Chapter 35

The next morning for the early class, Jing Huan woke up at 8 a.m. and was dozing off in the breakfast shop, his head nodding up and down like he was fishing.

He had spent a long time the previous night figuring out how to turn on the accompaniment, how to record, how to upload… It took him two hours to finally get it all sorted out.

“Huahuan, were you out stealing last night?” Gao Zixiang brought over breakfast for the three of them on a tray. “Didn’t you leave pretty early yesterday?”

Jing Huan rubbed his eyes: “Didn’t sleep well.”

“Why is your voice hoarse too?” Gao Zixiang sat down, “Caught a cold?”

“Nope.”

Just recorded it several times yesterday before being satisfied, ended up shouting my voice hoarse.

Good songs are just hard to sing, Jing Huan sighed.

He took two sips of soy milk, the thick sweetness spreading on the tip of his tongue, making him slightly more awake.

“Pfft—” Next to him, Lu Wenhao was wearing headphones, in no hurry to eat, his gaze fixed on his phone screen as he laughed uncontrollably.

Jing Huan frowned, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Just easily amused, been laughing since I woke up.” Gao Zixiang pointed to his ear, “This thing, didn’t even take it off while brushing my teeth.”

Jing Huan let out an “oh” and didn’t pay it much mind, lowering his head to take a bite of the soup dumpling. The filling was generous, and a good amount of juice squeezed out with just a light bite.

Lu Wenhao vaguely overheard their conversation and took off one of his earbuds. “Hey, Xiangxiang, you didn’t check the guild chat this morning, did you?”

Gao Zixiang shook his head. “Early in the morning, was anyone even active in the guild chat?”

“Yes, we chatted over 99+ messages! Someone in the group shared a song—it’s an entry for the Nine Heroes singing competition from another server.” Lu Wenhao couldn’t help but laugh just thinking about it. “It blew up! Just one night after it was posted, it got tens of thousands of likes and shot straight to the top of the competition’s likes leaderboard. Isn’t that insane?”

“So you’ve been wearing your headphones all morning just to listen to someone sing?” Gao Zixiang said. “It’s a girl, isn’t it?”

Lu Wenhao: “It is a girl… but that’s not the point.”

Jing Huan leaned closer to Lu Wenhao. “Let me listen. I want to hear what kind of voice could keep you hooked all morning.”

Lu Wenhao obediently placed the earphones gently into Jing Huan’s ears.

The familiar song lyrics reached his ears: “The horses’ hooves head south as men gaze north! Gazing north, the grass turns yellow as dust swirls!”

“Pfft—cough… cough…” Startled, Jing Huan choked mid-swallow, his cheeks flushing red as he frantically waved the earphones away.

Lu Wenhao froze: “Wh-what’s wrong?”

Jing Huan shook his head, still coughing badly, unable to speak a word for a long time.

Gao Zixiang quickly handed him a bottle of mineral water. Jing Huan took it and drank several large gulps, finally catching his breath.

“It’s nothing…” he mumbled, “I just choked.”

“You scared me. Your face is red from coughing,” Lu Wenhao said. “Tsk, you even threw my earphones on the ground… So, how is it? Pretty good, right?”

Jing Huan’s face wasn’t flushed from coughing. He turned his head, looking stunned: “What did you just say… about this song?”

Lu Wenhao was baffled: “This song… is good?”

“No,” Jing Huan took a deep breath, “What did you say about the likes ranking…”

“Oh, this song topped the likes chart. It got over a hundred thousand plays in just one night, proving Nine Heroes isn’t dead yet. All that talk about player loss is bullshit,” Lu Wenhao laughed.

Jing Huan was utterly baffled and blurted out, “How does this song deserve to be the top liked?”

Lu Wenhao was also stunned: “What do you mean? Didn’t it sound pretty good?”

Jing Huan gradually snapped out of it, his drowsiness completely gone: “I meant… Didn’t you say last night that no one would listen to this kind of old motivational song?”

After returning last night, he had carefully selected this particular song, “Loyalty to the Motherland”—not only was it motivational, but it was also full of positive energy. It was the song his high school class sang during military training, and he had been the lead singer back then.

Because he has a bit of OCD, if a section wasn’t sung well, listening to the recording would make him feel uncomfortable all over, so he recorded it many times before finally sending it out.

According to his plan, this audio would quickly be buried among numerous entries—not competing for attention, just steadily securing a participation award.

“This song is no longer in the motivational category,” Lu Wenhao said. “Isn’t this more like a novelty track?”

Jing Huan: “…”

Call the police.

Gao Zixiang curiously picked up the headphones and listened for a few moments.

To be honest, although the song choice was a bit baffling, the girl sang with such passion and vigor that it actually had a certain charm. The more you listened, the more addictive it became.

“It’s really not bad,” Gao Zixiang suddenly remembered something. “But Huanhuan sings even better. Back in high school during military training, our class sang this song, and Huanhuan was the lead singer. Pretty impressive, right?”

“Damn impressive,” Lu Wenhao said. “Let’s arrange it for the next KTV session!”

Jing Huan was in no mood to listen to what they were saying.

This matter left him in a daze all morning. As soon as class ended, he rushed home without stopping, not even bothering to eat.

He logged into the game, and the moment the Nine Heroes interface loaded, even his computer lagged for a second.

[Brother Big Big requests to add you as a friend.]

【Would you like to online date, miss? requests to add you as a friend.】

【Falling Leaves Return to Autumn requests to add you as a friend.】

………

The right side of the screen was completely occupied by friend requests, leaving not even a sliver of space. Jing Huan had been playing games for years and had never seen such a spectacle before.

As he was at a loss for what to do, a sudden announcement popped up on the left side.

[Announcement] MudBloomsFlower: Little! Sweet! Jing! Is! Online! Coordinates Outskirts 81.22!

Jing Huan: “?”

Before he could react, countless characters surged in from outside the map, instantly surrounding him with a crowd of people.

[LittleMissWannaCyberDate invites you to join their party. Yes, No.]

[WaitForDaylight invites you to join their party. Yes, No.]

[Dusk Chills invites you to join his team. Yes, No.]

Countless dialog boxes popped up, and Jing Huan couldn’t even click “reject” fast enough. The game character was so blocked by the pop-ups that he couldn’t even move. He found a gap and quickly teleported away, escaping back to his in-game home.

Nine Heroes has a housing system with many gameplay features, but Jing Huan wasn’t interested in dealing with it. His home was just the lowest-tier cottage in the game.

[Friend] Energized Little Mosquito Coil: Are you there, goddess? [Sparkling Eyes]

Okay, even the nickname has changed.

[Friend] Sweet Little Scene: …The goddess isn’t here, but I am. What’s going on today???

It’s just a song, no need to exaggerate like this.

[Friend] Spirited Little Mosquito Incense: You’ve been exposed on the forum.

[Friend] SweetJing: ???

Jing Huan’s first thought was that the day of being exposed on the gossip forum had finally arrived.

It’s fine. He was willing to sacrifice himself to entertain the masses.

[Friend] EnergizedMosquito: Now you’ve become the goddess in the hearts of male players in Nine Heroes.

[Friend] Little Sweet Scenery: …

[Friend] Sweet Scene: Nine Heroes has finally driven the players mad.

Mosquito Coil wasn’t lying after all. Today, a post appeared on the Nine Heroes forum detailing every experience since the ID “Sweet Scene” came into existence.

First, by sheer bad luck, an innocent girl bought the notorious scammer’s account, endured days of pursuit and insults until finally proving her innocence, then magnanimously joined the Idle Pavilion and secured the first kill for the guild.

What a resilient and big-hearted girl!

Then comes devotion—since buying the account, she’s only revolved around Heart’s Desire, showing disdain for other men. She never flinched even when threatened by Heart’s Desire’s ex, boldly professed her love during livestreams, and refused to give up despite being rejected by Heart’s Desire countless times.

What a sincere and brave girl!

Lastly, her singing voice—pleasant to the ear, with song choices that are both meticulous and uplifting. Clearly, she’s a good girl with patriotic values, nothing like those women who sing “Learning to Meow” or “Tiny Waist.”

What an upright and profound girl!!!

Jing Huan felt like flipping the table.

He had never created so many personas before!!

Jing Huan closed the forum and turned on the “Block Messages from Strangers” feature, finally enjoying some peace.

He teleported to the main city to do his daily quests, but before he could even accept any tasks, his screen was flooded with party invitations.

In the Nine Heroes game, the party settings couldn’t be turned off. Jing Huan stood foolishly in the main city for a while, unable to take a single step forward, and could only slink back home in defeat.

…Being famous is so troublesome.

He stood in his home, momentarily unsure of what to do—until he opened the friends list and saw a familiar name lit up online.

[Friend] Little Sweet Jing: Brother! T.T

[Friend] Heart’sDesire: ?

[Friend] Sweet Scene: So many people are blocking me, I’m trapped at home and can’t get out at all QAQ

[Friend] Sweet Scene: Can you help me [wiping tears], I haven’t done any of today’s dailies yet…

When he’s alone, other players can invite him to their team at any time.

But if he’s already in a team, he can’t be invited anymore. When players apply to join the team, no dialog box will pop up. They just need to accept or reject directly from the team interface, which doesn’t cause any hassle.

It’s just that in Nine Heroes, forming a team by yourself doesn’t count as a team. Even if he formed a team alone, the system would still consider him a solo player, and others could still invite him to join their team.

So now, there are only three options: wait for the crowd outside to lose interest, log off, or find someone to team up with and complete the daily tasks together.

To be honest, Jing Huan didn’t really expect Heart’s Desire to come to his aid. He had other friends on his list who could be called upon, but he still messaged Heart’s Desire first.

There was no particular reason—he had just logged in and wanted to make his presence known first.

He opened his friends list and, after some contemplation, clicked on the dialog box for “Love Is Sharing Food with You.”

“Foodie, where are you? Can you team up with me—”

Jing Huan had just finished typing but hadn’t sent it yet when the reply from “Yearning for the Heart” arrived first.

[Friend] Yearning for the Heart: Where.

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: (*·Δ·*)!!

[Friend] Sweet Scenery: Brother, come to my house! The address is 1219!

About ten seconds later, a black-robed man appeared in the scene.

Xiang Huaizhi glanced at the somewhat shabby little house, formed a team, and pulled Sweet Scenery into the party.

“What quest should we do first?” he asked.

A few seconds later, Xiaotianjing turned on her mic. She coughed lightly and said, “Let’s do the Sect Master quest first, big bro.”

“Got it.”

The male players waiting outside the home sedan chair porters seized the moment Xiaotianjing appeared and sent her party invites—

[Xiaotianjing is already in the team you wish to join, invitation failed!]

Male players: “…?”

Wasn’t it supposed to be Xiaotianjing pestering relentlessly, and you reluctantly refusing even if tempted?!

Jing Huan lounged in the team, comfortably doing quests while thinking about what to do next.

He’s a cross-dresser, so naturally he’d hide it as much as possible. Those forum regulars are all sharp as tacks—what if someone exposed him?

But still, he had to at least claim the participation prize, so he couldn’t just drop out…

Just as he was stewing over this, a line of yellow text popped up in the game.

[ImmortalCutie has set you as a private chat recipient. Please check your private message channel.]

Damn, why is this chick back again?! Can’t she just disappear for good?

[Private Chat] Fairy Cute: Impressive, huh? Snatching both the man and the awards—look at you, so capable.

[Private Chat] Fairy Cute: Just wait for the semifinals. I don’t believe you can cheat your way to victory twice.

Jing Huan froze for a moment, then opened the competition page to check. Only then did he notice his ID displayed at the top of the likes leaderboard, with Fairy Cute trailing closely behind.

He clicked on Xian Mengmeng’s competition song to listen.

It’s actually quite nice.

What a shame, sounds so good singing but not so bright upstairs.

Jing Huan started typing, just about to mock her with a couple lines when he suddenly thought of something before sending and stopped his fingers.

He raised an eyebrow and suddenly chuckled.

Sister, since you came to me on your own, you can’t blame me now.

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t know why he agreed to help her with daily quests when he still had several of his own left unfinished.

He led the party to the Fox Immortal Cave’s faction master to turn in the quest for her. Suddenly, a familiar name appeared on the left side of the screen—

[Horn] Little Sweet Scenery: Fairy Mengmeng, I thought I had already been extremely tolerant of you, yet you keep pushing me step by step. Then I have no reason to save face for you anymore. Here, I give you my answer: I can let you have the singing competition, I can also give you the top spot in likes, but big brother is a no! No matter how many times you threaten me! Chase after me endlessly! My love for big brother! Will never change!!!

Author’s Note:

Pitiful and delicate Little Sweet Scenery, ever-loyal Little Sweet Scenery.