Lin Yixin and my plan was very simple. We would continue grinding to Level 150 and stay out of this so-called invasion of Eternal Love City completely. Hot and Sour Noodles, Candlelight Shadow, Warsky and the others could go to war all they like, but we at least were completely uninterested in Eternal Love City.
The reason why was hardly complicated. Eternal Love City was located in between the Chaotic 27 and the three major cities of the USA; a venomous fang lodged deep in the Northern Alliance"s side. If this city were to fall into our hands, t.i.tan City, Seven Star City and Hero City could hardly pretend that all was well, could they? The saying "one mountain cannot hold two tigers" exists in some form in every corner of the world, and Vienna"s Sorrow and Dark Night"s Rose must know this as well. Even a blind person could tell that this war was going to be full of scheming and deception. That was why our alliance: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng, all arrived at the mutual understanding that we would stay out of the siege battle that would take place two days later!
During these two days, Lin Yixin and I swept through nearly every corner of the peak of Dragonbone Mountain Range and turned Ghastly Wail Cemetery into our playground. We murdered mobs as soon as they resp.a.w.ned, and we even took out two Level 170 Earth Rank bosses and earned boundless experience. We slept only a total of 10 hours in the last two days, and we spent nearly every waking moment grinding together until I returned to Level 152, and Lin Yixin 150. After Lin Yixin procured some high-quality equipment from her guild, she had regained at least 80% of her full power, be it in terms of stats or levels!
……
I reached Level 155 on the fourth day, and although I still hadn"t returned to the Heavenly Ranking, I was at 95% strength and only 8 levels behind the current leader, Li Chengfeng. When a player hit Level 160, the experience required to level up a character would increase ma.s.sively. Moreover, our equipment and skill were excellent for both PvE and PvP, so it was only a matter of time before we caught up with the average.
Knock knock...
I heard a knocking sound from my door. It was Murong Mingyue. "Lu Chen, get up! Wind City will be traversing Eternal Ice Snow Region and attacking Eternal Love City today! It"s the second Nation War!"
I groaned from under my blanket. "And why should I care? I"m not partic.i.p.ating in the war against France"s major city."
"Be that as it may, you still have to get up and grind up your levels!" Murong Mingyue declared in a tone that would accept no rebuke, so I had no choice but to leave the warm embrace of my blanket and struggled down the bed. Eyes half-closed in sleep, I staggered out of my room and entered the washroom.
"Ah…"
Suddenly, I b.u.mped into someone and heard a sweet cry. When I opened my eyes, I was shocked to find He Yi standing in front of the basin. She was wearing thin, beige-colored pyjamas and was.h.i.+ng her face. While she was wiping the water off her face, I b.u.mped right into her round, firm b.u.t.t.
Blus.h.i.+ng, He Yi turned around and chided me, "Hey, you shouldn"t close your eyes when you"re walking…"
I pressed my back into the wall behind me and didn"t even dare to breathe too deeply. "Eve, why are you dressed like this?"
Her white, jade-like skin seemed to s.h.i.+ne through her pyjamas, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s jiggled a little when she turned toward me. This was without mentioning the shapely b.u.t.t I saw the moment my eyes truly opened and now the expression of cute anger He Yi was shooting me. The average man would"ve lost control and jumped her already.
He Yi looked both amused and exasperated with my reaction. "How much longer do you plan to stare at me?"
I replied, "I-I"m done…"
"You"ve been grinding pretty hard for the past couple days, haven"t you?" He Yi asked.
"Mn, I guess. I wanted to sleep a bit longer, but sis has a different opinion."
"Hehe!"
He Yi closed the door behind her and moved closer to me. She then pressed a light kiss on my cheeks before smiling at me. "I"m done was.h.i.+ng my face, so it"s your turn. Be quick and don"t make us wait for you for breakfast, okay? Also, we may not be partic.i.p.ating in the Nation War between Wind City and Eternal Love City, but that"s no reason to let our guard down. No one knows what the Northern Alliance is truly scheming behind our backs."
"Mn."
I could smell the faint fragrance on my cheek. Giving my dry lips a lick, I said in a soft voice, "Eve, are you really okay with me and Lin Yixin? I… I think that I would be angry in your place…"
He Yi pouted before replying in a slightly grudgeful but helpless tone, "What do you even want me to say? I couldn"t find you when you were sick, and when I finally found you, Beauty Lin had already slipped into your heart and became someone very important to you. Moreover, how can I muster the heart to demand more from you, when you have already given me your life to protect me?"
He Yi stared at me for a moment before breaking into a smile. "What I really want to know is this: I know that you like Beauty Lin, but do you like me?"
Right now, He Yi looked nothing like the all-seeing, all-powerful GGS vice president she was and more like a neighbor girl seeking romance after was.h.i.+ng her face. As a surge of warmth flowed into my heart, I hugged her shoulders and said, "I like you. I"ve liked you from the very beginning. Forgive me, Eve, for I don"t know what to do. I just can"t bear to give up you or Lin Yixin."
He Yi chuckled. "I"m fine with leaving our relations.h.i.+p as it is now, and I won"t ask you to leave Lin Yixin. This isn"t a TV drama, not to mention that this kind of love is ridiculously tiring. I"m satisfied as long as you remain by my side."
"Really?"
He Yi raised her eyebrows before chuckling, "Who do you think I am? Do you think that I"m one of those small-minded girls who would commit suicide over a man? Well, you have nothing to worry about. At this day and age, an optimistic outlook is the key to a happier life."
Regret filled every corner of my heart. I knew that He Yi hid a fragile heart behind her tough exterior. After all, how many people could claim that they were truly fine with their partner seeing another person? In fact, she might be acting tough precisely because she cared too much.
I murmured, "I"m sorry Eve, I"m really sorry… If there"s one thing I can promise you, it"s that I"ll never leave your side for as long as I live!"
He Yi giggled, put her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. "I love you so much, but I don"t really want to fight Beauty Lin for you either. What do I do?"
"I don"t know either. It"s all my fault…"
"Alright, alright, enough self-blaming. Now go brush your teeth and wash your face for breakfast already. Mingyue and I have to travel to the company in Shanghai later!"
"Mn, okay."
……
After I washed myself, I exited the door just in time to see Beiming Xue walking up the stairs on a pair of high-heels with some packed breakfast in her hands. She smiled at me and said, "Big bro, I bought the shaobing you love so much!"
Me: "..."
Everyone logged into the game after we finished breakfast.
……
Swhoos.h.!.+
The first thing I did upon appearing in Sky City was check my bag. All the loot I had collected in the past few days was here, and I unloaded all the items into the warehouse at Air Force One.
My beautiful fox NPC, White Fox, smiled at me as she gave me the daily report. I noticed that her b.u.t.t kinda wagging along with her tail. "Master, we earned a total of 178993 gold yesterday. If we deduct the taxes and operation fee, then the net profit is 122992 gold. Also, I think that our earnings today will exceed yesterday"s."
I was pleased. The shop was basically my regular source of private income. Dark Moon City"s income might be tens or even hundreds of times bigger than Air Force One"s, but those funds didn"t belong to me alone. At least 50% of them was spent on the guild, and the majority of the remaining income belonged to the company behind Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Raincube Corporation. The good news was that 10% of the company shares belonged to me, so I was in no danger of starving to death.
……
I teleported to Dark Moon City after I repaired my equipment.
Dark Moon City was currently a Rank 9 territory, and it was still a long way away from reaching Rank 10. One of the prerequisites to increase the rank of the territory was to rank up all the buildings in the territory to max, and that was a grand project to say the least. Last time, Vanished G.o.d City "saved" us a ton of resources by invading Dark Moon City and losing, but there was no changing the fact that leveling a territory was going to be slow and steady work. Still, a Rank 9 territory at this stage of the game was hardly a mundane territory. According to my knowledge, Candle Dragon"s territory was Rank 7, Blazing Hot Lips" was Rank 5, and Lin Yixin"s Silver Fir City was Rank 7 only. They were quite a ways away from catching up to us!
Moreover, Dark Moon City was a border city neighboring various maps such as Dragonbone Mountain Range, Dawn City, Black Coast, Bone Desert and more. It was the city that defended the northeast side of the China server against powerful threats such as the major city of India, Elephant City, in the east and the Northern Alliance in the north. Dark Moon City must grow stronger if we were to keep these enemies at bay, especially because it was a strategic location perfect for both offense and defense. It had been absolutely worth it back when we fought to the death to occupy Dark Moon City.
……
I surveyed the territory hall for a bit and noted that everything was progressing smoothly. The Dark Knight Hero Udal was patrolling the territory with a troop of Ghost G.o.d Knights. Large numbers of Umbra Sharpshooters were keeping an eye out for any sign of activity atop the arrow towers. The size of a Rank 9 territory was at least 10 times the size of a Rank 1 territory, and although it was only 20% as big as Dawn City, its walls were secure, and its structures were as good as a tier 2 city"s.
Thud thud thud...
It was at this moment I heard Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang and the others riding back into the city and dismounting in front of the territory hall. After nearly a week of hard grinding, everyone had returned to Level 150 and gained the possibility to become a Divine General once more.
"Heh, your grinding speed is crazy, Lu Chen!" Li Chengfeng couldn"t help but praise me when he saw my level.
Chaos Moon said, "Nah, Wind Fantasy"s crazier. She literally went from Level 0 to Level 152 in a week!"
Du Thirteen shrugged. "What can you do? Beauty Lin"s boyfriend is one of the best, if not the best player in the server, and he still had all his equipment. It would be stranger if someone Lu Chen"s carried couldn"t fly up the levels."
I asked, "I"ve been so busy that I didn"t pay attention to anything that happened for the past couple of days. Chaos Moon, is there any in-server news that I should know about?"
Chaos Moon pursed her lips and answered, "Well, Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Throne Seeker, Rose Thorn, Thunder, Wings of Awakening, Silver Soul and another 400+ guilds came together to form Wind City"s invasion army. They number over 30 million people, and they just departed to Eternal Ice Snow Region an hour ago. In other news, around 20 new Famous Generals were born this week, and the majority of them were Soulas of the Foot, Bow Generals and more. The number of Famous Generals is growing to the point where even the system didn"t bother to announce them anymore. Finally, you, Li and Beauty Lin are still the only three Divine Generals of the China server."
"Mn, good job."
"Really? Then come over here so I can give you a kiss!"
Me: "..."