Chapter 50: We'll Do Whatever the Guild Leader Says
After finishing the dungeon and dividing up the loot, it was about time to end the stream. Chi Zhen said goodbye to his viewers and turned the broadcast off.
Only after the stream ended did he click on his unread chat notifications and accept Wei Yu Ning Qiu's friend request.
She had actually sent it an hour earlier. At the time, they had been in the middle of the dungeon, and her request had been instantly buried beneath the flood of skill notifications and boss dialogue. It had flashed by so quickly that even the viewers seemed to have missed it. Chi Zhen hadn't accepted it immediately. He was worried the chat would start making wild speculations again—and even more worried that Wei Yu Ning Qiu might say something bizarre on stream.
The moment the request was accepted, a string of messages arrived.
[Friend] Wei Yu Ning Qiu: I don't understand.
[Friend] Wei Yu Ning Qiu: If you'd asked me to apologize to you in front of the whole server, I'd understand that.
[Friend] Wei Yu Ning Qiu: But why do I have to apologize to Han Jian Ying and An Yu? They're not even your friends. They even hunted you down before.
[Friend] Wei Yu Ning Qiu: Besides, I never did anything to those two. At least I actually did hunt you down.
[Friend] Wei Yu Ning Qiu: Give me your YY.
Chi Zhen's head started to ache. He felt dizzy. He wanted to avoid the whole thing.
Not long afterward, however, Wujin Shi spoke up. "Xiao Chi-ge, Wei Yu Ning Qiu messaged me. She wants to come into YY and ask you why."
The gossip instincts of everyone in Xiao Cai Guild instantly ignited.
Aside from Sha Polang, everyone else was still online.
Gou-jie asked curiously, "I didn't dare ask while you were streaming... Guild Leader, are you really going to let Wei Yu Ning Qiu join the guild?"
Qingtian Wai said, "Actually, for the Wendao Tournament, the whole team doesn't have to belong to the same guild. She can play with us without joining. Mainly... I'm worried she'll stir up trouble and affect Xiao Cai Guild."
Chi Zhen spoke with difficulty. "But... I've already said it publicly..."
Wujin Shi replied, "I don't think it'll be a problem. If she's willing to apologize, then we'll do what Xiao Chi said and let her join. Once she's in, we'll lay down a few rules to keep her from causing trouble."
Qian Yu turned on his mic. "Guild Leader Xiao Chi, objectively speaking, Wei Yu Ning Qiu was pretty unreasonable when she first marked you for revenge. But she never actually encouraged everyone in Way of Heaven to hunt you down. It was just that one person said something, then another chimed in, and somehow everyone ended up putting you on their revenge list."
Gou-jie snorted. "Everyone knew Han Jian Ying liked her. Some people joined in to curry favor with the guild leader, some wanted to impress the pretty girl, and some were just PvP maniacs who loved causing trouble. Once everyone started egging each other on in guild chat, things snowballed out of control."
Qing Ning, who rarely spoke, also turned on her mic. Her voice was soft and gentle. "I think Wei Yu Ning Qiu is probably pretty young. Sometimes she comes across as really immature. She likes being the center of attention. Like... she never actively encouraged the entire guild to hunt Xiao Chi, but she never stopped them either."
Gou-jie agreed. "She's eighteen at the absolute most—probably younger. Take what happened with An Yu leaving Way of Heaven. She obviously didn't like Han Jian Ying, but she never rejected him outright. That ended up turning An Yu and Han Jian Ying against each other. Then she immediately started chasing after Wujin Shi. Personally, I think she just thought it looked cool that Wujin Shi carried a divine weapon. As soon as he rejected her, she went right back to Han Jian Ying. If you're going to agree to an online relationship, at least keep the act going a little longer. It hadn't even been that long before she put Han Jian Ying on the spot by refusing to video chat because she wanted to see what he looked like in real life first… Just thinking about it makes me feel sorry for Han Jian Ying. That girl doesn't have a sincere bone in her body. She's just in it for the entertainment."
After thinking it over, Chi Zhen decided it would be better to invite Wei Yu Ning Qiu into YY and explain everything clearly.
The moment Wei Yu Ning Qiu joined and discovered everyone from Xiao Cai Guild—including Wujin Shi—was already there, she almost slipped back into her usual dramatic performance.
"Wujin Shi, you—"
"Be quiet," Wujin Shi cut her off immediately. "Listen to our guild leader."
Chi Zhen organized his thoughts before speaking. "I just think... regardless of what kind of person Han Jian Ying is, throughout this whole incident, he never once said anything bad about you. He was just angry and ended your in-game relationship. After that, he didn't keep chasing after you or making your life difficult."
He paused. "First, I want to confirm something." Are you actually a girl... or are you using a female character while being a guy?"
Wei Yu Ning Qiu sounded baffled. "I'm really a girl."
Okay. Chi Zhen was now completely certain. Wei Yu Ning Qiu really was just someone who treated the game as pure entertainment. There had never been any sincerity behind it.
"And another thing. The last time Dominating the Firmament joined Way of Heaven in putting me on their revenge list, I thought it was really strange. So I went to the forums to look at Dominating the Firmament's posts... and I ended up finding Liuli Xin's Weibo."
...Huh?!
Everyone in Xiao Cai Guild was stunned.
"So… Liuli Xin's Weibo was basically all about her daily life with An Yu. Screenshots... little stories… After reading it, I realized she wasn't targeting you out of jealousy like the forum posts claimed. She just couldn't stand your attitude. After An Yu left Way of Heaven, you made several comments in guild chat and party chat that looked down on him and mocked him for being tacky. So even after An Yu left the guild, people kept laughing at him because of it."
Liuli Xin's Weibo was, from beginning to end, nothing more than the diary of a girl in love. It was filled with screenshots of sightseeing trips she had taken with An Yu, little moments from their daily lives, gifts An Yu had sent her in-game, presents he had mailed her in real life, and messages asking whether his taste was too "straight-guy" or unfashionable.
There was also one entry about how furious she'd been after confronting Wei Yu Ning Qiu, only to be told that An Yu was "too tacky." At the time, An Yu had simply comforted her: "It's okay. As long as you don't think I'm tacky."
Liuli Xin had written beneath it: Is he an idiot? Is he seriously an idiot?! How can someone have their sincere feelings thrown onto the ground and trampled on... and still not get angry? He has to be an idiot!
Chi Zhen's voice grew quieter and quieter. "So... I think you should apologize to both of them."
Silence filled the YY channel.
[Guild] Qingtian Wai: Respect! Guild Leader Xiao Chi... are you the legendary Guardian of Pure Romance?
[Guild] Gou Yao Zao Wo Bu Liu: Respect!
[Guild] Qing Ning: So adorable.
After a long pause, Wei Yu Ning Qiu finally spoke. "Do you know what people call relationships in games? They're called online relationships. And do you know what kind of game this is? An MMORPG. A role-playing game. The reason it's called an online relationship is because it's fake. I was just role-playing through my character, Wei Yu Ning Qiu. An Yu was role-playing. Han Jian Ying was role-playing. How old are you? You actually take things that happen in games seriously? I don't get it. Wujin Shi, don't you have anything to say? So you're really not letting me join the team?"
Wujin Shi answered leisurely, "I'll follow whatever our guild leader decides."
Wei Yu Ning Qiu fell silent.
Then Wujin Shi continued, "You said it yourself—we're all just playing a game. You have your way of playing. Xiao Chi-ge has his. If you want to join Xiao Cai Guild, then you follow Xiao Chi-ge's rules. If everyone gets along, great. If not, you can find another guild."
"Fine," Wei Yu Ning Qiu said. Then she immediately left YY.
The members of Xiao Cai Guild discussed it for another couple of minutes before agreeing that Wei Yu Ning Qiu probably wasn't going to apologize.
One by one, everyone logged off. Chi Zhen remained standing absentmindedly in the guild sanctuary. When he finally came back to his senses, he realized Wujin Shi was still standing beside him.
Instinctively, Chi Zhen apologized. "Sorry... I might've ended up costing you all a healer..."
Wujin Shi turned slightly, shifting his camera toward Qingzhou Yiguo.
The game's default Face No. 1 was handsome and heroic. Whether it was just Chi Zhen's imagination or not, he felt as though that default face carried the faintest hint of a smile.
"Having an amazing Xiao Chi-ge is enough."
Chi Zhen felt his face growing warm.
Amazing? How was he an amazing player?
"Xiao Chi-ge. Don't overthink it. This is a game. In a game, you can be a little more carefree. You don't have to be so well-behaved."
"Huh?" Chi Zhen suddenly felt that Qingzhou Yiguo's face looked a little too goofy after all the tweaking he'd done in the character creator. He found himself regretting it. He should've just used the system's default Face No. 1 like Wujin Shi.
"You don't need to feel like you're meddling in other people's business," Wujin Shi said. "This is a game. You can do whatever you want. You don't have to worry about whether you're becoming a burden to someone else. Games are fun precisely because they aren't real life." He paused before adding, "I know that makes me sound a bit like Wei Yu Ning Qiu, but I promise I'm not the same as her."
That made Chi Zhen laugh.
"I'm putting together a team for the Wendao Tournament because I want to have fun," Wujin Shi continued, "not because I'm obsessed with getting first place. So don't feel pressured just because we might lose a healer."
Chi Zhen nodded. Then he realized Wujin Shi couldn't actually see him, so he quietly answered, "...Mm."
After logging off, Wujin Shi sent Chi Zhen another message on WeChat.
[Shi]: If you have any questions about further studies or career paths in computer science, feel free to ask me.
[Shi]: As for the consultation fee... just take me along to farm Zhēng a couple more times, Xiao Chi-ge.
Of course, Chi Zhen understood that Wujin Shi's idea of "doing whatever you want" was completely different from Wei Yu Ning Qiu's. Wujin Shi simply meant playing the game freely—for the joy of playing. Even knowing that the game was only a virtual world and that every other player was just a stranger, he still treated people with kindness. He was thoughtful. Patient. Considerate. And unfailingly polite.
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