For some inexplicable reason, Lin Cimian’s heartbeat sped up by a few beats. Before he even noticed it, the darkness before his eyes began to shake violently, shattering like panes of glass as threads of light spread outward in a web.
There was no sound of breaking glass among the game’s sound effects, yet he heard it with startling clarity. The next second, light burst forth, and amid the dazzling white radiance, the swordsman in black reached a hand toward him.
Lin Cimian unconsciously softened his breathing. The swordsman’s tall, slender figure and handsome face were reflected in his eyes. For that instant, he felt as though he had truly entered the game. Warm sunlight wrapped around him, and the breeze stirred by fluttering robes brushed gently across his cheek.
In the game, the youth in white took the black-clad swordsman’s hand and returned with him to the warm mortal world. Something stirred in Lin Cimian’s heart. He was just about to speak when he suddenly heard the whistle of something cutting through the air behind him.
!!!!
After playing for so long, certain actions had become instinctive. Lin Cimian immediately made his character duck.
A blade-shaped streak of black energy flashed past at terrifying speed and struck exactly where Lin Cimian had been standing a moment earlier. One hit would have been enough to send him back to the respawn point.
The black bear demon straightened to its full height, enormous enough to blot out the sky. The viewers in the livestream caught their breath, their palms going cold as tension seized them.
Lin Cimian’s pupils contracted slightly, but his movements never paused. Predicting the black bear demon’s next move, he flipped through the air and threw out a seal, locking the enraged black bear demon in place.
Yan Shiyue seized the opening and thrust twice in rapid succession, both strikes aimed at the demon’s weak points.
But his level was frighteningly low, and he had never properly forged his weapon. The damage he dealt was negligible—though he did manage to max out the aggro.
That, too, was exactly what Lin Cimian had expected. Their figures crossed in midair. Yan Shiyue leaped away while Lin Cimian flashed forward, instantly casting two crowd-control skills.
The black bear demon froze for the briefest instant. In a window so narrow it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, Lin Cimian accurately hurled four small knives. Amid the demon’s agonized roar, he nailed both bear paws firmly to the ground!
With a single thought, Lin Cimian mentally calculated the difference between their attack power and the demon’s remaining health. Realizing that dragging the fight out would inevitably end in defeat, he frowned slightly and chose to take a risk.
He charged straight at the black bear demon without hesitation, leaping again and again, every landing coming just before the next attack struck.
The livestream viewers could not understand how Lin Cimian was pulling it off. All they could see was the exquisitely handsome youth in white moving with astonishing agility, robes flying, the orange tip of his hair ribbon nearly forming a continuous line as he circled the black bear demon tightly.
A few seconds later, Lin Cimian flipped away and reopened the distance. The black bear demon was now coated in a layer of unidentified brown liquid.
There had been no time to communicate, yet their coordination was seamless. Yan Shiyue threw out the only high-level skill he currently possessed—Netherworld Flame.
What Lin Cimian had splashed on the demon was kerosene. Flames erupted instantly, swallowing the black bear demon in a towering blaze.
Neither of them gave it a chance to counterattack. They immediately unleashed the skills that had just come off cooldown and finally ground its health bar down to a sliver.
Their levels were too low, and both of them were broke. After all that fighting, Lin Cimian had nearly emptied his warehouse of weapons.
Without hesitation, he took out his final throwing dart. Its attack power was negligible, but against the black bear demon in its current state, it was fatal. Amid a howl of agony, the black bear demon crashed heavily to the ground.
[Congratulations on clearing the dungeon “The Black Bear Takes a Bride.” You have received rewards and a medal and have become the record holder for the fastest clear.]
Lin Cimian let out a long breath when he saw the clear notification. Before he could celebrate, however, two figures—one blue and one red—blocked his path.
The blue-clad swordsman was Peerless, and the red-clad heroine was Brahma.
Lin Cimian stared at them blankly and was just about to type a question mark when the two people opposite him aggressively began demanding an explanation.
[Current] Shuangshuang Is Here: Don’t go too far! You actually stole our boss right in front of us!
[Current] Loving You Every Day: I’ve never seen players as disgusting as you two!
Lin Cimian: ??? Who even are you two, and how do you have the nerve to come over here accusing us?
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Are you misunderstanding something? We completed the mission first, which is why we got the chance to kill the boss.
[Current] Shuangshuang Is Here: Stop lying. Your levels are so low, and one of you is even a useless Joyous Union. How could you possibly kill the boss? You must’ve hidden off to the side, waited until we wore its health down to the minimum, then stabbed us in the back!
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Have you not read the dungeon description? This is a timed mission with multiple groups competing simultaneously. Other players cannot appear inside your individual instance, so stealing someone else’s boss is impossible. We simply completed the kill before you did. You were probably just a little short. Laughing-and-crying.jpg.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: That’s hilarious. We’re supposed to believe whatever you say? Since when is anything that convenient!
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: …It’s fine. You can check the forums for information. I also have a recording from my livestream and can email it to you.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: Still trying that kindergarten-level trick? Don’t think I don’t know that if we let you leave now, there’ll be no way to find you again except putting out a bounty.
It was the first time Lin Cimian had ever met anyone this unreasonable. He was so angry he was rendered speechless. His fingers froze above the keyboard as he forcibly swallowed the curses on the tip of his tongue.
The viewers in the livestream were nowhere near as patient as he was.
[The immersion is too real. My fists are already clenched rock-hard.]
[How can this couple not understand human language? They’re disgracing both Peerless and Brahma.]
[LMAO. First time I’ve ever heard of someone stealing a boss in this kind of dungeon.]
[Did you see those two’s health bars? They only have a third left—way less than Mianmian and Good Day—and they still have the nerve to call someone else useless!]
[The streamer has such a good temper. If that were me, I’d already be greeting their entire family tree. See you in an exposé thread on the forums.]
The couple mistook Lin Cimian’s silence for guilt and became even more self-righteous, even impatient.
[Current] Shuangshuang Is Here: Hubby, don’t waste your breath on them. How about this: either mail us the rewards, or we force-PvP you in the open world. If you lose levels, don’t blame me, orz.
Forced open-world PvP could randomly make players drop equipment and experience, and their weapon durability could also take damage. Most players therefore would not choose that method unless they were absolutely confident.
This couple was so fearless for one simple reason: Lin Cimian and Yan Shiyue were low level, and in their eyes there was no possibility of the two fighting back successfully.
Lin Cimian squeezed his mouse hard enough to want to crawl through the internet cable and settle things with these two idiots in person, but one glance at the black-clad swordsman beside him instantly calmed him down.
He wanted Good Day to have the best possible gaming experience. Good Day had only just managed to save up that little bit of experience; Lin Cimian could not let him lose levels because of some forced open-world PvP.
But hand over the rewards they had worked so hard to earn to this unreasonable couple?
As if anything that good existed in the world.
Lin Cimian’s thoughts spun. His gaze landed on the purple weapon in Loving You Every Day’s hand, and suddenly an excellent idea popped into his head.
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Forced PvP is boring. Let’s make a wager.
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Besides the dungeon rewards, each side puts up one additional item.
If he had guessed correctly, the sword in Peerless’s hand should have a dark attribute, which was extremely compatible with Ghost Gate.
Lin Cimian could not resist licking his lips. His eyes shone as he stared at that purple-grade weapon, smiling like a fox who had just spotted fat prey.
Open-world PvP had a bad reputation. After discussing it for half a minute, the couple agreed.
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Fine. Then you stake the sword in your hand.
[Current] Shuangshuang Is Here: …What kind of beautiful dream are you having?
[Current] Loving You Every Day: I put a ton of effort and time into this weapon. Why would I stake it on something this pointless?
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Don’t rush. Obviously I’ll put up something of equal value too. Are these enough?
Lin Cimian opened his warehouse and took out every reward he had earned from clearing treasure-hunt dungeons over the past few days, holding nothing back. The comments immediately started saying he was one step away from staking his underwear too.
The value on both sides was roughly equal. The materials Lin Cimian offered were enough to forge another purple weapon, but forging a purple weapon did not have a one-hundred-percent success rate and also involved material loss. Trading all those materials for one finished weapon was, technically speaking, a slight loss.
But greed had already been stirred in the couple’s hearts.
Brahma happened to need a suitable weapon. If she could get these materials and collect a few more gemstones, she and her boyfriend could own matching purple weapons with couple attributes. Then she could show them off to her close friends too.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: Deal.
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: Good. Then let’s go to the arena now and choose the one-on-one wager mode.
[Current] Shuangshuang Is Here: Fine. Whoever doesn’t show up is a coward.
Lin Cimian immediately teleported to the arena with Yan Shiyue and saw the couple waiting opposite them.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: Come on, Ghost Gate.
Joyous Union had always been regarded as a useless class, not even good enough to function properly as support, so the couple naturally assumed the Ghost Gate player would be the one accepting the challenge. They had not expected Lin Cimian to step forward as soon as that message was sent.
The couple: ???
Their gazes became even more contemptuous. Loving You Every Day even felt that fighting a Joyous Union player was an insult to him. With a cold laugh, he got carried away and made a grand declaration:
[Current] Loving You Every Day: Someone like you? I could erase you with one move.
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: That’s fine.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: It’s not fine with me! If word gets out, it’ll be humiliating. How am I supposed to keep showing my face in this game?!
[Current] Sleepless Tonight: …Then what do you want to do?
The couple were completely worked up. Certain they were going to win, they wanted to take the opportunity to humiliate Lin Cimian again.
[Current] Loving You Every Day: How about this? I’ll put up some extra materials too, so after you lose you can’t run around telling everyone I bullied you. Eye-roll.jpg.
Lin Cimian stared silently at the materials the couple put forward, his eyes glowing green like a starving wolf’s.
It was the first time in his life he had seen someone voluntarily propose such an outrageously unreasonable condition. Heart pounding and hands trembling with excitement, he immediately agreed, afraid they might regret it if he waited even one second longer.
Thank heaven for sending down an idiot. Now even his purple weapon had the conditions to…
