Chapter 14: The Fourteenth Cup

Chapter 14: The Fourteenth Cup

He Wuning calculated the time—it was more than twice as fast with Yi Luo's help. Apart from the milk tea cart taking a hit and losing one durability point, it was almost a flawless victory.

He glanced expressionlessly at Yi Luo in the driver's seat. This guy was somewhat useful and didn't get in the way during the fight.

Yi Luo opened the car door and stepped down from the milk tea cart, his long legs moving gracefully. He leaned against the door, smiling at He Wuning who was half-sitting on the ground. His smile carried a youthful exuberance, and Yi Luo felt refreshed after the battle.

It was just that his words were as irritating as ever.

"Can't stand up? Need me to carry you back to the cart?"

He Wuning lifted an eyelid. "Get lost."

Any appreciation he had just felt vanished instantly.

He stood up and dusted off his pants. Yi Luo stood by the door, looking at the milk tea cart now covered in another layer of dirt. "Now I know how you got this cart so dirty. There's a lot of dust here."

He Wuning walked over to collect the dropped items—a bull horn, a decent shield, and a pair of mediocre shoes.

There were also scattered milk tea ingredients and mechanical parts. He Wuning collected the milk tea materials and gestured to Yi Luo with his chin. "Come pick what you want."

Yi Luo picked up the mechanical parts he needed and looked at the items on the ground. "We're splitting them?"

"Then take this shield."

Yi Luo weighed the shield in his hands, testing it out with a strike. It seemed to satisfy him.

He Wuning frowned slightly. He thought Yi Luo wanted the shield for trading game coins, but now it seemed... he intended to use it himself?

He Wuning looked at him strangely. "Aren't you a sniper?"

"I'm versatile," Yi Luo corrected him. "I can do everything."

"Besides, isn't it normal for a squishy ranged character to have a shield?"

He Wuning silently looked at the large silver shield with a bull's head carved on it, then said nothing.

—He felt arguing with this Yi surname man was childish.

He Wuning collected the other drops and turned to get into the cart, opening the map.

"Next stop, which lucky little monster should we tackle?" Yi Luo got into the cart smoothly, and the milk tea cart sped away, leaving behind the giant bull-man's corpse, which dissolved into data and would reappear in 12 hours to continue causing trouble.

Two hours later, they had cleared all the level 10 and below bosses in the area, encountering only a few players who gave them distant salutes.

It seemed the game had just been updated, and most players sought safety, not venturing out of the safe zones.

With some time left before their scheduled vending, He Wuning pointed to a river on the map. "Let's go there."

"Got it." Yi Luo steered the cart toward their destination.

Upon arrival, He Wuning nimbly jumped out of the cart and headed toward the river with a clean set of clothes. In the game, equipment was just that—equipment. Only weapons materialized; most people wore real-life clothes.

He Wuning needed close combat, and the bosses they fought—bull-men and stone giants—were dusty types. Now, he was as dirty as the milk tea cart.

He Wuning walked toward the river with his clothes, then remembered he wasn't alone. He turned silently to look at Yi Luo, who had followed him down without realizing why.

"There don't seem to be any monsters here..." Yi Luo scanned the surroundings, then noticed He Wuning's clothes and understood. "Oh, you're going to bathe."

He looked down at his own clothes. As a sniper and driver, his combat uniform was still crisp, without a speck of dust.

He chuckled. "Go ahead, then. I won't accompany you."

"Who needs your company?"

He Wuning turned and walked away.

Q-jiang flew up, warning him anxiously: "No peeking!"

Yi Luo laughed. "Why? Haven't I seen men bathe before?"

Q-jiang declared boldly: "But you haven't seen my treasure bathe! Other men are other men, but my treasure is different!"

"What's your treasure?" Yi Luo found it amusing. "Maybe it'll be someone else's treasure someday."

Q-jiang was shocked. "You really... hmmph."

Yi Luo held it down. "Don't make a fuss. Giving someone a quiet bathing environment is a courtesy, understand?"

"Wah wah wah!" Q-jiang struggled, but couldn't escape.

He Wuning ignored their antics and took off his dusty shirt, revealing a lean and well-defined back. His spine was prominent, like a row of dragon spines when he bent over, giving an illusion of fragility.

But those monsters he had defeated knew the explosive power hidden beneath that beautiful body.

Under special circumstances, He Wuning didn't fuss much and quickly wiped himself with a towel.

Suddenly, there was a slight noise behind him. He paused mid-motion, using his clothes as cover, and straightened while throwing the skinning knife—

Yi Luo tilted his head, and the knife barely missed his cheek, embedding itself in the tree behind him.

He smiled. "Why so aggressive?"

He Wuning looked at him silently. "Haven't seen a man bathe before?"

Yi Luo waved the gagged Q-jiang. "I said I've seen it before, but I didn't say I wouldn't look."

"I thought about it carefully. You're right; you are different. I should check."

Q酱奋力挣扎，试图洗清自己的名声：“不要诽谤系统！我没让你看！我告诉过你不要看！”

He Wuning: "…"

It was the first time he had seen someone caught peeking and still be so righteous about it.

Q酱 suddenly broke free from Yi Luo's grip, flew up to block his view: "Honey, I've covered it for you! Hurry up and put your clothes on!"

He Wuning turned around and put on his clothes, hearing a slightly regretful "Spoilsport" behind him.

His hands were itching.

Too bad the knife had already been thrown.

After putting on his clothes, Yi Luo handed him the knife. He Wuning weighed the small skinning knife in his hand, considering whether to stab him with it.

Yi Luo showed no sense of impending danger; he smiled brightly: "The phone rang in the car just now."

"Whose?" He Wuning raised an eyebrow slightly. There was a pink telephone hanging on the wall inside the milk tea cart, which he had always thought was just for show, as it clearly looked like a landline but had no wires, making it seem unusable.

But apparently, the game couldn't be judged by common sense.

Yi Luo shrugged: "I wanted to answer it, but I wasn't allowed. They said I didn't have the authority."

"I came to call you. If you hurry, you might still catch it."

He Wuning opened the car door. Strangely, standing outside, he heard nothing from inside—he even suspected that this might be an excuse Yi Luo made up.

But as soon as the door opened, the urgent ringing of the phone exploded in his ears. He Wuning couldn't help but frown; the sound was far from pleasant, loud and piercing, like the default ringtone of an old-fashioned mobile phone.

Q酱立刻解释道："这是基于蓝星上最常用的铃声！"

Observing He Wuning's countenance, Q Sauce promptly appended, "My dear, should you desire a modification, it can be effected at any juncture!"

He Wuning nodded, picked up the receiver: "Hello."

Yi Luo sat nearby with his arms crossed, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"Hello, hello!" The voice on the other end sounded urgent. "Is this Mr. He? Is Yi Luo there too?"

"Help, help me!"

He Wuning frowned. The first call was a plea for help, and they knew Yi Luo was with him. He glanced at Yi Luo with a strange expression.

Yi Luo looked puzzled: "Why are you looking at me?"

He Wuning withdrew his gaze: "I feel like this call is somehow your doing."

Yi Luo found it amusing: "It's not like it's a horror movie."

Not getting a response, the voice on the other end panicked again: "Is anyone there? Can anyone hear me? Help, help me! Really, help me!"

"I'm right here..."

"No need, I know the address." He Wuning raised an eyebrow; he had no inclination to hear further entreaties. As he was on the verge of ending the call, Q Sauce interjected abruptly: "This is the milk tea delivery hotline. What's your order?"

He Wuning furrowed his brows, yet he caught a subtle quiver in Q酱's saccharine tone. Its tiny eyes flickered with urgency towards He Wuning, as if conveying a hidden message.

"What kind of milk tea?" The voice on the other end grew more urgent. "I, I..."

There was a rustling sound of clothes, and it seemed someone else had taken over the communication device. A rough voice shouted loudly: "Brother, just save us! Whatever milk tea, we'll buy as much as you say! One of each!"

Q酱终于松了一口气，迅速回复道：“收到命令。请稍候片刻——”

It hung up the phone and cried out, wanting to dive into He Wuning's arms, but he caught it with his jacket.

Q酱努力地从夹克里探出头来，啜泣着说：“哇哇哇，吓死我了。我刚被世界之声警告了。我以为我要被抹除了，哇哇哇...”

While crying, it explained the situation: "World Voice said this call is an 'order number.' We must follow the rule of 'the customer places an order, we get their location.' If they start by asking for help without ordering milk tea, we can't get their location!"

Q酱 still seemed shaken: "Master, when we go to the trading center next time, shall we post this requirement?"

He Wuning frowned and agreed.

—"World Voice."

The system's manager seemed quite rigid, following logic strictly and requiring players and the system to act within set rules. In contrast, Q酱 and some monsters seemed more human.

The map displayed the customer's location. Yi Luo looked at him: "Shall we go?"

"Go." He Wuning nodded, sensing something else in Yi Luo's words. He tilted his head slightly, "Do you have any other opinion?"

"No, I think we should go too." The pink milk tea cart drove off as Yi Luo sincerely said, "But I just wanted to remind you, you might be annoyed by calls in the future."

He Wuning hesitated: "The phone is registered under my name, not yours."

Yi Luo tapped the steering wheel: "Wanna bet?"

He Wuning without hesitation: "No bet."

Yi Luo clicked his tongue: "Why don't you play along?"

Author's note:

He Wuning: Can we make a cage for Yi Luo?