Chapter 3

“Wait for me! I’m coming to take your head!” Chen Ziming immediately returned to his seat, quickly booted up his computer, and logged in.

Once he was online, Yu Mi left the guild territory and flew to a remote map. Chen Ziming arrived in front of him at the first opportunity, initiated a vendetta, killed him, and claimed the bounty.

The system notified that the bounty was lifted, and Yu Mi felt a weight off his shoulders.

“8000 gold! You’re loaded, man.” Chen Ziming invited Yu Mi to trade and gave him all 8000 gold.

Yu Mi said, “Let’s split it, we both deserve a share.”

Chen Ziming didn’t stand on ceremony, kept 2000 gold for himself, and gave the remaining 6000 to Yu Mi, then laughed heartily, “We made a killing, feeling great!”

It was Yu Mi’s first time being bountied, and he was a bit nervous at first, but he ended up earning 8000 gold with his good buddy without doing anything! It was like money falling from the sky. His little bit of nervousness quickly dissipated.

Yu Mi didn’t keep the 6000 gold for himself; instead, he sent it to his master via mail. After all, his master had spent money to bounty that charlatan, and now it was like getting it back.

Then Yu Mi logged into Weibo and found his message box exploding.

The game’s official fan artist had retweeted his previous posts about being solo-killed by a healer and the faction players protecting newbies, causing his retweets to skyrocket and gaining him many followers.

In the comments, many people mentioned they came from a video on B station, while others asked what video and where to watch it.

Under the faction post, the comments were unanimous—

“That’s right, our PVP is just that intense [sunglasses]. Teacher, which server are you on? I’ll come to hunt you down… no, I mean protect you!”

The comic about him being solo-killed by the charlatan had even more retweets.

Players deduced from his drawing that he must have mistaken the faction and pointed out that it was the Star Picking Tower. Just like the video on B station, everyone was joking and laughing.

Many players from the Star Picking Tower felt wronged—

“It’s not the artist’s fault for not recognizing us; niche factions are like this QAQ… no presence.”

“Good news, a big artist drew our Star Witch! Bad news, it’s as a villain.”

“Sorry for introducing the Star Picking Tower to you in this way [crying]. Unnamed senior, do you want to ruin the Star Picking Tower?!”

Yu Mi quickly retweeted his own Weibo.

【@EvilPopcorn: Thank you all for the retweets, comments, and likes. I’m sorry for mistaking the healer! [pitiful] My master has educated me, and now I know the Star Picking Tower, probably won’t forget it for the rest of my life Orz…】

The players were friendly and didn’t blame him, and the Star Picking Tower players eagerly introduced their faction to him.

In the evening, Chen Ziming started a newbie teaching group to take him through dungeons to get PVE equipment.

Chen Ziming looked at Yu Mi with anticipation, “Let’s see if we can get some loot tonight. I’m counting on you, Sweet Glutinous.”

Yu Mi said, “Don’t get your hopes up too high, Strawberry Bobo.”

Strawberry Bobo was Chen Ziming’s game ID. He was a PVE player, diligently running dungeons every week to earn money to buy beautiful outfits for his in-game partner.

He played a faction called Red Sleeve Pavilion, which had dual heart methods, one for output and one for healing. Chen Ziming’s game character was a loli body type.

Chen Ziming first grouped Yu Mi, letting him enter the dungeon first, then opened recruitment for others to join the team.

While waiting for people, Yu Mi said, “Can you check if that person is online?”

“Who? The charlatan?” Chen Ziming added [What Are You] one-way, then said, “He’s not online. Are you still afraid of him?”

Yu Mi admired his game character’s handsome looks, “I’m afraid he’ll beat me…”

“Don’t worry,” Chen Ziming said, “Tomorrow, I’ll do the faction dailies with my martial partner and you.”

Yu Mi: “Alright, alright, you’re really my good buddy!”

After the group started, Chen Ziming patiently taught, leading a group of newbies to conquer the dungeon, explaining the boss mechanics and various precautions. The night was full of bumps and problems, but fortunately, Chen Ziming was experienced, patient, and had a good temper, constantly reassuring the newbies.

It took almost four hours to finish.

After defeating the last boss, a beautiful special effect pendant dropped, and several people in the team wanted it, eventually auctioning it for a high price, and everyone happily shared the earnings.

“That’s it for this newbie teaching group. I wish you all a happy journey in the game.”

After saying this, Chen Ziming closed the mic, left the group, then turned to praise his roommate.

“You’re really popular, Xiao Ba! From now on, you should hang out with me. No, I should hang out with you!”

Yu Mi was dizzy after four hours of playing, “But PVE is too tiring, I’ll stick to PVP…”

“No way!” Chen Ziming immediately placed a pile of snacks on his desk, “I’m telling you, PVP is even more exhausting! People fight in the wild for three days and nights. Compared to that, PVE is much easier, just once a week.”

Yu Mi yawned, “Then call me next week.”

He really couldn’t play anymore and logged off directly.

He didn’t go to sleep right away but went to the game’s official website to look at the information on the eighteen factions, carefully identifying each faction’s icon, muttering to himself, “This is the Star Picking Tower… this is our most handsome Daoist faction… this is the Blade Mountain… this is the Blossom Element’s Fanghua faction…”

Chen Ziming’s heart broke on the spot.

“Don’t be like this, buddy. You’ll recognize them after playing for a while. This crappy game isn’t worth it! It’s not worth it!!”

• The next day during break, a classmate, Xi Xiangqing, called Yu Mi to attend the anime club meeting after class on Wednesday.

Yu Mi: “Huh?”

Back then, Yu Mi chose to study in S City because it was an international metropolis with many exhibitions, making it convenient to attend comic conventions. He came here to study design.

In his freshman year, he and his classmate Xi Xiangqing joined the school’s anime club, hoping to meet like-minded people and have fun together. Yu Mi joined the drawing department. However, not long after joining, they discovered the club’s atmosphere was terrible, with all sorts of inappropriate jokes and flirting in the group, and later even rumors of hookups and cheating.

It was completely different from what they imagined, so they left the group and did their own thing.

Xi Xiangqing was a fanfiction writer, and Yu Mi was an artist. They often shipped CPs together and created content for each other.

Xi Xiangqing said, “The club’s management has been reorganized, and those jerks have been kicked out. The new senior, Su Xia, is really nice. She just messaged me, very sincere. It looks like she wants to lead the club well. She’ll probably contact you soon too.”

Yu Mi propped his head with one hand, “But I have no interest or desire for the anime club anymore…”

Xi Xiangqing sighed, “I don’t have much desire either, but the senior is really sincere. Come with me.”

Yu Mi: “I’m currently obsessed with a game.”

Xi Xiangqing: “What game?”

Yu Mi immediately recommended it to her and showed her the drawings he made on his alt account.

Xi Xiangqing’s attention was diverted, and she started sharply commenting on which of the eighteen factions’ adult males in Sword Roar in the Jianghu were tops or bottoms, which faction was the ultimate top, and which was the ultimate bottom.

Yu Mi joined her in the sharp commentary, firmly believing that the Daoist faction was the ultimate top!

On Wednesday, the day of the anime club meeting.

Yu Mi was in his dorm doing design homework when Xi Xiangqing called him to the meeting.

“Come quickly! There’s a handsome guy!!”

Yu Mi: “I don’t believe it.”

Xi Xiangqing: “Really! He’s the type you like, I’m not lying.”

Seeing this, Yu Mi was instantly awake, “Really?”

Xi Xiangqing: “If I’m lying, all my ships will end in tragedy.”

Yu Mi gasped, now he had to believe it.

Homework paused.

Yu Mi immediately got up, “For the sake of Chinese anime, I’m coming!”

He quickly changed clothes, from one green outfit to another, casually ran his fingers through his hair, and rushed out, jogging all the way to the activity room.

Outside the activity room, Yu Mi sneakily peeked inside, there were so many people.

Fortunately, the meeting hadn’t officially started yet.

In front of the podium stood a girl dressed in cosplay, looking very pretty. She was surrounded by a few people. Others were sitting below, chatting in small groups.

In front of the activity room, several tables were pushed together, filled with snacks, drinks, fruits, and desserts, showing that it was thoughtfully prepared.

Yu Mi entered through the back door and saw Xi Xiangqing sitting in the second-to-last row.

As he walked towards her, he scanned the room, searching for the handsome guy.

Xi Xiangqing waved at him.

Next to the empty seat left for Yu Mi sat another person. The person wore a blue hoodie with the hood up, obscuring their face, with only two strands of dark hair peeking out, hanging in front of their chest.

Looked like a tall senior?

The person had their hands in their pockets, exuding a “stay away” vibe.

Yu Mi needed to pass in front of this senior.

There were too many people, and the space between the front and back rows was too tight. He carefully turned his body sideways, back facing them, and slowly moved his feet past the person.

At this moment, the club president at the front saw this and used the microphone to remind, “Everyone, move your chairs a bit to make room for the friends coming in from the back.”

As soon as the words fell, everyone immediately took action, moving their chairs back.

As a result, the chair back of the person in the front row suddenly hit Yu Mi, catching him off guard. He lost his balance and fell backward, landing right in the lap of the senior behind him.

At that moment, Yu Mi’s heart was almost in shambles!

He hurriedly tried to stand up, but was blocked by the chair back in front, and ended up sitting back on the senior’s lap again.

Yu Mi felt like dying!

Sitting in the person’s lap, he flailed his arms, trying to grab onto something, anything, and after a while, he managed to grab the chair back in front and stood up with difficulty, then immediately turned sideways and bowed deeply to the senior.

“I’m sorry, senior!” Yu Mi spoke rapidly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I’m really sorry!”

Yu Mi was almost in tears, wishing his head could sink into the ground: “Senior, I’m sorry! I can compensate for your mental loss!”

Suddenly, two slender fingers lifted his chin, raising his head.

Yu Mi was forced to look up and met a face that was excessively handsome.

The person removed their hood.

This person had a long wolf-tail mullet, deep features, and sharp eyes.

Yu Mi’s first reaction—so handsome.

Really so handsome.

Such a perfect long wolf-tail mullet.

Too perfect…

The person spoke, their voice cold.

“Who are you calling senior?”