The new ranking was finally announced. The Fruit Knife G.o.ddess had entered the CGL Hall of Fame and claimed the 13th spot in dominant fas.h.i.+on. It was a powerful entrance for sure. Candlelight Shadow and my ranking had increased greatly as well. Candlelight Shadow had jumped from the 7th to the 6th place, while I had jumped from the 12th to the 7th place. I was now right behind him.
The CGL ranking wasn"t constant, and points were awarded based on a players" results in tournaments, guild wars, Nation Wars and so on. Naturally, retired players would keep sliding down the rankings until they were ultimately gone. It was just how compet.i.tion worked. Lonely Grave and Blood Red were players who shook the gaming world back in their time, but even they had dropped past the 20th place. It was a lamentable sight for sure.
Besides that, Farewell Song, Moonkiss, Luo River G.o.d of the Capital, and others also did well in Who Will Rise and experienced an increase in ranking. Farewell Song"s performance was especially noteworthy. He was one of the fastest players to shoot up the rankings.
……
Qin Yun left in a hurry after she gave the announcement. Apparently, she still had a lot of work to do.
The curtain finally fell on the Who Will Rise tournament, and while the closing ceremony was going on Fei"er walked between me and Lin Yixin before asking teasingly, “Do you have anything to say to Lu Chen, Lin Yixin? Remember, he was the direct compet.i.tor who almost s.n.a.t.c.hed victory from your hands~”
This Fei"er sure knows how to give me trouble!
Lin Yixin looked at me with her beautiful eyes before smiling teasingly. “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…”
Fei"er blinked once before moving the mic to me. “And do you have anything to say to Beauty Lin, Lu Chen?”
Me: “f.u.c.k…”
The entire place erupted into laughter. Our exchange was brief, but it seemed that a magical layer of something added to our relations.h.i.+p.
……
When the dinner feast was done, the players started packing their things and going home to greet their mothers and family. We however, decided to stay one more night so we could face tomorrow"s battles with a fresh head. Our victory in Who Will Rise was just temporary, and we couldn"t afford to let up, be it in terms of grinding or contending for territories. There were still plenty of things to be done before we could truly establish ourselves in Sky City!
Since no one was in the mood to grind levels, Chaos Moon suggested that we go to a KTV and sing the night away. We agreed because it had been a while since our last gathering.
Fragrant Rose KTV was located at Xujiahui, one of the busiest districts of Shanghai. After getting stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour, we decided to get off our taxis and walk there instead. It only took us twenty minutes to reach our destination.
We paid for a box and filled the table with beers, drinks, fruits, snacks, and the like. Then, us guys started popping beer caps and blowing away at the mouth of the bottle.
Li Chengfeng bit a beer cap and popped it open in one smooth motion, impressing Chaos Moon into a small clap. “You have pretty strong teeth, dragon warrior!”
Li Chengfeng laughed humbly. “Oh, this is nothing. Back in the day I could crack open even the ammo of an armored car!”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Can you please put a hand beneath your jaw so it won"t break from the sheer size of your boast?”
Xu Yang tried to copy Li Chengfeng, and he succeeded. However, he also succeeded in breaking half of his incisor; the broken tooth spinning on the table in front of He Yi and me like the totem from the movie “Inception”. Who would"ve thought that Xu Yang"s totem would be something like this?
Li Chengfeng raised his beer bottle and gave me a smile. “Wanna drink to beating Candle Dragon and celebrating the rise of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Lu Chen?”
“Of course!”
I nodded and drank the whole thing in several gulps. Beside me, He Yi said worriedly, “Slow down, you"re going to hurt your liver like this…”
Murong Mingyue giggled from the side. “So what? It doesn"t matter as long as his kidneys are fine, does it?”
He Yi: “...”
Beiming Xue blinked innocently. “What do you mean?”
Not far away, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were screeching into the mic like banshees and torturing our eardrums, so I prodded Chaos Moon hastily. “Chaos Moon, please take the mic away from them! Superstars sing for money, but these people are going to claim our lives if they keep this up!”
Chaos Moon giggled before running over to High Fighting Spirits and s.n.a.t.c.hing the mic out of his hands. “Go back to drinking, guysl. This isn"t your battlefield.”
The trio obediently went back to their seats and duked it out with the beer in their hands.
Everyone was pretty happy today. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had never made it far in any tournament until now, much less advance with two parties to the Top 16. Moreover, we all got amazing equipment rewards that were better than even the boss drops at the current stage. Even bosses didn"t drop Outstanding equipment unless the last hitter had incredibly good luck, but today everyone—except Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun, who got a mount pet egg—had gotten excellent Outstanding equipment for their efforts!
Chaos Moon turned out to be a pretty good singer and dancer. Unfortunately, that also meant that we had to move to the corners so that she wouldn"t b.u.mp into us. d.a.m.n that girl! Can"t a man drink in peace? Still, I couldn"t deny that it was enjoyable to drink beer, chow down on the spicy duck neck Gui Guzi bought ,and watch a beautiful girl sing and dance just meters away from me.
Clink!
I couldn"t remember how many times I clinked bottles with Li Chengfeng at this point. All I remembered was that I had drained the entire thing in one gulp again. Even He Yi had given up on me. As long as I didn"t drink myself to death.
It wasn"t long before a row of empty beer bottles were stacked in front of me. Okay, this was definitely a bit too much.
Not far away, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun were leaning against each other with their eyes closed like a good gay couple. High Fighting Spirits was even hugging Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun"s waist.
Murong Mingyue curled her lips. “Are they f.u.c.king each other?”
I rolled my eyes at her. “How the f.u.c.k would I know?”
Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before lifting his beer bottle again. “Come, Lu Chen! Let us blow another one for our gay couple…”
I nodded before shooting him a suspicious look. “Why do I feel like you"re trying to get me drunk?”
“Haha, what are you talking about? I"m the alcohol tolerance officer of the Communist Party, and I"m just testing the alcohol tolerance of a fellow comrade!”
“Well, what are you waiting for then? Cheers!”
……
The party continued until past 11 pm. We were lucky the KTV we chose operated past midnight as well. Almost everyone was lights-out and lying on the floor, including Li Chengfeng, the so-called alcohol tolerance officer. He was just an under-the-table officer now.
I licked my lips and tried to stand up. My head was a bit dizzy as a matter of course. I looked to my side and saw Murong Mingyue lying atop of the sofa like she owned the place. He Yi hurriedly rose to her feet and held me steady, asking, “Where are you going?”
“Just feeling a little stuffy. Was hoping to catch some fresh air outside.”
“I"ll keep you company. I don"t want you to fall asleep on the corridor.”
“Hehe, don"t worry, it"ll be fine…”
He Yi insisted on supporting me anyway, so we went to the open balcony at the top floor. It just stopped raining outside, so the air was especially cool and fresh. I felt more clear-headed already staring at the white moon and feeling a cold breeze caressing my skin.
I was still holding a beer bottle in one hand, so I leaned against the handrails and took a sip of beer. Then, I looked at my beautiful guild leader.
He Yi wore a light purple dress tonight. She was staring at me sternly while the moonlight illuminated her pale white face, “You seriously drank too much today…”
I smiled back. “It"s fine.”
I looked down a little and suddenly noticed that two of the s.h.i.+rt b.u.t.tons had come loose. The smooth, milky flesh beneath her s.h.i.+rt looked like they would break free of the constraints of the third b.u.t.ton as well. Her long and well-toned legs looked especially attractive under the moonlight.
I had to hide a sigh of admiration. For a moment, I wondered which G.o.ddess it was who created He Yi in her own image.
He Yi s.n.a.t.c.hed my bottle from my hands and took a sip herself. However, she looked like she was struggling to decide whether to laugh or cry for some reason. Standing quietly in front of me, she asked, “Lu Chen, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls won second place in Who Will Rise, right? Tell me it"s not a dream…”
I nodded. “It"s real.”
Suddenly, her shoulders started shaking as a pair of tears trailed down her soft cheeks. She looked at the night sky and murmured to herself, “I… I"ve finally fulfilled her wish…”
“What"s wrong, Eve?”
I gently held her shoulders. He Yi was really not acting like herself today.
“Lu Chen, do you know that I"m not actually the founder of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls?” He Yi said quietly.
I was surprised. “What? But… How is that possible?”
“I"m not.”
He Yi nodded. Her tears continued to flow down her cheeks uncontrollably. “I created Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to fulfill a promise to someone, and today I"ve finally done it…”
I asked, “Who is this person? And what happened in the past? How come I"ve never heard any of this?”
He Yi stared at me tearfully before she begged, “Please don"t ask me about this, okay? I… I really don"t want to recall that past.”
“Okay.”
I simply hugged her and kept quiet. I could physically feel her shaking slightly in my arms. I had never thought I would never see her, the genius girl and internationally accomplished businesswoman, cry like this. Just what on earth happened to her in the past?
I didn"t ask her about her past just as she had asked me to. She would tell me herself when it was time. All I"m going to do now is stay by her side and help her fulfill her promise, no matter what it is. After all, it seemed aligned with my own promise, the promise to conquer the world with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.
He Yi felt a little warm in my embrace. We remained like this for a very, very long time before she finally looked up again and chuckled beside my ear. “Did you miss me while I was overseas?”
“I… I think so…” I was stuttering a little for some reason. Was it because I drank so much that my tongue had stiffened on me for some reason?
The next moment, He Yi looked into my eyes, and I looked into hers. Her exquisite face looked incredibly attractive beneath the moonlight. Her red lips, her deep eyes; everything was just so… beautiful.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and slowly pressed her lips to mine. It was a deep, warm and long kiss. We were both complete noobs in this regard, but that didn"t prevent us from enjoying this moment to our hearts" content.
Her eyes closed, He Yi kissed me very seriously and earnestly. Her entire body was pressed up against mine, and I couldn"t help but be intoxicated by the sensation of her chest pressing against my body.
Some time later, we finally separated and stared at each other. He Yi gave me a smile before asking, “Do you think you love me, Lu Chen?”
I was both dazed and caught off-guard by her question.
“I… don"t know. I only know that I want to stay by your side. I… don"t want you to be sad. I want to fulfill my promise to you. I want to beat everyone and give you what you wish for…”
He Yi giggled. “Oh you! How dare you kiss someone you aren"t even sure you love!”
I muttered, “You were the one who kissed me…”
“You…”
“I, uh… I need to go…” I sounded the gong of retreat.
“Go where?” He Yi asked.
“The bathroom…” I barged through the door and stumbled my way downstairs.
He Yi turned completely red as she stomped her foot angrily. “This is the 11th time he went to the bathroom! Mingyue"s joke can"t be true, right…”