Online Dating, Fooled 800 Times - Chapter 5
The world channel was suddenly filled with question marks:
[[World] Ami Tofu: ???]
[[World] When will it be my turn for an adventure: ???]
[[World] Tomato: ???]
Adventures in Qiankun have a cooldown. Once a player triggers one, it won’t appear again for as little as two weeks or as long as six months. Especially the Ice Mortar adventure given by the Kongshan Sect Leader since it was very reliant on luck. The old server has been running for so many years, and it’s only been triggered ten times. The new server opened and it’s already been snatched away?
And the target is the infamously toxic player Taro Bobo!
[[World] This Hurts So Much: Good people are not rewarded with good, and evil people will not be rewarded with evil! /hammering the ground]
[[World] 3 Years Experienced Pig Butcher: Give me back my adventure! /cry/fist Give me back my adventure! /cry/fist]
[[World] Marilyn Truffle: Give me back my adventure! /cry/fist Give me back my adventure! /cry/fist]
[[World] Warlord Li Li: ?]
The spam of copy-pasted messages froze instantly.
[World] Take more medicine!: I also want to be that unlucky too. [Warlord Li Li] please scold me too /cry
[World] Braised Pork Ribs: I also want to be that unlucky. [Warlord Li Li] please scold me too /cry
…
[Warlord Li Li] was fuming so hard she felt her blood pressure rise, but Xiang Kui was none the wiser. She was occupied with her own private chat being flooded with messages, most of them asking if she would sell her gemstones.
To craft a Heavenly-grade weapon, besides gemstones, one needs to collect a ton of other items. One hundred each of Black Iron Fragments and Cold Jadeite. Afterward, strengthening it to level sixteen would require nearly three thousand Enhancement Stones, which was quite expensive.
Xiang Kui finally recovered from her surprise and replied with a few “Nope’”s before temporarily disabling the private chat function for strangers.
She had just been worrying about what to do for equipment. Now, the equipment was being handed to her on a silver platter.
She’s not short of money, so she doesn’t plan to sell it. She’s planning to make a weapon for herself.
Xiang Kui minimized the extra windows and discovered that the [Canglong Forbidden Land] had suddenly become overcrowded. She was surrounded by a crowd of people, and it was impossible to move around “…………”
They were all here watch the drama and try their luck.
For a Tianren Assassin player accustomed to staying invisible, this was sheer torture. Xiang Kui felt like ants were crawling on her body. She immediately opened the game map, intending to teleport to the Far North, but just as she moved her mouse over, she stopped.
Adventures have prerequisites, especially this one, which requires completing them for a week straight before claiming the quest reward. But the problem was, the Far North map was home to the Bodybuilding Sect. The Bodybuilding Sect values martial arts, and combat is permitted throughout its territory, with zero safe zones. Judging by the fixation [Warlord Li Li] and [Precious Little Foam] had shown just now, she had no doubt a truckload of minions would be positioned to beat her up the moment she landed…
Just then, her guild channel suddenly lit up.
[System prompt: You have successfully joined the [We Are All Crazy] guild!]
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: Welcome new member! /Flowers/Applause/Love]
[[Guild] Kitten’s Nest: Welcome, welcome, a warm welcome!]
[[Guild] Soft Breeze: Wait, isn’t this…]
An awkward silence ensued.
The first person who spoke was followed by the guild leader’s icon. Just when Xiang Kui thought she might be kicked out, she saw several new messages in the guild channel.
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: [Man-eating Sunflower] Are you going to the Far North to complete the pre-quests now? I’ll send a few people to go with you?]
What? Really?
So good? You’re not trying to trick me into coming over and being murdered, are you?
Xiang Kui typed carefully.
[[Guild] Man-eating Sunflower: No need OvO, I can go later.]
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: I’ve taken a look, and there are 823 players on the Far North map right now. Do you think [Prairie Fire] is among them?
[[Guild] Man-eating Sunflower: …]
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: It’s okay, don’t worry, we haven’t had any new members join our gang in a long time. Just wait a moment, I’ll go get all the online hall masters over! Don’t worry! It’s safe!! Even if we all die this time, we won’t let you die!!!]
What does “this time” mean? And why is he suddenly so excited?!
Xiang Kui waited for the gang leader to call in new members. She idly clicked on the gang’s details, and her enthusiasm was immediately dampened.
The gang is small, with only four hall masters, but they’re very active and all online.
[Azure Dragon Hall Master: My deepest apologies for being hard of hearing.]
[White Tiger Hall Master: Sorry for the presbyopia.]
[Suzaku Hall Master: Kick the lame guy’s good leg]
[Black Tortoise Hall Master: Celebrating his 60th birthday with esports]
Xiang Kui: “…………”
What’s this? Senior University F4?
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: Okay, everyone’s called, just group me! We’ll meet you in the Far North. Two Jiange sword masters, one Tianren assassin, one Miaoshou medic, plus you, a Kongshan. What do you say? Not bad right? This stunning setup makes me invincible even as a healer.]
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: Where’d you go? Why so silent?]
[[Guild] Wait, Scolded Again: Newbie? Sunflower? Little guy? Xiaokui? Why’d she suddenly go AFK? Hey! Don’t give up so easily!!!]
Xiang Kui accepted the team-up request with a ready-to-die mindset.
It seemed too late for her to quit the guild now.
————
It was Friday lunch break, and with the weekend just around the corner, even the team leader’s normally stoic, sullen face had a smile.
One of the main reasons Xiang Kui chose to work at a newer company was because she deeply admired its corporate culture—more precisely the lack of it. They had weekends off, and as long as they worked the required hours, clocking in wasn’t strictly enforced. Even the office was a mobile location, naturally devoid of things like basketball hoops and stuffed animals, and no team-building activities. Everyone was just a casual colleague, adding each other’s WeChat was really only to send orders for milk tea. When it was time to get off work, everyone rushed home like a dart, sprinting faster than a dog.
There was nothing wrong with plastic friendships; the surface level interactions were acceptable, sturdy, and frankly beautiful.
Xiang Kui was listlessly brewing instant coffee in the break room, wearing an earbud in one ear, listening to Lin Xi cackling, “Did you see that forum post from yesterday? Some marketing account reposted it to Weibo, and it’s now over a thousand shares.”
“I didn’t check the forum.” Xiang Kui held up her mug. “What post?”
“The one about your new server, the one with the Ice Mortar quest unlocked. I thought that screenshot from the world channel was hilarious enough, but the subsequent events were even funnier. I basically laughed myself to sleep.”
Xiang Kui’s hand shook, “…Send me the link.”
It wasn’t just any marketing account, but one that seemed to be dedicated to reposting interesting online game news. Yesterday’s world channel conversation is prominently listed:
…
[[World] Warlord Li Li: If you don’t understand, shut up. Unless she apologizes and quits the game, I won’t stop until she’s dead.]
[Auspicious signs from heaven, great luck! Congratulations to the knight [Man-eating Sunflower] for triggering the [Ice Mortar Adventure] in the [Canglong Forbidden Land]. The executor was [Kongshan Sect Leader]. The reward is one (1) Heaven-grade Gemstone, a weapon common to all internal martial arts sects!]
…
The comments below the post were abuzz with laughter:
[Ahhhhhhhhh! What a coincidence! GM did you do this on purpose?!]
[Report! It’s from the [Chivalrous and Soft-Hearted] server. The [Prairie Fire] Guild is now organizing teams to go to the Far North to hunt Man-Eating Sunflower! The leader is Warlord Li Li!]
[Wow, More research! More news!]
[Report! Man-Eating Sunflower has joined a new guild. Now the two groups are facing off in the center of the map, trash talking each other!]
[Report! The new guild [Man-Eating Sunflower] joined is filled with incompetent scrubs, but unfortunately for [Warlord Li Li], she is completely stuck in place. Hundreds of players are surrounding her, begging to be scolded. Someone forgot to close the guild battles to the public, and everyone on this map is fighting each other! The scene was too chaotic, so the war correspondent was pushed offline—]
[Are you all crazy? ? ? Don’t you know that [Man-eating Sunflower] was formerly the infamously toxic [Taro Bobo]? Just because they claim the account owner switched hands, you’re all over the previous issue? How can you be happy about that?]
[It’s just gossip, why be so emotionally invested? I feel like upstairs is the kind of masochist who likes to scream “Beat me like b*tch” while in reality claims to be an animal rights activist.] (TL note: “upstairs” is a term used in Chinese forum threads to refer to the poster before you.)
[I’m really fed up with your weird metaphors, you Qiankun players…]
“That Kong Shan seems to have AFK-ed on the spot. Apparently she got up at 3 a.m. to do the quest when no one was online. She must be exhausted.” Lin Xi said jokingly, “Why aren’t you laughing? I really think it’s so funny!”
“…” Xiang Kui, with dark circles under her eyes, forced a few dry laughs. “Haha…It’s pretty funny…”
Her intuition proved correct. In all her Qiankun days, she’d never seen such poor combat skills in a group of people. They all had top-tier character builds, and they had all kinds of flashy equipment and skins. However, when a fight actually broke out, they all seemed to be scrambling to find the right key for the right skill, with such poor game awareness it made teammates, namely herself, want to jump off a roof.
“But that Man-Eating Sunflower doesn’t seem very smart either,” Lin Xi commented. “If I were her, I’d definitely sell the gemstone as soon as I got it. Gems are so expensive on new servers, It’d probably fetch at least a few thousand yuan. To use it for crafting a Kongshan heavenly-tier weapon for this comp season’s ranked… Just to clarify, I don’t mean to discriminate against Kongshan players, it’s just so not worth it.”
You’re right, but who’s this all for?
Xiang Kui just wanted to quickly change topics.
The curtains in the break room swayed slightly as the sound of footsteps drifted into her ears. Xiang Kui glanced up at the source.
The first thing she noticed was a pair of beautiful hands that she’d seen once before.
The plain ring still adorned her index finger, but the watch had been changed to a pure black mechanical one, probably because the owner was dressed more formally today. Xiang Kui’s eyes met his, and they both politely but perfunctorily raised their chins.
The pretentious social etiquette of adults.
In fact, besides their last chance encounter in the elevator, Xiang Kui had seen this man a few times, but always from a distance. The team leader said his name was Yue Qing, and he was the boss of the project team next door, for which her company currently worked.
Since he wasn’t Xiang Kui’s direct supervisor and had no professional contact with her, Xiang Kui naturally didn’t think he would have any impression of her.
Yue Qing went to a corner and casually grabbed a packet of instant coffee. The room was quiet, the only sound being the gentle simmering of water from the kettle. Although Xiang Kui knew the other party couldn’t hear, she still turned down the volume on her earbuds and asked in a suppressed tone, “How’s it going on your end?”
“It’s fine on my end,” Lin Xi said, clipping her nails. “But that scumbag’s time online has been decreasing. He’s saying he’s been busy with work lately. It’s understandable. After all, people have limited energy. If they’re having a blast on a new server, how can they have time to care about their old account?”
Xiang Kui, “Oh…”
Lin Xi changed the subject, “What about you?”
Since there was someone else in the room, Xiang Kui cupped her phone’s mic and mumbled, “Everything is going according to plan.”
Yue Qing finished making his coffee and started towards the door. As he was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of someone’s head and noted that they had quietly shifted into a corner again. Their positions were in diagonally opposite corners of the room. In the sunlight, her hair had a hint of brown, making the back of her head look fluffy and soft.
“…” He paused, wrinkling his eyebrows in confusion.
Including the elevator encounter, this was the second time.
Is it because he looks intimidating, or is she simply socially anxious?
As his footsteps faded, Xiang Kui finally explained, “I have to make proper preparations. I need to investigate his online times and whereabouts before I can take action.”
“From what you said, I guess your new account is also an assassin? You’ve been playing the same sect for eight years, how can you never get tired of it?” Lin Xi asked suspiciously. “Lately I haven’t seen you online much at all. I figured you might have already caused some kind of trouble on your new server.”
“No,” Xiang Kui said calmly. “You know I never cause trouble.”
Humph, I don’t cause trouble, but I’m not afraid of it!
This is what the rising star, [Man-eating Sunflower], thought as she stood in the open space of the main city.
She logged in at 3:00 am today to complete her first day’s pre-tasks, and learning from her previous experiences, she took advantage of the lack of people online at night to buy a suitable set of equipment from the trading house.
After yesterday’s battle, [Warlord Li Li] became even more infuriated, and clearly wasn’t going to let her off so easily. A whole six days of pre-quests for the Far North remained. While the equipment from the trading house might not have as good stats as the dungeon drops, it would at least keep her from dying so easily.
Next she needed to upgrade her equipment.
This was also a tedious task. She spent a long day painstakingly piling up enhancement stones, and finally, after half an hour, she had increased her gear score from 16,000 to 20,000, and her health bar had instantly grown.
[Rush]’s gear score was 35,000, a full 5,000 difference from the weapon score alone.
Just as Xiang Kui, planning to check on [Rush], clicked close on the upgrade notification pop-up, she found herself standing face to face with [Punishment] who came from god know where. The pale assassin character was clutching two daggers and hovered in front of her like a ghost “…”
He didn’t take action this time, just stood there silently.
She removed [Punishment] from her blacklist.
[[Private Chat] Man-Eating Sunflower: ?]
[[Private Chat] Sin Punishment: ?]
[[Private Chat] Man-Eating Sunflower: I already said I am a new account owner. The previous owner wouldn’t have spent their own money and effort on weapons, would they? What else do you want? /kitchen knife /threat?]
[[Private Chat] Punishment: That’s not the issue anymore.]
The implication was obvious, and Xiang Kui almost couldn’t hold back her laughter as she copied the system notification from her message history.
[[Private Chat] Man-Eating Sunflower: [[Punishment] was brutally murdered by [Crazy Wild Boar] in [Outskirts of the City]! The equipment [Bloodthirsty Dual Soldiers] was dropped!]]
[[Private Chat] Punishment: ???]
[[Private Chat] Man-Eating Sunflower: [[Punishment] was brutally murdered by [Crazy Wild Boar] in [Outskirts of the City]! The equipment [Bloodthirsty Dual Soldiers] was dropped!]]
[[Private Chat] Punishment: …]
[[Private Chat] Punishment: I heard you’re planning to make a Tianwu weapon?]
[[Private Chat] Punishment: With your pitiful skills you still want to use a Tianwu? Even if you make one, you would look like a wild boar that accidentally found my weapon in the suburbs.]
Xiang Kui, “?”