When Jiang Chen got online, Fang JingXing was standing there, waiting for him.
Forehead markings imprinted on his pale white face, the Abysswalker looked both arrogant and sinister, very fitting in this Forest of Despair.
However, the next second, the other greeted him with a smile, which immediately diluted the feeling that the character gave to people.
“Here?”
Wearing the Wardcaster’s elegant face, Jiang Chen replied coolly with an “En”.
He listened to Fang JingXing narrate the process and asked: “How come you don’t use your own voice?”
Wandering Dreams have a lot of character voices to choose from, but players can also opt out and use their own voices instead.
This guy’s voice, it’s a pity to not use it.
Fang JingXing said: “Too many fans, afraid I’d get recognized.”
He has always been very astute. With this mere question, he had a vague guess that with this Wardcaster’s temper, to ask him specifically like this was most likely because the other felt his own voice sounded better.
He said with a smile: “Do you think it sounds good?”
Jiang Chen really didn’t want to praise him, so he refused to admit it: “It’s so-so.”
Fang JingXing naturally didn’t believe him. Subconsciously, he wanted to switch back to his own voice to garner some favor.
However, as soon as he raised his arm, he had second thoughts and felt it wasn’t appropriate. It seemed a bit flirty so he gave up.
Jiang Chen cared even less about this little trifle. After he finished asking, he flipped the page as well and followed the other deeper into the forest.
Learning that Love Escapist and the others were going to converse with the NPC, he said: “I promised Xie ChengYan to wait and play it together with him.”
Fang JingXing said with a smile: “You’ll know when you get there.”
The two people very quickly reached a big tree. Love Escapist and the others were all beneath there.
Seeing them all tilting their necks upwards, Jiang Chen looked up as well. He saw a long white cocoon vaguely exposed between the gaps of the leaves. He fell silent for a moment. For who knows how many times, he felt that this hidden story quest was really quite despicable.
Fang JingXing said: “We just need to send one person up there to speak with him. Even if QingYan were here, he’d have to watch below.”
Jiang Chen nodded.
In this kind of situation, they could totally pick up the quest first.
Avian Ruler was already climbing the tree.
There were many vines around the tree trunk, which can be used as footholds. However, they made climbing more troublesome. He took quite a while to climb up there. After stopping there for two minutes, he came back down again.
The people within the squad have already seen the new mission. It was to gather “venom”.
Avian Ruler said: “He said he was tied up there in the morning by a huge spider. Only the spider’s venom can dissolve the spider web.”
Gou Cheng said: “Where’s the spider?”
Avian Ruler said: “Went to sleep inside the cave. It’s going to crawl back out at night to eat him while admiring the full moon.”
It really knew how to enjoy life. What’s this? Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival?
Speechless, the group started walking away together.
Half a minute later, Fang JingXing suddenly halted.
The rest of the people turned to look at him. Love Escapist said: “What’s the matter?”
Fang JingXing said: “I was thinking….. The time inside the game and in real life are synched.”
Avian Ruler didn’t understand why he’d bring this up and said: “That’s right.”
The other people’s minds spun faster, so they all got it.
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.
According to this hidden story quest’s pissy nature, the words “at night” were probably not said casually.
Po atfs tjv jmmfqafv atlr wlrrlbc ja cluta, qfgtjqr atfs’v fcmbecafg atf rqlvfg jr rbbc jr atfs aegcfv jgbecv. Cr obg jmmfqalcu la veglcu atf vjs, rlcmf atfs kfgfc’a mifjg bc ktfc la qijccfv ab fja ja cluta, lo atfs jgglnfv abb ijaf, la wluta jigfjvs yf jvwlglcu atf wbbc jcv vlufralcu lar wfji.
The group immediately went back the way they came from to retrieve the “venom” and release the person first.
Jiang Chen and Fang JingXing examined the guy and felt that he and Ling Huai should be siblings related by blood, since their hair and eyes were the same color.
Gary was dressed crudely, looking rather wretched.
Seeing Ling Huai’s pendant, the rims of his eyes turned red. He led them to a hut and said hoarsely: “I was cursed and can’t leave this forest.”
The 7 people looked at him in unison.
Gary said: “Can you guys help me break the curse?”
Alright, it’s settled.
Receiving the new mission, the group could finally leave the forest temporarily. After a brief discussion, they decided to clear a dungeon.
Clearing a dungeon was much easier. The group played effortlessly and casually. The atmosphere was especially harmonious.
The thrill of killing the lion king was still present from the morning. Now whenever Avian Ruler and the others see these two Aces fighting mobs, they’d recall the two’s fluid and smooth movements.
Avian Ruler said: “You two are so powerful, how come you don’t play professionally?”
Eyelid twitching, Fang JingXing thought to himself, you stepped on a landmine.
He spoke up first: “Don’t even mention it. I played in a training camp before, but left after just two months.”
This was a true statement.
In those two months, he advanced in a god-like speed and was promoted to being a substitute.
Avian Ruler and the others didn’t know that however. They just thought he didn’t reach standards and felt sympathy for him.
Gou Cheng consoled: “Perhaps it’s related to the game mode. I feel like you’re very powerful in VR. You can give it another try.”
Fang JingXing secretly gave Love Escapist a kick and sighed softly: “What powerful? It’s just some basic skills. Don’t want to talk about it anymore. Let’s switch topics.”
Hearing his downcast tone, Avian Ruler and the others were shocked to realize that they might have touched a sore spot and swiftly started chatting about something else.
Love Escapist silently looked at his kicked leg, glanced at the completely silent Wardcaster to the side, and understood. Knowing that a certain someone had a bad habit of being overprotective, he sent private messages to the squad members individually to tell them to avoid talking about sore spots in the future.
Jiang Chen naturally could tell that Fang JingXing was trying to mediate the situation. Taking a glance at him while killing a few mobs at the same time, Jiang Chen advanced a few steps further along the map and finally couldn’t hold back anymore.
[ PM ] Total Annihilation: What are you imagining randomly?
Seeing him actually willing to bring it up, Fang JingXing was somewhat surprised.
He replied very cautiously: Not imagining anything.
[PM] Total Annihilation: Let me hear it.
Fang JingXing pondered for a few seconds and then entered a row of words tentatively: You should have played as a professional before and received the standard training, right?
Jiang Chen nodded.
Fang JingXing was neither blind nor stupid. It was impossible to conceal this matter from the start.
Seeing this, Fang JingXing knew that he hadn’t stepped on a landmine yet and continued to speak.
[PM] Abyss: In the past, I speculated that you might have failed to accomplish your dreams and were misunderstood or treated unfairly, which caused you to be disheartened in this career field.
[PM] Total Annihilation: Now?
[PM] Abyss: Now I feel like that’s impossible. If you were truly mistreated, with an olive branch like me, you would have definitely joined my gaming organization and waited to crush your old affiliation in the competitions.
[PM] Total Annihilation: En.
Fang JingXing smiled.
This Wardcaster’s temper… really matched his tastes very well.
[PM] Abyss: So my speculation is that either playing professionally has left you with huge regrets or you’re unable to play because of health issues.
Jiang Cheng replied with another “En”.
[PM] Abyss: Is it anything I can help with?
[PM] Total Annihilation: No.
[PM] Abyss: Now that Wandering Dreams is VR, it’s inevitable for the competitive mode to switch from keyboard to VR. VR mode greatly lowers the gate requirement for hand speed, and can extend the career life of professional players. With your abilities, you can definitely play VR. If you have any misgivings, you can talk to me and I will do my best to resolve them.
Jiang Chen understood.
This guy probably thought that he had some kind of physical disability.
Seeing him fall silent, Fang JingXing hesitated for a few seconds and then played a big hand.
[PM] Abyss: I have something to confess to you.
[PM] Total Annihilation: Speak.
[PM] Abyss: You can be angry all you want, but can you not blacklist me or stop playing and disappear randomly?
[PM] Total Annihilation: Alright.
[PM] Abyss: I checked people who joined the beta and saw your account in ChengYan’s equipment yesterday. I asked Aunty Jiang about you but she didn’t tell me anything.
Fang JingXing wanted to tell this Wardcaster that he knew the other was in this city, knew that there was only a Jiang ShiLan between the two of them— that as long as he’s willing, they could meet and chat, so the other actually didn’t need to worry too much.
Jiang Chen looked at this guy in silence.
No wonder his nephew was fine previously, but now randomly insists on recognizing him as Didi, so this was why.
Seeing him about to raise his arm, Fang JingXing hastily reminded him: “You promised to not blacklist me.”
Jiang Chen put his hand down regretfully.
Thinking briefly, he then felt this seemed like telling the guy that he had guessed correctly. Jiang Chen raised his arm in displeasure again and said: “I’m replying to your message.”
Fang JingXing suppressed a smile that was about to reach his lips: “En, go ahead.”
Looking at his long spiel, Jiang Chen considered his words and gave the truth.
[PM] Total Annihilation: Because of my health, I can’t play competitively for a while. It’s not because I don’t want to play.
[PM] Abyss: Is it serious? I’ll come visit you?
[PM] Total Annihilation: No need. Once I get out of the hospital, I will consider your gaming organization first and foremost.
[PM] Total Annihilation: This topic ends here.
[PM] Abyss: Okay.
Looking at the message history, Fang JingXing felt that they had taken a huge step.
Originally, he thought that it would take a long time before he could bring up this topic tentatively. Who would have imagined that through pure accident, they had managed to discuss it openly and resolve it.
As such, he contacted Love Escapist.
[PM] Abyss: Drag those people into a chat group.
[PM] Love Escapist: I spoke with them privately already, don’t worry.
[PM] Abyss: I’m going to transfer you money. You find an opportunity to send them some red packets.
Love Escapist: “……”
Your attitude changes this fast?
He wasn’t stupid, however, and knew that Fang JingXing had probably seized the opportunity to have a chat with the Wardcaster.
Feeling like he had received an unfair treatment, he returned the kick back to Fang JingXing.
The group played an entire afternoon of dungeons, then returned to the Forest of Despair, and logged offline.
At 7:30pm, when all of the members were present, they started to help Gary lift the curse. The key to lifting the curse was in a little tribe nearby. That tribe had a sacred stone. They just had to steal it.
Naturally, the sacred stone was guarded. The patrols paced back and forth according to a certain pattern. There were also a lot of obstacles along the path. The slightest misstep and they’d be hunted down.
This seemed troublesome, but it couldn’t be any easier for Fang JingXing and Jiang Chen. Fang JingXing wandered inside effortlessly and leisurely. After obtaining the sacred stone, the group ran towards the forest together and successfully brought Gary out of there.
5cum: “Ai, didn’t our gatekeeper old man say that his sister was together with Gary? Where’s his sister?”
Gou Cheng said: “Who knows. Did he mention it before?”
Avian Ruler: “No. He only said he got captured by the spider.”
Gary still didn’t bring up the gatekeeper’s sister. Following them to the part of the Glimmering Lights River that’s closest to the forest, he saw Ling Huai coming out of the water and was shocked: “You… Why are you……”
Ling Huai immediately started crying with a ‘Wah’ and charged over to hug him: “Ge!”
Gary caught her with reddened eyes. Lips trembling for a moment, he gave an ‘En’.
The two siblings sobbed inconsolably on each other’s shoulders. Learning that she had been trapped inside the river, Gary felt extremely distressed and patted her head: “Wait here for me. I will think of a plan to save you.”
Ling Huai said, crying: “I don’t want to be separated from you again.”
The group observing from the sidelines understood.
In other words, while the siblings chatted about domestic matters, they had to go run the errand.
Reality proved that they were overthinking it. Gary insisted on making this trip in person and said: “Be good. These heroes and I will definitely rescue you, just wait.”
Ling Huai sobbed: “……Okay.”
Gary released her and returned to the players’ side: “Let’s go.”
The group looked at the quest log and discovered that it didn’t update. Figuring that they needed to follow him temporarily, they started to leave obediently.
However, right after they took two steps, a quiet low murmur spoke up behind them. It was Ling Huai’s voice, but somewhat cold.
“Do you really believe that?”
Startled, the group turned around instantly.
Ling Huai had her head lowered. They couldn’t see her exact expression very clearly, but she said: “Of course I believe. He’s my brother.”
“But it’s been 10 years and he’s never come searching for you.”
The black mist gradually condensed into a shape above her, becoming another Ling Huai: “Not only him. Your good friends also didn’t come. They… don’t care about you at all.”
Avian Ruler was shocked: “Oh fuck, is this a heart demon?”
Gary inhaled sharply: “This is the color of a curse. She’s also plagued by a curse, which is currently twisting her thoughts and emotions!”
The original Ling Huai struggled: “No, they just never imagined I’d be inside the river!”
The curse said: “But you’ve wandered Glimmering Lights River from one end to another countless times in the past ten years and still didn’t see them, right?”
“Perhaps… Perhaps we just missed each other.” Ling Huai said: “I trust these people. They will save me!”
The curse pointed at the players and abruptly raised its voice: “Them?”
It sneered: “They never wanted to help you in the first place, did you forget?!”
Ling Huai instantly fell silent and slowly raised her head.
Avian Ruler instantly protested: “Haven’t we been helping you all this time? How could you accuse us unfairly like that? Please wake up, little lady!”
Jiang Chen: “……”
Fang JingXing: “…….”
So the pit for selecting “Do not help” back then lays here!
The pit resurfaces…hahahaha. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣❤️
Ah, the importance of choice and the consequences thereafter~~ can’t wait to see how they’ll resolve this XDD
Curiosity killed the cat… 🤣
Hahaha I wasn’t expecting that! 🤣🤣 This game really pays attention to detail!
pffft- you can’t blame the sh!t system this time it was your fault for testing her!