057. I’m Older Than You
Different mounts had different speeds. The Poor Flame given by Fire to Ah Jin was naturally one of the fastest. Moreover, they were still flying in the sky which made tracking their coordinate very difficult. The female players were truly helpless, only able to follow them for a short while before being completely left behind.
“Ah ah ah–this Godly Uncle!!” The excited Twig Fence yelled from his seat behind Ah Jin, his eyes full of wonder,”Really damn cool hahaha!”
The teenager’s happy appearance also infected He Jin who couldn’t help but laugh as he asked, “How old are you?”
Twig Fence: “16! What about you? I think you must be much younger than me!”
Ah Jin’s mouth twitched...
Fence: “How come you have such a cool mount ah, did you buy it?”
“My old... friend gave it to me!” He Jin who had almost blurted out “my husband gave it” immediately reacted, his face turning red. Mom, he seemed to have been brainwashed a little bit by Fire!
Fence: “Is your friend a nouveau riche? This thing looks very expensive!”
He Jin: “...”
Because they were up in the air, they had to yell to talk. Twig Fence sat behind He Jin, his rough juvenile voice shocked He Jin’s eardrum. But the strange thing was, even though they sat so close together, He Jin did not feel the strange tension he always got when he was with Fire. There was no embarrassment, no shyness, all felt very natural, just like how two men normally felt when sitting together. So this must be the normal reaction for these kind of situations, right?! (=_=)
“This is my first time flying in the game!” Twig Fence mimicked Tarzan’s iconic move of pounding his chest and yelling. His voice was carried away by the wind and disappeared into the endless misty clouds...
The corner of He Jin’s mouth raised. His mind remembering the first time Fire took him out to see the scenery around the game’s world. Although back then was still the keyboard and screen era, his excitement was in no way less than Twig Fence’s.
At Celestial Domain, He Jin brought them near the land where his and Fire’s home was being built. Although seven days had not passed and the house wasn’t done yet, his subconsciousness seemed to have deemed this place as their destination.
Twig Fence jumped down the beast, bright eyes staring straight at Poor Flame. He Jin also wasn’t in a hurry to dismiss the beast, letting the other boy to look at it as much as he liked. In his heart he wondered if this was how he looked when he was in front of Fire...
He Jin asked him: “Don’t you have to go to school?” Twig Fence was only 16, he should still be a student. High school? People at this age must have been busy in school, how can he still have time to play games?
Fence: “I’m on vacation now.”
“Ah?” He Jin wondered, what school holiday was there at the end of December? Was he lying? Or was it Christmas? “Do you go to school abroad?”
Twig Fence was startled: “How did you know!?”
He Jin: “Ah, I guessed. It’s almost eight o’clock here ...”
Fence: “It’s almost 12 where I am, in the middle of the night!”
He Jin: “Great Britain?”
Fence: “How did you know again!?”
He Jin: “I guessed...” There were only a few places with eight-hours time difference.
Fence: “You are so awesome! How can you understand so much at such a young age?”
He Jin’s mouth twitched again: “I am older than you, I’m in college...”
“Then why does your voice sound so small? Are you a genius? Ah!” Twig Fence finally realized, “Your voice is tuned?”
He Jin: “Yeah...” (=_=)
“I thought you were younger than me,” muttered Twig Fence.
He Jin: “It’s fine, you can call me Ah Jin... I have to go, I have class in a bit. Let’s play together next time. ”
Twig Fence hurriedly shouted, “Wait, wait, I have not added you as a friend!”
He Jin hurriedly opened his friends channel, just as Twig Fence’s friend application arrived.
Twig Fence didn’t notice before because they were in a party, but now he could finally see He Jin’s level——–this guy is level 87!?
“Fuck, your level is so high, why is your strength so weak!”
He Jin: “I am a spiritual pet like you. When in human form, spiritual pet combat power stayed in about level 30, only the prototype form can use the normal strength.”
Twig Fence was stunned: “Then why didn’t you just change? What’s your prototype?”
He Jin said a little reluctantly: “Because I have been domesticated, I can’t change shape without my domestication master...”
Twig Fence wondered: “Domesticated?”
He Jin gaped, how could this child be even more clueless than him... “You don’t know about domestication? Then why did you pick this profession?”
“Because this profession enable you to change forms, it’s interesting. “After saying this, Twig Fence changed his form again, turning into a panda and rolling on the ground, “I like playing like this.”
He Jin was about to explain to him about “domestication” but was interrupted by a flash on his friends list. He thought it was Fire coming online, but turned out it was Dead Water! They also had added each other as friends before.
Dead Water: “Playing so early, are you alone? Where’s your husband? ^_^ ”
This was the first time Dead Water sent a private message to him, and He Jin was surprised. He copied Nine Hall His Highness’ way of addressing Dead Water and replied politely: “He is not here, I’m with a friend right now. Why is Water Elder Brother also playing so early?”
Dead Water: “Hehe, I saw you when I came online. I’m behind you.”
He Jin turned and saw Dead Water flying over to him with his huge white wings, looking angelic amidst the sunlight... But if he saw me why did he ask whether I was “alone”?
...... Ah right, the panda is not human now... (=_=)
Dead Water slowly landed, retracted his wings, and looked curiously at Twig Fence beside He Jin: “This little guy is your friend?”
He Jin: “Yes, we just met this morning. He is called Twig Fence, a spiritual pet like me.”
Dead Water gently waved his folding fan and laughed: “It’s my first time to see a spirit character with panda prototype.”
With Twig Fence low level, he couldn’t see Dead Water. He watched as Ah Jin seemed to say something to an empty space beside him and asked strangely: “Who are you talking to?”
He Jin: “Ah, a friend.”
Hearing Twig Fence’s voice, Dead Water was surprised: “A man? These days, boys playing as spiritual pets are even rarer than the pandas!”
He Jin looked at the time, it was pass 8 o’clock. He only had about half an hour before he had to go to class. He had no time to introduce them and hurriedly excused himself, saying hasty goodbyes to them respectively, then went offline.
When He Jin left, Twig Fence fell over and grumbled, “Gee, why did you leave! How can I go back to the Ordinary World with you gone?” After saying this, he ran two steps forward and said to himself,”Forget it, I’ll take the risk here...”
Hearing this, Dead Water who had yet to leave had to hold back his laugh. In these few days he had gone to the market several times, but found out that many of the spiritual pets were played by female players who merely picked this occupation because of how “cute” it was. Those players didn’t care about strength, so so far he had nothing.
Seeing this charmingly naïve panda, he felt strangely interested. Every move the panda did was genuine, rather than something he deliberately did to sell meng. Dead Water’s heart was moved. He followed the panda quietly, intending to observe him to see whether this little guy would be worth being domesticated or not.
***
He Jin pulled off the helmet and came face to face with Hou Dongyan, causing him to cry out in surprise. Hou Dongyan was also surprised by this and jumped away, clutching his hands on his chest: “MOM! You scared the freak out of me!”
He Jin’s face was pale as he said: “You scared me first, why did you stand so close to me!”
Hou Dongyan: “Don’t you know what you looked like! Wearing a helmet in the early morning and lying on the bed, I only came to take a look at you!”
He Jin scurried to get up and explained: “I can’t sleep, so I put on the helmet to play for a while.”
Two the of them squeezed into the bathroom to wash up. Hou Dongyan asked, “You are amazing, so you didn’t fall asleep while playing?”
He Jin said gravely: “Don’t know, I haven’t tried it... You can try it next time.”
Hou Dongyan: “...” Why does it feel like He Jin’s personality has been coming out more since playing the game? Will it become more and more obvious in the future... Can’t it be stopped ah?
Today was Friday, He Jin’s classes were finally over at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. On the way to his dorm, He Jin received a phone call from Tong Xuan. She asked him to meet up in the coffee shop near the canteen to talk about a private matter.
It wasn’t far from where he was, so He Jin thought it should not take too much time and went there.
Tong Xuan was already inside. She had also ordered caramel macchiato for He Jin, something He Jin used to drink when they dated. He Jin liked to eat sweet things.
“What can I do for you?” He Jin sat down and glanced at Tong Xuan’s candy-colored nails and new brown chestnut hair. She looked more mature, more beautiful.
Tong Xuan gave him a look: “Can’t I ask you to meet up without reason?”
He Jin: “...”
How stiff and impassive this person was, Tong Xuan already knew clearly. So she no longer beat around the bush and directly asked, “You, I heard recently... you’ve been getting really close with Qin Yu?”