translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
When Qiu Zongping returned to his room, Lin Shuangcheng was sending messages on WeChat with his mobile phone, seemingly in a good mood. Retrieving his pajamas, Qiu Zongping went to take a shower. After exiting the bathroom, he realised that Lin Shuangcheng was still smiling and texting away. “Who are you messaging?” Qiu Zongping asked casually.
“With our family’s Xiao Song,” Lin Shuangcheng smiled. “He wasn’t watching the carnival today, and didn’t know that I called him for the purposes of completing the punishment. I need to explain this to him.”
Song Changdong was busy helping his parents move, and forgot that tonight was the carnival’s opening ceremony. Clearly, he had been quite confused by the sudden call from Lin Shuangcheng. After Lin Shuangcheng explained, however, he realised that it had just been a game.
The message on the phone read: “I don’t have a girlfriend. Don’t get me wrong, the phrase ‘baby, I love you’ was said to you ^ _ ^”. Song Changdong stared at it for a few moments, hesitating, before nervously typing out a reply. “Did the audience hear everything I said on call?”
“Of course,” Lin Shuangcheng replied. “You guessed I was drunk one moment, and asked if I was ill the next. Have you never thought it possible that I was confessing my love to you for real?”
Song Changdong’s cheeks flushed red. “Captain Lin, don’t joke with me, I’m a man…”
Imagining Xiao Song blushing awkwardly, Lin Shuangcheng couldn’t help teasing this honest guy. “Two men can also be together. In the face of true feelings, gender isn’t an obstacle. Who knows, maybe I originally liked men.”
Song Changdong: “….Ah?”
Seeing this sentence, Song Changdong was stunned. He knew Lin Shuangcheng was from a rich family, and had founded the Sword Song team with his own money. Unlike most professional players who were obsessed with results and trophies, Lin Shuangcheng was straightforward in his approach to professional league matches. In fact, there were too many close-combat swordsmen in Sword Song, and such a lineup had no advantage against powerful teams who pursued comprehensive strength. However, Lin Shuangcheng didn’t mind. He just wanted to create a team based on his own ideas—— he had liked swordsmen since he was a child, so he would form a team centered around swordsmen.
He often told all the team members that their goal was not to get good results, but to enjoy the game, enjoy their hot-blooded time of youth.
He was very rich, and even if the Sword Song team came in last, he could still afford to give the players their salary. Out of all the teams in the Peerless Jianghu league, the team with the most relaxed atmosphere was Sword Song, because the captain himself did not care much for results. He was someone who could even comment on the game with a smile despite being hospitalised before a big game. Lin Shuangcheng was very clear that Sword Song couldn’t reach the championship at this level, and had never intended to fight for it.
Lin Shuangcheng was casual and unrestrained. Not only was he a male god in the hearts of fans, he was also a male god worshipped by the players of Sword Song.
How could such a male god like men?
Song Changdong stared at the phone screen blankly, not knowing how to reply.
A moment later, another message popped up on the screen: “Have you been scared silly? I’m teasing you [LOL]”
Song Changdong: “……”
Lin Shuangcheng: “Why haven’t you learnt yet, and keep getting deceived by me?”
Song Changdong blushed: “Captain Lin, don’t make this kind of joke in the future. It really scared me; I thought you actually liked men…”
Lin Shuangcheng was in a good mood: “I’ll stop teasing you, good night.”
After putting away his mobile phone, Lin Shuangcheng glanced at Qiu Zongping. “I’ve just finished explaining it to Xiao Song, why don’t you explain it to your family’s Yuan Xi?”
“Explain what?” Qiu Zongping frowned.
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.
Lin Shuangcheng replied. “You called and confessed to him in today’s punishment session. Didn’t you notice that there was something wrong with his reply?”
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“It should be that you care about gossip, correct?” Qiu Zongping gazed back.
Smiling, Lin Shuangcheng shrugged. “It can be understood in this way. Do you think Yuan Xi might like you?”
“Yuan Xi is my teammate, and nothing else.” Qiu Zongping interrupted him calmly. “It is better for the captain Lin not to make such jokes.”
Lin Shuangcheng was stunned. “Sorry, I was rude.”
Qiu Zongping: “Never mind.”
Lin Shuangcheng stopped talking, retreating to the bathroom to shower.
The reason he and Qiu Zongping were living together was because the other great gods had roommates, so they had temporarily partnered up. Lin Shuangcheng had made a private group chat for the professional players. Qiu Zongping often came online to chat, and occasionally joined in the fun to make jokes about god Mo. Lin Shuangcheng had originally assumed that Qiu Zongping was an easygoing person, but unexpectedly, his joke had been blocked by the other person directly, in a tone frostier than Qin Mo’s. It seemed that he had accidentally touched Qiu Zongping’s bottom line.
***
The next afternoon, all fourteen players were officially driven to the carnival site to participate in the signing activity.
The officials had put in a lot of effort for the first carnival, and even came up with an exquisite signature book with the icons and costumes of the eight sects. Fans had gathered at the scene for this activity, even lining up outside the venue to wait their turn. The great gods sat on the big stage, signing merchandise for the fans. The officials had already declared the number of signatures to be limited, but the fans were too enthusiastic, and the original 2-hour duration from 2:00pm to 4:00pm was extended to 6:00pm.
Xiao Han thoughtfully uncapped a bottle of water before handing it to Qin Mo. “Are your hands sore?”
Qin Mo took a sip of the water. “En, a little bit sore.”
“After we get back, massage your fingers,” Xiao Han was concerned. “Don’t leave behind any negative effects.”
Faced with his worried gaze, Qin Mo smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m just a little tired. I’ll be fine after a short rest.”
They went to a nearby restaurant for dinner, before returning to the venue for the carnival’s closing ceremony.
Two days passed quickly. At the opening ceremony last night, the great gods were invited to play games, with the losing team being punished. The number of viewers in the live broadcast room of the carnival had set many new records. There would be yet another game in tonight’s closing ceremony, but this time, it would no longer be a competition between the red and the blue teams. Instead, it would be a random combination of seven groups.
“This game is called ‘Treasure Hunt’,” Ye Chao announced. “It is a variant of the ‘Treasure Hunt mode’ in the team competition in the second half of the year. Liang Ru and I will introduce the rules to everyone.”
“First, we will divide the great gods into seven groups, each with two players. Each group can call one player outside as extra help,” Liang Ru explained.
“The seven groups, group 1 to group 7, will randomly spawn on the map. Everyone will have to look for the treasures scattered around the map. To make them easier to distinguish, the treasures will automatically shine if a player is within 10 metres of it,” Ye Chao added. “The game duration is fifteen minutes. The group with the most treasures at the end of this period wins.”
“Players carrying treasures will have a treasure icon above their heads,” Liang Ru beamed. “You can also get treasures by killing players. Players who die will be revived at the resurrection point in the middle of the map.”
“Now, let’s invite the great gods to decide their groups by drawing lots!” Ye Chao announced.
Liang Ru walked over with a box of papers in her hands. Qin Mo drew first, and retrieved a slip of paper with the number 6. Next to him, Xiao Han was second to draw, and also drew the number 6!
The audience began to complain: “Twin Stars only broke up for one day, and now they’re together again?”
“1 in 7 chance and they actually drew the same number, their luck is against the sky!”
“I have a hunch that the big BOSS Twin Stars will be attacked by the other groups!”
After everyone had finished drawing lots, a list of groups was displayed on the screen—— Group 1: Su Cheng and Zhou Xuewei
Group 2: Li Junru and Zhu Qingyue
Group 3: Chu Jianxin and Xie Changming
Group 4: Luo Yuan and Sang Jun
Group 5: Lin Shuangcheng and Chen Jiang
Group 6: Xiao Han and Qin Mo
Group 7: Qiu Zongping and Nie Yuzhu.
Next, the players were given some time to invite external help.
“Everyone has ten minutes to call someone and invite them to help,” Ye Chao reminded. “Please make sure that they have a computer at hand, as well as a stable network connection. They also need to have Peerless Jianghu installed, as well as have a playable account. If no one responds in ten minutes, you will have to play as a team of two.”
This restriction prevented players from inviting people not in front of a computer, and who were also without Internet connection. In fact, the best way was to invite a teammate who could go online immediately. Xiao Han and Qin Mo glanced at each other, before Xiao Han spoke. “Xiao He and Muran are both in the training room. Who should we call?”
Qin Mo thought for a few moments. “Call Muran. It will be easier to fight if we have a healer.”
Xiao Han nodded, and immediately sent a message to Li Muran. “Apprentice, come online.”
Li Muran happened to be watching the live broadcast. After receiving the message, he immediately went online. Accepting Xiao Han’s invitation to join the team, he was automatically pulled into the competition room.
In group 1, Zhou Xuewei invited Yuan Xi to join herself and Su Cheng. In group 2, Li Junru invited her partner, An Ling, to help herself and Zhu Qingyue. In group 3, Chu Jianxin called for Lin Yao, while in group 4, Luo Yuan invited Wei Guanghua. Because Xiao Song was still busy, Lin Shuangcheng asked Chen Jiang to invite someone, causing He Yue to be pulled into group 5. Lastly, in group 7, Nie Yuzhu called for Jing Yang to join their team.
All the players had entered the competition room, and the game officially began.
The first thing that caught everyone’s attention was the brand new map specially prepared for the carnival. It was a wide area, and had a mountain villa with complicated terrain. Scattered throughout the various houses, ponds, bamboo forests, and flower gardens were multiple shining treasures.
Each group had their own voice channel. “Everyone will take one first, so that we do not become targets,” Qin Mo commanded.
“So, you’re saying that we will rob other people when the game is almost over?” Xiao Han queried.
Qin Mo nodded. “The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. We will use this method. It gets more dangerous with every treasure you carry, so in the early stages, we will keep a low profile, and take just one each.”
“Okay,” Xiao Han replied simply. “We’ll do as you say.”
Li Muran had been silent the whole time. A few moments later, Xiao Han finally asked, “Muran, are you there?”
Li Muran: “En.”
Xiao Han: “…”
Alright, it was better not to force this stuffy gourd to speak. He just needed to be responsible for adding blood, that’s all.
***
Upon entering a room, they really did see silvery treasures scattered on the floor. Following Qin Mo’s explanation, all three members picked up a treasure each, waiting for two minutes before they left the room.
As soon as they stepped out, they ran into group 1, Su Cheng, Zhou Xuewei, and Yuan Xi, who were searching for treasure nearby. All of them had the icon ‘treasure x1’ above their heads; obviously, they had also adopted the same strategy. Su Cheng hadn’t planned on attacking, but Yuan Xi’s reaction was very quick, instantly summoning a wave of mechanical rats to bite Qin Mo!
The mechanical rats stacked three layers of weakness on Qin Mo. Yuan Xi followed up with the mechanical horse’s fear control, but Li Muran instantly responded with a purification skill, adding a blood buff to Qin Mo along the way.
“You want to fight?” Su Cheng asked.
“Of course!” Yuan Xi replied bluntly. “Why would you not fight when you see the BOSS?”
“That’s true. Alright then, let’s go.” Su Cheng smiled helplessly.
After that, he immediately used the group control skill ‘Zhuangzi Dreams of Being a Butterfly’ from a distance, causing both Han and Mo to fall asleep. Yuan Xi quickly summoned his mechanical snakes and mechanical chariots—— the large swarm of pets began to attack explosively, causing Qin Mo’s blood volume to fall below half in an instant. Li Muran had no choice but to use the instant heal ‘Suspended Silk Diagnosis’ to add blood.
With a healer present, it wasn’t easy to kill god Mo in seconds…
Yuan Xi was worried about how to kill god Mo. At this moment, a huge mechanical horse suddenly appeared behind Li Muran——
It was Qiu Zongping!
Although they were not in the same group, their tacit understanding born from long-term cooperation caused Yuan Xi to immediately follow up with a skill at the moment the mechanical horse appeared—— mechanical hawk’s air raid!
Qiu Zongping’s team also began to attack Qin Mo with all their strength. Qiu Zongping first released the mechanical horse to control Li Muran. Nie Yuzhu followed closely, using his traps to attack Qin Mo, while Jing Yang took up his double swords and rushed to kill Xiao Han!
At the end of the 3-second fear control, Qin Mo only had 20% of his health left. Xiao Han had also been badly beaten up by both Su Cheng and Jing Yang. Li Muran used an instant group heal to fill their blood volume bars back to half, but before he could follow up with other heals, a flute’s clear melody echoed—— Xie Changming’s team had arrived!
Xie Changming accurately froze Qin Mo and Xiao Han with the immobilisation sound wave skill, ‘Cold River Snow’. His teammates, Chu Jianxin and Lin Yao, rushed forward, with Lin Yao taking the opportunity to sprinkle poisonous powder, instantly stacking three layers of poison on Qin Mo and Xiao Han.
Qin Mo: “…”
How much hatred did they have to fight nine against three?!
Punishment for being too strong lol 😂 Poor Li Muran who has to heal them…
Thank you for the chapter~~! 💜💜💜
Lol, all of the vs Twin Stars, like they idea on group chat 🤣
You’re welcome~ ! 💕
Hey hey remember the red packets and leave them alone! Hahahah