Chasing Coincidence

Leito didn't know if the "God" part pissed Lan Ranyan off and braced himself for any possible consequences.

"I see, yes, we were tasked to seek out the God "Looter Zhang"... What's the range of your device?" Lan Ranyan said as her temperament changed.

"Wait, when did h-"Ye Qian tried to speak when Ye Wing covered her mouth. It's a good thing that he did since Leito didn't seem to notice it.

Leito sighed in relief after seeing that Lan Ranyan wasn't planning to bully him and spoke. "It's good for 10-15 miles, then you would have to install another one, it's radius is about that far, last I checked... I call it the "Signal Thrower"."

"Great, I'm not so sure how far we need to go to fetch God Zhang, but I think we may need to take as many as we can." Lan Ranyan replied

"Wow! That's a great honor! Mind if I tag along?" Leito asked

"Not really, we can talk about how God Zhang was when we were travelling with him!" Ye Qing suddenly said

Leito paused and continued "I knew he wouldn't die for real... I researched and found that there was no body!"

At this point Ye Qian catched on what the two were trying to do and added.

"Yeah! I can share how our bodies touched on our last quest!" she said happily

Ye Qing froze in spot and wanted to strangle somebody, anybody at all, when he heard this but composed himself immediately.

"Oh! So, are you and the Snow Queen, his women?" Leito asked further

Ye Qian nodded while Lan Ranyan just smiled.

"Wow! What an honor! Damn if I knew that one of the "Avalanche Duo" was his woman, I wouldn't have dared test you guys out... Hey, I'm helping you guys out now, so don't mention it to him okay?" Leito said while bowing continuosly.

"Sure! sure! Ha ha ha!" Ye Qing said as he placed his arm around Leito's shoulder while he gazed angrily at Ye Qian mouthing off "tell-me-later"

As Ye Qian saw this she looked away feigning that she saw what he was trying to say.

"Okay, let me get my bag there, go get yours as well." he said as he pointed in the bushes.

As they went near the bushes, they did saw their bags carefully hidden in the bushes, but a slightly larger fourth bag was there too.

"I placed your bags safely here for safe keeping you know... Anyway, let me get my bag" Leito said as he picked up the large bag and opened it, inside were about fifteen or so "sausage" sticks and a bunch of rolled up parchments. He then grabbed a few of the "sausages".

"There's eighteen of this in total, each of us will hold and get a four to even out the load, I'll take the extra two for the first 20-25 miles the. we take turns in placing them." he added as he gave them out.

"Where does this "device" get it's "battery" from to continue sending out signals?" asked Ye Qian as she held one out.

"You just have to prod it in deep into the earth and it will get its energy from there, I got the idea from the tower itself..," Leito said.

"See, I told you, even the words he uses are-" Ye Qing was whispering to Lan Ranyan when she elbowed him on the ribs and asked.

"How do we know if its the maximum range in order to use it?" Lan Ranyan said while glaring at Ye Wing whi was now rubbing his sides.

"You'll know it when your body doesn't seem to listen to you..." Leito answered

"That's the best time to stick it in." he added.

Ye Qing covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing as Lan Ranyan continued to glare at him angrily.

"...."

After preparing for a while, everyone was set to go.

"Where to?" Leito asked

"Just straight" Ye Qian said as she pulled out a compass looking device which indicated their bearings.

"Okay, let's speed things up..."Ye Quin said as he disappeared carrying his pack.

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

The others followed as they disappeared as well.

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

*BBBOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

The four continued on their journey as they stuck the "Signal Throwers" every 15-20 miles. From the scenery around them, it changed from marshlands to a savanna and then a wilderness then plains. After every 2 hours or so, they would stop, rest and continue.

During their journey, when ever monsters try to attack or come within their vicinity, Leito would release his "Pheromones" and the monsters would scamper away. Intrigue by the ability, Ye Qian asked Leito.

"What is your ability called?"

"I call it the "Eight Deadly Sins" the pheromones can induce and heighten these emotions: "Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy and Pride". " Leito answered.

"That's seven, dummy!" Ye Qian answered, corrdeting him.

"Mix them all up in one pot, and you get the eight... Insanity..." he said

"Oohhhh!" Ye Qian had an enlightenment

"Although it's named like that, they don't exactly do it as how I worded them out." Leito added

"Lust can let you feel longing to mate, Gluttony makes you eat voraciously non-stop, Greed makes you covet anything the closest person has with them that you believe is worth something, Sloth lets you fall in deep slumber, Wrath puts you in rage, Envy makes you kill anyone near you who you think is much stronger and Pride will allow one to change their targets as if the one they initially chose to attack isn't worth a fart... like whatbthe monsters do, they think where sh*t and would rather move away... And Insanity would outright be a suicide attempt in the most gruesome way possible...." He said in a serious tone.

The other two listened in once he started speaking about his ability. Curious and amazed Lan Ranyan asked.

"What's the down side?"

"Right, whenever I use the abilities, my level would erode, that means I get to be weaker and weaker and there's a long cool down period before I get back to my current level, as such, I can't use them wantonly unlike others." he said shrugging

"Did you acquire them as a set?" Ye Qing asked.

"Nope, I had to hunt multiple types of monsters to complete the set, the last sin was something out of coincidence though... I tried it against a pantheon before... that's why I kind of pissed them... and was called "legion" ever since." he said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"So that's how you got these many "soul stones"." Ye Qian nodded after a while.

"How about you guys? How'd you get to receive the honor of fetching God Zhang?" Leito asked the three

Lan Ranyan answered and told him that they were tasked by Garam.

"Nice! You even know Team Leader Garam personally... last I heard, I think he handles the India crew, I'm from the Spanish crew if you want to know.... That way we can get more funding!" he said as he winked at the three signaling hidden intent.

"We'll definitely put in a good word for you!" Ye Qian said assuring him.

"How much funding do you need any way?" asked Ye Qian.

"I'm thinking somewhere around 250,000 selas that can support the stores in our area in real life, then one of our in-game stores for 250,000 selas..." he said

Ye Qian's eyes bulged as he heard and stuttered "t-two... t-two... t-two-"

Lan Ranyan covered his mouth and asked, "What's your current funding though?"

"Well, the business is doing good so far, so we get at least 2,800,000 selas a week, then we return 10% profit to his funds."

"Didn't you had any issues when there ws news about his supposed "death"?."

"Nah, the way he built the empire was one f*cking work of a genius!... and that all started with games!" Leito said with zealotry reflecting from his eyes.

Ye Qian stared worridly at Lan Ranyan mouthing off "That's pushing it!", while Lan Ranyan mouthed "He's an idiot!" with a reassuring look.

"Anyway, let's rest for the night." Leito said "I need to get my levels back..."

The three agreed as they noticed that he became a bit slower during their dash in comparison to when they started. They started cooming meat and continued to talk about stuff like in-game experiences and real life issues before dozing off. They agreed to log back on-line every shift change of four hours for each of them.

Lan Ranyan, Leito and Ye Qian were the first to sleep in game and log-out as Ye Qing guarded their bodies. They discussed that the order of turns would be Ye Qian, Lan Ranyan and Leito Alcantara after him.

Lan Ranyan went out of her capsule and took a shower. After which, she went down their dining room to eat.

"Mistress Ran, a package was delivered to you three days ago. I dare not disturb you in your room as instructed and left it at the dining area." the butler said as they met at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thanks Uncle Wu, is mom and dad back?" Lan Ranyan asked.

"Yes, the sir and madam are in the dining room too.." the butler, Uncle Wu, bowed and walked towards the patio.

Lan Ranyan nodded as she quietly crept towards the dining room in tiptoe like a mischievous child. She silently glanced at the dining table and saw her mom and dad sitting at the two opposite ends of the table, eating their dinner. At the center, a rib steak and a few other meals where served as their maid was standing in a not too far location.

She saw the package at the dining counter and like a thief, slowly inched her way to grab it.

"Ran, sit down." Her father knew she was trying to check on them even if he was reading on his tablet while eating dinner.

Lan Ranyan stopped sneaking about and like a prim and proper lady, walked towards the dining table elegantly after grabbing the package.

"How was your trip, Mom?" Lan Ranyan asked as she kissed her cheeks and sat down beside her on the rectangular marble dining table and placing the package near her plate.

"Oh, Ran-ran, it was really heart breaking..." she said.

"I told you that going there was a waste of time, their family has nothing to do with us anymore ever since their boy ran away. And now their stupid son died in such a reckless way." Her Dad interjected.

"Don't say that, Min-min is a good friend of mine since college, seeing her devastated after finding out what happened to her only son was really... tragic!... What if that happened to our Ran-ran? Wouldn't you feel the same way?" she said in a sad and worried tone while looking at Lan Ranyan and patting her head.

"Where'd you guys go to? A funeral?" Lan Ranyan asked as she started to take food from the center plates to her own.

"Yes, your mom dragged me from a meeting and insisted for me to take a leave for a funeral." Her Dad grumbled.

"Lan Ruan! stop quibbling, I told you that we should still show them that we are worried even if things didn't turn out well before!" Lan Ranyan's mother showed an annoyed expression.

"Sorry, Jing-jing, I just felt that we shouldn't be there of all places after what their boy did." Lan Ruan said trying to reason out.

"Mom, just let it go, Dad is just voicing out his opinion, either way, you did get to visit them during their trying times right?" Lan Ranyan tried to placate her mother.

"*Sigh* I guess your right... any way I bought you new clothes and shoes, you can check it out later... I asked your Dad to buy some stuff in Beijing before coming back here so that you won't feel that we forgot about you when we were there" Lan Jing said.

"Really! Wow! Thanks Mom!" she said as she hughed her and then kissed her again.

"Anything for you sweetie!" Lan Jing added as she smiled happily.

Lan Ranyan started eating the rib meat and asked.

"So what was the cause of their child's death?" she asked.

"Right, so, their son ran away more than a year ago, remember when your dad started throwing things in the house?" Lan Jing asked Lan Ranyan

"Uhn..." Lan Ranyan nodded in approval as she was eating a mouthful of food.

"I was pissed since that was supposed to be a done deal to merge our companies but their "high and mighty" son ended up running away... Why? does he think our Ran-ran looks like a monster?" Lan Ruan said as he gritted his teeth.

Lan Ranyan swallowed her food and said

"I remember that, you said I was supposed to marry a guy whose mother was a good friend of mom's but ran away... I also didn't like the idea! Who in their right mind would want that in this day and age!" Lan Ranyan said as she looked angrily at her dad

Lan Ruan moved his lips to point at Lan Jing.

Seeing this Lan Ranyan stopped and looked at her mom and said. "Sorry Mom, I just felt that you should at least ask me first before deciding that right? You wouldn't want me to be married of with... God knows... maybe a "psycho" for the rest of my life right?" She tried pleasing her mom while reasoning.

"I know that, it's just that, you two used to like each other a lot whe you were kids and I thought that would make a good love story after not meeting for a long time..." Lan Jing said as she held her daughters hand.

"Mom, you should really stop watching those korean soap operas. They're not real, they'll just make you feel all lovey-dovey..." Lan Ranyan reminded her mom.

Her mom nodded in agreement as she continued.

"So, their son ran away from home and they didn't have any news from him, apparently, he forged a few of his personal information to avoid them..." Lan Jing said

Lan Ranyan nodded as she took another mouthful of food.

"That *chomp* sounds like a real *chomp* korean soap mom!" Lan Ranyan interrupted as she chewed.

Her mother ignored her and continued. "It turns out he recently purchased a gaming device, just like the one you have at your room..." she added.

Lan Ranyan nodded in understanding.

"However, he did something unexpected, he ended up replacing some parts, which caused a problem with the machine causing him to burn inside and-"

*Bllllaaaaarrrggghhh*

"..."

"..."

"..."

Before Lan Jing could finish her sentence, Lan Ranyan spewed food all over her space which ended with her closing her eyes. Lan Ruan was shocked with the sudden turn of events and tried his hardest not to laugh.

Lan Jing wiped her eyes to open them and saw Lan Ranyan looking at her as if she saw a ghost with her mouth still wide open in... shock?

After wiping her face with a cloth napkin, Lan Jing looked at her and said.

"Ran-ran, hey! are you okay?"

"M-mom, d-don't tell me, h-his name.... his name is... Z-zhang Shan?"

"Why, yes my dear, did you watch the news? why'd you ask?" Lan Jing answered

"B-because, h-he's not d-dead... a-and I-i'm chasing after him right now..."