When I woke up from my dreams, it was already 11 in the morning. I hurriedly got out of bed and took care of business in the toilet.
When it was 11:30 am, I went downstairs with He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin.
“Did everyone have fun killing Coldblade last night?”
I asked while driving the car.
Lian Xin blinked before answering, “We should be the one to ask you that question. You damaged him for tens of millions of damage, but I only dished out a couple million…”
I smiled. “It doesn’t matter though. You still got the Soul Shocker Bell, didn’t you? Sorry I didn’t congratulate you last night, by the way. I was too tired to remember. You too, sis. The Spirit Gathering Scepter may just be a Middle Divine Armament, but its stats are truly impressive. You’ve seen the Seven-string Yaoqin. It’s one of the Twelve Divine Armaments, but its stats are only a tad better than the Spirit Gathering Scepter’s, and it can evolve…”
Murong Mingyue nodded. “I know.”
While leaning against her seat, He Yi said, “I checked the March of Chaos contribution point ranking before we came out. Lu Chen still has a massive lead, and everyone else seems to be offline as well. They’re all taking a long rest just like us, so there’s nothing to worry about. We should go eat a full lunch before we continue our journey in Sainthelm Ruins. I wonder if it’ll be even more challenging than we’ve already gone through…”
I smiled. “It has to be. Of the Nine Purgatory Sovereigns, the third-placed Linda the Whisperer and fifth-placed Opero the Nightwalker haven’t shown themselves yet. There is a chance they may appear in Sainthelm Ruins as the next two bosses to beat, not to mention Lin Na, the Purgatory Ruler himself. I hope Lin Na doesn’t show up. We’re really not at the level where we can challenge him yet…”
“Don’t we have Xinran and Sophie?” Lian Xin asked.
I fell silent for a couple of seconds before replying, “To be honest, I don’t want Xinran to battle the Purgatory Ruler if possible. I may not be strong enough to help her if that’s the case. What if something were to happen to her?”
Lian Xin nodded. “Yes, big bro is right. Xinran’s safety is more important than beating Lin Na. Also, I keep having this feeling that Xinran is extremely attached to big bro. In fact, her love for you may even exceed mine and Beiming’s…”
I pursed my lips. “Yeah, Xinran is…”
He Yi added, “I used to think that Xinran is an NPC with super advanced AI, but the behavior she displays, especially her affection, exceeds what AI is capable of. It’s almost as if she possesses true emotions. Obviously, machines don’t have them. Even the best artificial emulations are only at Sophie or Karinshan’s level. However, Xinran’s feelings for Lu Chen seem to have exceeded that.”
Murong Mingyue crossed her arms and said, “Come on, you guys are exaggerating things. I’ve always thought of Xinran as a cute and powerful little sister NPC who’s overprotective of Lu Chen…”
I smiled. “Anyway, let me focus on driving. Yiyi, Qingqing, Lexi and Purple Marquis are already waiting for us at the restaurant…”
“Mn!”
……
Twenty minutes later, I parked the car at Guanqian Street’s parking lot. Right next to the parking lot was a high-end buffet restaurant that cost 300 yuan per seat. The moment we went inside, Lin Yixin immediately rose to her feet and greeted us with a smile, “Over here! What took you guys so long?” She wore a cute pink-colored miniskirt today. It was very refreshing to look at.
We went over and sat down with Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, Sun Qingqing and more. Everyone Lin Yixin brought with her was an executive-level player in the guild, the kind that could shake the guild if they stomped their feet a little too hard.
After we took our seats, Lin Yixin pushed a plate full of well-cut lamb meat in front of me. Her face was all smiles while she was holding a knife and the lamb leg. “Here, I’ve already cut up some lamb meat for you. I know you’re about to starve to death…”
I nearly cried from how considerate she was. I grabbed the meat and shoved it into my mouth. A couple of swallows later, my body grew warmer, and energy started flowing back into my body. Meat truly was the most delicious delicacy in the entire world!
He Yi, Lian Xin and the rest of the girls went away to grab their own food. A while later, we started eating and conversing idly with each other. We were eating a little faster than normal though. The event wasn’t over yet, and we could all earn more contribution points…
“You’re still the number one player on the contribution point ranking, right Lu Chen?” Nangong Lexi asked me while holding a big South American shrimp.
I nodded. “Yep. Or at least, I think so. Breeze and Rain and Yiyi both logged out at the same time I did. I doubt anyone can surpass my contribution points at this time.”
Purple Marquis said enviously, “You have over 7 million points, man. I don’t even know how you managed to get that many. I only have 1.7 million, which just barely puts me in the Top 30. I hope it’ll be enough to exchange for a lot of experience and a good item!”
Shadow Chanel giggled. “You’ll be lucky to get a Lower Immortal-grade piece of equipment, and don’t even dream of a Lower Divine Armament…”
I consoled him. “The March of Chaos event is an all-server event, and it is said that the Top 100000 players will all get a generous reward. To beat all these competitors and place among the top 30 is no easy feat. As long as you keep this up, there is actually a very good chance that you may get a Lower Divine Armament.”
Purple Marquis rubbed his hands together and said, “That sounds great! I’ll take your word for it!”
……
While holding a cup of flowering tea, Lin Yixin asked, “So, did you guys hear about what happened after the fight against Coldblade?”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about?” I asked in puzzlement. “Do you mean the assault on Sainthelm Ruins after we logged out of the game? There will always be players with sleep schedules different to ours, but none of the core players were up after the battle against Coldblade. There’s no way they’ve launched an all-out assault against Sainthelm Ruins already, right?”
“No, I’m talking about the guild challenge between Dark Mercenaries and God’s Domain…”
“Oh?” This time, everyone was looking at Lin Yixin.
Lin Yixin took out her phone and opened a web page. She then showed it to us and said, “See? Little Piglet was the winner of the guild challenge! They only had 17k players left when the battle was over, but they were able to annihilate God’s Domain completely and win a ton of rewards. God’s Domain’s main guild is now disbanded, and all of its former players suffered a level penalty. It’s a huge blow to say the least!”
“What?!” I nearly jumped to my feet in disbelief. “Little Piglet actually won? But that’s impossible! Even if he had the Crimson Dragon Arm, Red Maple’s Divine General Skill and Famous General Skill are still very powerful. They also have great players such as Purple Thunder, Cyan Frost, Red Hot Vortex. Meanwhile, Dark Mercenaries only have one Little Piglet. How… how the hell did he win that?”
Lin Yixin tugged my arm and said smilingly, “Calm down, you. I’m not done talking yet. Little Piglet had reinforcements that played a pivotal role in this battle.”
He Yi asked in surprise, “What reinforcements?”
Lin Yixin checked the web page again before answering, “According to the participant list, the Dark Mercenaries players who played a pivotal role in that battle are: Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone, Ringwraith, Heaven Punisher, Phoenix’s Poise and so on…”
For a time, no one said a word. Then, Purple Marquis asked, “Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith are Soul Battle Robes’ main players, aren’t they? Why are they in Dark Mercenaries?”
Lin Yixin shook her head. “I’m not too sure, but did you notice that Soul Battle Robes didn’t show up for the March of Chaos event? As it turns out, Song of Cloud and Water was guarding the main guild, and the rest of her generals had joined Dark Mercenaries without anyone realizing. If I had to guess, Little Piglet had negotiated some sort of deal with them. You all know how unyielding Song of Ice and Fire is. He would never join Dark Mercenaries for real.”
I agreed. “Yes, the only reason Song of Ice and Fire joined the game was to restore Soul Battle Robes to its former glory. This is but one part of his master plan. Still, Little Piglet must’ve offered them something amazing. I didn’t think they would go this far to help Dark Mercenaries.”
Lian Xin said, “Looking at the bigger picture, this is good news for the China server, right? Little Piglet had practically wiped out the number one guild of Purple Grape City for us…”
He Yi burst into a giggle. “Oh yes. Not only did they lose equipment and levels, their main guild cannot be rebuilt without using a new name and restarting from zero. It will take God’s Domain a long time to recover from this. Red Maple must feel like deleting his account right now.”
Nangong Lexi said, “If only he was that mentally weak…”
Everyone laughed knowing exactly what the other person was thinking right now. Although the Japan server had lost Purple Grape City to us first and Sophie later, they still had Swallow Ear Canton. They had used it to harass the China server repeatedly, provoked us into giving chase, and then jeered at us from the safety of the Impassable Great Wall. The fortification could hardly be taken by a couple of small squads. Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi and I had discussed our plans to wipe out the Japan server’s remaining city many times already. The moment we found the free time to do so, we would take out Swallow Ear Canton and make them truly homeless!
To take out wolves, you must destroy the wolf den. It was just common sense.
……
“Who do you think will be Little Piglet’s next target?” Purple Marquis asked suddenly after taking a sip of wine.
“It won’t be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls no matter what[1]…” I chuckled.
Lian Xin declared confidently, “If he’s stupid enough to choose us, the let him! Even with Song of Ice and Fire, God Bone and Ringwraith, we still can take them out like nothing!”
Lin Yixin shrugged. “Ancient Sword can wipe almost anything with just 100000 Dragonlight Cavalry. Little Piglet would have to be kicked in the head to choose you. I wonder if he’ll challenge Snowy Cathaya[2] though? Our chances of beating Dark Mercenaries as they are not nearly as great…”
Purple Marquis turned green. “Are you questioning our strength, guild leader?”
“Of course not, I’m just saying that there’s a possibility…”
“…”
I let out a laugh. “Relax. Little Piglet may have left the Center, but I believe that he isn’t a man without a bottom line. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen our greatest enemy as his first enemy. Anyway, he probably still has two Vassal Challenge Tokens left. I wonder who he’ll choose to tackle next?”
“Regardless, one of them has to be Purgatory Mad Dragon[3]…” He Yi declared without hesitation.
Lin Yixin and I nodded at the same time. “But of course[4] …”
We were all witnesses of the debauchery of Purgatory Mad Dragon’s executives that night. If Little Piglet hadn’t wanted to claim vengeance himself, we would’ve uprooted Purgatory Mad Dragon for him already. Taking out Purgatory Mad Dragon was very simple. All we need to do was to destroy all five of their main and subguild territories and issue a bounty to hunt down all Purgatory Mad Dragon players within the server. The guild would disband on its own in at most a month.
……
Li Chengfeng called me when I was finishing up my meal—
“What you doin’?”
“Lunch. Business?”
“Ruins!”
“Coming!”
“Waiting!”
……
After I hung up, both Lin Yixin and He Yi watched me with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Then, they said at the exact same time, “You guys take succinctness to a whole new level[5]…”
Me: “…”
1. E/N: Author, please… ASDS WAS NEVER EVEN ON THE DAMN LIST, JUST THEIR ALLIES ☜
2. E/N: Guess what, also NOT ON THE DAMN LIST. But hey, I’m sure Little Piglet is all about taking revenge against China, not Purgatory Mad Dragon! ☜
3. E/N: Author trying to paint common sense as He Yi being smart… ☜
4. E/N: No, quiet, your first thought was your guilds that have nothing to do with any of it ☜
5. E/N: Oh girls, you haven’t seen us order beer with just head nods at a familiar waiter ☜
