At night, we went to Tenglong Hotel and drank until we were as drunk as a skunk. The promise we made to help Snowy Cathaya retake Silver Fir City? It was thrown out of the window about as irresponsibly as you could possibly imagine. Even the guild leader herself, Lin Yixin, was having so much fun chatting with Beiming Xue and the others that she irresponsibly dumped all the responsibility on Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi and Clear Perfume.

Halfway into the drinks, He Yi rose to her feet, held up a little less than half glass of red wine and said cheerfully, "Although two of the three main cities of China have succumbed, and almost all our forces had perished in battle, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was ultimately able to protect Dark Moon City and Sky City. Not only that, Gui Guzi, Beiming Xue, Lian Xing and I were invited to join CGL Hall of Fame afterward. Let us toast to ourselves, shall we? Cheers…"

Everyone raised their glasses. The beautiful guild leader herself had requested a toast, and no one here had the right to turn her down. Gui Guzi grinned like an idiot as he said, "Yes, yes, it took a year of hard work, but I finally made it to the peak. A year ago, I wouldn’t even dream that I would be able to enter the CGL Hall of Fame!"

Beiming Xue rose to her feet, cleared her throat and started as well, "Me too. Before this, I was just a little archer who liked to PK others in the open world, and my best skill was sniping an enemy from afar. After I came to Suzhou and joined Ancient Sword though, I’ve fought countless party battles and Nation Wars and become a true first-rate archer. It is all thanks to big brother. Without him, I would never have entered this wonderful and dreamlike world, hehe. This is for you, big brother!"

After saying that, she downed everything in her glass in one go and turned as red as an apple.

"Slow down, Beiming!" I advised.

However, He Yi shook her head and said, "It’s fine. Just this once, let her drink as much as she wants to…"

"Huh?"

I was surprised. "You’ve never indulged her like this in the past. Did something happen?"

"Mn."

He Yi acknowledged, but pointed a finger at Beiming. "But it’s not for me to say. Ask her."

"Beiming? What happened?" I asked.

For a time, Beiming Xue simply sat there and stared at me blankly. Then, red circles appeared around her eyes, and she nearly burst into tears there and then. "I received a university registration notice not long ago, big brother. It’s tomorrow. It means that I can’t stay in Suzhou anymore…"

A chill pierced through the warm veil of alcohol. Beiming Xue had been by my side for at least half a year, and not only was she leaving, she was leaving tomorrow? No wonder she was acting so odd.

I pulled my chair closer to hers and patted her shoulder consolingly. "It’s okay. Suzhou is less than an hour’s drive away from Wuxi, and you’ve already gotten your license, right? Once you buy a car, you can visit us anytime you want to, and vice versa… Oh, you don’t want to get a car yourself? No problem, I’ll buy one for you then…"

Chaos Moon teased. "Dear, that line belongs to a tall-rich-handsome, not you…"

Me: "..."

Beiming Xue continued with bloodshot eyes, "Can we go somewhere else to play after this celebratory feast is over, big brother? I’m not sleeping tonight since I’m leaving tomorrow. I will stay with you until then…"

I wanted to say something, but He Yi smiled indulgently. "It’s fine. Just do as she wants…"

"Okay…"

……

There wasn’t a soul in the feast who wasn’t smashed, so He Yi made a call to Raincube and ordered a couple of drivers to drive us home. Some of us were driven back to the Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls base. Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the other members of the ASUS gaming club were driven back to their own base. Speaking of which, Lenovo gave He Yi a call to congratulate her, Beiming Xue and Lian Xin for joining the CGL Hall of Fame, and to congratulate me for my return to the China server. On behalf of Lenovo, Rose also expressed her sincerest regret at their inability to prevent my in-game nationality from being stripped from me in the first place. She said that the company had tried their best, but Tang Long’s power was just absolute at the time.

When the time ticked past 11 pm, the eight of us—I, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Beiming Xue, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue, Du Thirteen and Yamete—walked toward the closest karaoke box to sing for a couple of hours. The plan was to spend the night there and send Beiming Xue back to her university tomorrow.

We entered a place called Lake Color Karaoke, booked a room and swarmed inside. We began taking turns to sing after we ordered the drinks, fruits and snacks. I was an introvert, so I didn’t enjoy singing too much. Du Thirteen and Yamete were tone deaf, but they absolutely didn’t mind singing our ears off. Thankfully, He Yi and Lin Yixin were present to heal our bruised ears with their singing. They sounded so beautiful that Murong Mingyue lamented about the unfairness of god. She complained that Lin Yixin and He Yi shouldn’t be granted such beautiful singing voices when their beauty was already out of the world.

For an entire hour or so, Beiming Xue clung to me like a teddy bear. Even an inanimate table could sense her deep feelings for me. Exactly what her feelings were though, I had no idea. It could be the sibling love of a younger sister toward her older brother, or… I didn’t want to pursue it. He Yi and Lin Yixin wisely chose to ignore it as well.

"Big brother…"

Beiming Xue looked up and stared at me with starry eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Can I sing a song for you?" she asked smilingly.

I nodded. "Of course. Thirteen, mind surrendering the stage for a bit? Beiming wants to sing something…"

He smiled. "Sure!"

……

A few seconds later, Beiming Xue held the mic in one hand and straightened her skirt with the other. Standing at the center of the dance floor about two meters away from my seat, she stared straight into my eyes instead of the subtitles on the display. When the song began, she brought the mic to her lips and filled the room with her shatteringly young and beautiful voice—

The darkness before our eyes isn't black

What kind of white is that you talk about

The sky blue people talk about

Is the blue sky behind those clouds in my memories

I look toward you

But I could see nothing

Has God blindfolded me

and forgot to free me from the blindfold

You're my eyes, that led me through the changes of the four seasons

You're my eyes, that led me through the dense crowds

You're my eyes, that led me through the vast ocean of books

Because you're my eyes

You allowed me to see that the world's in front of me

[1]

……

Tears suddenly slid down Beiming Xue’s cheeks as she said in a sobbing voice, "You are my eyes, big brother. You allowed me to see how wonderful the world is. I love you, big brother. I’ll always love you and you alone…"

For a time, I could only stare at her blankly. My nose felt tingly, and my hand and my can of cola were frozen in mid-motion. It was only now I finally realized just how deep Beiming Xue’s mysterious love for me ran. Even Du Thirteen couldn’t stop his eyes from turning red as he said to Yamete, "Wouldn’t it be nice if people could stay together with their loved ones forever?"

Yamete wiped away his own tears before replying, "Nonsense. How can there be a reunion if there is no separation? Also, Beiming only has to wait until she’s graduated…"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Once Beiming has graduated, well, we’ll see…"

Beiming Xue wiped her own tears and replied sobbingly, "You promised, big brother! I’ll come to you the moment I graduate! Any game you want to play, I’ll play. Any company you go to work in, I’ll go too. I want to stay with you forever…"

What should I even say to that?

He Yi rose to her feet and wrapped her arms around Beiming Xue’s shoulders. "Don’t cry, Beiming. You’ll meet each other very soon. Lu Chen said he’s going to give you a car, didn’t he? It’ll take you only an hour to drive to Suzhou. If your schedule isn’t too packed, or if it is, well, you can always skip class and visit us…"

Beiming Xue nodded. "Okay, Sister He Yi. I have a question for big brother though. What car are you planning to give me?"

I shrugged. "Well, what type of car do you want?"

"A BMW?"

"Sure, no problem."

That was how I came to owe Beiming a BMW. It would be expensive, but as long as Dark Moon City and Air Force One remained in my possession, this sum of money wouldn’t even put a dent in my bank account.

……

We sang for about three hours until 3 am before we moved to a nearby bar.

The sound of noisy bass rocked against our eardrums. Du Thirteen and Yamete played dice with one another while He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Lian Xin and Lin Yixin played cards. I didn’t play shit because Beiming Xue was lying on top of my chest and practically holding me down on my sofa. I didn’t even dare to breathe too deeply for fear of triggering another outburst from Beiming Xue. The way she kept murmuring god knows what into my chest was weird to say the least.

When dawn arrived, and a ton of assurances from everyone, Beiming Xue finally decided it was time to leave. We returned to the workshop, helped her pack her stuff, and saw her off to the entrance where a Raincube driver was waiting for her.

I felt like I lost something as the car took off into the distance. A yawning Lin Yixin had also gone back to her university to catch up on sleep as well. Speaking of which, Snowy Cathaya’s 600k troops and the 200k cavalry reinforcements we had sent them had successfully retaken Silver Fir City already. According to the data on the official website, as much as 85% of the player territories in Sky City and Vanished God City had been retaken as well. However, the only player territories that were reclaimed at Wind City were Candle Dragon’s and Purple Lily’s. Wind City was under the control of the USA server right now, so the average guild simply didn’t possess the power to retake their territories.

"Cough…" A coughing fit suddenly took over me.

He Yi patted my back gently before asking, "What’s wrong? Are you sad because Beiming is leaving?"

I smiled. "What do you mean? Beiming may be gone, but I still have a younger sister, don’t I?"

Lian Xin pursed her lips. "Feel free to treat me like I’m invisible and focus all your thoughts on Beiming for now. I’ll comfort you after you’re done grieving…"

Murong Mingyue smiled meaningfully. "Oh? How are you going to comfort him exactly?"

Lian Xin blushed red immediately. "Please have some shame, Sister Mingyue!"

He Yi laughed. "Like she knows what that even is…"

Murong Mingyue: "..."

I said, "Alright, time to go to bed, people. We’ll wake up in the afternoon and get back to business after that, okay? It’s great to waste time once in a while, but only for a while."

He Yi said, "Yeah. I have a meeting to attend in Shanghai this afternoon though, so don’t bother to wait for me."

"Thank you for your hard work, boss…"

"Anything for the almighty RMB!"

"..."

……

After we returned to the workshop, I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. It was 2 pm in the afternoon when I woke up again and was greeted by a familiar scent; the scent of He Yi’s fabric softener. The sight of the girls’ shorts and bras on the balcony was incredibly familiar as well...

After I woke up everyone from their slumber, I took Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue downstairs to have lunch. Then, it was time to take care of business.

Swhoosh!

I checked out my mount space the moment I appeared on White Horse Highland. Both the Armored Ice Qillin Horse and the Ancient Divine Dragon were present. I immediately summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew back to Dark Moon City to repair my equipment and restock on potions.

1. (T/N: Translation of the lyrics is taken from lyricstranslate.com)