Chapter 173
Editor: Sahloknir
“Gong Yu?”
The youthful Shi Qing froze before bursting into uncontrollable peals of laughter. “Apartment?? That’s your name? Who named you and how did they think of it?”
Gong Yu observed his amus.e.m.e.nt, but he didn’t understand what Shi Qing was laughing at. Despite this, his lips also unconsciously curled upwards in response. He started foolishly laughing at himself along with the youth.
He was also able to quickly answer Shi Qing’s question. “My name comes from a proverb.”
“Which one? I’ve never heard of a proverb mentioning apartments.”
Gong Yu tentatively imitated Shi Qing’s way of hugging his knees when sitting. Although he still wasn’t fluent, at least he p.r.o.nounced each word correctly.
“A stone from another mountain can be used to break jade.”
“They gave me this name because they wanted me to be beatable.”
Beside him, Shi Qing noticed the crestfallen, sombre look in Gong Yu’s relatively good looking dark eyes after he spoke. What he didn’t notice was how the man silently tucked the jade pendant on his waist behind him.
Shi Qing giggled and leaned over to sneak another bite of tanghulu.
With a full mouth, he casually mumbled, “In that case, our meeting might be destined by fate. A stone from another mountain can be used to break jade, huh. My name’s Shi Qing, which is p.r.o.nounced the same as ‘stone’. Since you’re called Gong Yu, this means we’re bound to get along!”
Gong Yu’s previous melancholy was all but swept away by those words. His eyes brightened another fraction as he looked happily at Shi Qing.
“Our names are together.”
He smiled with crinkled eyes before carefully taking out his jade pendant and giving it to Shi Qing. “This. For you.”
“What is it?”
The youthful Shi Qing curiously leaned over and accepted the pendant. He understood once he saw the words ‘Gong Yu’ carved on it. “This is your personal jade pendant? People in ancient times did seem to like wearing these…Did the developers design this for you?”
“No. I made it myself.”
Gong Yu smiled at the pleased light in Shi Qing’s eyes. He tentatively scooted closer to Shi Qing and gestured at the jade pendant. A small, palm-sized figure reminiscent of a fairy floated out of it.
He had the exact same face as Gong Yu, but he was only as tall as a hand. After being called out, the little being closed his eyes and yawned a little.
“So cute, ah. What is this?”
The youthful Shi Qing happily reached out and let the little being fall into his hand. He curiously poked it lightly a couple of times before turning back to Gong Yu.
“He looks just like you.”
Gong Yu’s smile grew wider when he saw that Shi Qing liked it. He nodded and explained, “I made this myself. I was so lonely, I felt it could keep me company. I can go into this body sometimes. I’ll give him to you. You can call me if you run into trouble later.”
“A subst.i.tute doll? You actually made something that didn’t exist in the game from scratch. How cute.”
The youthful Shi Qing adoringly admired the little being. He even touched his little face a couple of times. Beside him, Gong Yu blushed a bit. He looked down and scratched his face, somewhat embarra.s.sed as he stuttered, “As long as you like it.”
“I do! Thanks. I’ll definitely always keep him by my side from now on.”
Shi Qing casually placed the little being on his shoulder before biting off another candied hawthorn.
He commented heartlessly while eating, “Then the developers must be seriously skilled if they created you. But even they probably didn’t antic.i.p.ate you breaking free of their setting and running off on your own.”
“Hey Gong Yu? Why are you so powerful? This game’s barely been out a year? How’d you break free of the main system’s control in just a year! You’re so OP!”
Despite being dressed in dark robes befitting a demon lord, with coiled braids reminiscent of snakes in his hair, Gong Yu’s expression was filled with blank befuddlement. Tinges of joy from Shi Qing accepting the mini-him still lingered in his mind.
Shi Qing’s comment puzzled him.
“What does…OP mean?”
“It means you’re really strong.” Shi Qing finished that hawthorn in two or three bites and spat out the seed. He offhandedly mentioned, “Isn’t this standard internet lingo? You’re an AI, don’t you have a vast database you can refer to? How come you don’t even know something like this?”
There was no disdain in his casual comment, but Gong Yu thought Shi Qing felt he was useless because of his ignorance. He tightened his grip on his tanghulu as he quietly stuttered, “I’ve been trapped here since I woke up. Players all want to kill me on sight so I could only learn bit by bit.”
He somewhat frantically continued, “I will learn, I will continue to learn. I will learn in the future what ‘internet lingo’ means.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. So what if you don’t know these things? I’ll teach you since I’m playing this game everyday anyways.”
The youthful Shi Qing was quick to pat Gong Yu on the shoulder after noticing his panic. He soothed the other like he was a child, “You were only born a year ago so you’re practically still a baby, right? Don’t worry. Gege will take care of you.”
Gong Yu slightly pursed his lips. He hesitated but eventually spoke, “I-I am not a year old. I have already lived for several thousand years.”
The youthful Shi Qing was completely caught off guard. “Several thousand years?? But this game of yours has only been out for a year, ah.”
“Big brother, how could you have lived for that long if you were only born a year ago??”
Shi Qing’s astonishment made Gong Yu think he had done something wrong. He frantically explained, “I am not lying to you. I have really lived for several thousand years. I have always been here. I stood at first. But then I got tired and sat down.”
The youthful Shi Qing suddenly clapped like he had an epiphany. “That’s right, the developers said you were supposed to be the main BOSS who’s lived tens of thousands of years. So then you actually experienced their character settings?”
“But wouldn’t you get bored, being by yourself for that long in this game? Several thousand years, ah…You can even be my great, great, great, great, great grandpa then!”
Gong Yu seemed uncertain. He tentatively reached out and tugged on Shi Qing’s sleeve, sincerely saying, “I don’t want to be your great, great, great, great, great grandpa. We’re friends. You just said so.”
“Hahahahaha how can you repeat what I just said with such a straight face?”
The youthful Shi Qing held his stomach and laughed uproariously at his antics. After he calmed down, he noticed Gong Yu staring blankly at him, unsure of what he had said to provoke such a response.
“Little Gong Yu ah, Little Gong Yu. You’re so cute. Don’t worry. I judge how old people are by their mental age, not how long they’ve lived. Even if you’ve lived several thousand years, you’re still a little baby in my heart.
Gong Yu’s fair face immediately beamed. He nodded with bright eyes.
Shi Qing was stunned by the sight.
The youthful Shi Qing was still mindlessly rambling about what was going on outside, completely unaware of the gaze of his companion.
But Shi Qing could see it very clearly this time as a bystander.
Gong Yu’s eyes were pure and full of joy. He looked at the youthful Shi Qing like he was his entire world.
This AI, who had never interacted with anyone, despite living for tens of thousands of years, was already completely captivated by Shi Qing from first sight.
Every fiber of his being trusted Shi Qing, believing that he was the only one.
But looking back, Shi Qing knew that this trust would be inevitably betrayed one day.
Because the current him couldn’t remember the events of this time at all.
He didn’t even remember ever saying such things to an AI.
Everything that happened in this game was just a game to his younger self. Perhaps he did treat Gong Yu as a friend back then, perhaps their camaraderie was real as well.
But the current him had already forgotten all about Gong Yu.
He only remembered that there was a demonic fiend in this game that he pursued because he wanted to be number one in the server. He found him, but he didn’t kill him.
Then he stopped playing due to family matters.
And he never came back to the game ‘Descent of Chivalry’ after that.
Then what about Gong Yu?
What about Gong Yu, who the youthful Shi Qing promised to come and keep company everyday?
Shi Qing followed behind the duo.
He watched as Gong Yu took Shi Qing to Myriad Flower Valley, which was covered with fresh blooms. Because this subplot was hidden too well, no player even knew this place existed. Only the native Gong Yu, who wandered all over the game after gaining sentience, knew.
Shi Qing really liked this place.
There was a hidden task in Myriad Flower Valley to find the true culprit who killed the emperor.
Of course the emperor NPC couldn’t appear again because he was dead.
The youthful Shi Qing excitedly dragged Gong Yu over to the imperial throne.
There was even a set of black dragon robes representing the emperor placed there.
Shi Qing sat down and patted the seat. Upon discovering this chair was too big for him, he beckoned Gong Yu over.
”Hey Gong Yu, why don’t you be the emperor? You’re so handsome that you’ll definitely look good in these dragon robes. I’ll go get changed too, and then we can trick some players over and mess with them, alright?”
Gong Yu had always done whatever Shi Qing told him to do. He nodded obediently and went over to change into those dragon robes.
Shi Qing whistled when he was done. “Very handsome indeed. If that face of yours appeared in real life, you’d definitely have truckloads of fans.”
He was praised.
Gong Yu lowered his head, somewhat embarra.s.sed. His ears reddened slightly.
However, the youthful Shi Qing didn’t notice anything. He was busy rummaging through the clothes he had bought earlier.
“Let me take a look, ah. Republic of China clothes? No, no. Then I won’t match with you, ah. You’re in ancient Chinese clothing, so I have to find something like that too.”
He searched for quite a while before his eyes lit up. “Aha! This is perfect.”
After putting it on, Shi Qing summoned a mirror to take a look. He stroked his chin, pleased.”
“Don’t I look like a dandy little master?”
Gong Yu was a bit confused by his question, but he knew that dandy didn’t have good connotations. So he frantically shook his head. “You’re not a dandy. You’re really good.”
“Aiya, I’m just asking if I look like one.”
The youthful Shi Qing’s eyes lit up as he suddenly had an idea.
“How about this? You’ll be the emperor, and I’ll be a dandy. Let me think, ah…en. I’m the son of the prime minister, and your reading companion while you were a prince. You were always bullied by me back then, so the task I’ll give to the players is to kill you. The task you’ll give them is to kill me.”
Gong Yu shook his head, a bit put off. “I won’t kill you.”
“We’re just acting, ma. Aiya. Come on, come on. Let’s rehea.r.s.e our lines before the players arrive. Our game will be like this…”
The youthful Shi Qing had not yet experienced the drastic changes in his family. He was mischievous and liked to pull pranks on others. Not only did he partic.i.p.ate himself, he even dragged Gong Yu into it. The two of them laid low in Myriad Flower Valley, deliberately luring players over and having lots of fun.
Shi Qing stood there, watching them toying with the players and laughing together afterwards. Actually, it was mainly Shi Qing holding his stomach and laughing while Gong Yu looked on with a smile.
Shi Qing could almost recall a similar memory.
He was laughing like this at the time, and there was someone beside him. He always looked at Shi Qing tenderly and indulged his every whim.
But he…actually forgot about this person.
Author’s Corner
I’m getting more and more excited as I write this
Then I had to forcibly restrain my little paws that want to write abuse
Aowuwuwu, I’m so, so excited
Randomly sending out red pockets~
Night night
Rain
Good to see the author’s inner s.a.d.i.s.t is still alive and kicking. Gave me flashbacks to chapter 7 XD