Chapter 7

When the other four arrived at the scene, what they saw was Xiao Tianjing charging towards Heart’s Desire.

The way he called out “gege” (older brother) almost made Lu Hang’s heart go numb: “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

In the game, after joining a team, there are two options: first, letting your character automatically follow the team leader without needing to control it; second, manually controlling your character but being restricted to a limited movement area.

Xiang Huaizhi pressed the shortcut key to cancel the follow, moving backward to dodge the person falling from the sky: “Don’t know them.”

Jing Huan never expected Xiang Huaizhi to catch him, so in the seconds before landing, he used a jump to step on the nearby cliff, landing unscathed right in front of Heart’s Yearning.

He quickly glanced at the team Heart’s Yearning was in—hmm, a full three healers.

To chase after girls, he doesn’t even care about efficiency in killing monsters. Typical playboy behavior.

Jing Huan complained inwardly while maneuvering his game character to slowly hide behind Heart’s Yearning, his tone full of grievance: “Brother War God… someone’s chasing to kill me.”

The people from Idle Pavilion happened to hear his words and quickly exchanged messages in the team chat.

“Heart’s Yearning? What’s he doing in the wild map?”

“Can’t you see the three girls in his team? Probably trying to flirt, tsk, Immortal Fairy really has it rough.” The Warlock paused, then added, “But… Little Sweet Scenery’s voice is really pleasant to hear.”

“Nonsense, otherwise how do you think that big shot in the guild got taken down?! But what’s her relationship with Heart’s Desire again?”

“No idea. So what do we do now? If Heart’s Desire steps in, we probably can’t win…”

Since there are penalties for being counter-killed, the team members hesitated, standing still without making a move.

“…Hold on, let me ask.” The warlock said, switching to the current channel.

“Yearning for… Heart’s Desire.” He swallowed the words “for the Divine” back into his stomach. “Do you know her? She just looted Xianxian’s equipment.”

Xiang Huaizhi frowned.

[Current] Heart’s Desire: Who is Xianxian?

The group: “…”

Everyone present except Lu Hang froze in place, the prolonged silence seemingly spelling out one word—”player.”

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: It was Fairy Mengmeng who attacked me first—was I wrong to defend myself and counterattack? [question mark]

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: Brother War God QAQ, they just wanted to destroy the treasure map you gave me—how mean of them!

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: I won’t let them have their way!

The people present fell silent again.

Lu Hang couldn’t hold it in anymore, doubling over with laughter: “You’ve even exchanged love tokens, and you still claim not to know each other?!”

Xiang Huaizhi corrected with a dark expression: “It wasn’t given.”

It was snatched—using a 79-damage skill, right from under his nose.

Someone from the Idle Pavilion spoke up again: “Xinxiang Wangzhi, does this mean you’re getting involved in this?”

[Current] Heart Yearns: No.

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: See that?! My brother means for you to scram right now! He might consider not killing you! [Angry]

[Current] Heart Yearns: ?

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: Brother sent a question mark—if you don’t run now, you’ll drop gear too! [Slams table]

The Warlock was the leader of this pursuit team. He had already been shaken by the incident of Xian Mengmeng losing her equipment and was acting timid. Now, seeing this, he hesitated even more.

“…Fine, you just wait.”

After saying this, he began chanting a class skill for half a second where he stood and quickly led his team away from the scene.

Xiang Huaizhi, who was just about to type: “…”

With such little courage, you still dare to come after others?

In the game, the little fox fairy hopped around beside him and even sent him a flying kiss using the in-game character’s emotes.

[Current] SweetScenery: Thank you, bro, I was almost scared to death [crying]

Xiang Huaizhi originally wanted to say something, but stopped halfway through typing his message.

Forget it, why was he even bothering with that female scammer?

On the other hand, Lu Hang was getting interested.

[Current] Lu Tiaotiao: What are you scared of? With your skills, they couldn’t catch you anyway.

[Current] Little Sweet Scene: I was so scared I performed beyond my limits just now QAQ. Thank goodness Brother War God was here.

[Current] Lu Tiaotiao: Was that treasure map really given to you by Lao Xiang? Isn’t that thing bound?

Xiang Huaizhi frowned: “Why so much nonsense? Are we doing the dungeon or not?”

“Hey, I was just asking,” Lu Hang said. “Don’t you think this girl is pretty interesting?”

“Don’t think so.”

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: Mhm, I originally planned to send any good items I dug up to Brother War God, but I hadn’t even finished digging when the people from Idler’s Pavilion showed up QvQ

Lu Hang slapped his thigh: “Damn, Lao Xiang! That girl’s totally devoted to you!”

Xiang Huaizhi smirked coldly: “Yeah, why don’t you date her then? The kind where you get your account cleaned out.”

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t care for gossip; he usually didn’t even bother reading the chat announcements. It was Lu Hang who told him about the female scammer.

At the time, Lu Hang had confidently declared: “It’s a trick, must be a trick—this account definitely hasn’t changed hands!”

“No, look at what she said—she’ll give you whatever the treasure map digs up. After grinding quests for so many days, isn’t that exactly what you’re after?” Lu Hang argued. “Even if she’s a female scammer, we’re still not losing out this round!”

Xiang Huaizhi did indeed need treasure maps.

To be precise, what he needed was the rare material that could only be obtained by digging up treasure maps—the Enchantment Spirit Pearl.

It’s a shame that despite running the quest so many times, he only dropped a treasure map once—and it was snatched by Sweet Little Jing.

[Current] Sweet Little Jing: Big bro, what you’re missing is the Enchantment Spirit Pearl, right? I can dig it up for you! [fist pump]

[Current] Heart’s Yearning: ……

[Current] Long Road Ahead: Damn, how did you know?!

[Current] SweetScenery: I’ve been checking the system announcements these past few days. You’ve been grinding the Reincarnation quests nonstop—are you trying to hatch a spirit beast?

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t respond.

He was indeed working on the spirit beast hatching quest, and the final step required an Enchanted Spirit Pearl.

The Enchanted Spirit Pearl was a tradable item, but the only way to obtain it was through treasure maps—and the drop rate was abysmally low. At least in their server’s marketplace, not a single one was currently available.

There are things in this world that money can’t buy.

Jing Huan formed a team with them.

“Big bro.” Jing Huan deliberately pitched his voice higher, the echo in his headset making his brain throb. “Want to go treasure hunting together? If you don’t come, I’m afraid I’ll get killed again later…”

Xiang Huaizhi wasn’t necessarily insisting she return the treasure map to him.

If it’s really as she said, being chased down by people from the Idle Pavilion and having the treasure map drop and disappear, then all those days and nights he spent grinding quests would have been wasted.

After hesitating for a moment, he left the party and requested to join Little Sweet Scene’s team: “I’ll go along.”

Digging for treasure sounded so exciting that Lu Hang also wanted to join in the fun: “Hey girl, take me along too…”

Before he could even finish speaking, Little Sweet Scene had already run off with Xiang Huaizhi beyond his line of sight.

“Damn, a grown man being so hard to please. Would it kill you to just get in my car for once?” Jing Huan stared at the team members, muttering under his breath.

[Team] Little Sweet Jing: Brother War God, what mission were you just doing?

[Team] Heart’s Desire: Wild Map dungeon.

[Team] Little Sweet Jing: Oh, okay.

[Team]SweetScenery: Isn’t it hard to clear the dungeon with three healers? 0.0

[Team]HeartYearning: No.

Hmph, of course not. With three girls accompanying you in the dungeon, you must be grinning from ear to ear in front of your computer, you damn playboy.

[Team]SweetScenery: That’s true, I forgot! Big bro is an ultra-strong DPS! [heart eyes]

In order to watch them dig up the treasure map, Lu Hang painfully gave up the three potential wives in his team, climbed down from his bed, and sat beside Xiang Huaizhi.

“Old Xiang, hurry up and tell me—when exactly did you and Little Sweetscene meet? What did you do to make her so devoted to you?”

Xiang Huaizhi: “We really don’t know each other. Would I get money for lying to you?”

Lu Hang looked at him suspiciously.

Xiang Huaizhi: “…We met once on the wild map. She snatched my thief.”

Lu Hang was shocked: “There’s someone in this world who can steal your monster?”

“I was on a phone call and wasn’t paying attention.” Xiang Huaizhi hesitated for a moment. “And before that, I thought she was a guy.”

Lu Hang: “?”

Xiang Huaizhi looked at the little fox fairy continuously spouting rainbow farts in the team channel: “What kind of girl talks like this nowadays?”

[Team]SweetScenery: God of War brother, your character’s face is so well-sculpted! What incredibly skillful and beautiful hands could have created such an in-game avatar! [star-eyed]

[Team]SweetJing: We’re almost at the treasure map coordinates, I’m so nervous.

[Team] SweetScene: [Anyone there?]

[Team] SweetScene: Sigh, even when brother doesn’t speak, he’s still so handsome QvQ

Lu Hang burst out laughing: “I think… it’s quite cute actually?”

Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t be bothered to respond to him.

A friend’s message suddenly lit up, and Xiang Huaizhi casually clicked to open it.

[Friend] Xian Mengmeng: You’re actually in the same team with that female scammer?

[Friend] Xian Mengmeng: Hmph, so desperate you’ll take anyone?

[Friend] Xian Mengmeng: She just looted my equipment, you know that?

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at it and closed the dialog box directly.

Lu Hang said, “Hey, at least reply to her once.”

“No reply. It’s too much trouble.”

Lu Hang was puzzled, “Does she even know that someone else was using your account a few months ago?”

“I know.”

He had already explained everything to Xian Mengmeng.

But Xian Mengmeng just wouldn’t believe him, insisting he was playing tricks to shirk responsibility. She even exaggerated the whole story and spread it around.

Lu Hang was about to say more when his phone suddenly rang. After answering briefly, he walked out of the dorm room.

“Brother War God.” The girl’s voice came through the headset as Xiao Tianjing cautiously asked, “Are you there? We’ve reached the treasure map coordinates.”

[Team] Heart’s Yearning: Mhm.

[Team] Xiao Tianjing: Then I’ll start digging.

[Team] Heart’s Yearning: 1

Because it was a team activity, after Jing Huan activated the treasure map, the two game characters in the team started digging the ground together.

Jing Huan took a sip from the water cup beside him, thinking about how to get Heart’s Desire to add him as a friend.

Jing Huan never expected to dig up anything good—he had the legendary “cursed hands” that could even forge the worst trash when crafting divine artifacts.

Enchanted Spirit Pearl? Was he even worthy of that?

The treasure hunting progress bar disappeared. Before Jing Huan could react, a striking line of yellow text popped up on the game interface—

[You’ve dug up and collapsed a monster’s house with your shovel, enraging the reclusive Demon King (Mount Luojia 132.72)! Please head there immediately to seal it! [Players required: Xiao Tian Jing, Heart Towards It. Time limit: 48 hours.]]

[System Announcement: Astounding news! Players Xiao Tian Jing and Heart Towards It accidentally collapsed a monster’s house while treasure hunting at Mount Luojia. The homeless Demon King is now causing trouble at Mount Luojia 132.72!]

[Server-wide Announcement: Players Xiao Tian Jing and Heart Towards It from the Flower in the Mirror server have triggered the hidden quest [Wrath of the Demon King] from the Thief’s Treasure Map.]