Lin Zhusheng originally felt a bit strange, but when he saw his senior brother smile, he turned to look at the person’s face with deep respect in his heart. Thanks to his senior brother, the two hairbands finally served their purpose in a normal way, no longer twisted like duck intestines.

His long, jet-black hair cascaded down, with the bangs held back by the light blue hairbands, looking fresh and clean, finally resembling a proper person. He turned left and right, giving a thumbs-up to Master Wen, who had skillfully helped him.

Wen Baizhou retracted his hand and asked, “Have you learned it?”

Lin Zhusheng smiled and made a voice that sounded hopelessly clumsy, “Not at all.”

“…”

As the night deepened and the dew thickened, Wen Baizhou took his leave. Feeling a boost in his spirit, Lin Zhusheng got up to see him off at the door, waving as he watched him leave.

The white figure gradually faded away down the path, and only then did he retract his gaze and close the door again.

“Click—”

The sound of the door closing was faint, easily blown away by the night wind, but the person who had already walked far turned back. The fabric of his clothes swayed in the wind, and the dim light obscured the faint thoughts in his cold pupils.

After closing the door and achieving a normal appearance, Lin Zhusheng turned around and began to spin in front of the little cat, trying to show off his presence. The little cat turned its head away, refusing to look at him, so he grabbed the little cat’s head and turned it back to continue watching, determined to show off enough.

The little cat could no longer tolerate this person; after being turned back, it stubbornly turned its head away again, and the corner of its eye caught a glimpse of the figure disappearing into the horizon. The words of disdain it had wanted to say turned around in its mouth, and it changed the topic, saying, “Don’t you think there’s a bit of a discrepancy between Wen Baizhou and the setting given?”

The high and mighty senior brother, a prodigy in every sense, was unassuming and did not flaunt his brilliance, yet he was surprisingly kind. In reality, he had already encountered him three times in less than a month since coming to this world, and today’s act of giving hairbands could have easily been handled by Qing Niao.

“Mm?”

After spinning a few more times, feeling a bit dizzy from showing off, Lin Zhusheng leaned against a chair to catch his breath, then turned his head and said, “I don’t think it makes a difference.”

He nodded confidently and said, “He’s actually quite kind.”

Noticing something was off, the little cat asked, “How come you seem to know him pretty well?”

“Of course,” Lin Zhusheng said, pulling out a fruit to quickly replenish his energy as his stamina was running low. “I maxed out his favorability and ended up becoming his Dao partner.”

Although he had skipped through the plot lines and clicked through like everyone else, being a Dao partner meant he had more contact and thus knew more about him.

“?”

The little cat’s eyes widened in shock, taking half a step back, looking at him in disbelief, scanning him up and down as if questioning how someone like him could have a Dao partner.

“?”

Lin Zhusheng was instead astonished by its reaction, saying, “What, did you think I got all my achievements for nothing?”

All achievements included maxing out everyone’s favorability and successfully becoming a Dao partner with someone. To get that, he had to find someone to become a Dao partner with.

The little cat was still very shocked and asked, “Then why did you choose him?”

With thousands of game characters to choose from, even the first beauty was available, and according to the data, 80% of players chose to become Dao partners with the beauties, regardless of gender.

Lin Zhusheng thought clearly and analyzed, “His favorability is the hardest to max out. If I finally got it to full and didn’t do anything, wouldn’t that be a waste?”

It sounded reasonable yet carried a hint of casualness. The little cat pondered, “But didn’t the information say he can’t be pursued?”

Although he was among the characters that could be pursued, in reality, he couldn’t be pursued at all, so there was no storyline after becoming a Dao partner.

For a moment, it was hard to figure out how this person in front of it managed to achieve all the achievements and become a Dao partner. After a long thought, it finally came up with the most likely answer and looked up to say, “You didn’t add some tech while playing the game, did you?”

In simple terms, it meant modifying the code.

“I studied finance, not computer science,” Lin Zhusheng interrupted the little cat’s wicked thoughts and said, “I just had a lot of time.”

After playing the game for half a year, he had actually managed to reach max level and unlock most achievements in about a month, with the remaining time spent bickering with this senior brother.

Because he had sent all the wrong gifts, the other person’s favorability had dropped to freezing point, so he became even more fearless, sending gifts to him every day. Finally, in the middle of the night, half-awake and half-dreaming, he randomly clicked the mouse, and a prompt popped up saying his favorability had increased.

At that moment, he had sent a Lan Jun flower. Finally finding a liked item, he then sent flowers like crazy, easily maxing out the favorability, and when the option to become a Dao partner popped up, he selected yes.

After finishing his story, he finally realized, his eyes widening, “So there was no such setting at all! No wonder it felt so weird after becoming a Dao partner!”

It turned out that he couldn’t be pursued at all, let alone anything after becoming a Dao partner. Others shared their experiences of how their Dao partners sent gifts and helped with daily tasks, but he had no such interactions, like a marriage without any connection.

The little cat subjectively ignored this topic and said, “If you look for a Dao partner in the future, would you still choose him?”

Lin Zhusheng felt goosebumps inexplicably rise all over and waved his hand, saying, “As if I have a choice.”

Unlike the game, these were all real, living people now, not just characters he could choose to become a Dao partner with after maxing out their favorability.

The little cat glanced at him, its gaze focusing on his face. After looking for two seconds, it sighed.

Lin Zhusheng asked, “What are you doing?”

The little cat was just sighing at his strange taste in aesthetics.

Not feeling that there was anything wrong with his taste, Lin Zhusheng still found his own face quite pleasing. Not wanting to stay up too late, he turned off the lights and went to bed, falling asleep contentedly.

The next day, it didn’t rain. He got up early and went to the training ground with his friends to practice swordsmanship.

Swordsmanship was of utmost importance and was the only subject personally taught by the elders. After being in the game for so long, he finally entered the most basic foundational teaching.

As the first light of dawn broke through the mountains, the sword light pierced through the brightness, and the clouds and mist retreated.

Standing at the back of the crowd, Lin Zhusheng squinted his eyes, which had barely opened, mixing the drowsiness of waking up early with the novelty of watching someone teach swordplay, caught in a state of wanting to sleep yet trying to muster the energy to play.

Since the last time the little cat had been affected during sword practice, it had learned to automatically run far away during such times, and now it should be playing a game of patting leaves somewhere.

Zhang Jing, standing next to him, glanced at him and then looked again, reminding him in advance, “If you fall, don’t fall towards me, just fall to the ground.”

His voice was small, and the content was cold, a stark contrast to before.

With someone talking to him, Lin Zhusheng felt a bit more awake. He turned his head to look over, but before he could scrutinize Zhang Jing too closely, he retracted his gaze.

Zhang Jing always felt that he was plotting something bad, but he had no evidence.

No evidence, but soon there was an example.

The elder demonstrated a set of basic sword techniques, and after finishing, he asked if anyone was willing to partner up and try out the moves to test their power.

To be fair, aside from slightly slowing down the movements from 1x speed to 0.8x speed, the elder provided no other explanations. After watching it once, no one moved to step forward; it was as quiet as if they were all asleep.

No one wanted to step up at such a time, especially Zhang Jing. He quietly lowered his head, waiting for someone to break the silence and step forward. Halfway through the silence, he suddenly realized something and quickly grabbed the arm of the person next to him, whispering, “Don’t…”

He successfully grabbed one hand, but unfortunately, people had two hands. With a swift motion, Lin Zhusheng instantly raised his other hand, accompanied by a clear voice saying, “I want to try!”

His originally half-open eyes were now wide open like copper bells, filled with light, and he was full of energy, completely different from the drowsy person before.

Zhang Jing: “…”

All the disciples in front turned to look, and Zhang Jing painfully covered his face.

Lin Zhusheng stepped forward, bringing his good partner Zhang along, moving from the back of the crowd to the front, and halfway there, he pulled out his wooden sword.

Unexpectedly, someone was very eager to try, and even the second elder, who had been caught in the awkward silence, straightened his back and walked forward with energy, stepping forward to pat the two eager disciples, fully expressing his approval. He asked, “Do you want to see it again?”

Lin Zhusheng recalled slightly and then said no need.

What the elder taught was a bit different from the content in “Self-Cultivation of Sword Practitioners,” but not by much, so he felt confident he could do it.

If he could do it, then he would go for it. The elder made space for them.

The content of the attempt was very simple; he just needed to mimic the elder’s movements with the sword, while his partner stood not far away. In theory, the sword wind he generated should be able to make his partner’s clothes flutter a bit, and then the partner would swing the sword back at him.

The numb partner cooperated by standing a bit farther away, with a face that seemed to have lost its color and any semblance of liveliness.

Thinking the other party was worried about his safety, Lin Zhusheng held the sword and said, “Don’t be afraid, my skills aren’t good enough to reach you.”

After all, he had completely failed the previous attempt, and the little wind he generated was only enough to blow the little cat up.

Zhang Jing was already indifferent. He just hoped he would act quickly and then return to the back of the team.

As he wished, Lin Zhusheng, who never hesitated or procrastinated, only moved slightly and then decisively made his move.

Sometimes used for cutting fruit, the wooden sword sliced through the air, and as dust floated, the sound of airflow arose, swiftly spreading out, and the daylight brightened.