Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed The World - Chapter 348

Chapter 348

Chapter 348 – Smuggling

Nie Yan and Warlance walked past many streets before arriving at a small tavern . The furnishings were old-fashioned, and the lighting was a dim yellow . An old fat man stood behind the counter muttering something under his breath .

Rows of shabby-looking chairs and beaten-up tables filled the tavern . There weren’t many players about, as only those with a specific purpose came here . No one would choose to waste their time sitting around such a dingy place .

A man who looked to be in his late twenties sat quietly at a table in the corner . He wore an ash-grey robe and his hand rested on a bonewood staff . The man raised his glass in greeting as Nie Yan approached .

Nie Yan’s gaze immediately sharpened . The familiar figure before him brought back yet another tide of old memories .

This was the head of Fallen Angel!

During the interfaction conflicts of the previous timeline, Plenty had personally led an army of tens of thousands on a slaughter in Calore . They kicked off their campaign by steamrolling Lincoln Village before seizing control over 6 strongholds near Calore . At first, Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame tried to avoid fighting them, but public outrage forced them into waging a massive war between factions . Fallen Angel managed to hold out for over a month before finally succumbing to Calore’s war of attrition . They retreated to the Underworld, but their conquest would forever be a stain on the Viridian Empire’s history .

Many images of Fallen Angel’s guild leader had been taken and shared, leaving an extremely deep impression on the players of Calore .

At the time, Nie Yan had been a complete nobody . Legendary figures such as Plenty wouldn’t take note of him . He never expected to one day sit down at a table with this man .

Nie Yan activated Transcendent Insight .

Level 51…! Damn!

Nie Yan was finally certain . It was him! There was a joke in the previous timeline: “Plenty of money, Plenty of people . ” Fallen Angel at its peak was an existence even Radiant Sacred Flame and Victorious Return could only look up to . With over 100 master-class players, six major branches with a total of 600,000 members, and over 300 strongholds to their name, they were a true behemoth . Their influence reached across the entire Underworld . This was why Victorious Return and Radiant Sacred Flame were hesitant to go to war against them, and why they ended up resorting to a war of attrition .

“Hello,” Nie Yan greeted, calmly observing Plenty .

“Sit,” Plenty replied, unfazed by Nie Yan’s gaze .

Nie Yan sat across from him, inwardly marveling about how things had changed . Having seen so much in his two lives, he naturally wasn’t fazed by Plenty’s status . He was confident Asskickers United would grow to be no weaker than Fallen Angel at their prime!

“I didn’t expect you to hide in plain sight by pretending to be a member of the Evil Faction! I’m surprised you managed to get past the guards . I assume you used some sort of alignment-concealing accessory?” Plenty asked . His knowledge of the Mad Rogue was limited to only a handful of videos, However, it was enough recognize Nie Yan as an important personage of the Viridian Empire . Only a few members of the Righteous Faction were worthy of his attention: Angyi Tianshi from Angel Corps, Mad Blade from Bloodlust Blades, and Nirvana Flame from Asskickers United .

“A necklace . ”

“How long does the disguise last?”

“Three hours . ” Nie Yan decided there was no need to conceal this information .

“Three hours! Yours is much better than mine,” Plenty exclaimed as he took out a black ring . It featured a nail-sized black gemstone that gleamed with a dark light . “Here’s mine . It only hides my alignment for half an hour . ”

Nie Yan was startled for a moment when Plenty admitted he possessed a similar item . Even when most players were over Level 100, very few had faction-disguising items . However, it made sense . Even if equipment with such effects were rare, it wasn’t too far-fetched for the guild leader of the Undead Empire’s biggest guild to have one already .

Nie Yan knew better than anyone what two pieces of faction-disguising equipment meant!

It was easy for the NPC guards to track illegal trade between factions, but this didn’t account for the ability to change one’s alignment . With two pieces of faction-disguising equipment, a pair of business partners could easily make trades free of oversight . However, they would still have to be careful when making the transaction . People had done this in the previous timeline, to mixed results . Some made a fortune and got off scot-free, while others were imprisoned and had their illegal assets seized .

However, under the allure of immense profit, many still took the risk . It wasn’t easy to go from the surface to the Underworld or vice versa . Players had to traverse the Gates of Hell and Endless Caverns . It was extremely dangerous, living up to the saying that great rewards came with great risk .

“How about we form a partnership?” Plenty asked knowingly . As he waited for Nie Yan’s reply, he sipped his drink with a carefree smile on his face . In the face of such potential riches, he refused to believe Nie Yan could resist his offer .

Nie Yan took a deep breath and paused for a moment . Exchanging equipment from the two factions would be an incredibly lucrative business . The possible profit was utterly incalculable! He replied, “I can think about it . ”

Asskickers United and Fallen Angel certainly wouldn’t clash with each other anytime soon . Even if a war between factions broke out, such behemoths with shared interests would naturally avoid each other .

A partnership would be a win-win situation!

“How long does it take for you to go through the Gates of Hell and Endless Caverns? I tasked people with finding a route through once, but they couldn’t do it . They estimated that players would have to be around Level 100 before even being able to make a serious attempt .

Plenty looked intently at Nie Yan, genuinely curious this time . Just how did he get here?

“I didn’t take that route, but I’m afraid I’ll have to keep my means of transportation a secret for now . ” Even if they were partnering up, Nie Yan couldn’t lay all his cards out on the table .

“So you didn’t go through those danger zones . No wonder!”

“I can probably make a trip every 10 days,” Nie Yan said . The Dark Portal could be used every 5 days, so if their partnership went through he could trade five bags’ worth of equipment every 10 days .

The two of them fleshed out a rough outline of their cooperation and exchanged contact information . Nie Yan gave Plenty his phone number, since real-life phones couldn’t be traced to either faction . Every time he came to the Underworld, he would use it to call Plenty and inform him of his location . Fallen Angel would immediately send someone disguised as a member of the Righteous Faction to take the surface equipment from Nie Yan . Then, Nie Yan would receive the Underworld equipment from a separate individual while disguised as a member of the Evil faction . Finally, Nie Yan would return to the surface to sell the smuggled goods for a massive profit .

Most smugglers from the previous timeline did things this way . Because faction-disguising equipment was simply too rare, it was very difficult to run into someone from the opposing faction who had one . Plus, it was far too difficult to pass the Gates of Hell and go through the Endless Caverns . Usually, only a massive team could make this journey with any sort of reliability, so the expenses were sky-high . Topping off all these hardships was the sheer danger of the act itself . If even the slightest mishap happened with their trade, the whole operation could get exposed and both sides would be in deep trouble .

Because Nie Yan could go through the Dark Portal, the transaction costs were practically negated . However, they still had to be extremely cautious when making the trades .

This wasn’t unlike what Nie Yan’s parents did in the real world . Harsh government regulations and strictly enforced customs still couldn’t eliminate the problem of smuggling, so people took the risk to smuggle rare goods for sky-high prices .

Nie Yan and Plenty began discussing the details of their partnership . Plenty ordered his men to go gather items for Nie Yan to bring back to the surface . Night Vision equipment and similarly specialized equipment weren’t all that valuable in the Underworld, but were worth hundreds of times more on the surface .

“You should give that Black Kingsnake Shield you picked up back to us . After all, it’s not that useful for you,” Plenty tried to persuade Nie Yan . To Fallen Angel, that shield was still of vital importance .

Nie Yan thought for a moment . Even if the Black Kingsnake Shield was valuable, it was still only around 5,000 gold . If his trade deal with Fallen Angel went through, he would make far more than just that amount .

“Once your men come back with all the equipment, I’ll take that chance to trade them the shield,” Nie Yan replied . Trading equipment was much safer than dealing with money .

Plenty thought for a moment before understanding Nie Yan’s meaning . He nodded in understanding . “Sure . ”

He raised his glass and toasted, “A pleasure doing business with you . ”

“And with you too,” Nie Yan smiled . Making direct contact with the leader of Fallen Angel saved him a ton of trouble .

“You have to be careful . Don’t get exposed, or the Evil Guards will be after you . ”

“I know my limits,” Nie Yan reassured . If he got on the Evil Guards’ watchlist, he would have no place in the Underworld from then on out . Even worse, they would carefully monitor any transactions dealing with him .

“To avoid suspicion, I’ll leave first . We can communicate further outside the game . ”

“Alright . ”

Plenty stood up and left the tavern as Warlance followed closely behind .

Watching Plenty’s back disappear through the doorway, Nie Yan mused about his ignorance of Plenty’s background . He would have to ask Guo Huai and Ah Chen to look into him . Someone who could gather so much power in the Underworld certainly wouldn’t have a simple origin .

As Nie Yan sat in the tavern, he tried to remember as much as he could about the previous Fallen Angel . Suddenly, he recalled a tidbit that made him chuckle: Fallen Angel and Angel Corps weren’t on good terms in the past . With Angel Corps’ Angyi Tianshi and Fallen Angel’s Plenty both leading an Angel guild on opposite factions, things were going to get interesting .

Finally, quite some time after Plenty left, Nie Yan got up and exited the tavern . He went in search for a market of sorts to buy some basic consumables . Since he would be in the Underworld for three more days, he needed to restock on supplies .