District Six, the territory of the Crusader Guild.
A group of figures swiftly entered the guild hall with hurried steps.
The Genesis Century Cup had just concluded its quarter-finals guild ranking battle.
The Crusader Guild secured first place in this round by successfully taking down the Death Huntsman Bruce, earning them a slot in the next round’s semifinals.
However, despite this achievement, the core members returning from the match seemed devoid of any joy. On the contrary, the atmosphere was somber, and other guild members, looking at the two figures at the forefront, all remained silent.
“God Yu, don’t you think you should clarify something?” The guild master, Pojun Baba, frowned deeply and appeared displeased. “I don’t usually expect you to participate in guild activities regularly, but today you pulled quite the surprise. You’ve been silent throughout the journey, and it doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?”
Yu Weize finally chuckled ambiguously with an air of meaninglessness, “What do you mean? Is getting first place not enough to cover my silence fee?”
His attitude toward the guild master had long lost its power to surprise, and his responses were as dismissive as usual. However, if you listened closely, in his overly mocking tone, there was a faint trace of unusual impatience.
This subtle emotion caught the attention of other participants, who wisely involved themselves in the tension between these two significant figures in the guild.
Pojun Baba also noticed Yu Weize’s impatience.
But compared to the silence throughout the journey, any reaction was welcome.
Yu Weize relied on the fame he had built up over many years in the game and had a habit of not taking the current guild master seriously. At least this time, in addition to his usual disdain, he displayed a hint of impatience, something rare.
Pojun Baba was not pleased with Yu Weize’s response. “If you’re willing to fully follow the plan, of course, you can smoothly advance!”
“Okay, okay, it’s my fault.” Yu Weize nodded and glanced at the Mechanic beside him with a meaningful tone. “Next time, I’ll try to convince myself to work hard and obey your commands.”
As he finished speaking, he checked the time, slid his hands into his pockets, and left without looking back. “Is there anything else? I’m going to rest. This competition is truly exhausting.”
Pojun Baba remained silent, and the others dared not make a move.
Only a green-clad figure boldly emerged from the crowd, paying no heed to the guild master’s demeanor. He chased after Yu Weize in a “whoosh.”
Yu Weize had already heard the gradually approaching footsteps behind him.
Without turning back, he subtly sidestepped and deftly avoided the impending hug. A voice tinged with a touch of grievance sounded, “Master, why are you dodging? I just wanted to comfort you! Haven’t you noticed how out of hand the guild members are? They blatantly go against your tactics even though yours was better. They’re conspiring against you. You’ve obviously saved us in the match by improvising, yet instead of thanks, you got blamed. They’re taking advantage of you!”
Yu Weize didn’t look at the young man in green behind him. He walked into the guild’s private rest area. “Well, it’s true. I do owe them.”
“Ugh. You owe the former guild master, not Pojun Baba! Why does he get to lord it over you just because he has a guild management position? It’s so unfair!” The green-clad lad complained, his ID perfectly fitting his image, [Green Fanatic.]
As Yu Weize’s disciple, seeing his master’s indifferent attitude made him more furious. “Why don’t you become the guild master yourself?”
Yu Weize tidied his belongings and thought of the strange event upon re-logging. He casually opened his friends list, “Soon enough, I will. As per the contract I agreed to with Lao Yi, it should be expiring soon after this league ends.”
“D*mn, it’s about time! After you leave, I’ll follow you without hesitation. I’ve disliked that Pojun Baba for so long. With you gone, we can just forget about him!” Green Fanatic touched his chin and began to imagine the beautiful future after leaving the Crusader Guild. His entire face lit up with excitement.
Lost in thought for a moment, God Yu, Yu Weize, lifted his head to find that he seemed to have been paused, frozen in place as if someone had hit the pause button.
Green Fanatic blinked in confusion. “Master, what are you doing? One, two, three, standing still? Do you need my cooperation?”
Yu Weize didn’t answer immediately but finally made a move. As if he couldn’t believe his own eyes, he repeatedly scrolled through his friends’ list from start to finish. Only then did he confirm that the specific avatar that he had categorized under “Internal Injury” was actually gone. What used to be 0/1 had turned into a glaring 0/0, truly eye-catching and unsettling.
But the reality that had to be accepted was that after just playing one game on the competitive server, he had somehow lost a friend account he had cherished for five years, for no apparent reason.
Yu Weize entered a paused state once again. After a long while, he decided to contact customer service.
Soon, he received an official response: “Hello, dear customer! Based on the information you provided, we have verified that it was likely a player-initiated deletion of friends and there is no system data error. Please face reality and consider if you may have engaged in any offensive behavior that led to this! We hope you’re satisfied with our service, and kindly give us a five-star rating. ^_^”
Yu Weize: “.”
A “kiss-kiss”? He suspected the customer service was mocking him.
In a brief moment, a very subtle sense of uncertainty emerged within him.
Yu Weize opened his friend search interface and entered a game ID: [PoisonedMilk.]
The God Yu, who once dominated the gaming world, was now trembling as he pressed the confirm button.
Though only a second passed, it felt like the longest wait ever.
The system’s response popped up: [Sorry, the ID you searched for does not exist.]
Green Fanatic watched his master’s changing expressions and tentatively asked, “Have you finally had enough of Pojun Baba? Should we take some action against him when we get the chance?”
Yu Weize glanced at him and asked, “Where can I leave a negative review for customer service?”
Green Fanatic: “?”
Yu Weize: “Never mind.”
He lightly rubbed his temples, his gaze lingering on the system message that stated the ID was incorrect. Then, he slowly buried his face in his hands.
Suddenly, he burst into laughter.
To be willingly unfriended and even change your in-game ID, had he finally decided to return?
This house-stealing operation was executed beautifully.
Although Yu Weize didn’t say a word, Green Fanatic inexplicably felt a chill creeping up his back. His tone grew weaker as he said, “Master, please don’t show that kind of expression… I’m scared.”
Yu Weize, after laughing for a while, finally closed the friend list and turned his gaze toward Green Fanatic. “What expression?”
Green Fanatic: “It’s the kind that someone’s about to have a stroke… a sinister expression.”
Yu Weize: “Why isn’t it an expression of someone getting lucky?”
Green Fanatic looked up at the ceiling.
As this scenario didn’t exist, he had nothing to say.
Yu Weize’s emotions were somewhat complex at the moment, but overall, he was in a good mood. At this time, he chose to be very humble. “Little Green.”
Green Fanatic straightened up subconsciously. “Master, what do you want to say?”
Yu Weize pondered for a moment. “You see… if one day you suddenly unfriended me, what would be the reason?”
Green Fanatic solemnly raised his hand. “I swear I will never unfriend you, Master!”
Yu Weize: “… What if.”
Green Fanatic: “There is no ‘what if’!”
Yu Weize sighed and wondered why he had taken this disciple in the first place. After pausing for a moment, he had to compromise. “Let’s just assume that it’s other people from the guild who unfriended me. Why do you think they would do that?”
“Other people from the guild?” Green Fanatic thought for a moment. “It’s probably because they can’t stand your oppression, or maybe they’re tired of your crazy antics. Well, they must have had some really bad experiences.”
Yu Weize maintained his smile. “So, what if someone who hasn’t been online for five years suddenly came back and decided to unfriend me?”
Green Fanatic: “Ah, that would be old grudges. They must have some heart-wrenching stories, or they wouldn’t have held a grudge for so long. Returning was probably the first thing they did to settle old scores! Seriously, Master, you’ve gone a bit too far with this five-year scenario; it must have been something really dreadful to make them hold a grudge for that long.”
Green Fanatic’s tone hesitated for a moment. “Wait a second, five years? If I’m not mistaken, Master, you mentioned that Master Lady left the game five years ago, right?”
Yu Weize: “.”
His student’s mind worked rather quickly in times like these.
“Master Lady is back?” Green Fanatic’s eyes lit up, but then he was left in shock. “But why would she unfriend you? Could it have been an accident?”
Yu Weize fixed him with a steady gaze.
Green Fanatic lowered his voice and promptly tackled the previous question. “That’s right, it’s like this. With the recent surge in returning players, major guilds are all recruiting. And in our guild, your influence is the most significant.”
He quickly made a dismissive gesture, crossing his hands in front of him. “But just like you said earlier, except for playing matches, helping out with anything else is impossible, for life! Suppressing you while trying to benefit from your fame? Impossible!”
Yu Weize didn’t let him continue with his “Impossible.” He elongated his tone slightly, “Tell me, if you and the guild leader fell into the water simultaneously, whom would I save?”
Green Fanatic almost couldn’t follow this train of thought and was bewildered. “Of course, you would save me. After all, my green hair is so lovely, and I’m your beloved disciple.”
Yu Weize glanced at him. “If you continue to be noisy like this, I’ll just sail the boat away.”
Green Fanatic covered his mouth. “…”
Yu Weize smiled contentedly and said, “In the next few days, help me gather specific information from the guild leader about recruiting.”
He glanced outside, and his mood seemed to brighten. “The weather is so good. It should be perfect for fishing, right?”
Green Fanatic watched the approaching dark clouds not far away.
The perpetually rainy weather in District Six, was it ever going to be good?
But given his master’s unpredictable mood, it always felt like someone was about to have bad luck.
“Ah-choo!” It was perhaps due to the cold wind that had blown earlier, but when Jiang Shi reached his front door, he sneezed quietly.
Jiang Shi hadn’t been away from home for long; he had spent a total of just two hours at the cybercafe playing games. In theory, there shouldn’t have been much risk of being discovered. But at this moment, he frowned, rubbed his nose, and, based on his unwavering intuition, became cautious.
Just as the front door opened, a massive shadow whizzed towards him.
Jiang Shi hesitated for a moment as he took a step forward but quickly pulled it back. The next moment, a huge pillow smashed directly into the door.
With a “thud,” it dropped onto the shoe rack next to it, causing a pile of items on top of the rack to crash to the ground, creating quite a mess.
Jiang Shi paused for a moment, then looked at the person who had attempted to ambush him. “Are you trying to kill your dear brother?”
“Do I need to plot against my dear brother? You’re the one who recklessly went to the internet cafe, playing games and endangering your life,” Jiang Yan said.
Jiang Yan had a fiery mane of big wavy hair and wore a very ordinary pair of pajamas, which did nothing to hide the vibrant aura that radiated from her. She coldly smirked as she looked at Jiang Shi. “You’ve grown up. You took the chance to sneakily go online while I wasn’t home, using all those skills you learned back in primary school. If I hadn’t set up spies, you would have truly fooled me.”
Jiang Shi: “… You’re still as superficial as ever.”
“Phew! One who doesn’t do anything wrong isn’t afraid of ghosts knocking on the door.” Jiang Yan walked down the stairs, picked up the pillow from the ground, and started straightening things up. “You’ve been treated for five years, and the doctors have said you’re fine. What’s the problem with logging off the full-immersion cabin for a bit? It’s not some major illness.”
“Is it just an ordinary case of neurasthenia
Jiang Yan: “You’re aware that you’ve been treated for five years. In this day and age, neurasthenia isn’t a big deal, and logging out of the full-immersion cabin for a while isn’t a problem.”
Jiang Shi: “Well, you’re also aware of the five years of treatment. The doctors have said I’m fine. It’s not some major illness, and I can temporarily log out of the full-immersion cabin without issue.”
Jiang Yan glanced at the time, turned around, and headed toward the kitchen. “I’m not arguing with you. I’m going to work on my recipe. You know what’s going on in your head, so be sensible. Here, take this.”
This time, Jiang Yan didn’t launch another attack with the pillow. Instead, she pulled a business card from her pajama pocket and handed it to him. “You have a full-body examination scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Only when you have the complete test results can you possibly atone for your sins this afternoon, understand?”
Jiang Shi took the card and glanced at the name on it. “Is this my new brother-in-law?”
Jiang Yan: “… Please call him Dr. Han. And it’s very likely he’ll be your last brother-in-law.”
“Alright, I’ll go see Dr. Han tomorrow afternoon.” Jiang Shi responded promptly and smiled with a hint of amusement. “If the final diagnosis confirms that I can use virtual devices normally…”
Jiang Yan, with a suspicious look on her face, “You can play for a while.”
Jiang Shi wore a satisfied smile. “Thanks in advance.”
“I won’t argue with you anymore. I’ll go back to working on my recipes.” Jiang Yan looked at the time, turned around, and headed towards the kitchen.
Jiang Shi watched her retreating figure, remembering his dear sister’s “loving care” in recent days. He lay down on the sofa, picked up his phone, and ordered some normal takeout food. Comparatively, overusing the brain was evidently a more life-threatening matter. After placing the order quickly, he soon received a confirmation message.
Just as he was about to close it, he glanced down and saw a text message notification from the official forums of Genesis.
Recalling the discussions he had overheard from his party members in the dungeon earlier, it seemed like news of God Yu’s recent “amorous escapades” was spreading far and wide.
Forums were usually full of gossip; perhaps there was some interesting information to be found.
The author has something to say:
Jiang Laoshi: Who is Yu? Check your own ID.
God Yu: Isn’t this me waiting for you to come and fish me in~