Lin Yixin cupped her soup bowl and stared at the floating chopped onions for a bit before saying to me, "Lu Chen, I’ll come look for you at Iron Skull Wilderness after I carry Purple Marquis, Lexi and the others past S2, okay?"

I grinned but turned down her offer. "Thanks, but you shouldn’t. Sky City has general stores, potion stores, skill trainers and everything. On the other hand, Iron Skull Wilderness is a god-forsaken place where everything’s scarcer and worse, and there are all kinds of unaffiliated players wandering that place. Practically everyone will target you, an affiliated player, if you go there. It’s too dangerous."

She huffed at me before slapping the table with her hand. "Didn’t you say that you’re the king of Iron Skull Wilderness? What kind of ruler lets their girlfriend be killed in their own territory?!"

Me: "..."

Chaos Moon put a hand on Lin Yixin’s shoulder and pushed her back to her seat gently. "Calm down. You know that Lu Chen sometimes boasts things out of proportion. Yes, he gathered a bunch of barbarians to fight against Breeze and Rain, but he’s nowhere strong enough yet to call himself king."

I shrugged. "Whatever you say. Anyway, I’m serious, Yiyi. You shouldn’t come to Iron Skull Wilderness. It’s no playground where you can come and go as you please."

Lin Yixin simply smirked at me while playing with her new phone. "Don’t worry, I wouldn’t tell you even if I went there. Iron Skull Wilderness can be a den of gods and devils, and I’ll still rise above all opposition…"

One of the reasons I loved Lin Yixin so much was because of her abundance of confidence. Right now, she looked so lovely that I couldn’t help but say, "You know, maybe we don’t need to book a new room tonight. What do you say?"

"I say that you’re out of your mind. We’re booking a new room, and that’s that. I don’t want to disturb your sleep…"

"Fine, fine. Anyway, give me a knock outside the game once you’ve reached Iron Skull Wilderness. I’ll be sure to afford you my protection."

"Mn. But you should take care of yourself first. Do you know how much Breeze and Rain and God of War hate you for killing their VR department chief? I probably don’t need to tell you this, but they both want to kill you to make it up to him. Oh, and let’s not forget about Flowing Cloud. The rumors say that Flowing Cloud was the one who recommended that you be anointed the West King, and that she’s the only reason you were able to get the chance to kill Now and Forever and steal the city map. No matter what she thinks about you, the fact is every Elephant City player is condemning her because of you. Therefore, she will want to take revenge."

A beautiful and confident smile crossed Lin Yixin’s face at that moment. "But don’t worry, you just focus on handling God of War and Breeze and Rain. I’ll handle Flowing Cloud myself…"

Chaos Moon was taking a bite from a pancake when she shivered from head to toe. "Is this how the first wife battles the mistresses in the real world? So scary…"

I glared at her. "If Flowing Cloud’s my mistress, then who do you think you are, hmm?"

Chaos Moon hurriedly bowed her head to drink her soup. "I’m sorry! I knew too much and said the wrong thing! To apologize, I’ll dig a hole and bury myself first thing after I log into the game, I promise!"

Me: "..."

Lin Yixin: "..."

It was at this moment my phone suddenly rang. I looked at the number and noted that it was a number I had just added a while ago; Hickey’s number to be exact. Due to the exorbitant fees of international calls, I told her to avoid calling me unless it was a true emergency. Whatever possessed her to call me now?

As expected, a sweet girl’s voice entered my ears the moment I clicked Accept—

"Hello?"

I cleared my throat before greeting Hickey in English, "Hickey. It’s me. What’s up?"

At the same time, I praised myself inside my head. Did you hear that accent, me? I did, me! It was absolutely perfect! You’re so cool, me!

However, my response surprised Hickey and somehow gave the idea that she should test out her Chinglish. And by that I meant that she started mixing both languages together. "Boss… please, Breeze and Rain… is moving. Iron Skull Wilderness’ north… a new map… renovate…" (T/N: the italics are the English words)

Let’s just say that her Chinglish made me regret everything. "Stop, stop! Hickey, just speak normally in English. I’ll get a translator to translate it to me later…"

"Okay, boss…"

I passed my phone to Lin Yixin and said, "Help me with this international call, will you? Please speak with her and tell me what happened."

Lin Yixin blinked at the impromptu request but accepted my phone. She said in English, "Hello?"

Hickey and Lin Yixin began conversing in fluent English that wowed Chaos Moon and shamed me so much I felt like diggin a hole myself.

A while later, Lin Yixin hung up and said to me, "This ‘Hickey’ woman said that a new map called ‘Dragonsnake Devil’s Den’ appeared to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness around half an hour ago. Apparently, whoever kills the strongest boss in the map has a 100% chance to drop a special item called ‘Ascension Proof’, which they can then use to acquire a Divine General Skill immediately. The India server is already on the move, and she’s telling you to get back online as soon as possible because Godkiller needs you to lead them."

I clenched my fists as I chuckled. "Hah! I almost cannot believe it. An item that makes someone a Divine General? Tsk tsk, there’s no way I’m giving this Ascension Proof up to anybody."

Lin Yixin nodded smilingly. "Mn. Dragonsnake Devil’s Den is extremely close to Iron Skull Wilderness, so it will take you only less than an hour to get there. It will take India’s Elephant City three hours to get there, longer for Cyan Earth City, and at least 6 hours for the main cities of the China server. The saying ‘the pavilion closest to the water enjoys moonlight first’ perfectly describes this."

Bubbling with happiness, I said, "Hehehe, I can’t believe I’ll have the chance to create my own Divine General one day! Obviously, I’m going to ascend Hickey first!"

Lin Yixin’s eyes narrowed. "Hmph hmph, this Hickey was a former guild leader of Iron Skull Wilderness, wasn’t she? Not even a foreigner is immune to your perverted ways, hmm?"

Chaos Moon giggled and dumped fuel into fire. "I know right? I heard that this Hickey was a mixed blood with Dutch, French and Italian bloodline in her. She’s a super gorgeous babe with milky white skin and even bigger breasts than you, Yiyi, or at least that’s what I think at a rough glance…"

Lin Yixin sighed deeply. "I…"

I cut her off before things could get worse. "What the fuck are you girls even on about? Hickey is the guild leader of Sacred Oath, and Warscar is the guild leader of Godkiller. I had combined them both to make a force capable of fighting against Breeze and Rain. As strong as I may appear to be right now, my class advantage will disappear when a large majority of top players attain their eighth promotion in just a week."

Lin Yixin nodded. "Yeah. Be careful. I may be able to hit Level 210 after I defeat the S2 instance. I’ll look for you only after I’m eighth-promotion."

"Mn. Now let’s wrap up this breakfast already. I need to get back to business!"

"Yeah!"

……

After returning to the hotel and booking a new room for Yiyi, I went online immediately.

Swhoosh!

I immediately found myself surrounded by Godkiller players the moment I appeared at Bonecrush Forest. Hickey walked up to me and said with a smile, "You have a good voice, boss…"

My mouth twitched at the "praise." "Your Chinese isn’t pretty bad either…"

"I’m working overtime to learn the Chinese characters and phrases already…" Hickey complained with a pout before asking me, "By the way, who was the girl you asked to be your translator, boss? Her voice is melodious, and her English is really fluent. It’s obvious she’s spent some time speaking the language overseas."

I smiled. "She’s my girlfriend…"

Hickey’s mouth fell open in shock. Whatever answer she was expecting, that clearly wasn’t what she expected to hear.

Next to her, Warscar mocked her laughingly, "And just like that, pliang! A fragile girl’s heart shattered into a million pieces. What a hammer this is…"

A murderous-looking Hickey turned around and punched Warscar so hard that he was sent flying. She declared angrily, "Pooh! I told you that I may fall in love with boss, but I will never think to keep him all to myself! He is my most beloved friend, but that is all! Don’t judge our relationship with that perverted middle-aged man’s mind of yours, Warscar!"

Warscar pointed at his nose. "Me? Middle-aged? I’m only 27!"

"Ask anyone around you if you don’t look like a middle-aged man with that beard of yours. Hey you! What do you all think? Do you think he looks like a young adult?"

Every Godkiller player within hearing distance shook their heads and expressed their objection. Warscar wailed and felt his heart shattering into a million pieces as well.

……

I brought up the world map and searched for the new map’s coordinates. Just as Hickey had said on the phone, a canyon map with countless caves in it had appeared on the empty plains to the north of Iron Skull Wilderness, just beyond the border. It was none other than the Dragonsnake Devil’s Den. For now, no one knows what might be waiting inside the map. There could be snakes, dragons, or both. One thing was for certain though, it would be an incredibly dangerous journey. Not only did we have to fight against powerful bosses, we had to deal with powerful enemies like Breeze and Rain and God of War as well. They would never let a chance like this slip by their fingers. To date, there were only 100+ Divine Generals in the entire world. Needless to say, Divine Generals were a very valuable and precious resource.

Hickey asked me, "Should we head over now, boss?"

I nodded and pointed at the map. "We’ll pass through Hundred Birds Forest and follow the mountain ranges until we arrive at Dragonsnake Devil’s Den."

Warscar exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you sure, guild leader? If we go through Hundred Birds Forest, it’ll take us at least half an hour longer to get there!"

Hickey immediately said, "Warscar, if you don’t get boss's meaning the first time, don’t prod further. Trust me, it’s better for you."

"Fine." Warscar nodded. He knew that Hickey and my mind for strategy were tens of leagues ahead of his. His strength lay in charging and breaking through enemy lines, and he trusted us enough that he didn’t need to know every facade of the plan.

Hickey and I exchanged a knowing smile with each other. The reason we chose to go around Dragonsnake Devil’s Den was to avoid Beast Soul’s territory. Beast Trainer absolutely hated our guts right now, and I had every reason to believe that the guy would try to stop us if we entered his territory.

Right now, Godkiller’s average strength had become much stronger than Beast Soul’s despite the difference in our guild size. We could handle Level 245+ fiend-rank mobs with little trouble, but they didn’t. Therefore, there was no need for us to try and take them out at all. The mobs would kill them for us as they tried to make their way to Dragonsnake Devil’s Den.

After the decision was made, everyone went through the necessary motions of restocking their potions, repairing their equipment and so on before setting off toward Dragonsnake Devil’s Den. After an entire day of hard work, Godkiller now had a total player count of 100000 players. We brought every single player with us because a fierce war was sure to break out at Dragonsnake Devil’s Den. Without sufficient manpower, we wouldn’t be able to challenge Cyan Beast.