Half an hour later, I reached the Pudong Airport.
The airport had a dozen or so gates, and every gate was jampacked with people because it was the weekend. It made finding someone even harder than it already was.
I checked the time and saw that it was 2 pm. It was almost time for Lin Yixin to check in and board her plane.
……
I ran back and forth across the airport like a madman, but I wasn"t able to find Lin Yixin no matter where I looked. Panic growing, I grabbed a nearby stewardess and asked, "Can… can I ask where the airport"s broadcast room is?"
The stewardess was completely caught off-guard by my sudden action. "Wh… why do you want to know?"
"I"m searching for someone!"
"It"s in the south area. You"ll find the room if you go up the elevator…"
"Thank you!"
This time though, it was the stewardess who grabbed me before I could run away. "Hey…"
"What"s wrong?" I turned around to look at her.
"Are you Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?"
Me: "..."
The stewardess grew excited when she saw my reaction. "Hoho, you really are the Little Heavenly King! My boyfriend and I play Heavenblessed as well, but since I have to fly almost every day, I"m only at Level 117 right now. In the game you are our idol, not Candlelight Shadow! So, can you take a photo with me?"
I felt like dying for some reason. "But, but I have an urgent matter to attend to…"
"It"s fine, it"ll only take a couple of seconds!"
The tall, slim stewardess refused to let me go until I obliged her request, so I had no choice but to let her snap a photo of us with her phone. Only then she said with a smile, "Alright, you may go now! Let"s meet each other again some time!"
"Me: "..."
I turned around and raced toward the broadcast room at the speed of a 100m sprinter. The employees were shocked when I showed up. "Sir, what are you doing?"
I replied, "I"m looking for someone!"
"In that case, please register your name and the name of the person you"re looking for…"
"Ah?"
It was at this moment I heard the announcement that the flight to Vancouver was about to take off, and that the check-in had started.
Anxiety peaking, I grabbed the mic from an employee"s hand and shouted, "Lin Yixin! Lin Yixin! Do you hear me? It"s me, Lu Chen! Maybe you can"t hear me, or maybe you just don"t want to see me, I don"t care! I just want to tell you that… I"m sorry, I"m here now. I"m here to send you off…"
The female employee whom I s.n.a.t.c.hed the mic from was completely stunned by my antics. She just goggled at me as if she was watching something unbelievable.
The woman next to her suddenly burst into giggles, and one of them said teasingly with rosy cheeks, "Wow! If a handsome guy barged into the airport broadcast room for me, I might just marry him right there and then…"
Suddenly, the female employee whom I s.n.a.t.c.hed the mic from let out a cry of realization. Rising to her feet and pointing a finger at me, she said, "You! You"re Lu Chen! The person you"re looking for is Lin Yixin, so that means… you"re Broken Halberd Sinks To Sand, so the one you"re looking for is the Fruit Knife G.o.ddess Wind Fantasy! Am I right?"
It was my turn to be stunned by her. Eternal Moon Corporation"s influence was truly astounding. Who would"ve thought that I, a mere gamer, would become as famous as those top-rated movie stars one day?
……
Covering up my face, I ran out of the broadcast room and toward the Vancouver boarding gate. Only half of the people had gone inside, and I spotted a lot of young women still waiting at the queue. However, half of them were foreigners, and the other half looked nothing like the outrageously beautiful woman Lin Yixin was.
Speechless and disappointed, I waited by the boarding gate until the flight took off. Even then, I was afraid to leave because I felt like I was never going to see her again if I did.
I took a seat at a gate while feeling like a complete mess. It was only now I realized just how important Lin Yixin was in my heart. Losing her felt like losing the energy to breathe.
I sat until it was past 6 pm before I finally got to my feet and ate fried rice with beef at a fast food restaurant. It was disgusting, and it cost 75 RMB.
After that, I stood by the window and stared at the airplanes stretching their metal wings and taking off to the sky. I felt like my thoughts were chasing after their tail.
There were a lot of people pointing fingers at me from behind me, but it didn"t matter anymore. They could do whatever the h.e.l.l they wanted.
When it was past 9 pm, the second flight to Vancouver had taken off as well.
I desolately turned around and went back to my car. The winds.h.i.+eld was completely covered by violation tickets at this point. It was time to go back to Suzhou.
……
I reached the workshop just before midnight. Beiming Xue was still in the game, and He Yi had left behind two plates of food for me. I warmed them up, ate them and logged into the game. I had been absent for the entire day, so I wanted to check if I had missed anything.
I logged into the forums first, and to my shock I discovered a message sent to me by Lin Yixin herself. The message was handwritten, and every dot and stroke seemed to imprint themselves in my soul—
"Hi, Little Cheat! I hate you. I hate you for standing me up on our date. No one has ever done that to me before! But… thank you for coming to the airport to send me off, hehe. I saw you, you know. After I tricked dad into entering the plane first, I came back down and changed my flight to the one at 9 pm. I watched you getting all sad and worried about me in secret. It"s the punishment you deserve, I suppose. Goodbye, Little Cheat. I"m going to Vancouver, and we may not be able to see each other for a very, very long time. I… don"t know how to say this, but… love you, hate you!"
……
My nose felt tingly as I stared at her beautiful handwriting. Lin Yixin hadn"t left. She had been watching me in secret until the last moment.
Love me, hate me, huh?
She was right. Even I was hating myself for not meeting Lin Yixin on time. But what could I have done differently? Ditch auntie and let He Yi bear all the worry and pain herself?
I couldn"t.
Fate had played a cruel trick on me this time. It had forced me to miss my meeting with Lin Yixin. This wouldn"t be the last time we crossed paths, however. In this world, there were only people you didn"t want to meet, never people you couldn"t meet.
As long as I kept giving it my all, I would be reunited with Lin Yixin again someday. She was now a permanent mark in my heart, and no one could take her memory away from me.
……
After I logged into the game, I received a message from Sun Qingqing: "Hi, Lu Chen. You"re a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but at least you went to the airport to look for her. I… just received a message from Yiyi. She expressed deep disappointment in your failings, so she doesn"t want to accept your favor for free. She can"t return the ice dragon pet egg to you because she has already signed a contract with it, so she"s going to repay the favor with something else instead. Do message me immediately after you come back online!"
"Repay the favor?" I muttered to myself. "Come on, that"s too heartless, Yiyi…"
I brought up a chat window and messaged Sun Qingqing, "Qingqing, I"m up now."
"OMG, you finally came back…" Sun Qingqing sounded a bit dumbfounded. "I was this close to logging out of the game, you know? How long does it take to send off someone at the airport?"
It looked like Yiyi hadn"t told her what had happened in between this time. I simply said, "About that "compensation" told you to give me? You can keep it, Qingqing. I had given her that pet egg out of my own volition, and I had never expected anything in return. You can give it back to her once she returns to the game."
Sun Qingqing couldn"t help but laugh. "Seriously? You don"t want it?"
"That"s correct," I said seriously, "I"m not accepting this compensation. Frankly, it feels like she"s trying to end our relations.h.i.+p once and for all with this. It doesn"t sit well with me."
Apparently my reply angered Sun Qingqing because I could see her swinging her fists in the tiny avatar window on the screen. "You idiot! Just how slow are you? Do you even know what Yiyi"s planning to give you? It"s the kind of stuff most people couldn"t even dream to get! Hmph! If Yiyi really was just hoping to repay the favor, she could"ve just sent you away with Earth-grade equipment, you stupid man! I can"t believe that you"re the one Yiyi"s so deeply in love with…"
Me: "..."
A long time later, I finally said, "Fine. I"ll wait for you at the eastern plaza of Sky City. Just give me whatever it is Lin Yixin wants me to have."
"Now we"re talking. I"ll be there in five minutes!"
……
Sun Qingqing showed up at the agreed location as promised. The bow-wielding archer in leather armor said to me with a smile, "Yiyi sounded pretty moody. You need to try harder, boy!"
"She"s in Vancouver, I don"t have her phone number, and I can"t even contact her inside the game. How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to try anything?" I rolled my eyes at her.
Sun Qingqing pouted. "Whatever. Here, take this…"
"Oh?!"
To my surprise, Sun Qingqing gave me an ancient-looking scroll. It had the appearance of a quest item, but something told me that that wasn"t quite it. When I inspected the item, my astonishment immediately grew tenfold—
Dragonlight Canyon Treasure Map: Grants the opportunity to enter Dragonlight Canyon. Dragonlight Canyon hides countless treasures, and the owner of this treasure map may form a party of max 5 people before entering it. This is a restricted zone, so only those with a treasure map may enter. After the treasure map is used, the party is granted a total of 72 hours of access. Level Requirement: 150. Luck Requirement: 20.
……
"Dragonlight Canyon? Treasure map?" I said out loud. "This looks like an amazing map. Just look at this Level Requirement…"
Sun Qingqing nodded. "Yiyi got this when she completed her cla.s.s promotion, and I don"t have to tell you how precious it is. Originally we were going to use this for ourselves, but after Yiyi left the country, neither me nor Purple Marquis met the Luck Requirement necessary to use this map. That was why Yiyi decided to give it to you. Remember, you only have 72 hours after you use this map. If you waste it, Yiyi will bite your a.s.s…"
I smiled. "No problem. She"s free to bite my a.s.s anytime she wants…"
Sun Qingqing suddenly froze for an entire half a minute. I had a feeling that she might have misinterpreted my meaning, but before I could say anything she chided me with a blush, "You rascal, I just don"t understand how Yiyi came to fall in love with you…"
I gave her a grin but said nothing. Sun Qingqing logged off after she bade me goodbye.
I felt a bit anxious as I gripped the Dragonlight Canyon Treasure Map. The fact that Lin Yixin had purposely left this map to me, and the fact that Sun Qingqing treated it like it was one of the most valuable items in the world meant that this Dragonlight Canyon might be far, far more extraordinary than even the one where the ice dragon Kris had resided in, the Ice Dragon Ridge!
The party size limit was 5 people. He Yi and I could be the tank, Beiming Xue the damage dealer, and Murong Mingyue the healer. We were still lacking a damage dealer though. In the end, I decided to ask Moonlight Stone to join us. This meant that any mage equipment we came by wouldn"t go to waste, and we could turn her into a super mage for the guild.