Chapter 3: Pursuit (Part 1)

The rap suddenly stopped. The old man raised his head in shock and looked toward the entrance. A group of people strode in boldly, led by a young man in his twenties with an extremely arrogant expression. As soon as he entered, he sneered, “Oh… haha, quite a crowd… Where’s that bastard Aobao?”
Aobao’s head was almost buried under the low table, but due to its limited height, his entire body had to curl up. Guo Shier asked curiously, “Aobao, are they here for you?”
Frightened, Aobao whispered, “Don’t… don’t speak…”
Two servants stepped forward to stop them but were quickly knocked down by the burly men behind the young man. The young man sneered and said, “I’m Odkechis. Whoever dares to get in my way again better not blame me for being ruthless!”
As soon as this name was mentioned, the hall fell silent. Odkechis was very famous in Mordor City and considered a tyrant there. Of course, in Guo Shier’s eyes, he wasn’t a tyrant but just a child playing around. Even though Odkechis had a few strong men under him, they seemed like ants in his eyes.
Guo Shier asked curiously, “Aobao, this Od… is he your brother?”
Aobao’s face turned pale. Although Guo Shier’s voice wasn’t loud, it was very clear in the quiet hall. He frantically waved his hands, signaling for Guo Shier to stay silent, but he knew it was already too late. Sure enough, Odkechis came over with a few men.
With a pale face, Aobao complained, “Sigh, you’ve doomed me!”
Guo Shier said calmly, “Don’t worry, you won’t die.” With him, a super professional, and since this wasn’t a world of brute force, it would be hard for Aobao to die.
Ao De stood in front of Aobao, laughing mockingly, “You want to hide? Where can you hide? Hehe! Aobao, come here, come here, hehe…”
Guo Shier couldn’t help but laugh. Ao De gave him the impression of a child bullying another weaker child; he didn’t sense any threat to life. Yet still, Aobao was terrified, his cowardice exceeding Guo Shier’s expectations. In the world of spells, such a person would die quickly.
Aobao quickly hid behind Guo Shier and said, “Ao De, you… don’t do anything crazy!”
Ao De waved his hand and said, “I will do whatever I want! What can you do? I wonder where else you can hide. Come on… you guys, go catch him for me.”

Two burly men rushed over. Guo Shier wanted to see how Aobao would react, so he didn’t intervene and just watched calmly. The two men dragged Aobao out. Aobao screamed in panic, kicking wildly with his legs, knocking over a low table with one foot. Guo Shier moved instantly to avoid the falling table.

Aode crouched down, gently patting Aobao’s face while saying fiercely, “You hid here… Hehe, thinking I couldn’t find you? Tell me, where did you put that thing? Hand it over… and I’ll spare you!” Despite his fierce appearance, Guo Shier sensed no trace of murderous intent—he was purely acting it out. Still, he was curious about what valuable thing Aobao had that others wanted so much.

Aobao shouted, “Help! Help!”

Aode slapped him hard. Guo Shier still didn’t stop, as the slap posed no threat to Aobao’s life—it was just an ordinary slap; Aobao wouldn’t die from it. As long as he didn’t die, Guo Shier had no intention of interfering. He just wanted to see what Aode would do, to gauge how cruel this world really was.

Aobao covered his face and whimpered, “Don’t… don’t hit my face…”

This made Guo Shier burst into laughter. This kid was really amusing; he never expected Aobao to respond like that. According to the customs of the Spellworld, if someone’s face was slapped, they had to slap it back, yet people in this world actually asked not to be hit in the face, which made him laugh uncontrollably.

Slap!

Aobao was on the verge of crying. After asking not to be hit in the face, he got slapped again. Aode smiled and said, “Where’s that thing? Tell me… and I won’t hit your face!”

Silence surrounded them. No one spoke or tried to stop them; everyone just stared foolishly at Aode’s arrogant behavior, which surprised Guo Shier greatly.

Suddenly, Aobao turned to look at Guo Shier. His face was swollen, with five-finger marks on each cheek. He cried out, “Save me! I… I’ll give you that thing!” He quickly and directly pulled Guo Shier into the water.

Aode glanced at Guo Shier. That laugh earlier had already annoyed him. As soon as Aobao finished speaking, his attention shifted to Guo Shier. He said, “Come, drag him over too. Hehe, someone dares to compete with me for something… Drag him over!”

Guo Shier thought, “Damn it, I get hit even when I’m lying down.” Two burly men came over to him, grabbed his shoulders and arms, and started pulling him forcefully. Guo Shier sneered. The two men felt as if Guo Shier was an iron pillar—completely immovable. They exchanged surprised looks and tried harder again. Guo Shier’s body trembled slightly, and the two men were sent flying as if hit by a truck.

With two thuds, they crashed to the ground like shells, unable to say a word, their eyes rolling back as they lost consciousness.

Guo Shier slowly stood up, his face expressionless. “Well, since you’re so eager to have me come, I’ll go. I hope you won’t disappoint me…” Everyone around him changed expressions, including Ode’s group.

A joyous look appeared in Aobao’s eyes. He had a vague sense that Guo Shier was extraordinary, though he couldn’t determine just how extraordinary—he just had an intuition. It seemed now that this intuition was correct.

Guo Shier reached out, making a gesture as if to grab something, though nothing was actually there. No one in this world had ever seen such a strange sight. Ode was as if held by an invisible hand and dragged in front of Guo Shier.

“Do you like slapping people in the face?”

Ode felt as if he were seized by an invisible force, his whole body stiffening as he was moved right in front of Guo Shier. This completely shattered his confidence. Stammering, he said, “Y-yes… no… uh, no, it’s not…”

Guo Shier said, “Aobao, come here.”

Aobao covered his face and got up, scurrying over to Guo Shier. “Yes, yes, I’m here,” he said.

Guo Shier said, “He likes slapping people in the face… You know what to do now.”

Before Ode could speak, a force instantly sealed his throat. Aobao said excitedly, “I know… I know…” He raised his hand and delivered three loud slaps, making Ode’s head sway wildly and his cheeks swell red. Aobao really used all his strength; after those three slaps, his own hand hurt.

Ode’s men were outraged. Someone shouted, “Aobao, how dare you hit our young master…”

Aobao immediately felt guilty. Those three slaps were just an act of bravado, fueled by anger and Guo Shier’s encouragement. At the shout from Ode’s men, he became timid again and stammered, “I… I, he hit me first…”

Guo Shier couldn’t help but shake his head. The people in this world lacked courage. He also lost his desire to play around and said, “Aobao, let’s go.” As for inviting the old man who rapped, he wasn’t in a hurry. As long as they were in Mordor City, there would always be a chance.

Od was momentarily stunned. He shouted, “Don’t leave!” His subordinates immediately surrounded him. Aobao showed fear once again. With the opponent’s numerical advantage, his expression changed once more out of terror.

Guo Shier touched his head and thought, “There are really so many people who aren’t afraid of death.” He turned around and grabbed Od’s neck. With his skills, Od had no way to dodge. In fact, after shouting, Od already regretted it deeply. He just habitually tried to gain the upper hand. He had never encountered such a situation before, so when he saw Guo Shier and the others about to leave, he couldn’t help but shout.

“You leave… cough cough, you… you, you leave!”

A few symbolic lights flashed in Guo Shier’s eyes as he said calmly, “I want to leave. You can’t… Now you’re telling me to leave again? Are you teasing me?”

Od clearly saw the symbolic lights flashing in Guo Shier’s eyes and broke into a cold sweat. He regretted it to the extreme and forced himself to say, “You can leave. He… he has to stay!”

Guo Shier said, “Hehe, since that’s the case, little guy, I won’t leave either. I’ll stay here.” After thinking for a while, he realized that even if he left, he wouldn’t find a suitable place to live. So he decided not to leave and just stay there.

Od, with his neck squeezed by Guo Shier, was like a duck with its neck crushed. After quacking a few times, he was unable to make a sound, his face turning red and purple. Aobao gently pulled at Guo Shier’s sleeve and said, “He… he’s going to be strangled to death by you…”

Guo Shier quickly released him. He had been very careful, knowing that the people here had weak constitutions, similar to those in his past life. A slight carelessness could hurt them. Even so, he had almost strangled Od Kechis.

Od held his neck and gasped for breath, his expression gradually returning to normal. Fuming, he said, “You… you…”

Guo Shier asked calmly, “What about me?”

Od felt a chill run through his body. The man across from him exuded a terrifying aura. He swallowed hard and said anxiously, “N-no… nothing… I, you…” He was terrified. He had never been this scared in his life. Suddenly, he felt like he was nothing in front of Guo Shier, overwhelmed by a sense of utter powerlessness and fear.

Guo Shier ordered, “Aobao, find me an empty room.” Too lazy to go look elsewhere, he simply decided not to move. Aobao agreed immediately and turned to find someone. Ao De led a group of people back, but Guo Shier’s single sentence stopped them in their tracks. He said, “Don’t leave yet. Wait.” After a while, Aobao returned and said, “It’s arranged. There’s an empty room next door.” Guo Shier stood up and said, “Let’s go together. You… Ao De, come with us too.” Ao De’s face twisted in distress. He wanted to leave at all costs, terrified of Guo Shier’s terrifying coldness—he didn’t want to experience it again. But he didn’t dare disobey orders, so he followed Guo Shier into the next room, along with his subordinates, trembling with fear. As for his subordinates, Guo Shier gave them a casual glance, and none of them dared enter the room; they all stayed outside, squatting and waiting.