“Yeah.”
Zhu Lingxi's expression was very calm.
“My family elders are also in the player space. They want me to practice Nuo opera more and learn the rules and knowledge of the dungeons from them.”
“There isn't much to do in the real world.”
“Instead, in the player space, I can find more things related to the Nuo God and spirits.”
She touched the Nuo mask at her waist.
“Besides, as long as my family is here, anywhere can be home.”
Cen Yao looked at her.
Zhu Lingxi spoke calmly.
But Cen Yao could still hear a hint of longing hidden beneath her calm exterior.
She didn't press further, only offering a soft murmur of agreement.
Then, Cen Yao turned her head to look at Pei Tinglan.
He had been staring out the window for some time.
Outside the dessert shop, players came and went, occasionally rushing across the street.
Pei Tinglan's profile was reflected in the glass, so exquisite it seemed almost unreal.
“What about you?” Cen Yao asked. “Have you also been staying in the player space this whole time?”
Pei Tinglan withdrew his gaze and took a sip from his teacup.
“Me?”
“Of course.”
“After the arrival of the Horror Game, who would still care about careers like being a celebrity or a pop idol?”
He spoke nonchalantly.
“It's better to focus your energy on survival.”
Cen Yao looked at him, not speaking immediately.
Pei Tinglan was simply too good-looking.
Even though he was sitting in a wheelchair now, and even though a layer of gloom always hung over his eyes, it was still easy to associate him with the dazzling idol under the stage lights.
It was just that such light seemed very far away from him now.
After a long pause, Cen Yao murmured, “True.”
“Survival is the most important thing.”
Pei Tinglan didn't respond.
However, his fingertip paused slightly on the rim of his teacup.
Cen Yao hesitated for a moment, then asked as if casually, “Pei Tinglan, when did you enter the game?”
Pei Tinglan's eyelashes trembled slightly.
The tea reflected his blurry reflection.
He stared at the faintly rippling reflection, remaining silent for a long time.
So long that Cen Yao thought he wouldn't answer.
Only then did she hear him speak quietly.
“I don't remember.”
“About a year ago, I suppose.”
Cen Yao's fingers tightened slightly around her wand.
A year ago.
That was almost exactly when the Horror Game had first arrived.
Pei Tinglan was among the very first batch of players drawn into the dungeons.
There was no mature live-streaming system.
There were no countless guides on the forums.
There was no fixed dungeon information, and nothing like the relatively complete player space they had now.
That earliest batch of people had been pushed into true life-or-death situations knowing practically nothing.
“That early?”
Zhu Lingxi gasped softly.
“Master Pei is amazing.”
“I heard from the elders in my family that the earliest dungeons were incredibly dangerous. There were no live streams, no Talents, and no clues from predecessors. It was nothing like it is now.”
Cen Yao wanted to ask more.
But Pei Tinglan cut off the topic before she could.
“It was alright.”
“It's all in the past.”
His tone was too calm.
So calm that it was clear he didn't want anyone probing further.
Cen Yao watched him for a couple of seconds and ultimately didn't push.
She simply nodded.
“Yeah.”
“It's in the past.”
The dessert shop fell silent for a while.
The lights from outside spilled onto the table. Though warm, no one spoke again.
Until Pei Tinglan suddenly looked up.
“By the way.”
Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi looked at him at the same time.
Pei Tinglan's expression remained cold, as if he were just mentioning it in passing.
“We've been through life and death together.”
“And as it happens, I don't dislike you two.”
Cen Yao blinked.
Pei Tinglan looked away.
“Let's add each other as friends.”
“It'll make it easier to stay in touch if anything comes up in the future.”
Cen Yao froze.
“Friends?”
Seeing the blank look on her face, Pei Tinglan's brow gradually furrowed.
“You didn't know?”
“There's a friend list at the back of the quest panel. You can send a request by sharing your player ID.”
“Once added, you can contact each other anytime through the System. It's much more convenient than a phone in the real world.”
Cen Yao immediately opened her quest panel.
Before this, she had only ever looked at her quests, inventory, and the mall. She hadn't noticed the friend icon in the corner at all.
Now, with Pei Tinglan's reminder, she discovered a small communication bar at the very bottom.
It was completely empty, without a single friend.
Cen Yao felt a bit embarrassed. “I never noticed it before.”
Pei Tinglan looked at her, then at Zhu Lingxi, who had already opened her friend list with practiced ease.
He was temporarily speechless.
Even a scatterbrain like Zhu Lingxi knew about it, yet the clever and quick-witted Cen Yao didn't?
Out of habit, Pei Tinglan wanted to say something biting, but remembering that these two had practically begged to be his friends, he held back.
He couldn't scold them. If he ended up making them even stupider, wouldn't that just mean two more troublemakers for him to deal with?
He fell silent for a few seconds before simply saying, “Tell me your IDs.”
Cen Yao read out a string of numbers from her panel.
Zhu Lingxi read hers out too.
Not long after, two prompts popped up on Cen Yao's system panel.
[Player "Siren" has requested to add you as a friend.]
[Player "Nuo" has requested to add you as a friend.]
Looking at the two names, Cen Yao felt inexplicably happy.
She clicked accept one by one.
[Friend added successfully.]
[Friend communication feature enabled.]
Zhu Lingxi looked at the system prompts and curled her eyes into a smile.
“If I get lost in the future, I can find Miss Cen.”
Cen Yao instantly became alert.
“You want to find me, not have me get lost with you, right?”
Zhu Lingxi thought about it seriously.
“If you don't know the way either, then we'll find Master Pei.”
Pei Tinglan: “...”
He looked up.
“I only added two friends.”
“I didn't agree to be your permanent GPS.”
Cen Yao said with a smile, “Don't worry.”
“We'll pay the tour guide fee.”
“How much?”
“I'll make hotpot for you in the next dungeon.”
Pei Tinglan sneered.
“Do you think I'm lacking a meal of hotpot?”
Cen Yao looked at him. “How about sweet and sour pork?”
Pei Tinglan paused.
Cen Yao didn't notice this subtle pause.
She looked down at the time and suddenly stood up.
“I have to return to the real world.”
Zhu Lingxi, who was still slowly eating the last strawberry on her plate, was taken aback by her words.
“So soon?”
“What's so good about the real world that makes you in such a hurry?”
Pei Tinglan also looked at her with confusion.
Cen Yao held her wand, unable to hide the pride and eagerness in her voice.
“You guys don't understand.”
“My mom and dad are in the real world.”
“I haven't been home in so long. My mom will definitely make delicious food for me.”
As she spoke, her eyes lit up.
“Especially sweet and sour pork.”
Zhu Lingxi's movements froze.
“Sweet and sour pork?”
“Yes.”
“It's sweet and sour, crispy on the outside, and soft meat on the inside.”
The more Cen Yao spoke, the hungrier she got.
“My mom makes it incredibly delicious.”
Zhu Lingxi's eyes also gradually lit up.
She devoured the last strawberry in a couple of bites, set down her spoon, and asked very solemnly, “Miss Cen.”
“Can I go to your house to eat the sweet and sour pork made by Mrs. Cen?”
Pei Tinglan: “...”
He raised a hand to press his forehead.
Who on earth would ask to go to someone else's house for dinner when they had only just met?
Moreover, they had met in a chaotic and dangerous horror dungeon.
Just how had Zhu Lingxi's family raised her to be so matter-of-fact and completely unguarded?
Cen Yao was also taken aback.
She clearly hadn't expected Zhu Lingxi to be so direct.
But Zhu Lingxi looked at her with clean, earnest eyes, not looking like she was joking at all.
Cen Yao thought about it.
She indeed had never brought friends home before.
From childhood to adulthood, there were very few people around her who could be called friends.
Since the arrival of the Horror Game, this was the first time she had met two people with whom she could go through life and death and also sit in a dessert shop to chat.
She wasn't afraid of them having any bad intentions. There was no other reason than the fact that she had the strength to handle it.
Even if they really had bad intentions, she could just kill them.
Even if she couldn't handle it, wasn't there still the orb?
And so, Cen Yao quickly smiled.
“Sure!”
“My mom can make so many things. Sweet and sour pork, cola chicken wings, braised spare ribs—you can eat whatever you want.”
Zhu Lingxi's eyes lit up completely.
“I want to eat all of them.”
“Then we'll eat all of them.”
Having said that, Cen Yao turned to look at Pei Tinglan.
“Pei Tinglan, you come along too.”
Pei Tinglan instinctively refused. “I'll pass. Maybe next time.”
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi were already standing on either side of his wheelchair.
Cen Yao grabbed the wheelchair's handles.
While Zhu Lingxi naturally helped him pack up his teacup from the table, getting ready to pay the bill.
Pei Tinglan: “?”
“Wait.”
“I said next time.”
“What next time?”
Cen Yao pushed him toward the exit.
“Opportunities like this don't come twice.”
“Besides, my house has lots of fun things. I guarantee you've never seen them before.”
As she reached this point, her tone carried an excitement and eagerness that was hard to conceal.
This was the first time in her eighteen years of life that she had invited friends to her house.
In the past, she had never felt there was anything to look forward to in this.
But now, thinking about bringing Zhu Lingxi and Pei Tinglan back, and imagining the surprised expression her mother might show when she saw her bringing friends home, Cen Yao actually felt a strange, warm anticipation in her heart.
She walked up to the teleportation area and suddenly stopped.
“By the way.”
Zhu Lingxi looked at her.
“What is it?”
Cen Yao held her wand, her expression turning a bit more serious.
“Once we return this time...”
“Let's form a team.”
Pei Tinglan's brow furrowed.
Yet Cen Yao had already continued.
“I think the three of us work pretty well together.”
“Lingxi can fight, heal, soothe souls, and summon deities.”
“Pei Tinglan has great crowd control, knows a lot, and is good with directions.”
“As for me...”
Cen Yao thought about it and said honestly, “The things I know are a bit of a mixed bag.”
“Anyway, future dungeons will lean more and more toward teaming up, and we have a Permanent Team Card.”
“Instead of letting others arrange it for us, we might as well form our own team.”
Zhu Lingxi didn't hesitate.
“Sure!”
She smiled, her eyes curving into a soft arc.
“I really like Cen Yao and Master Pei too.”
Cen Yao immediately corrected her.
“Stop calling me Miss Cen.”
“We're so close now, just call me Xiao Yao.”
Zhu Lingxi blinked.
“Okay, Xiao Yao.”
Cen Yao slung an arm over her shoulder in satisfaction.
“That's more like it.”
Sitting in his wheelchair, Pei Tinglan fell into a brief silence.
“...”
Wait.
How did things jump from introducing the player space, to inviting them for dinner, and then to forming a team?
Had he missed something?
Was this what friendship between girls was like?
But the key was, what did friendship between girls have to do with him?
He recalled refusing, didn't he?
And he hadn't agreed to form a team either, right?
They had just casually decided it for him like that?
Did he not count as a person?
Pei Tinglan looked up.
Just as he was about to speak up and object, he saw Cen Yao and Zhu Lingxi standing together, looking at him with expressions full of anticipation.
Cen Yao asked, “What do you think?”
Zhu Lingxi also said softly, “Master Pei, are you unwilling?”
Pei Tinglan met two pairs of eyes.
One pair was bright and sly.
The other was quiet and earnest.
He remained silent for a long time, and finally turned his head away.
“...Let's eat first.”
Cen Yao was taken aback for a moment, then her eyes lit up.
“You agree?”
“I only agreed to the meal.”
“Eating is just the first step.”
“Cen Yao, don't push your luck.”
“Understood, teammate Pei.”
Pei Tinglan: “...”
Cen Yao completely ignored his expression, which was on the verge of collapsing.
She was eager to return home.
She lightly twirled her wand in her palm, and the teleportation panel emerged.
[Do you wish to pay 100 points to open the passage to return to the real world?]
Cen Yao clicked confirm without any hesitation.
Before the white light shone, she took one last look at the two people beside her.
Zhu Lingxi was full of anticipation for the sweet and sour pork.
Pei Tinglan had a sour expression, yet he didn't mention leaving again.
Rate on N.U.
