Ye Xiu gave up without hesitation, and Tian Qi's group of four stopped being polite. They were all old acquaintances, so splitting the loot went smoothly. The Spider Venom was just something to sell for money—whoever picked it up made no difference; they'd sell it and split the proceeds evenly. The Chestnut Wood Boots were ordinary blue equipment, so everyone rolled casually, and in the end they were snatched away by Mu Yunshen's spectacular 100-point roll. As for the Peach Wood Tachi, by the classes they were planning to play, it should go to either Mu Yunshen or Yue Zhongmian. Mu Yunshen had just gotten the Chestnut Wood Boots—worth far less than the Peach Wood Tachi, to be sure—but still readily chose to give it up. In the end, Yue Zhongmian got the Peach Wood Tachi, feeling both excited and a strange, complicated sensation.
With the first clear of Spider Cave, and now the first kill of the Spider Lord, Jun Moxiao had gained two big experience rewards and already reached Level 12, while Tian Qi's four would also be sure to level up after this dungeon run. Next, they went to kill an ordinary boss—old hands at that by now, and it was quickly dealt with.
Coming out of the dungeon, Yue Zhongmian grew conflicted again. He had already resolved to leave the party once they got out this time, but now he had just obtained the Peach Wood Tachi. Taking the equipment and then bolting seemed rather dishonorable. Leave? Not good. Don't leave? Tian Qi had already said what he said—if he didn't leave now, he'd lose too much face.
In the end, it was Tian Qi who knew how to handle people. He came over and greeted him of his own accord, as if his words in the dungeon had been just a joke, and the matter was brushed aside like that. With Jun Moxiao leading, everyone entered Spider Cave once more.
Compared to Yue Zhongmian's conflict, those far more frustrated were Blue River and the others from Blue Brook Guild. They hadn't gotten the Spider Cave first clear, and of the three hidden bosses, two had already been snatched by someone else. This was now their fourth time entering the dungeon, and still they'd encountered nothing. Just as they were wallowing in misery, another system announcement went up: the last of Spider Cave's three hidden bosses, the Spider Warrior, had been claimed in a first kill as well.
The ones who got the first kill on the Spider Warrior were from Zhongcaotang, one of the Three Great Guilds, while the first hidden boss first kill earlier had gone to Baxiongtu, another of the Three Great Guilds. From this, one could see that the three great guilds should have been evenly matched—but this time a fellow called Jun Moxiao had popped up, currently holding the most entries on the District 10 first kill leaderboard: three. Moreover, he'd led a party to steal two of the Level 10 stage first kills. This left Blue Brook Guild's people thoroughly embarrassed.
As for the hidden bosses, well, if you simply couldn't find them, that could only be chalked up to bad luck. But that ten-second gap on the dungeon first clear—even thinking about it now made them want to vomit blood.
The first kills were all gone. Blue River and the rest came out of the dungeon somewhat dispirited.
"What exactly is this Jun Moxiao's background? Have someone keep an eye on him over at that village," Blue River said, a bit agitated.
Meanwhile, Ye Xiu and company, for whom they had no good feelings, were in high spirits, going in and out of the dungeon, busily having the time of their lives. And so the night of District 10's opening slipped hurriedly by—with joy for some and sorrow for others.
By the time Chen Guo woke up, it was already eleven, near noon. She normally led a fairly regular life and rarely slept in. But yesterday, with District 10's opening, she'd gone along to watch the excitement with that new fellow, which made her go to bed very late. Chen Guo did the math and found she'd gotten a full eight hours of sleep. Satisfied, she stretched luxuriously and crawled out of bed.
Chen Guo lived right in the internet café—or more precisely, in the suite on the second floor, under the same roof as Ye Xiu.
Compared to the newly arrived Ye Xiu, Chen Guo couldn't be more familiar with this place. She had practically grown up in Happy Internet Café—eating, sleeping, doing homework there. From her student days on, while other kids went home after school, she would duck straight into the café, which had caused no shortage of misunderstandings.
Happy Internet Café was her home. Chen Guo had held this deep-rooted notion since childhood. Because her father had been the same—he had tended to this café as carefully as if it were his own home, starting from when the café was very, very small and Chen Guo was very, very small. Now the home had grown big, but she was the only one left in it.
The year she had just taken the college entrance exams, Chen Guo's father died suddenly of a heart attack.
Chen Guo had no mother—at least none she could remember. After the funeral arrangements were done, as the relatives in the family discussed what to do with the café and how to arrange things for her, Chen Guo didn't think twice. She tossed aside her university acceptance letter and took over the café. Under the astonished gazes of family and friends, she continued running the café just like her father had, keeping watch over their home.
Nine years had passed in the blink of an eye.
Now Chen Guo was more than capable of buying herself a comfortable apartment, but she had never once had such a thought—she lived in the café and felt it was just fine. In the café she always felt grounded and at peace. Perhaps this was what home felt like: alone, yet not lonely.
"Nice weather today!" Standing by the window, Chen Guo looked outside. The silvery-white world made the sunlight seem all the more brilliant.
"Dad, come get some sun too!" Chen Guo said jokingly, picking up the photo of herself with her father from the bedside and placing it on the windowsill, facing the window.
Dressed and washed up, Chen Guo, feeling refreshed, took a stroll through the living room. She noticed the storage room door was already open. Poking her head in for a look, she saw no sign of Ye Xiu.
"Where's he gone?" Chen Guo muttered.
Pulling open her door, Chen Guo immediately stepped into her internet café. It was packed to capacity, all because of Glory's District 10 opening. As soon as the overnight crowd logged off, the morning shift crowd took their place. Glory filled every screen, and everyone, headphones on, was laughing, shouting, fully immersed in their headsets.
Chen Guo went downstairs to the front desk and asked the girl on duty where Ye Xiu was.
The girl pointed toward the deep end of the smoking section.
"Still playing?" Chen Guo was shocked, striding over that way.
The smoking section was a thick haze of smoke, and Ye Xiu was right in the heart of the disaster zone. Chen Guo frowned, waving away the smoke, charged up to Ye Xiu, and yanked off his headphones: "Still playing! Are you trying to kill yourself?"
Ye Xiu turned his head quickly, nodded, said "Morning," then immediately twisted back around and continued his rapid-fire clicking.
Chen Guo glanced at the screen: "Spider Cave, huh!"
"Mm."
"What level are you?"
"17."
Chen Guo was startled, then looked more closely at Jun Moxiao's experience bar. Level 17 was already nearly a thing of the past—he'd be sure to hit 18 once he came out of this dungeon run.
It was now twenty minutes to noon. Level 18 within twelve hours on a new server—that was absolutely a pioneering record. While the system kept no such official statistics, on forums and the like, countless people used such numbers to prove just how amazing their leveling speed was.
Chen Guo's next glance took in Ye Xiu's teammates.
Yue Zhongmian? Chen Guo suddenly felt she'd seen this name somewhere. After a moment's thought, she remembered at once.
"Isn't this the guy who was spamming your screen last night?" Chen Guo pointed at Yue Zhongmian in the party list.
"Yep!"
"Then why are you still teamed up with him?" Chen Guo couldn't understand it at all.
"Because he spammed my screen, nobody else would team with me," Ye Xiu said.
"Who asked you for that reason?" Chen Guo fumed.
"I'm a grown man—am I supposed to get in a spam war with him?" Ye Xiu chuckled.
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