063. The White-Haired Woman
Twig Fence bumped against the city’s rampart, yet still persistently sent a private message to Ah Jin: “Why are you not letting me join the team ah!”
He Jin’s eyes widened, he could only explain, “I just came online, the captain is not me... How come you haven’t slept yet?” He did not forget that the other player was someone who lived in another timezone. It was currently one o’clock in the afternoon where he was, so counting the time difference of eight hours, it should be three o’clock in the morning in the UK ah!
Twig Fence: “Too early, I usually sleep at five or six o’clock in the morning!”
So, not only this guy lived in a different timezone, he was also part of the stay-up-all-night group; He Jin didn’t even know what timezone he’s in anymore!
Without He Jin needing to ask him about being domesticated by Dead Water, Twig Fence opened the topic on his own, “Hey Ah Jin, I was domesticated recently, my master is a super famous guy. He is the top fourth-ranked master ah!” After the merger of the three servers, Dead Water’s ranking fell from the second to the fourth.
In his heart, He Jin thought: ‘I know, I know, your Master is Dead Water, the “invisible man” who talked to me the last time we were online. I did not expect him to start eyeing you after I left...’
But seeing how excited Twig Fence was, the apparent “seeking worship” expression on his face, He Jin couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth. The other guy was obviously waiting for recognition, so He Jin replied: “Wow, amazing!”
...... urgh, this feels like I’m playing with children’s feelings (=w=)
Twig Fence: “Hehe, being domesticated is really cool. My master not only sent me a lot of things but also took me to upgrade. I am now a level five spiritual pet! Next time, I’ll call my master to play with you!”
......Five levels in two days? Although the first few levels are easy to rise, this leveling speed is really fast!
Twig Fence: “But I can’t change my form when my master is away, it’s a little troublesome.”
Indeed, He Jin always felt that this must be a bug in the spiritual pet profession. Without the domestication masters, the spiritual pets had no attacking power, they couldn’t do anything except for shopping and seeing the scenery.
Ah Jin: “Is he not there?”
Teig Fence: “He said he has to work today, he can only come in the evening. I was bored, so when I saw you online I wanted to ask you to play together, don’t you want to?”
Ah Jin: “I’m doing a husband and wife mission now...”
Fence: “Dang, you are married!”
Ah Jin: “Yeah...”
Just after he replied this, Fire had brought him to land in front of the Weaver Girl. “What are you doing?” Fire also sent him a private message.
He Jin didn’t expect Fire to be able to detect his distraction. He answered, “I am chatting with Twig Fence, the panda you just mentioned.”
Interestingly, there was no reply from Twig Fence after that.
Fire narrowed his eyes and asked, “You are usually with me when online, when did you have time to meet new friends?”
Somehow, the tone of Fire’s voice made He Jin feel that uncomfortable. He hastened to explain about his experience that morning to the other man until his expression finally eased a little, “You also picked wind chimes?” Fire asked.
He Jin let out an “ah” sound. He had only collected 82 wind chimes when he met the bamboo demon and panda, not enough to finish the task!
Fire: “I also picked some.”
Ah Jin: “How many have you picked?”
The fire: “99, enough.”
He Jin: “...”
They handed in the wind chimes, then took on a new task. However, Fire wasn’t in a hurry to do it, he asked instead, “Is that panda wanting to play with you?”
He Jin: “Yeah, but I told him I’m doing couple missions with you.”
Fire: “Pull him into the team, call your friend, The Great Heaven Like Leftover, too. I will take you to the next dungeon.”
If Fire did not mention it, He Jin would have forgotten about his promise to Hou Dongyan. He checked his friend list and saw that ” The Great Heaven Like Leftover ” was online. With a happy heart, he sent a private message to him, “Are you busy? Fire wants to invite you to play dungeon.”
Hou Dongyan quickly replied, “I just got out of a dungeon. I’m coming now, hahaha!”
He Jin: “...”
While he was chatting, Fire had pulled Nine Hall His Highness, Leisure Cloud, and Wild Crane into the team. He Jin also invited The Great Heaven Like Leftover and Twig Fence, and they entered the team one by one.
Twig Fence: “I’m coming. Why so many people, who are they?”
Nine Hall His Highness was also confused: “Hey, who is this?”
He Jin said: “Twig Fence is a friend I just met.”
The Great Leftover[1] then sent his own greeting: “Hello everyone, I am a friend of Ah Jin. Ah, so many great gods, worship worship!”
Nine Hall His Highness: “Oh hello, Ah Jin’s friend. I am Nine Hall His Highness, you may call me Your Highness.”
The Great Leftover:: “Your Highness, I have seen your name on the leaderboard!”
Twig Fence went to look at the leaderboard...
Twig Fence returned...
Twig Fence: “Ah Jin, you are awesome! These people are your friends!”
He Jin only shook his head, “Ah, these are your master’s, Dead Water, friends.”
Twig Fence conveniently encountered Dead Water the day before yesterday just as he was about to go offline. Hence, Twig Fence finally realized that Dead Water unexpectedly found him through Ah Jin!
The team chat was suddenly lively. Wild Crane asked, “Wow, so this is Water brother’s spiritual pet?”
Leisure Cloud: “Welcome.”
However, one man was beyond shocked and collapsed hearing this information–
Nine Hall His Highness: “Water elder brother was unexpectedly looking for someone behind my back! A new person! How joyous!”
Fire: “I didn’t know you are Dead Water’s old flame.”
Nine Hall His Highness: “Ruthless, with such a poisonous tongue, no one will want you...”
Fire: “Thank you for the concern, but I’m married.”
Nine Hall His Highness: “Fuck off! Every one is bullying me, I’m alone feeling hurt! TAT”
The Great Leftover: “Ah, Your Highness, this small one is also single.”
Nine Hall His Highness: “Do not compare me with you, I’m not a great heaven-like leftover man like you!”
It’s “The Great Heaven-Like Leftover” not “The Great Heaven Like Leftover Man” ah, the crying Hou Dongyan went to the corner to draw a circle...
Fire: “Alright, stop idling, let’s go to the next treasure dungeon. There are two low-level ones in the team, Nine you take care of Twig Fence, Leisure Cloud and Wild Crance will help look after Qi Tian [2]. I’m going to open the treasure map.”
Hearing himself being addressed as “Qi Tian”, Hou Dongyan’s spirit was instantly renewed! See, this man really is the great god, completely different from that pain-in-the-ass Highness!
Nine Hall His Highness, evidently dissatisfied with the arrangement, shouted, “Why should I take care of that boy?”
Fire: “You feel similar to him.”
Nine Hall His Highness: “From which eye did you see me looking similar with him!”
Twig Fence was also very uncomfortable: “Hum, Laozi[3] also don’t want to be seen as similar to you.”
Everyone: “...”
Gezz, this was the first time they met, yet both their flags had already been raised. Watching this, He Jin felt a bit worried for about Dead Water’s position...
A moment later, Fire broke the chatter, “Gather in the Celestial’s Linyuan City.”
The group went to the gate of Linyuan City. After waiting for a long time, they still didn’t see Twig Fence. Nine Hall His Highness asked impatiently: “What about that kid?”
Twig Fence replied with two sentences: “Hey, is Linyuan City in the Celestial? I tried looking for the city here, but couldn’t find it... ”
Everyone was embarrassed... Was this guy here trying to be funny? He Jin suddenly remembered that he did not have a mount and hurriedly asked, “Do you want me to pick you up?”
Fence: “No need, my master gave me a mount. I’ll fly, wait for me there!”
They continued to stand waiting in front of the city gate. Suddenly, a group of players approached from the air, their mounts stopping not far from the city gate. The group’s members all had dignified appearance, wearing costumes that looked high-class. The most eye-catching ones were a man wearing a black-gold armor... and the white-haired woman by his side.
The white-haired woman looked eye-catching not because she was beautiful, but because this person looked very familiar. He Jin was not the only one watching; Nine Hall His Highness, Leisure Cloud, and the others were also looking in that direction.
“Eh, Yiyi?” It wasn’t until Nine Hall His Highness’s loud exclamation that He Jin finally realized that the woman with the dyed white-hair was actually Fire’s disciple – Flower Yiyi!
T/N:
[1] For convenient’s sake, in conversations, HDY’s IGN will be put as The Great Leftover, because The Great Heaven-Like Leftover is such a pain to type.
[2] The Great Heaven-Like Leftover = 齐天大剩 = Qí Tiān Dà Shèng; so Qi Tian is like Fire’s nickname to him
[3] Laozi = literally means father, but it can also be used to refer to oneself in an arrogant way, such as in this case