“Come on let’s get going, Brother Se Lang! Do not let Jia Ying wait for too long!” Shi Hui, the cultivator of Shadowy Swan, pulled Se Lang’s shirt as he was window shopping at the armour store in Boss Jin’s shop.
Weird combination to see Shi Hui with Se Lang together? Well, Se Lang was equally shocked when Shi Hui asked him for a date out of the blue, just a few days after they participated in the Bank Heist dungeon raid together.
He remembered he was super nervous since he had never been asked out by a girl before. It had always been the other way around and surprisingly; the girls distanced away from him. (In retrospect, it was mainly because of his partner Deng Long, who was a rather lousy wingman, but Se Lang blamed himself instead.) Se Lang’s impression of Shi Hui was a girl with elegance, and yet she was able to portray a quiet sense of pride in the way she carried herself out in public.
Compared to him, who was just a simple patrol officer in the police force for two years, Shi Hui was an overachiever. When he found out the facts about Shi Hui, he could only sigh at the achievements she had accomplished. Upcoming modern dancer, a guest dance choreographer while just being an intern in a music company and many other plays she had under her belt of experience when she was still young.
Well, technically, Se Lang had been selling himself short. Deng Long, his partner in ‘crime’, could vouch for him. Se Lang was after all an outstanding police officer and he was not even trying hard all the time. Imagine if he strived harder, he could rise through the ranks pretty quickly. Who knows? He might be able to become a detective in a short period if he tried.
In any case, Se Lang did ask Shi Hui what exactly she saw in him during their first date. Kind of stupid of him to do that, but nevertheless, he needed to find out. “Hmmm, if you want an honest answer. I have none! I have always wanted to try dating a policeman and someone older. You match quite nicely!” Shi Hui said as she smiled so innocently that Se Lang’s heart melted instantly both in a good and bad way.
“So… Does that mean I am just a temporary stand-in for her gap for love until she finds someone more worthy? Kuuu~! ” Se Lang wondered and could not help but feel like crying. “Well, if you are uncomfortable, we can call it off right now.” Shi Hui said before the end of their first date, and Se Lang shook his head.
“I will be honest with you too then. My feelings are conflicted now, but I will take this as a learning experience for future relationships. Till we break up, I will be in your care then.” Se Lang bowed a little and Shi Hui could not help it as she burst into laughter.
“Hahaha! Experience?! Oh my gosh, you are still a ‘wizard’ despite being so handsome?” Shi Hui covered her mouth and continued laughing.
“…Y–Ye-Yes…” Se Lang could not help but be embarrassed as Shi Hui slapped his back.
“Then Mr Wolfie, I shall first start liberating your wizardhood by allowing you to kiss me.” Shi Hui pointed at her lips and then playfully point at her forehead. “Which ones would you choose? Mr Wolfie?”
“…I…will choose the forehead.” Se Lang could not help but tremble. He moved closer to her as she stared at him for a long while before he gathered up his courage.
“Ahhh! You are so slow!” Shi Hui grabbed his shoulders and pulled herself up to his lips. The warmness of her lips touched his cold, dry lips and he could not help but feel excited by the bodily contact he had with Shi Hui.
“How did that feel Mr Wolfie, the Wizard?” Shi Hui asked coyly with her arms still wrapped around him. He was still in a daze.
“Fantastic. Felt like I am in heaven.” Se Lang’s legs were like jelly and thankfully Shi Hui backed up a bit after his reply.
“That’s that for the first date!” Shi Hui said as she continued to tease Se Lang.
———
“Heyyyyy Mr Wolfie!!!!! Stop daydreaming!!!” Shi Hui wrapped her arms around Se Lang’s muscular ones, and he was brought back to reality. “What are you thinking about that made you go into a daze?”
“Erm no, I was just thinking how bizarre and yet miraculous it was to have that first date together a few weeks back.” Se Lang blurted out and it made Shi Hui grin, but her expression changed as quick as a traffic light.
“Well, stop daydreaming and let’s get going for the Halloween instance! Jia Ying, Jing Ru and Yue Wen are waiting!” Shi Hui said. Yes, the Halloween instance was up and about a week had passed since Jin created the new Halloween instance which he posted on Pandamonium as an advertisement.
“Ehh, don’t you think if I go with you girls, won’t it feel like I am the odd out one, the erm… fifth wheel? I mean, you girls are the Venus Four. It would be kind of sad if I break your team composition.” Se Lang said.
“They are planning to use this instance to re-evaluate you since you did so poorly in that Bank Heist Dungeon. Jia Ying also said ‘So what if he is a policeman if he cannot protect us in this new dungeon, he has no right to be your boyfriend.'” Shi Hui replied while imitating Jia Ying’s voice.
And Jia Ying had every right to be jealous. Shi Hui was after all her best girl buddy in the Venus Four group despite the four girls’ already being this close knitted. She could not stand Shi Hui leaving her so quickly just because she got a boyfriend that easily. Even more so when Jia Ying secretly adored Se Lang too.
Jia Ying felt it was stupid of her to comment that Se Lang was rather cool looking and seemed somewhat reliable to Shi Hui, who agreed with her. (On the side note, poor Deng Long, he had no one liking him.) She did not expect Shi Hui to have feelings for him too and her simple comment even reinforced her friend’s beliefs, that made Shi Hui take the initiative to go for him.
Now Jia Ying had mixed feelings within her. Should she feel happy that Shi Hui was with Se Lang or should she be anguished that her best friend took Se Lang? She did not know what to do.
Se Lang laughed at Shi Hui and nodded his head. “Okay okay, but at least let me buy this first.” Se Lang took an odd looking device from the store’s ‘New Stock!’ cabinets and brought it towards the counter.
“What’s that?” Shi Hui asked as she picked it up and read the label on it. “Enhanced Chi Releaser”
“It’s actually for you. Remember how we earned the Icesteel Weapons from the Bank Heist raid? I figured this Enhanced Chi Releaser would help to compensate your long range weakness since your war fans seem to be suited for close combat.” Se Lang was a little concerned.
“Huh, but I have been using illusion skills to compensate for my innate long range weakness, so that I could go close to the enemy.” Shi Hui replied and was wondering why Se Lang would waste his panda medals on something like that.
“But after watching the Bank heist video online several times, I concluded that it used a lot of your chi, right? So I was thinking, with the new Icesteel War Fans and this enhanced chi releaser device, you could be able to shoot out projectiles. Like, I don’t know, maybe use Ice Shards or create a blizzard?” Se Lang replied as he paid for it at the front counter.
“You have no idea what this enhanced chi releaser does, right?” Shi Hui squinted her eyes at Se Lang.
“I asked the Red Panda…? Does that count?” Se Lang started to sweat a little.
“Yes, an elemental weapon like the Icesteel type would indeed allow users to utilise the power of ice within a certain distance of the enhanced chi releaser. This way the user would not need to rely on close contact for the power of ice to activate.” The Red Panda receptionist surprisingly backed him up.
“Ohhh, thank you Red Panda, do you mind combining the Icesteel War Fans and the releaser for me?” Shi Hui gave the Red Panda her War Fans and the Red Panda grabbed it with its mouth before passing both items to the three headed bear weaponsmith to combine them into one.
Suddenly, Se Lang felt a nudge at the side of his stomach and he saw Shi Hui grinning widely. “Thank you! This is the first present you gave me!”
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