CH 26.1

Like this, the team members were officially confirmed. Lin Xiao considered himself very satisfied with the lineup. There was no need to discuss Laughing Sky’s capabilities. After all, he was a “passerby king”. This title was not one that just any player could easily claim. As for Hello Kitty, it would be fine as long as she was happy with being carried.

With Laughing Sky, this universally acknowledged big thigh1, to protect her, any failure on his part to carry Hello Kitty up the ranks would affect his pride so much that he would no longer have the face to keep hanging around them.

For additional reassurance, Lin Xiao shared his true reason for participating in this 3 vs 3 team battle with the other two people very honestly. When he finished his explanation, to express his sincerity, he especially added, “If we can cooperate on this, I will definitely split the profits earned from selling the video materials between us evenly.”

Laughing Sky was the first to respond. Although Lin Xiao was merely looking at the chatbox, he was strangely able to envision the other’s facial expression of not being bothered by this small amount of money. “We’ll just fight, no need to think of all these small matters. One video is only worth so much, if you really do sell it you can keep the money for yourself. Anyway, I don’t need it.”

This was followed by Hello Kitty’s reply, which was clear and concise. “Anything’s fine.”

These are the world’s best teammates! Gratified, Lin Xiao quickly set up a new team for the 3 vs 3 battles. After adding the other two as members, he sent over an invitation to join his voice chat.

Laughing Sky had just entered the chat room. The moment he spoke, he immediately expressed his very obvious dissatisfaction towards their team name, “‘In the name of the moon, I will punish you’? What kind of team name is this! Are we Sailor Moon cosplayers?”

His voice was refreshing, putting others at ease. It gave the impression that he was a brave and gregarious Northerner2, yet because it carried his own unique flavor, it was very easy on the ears and comfortable to listen to.

Lin Xiao laughed, “Even if we really were Sailor Moon cosplayers, your role would definitely be Tuxedo Mask3, Great Sky.”

Laughing Sky: “…”

—— There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with the words he was hearing, but why did he feel like something was amiss? But when he imagined how he would look after putting on the Tuxedo Mask outfit, he finally nodded, deciding to accept this decision cheerfully.

After he finished placating Laughing Sky, Lin Xiao turned his attention towards Hello Kitty, who had been silent ever since she had joined the voice channel. “Sister, are you there? Say something if you are.”

There was still no response. Only two words showed up in the chat window at the bottom of the screen. “No mic.”

“No problem, it’s fine as long as you can hear us.” Lin Xiao merely chalked it up as a maiden being shy in front of strangers and did not push for her to speak. “Then, shall we begin now?”

Laughing Sky: “We have nothing better to do after all, let’s start.”

Hello Kitty: “Start.”

…

After he finished creating the party, Lin Xiao invited the other two to join.

They entered the arena queue and began the process of being matched to an opponent.

Since they were a newly formed team, they were matched based on the default ranking points4. Thus, they were matched to an opponent in the Seventh Division.

When the preparation process had come to an end and they were being sent to the map, Laughing Sky asked in their team chat, “How are we going to fight?”

Lin Xiao had one of his legs propped up on his chair. His sleepy eyes shut, then opened again somewhat lazily. “Let’s fight casually. Everyone we face will be the same. After all, when the time comes, it’ll be fine as long as both of us pick one to kill.”

“…” Although this carefree attitude was really asking for a slap, Laughing Sky had no means to refute his words.

He was very clear on the fact that the other’s level was definitely higher than his. It did indeed sound silly for a player with this level of ability to bother about formulating tactics for a small Seventh Division match like this. After giving it some thought, he suddenly gave a suggestion, “Why don’t we compete on who can take first blood?”

Lin Xiao knew that he had been brooding over his defeat in the guild battles all this time, thus he was also quite interested in the suggestion he put forth. “If we play like this, then it feels a lot more meaningful.”

Thus, once all of the characters had spawned on the map, Adorable Ghost and Laughing Sky directly charged towards the opponent’s base without saying a word. At the same time, Laughing Sky’s hearty laughter resounded in the voice channel, “Ahahahahaha, just you wait, you enemy vegetables5! Grandpa is coming!”

The pitiful opponents, who were completely unaware of their circumstances, had mysteriously turned into tools used by two stinky, shameless rogues6 to compete with one another.

Once both teams met in the center of the map, the opposing team discovered that there were only two people there. All of them innocently and naively rushed forth without making any preparations at all…but, they very quickly made a discovery that caused them to cry a face full of tears. How was the other team here playing PVP, they were simply treating them as trash mobs in the game, they couldn’t even be considered to be obstructive mini bosses!

This time, Lin Xiao did not take the Curse Ghost skill path. Rather, he chose the Blood Ghost path, which was focused on dealing more burst damage7. As for his selection of equipment, he merely stacked his magic damage up to the limit. Furthermore, he especially chose equipment that granted a life stealing8 effect to his magic spells.

His thoughts when facing such a low-end match were very simple – he wanted to start and end battles quickly. Only then would he be able to rise through the ranks more efficiently.

Compared to the enthusiastic charge of the other two, Hello Kitty merely stood at the revival point for a while, after which she seemed to have regained her senses, slowly ambling out of their base camp. Her attitude expressed that the entire situation had nothing to do with her at all.

In Team Black Rose’s player dorms, You Jing was clad in a baggy T-shirt, and the hair he had just washed had not been blown dry yet. From time to time, droplets of water ran down the sides of his face and neck. Thus, his exquisite clavicle also grew slightly damp, creating an exceedingly tempting, sexy aura.

His left hand was placed motionlessly before him. Because he had just applied his ointment, it gave off the faint scent of medicine. His right hand moved the mouse to steadily control Hello Kitty’s movements. Once his character was finally able to see the other two members who were engaged in battle, he chose some well-hidden shrubs and stopped there, no longer moving forward.

Although Adorable Ghost’s performance in the previous guild battle was indeed remarkable, no matter what, the level of the enemies had been too uneven. Thus, it was not a sufficient basis for You Jing to gauge his skill level.

Back then, he had requested this account from Manager Ye because he intended to disguise himself using this identity to observe this person even more closely.

If they could keep progressing forward in this team battle, once they reached the Second Division, it would certainly be a prime opportunity for him to carry out his observation. Of course, before evaluating his skills, he wanted to see if Adorable Ghost would be able to smoothly rise up to the Second Division under the current circumstances, where a team member was “absent”. This requirement might seem harsh to others, but to You Jing, it was merely an entry-level test.

The scene of the battle was quite dazzling to the eye. Yet, his calm gaze was always fixed on that small black and red silhouette. He did make some evaluations on his performance, but mostly he silently observed each of his micromovements. However, the difference in skill was too vast. Even if it was just two of them against three foes, he was still able to cause them a lot of trouble. To be more precise, describing the state of the enemy as just tragic was not sufficient.

After Adorable Ghost took first blood, they swiftly obtained victory.

“They are really too weak, they actually died so quickly.” Laughing Sky, having been unsuccessful in killing any of them, felt rather indignant. He began to diss the enemy’s level of skill over the voice channel without holding anything back. “To make these types of moves and with this level of coordination, they should practice a lot more before crawling out for more battles. Embarrassing, so very embarrassing!”

“It’s good that they’re weak, then it’ll be efficient for us to earn points!” Lin Xiao laughingly went along with his implication. After the game ended and they returned to the lobby screen once more, he asked, “Want to continue?”

Laughing Sky gritted his teeth and replied, “Let’s continue, I will definitely defeat you this time!”

Lin Xiao chuckled and did not drag things out. Very quickly, they entered their second match.

Adorable Ghost took first blood, Adorable Ghost took first blood, Adorable Ghost took first blood yet again…as time passed, the team’s rank had already jumped up from the Seventh to the Fourth Division.

Laughing Sky was despondent. “I really believe that you’re evil!”

Just when they were ready to begin the next battle, a ringing sound was transmitted over from the other side. 

Lin Xiao heard Laughing Sky say “Hold on”. Seeing that he needed to take a call, he stopped and waited for him.

He could make out the contents of the other’s conversation from start to finish. “What did you say, they don’t want to transfer that piece of land in B city to us yet again? I’ve told you that if this little matter isn’t negotiated well, then I could fire you tomorrow…ah that’s right…yes yes yes, I will emphasize to you once again, when talking to them, you definitely must remember to…”

As he gradually moved further away from the mic, the sound of him talking over the phone gradually grew more faint as well.

Lin Xiao began sweating.

No wonder this person had never been moved by any invitations to join the Professional Alliance, and also looked down on that small amount of money from the videos that he had mentioned previously. So he was actually a rich and powerful big boss? For a person to be able to attain the position of a boss and yet be able to play Zone so well, this person’s level of awesomeness was one in a million…

Laughing Sky had left to take his phone call, so there was no one talking in the voice chat, causing the channel to fall into a sudden, strange silence.

Lin Xiai really didn’t have anything to do. He looked at Hello Kitty’s ID, then directly began to make small talk. “Sister, has this night of lying down9 been comfortable for you?”

You Jing glanced at the sea of green that was the battle results10 and was compelled to agree. “It’s been alright.”

Lin Xiao: “Do you feel that these older brothers are very cool?”

Older brothers? You Jing’s eyebrows raised slightly. “Oh, First and Second Division players are bullying noobs11, is that cool?”

Lin Xiao laughed, “Don’t say it like that. After all it was two against three, the enemy won in terms of numbers.”

You Jing did not buy it. “But their standard is terrible.”

Lin Xiao mused, “Then which Division do we need to be at to be considered as high level?”

You Jing: “At least Second Division or above.”

Lin Xiao was rendered speechless. “Sister, your expectations are a little high, the average player cannot meet them.”

You Jing: “Can you?”

Lin Xiao chuckled, “Of course I must! Lie down comfortably, I guarantee that your points will skyrocket!”

The hand that You Jing had placed on the keyboard paused. His expression shook briefly, and the corners of his lips tilted up slightly. “I’ll see how you perform.”

________________

TL comments: *reads banter* Bruh these two are low key flirting with each other already…

Also happy holidays everyone ^_^~

A powerful supporter.

Northern Chinese are often known/stereotyped to be very blunt and unfiltered in their speech.

Tl;dr one of the few male characters in Sailor Moon

The matching is typically based on these points so that the strong fight the strong and the weak fight the weak.

Vegetables, and sometimes herbivores (who eat vegetables), are often used to address weak people in Chinese.

Actually the word used here is closer to “rascal” in meaning, but I couldn’t resist using this instead.

Refers to dealing a lot of damage at once. Most damage dealing classes tend to fall under this category.

Life steal (or sometimes blood suck) refers to recovering part of the damage dealt by a character’s attacks to their HP.

As a reminder, this means to be carried to win.

For victory, vs losses which would be in red.

Literal meaning is to abuse vegetables, aka the weak.