"Big brother…"

I opened my eyes when I heard Xinran’s heartbreakingly crisp voice. I discovered that I was kneeling at the center of a barren battlefield. There were dead bodies everywhere, and Xinran was lying weakly on my lap. Her long, slender legs had been replaced by charred, broken stumps, and her big eyes were filled with tears. "Big brother… I can’t keep you company anymore. Goodbye, big brother. You will always be my beloved big brother. Always…"

Red light suddenly shone from the stumps, threatening to consume her all body. Cracks started appearing all over her skin, and before I knew it, the Dragonbone Spear had slipped through her fingers. By the time the spear hit the ground, her arms had turned into ashes and become scattered across the barren plains.

"Xinran…"

I desperately tried to catch her arms with my free left hand, but all I got was a handful of ashes. Xinran stared at me with eyes full of despair and death. She never said a word.

"No… no..."

I did everything I could to stop the deterioration from continuing, but I couldn’t stop anything. In the end, I felt like all my energy had been sucked out of my body, and a dark cloud of helplessness hung over my head.

……

"Are you okay, Lu Chen?!"

A voice abruptly woke me from my nightmare and caused me to sit up with a start. When I looked, I saw Lin Yixin sitting beside my bed and holding a Ray Li magazine in her hands. She smiled gently at me and asked, "What happened? Did you have a nightmare?"

I nodded a bit. "Yeah. I guess it wasn’t completely a nightmare though. It was something that really happened…"

"What is it?"

"Sigh, nothing. By the way, why are you in my room, Yiyi?"

"The door’s not even closed, so I just walked inside."

"..."

Another smile crossed Lin Yixin’s lips as she glanced at my chest. "You look surprisingly fit for a gamer. Emphasis on ‘look’…"

I made a face at her before looking at myself. I had well-defined muscles beneath my copper skin even though I didn’t train much. In fact, my body seemed to be growing stronger and stronger ever since it was altered by the virus. I obviously couldn’t compare to those who really worked out, but I could definitely kick the ass of 99% of the otakus out there.

……

I shot Lin Yixin a slightly embarrassed look while grabbing my shirt. "I’m going to put my shirt on and get out of bed, Yiyi. Are you going to watch me the entire time?"

Lin Yixin set down her Ray Li magazine and watched me intently. "Yep. You may begin!"

"Fuck!"

I tossed my shirt aside, grabbed Lin Yixin’s shoulders, and pushed her on the bed before she could react. Then, I kissed her long and deep. Lin Yixin wanted to cry out and resist, but she was in the Frost Cloud workshop right now. She didn’t dare to go overboard knowing that He Yi or Murong Mingyue could be right around the corner.

After the kiss was over, she puffed up her rosy cheeks and glared at me. "You’re pretty bold today, aren’t you?"

I smiled cheekily. "You’re the one who forced my hand!"

After she returned to her feet, she picked up her magazine again and said, "I’ll wait for you outside. Be quick though, everyone’s waiting for you."

"Where are we going for lunch, by the way?"

"A restaurant at Wuxi."

"Wuxi? Why are we traveling that far for a meal?"

"You’re exaggerating. It’s at most a 40-minute journey. Also, it’s because a guild sent us a lunch invitation."

I was surprised. "A lunch invitation by a guild? Who are they to convince the Fruit Knife Goddess herself to show up?"

Lin Yixin replied, "You know them, actually. They’re the guild you saved during the War of the Center, the Twelve Musicians. Their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, recently opened a guild at Wuxi, and they strongly requested our attendance. I agreed, Sister He Yi agreed, and the rest is history. Seriously though, go wash yourself already. It’s almost 11."

"Oh, them…"

"Yes, them!"

Lin Yixin beamed at me before moving closer and kissing me on the forehead without warning. She then hugged my shoulders and cooed at me, "Be a good boy and stop dilly-dallying, okay?"

I felt ripples in my heart listening to my girlfriend’s sweet voice. I pecked her one last time on the cheek before saying, "Got it. Later!"

A blushing Lin Yixin left the room and shut the door after that.

……

It took me a few minutes to finish dressing. This was an official invitation, so I couldn’t wear as sloppily as I normally did. I set aside my Meibangdun outfit and put on the Versace shirt + coat + pants set He Yi had bought for me. I then put on a pair of Yves Saint Laurent leather shoes that He Yi had also bought for me during our previous shopping trip. Basically, she had bought me everything I had tried and found to look nice.

When I left the room and entered the living room, He Yi, Lin Yixin, Murong Mingyue and even Lian Xin couldn’t help but be wowed by my appearance a little. Then, Murong Mingyue curled her lips and said, "Damn. Who would’ve thought that the idiom ‘clothes make the man’ would apply to our Lu Chen? Anyway, go brush your teeth already…"

"Yeah, gimme a minute."

After I finished my business, we took off to Wuxi in Lin Yixin’s Porsche. He Yi sat at the front passenger’s seat, and Lin Yixin, Lian Xin and Murong Mingyue at the back. The car had a lot of space and the girls were pretty slender, so it wasn’t as cramped as it could’ve been. Still, both Lin Yixin and Lian Xin couldn’t help but stare at Murong Mingyue’s tight uniform blouse and coffee-colored jacket with deep envy. After all, Lin Yixin was a 34D cup, and Lian Xin was barely a C cup.

However, it seemed like sis didn’t feel like boasting today. Instead, she whispered many adult jokes into Lian Xin’s ear while holding one arm beneath her breasts, and another across the latter’s shoulders. Lian Xin couldn’t stop giggling for a time.

……

I stepped down on the gas pedal and brought us to the highway. Less than 30 minutes later after we entered Wuxi, I slowed down and began following the directions of my GPS. Our destination was the coffee chain of an investment company, and it was said that the Wuxi chain was their main outlet. Hugging Bear in Silence of Twelve Musicians would be meeting us there.

On a fly-over, Lin Yixin lowered the car window to enjoy the wind for a bit. However, a nearby middle-aged driver immediately rolled down his own car window and wolf-whistled at her. Lin Yixin paid him no mind, but I couldn’t stand his behavior. I stepped down on the gas pedal and put at least a kilometer between me and the Suzuki.

"This is the place, right?"

He Yi pointed to my right and said, "That’s the coffeehouse. Feel free to park in front of the entrance. It’s only been a couple of days since it officially opened."

"Okay!"

I did as He Yi asked. It was a huge three-storey coffeehouse that was either fully rented or bought. Either option required the coffee chain owner to be loaded!

The sliding door of the coffee shop opened at the same time we exited our car. A beautiful woman wearing black Nizi coat greeted us with a bright smile on her face, "Now this is what I call a company of honored customers!"

The woman was none other than Hugging Bears in Silence. There were a couple familiar-looking women behind her. If I wasn’t mistaken, they were Twelve Musician players. Twelve Musicians wasn’t a particularly strong guild, but they were incredibly popular and a female-only guild. The pretty ones even had their pictures spread all over the forums. Naturally, a lurker like me couldn’t have missed them.

……

"You’re Lu Chen, right?"

Hugging Bear in Silence extended a hand toward me while smiling. "Thank you for saving us at Floating Ice City. We would’ve had to restart from zero otherwise!"

I grasped her hand and returned the smile. "No problem!"

The two girls next to her exchanged a knowing smile before whispering—but not so softly that I couldn’t hear them—to each other, "Wow, Lu Chen is handsome both online and offline! He’s way more handsome than Warsky and Candlelight Shadow!"

"I know right?"

I kept calm and didn’t speak more than was necessary. After we had introduced ourselves to each other, we walked in only to discover that it was a maid cafe. The waitresses were all young, pretty women in tailored uniforms serving drinks to all kinds of otakus. Truly, businesses had evolved to keep up with the times. Oh well, it certainly wasn’t a bad thing to enjoy a beverage or hold a conversation at a place like this.

After we took a seat and chatted for a bit, I asked, "So, Hugging Bears, if I may be so bold, where are we eating lunch? It’s 12 pm already, and I haven’t even had breakfast…"

She burst into a giggle before answering, "Gotcha. We’ve booked a room in the restaurant just opposite of this street, and we’ll head over right after our last VIP shows up. Don’t worry, she’ll be here in just a couple more minutes."

"Oh? Who is this VIP?" He Yi asked smilingly.

Hugging Bears in Silence replied mysteriously, "She’s the investor of this coffeehouse and Twelve Musicians’ future partner!"

Lin Yixin asked, "I see. Can you tell us some details?"

Hugging Bears in Silence nodded before starting, "For the longest time, Twelve Musicians had been unable to grow into a significant guild. We don’t even have a territory of our own. Basically, we lack leaders, capital, network and more. To fix that, we need someone to invest in us and give us the gold necessary to grind all kinds of skills that can be used to support our professional players. It so happens that I have a university classmate with deep pockets and a high level in Heavenblessed. We came to an agreement almost immediately, and she has agreed to invest in Twelve Musicians and turn it into a major guild. Our first objective is to obtain a guild territory!"

Now she got me interested. "I would like to know this friend of yours."

"She’ll be here very soon!"

……

It was at this moment a maid led a beautiful woman to our table. She was dressed casually, but she exuded an aura of class that wasn’t dissimilar to He Yi’s. She greeted us with a professional smile on her face, "Sorry I’m late! You’re Ancient Sword’s Lu Chen, right? And you’re From Water, Lian Xin, Murong Mingyue and finally, Lin Yixin the Beautiful Little Pepper. Did I get it all right?"

Hugging Bears in Silence said, "Yes, yes, you got it all right. Can we go to the restaurant now? Our guests have been waiting for you for at least ten minutes…"

"Of course!"

The woman then shook our hands and said, "Nice to see you all! I’m Little Bear’s classmate, Zhou Ping!"

……

After the brief chat was over, we finally entered the most important subject of the moment: lunch!

The super rich woman was called Zhou Ping, and her dad was even richer. To give an example, Zhou Ping’s total assets were worth hundreds of millions at least. If she had any problems investing in Twelve Musicians, it would definitely not be because she lacked the capital. Anyway, while the girls were having a good time conversing with each other, I devoted most of my energy sweeping over 30% of the dishes on the table. What could I do? I was really hungry. I also made up my mind to visit Xinran at Violet City after we returned to the workshop. She had been on my mind all day, and I couldn’t rest easy until I knew she was okay.