Chapter 10 – Song Yan: “The one who guards the gate”

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In the virtual world, anything goes. There are all sorts of unscientific scenarios.

Users could appear however they liked, and the system allowed multiple saved avatars.  For instance, you could have formal wear for a meeting, an afro for a party, a completely different persona, and show up in simulation training with an entirely different skin. It was just like switching profile pictures across different platforms.

Not only that, but any species can be chosen. Take a stroll through the commercial district, and you’ll often see salespeople smiling as they present products to a dog or a cotton candy cloud.

Xie Chenyu and Song Yan, however, both picked the most boring default avatar: human.

And they were quite conventional, with ordinary builds, looks, voices, and IDs. One was named [Mountains and Rivers] and the other [Sea of Stars], the kind that have many duplicates and disappear easily in a crowd.

Xie Chenyu looked at the underage kid in front of him. “Where do you want to go?”

Song Yan thought about it.

His ban only applied to the spaceship simulation module. Everything else he’d paid for was still accessible.

However, since he decided to maintain a good relationship with his teammate, he continued with his sweet demeanor: “I’m fine with anything, what do you want to play, brother?”

Xie Chenyu asked, “Do you have a membership for the combat room?”

Song Yan said, “Yes.”

Xie Chenyu said, “I’ll go switch to a holographic cabin. Two rounds in the combat room?”

Song Yan had no objection.

While it wasn’t his first choice, it was acceptable, and he even felt a little eager to try it.

The combat room has very little entertainment value and isn’t as popular as mechas or spaceships. Aside from a few enthusiasts, few people enjoy playing it.

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.

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His skills were taught by Whale Rovers, and his techniques were honed through repeated failures, leaning more towards practical combat application. He used to be curious and would queue with random players, only to find they were mostly conventional fighters like boxers or kickboxers, who couldn’t last two rounds against him. Gradually, he only queued with Whale Rovers members.

But this teammate was different.

From just that brief skirmish yesterday, he could tell the guy was also a practical fighter. That got him fired up. He already had the Whale Rovers style down pat, so it was exciting to face something fresh.

He was eager to see how well he could fight against someone unfamiliar, so he set up a room and sent the room number and password.

Xie Chenyu quickly joined. The two waited for the countdown to end, then simultaneously made their moves.

There was no cover in the room—They engaged head-on, holding nothing back.

You attack me and I counter, and then I counter again… Song Yan felt that his strength was comparable to that of Youjing’s people, a different style of toughness. 

This was the first time Xie Chenyu had met someone who was so good at playing tricks, and he used almost all the points that could be used. This was definitely an experience gained from being beaten.

The two fought for five or six minutes, with Xie Chenyu ultimately gaining a slight edge.

Not a second of those minutes was wasted. Even though the physical pain quickly faded, they were still exhausted.

Collapsing onto the floor to catch his breath, Xie Chenyu asked curiously, “Where’d you learn those moves?”

“My neighbor,” Song Yan said, sitting cross-legged across from him. “He’s a retired soldier. I kept pestering him every day until he caved and taught me.”

Xie Chenyu chuckled. “Why’d you want to learn fighting?”

Song Yan said, “Because my family was poor, and I was always bullied when I was little. I wanted to become strong and earn money to support my family.”

Xie Chenyu asked, “Poor, yet you can afford a holographic cabin?”

Song Yan was completely unfazed: “This was a birthday gift from my master… Oh, that’s the retired soldier I mentioned. He also taught me how to fly spaceships.”

He immediately countered with a question, “Brother, what do you do, and why are you so good? Were the spaceships you flew the kind with weapons?”

The spaceships in simulated training are different from ordinary civilian ones.

Because they have to traverse complex star maps, they are closer to military starships. If this teammate had indeed flown starships, then his identity would be intriguing.

Xie Chenyu said, “No, I was just messing with you yesterday. I’ve only flown ordinary spaceships.”

He lied like a pro. “I had a rich uncle. Bought his own ship. I flew it a few times. But that was years ago—he passed away, and the family went bankrupt.”

Song Yan let out an “oh,” then quickly followed up: “You’re also crazy good at fighting. You definitely had formal training, huh?”

Xie Chenyu nodded. “Yeah. My uncle had a bunch of bodyguards. I learned from them.”

Song Yan immediately found a flaw: “How come your uncle has been bankrupt for several years, but your skills haven’t deteriorated?”

Xie Chenyu let out a sigh. “Life forced my hand. My family relied on my uncle to get by. When he went bankrupt, we went down with him. I ended up tagging along with his bodyguards, doing a lot of bodyguard work, and sparring with them whenever I had time.”

Song Yan: “……”

That’s reasonable enough.

Xie Chenyu steered the conversation back: “Tell me about yourself. With your combat skills and flying, how do you plan to make money in the future?”

Song Yan said, “I haven’t decided yet. I actually want to be a mercenary and earn big money, but my master won’t let me. He says it’s too dangerous and tells me to study hard and get into college. Brother, do you think I could be a mercenary?”

Xie Chenyu thought, Absolutely, yes.

One of his trusted subordinates was someone he’d met in the simulated training section, which was why he occasionally dropped by. He hadn’t expected to get lucky and find another promising prospect.

But the kid was a minor. No way he could make a move just yet.

Moreover, the other party’s background might not be as he claimed. He needed to observe more.

Xie Chenyu gave a sincere answer. “Your master’s right. At your age, school really is the priority. How old are you now?”

“Almost seventeen,” Song Yan said gloomily. “One more year till the college entrance exam. My master keeps telling me to study and barely teaches me anything anymore.”

Sixteen years old, able to spar with him for five minutes—his talent was astonishing.

ie Chenyu’s heart pounded with excitement, but he managed to control himself and advised, “You really should focus now. Listen to your master.”

Song Yan gave a soft “mm” of agreement. Feeling rested, he launched another round of combat, using up the rest of today’s simulation time.

When they exited the simulation training module, Xie Chenyu noticed Song Yan hadn’t logged off. “Not gonna study? Where are you headed?”

“I wanna check out some open courses,” Song Yan replied.

Xie Chenyu raised an eyebrow. “Looking to learn what?”

Song Yan said, “Spaceship manufacturing and maintenance.”

His university major was jewelry design.

Jewelry was the root of the Qin family, and he had been exposed to it since childhood, developing a strong liking for it. But that didn’t stop him from learning other things.

“This is what I think,” he said. “If I really become a mercenary in the future and my spaceship breaks down halfway with no one to fix it, wouldn’t I just be waiting to die?”

Xie Chenyu: “……”

It’s really far-sighted, just like him.

Spaceship systems usually have self-diagnostic programs, and AI provides timely alerts and assistance for repairs, allowing people to quickly find a port or contact rescue. If the damage is so severe that even AI is helpless, it’s not something that can be solved by human effort alone in the short term.

That being said, he had also studied it during university. Although he hadn’t used it once so far, it was better to have more skills than fewer.

“Those open courses on shipbuilding? Mostly just surface-level stuff,” he said. “Tell you what, I’ll teach you the basics. If you want to go deeper later, I’ll find a way to get an invitation code, and we can attend lectures by famous instructors.”

Song Yan was startled: “Why?”

Xie Chenyu smiled: “I feel a connection with you. Interested in learning?”

Song Yan didn’t even hesitate. “I’ll learn.”

For years, he had been learning combat, mechas, and spaceship piloting. The Whale Rovers hadn’t taught him about spaceship manufacturing, and they were somewhat reluctant to, probably fearing he would modify a spaceship and head straight for the Thorn Vortex.

Which, to be fair, he had considered. But only if he was sure he could survive it. No way he was going to throw his life away just for the thrill.

Now that he had a chance to learn early, of course he’d take it.

However, he needed to confirm first: “You can do this too?”

Xie Chenyu said, “I’ve been researching it recently.”

Song Yan asked, “Why?”

“It’s a long story,” Xie Chenyu’s tone carried a hint of weariness. “Last year, I helped my boss’s wife catch a mistress, and I really offended the mistress.”

Song Yan said, “And then?”

Xie Chenyu said, “Then that mistress got promoted this year, and the first thing she did was fire me.”

Song Yan: “……”

“After that, I landed a job as a security guard. But I figured that wasn’t going anywhere, so I decided to pick up some skills and change careers,” Xie Chenyu continued. “It just so happens that a childhood friend of mine got into graduate school, so I go to his university to audit classes whenever I’m off. They’re on vacation now, and I can continue auditing next semester, so teaching you the basics is definitely no problem.”

Song Yan suppressed the urge to complain about “why not do something else, why be a gatekeeper” and simply replied, “Okay.”

The two looked at each other, both thinking: After these basic lessons, perhaps we’ll be able to tell what kind of person the other is and whether they’re reliable.

Song Yan had been educated by the Whale Rovers members since childhood not to underestimate information revealed online, and certainly not to trust people easily. They even taught him by example, posing as online friends for two weeks and swindling him out of 200 yuan, leaving him with a deep impression. So, he was always cautious online.

Xie Chenyu had the same habit. Even if he admired this kid, he wouldn’t immediately open up his heart. Moreover, a minor proficient in combat and spaceship piloting was a suspicious point in itself, so he would be even more cautious.

The two chatted until noon, then each logged off for lunch.

As they needed time to prepare course materials, their lessons were scheduled for two days later.

In the meantime, two ships landed at port—one returned to its mercenary company, the other to Whale Rovers’ base.

As soon as Song Yan walked into the warehouse, his eyes landed on the mecha in the center.

It was a compact, three-meter-tall support mecha, and it looked sharp.

“Your birthday present,” a Whale Rover member tapped the mecha’s hard shell with a bent finger, then paused for two seconds. “Are you really sure?”

Song Yan said, “Really, you’ve asked several times already.”

The Whale Rover member ruffled his hair, no longer asking further questions.

From that day on, Song Yan began preparing for his first official mission, dedicating most of his energy to training, pushing back his efforts to conquer the map. However, his teammate wasn’t useless; he learned a lot of knowledge from him.

Xie Chenyu hadn’t been an honor student all these years for nothing; he played the role of a teacher quite convincingly, and half a month passed unknowingly.

The Whale Rover members were the first to sense something was amiss.

Song Yan had been logging in online more frequently, and his activity had started following a very specific routine. Sometimes, even when he was visibly exhausted from training, he’d still insist on hopping online. They couldn’t help but ask about it.

Not wanting to admit he was secretly learning spaceship engineering, Song Yan used the map project as a cover and said he’d found a really strong teammate.

Whale Rovers’ people didn’t suspect much and weren’t too worried about him getting scammed. But if this “teammate” had impressed Song Yan, their curiosity was piqued. “What does this guy do?”

Song Yan was silent.

This teammate had a 24-hour work system, with three shifts, and had shown no flaws for half a month.

Song Yan said the truth: “The one who guards the gate”

Whale Rovers’ people: “???”