Chapter 12: Still Following Me?
Even with the mask on, Dong Li could recognize Lufiel.
There were several paths leading away from the Trial Grounds, each heading in a different direction.
Maybe they were simply going the same way, Dong Li told himself. Dragonbone Town was only so big.
Maybe Lufiel was heading to the herb field too…
Dong Li had already pretended not to see him twice. At this point, it somehow felt even harder to suddenly start talking to him.
So…
Better to keep pretending he hadn’t noticed.
Dong Li continued walking and rounded another bend.
Tilting his head slightly, he whispered, “Is he still there?”
Rongrong flattened its ears and cautiously poked its head out to look.
“Mm.”
He was!
That familiar figure was still within sight, maintaining the same distance as before.
Not close enough for anyone else to notice anything unusual, but close enough to keep Dong Li firmly in view.
Dong Li began to feel suspicious, though he resisted the urge to look back again.
There were plenty of players at the herb field. It would be perfectly normal for Lufiel to go there too.
Surely he wasn’t actually following him.
Dong Li unconsciously quickened his pace.
When he reached the herb field, he was already thinking about sneaking in the same way he had yesterday—
only to find a sign at the entrance that read:
Free Admission — Limited Time
Curious, Dong Li walked closer.
He overheard the NPC at the gate explaining to a player, “Yesterday, part of the herb-field fence was damaged and hasn’t been repaired yet… We’ve also discovered discrepancies in the number of cultivated herbs…”
“And the mayor happened to announce… free admission for one day…”
Free admission!
Perfect.
Dong Li walked openly through the entrance and deliberately headed toward a quieter, more remote corner.
The outermost edge of the herb field bordered a canyon.
Compared to the area near the entrance, the weeds here grew thick and nearly reached his calves.
But there also seemed to be many more medicinal plants.
Dong Li had barely taken a few steps when he spotted a tiny, crystal-clear flower. He plucked it and casually tossed it into his medicine furnace.
As usual, he paid little attention to what species the herbs were.
If he liked the look of one, he picked it.
They all went into the same furnace anyway.
Strangely, the other players didn’t seem interested in coming this far out.
Dong Li looked around.
It was still early, so there weren’t many people in the herb field yet. Most of them were gathered in the upper section.
Then his gaze drifted farther away.
And found Lufiel again.
“…”
Dong Li took a deep breath, lowered his head, and randomly plucked a pretty eight-leaf herb.
In the distance, Lufiel frowned slightly when he saw Dong Li lingering in the danger zone.
He immediately released his mental energy.
Several wisps of sword aura moved silently through the air and hovered high above Dong Li.
Completely unaware, Dong Li crouched among the weeds and sniffed the faint fragrance of the eight-leaf herb.
Rongrong could no longer contain itself.
It leaped straight into the tall grass and disappeared almost completely, leaving only the white tip of its tail visible as it swished back and forth.
There were too many weeds.
Dong Li stood and continued searching.
He failed to notice the venomous green spider hidden among the branches of a low shrub nearby.
It was nearly the size of his palm.
Catching the scent of prey, the spider shifted eagerly—when a streak of golden light suddenly flashed.
Rustle—
Dong Li and Rongrong both turned toward the sound.
Rongrong was closer.
Acting on instinct, it smacked a nearby blade of grass with one paw.
Dong Li assumed the fox had caused the noise and paid it no further attention.
But after the green spider died, faint rustling spread through the surrounding grass.
Numerous small insect-type demons fled in terror.
Rongrong’s ears twitched.
It pawed through the grass and chased them for several steps.
Sensing the scorching spiritual energy behind them, the tiny demons trembled and fled even faster, burrowing into the damp soil.
A few players noticed Dong Li moving around the danger zone and looked at him curiously.
With Rongrong hidden by the tall grass, they assumed he must be some high-level player.
Dong Li didn’t notice their stares.
He continued gathering herbs as though nothing were wrong, while secretly keeping track of Lufiel out of the corner of his eye.
So Lufiel really had come to the herb field.
But after all this time, he was still standing near the entrance instead of going any farther inside.
It looked like he was waiting for someone.
Or maybe he was simply enjoying the view.
The scenery here really was beautiful.
From higher ground, you could see the canyon stretching into the distance.
Unfortunately, the path into the canyon itself was blocked by an even taller fence.
Dong Li wondered what was on the other side…
Still, compared to sightseeing, Lufiel looked much more like he was waiting for someone.
Dong Li’s thoughts drifted.
He remembered the past again.
Back in the Fuling Region, he had gathered herbs every morning.
Morning was also the only time he could go on dates with Lufiel.
Sometimes Rongrong refused to behave.
The little fox wouldn’t work and would run off somewhere else to play, leaving Dong Li to gather herbs by himself.
Whenever that happened, Lufiel couldn’t really help much either.
So he would simply stay beside Dong Li the entire time.
His ex-boyfriend had always been cold and rarely took the initiative.
But he had always stayed with him.
Thinking about that after their breakup left Dong Li feeling strangely melancholy.
He wondered whether Lufiel had someone new now.
Would he still act the same way?
But people changed.
Maybe with someone else, Lufiel wouldn’t be so distant.
He had definitely seen Dong Li on the street yesterday.
And he must have seen him again this morning.
Dong Li lowered his gaze and stared blankly at a blade of grass.
No.
He needed to figure out a way to get that new hat as soon as possible, make sure Shu Bai was safe, and then leave.
If he stayed here, he kept running into his ex.
The game world was huge.
Dong Li refused to believe Lufiel would somehow be everywhere he went.
He deliberately turned his back toward the herb-field entrance.
Whenever he got tired of gathering, he sat down to rest and occasionally listened in on the nearby players’ conversations.
The sun gradually rose.
More and more people entered the herb field—both NPCs and players.
Rongrong wandered toward an even more secluded corner.
Dong Li looked around and slowly edged toward the more crowded area, not wanting to stand out by staying somewhere too empty.
Lufiel, meanwhile, changed positions several times.
But the distance between them remained roughly the same.
At the moment, he was sitting on a rock.
Dong Li found the whole situation increasingly strange.
He hadn’t seen anyone with Lufiel on the way here either.
And players usually came, gathered what they needed, and left fairly quickly.
Could it be…?
No, no.
They’d been broken up for ages.
Why would Lufiel still follow him?
Besides, he was staying so far away.
It wasn’t like before.
Dong Li was still lost in thought when someone approached.
“Hey, boss,” a player greeted him with easy familiarity. “How’s the haul?”
Dong Li looked up at him.
He stared blankly for a second before slowly asking, “What…?”
The player had arrived early too.
Free-admission days at Dragonbone Town’s herb field were rare.
Earlier, he had noticed Dong Li wandering alone through the danger zone and emerging completely unharmed, so he had naturally assumed Dong Li must be a high-level player.
Normally, though, high-level players didn’t bother gathering herbs themselves.
They simply bought finished medicine.
Dong Li’s confused response left the player momentarily unsure how to continue.
Then a sharp pain suddenly pierced his side.
He nearly collapsed.
Clutching the injured spot, he stumbled backward.
“Fuck…”
There were small demons attacking people even outside the danger zone?!
The player didn’t sense anything unusual.
Seeing how much health he had lost, he immediately forgot about talking to Dong Li and hurried away to bandage himself.
Dong Li watched his retreating figure in confusion.
Then ignored him.
At the same time, another indistinct wisp of golden sword aura hovered between the blades of grass, concealed beneath the sunlight and giving off only the faintest glow.
The sun was bright now.
Dong Li’s golden hair seemed almost luminous beneath it, and his skin looked dazzlingly pale.
His violet eyes were especially striking.
Players could use items to change their hair and eye colors, so golden hair and violet eyes weren’t unheard of.
But none looked quite like Dong Li.
Lufiel watched him silently.
He had to suppress the urge to clear every person around Dong Li out of the area.
Even in this unfamiliar place, Dong Li still seemed to go out gathering herbs on schedule.
Yesterday at noon, he had probably been returning from here too.
Did he stay here all morning?
Dong Li hadn’t brought a herb basket.
Neither had Rongrong.
Every herb he picked seemed to go directly into the small medicine furnace he carried with him.
Lufiel knew that furnace.
It belonged to Dong Li.
Through the sword aura under his control, he watched Dong Li’s profile for a long time, lost in thought.
Just then, Liufeng logged in and sent him a voice-call request.
“How come you’re not at the medicine shop?” he asked. “Did you go somewhere?”
“Mm,” Lufiel answered. “The herb field.”
“Oh.” Liufeng continued, “I’m heading over to pay Liuye’s arena registration fee. Want me to register you too?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
Liufeng was about to end the call when Lufiel suddenly said,
“He seems a little different from before.”
There was no need to ask who he meant.
Liufeng immediately knew Dong Li was the reason Lufiel had followed him to the herb field in the first place.
As Liufeng headed toward the Trial Grounds, he asked, “Different how?”
“Small things,” Lufiel said quietly. “His expressions. The way he behaves…”
Liufeng thought about it seriously.
“You know, that reminds me. If we manage to transfer his consciousness successfully, we might be able to search for his old memory data too.”
“And if we can’t find it,” he went on, “we could try resetting him… basically restoring him to the version you remember. He still wouldn’t remember you, but we could figure something else out. Build a new virtual world, maybe. Let the two of you meet again from the beginning…”
The more Liufeng talked, the more workable the idea sounded.
“You remember how you two first met, right?”
As Liufeng rambled on, Lufiel’s thoughts drifted backward.
Their first meeting…
hadn’t exactly been perfect.
The game had only recently launched its closed beta back then.
Lufiel had been among the earliest group of players.
After playing for a few days, he hadn’t found the game particularly interesting.
Then he accepted a minor quest and happened to end up in the rear mountains of the Fuling Region.
The scenery there was pleasant.
Quiet too.
There were plenty of fox-spirit NPCs working among the trees, each carrying a small herb basket on their back.
But among them was one unusual little golden fox with violet eyes.
Its basket was completely empty.
Because instead of working, it was pouncing after butterflies in the grass.
As it played, it happened to wander over to Lufiel.
It wasn’t afraid of strangers at all.
It came closer and curiously sniffed him.
Lufiel thought it was cute.
He picked up a pinecone and played with the little fox for a while, then casually reached out and touched its tail.
The fox reacted as though startled.
It spun around, tucked its tail protectively out of reach, backed away, and glared at him.
Then it ran off.
Not long afterward, Lufiel saw a golden-haired, violet-eyed young man appear.
He was strikingly beautiful.
And beside him was the same little fox.
The young man seemed annoyed.
The expression on his face looked almost identical to the fox’s earlier glare.
He picked up a pebble and threw it at Lufiel while muttering something under his breath.
Lufiel didn’t hear what he said.
He simply tilted his head and easily dodged the stone.
The young man turned and walked away.
Then, not long afterward, he came back.
And threw another pebble.
Lufiel dodged again.
He watched the young man’s retreating back.
An NPC?
Was he malfunctioning?
Lufiel remained sitting beneath the tree and waited.
Sure enough, the young man appeared for a third time.
A third pebble flew toward him.
This time, Lufiel didn’t dodge.
He let it strike his shoulder.
And finally heard what the young man was muttering.
Dong Li’s violet eyes were full of displeasure.
“Pervert…”
—
The memory faded.
Lufiel cut Liufeng off.
“I meant that he seems different now compared to before.”
“Oh.” Liufeng paused. “What I meant is, maybe moving from the Fuling Region to Dragonbone Town came with an increase in his interaction settings.”
He hesitated.
“But whatever’s changed… he still doesn’t remember you, right?”
Silence stretched on the other end of the call.
A long time later, Lufiel’s cold, gloomy voice came through.
“Register me for the arena.”
He was in a bad mood.
He wanted to kill people.
Liufeng silently nodded to himself.
“Sure.”
Author’s Note:
A pervert touched the little fox’s tail! (??´)
