"Do we know each other?"

Zhou Xiaomeng was unperturbed despite Purgatory Mad Dragon’s sudden invitation. She poured herself some beer, crossed her legs and took a sip from the glass before saying, "I’ve already completed my performance for the day, and nowhere in my schedule does it say that I have to drink with the customers. Sorry, but maybe another day!"

The bodyguards also rose to their feet and blocked in front of Lu Chao and Wang Dongliang.

However, Wang Dongliang fished out a business card from his pocket and passed it to Zhou Xiaomeng respectfully, "I deeply apologize for my rudeness. If you would, this is my business card…"

Zhou Xiaomeng accepted it carelessly and took a glance. Immediately, her eyes widened as she looked at Wang Dongliang again. "You… you’re the vice president of Shanghai Shengyi? Does that mean…"

Wang Dongliang beamed from ear to ear. "That is correct. I am the executive vice president of Shanghai Shengyi, Wang Dongliang. The company responsible for your marketing, packaging and more is a direct subsidiary of our business group. Surely you can give me this face, Miss Xiaomeng? Don’t worry, my friends here are just fans of your work. All we ask of you is a couple of drinks."

Zhou Xiaomeng frowned, but in the end she returned the smile and said, "Very well, I shan’t turn down an invitation from President Wang himself…"

Wang Dongliang let out a chuckle before snapping his fingers at a bartender. "Another five bottles of Margarita, my man!"

Both Wang Dongliang and Roaming Dragon saw us as they returned to their booth, but they only shot us surprised and hateful looks. Little Piglet was the only one who stayed behind and shot us a smile, "Lu Chen, Lin Yixin, He Yi? Hahaha! And here I thought top rankers like you three would spend all day and night grinding away! I guess you guys know how to enjoy life once in a while too! Anyway, before I go back to drink some more free beer—"

He raised his beer blass and said, "Wanna toast to all the goods and bads between us, Lu Chen?"

Clink!

I gladly clinked glasses with him and drank my fill in one gulp. I then asked, "Say, have you had any plans to jump ships recently? Ancient Sword could use at least one more corps commander to lead our Dragonlight Cavalry. If you are interested, just shoot us a private message in the game."

Little Piglet laughed candidly. "I won’t say I’m not tempted, but my boss keeps paying me better and better. Even I’m not so shameless as to leave him after everything he’s afforded me. We’ll see. If Purgatory Mad Dragon becomes unbearable one day, I’ll consider Ancient Sword as an option."

"Gotcha!"

……

After Little Piglet left, Zhou Xiaomeng finally rose to her feet and took a moment to straighten her skirt. Then, she put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I’m leaving to drink with President Wang now, Lu Chen. It will be an… intoxicating experience, so I don’t think I’ll be able to accompany you all later. By the way, you… you know that I’m your fan, right? When I’m done, will you… will you please come over and sign me an autograph? You understand what I mean, right? I er… well, see you later…"

I simply nodded and said, "Don’t worry, Xiaomeng. Beiming’s your fan too, so we’ll trade autographs later!"

"Good. Good. I’m going now!"

"Yeah."

After Zhou Xiaomeng left, Wang Dongliang summoned Zhou Xiaomeng’s bodyguards to his side and whispered something we couldn’t hear. Then, we saw the bodyguards nodding before leaving the area. I knew it. Zhou Xiaomeng’s company was a subsidiary company under Shanghai Shengyi. The bodyguards had no choice but to obey the master of their master.

I frowned as I watched Purgatory Mad Dragon’s booth. "Something stinks about all this."

While leaning against the sofa and playing with a dice, Lin Yixin said, "You don’t say. Keep an eye on them, okay? Make sure that Wang Dongliang doesn’t take Zhou Xiaomeng back to his bed."

Hugging Bears in Silence asked, "But what if it’s consensual?"

He Yi smiled. "Didn’t you hear what she said to Lu Chen earlier? She asked him to sign her an autograph after they’re done drinking. What she really means is that she wants Lu Chen to save her after the drinking is over…"

Me: "..."

Zhou Ping smiled as well. "Don’t worry. I’m the one who invited Xiaomeng. Worse comes to worst, I’ll make sure that no harm befalls her. For now, let’s keep playing, shall we?"

"Yeah!"

We were playing cards when my phone suddenly rang. It was a call from Beiming Xue.

"Big bro!" She sounded deafening despite the booming bass in the bar.

"Beiming!" I replied just as loudly.

"Did you meet Zhou Xiaomeng in the bar?" Beiming Xue asked excitedly.

"Mn, yeah, we even drank a little just now. What’s wrong?"

"What’s wrong? I’m her fan, dummy! Can you please get me her autograph and, oh! Can you take a photo with her as well? I want it so, so bad! Uu, if only I could meet her in person! I can’t even drive over because the university’s gates are already locked…"

I chuckled. "As they should be. Go to bed, Beiming. I promise you I’ll get you Zhou Xiaomeng’s autograph no matter what."

"Mn mn! Thank you, big bro! You’re the best, big bro!"

"Yes, yes. Now be good and get your beauty sleep, okay?"

"Okay! See you tomorrow!"

After I hung up, I shot He Yi a smile and said, "Beiming was asking for Zhou Xiaomeng’s autograph. I guess I have to rescue Zhou Xiaomeng from Purgatory Mad Dragon no matter what now…"

Hugging Bears in Silence huffed. "Hmph. That Roaming Dragon had been eyeing Xiaomeng’s legs since the moment he showed up. It is clear that he is up to no good. There are countless wealthy people who want to get their filthy hands on female celebrities, much less one as young as pretty as Xiaomeng…"

Zhou Ping replied, "It’s too bad the company Xiaomeng signed with belongs to Shanghai Shengyi, and Hegemon Palace and Mad Dragon are best buds right now. Heck, Wang Dongliang even became sworn brothers with Roaming Dragon. It will be very difficult to free Xiaomeng from their clutches when they hold all the power right now…"

I looked at He Yi and asked, "Eve, I remember Lin Yujia telling me that Raincube is expanding into other industries. Besides setting up our VR electronics supply chain, we’ve also purchased a production company, right?"

He Yi nodded. "The World Media, right? Right now it’s kinda stuck in a mire though. What are you planning?"

I smiled. "Let’s invest in The World Media, send Xiaomeng a proposal and pull her out from Shanghai Shengyi. This way, Wang Dongliang can’t control her anymore, right?"

Zhou Ping stuck out her tongue to express her disbelief. "I didn’t know that Raincube has a media company…"

Hugging Bears in Silence said worriedly, "Xiaomeng is quite the valuable artist. You’ll probably have to pay Shanghai Shengyi a lot of money to get her…"

Lin Yixin simply chuckled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "You have no idea how much capital Raincube possesses, do you? Let me put it this way. If Sister Eve wants to, she can recruit a thousand Zhou Xiaomengs and not bat an eyelid!"

That really surprised Hugging Bears in Silence.

……

It was past 1 am before we knew it. We would’ve left the bar already, but Zhou Xiaomeng was still drinking with Purgatory Mad Dragon. So, we had no choice but to keep waiting while drinking some low alcohol drinks to pass the time. Even so, I had downed so much liquid that I couldn’t help but feel a little dizzy. So, I decided to walk around a little and take in the sights of the night life. I had experienced countless gruesome and bloody battles in the game, but it was the opposite regarding the nightlife. I saw women in heavy make-up and men who looked like their vitality had been sucked out of their bodies clinking glasses and making merry with one another. These were the better ones. There were some youngsters who, contrary to their age, had dry skin, swollen eyes, yellowed teeth and many, many more unsavory traits that suggested that they were only years or even months away from losing their best years forever. It was okay to frequent a bar once in a while, but if you turned it into a lifestyle, then all you would get in return was an emptier and lonelier soul. No amount of nightly passion or affairs could fill up that hole if you had lost sight of even the theme of your own life.

"Are you alone, handsome?"

While strolling, a blonde around 25 years old with heavy make-up greeted me. She was wearing a one-piece dress. "If you are, would you like to have a drink with me?"

I shot her a polite smile and clinked glasses with her. However, I left after taking a sip from my glass.

The bar was huge, but it was only a matter of time before I made my way to Purgatory Mad Dragon’s booth. It was a luxury booth that could fit at least 15 to 20 people, and I saw them playing some sort of tissue biting game. One person would hold a piece of tissue in their mouth, and the next person—it was usually played in clockwise order—would rip it in half with their mouths. The game would continue until there was literally nothing left to rip. If the game sounded lewd, well, that was the point. The group had also set it up so that no two people of the same gender were sitting together. (Author’s Note: I’m only describing the game as I heard it, I’ve never actually played it myself, trust me…)

Zhou Xiaomeng was seated next to Lu Chao, also known as Roaming Dragon. If it wasn’t clear enough that Roaming Dragon was interested in her, the piece of tissue he was holding in his mouth was so tiny that it was practically impossible to rip without kissing.

Zhou Xiaomeng raised her glass in a hurry and said, "No way, this tissue is too small. Can I drink instead?"

Unfortunately, Iron Pardon and Inconstant cried, "Nope! The game must go on!"

Left with no choice, Zhou Xiaomeng rose to her feet and tried to nip the other end of the tissue. However, Roaming Dragon had a devious ploy in his mind. He abruptly spat out the tissue and tried to kiss Zhou Xiaomeng in the mouth.

"Ah?"

Zhou Xiaomeng tried to dodge out of the way, but she still got kissed in the cheek. Her cheeks immediately turned a shade of anger.

Roaming Dragon laughed. "Don’t be angry, Xiaomeng! I broke the rules, I’ll drink to it!"

Zhou Xiaomeng sat down. She was literally shaking with anger.

At the side, Little Piglet ignored the commotion and raised a glass to Shangguan Wan’er, "Do you want to play some dice, Wan’er? The loser drinks."

Shangguan Wan’er declared confidently, "Let’s go! I’m not afraid of you!"

I smiled. I could be wrong, but it looked like Little Piglet was very interested in Shangguan Wan’er. I shouldn’t allow myself to be distracted though. It was time to rescue Zhou Xiaomeng. At this rate, she might really be inebriated and kidnapped to someone’s room.

……

So I walked up to the group, shot them a humble smile and raised my glass. "Excuse me, but Xiaomeng and I still have some unfinished business to settle. It’s getting pretty late anyway, so you may as well lend her to me now, right? So sorry for my rudeness."

While saying this, I grabbed Zhou Xiaomeng’s hand and lifted her to her feet. She immediately shot me a grateful look and grabbed her handbag.

"Wait!"

Displeased, Roaming Dragon rose to his feet and said, "We’re not done yet, Lu Chen! It really is incredibly rude to cut into someone’s fun like this!"

I still smiled. "It really is an urgent matter. Please understand that."

Roaming Dragon threatened, "And if we don’t?"

Bang!

I slammed my glass against the table so hard that cracks started taking form around its walls. Smile vanishing, I said, "You may want to choose your words carefully, Lu Chao. You may have forgotten already, but you are on Zhou Ping’s territory right now. Do you want to test how fast her bouncers can run over and kick your ass?"

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Lu Chao grew increasingly angry.

Little Piglet couldn’t ignore this any longer, so he hurriedly rose to his feet and said, "Calm down, people. We may be enemies in the game, but that doesn’t mean we have to be enemies in real life as well. Plus, it’s no fun at all bringing your virtual grudge into reality, is it?"

I nodded. "You are a sensible man, Little Piglet. We shall be taking our leave now."

Not giving them a chance to have second thoughts, I pulled Zhou Xiaomeng with me and returned to my table as quickly as I could. While Zhou Ping’s bouncers definitely could kick Purgatory Mad Dragon’s ass to kingdom come, there was no way in hell they could arrive in time to save my ass if things did devolve into a brawl. I wouldn’t go down without taking a couple of them with me, but the point was that I didn’t want to go down in the first place.