I slowly opened my eyes and lazily got out of bed. Clock slowly woke up, clock ticking at 11:30 am.

I entered the living room and briefly washed my face. Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen sat on the sofa drinking water. The blistering summer heat required a ton of water to rehydrate and those two camels went through a plastic barrel of water every two days.

“I’m not going to have lunch at the workshop,” I said as I put on a light shirt after seeing the hot sunshine outside.

Gui Guzi nodded. “Then Brother B and I will have the boxed meals downstairs.”

“Where’re you going for lunch, Lu Chen?” Du Thirteen asked.

“Oh, I have an appointment…”

“Who’s treating you to lunch?”

“Lin Yixin.”

“Ah?!”

Du Thirteen immediately stood up with, and said excitedly, “We’re brothers for life that share blessings and misfortunes together. You have to bring us along.”

I said helplessly, “You want to hang out with Lin Yixin?”

Du Thirteen answered sheepishly, “I just want to eat a good meal…”

I smiled as I spread my hands out. “You can come if you’d like but I’m pretty sure Lin Yixin’s not going to treat you. Up to you.”

“Then let’s go!”

“Whatever…”

Ten minutes later, the three of us were on the streets. The scorching sun above our heads burnt me so bad that I felt like I was being roasted alive. I clenched my fist and punched two times at the empty air. I was brimming with power, as if my physique really did get strengthened a few times over. The pain accompanied by the sun killing the virus was just a bit hard to bear.

Gui Guzi saw my sweaty self throw a few punches and praised sincerely, “Nice moves…”

Du Thirteen smiled. “Seems like you’re someone who knows what’s up. Lu Chen’s move just then was the long-extinct ‘Doggy Paddle’...”

Gui Guzi laughed and then changed topics. “You know, Iron Pardon and Inconstant looked like they wanted to eat us yesterday. Mad Dragon really does hate us Bloody Mercenaries but why did they still buy out our Rank 4 Magic Consumables?”

I smiled. “Simple. Mad Dragon’s about to make a big move soon!”

“What move?” Gui Guzi and Du Thirteen both asked at the same time.

I lowered my voice and enunciated every word. “Hero’s Token!”

Gui Guzi’s eyes widened. “The guild certificate, Hero’s Token?”

“Mn.”

I nodded. “There’s not a single established guild in the China server right now because our levels aren’t high enough yet. The other reason is because no one has gotten a Hero’s Token yet!”

Thirteen asked, “Where can you get a Hero’s Token?”

Gui Guzi offered an explanation. “Hero’s Token is a high-level item. Only Level 60+ bosses have a small chance of dropping it but there’s not even a Level 40 player at the current stage of the game. Wanting to kill a Level 60 boss is just too hard. It’s useless even if you try to raid it because you still need to outdamage the boss’s HP regen!”

Du Thirteen smiled out of relief. “Then you’re saying that Mad Dragon’s just counting on Roaming Dragon and his groupies to attack a Level 60 boss? Aren’t they delusional?”

“Not necessarily.” I shook my head. “It’s always hard to start something but if there’s one thing Mad Dragon excels at it’s manpower and resources. We can’t compare to them in that aspect. I’m afraid Mad Dragon really will rule over Floating Ice City if Roaming Dragon gets his hands on a Hero’s Token.”

Gui Guzi snickered. “I just got some first-hand information. Roaming Dragon’s name is Lu Chao. He’s a certain Shanghai organization member’s son. Cough cough, his dad’s Lu Gang[1]…”

“Damn!” Du Thirteen and I looked at each other, simultaneously exclaiming in disbelief .

We soon arrived at the street in front of the university with the renowned Hunan restaurant “Happy House” just nearby. This was a pretty good name and there were a ton of customers inside. Lin Yixin had probably made a reservation or else we’d have to wait until 2 pm to eat.

After going inside, I took out my phone and called Lin Yixin.

A ringtone sounded from right behind me. “If you want to marry, just marry Wolffy[2]…”

Fuck!

I turned around and saw Lin Yixin and Clear Perfume walk in hand in hand. Both were wearing light clothing. Sun Qingqing had on a beige T-shirt paired with a teal blue skirt. She was brimming with youth and looked both pure and adorable. I immediately put her into my class-one-protected-species list. I can’t let a girl like that get defiled by a villain like Thirteen.

Sun Qingqing really shouldn’t have appeared with Lin Yixin. It was bad for a beauty to serve as a foil to others. Sun Qingqing was already a top beauty but once she stood next to Lin Yixin, she looked much more ordinary.

My eyes lit up when I saw Lin Yixin in a white short-sleeved blouse with a simple bow at her collar. It was just that her clothes swelled at the front. God knows how this little girl developed this well. Her buttons looked like they were about to burst. She was also wearing a black skirt that revealed her long, white legs. This kind of black and white outfit would look normal on other girls but people would sigh at how beautiful it lay on Lin Yixin.

Du Thirteen looked at Lin Yixin, mouth agape, like a dried-up fish. He wasn’t able to utter a single word.

Gui Guzi was a bit stronger. He only took a few glances before shifting his gaze.

“You’re here?”

Lin Yixin smiled, showing her dimples, and said to a waitress, “Hi, we’re reservation number 48.”

“Oh, how many people?”

“Three.”

“Please follow me!”

“Alright, thank you!”

Lin Yixin waved at me to come over and I followed her upstairs. They tapped up the stairs and I saw her the corner of her skirt rise, revealing a pair of white thighs, instantly making my heart rise along.

Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were shoved to a corner of my mind, forgotten. The duo immediately requested to sit at a table near us, and the heavens took pity on them because there really was an open spot close by.

Lin Yixin never took a single glance at Du Thirteen or Gui Guzi from the very start, as if they didn’t exist.

Once we were upstairs, we sat at a table near the window. I took the menu and smiled at the waitress. “I want this… 75 yuan Dongting Duck and this… 112 yuan Tasty Snake and also this, and this… then the cheaper 80 yuan Special Steamed Fish Head In Chili Sauce…”

“Wah~”

Lin Yixin’s beautiful eyes went wide. Her eyes locked onto me sternly as if her heart was about to burst. Her expression was beautiful but was also destructive, as if she wished to immediately pierce me with a thousand arrows.

Sun Qingqing smiled. “Hey handsome, you look like you haven’t had a full meal in ages…”

I nodded. “Yeah, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Being a pro player is a life of sacrifices!”

Lin Yixin bit her red lips and glared at me. “Hmph. Just wait until you have to treat me next. Stupid Lu Chen, you Little Cheat!”

I clapped my hands and laughed out loud. Lin Yixin being in a bad mood made me happy.

Sun Qingqing looked at me, then at Lin Yixin, and seemed to realize something. She stuck out her tongue. “Lu Chen, don’t make Yiyi angry. Let me tell you, in my whole two years of being classmates with Yiyi, I’ve never seen her treat a guy before. You’re the first, so you should feel proud!”

“Really?” I shot a glance at Lin Yixin. She was still looking at me with a murderous look. I then said, “Miss, can you also get us a big bottle of fruit juice, the 68 yuan kind…”

“Ah…”

Lin Yixin was near collapse. She looked pitifully at Sun Qingqing and said, “Qingqing, you still have a ton of instant noodles, right?”

“Yeah!”

“Don’t throw them away, I’ll be eating those next week...”

“...”

Sun Qingqing was speechless. She then tried to smooth things over. “Let’s just talk about what’s happening in the game. Yiyi wants to establish a new guild and you have the Bloody Mercenaries workshop, Lu Chen. We’ve both offended the Domination Clan so we should team up in the future or else the Domination Clan will make our lives difficult.”

I nodded. “This needs to be considered at length. We need an invulnerable strategy to thoroughly defeat Gods of Destruction!”

Lin Yixin raised a brow and smiled provokingly. “Are you saying that your IQ is high?”

“Yeah, you want to say something?” I drank my tea, extremely confident.

Lin Yixin’s smile was especially sweet. “Let me ask you a few simple questions!”

“Go on!”

“How many younger brothers does Aladdin have?”

“Uh…”

I was confused. “Aladdin is an Indian, how would I know…”

“Idiot! Twenty-five! Aladdin, Baladdin, Caladdin, etc!”

“Fuck! This question’s too misleading…”

Lin Yixin covered her smile. “Again, again. Second question: What were Shennong’s last words before he died?”

Me: “...”

Lin Yixin smiled even deeper. She pinched a chopstick and pretended to have trouble breathing. “Th-this plant, is… is poisonous…[3]”

Me: “Fuck!”

Lin Yixin continued with a smile, “Next, third question: Zhao Yun was incredibly valiant at Changban Slope, killing left and right.[4] Li Dian said, ‘Sir, that white-robed little general’s coming over again!’ Xiahou Dun said, ‘This is already the seventh time, isn’t he tired?’ Cao Cao replied, ‘Bastard, is he only going to give up after killing all my men?’ What did Zhao Yun say?”

Me: “...”

Lin Yixin was so happy that her beautiful eyes were nearly closed as she smiled. “Zhao Yun said, ‘That bastard Zhang Fei told me to bring up the rear but his loud voice broke Dangyang Bridge. How am I supposed to go back?’”

I was dumbstruck. Lin Yixin was well-read. Amazing.

“How’s that? What’s your IQ now?” Lin Yixin looked at me with a smile.

Me: “...”

Sun Qingqing shook as she laughed and leaned on the table, gasping to breathe. Lin Yixin and I looked at each other, the atmosphere filled with dense killing intent.

The dishes came not long after.

Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi were sitting not too far away. Seizing this opportunity, Du Thirteen came over and sat next to me with a wine cup in hand. He was pretty skilled at hitting on girls. He looked at the campus view outside the window and said to me with a smile, “Lu Chen, remember when we were still uni students? Those were some happy times!”

I nodded.

Thirteen continued, “I still remember us secretly buying a hot pot back in our senior year. Heh, just when we were worrying about what ingredients to put in, a little white rabbit came hopping over from the student dorm lawns. Aye, it was so fresh and tender, so delicious…”

Thirteen vulgarly smacked his lips.

Sun Qingqing’s expression changed. She then turned to Lin Yixin. “Yiyi, that little white rabbit you were raising in freshman year… the truth’s finally been revealed…”

1. Popular internet meme used when trying to avoid responsibility. Originating from a drunk driver who said his dad’s Li Gang (deputy director of local public security bureau) after hitting two university students. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Gang_incident

2. Antagonist of a popular children’s show. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleasant_Goat_and_Big_Big_Wolf#Wolves

3. Shennong, Farmer God in Chinese mythology, died as a result of his researches into the properties of plants by experimenting upon his own body, after, in one of his tests, he ate the yellow flower of a weed that caused his intestines to rupture before he had time to swallow his antidotal tea

4. The Battle of Changban was when Cao Cao personally led a 5,000-strong elite cavalry force to pursue Liu Bei, who then had to retreat. Zhao Yun was a general under Liu Bei.