Chapter 44: A Great Person Is Magnanimous
Misty Autumn Rain turned to The Light Boat Has Passed. Her slender hand gently fanned herself with a Light Silk Fan, a cash-shop cosmetic that sold for 328 yuan. The shimmering firefly visual effect was so dazzling that Xiao Chi could barely see his screen.
That was… A 328-yuan visual effect.
[Nearby] Misty Autumn Rain: The Light Boat Has Passed, does your guild need a healer?
At the same moment, a guild application popped up in front of The Light Boat Has Passed.
Player [Misty Autumn Rain] has requested to join [Little Vegetable Guild]. Accept?
Xiao Chi's pupils shook. His mind went blank. He couldn't think of a single thing to say.
Then he remembered Endless Time had said no, and with trembling fingers, clicked Reject.
After a moment's thought, he reported it to Endless Time. "Misty Autumn Rain just applied to join Little Vegetable Guild. I rejected it first."
The moment he finished speaking, another message from Misty Autumn Rain appeared.
[Nearby] Misty Autumn Rain: Heh.
[Nearby] Misty Autumn Rain: The Light Boat Has Passed, we're even now. Neither of us owes the other anything anymore. If you're still angry, I'll stand right here and let you kill me. Keep killing me until you've vented your anger.
[Nearby] The Light Boat Has Passed: ...
[Nearby] Explosive Red: Ooooh.
[Nearby] Qiao Qiao: Ooooh.
[Nearby] Thousand Feathers: You can't kill people in the main city. I recommend going into the wilderness.
Xiao Chi was speechless. Completely, utterly speechless.
The livestream chat, meanwhile, had gone insane again. The bullet comments flooded the screen, gifts poured in, and viewers begged Thousand Feathers to keep talking.
The viewer count shot up once more.
At last, Xiao Chi realized something. Everyone on this team… And even Misty Autumn Rain outside the team… Had far more talent for being streamers than he did.
Especially Misty Autumn Rain. And Thousand Feathers.
The traffic his stream was getting seemed to have been brought entirely by these people. He himself had almost nothing to do with it.
After Misty Autumn Rain stirred up such a commotion, the area outside the battlefield became packed with spectators. Players stopped queuing for matches altogether, gathering instead to enjoy the drama. Seeing that, the four of them simply gave up on battlefields for the night and teleported back to their guild's Sanctuary.
The four stood there, looking at one another. No one spoke.
Endless Time hesitated. "Um..."
Xiao Chi immediately understood what he meant. Glancing at the time, he said, "Everyone, it's already 9:30. I don't think we'll be playing any more battlefields tonight, so let's end the stream here. I've been streaming for eleven and a half hours today. I'm exhausted. Completely wiped out."
[?]
[Don't think I don't know you guys are about to have a private discussion.]
[Your husband only got out two words, and you instantly read his mind?]
[There's this much juicy drama and you're not letting us watch?!]
[Report! Someone from Way of Heaven has already started an 818 gossip thread on the forums!]
[Charge, everyone!]
[If you let Misty Autumn Rain join the guild, your stream will definitely hit ten thousand viewers!]
[Can't wait for the goddess to stir up more chaos.]
Xiao Chi skimmed a few comments and immediately got a headache. Calling out, "Bye-bye!" he hurriedly ended the stream.
Blue Sky Beyond looked puzzled. "Huh? Xiao Chi, why'd you end the stream? Isn't there still over half an hour until ten?"
Endless Time understood immediately. "You didn't have to stop streaming. We interrupted your work."
Xiao Chi felt a little embarrassed. Work? It hardly felt like work. "No, really," he said quickly. "I'm just genuinely tired."
Endless Time didn't dwell on it. "About two or three months ago, I asked Misty Autumn Rain if she'd like to join me for this year's Quest for the Azure Heavens’ tournament. The goal was to win the championship. Not long afterward, the confession incident happened. Then she marked Xiao Chi for vendetta, and everything turned into complete chaos for a while. Later, the three of us all left the guild, so I just assumed she wouldn't be joining our team."
Blue Sky Beyond pondered for a moment. "To be fair, Misty Autumn Rain's mechanics are genuinely excellent. You could say she's one of the strongest healers in Way of Heaven. It's just... well...there's a bit of emotional baggage between you two."
Endless Time answered frankly. "Misty Autumn Rain's biggest problem is that she loves making a scene. Haven't you noticed? She likes blowing every tiny issue completely out of proportion inside the game. She's impossible to figure out. You never know what's going on in her head."
The usually quiet Thousand Feathers finally spoke. "We only need to play games together. We don't need to know what she's thinking."
Then Blue Sky Beyond suddenly turned to Xiao Chi. "What do you think?"
"Huh? Me?" Xiao Chi was caught off guard. "I don't really have an opinion... I'll leave building the team to Pro Endless Time."
"Report—!"
Sister Dog's voice suddenly rang out over YY, startling everyone.
"Guild Leader Xiao Chi already ended his stream? Great, then I'll just say it here! This is explosive, everyone! Absolutely explosive! Cold Sword Shadow and Misty Autumn Rain have broken up! Apparently, during the month they'd been game partners, Misty Autumn Rain only wanted to be his in-game partner. Once they logged off, she almost never replied to his WeChat messages. When Cold Sword Shadow wanted to send her a present and asked for her address, she refused. She said virtual partners should only exchange virtual gifts. She wouldn't do voice calls. Wouldn't do video calls. Eventually, Cold Sword Shadow got suspicious and insisted on meeting in person. She refused. Cold Sword Shadow couldn't take it anymore! He's the mighty guild leader—how could his in-game partner turn out to be a renyao?" (a slang term referring to someone whose real-life gender differs from the gender of the character they play, often implying a man playing a female character)
"So Cold Sword Shadow went to ask Frost Purple Jade, supposedly Misty Autumn Rain's best friend in the guild. And this is where it gets wild. Frost Purple Jade claimed to be Wei Yu's closest friend… But she'd never even had a voice call or video call with Misty Autumn Rain! Even on Moments, Misty Autumn Rain only let her see posts from the last three days. Cold Sword Shadow completely exploded. Only then did Misty Autumn Rain realize how serious things had become and finally agree to a video call. But there was one condition. Only Cold Sword Shadow was allowed to see her. She refused to look at Cold Sword Shadow. And Cold Sword Shadow had to keep his own camera turned off."
Everyone listening to the gossip was completely absorbed. "..."
Killbreaking Wolf, who had originally been reading the 818 gossip thread but had been completely drawn in by Sister Dog's vivid storytelling, asked, "Huh? Why?"
Sister Dog sighed dramatically. "Cold Sword Shadow asked her the same thing. Misty Autumn Rain said it was because she didn't want to ruin her fantasy while playing the game. She wanted Cold Sword Shadow to remain a two-dimensional character in her mind forever."
Everyone: "..."
Killbreaking Wolf couldn't help but remark, "That's such a blow to his self-esteem!"
"Exactly!" Sister Dog said. "His self-esteem got absolutely crushed. Cold Sword Shadow broke up with her on the spot. At the time, Wei Yu said all those heartless things in Way of Heaven's YY channel. A lot of guild members spoke up for their guild leader, saying she'd been playing with Cold Sword Shadow's feelings. Guess what Misty Autumn Rain said in response?"
Blue Sky Beyond answered sincerely, "I have no idea."
Sister Dog nodded. "Right? Who could possibly guess?"
Endless Time spoke up. "Did she say something like, 'Online dating in games is just for fun. It's fake to begin with. Things in a virtual world aren't real'?"
Sister Dog stared at him in disbelief. "Holy crap, Endless Time! What's going on with you? Are you and Misty Autumn Rain telepathically connected or something?"
Endless Time answered calmly. "You people really don't understand Misty Autumn Rain. That's just the kind of person she is."
Sister Dog immediately pressed him. "Seriously, why do you know her so well? Because that's exactly what she said in Way of Heaven. She said online relationships in games are just for fun, fake from the start, and that nothing in a virtual world is real. That only poured fuel on the fire. Everyone accused her of deceiving Cold Sword Shadow's feelings, and in the end she quit the guild."
Thousand Feathers quietly nodded. "She's not wrong."
Blue Sky Beyond looked utterly confused. "This lady's logic is... incredibly powerful. It seems right. But somehow it also feels... really wrong?"
Xiao Chi spoke softly. "It's because she never took it seriously. But Cold Sword Shadow did. And when one person takes it seriously... they're the one who gets hurt."
Killbreaking Wolf nodded vigorously. "Yeah. That makes sense."
Sister Dog still wouldn't let it go. "No, seriously, Endless Time. Why do you understand Misty Autumn Rain so well?"
"Because that's exactly how her so-called pursuit of me went," Endless Time replied. "I never felt like she actually liked me. Other than running dungeons and battlefields together, we'd never even had a private conversation. Then out of nowhere, she set off fireworks and confessed to me in public chat. It felt more like a performance for everyone else than a confession to me."
Xiao Chi was stunned.
Blue Sky Beyond couldn't wrap his head around it. "If she didn't actually like you, then why was she so angry when the confession got ruined? Why did she have the entire Way of Heaven guild put Xiao Chi on their kill list and make such a huge scene?"
Endless Time looked at him. "She was angry? Was she?"
Blue Sky Beyond froze.
Caught off guard by the question. Xiao Chi thought back carefully. "...Come to think of it, every time I've seen her, she's always been very calm. She never actually seemed angry. ...Even though she kept hunting me down."
Endless Time nodded. "She just enjoys stirring up trouble and throwing her weight around in the game. I've always suspected she was doing it on purpose. Now it's finally been confirmed. She absolutely was."
Sister Dog looked bewildered. "Then... is Misty Autumn Rain actually a woman or a man?"
Endless Time shrugged. "I don't know. Does it matter?"
"It still matters," Sister Dog replied. "If she's really a woman, then no matter how much she toyed with Cold Sword Shadow's feelings, he probably wouldn't go after her. But if she's a guy playing a female character… Way of Heaven will hunt 'her' to the ends of the earth."
Meanwhile, Misty Autumn Rain continued tirelessly posting guild recruitment messages in World Chat.
Given the current controversy, no guild wanted to offend Way of Heaven by immediately accepting her. But she never stopped. Every so often, she'd post the exact same recruitment message again, drawing another wave of spectators and discussion.
Looking at it now through the lens of Endless Time's analysis...it really did make perfect sense.
She was doing it on purpose. Deliberately attracting attention. Deliberately making herself the center of everyone's gaze. The center of every conversation.
The members of Little Vegetable Guild clicked their tongues in amazement as they worked on upgrading their guild's Sanctuary.
After watering the Unknown Seed and hauling construction stones for the guild instance, Xiao Chi logged off. After thinking it over, he decided to send Endless Time a private message on WeChat.
[Xiao Chi]: If you think Misty Autumn Rain is the best choice for our healer, then we can invite her to join both the team and the guild. I don't really have any grudge against her. Fighting and killing each other in games is normal.
[Shi]: You're really not angry?
[Xiao Chi]: Ah, I got over it a long time ago. I'm honestly not upset.
[Shi]: Brother Xiao Chi has such a good temper.
Xiao Chi immediately blushed.
[Shi]: I'm mainly worried she'll join the guild and stir up trouble.
[Xiao Chi]: Little Vegetable Guild is so small. There's not much trouble she could cause.
[Shi]: I'm worried Way of Heaven will target you and affect your streams.
Xiao Chi felt a warmth spread through his chest...Ah.
Endless Time was actually an incredibly considerate person. Whenever Xiao Chi was live, Endless Time always knew what should and shouldn't be said. Xiao Chi streaming all day inevitably caused the others a bit of inconvenience while they played together. But Endless Time had never once complained. If anything, he worried about whether it would affect Xiao Chi's broadcasts.
Likewise, Xiao Chi didn't want to interfere with Endless Time's battlefield ambitions.
He knew Endless Time wasn't afraid of being targeted by Way of Heaven. Nor was he afraid of Cold Sword Shadow.
[Xiao Chi]: It won't affect me. Honestly, compared to peacefully playing games, my viewers actually enjoy watching drama more. If Path of Heaven really starts targeting us, it'll probably increase my stream traffic instead.
[Shi]: Brother Xiao Chi is too nice. Are you trying to comfort me?
[Xiao Chi]: No...
[Shi]: Thanks for being so magnanimous, Brother Xiao Chi.
[Shi]: But... you don't have to be so well-behaved.
"...Huh?"
Xiao Chi blinked at his phone, confused.
[Shi]: You don't need to worry about putting the team together. We won't have trouble finding a healer. If you want to play with Misty Autumn Rain, we'll let her join. If you don't want to play with her, we'll reject her.
[Shi]: You're still pretty young, but you're always thinking about everyone else.
[Shi]: When you're playing games... don't be so obedient.
Xiao Chi stared at his phone in a daze. He was so distracted that he even forgot to say goodbye to Endless Time.
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