Chapter 202 - Li Ling And Zhihao's Date

"There's still something I can do in order to improve my chances of winning," Zhihao answered with a smirk. 

[How?] 

Alvi questioned with her eyebrows creased together in confusion and worry. 

"The area of this world, no matter how vast, is still limited and there is already one big hint about the stone. The stone is inside this world somewhere. If I focus on a particular area and thoroughly search it, if the stone isn't there, all my hard work would be wasted and I would also be wasting my precious time on it." 

"Then what do you suggest?" Li Ling asked with a face that gave out no emotions. 

Zhihao smiled as he replied, "If I focus only on a small area, I would be ruining my chances of winning, however, if I increase the area of my search, I would be improving my chances." 

"How?" Li Ling questioned once again. 

"Think of it as an excavating mission. If I keep digging my own backyard, I would be completely dependent on my luck and if I have bad luck then it would be nothing more than a waste of my precious time and work, but what if I buy a huge area of land and dig evenly throughout an area that is already said to have something precious nearby?" 

"You would improve your chances of finding something...?" 

Zhihao nodded as he confirmed, "That's right. If I choose to excavate a large area, I would have more chances of being successful. Right now, our mission is also alike excavation. There's a stone we must find and instead of searching in a particular place and hoping to find it, if we spread out and search the whole place at the same time, we would be improving our chance of finding it." 

"That's right," Li Ling nodded as he agreed with Zhihao, "But there's still a problem." 

"What?" 

"By your logic, you are telling us to aimlessly walk around and keep an eye out for the stone but what if the stone is in a place that makes it impossible for you to see it that easily?" 

Zhihao, "Well, the stone is probably in such a place if our luck is bad, but even if we search around in a particular place, we wouldn't be able to find that stone." 

[Then what's your plan?] 

"My plan is pretty simple," Zhihao beamed, "Just travel wherever our feet take us and enjoy a nice peaceful date with Gege. If the stone is meant to be found by us, looking at our improved chances, we would definitely find it." 

Li Ling squinted at the man who had elaborately explained to them his theory on why they should do nothing more than going on a date and explore the place, "Why do I feel like you just made that all up because you want to go on a date with me?" 

Zhihao smiled cheekily as he heard this question, "That's also true but my plan makes a hundred percent sense, does it not?" 

"..." 

[Damn it...]

[You almost managed to trick me.] 

Alvi pouted as she glared at the man. 

Zhihao raised his hand to rub the little girl's head lovingly as he spoke up, "Now that you know, why don't you leave us alone for some time?" 

[Eh?] 

"It's a date and I don't think you'll enjoy being a third wheel." 

[What...?! Are you serious right now?!] 

Zhihao simply smiled as he nodded his head and responded, "Please? I'll be sure to buy you a lot of candy later. Just go and try to search for the stone, okay?" 

Li Ling's eyes widened slightly as he realized that Zhihao had just used a secret trick to make Alvi listen to him, however, he didn't let the shock show on his face for too long. His eyes went back to normal in an instant as he kept his poker face. 

Alvi heard the word 'please' and she pouted before slowly nodding her head as she agreed to Zhihao. 

[Okay...] 

She didn't sound too happy about it but she didn't whine or do anything like that as she simply turned around and walked away, muttering something under her breath.

Zhihao chuckled as he saw her slouching shoulders that were clearly caused by her dejection, "Now I feel a bit bad for her." 

"Don't," Li Ling instantly responded without any sense of pity for the girl. 

Zhihao laughed as he found the quick response a bit funny but he didn't ponder over it too much nor did he dwell deeper into why Li Ling might have said something like that. 

He simply grabbed Li Ling's hand and pulled him along as he kept on running in a direction he had randomly picked.

They ran for a while and eventually came to stop, deciding that it was better to just walk normally. This world was perfect for a peaceful, aesthetic date and that seemed to be exactly what Zhihao had in mind. 

"Gege, what was your childhood like?" Zhihao questioned calmly as he kept his eyes on the road in front of them. 

"Why do you ask?" Li Ling asked back instead of giving a straight response. 

"No reason," Zhihao shrugged his shoulders, "I just wanted to get to know you better." 

"You already know me a lot," Li Ling smiled. 

"But your past remains a mystery to me so I just... Wanted to take this chance to get to know each other better." 

Li Ling couldn't help but feel a little giddy as he heard this, "Then why don't you go first?" 

Li Ling already knew exactly what Zhihao's childhood was like but he still asked the question. 

Zhihao seemed to be thinking about it deeply before he opened his mouth to answer, "It was quite normal. I had a few friends but I was not really close to them. They were the ones that approached me first and kept on pestering me to hang out with them. I didn't want to be labeled a loner so I naturally went along with them and eventually started considering them as my friends." 

"Do you still keep in contact with them?" 

Zhihao frowned as he heard this question and it looked like he was a bit sad about it as he responded, "I know what they are doing but none of us are as close as we used to be. We hardly contact each other and some even went abroad. So I really can't say we kept in touch." 

Li Ling also frowned as he questioned, "You don't even see them anymore? No meet-ups or anything like that?" 

He, himself, knew the answer to the question he had asked but his face looked completely clueless. This just came to prove that Li Ling was indeed a really good actor. 

Zhihao shook his head before stopping and nodding his head as he spoke up, suddenly remembering something, "Ah! There is this one friend that lives near my parent's house so I sometimes meet her when I'm visiting my parents and if I don't go, she comes over to make sure that I'm still alive and remember her." 

"Her? It's a girl?" Li Ling muttered curiously even though he knew exactly who this so-called friend was. 

Zhihao chuckled as he thought that Li Ling was getting jealous, "She's just a friend, no need to worry too much about it. Her name is Tian Xifeng. Do you want to meet her?" 

Li Ling smiled as he shook his head, "I trust you. I don't need such stupid reassurance. I'm sure she's just an overproud friend." 

Zhihao couldn't help but laugh as he responded, "You'll be shocked at how right you are." 

Tian Xifeng who was watching the live stream: "..." 

Zhihao, "She loves shopping and money. Even acts like a gold-digger sometimes but she's not actually all that bad." 

Li Ling smirked as he thought about what the woman's face would be like when she watches this and realizes the kind of image she has in front of Zhihao. 

"She sound pretty bad," Li Ling felt no sense of pity for the woman as he dissed her. 

Zhihao chuckled as he nodded his head, "She has a flirty personality and gets on your nerves but maybe it's because of how long I've known her. I don't think she's too bad. At the end of the day, most people judge her because of her pretty face so you can't really blame her for caring about such materialistic things." 

"A-Zhi, stop praising her or justifying her personality. You'll make me jealous and I don't want to be insecure because of a woman," Li Ling spoke up honestly. 

Zhihao only laughed as he heard the vinegar being chugged down1 Li Ling's throat, "Why would you be insecure because of her?" 

"Then are you saying that if I hadn't met you, you would have married her?" 

Zhihao seemed to have heard something ridiculous and he didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or cry, "No way! Did a mad dog bite me or something?! Why in the hell would I marry her?" 

Tian Xifeng who was planning on choosing their wedding destination: "...Gege, why don't you just let me die in peace? Why are you humiliating me on a live stream?!"