Edited by Jules
After meeting with Xiao Chengyan, Xiao Lan felt a constant sense of urgency.
The most immediate outcome was that the time he spent either in his own training room or at the player training grounds had increased, as if some ineffable pressure was compelling him to progress continuously.
Today, Xiao Lan came to the player training grounds once again.
This time, he chose to duel a random player.
The sparring partners in the records were all players who had once rushed headlong into the Advent World. All of them were now dead, but data about their bodies were retained so that other players could use them as sparring partners.
Xiao Lan stood on the battlefield, waiting for his new opponent to appear.
After a slight distortion of the space before him, a figure gradually appeared.
The person was a little puzzled at first, but after he took measure of his surroundings, he revealed a self-mocking smile. “This is the training grounds ah. Tsk tsk tsk, looks like… I’m already dead.”
Looking at the person before him, Xiao Lan couldn’t conceal the shock on his face.
This person was —
The man Xiao Chengyan had dispatched to look for Xiao Lan fifteen years ago.
He now looked much stronger and robust than back then.
A grey jacket was casually tied around his waist, and he wore just a black tank top.
His developed arm muscles were exposed, and he still had tattoos on his body, though there were more of them compared with before.
Since this person was Xiao Chengyan’s subordinate, he was also a member of Wushe.
That meant that in reality, he belonged to the elite among advanced players.
Compared with advanced players, however, this guy looked more like a community hooligan who spent his days dining, wining, whoring, and gambling.
Xiao Lan was hit with a down-to-earth sensation; this man didn’t look anything like a good person, so much so that it gave Xiao Lan the urge to call the cops.
This was why the young Xiao Lan back then had been vigilant against him. Who would feel a sense of closeness with someone who looked like that?
When that person saw Xiao Lan, he also waved in greeting.
There was a trace of a leer in that bright smile. “Yo — isn’t this the young master? We’ve met before; do you remember me?”
Xiao Lan choked. “Young master…?”
What sort of chuuni address was this?
That person said, “You’re the boss’s son, so that means you’re our young master, hahahaha.”
Xiao Lan reluctantly asked, “Why call me that?”
The other said with a pleased smile, “You don’t need to be polite, young master. Just call me Tom Cruise Leonardo Depp Robert Bieber Beckham. That’s my English name.”
Xiao Lan: “…”
If you have the ability, how about repeating that?
This pile of names and surnames that had been randomly thrown together would make the original people want to beat this guy to death if they knew about it.
With great difficulty, Xiao Lan chose the more normal-sounding name in this long and illustrious string of them. “…Tom, is everyone in Wushe as talented as you?”
Tom said, “Hehe, so-so. There honestly aren’t many that are better than me.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He then continued, “Us Wushe members have basically all seen you; we were all curious about what the boss’s son looked like ah~ But the boss forbade us from appearing in front of you and your mother, so we could only sneak peeks. If the boss found out, he would probably have beaten us to death. But elder sister really is good-looking ah; what a pity you don’t resemble her…”
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Wljb Ojc: “… ”
He suddenly thought of Cheng Wenyi burying staff who made a mistake at sea; it felt like this sea burial was a method passed down from master to disciple ah.
This cruel style didn’t need to be passed down ba!
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“Ai… That was truly Spartan training ah. Who knows why he was like that. He never said, and we also didn’t dare ask.”
Seeing Xiao Lan’s somewhat complicated expression, he hastily tried to salvage the situation. “Don’t be sad ah, young master. Although the boss didn’t let us help you, when there were two loan sharks who planned to secretly bag you, how could the boss endure it? He directly rushed over and gave them a beating. He beat them up pretty badly; if we didn’t drag him back, it might have made the community news.
“You see… Isn’t this what they mean by ‘even a fierce tiger isn’t a lion‘? Ss… seems like something’s not quite right ah…” Tom scratched his head and tried to comfort Xiao Lan.
His language setting was too boorish; he could go on for three days and three nights when it came to shouting curses, with all sorts of personal attacks emerging from his lips. It guaranteed a steady pull of aggro, and he could curse until the other party doubted their own life.
But… comforting someone was seriously a little too difficult for him.
Xiao Lan understood his good intentions, however, and couldn’t help smiling. “Thank you.”
Tom scratched the bird’s nest that was his hair. “Ai, what a pity we all died before you could join us, and we weren’t able to back you up. It’s a little embarrassing.
“However, if you go out, the sight of us lining up behind you as bodyguards would be a bit eye-catching ah.”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Thank you for your goodwill, but this scene is perhaps a little too eye-catching.
He wasn’t like Cheng Wenyi, who took pleasure in grabbing everyone’s attention.
Xiao Lan asked, “Do you remember how you… that?”
Tom spread his arms. “I can’t remember. I’m just a replica, and can’t be considered the original person. Since the Advent World is willing to let me out, they definitely wiped away the important memories.
“I can only faintly remember that the thing we were going to do was probably very important.
“But seeing my current appearance, we probably failed ah…”
Xiao Lan looked at the lively person before him. He was a member of Wushe, who had died during that rebellion.
Even their names weren’t known by the other players.
Xiao Lan suppressed the emotions that surged in his heart and raised his weapon. “Since we met on the training grounds, how about guiding me for a bit?”
Tom scratched his butt and said, “Are you sure? Don’t judge my appearance; I’m pretty powerful, you know?”
Xiao Lan nodded.
For Wushe members to be judged as the elite of the elites definitely meant that there wasn’t a single mediocre person.
Obtaining guidance from the other party would be extremely valuable for the current him.
Tom smoothly took out a weapon standard for street thugs — a watermelon knife.
The watermelon knife looked ordinary, but in the hands of a Wushe member, no one would dare underestimate it.
Unlike his greasy and thug-like appearance, once he attacked, his entire being brimmed with a sharp and dangerous air.
Tom’s figure instantly vanished from the spot, and he reached Xiao Lan like a gust of wind.
His attack wasn’t flashy; there was a ruthless and merciless intent to harm in each swing.
Ding —
The watermelon knife and bone blade clashed with a sharp and crisp sound.
Xiao Lan was a little fearful at the force of the blade. With the level-up of his skill, he had also become a lot stronger, but the person in front of him was unexpectedly even more powerful than he was!
Sure enough, that seemingly ordinary watermelon knife wasn’t some ordinary item. Dalit’s flame flickered on its surface for an instant, but was extinguished before it could attach itself.
The pace of the battle was extremely quick as both sides attacked without mercy. The change between attack and defense was instantaneous.
The blade danced and could cut at any time, and carried the threat of death.
Three minutes later, Xiao Lan’s throat was slit open.
After the training grounds healed his injury, Xiao Lan tightened his hold on the bone blade. “Again.”
Tom raised his blade. “You’ve got guts.”
The battle restarted.
Five minutes later, Xiao Lan was impaled through the heart.
Eight minutes later, a knife stabbed Xiao Lan in the back, piercing through his body.
……
The battle restarted again and again.
Xiao Lan was killed 32 times, while he only seriously injured the other party three times.
But the time he endured against his opponent grew longer and longer. In such a battle, the experience he gained was nothing like before.
Xiao Lan panted for breath as he sat on the floor. This time, he finally experienced the strength of someone comparable with a contract player.
Sure enough, anyone from Wushe wasn’t normal.
Tom walked over to him with a smile across his face. “Young master, you’re freaking awesome. You didn’t even blink even after dying so many times; you deserve to be the boss’s son. Dying like this is really imposing ah!”
Xiao Lan: “…”
Why did this sentence not sound like a compliment?
Tom rubbed his hands together, revealing an ingratiating smile. “Um… young master ah… Seeing as today we can be considered friends ba… Then… for the sake of today, can you help my little brother out when you see him?
“You don’t have to help him clear games, just… give a bit of help when you see him in danger.”
Xiao Lan agreed right away. “Alright. What’s your little brother like?”
Tom scratched his messy hair. “He’s a little stutter-bug who looks super weak and always likes to play around with grass. Ah… the grass I mean is the plant ah.”
Xiao Lan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “…Can’t you give a more normal explanation? What’s his name?”
Tom said, “Hua Bei. He’s quite timid, and he’s also scared of strangers. It hasn’t been long since he entered the game either; when I died, he was roughly just at the beginner level ba. Ah, my bad, I didn’t mean to say level and ba together…”
Xiao Lan: “…”
This person was probably what everyone meant when they talked about a dirty mind ba.
Xiao Lan said, “I previously met someone called Hua Bei. he has a bit of a stutter, and his ability is related to plants. He can use his plant sense to create a shield and clones, right?”
Tom’s eyes lit up and he nodded excitedly. “Ah, right, right, right, is he still okay?”
Xiao Lan: “He’s already an intermediate player. Back then, we ended up in the same game, and he cleared it smoothly.”
Tom smiled. “Heehee, looks like my dumb brother has grown up.”
Xiao Lan studied Tom closely. “You’re brothers? Blood-related?”
This tattooed member of society looked nothing like that shy, vegetarian boy ah.
Tom grew flustered, and pointed at his eyes. “Look, look closely, aren’t our eyes identical? One of us resembles our father while the other resembles our mother, so we’re not really similar. But our eyes are the most similar.”
Xiao Lan dug out Hua Bei’s face from a corner of his memory. It seemed that their eyes were quite similar.
But the emotions in them were honestly way too different.
One had a soft and bashful gaze, and would always avoid direct eye contact; the other seemed like an apex street thug.
Thus leading to them looking completely unalike.
Brothers truly were a mysterious existence ah.
Xiao Lan tried asking, “What’s your real name?”
It couldn’t actually be Jie Bei, right?
Tom’s face collapsed. “Hua… Hua Jia.…”
Maybe being called Jia Bei would have been a little better.
Xiao Lan praised insincerely, “A good name…”
Hua Jia’s face was filled with grief and indignation. “My mom loves eating seafood, so my dad gave us brothers these names. To kiss his wife’s ass, this guy simply gave up on being human.”
Sure enough, every family had their own story, and each had their own unique brand of weirdness.
There were from just one or two fathers who pitted their children.
Hua Jia sighed. “Uh… Young master ah, if you see Hua Bei again in the future, can you not tell him that I’m already dead? The identities of all Wushe members are confidential, and he doesn’t know that I’m a player as well. He even thinks I’m just roaming around outside after I left home back then.
“Just let him think I’m still some hoodlum wandering around ba. Perhaps he might not even remember me anymore in a couple of decades…
“Of course, he has to survive till then.”
Xiao Lan nodded. “Alright.”
He wanted to say words of comfort, but also felt that it was very unnecessary, since words were simply useless in this sort of situation.
The line between life and death couldn’t be crossed by any method whatsoever.
The two sank into a brief silence.
Suddenly, Hua Jia raised his head and asked Xiao Lan, “Young master, do you have smokes? I want a cig; it’s been a while and I have a bit of a craving. The best is the No. 99 brand provided by the system; that one’s the strongest.”
“Sorry.” Xiao Lan shook his head. He wasn’t someone who had ever smoked. “How about you wait a while, and I’ll grab some from the system shop?”
As a system shop that provided players with basic living supplies, it had cigarettes as well.
Moreover, although it was called a shop, it basically didn’t ask for money; the industry could be said to have a conscience.
Hua Jia shook his head, his expression a little desolate. “Forget it. It was just a thought. In any case, I’m not the real Hua Jia either. I’m just a replica.”
After leaving the training grounds.
As luck would have it, Xiao Lan walked towards a system shop, picked a pack of No. 99 cigarettes, and placed them in his storage space.
He didn’t know why either. Perhaps it was due to that slight, unexplainable regret at the bottom of his heart.
The author has something to say:
The inspiration for Hua Jia’s name came from a hairdresser who gave me his business card. The unruly mix of names and the outstandingly unusual length left a very deep impression.
But, I don’t use business cards.
He named himself after a bunch of famous and amazing American artists… Such as my 2 favorite actors, Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp!! I dont know how to feel about the Bieber one though -_-
Fr
Thanks for the update! ^^)❤
Thank you for the update 😀
Hmmm he start meeting Wushe members one by one?
Thank you for the chapter ❤️
That’s soo sad. I’m not crying 🤧
Thank you for the chapter
Hmmm I don’t remember the brother 🙁 Does someone remember in which scenario they were together??
The instance where they were office workers and had to fight the fortune statue….. I think?
Ooo thanks a lot!! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ I’m gonna go and look (￣^￣)ゞ
Arc 8 – Death Game Studio (Ch. 98-112)
(ignoring the fact that your question has already been answered and I’m 2 months late cough)
Bummer he seemed like a pretty cool dude for Xiao Lan to meet now that he grew up
His fake name really made me laugh
😂😂
I once had a classmate with an awful bunch of names. Why are parents doing smth like that to their kids? Or giving them strange or utterly stupid names that you just know from looking at those names that they will end as mobbing victims D:
But on the bright side, that fight helped XL a lot in growth again :3
Thx for the ch ٩(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )و
thanks for the chapter <3
…my first alias in elementary school (about 20 years ago) was a bunch of my idols name from back then so hua jia’s alias kinda feel like a slap in the head lolololol.
thanks for the chapter!
I kinda feel Hua Jia n his name
Hahahaah my boyfriend (back then still my annoying classmate) once call me Bella(I’m a man btw) in front of the class and all my classmates starting calling me by that name .at first it’s kinda annoying but I get used to it and people in my school including teachers start calling me by that name for 3 years in highschool until now..my boyfriend kinda proud with his achievement at that time cuz he so flirty and cringe but I still love him.