Chapter 55: I'm Not a Bad Person
[Destined to Meet]
[He's so into him. They're a perfect match.]
[Whether it's the fated matching couple names or secretly camping in his stream and showering him with gifts, every part of this is absolutely insane.]
[As an old Way of Heaven guild member, I seriously don't understand Wujin Shi anymore. He was never like this when he was in Way of Heaven.]
[Well, he's in front of the person he has a crush on.]
The words "matching couple names" hit Chi Zhen like a truck. He stood there dumbfounded beside the vegetable patch, still clutching a handful of vegetables.
Wujin Shi, however, never turned his mic back on. He'd delivered the critical hit and immediately vanished.
He'd probably gone back to work.
Seeing Chi Zhen standing there in a daze, the viewers found it hilarious and immediately started teasing him.
But Chi Zhen had no mind to read the chat. After spacing out for a while, he absentmindedly harvested vegetables until he'd cleared several plots. Then, forgetting to plant new seeds, he walked straight out of the Guild’s Sanctuary.
For a life-skill player, that was practically a cardinal sin!
Forgetting to replant meant breaking the perfect daily farming cycle.
The viewers panicked, flooding the chat with reminders—they even forgot about shipping the couple.
Unfortunately, Chi Zhen wasn't looking at his chat overlay at all. The moment he left the guild instance, he headed straight for the Auction House and searched for Zhēng Horns, Xiezhu Fangs, Cupwood Fruit, and other crafting materials.
These materials were extremely rare. Even the Auction House seldom had any listed.
After searching for quite a while, Chi Zhen found only a single Xiezhu Fang, priced at 150,000 spirit stones. He bought it without bargaining. Normally, a Xiezhu Fang sold for around 120,000 spirit stones. But because they were so scarce, sellers often listed them well above market price whenever none were available. If they got lucky, someone would buy it. If not, it might sit unsold for half a month.
After all, Xiezhu Fangs were rare materials used to upgrade Divine Artifacts.
They could also be used to upgrade Immortal Artifacts to high-grade quality, but that was considered rather extravagant.
At present, Wujin Shi was the only player on the Moonfall Starsink server who possessed a Divine Artifact. Even so, plenty of players who hoped to obtain one someday had already begun stockpiling upgrade materials. They were simply too difficult to gather, so buying them in advance made sense. If they ultimately didn't need them, they could always resell them later.
Chi Zhen didn't even own a Divine Artifact. Yet here he was, buying upgrade materials.
[Oh my god, is he collecting materials for his husband?]
[Love really rots your brain. He paid thirty thousand above market price without even blinking. Is this really the same Xiao Chi who's obsessed with efficiency?]
After buying the material, Chi Zhen walked over to the nearby warehouse NPC, opened his storage, and deposited it.
[HOLY SHIT! Am I seeing things? I swear I just saw FIVE Xiezhu Fangs in Xiao Chi's warehouse, several Zhēng Horns, and a bunch of other rare materials!]
[Xiao Chi, you better tell me you're stockpiling these to sell later when prices go up, otherwise I'm seriously going to tell you not to become love-brained.]
[Playing around with men is one thing. Spending money on them is the beginning of a tragic life.]
[But Wujin Shi also spent several million spirit stones blowing up trees for Xiao Chi.]
[Just lock these two together already.]
Chi Zhen had been quietly collecting materials for Wujin Shi all along. After doing some research, he'd learned that upgrading a Divine Artifact to high-grade required a huge number of rare materials, making the collection process incredibly difficult. His plan had been to gather a substantial batch first before mailing everything to Wujin Shi at once.
For reasons he couldn't quite explain, he was embarrassed about the viewers making a fuss over it. So he'd always bought the materials privately after ending his stream. He hadn't expected his mind to be such a mess today that he'd instinctively gone to the Auction House and purchased them while still live, exposing everything to his audience.
It took Chi Zhen quite a while to snap back to reality. By then, new viewers entering the stream were already filling the chat with questions. "Is the streamer slacking off?"; "Why is he just staring blankly instead of playing?"
Pulling himself together for the sake of the stream, he switched to solo battlefield mode.
Around noon, he finally exited the battlefield. "I'm going to grab some lunch," he said. "I'll play some game highlight videos I edited for you guys."
Picking up his phone to order takeout, he noticed that Wujin Shi had sent him several messages.
[Shi]: You don't need to collect materials. It'll be a long while before I upgrade it.
[Shi]: If you're just investing in materials to sell later, pretend I never said anything.
[Xiao Chi]: I am stockpiling them, but if you need them, you can have all of these.
[Xiao Chi]: I've stored quite a lot of materials. You can also take whatever you need from the guild warehouse. It's just... thank you for spending several million spirit stones blowing up trees for me, and for sending so many gifts.
[Xiao Chi]: Seriously, don't send any more gifts.
[Shi]: All of them?
[Xiao Chi]: Yep. I'll mail them to you now. You can collect them tonight when you log in. Which materials are you still missing? I've stockpiled plenty more in my warehouse. Just tell me what you need.
[Xiao Chi]: If I don't have what you're missing, I can check the Auction House for you every day. I'm online much longer than you are, so I can keep an eye out.]
[Shi]: Thanks, Brother Xiao Chi.
There was no voice, no emoji. Yet Chi Zhen somehow felt as though Wujin Shi's faintly amused voice was sounding in his ear once again.
Wujin Shi was probably busy at work. He didn't appear in the stream for the entire afternoon. A little after five o'clock, Chi Zhen's phone vibrated several times. At the time, Chi Zhen, Qian Yu, and Sister Gou were taking turns grinding soaked rice into rice paste inside the guild instance, hoping to upgrade the guild instance that very day.
The moment his phone buzzed, Chi Zhen immediately let go of the mouse, picked up his phone, unlocked it, and checked the message.
Wujin Shi sent him a photo. Chi Zhen tapped it open. The picture was filled with Quest for the Azure Heavens merchandise—posters, acrylic standees, acrylic display pieces, plush dolls, and even the Spirit Cultivator figurine that Chi Zhen had admired that morning.
[Shi]: I just realized our company has a collaboration with Quest for the Azure Heavens. They gave us a ton of merch. Which ones do you like? I'll mail them to you.
[Xiao Chi]: Ah, no need. Thank you, really. Thank you so much.
[Shi]: Didn't you say this morning you wanted to decorate your streaming room?
[Xiao Chi]: I'll just buy a few display pieces from the official flagship store. These belong to your company after all. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to take them?
[Shi]: I'll send them to the parcel pickup station nearest you. Don't get the wrong idea, Brother Xiao Chi. I'm not a bad person.
[Xiao Chi]: That's not what I meant!
[Xiao Chi]: It's not that I don't trust you!
Flustered, Chi Zhen hurriedly tried to explain himself. His fingers flew across the screen so fast they nearly cracked it. Before he knew it, he'd somehow sent Wujin Shi the address of his nearest parcel pickup station.
Meanwhile, Sister Gou was grinding rice into paste while gossiping with Chi Zhen and Qian Yu.
"So, apparently," she said, "Guild Leader Han still hasn't replied to Wei Yu Ning Qiu's apology. People in Way of Heaven are saying she only joined our Little Vegetable Guild to mess with Way of Heaven. Some even wanted to mark our guild for PvP, but Guild Leader Han stopped them."
Qian Yu looked confused. "But weren't they the ones who told Wei Yu to leave the guild?"
Sister Gou sighed. "Well... yeah. Wei Yu really does have a way of saying things that gets under people's skin. Setting her personality aside, though... online relationships are complicated. Some people are willing to meet in real life, while others think it's unrealistic and don't want to reveal anything about their real lives. That's understandable. The problem wasn't what she wanted—it was how she handled it. She could've been much more tactful."
She turned to Qian Yu. "Remember this, Qian Yu. If you ever have an online romance, don't casually ask a girl for her address just because you want to mail her a gift. You should only do that after your relationship has reached that stage. And even then, it's best not to ask for her exact home address. Send it to a pickup station near her place instead. Girls feel much safer that way." Then she looked at Chi Zhen. "Right, Guild Leader Xiao Chi?"
Chi Zhen, who had literally just sent someone his parcel pickup station address: "..."
Qian Yu answered instead. "An online romance? Impossible. Rule number one of our guild: Only Quest for the Azure Heavens, no romance. Brother Wujin Shi said that the other day."
[Wow, the Little Vegetable Guild really has guts. They're openly discussing Han Jian Ying and Wei Yu Ning Qiu's drama on stream?]
[Little Vegetable Guild specializes in not fearing trouble.]
[Qian Yu, you're killing me. Bet you Wujin Shi will be the first one to fall into an online relationship.]
[Why did Xiao Chi suddenly go quiet?]
[He's been furiously typing on his phone this whole time. Who knows which guy he's texting?]
Sister Gou had been watching the stream chat while pushing the millstone. After reading the comments, she laughed. "Why can't we talk about it? Everything I said is already all over the forum. Don't tell me none of you have been reading the 818 gossip threads these past two days."
The forums had been flooded with gossip posts about Wei Yu Ning Qiu ever since she joined the Little Vegetable Guild.
Everyone was baffled by the guild leader's decision, and theory posts kept appearing one after another.
She wasn't wrong. One theory claimed this was simply the latest soap opera twist. After all the twists and turns, Wei Yu Ning Qiu had finally moved Wujin Shi. As Wujin Shi's good friend, Qingzhou Yiguo naturally chose to forgive her for hunting him before and accepted her into the guild. However, to settle things cleanly with Way of Heaven and Dominating the Firmament, they made her publicly spam apologies in world chat as proof of her sincerity.
Another theory argued they were all wrong. According to them, enemies became lovers. Qingzhou Yiguo had actually fallen for Wei Yu Ning Qiu.
A third theory insisted everyone else was mistaken. Qingzhou Yiguo, Wujin Shi, and the others who had left Way of Heaven with him all hated Wei Yu Ning Qiu. Their outrageous apology demands had merely been meant to humiliate her. They never expected the proud Wei Yu to actually go through with them. Now the Little Vegetable Guild had no choice but to honor their word and recruit her.
A fourth theory declared everyone else completely off base. The explanation was simple: Qingzhou Yiguo was a game streamer. He needed attention. He needed controversy. He needed traffic. Besides, Bilibili Live was currently running a promotional event. Just look—he'd already made it onto the front-page recommendations today. How else could a rookie streamer get that kind of exposure? By constantly creating drama in-game. Just wait and see. He'd keep manufacturing more topics. Right now he was desperately trying to hype up a CP with Wujin Shi, and sooner or later it would backfire.
Chi Zhen hadn't browsed the Quest forums at all. He hadn't even looked at the gossip threads. The moment he woke up every day, he started streaming. He simply didn't have time to read forums. Checking the guild roster, he noticed that Wei Yu Ning Qiu still hadn't logged in today.
"So..." Chi Zhen asked, "Han Jian Ying and An Yu still haven't replied?"
Sister Gou answered, "An Yu did. He sent three handshake stickers. I guess that means they're even now."
Chi Zhen: "Oh."
[What kind of answer is 'oh'?]
[I read every single 818 thread, and honestly I think they're all making stuff up.]
[So why exactly did Xiao Chi make Wei Yu Ning Qiu apologize to Han Jian Ying and An Yu?]
"Yeah, I've been wondering that too. Why? It made absolutely no sense." It was Wei Yu Ning Qiu. No one knew when she'd entered the Little Vegetable Guild's YY voice channel. Qingtian Wai had already given her speaking permissions.
Sister Gou jumped in surprise. Chi Zhen remained perfectly calm. "You think it made no sense?"
Wei Yu Ning Qiu: "Absolutely."
Chi Zhen replied evenly, "When you marked me for PvP, I also thought it made absolutely no sense."
Wei Yu Ning Qiu: "..."
Qian Yu immediately chimed in. "Exactly. Back then, all those Way of Heaven members suddenly marked Xiao Chi for PvP. It was completely out of nowhere."
Chi Zhen continued, "So... now you know what that feels like?"
Wei Yu Ning Qiu let out a cold laugh. "If you dislike me so much, why let me join the guild?"
"It's not that I dislike you," Chi Zhen answered. "I just wanted you to understand what it feels like when something completely unreasonable happens to you."
Qian Yu dutifully followed up. "Now that you understand, don't go doing unreasonable things again."
Wei Yu Ning Qiu: "..."
[LMAO, are you guys performing a crosstalk routine here?]
[Qian Yu, seriously... I'm worried you're going to make Wei Yu die of anger.]
[Why are people overanalyzing this? It's an MMORPG. What logic is there to analyze? Especially PvP guilds—they're basically powder kegs. They start fights for no reason, mark people for PvP for fun. Creating conflict is practically the whole point!]
[Works for me. I'm just here for the entertainment.]
Sister Gou cut back in. "Anyway... the rice slurry’s finished. Everyone, we've got one hundred and twenty barrels. Everyone… We can finally upgrade the Guild’s Sanctuary!"
----------
If you like my translation, please support me by buying me a coffee:
No comments:
Post a Comment