Chapter 30: The Little Vegetable Guild's First Team-Building Event
The Little Vegetable Guild's first team-building activity turned out to be… Chopping trees.
The six guild members buried themselves in logging. As they chopped away, Blue Sky Beyond essentially took over Xiao Chi's role as streamer and chatted nonstop with the audience.
"Add WeChat? Sure. Brother Xiao Chi can add me after he ends the stream. We absolutely have to protect Brother Xiao Chi's WeChat."
"Endless Time? Added him ages ago. He's my classmate. We know each other in real life."
"Endless Time is exactly the same in real life as he is in-game. Family, he's so ridiculously awesome that it's annoying."
"Handsome? Not at all. Endless Time isn't handsome in the slightest. Trust me, family."
"Single. Yep, he's single. I mean, if he were dating, would he have time to play games every day?"
"He doesn't care about shipping. I'll answer for him. Other than showing off in games, there's basically nothing he cares about. Look, I've been talking all this time—has he said a single word?"
Sure enough, Endless Time didn't say a word. He just kept chopping trees.
Xiao Chi found himself torn. Part of him wanted Blue Sky Beyond to keep talking about Endless Time. Another part desperately wanted him to shut up and stop bringing up embarrassing shipping topics.
But even whenever the conversation drifted toward shipping, Endless Time acted as if he hadn't heard a thing.
The black-clad blade cultivator swung his axe with the same seriousness he brought to battlegrounds, every movement precise and disciplined.
Then Thousand Feathers, who had also been diligently chopping trees, suddenly stopped and asked a question that silenced Blue Sky Beyond.
"Why are all the chat's questions about Endless Time? Isn't this Guild Leader Xiao Chi's stream?"
Xiao Chi fell silent as well.
Sister Dog burst out laughing. "Hahahahaha! That's a direct hit!"
Blue Sky Beyond quickly accepted reality. "Because Brother Xiao Chi and I only just met. I don't know anything about his real-life situation, so I can't answer questions about him. As for me, I'm not one half of the ship everyone talks about, so naturally nobody cares."
Thousand Feathers continued, "What does 'shipping' mean?"
Blue Sky Beyond looked puzzled. "You're a gamer. Do you not use the internet?"
"I do. I read game guides."
Blue Sky Beyond immediately understood. "Never mind then. It has nothing to do with us straight guys."
Xiao Chi nearly spat blood.
The chat was losing its mind with laughter, flooding the screen with flowers and dried-fruit gifts.
Blue Sky Beyond even started thanking viewers professionally. "Thanks to Boss 'A Salted Fish' for the dried fruit gift. Thanks to Boss 'q123happy' for the dried fruit gift. Thanks to—"
[I love listening to Blue Sky Beyond and Thousand Feathers perform comedy routines together. Please keep going.]
[Xiao Chi can't even get a word in anymore. I'm dying.]
[Blue Sky Beyond has to be part of a professional streamer team. This guy is too experienced.]
[Why are there always people saying things that kill the mood?]
[Seriously though, they were doing perfectly fine in a top guild. Then suddenly they all quit because of one small player. Why?]
[Only explanation is that it's a scripted plot. Good content.]
[Have some people seriously never met online friends they genuinely clicked with?]
"Quit the guild? I left because Brother Shi left. Ever since high school, whenever I play games, I've been hanging onto Brother Shi's coattails. If he didn't lead me around, I wouldn't even know which direction to walk in on the Quest for the Azure Heavens continent. So my reason for leaving is very simple." Blue Sky Beyond once again began praising Endless Time. "So if you want to know why we left, you should ask Brother Shi."
The moment he said that, everyone's chopping slowed.
To be honest, among the people who had joined the Little Vegetable Guild, Thousand Feathers and Blue Sky Beyond had followed Endless Time out of Way of Heaven. Sister Dog and her friend were close to Blue Sky Beyond. They didn't have any closer friends remaining in Way of Heaven, so they left as well.
But what about Endless Time?
Within Way of Heaven, he was a celebrated expert. Whether it was dungeon raids or battlegrounds, he was always part of the first-string teams. The guild's elite squads had been carefully assembled from countless candidates. They were nearly unstoppable, placing fourth server-wide in last year's Quest for the Azure Heavens Tournament. If Endless Time had stayed, breaking into the top three next season would have been almost guaranteed.
The Quest for the Azure Heavens Tournament was an annual player competition organized by Quest for the Azure Heavens Skybound. Players formed five-person teams and battled on randomly selected maps in best-of-three matches. Winners advanced to the next round.
Anyone who reached the top ten was a famous server-wide expert, and several were well-known gaming streamers.
No gamer disliked winning.
With the new season about to begin, leaving the number-one guild on the server simply didn't make sense.
If CZ Xiao Chi had been a longtime friend, then quitting out of loyalty and brotherhood would have been understandable.
But Endless Time had only known him for a few days.
When viewers joked that "he's totally in love," they were only having fun. Deep down, everyone was curious.
Blue Sky Beyond's question echoed the thoughts of everyone watching. Sister Dog. Lime. Thousand Feathers. Even Xiao Chi himself. All of them wanted to hear Endless Time's answer.
"Ask me?" Endless Time finally turned on his microphone. His voice remained as calm and unhurried as ever. "Didn't I already say why?"
Everyone looked confused.
"When I left the guild, didn't I post the reason? It wasn't fun anymore." He paused. "That's the reason."
Not fun anymore?
Everyone became even more confused.
[The number-one guild on the server isn't fun? They worship you, give you the best materials, pair you with the strongest teammates for battlegrounds, and that's not fun?]
[The guy above has to be from Way of Heaven.]
[Honestly, I'm kind of confused too. Xiao Chi's tiny guild has absolutely nothing. How is that more fun...?]
Blue Sky Beyond rolled his eyes. "Brother Shi, quit acting cool and explain properly."
Endless Time finally stopped chopping for a moment. It seemed as though he actually thought about it. Then he said, "Well, staying in Way of Heaven wasn't fun. As for exactly what wasn't fun about it… There were a lot of things. I can't explain them all at once."
[Cold Sword Shadow: F* you.]
[Way of Heaven Management: F* you. You already quit the guild, can you stop talking?!]
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