Chapter 190 – My Lady Heroine in the Holographic Online Game – The Pursuit of Love in Progress (04)
Because of his duel with Qi Hongyi, Bai Luo had become famous in the game. Everywhere he went, he attracted attention, drawing more than a few glances. And walking side by side with him was Bai Tang—truly a feast for the eyes.
Bai Tang’s looks were outstanding. Even though his appearance had been modified in-game, it still couldn’t hide his bright, clear, and watery eyes. They were especially attractive, giving off the impression of: “I’m pure and easy to trick—come fool me!”
Combined with the newly famous Bai Luo, the pair made quite a striking duo. After all, Bai Tang was also somewhat well-known.
He had previously chased the top-ranked player on the Weapon Leaderboard and even harassed the fifth-ranked player—namely, Jiang Yiran, who went by the alias [Yiran Youyou]. People still remembered his shameless behavior and clingy pursuit.
And now, the two “disappointed souls” were walking together? The defeated underling of Hong Qingge and her former suitor?
The Bai family clearly had good genes—not a single unattractive child among them. Bai Luo was used to people staring at him, while Bai Tang, having been through several worlds, paid no mind to others’ gazes—unless it was the male lead’s obvious stares.
They left the town and headed toward the woods in the west.
No sooner had the two set out than Hong Qingge followed behind them, even stopping passersby to ask which way they’d gone.
The players were both shocked and curious. They had never seen Hong Qingge asking people for directions—why was she suddenly acting so anxious?
Perhaps something more was going on behind the scenes. Curious players eager for drama pointed out the direction Bai Tang and Bai Luo had taken.
After thanking them, Qi Hongyi hurried off in pursuit.
Bai Tang and Bai Luo reached the woods. Bai Tang was from the Valley of Divine Medicine, and his weapons relied entirely on poison—poison that had to be concocted by himself.
Thanks to the intuition of his little squirrel companion, he could identify whether unfamiliar herbs were toxic or not. Rare herbs, however, often grew in areas inhabited by fierce beasts. Once these beasts sensed intruders in their territory, they would attack.
“Piece of cake. Watch your second brother handle this,” Bai Luo said with full confidence. He might have lost to Qi Hongyi, but surely he could deal with a wild beast.
“Go, Second Brother~!” Bai Tang gave him a sweet, encouraging smile.
Awwwsl~ Bai Luo was completely smitten by his little brother’s dimples. Why is my little brother so cute?!
Eager to show off in front of Bai Tang, Bai Luo gripped his red-spear musket tightly and charged at the snorting beast.
In this game, every NPC and element was meticulously designed. Naturally, the beasts weren’t easy to deal with either. In no time, the battle grew intense, with neither side gaining the upper hand.
Bai Tang took some pine nuts from his small pouch space, sat down to the side, and began peeling and eating them. From time to time, he would cheer Bai Luo on.
Whenever he heard his little brother’s encouragement, Second Brother Bai’s heart was filled with joy. How could he possibly embarrass himself in front of his own brother? Impossible. How could he lose and disappoint him? Absolutely not.
With renewed determination, Bai Luo seized the moment—when the beast turned its back, he jabbed it in the rear with his wooden spear. The beast roared in anger, but the attack gave Bai Luo the perfect opening to finish it off.
“Tang Tang, look what I found!” Bai Luo called out, waving the herb Bai Tang had wanted in the air.
“You’re amazing, Second Brother~!” Bai Tang said as he clapped, having just finished a pine nut.
“Tang Tang, watch out behind you—!” Bai Luo’s pupils suddenly widened.
Bai Tang, confused, turned to look behind him—only to see a beast leaping out of nowhere and pouncing on him, slamming him to the ground.
His back hit the earth hard, the ground littered with tiny, sharp stones. Bai Tang felt a sharp pain shoot through his spine as a deafening roar erupted from the beast above him.
The beast bared its sharp fangs, a foul-smelling slime dripping from its mouth, landing right next to Bai Tang’s ear.
Disgusted, Bai Tang turned his head away. His arms were pinned beneath the beast’s weight—he couldn’t move.
The beast’s jaws opened wider, aiming for Bai Tang’s delicate neck. The stench was enough to make him cry, and at the same time, a primal fear rose within him—a small creature facing a monstrous predator.
“Wu wu~ Second Brother… A Dai…” Bai Tang shut his eyes, preparing for death.
The next second, the beast suddenly froze, as if caught in something.
Under the sunlight, almost invisible threads could be seen coiling tightly around the beast, restraining its movement.
The threads were razor-sharp, and the beast let out a hoarse, choking sound—”huh huh huh”—as it struggled in pain.
Qi Hongyi had looped the silk threads around a nearby tree trunk and quickly rushed over to pull Bai Tang away.
“Ah~”
The sudden sensation of weightlessness sent Bai Tang into a panic. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the man in front of him, letting Qi Hongyi carry him through the air.
The Tang Sect’s exclusive hidden weapon was the Thunder Pearl—a small orb that exploded upon impact.
Just as the beast broke free from the silken threads, the Thunder Pearls, which had been wrapped around its body along the lines, detonated. Bang! Bang! Bang! A rapid series of explosions echoed through the forest, and the beast was blown to pieces—nothing left of it at all.
“It’s over now, it’s all over…” the man murmured, unsure if he was comforting the boy in his arms—or himself.
Qi Hongyi held the still-shaken Bai Tang tightly, his body still gripped by the lingering fear. No one could know the terror he’d felt when he saw Bai Tang trapped beneath that beast’s jaws.
In the game, death only meant a level drop and a respawn. But the pain? That was 70% of real-life sensation. Bai Tang feared pain more than anything. Qi Hongyi couldn’t imagine forcing him to endure the agony of being torn apart by a beast—it would have been torture.
“Tang Tang, are you okay?” Bai Luo called out. Earlier, in order to avoid involving Bai Tang in his battle with the beast, he had kept his distance. As a result, when the second beast suddenly ambushed Bai Tang, he hadn’t been able to reach him in time.
“Wuwuwu~ Second Brother, I was so scared…”
Bai Tang threw himself into Bai Luo’s arms. Heart aching, Bai Luo gently patted his back and comforted him, “It’s okay now, it’s okay. It’s Second Brother’s fault—I didn’t protect you well…”
Qi Hongyi stood there, arms now empty, feeling a hollow ache in his chest.
Just earlier, the boy had clung to him so tightly. How had the distance between them grown so quickly—in just one day?
Bai Luo, of course, noticed Qi Hongyi’s disappointed expression. Even as he felt sorry for Bai Tang, a flicker of pride rose in him. Tang Tang is the family’s precious treasure. If you don’t cherish him, we’ll be the ones to spoil him.
“Thanks for earlier,” Bai Luo said, his tone less than warm—but he still did what was proper. He handed over a rare martial arts manual he’d bought at great expense as a token of gratitude.
Qi Hongyi, of course, wouldn’t accept it. He had no shortage of materials or manuals in the game, and taking the gift would only make things feel unnecessarily distant.
“Tang Tang is my fiancé. This is what I should do,” Qi Hongyi said shamelessly, fully committed to his plan of winning Bai Tang back through sheer persistence.
As expected, Bai Luo instantly bristled. “Tang Tang already broke off the engagement with you! Don’t talk nonsense!”
He shielded Bai Tang firmly behind him, eyes full of warning as he stared down Qi Hongyi.
There’s a saying: If you want to win your wife back, you need a thick skin. Though Qi Hongyi hadn’t heard that phrase before, deep down he knew—he didn’t want to let Bai Tang go. Just imagining the boy in someone else’s arms made him so furious he could kill.
“Breaking off an engagement requires both families’ elders as witnesses. I was out of my mind back then. Tang Tang, I’m sorry. I was a bastard. Can you forgive me?” Qi Hongyi wore a pitiful expression on his handsome face, launching a full-on guilt-trip offensive at Bai Tang.
Bai Luo: “!!!” Knowing how infatuated Tang Tang used to be with this bastard, if Qi Hongyi shows even a little remorse, won’t Tang Tang start to soften?
Sure enough, Bai Luo looked at Bai Tang’s face and saw a trace of hesitation.
“Qiu’er, Xiao A, should I forgive the male lead?” Bai Tang asked the two systems in his mind.
To be honest, every time he was in danger, the male lead always appeared right on time. That alone proved that Qi Hongyi cared about him. And this time, the female lead hadn’t shown up at all—maybe he’d even left her behind. Bai Tang couldn’t deny he felt a tiny bit happy about that.
Qiu’er: “Hold the line! We can win—this is just the beginning! Besides, he was the one who initiated the breakup!”
Xiao A chimed in too: “Host, please stay calm. Things that are too easily won are never cherished. Let’s wait and see how it plays out.”
Bai Tang took a deep breath and steadied himself, refusing to look at Qi Hongyi. “Second Brother, I’m tired and want to sleep. I think I’ll log off.” With that, he pulled Bai Luo and turned to leave.
Qi Hongyi didn’t chase after them. He just stood there, watching the two walk away into the distance. When they were finally gone, he sighed—and with his sharp eyes, spotted two small white bottles where Bai Tang had been standing.
He uncapped one of the bottles, and a fragrant medicinal scent wafted out—it was a healing potion.
Qi Hongyi stared in the direction Bai Tang had left, the corners of his lips lifting into a faint smile.
…
“Qingge, so this is where you were!”
The newcomer was Jiang Yiran, along with the team they had recently formed to take on a chain of missions.
“Boss, what are you doing in this little forest all alone? This isn’t even a quest area.”
“Big brother, what are you staring at?”
“Qingge, are you hurt?” Jiang Yiran gasped when she noticed the medicine bottle in Qi Hongyi’s hand.
“I’m fine.” Qi Hongyi instinctively pulled his hand back, not letting Jiang Yiran touch the bottle.
Jiang Yiran awkwardly retracted her hand. The other two didn’t notice anything unusual—Qi Hongyi had always disliked people touching him, so to them, his reaction seemed completely normal.
“I have something to take care of, so I’m logging off for now. When everyone’s here next time, I’ll come back to start the quest.”
“Go ahead, go ahead. Goodbye, boss.”
“Good night, Qingge.”
Everyone called him “boss,” but Jiang Yiran called him affectionately “Qingge.” However, Qi Hongyi didn’t even look at her and logged off immediately.
Because of Qi Hongyi’s attitude toward Jiang Yiran, the others couldn’t help but glance at her a little longer.
The first thing Qi Hongyi did after logging off was to look for Grandma Qi. At that moment, Grandma Qi was sighing heavily, staring blankly at a table full of desserts.
“Grandma,” Qi Hongyi walked over to her side.
“Sigh~” Grandma Qi sighed again. “No one’s eating the desserts I made.”
Grandma Qi was expressing her dissatisfaction with Qi Hongyi in her own way. Every day, she made a huge amount of overly sweet desserts, forcing the family to eat them. The Qi family found it unbearable but were helpless to oppose her.
“Grandma,” Qi Hongyi chuckled a little, “I want to ask you something…”
…
At the Bai family:
Bai Tang climbed out from the game storage and listened to the two systems analyzing the male lead.
Actually, Qiu’er didn’t mean to purposely separate Bai Tang from the male lead. It couldn’t stand to see two people who had walked through so many worlds together be apart.
But deep down, it was a little annoyed. Even though it was the male supporting character doomed to be mistreated, it was still upset. Fine, let him suffer, but how could the male lead despise Bai Tang? Hmph~
Xiao A, on the other hand, saw great fortune in the male lead. What’s it like to have a huge fortune walking back and forth right in front of you? Not absorbing a bit of it would be unwise.
But since Bai Tang was its true host, it still hoped the fortune would belong to Bai Tang. So it had to make the male lead like Bai Tang—and willingly give his fortune to him!
Author’s Note:
The male lead has already begun to awaken. What follows is lots of sweetness—get ready for the female lead’s heartbreak.
Wishing everyone a happy New Year! May the new year bring lots of joy~