After No Money For Porridge spoke, the party became even quieter.

“Wait…” The chatterbox still couldn’t hold it in.

No Money For Porridge: “Where’s Jiaojiao? Who are you?”

Yu He thought for a few seconds, then suddenly understood what he meant. No Money For Porridge must have heard Jiaojiao’s voice before.

Well, that was perfect.

“I bought this account. I’m not the original owner, but none of you believe me,” Yu He heard himself say.

Just in time for that Voice Changer to hear it clearly. Maybe it would hurry up and break things off with him.

If he’d known it would be this easy to clear his name, why had he stripped naked and let people grind him down in levels?

The person involved expressed deep regret.

“Then where is she?” No Money For Porridge didn’t seem suspicious at all.

“I don’t know either. I don’t have her contact information.”

“…Alright then.”

The answer came too readily, the progress too smoothly. Yu He couldn’t help doubting it. “Wait, you just believe me? You’re not afraid I’m tricking you with a voice changer?”

No Money For Porridge sighed. “The way you two talk is completely different.”

And besides, this was obviously a coincidence. If it were really Jiaojiao, she wouldn’t be facing this so calmly.

…

The old dog was beyond saving.

“Then… there’s some equipment she left behind here. It’s unbound. Take a look and see which ones are yours. I’ll give them back to you.” Yu He opened the bag with the blank name and got ready to read them out.

“No need. Just looking at it makes me uncomfortable. You paid for this account yourself. There’s no need to give anything back to me.” No Money For Porridge refused.

“Alright.” Yu He didn’t say anything more.

The party fell into a dead silence again.

“Ahem, how did you get in here?” Yu He cleared his throat, breaking the awkwardness.

“I saw you guys here just now, so I sent a party request out of habit. Didn’t expect it to get accepted,” No Money For Porridge explained.

He’d originally just planned to wander around the Beiyuan aimlessly. The last time he and Jiaojiao saw each other before their falling-out was right here… And yet he’d ended up running into these two people, plus an unfamiliar qin player.

“I must’ve accidentally clicked Accept…” Yu Guo, who had been quiet as a chicken, finally got a chance to speak.

The party request window in Xianxia Online was especially weird: Accept was on the right and Reject on the left. People always ended up tapping “Reject” by mistake. No one knew what the designer was thinking.

This time, she had just been rejecting Voice Changer’s gifted items, clicked a few extra times, and ended up pulling No Money For Porridge into the party.

Well… that was kind of an ironic accident?

If they’d known that just turning on the mic would clear things up, what was there to be afraid of? They could’ve just had Yu He shout a couple of times and be done with it.

Still, this was pretty convenient. If they’d deliberately tried to clear things up, those people wouldn’t have believed it.

“Voice… there’s someone else?” After waiting for ages without hearing Voice Changer speak, Yu He finally couldn’t hold it in.

“Shh.” Voice Changer said nothing else.

With that single “shh,” the surrounding background music suddenly changed, the screen gradually darkened, and specks of firefly light slowly rose from the ground, dancing with the snow. It was beautiful beyond words.

What was going on?

[Loudspeaker]Congratulations to players “He-jiang,” “Doting on He-jiang,” “Guojiang,” and “No Money For Porridge” for discovering Beiyuan’s hidden dungeon: Fireflies.

The entire world was shaken.

[World][My Eyes Hurt QAQ]: ???? What’s going on?? Am I blind?? Why are these three together??

[World][Jiaojiao nmsl]: ?

[World][Mingyue nmsl]: ?

[World][Milk Candy Plus Cola]: This… is kind of exciting

[World][Midnight Snacks Won’t Make You Fat]: Who faked the loudspeaker (?) Scared the fvck out of me

[World][Escort-Robbing Pro]: Hidden dungeon? The Beiyuan one?? Holy shit??

[World][Don’t Want To Study]: Slowly types a?

[World][No Money For Porridge]: …

[World][Jiaojiao nmsl]: Porridge, were you kidnapped?

[World][No Money For Porridge]: No…

[Loudspeaker][Doting on He-jiang]: Buying bottles with caps, any amount is fine

There was one nice thing about Xianxia Online: Once you added someone as a friend, you could directly trade or gift items. No need to meet face-to-face, and no need to pick them up from a courier.

So every day, the world chat was full of small loudspeakers asking to buy or sell things.

It was just that… the person using the loudspeaker this time was Voice Changer…

[World][Mingyue nmsl]: You’ve got some nerve coming here to buy stuff.

[World][Luoyang Flying Snow]: Are these items needed for the hidden dungeon?

[World][Linear Algebra]: I giao, there really is a hidden dungeon in Beiyuan. Official devs nmd.1Cursing at the devsYou said the map was unfinished, you lied to me QAQ

[World][March Wind]: This is insane… Remember today: the three gathered together, and a hidden dungeon was cleared

[World][Mimi Lying in Mom’s Arms Counting Stars]: What’s the use of bottles with caps… matching this with a hidden dungeon feels way too low-tier, doesn’t it?

[World][Folding Fan Opera Player]: Doting on He-jiang, open up your friend request permissions already

[World][Guji]: No idea what you can get from it, emmm

[World][Lolo Duck]: Looking forward to it, the rewards from Xianxia Online’s hidden dungeons are always pretty good

[World][September Past]: If I remember correctly… The last hidden dungeon was discovered by Tang Chao

[World][Hehehe]: So… Why did these three discover the hidden dungeon together… Who is Guojiang?

[World][Guji]: She’s the cutie from our guild

[World][The World Is Going Downhill]: … From Chang’an?

[World][Yingyingying]: Aren’t all four of them from Chang’an?

[World][Holmes X]:?? Isn’t Guojiang the qin player who previously formed a bond with Tang Chao?

[World][Who Am I Where Am I]: Holy shit?

[World][Holmes X]:Then they broke up…

Not everyone liked watching gossip. Some people were just here to experience the game. With a hidden dungeon popping up, of course, they had to shout about it.

Gradually, the World Chat split into two camps: One watching the gossip, the other camping the dungeon.

Tang Shaoqing picked up his phone, which had been vibrating nonstop. His WeChat messages had been flooded.

Gu: Old Tang, how did you trigger a hidden dungeon again

Gu: The GM is coming to look for you

Gu: Wait, didn’t Wei Yun poach you over? Doesn’t that mean you’re basically the GM now (?)

Gu: Isn’t this against the rules

Tang: … This time it really was triggered by accident

Gu: ? Can’t you do something to save the situation

Tang: This dungeon looks pretty nice. I want to take photos here with him

Gu: …

Author’s Note:

GM means game master/game administrator.
Weiyun, the Weiyun Group—you get it! www
www Gu Qiyun × Wei Mian2Characters from the author’s other novel. Haven’t checked, really.

Jie Jie: Thank you so much for your patience! I’ve been busy irl, but got it solved now. This jj is now hired! Woooh! Okay, that’s all. A win to share. Here’s a ✨ job dust ✨ to anyone who needs it! 💜