Chapter 60 – Hidden Circumstances

On the way back to the Guild Hall, Fang Zheng was engaged in an intense internal struggle for a long time. The Golden Hoop wasn’t originally meant for him—to put it bluntly, if it hadn’t been him, anyone else who happened to be around would have received it from Birdy. Now that the truth was out, wasn’t it a bit inappropriate for him to keep wearing it? But if he had to return it, he really couldn’t bear to part with it…

Then, with perfect timing, Birdy asked—

[Party] Polly: Not giving it back?

Wanting to return it was one thing, but having someone reach out and demand it back was another.

[Party] Milk is Mom: Asking for a gift back—don’t you feel ashamed?

Birdy thought for a moment—

[Party] Polly: Not really.

Fang Zheng’s internal struggle came to an abrupt end, his resolve firmer than ever before.

A pie had fallen from the sky and landed right in his mouth. Did he think it was just dumb luck? NO! It was all fate! This thing was made for him!

Seeing no response from the Commander, the Deputy Commander decided to stoke the fire—

[Party] Polly: Made up your mind yet?

[Party] Milk is Mom: Huh? Mind about what? Did you say something just now? Ah, the wind’s too loud, I can’t hear you clearly~~

Meng Chudong shuddered, looking around in confusion—why did he feel like he could hear that eerie echo even in the real world? =_=

In any case, the Golden Hoop ultimately remained firmly planted on Milk is Mom’s head.

As for whose wish this truly fulfilled, the Buddha says: It cannot be spoken.

By the time they arrived at the Guild Hall, Fang Zheng had also logged back into YY, only to find the two female members of the guild deep in conversation—

Drink Your Sister: “No matter how expensive the eye cream is, it won’t help. Sleeping early and getting enough sleep is the real way to get rid of dark circles.”

Blood Bull: “Yeah, but I’m never tired before midnight.”

Drink Your Sister: “Same here, so I just let the dark circles be. Just slap on some BB cream when I go out, covers everything.”

Blood Bull: “I’m using foundation now, but I’m planning to switch to BB cream too. Multi-purpose and convenient.”

Drink Your Sister: “They even have CC cream now, but I think it’s about the same.”

Blood Bull: “Oh right, my senior brought back some great face masks from abroad recently. They’re sold here too—let me check the name…”

Drink Your Sister: “Sounds good~”

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: Commander’s here!

[Legion] Milk is Mom: I’ve been here all along…

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: I meant on YY! You just logged in, right?

[Legion] Milk is Mom: Then why didn’t you welcome me on YY? =_=

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: Uh…

[Legion] Mad Lad: The world of women is completely impenetrable.

[Legion] 2B Fighter Jet: Today I finally realized my wife is actually a woman (⊙o⊙)!

[Legion] Polly: But after saying that, she’s probably going to divorce you.

Though no one spoke up, everyone was gathered in the hall, and Fang Zheng immediately noticed the subtle difference in levels between Mad Lad, who had returned from the North Sea, and Refined Into a Demon. The former’s XP bar, which had progressed significantly after fighting Zhurong, had reset to its original position, while the latter’s XP bar, nearly full after the battle, had maxed out—level up! ╮(╯_╰)╭

[Legion] Milk is Mom: How’d things go in the North Sea in the end?

[Legion] Mad Lad: Five Peaks Pavilion had the most people, so they took it.

[Legion] Milk is Mom: You went after them, huh? How many times did you die?

[Legion] Mad Lad: Didn’t count, three or four times.

[Legion] Milk is Mom: How did 438 end up leveling up instead?

[Legion] Mad Lad: Somehow that guy snuck into Five Peaks Pavilion’s team. Not only did he not die once, but he even got XP when the boss went down! Ugh!

[Legion] Milk is Mom: 438…

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: Commander, I’m here… >_<

[Legion] Milk is Mom: You’re something else! With skills and awareness like that, you’ve got the Ghost Server Legion’s spirit!

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: They said my pet was amazing and that I was a super strong reinforcement~~~ [shy]

Jiang Yang tore his gaze away from the screen, taking deep breaths—one, then another.

He still wanted to beat up these preschool kids! What could he do?

The women’s discussion on YY finally came to an end. Fang Zheng was about to say something serious when he suddenly received an unexpected whisper—

[Whisper] Drink Till You Drop: Be good to her.

Fang Zheng’s first thought was that the guild leader had sent it to the wrong person.

Then he glanced over at Your Sister, who had already started a friendly PvP match with Sister Blood Bull, and suddenly everything clicked.

During his boredom in Mirage Server, Fang Zheng had once been obsessed with family drama TV series spanning dozens or even hundreds of episodes—titles like The Temptation to Go Home, Tears of a Wife, The Mermaid, A Child’s Heart, and so on, whether domestic or foreign, original or remakes. As a result, his ability to read between the lines had improved dramatically. Now, he immediately conjured up a melodramatic tale of star-crossed lovers—I love you, you love me, but we can’t be together.

Fang Zheng didn’t rush to reply to Drink. Instead, he casually called out, “Your Sister~”

The girl naturally responded, “Hmm?”

Those who weren’t addressed silently facepalmed—did she really have to answer so smoothly? =_=

“Did you catch up to Drink Till You Drop after you Town Portal-ed back?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Did you apologize?”

“Yep. He said he was sorry and promised he wouldn’t run away next time, so I could kill him as much as I wanted.”

“……”

Fang Zheng racked his brain trying to recall how the events had unfolded. Was Your Sister not explaining it clearly, or was his own logic failing?

“He apologized to you?”

“Yeah. What, you think I should’ve apologized to him? Yeah right.”

Ever since meeting Sister Blood Bull and Drink Your Sister, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but feel proud of himself—Being gay is great TAT

By now, anyone with half a brain could tell there was more to the story, so Polly voiced the question on behalf of the Commander and all online guild members: “Your Sister, what’s your actual relationship with Drink?”

The girl thought for a moment, then answered, “It’s exactly what my username says.”

The entire Ghost Server Legion collectively facepalmed. =_=

Your Sister wasn’t one to be coy. Having started the topic, she naturally elaborated: “He’s my ex-boyfriend.”

By now, Fang Zheng had already guessed as much. But judging by the current situation, it seemed like…

Polly: “Why did you two break up?”

Good job, Birdy! At times like these, we need someone to cut straight to the chase~\(≧▽≦)/~

The question seemed to strike a nerve with the girl, as Drink Your Sister suddenly grew indignant, her tone rising unconsciously: “Ugh, just thinking about it makes me mad! We were together for three years, and just because I logged into his game account once, he ignored me for half a month! What kind of guy does that? We had to break up!”

Was Drink really that petty?

Surely not.

Polly: “You just logged into his account once?”

Drink Your Sister: “Yeah! At the time, he was constantly doing guild wars and had no time for me, so I logged into his account, stripped all his gear, and sold everything in his inventory and warehouse to the NPC. Whatever I couldn’t sell, I just tossed.”

Fang Zheng gulped. “Including the Guild Warehouse?”

“I was only halfway through when he logged in and kicked me off! If only I’d changed the password first! Waaahhh~~”

That tone of regret… =_=

“I think,” Jiang Yang, who had been silent until now, chimed in with a rare opinion on gossip, “given what you did, the fact that he only ignored you for half a month isn’t just ‘true love’—it’s practically saintly. Does he owe you money or something?”

“Half a month isn’t long? Do you have any idea how I suffered during that time?! I was in the middle of finals—I failed three out of six exams!” Your Sister’s voice trembled with emotion, clearly still traumatized by the memory. “It wasn’t until he found out I’d failed that he came to apologize…”

“Wait, hold on—let me interrupt,” Fang Zheng hastily raised a hand. “He came to apologize to you?”

“Yeah. Did he really think standing outside my dorm for a week would make me forgive him? No way! He can spend the rest of his life with his stupid game!”

“……”

“You guys think he’s terrible too, right?”

Silence filled the YY channel.

Meanwhile, Drink Till You Drop, who was currently leading his team through the Ganges River region to level up, had no idea that his old rivals in the Main City Guild Hall had just turned from neutral observers into fans—true fans, at that. =_=

“You’ve never played this kind of game before, have you?” Birdy suddenly asked.

“Nope. I only played stuff like Audition Online and KartRider before. If it weren’t for wanting to see what was so great about this game that made that bastard care about it so much, I wouldn’t have wasted money on a subscription!”

No wonder her skills were so painfully lacking. =_=

Polly: “Why did you pick a healer?”

Drink Your Sister: “I didn’t. I bought the account. You have no idea how expensive max-level accounts are in this server. I had no choice but to settle for a level 50 one. Between buying the account and changing the name, I almost went broke.”

And with skills like that, she still managed to level up five times. Girl, you’re a legend!

Fang Zheng: “If you ask me, you should stop giving him a hard time. You already broke up, yet you chased him into the game, and he told me to take good care of you. Clearly, there’s still something between you two.”

“Who’s giving him a hard time? We’re done. I joined the game just to see what was so special about it!”

“Then why did he specifically tell me to be good to you?”

“He was trying to sabotage our relationship. By letting you know about him as my ex, he’d always be on your mind. Over time, you’d start feeling resentful.”

“Uh, can I ask why I’d feel resentful? And even if I did, what does that have to do with you or him?”

“He asked why I suddenly started playing this game, and I said it was because I was chasing after my current boyfriend, so he should just go sit in a corner somewhere!”

“Current boyfriend?”

“Hey, darling~~~~~”

[Legion] Blood Bulls Don’t Graze: [candle]

[Legion] Mad Lad: [candle]

[Legion] Polly: [candle]

[Legion] Crossplayer’s Blessing: [candle]

[Legion] Refined Into a Demon 715: Women are terrifying >_<

[Legion] 2B Fighter Jet: I feel you, bro.

Fang Zheng never ended up replying to Drink Till You Drop, and Drink never sent another message either.

That single line of instruction lay alone in the Whisper channel, like an accidental mis-sent text.

Over a week after the game’s update, most players had reached level 60. It wasn’t that people weren’t trying hard—the update had simply made leveling slower than before. But this also increased the game’s playability, as new dungeons were gradually discovered, some large, some small. However, half of them required reaching the level cap of 70 to enter, leaving the remaining half as targets for guilds to fight over. Meanwhile, the Legion War in Desert Stronghold was also in full swing. Currently, Five Peaks Pavilion held the fortress, but Meteor Blitz was closing in, threatening to take over. War Banner, due to manpower issues, usually didn’t fare well in these zerg rushes¹It’s a strategy where a player tries to overwhelm an opponent by attacking with a massive number of cheap, weak units (and has come to mean overwhelm by numbers in general). This term originated from the game StarCraft, where zergs are such a cheap, weak unit.. As for Huaxia Dominion, they had been unusually quiet lately—somewhat abnormal.

But Fang Zheng wasn’t concerned with any of that. The Ghost Server Legion lacked both the strength to aim for Desert Stronghold and the numbers to dominate Huaxia Summit. Their motto was to play freely, casually, joyfully, and unapologetically—not seeking to shock the world with their brilliance, but to move it with their shamelessness. So during the day, a few online members would form small parties to run minor dungeons, while at night, the entire guild would team up for the bigger ones.

Everything seemed to be going well—except for the Ghost Server Commander’s bank account.

At noon, the sun was shining brightly, but its radiant light couldn’t penetrate the dim, winding corridors of the old apartment building. The Ghost Server Commander, returning from grabbing food, plucked the electricity bill from his doorframe and stared at the meter reader’s illegible scribbles, lost in deep thought…

The electricity bill itself wasn’t a big deal, but the issue it revealed was impossible to ignore.

For example, rent would be due again in just over a month.

And, for instance, it had been quite a while since he’d earned any real money.

“Sigh~” The Commander heaved a sigh and decided to change his QQ signature later to—With money, you’re a man; without it, you’re just a guy in trouble.

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  It’s a strategy where a player tries to overwhelm an opponent by attacking with a massive number of cheap, weak units (and has come to mean overwhelm by numbers in general). This term originated from the game StarCraft, where zergs are such a cheap, weak unit.