Chapter 58.1 – Tastes Like Mint

Going to the Internet cafe had been a whimsical decision on Song Yu’s part, and his mind wasn’t on the game.

The scenery inside the game was vivid and detailed, done in a very shocking, old style. He controlled the little loli to wander around.

There were some small monsters and mini bosses on the way along the River of Forgetfulness. Their healths weren’t high and they could be easily killed, but the team was quite dissatisfied with the little physician loli who was acting like she was out for a stroll.

[Team] Glazed Glass Lamp: ? Physician.

[Team] Crazy Bloodthirsty Little Master: Healer, don’t run around, okay? You don’t need to do anything, just follow us. Really, after failing so many times, it’s always because we run into this kind of person.

Ma Xiaoding spoke, “Wow, Brother Yu, they’re talking about you.”

Song Yu: “I’m not blind.”

Ma Xiaoding thought about the idea that Song Yu had given him the last time they’d played games and suggested, “Do you want to act cute to them?”

Song Yu glanced at him, “I thought you would have me start flaming them directly.”

Ma Xiaoding: “??? Don’t do that. Look at how lovely you look in the game. Your name’s so cute, too.”

Song Yu ignored him and typed out a full stop in the team chat to show that he’d received the message before following the team. Although he’d come to coast, he didn’t want to be too much of a salted fish.

They finally arrived at the entrance leading to the boss as they went further into the map.

Ma Xiaoding spoke from beside him, “When the boss uses its skills, there’ll be an array on the ground. Brother Yu, you should pay attention to your positioning. Also, be careful of her little demons. This is the most disgusting part of the Red Lotus instance; if you’re touched by their vines, you’ll be controlled, and your cooldowns will slow down.”

The instance boss emerged from the magma. Her upper body was human, and she had the lower body of a snake. She looked sinister, and there was a pile of little red lotus demons under her body, their mouths open to reveal their fangs and claws dancing everywhere.

It was a fifteen-person instance and their groups were split seven-eight. Although it was a temporary team, both sides had their own commanders. On their side, they were all relying on Ma Xiaoding’s shouting.

Song Yu stayed away from Xie Sui in order to keep their accounts’ identities as lovers hidden. He locked ‘hand in hand’ with another swordsman who wasn’t from their group. However, it had to be said that this man’s operations were so rotten that it made his eyes hurt. His equipment was clearly pretty good, but he couldn’t deal any damage at all. His positioning was crappy, he couldn’t land his skills well, and he even got controlled from time to time.

The speed at which his health dropped exceeded the speed at which he could heal, which made him grow so angry that he began to flame the other party.

[Team] Dragon Under Heaven: I give up. Are you sleepwalking? Are your hands broken? Do you know how to use skills?

[Team] Dragon Under Heaven: Get lost. Don’t follow Laozi. You’re just a waste.

The people who originally already had opinions about Song Yu spoke up.

[Team] Crazy Bloodthirsty Little Master: What else can you expect from a girl?

Ma Xiaoding was the first to get angry and used voice-to-text to send out a message.

[Team] Sadako Tied To The Hazelnut Tree: Who’s a waste?! Do you know to read the strategy when you do an instance? It’s pretty amazing for a swordsman to be able to play as badly as you.

[Team] Dragon Under Heaven: Why don’t you take a look at the girl you took along? That cheap, brain-damaged thing who only knows to yingyingying?

The corners of Song Yu’s lips tugged down. He raised his eyebrows and untied the ‘hand in hand’ bond with this stupid person. Inside the game, the little loli in green held her lamp and flew to the swordsman in white.

After the ‘hand in hand’ skill finished its cooldown and was used again, the little loli sat on his shoulder. There was a clear line of text above her head, ‘Can I Kiss You?’.

Xie Sui’s lips curved in a brief smile. What happened to staying far away?

[Team] Go Clear Monsters First: You’re back?

Song Yu had been crowned with the label of ‘only knows how to yingyingying’ and didn’t try to shirk it. His expression was indifferent as he typed.

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: He’s so fierce, I’m so scared

He had the intention of disgusting that noob to death.

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: Yingyingying, this one1 is just noob but likes to play qaq

The group of people from No.1 High: “……”

[Team] Dragon Under Heaven: F*ck

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: His health dropped so fast. As long as there’s a skill where he’ll lose health, he’ll go and get hit with it. This one was too busy [covers face]

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: Is it my fault? [index fingers pointing together]

[Team] Go Clear Monsters First: No, he’s the noob

“……” Dragon Under Heaven wanted to curse people. But soon, the boss’s eighth health bar was beaten down, and she began to go crazy. The damage from the formation exploded and he was too busy.

There was a physician on their side as well, and their main skill was a group heal. However, this physician’s positioning wasn’t very good and they were often entangled by the little demons, causing them to lose their cooldowns. This made that group of people instantly realize what it meant to have their health bars perform a vanishing act.

Ma Xiaoding looked at the eight of them who were basically wiped out and felt quite good about it in his heart, but he was also very worried. “F*ck, f*ck, f*ck, are we done for? The boss still hasn’t used her ultimate move! When her tail comes out of the lava, that’s when she’ll start using it.”

Song Yu: “It’s still early.”

Following Xie Sui was much better than going with that noob. This pair of couple accounts were high-leveled, had good equipment, and explosive damage. He felt that Xie Sui’s pile of messy old part-time jobs may also have included helping others play their accounts. Otherwise, why was he so good at playing games? In this kind of instance that was filled with traps, he’d never once gotten caught. He was even able to predict the timing for the boss’s ultimate move, manipulating the swordsman in white to bypass the bloody rain and cut down the last of her health with his sword.

The boss roared. Her health bar was empty and huge, scarlet numbers came out before she sank back into the magma. A lot of top-notch equipment flew out.

Ma Xiaoding was almost about to smash down on his keyboard, “F*ck me! God Xie is really inhuman!”

Crazy Bloodthirsty Little Master and Dragon Under Heaven chose silence.

One of the girls from the team sent out a message.

[Team] Young Green Vines: Amazing

[Team] Young Green Vines: Swordsman big brother qwq, can I add you as a friend?

[Team] Sadako Tied To The Hazelnut Tree: ? Don’t you see their couples names?

[Team] Young Green Vines: Eh? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize [shy][shy] but I just want to be friends and have this big god take me along. The big sister physician on the other side shouldn’t mind, right?

Ma Xiaoding: “Wow! God Xie, why is your luck in love so good no matter where you go?”

In fact, Song Yu was also lamenting this. Was this a heartthrob physique that attracted everyone?

There were some people who felt that the situation wasn’t chaotic enough and kicked up a fuss, “Wow, Brother Yu, she’s going after your boyfriend!”

Song Yu: “??? ……”

Xie Sui chuckled lightly from beside him.

[Team] Go Clear Monsters First: They won’t mind, but they’re hard to coax

[Team] Young Green Vines: Ah? Is big sister physician so petty?

[Team] Young Green Vines: qaq Then, I’ve been rejected. I’m hurt and want a hug

Song Yu’s lips curved down. Little sister, you’re going a bit overboard.

There was a hug action in the game, but it was limited to those who were already friends in the game. It was clear that she still wanted to become friends.

[Team] Young Green Vines: A hug? Just one [blink]

Song Yu briefly entered the role. If it was this account’s owner herself playing, how annoyed would she be when she saw a girl act cute and spoiled towards her boyfriend right in front of her face like this?

[Team] The Next No.1 High School Grass: …… I’m amazed. They’re a match made in heaven, what are you doing acting crazy over here.

[Team] Sadako Tied To The Hazelnut Tree: Acting cute? Who can’t do it?

[Team] Sadako Tied To The Hazelnut Tree: qwq Can you hug me?

After the whole group of them spoke up and messed around.

[Team] Go Clear Monsters First: No, baby’s going to get angry 

Song Yu had come up with a cute girl character profile and was laughing non-stop as he casually followed the script.

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: Hmph!!!

[Team] Can I Kiss You?: You’re not allowed to hug them. You can only hug me [cry][cry]

[Team] Go Clear Monsters First: Come to my arms first

“……”

Song Yu suddenly felt a little embarrassed. Hadn’t they performed this act before?

[…………]

The group of people who’d been as quiet as chickens all felt like they’d eaten a pile of dog food.

[Team] Let The Heavens Make Arrangements: I’m just playing a game, why do I have to suffer this kind of torture.

[Team] kiss: Burp, I’m full.

Ma Xiaoding couldn’t stop laughing. He was just about to type when the whole Internet cafe suddenly fell into darkness.

Their computer screens turned black and the lights went off.

Voices sounded from all directions in the Internet cafe, swearing and cursing.

“F*ck me! Laozi’s pentakill!”

“What’s going on! Why is there a sudden blackout?”

The boss spoke appeasingly from the front, “Linqing Street has been undergoing renovations recently. Maybe the construction team broke a cable. I’ll go ask.”

Someone shouted loudly, “How long will it take?”

Boss: “It’ll take an hour or two to fix, but it might just be a tripped fuse. I’ll go have a look first. Everyone, please remain calm.”

Chapter 58.2 – Tastes Like Mint

Most of the teenagers in the Internet cafe on a Saturday night had paid to play for the whole night. It was only around ten o’clock now, so they quietly sat down to wait and played with their cell phones.

Ma Xiaoding turned on the flashlight on his cell phone. “I was just about to snark at that Green Grass.”

Spiky Hair turned his chair around, “Green Grass? They were called Young Green Vines, right?”

Ma Xiaoding: “It’s pretty much the same, pretty much the same.”

Ma Xiaoding suddenly flipped the flashlight on his cell phone around and placed it under his chin. His entire face was dark, and he stretched out his words as he made himself look like a ghost, “Scared~ or~ not~?”

Spiky Hair was speechless, “Who can you scare with that?”

Ma Xiaoding: “Aiya, this blackout is so boring. Everyone, turn this way. Let’s tell ghost stories together. Back then, I was the story king of our class. If I can’t scare you guys, then my surname isn’t Ma.”

Song Yu wasn’t afraid of anything except dogs and heights. He scoffed when he heard Ma Xiaoding’s suggestion.

His disdainful tone was particularly clear in the dark.

Ma Xiaoding felt offended. He huffed and wanted to go for it, “Brother Yu! Come on! I have a ghost story just for you!”

Song Yu laughed carelessly, “Okay.”

They turned their chairs around.

They were located in a corner. Xie Sui was against the wall, and there was a window above them. Several cell phone flashlights gathered together, casting long, dark shadows on the wall.

Ma Xiaoding spoke in a creepy tone, “Did you guys know? In fact, people have died in this Internet cafe on Linqing Street before, and many of them died suddenly. There’s one very strange case where a young girl who ran to the Internet cafe committed suicide because she felt too much pressure. I heard that she was a very gloomy and dark girl.”

“The Internet cafe’s owner only discovered her death the next day when he came in. He found her lying on the table with her hair spread out, and once he touched her, he found that she was no longer breathing. But her eyes were still open and were a blue-gray color, and her pupils had contracted into small dots.”

“The owner of the Internet cafe felt that this was inauspicious, so he called people over to exorcise evil spirits. As a result, an old Taoist came in, but he was scared away. He said that the girl’s resentment hadn’t dissipated with her death and had transformed her into a demon who lives here. Her eyes are evil things, so if you see her in the Internet cafe in the middle of the night, don’t disturb her or make a sound. If she looks at you, you’re done for. Her eyes are cursed, and she’ll follow you for a lifetime—follow you out of the Internet cafe to your home, and no matter what you do, she’ll watch you until she kills you off.”

“Brother Yu,” Ma Xiaoding abruptly approached and mysteriously said, “It seems like the computer she committed suicide at—it’s the one you’re at!” He raised his voice suddenly towards the end!

“……” Song Yu stared at him.

Ma Xiaoding was embarrassed for a moment but recovered and continued, “Do you feel like your shoulders are a lot heavier when you sit at this spot?”

Song Yu’s gaze was indifferent. He sneered, “Not really.”

Ma Xiaoding: “……”

Spiky Hair rubbed his arms, “Forget it, don’t talk about this anymore. It’s making goosebumps appear  all over my body.”

Ma Xiaoding had originally been very interested, but Song Yu’s sneer had shattered his self-esteem to pieces.

Was it really not even the slightest bit scary? He was almost about to scare himself to death! Brother Yu was inhuman!

Ma Xiaoding’s mind went elsewhere, “… Let’s change the topic.”

Spiky Hair nodded in agreement and excitedly looked at Xie Sui, “In fact, I wanted to say just now, in that game, Fairy Path, God Xie, there’s a lot of questions I want to ask you.” He sat up straight, “How come you can get number one in the grade and also be so good at playing games?”

Xie Sui’s lips curved, “Talent?”

Song Yu remembered how he’d asked him how he’d jumped out the window so smoothly and freely and Xie Sui had answered him the same way. He complained, “Why is it that everything is because of talent? Can you change it to something else? How about instinct?”

Xie Sui looked at him and was very easygoing, “Okay, instinct, then.”

Spiky Hair’s eyes continued to sparkle, “God Xie’s operations are so strong. One glance is enough to tell that he’s a big guy. Your main account should be in the rankings, right? What’s it called?”

Xie Sui: “I’ve forgotten.”

Spiky Hair: “How can you forget this?”

Ma Xiaoding grumbled discontentedly from beside him, “When it comes to games, shouldn’t we talk about those idiots we were grouped with? They actually dared to snipe at our Brother Yu; they’re simply tired of living.”

Another boy said, “Hahaha, Brother Yu’s really capable. He has trick after trick when acting like a girl.”

“His cooperation with God Xie was so seamless. They really looked like a loving and caring couple, angering that group of single dogs to death.”

Spiky Hair heard them talking about this topic and laughed, “This kind of love is so obvious. Their game IDs were even couple names. Hey, what were they called?”

Song Yu couldn’t stop laughing. Now that he brought it up again, he’d forgotten their names. He tilted his head and asked, “What were they called?”

Xie Sui laughed despite himself, “Why would I remember this? You think about it.”

“I’ll try.” Song Yu began to frown as he tried to recall them.

Ma Xiaoding said, “That Dragon Under Heaven or something, he’s playing a DPS position and yet his positioning is so bad—what the hell is he playing at? I’m going to curse him to have nightmares tonight, dreaming of that ghost I mentioned living in the cracks in his wall and standing beside him every night to watch him sleep.”

Everyone around him laughed loudly, “Little Brother Ma, I couldn’t tell that you’re actually quite petty.”

But Song Yu wasn’t really paying much attention to their dialogue.

Song Yu recalled that it was actually a very shameful name with kissing involved? Later on, he’d also been influenced by Ma Xiaoding’s ‘hug me’, and the lightbulb finally turned on and he vaguely remembered what it was.

He looked up in the darkness, his eyes as bright as stars.

He suddenly seemed to see the light and whispered, “Can I Kiss You?”

In the dark, the two of them were closest to each other. The teenager’s tone was clear, and his voice was deliberately lowered when he spoke these words.

Like he was whispering a secret, scratching at the heart.

Xie Sui’s brain, which always remained cool and precise, stopped working for a moment.

After understanding what he meant, he couldn’t help but laugh in a low voice. It was deep and magnetic, every sound tempting and stirring.

He curved his lips and chuckled, then leaned over. His voice was just as low as he jokingly replied, “No, you’d better go and clear monsters instead.”

His peach blossom eyes were curved up in a beautiful arc, his smile careless and light.

Song Yu: “……”

Ma Xiaoding was still talking endlessly nearby.

“Dream of a female ghost standing by his bed and using her blue-gray eyes to stare at him, her pupils contracting as she greedily looks at him with evil in her eyes.”

Halfway through, he suddenly glanced around and was shocked for a moment.

On the wooden partition over one meter high was a pair of inhuman eyes.

Blue-gray, with very small pupils.

They were looking at him, appearing particularly eerie and cold in the blacked-out Internet cafe.

“F*ck me! Ahhhh—”

Ma Xiaoding’s brain exploded, his cry roaring through the eardrums.

The atmosphere, which was originally already a bit gloomy, seemed to ignite in a flash. Ma Xiaoding’s cry triggered everyone’s fear, “What is that!” “Ahhhhhh! It won’t be that woman, would it?”

Everyone grouped together in panic and subconsciously looked back. When they lifted their heads and saw that pair of eyes, a wave of ‘ahhhhhh’ cries rang out like the tide.

More shrill screams came out after the dark creature with the reflecting eyes pounced closer. It was unknown which chair was tripped over, but the group collapsed in a heap. Ma Xiaoding retreated one step after another, leaning back and making Song Yu’s chair unstable.

A force pushed Song Yu from behind, causing Song Yu, who was still sulking, to fall forward.

With this push, he tilted his head and his lips were pasted to something a little warm.

“!”

His heart stopped beating for a moment.

The two of them had initially already been particularly close together. Xie Sui had just been chuckling and whispering in his ear.

There was no way to guard against such a kiss in this dark and noisy environment.

Xie Sui froze.

He felt a touch against his lips, the breath that reached his nose carried a light mint flavor.

Song Yu: “!” F*ck! What the hell! Xie Sui told him to go clear monsters, and now it was like he’d gotten embarrassed with anger and forced his way over.

Song Yu hurriedly pushed against Xie Sui’s shoulder, wanting to pull away.

It was just that there was a poignant cat’s crying coming from behind him.

It seemed to be coming their way.

The smile at the corners of Xie Sui’s lips hadn’t yet dispersed. His eyes darkened as he reached out to grasp Song Yu’s waist and avoid the cat, holding him firmly in his arms. Meanwhile, his tongue ‘accidentally’ slid between the lips and teeth that the teenager had parted slightly in surprise, deepening the kiss. The tip of his tongue slid lightly across Song Yu’s sensitive upper lip, causing a strong sense of pressure to spread to his limbs and make him dizzy.

Song Yu was dazed.

Xie Sui held the back of his head. It seemed to be an action meant to avoid the cat, and Xie Sui held him very tightly, the arm around his waist filled with powerful, suffocating strength.

“Meow.” The cat landed on the ground and called out again.

Everyone finally emerged from their panic.

Ma Xiaoding wiped at his sweat, “It turns out that it was just a cat. Goddammit, Laozi was almost scared to death.”

As for Song Yu, he also suddenly came to his senses. He pushed Xie Sui away, his ears burning hot.

Xie Sui licked his lower lip, his expression dangerous.

But Song Yu, who was still in the dark, couldn’t see his expression.

He kept his tone helpless and surprised, laughing, “I didn’t let you kiss, so you sulked and really came over to kiss me?”

Song Yu: “……”

He was going to kill Ma Xiaoding tonight.

That wasn’t right. Song Yu spoke, “… Just now, you…?”

Xie Sui seemed to be amused. He laughed out loud, his tone improper, “In fact, I was lying to you. You can kiss anywhere you want to.”

Sure enough, it tasted like mint.

Maybe this was the real ‘luck in love’.