Chapter 4: Together

Zhang Man is a veteran player.

So far, he’s been through six game worlds. He is experienced, and has accompanied three newbies. He’s seen it all, he’s able to handle anything. At least that was what he thought.

He didn’t expect the truth to hit his face that fast.

As soon as the game began, Zhang Man was chased by the ravens and ran into the manor’s house farm. When he got there, there were two other horses in the stable taking a leisurely stroll. One as black as ink, the other as white as snow.

Seeing the stranger’s arrival, the two horses raised their heads unhurriedly and swept him a glance, their eyes penetrating and clear, revealing a bit of humane intelligence.

‘Look, there’s a human being coming,’ their eyes say so.

“Ya– Ya–”

The crows hovering in the sky cawed a few times. The black horse lifted its head and gave a long neigh, then took off at a stride, leading the white horse away.

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Pke vbl dlo twu ekl yp pssd yp lhlauvbkdt pvyavle? Hbydt xyd prlnwzyvle.

Jwv kq vbl dlonsxla eklp kd vbl tyxl, bl okzz cl jknjle swv kxxlekyvlzu. Mbkp kp obu pldksa rzyulap okzz vyjl vbl vaswczl vs rasvlnv assjkl rzyulap. Xvblaokpl, bl oswze byhl bye vbyv vkxl vs es iwlpvp yde qkde rasrp, ps obu cakdt y dlonsxla obs oswze eayt bkp qllv?

However, in addition to knowing that the newcomer is still alive, Zhang Man knows no other information. The manor is so large, trying to find someone inside is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He could only hope that the newcomer would have some self-awareness and peacefully find a place to hide for seven days, so that he would not be kicked out before he could do anything.

Xia Nuo did not know that he was placed in such “high hopes”, he was trying to overcome his instinct to escape, and followed the man into the attic. The moment he stepped inside the door, a few traces of dust floated down from the roof. Xia Nuo felt his nose itch and couldn’t help but sneeze several times one after another.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been here and I didn’t have time to clean it up and set it up. Please forgive me for my poor hospitality.” The man nodded at his reddened nose and laughed.

With one hand on the heavy iron door, he looked at the house of his early childhood. It had been completely occupied by dust and cobwebs. The room was empty, no bed, no table and chairs and other furniture, no trace of human habitation.

“Then, please stay here.” The man smiled and gently pushed Xia Nuo inside, the heavy iron door creaking as the door was about to close.

Ai? Wait!

Xia Nuo was dumbfounded. He subconsciously grabbed the corner of the man’s coat, one hand braced against the iron door that was about to close: “Wait a second.”

“Aiya.”

He heard the man sigh, his tone had a few difficulties, like having to go out when his own disobedient little pet hugged his thighs: “Listen to me, it’s too dangerous out there. Stay here safely, I will send food and water over.”

Stay here? He knew Kan Chen was doing this for him, but leaving him alone in such a strange place… Xia Nuo imagined such a scenario and could not help but shiver.

It so happened that a cloudy wind blew past him. It hit the window pane and made a frightening ‘clang’ sound. He finally made up his mind, saying ‘ai, ai’ in between. Then, he  spoke: “Well, Mr. Kan Chen, as self-indulgent as this sounds, I really don’t want to be here alone.”

He leaned over and, although his eyes could not see, still very precisely grabbed the cuffs of the man and said pitifully: “You know that I can’t see, and if I can’t do anything by myself, I will go crazy. So… Can you take me with you when you go? I promise to listen to you obediently. If you tell  me to go east, I will never go west!” 

He held up three fingers to make an oath.

The young man has a pair of very beautiful eyes, with thick eyelashes, and the eyes are like black pearls polished to be round and smooth, glowing with misty radiance. At this moment, these beautiful eyes were “looking” at him unblinkingly. They were wet and looked lovable.

It’s a pity that these beautiful eyes can’t reflect his shadow. The man sighed in his heart.

Because he didn’t answer, Xia Nuo couldn’t help but worry: “Mr. Kan Chen?”

The boy opened his eyes in confusion and at a loss. He looked indescribably cute and made people want to keep teasing and see what kind of expression he would show.

But looking at the teenager’s eyes, which were already slightly red from anxiety, the man had a rare moment of conscience and asked, “Do you really want to go with me?”

“Ai?” Xia Nuo was stunned for a moment, and heard the looseness in his tone, so he continued to say, “Yes. I can’t see though so I could only rely on you. I’m not strong. I could only run away when we encounter monsters, I’m also not a fast runner…”

The more he talked, the more he found himself useless. He had no other use than dragging his feet. His voice became lower and lower, and he became less and less emboldened.

“But… But…” 

Xianuo felt the man’s gaze on him, and said loudly: “But I will feel scared here by myself! Don’t laugh at me, Mr. Kan Chen. This is my first time in a place like this. It’s normal to feel scared. And I’m not useless, I can chat with you to relieve boredom, and I can tell you stories, which won’t bore you… So, can you take me with you when you go? I promise I’ll give you everything I find first!” 

At the end, his whole face burned with embarrassment. It sounded like the role he could play was too small, right?

Although he remembered that the system once said that the veteran player entered the game to get points and props, he promised to give him all the props he found, but it felt like a bad deal. If Mr. Kan Chen refused him, he wouldn’t be surprised.

The man did not give an answer directly, but said: “Do you know how many man-eating monsters are out there that want to tear you apart and eat you alive? Do you know what they’re capable of? They will scare your guts out, dig out your heart, pull out your bones for collection, and let you die in despair and pain. Doesn’t that scare you? Do you still want to go with me?”

With his description, Xia Nuo faced the blood and terror of the game world for the first time. After a moment of contemplation, he nodded bluntly, “I’m scared.”

“Then you…” Just stay here.

Kan Chen thought he had been frightened by his own words, but he didn’t expect the young man to interrupt him quickly. “But I can’t hide every time. Can I rely on Mr. Kan Chen for protection? One day, I will face those terrible monsters alone. It is better to have experience in dealing with them than not at all, isn’t it? So I still want to go out with Mr. Kan Chen.”

The young man’s face was full of determination.

“That’s…” The man was dumbfounded and laughed.

Once again, things exceeded his expectations. His cute little pet really surprises him every time.

“Okay, if you say so.”

“Eh?!” Xia Nuo looked up in surprise, his face full of incredulity. After all he had said, he was not entirely sure that the man would agree, and when he heard the answer, he was taken aback for a moment. 

What, did he say something weird? The man raised an eyebrow.

Faced with such a pitiful pet, begging you not to abandon him, no one would be cruel enough to refuse it right? Kan Chen was only trying to scare him at first, trying to let him back down.

Since that didn’t work, can he give another answer besides agreeing to him?

“I mean I said okay.” Kan Chen still couldn’t help but want to tease him, “Why are you so surprised? Does it mean that you didn’t mean what you just said? Or are you saying that you’ve regretted it?”

“No!” Xia Nuo reacted and anxiously took a step forward, tugging at his coat, explaining incoherently, “No, no! I was too happy! I was not expecting that you would actually agree…”

His face lit up with a big, happy smile. “Thank you, Mr. Kan. I will try my best not to hold you back.”

“Hmm… Alright, let’s go out first.”

Xia Nuo heard the man let out an impatient murmur, as if he was desperately trying to hold back something, and wondered if it was his illusion. He felt that Mr. Kan Chen, who was in a hurry to leave after he spoke, was bewildered and was trying to escape away.

It should be an illusion, right? He thought. Mr. Kan Chen seems very reliable, surely there shouldn’t be anything that would make him so bewildered, right?

While being pulled by the man, Xia Nuo opened the game panel in his mind. At this time, the progress of the branch mission has reached 5%, and the place where they walked on the map was lit up. The place represented by the attic was marked with a big red cross.

Is this a sign of danger? Xia Nuo guessed.

At the same time, he was also surprised to find that because the points from the side quests were settled in real time, he now had 250 points. The system’s function to redeem his eyesight and vision was unlocked.

The author has something to say:

Kan Chen: Ugh, so cute. I just wanna…¹ 想日 – I looked it up and saw that it was described as “to want to do something indescribable”. So uhm… I don’t know what he wanted to say… (⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄ω⁄ ⁄ ⁄ ⁄)