Behind High Fighting Spirits were Du Thirteen and Gui Guzi, and they were carrying a small red box each. The boxes were open, so I could see that there was a small cake about half the size of a palm inside of them. They passed their gifts to Xinran with a smile and said, “Hehe, we finally got to meet you in person, Xinran! You’re one pretty little sister, aren’t you?”
I shot the boxes a glance and said, “Wow, that’s quite the ‘big’ gift you brought Xinran…”
“But of course! It’s only right considering that she just returned to the real world!”
I said, “Want to make your gift even bigger then? I’ve prepared a card swiper at the living hall. When we get inside, you will all swipe 10,000 USD[1].”
“Nooooo……”
……
A while later, Li Chengfeng and the others arrived as well. A huge group of people were already gathered at the living hall of the workshop including Chaos Moon, Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust, Moonlight Stone and more. We would need two large tables at least to accommodate this many guests.
While walking along a flight of bluestone steps and supporting Xinran, Chaos Moon walked up to us with a grin on her face. “Is this Xinran, Lu Chen? Hello, Lady Wind Singer! You’re really pretty!”
Xinran nodded embarrassedly before asking, “Thank you. Who are you, sister?”
Before Chaos Moon could answer, I said, “She’s one of our guild’s accountants. You don’t need to memorize her name though. She’s just a small fry and not deserving of your brain cells. Come, let’s go eat some more fruits…”
To Chaos Moon’s credit, she valiantly resisted my disregard of her. She was still pulling at my clothes like a cat when we entered the living hall.
Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun rose to his feet and greeted Xinran politely. He then clicked his tongue and said, “Xinran’s the little princess of Eternal Moon, right? I heard that her assets are worth a couple hundred billions… ahem. I’ve never met such a rich woman in my life. To be honest. I’m so excited…”
I curled my lips. “Neither have I. In fact, I don’t think there has ever been a girl in China with this much wealth until now…”
Beiming Xue blinked once before whispering beside my ear, “Big bro, I heard Sister Eve saying that Xinran had unconditionally transferred all of her assets to you. Is that true?”
“Mn.” I nodded but added, “However, I’m only holding onto them until she’s ready to accept them. I’m fully aware that these assets really belong to Xinran, and personally I’d prefer to be a blacksmith of my success anyway. That is why I sold the Soul Devouring Whip and became a billionaire…”
Beiming Xue’s smile was sweet. “Yes, you are my billionaire big bro…”
I wrapped an arm across Beiming Xue’s shoulders before saying, “Alright, it looks like the ingredients sis ordered from the restaurant have arrived. Go kidnap Little Xin and give them a hand, will you? By the way, don’t you have classes today?”
“I’ve decided to skip classes for a week. Don’t worry, I gave my lecturer two bottles of Maotai that are worth 10,000 each…”
“Bribery at your age? That’s not very moral…”
“Heehee, what can I do? It’s a skill my big brother taught me after all!”
“When have I taught you bribery??”
“Did you not bribe Sister Mingyue to wash your clothes with cotton candy a long time ago?”
Me: “…”
……
A while later, our two Knight Generals Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust pushed a three-storey cake to the center of the living hall. I didn’t see this coming. “Excuse me, but is it someone’s birthday today?”
Heaven’s Rain said, “No. But who says that you can only have cake for birthdays? Little Xue and I spent a lot of money to buy this, you know? We’ll have to eat only cup noodles next month…”
I snorted. “Like hell you are. You are all corps commanders or vice corps commanders with a monthly salary of 100k at least. Also, I check the expense bills of Dark Moon City every month, and I bet I’m going to see a certain cake on the ledger later. Cry wolf again, and I’ll make you foot the bill for this dinner. The same goes for all of you!”
Heaven’s Rain stuck out her tongue and said, “Vice leader big bro is omniscient and wise. I’m starting to like you more and more…”
“Ahem. Don’t forget to leave Xinran a piece of cake, by the way. I don’t think she’s had one in her life…”
Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng was crossing his arms and basking in the liveliness when he asked, “Lu Chen has three little sisters now, and it looks like he’ll be snubbing the two of you for at least a while, Beiming, Lian Xin. So, Little Xin, do you want to become my little sister? I promise I’ll take good care of you and buy you the best clothes. Whaddya think?”
Lian Xin looked thoughtful while holding a fruit plate. “Is that so? What’s our score versus each other in the champion arena again? If your win rate against me is 70% or higher, then I’ll become your little sister. Otherwise, don’t even think about it…”
Li Chengfeng shuddered before pulling out his phone and tapping it in rapid succession. A while later, all the blood drained away from his face as he said, “Oh no. I’ve won 10 times out of 19 against you in the champion arena… Damn, that’s not 70%…”
Lian Xin beamed. “There you have it. What kind of older brother cannot win against their little sister? Unlike you, Lu Chen had beaten me 16 times out of the 21 times we fought each other in the champion arena. Moreover, I have a suspicion that he had purposely held back during those five losses…”
Li Chengfeng threw his arms in the air. “Why is this so hard? I just want a little sister!”
It was at this moment Du Thirteen said, “I know someone who may be a good sister candidate for you, Li. The question is, do you dare to accept her?”
“Who are we talking about?”
“Ye Yuse of Candle Dragon!”
“Er…”
Li Chengfeng hummed for a moment before replying seriously, “Nah, she’s out. Although we are acquaintances, she’s firmly loyal to Candle Dragon, or should I say Candlelight Shadow. I had tried to recruit her to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls before, but she claimed that she couldn’t because she wanted to repay Candlelight Shadow for his patronage and appreciation of her skills. I can see that she has fallen in love with him. Who knows, they may have even rolled in the bed sheets already…”
I asked, “Does Candlelight Shadow have a girlfriend right now?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Then it’s none of our business. We hardly have the right to stick our foot into a consensual relationship.”
Li Chengfeng nodded. “You are right, and I’m not saying that we should interfere at all. I just find it a shame that Candle Dragon had gotten to her first before we did. If she had joined Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, our ability to control and snipe players on the battlefield would have been much superior.”
I chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. We may not have Ye Yuse, but we have Lian Xin and Beiming Xue, Chaos Moon and Heaven’s Rain, and Moonlight Stone and Guanyue. I’m very proud of you all because not a single one of you is inferior to Ye Yuse. The reason Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is number one on the Guild Ranking now isn’t due to anyone’s strength, but the strength of us all.”
Guanyue was also holding a fruit plate when she heard this. She immediately blushed and said, “Oh my, I’m so touched! If only I could marry you right now…”
Li Chengfeng: “…”
Du Thirteen: “…”
……
The feast went about as well as you might expect. The restaurant employees only delivered the ingredients, so it was up to the chefs we had hired to turn them into delicious food. One by one, the dishes were served onto the table. When it was time to eat, I helped Xinran onto her chair and went to town on the food. After a few days of recuperation, Xinran’s legs were much, much stronger than they had been at the beginning. She could now stand on her own without trouble, so I wasn’t worried if she could slip off her chair or something. She was even getting a hang of using chopsticks. Unfortunately, her accuracy was still very low, so she kept losing meat to shameless bastards like Du Thirteen and Mamate…
Each table was served with five bottles of high-quality red wine. As Li Chengfeng rose to his feet, he raised his wine glass higher and looked at me and Xinran, saying, “Thank you for allowing us to mooch off this dinner, Xinran! As a show of my thanks, I shall drink a toast to you!”
While he was draining his wine, Xinran asked me in a small voice, “Who is this guy again, big brother? I forgot…”
Dong!
Li Chengfeng was so sad that he collapsed to his knees and slipped under the table.
Everyone laughed at his antics before continuing to fill up their bellies at an incredible rate. Gluttonous, hard-working, loyal, brave, and ever-victorious. Those were the adjectives that fit us best right now.
Lin Yixin whispered to me, “Hey, your bros are downing their wine like it’s water. I don’t think they’re going home tonight.”
I replied, “Yeah. Thankfully, there are at least a dozen or so empty rooms in the villa. It’ll be enough to accommodate everyone for the night…”
She pouted. “What if they stay longer than expected? I was hoping to spend a few quiet days with you, and now I can’t even go to your room later…”
I let out a chuckle and gave her hand a squeeze. “If you’re too embarrassed to come to my room, then I can go to your room. Plus, they’re not going to stay for long. Once their hangovers have passed, they’ll return to the gaming base. They’re not that shameless!”
Before I even finished my sentence, Du Thirteen and Li Chengfeng immediately raised their chopsticks and said, “Lu Chen, your villa has exquisite scenery and people. Is it okay if we move over and stay here temporarily?”
Lin Yixin turned deathly pale when she heard that.
Thankfully, He Yi came to our rescue. “This villa is meant to be Xinran’s recovery home, which is why it was paid by Eternal Moon main headquarters themselves[2]. You guys are too noisy, so we can’t have you here. Also, the base cannot function properly without you people. You are the backbone of the guild after all…”
Du Thirteen said, “It will be fine. We promise we’ll feign ignorance if we hear any suspicious noise at night!”
He Yi smiled. “Well, fine. I can arrange your rooms, but you’ll have to pay 500k per month as rent.”
Du Thirteen immediately turned as green as vomit. “Actually, I think the gaming base is just fine. That’s the rental price of a presidential suite…”
……
Suddenly, Chaos Moon raised her phone and said, “Guys and girls, I’m very sorry about this, but I have some bad news to announce to you all…”
I nodded. “It’s fine. Tell us.”
He Yi also said, “What bad news?”
Chaos Moon looked down on her phone and read, “17 minutes ago, the so-called number one expert of India’s Cyan Earth City, God of War, has successfully ascended to become a god through the Divine Crystal method! Not only that, Hero City’s number one expert[3], Vienna’s Sorrow, has achieved the same thing on his third attempt using the Divine Crystals just 9 minutes ago! They both belong to the Light Divine Throne. What do you guys think?”
“God damn…”
Xu Yang grimaced. “There are now 7 divine players in the entire world, and 4 of them belong to China, and 3 to the rest of the world. Moreover, these 3 divine players all belong to hostile forces. Frankly, I don’t like how the next Nation War is shaping up to be. Previously, we were able to turn the tides in our favor thanks to a superior amount of Famous General Skills and Divine General Skills, but not this time…”
Chaos Moon said carelessly, “It will be fine. We have Lu Chen to do the impossible!”
I commented while holding a ladle, “Er, I can’t fight forever, you know. I will have to retire some day…”
Lin Yixin’s eyes glimmered with intelligence. “Hmm… I have a feeling that they will launch their invasion the moment they’ve gotten more than 5 divine players. Sky City is a giant threat to all of them, and neither Vienna nor God of War will allow it to remain in the current state. After all, the King of Cities buff is another major reason they’ve suffered defeat after defeat in our hands.”
I gripped my fists and declared, “There is only one thing to do, and that is to work hard and ascend as quickly as you can. The more ascended players we have, the more cautious and afraid they’ll become!”
1. T/N: not a mistake. Lu Chen just decided to up the currency ☜
2. T/N: god damn, they didn’t even need to pay a dime for their new workshop! Say what you want about their shamelessness, but they sure know how to get their free stuff ☜
3. T/N: lul one is so-called, and one isn’t ☜
