002. Fire Ruthless
The competition in the afternoon was fierce. Qin Yu played care-freely until he was dripping with sweat. Even now, after he had showered, his wrist was still swollen.
Out of habit, he turned on his computer.
While waiting for him to successfully logging-in to the game, he went to the dining room to take a can of cold drink called 7 Up from his refrigerator. When Qin Yu turned back to the computer, his fingers paused at the ring-pull on the cold drink’s can.
A bead of water slide down from the top of his head, continued falling into the white towel hanging on his neck, sliding more to his collarbone, more and more until it was finally hidden under the vest clinging onto his chest.
Qin Yu gulped and took a drink out of his 7 up, and at the same time, his hand reached out on the keyboard. He took a glance at the screen and was stunned. He had to take a second glance, because there, on his friends list, a “fragment” of his past suddenly showed up right in front of him.
「Fire Ruthless」 → 「Xiao Xian-Jin」: 「? 」
A few seconds later, Xiao Xian Jin replied: “......”
Qin Yu’s Adam’s apple bobbled. He stood startled for a few seconds until the smart bracelet on his desk suddenly began to flash, and a pleasant voice immediately could be heard singing –
“My imperfect dream-you dream it with me
My imperfect courage-you say it makes it braver... “
The sound made Qin Yu regained his sense back to reality. He put down his 7 Up on the desk, and quickly typed on the keyboard: “Is it you? ”
Xiao Xian Jin: “Yes.”
Although the system had showed this person’s identity, He Jin still confirmed it to him –
Xiao Xian Jin: “And you are?”
“My imperfect worries-you worry about them as well
This imperfect me-you always treat me as your treasure ... ...”
The smart bracelet continued to sing, making Qin Yu looked irritably at it. He sighed and finally turned his eyes to the camera lens. He pressed at something on his smart bracelet, and the ringing stopped. A square light curtain then popped up above the bracelet, projecting a young man face with shaggy hairstyle.
[T/N: Remember this story has a bit of futuristic theme. Smart bracelet in here is like a cell phone, only in bracelet form, which will project a transparent screen that shows the caller, so you can talk face to face. Just imagine those things in futuristic movies.]
“Qin Ge, why are you not online? Today’s show is about to start. And look at you, only wearing a vest in this cold weather, did you just shower?”
“I’m not doing broadcast today.”
“Hah? What ?!” The assistant shouted, thinking he might have heard him wrong.
Qin Yu squinted in front of the computer screen’s dialog box, and entered a string of letters one after another; his typing force almost knocked the keyboard down. During the whole process, he did not once glanced at the projected screen above his bracelet, and only told the caller, “I have something urgent to deal with.”
He pressed the Enter key on the keyboard –
Fire Ruthless: “I am your husband.”
– Then he simply cut off the call from the smart bracelet.
Meanwhile, in the studio homepage, the audiences who had been waiting for the appearance of the Great God blew up after hearing and understanding the situation!
“What! No broadcast!?”
“Great God, how can you do this!”
“Wait, did I hear right? Great God is only wearing a vest? [Drooling emoticon] ”
“Is God’s body in good shape? Is it muscled? [Drools] [Drools]”
“I’m so jealous of Assistant Peng! He can do video chat with Great God!”
“... Is nobody cares about the ringtones of the God? That it’s an old song of TFBoys?”
***
A year and a half ago, the God level player who dominated the game [Demon God], “Fire Ruthless”, received an invitation to do live broadcast from a famous online platform “Fly Tour Network”. He began to regularly do live sessions to explain Demon God’s gameplay to other players. Because of his superb technique, sharp operation, and his magnetic voice, he quickly attracted numerous viewers. There were even many female audiences who didn’t even know what “Demon God” was and only came with the sole purpose of hearing Fire Ruthless’s voice. Thousands of broadcast video were done, in each of them there were always many female fans who could be heard screaming things such as “Eargasm! I am pregnant!” “My husband!” etc ...
From a low-key mysterious big game player to the popular gold-mine broadcast host that he was today, even his agent was shocked by his potential, especially after seeing Fire Ruthless in reality. The website was more than eager to expose him before the audience to attract more viewers.
But Qin Yu didn’t want this to affect his real life, so he calmly refused.
This did not prevent the site to promote him though. Just having Assistant Peng phone called Qin Yu without cutting off the live recording was also part of their business strategy. Staff members from time to time would also reveal some details and informations of the Great God, driving the female audiences to feel more and more crazy.
Fire Ruthless, although he was still very young, but both his inside and outside appearance were excellent. No matter how you looked at it, he was clearly a golden cash cow!
[T/N: Golden cash cow: source of money]
He Jin did not know his sudden whim to come online has caused a huge commotion in the network community.
He was completely confused at the last message Fire Ruthless had just sent to him.
If it was a system’s mistake, sending suspicious and strange information to him, then there was no way this Fire Ruthless would continue to stay silent after sending that. So it meant... The problem was with He Jin’s memory. (= _ =)
He Jin tried hard to remember...
That year, because he was encouraged by his friends, he lied to his parents, saying he was going to participate in a study group. In actuality though, he went to his classmates’s house to play games.
At his first contact with “Spirit Fairy”, He Jin impression of the game was of its beautiful display screen and rich playability, which attracted him.
At the start of the game, players could, according to their preferences, choose between two races, “human” and “spirit”, to decide which path of cultivation immortality they wanted to be on.
The so-called “human” was the mortal, while the “spirit” was beings evolved from creatures such as plant, and animal. Both cultivation immortality path would go through several realms such as “San Xian” and “Jin Xian”. The biggest difference between human and spirit path was the spells learned in the leveling process, which would be different.
[T/N: San Xian and Jin Xian are titles that will be acquired at certain levels on the game. There will be more information about this in the later chapter.]
At the beginning of the game, the “spirit” race had no gender. The players could determine this in the future according to their needs. He Jin selected “spirit” simply because he wanted to cultivate as a “small fairy”, so he readily put on ” Xiao Xian-Jin” as his name.
[T/N: Xiao Xian Jin means Little Fairy Jin]
The world of “Spirit Fairy” was undoubtedly new and fresh to He Jin, who was banned from any recreational activities since childhood. So he was excited by every experiences, whether it was simply exploring or doing tasks.
He vaguely remembered knowing a person named Fire Ruthless. They often played together, and was also married in the game; something they did to make it easier to do some tasks. But he couldn’t remember any specific details about it.
Wow, this man still remembers me?
Also he has not divorced me in eight years?
Or maybe he is like me, just coming online now after years of not playing?
***
A sudden system prompt over the screen interrupted He Jin’s thoughts –
〖System〗: Your husband “Fire Ruthless” uses “shadow”.
[T/N: ‘Shadow’ is a skill in the game which can be used by married couples to instantly appeared in front of one another’s character.]
There was a dazzling purple fluorescent flash, and a moment later, a body of a tall handsome man appeared in He Jin’s field of vision.
Wearing a black robe, with black long hair that flowed down like waterfall, a Ziyun sword hanging on his body, and a fluttering pair of wings on his shoulder. There were four characters written above the man’s head: Fire Ruthless.
He Jin saw a floating dialogue bubble sent by the man to him: “Why did you never tell me goodbye?
He Jin: “...”
– This information is too much ah! (= _ =)
He Jin, with his paste-like brain, couldn’t really think of what kind of attitude he should show in front of this – haven’t seen since eight years ago – game’s “husband” of his......
However, he really should answer this question – why did he never say goodbye...
Truthfully, back then, after he played with his classmates a few times, He Jin was no longer satisfied with his playing time. So, without telling his parents, he secretly installed the game in his home’s computer. He also specifically deleted the shortcut keys on the desktop, and thought that his action was perfect.
After that, it went without saying that he became addicted to playing the game. He played every day, and was quickly discovered by his parents. He was beaten, grounded for two weeks, and even threatened, that if he still played ‘these things’, He Jin would not be allowed to come back to school again.
During that period of time, he felt like those who were sent to “Addiction Rehab Center”. That dark experience, He Jin did not want to talk about it anymore, so he simply told Fire: “My parents don’t allow me to play games.”
Fire Ruthless: “But I also gave my cell phone number to you.”
Back then, the Internet and personal computers had already been popular, so obviously most children in the city also owned a smart phone with all kinds of social software developed. So people would always be able to contact each other.
To disappear without a word, was indeed a bit unreasonable.
He Jin also had a cell phone, but all his communications were under the watchful eye of his parents. So, He Jin simply did not have the courage to contact his online friends.
After that, he thought, they only met from the internet, if he didn’t come online for half a month, he will slowly begin to lost the mood, and with longer time, he should be able to forget all about it.
And so, he never remembered about Fire Ruthless.
“I’m sorry ah ...” He Jin said these three words reluctantly, and lied, “my cell phone was also confiscated.”
Fire Ruthless: “And after graduation? You have never thought of coming back?”
Xiao Xian Jin: “Forgot ......”
After being banned from playing games by his parents, He Jin never had any chance of getting in touch with Spirit Fairy again.
In fact, even now, he didn’t know what kind of feeling he was having after coming back to this game... nostalgic maybe?
On top of that, he almost forgot what kind of game this was. After eight years, even with the little freedom he gained after he went to college, He Jin had long lost the mood to play this game.
He Jin asked: ” You have been playing for these eight years?”
Fire Ruthless: “Yes.”
Xiao Xian Jin: “Amazing ah.”
Fire Ruthless: “...”
He Jin just casually asked, he did not expect Fire Ruthless really had been playing for so long. In his heart, he couldn’t help but admire him!
A second later, his screen suddenly began flashing with red, and without waiting for He Jin to react, a bunch of notifications also popped out one after another-
〖System〗: You are attacked by “Fire Ruthless”.
〖System〗: You suffered 1650 damage.
〖System〗: You have died.
〖System〗: You gained 300 experience ~~~
...
He Jin looked at his “body”, dumbfounded... What the hell?
However, after a few seconds, his weird “body” disappeared.
〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless casts a “Resurrection Operation” on you and you are resurrected.
〖System〗: Your husband, Fire Ruthless uses “Blood Recovery” on you.
...
Even added 300 experience to his Tsing Yi character “... ...”
[T/N: He Jin often referred to his character as Tsing Yi which literally means Blue Clothed, I think. It’s a little weird to use, so I’m sticking with Tsing Yi.]
Xiao Xian Jin: “Why did you kill me!”
Fire Ruthless: “My hand slipped.”
Xiao Xian Jin: “...”
——–
※ Spirit Fairy – Past (Eight Years Ago)※
〖”Mission”: Dear [Xiao Xian Jin], after three hundred years of ups and downs, you finally evolved and become a spirit deity, you want to get more powerful? Please go out of the cave, and find a celestial white bearded man on the road! 〗
He Jin looked at the white shadow in his screen, and turned it curiously- this is his character’s body prototype.
Long fur, four short legs, a tail ... ... what?
Raccoon? Wrong color, fox? The tail is not that big ...
He Jin manipulated the “animal” to ran a few steps, and shocked, ths posture.. it looked a bit like ... a ferret! (= _ =)
He Jin wandering in the cave for a long time before going out. He found a beggar-like old man curled up at the cave’s entrance, above his head written five characters – White Bearded Man on the Road.
... ... what about the “Calestial” title? (╯ ‘□ ‘) ╯︵┻ – ┻
White Bearded Man on the Road: “Yo, ‘spirit’ friend, come here, I have an elixir here for you. If you eat it, you will be able to change to human form!”
He Jin took the elixir, right-click to take, and saw the white animal shadow slowly turned into another entity, into a seven or eight year-old child’s appearance.
White Bearded Man on the Road: “There is a starting village under the mountain, there are a lot of people asking for cultivation, go take a look at it. But you have to remember to protect yourself, or you will be beaten back to your original shape!”
He Jin: “...”