I woke Lin Yixin when the sun began setting. She turned left and right for a bit before she finally climbed to her feet. While massaging my thighs, she asked smilingly, "Are you numb?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "What do you think?"

"How much did you catch?"

"Enough for tonight’s dinner…"

"Oh?"

Lin Yixin looked into the bucket and exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "Not bad at all! There are at least two to three catties worth of fish in here! Let’s return to the shore now, Little Cheat. It’s starting to get cold out here."

"Yeah."

……

I rented a set of cooking utensils and a tent after we returned to the shore. Already, a dozen or so tents had been set up by the lakeshore. Most of them were families, but there were a few couples like Lin Yixin and I as well. Some of them were enjoying a barbecue party, and their excited cries conjured many wild images in my mind.

After raising the tent, I grabbed a hammer and nailed the stakes into the ground. Setting up a tent in real life was obviously a lot harder than it was inside the game. I had to consider the balance of the tent and many other factors.

Due to hygiene concerns, we carried our newly-bought beddings straight into the tent. Although it was the spring season now, the temperature could still drop to a dozen or so degrees Celsius at night. It was especially chilly when the wind started blowing.

After the beddings were spread out properly, Lin Yixin shot me a smile from inside the tent, "It looks like a small house, doesn’t it?"

I curled my lips. "Come out and zip the flap as soon as possible, girl. We’re in the countryside right now, not the city. Small animals will crawl into the tent. You don’t want to spend the night hugging moles or dung beetles, do you?"

Lin Yixin turned green almost immediately. "Okay, okay, I’m coming out right now…"

We set up the stove in front of our tent and used the charcoal provided by this place. It would be very difficult to gather the dry sticks and logs we needed to start a fire anyway. We were able to cook a pot of fresh and spicy white water fish soup. We also bought two boxes of rice from a nearby food stall.

A fragrant scent permeated the air a while later. It was proof that my outdoor cooking skill was really not too far behind my instant noodle cooking skill. After that, Lin Yixin and I grabbed a stool each, sat right next to each other and ate dinner together. The fish in the unmanaged lake were seriously tasty. Not only was the flesh fresh, tender and scentless, it barely had any fat tissue. Usually, the fish one bought from the market had more fat tissue than even pork meat.

……

After we finished dinner and cleaned things up, we sent Chaos Moon a message informing her that we were safe and sound. So far, this had been an excellent experience. I felt so relaxed that I felt like I was about to transcend worldliness. I could see why people were advised to take breaks every once in a while.

It was too early for bed though, so I sat outside the tent and watched the stars for a bit. Some distance away from us, I saw a few couples hugging each other and doing all sorts of intimate things that made me really wonder if they were going to take things too far. Suddenly, an auntie carrying a basket walked up to us and tried to sell us some stuff. Unfortunately, her accent was a bit too thick for me to understand what she was saying.

"What is she selling?" I asked Lin Yixin.

She shot me a blank look before saying, "Check it out yourself…"

I climbed to my feet to take a better look and, holy shit! It was an entire basket of condoms of all sorts of brands such as DLS, JSB and more! She was clearly targeting those couples who came out here to spend the night but didn’t prepare sufficiently!

I asked, "So, you wanna buy one, Yiyi?"

She immediately glared. "Don’t even think about it!"

"Fine," I said while shrugging. "I’ll hold it in for one more night. Don’t take too long though. You’re the one who’s going to suffer if it explodes from excessive abstinence…"

Lin Yixin rolled her eyes at me. "It’s okay, I’ll still feed you forever…"

I exploded. "That’s not the problem, nor does it have nothing to do with my money-making ability!"

She burst into a giggle before waving the auntie away. "Thank you, auntie, but we don’t need it…"

The auntie shot me a long look before shaking her head and muttering to herself. This time, I understood what she was saying, "This handsome lad cannot possibly be ED, can he?"

I choked back tears. Lin Yixin hugged me and comforted me for a long time.

……

"Say, do you want to go to the lakeshore and see if we can catch some fireflies?" Lin Yixin suggested.

I replied while staring at the sky, "It’s freaking spring, girl. Where would you even begin to find one?"

"If you don’t come with me, I’ll go find that middle-aged man over there instead," Lin Yixin threatened. "So? Are you coming with me or not?"

"Fine, fine, whatever, fucking seriously…"

"What’s with the attitude!?"

"I’m sorry Yiyi, it’s totally my fault. Now, let’s go catch some fireflies, shall we?"

We walked to the lakeshore together while holding hands. It was a bit colder here, and there were a lot of couples who seemed to have the same idea as us, relatively speaking. For a time, we simply stared at the lake and admired the way it glimmered under the stars.

Leaning against me, Lin Yixin whispered, "I’m sad that we have so little alone time with each other…"

Feeling guilty and regretful, I hugged her and whispered back, "Sorry, Yiyi. Things have been very busy lately, and… yeah. We weren’t able to spend much time with each other at all."

"You also have to split some of that time with Sister Eve, right?" she said in a jealous tone.

I shivered. "Eve is…"

Lin Yixin looked up at me and asked, "Can you tell me the truth, Little Cheat? Do you love Sister Eve, or should I say, do you think you love Sister Eve?"

I sucked in a deep breath before answering, "Promise me you won’t get mad no matter what I say?"

"Mn."

"Okay. Since the very day He Yi took me into Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, I’ve always thought of her as the most reliable person in my life. I feel like I would lose a lot of energy in life without her, not to mention that she’s been keeping me company since the day I joined Heavenblessed. Maybe sis was correct when she said that I love Eve, but I am unable to recognize that feeling in myself for some reason. I am certain that I love you very much though, and it is a love I can voice out with absolute certainty, Yiyi…"

Tears of happiness seemed to swirl inside Lin Yixin’s eyes as she made a cute noise and kissed me on the lips. I embraced her quivering body and focused on enjoying the kiss. It wasn’t until two minutes later did she finally pull away. Breathing a bit heavily, she blinked her cute, round eyes and asked, "So, who do you love more, me or Sister Eve?"

I replied expressionlessly, "Ask me again, and I’ll jump into the lake…"

Lin Yixin stuck out her tongue at me. "Fine, fine, I won’t ask you this question again. You’re always so serious—no, wait, that’s not right. It’s more like you always dodge the serious questions, you insincere man…"

"Insincere? I kept you company the whole day, and you call me insincere?"

"I’m the one who kept you company!"

"It’s the same thing either way! Man, you’re so shameless…"

"No, you are!"

……

It was getting colder and colder, so Lin Yixin and I eventually retreated into our tent. Of course, we put all our belongings inside the tent so as to avoid someone stealing them. The tent was a bit warmer than it was outside, but neither of us had brought a pyjamas with us. I wasn’t too bothered because I didn’t have the habit of wearing pyjamas to bed anyway, but Lin Yixin kept making weird noises that sounded like a kitten’s meow. In the end, she put on an extra layer of shirt, slipped into the blankets and pressed her back tightly into my chest, saying, "It’s so cold…"

I chuckled while hugging her. "You must not love me too much if you feel cold in my embrace…"

"Say that again, and I’ll drop your cold, dead body into the lake!"

I shuddered. "You’re so ruthless…"

……

The night grew deeper as we chatted idly to pass the time. By now, it was past 10 pm, and most of the tents had grown completely silent. Almost everyone was asleep now.

"I can’t hear any chatter anymore…" said Lin Yixin while stirring a bit restlessly in my arms.

I nodded. "Yeah, they’re probably tired. We should sleep too…"

"Okay…"

However, less than five minutes later, the wind carried the sounds of muffled moans and movement into our ears. OMG, the couple in the tent to our right is actually going for it...

My eyes widened, and the blood in my veins suddenly quickened considerably. I was a young, hot-blooded male, so after hearing the stimulation I couldn’t stop myself from cupping a certain beauty’s breasts and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"What are you doing?" Lin Yixin asked while remaining unusually calm.

I licked my dried lips and answered, "A massage for better er, development?"

"Like hell!"

Lin Yixin turned around and bit me gently on my shoulder. "I’m already well-developed! Your massage is completely unnecessary, your shameless bastard!"

That was what she said, but her breathing grew unmistakably heavier and something… more.

I was really starting to lose control as I trailed kisses on her cheeks. Before I knew it, I had climbed on top of Lin Yixin and was staring into her misty eyes. She whispered, "Lu Chen…"

"Hmm?"

"What are you doing to me, you shameless bastard…"

I answered, "Nothing. Just sleep…"

"Seriously? You think I can fall asleep in this situation?"

Me: "..."

……

Lin Yixin embraced me and bit my earlobe softly. Then, she said softly, "Please no, at least… not here. I won’t ever be able to show my face here again if someone discovers us. Sure, you’re probably shameless enough not to care, but I…"

It was impressive how Lin Yixin didn’t forget to make fun of me even when she was begging.

I trailed a couple more kisses along her neck before I finally shot her a smile and lay back down next to her. "Fine, I’ll stop teasing you. This place is a tad too inappropriate for tasteful people like us…"

"Ceh, I’m tasteful, but you’re not…"

"Oh really? Does that mean I can do it after all?"

"Nooo, you’re tasteful too…"

Me: "..."

……

It was at this moment my phone rang. It was a message from Chaos Moon. "Hi~ so? How does it feel to fuck outdoors? Here take my energy if you don’t have enough~"

Lin Yixin’s face turned purple. "Chaos Moon is such a bad, bad girl…"

"I know right? Fuck!"

Lin Yixin let out a giggle before crawling back into my lap once more. A few minutes later, she fell asleep and flew away to lalaland. Considering how much she already slept this afternoon, I couldn’t believe she managed to fall asleep before me. In hindsight, I should’ve known that beautiful girls—especially ones at Lin Yixin’s level—would have an amazing sleep cycle.

I fell asleep at some point and dreamed many dreams. I couldn’t remember them, but they were happy but confusing dreams. When dawn broke, and a bit of light shone through the tent fabric above our heads, we woke up at almost the same time.

Mm…"

Lin Yixin opened her eyes and asked, "What time is it?"

I grabbed my phone and was just about to take a look when it rang. It was He Yi. Considering how early it was, she must’ve some urgent business with me. I immediately accepted the call and asked,

"What’s wrong, Eve?"

She replied urgently, "Are you online now, Lu Chen? The third Nation War has just begun. A total of 47 cities—the Northern Alliance, the Chaotic 27, Cyan Earth City, Elephant City, Purple Grape City and more—have declared war on the China server at the same time! We’ve already lost Vanished God City!"

"WHAT? Vanished God City is gone already? How… how the fuck did that happen? Wasn’t Vanished God City guarded by Momo and the others? Who’s the final boss server who managed to conquer it in an instant?"

"It’s Coldblade’s army who destroyed the defenses Karinshan set up, not the players. Vanished God City has fallen in the past 24 hours, and Wind City is currently crawling with Northern Alliance players. Even Sky City has come under threat already…"

I clenched my fists. "Dammit. Speak of the devil and he doth appear! I’ll go online as soon as I can!"

"Mn!"