Virtual World: The Legendary Thief Chapter 167

Xu Lin walked over and said while smiling: "I know that I shouldn't interrupt your private conversation but the auction has already started. Whatever you guys need to talk about, can it wait a while? Xin Yu, we'll give Lin Fan to you tonight and then you two can talk for as long as you would like. I can guarantee no one will bother you~"

Xin Yu made a sound indicating her annoyance: "Worry less about our matters and be more concerned about yourself. That Romantic Master messaged you yesterday to invite you to go to West Dragon Tea House to drink tea - why didn't you go?

Xu Lin stared: "Drink tea? After finis.h.i.+ng the tea he would want to take me to a 50 RMB per two hours cheap hotel to get a room, right?"

"What? Romantic Master wanted to get a room with you?" I was unequivocally surprised.

Xu Lin unexpectedly turned red and said in voice full of hate: "Don't listen to the rubbish this Xin Yu girl is spouting. While that idiotic Romantic Master really did video call me yesterday, he had told me that we would be talking about matters concerning an alliance between our family and his guild. Hmph, did he think that I was some silly mm just out of school? Places such as West Dragon Tea House are unclean. Who knows how many girls met with internet friends there only to be drugged into bed~"

"There was such a thing? I've only heard that West Dragon Tea House has bewitching women giving stripteases at night…" [1]

"There really is. As long as you bribe one of the tea house clerks you can even take the drugged girls to get a room upstairs. I heard that some time ago Romantic Master also tried to get Murong Shanshan to go there as well."

I was suddenly a little panicked and nervously asked: "Did he succeed in the end?"

"Don't panic~" Xu Lin saw my expression and could not help but laugh: "Murong Shanshan did in fact accept Romantic Master's invitation to drink tea and she even gave him a contact number. Unfortunately for Romantic Master, that idiot waited from noon until 3pm at the teahouse but didn't see so much as Murong Shanshan's shadow. He then dialed the contact number she gave him but found that is was actually the number for a pork processing factory… …"

I was suddenly left dumbfounded. This sort of approach was quite consistent with Murong Shanshan's style.

Xin Yu said while smiling: "Lin-jie was regretting this earlier. If she had known beforehand, she wouldn't have refused Romantic Master directly. Instead, she would have told him a number for a pig farm so that he could find a suitable partner~"

I smiled knowingly and then nestled up to Xu Lin's side before asking: "To tell the truth, that Romantic Master's in-game appearance is pretty good. With that sort glaringly handsome appearance that is very seductive towards an ignorant little mm, how does he look in reality? Is he about as handsome as he is in-game?"

Xu Lin could not help but laugh: "Fortunately, he can pretty much still count as a handsome guy. Unfortunately, his eyes are too focused on that point, especially if he sees a beauty. I didn't tell you this, but that day during the video call I had with him, Xin Yu walked past once in the background. He then pestered me for nearly half an hour for her qq number." [2]

"Did you give it to him?" I asked worriedly. Xin Yu, who was standing right next to me, immediately revealed a sweet smile.

Xu Lin's expression seemed apologetic as she looked at me and said: "I gave it to him. However, what I gave him was your number. I told him that it was the number for Xin Yu's pseudo-boyfriend. If he wanted to pursue Xin Yu, he would have to pk you first." [3]

I was stunned: "Then… … then did he say that he wanted to pk me?"

"Well, not exactly." Xu Lin pouted and then said: "However, he did ask for your in-game id. He said that he wanted to kill you until you were level 0 so that Xin Yu would give up on you."

"Then… … did you tell him… …"

"Of course, once he heard that it was you, he immediately hung up… …"

I could not help but sigh: "If he were to see photos of Xuehan, I think he might just grab a knife and come running."

Lu Xuehan laughed softly on the side: "Don't bring me up in these sorts of conversations~"

At this time, Xin Yu pointed towards below and said: "Quickly look! It's our purple dagger's turn to be auctioned!"

Everyone immediately cast their gazes over. A big monitor was currently displaying a level 47 purple dagger. Lu Xuehan told everyone: "Today's auction is divided into morning and afternoon sessions because last time the equipment to which players responded well were placed too late into the auction. Thus, this time the officials decided that once the auction was conducted to the halfway point, they would put up a few exceptional pieces in order to liven up the bidding atmosphere."

Xin Yu pouted: "Even if they liven up the atmosphere it still doesn't do much good. The first auction already raised the prices too high. Now the prices of all equipment are falling. A level 40 blue axe was just sold for merely a little over 1 million. If it were sold during the first auction, the price would have been at least 10 million."

I said while smiling: "This was inevitable. In the beginning, n.o.body really understood the prices of equipment. Furthermore, during that time there was a huge shortage of equipment. People wanted to get a Guild Creation Certificate and not having good equipment would have made it impossible. Now that there is already an established price value for equipment so people will no longer senselessly raise bids for a mere piece of equipment."

Xu Lin objected and said: "That's not necessarily true. I just looked at the auction record and I think the most important reason for the low prices is related to the equipment's properties. You guys can check out that axe's records for its properties. That level 40 blue axe only had 260 attack. Moreover, the additional points totaled no more than 50, of which 24 points were added to intelligence. Of those dim witted Orc players, do you think any of them would be stupid to the point of being willing to buy this chicken rib sort of weapon?" [4]

Xu Lin's a.n.a.lysis held some truth but it was also indisputable that the overall price of equipment had fallen. Keeping in pace with how everyone's levels increase, the amount of equipment on the server will also increase. I fear that in the future only the highest quality equipment will be able to sell for the initial sky-high prices. Perhaps the level 45 purple dagger that was about to be auctioned right now would be considered one of those highest quality equipment. [5]

[Frostfire] (Dagger —— Purple Equipment)

Attack: 255-340

Strength: +36

Vitality: +50

Agility: +45

Pa.s.sive: Increase the attack of thief skills by 15 points.

Required Level: 45

It was very powerful. Unexpectedly, a level 45 dagger could have an upper-bound attack of 340. Furthermore, it could increase the attack of thief skills by 15 points. For the already high damage output thief cla.s.s it is tantamount to adding wings to a tiger! [6]

People have begun bidding. Xu Lin was partly watching the trends below while also telling everyone: "Last time, when Lin Fan sold that level 39 purple dagger —— 'Sorrow of Shadow Song', I heard that someone from Water Stream City bought it. Moreover, the buyer was the boss of a guild who only bought that dagger just to bribe the number one expert 'Power Hot Pot'." [7]

I was stunned: "Bribing 'Fire'? Did it work?" [8]

Xu Lin laughed: "There are two sayings regarding this matter online: The first is that Power Hot Pot recognized that the buyer's conduct was rather poor and, in order to maintain righteousness, tactfully rejected the buyer's good intentions before creating a guild. The second is that the buyer has a cousin and that mm really likes Power Hot Pot. Unfortunately, her appearance would make one feel pity for the onlookers. Thus, Power Hot Pot fled all the way from Water Stream City to Life City and vowed to never return to Water Stream City…" [9]

Xin Yu opened her mouth in surprise, her round and s.e.xy lips were extremely enticing: "Of these two sayings, which one is true?"

"The second one!" I insisted and then explained: "Previously, Power Hot Pot and I were professional players in War 3. I interacted with Fire for a while and I can confirm that the only thing that could scare that guy into running to another city is a dinosaur."

"So the lethality of a dinosaur was actually so high… …" Xu Lin sighed, presumably regretting how she looked so beautiful.

At this time, Xin Yu exclaimed: "Someone bid over 10 million!"

I am also extremely surprised. There were really too many rich people this year. The bidder's voice came from a room across from us and I immediately looked over but was shocked by one of the people inside!

The bidder was Romantic Master and the person next to him was the one who scared me. I still vividly remember the girl next to him as the mm eating egg fried rice that Murong Shanshan and I ran into last night.

"*, the people in the room opposite us seem to const.i.tute Beauty and the Beast!" Xin Yu said a line of vulgar words. It seems like her impression of Romantic Master could not be considered particularly positive.

I looked carefully and confirmed that it was that mm who managed to keep a slight smile while being subjected to my repeated low-level attempts at starting a conversation. However, she was not smiling right now and was instead simply looking outside with a cold expression. On her side was Romantic Master who had a base expression, as if the dagger was already destined to be his.

The saying "good things require hard work" is pretty accurate.

Right after Romantic Master shouted out the high price of 11 million, another voice among the auction audience seats was heard: "15 million!"

This guy… being able to call out such a high bid yet unwilling to pay a small sum for a private room. It seems like this guy is either a good kid who believes that every grain should be sent to the granary or a bored person pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger. [10]

Romantic Master seemed like he had eaten a fly and contemplated for a long while before continuing to compete in bidding: "16 million!"

Not long after, that lazy voice was heard again: "17 million!"

"Wa, that's another 300,000 for each of us~!" Xin Yu calculated on her little abacus while smiling. [11]

"18 milllion~!" Romantic Master was panting a bit.

"19 million!" That voice still sounded like the person could barely make the effort to be heard.

"20 million~!" Romantic Master's face was turning purple and he added another line: "Friend, this is not fun. Stay your hand!"

"21 million~!" That voice was heard again: "Oh no, I let you see that I was just playing around. Fine, this will be my last bid. You can just increase it by whatever!"

Romantic Master's body trembled a few times and nearly collapsed on the ground after seeing black: "21.01 million!"

The auctioneer prompted: "Sorry but the minimum bid increase for this item is 100,000!"

"Fine, 21.1 million~!"

"Congratulations to player Romantic Master for winning the bid for the item Frostfire~!"

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[1] Could someone tell me what exactly 人妖 is supposed to mean? I took a guess and translated it as "bewitching women".

[2] What does 他的眼睛实在太那个点了 mean? If I translate it literally it says "his eyes are too that point" which makes no sense. I'm a.s.suming that it means his eyes are too focused on "that point" on a woman's body, but please enlighten me if this isn't just a euphemism.

[3] I'm sure this has been explained before and that everyone knows this… but just in case: pk stands for "player kill".

[4] Firstly, I translated 兽人 as "Orc". The literal translation is beast-person but I'm not sure that was an option for player race. Secondly, I left 鸡肋 as its direct translation of "chicken rib". It means tasteless, but I think it adds a bit of quality to compare a weapon to a "chicken rib" in the context of the conversation.

[5] Previously in the text the dagger was level 47. Now it's level 45. You can ask me, but who should I ask?

[6] The phrase 如虎添翼 can be directly translated as "adding wings to a tiger" which essentially means making something overpowered.

[7] The dagger is called 影歌的悲伤 which can be translated as something along the lines of "Mourning/Sorrow of Shadow Song". The city is called 水涧城 which is translated as something along the lines of "Water Stream City". The number one expert is 动力火锅 which is translated as something along the lines of "Power Hot Pot". If someone could find what Lingson named these things (or if this is the first time they've been introduced in the story), it'd be much appreciated.

[8] The "fire" is written in English in the raw text. A little further into the chapter it is explained that "fire" is Power Hot Pot's name in War 3.

[9] The city is called 生命之城 which translates as "Life City" or "City of Life". Let me know if Lingson used anything different.

[10] The author uses the phrase 颗粒归仓 which according to some translation sites for colloquialisms means "every grain should be sent to the granary." Basically it is similar to the English phrase "straight-laced". The other phrase 扮猪吃老虎 translates as "pretending to be a pig to eat a tiger" and means to pretend to be weak so as to catch someone strong off-guard.

[11] Are there actually people who still use abacuses? I'm pretty sure it didn't say calculator since the raw text was 算盘 while calculator is 计算器.

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TL Note: Out of curiosity, would people be willing to donate a dollar or two per person to help me buy a laptop or tablet that I can translate on when I'm out of the house? In theory, if one person out of every ten people that reads my translations donates $2, I could buy an affordable laptop to translate on. It would, rather slightly, boost my release rate. Let me know your opinions on the matter in the comments below.

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