Chapter 16

Jing Huan froze again, taking a long moment before remembering to type.

[Current] Little Sweet Scene: Big bro… are you talking to me?

[Current] Heart’s Desire: Who else is here?

The passerby nearby: “…”

[Current] SweetScenery: But I haven’t finished buying all my equipment yet…

[Current] HeartYearns: Just know how to run away.

[Current] SweetScenery: ??

What does this mean? Does this person expect him to spend the whole night fleeing for his life in the arena?

Jing Huan was just about to sneer when he saw the teleportation portal light up—it was the elite from the Idle Pavilion who had been guarding outside, coming to investigate after noticing something was wrong.

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at the person and clicked the team invitation.

[Current] Heart’s Desire: Get in.

The little fox fairy immediately stood up, her in-game character even dusting off her butt before turning around and joining the team she had been longing for.

Then the two of them flew off together.

The Idle Pavilion elite was stunned and immediately reported it to the guild.

[Guild] DeepForestSeesDeer: Breaking news—Xiao Tianjing has joined Heart’s Yearning’s team!!

[Guild] DeepForestSeesDeer: Everyone be careful, don’t force PK on Xiao Tianjing!

[Guild] Silent Whisper: ???

[Guild] Girl in My Heart: Why is she in Heart’s Desire’s team [shocked]?

[Guild] No Asking Return Date: My friend told me… Little Sweet Scene and Heart’s Desire were dungeon crawling together yesterday.

[Guild] Seize the Day: …No way, do they actually have something going on? Did Heart’s Desire get moved by Little Sweet Scene’s confession?

[Clan] Fae Cutie: Impossible.

[Clan] Fae Cutie: Heart’s Yearning has very high standards, so it must be Sweet Little Scene begging him to take her through dungeons. Don’t worry, Heart’s Yearning will be heading to the arena in ten minutes. You can go kill Sweet Little Scene without any concerns then.

[Clan] Celestial Star: Uh…

[Clan] Celestial Star: Heart’s Yearning took Sweet Little Scene into the 2v2 arena. I just saw them.

[Guild] Mo Wen Gui Qi: ……

[Guild] The Girl in My Heart: ……

The entire screen was filled with shock.

[Guild] Silent Affection: ……It’s fine. At worst, we’ll just temporarily cancel tonight’s plan to snipe Xiao Tian Jing. Let’s look on the bright side—if Xin Xiang Wang Zhi teams up with Xiao Tian Jing, they’re bound to lose. Then our deputy guild leader can finally claim the top spot on the elite rankings!

[Guild] Star in the Sky: Yeah, I noticed Heart’s Desire has been losing points for the past few months. If the deputy leader wins a few more matches, he’ll surpass him.

[Guild] Fairy Cutie: Star in the Sky, what do you mean by that?

[Guild] Star in the Sky: ?

[Guild] Star in the Sky: What did I do wrong…

[Guild] Fairy Mengmeng: So you’re saying he dropped ranks in the past few months because he was carrying me in the arena, is that it?

[Guild] Stars Above: [dazed] No, how would I know he was carrying you the past few months?

[Guild] Fairy Mengmeng: We were together every day, and you didn’t know?

[Guild] Stars Above: So what if you were together? Did you get married? Now Little Sweet Scene is doing arena with Heart’s Desire—does that mean they’re together too?

[Guild: Green Dragon Hall Leader Xian Mengmeng has kicked Tian Shang Xing out of the Idle Pavilion for “…”]

[Guild] Mo Wen Gui Qi: Oh my god… this is too much.

[Guild: Xiang Si Bu Gu has activated full mute mode.]

[Guild] Xiang Si Bu Gu: No fighting, Xianxian, calm down a bit.

[Guild] Acacia Disregards: We’re disbanding for tonight, everyone go do whatever you need. I’ll reopen the chat tomorrow.

Jing Huan had no idea that their teaming up had caused quite a stir in the Idle Pavilion. He didn’t even get a chance to refuse before being dragged into the arena.

To be honest, although he was eager to interact with Heart’s Yearning, he absolutely didn’t want to accompany him to lose points in the arena.

With his current equipment, what was he doing in the arena? He might as well be a live target. Not to mention he hadn’t even fully grasped the Fox Immortal Cave’s skills yet – this damn sect had way too many skills, it was dizzying. To truly get the hang of it would take at least half a month.

“Brother,” he hesitated, pretending to be nervous, “maybe you should call someone else? I-I’ve never done the Arena before…”

“It’s fine, just filling a spot,” Xiang Huaizhi said.

Jing Huan: “…”

If I weren’t too weak to kill you, I’d have fucking flipped out on you already.

Seeing his silence, Xiang Huaizhi thought for a moment and added, “Won’t let you lose points.”

Everyone starts with an initial score of 1000 points.

Jing Huan wasn’t too concerned about the points either. Even if he lost them all, he could climb back up once he got his equipment back.

He simply didn’t like losing.

Playing games is all about having fun. If you’re getting chased around and beaten in the game, what’s the point of playing?

“…Alright then.” Jing Huan said, “I’ll leave the party to buy some potions.”

As soon as he finished speaking, numerous small notifications popped up on his screen—Xiang Huaizhi was tossing potions at him.

“I called you here, so I’ll provide the potions,” Xiang Huaizhi said succinctly.

“Thanks, bro.” Jing Huan sat up straight. It had been a while since he last played in the arena, and now that he was back, he felt a little excited.

He instinctively glanced around and immediately felt speechless.

Most of the people standing around them turned out to be members of the Idle Pavilion.

Actually, what Xiang Huaizhi had just said wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Tonight’s arena could indeed serve as his escape scene.

Fortunately, the arena mode was randomly assigned. If players could initiate battles at will, they probably wouldn’t even have time to catch their breath tonight.

At 7:30 p.m., the arena officially began. The moment Xiang Huaizhi clicked the match button, they faced their first opponents of the day.

There were two male players, one healer and one physical DPS, somewhat similar to Jing Huan’s team composition.

The opponents didn’t expect to be matched against Heart’s Desire and were visibly stunned. Before they could react, they saw Heart’s Desire charging straight toward their healer with his sword drawn.

The healer panicked and instinctively dodged to the right, but this movement accidentally placed them directly in the path of Heart’s Desire’s blade. Without hesitation, Heart’s Desire unleashed a double strike.

    9113。

Bright red damage numbers exploded on the screen, and the healer collapsed to the ground, unable to recover.

Jing Huan: “…”

Fuck.

What kind of demonic damage is this?

Even if the matched players aren’t strong, it shouldn’t be… one-shotting every healer like this…

This is pure gear domination—these pay-to-win players are absolutely inhuman!

After spending tens of thousands to buy an empty account, Jing Huan cursed bitterly in his heart.

[Current] What Kind of Trash Are You: [Horrified]

[Current] What Kind of Trash Are You: Great god, my score is only 2200, why am I matched with you…

In the arena, the system automatically matches opponents of similar strength by averaging the scores of both players. Due to Jing Huan’s low score and Xiang Huai Zhi’s account having a string of losses, they ended up being matched with low-scoring opponents.

HeartYearning didn’t respond to him, turning around to continue attacking the DPS. Knowing they couldn’t win, the DPS simply gave up resisting and stood still to be killed.

[Current] WhatTrashAreYou: Big bro, can you wait ten seconds before queueing again after leaving? [crying] I don’t want to run into you guys again.

With the final sword strike, WhatTrashAreYou lost the chance to speak and was instantly ejected from the PK arena.

Only after returning to the waiting area did Jing Huan remember to speak: “…Wow, gege, you’re amazing.”

There was naturally no response from the other end of the headset. Heart Longing For remained standing in place, motionless.

Just as Jing Huan was about to ask, the match interface popped up—they had already entered the next round of battle.

…So he was waiting for the ten-second countdown earlier.

The next few matches were almost identical to the first one. Heart Longing For’s equipment was too overpowered; even if a total beginner were to pilot his account, they’d probably still win.

They either got matched against opponents who were crushed by Heart’s Desire, or those who quit right at the start. After three matches, Jing Huan did nothing except throw himself into the blood pool.

After this battle ended, the arena channel received its first system message.

[Congratulations to Heart’s Desire and Little Sweet Jing for defeating Listening to the Rain and Wind’s Companion, achieving a three-win streak!]

Chun Xiao glanced at the time: “…The arena just started seven minutes ago, and they already have a three-win streak?”

“Xiao Tianjing has low points, so they’re matched with beginners, which makes it easy to win.” The female voice in the headset was faint, tinged with a hint of displeasure. “Why are you paying attention to Xiao Tianjing again?”

Chun Xiao sighed helplessly, “I just happened to see it by chance.”

“What about last time when they killed the demon king? Did you also ‘happen’ to contribute the guild’s materials unintentionally?” The owner of this female voice was none other as Xiang Si Bu Gu. Instead of calming down after Chun Xiao’s explanation, she grew even more annoyed.

Chun Xiao replied, “If I didn’t hand over the materials, the guild would have been raided by bandits.”

“Then let them in! At most, we’ll just lose a herb field!”

Chunxiao frowned. As the battle ended, she tied up her long hair and said patiently, “It’s not easy for us to expand a herb field. If we can avoid trouble, why not avoid it? Be good. You’ve finally logged in recently, and I don’t want to argue with you.”

Xiangsigubu wilted at her words: “…But I’m just unhappy. Who does she think she is? She scammed our guild’s veteran members, and now she even wants to flirt with you—she’s trying to have it both ways, isn’t she afraid of choking?”

“That was the previous owner’s doing. This time, the account seems to have genuinely changed hands.”

“Didn’t they say the same thing last time? Yet it was still that scammer—I definitely won’t believe it this time.” Xiangsi pouted stubbornly, “And you’re not allowed to look at her anymore!”

Chun Xiao chuckled helplessly, “Alright, alright, I won’t look…”

Just as she finished speaking, the game interface suddenly refreshed—they had matched with a new set of opponents.

Chun Xiao spotted the black robe and that blindingly flashy divine weapon at a glance.

[Current] Xiangsibugu: ??

[Current] Xiangsibugu: Little green tea, found a new man to carry you in ranked matches again?

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: ……

[Current] Xiao Tianjing: I dare not claim to be a green tea……

Before Jing Huan could finish typing, he saw Xiangsi, without hesitation, wave her magic wand and directly cast a Thunderstrike at him.