Chapter 43

“Love is used to you sharing food,” Jing Huan said, used to the way she spoke, and seeing her say that, he sent several laughing emojis in a row.

The other unfamiliar teammates in the group were seeing such a girl who could shower compliments like rain for the first time; the two of them silently stayed logged in, only daring to peek at the screen and not to chime in.

[Team] Love is used to you sharing food: Hahaha okay, I get it. By the way, did you open any fate stones today? Did you get anything good?

Jing Huan was stunned.

[Party] Little Sweet Jing: I didn’t open the Fate Stone.

[Party] Love Is Sharing With You: Huh? Didn’t Qiu Feng say he was going to give you a hundred?

[Party] Little Sweet Jing: 0.0 How did you know… I didn’t accept, it’s too expensive, and I can’t get anything good from it. [About to cry]

[Team] Love Is For Sharing: I saw it in the guild’s WeChat group, haha.

[Team] Little Sweet Jing: Guild group??

[Team] Love Is For Sharing: Yep, Mo Wen Guiqi said it, this afternoon, I think.

Jing Huan understood—Mo Wen Guiqi, the gossip king, had definitely spilled the chat from their previous run.

He didn’t pay attention. He was about to give Xin Xiangwangzhi a sip of milk to boost his damage when he saw three big characters over Xin Xiangwangzhi’s head—AFK.

Since the person wasn’t there, there was no need to butter him up anymore. Jing Huan crossed his legs, took a sip of the coffee beside him, and switched back to the boxing champion to continue beating the NPC.

On the other side, Xiang Huaizhi picked up his phone. The guild WeChat group hadn’t been opened for a long time, and the messages had already soared to 99+.

He scrolled up for a while and found the chat log sent by “Love Means Sharing Food.”

Mo Wen Guiji: Damn, the sect leader is really generous—he immediately offers to give Xiao Tianjing a hundred fate stones!!

Mo Wen Guiji: Is anyone giving me fate stones? If I open them and get something good, I’ll give it to you—I just want the thrill of opening. My luck might be a little better than Xiao Tianjing’s, so it doesn’t need to be a hundred, ten will do. 🙂

Qiandeng: The sect leader is chasing after Xiao Tianjing, is anyone chasing after you? [ puzzled ]

Big Brother, big or not: Well, I’m just curious— which Hall Master are you talking about?

Because the first-kill cooperation went so smoothly, and to keep the person in the gang, Chun Xiao gave Xin Xiangwangzhi the position of Xuanwu Hall Master.

When those words came out, the gang chat fell silent for a few minutes.

Qiu Feng: It was me, haha, too bad she didn’t accept. Gui Qi, lighten up? I’ll send you ten.

Mo Wen Guoqi: Dizzy, really?

Qiu Feng: Really, just don’t say this in the group anymore, I’m afraid she’ll be embarrassed—you see, she’s gone quiet. [tape over mouth]

Mo Wen Guoqi: Got it! I’m in the main city, Hall Master [shy]

Benming Zhizhi Taotao: Hall Master thinks you talk too much, Aqi!

Mo Wen: It’s fine, just send me a Fate Stone; say whatever you want about me [shy]

Mo Wen: Received the Fate Stone! Wishing the Hall Master and Little Sweet Jing a hundred years of harmony! May you have heirs soon! Be happy every day!

Xiang Huaizhi saw this, then closed WeChat.

He had been in this district a long time; although he didn’t like gossip, with Lu Hang around, he still had heard a bit about many things.

Don’t let the pity for Qiufeng being scammed in an online relationship fool you; in reality, the one who stole his money earlier was his tenth in-game wife.

Qiufeng’s number of marriages even made Lu Hang bow in admiration. The most remarkable thing about him was that he broke up amicably with his first nine wives. A few of the girls went to the Jiuxia forum to vent, but their words always defended Qiufeng; several even felt they were the ones who weren’t good enough for him.

Lu Hang once said that Qiufeng represented the highest level of a player.

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at the little fox spirit beside him.

Would Jing Huan become Qiu Feng’s eleventh wife?

Qiu Feng was a sorcerer in flowing white robes, recently contending with Lu Hang for the top spot among the sect’s masters. Not weak by any means, his PK videos were also very popular on the official site, seemingly right after Lu Hang’s clips.

And Jing Huan had said more than once that he liked scumbags.

Come to think of it, Qiu Feng was exactly the type Jing Huan liked.

…Whatever, why is he worrying about this for no reason.

Xiang Huaizhi was about to look away when he saw the little fox spirit suddenly hopping around him, using the blood pool to fully restore his HP.

Because time was limited, they were doing a low-level dungeon—the kind you could AFK through.

[Party] Ai Shi Fen Ni Chi: I thought you were AFK.

[Party] Xiao Tianjing: I was AFK, but I’ve been watching the game the whole time.

[Party] Xiao Tianjing: Brother’s HP bar—I will guard it! [heart]

Xiang Huai lowered his head, lifted his hand to cancel AFK, and with a critical strike cleaved the opposing boss to death.

The dungeon ended. Xiang Huaizhi kicked everyone out of the party, leaving only Xiao Tianjing, then led her to the entrance of the arena.

[Party] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: The arena doesn’t open for another ten minutes. I’ll order takeout—whatever you want.

“I’m just going to stay in the party.” Jing Huan was also looking at the takeout menu. “What are you ordering today, brother?”

[Party] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Not sure yet. What do you want?

“Braised chicken!” Jing Huan said, “I’ve been away three days, craving it for three days… The braised chicken outside our school is especially good!”

[Team] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Really?

“Mm!” Jing Huan tossed out an impossible promise casually, shaping her tone into a shy little remark, “If there’s ever a chance, I’ll treat brother.”

[Team] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: No need.

Xiang Huaizhi searched for this braised chicken on the food delivery app and quickly placed the order.

As the arena’s opening time drew nearer, more people began to gather outside. Jing Huan saw Ai Shifennichu standing beside her and was about to greet her, when a server announcement suddenly floated across the chat channel on the right.

[System Announcement: Congratulations to player “仙萌萌” on the Jinghua Shuiyue server for achieving first place in likes in the Nine Heroes Singing Contest and directly advancing to the semifinals; congratulations to player “洛baby” on the Chuiyan Miaomiao server for achieving second place in likes…]

[Horn] Ji Xiaonian: Congrats Xianxian, Xianxian awesome~

[loudspeaker] Say you like: Xianxian is the only contestant from our server who made it to the semifinals, everyone remember to go to the site and give her some cheers and likes!

[loudspeaker] Diandian ya: As expected, after all Xianxian has real ability, unlike some who take shortcuts and get likes by being gimmicky.

[loudspeaker] Xianmengmeng: Diandian, don’t say that, being gimmicky is also a kind of skill. Thank you all for the likes and support, I’ll work hard to try to bring our server back to first place~ [pat head]

Aishi Fen Ni Chi saw those announcements and couldn’t help but snarl in his heart—how two-faced.

She opened Xiao Tianjing’s chat window, just about to comfort her a bit.

[Horn] Xiao Tianjing: Beautiful alone, no desire to tear people apart, do not cue.

[Horn] Lu Tiaotiao: Exactly, and if you bring out my little Jingjing again, we’ll have to start charging an appearance fee.

Love Is Split to Eat: “…”

Jing Huan really had no interest in tearing into someone over the loudspeaker; arguing that way was just for others to watch the spectacle.

In the game, he still preferred to let his strength do the talking. If it weren’t for how boring it was to AFK in the party, he wouldn’t even reply to that loudspeaker.

A line of yellow text popped up on the screen: Xian Mengmeng had set him as a private chat contact again. But last time he’d already blacklisted her, so her messages couldn’t get through.

Tranquility.

Entering the arena, the opponents in the first few rounds weren’t strong. Jing Huan asked as she played, “Brother, why didn’t Lu Tiaotiao come today?”

Because they were in the PK zone, Xiang Huaizhi finally unmuted. He opened his mouth slightly and deliberately lowered his voice: “He’s going to do the Warlord quest.”

Jing Huan was taken aback: “He already gathered the materials that fast?”

“Mm,” Xiang Huaizhi asked, “Will he be coming to kill the Warlord then?”

“Yes! Kill them!” Jing Huan said excitedly. “Brother, can you take me with you?”

Xiang Huaizhi had already counted him as part of the team; hearing how excited he sounded, he couldn’t help but tug at the corner of his mouth slightly. “Okay, set the time and tell me.”

He suddenly grew curious: which server had Jing Huan played on before, and what class did he use? Judging by his moves, he seemed to be a skilled player.

To show her excitement, the little fox spirit slipped free of restraint and darted around him, even blowing him a flying kiss.

This scene was seen by Qiufeng, who had just finished the battle, and he inexplicably felt pretty envious.

After all, the person he’d been flirting with for so long without stirring any response was being so attentive to another man—anyone would be upset.

Xiang Huaizhi bought the medicine and was about to continue matching when his friends list suddenly lit up.

[Friend] Qiufeng: Xiang Shen, I need to discuss something with you.

[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: You go ahead.

[Friend] Qiu Feng: Can you give me your arena teammates? I’ll send my team’s mage to join you—having two DPS is really fun.

Xiang Huaizhi frowned slightly.

[Friend] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: Tell her yourself.

[Friend] Qiu Feng: She’s your fan. I invited her over; she definitely wouldn’t want to…

[Friend] Qiu Feng: Bro, just don’t bring her into the fight, and I’ll handle the rest.

[Friend] Qiufeng: It would be even better if you were willing to put in a good word for me—after all, she only listens to you now. If the two of us end up together, you’ll be the chief matchmaker [prostrating], and I’ll definitely thank you properly…oh right, aren’t you collecting Enchanted Spirit Orbs? If you help me, I’ll give you one. How about it?

Really generous.

[Friend] Xin Xiangwangzhi: I’m not lacking, and not interested in being a matchmaker.

“Brother,” through the headset, Jing Huan asked, puzzled, “am I lagging? Why did you stop moving?”

“No, just a moment.” Xiang Huaizhi paused slightly, and impulsively tossed out, “I might have something tomorrow and can’t make it. Want me to find you a 2v2 teammate?”

“Ah, no need, I don’t want to do 2v2 with someone else. If you’re not there, I’ll just go play 1v1 by myself.”

This, of course, was Jing Huan’s flattering way of putting it. The real reason was that his gear was poor and his segment rank was high—when teamed with Xin Xiang Wang Zhi he could slaughter the whole match, but with a different teammate he’d just be handing out points. He might even be looked down on by teammates; it was better not to play at all.

Jing Huan scooped up a mouthful of rice and asked, “Brother, what are you going to do tomorrow?”

There was silence in the headphones for a moment before the other person said, “Let’s go out to eat.”

He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he kept feeling that Xin Xiangwangzhi’s voice sounded a bit strange today.

But Jing Huan didn’t take it to heart; he made an “oh” sound and focused on the new PK match.

After finishing at the arena, Xin Xiang Wang Zhi didn’t rush to disband the team like usual. Instead, she led him through the portal to an unfamiliar exotic realm.

The unfamiliar exotic realm was a safe zone—a place usually used for running quests and buying costumes, where stalls couldn’t be set up. Many players liked to hang around here.

Jing Huan took two steps and saw Xian Mengmeng. She was hanging by an exotic merchant, chatting with her girlfriends.

Jing Huan glanced at the names of the female players beside her and couldn’t help but curse silently, “What the hell”—they were all the acquaintances she’d just seen on the loudspeaker.

The girls who had been chatting so merrily fell completely silent the moment they saw him and Xin Xiang Wang Zhi, clearly having slipped into private chat.

…It was basically a full-on awkward scene.

Of course, Xin Xiang Wang Zhi led him over and stopped in front of Xian Mengmeng, standing there for several minutes without moving.

Jing Huan couldn’t help but say, “Brother, what are we doing here…”

Before he could finish, a line of yellow text popped up in the game.

[Xin Xiangwangzhi gave you Fate Stones x100]

Jing Huan: “?”

[Team] Xin Xiang Wang Zhi: On.