Chapter 5

Neither of them expected Heart’s Desire to make a move, and both were momentarily stunned.

Jing Huan mentally cursed Heart’s Desire’s entire family before gritting his teeth and silently repeating “fuck” in eight different languages.

The Immortal-Binding Rope was a high-level item dropped from elite world bosses, capable of immobilizing the target for six seconds.

Six seconds is enough for him to take a full set of skills from this Little Mosquito Coil.

But unexpectedly, after Little Mosquito Coil unleashed her ultimate move, she also stopped moving.

[Current] Little Mosquito Coil: …How come you’re from the Fox Immortal Cave? Did you switch sects?

The Sky Net Jinghuan had just thrown out was a skill exclusive to the Fox Immortal Cave. Little Mosquito Coil opened her profile to check and, sure enough, the sect column clearly displayed the words “Fox Immortal Cave.”

The Fox Immortal Cave differs from Mount Putuo—while both are healing classes, the Fox Immortal Cave focuses more on sealing and support, with minimal healing output. Its skills are complex, and the casting range is extremely limited, resulting in players of this faction being polarized into two extremes: either they’re incredibly skilled, capable of dominating server-wide PvP, or they’re utterly incompetent, failing to even seal regular mobs during quests—complete noobs.

Little Mosquito hesitated briefly before continuing to type.

The yellow ropes binding Xiao Tianjing suddenly disappeared, and the female character abruptly sprang up from the ground, firing a pink fireball-like skill straight toward him!

Yuanqi Xiao Wenxiang was startled and immediately jumped to dodge, only realizing upon landing—that he had landed right in the path of the fireball’s attack.

No, to be precise… Xiao Tianjing had already predicted his movement in advance.

[Current] Yuanqi Xiao Wenxiang: ???

[Current] Bubbly Mosquito Coil: Wait…

But Little Sweet Scenery ignored him, instead summoning her familiar. The Fox Immortal Cave sect’s attack skills are only useful for clearing monsters; real PvP relies on familiars.

She summoned… a small white fox with a plum blossom mark on its forehead and nine tails behind its rear.

The Nine-Tailed Immortal Fox, a ninth-tier divine beast, costs at least tens of thousands of dollars even at the cheapest on the exchange.

The Nine-Tailed Fox shook its tail and threw a few fireballs at Vitality Mosquito Coil, immediately reducing his health bar by half.

[Current] Vitality Mosquito Coil: Wait!!

[Current] Vitality Mosquito Coil: Wait… Sis! I was wrong, sis!

Little Sweet View didn’t say a word and cast another sealing skill at him, leaving him completely immobilized and forced to stand there taking damage from the Nine-Tailed Fox.

At the computer, Jing Huan was earnestly studying the skills of the Fox Immortal Cave.

The Fox Immortal Cave sect is niche, and he had never played it before. With over twenty skills in total, just the skill descriptions alone were complex enough.

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: Sis!! I just sold a summoning beast and have over two thousand gold on me… I’m begging you, give me a break!!

[Current] Little Sweet Scene: Who’s your sister?

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: ……

Is this the same person who was just acting cute and begging for mercy??

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: Then, little sister, please don’t kill me. I’ll give you five hundred gold, okay?

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: Who needs your five hundred gold?

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: Yes, yes, I could tell at a glance that you’re not short of money.

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: I want 1,500.

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: ……

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Incense: That’s way too much, sis!

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: Weren’t you just trying to get 200 gold from me? [Cute]

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Incense: I was obviously joking—how could I actually ask you for money? [Begging on knees]

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: Cut the crap, just say whether you’re giving it or not.

Little Mosquito Coil gritted his teeth.

This game has a damn setting where if you initiate forced PvP against someone and end up getting killed instead, not only do you lose more money and experience, but there’s also a small chance of dropping the equipment you’re currently wearing.

He opened his inventory and looked at his glowing equipment, feeling nothing but gut-wrenching pain—who’d dare take that kind of gamble?!

[Cheerful Little Mosquito Coil gave you 1500 gold.]

With the money received, Jing Huan flexed his fingers and summoned the fox back.

These people are always so quick to resort to killing—someone’s got to teach them a lesson.

After taking the money, he didn’t waste any more words and immediately teleported back to the main city, leaving Cheerful Little Mosquito Coil alone there.

Who would have thought that before walking far, the friend icon in the bottom right corner suddenly blinked.

[Friend] Cheerful Little Mosquito Coil: [Sad] So this account really changed hands.

Jing Huan was taken aback, only then remembering to open his friend list. From the moment he logged in until now, he had been busy with other things and hadn’t had time to check it.

Sure enough, Cheerful Little Mosquito Coil was right there in his friend list.

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: …How do you have this account as a friend?

[Friend] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: I used to team up with the original owner for quests.

[Friend] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: I just checked out your gameplay—definitely not something she could pull off.

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: …

How could they be friends with the original account owner yet still PK him and even demand money?!

…He should’ve just taken all two thousand gold earlier.

[Friend] Energy Mosquito Coil: Are you a guy?

Jing Huan’s anger instantly dissipated.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scenery: Huh 0.0! How do I seem like a guy? [hits your chest]

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: Uh. Because it’s rare to see a girl with such good skills.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scenery: You’re mistaken, your skills really aren’t that great, lots of girls could beat you up like a little brother [cute]

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: ……

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: Sigh, actually I didn’t want to kill you at first, but I saw the Idler’s Guild had an elite team doing quests nearby. You’d have been discovered sooner or later, so I figured I might as well earn this money myself. Plus, think about it—that Idler’s Guild team has five people! No matter how skilled you are, you can’t take them all on. So really, I saved you!

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: Alright then, since we’ve cleared up the misunderstanding, let’s peacefully delete each other and part ways with gratitude.

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: No no no, wait—I still have something to tell you.

Jing Huan took a sip of water.

[Friend] SweetScenery: You tell me.

[Friend] EnergizerMosquito: Look, now the Idle Pavilion has put out a bounty, your account is completely unusable. Might as well make a huge profit from them before selling it off!

[Friend] SweetScenery: ?

[Friend] EnergizerMosquito: How about this – you strip off your gear and let me kill you, we split the bounty money 50/50?

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: ??

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: …How about 30-70 then?

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: [Smile]

[Friend] Energized Mosquito Coil: 20-80 then, at least let me earn something sis.

[Friend] Little Sweet Scene: Okay, but if I accidentally kill you and drop your equipment, you can’t blame me. [fidgets with fingers]

[Friend] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: …Fine, just pretend I never said it. [waves handkerchief]

    ——

A few days after settling into the new home, Jing Huan finally found some time to go to the supermarket.

The house being empty wouldn’t do, so after picking out daily necessities, he wandered over to the food section.

Jing Huan’s mother was a chef, and having grown up around her, he had no problem cooking simple home-style dishes. Besides, he had promised Gao Zixiang and the others that he would invite them over for a meal once he got settled in.

Gao Zixiang called him: “Where are you, Huanhuan?”

Jing Huan actually didn’t like people calling him Huanhuan—it sounded like a girl’s name. But no matter how much he threatened or bribed them, they wouldn’t change their ways, so he just let it be.

“Wait for us at the checkout counter in the food section.”

After paying, Gao Zixiang and Lu Wenhao naturally took over the bags.

“Huaihuan, is this place bought or rented? It doesn’t look like anyone’s lived here before?” Upon arriving at Jing Huan’s place, Gao Zixiang glanced around.

“Rented. It’s a new place—no one’s lived here before.” Jing Huan casually put on an apron. “Just wait outside. You can turn on the TV.”

Jing Huan casually prepared a few home-style dishes. After taking just one bite, Lu Wenhao immediately exclaimed, “Damn! Huanhuan, if I’d known you had these skills, I wouldn’t have bothered looking for a girlfriend! I’d just marry you instead!”

Gao Zixiang chimed in, “If you want to marry him, you’ll have to ask our department’s beauty queen first. She’s had her eye on Huanhuan for a long time.”

Jing Huan ignored their banter. Midway through the meal, he suddenly stopped and turned to Lu Wenhao. “Hao’er, I need to ask you something.”

Lu Wenhao wiped his mouth. “Go ahead.”

“What kind of girls do you like?”

Lu Wenhao paused, his expression turning strange as he quickly clarified, “No… Huanhuan, I was just talking nonsense earlier. I’m completely straight!”

“Relax, even if I were into guys, I wouldn’t go for someone like you,” Jing Huan said. “What I meant was… haven’t you had several online relationships before? In games, what kind of girls do you usually go for?”

“Oh,” Lu Wenhao thought for a moment. “Girls with sweet voices, who love to act coquettish and can sing, I guess.”

Gao Zixiang commented: “So cheesy!”

“Tch, what do you know? You’re hung up on your childhood friend for life,” Lu Wenhao shot back.

Jing Huan ate quietly. These three points… actually seemed to fit him rather well?

With a voice changer, having a sweet voice wouldn’t be a problem; acting coquettishly… could be learned too; as for singing—back in junior high when he loved showing off, he’d participated in the school’s Top Ten Singers competition and even won third place.

After chatting for a while, Gao Zixiang suddenly changed the subject: “By the way, Huanhuan, I won’t be able to help you wash the dishes after dinner. I have to rush back to the dorm—I made plans with the guild to slay the War God at seven.”

Jing Huan raised an eyebrow. “Slay the War God? You’re going for the divine artifact?”

“Yeah, the server-wide PK is coming up soon. I want to give it another shot—if I can get the divine artifact, the championship is practically in the bag.” Gao Zixiang sighed. “But I’m still missing a lot of forging materials. There are three teams from our server competing this year, and everyone’s trying to upgrade their gear. Materials are even harder to come by now… Life’s tough.”

After listening, Jing Huan nodded thoughtfully. “Alright, no worries. I bought a dishwasher.”

After seeing the two off, Jing Huan returned to his computer and noticed the friend icon blinking incessantly.

[Friend] Energetic Mosquito Coil: What’s up, Sister Jing?

Originally, Jing Huan had planned to delete the friend after their conversation that day, but Mosquito Coil mentioned having an alternate account in the Idle Pavilion, allowing him to gather intel anytime. After some consideration, Jing Huan decided to keep him around.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Just finished eating. Need to ask you something.

[Friend] Energetic Mosquito: What’s up.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Who usually represents our server in the annual Server Wars? Is it Heart’s Desire?

The Server Wars, in short, is an all-server PK competition, a once-a-year battle extravaganza. The championship rewards include trophies, in-game titles, and cash prizes.

There can only be one team representing each server in the tournament. If multiple teams from the same server register, they must first compete internally, with the winner earning the right to represent their server.

[Friend] PeppyLittleMosquitoIncense: Huh? No way. HeartYearnsFor doesn’t participate in server tournaments.

Jing Huan was taken aback.

With all that top-tier equipment and those premium summoned creatures, they actually don’t compete in server tournaments?

[Friend] Vitality Mosquito Coil: Heart’s Desire won the championship a few years ago when they competed once. They haven’t signed up since. Our server’s team in recent years has always been Love Without Regrets.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scenery: I see, that’s such a shame. I think if he came to our server, he’d definitely win the championship.

[Friend] Vitality Mosquito Coil: Not necessarily. Being strong alone isn’t enough—PK battles are a five-person effort. Look, he doesn’t even have a guild, and the teammates he usually grinds EXP with are just alt accounts for dailies. If he wants to compete, his only option would be to join Idlers’ Pavilion.

[Friend] Vitality Mosquito Coil: Hey! Come to think of it, was the reason he stepped in last time because he wanted to join Idlers’ Pavilion? If that’s really the case, then you’re in trouble. Have you heard his nickname?

[Friend] SweetJing: …What nickname?

[Friend] EnergizedMosquito: The Fox Immortal Slayer! Once he went to the server-wide arena for some 1v1 matches and got paired against the top Fox Immortal Cave player on the server… Wow, that Fox Immortal was completely helpless against him, couldn’t even fight back at all.

Jing Huan scoffed. That Fox Immortal Cave player was just too weak.

[Friend] SweetJing: So amazing 0.0! The Great God truly lives up to his name!

[Friend] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: Hehe, that’s for sure.

[Friend] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: By the way, little sister, have you thought it through these past few days? Should we team up to make money and get rich together?

[Friend] Little Sweet View: No, that little bit of money? I don’t even care for it. [Turns head away]

After closing the dialog box, Jing Huan was just about to go grind dailies.

[Announcement] Heart’s Desire: Buying Golden Finch Feathers for 100 gold, trade directly with the Moonfall City Lord. Bulk purchases may negotiate higher prices, PM me.

The moment the announcement appeared, the world channel erupted.

[World] My Destiny is Peach Tea: Holy shit! Heart’s Desire showed up!

[World] Fairy Cutie: Hehe 🙂

[World] Blossom Blinder: Wait, aren’t Golden Finch Feathers used for forging divine weapons? Xiang already has a divine weapon, why is he still collecting these?

[World] Big Bro or Not: Divine my ass, he’s just a scumbag.

………

Meanwhile, Jing Huan’s gaze fixed on the last two words of the broadcast.

Private message.

Can private chat mean Heart’s Desire has opened the friend chat?!

He immediately tried it, and sure enough, the friend request went through.

Although it’s a one-sided friendship, as long as the other person is on his friends list, he can send messages.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Big bro! [Excited]

Three minutes later, still no reply.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scenery: Big bro, talk to me~ Weren’t you collecting Golden Finch Feathers? [pout]

[Friend] Heart’s Yearning: Trade directly with the City Lord.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scenery: Bro, I don’t have Golden Finch Feathers, but I know a money-making method that can earn you over a thousand gold daily! >.<

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