Faced with a difficult question, he fell silent again.
Seeing her silence, Bai Xiaodu leaned forward, shifting closer to her, but stopped at just the right distance.
He was like a shivering, shelterless cub in the dead of winter who had suddenly stumbled upon a warm campfire. He wanted to draw closer, yet shrunk back, terrified that the fire's owner would drive him away in disgust.
Lingxin didn't resist. The indescribable ache in her chest prompted her to make an immediate decision. She gently folded her arms around him in a warm embrace.
“Mhm.”
Their upper bodies pressed close together. A gentle fragrance wafted over, tickling Bai Xiaodu's nose. Although it was just a virtual game, the sensory feedback was incredibly realistic, making the embrace feel warm and full of life.
She gently rubbed her cheek against his shimmering silver hair. Bai Xiaodu kept his head lowered, his expression hidden from view.
The more she looked at him, the more Lingxin regretted her words. She shouldn't have pried.
Her original intention had been to coax Bai Xiaodu into talking about his family so she could play the role of a caring older sister and comfort him. After that, she would have him wrapped around her finger. Even if she was away on a mission, she could remotely order this adorable little fox to do all sorts of fun little tasks. Just the thought of it was thrilling.
But look how that turned out. Damn it, she hadn't expected that he didn't even have an abusive family to complain about. His only living relative was gravely ill, requiring both money and constant care. And she had seen his strength just now; he was clumsy even with basic cantrips. How could a regular person earn that kind of money? The United Federation was no longer the unified empire of humans and demihumans it once was; the private hospitals were ruthless, blood-sucking corporations.
Sigh, she couldn't imagine how he had survived on his own these past few years. The more she looked at him, the more she felt like a complete scoundrel. Lingxin forced herself to stop letting her mind wander. At the end of the day, she was a commissioned officer in the Federation's regular military, a decent person from a respectable background, not some heartless mercenary or criminal conscript. If she crossed the line, she would probably lie awake at night wanting to slap herself.
Gently squeezing his ears, she signaled for Bai Xiaodu to sit up and took his hand once more. Her voice was earnest.
“Ignore the ignorance of others. You've already done well enough.”
“I didn't mean to pry, but I still hurt you, so I must make it up to you.”
“I can't promise much else, but 【Freezing Ray】 happens to be the advanced cantrip I chose before I became a transcendent.”
Bai Xiaodu gave a firm, serious nod.
“Thank you, Sister Lingxin. Hardly anyone has ever been this nice to Xiaobai.”
Hearing him use such an intimate nickname, especially in that tone, made her bite her lip. Her heart skipped a beat.
Lingxin quickly searched her mind for every detail regarding the spell. If she missed something and he failed to learn it properly, she was genuinely afraid she would wake up in the middle of the night and slap herself.
Holding his hand from behind, she guided him step-by-step. Since Bai Xiaodu's mental strength couldn't sustain so many full casts, Lingxin had him focus solely on constructing the spell runes while she handled the actual release.
“When constructing the left side of the outer ring, pause slightly...”
Fortunately, Bai Xiaodu was highly intelligent. Even when he made occasional mistakes, he could completely correct them after just two or three attempts.
When a person works toward a clear goal and everything flows smoothly, a deep sense of satisfying progress carries them forward, making hours fly by in what feels like minutes.
After countless cycles of construction, adjustment, and release, a delicate and intricate spell rune materialized in Bai Xiaodu's hand within a few breaths. His short silver hair fluttered in the virtual wind as he fell into a classic Mage stance. The runes intersected, and a brilliant light flared.
A dazzling pillar of ice erupted, coiling like a dragon. It tore a massive gash through the gloomy sky with astonishing power.
The crackling of freezing ice spread rapidly, easily making the mechanical soldier's double-layered armor brittle. Unwilling to go down without a fight, the soldier charged forward, revving its chainsword. But in the next instant, its chest exploded violently as its internal chip was crushed.
The boss icon above its head quickly turned gray. Its health bar emptied, and the soldier collapsed. A gold chest dropped from its ruined chassis, and the words “Congratulations on Clearing!” popped up in large virtual letters.
Kneeling on one knee, Bai Xiaodu stared at his right palm, which still bore traces of frost.
During the cast, the spell runes in his hand had suddenly felt much more natural, triggering an intuitive urge to adjust them. It was a hard feeling to describe, but Bai Xiaodu instinctively felt it was the right change to make. After all, copying someone else's style meant inheriting their habits; tailoring the technique to his own body's flow was the optimal path.
As it turned out, he was absolutely right. Thanks to the accumulation of dozens of successful casts, the ray had undergone a qualitative transformation. The system panel updated and quietly popped up.
【Freezing Ray】 has been upgraded to 【Proficient】.
【Cast time reduced by 1s, power increased by 30%, range increased by 30%, and additional effect 【Focused Detonation I】 unlocked.】
It seemed the sudden explosion that had destroyed the mechanical soldier was caused by this new Focused Detonation I effect. Bai Xiaodu was highly satisfied with this outcome.
Lingxin walked over, clapping slowly with genuine admiration in her eyes. The spell that had finished off the soldier had been cast entirely by Bai Xiaodu alone. This wasn't just polite encouragement; his learning speed had truly exceeded her expectations.
Learning spells was closely tied to 【Intelligence】 and 【Charm】. Lingxin estimated that for Bai Xiaodu to master it this quickly, at least one of his stats must have reached the threshold of a quasi-transcendent. Though she didn't know the exact reason, she was genuinely happy that he had successfully mastered a spell.
Bai Xiaodu lowered his hand. The game was over, and their scheduled session had come to an end. The virtual map flickered and faded, and they were teleported back to the main city.
With tacit understanding, both of them sent friend requests the moment they landed. Before either could manually accept, the system automatically approved them. To ensure a safe and stable disconnection from the brain-machine interface, they had to wait a few minutes before logging off. Bai Xiaodu sat back down on the park bench. Lingxin followed, returning to her spot to wait patiently.
For a moment, the atmosphere fell silent. As Lingxin silently counted down the logout timer above her head, her gaze drifted sideways.
Bai Xiaodu was smiling, turning his head to look at her. His wine-red eyes were curved, and his lips were tilted upward. The youth's face was full of vitality, pure and untainted. It was an expression of pure, uncomplicated affection. He's so beautiful.
The thought bubbled up in Lingxin's mind like a tiny spark, which quickly multiplied until it filled her entire consciousness. Her brows lifted slightly in response.
...
Tuckerque Military Training Base.
A girl was vigorously banging a metal basin with a spoon in front of her roommate, who had been gaming until midnight and was still grinning like an idiot, trying to wake her up.
“Sister Ling, what are you doing? What are you smiling at? Didn't the boss tell us to use the virtual mode to practice combat?”
She looked to be in her early twenties, with icy-blue eyes and a pair of medium-sized, bone-white dragon horns on her forehead. Her features were striking, and her figure was easily on par with magazine cover models. Yet, despite her undeniable beauty, there was an air of innocent ditziness written all over her face.
Seeing Lingxin's eyes focus again, she quickly thrust the steel basin—which was a whole size larger than her own face—forward. “It's already the middle of the night, and you woke me up. This is your fault, so you have to make me dinner.”
Carefully removing her VR headset, Lingxin cleared her throat awkwardly. “It's nothing. I just found a great stage and got a ton of gold drops. I'm just happy.”
Taking the basin with one hand, Lingxin was long accustomed to her roommate's gluttony and laziness. Today, the girl had actually gotten smart enough to come up with a decent excuse to get her to cook. Then again, she was a dragon-kin, and a naturally dim-witted white dragon at that. They put in a lot of physical effort, ate a lot, and slept a lot. It was only natural.
As she gathered the pots and pans in the kitchen, Lingxin's hands were full, so she ordered her roommate to fetch her phone. She opened the Lele Gaming Companion app and tapped on the order she had just completed. Bai Xiaodu's profile picture appeared on the screen. Lingxin squinted slightly; even a casual headshot of his was more beautiful than most people's heavily edited photos.
“Help me tap the tipping button. Yes, just scan my face to confirm.”
The white dragon girl's eyes widened in surprise, making her look even sillier.
“Sister Ling, what are you doing? Didn't you tell me before that all those good-looking humans on these platforms are just after our money?”
“When I sent them gifts before, you wanted to beat me up. Why are you sending them now?”
Hearing this, Lingxin immediately frowned. She stared at her roommate with her wine-red eyes and said, word for word:
“He is different.”
The white dragon girl's mouth formed a small 'O'.
“How is he different?”
“Don't worry about it, just do as I say. Don't touch that blue gift box; send something more expensive. Yes, just tap that.”
“Insufficient balance.”
“Shoot, I forgot. I just bought a new set of armor recently... Hey, pull out your bank card and lend me some money.”
“Don't be so stingy. Do you want to eat dinner tonight or not?”
“But my money is for buying meat!”
“Stop whining and scan your face... There, perfect.”
Ignoring the white dragon girl, whose cheeks were puffed up in anger, Lingxin scrolled through the gift list. Recalling the youth's face from earlier, her wine-red eyes filled with warmth.
“Boys like surprises too, right?”
“Watch me send him a few more big rockets.”
Rate on N.U.
