Chapter 6: Maybe He Never Loved You
Seeing how pitiful Dong Li looked, Shu Bai set down the medicine box in his hands and nodded.
“Okay.”
Dong Li’s eyes immediately lit up.
Shu Bai reached into a cabinet beneath the counter and pulled out a wrapped bundle.
The moment he opened it, a strong medicinal fragrance wafted out.
Dong Li looked down.
Inside were several dull gray square cakes.
He wrinkled his nose and looked at Shu Bai.
“What are these?”
“Fuling yam and black sesame cakes…” Shu Bai replied.
They looked suspiciously like defective goods that couldn’t be sold.
Dong Li stared at them for a while, visibly torn.
He really didn’t want to eat one.
“That’s all there is,” Shu Bai said slowly, only just seeming to realize what Dong Li meant. “Um… lunch is at twelve.”
He thought for a moment, then added, “Wait for me.”
Dong Li more or less understood.
Shu Bai had to work.
Whether Dong Li wanted to hang out with him or wanted something to eat, he would have to wait until noon.
“Okay…”
Dong Li looked at the medicinal cakes again and reluctantly picked one up.
After that, Shu Bai led him into a small room behind the shop. It seemed to be some sort of reception room, with another door on one side leading to the back courtyard.
Dong Li was still worried about Yuanbao, so he asked whether the shop had any fresh herbs.
He didn’t mention Yuanbao and carefully added, “Even scraps you were going to throw away would be fine… Just a little.”
But Shu Bai shook his head.
“We don’t have any fresh herbs right now. We won’t get more for a few days.”
“Oh.” Dong Li thought for a moment. “Isn’t there an herb field nearby?”
He had studied the map of Dragonbone Town carefully before coming here. The herb field should be fairly close.
Shu Bai nodded.
“But—”
A customer happened to enter the shop at that moment.
Before Shu Bai could finish, he hurried back to the front, leaving Dong Li alone.
Hearing voices from the shop, Dong Li quietly peeked through the doorway.
The first customer was an NPC, though Dong Li couldn’t make out the text above his head.
Not long afterward, a player came in as well, asked a few questions, and left without buying anything.
Dong Li took a bite of the square cake and silently watched Shu Bai work.
He didn’t really want to admit it, but…
Shu Bai and he probably weren’t quite the same.
For one thing, Shu Bai took his work very seriously.
Dong Li, on the other hand, had run away from his alchemy hut after punching Supervisor Ba in the face.
Rongrong poked its head out of his hood and leaned toward the cake for a sniff.
“Mm!”
The little fox recoiled in disgust.
Dong Li didn’t like it either, but he still finished the cake in two or three bites.
Then he glanced toward the door leading into the courtyard and back at Shu Bai, who was still busy.
Maybe he should just go find something to eat on his own…
Before leaving, Dong Li thought for a moment and decided to leave Rongrong behind.
If Shu Bai saw the little fox, he would know Dong Li hadn’t gone far and would be coming back.
So Dong Li warned it, “Don’t run off!”
The little golden fox sat obediently on the table, tilted its head, and swished its tail as if it couldn’t possibly imagine doing such a thing.
Yuanbao was still asleep inside Dong Li’s coat.
Dong Li pulled his hood up, opened the small door, and left through the back courtyard.
The streets outside were packed with people.
His excitement over being somewhere new immediately returned, and he looked around with bright, curious eyes.
Dragonbone Town was completely different from the Fuling Region.
All kinds of shops lined both sides of the street, and the entire place bustled with activity.
The shop owners and clerks were all NPCs.
Level 1.
Level 2.
Level 3…
The highest Dong Li saw was Level 4.
He wandered wherever his curiosity took him and even stopped inside a clothing store.
Everything there was beautiful, and the shop carried every kind of accessory imaginable.
Dong Li touched a fluffy hat.
“How much is this?”
The owner, who had [Level 3 NPC · Dog Spirit] floating above his head, replied, “Eight hundred cents.”
Dong Li silently withdrew his hand.
Then he picked up a headscarf.
“What about this?”
“Five hundred.”
Dong Li put the scarf down.
He searched his pockets.
All he found was an orange stone.
Never mind…
He was just about to leave when someone suddenly approached him.
It was a player who looked to be in his twenties. With the easy familiarity of someone who acted like they were already friends, he asked, “Hey, you’re new, right?”
Dong Li thought about it for two seconds.
“Mm.”
“Knew it.” The player grinned. “Your eye color and hair color are pretty rare. Those must’ve cost you a lot.”
Dong Li wore a large hood, and his clothes looked ordinary at first glance.
But his face was exceptionally striking. His eyes were a pale violet, and a few strands of golden hair slipped out from beneath the hood.
At first, the player had even thought Dong Li looked strangely familiar.
For a moment, he’d wondered whether Dong Li might be an NPC from the game.
But there were two easy ways to distinguish NPCs from players.
The first was to check for a spirit form.
An NPC’s spirit form was always inseparable from its owner.
The other was simply to talk to them.
Even high-level NPCs with a great deal of freedom would eventually reveal the programmed quality of their responses if you talked long enough.
From the looks of it, Dong Li really was a player.
Maybe he looked familiar because he was some minor celebrity…
Dong Li was secretly studying the player too.
He quickly realized the man had mistaken him for one of his own kind.
Because Rongrong wasn’t here?
Dong Li found the misunderstanding amusing.
Instead of correcting him, he deliberately played along.
“You look pretty good too.”
The player clearly hadn’t expected a compliment.
He froze, then awkwardly straightened his sleeves.
“Do you have a quest you’re working on?” he asked. “I know this area really well, and I’ve got nothing else going on. I could show you around. We could add each—”
“No, thanks,” Dong Li politely cut in. “My friend’s waiting for me.”
The player took the hint.
He gave Dong Li a courteous smile and left the clothing store.
Once Dong Li was some distance away, he gave a tiny huff to himself.
He could go wherever he wanted.
He didn’t need anyone showing him around.
—
Meanwhile, Rongrong was lying on a chair inside the medicine shop, ears drooping from boredom.
There were no customers in the front room at the moment.
The little fox swished its tail, got up, and hopped down.
Shu Bai remained dutifully stationed at the counter and hadn’t even noticed Dong Li was gone.
His little white fox spirit sat upright at his feet.
Rongrong crept over and pawed at it a few times.
The white fox ignored him.
With nothing else interesting to do, Rongrong returned to the back room, pushed open the window, and slipped outside.
It looked left and right as it wandered around the courtyard.
The backyard was considered an NPC’s private area, so players wouldn’t come back here.
Another courtyard stood beyond the wall to one side.
Rongrong jumped lightly onto the top of the high wall.
The neighboring building seemed to be a teahouse.
An elderly man was sitting alone in a reclining chair in the courtyard.
He was an NPC, half-dozing beneath the sun.
On the stone table beside him sat a steaming pot of tea.
And a plate of peach pastries.
Rongrong watched from the shadows.
Then it caught the pastries’ delicious scent.
The little fox began creeping closer.
The peach pastries were arranged in an elegant woven bamboo tray.
The old man’s eyes remained closed.
He had no idea what was happening.
Rongrong hopped onto the stone table, grabbed the tray in its mouth, and tried to steal the entire plate.
The old man heard the faint movement and opened his eyes.
His pupils were cloudy and gray, and his vision seemed impaired.
Even so, he instinctively reached out and grabbed the bamboo tray.
Caught red-handed, Rongrong showed no fear whatsoever.
Instead, the theft immediately turned into a robbery.
The little fox clamped its teeth down harder and pulled.
The old man frowned and tugged back.
For a brief moment, neither side gave way.
Then Rongrong whipped its tail, released the tray, and hissed viciously in an attempt to scare him.
The old man couldn’t see clearly.
All he saw was a blazing golden flame rushing straight toward him, with the shape of a fox glowing at its center.
His face changed dramatically.
He immediately let go.
Rongrong seized its chance.
It snatched up the bamboo tray and fled, bounding nimbly over the courtyard wall.
The other people inside the teahouse soon noticed something was wrong and hurried into the courtyard.
The elderly man was trembling all over, his lips quivering so badly that he couldn’t speak.
An NPC rushed over anxiously.
“Elder Xun! What happened?”
A few curious players followed them outside.
One of them thoughtfully fed the old man a calming pill.
Elder Xun shuddered for a long time before finally recovering enough to force out a few words.
“An… ancient demon king… has returned!”
—
Dragonbone Town was fairly large.
According to the map, the residential and commercial districts only occupied about half of it.
The other half was an area known as the Trial Grounds.
Dong Li reached the end of the street and found a sign pointing toward the entrance.
Unfortunately, the gates were tightly shut.
He couldn’t get in.
He turned back and looked around.
Why couldn’t he find anywhere that sold food…?
Dong Li continued walking along the outer wall of the Trial Grounds and eventually found a short tree bearing fruit.
He plucked one and took a bite.
His eyes immediately lit up.
So Dong Li sat beneath the tree and ate three fruits in one go.
There weren’t many left.
He simply picked the remaining four as well.
Then he put the smallest one inside his medicine furnace.
After all, the fruit tree outside the alchemy hut grew all its fruit back within an hour.
This one was probably the same!
With the fruit packed away, Dong Li hummed to himself as he headed back.
Not long after he left, someone arrived beside the tree.
The man stared at its completely bare branches, eyes widening in disbelief.
“What the hell?”
—
The streets were still crowded on Dong Li’s way back.
In the corner of an alley, one player spotted him and hurriedly nudged the companion beside him.
“Look. That’s him.”
“Didn’t you say he was going to meet a friend?”
“Who knows? But I saw it clearly. He’s carrying an orange-tier weapon material.”
It was the same player who had approached Dong Li in the clothing store.
He gave a quiet scoff.
“He’s obviously a newbie. Walking around with an orange weapon material right in his hand… Kid’s got guts.”
His companion immediately perked up.
“Come on. Let’s follow him.”
They could wait until Dong Li was alone, corner him somewhere, then kill him repeatedly to force items out of his inventory.
As long as they kept the number of kills under control, they wouldn’t become red-named.
Of course, if Dong Li had any sense, he could just hand the material over willingly.
That way, he wouldn’t have to die as many times.
Less suffering for everyone.
On the street ahead, Dong Li seemed to sense something and glanced behind him.
He didn’t notice the two men hidden in the alley.
Still, he quickened his pace toward the medicine shop.
For some reason…he had a feeling Rongrong wasn’t behaving.
Behind him, the two players immediately followed.
But when they rounded the side of the street, Dong Li had disappeared.
The area ahead was private NPC territory.
Players couldn’t enter.
The two stared around in confusion.
“Where’d he go?”
His companion sighed regretfully.
“Probably logged out. Tell the others to keep an eye out over the next couple days. He’ll show up again.”
At that moment, Dong Li had already returned to the back room of the medicine shop through the courtyard.
The moment he stepped inside, he saw Rongrong sitting obediently beside the table, tail wagging.
There was also a plate of peach pastries on the table.
Dong Li blinked in surprise.
“Huh?”
He assumed Shu Bai had brought them.
So he picked one up and ate it.
—
At exactly noon, Shu Bai came into the room carrying his lunch box.
Unfortunately, Dong Li was already full.
He propped his cheek in one hand and watched Shu Bai eat.
“Xiaobai, what do you do here every day?”
Shu Bai answered seriously, “Watch the shop. Go to the Fuling Region to collect medicine. Receive medicinal herbs…”
That sounded busy…
Dong Li asked, “Do the herbs come from that field nearby?”
He had seen it on the map.
Sure enough, Shu Bai nodded.
“Yes.”
Dong Li’s eyes brightened.
“I can help you gather them!”
And while he was at it, he could replenish the herbs in his own medicine furnace.
He hadn’t taken many herbs with him when he left the alchemy hut.
And that morning, he had given some of the pills he’d already brewed to the little black beast.
Yuanbao was still weak.
Without pills, Yuanbao had no food.
It would go hungry.
But Shu Bai shook his head.
“You don’t need to gather them. Outsiders bring them here.”
Players…
Dong Li finally understood what Shu Bai meant by receiving herbs.
He thought for a moment.
“Then I can gather herbs and bring them to you!”
Shu Bai shook his head again.
This time, his expression turned serious.
“No. Demonic beasts often appear near the herb fields. It’s dangerous.”
Then he added, “We’re not allowed to go there.”
Dong Li fell silent.
He thought to himself that he seemed to be carrying a demonic beast inside his coat right now…
He still couldn’t be completely certain.
But after what Supervisor Ba had said last night, combined with the fact that Yuanbao could transform into a giant dungeon boss…
There were still far too many things Dong Li didn’t understand.
He wasn’t going to figure them all out anytime soon.
That afternoon, Shu Bai returned to the front of the shop right on schedule.
Dong Li stayed inside and opened the game forum on the metal plate.
[Title: Ancient Demon King Has Returned! Possible New Storyline]
[Title: Two Bosses Bugged Out in Less Than a Day! Devs, Any Idea What’s Going On?]
[Title: Brand-New Level 3 Enchanted Blade, Dirt Cheap]
[Title: Are They Ever Fixing the Fuling Region? Can We Farm the Dungeon or Not?]
[Title: Reasonable Theory: Major Hidden Questline About to Drop?]
The forum was incredibly lively.
Dong Li opened the threads one by one.
Elder Xun of Dragonbone Town had suddenly made a shocking declaration.
The seriously wounded Bronze-Armored Taotie had inexplicably recovered.
The rear-mountain dungeon in the Fuling Region still hadn’t been repaired…
News traveled incredibly fast among the players.
Things that had only happened that morning had already spread everywhere.
Dong Li watched them discuss everything with great enthusiasm, sometimes even breaking into arguments and insults over the smallest disagreement.
For some reason…he felt a little envious.
This game looked really fun.
Could he become a player too?
The man he’d met that morning had already mistaken him for one.
Dong Li kept scrolling.
Then he saw Lufiel’s name again.
[Floor 13: Everyone should thank Lufiel. If he hadn’t been there today, Dragonbone Town would’ve turned into an all-you-can-eat buffet for the Taotie.]
Dong Li’s finger stopped against the screen.
His lashes trembled.
He wasn’t surprised.
In fact, as he’d browsed the threads, it had almost felt as though he’d been deliberately looking for that name.
But now that he had actually found it…his chest still felt strange.
Someone who had disappeared completely from his world was suddenly everywhere.
Dong Li continued tapping aimlessly through the forum, distracted.
Then one particular thread caught his attention.
[Title: My ex and I broke up ages ago, but lately he keeps showing up around me. What should I do?]
Exactly!
How long had Dong Li even been outside the Fuling Region?
And he’d already seen Lufiel three times.
Well…
Two of those times had only been his name on the forum.
Still.
It practically looked as though Dong Li himself had written the post.
After hesitating, he opened it.
[Floor 1: Pretend he doesn’t exist.]
[Floor 2: How long have you been broken up? Maybe he wants you back.]
[Floor 3: What do you mean by “keeps showing up”? Is he deliberately arranging run-ins? Secretly following you and getting caught? Or is there some unavoidable reason you keep seeing each other?]
[Floor 4: Did you meet in a game? Online relationship?]
[Floor 5: I love relationship drama!]
[OP: We met in a game. We’ve been broken up for a long time.]
Dong Li thought about it.
He and Lufiel had technically met in a game too, right…?
[Floor 8: If you still care this much after all this time, admit it. You still love him.]
[Floor 10: Are you just randomly running into him in-game?]
[OP: Yeah. I go idle outside a dungeon, he’s there. I go mining, he’s there too.]
[Floor 11: Running into each other in a game? This world is huge. Unless he’s doing it on purpose, how do you “randomly” run into someone that often?]
[Floor 12: Maybe they aren’t coincidences at all.]
[Floor 13: Why did you break up in the first place?]
[OP: We were long-distance. I guess things slowly faded. Then one time he went a really long time without replying to my messages, and we broke up.]
Dong Li held the metal plate in both hands and thought about it.
That was… pretty similar to how things had ended between him and Lufiel.
[Floor 15: Holy crap! I hate guys who ghost you and call it a breakup!]
[Floor 16: If that’s how he ended things, just pretend he died.]
[Floor 18: Drop his coordinates next time. The boys and I will camp him and kill him a few times for you.]
[Floor 19: Seconded!]
[OP: No need. He’s actually a pretty good person.]
[Floor 22: Men are all the same. Sweet talk when they’re in love, then once they get bored, suddenly they’re dead.]
[Floor 24: Exactly. They pull out every trick while chasing you. Today they take you to a lantern festival, tomorrow they give you gear. Then the second they finally get you, suddenly they leave you on read.]
[OP: I was the one who chased him.]
Dong Li nodded along.
Right.
He had been the one who pursued Lufiel.
[Floor 27: Oh, you chased him? Well, that explains it.]
[Floor 30: Stop thinking about him. Maybe he never loved you in the first place.]
The farther Dong Li read, the worse he felt.
Finally, he shut off the metal plate.
He sat in the chair with Rongrong in his arms and found himself thinking about the past.
Once, Dong Li had gone into the rear mountains to gather herbs and found Lufiel sitting beneath a tree.
He was drenched in blood and barely alive.
Dong Li had been terrified.
He rushed over.
“Wh-What happened to you?”
By then, the two of them already knew each other fairly well.
Lufiel often came to the rear mountains of the Fuling Region to keep Dong Li company while he gathered herbs, chatting with him along the way.
But now Lufiel’s body was covered in wounds.
His right arm was the worst.
It looked as though some enormous beast had torn into it, leaving injuries so deep that bone showed through.
Dong Li’s hands trembled as he frantically searched himself for medicine.
Lufiel stopped him.
“You don’t need to.”
He looked as though he wasn’t in any pain at all.
“It’ll heal in a minute.”
Sure enough, the wounds across Lufiel’s body immediately began closing at a visible speed.
Even the blood gradually disappeared.
Dong Li froze.
There were still tears in his violet eyes, as though his mind hadn’t caught up with what he was seeing.
“Rongrong?” Lufiel called softly.
He tried to explain.
“I just came back from… somewhere else.”
He had just cleared a dungeon.
He’d set this spot as his temporary return point, never expecting Dong Li to come up the mountain a little earlier than usual that day.
Dong Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But the fear he’d been holding back hit him even harder.
His legs went weak, and he sank to the ground.
Then the tears started falling.
“Don’t cry. I’m fine now.”
Lufiel reached out a hand.
Dong Li immediately threw himself into his arms.
“I thought you were going to die…!”
“I won’t.” Lufiel gently soothed him. “I’m not going to die. I’m sorry…”
It took quite a while before Dong Li finally stopped crying.
Even then, he refused to come out of Lufiel’s arms.
He lifted his head, resting his chin against Lufiel’s chest.
Then, looking up at him, Dong Li suddenly asked in a tiny voice, “Lulu… will you be my boyfriend?”
Lufiel went silent for a moment.
“Your boyfriend?”
Dong Li stumbled over his words, clearly nervous.
“You… you’re handsome, and you’re really strong… and I don’t want you to die…”
The explanation barely made sense.
Yet coming from Dong Li, it somehow sounded unbearably cute.
He had only just stopped crying, and his eyes were still red.
Looking so pitiful, he could have softened anyone’s heart.
But Lufiel remained silent for a long time.
At least, Dong Li remembered it being a long time.
Long enough that he had started to think Lufiel was going to turn him down.
Finally, Lufiel said, “Okay.”
It had sounded like a decision he’d considered very carefully.
Almost as though he had only reluctantly agreed because Dong Li had just been frightened to tears.
But Dong Li had been delighted anyway.
He wrapped his arms tightly around Lufiel’s waist.
At that moment, Lufiel held him while looking at his system interface.
One section of the panel displayed relationship status.
Written there in unmistakably clear text was:
[Dong Li — Level-One Partner (10 days)]
