Chapter 4

As soon as these two announcements were posted, the world chat became even livelier, with some munching on metaphorical popcorn to enjoy the drama, while others scolded “Don’t You Frown” for being shameless.

[Announcement] Lovesick Regardless: Starting today, there’s a bounty on “Don’t You Frown” – 100 gold per kill, 1,200 gold for ten kills. Bring screenshots to claim your reward.

Wow.

Jing Huan was amazed while doing his daily quests in the safe zone—this guy was really loaded.

The game “Nine Heroes” has three types of zones: arena, PvP zones, and safe zones.

In the arena, you can challenge any player or team to a PK (player kill). There are no penalties for dying; it’s purely for sparring.

Every open-world map and a few small towns are PvP zones. In these areas, you can force a PK on any player or team, with death penalties including loss of money and experience.

Safe zones, as the name suggests, are areas where you won’t receive any attacks as long as you stay within the designated safe zone maps.

Nine Heroes has nine major cities, but only three of them are safe zones. Dungeons, high-experience scenarios, and event NPCs are mostly located in open-world areas.

If he wanted to avoid combat, he wouldn’t even be able to farm experience points.

Killing him once earns 100 gold, equivalent to 100 RMB. For many players, this was like money falling from the sky. Jing Huan could easily imagine how lively the world chat channel must be right now.

If it were someone else, they might choose to relist this character on the exchange and buy another account. After all, this account is currently being hunted by the entire server, and it probably won’t have a peaceful time for the next week.

But not Jing Huan.

He bought the account with his own hard-earned money. He hasn’t done anything wrong, so why should he go through the hassle again because of these petty grudges?

Besides, he was killed and sent back to the respawn point as soon as he logged in. That’s a debt he hasn’t forgotten, and he’s determined to make those people pay.

Jing Huan casually set up a stall for his character in front of the grocery store to sell some cheap junk items that came with the account, then minimized the game window and reopened the exchange.

He hadn’t been in a hurry to buy equipment, but given the current situation, it seemed necessary to boost his stats.

Jing Huan came from a well-off family. Between various allowances from home, he received over thirty thousand yuan per month. Plus, Liang Ran bought most of his shoes and clothes, so he rarely spent much. Saving up over two or three years had accumulated a considerable sum.

So when it came to buying equipment, he felt quite confident about it.

After browsing the exchange, he opened the game interface and was startled by the scene inside.

His stall was completely surrounded by a crowd, so many that his game interface started lagging.

[Current] Wind Chaser: Guess what she’s doing right now?

[Current] My Destiny is Peach Tea: Probably checking out guild info, picking her next target. All guilds, keep an eye on your leaders these days—unless you want them to get scammed out of their pants.

[Current] BigBrother: I’m waiting in line, holding the number plate that says “Kill You Don’t Frown.”

[Current] WindFreerThanMe: Short on cash for gems recently, bros mind not competing with me?

Players were chatting lively in the current channel, the message box flooding the game interface as Jing Huan watched leisurely for a while.

[Current] MyDestinyPeachTea: Speaking of which, I really want to hear your “Don’t Frown” voice. Heard it’s super sweet, like a loli voice.

[Current] Chasing Wind Boy: Really? But that makes sense, if your voice wasn’t nice, you wouldn’t be able to fool men either.

[Current] Don’t Ask When I’ll Return: Come on, I’ll open a betting pool—let’s bet whether Don’t Frown will sell his account within a week. Odds: 0.3 for “will,” 3.6 for “won’t.”

[Current] Is Brother Big: 0.3? What kind of devilish odds are those? That’s way too low! I’ll bet “will,” 500 gold.

[Current] Sweet Scenery: I bet “won’t,” 1,000 gold.

The speech bubble instantly disappeared.

A few seconds later.

[Current] Wind Chaser: ??

[Current] Mo Wen Gui Qi: ???

[Current] Ben Ming Zhi Zhi Tao Tao: Oh my goodness, you really can handle pressure—definitely someone destined for great things. You should join a League of Legends pro team as a top laner.

[Current] Xiao Tian Jing: You flatter me. I won’t be leaving the safe zone for now, so please stop gathering around me. It’s really disrupting my business.

[Current] NoAbandon: …What kind of business?

[Current] SweetScenery: Check the stall yourself. Enhancement stones, transformation cards, disassembly charms – everything’s available.

[Current] NoReturnDate: Wait, aren’t your prices way too high? Even more outrageous than merchant prices!

[Current] SweetScenery: Buy if you want, scram if you don’t.

[Current]No Return Date: ……

Jing Huan let out a mocking laugh. Just as he was about to type, a message popped up in the crowd—

[Current]Destined Peach Milk Tea: Everyone, quick! Move to the new battlefield! Xian Mengmeng just made a tearful post exposing Heart’s Desire on the forums!!

The remark caused an immediate uproar.

Jing Huan hadn’t even processed what was happening when he saw the people around him disappearing rapidly one by one. In an instant, he was the only person left in front of the grocery store.

His gaze shifted and lingered on the name “Xian Mengmeng,” his eyes turning icy cold.

Not long ago, it was this very Xian Mengmeng who kept spamming loudspeaker messages and flooding the world channel, ultimately forcing Liang Ran to quit the game and go abroad.

He packed up his stall and flew over to the forum NPC.

Jing Huan was not actually someone who loved to gossip. If it were a few years ago, he would never have imagined himself visiting the drama-filled holy land twice a day.

The post by Xian Mengmeng was titled “Xin Xiang Wang Zhi, I Misjudged You.”

Opening it up, he saw dense and overly sentimental text that added up to at least three thousand words, yet the actual substance was scarce.

It was about her meeting Xin Xiang Wang Zhi in person. She claimed that Xin Xiang Wang Zhi’s real age did not match what he had said in the game, that she had paid for both the plane tickets and the hotel, and that even during their time together, he had used the excuse of his card’s spending limit to have her cover their meals and entertainment expenses.

The most crucial part is—right after they met in person, Xiangwangzhi in the game stopped responding to her and even blocked her on WeChat and phone.

Classic hit-it-and-quit-it behavior!

The comments under the post were divided.

1st comment: I feel like this story isn’t very credible. Would Xiangwangzhi really be that stingy about hotel and plane ticket expenses?

3L: I also think it’s pretty fake…

5L: If you don’t know the facts, then stop spouting nonsense, okay? Hugs to Mengmeng.

6L: What’s wrong with the fan club? Can’t people voice their opinions? Then why did she post on the forum?

32L: I actually think what the OP said is true. Heart’s Yearning really is quite scummy – almost all my girlfriends have been hit on by him, he doesn’t even spare married women.

39L: Didn’t Heart’s Desire cheat not long ago? The other person was that girl named Ran Xin.

76L: Must be nice being rich, I wanna be a player too.

88L: This is classic fuckboy behavior!

Heart’s Desire is obviously a player – otherwise he wouldn’t have pursued Liang Ran while having a girlfriend.

Jing Huan got halfway through before finding it dull and directly closed the forum, planning to take advantage of everyone being busy gossiping to accept a quest from the field NPC.

To boost account stats, not only does it require money, but also a massive amount of experience to raise equipment attribute caps. Relying solely on those few daily quests in the safe zone is far from enough.

Just as he approached the quest messenger, he noticed a shiny thing flickering at the top-right corner of the game interface.

It was the flashy special effect of a divine artifact. Upon seeing it clearly, Jing Huan couldn’t help but feel shocked—after all, a few years ago in his server, divine artifacts were still just something you’d only see on the official website’s introduction. Back then, Nine Heroes had been running for over five years, and not a single player had managed to forge one.

After all, to forge a divine artifact, you’d need to defeat the God of War, afford the forging materials, and possess that one-in-a-million stroke of luck.

Many couldn’t even clear the first hurdle. Jing Huan had once slain the God of War himself—eight grueling hours at his desk without food or drink, exhausting all his potions before finally succeeding. Yet the result was trash among trash, a weapon so pitiful it ruined his appetite for a whole week.

He immediately closed the NPC dialogue window and dashed toward that glimmer of black light. Since the other player was also completing an open-world quest—helping an NPC weed a field—Jing Huan needed only two steps to get a clear view of the character.

A back view.

The male character was dressed in the latest black ancient-style robe, with fiery red hair marking his demon race identity, gripping a dark and sinister longsword—an eye-catching ensemble anywhere he went.

Beneath the name was a title, just two words—”God of War.”

Below that was the character’s name.

Heart yearning for it.

Longing for it?!

Jing Huan immediately sat up straight. He saw “Longing for it” standing still for a moment, then suddenly crouched down and started pulling weeds.

Jing Huan was astonished—seriously? The forums have already hung you out to dry like laundry, and you still have the mood to pull weeds for people here?

Truly the demeanor of a scumbag—unshakable composure. Can’t help but admire it.

However, this was precisely the opportunity Jing Huan had been waiting for. In fact, in his original plan, the very first thing after buying the account was to add “Heart’s Desire” as a friend.

It wasn’t too late now. He clicked open the chat window with “Heart’s Desire” and pressed the “Add Friend” option.

“The target player has temporarily disabled friend requests. Friend addition failed.”

Jing Huan chuckled in amusement. Having played Nine Heroes for over six years, this was the first time he’d encountered such a ridiculous game setting.

He opened the current channel to speak when a line of yellow text suddenly popped up on the interface.

[Vitality Mosquito Coil has initiated a forced PK against you.]

Jing Huan reacted swiftly, leaping aside to dodge the attack skill flying from behind. The words he hadn’t managed to finish typing were accidentally sent out in his haste.

[Current] Little Sweet Scene: Bro z?

He stopped moving after attacking the male character.

[Current] Energized Incense: Big bro is here, little sis, prepare to die!

…What kind of idiot is this?

Jing Huan frowned, charging up a skill to counterattack, but suddenly remembered something at the last moment. Following this thought, he slid the mouse to the right and canceled the spell.

[Current] Little Sweet Scenery: Are you here to kill me too TVT?

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: Duh, who wouldn’t want to kill you right now?

After saying this, Energetic Mosquito Coil threw another skill at him, and Jing Huan dodged it again.

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: Wuwuwu, I just bought this account and didn’t do anything wrong, why must you kill me?

Energetic Mosquito Coil watched as she went “wuwuwu” while effortlessly dodging all their skills, rendered speechless.

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: Little sister, stop running. If I don’t kill you, someone else will. Let’s keep this loot within our own circle.

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: I just spent 200 gold coins—that’s a whole week’s allowance! If I die now, I’ll lose it all QAQ. Could you spare me just this once?

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: No.

While dodging and searching for allies, Jing Huan realized that during this pointless struggle with this idiot, “Heart’s Yearning” had long since disappeared to some corner of the map to continue weeding.

He remembered that this task required weeding three times to be completed—was what he just saw the third time?

After using the jump skill twelve times, he finally found the man carrying the divine artifact in the corner.

Heart’s Desire wasn’t weeding anymore at this point but was instead doing another task—clearing monsters.

Feeling like he’d played the misery card enough, Jing Huan started typing.

[Current] SweetScenery: Big brother War God, save me TVT!

HeartYearns cast a spell and killed the monster without even turning his head.

[Current] SweetScenery: Big brother War God, are you there?

EnergizedMosquito rushed to the scene and couldn’t help feeling a bit panicked at the sight—would HeartYearns compete with him for that hundred gold?

Although a hundred gold is just a drop in the bucket for Xiangwangzhi, killing Xiaotianjing would be as easy as lifting a finger for them. It’s practically giving it away for free!

At this thought, Yuanqi Xiaowenxiang sped up their skill casting. Jing Huan bounced around near Xiangwangzhi, completely unharmed, even finding time to type.

[Current] Xiaotianjing: God of War brother, please help me. I’ll give you all 200 gold on me [cry][cry]

[Current] Yuanqi Xiaowenxiang: Damn, killing you only makes you drop 50% of your money! Isn’t this business deal a loss for you?!

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: But I’ll still lose experience! Experience is even more precious than gold… [fidgets with fingers]

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: Then just give me the 200 gold directly, and I won’t kill you, okay?

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: No way, you big meanie!

[Current] Energetic Little Mosquito Coil: ……

Jing Huan was getting tired of hiding, yet Heart’s Yearning remained completely inactive.

Did they not see it? That couldn’t be—logically speaking, the spot he chose was just right, so Heart’s Yearning should have been able to see their conversation.

He hesitated for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward the group of wild monsters.

Energy Little Mosquito Coil was exhausted from spamming skills and was about to type out an angry message when the delicate and slender female character suddenly rolled on the ground, finally unleashing her first attack skill in several minutes.

But the skill wasn’t aimed at him.

A thin net flew straight toward the right, perfectly hitting the jungle monster that Heart’s Desire had been attacking for two minutes. It dealt 79 damage, and the monster instantly collapsed.

[System Announcement: Nameless City] Player Little Sweet Scenery has successfully slain the Highwayman Thief and found the rare treasure “Treasure Map” on its body!

Jing Huan: “…”

This jungle monster had a special restriction – no matter how high a player’s attack stats were, it would only take minimal damage. This was precisely why Heart’s Desire had been stuck fighting it for two whole minutes.

As a result, he was killed by Jing Huan’s Sky Net skill, which dealt 79 damage.

He also dropped the most precious treasure in this map, the “Treasure Map.” Most players who take on this quest are aiming for this very treasure.

Moreover, this item is bound and cannot be traded—it can only be obtained.

Xin Xiangwangzhi finally reacted as well. He took a small step forward but then stopped again in place.

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: ……

[Current] Energetic Mosquito Coil: Honestly, I think you’re being even worse than me.

Jing Huan regretted it—he should have just sent this chatterbox back to the respawn point earlier.

[Current] Sweet Little Scene: Aahhh……

[Current] SweetJing: Oh my god TVT!

[Current] SweetJing: Brother, I didn’t mean it, my skill missed TVT

No response.

Jing Huan clicked his tongue in annoyance. What’s wrong with this guy? He’s already TVT-ing like crazy, and yet not a single word in reply?

As Energized Mosquito Coil launched another skill at him, Jing Huan was about to move when a line of text popped up on the screen.

[Player Heartyearns has used a Binding Immortal Rope on you.] ???

Jing Huan watched helplessly as the Binding Immortal Rope immobilized him, forcing him to take the full brunt of Yuanqi Little Mosquito Incense’s ultimate move, which cost him 20% of his health.

[Current] Little Sweet Jing: ?

[Current] Little Sweet Jing: Bro?

Heart’s Desire turned around, his long sword lightly swaying in his hand, looking utterly indifferent.

[Current] Heart’s Desire: Don’t be a scammer in your next life.

After saying this, the man chanted a spell for three seconds on the spot and then left the open-world map. What the—?!

Jing Huan was stunned for a few seconds before belatedly feeling a surge of anger—

Damn?!

You, this scumbag, have the right to say that to me?!!