Chapter 20

Lu Hang sat on the bed laughing so hard he was rocking back and forth, making the entire bed shake with his movements.

“Lao Xiang, you’re truly inhuman.”

“If you’re so humane, why didn’t you remind her?” Xiang Huaizhi retorted.

“I wanted to remind her too, but I genuinely didn’t know the answers to the first few questions. Don’t you remember? Just the other day, I got fined by the dorm auntie for throwing away trash incorrectly… And who even memorizes how many quests they’ve done or the names of NPCs in low-level wild maps?”

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t respond. He watched Little Sweet Scene standing before the gate guards, her silhouette looking even more despairing than when she’d seen the quiz questions.

It was only when he’d noticed something comical about her dejected posture that he couldn’t help but blurt out that comment.

[Team] HeartYearnsFor: My fault.

Nonsense, if it’s not your fault, then is it mine?!

Made me lose face in front of YearningHeart! I’ll kill you!!

Jing Huan gritted his teeth and typed furiously, the keyboard clattering loudly.

[Team]SweetScenery: Wuwu T.T! Brother is so mean!!

[Team]HeartYearning: ……

Finally clearing this stage, Jing Huan let out a sigh of relief. He swore never to run this damn dungeon again—the EXP was pitiful and the tasks were tedious. Even if a hundred thousand admirers begged him, he wouldn’t come back.

The main objective of this dungeon was to rescue a bride forcibly taken by the Second Young Master, so most of their time was spent searching for people and items, with very few combat encounters. After half an hour of gathering clues, they finally obtained a lead.

He saw the task description on the taskbar:

[Congratulations! You have obtained “Miss Liu’s Wedding Procession Route.” Quickly disguise yourselves and head to coordinates 121.47 in Chang’an City to disrupt this joyous occasion! (Requires a two-player team. Time limit: 20 minutes.)]

Before Jing Huan could examine it closely, a new quest item appeared in his inventory.

Moving his cursor over it, he saw it was a bright red wedding gown.

“Who got the wedding outfit?” Lu Hang asked.

[Team]SweetJing: …Me.

“It’s you again…” Lu Hang couldn’t help but laugh, “Alright, then you go ahead and put it on.”

Put on the clothes? What for?

Seeing her standing still, Lu Hang understood: “You’ve never done this dungeon before, right? Let me explain. You need to choose a teammate to form a married couple, then go and crash into Miss Liu’s bridal sedan. While the chaos ensues, we’ll take the opportunity to snatch the bride. You just need to sit in the sedan and go AFK—it’s super easy.”

[Team] Little Sweet Scene: Can’t we just go and snatch her directly? 0.0

Lu Hang: “No, the stupid game designers insisted on including this step.”

[Team] Little Sweet Scene: Oh, I see. Choose a teammate? Anyone will do?

Lu Hang: “Yes.”

As if sensing something, Xiang Huaizhi typed: I’ll be AFK for a while—

Before he could send the message, Little Fox Fairy had already jumped in front of him, and a game dialog box popped up.

[Little Sweet Scene invites you to join the team. Yes, No.]

Xiang Huaizhi: “…”

Her invitation was so obvious that rejecting it would probably hurt the young girl’s feelings.

Xiang Huaizhi sighed and clicked “Yes.”

Then he raised his hand and deleted the words in the dialog box.

As soon as Xiang Huaizhi joined the team, a wedding robe appeared on his character. Without giving it much thought, he right-clicked to equip it.

The moment both of them clicked simultaneously, the bridal sedan appeared. He was forcibly placed on the horse by the system, while Little Sweet Scenery was stuffed into the sedan. The procession slowly made its way toward the city center.

The rest of the team members followed alongside the bridal sedan, waiting for their chance.

“Brother,” Jing Huan opened the team voice chat—his words now only audible to Heart Towards the Horizon—”Are you going to the Arena later?”

Xiang Huai Zhi: “Mm.”

Expecting her to ask for a carry, he was surprised when Little Sweet Scenery simply replied after hearing this: “Mhm, go get ’em, brother.”

Xiang Huaizhi was silent for a moment before asking, “Do you want to go?”

Jing Huan replied casually, “Yeah, but my equipment is too weak. I’d just be giving away points to others…”

“If you want to go, I’ll take you.”

Jing Huan was stunned.

When did this guy become so nice?

“……No, I don’t want to make you lose rank.”

Xiang Huaizhi actually didn’t mean anything else by it. He just thought about it later—SweetJing had joined the game for his sake after all. Though he wasn’t obligated to take responsibility for her, he wouldn’t shy away from doing what he could within his means.

But since she refused, he wouldn’t press further: “Alright, as you wish.”

Jing Huan sat inside the bridal sedan, unable to even look at the scenery, bored out of her mind. She continued chatting with Heart’s Desire: “War God brother, why haven’t you joined a faction?”

“It’s troublesome, I don’t want to add.” Xiang Huaizhi paused, “Don’t call me that in the future.”

Jing Huan: “Then what should I call you? War God? Brother Xin? Brother Zhi?…”

Xiang Huaizhi felt a headache coming on from hearing this, and for a moment couldn’t think of a suitable alternative, so he reluctantly picked the most normal one from the list: “Just call me brother.”

Lu Hang, sitting behind him, could hardly believe his ears.

He was just casually saying it that day, and Xiang Huaizhi actually went ahead to acknowledge her as a younger sister?!

Jing Huan: “Yes, brother~”

Xiang Huaizhi: “…Don’t call me in that tone.”

Jing Huan: “Then how should I call you?”

“You don’t have to fake a cutesy voice.” Xiang Huaizhi said bluntly, “Just speak in your normal tone.”

Lu Hang: “…”

You’re so harsh, Lao Xiang.

Disgustingly straight guy.

No girl would probably be able to stand hearing such words, but Jing Huan wouldn’t mind. He stopped faking his voice and acted like a dedicated Taobao customer service representative, perfectly fulfilling the customer’s request: “Okay, brother. Is this better?”

The girl’s voice was slightly husky, indeed not as cutesy as before, but it now carried a more mature charm and sounded much more pleasant.

Xiang Huaizhi: “Alright, show me the equipment you’re wearing.”

Jing Huan obediently posted all his equipment in the team chat.

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at a couple of pieces and didn’t bother looking further. Xiao Tianjing really wasn’t being modest—her gear was all mediocre. Even her best weapon was just a blue-tier item without a single gem socketed. No wonder she got taken out in three hits by Xiangsigubu in the arena that day.

“If you have time, run more dungeons. They drop gear, and any random drop would be better than what you’re wearing now,” Xiang Huaizhi said. “You’re a Fox Immortal Cave class, so focus on stacking Seal Hit Rate, Movement Speed, and Healing stats.”

Jing Huan listened for a long while before realizing that Heart’s Yearning was teaching him how to play the game?

Strangely enough, he noticed that after they finished the arena together, Xiang Huaizhi’s attitude toward him had become much gentler. When greeting him casually, he would even receive a reply—albeit brief, it was still better than being ignored.

Jing Huan: “Mm-hmm, thank you, big brother. I’ll be diligent in running dungeons lately.”

In just a few words, the bridal sedan had already rushed to the center of the street, crashing hard into Miss Liu’s sedan. Instantly, chaos erupted.

The teammates acted swiftly and decisively, snatching the bride away in less than half a minute.

“OK, smooth sailing,” Lu Hang said. “Just one more boss to take down, and we’re done. This boss isn’t tough, so everyone just play it casually.”

Three minutes later, the second young master boss collapsed with a thunderous crash, and a dice-rolling interface appeared in the game.

It was the system’s dungeon reward mechanism—twenty players roll the dice, and whoever gets the highest number wins the item reward.

It was just rolling the dice, which meant pressing a button. Jing Huan pressed it and rolled three ones.

“Triple ones, damn impressive,” Lu Hang said.

Jing Huan: “…” Used to it.

In the end, Heart’s Desire won with 17 points. The moment the interface disappeared, the system popped up a message.

[Team] Player Heartwants has shown great courage and chivalry, successfully rescuing Miss Liu from the clutches of the Second Young Master. In gratitude, Miss Liu has presented the precious [Ninefold Lotus] to Heartwants.

Jing Huan immediately felt a pang of envy. How could Heartwants have such incredible luck? Just casually running a dungeon and getting a purple-tier ring as a drop?

He clicked to check the ring’s attributes and couldn’t help but curse, “Damn.”

Healing +18, Stamina +17, with an additional effect called “Double Happiness”—during combat, there’s a chance to double the healing output. Although the probability is low, triggering a double heal once in a duel is more than enough.

It’s the perfect equipment for Mount Putuo.

[Team] LoveIsSharingWithYou: … [lemon]

[Team] SweetLittleScene: [lemon][lemon]

[Team] DestinyPeachTea: The rich only get richer.

[Team] Distant Journey: Boss, profit sharing, hurry up.

[Team] Heart’s Desire: Mhm.

Following the usual practice, Xiang Huaizhi tossed each team member 7 gold as their share.

[Team] Spring Xiao: Heart’s Desire, name your price for this healing ring.

Chunxiao happened to be from Mount Putuo, and she wanted this equipment the moment she laid eyes on it.

[Team] Heart’s Desire: Not for sale.

[Team] Chunxiao: Why? You can’t even use it.

[Team] Heart’s Desire: I can use it.

[Team] Chunxiao: “…Alright then, contact me again when you decide to sell it.”

Jing Huan had originally considered buying the ring from Heart’s Desire too. Although the ring was more suited for Mount Putuo, Fox Immortal Cave could still make use of it.

After seeing this conversation, he quickly dismissed the idea.

The dungeon disbanded on the spot. Jing Huan left his character idling in the main city’s marketplace before opening the exchange to leisurely browse through equipment.

He actually quite enjoys playing in the arena, but without a decent set of equipment, it’s inconvenient to do anything.

Unfortunately, the good equipment on the exchange is too expensive right now, while the cheap ones are just too useless. He spent a long time searching but ended up with nothing.

At that moment, the chat box for Nine Heroes lit up.

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: Where are you?

[Friend] Sweet Scene: Setting up a stall in the main city 0.0

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: Coordinates.

[Friend] Sweet Scene: 10.11, what’s up, bro?

Xiang Huaizhi rushed to coordinates 10.11 in the main city and indeed saw the little fox spirit sitting on the ground with a large sign hovering above its head—

【Clearance sale! Can’t afford to eat anymore】

He withdrew his gaze and flicked his fingers, tossing the Ninefold Lotus from his inventory over.

He had just retrieved some dungeon loot from storage and managed to upgrade this item to a fifth-tier gemstone, making it barely usable now.

Jing Huan stared blankly at the item thrown his way before remembering to type a response.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scene: [Shocked] [Wink]

[Friend] Sweet Little Scene: …Did you send it by mistake?

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: No.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scene: Oh, how much is it? I’ll transfer it to you.

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: No need, you can use it for quests and the Arena.

[Friend] SweetScenery: ?

[Friend] Sweet Scene: [Screams] Brother!

[Friend] Sweet Scene: Could this be… for me?!

Xiang Huaizhi quickly typed a single word in reply.

[Friend] SweetScenery: A love token?!

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: Mhm.

The two messages appeared in the chat box one after another, in the same second.

Xiang Huaizhi: “…”

What kind of bad habit is it to split one sentence into three messages?

[Friend] SweetScenery: !!

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: Thank you, big brother!!!

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: I’ll definitely cherish it properly! I’ll socket it with tier 15 gems! I won’t let its durability drop below 300 points! I’ll even sleep holding it at night!! QAQ

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: [Spinning][Kowtowing][Kissing][Blowing Kisses]

Xiang Huaizhi was dazzled by these excessive emoticons.

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: It’s not a love token, there are conditions.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Brother, please tell me!

[Friend] Heart’s Desire: From now on, when you send me emojis, no more than three at a time.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Okay then [kiss]

[Friend] Heart Yearns For: Sending this [kiss] emoji is not allowed either.

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: …

[Friend] Little Sweet Scene: Oh QAQ