Having successfully bluffed his way inside and giving the patrolling guard a reason to let him enter early, Xu Feng was kindly escorted by the other guards.
"The herb garden is immensely precious, so you're only allowed to take what you're bestowed with. If you take something you're not supposed to have, then there would be punishment. Is that clear?" One of the guards warned severely.
Despite the tone usage, Xu Feng doubted it was the guard's true emotion and more of a programming code. After all, the body posture and fluctuation of emotion didn't match the guard's tone usage.
Previously, when he was pretending to be an arrogant person, he made sure his body posture and emotions matched the arrogant tone.
Of course, the guards most likely didn't care about his efforts in acting, but that didn't mean he would do it half-heartedly.
If you're going to do something, then either give it your all or don't do it at all.
That was Xu Feng's motto!
"Rest assured, I'm not ignorant enough to ignore the rules of the Miracle Herb Garden." Xu Feng calmly responded. Inwardly though, he was snickering at them since he was a fake from the get-go.
Take what you're bestowed with?
What a joke that was!
He was never bestowed with anything, and he calculated the time needed and the time he might be exposed already.
Therefore, the moment he finished robbing the necessary herbs, the guards should have already realized he was deceiving them all along.
However, by then, he would already be kicked out from the Holy Sanctuary automatically by the System.
"We'll stand guard outside since more people inside the garden would harm the environment." The guards said before taking their stance right by the entrance of the garden.
"Hmph, you speak as if we're polluting the garden." Xu Feng sneered and entered the garden. Simultaneously, he was thanking and praising these guards for being so generous.
By standing outside the entrance, it meant that he wouldn't be scrutinized by them when he tried to take some herbs, saving him from giving an explanation.
Just how generous could these guards get?
'My bad luck seemed to be turning for the better.' Tears of joy would've been gushing out of his eyes if he hadn't controlled his emotions properly.
Although overly excited and jubilated, they were all concealed in his mind. On the surface, his facial expression had never changed, much less shown any emotion.
This was something that he had gained from being at the management level in his "past". If others tried to replicate this, it would be difficult unless they had gone through the same or similar obstacles and journey that he did.
Turning around, Xu Feng determined their line of sight was limited, so by going to the sides, they wouldn't be able to spy on him.
And as much as he wanted to close the door, Xu Feng rejected that thought because it would raise the guards' suspicions and their vigilance.
Taking a right turn, Xu Feng's eyes glistened in sparkle. The sight of numerous rare and unique herbs lay in front of him.
"If I don't bring these home with me, then it'll truly be a sin." He murmured, keeping his pace steady and calm.
The guards might not be able to see him, but their ears could still detect his footsteps.
If he was to become agitated and tried to rush ahead, then it would be the same as alerting them.
Only by being calm and collected, along with steady movement would the guards lower their doubts on him further.
This was the benefit of having experienced the might of these NPC guards in the past. Others could only blame themselves and make this mistake themselves to find out.
Arriving near a herb, Xu Feng smiled in joy. "Sunfire Lotus, an amazing herb that grants fire resistance and enhances physical strength. So long as I synthesize this, I'll be able to take in a large amount of money."
Opening his inventory and practically emptying most of the Sunfire Lotus, Xu Feng proceeded on his next conquest.
Starlight Blossom, Moonshadow Fern, Frostvine Orchid, and numerous more herbs were rapidly vanishing from the Miracle Herb Garden at an astonishing rate.
All of the herbs had finally found their true home— his inventory space.
It was a good thing that the same herb type could be compiled together as one inventory space, otherwise, Xu Feng would be crying in pain for not being able to rob all of them.
As time slowly passed by, the guards outside were getting oddly suspicious.
Alas, thanks to the game still being in the early stages, the guard didn't attempt much action and remained in their position.
After some time more had passed by, and nearly 70 percent of the herbs were robbed clean by Xu Feng, leaving only the center 30 percent untouched.
'The center herbs are rare, but not as precious. Also, the guards would definitely react if they personally saw me snatching all of them.' Xu Feng thought to himself.
He was greedy, but not greedy to the point of not knowing his limit.
Clasping his hands, Xu Feng realized he had actually become fatigued from picking up all the herbs.
Due to the environmental effects of the Garden, Xu Feng was capable of picking them up without any side effects and had gone overboard.
After all, herbs like these are normally found in the wild, and they are not easy to harvest. Either high-level monsters were guarding the herbs or it was the environment affecting the players.
Calculating by the time, Xu Feng knew he had around a few minutes left before being kicked out.
However, right when he was calculating silently, Xu Feng and the guards heard an angry shout from afar.
"That person was lying! Capture him at all cost, guards!"
"Damn, talk about arriving not too fast and not too late. What is this crap?" Xu Feng clicked his tongue and quickly dashed toward the entrance.
Initially, the guards outside were dumbfounded by his action, but soon, they realized Xu Feng wasn't surrendering.
"Have fun waiting outside," Xu Feng smiled gently and fluently shut the door, almost as if this wasn't his first rodeo.