Chapter 38

Jing Huan sat in front of his computer, nervously clicking on the voice message he’d sent and listening to it once more.

If you listened carefully, you could detect a slightly muffled quality to the girl’s voice—this was because he’d recorded it beforehand using a voice changer, then played it through his computer speakers before sending it via WeChat.

Does it sound a bit fake? Maybe I should just skip the “mua” part?

Jing Huan hesitated for a long time before deciding to retract the voice message, only to find that the two-minute window for retraction had already passed—even the retract button had disappeared.

Growing increasingly unsure, he clicked open the photo of his legs that he had photoshopped.

Jing Huan loved playing basketball, so his legs had some muscle tone, making them look nothing like a girl’s legs. To take this photo, he had to pull his swim trunks up almost to his groin. Fortunately, his thighs weren’t very hairy to begin with, and after some thinning edits, they at least looked somewhat passable.

After some thought, he long-pressed the photo and forwarded a copy to Lu Wenhao.

Lu Wenhao: ?

Lu Wenhao: ???

Lu Wenhao: Damn it, I’m already a married man, why are you sending me porn? Do I look like the kind of person who would look at this kind of picture??

Lu Wenhao: Whose leg is this, from our school? Share her WeChat, I just want to check her moments, won’t do anything else.

Jing Huan: “…”

It seems his photoshop skills are decent.

The phone vibrated slightly as the person who’d been missing all day finally responded.

Xiang: …

Xiang: Don’t casually send out photos like this in the future.

Jing Huan let out a scoff, and the tension and embarrassment from moments ago instantly vanished without a trace.

As soon as you saw the leg photo, you replied instantly. Why are you pretending to be a gentleman in front of me?

Xiao Jing: T.T I didn’t send it randomly! I only sent it to you, brother!

Xiang Huaizhi was sitting in a barbecue restaurant at the time. The conversation screen still showed the leg photo sent by Xiao Tianjing. To avoid being seen by others, he had to cover his phone while sending messages.

It’s like being a thief.

So he raised his hand and deleted that photo from their chat history without hesitation, then continued typing.

Xiang: Lost my phone today, just got it back.

Jing Huan curled his lips in disdain.

So many excuses from this playboy.

Xiao Jing: Like this. You scared me, I thought you were ignoring me [hugging myself and crying]

Xiao Jing: Did you go hiking today, brother?

Xiang: No, tomorrow.

Xiao Jing: Oh oh, then brother should be careful and stay safe.

Xiao Jing ya: [kiss][lips]

Looking at this big red lip emoji, Xiang Huaizi somehow remembered the voice message from earlier.

He didn’t reply anymore. After locking his phone and putting it away, he focused on grilling the meat.

“Xiao Tianjing sent you quite a few messages, didn’t he?” Lu Hang swallowed the meat in his mouth and teased.

He didn’t quite catch what Little Sweet Scenery was saying earlier, but he definitely heard that kiss sound at the end clearly.

Xiang Huaizhi: “No.”

“Alright, I heard it all—she even gave you a kiss.” Lu Hang flipped the meat over, shaking his head with a tsk-tsk. “She’s really head over heels for you, isn’t she?”

Xiang Huai paused: “We only know each other from gaming, it’s not as exaggerated as you’re making it out to be.”

“What’s wrong with meeting in a game? Can’t real feelings develop in games?”

Xiang Huaizhi scoffed: “Haven’t even met face-to-face, just exchanged a few words in-game and fought a few PK matches, and you’re talking about real feelings? Seems like you’re obsessed with online dating.”

Lu Hang understood and stopped what he was doing: “After all this talking, you’re just worried Little Jing might be ugly in real life? But then again, statistics show 80% of girls with nice voices aren’t good-looking, some are even overweight. Easy fix—just ask her to send a photo… Oh wait, photos aren’t reliable, you’d need a video call.”

Xiang Huaizhi lazily lifted his eyes: “You think I’m like you?”

“No personal attacks.” Lu Hang suddenly thought of something and chuckled, “Oh—or do you think Little Jing is just after your good gear and deep pockets?”

Xiang Huaizhi couldn’t be bothered to respond and got up to get dipping sauce.

When he returned, he saw Lu Hang holding his phone and laughing. As soon as Xiang sat down, Lu eagerly shoved the phone in his face: “Xiang Xiang, look.”

On the screen was Lu Hang’s chat history with Sweet Little Jing.

Lu Yaoyao: Whatcha up to, Jing Jing? [peeking]

Xiao Jing ya: Grinding for materials, what’s up~

Lu Tiaotiao: [Photo] Xiangxiang and I are having BBQ.

Xiao Jing ya: Looks so delicious. [Drooling]

Lu Tiaotiao: Hehe, it’s really tasty.

Lu Tiaotiao: Do you want to see photos of your Xiang gege?

Xiao Jingya: !!!

Xiao Jingya: Yes! I do! Can I? Am I worthy enough to behold the peerless beauty of gege?!!!

Xiao Jingya: [kowtowing in worship]

Lu Tiaotiao: Hahaha you do! But you can’t tell him about this.

Xiao Jing Ya: [chick pecking rice]

Lu Tiaotiao: [photo]

After seeing the photo Lu Hang sent, Xiang Huaizhi’s face immediately darkened.

The photo Lu Hang sent was not his own, but rather a young man wearing glasses with small eyes and thick lips, whose skin tone could rival the cooked beef in front of them. He had a simple, somewhat silly smile and looked no older than twenty.

“Are you that bored?” Xiang Huaizhi’s voice was icy. “Who is this?”

“My cousin,” Lu Hang replied. “Come on, I was just teasing her… Why hasn’t she replied yet? Did the photo scare her off?”

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t respond. He moved his fingers to recall the photo and started typing to explain.

Jokes are fine, but fake photos are a no-go.

Before he could explain, Xiao Tianjing had already replied.

Xiao Jing: [Frantically licking the screen]

Xiao Jing: Slurp slurp slurp!

“……” Xiang Huaizhi deleted the words he had originally typed and sent a question mark instead.

Xiao Jing: Ahhh! My brother is so handsome! I’m going to lick him like crazy!!

Lu Tiaotiao: …Is he handsome?

Xiao Jingya: Drop-dead gorgeous [faints], especially his captivating little eyes!

Lu Tiaotiao: Eyes?

Xiao Jingya: They carry three parts aloofness, three parts fickleness, and four parts nonchalance.

Xiao Jing: I’m in love. I’m going to print this photo and stick it on my bedside. [shy]

Xiang Huaizhi realized that ever since he met Xiao Tianjing, it seemed like the only punctuation mark he knew was the question mark.

Lu Tiaotiao: That’s not me, Lu Tiaotiao is messing around and sent it randomly.

Xiao Jing: ……

Xiao Jingya: ?

[Xiao Jingya withdrew a message.]

[Xiao Jingya withdrew a message.]

Even the screen-licking emoji was taken back.

Xiang Huaizhi looked at these withdrawal notifications, couldn’t help but curl his lips and let out a brief laugh.

Xiao Jing: QAQ Lu Tiaotiao is so mean…

Lu Tiaotiao: Mm, I’ll talk to him.

After explaining to Sweet Jing, Xiang Huaizhi tossed his phone back: “Don’t play these boring jokes on her again next time.”

    ——

The next day, the three of them went shoulder to shoulder to the internet café downstairs from the hotel, as previously agreed.

They said they were there to play games together, but Gao Zixiang and Lu Wenhao both opened “Nine Heroes”—one grinding daily quests while the other took his in-game wife sightseeing.

Jing Huan didn’t enjoy solo queuing in PUBG, so he opened League of Legends for the first time in a while. However, due to his rusty skills, he got flamed by all four teammates as the “ultimate orphan.”

Annoyed, he ran a hand through his hair and was about to snap back when the girl sitting next to him suddenly tapped him on the shoulder.

The girl had long eyelashes and adorable deer-like eyes as she softly asked, “Hey, wanna play together?”

Jing Huan glanced at her LOL client and chuckled while pointing at his match history, “Better not, I’m pretty terrible at this.”

“It’s fine, it’s just a game. I only know how to play support anyway,” the girl insisted.

Jing Huan closed the LOL client, “Maybe next time. I’m about to play PUBG now.”

There won’t be a next time.

The girl understood he was rejecting her and felt somewhat embarrassed. After sitting for a while, she logged off and left.

After she left, Gao Zixiang said, “What’s wrong with you, Huanhuan? It’s just a game of LOL, not like she asked you out. How could you reject her like that?”

Lu Wenhao nodded and added, “Exactly, and that girl was really cute too. You’re too heartless.”

Jing Huan scoffed, “You two have the nerve to say that? Who was it that suggested coming to the internet café to play together? And now I’m stuck here watching you two grind Nine Heroes?”

He might as well have stayed in his room solo grinding events.

“Ah, it’s all our guild leader’s fault—suddenly announced we’re doing a 5-star difficulty 20-player dungeon, starting in five minutes,” Lu Wenhao led his in-game wife to the dungeon NPC. “Hang on, after this dungeon, we’ll switch to PUBG.”

Jing Huan glanced at his screen and snorted, “Screw that, this dungeon will take you at least three hours.”

“Three hours?” Gao Zixiang shook his head. “No way, with Lu Wenhao, it’ll take at least four hours.”

“Get lost! I’m strong as hell now!”

Since he was already out, Jing Huan couldn’t be bothered to return to his room. He tapped his fingers and ordered three male gaming companions, opened PUBG, and went to experience the joy of being the center of attention.

Lu Wenhao: “Are you serious? Paying a guy to play games with you?”

“I feel embarrassed asking girls for gear parts,” Jing Huan succinctly explained.

After playing for over two hours, Jing Huan glanced at the next seat and found Lu Wenhao had already been one-punched to death by the BOSS, now lying dead in a corner of the dungeon.

Seconds later, his in-game wife revived him. Lu Wenhao tried to replenish Gao Zixiang’s health pool, but the placement was too far back and missed, leaving Gao Zixiang to fall next.

“Stop playing your damn Fox Spirit Cave. If I put a chicken on the keyboard, even it would play better than you,” Gao Zixiang fumed.

Lu Wenhao defended himself: “It’s this class that’s too weak, what does it have to do with me…”

“Weak my ass,” Jing Huan couldn’t listen anymore. “You’re just used to playing DPS and aren’t accustomed to its spellcasting range.”

Lu Wenhao: “Seriously! Huanhuan, you’ve never played Fox Immortal Cave before, you don’t know how damn hard this class is to play…”

“Who says I haven’t played it?” Seeing Lu Wenhao getting beaten down again, Jing Huan couldn’t stand it anymore. He stood up, “Get up, switch seats. You go play PUBG.”

Ten minutes later.

Lu Wenhao’s mind wasn’t on the game at all. While running from the poison zone, he kept watching Jing Huan’s moves: “Holy shit? That didn’t even hit you? Must be a game glitch!”

Jing Huan: “It never hit in the first place. I dodged it.”

Lu Wenhao’s in-game character was a tiger-headed demon race. The tiger executed a roll maneuver, swiftly replenishing the team’s DPS with a blood pool, without even a moment’s pause in between.

Lu Wenhao was puzzled—they were using the same skills, so why could Jing Huan’s attacks land?

Gao Zixiang was fully healed to max HP: “Damn, this feels amazing… Lu Wenhao, learn from this, really learn!”

Lu Wenhao clicked his tongue: “I’m learning, stop nagging.”

Half an hour later, the BOSS collapsed with a thunderous crash. Jing Huan let out a long sigh of relief and couldn’t help stretching his fingers.

I’m used to running dungeons with Heart Toward, accustomed to his explosive DPS. Playing high-level dungeons with others just feels exhausting.

“Huahuan, you’re way too strong…” Gao Zixiang said. “Hurry up and buy an account, come back as my dedicated healer!”

Jing Huan took a sip of water: “Not strong at all, just lucky to have mediocre teammates.”

“Don’t be so modest.”

A voice suddenly came from behind, the speaker’s tone laced with amusement: “Your Fox Immortal Cave is quite the fun setup.”

Jing Huan froze, instinctively turning around.

Two guys stood behind him—one wearing a plaid shirt, unfamiliar but with a gentle smile.

The other had half-lowered eyelids, his tall frame and long legs making a simple black T-shirt look designer-brand expensive—it was Xiang Huaizhi, whom he’d met just a short while ago.

Their hair and clothes were drenched, as if they had just been caught in a rainstorm.

Jing Huan felt somewhat dazed.

Perhaps it was because he had been spending so much time running dungeons with Heart’s Desire and the others lately, but he kept mishearing people’s voices. Earlier, the girl’s voice had reminded him of Love to Share with You, and now this guy’s voice… somewhat resembled Faraway Road.