“Lu Chen…”
Lin Yixin buried her face in my neck before calling out to me.
“Hmm?” I asked, “What"s wrong?”
“About He Yi…” Lin Yixin hesitated for a second before straightening herself and staring at me directly. She bit her lips before asking, “Is she really that important to you?”
“I…” Her question caught me off-guard, but I nodded. “Yeah. After everything we went through, I swore that I would never let her down again for as long as I live.”
“Even if it costs you your life?” Lin Yixin said a bit angrily and tearfully. Her eyes were glowing with a kind of emotion that I couldn"t understand.
“At the cost of my own life, huh…”
I avoided her gaze and looked away. At this point, I didn"t know what I was feeling myself.
Her tears finally burst out in full force, and she hugged me and buried her face deep into my neck. Very soon, a wet sensation started spreading on my shoulder.
Maybe it was because of the alcohol, but I almost couldn"t believe that the calm and courageous Lin Yixin could have a moment like this.
The only thing I could do was return her hug with a bit of trepidation. A while later, Lin Yixin let out a whiny noise before pus.h.i.+ng me away from her. Then, she said quietly, “I"m tired. I want to go back now…”
Subconsciously, I felt like she knew something that she shouldn"t know. I hurriedly grabbed onto her hand and asked her, “What do you know, Yiyi?”
“Nothing.”
“But…”
“No buts.” Lin Yixin faced toward me, her face still covered in tear stains. She looked like she was choosing her words carefully as she wiped away her tears. “I know I can"t change the past, but I… I… I still have a life ahead of me, and this is all there is between us, isn"t it?”
“Seriously, Yiyi, what"s wrong?”
“Stop asking!” Lin Yixin said a bit angrily before looking at me. “What… what are we, really? Have you ever wondered what I am to you? Why must I give up the War Holy Temple for you? Why should I accommodate you? Why should I be the one to suffer for your sake...”
I grabbed her hand again. “But…”
“But what? You"re a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, you know that?” Lin Yixin glared at me like an angry little lioness.
The words slipped out of my mouth. “But I love you…”
“You!” She burst into tears again and s.h.i.+vered from head to toe. “Is that true?”
“No!”
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Lin Yixin embraced me again in tears and laughter. She actually bit me multiple times on the shoulder so hard that it almost bled, but I endured the pain and continued holding her in my arms.
The trepidation in my heart was growing as I replayed her words in my mind. She was right. What are we, really? Why did I blurt out and said that I loved her? If I really do love her, then what are my feelings for He Yi supposed to be? Loyalty, or love as well?
My brain turned into mush for a moment. I couldn"t think of anything.
……
A long time later, Lin Yixin finally got tired of crying and pushed me away again. She stared at me with reddened eyes and asked, “Do you think we"re friends, Lu Chen?”
I nodded. “Mn, I believe we are.”
“What type of friends are we?”
“The kind that are very, very close to each other.”
“Mn.”
It looked like she was satisfied with my answer. She checked the time and said, “We should go, it"s almost 11. Take me home, Lu Chen.”
“Okay!”
When we stepped out of the door, and the cold wind brushed past my skin, I felt as if it were a lifetime ago. Beside me, Lin Yixin had returned to her calm and collected self—the campus belle, the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess—although she broke out her sh.e.l.l temporarily to laugh at me after I scratched my car twice in the process of reversing my car out of the parking spot.
I drove very, very slowly as we made way toward the university campus. On the way, Lin Yixin pursed her lips and asked me, “Let"s level together tomorrow morning, okay?”
“Sure. But promise me you won"t be late…”
“OMG, when was I ever late?”
“Every single time, dammit!”
“Hmph. Get back home and sleep early. If I don"t see you in the game at 9 am tomorrow you"re dead!”
“I got it, I got it!”
I waved my hand. We finally reached the female dorm, and Lin Yixin went back upstairs. Clear Perfume shouted at me from the third floor, “f.u.c.k, took you long enough to give back our Yiyi, Lu Chen!”
I curled my lips, but Lin Yixin looked back and smiled at me. “Be careful on the road.”
“Mn.”
……
It was time to go back to Frost Cloud workshop.
My phone rang without warning. I took a look and was surprised to see that it was He Yi. An international call?
After the call connected, He Yi"s sweet voice entered my ears. “Hey, Lu Chen. How are you doing?”
“Heh, not bad. How are you doing in the United States?”
“I"m staying at a hotel, and I just reconnected the game"s data cable. It"s been meeting after meeting since I came here, but things finally slowed down enough for me to get back online and check on you guys. Unfortunately, you, Mingyue, and Beiming Xue were all offline, so I logged out again after killing some mobs. I still had an online meeting to attend later.”
“Oh, that"s great. Mn, I bought an X12 and went to dinner with Lin Yixin just now. I just sent her home, and I"m now on the way back to the apartment.” I wasn"t planning on lying to He Yi, and it sounded like she didn"t mind it. I felt her smile on the other side on the phone.
“Good. I don"t mind as long as you didn"t spend the night with her at a hotel or something. I heard that the police are working pretty hard as of late, and any hotel could be the victim under a sudden inspection for a moment. If a man and woman were found to be staying in the same room without a marriage certificate to prove that they"re married, they are required to call their families to take them away. I don"t intend to receive a call like this in the near or far future, you understand…”
“f.u.c.k…” I groaned on the inside. “And how would you know that from the US? You must be bulls.h.i.+tting me, right…”
“Hehe, you saw through it?”
“Hmph, of course I saw through it!”
“Oh right, how is that X12 of yours? If it"s not comfortable, I can make a call and get you an imported car. Most of the stuff in China are well, made in China, so they"re not very reliable…”
I couldn"t help but laugh. “It"s fine, it"s only right that an unreliable man like me drives an unreliable car.”
He Yi giggled. “Hmm, that actually makes some sense.”
“Oh right, when are you coming back?”
“Ah, that…” A bit of helplessness leaked into He Yi"s tone. “After I deal with the business here, I need to fly to Canada, Australia, and India in succession before I can even consider returning to China. Long story short, it"ll be another half a month at least before I can go back. But don"t worry, I"m doing my best to reduce my time away. I miss you all…”
“We miss you too…”
He Yi laughed. “For an unreliable man, that sounds pretty reliable. Anyway, I need to hang up. There"s a car waiting for me downstairs, and I need to go right about now…”
“Mn, don"t overwork yourself, okay?”
“I know. Bye bye.”
“Bye.”
When I hung up the call, I was shocked to discover that I was sweating bullets. It was understandable though, who could"ve thought that He Yi would call me right after I sent away Lin Yixin? I was an idiot when it came to love, and while my ability to mult.i.task in the game was practically unrivaled, in real life trying to juggle between Lin Yixin and He Yi was killing me. It wasn"t a load I was equipped to bear at all!
……
When I got back to the workshop, it was already 11:30. But when I opened the front door, I was surprised to find that the living hall was alight. Murong Mingyue was sitting on the sofa and reading a magazine in a sheath dress, and Beiming Xue was playing “Link Link Me” on a tablet. It looked like they were waiting for… me?
“I"m home…” I greeted them meekly.
“Where the f.u.c.k were you?” Murong Mingyue put down her magazine and glared at me. “You didn"t even accept my call.”
“Er… I was at the bar just now. It was too loud for me to hear the phone ring…”
“Hmph!”
I sat down next to Beiming Xue and asked her in a small voice, “Beiming, why is sis so angry tonight?”
Beiming Xue smiled. “How could she not? She brought you the Pickled Hot and Sour Fish you ordered, and you weren"t even here to receive it. Not only that, you made her wait G.o.d knows how long before you finally returned…”
“Ah?”
Stunned, I hurriedly moved next to Murong Mingyue and smiled meekly at her. “Sis, I"m sorry I wasted your effort, please don"t be angry…”
Murong Mingyue"s awesome b.r.e.a.s.t.s bounced up and down in response to their master"s feelings. She shot me a glance and said, “That isn"t going to work this time. Do you know how embarra.s.sing it was for me to carry a food bowl all the way from the streets to the apartment? You"re not getting out of this until you eat and drink every last drop of the fish soup!”
I cried out, “f.u.c.k, are you trying to kill me?”
“Beiming, go warm the food, please.”
“No problem!”
My younger sister couldn"t wait to see me fail, so she happily bounced away to warm up the Pickled Hot and Sour Fish. It wasn"t long before the hot bowl of fish soup was set on top of the table. Honestly, I wasn"t hungry at all, but I still picked up my chopsticks and ate diligently under Murong Mingyue"s supervision. Maybe it was because I was on a rollercoaster of emotion today, but somehow I was able to finish the fish meat, the pickled vegetables, and even the soup exactly as ordered. Once I was done, I rubbed my round tummy and let out a satisfied sigh. “That was awesome…”
Seemingly surprised by the fact that I actually finished the meal completely, Murong Mingyue let out a soft snort before smiling deviously. “Awesome, is it? Did you know that a powerful contender just sold a Level 95, Dark Gold–grade 2-star Outstanding axe at Sky City? I asked around already, and the seller wasn"t a member of Snowy Cathaya or Warsky Alliance. Whoever they are, they must die unless they"re one of us. I wonder if it was Legendary Brave?”
I stared at her. “How much did the axe sell for?”
“Warsky, Pillar of the Nation, Li Le, and Roaming Dragon were all fighting for the axe. Even Indigo Collar and Tempest Shadow had traveled all the way from Wind City to compete for the axe. In the end though, Pillar of the Nation bought it for 2.5 million.”
“Holy s.h.i.+t, 2.5 million?” I was shocked. I had no idea the axe would be this popular.
“Why do you look so excited?” Murong Mingyue looked at me suspiciously.
“Why wouldn"t I? Is that axe the Purple Thunder Battle Axe?”
“Yeah?”
“That"s my axe!”
“Ah?” Murong Mingyue"s jaw hit the floor in shock and joy. Then, she suddenly walked up to me, hugged my neck and kissed me on the forehead before laughing. “That"s wonderful! I was worrying that our workshop is getting too low on capital as of late. You"d better put 20% of the profit into the workshop"s shared funds, you hear me?”
I smiled. “No problem. It"s just 20%!”
……
I happily went online and checked my notices. As expected, I received a system notice saying that the axe I auctioned had been sold for 2.5 million, or more accurately 2.375 million after the 5% was deducted as the transaction fee. Even after 20% of the profits was converted as the workshop"s capital, I still earned a net profit of 1.875 million. As I predicted beforehand, as long as I stayed ahead in terms of level, equipment, and power, my virtual wealth was more than enough to keep me afloat.
I simmered in excitement for a moment before I finally cooled down enough to log off and sleep. I had a virtual date with Lin Yixin tomorrow, and I needed to be at full energy. That wasn"t all though. Tomorrow, I will reach Level 100 and become the first player to undergo my fourth cla.s.s promotion, and then I"ll set up my own shop!