of them. They also exchanged information regarding this [The Trembling World].
“These brothers here should already be level 4 right?” Xue Jian confirmed with Liu Gan.
“Yes, they just got there recently.” Liu Gan didn’t want to scare them with the news that he was level 6 already. This was all to prevent his former guild leader from feeling ashamed.
Zhang ShengLi heard what Xue Jian had said, so he’d wanted to praise Liu Gan. However, Liu Gan was staying low-key so Zhang ShengLi didn’t volunteer any additional information.
“Brother, there are only four of you? What plans do you have?” Xue Jian asked as he wanted to recruit Liu Gan.
“We are only passing by, we wanted to get some fuel, so we never expected to encounter you guys.” Liu Gan laughed.
“Brother, where is it that you want to go?” Xue Jian guessed that Liu Gan was going to a rather faraway place.
“We are preparing to go to Green Pao Bay to see if we can find a large ship that is capable of serving as a mobile base, so that we can attempt to go explore the main island,” Liu Gan answered truthfully.
“That idea isn’t bad at all, but if there aren’t any level 5 players leading it would be difficult to reach the Green Pao Bay,” Xue Jian tried to convince Liu Gan.
“He is already level 5,” Liu Gan pointed at Zhang ShengLi.
“AH? He is already level 5?” Xue Jian stared at Zhang ShengLi with a different expression. In their impression, players that had reached level 5 were rare since it was hard to accomplish. Hence, it was hard for Xue Jian and his group to believe that they had met someone familiar and that there was a strong level 5 player in that familiar person’s small group.
“What? Don’t believe me? Want to go test it out?” Zhang ShengLi jokingly said. Zhang ShengLi was whimpering on the inside… He wanted to be low-key like Liu Gan, but he had been sold out.
“Oh of course not, brother you are level 5. How can I spar with you? Brother Zhang, how did you get to level 5?” Xue Jian said to Zhang ShengLi. After Xue Jian realized that Zhang ShengLi was level 5, his attitude had become more respectful. It seemed like this level 5 player - Zhang ShengLi, was recognized as Liu Gan’s group leader. So it was best to not get on Zhang ShengLi’s bad.
“His luck was very good; he was able to encounter a heavily wounded Variant Zombie. So he took that opportunity to reach level 5.” Liu Gan created a lie about Zhang ShengLi. If Zhang ShengLi had told the truth about being power leveled, then these former guildmates would also ask to be power leveled too. Then who would help him if he kept giving free kills away? Liu Gan was wondering.
“Big Brother Zhang, your luck is really good! What ability did you awaken?” Xue Jian and other players looked at Zhang ShengLi with envy.
“This… I can’t tell you.” Zhang ShengLi said after shaking his head.
Xue Jiang also felt ashamed and laughed it off. He knew that the question was too sudden, as he wasn’t too familiar with Zhang ShengLi to be asking it in the first place.
“Brothers, thank you for your hospitality. After we’ve filled the fuel, we still have to regroup with our other team members. It is best that we don’t bother you guys for too long.” Liu Gan felt as it was time to take his leave.
“Wait, Brother Liu, how many followers do you have right now?” Xue Jian stood up to ask Liu Gan one last question.
“A dozen people,” Liu Gan replied.
“I want to follow my long lost friend [Burning Fire] to Green Pao Bay to check it out. Do you guys want to stay here or do you want to follow me to Green Pao Bay?” Xue Jing suddenly asked his surrounding group. It was something that had been bothering Xue Jing for awhile.
Liu Gan suddenly looked at Xue Jing in alarm. Judging from what Xue Jing said earlier, their group wasn’t doing too bad in this camp so it was highly unexpected for him to suggest it since he had given no indications of it.
“Brother Jian, where you go, I will definitely follow,” every other player replied uniformly. Xue Jian was a righteous person and he took care of his guild subordinates so that had earned him the title of a Zealous Brother. Other than the original guild members, those that decided to follow Xue Jian were players that he had recently met in [The Trembling World] and had received favors.
“It is like this, even though our current camp leader [Mr. Sheng] haven’t been bad to us, our ideals aren't aligned. I want to leave the city for the mountainside to establish a more permanent camp, but the current leader wants to venture deeper into the city. Brother Liu, your team has a level 5 player leading the way, so would it be possible for us to follow you to the world outside and to the mountains? We want to see if we can find a more permanent base there. Would Brother be willing to take us along?” Xue Jian implored Liu Gan.
“That won’t be a problem,” Liu Gan answered immediately. As of right now, he was lacking in people. Xue Jian and his group were veterans, and some of them were familiar people. Through this mutual understanding of one another, Liu Gan had allowed them to temporarily merge teams as their goals were aligned.
The yacht had a lot of food, so even the process of moving cargo would require all hands on deck.
“When I decided to join [Mr. Sheng], he promised me that we were independent so we could come and go as we like. However, before we leave, I still have to return to let him know of my absence. Don’t worry Brother Liu, my group and I are good at scouting for food to keep ourselves well-fed. I don’t want to be a burden under your care.” Xue Jian replied to Liu Gan.
“I understand.” Liu Gan nodded.
“Ah, Brother Liu, in the meantime you can go refuel. I will go see our current camp leader [Mr. Sheng] and explain to him the current situation. I will return shortly,” Xue Jing replied happily. Xue Jing had planned to escape to the countryside long ago but he hadn’t had the ability to guide his group members. It was a good opportunity for him to meet with Liu Gan and his squad.
“Okay, let us first refuel. After refueling, we’ll wait here for you.” Liu Gan nodded and led his investigation squad out of the building. Xue Jing set aside two players to help Liu Gan with any tasks, as Xue Jing took the rest of the other players back to the base camp to pack up.
After ten minutes, Liu Gan and his investigation squad had finished refueling the oil canisters. Xue Jing and his group members had returned from the direction of his base camp, and in addition, there were another dozen of players following behind him.
“This is our current camp leader, [Boss Sheng]” Xue Jing quickly introduced his leader. [Mr. Sheng] had a look of around the age of 27 or 28. Physically, he looked rather skinny, not too tall, but seemed highly capable.
“He is my former guild member [Burning Fire] in the game [Dominion].” Xue Jian introducing the both of them.
[Mr. Sheng] gave a half-hearted look at Liu Gan, it seemed like he wasn’t keen on greetings. Then his attention to immediately shift to the person behind him. In particular, he kept staring at the well-defined figure of Yin He.