Category: I Really Didn’t Use a Voice Changer! [Online Game] (Page 1 of 2)

“Get lost.” Yu He waved his hand and shoved him away.

What little sister? It was always little sister this, little sister that.

“There’s definitely something going on. I saw a girl calling him ‘’big brother,’ and she even sent one of those super cute cat emojis.”

“Damn, our He He is finally getting off the market.”

“We’ve waited more than two years. Finally gonna get to attend his wedding banquet.”

The three of them squeezed over to the opposite side with expressions full of fatherly pride, practically glowing with holy light.

Yu He: “…”

Even food probably wouldn’t shut these people up.

For lunch, they had bobo fish. With a little chili oil mixed in and eaten with steaming white rice, it was unbelievably delicious. Yu He licked his lips and decided he absolutely had to recommend this bobo fish place to Tang Shaoqing too.

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: [Bobo Fish restaurant address]

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: [Photo of the bobo fish]

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: This place’s bobo fish is insanely good. On your first day here during National Day holiday, I’ll treat you to a meal

Tang: Okay

Tang: Looking forward to it

Tang: [Starry-eyed cat emoji]

“Hey, Old Tang.” Gu Ji nudged the man across from him, whose eyes were curved in a smile, with a luggage bag. “What are you standing there grinning for? Not packing? Chatting with your crush?”

This semester, they were moving back to the main campus, so people had already started moving their stuff little by little recently. It also happened to be right before the National Day holiday, so only the two of them were left in the dorm now. The other two had gone home yesterday.

“Mm.” Tang Shaoqing was unexpectedly good-tempered and didn’t snap back at him.

“Holy shit? Is it really your crush? Lemme see, lemme see. I wanna know which girl managed to break the hearts of all the girls at A University.” Gu Ji immediately abandoned the luggage in his hand and rushed over to snatch the phone.

Tang Shaoqing had been born ridiculously handsome, with sharp brows and bright eyes. He always liked pressing his lips together, giving people an overbearing and intimidating aura.

In just a single year, there had already been no shortage of girls confessing to him, but every single time, he dismissed them with, “I already have someone I like.”

If it weren’t for that one time Tang Shaoqing got drunk, Gu Ji would’ve kept thinking it was just a lousy excuse. He’d even naïvely believed Tang Shaoqing was the cold and abstinent type, someone whose eyes only held studying and part-time jobs, with no interest in women at all.

Reality, however, proved him wrong.

The evidence that slapped him in the face was right there in the phone.

Before Gu Ji could get close enough to peek, Tang Shaoqing locked the screen and casually stuffed the phone into his pocket. “No way.”

“Hiding a beauty in a golden house, huh.” Gu Ji rolled his eyes. “So when are you heading back?”

“My luggage has already been sent to A University. I’m staying at Weiyun for a few days to work on some optimizations, then I’ll head back during National Day.” Tang Shaoqing stuffed his hands into his pockets and leaned against the already emptied bed frame, tilting his head back slightly as he looked out the window.

Weiyun was located near their branch campus, and it actually wasn’t too far from the main campus either. Gu Qiyun had even arranged a temporary little dorm room for him there.

Back when he got accepted into A University, he had even ridden a bus for several hours to D University just to secretly catch a glimpse of that person.

At the time, Yu He had probably been walking together with his roommates. There were four of them, including a pair of twins. They chatted and laughed together, Yu He’s eyes even narrowing into crescents from smiling.

Yet even when they brushed past each other like that, Tang Shaoqing still couldn’t muster the courage.

“Alright then, see you after National Day. Get there early and clean the dorm for us first. I’ll bring you some local specialties as a reward.” Gu Ji grinned so hard his teeth showed.

Tang Shaoqing was the most capable person in their dorm when it came to daily life. He was diligent about cleaning, diligent about washing clothes and shoes, and even diligent about nagging them to wash their socks.

Honestly, the only reason their dorm hadn’t turned into a garbage dump was thanks to him.

“Sure.” Tang Shaoqing had long since gotten used to this group of life-invalids, so he agreed readily.

“Then I’m off. Don’t forget the Marrow Cleansing Pill transaction tonight. That’s a ton of money. Once you get paid, you can cut down on your part-time jobs a bit. Don’t overwork yourself.”

Tang Shaoqing’s family circumstances weren’t very good. Back when freshman year started, he’d come alone, without much luggage and with even less money. At the time, he always picked the cheapest food in the cafeteria to eat, though no one knew how he still managed to grow so tall, shooting straight past 190 centimeters.

Usually, he worked incredibly hard. He loved researching things deeply, had practically mastered his major courses, and was always running to professors’ offices for discussions. Even his spare time was packed full with part-time jobs.

Later on, through a strange twist of fate, Weiyun Group directly poached him away. And that had only been during freshman year. Just thinking about it made him seem almost godlike.

“Got it. Hurry up already, Fang Jing’s probably waiting for you.”

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Tang Shaoqing spun the string of keys in his hand and walked to the doorway before turning back for one last glance. The dorm room that had once been unbearably crowded was now completely empty. If not for the wallpaper he had personally put up on the walls, there wouldn’t even be the slightest trace of familiarity left.

I spent three years searching for you, and another year making myself more worthy of searching for you.

At last, I could finally put those final three words into action.

—

After finishing the bobo fish, Yu He rubbed his little stomach and happily drifted through two classes.

“Yu He.” Just as the group was fooling around on their way back to the dormitory, a girl’s voice called out to him.

It was Cheng Mengmeng, the current president of the anime club, and someone in the same year as Yu He. She was constantly exploiting Yu He, the humble little club member.

“What is it?” Yu He lowered his head and thought for a moment. It wasn’t hard to guess. Freshman year had already started over a week ago, military training was almost over, and National Day was coming up…

The Club Recruitment Fair was probably about to begin.

“The Club Recruitment Fair is one week before National Day. You know what that means.” Cheng Mengmeng blinked at him.

“…” Yu He subconsciously crossed his arms over his chest protectively.

“The club spent a huge amount of club ufnds to buy you a cosplay costume. Come pick it up tonight.” Cheng Mengmeng waved her hand casually.

“What cosplay costume…” Yu He suddenly felt uneasy.

Liu Baobao: “Could it be… a Rem maid outfit?”

Lu Nan: “Probably Hatsune Miku. Didn’t they keep insisting our He He cosplay Miku in a school swimsuit before?”

Lu Bei: “I wanna see Love Live.”

Yu He: “…”

A bunch of traitorous teammates.

Under Yu He’s horrified gaze, Cheng Mengmeng slowly explained, “Nope, none of those. It’s a game character, an ancient-style one. You know that super popular Xianxia Online game lately? It’s one of the guqin musician characters from there.”

“We also found three others to cosplay healer, Shaolin, and assassin classes, so this time you won’t be fighting alone.”

As long as it wasn’t the kind of cosplay outfits his roommates were talking about. Yu “Humble” He silently let out a sigh of relief.

Next year he definitely wasn’t paying that ten-yuan club fee anymore. They used him like a free labor tool every single day. Hmph, even tough guys had their little tempers.

Still… what a coincidence.

A character from Xianxia Online, huh…

—

That night, after bringing the cosplay costume back, Yu He casually tossed it into the wardrobe somewhere the cat couldn’t reach, then returned to his computer to begin another blissful couch potato bliss.

Voice Changer wasn’t there. Thank god.

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Online

Guoguo: Coming, coming

“Whoa, Zhizi Yugui actually withdrew the bounty on you?!” Yu Guo had just caught up on the gossip and was so shocked her jaw nearly dropped.

She only knew that Xifan had explained things earlier, but she hadn’t really expected everyone to believe it. Yet now the source of everything, Zhizi Yugui himself, had actually withdrawn the bounty, which meant nobody would hunt Yu He anymore.

“Mm.” Yu He briefly explained what had happened today with Zhizi Yugui inviting him to party up.

“Sounds like he’s actually a pretty decent person,” Yu Guo said.

“Yeah.” Yu He nodded and opened the auction interface. The price of the Marrow Cleansing Pill was still the same as before, unchanged.

The auction page displayed the three most recent bids beneath it. The name “Tang Chao” appeared sandwiched between two bids from “Zhizi Yugui,” making it look especially glaring and out of place.

“Tang Chao… Tang Chao’s character is seriously awful,” Yu He said bluntly.

---

Author’s Note:
I’m craving the bobo fish near school again QAQ wuwuwu… The more I think about it in the middle of the night, the hungrier I get.

---

Jie Jie: Sorry, late again QAQ. 2 chapters to make up for last week. Got busy with some things irl. Thank you for understanding~

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Okay

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Then I’ll wait for you so we can go back together

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: What’s your ID number and phone number? Let’s grab the tickets together. There might not be any left by then

There was no immediate reply from the other side. Yu He glanced at the calendar. Time really flew. National Day was next Sunday already, and he still hadn’t bought a ticket. Perfect timing to try grabbing two together.

With nothing else to do, Yu He thought for a moment and sat back down in front of the computer.

Computer, on.

Game, launch.

The joy of a shut-in really was this simple.

Yu Guo was probably off at military training and wasn’t online. Voice Changer wasn’t online either. Porridge, however, was still logged in. No idea whether the person was actually there.

There were only a few people he knew in the game anyway. After thinking it over, Yu He sent a message.

[Whisper][He-jiang]: Here?

The reply came quickly—

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Here, here, here

Right after that, a party invite popped up. Yu He was just about to accept when another party invite appeared.

One was from Porridge. The other was from Zhizi Yugui.

…?

Zhizi Yugui??

Yu He took a closer look and realized Zhizi Yugui was standing not far from him, radiating full-on RMB energy, slowly walking toward him.

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Come party up and hop on voice chat, the text in-game is too small, my eyes hurt from reading it

[Whisper][He-jiang]: …Zhizi Yugui also invited me

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: ???

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Oh, he probably saw the post I made on the anonymous forum

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Did you check the anonymous forum? I spoke up for you a bit, said you weren’t Jiaojiao

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: I also announced it in the Guild World Chat to say it. The people who are closer to me mostly believe it; as for those who don’t know me, hard to say

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: That’s about all I can do

[Whisper][He-jiang]: I saw it. Thanks

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Hey, no need to thank me. I misunderstood you for so long and said some pretty nasty things, too

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: From now on, we’re friends

A chatterbox was still a chatterbox, but a pretty warm-hearted one.

[Whisper][He-jiang]: Mm-hmm

[Whisper][No Money for Porridge]: Maybe you should party up with him and talk it out. He’s the only one who’s still got a bounty out on Jiaojiao

That was true enough.

Jiaojiao had always been a classic player, being ambiguously flirtatious with plenty of people, calling everyone big brother, stringing them along for gear. Her character wasn’t great, but she hadn’t seriously offended anyone either. Once people learned her true colors, the more rational ones gradually distanced themselves.

Of course, some knew exactly what they were doing and still went along with it anyway, deliberately seeking a sense of presence through Jiaojiao. It was just a bit of gear. So what if they gave it to her? Being called big brother and showered with flattery felt pretty good, too.

Porridge, with his hopeless devotion, was an exception.

Naturally, that was all assuming Jiaojiao hadn’t run into someone like Zhizi Yugui, who valued face above all else.

People who cared that much about saving face were truly not to be messed with.

Jiaojiao was good at socializing to begin with. She knew how to wear people down gently, how to say exactly what others liked to hear. Getting close to Zhizi Yugui had been effortless for her. Unfortunately, he was rather arrogant and proud. Once he realized he was just another fish being raised by this so-called white lotus, he blew up, and that led to everything that followed.

After things escalated, with all the onlookers fanning the flames, Jiaojiao’s reputation only grew worse and worse.

Watching Zhizi Yugui walk up to him, and the party invitations keep refreshing, Yu He thought it over and clicked accept.

There were only the two of them in the party. Yu He didn’t say anything first. He absentmindedly petted the cat in his arms and waited for the other side to speak.

Finally, a faint rustling sound came through the headset. “Hello?”

Yu He was actually a bit surprised.

These days, why did everyone playing online games like to use voice chat… Back when he used to play, he typed whenever he could. Only if he absolutely couldn’t type would he consider turning on the mic.

“Can you use voice chat?” The voice was passable, an ordinary male voice, not even as nice as one with a voice changer.

Yu He cleared his throat a few times, found that radio-drama female lead tone, and turned on his mic. “Mm. What’s up?”

The follow-up reception to that radio drama had been pretty good. Lots of praise calling the female lead’s voice a first-love voice. Listening to it now, it really was quite nice.

There was a noticeable pause on the other end. “Is what Porridge said all true?”

“…Yeah. I bought the account.”

Even if it were fake, he still had to say it was real. Who came all this way just to ask him in person?

This guy really might be an idiot.

Another long stretch of silence followed, so long that the cat on his lap was nearly rubbed bald.

“Meow wu~” Orange let out a dissatisfied cry, and Yu He quickly scratched under his chin to soothe him.

Hearing the cat, Zhizi Yugui tightened his grip on the mouse and said casually, “You even keep a cat.”

“Mm…” This was completely small talk for the sake of it. Yu He was already thinking about how to end this as quickly as possible.

“Did anything else good drop in your dungeon run yesterday?”

“Nothing much. Just that one useful item.”

“Oh…”

“Mm.”

“I’ve withdrawn the bounty. Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. Thanks.”

Yu He opened the bounty board. Sure enough, Jiaojiao’s bounty was gone. Sitting at the top now was Voice Changer.

Another long silence followed. Yu He started playing with the cat’s tail again.

Orange’s tail was big and fluffy, perfect for petting, but it was also pretty sensitive. Pet it too much, and the cat would get annoyed.

Just standing around like this wasn’t really an option, and it felt awkward. After thinking for a bit, Yu He spoke up. “If there’s nothing else, I’m gonna log off. I’ve got dailies to do.”

“Okay. Let’s add each other as friends. You can whisper to me if anything comes up later.” The other side didn’t say much more and sent a friend request.

“Alright.”

After adding him, Yu He left the party and went to do some daily tasks, grinding back a bit of the experience Porridge had dragged him through earlier.

By the time he finished, it was almost mealtime. A barrage of WeChat calls came in from the dorm group, calling him out.

The afternoon happened to be first and second period classes. After grabbing a filling meal at the plaza, they could head back to the classroom together for class.

After placing his order, Yu He glanced at his phone. Tang Shaoqing had just replied, sending over his ID number and phone number. Yu He immediately went to buy two high-speed rail tickets, seats together.

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: [Screenshot]

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Bought them la. Tickets for the second day of National Day

The reply came quickly.

Tang: Thanks for the trouble, big brother

Tang: [Kitten kiss]

“Yo, which little sister are you chatting with?” Liu Baobao suddenly leaned over at some point, waggling his eyebrows with a sleazy grin.

The anonymous forum for Xianxia Online blew up again.

Yu He was groggily woken by his cat stepping on him in the morning. He grabbed his phone and checked the time. It was ten o’clock. Luckily, he didn’t have any classes in the morning.

He had to admit, the Xianxia Online app was really well made. It was convenient for checking personal info and just as convenient for browsing the forums and following trending news. Yu He had already bound the little healer account earlier; all the IP records had been wiped by the original owner, leaving nothing to see. Everything was perfectly in place; just waiting for him, the unlucky successor, to take over.

As usual, Yu He scrolled through the forum for a bit. The hot topics were basically down to three topics:

One about the Beiyuan dungeon.

One about Zhizi Yugui winning the Marrow-Cleansing Pill at an astronomical price.

One about White Lotus Jiao Jiao getting cleared of accusations.

In the sweltering heat, lying under the covers with the air conditioner blasting was pure bliss. Yu He rubbed his messy, fluffy hair and used browsing the forum as a perfectly legitimate excuse to laze around in bed.

The official plot details for the Beiyuan dungeon had been posted, and the comments were full of aoaojiao noises. People had even written fanfiction.

The developers also said they’d be optimizing Beiyuan’s NPCs and quest points later. There were plenty of Easter eggs and rewards to look forward to.

When Yu He opened the thread about Zhizi Yugui winning the Marrow-Cleansing Pill at a sky-high price, he was genuinely shocked by the number. Five digits. Seriously treating money like it was nothing.

The comments were also packed with people cursing Tang Chao, saying he’d deliberately driven up the price and sabotaged things. Otherwise, the pill never would’ve gone for that much.

11L: It was already dying down, then Tang Chao kept bidding every time just one yuan more. Absolutely unreal

15L: What kind of grudge do they even have? Is it worth it? If Zhizi Yugui suddenly stopped bidding, wouldn’t Tang Chao be the one eating the loss?

17L: Could it be love turning into hate?

18L: Hard to say. Luo Yan is super pretty. Maybe Tang Chao couldn’t get her and started resenting Zhizi Yugui

22L: Am I the only one with a weird focus here…? If Tang Chao can keep bidding, doesn’t that mean he’s pretty loaded too?

23L: You’re not alone

33L: Tang Chao’s account is basically top-tier on Chang Xiang Si. No way he doesn’t have money. Plus, he’s always boosting accounts and selling materials and gear. He must’ve made six figures at least

39L: u1s1, Tang Chao’s gameplay really is insane

44L: Terrifying

55L: Being able to play a game this well is kind of admirable, honestly.

Admirable, my ass.

Playing the game this well just to deceive people’s feelings.

Scumbag.

After scrolling for a bit, Yu He left the thread.

He couldn’t be bothered to look at anything related to Tang Chao. It was too hard on the eyes.

Opening the last hot post, the thread starter was called “No Money for Porridge.” It was probably him in person.

The main post was written in a familiar style, long and rambling. It explained what had happened the night before, firmly confirming that Yu He had bought the account and even thumped his chest to guarantee that the current account holder was definitely not Jiaojiao.

At the end, he’d also added a dramatic, heart-wrenching love story between Voice Changer and himself, which Yu He promptly chose to ignore.

2L: srds,¹说实话地说 / 说实在的说 = tbh, honestly speaking, real talk is the OP really Porridge himself?

5L: It’s him. Porridge said so over World Chat

8L: I’m starting to go full conspiracy theorist. Since the Marrow-Cleansing Pill sold for that much, could there be some kind of behind-the-scenes deal? Like helping clear someone’s name?

10L: Porridge is actually a pretty decent guy, an old player too. He wouldn’t do something like that just for a bit of money

12L: He’s going to keep playing the game anyway. If it were fake Porridge, there’d be no reason to do this. And really, who dislikes Jiaojiao more than Porridge does?

14L: I knew it. No wonder White Lotus hadn’t quit yet. Turns out she really was planning to sell the account and squeeze out one last profit

16L: Is the story at the end real…

19L: I wanted to say this back when Mingyue was exposed; game CP is just game CP. Mingyue only used a voice changer; he didn’t deceive anyone’s feelings. I really don’t get why people were being so fragile about it. Did you add QQ/WeChat privately? Exchange phone numbers? No. Didn’t you get married in-game just for the romance quest? Not the person involved, but I played with them for a while; count me a semi-insider

20L: Didn’t he apologize personally when he was exposed back then??

22L: Any proof? Maybe he was flirting with girls behind the scenes

23L: The girl already quit the game. Where are you supposed to get proof now?

24L: Isn’t her best friend still around? That Mingyue nmsl

25L: Sure, the emotional whiplash must’ve hurt, and being deceived would make anyone angry. But if there are records of Voice Changer flirting, post them. If not, keeping a bounty on him and ruining his reputation feels kind of over the line

27L: Wait, didn’t he come out and apologize when he was exposed before? Doesn’t apologizing mean admitting guilt?

28L: Maybe Mingyue was just kind of dumb…

29L: u1s1, I’ve run dungeons with Mingyue before. He was pretty nice and took good care of people. Back then, I thought his voice was nice and even had a bit of a crush. I’d seen tons of online dating to real life sweet stories, so I joked with him, like, “Why don’t we just get together?” He replied: “I just want to play the game properly. Not interested in online dating.”

33L: Xianxia Online saves chat logs really well. If there was anything ambiguous, just post it

39L: Why is everyone talking about Voice Changer… did Jiaojiao really sell the account?

44L: I’m 29L, screenshots here [screenshot]

45L: This doesn’t prove much, does it? Maybe he’s one way to your face and another behind your back

Yu He’s head started to ache from reading. He went to search for the old posts that had exposed Voice Changer and scrolled for ages before finally finding his apology.

[Sorry. I shouldn’t have used a voice changer to deceive people]

Just that single short sentence. No further replies.

It actually fit his honest, somewhat clueless personality.

After spending so much time around him, Yu He had to admit that the scales in his heart had tilted a little.

Whatever, whatever. Why should he care about other people’s business?

After finishing browsing the forums, Yu He no longer had any excuse to stay in bed. He got up, washed up, heated himself a cup of milk, and stuffed down a few slices of bread. Once he was fed and watered, he opened □□ to clear out his messages.

It was his habit. When he’d just woken up and was still half-asleep, he’d only scroll Weibo, forums, and short videos. He wouldn’t reply to anyone, and he wouldn’t read the messages people had sent him either.

To avoid doing or saying things without thinking.

The □□ account he’d added Porridge and the Voice Changer to last night was a newly created alt, named He-jiang, with a pink soft-girl avatar.

Yu Guo had pulled them into a four-person discussion group called “Get-Rich-Quick.” All four of them had changed their nicknames to their respective in-game IDs.

There were already quite a few messages inside.

Guo Jiao: woc, I got up early and checked the auction house price before military training started, and instantly passed out

No Money for Porridge: I passed out too

No Money for Porridge: Guo Jiao, are you a freshman?

Guo Jiao: Yeah

No Money for Porridge: This senior dog is about to graduate,uate sheds envious tears

Guo Jiao: I really want to graduate already QAQ

Doting on He-jiang: Where’s He-jiang?

Guo Jiao: Probably still asleep, he has a habit of sleeping in

Guo Jiao: she

Guo Jiao: damn input method

Yu He stared at that very much trying-too-hard “she”²她 (she) and 他 (he) are both read/pronounced as tā and couldn’t help laughing softly.

These days, people didn’t really fixate on “he” or “she” in chat. As long as everyone understood, there was no need to be so nervous about it.

Doting on He-jiang: Looks like no one’s bidding anymore. Let’s sell the Marrow-Cleansing Pill to Zhizi Yugui tonight, then split the money afterward

Guo Jiao: Okay, okay, okay, I’m gonna splurge on a set of outfits ( ’w ’ * ) the newly released Flowing Fire set is sooo pretty

No Money for Porridge: Finally can pay off my Huabei…³Ant Group’s credit service (under Alipay).

Guo Jiao: Military training time, military training time. Running off, 88⁴bā bā, similar to bye-bye

No Money for Porridge: Go on, go on

Doting on He-jiang: 88

After thinking for a moment, Yu He sent a [sleepy little penguin just woke up] sticker, then switched over to WeChat.

No one was really looking for him. Aside from some gaming invites in the dorm group, the only messages left were from Tang Shaoqing.

Tang: National Day’s next week. I checked, we’re on the same route going home

Tang: There’s no direct high-speed rail from here. I’ll come to City A first, then we can take the high-speed train back together

---

The author has something to say:

I heard yesterday’s chapter was a bit too long and thick for some of you to handle (?)_(:з」∠)_So today’s one will be a bit shorter then

---

Jie Jie: Early update as I’ll be going out tomorrow~

“Now he’s interfering with someone else’s auction again. Figured it’s him,” Yu He said indignantly as he stared at the auction house page.

He’d been in Xianxia Online for so long that, because of Jiaojiao and Mingyue, he’d almost forgotten about Tang Chao. Yu Guo hadn’t mentioned him again either. If Tang Chao hadn’t raised the bid tonight, Yu He probably wouldn’t have remembered him anytime soon.

Just like that scumbag. Someone’s buying something and he has to mess with it. Really… there’s nothing nice to say.

“…Maybe those two have some kind of grudge. I heard Zhizi Yugui’s RNG luck is pretty bad,” Tang Shaoqing rubbed his face, not understanding what had given Yu He that impression.

He’d only realized after adding WeChat that the one who’d hired him to boost was Yu Guo. He’d been pleasantly surprised. After all, Yu Guo was close to Yu He. If Yu Guo had started playing, maybe Yu He was too?

He’d even farmed a bit extra for her and taken meticulous care of everything. After all, she was his future sister-in-law… ahem.

Logically, it shouldn’t be like this.

Yu He casually opened the anonymous forum and searched Zhizi Yugui’s name. “There’s not much negative stuff about him on the forum…”

Mostly people kneeling and sucking up to an RMB whale.

By contrast, when Yu He searched Tang Chao, “There are tons of posts about ‘Scumbag Tang Chao.’”

Tang Shaoqing: “…”

Looks like he needed to start hanging out on the anonymous forums too.

Guji: u1s1, Zhizi Yugui shows off with Luo Yan every day, especially when your account logs in, you’re guaranteed to see a 99-yuan firework

Guji: He’s really got it out for you

Guji: Probably just bored

Guji: Where’d you go

Guji: ?

Guji: sb¹傻逼 meaning idiot/dumbass. But on this context, it’s more of a complain and joke can you stop ghosting me every day, people get emotional too, yingyingying QAQ

Guji: Ying?

Gu Ji looked at himself, like a forsaken wife, and fell silent, then angrily typed—

Guji: Guo Jiao logged off, didn’t she? So are you chatting somewhere else? You dog man

Tang Shaoqing also fell silent.

Tang: You’ve always thought there was something between me and Guo Jiao?

Guji: Isn’t there?

Tang: You know I already like someone

He’d accidentally let it slip once when he was drunk. Thankfully, without revealing anything else.

Guji: Yeah, wasn’t it Guo Jiao??

Tang: …

Guji: …

No wonder Guji had teased the two of them in the guild before. He’d thought it was just Guji messing around as usual. Turns out it had been a misunderstanding.

Then…

Tang: Did you say anything to Guo Jiao?

Guji: Just… just casually said a few things

Tang: …

Guji: I’m sorry…

Guji: QAQ

Guji: I’ll treat you to a meal once I move to the main campus

Tang: …I’ll go try to fix this

Guji: Okay…

Guji: I thought you divorced Guo Jiao because you were playing hard to get

Guji: No wonder she hasn’t really spoken in the guild lately…

Tang Shaoqing felt his head throb with pain.

His brain must’ve short-circuited. How had he not seen this coming?

Yu Guo had probably thought Tang Chao had toyed with her, then gone to complain to Yu He. Those two likely both thought Tang Chao was a scumbag now.

Why did he suddenly feel like abandoning the account?

“Hello? You still there?” Seeing that Voice Changer hadn’t said anything for a while, Yu He couldn’t help asking, after browsing the forums.

“Here.” Tang Shaoqing steadied himself and sent a shared-mount invitation.

[Player “Doting on He-jiang” has invited you to ride together]

“Where to?” Yu He paused, then clicked Accept.

“The usual spot,” Tang Shaoqing said.

Yu He thought it was somewhere he didn’t know, but it turned out to be Northern Plains.

In Xianxia Online, in-game time followed real-world time. It was already late at night, the sky pitch-dark, snow still falling in soft flurries.

There were quite a few players around, probably because of tonight’s hidden dungeon.

Luckily, Northern Plains was a safe zone by design. The two red-named players just walked around openly.

“Hide everyone else. I want to show you something,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“Okay.” Yu He did as told.

[Player “Doting on He-jiang” set off 99 fireworks for you]

Yu He’s heart skipped.

On a snowy night, fireworks carved themselves deep into the sky, scattering softly around them. Mixed in with the faint glow of fireflies, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

…Fireflies?

Yu He switched the camera angle and took a closer look. They really were fireflies, exactly the same as the ones they’d seen in the hidden dungeon earlier.

“When we first entered the dungeon, I noticed these fireflies could be caught. It just requires bottles as tools,” Tang Shaoqing, who had actually read the script, delivered this nonsense with deadpan seriousness.

So that was why he’d been buying bottles in world chat.

“When did you catch them? I didn’t even notice,” Yu He asked.

“Secretly. I wanted to give you a surprise.” The gathering animation wasn’t very noticeable, and with fireflies everywhere in the dungeon, he’d grabbed some whenever he had the chance.

Something stirred in Yu He’s chest, and he hesitated.

Should he tell him that he’d actually been deceived by Jiaojiao… or just keep things like this for now and slowly let it fade?

After all, he’d said it himself, he wasn’t crossing into real-life involvement, just wanted to play games together.

Lying felt awful. Even a well-intentioned lie carried a lot of pressure.

Just as Yu He was wavering, Tang Shaoqing suddenly let out a soft “Hmm?.”

“What is it?” Yu He asked.

“These fireflies seem like they can reproduce. Let’s go home and try,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“Okay.” After a moment’s thought, Yu He ultimately said nothing.

After showing off their affection in the Northern Plains, the two of them, completely oblivious to the World Chat and nearby area blowing up, headed back to the manor.

Manors could house pets, spirit beasts, and plants. In theory, raising fireflies should be possible too.

“Done.” Tang Shaoqing placed a jar of fireflies onto the grass. The system indicated that they had begun breeding.

You could raise all sorts of things in Xianxia Online. Fireflies were a first, probably another hidden dungeon Easter egg. Not particularly useful, but perfect for showing off affection.

“What’s this egg?” Yu He wandered around the courtyard and suddenly noticed a pink egg in the incubation slot.

There was nothing special about it, but in the few days since he’d started playing, he hadn’t seen a spirit beast egg before. It felt pretty novel.

Speaking of the egg, that was actually the main reason Tang Shaoqing had bought this account in the first place.

When he’d previously gone to Weiyun company to meet Gu Qiyun, he’d happened to overhear people talking about a pink egg. It seemed to be some kind of hidden spirit beast, nothing particularly powerful, very hard to hatch, but with an interesting setting once it did hatch.

As for how it was interesting, even he didn’t really know.

Later, Mingyue had casually mentioned that he was incubating a pink egg and that Jiaojiao quite liked it, but it just wouldn’t hatch.

The egg had already been bound to Mingyue’s account, and he’d planned to give it to Jiaojiao after it hatched, but since it was bound, he couldn’t trade it.

Around that time, while Tang Shaoqing was doing backend maintenance, he’d also happened to discover that Mingyue had been mistreated. After thinking it over, he decided to buy a small alt account and play for a bit.

After all, having played games for so long, he still had a bit of desire for unknown things and that was part of what made games fun.

“I don’t know either. We’ll find out once it hatches. Let’s gather some materials for incubating spirit beasts tomorrow,” Tang Shaoqing said as he stuffed a bit more cotton around the egg.

“Okay.” For some reason, he suddenly felt a little excited…

“It’s getting late,” Tang Shaoqing glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of his screen. “Go to sleep.”

“Mhm.”

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

After logging off and lying in bed, Yu He scrolled through □□ on his phone for a bit. In the fan group “Shou He’s Alphas”, people were talking about Xianxia Online, and he casually clicked in to take a look.

[Ah, ah, ah, North Plains really has a hidden dungeon!!! QAQ]

[I’m from Chang Xiang Si server, saw it live]

[I heard a Marrow-Cleansing Pill dropped, holy crap]

[Was there only one Marrow-Cleansing Pill?]

[No idea]

[What game is this?]

[Xianxia Online]

[Kinda wanna start playing]

[Come on in, sister!]

[I heard that pill was auctioned for a crazy price… I went to look and damn, I don’t wanna work hard anymore]

Yu He curved his lips slightly. Just then, a WeChat notification popped up at the top of the screen. Before he could tap it, his cat suddenly pounced right onto his face.

Yu He: “…”

The orange cat’s full name was Ju Youjing. He was a boy, not young anymore, extremely clingy, and a bit shy around strangers, but once familiar, he turned into a little tagalong.

Yu He picked up the cat, staring thoughtfully at the dangling balls between its hind legs.

Kitty, Dad’s doing this for your own good.

Yu He kissed the cat on the head, wearing the relieved smile of an old father.

After soothing the kitty and lying back down on the bed, several messages from Tang Shaoqing had already come in on WeChat.

Tang: Is big brother asleep?

Tang: Are you coming back for National Day?

Tang: Anything good to eat near your school?

Tang: Asleep?

Tang: [kitty acting cute]

Yu He quickly replied—

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Not asleep yet

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: I should be going back for National Day if nothing unexpected comes up

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Near the school… there’s a little spicy hotpot place that’s pretty good, it’s been open for years and always has customers

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: There’s also an old grandpa by the overpass selling candied hawthorns. His yam hawthorn ones are really good

Tang: Okay

Tang: I’ll treat you to a meal then, big brother

Yu He curled his lips into a smile.

The kid had really grown up.

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Sure ah

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Guess all that kindness I showed you when you were little wasn’t wasted

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: [hands on hips]

Tang: [kitty kiss]

He’d been too good to him.

Now the kid was starting to push his luck.

---

Jie Jie: Sorry for late upload! Posted 2 to make up for it. Thank you for understanding~

“It’s fine, I guess… it’s just gender.” After all, as a top-tier figure in the voice-acting scene, Yu He had seen it all. He’d been shipped with people more times than he could count. He’d long since learned to take these things in stride.

Tang Shaoqing’s eyes widened slightly, the smile at the corner of his mouth impossible to hide.

As long as he wasn’t repulsed, there was at least a chance.

Besides, Yu He had voiced BL radio dramas before, so it made sense that he wouldn’t be against it.

With the dungeon cleared, the World Chat icon reappeared.

[World][Don’tWantToStudy]: Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah it’s over. What did you get??

[World][NineMeters]: Camping front row!

[World][Pink Gold Carat]: Ah, ah, ah so excited

[World][Jiaojiao nmsl]: Where are you?

[World][Guji]: Camping for results qvq

[World][Little Elf]: Where’d you go…

“What did we even get…” Porridge scratched his head. It felt like they hadn’t gotten anything, just played through the story and got some money at the end.

“One pill and a revival manual,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“…That’s it? Just these two items?” Yu Guo looked utterly baffled.

“Don’t panic. There’s an explanation.”

[Marrow-Cleansing Pill: Allows reallocation of skill points]

[Revival Manual: After cultivation, allows revival of oneself or others; cooldown decreases as level increases]

“Holy shit, the Marrow-Cleansing Pill!” Porridge exclaimed.

In Xianxia Online, skill points were divided into Constitution, Strength, Qi, Control, and Agility. But players only had a total of 100 points. Once allocated, they couldn’t be refunded or changed. The Marrow-Cleansing Pill existed to make up for that flaw.

The Marrow-Cleansing Pill couldn’t be crafted and could only drop through pure RNG. Very few had ever dropped, and its price had been driven to astronomical levels.

“I heard Zhizi Yugui has been begging for one forever and still hasn’t gotten it,” Porridge said.

Tang Shaoqing raised an eyebrow.

Zhizi Yugui, huh…

“How about we sell them?” Yu He suggested.

After all, with just these two items, there was no way to split them among the four of them, and he didn’t really care, especially with two outsiders present.

“Sure.” No one objected.

“So what about that revival manual?” Yu Guo asked.

That manual was basically like a healer’s resurrection skill, not exactly groundbreaking.

“You guys split it. I don’t need it. My advisor’s looking for me, I’m logging off,” Porridge waved his hand, looking completely unconcerned.

He’d been dragged in for no clear reason anyway. Getting a Marrow-Cleansing Pill for free was already pretty great. Porridge·Zen mode, was perfectly satisfied.

“Leave some contact info. Once we sell the Marrow-Cleansing Pill, we’ll split the profits,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“Sure.”

After adding each other on □□, Yu Guo and Porridge both logged off. One due to a power outage and going to sleep, the other because his advisor had summoned him in the middle of the night.

Once again, only the two of them were left.

Yu He thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go learn that manual.”

Meaning: Let’s hang up the call.

“Okay. I’ll put the Marrow-Cleansing Pill up on the auction house,” Tang Shaoqing replied.

They were still in a party together, and the mic was still on. Yu He hesitated for a bit, then let it be.

Yu Guo had already said she didn’t want the manual. She was just a casual player, so it was useless to her. As for Voice Changer, he wore an expression that clearly said what’s mine is my wife’s.

Yu He had no choice but to accept it.

Learning the manual was quick. Just a right-click and it was done. Afterward, Yu He set it to a shortcut and carefully read through the description.

It was actually pretty cracked. Healers already had a skill to revive others. Add this manual on top for double resurrection, and future fights would be stress-free.

And then there was the real cheat: It could revive yourself. Completely broken.

Once the skill was fully leveled, who knew how short the cooldown would get.

After learning the skill, Yu He rested his chin on his hand and glanced at world chat. He hadn’t checked it all evening, and it felt a little strange.

Meanwhile, the World Chat had gone insane because of a single line from Voice Changer.

[World][Doting on He-jiang]: Selling Marrow-Cleansing Pill. Auction house, go check

[World][Yanghua Falling]: ??!! HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

[World][JiaoJiao nmsl]: ???? HOLY SHIT A MARROW-CLEANSING PILL

[World][Guji]: Holy crap, a Marrow-Cleansing Pill dropped

[World][Luoyang Snow]: wdm¹Slang for 我的妈 (wǒ de mā). Lit. My mom. Meaning: Omg, wtf a Marrow-Cleansing Pill!! I’m actually seeing a real one

[World][Zhizi Yugui]: Name your price

[World][Fly Higher]: ? What the hell??

[World][Idiot Kid]: Oh my god

“They’ve started bidding.” While Yu He was lurking, the familiar voice came through his headset.

“Hm?”

“Go check the auction house.”

“Oh, okay.”

The auction house was where players traded items. An auction meant the highest bidder won. At a glance, Yu He spotted the Marrow-Cleansing Pill, its price already pushed sky-high.

Yu He wasn’t a whale. He’d always played games in a pretty Zen way, only buying something occasionally if he really liked it. This was the first time he’d ever seen a virtual pill auctioned to such an outrageous price.

Even though his family was loaded, his parents had raised him frugally from a young age. They only loosened the reins after he went to college, and he still wasn’t quite used to it. He’d always lived low-key.

The price kept climbing. Every refresh showed Zhizi Yugui competing with different bidders, inching it higher and higher.

“Why does Zhizi Yugui want the Marrow-Cleansing Pill so badly?” Yu He asked, puzzled.

In his mind, Zhizi Yugui was just “RMB whale”, top of the cash rankings, apparently Luo Yan’s game partner. Luo Yan, Luo Yan… why did that name sound so familiar?

“Probably thinks he misallocated his skill points. He’s never been able to climb the PK rankings,” Tang Shaoqing said with a smile.

Zhizi Yugui had always been oddly hostile toward him. Tang Shaoqing had never really understood why. Thinking it over, the only explanation was that he just couldn’t beat him.

Zhizi Yugui was an assassin too. His gear was top-tier, but his hand speed and game sense were lacking; he’d never been able to win against Tang Chao in arena PK.

Back then, Tang Chao had casually commented on his mechanics and awareness and maybe Zhizi Yugui felt embarrassed. After that, whatever Tang Chao did, Zhizi Yugui had to outdo him, even marrying Luo Yan was probably partly out of spite.

Anyone who liked gossip in World Chat knew that Zhizi Yugui and Tang Chao were at odds.

Tang Shaoqing couldn’t be bothered with it. It was just a game, why be so petty?

Back then, he played games for fun and money. Now… he played to be a little closer to big brother.

“I really don’t understand rich people’s world,” Yu He sighed.

Tang Shaoqing chuckled, recalling how Yu He used to wear head-to-toe designer clothes as a kid while scrimping and saving to buy candied hawthorns. If Uncle Yu and Aunt Yu hadn’t raised him so well, Yu He might’ve ended up a full-blown RMB whale in-game too.

But… as long as big brother was happy, that was enough.

He was no longer the little kid who stuck to Yu He’s back, calling him big brother over and over like cling wrap. Now, he could stand in front of Yu He and shield him from the wind and rain.

Yu He suddenly let out a soft ‘huh?’, “Tang Chao?”

“Hm?” Tang Shaoqing’s heart jolted.

“This is hilarious,” Yu He laughed as he rubbed the cat’s head. “Every time Zhizi Yugui raises the bid, Tang Chao adds just one yuan. Zhizi Yugui’s afraid he’ll keep dragging it out, so he can only raise it by more each time. What kind of grudge do those two even have?”

Tang Shaoqing opened the auction house page. Sure enough, just as Yu He said, every time Zhizi Yugui bid, Tang Chao followed with an extra 1 RMB.

Tang Shaoqing silently opened WeChat.

Tang: Did you log into my account?

Guji: I PM’d you and you didn’t reply, so I logged in. Your account has money, it can bid. Mine’s too broke to do it.

Guji: Isn’t Zhizi Yugui that smug bastard? This is cracking me up.

Tang: Fine then.

Guji really disliked Zhizi Yugui. He’d been robbed during escort missions a few times and targeted more than once. Whenever Guji’s guild made any move, Zhizi Yugui would always throw out sarcastic remarks.

Even several anonymous gossip posts on the forums had IPs matching Zhizi Yugui’s.

Absolutely impressive. A grown man, yet that petty. Respect.

Guji: Hey wait, who are you chatting with? You’re not replying to me. Don’t tell me you’ve got someone else out there.

Tang: Get lost.

Tang: I’ve sent screenshots to Jingjing.

Jingjing was this guy’s girlfriend. Don’t be fooled by how unserious he usually looked, he was a total wife slave in private.

Guji: ?

Guji: Bro, we just made up. Don’t do me like this.

Their interests were pretty different. Jingjing didn’t even like gaming. No idea how those two ended up together. They fought over trivial things all the time, made up within half a day, then went right back to showering everyone with PDA. Tang Shaoqing was already used to it.

“Do you know Tang Chao?” Just as Tang Shaoqing was about to reply with a sticker, that came through his headset. The next second, he shut off his phone and focused entirely on the computer screen.

“What about Tang Chao?” Tang Shaoqing asked.

“He’s a scumbag,” Yu He said.

Tang Shaoqing: “?”

Following the guidance into the commander’s main tent, Yu He hurriedly canceled the princess-carry action.

He must’ve had a screw loose…

But ever since learning about how Voice Changer had been screwed over, his impression had shifted a little.

As Yu Guo said, Voice Changer probably wasn’t a bad person. He was just insecure, which was why he used a voice changer. He hadn’t meant to deceive anyone’s feelings.

And he was… pretty dumb and rich, too.

“Shen… Yu? That name’s pretty nice.” Yu Guo deliberately emphasized the “Yu.”

What a coincidence.

The man in iron armor stood inside the tent. The model was well-built, striking and heroic, though his face was expressionless, giving off an aloof, cold aura.

Tang Shaoqing’s eyes curved slightly as he stared at that “Yu.”¹It had the same character for Yu He’s Yu.

[Handed the Silk Fan to Shen Yu]

“A’Ying?” Taking the fan, the man’s expression softened. He gently stroked the fan’s surface, as if caressing his beloved.

Then an MV cut in.

[It was the first autumn after the demon race abducted Great Gu’s Seventh Prince, the year the first shot was fired between the Central Plains and the Northern Desert.

Shen Yu, the legitimate son of the Shen family of sword cultivators and the Yu family of pill refiners, was dispatched to Northern Plains, the grasslands where the Central Plains and the Northern Desert met.

There, Shen Yu encountered a blond, blue-eyed little girl, barely over ten years old. Dirty and disheveled yet lively and full of energy, she clung to him, calling him “big brother” over and over. Fifteen-year-old Shen Yu was completely helpless against her.]

Tang Shaoqing rubbed his nose, suddenly reminded of his childhood self.

[Most of the Northern Plain’s natives were displaced by the war, wandering east and west in unrest. Naturally, the little girl called A’Ying ended up staying in the camp, helping with cooking and laundry.]

[Year after year passed. The Seventh Prince remained missing, the demon race repeatedly caused trouble in the Central Plains, tensions between the two sides grew ever tighter, and A’Ying and Shen Yu became increasingly close.]

[Until that day, the Seventh Prince’s soul lamp was extinguished. With a single order from the one in the imperial city, war began.]

[The war was brutally devastating. Millions of corpses afloat, blood flowing for a thousand miles. Wherever it reached, the wails of wronged souls filled the land.]

[The demon race lost that war utterly, crashing headlong into a trap, as if… as if they had mistaken the trap for Shen Yu’s location and thrown everything they had into it.]

[When the smoke cleared over the setting sun and the battle cries fell silent, Shen Yu searched everywhere, stepping over corpses, yet he could no longer find the girl who once chased fireflies with a small silk fan.]

The MV ended. The screen froze on the final scene: Shen Yu holding a blood-stained silk fan, a one-winged firefly resting upon it.

“‘A’Ying… was she from the demon race?” After watching the MV, everyone felt a lingering sense of heartbreak.

“Probably, right? She came as a spy, then met true love, betrayed the demon race, and all that… Can we talk to Shen Yu?”

Tang Shaoqing walked up to the man kneeling on one knee and pressed F to initiate dialogue.

“What did he say?”

“He said they’d discovered A’Ying’s identity a long time ago. The map they showed her was fake. Even though both locations were traps, the one A’Ying told the demon race about was the trap’s location.”

“He was gambling. Gambling on which side A’Ying would choose without ever considering how she felt.”

After the dialogue ended, a black-clad figure emerged from somewhere unknown. His face was unclear, his origins uncertain.

“Boss fight?”

Tang Shaoqing continued talking to the black-clad man. “He says A’Ying was exploited by the demon race. They broke her wings to extend her lifespan and threatened her into infiltrating the camp to steal intelligence. If she succeeded, they’d return her wings; if she failed, they’d destroy them and kill her.”

“After all… for a firefly, wings are more important than life itself.”

“This is hard to bear…” Yu Guo said quietly.

“I need to cry for a bit,” Porridge sniffed.

It was indeed painful. Yu He buried his face in his cat’s fur and took a deep breath.

When a healing-type cat meets a BE storyline…

The BE storyline wins.

A’Ying fell in love, while Shen Yu, bearing the weight of righteousness, deceived her. Wings mattered more than life, yet once it came to Shen Yu, life no longer mattered. She stood above everything else, even if it meant throwing it all away and never flying again.

“The black-clad man is talking to Shen Yu.”

“There may be a way to revive her. Are you willing to try?” The black-clad man asked.

Shen Yu tightened his grip on the fan and immediately agreed.

“The premise is that it goes against your mission.”

Mission.

To protect the Central Plains?

If he couldn’t even protect the one he loved, what right did he have to speak of righteousness?

“Use your heart’s blood to activate the formation. If it succeeds, the two of you will be bound together for life. If it fails, you will die as well.”

Shen Yu agreed without hesitation.

Whether it was true or not, whether it could succeed or not, he could no longer muddle through life alone.

The scene shifted. The formation had already been drawn. It was that lush, shadowy grassland. At night, it would be blanketed by drifting fireflies, and now and then, faint silhouettes of two people chasing and playing could still be seen.

[Defeat the Black-Clad Man and seize the formation manual]

A new objective appeared. The group immediately got to work at their keyboards, ready to go all out.

Worthy of being a boss, it had thick HP, high damage, and was tough to fight. Even with four people, it was a struggle.

“If you went out and fought like this, someone would probably start suspecting your identity…” Porridge suddenly said mid-fight.

“Huh? Who?” Yu He asked casually.

“You.”

“?”

“Your gameplay is way better than Jiao Jiao’s. Jiao Jiao… well… it’s hard to describe.”

“It’s alright,” Yu He said modestly.

He’d played this type of mobile game before, even played healer roles. Once you got the hang of it, his performance was passable.

“And you didn’t even check whose romantic partner he is,” Tang·hands-on-hips·Shaoqing said unhurriedly as he calmly released his final skill. The boss’s HP bar dropped to zero.

“Tsk tsk tsk, this public display of affection… even a monk like me can’t stand it.”

Yu He: “…”

Guoguo: //// Damn it, I really can!!

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Give it up.

[Obtained “Revival Manual” ×1]

After the boss fell, the screen suddenly darkened and another MV played.

The formation activated. The grassland that had been bathed in blazing sunlight was instantly covered in snow. A man lay there with his eyes closed, holding a silk fan in his arms. On the fan rested what seemed to be a small insect with broken wings.

Not far away in the snow, a black wolf was curled up, cradling a tiny tabby cat in its embrace, snow piling up on their bodies.

The snow continued to fall, like countless firefly souls descending to embrace the earth.

The screen went dark again, then switched back to Northern Plains. The four of them stood there blankly, looking so stunned they could’ve sat down and played a full round of mahjong.

[Congratulations to players “He-jiang,” “Doting on He-jiang,” “Guo Jiao,” and “No Money For Porridge” for clearing the hidden dungeon “Fireflies”]

“Is it over?” Yu He was a bit slow to react.

“It’s over…?!” Yu Guo was still mulling over the wolf and the cat in the final scene.

“It kind of feels like there’s more to it,” Porridge rubbed his chin.

That last scene was obviously telling a story ah.

“Do you remember the Seventh Prince? He was a half-cat demon,” Tang Shaoqing licked his lips and reminded them.

“!”

With that reminder, everyone more or less had a guess.

“The wolf was probably that black-clad man… He wanted to revive the Seventh Prince. Didn’t the Seventh Prince get taken by the demon-race boss? That black-clad man was probably the demon-race boss.”

Porridge went a bit blank. “So, they’re cut sleeves²Gays…”

“Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah—” Yu Guo scrubbed her face and let out a roar under her roommates’ baffled stares.

This Easter egg was really…!!

So shippable!

Just a bit tear-jerking TvT.

Tang Shaoqing dug out the script he’d stolen earlier from the cluttered desktop on his computer and read through it carefully.

In the original setup, the Seventh Prince Gu Li had been frail since childhood. Jiang Wang was a wolf cub from Northern Plains who’d been captured and passed from hand to hand, eventually becoming Gu Li’s “beloved pet.”

Sparks flew between the two, while the struggle for the imperial succession grew increasingly intense. Neither of them lived well. Gu Li was assassinated, and Jiang Wang, barely alive, was thrown back into the Northern Plains.

Later, Jiang Wang cultivated forbidden arts in the Northern Plains, unified the demon race, and brought Gu Li back to his side. But Gu Li’s body was already beyond saving.

From then on, Jiang Wang searched everywhere for secret treasures, traversing the entire continent. In the end, Gu Li still passed away.

And that led to the later storyline.

A sweet love story…?

Tang Shaoqing stared coldly at the title written by who-knew-who.

In the end, they didn’t actually put this pair’s story into the game, just brushed past it and left a cliffhanger. After all, same-sex relationships were still a sensitive topic, and with Xianxia Online being so popular and under so much scrutiny, plenty of eyes were watching.

“Do girls all like this kind of gay stuff?” Porridge couldn’t help asking after hearing Yu Guo’s outburst.

“So shippable ah, bruhh!!” Yu Guo yelled.

“…What about you, Xiao He?” Porridge asked again.

Tang Shaoqing raised an eyebrow.

“Done.” The moment Tang Shaoqing finished speaking, the stone door swung open.

Inside was pitch-black. Following the instructions, they picked up a few fire starters and lit them, illuminating the entire cave. There was a tattered scroll inside, along with some elixirs.

The scroll was already blurred and hard to read, but it roughly told of the fireflies’ resentment being exploited by someone with ulterior motives. That person cultivated demonic arts in this cave and left behind several extremely powerful elixirs. In the end, he rose to dominate the demon race, unified the Northern Desert, and singlehandedly ignited a great war between the Demon Race and the Central Plains.

“Fireflies’ resentment?” Yu He stared at the words on the scroll, deep in thought.

“A lifetime spent wanting to escape the abyss, only to reach the surface and live for just seven days. Resentment was inevitable,” Tang Shaoqing said.

That was true. Struggling with everything they had to break free from the abyss, only to briefly embrace the light. Outsiders might see it as tragic yet glorious, but who could truly know the bitterness and hatred in their hearts?

After obtaining [Unknown Elixir ×2], the group retraced their steps and handed the elixirs to the little girl.

After she swallowed one elixir, a brief animation played. A damaged wing sprouted from her back, then, under the elixir’s effect, transformed into a complete pair of wings.

Darkness fell again, and when the light returned, the surroundings had completely changed.

Warm sunlight flooded the world. The snow blanketing the ground had turned into clusters of short grass, as if they had arrived in a boundless grassland.

“Wow…” Yu Guo spun her qin character around a few times.

A large swarm of butterflies fluttered about, faint flowers blooming among the grass. It really felt like they were standing on a prairie.

“Did we reach the surface?” Porridge also turned in place.

Yu He switched the camera angle to look around. “Weren’t we on snowfields earlier? And it was really dark…”

How had it suddenly become a sun-drenched grassland?

“Let’s take a look,” Tang Shaoqing said as he walked over to the wing-flapping little girl and initiated dialogue.

During the time they’d been exploring the cave, Yu Guo had already handed over the party leader role to him, saying she wasn’t capable enough and felt ashamed by comparison.

“What did she say?”

“She said the Central Plains army is about to attack. She wants us to help her find the person she loves in the military camp. She carries a demonic energy and can’t enter herself.” Tang Shaoqing shared the newly obtained [Token – Silk Fan] with the party.

The silk fan was embroidered with faint little flowers, the stitches uneven and sloppy; kind of ugly.

“Falling in love at such a young age?”

“She looks young, but she might actually be older than you.”

“Which way is the military camp?”

“The fireflies will lead us there.”

Following the fireflies, the four of them arrived in front of a military camp. A huge “Gu” character was written above it, the imperial family’s surname in the game world.

There were many red-named guards at the gate, clearly ready for a fight. Before the others could even react, the black-clad assassin had already insta-killed the four nearest guards.

After changing into the guards’ uniforms, they slipped inside without any trouble, following the quest markers and talking to various people in the camp.

“The Seventh Prince of Great Gu was snatched away by the demon race. They’ve been fighting for years now; he’s probably long dead. Grim prospects.”

“He’s probably some useless prince. A half-breed cat demon at that. Nothing more than a pawn.”

“The demon race? What are they worth? Our commanding-in-chief is the legitimate son of the Shen family, a top-tier talent. He’s been guarding the Northern Desert for Great Gu for years. Every year during the Osmanthus Festival, the people set out water banquets to welcome him back.”

“That girl’s lover… should be this commander in chief, right?” Yu He scratched his chin.

“According to Mary Sue tropes, it has to be,” Yu Guo said with a knowing look. “Like ‘the domineering commander falls in love with me.’”

“Pfft.” Yu He laughed. “That little girl looks about ten. Isn’t that way too early for romance?”

“You don’t get it. In ancient times, people got married barely past ten. Your little sister here had a crush back in kindergarten.”

“That’s still way too early.”

“Old fossil, old fossil.”

“I am an old fossil.”

“Bleh bleh bleh.”

Porridge: “You sisters are really interesting.”

Yu Guo: “…”

Yu He: “…”

…Sisters? = =

Tang Shaoqing stayed silent at the side, drifting into a daze without realizing it.

When he first met his brother, he had only been seven or eight. Back then, he’d thought he needed to cling to him, be obedient, just to live a little better.

After all, young masters from wealthy families were usually spoiled and would surely be hostile toward an outsider like him. If he wanted to survive, the only option was to behave.

Later, he realized he’d been completely wrong.

Yu He would sneak off with him to read comics, hold his hand every day on the way to and from school, and even take out his tightly rationed pocket money to secretly buy spicy strips and share them with him.

Later, as he grew older, Yu He’s care for him remained just as meticulous. At an age when he was dirt-poor and had nothing to his name, the only thing he could trade was misery in exchange for a little peace and warmth.

He knew Yu He had always been kind to the younger generation, whether to him, to Yu Guo, or to the other kids in the family. Like a sun, warm to everyone without exception.

When did he fall for him? He couldn’t say.

Maybe it was when he realized he’d started to become selfish. When he’d sulk alone after seeing Yu He be kind to others, when Yu He began appearing in his dreams at night, when he’d secretly run over to Yu He’s school just to steal a glance at him…

“Where’d you go? Why aren’t you moving? Lag?” It wasn’t until a gentle female voice came through his headset that Tang Shaoqing snapped back to reality.

He really enjoyed Yu He’s voice acting in radio dramas. Whether it was BL or BG, male or female roles, he could listen to them on repeat countless times.

This voice was the female lead from Yu He’s latest drama; soft and gentle, just like Yu He himself.

[Player “He-jiang” wants to princess-carry you]

[Accept or Reject]

Staring at the pop-up window on the screen, Tang Shaoqing couldn’t help but laugh silently.

In Xianxia Online, two-person interactions had to be unlocked. You could unlock them for free through activities, pay for them outright, or complete quests. Once unlocked, both players could use them.

For example… a bunny-eared little loli princess carrying a black-clad assassin.

Screenshot. Screenshot.

Yu He couldn’t quite hold it in either. Afraid he might slip and let his real voice out, he hurriedly turned off party voice chat, gently rubbing the cat’s head as he laughed freely.

“Meow?” The chubby orange cat that had been curled up napping on Yu He’s legs was jolted awake, tilting its head sleepily.

---

Jie Jie: Thank you for your patience! I got quite busy once again, but I’ll be able to keep up with my schedules now. Yaay! Enjoy!

“Don’t be scared, bro. After we finish the dungeon, I’ll go explain it to them. Even though using a voice changer really is kind of wrong…”

“My voice sounds awful. I’m a bit insecure,” Tang Shaoqing said, lying through his teeth without even blushing.

Now was the perfect chance to clear his name. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to play games properly with his brother anymore.

Step one of clearing his name: selling misery.

That he was extremely good at.

“Sigh…” Porridge let out a breath.

How bad could it be? Judging by that girl’s reaction, it was obvious. Still… if it was just a game CP, was there really a need to make such a huge scene?

That elbow sure bent fast.

“Mind if I ask, how old are you this year?” Porridge asked again.

“19,” Tang Shaoqing thought for a moment, then answered honestly.

“…Seriously?” Weren’t you supposed to be forty or fifty??

“I still remember the college entrance exam papers from 2 years ago.”

“Okay, okay, I believe you.”

Second year, 19 years old.

Yu He, a junior about to turn 20, shed the tears of the elderly.

“Then… Jiao.. He-jiang…”

“It’s fine. He knows everything. He doesn’t mind.”

Porridge: Wuwu, what an absolutely beautiful love story

Yu He, who had never found a chance to cut in: “?”

Doesn’t mind my ass. He wished he could divorce on the spot.

Guoguo: QAQ what beautiful love, damn it

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: …That person has to be the real Jiao Jiao. Otherwise, there’s no way even the bag called “Spare” wouldn’t have been renamed, and the outfits inside include newly released ones, definitely after they got married

Guoguo: ???

Yu He briefly explained the situation with the bag.

Guoguo: So that means Jiao Jiao lied to Voice Changer??

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Yeah. I already explained to him that I’m not the original owner. He didn’t believe me.

Guoguo: …

She was probably after the fact that Voice Changer was dumb and rich.

Back then, Jiao Jiao was already beyond redemption. It was time to wash her hands of it and disappear. But along with her bad reputation, there was still a Voice Changer getting dragged down with her. So she lied to him, coaxed him along, hooked a dumb-and-rich Voice Changer, squeezed out one last haul, and left happily.

At the time, Voice Changer was getting attacked by everyone and was mentally fragile as hell. Under Jiao Jiao’s offensive, how could he possibly hold the line? And just like that, he fell.

Guoguo: ?? This too???

Guoguo: What do we do? Keep lying to him… like a white lie or something?

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Better to explain it clearly. Long pain is worse than short pain

Guoguo: But if you keep going like this, it’s not a big deal either. He already said it’s just a game CP. He’s not expecting it to develop into anything real

Guoguo: On the other hand, if he finds out that person was actually Jiao Jiao pretending… he’d probably be really, really hurt…

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Too many variables… let’s talk about it later

Guoguo: Mm, either way works.

The truth was actually pretty close to that. The only difference was that Tang Shaoqing later tossed the IP evidence at Voice Changer and exposed everything. Voice Changer sold the account to Tang Shaoqing and quit the game.

“We’re here.” Yu Guo put away her phone and shifted her focus back to the computer screen.

Tang Shaoqing carried the little loli to the front of a cave entrance. Yu He quickly hopped out of his arms and regained control of his character.

“Tile puzzle… piece the slabs together into a complete pattern. Once it’s done, the door should open. Who’s up?”

It was like a jigsaw puzzle, except… were these stone slabs for real??

All gray, 49 pieces in total, and not even a reference image.

“That’s kinda sudden… My brain’s not great; you guys do it.” Porridge voluntarily stepped back.

“It looks like everyone can try. Let’s all give it a shot. One person at a time. We can’t do it together, but as long as one attempt succeeds, it’s fine.”

“Mm.”

They said try… but Yu He gave up after moving just a few pieces. What the hell even was this?

“Do you still have that firefly?” Voice Changer suddenly asked.

Yu Guo immediately understood. Party quest items could be shared. After sharing it, Tang Shaoqing propped his chin on his hand and glanced over it; okay, it lined up. A bit of a pain in the ass, though.

“Might take some time,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“No rush, take it slow. You’ve got this, bro,” Porridge encouraged him.

Ever since hearing Voice Changer’s story, he’d felt oddly close to him. Fellow sufferers trapped by love, after all QVQ.

Porridge was feeling pretty artsy today, too.

“Wife.”

“…” Yu He had been staring blankly at the computer screen when that suddenly came through his headphones.

You’ve gotten addicted to calling me that, haven’t you? Fine. I’ll ignore you.

“He He?”

Yu He: “…”

Even his entire name felt tainted now.

“Hey, there are outsiders here. Tone it down.”

For the first time, Yu He felt that Porridge’s chatterbox nature was endearing.

“When it’s just the two of you alone, call each other whatever you want, hehehehe…”

Never mind. He shouldn’t have said anything.

A low laugh followed from the other end of the headset, vibrating softly and leaving his ears tingling and numb. Truly worthy of being a hardcore voice changer…

Guoguo: (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ fvck, I’m gonna ask him later where he bought that voice changer. It’s way too good. I want to record a wake-up alarm for myself

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: You’ve got your brother right here. Why waste on that when you’ve got your own human voice changer right here?

Guoguo: ! Almost forgot. Record me a wake-up alarm another day, imitating a fake Li Zeyan’s voice

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Sure

Guoguo: hhh but honestly, you two are kinda fated. One hardcore voice changer, one natural voice changer. My CP radar has activated

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: …Wake up

They really were kind of fated.

A cursed kind of fate.

It meant that the fireflies were born in the Ten-Thousand-Fathom Abyss, and their lifelong pursuit was to fly across the abyss and reach the surface. Yet once they did, they could survive only for a brief seven days before burning themselves out.

Yu He scratched the cat under the chin.

Why did it suddenly feel so BE…

“Let’s keep going,” Tang Shaoqing said.

“Mm.”

The dungeon was called “Fireflies.” With all these fireflies and that note they’d found, the content was probably related to this theme.

As they walked on, they ran into another little girl.

“…Isn’t that the one from earlier?” Porridge sounded unsure.

“She looks a bit different.”

Her clothes looked like nothing more than a piece of rag wrapped around her body, though her hairstyle was about the same.

Yu Guo stepped up to talk to the girl.

“She says she’s a firefly. Her wings are damaged, and she can’t fly up. She wants us to help her repair them and take us up if we do.”

Porridge: “How are we supposed to repair them?”

“It’s probably the same girl as before. The face and the eyes are exactly the same,” Yu He said, zooming in and hovering the camera right up to the girl’s face.

Yu Guo hummed in agreement. “She said there’s a place in the abyss with a miraculous elixir. She gave me a firefly; it’ll guide us there.”

“It’s pretty nice-looking. Really delicate; you can even see its little legs.” Yu Guo opened [Firefly] interface. The description contained only the word “Firefly,” as if the entire creature glowed, its legs clearly visible.

Thankfully, it was in a game and drawn quite beautifully. If they’d given her a giant realistic bug, she would’ve died on the spot.

“Let’s go.” Yu Guo clicked ‘Use.’

Yu He followed behind, propping his chin as he moved along slowly. With World Chat gone, things suddenly felt a bit unfamiliar.

Normally, whether he was wandering aimlessly or getting farmed, he’d always glance at the forums or World Chat, kind of like scrolling Zhihu¹Similar to Quora. A Q&A / knowledge-sharing platform in class or Weibo before bed.

“Wife.” Yu He was spacing out when that Voice Changer chose the worst possible moment to speak again.

“What?” Yu He answered reflexively, his voice carrying a trace of resigned impatience.

Only after speaking did he realize something was off. His hand froze on the controls, and the bunny-eared loli came to a stop as well.

Why did he even respond?? He wasn’t his wife.

“It’s nothing, just calling you.”

Yu He: “…”

Guoguo: … You two

Guoguo: QVQ

Guoguo: Just get on with it

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Get on my ass. Go do your quest

Guoguo: Bro, you’ve changed. You never used to object to me shipping 2D characters QAQ

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Am I a 2D character?

Guoguo: He-jiang and Doting on He-jiang are

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: ?

Staring at that question mark, Yu Guo hurriedly changed the subject—

Guoguo: u1s1,²If there’s one, say one = To be fair/Real talk/Gotta admit Voice Changer actually seems like a decent guy…

Even though the whole “girl got driven to quit the game by Voice Changer” thing was blowing up all over world chat and the forums, Voice Changer hadn’t really deceived anyone’s feelings.

Anyone who knew the inside story knew that he and that girl were just a game CP. They did quests together, that was it; no private contact info, not even QQ added. Probably afraid his real voice would give him away.

Maybe he used a voice changer just to satisfy a bit of vanity. But isn’t online interaction all about preserving a hazy sense of goodwill? Playing games and doing dailies together is more fun when the voice sounds nice, and with a screen between you, you might never meet in real life anyway.

Lying was definitely wrong. That girl and her friend had every right to put him on broadcast. But did he really have bad intentions?

Maybe he was just some pitiful soul from the real world, coming to the virtual one to look for comfort.

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: Maybe

He didn’t really know either. He’d only known this Voice Changer for two days.

This person gave him just three words’ worth of an impression: “dumb and rich.” A 99-rmb name-change card handed out without hesitation, a 998 outfit bought on a whim. If that wasn’t dumb and rich, what was?

Even though he himself was a second-generation rich kid, his parents had raised him frugally. When he was young, he’d even had to split a bag of spicy strips with Tang Shaoqing.

As he was thinking this, Yu He switched the camera to the black-clad assassin, only to find the guy walking straight toward him.

“Why’d you stop moving?” Voice Changer asked.

He’d just been talking about him behind his back, so Yu He suddenly felt a little guilty. “The internet seems kinda laggy…”

Yeah. Lag. Definitely lag. Not because he’d been gossiping and forgot to move.

[Player “Doting on He-jiang ” wants to princess-carry you.]

[Accept or Reject]

Yu He: “?”

“If you accept, you won’t have to operate manually. Otherwise, if your lag gets worse later, who knows what might happen,” Voice Changer said again.

Yu He finally understood what it felt like to lift a rock only to smash his own foot.

So considerate. Way too considerate.

After being forced to click “Accept,” the bunny-eared loli was scooped into the black-clad assassin’s arms. The little ears twitched and bobbed, and paired with their IDs, they were basically a walking dog-food dispenser.

Tang Shaoqing smiled and took a few more screenshots.

“Uh… can I gossip a bit?” Porridge walked two steps, stopped for a few seconds, then walked two more, finally catching up to them. Yu Guo looked like she was still walking ahead, but her ears had long since grown over here.

“Mm.” Tang Shaoqing answered first, leaving Yu He with no chance to refuse.

“So how did you two get together?” Porridge asked.

Tang Shaoqing curled his lips and began spinning nonsense with a straight face. “The last time Jiao Jiao said this account was bought, none of you believed her; but that time, it was actually true.”

Yu He: “…”

Bro, that time it was fake. You’re not going to be able to get off this stage.³Finding oneself in an awkward situation

“I happened to find out. Back then, we were both being hunted all over the place. I saved her, and by a twist of fate, we formed a bond.”

“She was a total newbie, didn’t understand anything. She accidentally bought this account, so I casually taught her some things and gave her some items. She felt really bad about it.”

“Plus, she was constantly being hunted with bounties on her head; no one believed her, and her mentality kind of collapsed. She wanted to A the game and kept wanting to divorce me, saying she’d sell the account. But she also felt that the things I gave her were too expensive and felt really sorry toward me.”

“But it’s fine. I really like him.⁴The “ta” used here was really he/him, but he was using she/her earlier. Spending a bit of money doesn’t matter. Given my situation, a game CP is about all I can manage anyway. I guess I was a little selfish. I hoped he’d keep playing the game with me.”

Listening to himself, Tang Shaoqing almost felt like switching careers to become a novelist. It was all keyboard work anyway; pretty much professionally related for someone who typed code all day.

Porridge: “Holy…”

Who knew it was actually such a heart-wrenching love story? Why did it make him feel so moved that he almost wanted to cry?

---

Author’s note:

“A-ing the game” means quitting the game.

Very few people knew that Tang Shaoqing had been poached by Gu Qiyun because of hacking into the Xianxia Online backend.

As for that hacking… after conveniently making off with the hidden dungeon’s design plan, Tang Shaoqing had even very considerately fixed a few bugs for them.

That was how the later headhunting incident came about.

Everyone has their reckless youth, after all.

The one called Guji was his college roommate. His real name was Gu Ji, also from A University’s Computer Science department. Male, hobby: pretending to be a girl and going yingyingying.

When he’d grabbed the dungeon design plan back then, this one happened to be included. A quick glance revealed the trigger condition: Four players of different classes staying here together for 13 minutes and 14 seconds, with one and only one loli among them.

A truly bizarre setup.

He hadn’t planned on butting in originally. After all, he’d already joined Weiyun as an insider, which wouldn’t have been appropriate. But… since it just happened to trigger, it wasn’t really his fault, right?

Even though he did harbor a bit of selfish intent.

He’d heard this was a sweet, romance-focused dungeon storyline.

—

“A h-hidden dungeon?” Yu Guo was so shocked that her jaw dropped.

A hidden dungeon! A real one!! The first discovery on the entire server!! What was this protagonist’s halo feeling?!

“Why did a hidden dungeon trigger?” Porridge was excited too.

Even though none of “right timing, right place, right people” really applied to them, this kind of luck just showed up when it wanted to. There was no stopping it.

Tang Shaoqing glanced at the string of question marks Guji had sent and curled his lips into a smile. He closed his phone, packed up the materials he’d been selling, and followed the guiding arrow forward.

“No idea. Let’s take a look first.” He said, completely calm, without a flicker of guilt.

Although Yu He had only just started playing, seeing everyone’s reactions made it obvious how impressive this hidden dungeon was. He couldn’t help feeling a bit eager himself.

It was just that… Voice Changer seemed awfully familiar with the hidden dungeon. He was even going around buying some kind of bottles.

Outsiders might think they’d triggered some quest, but they hadn’t even started yet, ah.

Even though it felt strange, Yu He didn’t ask. He didn’t really want to talk to Voice Changer anymore anyway. It was like playing the lute to a cow.¹Fig. Offering a treat to an unappreciative audience. Angry.jpg.

As for the dungeon… they’d take a look first.

The surroundings were pitch-black. Fireflies mingled with snow, dim and dreamlike, and only a small guiding arrow was visible.

“It’s pretty nice,” Yu He remarked.

“Nice? You can take screenshots.” Tang Shaoqing smiled and snapped several pictures in a row.

The kind where Porridge and Yu Guo were temporarily hidden.

[Player “Doting on He-jiang” wants to hug you]

[Player “Doting on He-jiang” wants to kiss you]

[Player “Doting on He-jiang” wants to carry you]

……

…Everyone else was waiting to see what would come of the hidden dungeon, and this guy was busy taking photos instead.

Yu He hurriedly controlled his character to dash far away, but the black-clad assassin immediately followed, sticking to him like gum. It was impossible to shake off.

Guoguo: Bro, just give in to him already

Daming Lake’s Xia Yuhe: ?

My dear sister.

As they walked on, an NPC suddenly appeared ahead: a squatting blond little girl. Her outfit had a distinctly foreign style, her bare feet exposed, with a small bell anklet tied around her ankle.

Sitting in the snow like that in this weather, who knew if she was cold or not?

Yu Guo, as the party leader, stepped forward to talk to the girl.

The girl stood up. She looked about seven or eight years old. On closer inspection, her clothes were torn, and her face smudged with dirt, but her pair of dark golden eyes shimmered brilliantly amid the scattered firefly light.

“Well? What did she say?” Porridge asked eagerly.

“She said she can’t remember who she is, and she can’t find her way home,” Yu Guo replied, somewhat bewildered.

After that, the little girl squatted back down. The guiding arrow shifted to a different direction, and some extra icons on the screen disappeared along with it. The once-noisy world chat and broadcast channels were gone as well. Thankfully, the party voice chat remained uninterrupted.

“What’s going on…”

“Probably something to do with the dungeon…?”

With no way back, the four of them followed the arrow and continued forward.

As they walked, Yu Guo, who was in front, suddenly vanished.

Porridge, right behind her, hurriedly stopped. In front of him was a massive cliff, like a split in the land. The steep cliff walls resembled the fangs of a monster, exuding a chilling menace in the faint glow of fireflies.

Yu He: “??”

“Holy shit… I fell… holy shit holy shit holy shit, hurry and come down too!” Yu Guo shouted frantically over voice chat.

Without a second word, the other three jumped down after her.

The descent wasn’t fast, as if they were being carried by the wind and fireflies.

“Switch the camera to look down. There’s a surprise,” Tang Shaoqing suddenly said.

Yu He switched the camera with a mix of skepticism and curiosity, only to be stunned by the dazzling spectacle that filled his vision.

Flowing fireflies drifted through the rift like the Milky Way, slowly streaming past, as if they had fallen into the night sky itself, stepping on stars as they ran toward the galaxy.

Yu He quickly hit Ctrl + PrtSc to grab a screenshot.

Now he finally understood why there were players who specialized in scenery. The environmental modeling was genuinely breathtaking. It was so immersive that it made you sink into it without realizing.

Tang Shaoqing smiled with curved eyes as he took plenty of photos of the falling bunny-eared loli, then, fully satisfied, saved them into a folder named “Brother.”

They finally reached the bottom. Not dying from the fall was nothing short of a miracle.

“…From that height, I thought even if we didn’t die, we’d be left at critical HP. And yet we’re totally fine,” Yu Guo said as she hurried over to the others.

Right. Games like this were notorious. One wrong step and you’d fall; one wrong step and you’d be sent straight back to the resurrection point…

“So, where is this place?”

“I just checked; there’s an invisible wall. Looks like all four of us have to come down for it to work,” Yu Guo said.

“Let’s walk around,” Porridge said after circling once, then headed toward the direction where the fireflies were surging.

They hadn’t gone far when a tattered scroll appeared on the ground.

[Ten-Thousand-Fathom Abyss: Where fireflies are born. Spiral upward, and in seven days, all turns to ash.]

---

Author’s Note:

It’s actually a copy of BE _(:з」∠)_

The setting about the fireflies is something I totally made up. There’s no real basis for it.

It’s late at night, and I got hungry, so I pulled out my little cream puffs qvq even though my teeth hurt a lot…