Chapter 118

Failed Again

"Who's that careless — not watching where they're going." He went down to the pharmacy on the ground floor, bought a bottle of antiseptic spray, and applied it to the graze on the back of Xu Chenzhu's hand.

"It's nothing." He bent slightly, eyes on Chao Musheng's face. "It'll heal quickly."

Capping the spray, Chao Musheng wiped away the antiseptic with a tissue. "I know it'll heal quickly. But I wouldn't feel right not putting something on it."

"Done." He dropped the tissue in the bin. "They should be nearly finished eating — let's go back."

In the private room, the table had descended into cheerful gossip.

"I feel like I'm dreaming."

"So many people like Xiao Chao — I've always wondered who could possibly be good enough for him. I didn't expect it to be Xu Chenzhu."

"Just now when they were sitting together whispering — I suddenly thought, they seem like they were made for each other."

"Don't bother saying anything to you — you're just going on looks."

"Ahem." Third cleared his throat and waited until everyone was looking at him. "Has anyone thought about what happens when Fourth and Xu Chenzhu's relationship goes public? The scale of it?"

"When Xiao Chao makes it official, are first-years going to start coughing up blood and weeping into the wind again?" Second grimaced, remembering the recent gossip. "That was revolting."

"What was that person's name again?" A classmate frowned. Strange — the name had been right there on the tip of their tongue, and now they couldn't retrieve it at all.

"I remember — he's called Lin—" Third opened his mouth. The name stalled. He turned to First. "First — what was that person's name?"

"The name doesn't matter." First glanced at the door. "Xiao Chao doesn't know who he is anyway."

The private room door opened. Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu came in. "Done eating?"

"All done." The class secretary said. "It's still early — take Xu Chenzhu around campus, Xiao Chao."

"Yes, yes." He waved them off. "Understood. Now go."

"We see how it is — now that you have someone you like, we're just in the way." They laughed. "Xu Chenzhu — enjoy your evening. We'll leave you to it."

"We're off too." His roommates stood, grinning. "The Swan Lake views are especially beautiful tonight. Don't miss it, Mr. Xu."

"You're all impossibly noisy." He herded them out. "Go. All of you. Go."

Once the last of them had been dispatched, the private room went quiet. He turned and smiled at Xu Chenzhu. "Walk around campus?"

"Yes."

Walking alongside him through Jinghua's campus again felt entirely different from before.

"You probably didn't know — to prepare for receiving you, I stayed up reading through all of Kunlun's senior leadership relationships and the company's culture." He held his hand as they walked along the tree-lined path. "And then you showed up with just Secretary Liu. No entourage at all."

No lectures about life. No condescension. He'd been surprisingly gentle.

"I remember walking past this flower bed." He pointed. "I deflected a branch that was in your way, and after that you kept well clear of the flower beds the whole visit."

"That was when I thought — this must be a very good boss." His laugh was quiet. "No wonder everyone at Kunlun speaks so well of him."

"This way." Seeing Xu Chenzhu about to follow the path they'd taken before, he tugged him into the smaller side path. "This is the shortcut students actually use."

A stone-paved trail wound through the trees. He noticed it was full of couples walking hand in hand.

He glanced at Chao Musheng, and understood, somewhat, why he hadn't taken this path on the day of the school anniversary.

"Through this small wood and you reach Swan Lake."

"Mrow."

"Little Orange?" He looked down at the small plump cat sitting on his feet, and bent to rub its head. "No evening adventures with your friends tonight?"

"Mrow." Little Orange was investigating the scent of another cat on Chao Musheng's person.

Human — you have another cat out there?!

A small paw scraped at his shoe.

"What's wrong?" Another head-rub. "Did someone bother you?"

"Mew~" Little Orange tucked its voice down an octave and rubbed its cheek against his palm. Fine. Outside cats are pitiful creatures — if the human wants to feed one, that's his business.

But who is this person next to the human?

"This is my boyfriend." He picked it up and waved its paw at Xu Chenzhu. "Come on — say hello to my excellent boyfriend."

"Meow!"

Greetings, human's companion.

"A gift." A cat treat appeared in Xu Chenzhu's palm.

"Why do you even carry those when you go out?" He unwrapped it and set it in the cat's paws.

"These small animals are very fond of you." He watched the cat eat with obvious satisfaction. "As your boyfriend, I should naturally have gifts for them."

He wanted the whole world to know that Zhaozhao was his.

Little Orange, fully occupied with its treat, had no further attention to spare. He walked on with Xu Chenzhu toward Swan Lake.

"So it's because you love me that you love what I love." He raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I should bring a gift when I meet your friends for dinner?"

"Friends?" He paused. "Zhaozhao — I don't have friends. But tomorrow evening there's an important social gathering — some people from the business world will be there."

He looked back at him, waiting.

"I'd like you to come with me. As my boyfriend."

Which would also mean officially announcing the relationship publicly.

"Of course." He smiled. "Whatever I wear, whatever I carry — I'll leave all of it to you. Is that all right?"

His eyes lit. "Yes!"

*

[Anchor point locked. Target coordinates confirmed. Players — prepare. Instance opening now.]

[Ultimate BOSS Assassination — time limit: 18 hours.]

The four players opened their eyes to a lake, with swans moving across it in serene, unhurried circles.

Their sudden arrival sent the swans into immediate panic. A burst of splashing and furious honking, feathers, water everywhere.

One player touched his own forehead and felt several swan feathers glued there with what was unmistakably swan droppings. The rage this produced sent him reaching for a stone to throw at the birds still wheeling overhead.

"What do you think you're doing?" The patrol guard, hearing the commotion, had walked over to find four men tormenting the campus swans. "What department are you in?"

[Ding — Campus security guard. Instance guardian. Players advised not to provoke conflict.]

"We're sorry — the swans attacked our hair just now, so we—"

"Harassing animals and lying about it. The campus swans have never attacked students unprompted." He frowned at them. "Come with us to the security office while we pull the surveillance."

"They're just some swans." One player was already impatient.

[Ding! Target is one hundred metres from players!]

The target appeared?!

"What did you just say? These are protected species!" He was looking at them with clear suspicion now. "Student IDs out. Did you sneak in from another school?"

"Forget it — stop wasting time." One player said. "We need to find the target."

Kill?

Both guards heard the word and felt the hair rise on their necks. Anti-riot batons out, they followed.

How had these four gotten past the entrance?

"Stop right there!"

"Use the speed items! Now!"

"Used them — no effect!"

"Honk honk honk!"

The swans, still airborne, had decided to contribute: some dive-bombing to deposit droppings on the runners below, some going directly for faces, feathers cascading everywhere.

"Have the swans lost their minds?"

"No — security is chasing someone!"

"Where are our Jinghua athletic champions? Someone get them over here!"

[Ding! Ten metres from target!]

[Nine metres!]

[Eight metres!]

"What's all the noise up ahead?" He looked toward the commotion. Four men covered in feathers, trailed by swans, were running directly at him.

"Student ahead — watch out! Move!" The guard behind them was screaming.

[Two metres!]

The players looked at the two men right in front of them. Which one was the target?

Doesn't matter. Kill both.

The first player to move hadn't even gotten the weapon out before he was airborne.

After kicking one clear, Chao Musheng didn't stop — one kick per person. The last one remaining was subdued by Xu Chenzhu before he'd had the chance.

"Gege Lou." He looked over at one of the guards who'd come running. "What's the situation with these four?"

"They got in from outside somehow — from what they said, they were planning to attack someone on campus." The guard's shoulders dropped with visible relief at the sight of who'd helped. "Thank goodness you were here, Xiao Chao."

Jinghua's students were the country's most carefully cultivated talent. If anything had happened to any of them—

Several helpful classmates had followed the chase and, finding four people already on the ground, piled in to keep them there.

"Call the police — now."

The players lay pinned under a heap of students who were not above delivering the occasional hidden kick.

"Is this the weapon?" He found a blade in the grass. It was old and visibly blunt.

"They came to kill someone with a rusted knife." The guard frowned. "Are you agents of some hostile organization?"

The players, in the heap, were in turmoil. Their strength — where had it gone?

Why did it disappear?!

*

In the player hall, the Assassination Game instance lit up with another large red X.

The room erupted. Failed again?!

Even faster than the last time.

[Ding! Assassination Game — reopening.]

Tiger Ge was baffled. "What is wrong with the Main God? What's in this instance that makes it keep throwing people at it?"

"Maybe impotent rage." Curly Hair's guess had no basis, but she had a strong intuition: the Assassination Game's anchor point was in Xiao Chao's world.

The assassination target was probably Xiao Chao.

Players like those — violent, bloodthirsty — entering Xiao Chao's world would be rejected by the world itself.

The Main God in this much of a panic — did that mean it had run out of options?

The worry was that a cornered dog would choose to fight Xiao Chao to the end.

If only she could enter Xiao Chao's world again — even without being able to tell him the truth, she could at least help him with those players.