Chapter 59 – A Promise Is Worth a Thousand Gold

Fang Zheng felt like a fat cat playing with a ball of yarn, amusing himself by flopping around on the sofa, and then accidentally catching the loose end—he really hadn’t intended to solve the mystery, but the truth had thrown itself into his arms.

In the reflection of the monitor, a blurry image of a shut-in’s face appeared. Fang Zheng pointed at it and said, “You’re such a dumbass.”

Birdy had been grinding on Mount Emei for so long, yet he hadn’t noticed anything, all while mocking 2B Fighter Jet’s IQ. Tsk, he wasn’t even as sharp as 2B.

After finishing a cigarette, the cause and effect of the whole incident still weren’t entirely clear, but at least his thoughts had formed a rough outline.

Switching back to the game, Birdy was no longer in the Legion Hall, but there was a message from him in the whisper chat—who knew how old it was—

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: The new boss won’t be found anytime soon. Let’s just grind mobs for now.

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: ?

At first, Fang Zheng wondered why the other wasn’t using YY and was typing instead. But after calling out several times without a response, he realized his YY had disconnected for some unknown reason. The little raccoon icon in the bottom-right corner was still stubbornly trying to log in, over and over, undeterred by failure.

Fang Zheng had encountered this situation before. Closing and reopening the program usually fixed it. This time, he planned to do the same, but as he typed in his password, his fingers hesitated. Because he suddenly realized that the topic they were about to discuss… might, probably, possibly lead to some awkwardness. Compared to direct voice chat, typing was more appropriate. Of course, the awkwardness was reserved for the godlike Deputy Commander, not him, the Commander who surpassed gods.

Fang Zheng quickly made a decision amidst his swirling thoughts and nearly melted from his own gentle consideration >_<

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Where are you?

The whisper was sent, and the reply came almost instantly—

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Persian Gulf.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Grinding mobs for XP?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Helping you find souls.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: =_=

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: I was only gone for a little bit! No need to be so sarcastic!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: ^_^

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Hey, stop grinding for now. I wanna ask you something.

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Mm.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: The Golden Hoop you gave me—were you originally planning to give it to Xuanyuan?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Mm.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: But after you got it, you couldn’t give it to him, so you gave it to me instead?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Mm.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Are you on auto-reply again?!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: No.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: But you kept grinding Mount Emei for ages even after leaving Huaxia Dominion! If you knew you couldn’t give it to him, why bother?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Had nothing better to do.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Your personal life is so boring!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: I think so too.

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: By the way, are you coming to grind mobs or not?

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: ……

Where was the awkwardness? The drama? The soap opera-level entanglement of love and hate he had imagined?! Dammit, this was a discussion about the love-hate relationship between a former Commander and Deputy Commander, not your mom calling you home to eat eggplant stew with potatoes, goddammit!!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Did you DC again?

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Your Sister!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Coming or not?

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Your Sister!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Oh.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Your Sister’s “Oh”!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: So it is auto-reply.

This guy was definitely doing it on purpose TAT

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: I thought it was a precious token of loyalty, but turns out it was just something someone else didn’t want, boohoo…

After a beautiful and peaceful minute—

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Stop playing dead =_=

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Done crying?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Persian Gulf, coords XX, XX.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: I! DON’T! FEEL! LIKE! GRINDING! RIGHT! NOW!!

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: Party up. I’ll do the grinding.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: So I just sit under a tree and leech XP?

[Whisper] Meng Chudong: There are no trees here. You can sit on the beach.

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Aw, that’s so embarrassing~~~~~~

[Whisper] Fang Zheng: Be right there~\(≧▽≦)/~

There weren’t many players in the Persian Gulf. First, the map was relatively new, and many people hadn’t explored it yet. Second, the mobs here were high-level elites. Though they gave a lot of XP, they were sparse and required high skill to fight.

True to his word, Birdy let the little healer sit on the beach, kicking at the waves while he soloed the elite mobs.

At first, Fang Zheng’s conscience wasn’t entirely dead. Seeing Birdy’s HP gradually drop, he reflexively tossed out healing spells.

But five out of five times, they were resisted, earning him a response from Birdy: “Stop messing around. Go play in the water.”

And just like that, Fang Zheng’s conscience died. He swore that if he ever did something so foolish again, may he never lose weight in this lifetime!

Bored out of his mind, Fang Zheng eventually dozed off at his desk. When he opened his eyes again, Birdy was still grinding mobs, but both their IDs had reverted to their original names. Checking his XP, wow, he’d leveled up already. Clearly, Birdy hadn’t been slacking off.

[Party] Milk is Mom: That’s enough, aren’t you a robot? Your hand isn’t cramping?

[Party] Polly: Not really.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Let’s head back. I see the others are online in the Legion.

[Party] Polly: They’ve been online for a while.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Then why didn’t you wake me?!

[Party] Polly: Afraid you’d have morning grumpiness.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Am I a little girl or something? =_=

[Party] Milk is Mom: Wait, how did you know I was asleep?!

[Party] Milk is Mom: You must’ve used some shady software to remotely activate my webcam! You totally did, didn’t you? TAT

[Party] Polly: Intelligence manifests in two forms in this world—one is illogical guesswork, the other is meticulous deduction. The two of us happen to be their respective representatives.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Uh… can I represent the latter?

[Party] Polly: I don’t mind. I’m just afraid it’ll cry.

Look at this guy! How could someone like this possibly spend sleepless nights grinding for a Golden Hoop for his former Legion Commander?!

It’s gotta be true love!

The fanfiction post he’d once browsed resurfaced in his mind at this opportune moment—Sorry, I Love You—A Chronicle of That Year’s Mirage Server. What if this wasn’t just fanfiction but a true story disguised as fanfiction? Then everything would make perfect sense, wouldn’t it?!

Logical, reasonable, airtight—Fang Zheng wanted to gift himself a banner declaring him a brilliant detective…

Wait!

Birdy was gay?!

Gay?!

GAY?!

He’d sooner believe Mad Lad was a chubby baldy, Blood Bulls Don’t Graze was a lesbian, 2B Fighter Jet was a preschooler, or Refined Into a Demon was a GM! Any of those would be more scientifically plausible than this TAT

[Party] Polly: Done processing?

[Party] Milk is Mom: Nope!

[Party] Polly: Then I’ll head back to the Legion Hall first.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Both Legion Commanders, but one gets a Golden Hoop, and the other gets abandoned in the Persian Gulf to be buried by the sand, wriggling in grievance~~~~

[Party] Polly: =_=

[Party] Polly: You’ve got two minutes to ask questions. If you keep rambling, I’ll call the whole Legion to watch their Commander squirm.

[Party] Milk is Mom: It’s wriggle!

[Party] Polly: Is there a difference?

Did this guy learn language arts from a math teacher?!

From the moment Fang Zheng found out the Golden Hoop was from Mount Emei, Meng Chudong knew this wasn’t over. That nosy brat treated gossip-gathering as his divine duty and prying into personal matters as his calling. Most importantly, this time, he wasn’t just a bystander but a key player in the whole affair. There was no way he’d let it go easily.

But honestly, Meng Chudong didn’t want to talk about it. For one, his history with Xuanyuan was in the past. If receiving a whisper from the other back in the post-Mirage Server era had once made his heart race, now, he was completely at peace. Even when they talked, he only felt a faint sense of nostalgia, as if everything from back then had vanished along with the Mirage Server, becoming distant memories, growing fuzzier and less real. For another, why had he gone all out that night to grind for the Golden Hoop and give it to this guy? He couldn’t explain it. It was an inexplicable impulse. Even now, the feverish determination from that night was vivid, but if he dug deeper into its roots, he still couldn’t pinpoint it. Games were for playing, not overthinking. Overthink, and you’d lose sight of what was real and what was imagined. Sometimes, you’d even end up tangled in your own thoughts. What was the point? Better to just go with the flow.

But there was no way he could discuss this with Fang Zheng. This guy’s talent was turning The Lu Yu Show¹A serious, Oprah-style interview program. into Kangxi Coming²An over-the-top gossipy variety show.. Who knew what conclusion he’d jump to? It’d be so far off the mark, yet he’d still believe it was the one and only truth. Too terrifying.

So Meng Chudong had tried several times to steer the conversation elsewhere, but clearly, after a nap, this guy was still fixated. Fine, might as well get straight to the point and wrap it up quickly ╮(╯_╰)╭

[Party] Milk is Mom: Are you gay?

Perfect. Straight to the heart of the matter.

[Party] Polly: Next question.

Fang Zheng stared at the reply, his face covered in metaphorical black lines. Dammit, this guy couldn’t even be bothered to dodge the question—he just skipped it outright!!

Outrageous, wasn’t it?!

[Party] Polly: You’ve got a minute and a half left.

Was this guy a Nazi in his past life? =_=

[Party] Milk is Mom: Did you like Xuanyuan?

Fang Zheng refused to believe that pure brotherly love would drive someone to keep grinding for a Golden Hoop meant for his former Commander even after getting PK’ed out of the Legion. This was the kind of plot only a brainless, lovesick fool would have >_<

Luckily, Birdy didn’t skip the second question. After a moment, the reply came—

[Party] Polly: What I felt for him back then is similar to what I feel for you now.

Why was the answer so vague? =_=

But who was he? He was a master at pinpointing the key details in vagueness!

[Party] Milk is Mom: “Similar” means there’s still a difference.

[Party] Polly: Yeah, there are differences.

Birdy’s “differences”: With Xuanyuan, the only thing that went beyond the game was exchanging names. With Milk is Mom… just names might not be enough?

Fang Zheng’s “difference”: One was ambiguous romantic tension, the other was purer-than-water camaraderie—how could they be the same? Birdy would never lose sleep grinding gear for him. Not that he wanted that, but…

The heart always compares.

[Party] Milk is Mom: How am I worse than him?! Laozi cares for his Legion members, nurtures newbies, has lewd positioning, flashy mechanics, and dirty game sense—I’m practically the culmination of the sun and moon’s essence and the universe’s greatness! You’re blind!

[Party] Polly: If I were blind, I wouldn’t have joined the Legion.

That was somewhat comforting.

The sour-grapes fire in Fang Zheng’s heart dimmed slightly.

Then a sprout of sympathy began to surface.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Seriously though, our Legion might be small, and I might not be some dashing, heroic type, but I can guarantee that no matter what you do in the future—even if you steal my man—the Legion won’t kick you, let alone PK you to zero.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Of course, if you decide to leave on your own, that’s another story.

[Party] Milk is Mom: In short, one sentence.

[Party] Milk is Mom: If you never leave, I’ll stay with you through life and death~\(≧▽≦)/~

[Party] Milk is Mom: Hey!

[Party] Polly: Done?

[Party] Milk is Mom: Yep.

[Party] Polly: OK, screenshot saved.

……

Was this guy from planet “Must-Ruin-the-Mood-or-Die”?!

• 1
  A serious, Oprah-style interview program.
• 2
  An over-the-top gossipy variety show.