He Yi, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue were already waiting when I stepped out of my room. We departed after I used the toilet!
……
On the way, Murong Mingyue complained as she drove, “Your X12’s gas pedal is too low. I almost can’t step on it…”
I ridiculed her, “Just admit that your legs are short already…”
Murong Mingyue immediately erupted, “Pooh! I’m 1.7 meters tall, and my three sizes are a perfect 36-24-35[1]! This is clearly your car’s fault, not mine!”
He Yi chimed in, “I think it’s because she forgot to adjust her seat…”
Lian Xin giggled. “True…”
I leaned against the seat and slipped an arm around He Yi’s waist. She obediently leaned her head on my shoulder and shot me a look of deep love before asking, “How are you doing in the Purgatory?”
“Not very well, to be honest. I’ve entered the fifth floor, but Xinran is still nowhere to be found.”
“You’ll find her eventually.”
“Yeah. By the way, I saw that Vienna’s Sorrow had gotten the Dead Wind Blade.”
“That’s right!”
Lian Xin said, “The Americans are pretty lucky this time. Who would’ve thought that they would drop the Dead Wind Blade? Not only is it ranked fifth among the Twelve Divine Armaments, it is an entire tier greater than even the Ghostblade Halberd…”
I replied, “Well, whatever. There’s no sense getting irritated every time our enemy scores an advantage. Plus, we have more Divine Armaments…”
“Exactly, heehee!”
Murong Mingyue shot us a glance using the back mirror and pouted. “Eve, you’re clinging to Lu Chen a little too close, don’t you think?”
He Yi retorted calmly, “So what? I want to. Focus on driving, you!”
“Hmph…”
……
A while later, the car came to a stop in front of a restaurant. It wasn’t a particularly huge place, but it was so packed with customers it was insane. We had to wait ten or so minutes before we finally found a parking spot. After that, we went up to the second floor where two tables were seated by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ core players. Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Eyes Like Water had arrived as well. They were good friends with Yu Tong after all. There was no reason for them not to be invited.
“You’re finally here, bosses!” Gui Guzi rose to his feet and greeted us all.
Stranger of Three Lifetimes walked up to us while saying, “Now that I think about it, everyone here’s a famous person in Sky City, huh?”
I teased her, “Have you come to freeload, Momo?”
“What the fuck, at least wait a moment before you expose me…” Stranger of Three Lifetimes shot me a displeased look. “Ancient Sword took our mage; letting us freeload a meal or two off of you is the least you can do. Speaking of which, who’s paying today?”
Everyone pointed a finger at me in unison.
I was surprised. “Why me?”
Lian Xin burst into a giggle. “Probably because you made the most profit out of all of us?”
Me: “…”
Well, it didn’t matter. I was expecting to walk away from the Purgatory with an entire hoard in my bag. The twenty-seven Perfect Divine Crystals I owned alone were worth a fortune!
……
He Yi sat on my left, and Murong Mingyue on my right. I read the menu for a bit before saying, “Hmm… I guess we can add a bear’s paw per table…”
“Holy shit! Are you actually going to spend big this time, Lu Chen?” Li Chengfeng asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. It’s Yu Tong’s birthday party, and it looks like everyone’s in a great mood today, soooo.”
He began rubbing his palms excitedly. “In that case, I also want to order three top-grade Lafite per table. You know, the kind that costs 24k RMB per bottle? I saw it before on the wine rack, but I’ve never drank it since I’m an honest and incorruptible police officer. Since you’re so kind as to offer your wallet to the slaughter, I want to see exactly how different it is from Pepsi…”
I rolled my eyes at him. “What a good brother you are, Chengfeng…”
“But of course!”
“In that case, make it 5 bottles per table. There won’t be enough for everyone otherwise.” I passed my card to He Yi before adding, “By the way, the password’s your birthday. Foot the bill for me if I get too drunk, okay?”
He Yi chuckled. “Are you sure there’s enough money in your card? You ordered 10 bottles of top-grade Lafite, you know?”
I curled my lips. “Yes, you can order 1,000 bottles and still have enough to spare…”
High Fighting Spirits grew even more excited. “That’s awesome! Let’s order more alcohol, then! Honestly, there’s no way we’ll get drunk just drinking ten bottles of red wine!”
I smiled. “You want to get drunk? That’s easy. We’ll just order a couple bottles of Erguotou.”
The pretty waitress standing next to me looked startled. “Sir, are you sure you want Erguotou?”
“Yep. Make it 5 bottles per table just like the Lafite!”
“Okay…”
The waitress looked a little out of it probably because she had never received such a weird order before. Who in their right mind would put a 24k RMB Lafite and a 15 RMB Erguotou in the same order? She thought that a donkey must’ve kicked these people in the head when they were younger. On the other hand, she might’ve been a little too quick to judge. At least three of the ladies of the two tables were superstar levels of beauties, and their attire reflected that class. He Yi’s appearance especially annihilated hers in every way even though she was a 7 out of 10 at the very least.
……
It didn’t take long before the dishes were served, and everything was a delicious and expensive delicacy. The bastards didn’t hold back at all after they made up their minds to slaughter my wallet. A quick glance at the menu told me that this one dinner was going to cost me at least 300k RMB. At least it wasn’t a frequent occurrence. I couldn’t wait for the day it was my turn to slaughter their wallets…
My first sip of Lafite filled my mouth with a rich fragrance, even though I suspected that it was fake. In fact, I suspected that 90% of the goddamned dishes served on the tables weren’t what they claimed to be. It was what the gang desired though, so whatever. These fools!
I rose to my feet and raised my glass in Yu Tong’s direction. I said, “Today is Beauty Yu Tong’s twentieth birthday, an age where the flower blooms the prettiest. Let us all toast to her and drink until we’re drunk, okay? No need to hold back, seriously. If it turns out that no one is sober enough to drive, we can simply call the base’s drivers to fetch us.”
Yu Tong held up her own glass and replied embarrassedly, “Thank you, big brother Lu Chen. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Sister Momo and Sister Water~~!”
After I drained the whole glass, we finally began devouring our food. I had been starving since the beginning, so I went straight for the boiled duck I had been eyeing for a while!
……
I was basking in happiness and eating a duck drumstick when Stranger of Three Lifetimes set down her cup and asked me, “It’s been two days since you entered the Purgatory, Lu Chen. How are you doing?”
I put down the bone and said, “I’ve gotten a lot of levels and loot, but… I still haven’t found Xinran…”
“Yeah, I saw your level on the level ranking. How on earth did you even get to Level 258? You’re grinding even faster than us mages! It’s just inhuman!”
“Haha, it’s okay. You guys are leveling pretty fast yourselves. Practically everyone here’s over Level 250 already. Have you found the opportunity to ascend and become a god yet?”
“Unfortunately, no. I’m already at Level 251, but I still haven’t triggered anything.”
“Take it slow. Worse comes to worst, you can still use Perfect Divine Crystals to undergo the ascension…”
“But that costs a lot of money, and it doesn’t even have a good success rate…”
“That’s why I said to take it slow…”
Li Chengfeng clinked glasses with me before asking, “All 27 tier 1 cities across all servers have been retaken. Now, all that’s left is the inevitable invasion of the Northern Alliance. The first thing they’ll do is to retake their Hot Sand City. What is your plan, Lu Chen?”
I shook my head and said, “Nothing. I’m not going to waste my energy thinking about anything else until I find Xinran.”
“That’s fair.” Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. “Xinran’s matter is of critical importance. Guild leader Eve and I have a question for you though. Hot Sand City is situated between the Northern Alliance and Cyan Earth City, and it is unclear what action the Koreans of Burning City will take. One thing we know for certain is that holding the city will be incredibly difficult. Do you think we should even defend it, or…?”
I thought for a second before answering, “Of course we should. But we can leave Candlelight Shadow to handle the defense.”
“Why’s that?” Gui Guzi exclaimed in surprise.
I replied, “It’s simple. Vienna’s Sorrow, God of War, Natural Flow and Red Maple aren’t stupid. If I was them, I would never pit my strongest troops against Hot Sand City. Although it is a tier 1 city, its city size, defense, city growth and more are mostly inferior to the other main cities. Simply put, it doesn’t deserve the full brunt of their power. If I was them, I would hoard my elite troops until the right opportunity to invade the three main cities of China is ripe!”
Li Chengfeng nodded. “I see. Your thoughts are almost identical to Beauty Lin’s.”
Stranger of Three Lifetimes stared at me with wide eyes. “To be honest, I am of the same opinion as you. Right now though, I think there are new opportunities to be exploited…”
I smiled. “Let me guess. You’re talking about the new sieging rules that will appear 24 hours after the new patch is released, right?”
Stranger of Three Lifetimes smiled. “Damn, you noticed that too?”
“Yeah. That’s basically all I can do in the Purgatory; grinding and paying attention to everything on the forums.”
……
Xu Yang asked in confusion, “What are these new sieging rules exactly?”
Stranger of Three Lifetimes replied, “I’m not too sure yet. The official announcement didn’t reveal everything. To be specific, they’re saying that they’re amending the existing rules of city occupation and abandonment. Anyway, everyone’s waiting for the new Nation War rules to be announced because it’ll literally decide our next course of action.”
Xu Yang said, “I see!”
While eyeing an oily rabbit leg, I said, “None of this is really important though. As always, our first priority is to upgrade our guild members’ average level and equipment. The rules can change a million times, but if we possess absolute power then there is nothing to fear. In fact, we must. Our King of Cities provides a ton of buffs, and countless people are vying to take it for themselves. There’s no way we can hold it without sufficient strength.”
Stranger of Three Lifetimes nodded. “Yes, that is why Blazing Hot Lips has been shifting their focus onto Sky City as well.”
……
It was at this moment my phone suddenly rang. It was an unfamiliar number from Beijing. When I accepted the call, an unfamiliar middle-aged man’s voice spoke to me—
“Hello, is this Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, Lu Chen?”
I nodded. “Yes, I am. And you are?”
“I’m Tang Feng. Do you remember me?”
“Yes, I do. Good evening, Chief Tang…” It would be difficult not to remember him. He was the current chief of the China VR department and the man who ultimately removed me from the China server’s wanted list. He was an okay person overall. “Is there anything, Chief Tang? It’s pretty late…”
“Late? It’s not even 8 pm yet. Let me guess, you’re in the middle of a grind…”
“Haha, not this time, I’m afraid. I’m having dinner right now. Why don’t you tell me your business straight?”
“Yes.” Tang Feng’s voice suddenly turned serious. “This is a heads-up, but I want you to come to Beijing in a couple of days and help us accomplish something very important.”
“Oh?” I exclaimed in surprise, “What’s this about?”
“It’s classified, so I can’t tell you right now. You’ll know when you come to Beijing…”
“I hate it when someone keeps me on tenterhooks…”
“Ahem, it’s not my fault this time. The secrecy of this matter is classified as S Rank, and even I cannot reveal the details despite my position. In fact, this phone call is under surveillance right now…”
“Holy shit. Okay, sure. If there’s nothing else, I’m getting back to dinner. By the way, it’s not a life and death matter, is it?”
“Ahem, what are you talking about? Of course not!”
“Okay. You have a good dinner too, Chief Tang.”
“Thanks, but I’ve already eaten dinner two hours ago.”
“…”
1. E/N: God, why is she using feet and inches all of a sudden… ☜
