I peeled away the pink wrapping paper completely and unveiled a salver. It was about 40 cm wide, and atop it was a model of a city. I didn"t know the materials that were used to make it, only that it was rather tough to touch. The city looked very familiar. I saw a city gate with a skull hanging on top of it, Blood Pond Cemetery, Knight"s Grave and Dragon"s Cave. They looked almost identical to the real deal, and I had no doubt that it was a model of my Dark Moon City.
In fact, the elegant words "Dark Moon City" were written right above the hall. It was Lin Yixin"s handwriting, and unless I was mistaken, she made this model after she had gone to Vancouver.
The intricate details on the buildings were simplified or removed for obvious reasons, but I noticed two tiny humans in front of the city hall. One of them was a young man with red eyes and metal armor, and the other one, a female wanderer with purple pupils. The female wanderer was pulling the young man"s ears and holding the reins of a horse as they walked toward the gate. The horse was the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, and the young man was me of course. The Crimson Rock Dragon Armor was pretty recognizable.
There was also a maple tree behind Lin Yixin and my statue, and beneath it, a female knight was glaring at us and posing to run after us. Judging from her attire, I had no doubt that the female knight was He Yi.
……
Finally, next to the spot Lin Yixin and I were standing, a clear message engraved into the street. "If you love me, then elope with me!"
An unconscious smile crossed my face as I caressed the model lovingly. Lin Yixin knew everything from the start. She was aware how close I was to He Yi, and how deep I probably loved her, but she still wanted to elope with me no matter what. In fact, a look of determination was etched on the face of her statue, and it fit her personality very well.
My heart suddenly hurt a bit. I miss her so much...
I carefully placed the model on a bookshelf. I would probably keep it with me for as long as I lived, for it was the proof of an unforgettable love in my life. When my children arrived in this world, I might just show them this model and tell them that it was the gift from a girl I loved; the same girl who was their mother.
……
I gave my red, swollen eyes a wipe before walking toward the door.
"Big bro, you finally came out!" Beiming Xue walked up to me immediately after she saw me exiting my room.
"What"s wrong?" I asked.
"It"s nothing…" Beiming Xue looked at me with a smile. "Sister Eve, Sister Mingyue and I all voted on the pet.i.tion to restore Lin Yixin"s account on the forums already. Even if she has to restart from zero, her account must be saved no matter what. We"ve gathered almost ten million votes in half a morning!"
I smiled. "Mn, not bad! In that case, I"m going to strike the iron while it"s hot!"
He Yi said, "It sounds like you"ve come up with a plan, Lu Chen."
"Yep. We believe that we should take the initiative, so I"m planning to go to the Shanghai branch headquarters and speak to Qin Yun, Ling Xue and Shusheng myself. I refuse to believe that it"s impossible to recover Yiyi"s account!"
"I"ll come with you!" He Yi rose to her feet.
But I shook my head and said, "Thank you, but not this time, Eve. I can do this myself. Also, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls suffered a terrible blow during this war, and you, Beiming Xue and sis all need to grind back your levels back to par…"
He Yi chuckled. "Well, that"s true. The guild"s grinding at Dragonbone Mountain Range right now. By the way, did you know that Li Le and Flower Room tried to contest a high-level grinding map with us, thinking that we"re no longer a threat because we dropped 30 levels?"
I smiled. "Oh yeah? What happened next?"
He Yi burst into a giggle. "He got swept by our Divine General Li Chengfeng and our Dragonlight Cavalry, of course…"
The little gossip amused me deeply. "That"s what I thought. Did the idiots from Flower Room really think that our Divine General is non-existent? Sure, I might not be able to fight them at my current level, but Chengfeng didn"t lose any levels and he"s OP as h.e.l.l. Those idiots must have been suicidal or something. Anyway, I"m glad to hear that Chengfeng will be protecting the guild while I"m gone."
Murong Mingyue asked, "Speaking of which, when are you logging into the game? You were the highest-leveled player in Sky City, and now you"re Level 70, and have been for almost two days already. Even I"m starting to get a bit antsy…"
I grinned and said, "There"s nothing to worry about. Once I get Yiyi"s account back, I"ll log back into the game and climb to the top again. Seriously, the Armored Ice Qilin Horse is bound to me, my equipment is still equipped, and the Phantom Wolf King is above Level 150. It"ll only take me half a month at most to get to Level 160, trust me!"
He Yi let out a chuckle. "Okay then, let"s all do our best. You sure you don"t want me to come with you?"
"Really. I"m going now."
"Mn. Take care, and drive slower!"
……
I bade everyone goodbye and left the apartment after putting on a black coat. Then, I drove the X12 up a highway and sped toward Shanghai.
It was a smooth ride all the way. At 11:40 am, I reached the Shanghai headquarters of Eternal Moon Corporation.
After I was done parking my car, I stared at the super luxurious office building wordlessly for a moment. There was a statue of an in-game character outside the headquarters, and if I remembered correctly, it was the final boss of Spirit of Grief, the Great Saint. Eternal Moon Corporation had two main headquarters in China. One of them was situated in the north, Beijing, and the other in the south, Shanghai. The president of the southern company was Ling Xue and the fifth player in the CGL Hall of Fame. She had a legend to her name as well.
I skipped the reception desk completely and went up the building on my own. After I inquired around and learned that the president"s office was on the 17th floor, I ran straight toward my destination. However, I still ran into a receptionist there.
"Who might you be looking for, sir?" The beautiful receptionist asked politely.
I walked up to her and said, "I"m looking for Ling Xue!"
"Ah?" The girl"s mouth fell open. "Er, President Ling isn"t here right now. Would you like to come back in the afternoon? She"ll be back by then. Alternatively, you can register your name, and I"ll pa.s.s it to President Ling."
"No need." I waved my hand and said, "Ling Yue, Shusheng, Qin Yun—one of them has to be around, right? Please don"t tell me they"re all absent."
"Actually, they"re all in a meeting right now."
"I see. In that case, you don"t need to report to anyone. I"ll go look for them myself."
"Ah? Before you leave, can you please give me your name so I can register it? It"s a mandatory process…"
"I"m Lu Chen!"
I didn"t look back as I answered, so I didn"t see the receptionist staring at me in shock. "Lu Chen… is he the Little Heavenly King Falling Dust? Oh my G.o.d, he really is as handsome as the rumors say…"
……
I went to the president office first and found no one. The room further up ahead was the conference hall.
A group of people in suits exited the venue before I could make my way toward it. There were both men and women, and they all wore serious expressions on their faces.
However, they were not my targets, so I kept waiting until finally, a man and a woman chatting amiably with each other came out of the conference hall. I recognized the young man almost immediately. He was the VVIP of Eternal Moon Corporation and the Heavenly King of Spirit of Grief, Ding Shusheng himself. He was also the current number one ranker in the CGL Hall of Fame and an absolute legend.
I strode up to them and blocked their way, asking, "Excuse me, but are you Shusheng?"
Ding Shusheng stared at me for a moment before exclaiming, "You… I"ve seen your photo before! You"re Lu Chen!"
I smiled. "Yes, I am."
The smiling young man shook my hand and asked, "A pleasure to meet you. But why have you come to our company? Didn"t you just finish a Nation War?"
I nodded. "Well, I need your help with something, so…"
"Help?" Ding Shusheng stared at me in confusion for a moment until a memory jolted. He smiled immediately and said, "Oh, I"m just a n.o.body. The one you really should be asking for help from is her."
I looked to the person he was pointing to. She was a gorgeous woman dressed in dark blue-colored uniform. My hand was already extended in her direction before I even looked at her. "A pleasure to meet you, Vice President Ling Yue!"
For some reason, Ling Yue was staring at my face dumbly as she shook my hand. Then, she shot an aggrieved look at Shusheng and said, "Can you believe this? A guy who met me for the first time just recognized me immediately! You on the other hand, still confuse me and Ling Xue from time to time even though we"ve been living together for years! What do you even want me to say, you!?"
Shusheng rubbed his nose in embarra.s.sment before asking me, "How did you recognize her, my dude? They"re identical twins, and they look exactly identical!"
I pointed my lips at Ling Yue"s chest. "It"s written right on her chest badge…"
"Oh, f.u.c.k me!" Shusheng exclaimed in realization.
……
Ling Yue gave me a smile and said, "Anyway. You came all the way here for Lin Yixin, didn"t you, Lu Chen?"
"How did you know that?"
"The entire China server is rioting because of you two. How couldn"t I know as the PIC?"
Since she already knew, I went straight to the point. "So, is it at all possible to recover Lin Yixin"s account?"
"I"m sorry, but no…"
Ling Yue said apologetically, "There is a set of principles we obey in our company, and one of them is to never bend or break the rules in favor of someone. Lin Yixin"s account was deleted by the system itself, and her G.o.d"s Tear was designed to be a one-time use skill, not to mention she killed a ton of Northern Alliance players with it. If I were to restore her account, a severe punishment will be dealt to the entire China server for sure."
I slumped weakly against the gla.s.s door. I wasn"t even sure what else to say after hearing that.
"You should go home soon…" Ling Yue said kindly.
But I turned down her offer and said, "I"m not leaving until Lin Yixin"s account is restored…"
Ling Yue broke into a smile and looked at Shusheng. "Look! Doesn"t his shamelessness remind you of someone?"
Shusheng rubbed his nose again. "Whatever are you talking about? I was as pure as a little white flower back then. There is no comparison between the two of us…"
Seeing that I wasn"t going to leave anytime soon, Ling Yue shot me a helpless smile before offering, "Well, Shusheng and I are heading for lunch. Do you want to come with us?"
I nodded and followed them.
We arrived at the company cafeteria together. It seemed pretty luxurious. Originally the security was going to bar me from going in, but Shusheng saved me by giving his permission. After that, I grabbed a tray, grabbed all the tasty food I could find and sat down on the opposite side of Ling Yue and Shusheng. I gotta say, their food was pretty good.
……
"Lu Chen, are you seriously not going back to your house?" Ling Yue asked me helplessly.
I nodded. "Lin Yixin sacrificed her account for me, so I must get it back at all costs. I don"t care even if the company decides to reset her levels and equipment. There can only be one Wind Fantasy account in China, do you understand me?"
Ling Yue looked a bit moved by that. "To tell you the truth, I really do want to help you. Why don"t you go back first and wait for our news? We"ll do whatever we can and tell you the results by phone later."
"No. I"ll wait right here until the results are out!"
"You are so stubborn…"
After that, I spent the entire afternoon waiting at the lounge outside Shusheng and Ling Yue"s office room. When they got off from work, I ran after them, stopped their business car at the car park and slipped into the front pa.s.senger"s seat before anyone could say no.
It was at this moment another beautiful woman opened the driver"s seat and saw me. She exclaimed in shock, "Yah! Who is this guy? When did he get into the car?"
Shusheng said helplessly, "Right, I forgot to introduce him to you. Little Xue, he"s Lu Chen, or Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand in Heavenblessed. He"s the guy who took out Candlelight Shadow…"
"O-oh, you"re the Little Heavenly King!" Ling Xue gave me a smile and shook my hand. Then, she asked, "I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time! By the way, what are you doing inside my car?"
I almost blushed. Almost. "Well, you guys ain"t restoring Lin Yixin"s account, so I got no choice but to follow y"all back to your house…"
Ling Xue"s face instantly turned frigid, but the target of her ire wasn"t me, but Ding Shusheng. "Is he your long lost brother? I knew you were lying when you said you were the only child, you pedant! This level of shamelessness can only be shared at a genetic level!"
1. You may know him as Frivolous Scholar, MC of our author"s previous work, Virtual World: Conquering the World