Chapter 7: He Never Loved You
Lufiel opened the relationship panel and pulled up the detailed NPC affection rankings.
—Dong Li: 89 points [Region: Fuling]
It had been 86 yesterday.
After getting frightened just now, his affection had risen by another three points.
Once an NPC’s affection toward a player reached 70, the two could become Level-One Partners.
The process wasn’t particularly difficult. Depending on the NPC’s home region, the player had to clear a designated dungeon, obtain a specific item, and give it to the NPC.
If the NPC accepted the item, that meant they accepted the partnership.
Dong Li was an NPC from the Fuling Region, so the required item was a rare Nine-Lotus Herb.
For Lufiel, obtaining one had been easy.
After getting the herb, he had even searched the forums for a guide.
Under normal circumstances, as long as the affection requirement had been met and the NPC’s first impression of the player was reasonably good, the success rate was around eighty percent.
After all, this was only a Level-One Partnership.
Most players entered one purely to complete achievement quests. Once the quest was finished, they would dissolve the partnership, or it would automatically end if the NPC’s affection dropped below 70.
The day Lufiel gave Dong Li the Nine-Lotus Herb, Dong Li had looked delighted.
Without the slightest hesitation, he took the herb and stuffed it straight into his little medicine furnace.
Lufiel had always assumed that since this was part of the game’s system, Dong Li naturally understood what accepting the Nine-Lotus Herb meant.
It had also been Lufiel’s first time doing anything like this.
Looking back, he hadn’t thought it through carefully enough.
Dong Li…hadn’t understood at all.
So when Dong Li suddenly asked him to “be his boyfriend,” Lufiel had actually gone blank for a rare moment.
Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to start properly now.
Dong Li lifted his head again, a faint blush coloring his cheeks as he clung to Lufiel and refused to let go.
“Then you’re my boyfriend from now on!”
Lufiel murmured an acknowledgment.
Unable to resist, he raised a hand and lightly touched the golden hair beside Dong Li’s ear.
They were already dangerously close.
System warnings kept appearing, so Lufiel withdrew his hand almost immediately.
“Rongrong,” he asked, “do you work for the game company?”
Dong Li was only a low-level NPC, yet his level of interactive freedom was far too high.
He was unusual.
Lufiel had wondered before whether Dong Li might actually be an employee of the game company whose consciousness had been connected to an NPC body.
If that were true…then they could meet outside the game.
But Dong Li only looked completely bewildered.
“What do you mean…?”
His confusion didn’t look feigned.
He genuinely didn’t understand.
Lufiel said quietly, “Never mind.”
Then he took out a paper-wrapped package of sweets he had brought in from outside the game.
Dong Li watched him pick one up and hold it to his mouth, then obediently opened wide and bit into it.
At the same time, Lufiel opened his chat with Liufeng and sent a message.
[Need a favor.]
Liufeng was online and replied almost immediately.
[Coming, coming. Dungeon run?]
[Go make some trouble in the Fuling Region. I want everyone to stay away from the alchemy hut and the safe zone in the rear mountains from now on.]
Liufeng immediately got a headache.
[That’s… kind of difficult. I’m calling Liuye!]
…
Dong Li had no idea that his memory of when their relationship had begun was wrong.
He leaned his head back against the chair and stared blankly upward, his mind filled with Lufiel’s silence and hesitation from back then.
And with the things people on the forum had said.
Admit it, you still love him.
Maybe he never loved you at all.
Dong Li sulked.
What nonsense…
They had been broken up for so long.
He didn’t like Lufiel anymore!
Even if Lufiel begged him to get back together, Dong Li wouldn’t say yes!
Dong Li began mentally listing all of Lufiel’s flaws.
He barely talked.
He was ridiculously cold.
He never kissed Dong Li first…
But…
Lufiel had good qualities too.
He was always perfectly punctual for their dates.
He was endlessly patient.
And he almost never refused Dong Li anything.
Except for one thing.
Before they broke up, Dong Li had asked Lufiel to take him away from the Fuling Region.
Lufiel had promised.
And then he’d broken that promise.
Dong Li stared at the ceiling in a daze.
Rongrong jumped into his arms and leaned up to lick his chin.
Yuanbao finally woke as well. It crawled out of Dong Li’s coat with a yawn and settled beside Rongrong.
Holding both of them, Dong Li pulled out the metal plate again.
He didn’t reply to the earlier thread, and it soon sank beneath newer posts.
The front page was still full of people discussing the game’s bugs.
Everyone was wondering why the problems still hadn’t been fixed after so long. And if they weren’t bugs, why hadn’t any side quests been released?
Dong Li didn’t understand most of it.
He considered asking someone a few questions, but instinctively felt that it wouldn’t be safe.
He and these “outsiders” weren’t really the same kind.
They weren’t companions.
While browsing, he happened across the thread about Lufiel again.
To his surprise, the comments had descended into an argument.
[Floor 103: Every damn day it’s “God Lu is amazing,” “God Lu carry me.” Why don’t you fly straight to Tianheng Star, call him Daddy to his face, and see if he wants a loser like you for a godson?]
[Floor 104: LMAO. Like Tianheng Star Military Academy lets just anybody walk in.]
[Floor 112: Hello? Show us your mental-power rank.]
[Floor 120: Anyone else goes red-name once and you people tear them apart forever. Lufiel does it and suddenly he’s a god.]
[Floor 134: That’s because he’s the future Chief. If you’re jealous, just say so.]
[Floor 135: Here comes another loyal dog.]
[Floor 150: Haha, he’s just an illegitimate child. His whole family had to die before he got his shot at becoming Chief. Yep, yep, I’m so jealous.]
The thread had hundreds of replies.
Several comments were quickly hidden, replaced by notices saying they contained excessively inflammatory language.
Illegitimate child…
Dong Li frowned faintly.
He more or less understood what the term meant.
And he could clearly sense the naked malice behind some of those comments.
Back when they were together, Lufiel had rarely mentioned his family.
Dong Li thought carefully and remembered one occasion when Lufiel had come to see him in an obviously terrible mood.
Even though he was holding himself rigidly in check, his expression had been frighteningly dark.
Dong Li had asked what was wrong.
Eventually, Lufiel only said that he and his grandfather had been having some problems.
Dong Li didn’t have a grandfather himself, so he couldn’t really relate.
Instead, he sat beneath a tree and hugged Lufiel for a long time, talking to him and keeping him company.
Lufiel gradually seemed much better.
After escorting Dong Li back to the alchemy hut, he had remained outside for quite a while before finally leaving.
Coming back to himself, Dong Li exited the thread and tried not to think about the past anymore.
Maybe Lufiel already had someone new.
If those comments upset him, there would be someone else there to comfort him.
—
A little after two in the afternoon, Liufeng logged in and saw that Lufiel was still online.
He immediately sent him a voice call.
“Don’t tell me you never logged off.”
“Mm.”
For a moment, Liufeng had no idea what to say.
He let out a silent sigh.
Lufiel’s mental power was exceptionally strong. Going two or three days without sleep or rest genuinely wouldn’t cause him much trouble.
Even so, Liufeng was worried.
Back when the closed beta abruptly ended and the game later reopened for open beta, Lufiel had been in much the same state…
After thinking it over, Liufeng couldn’t help trying again.
“Go offline and get some rest. Seriously, what time is it already? He’s an NPC. If something really happened to him, he should return to his original location after the cooldown.”
On the other end of the call, Lufiel answered with only two words.
“No need.”
Liufeng knew his personality.
There was no point saying anything more right now.
He scratched his head.
“Fine. Liuye’s heading toward Posuo River later to help look. I’m still in the wasteland north of the Fuling Region. We’ll contact each other if anything comes up.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
Dragonbone Town was crowded with people.
The weekend Trial Grounds were about to open, so there were even more players than usual.
Lufiel looked out over the dense crowd, silent and somber.
He had already confirmed that Dong Li wasn’t anywhere in the outskirts of Dragonbone Town.
But then…where was he?
—
Shu Bai was very busy that afternoon.
Dong Li stayed alone in the back room and took a nap.
When he woke up, he went back to browsing the game forum.
After paging through thread after thread, he finally found one titled:
[New Players Must Read: Understand the Game in Two Minutes]
Dong Li opened it and carefully read through the brief introduction.
[OP: Everything below comes from my own experience playing the game, plus some information I’ve collected.
- The game’s worldbuilding appears to be based on the Tal people. NPCs possess spirit forms—or spirit bodies—with different attributes. Only a small number of NPCs have high combat ability.
- Players don’t have spirit forms, but after receiving recognition from a regional runestone, they can obtain spiritual power and begin cultivating.
- Each region contains demonic-beast bosses, half-demon bosses, and regular small mobs. Check your map before traveling.
- Ways to level up include: breathing (for pure sightseeing/tourism players), completing quests, fighting in the arena, clearing dungeons, farming, crafting weapons, running shops, and killing people (evil-cultivator route; killing too many players will turn your name red, publicly broadcast your real information across the server, and put you on the wanted list. If you’re killed after that, you lose a lot of levels).
- Don’t do anything the system forbids, such as malicious destruction, harassing NPCs, exploiting bugs to farm items, etc. That can get you red-named too~]
…
As Dong Li read, he thought…
This game didn’t sound that complicated.
As long as he didn’t do anything bad, he could basically do whatever he wanted.
Play however he liked.
And now he had the metal plate, so he could use the map and read the forums.
As for the explanation about red names…
If he remembered correctly, Lufiel had once—
Dong Li shook his head hard.
No.
He wasn’t thinking about him.
In a little while, Dong Li would go check out the nearby herb field and gather some fresh medicinal plants to restock his furnace.
After closing the forum, Dong Li suddenly noticed that the Fox Spirit listed on the metal plate had gone from Level 2 to Level 3.
“Huh?”
Dong Li turned the plate this way and that.
He still wasn’t sure whether the information really belonged to him.
If it did…
then from last night until now, he hadn’t really done anything.
Well…
He had eaten some delicious fruit.
Dong Li put the metal plate away and opened his little medicine furnace.
Only one pill remained inside.
Yuanbao caught the scent and weakly wagged its tail from where it lay in Dong Li’s arms.
Dong Li held the pill out.
Yuanbao opened its mouth and bit off half.
Then it turned its head away and refused to eat the rest.
Dong Li could guess what Yuanbao meant.
There was only one pill left, so it was probably trying to save half for later.
His heart aching, Dong Li stroked Yuanbao gently. “Come on. We’ll go find you something to eat right now.”
But just as he was about to sneak out through the back courtyard again, Shu Bai came in from the front of the shop.
“Dong Li!” he called quickly. “Are you… leaving?”
Dong Li hurriedly hid Yuanbao and turned around, explaining as honestly as he could, “I wanted to check out the herb field nearby. My medicine furnace is empty…”
Shu Bai shook his head, his expression unusually serious.
“No. The mayor sent out a notice not long ago. There’s some information about demonic beasts that needs to be verified, so no one is allowed to go out without permission after six this evening.”
It was already six?
Dong Li hesitated. “I’ll only be gone for a little while. I’ll come right back.”
Shu Bai shook his head again.
“The mayor won’t allow it.”
If anyone else had tried to stop him, Dong Li wouldn’t have listened to a single word.
Who cared whether it was allowed? He could just sneak out.
But Shu Bai was his friend.
And that part about verifying information on demonic beasts…
Was it because Dong Li had brought Yuanbao here?
Dong Li wavered.
“Then… I’ll go tomorrow morning?”
Shu Bai shook his head.
“No. The herb field is dangerous.”
Dong Li thought to himself, Fine. Tomorrow morning it is.
Through his coat, he gently patted Yuanbao to reassure it.
Rongrong sat on the windowsill, head tilted as it gazed outside.
—
Night fell quickly.
Shu Bai closed the shop right on schedule, heated up dinner, and shared it with Dong Li.
Dong Li didn’t eat much.
He still had two fruits left from the ones he’d picked during the day and had planned to give one to Shu Bai, but Shu Bai wouldn’t eat it.
After dinner, Shu Bai pulled a mattress out from a hidden compartment in the wall and spread out the sheets and blankets.
Dong Li helped make the bed, only to have a pillow shoved into his arms.
“You sleep over here,” Shu Bai reminded him. “It’s dangerous outside. Don’t leave.”
Then he went out into the courtyard to heat water.
Apparently worried Dong Li might sneak away, Shu Bai even made a point of shutting the little door behind him.
Dong Li sat on the edge of the mattress and waited.
Suddenly, Rongrong hopped onto the windowsill.
“Mm?”
Yuanbao stirred beneath Dong Li’s coat as well, opening its eyes warily.
A second later, the window rattled.
Something pitch-black squeezed its way inside.
“Huh?”
Dong Li recognized it immediately.
It was the little black beast he’d met earlier that day.
The creature was panting hard, and once again it looked to be in terrible shape. Scabs covered several wounds across its body, and it weakly raised its head to look at Dong Li.
Once it confirmed his scent and appearance, its eyes lit up.
Suddenly energized, it rushed toward him.
Rongrong raised a paw to block it, but missed.
Yuanbao leaped out just in time, attempting to stop the little beast from getting any closer.
The black creature ignored both of them.
It didn’t even seem to notice Yuanbao’s warning glare.
It charged straight for Dong Li’s medicine furnace—only to discover that the lid could only be opened by Dong Li.
The little beast pawed at it desperately.
Then tried biting it.
Neither worked.
Seeing that it was covered in injuries and clearly had almost no strength left, Yuanbao hesitated and chose not to attack.
“What are you doing?” Dong Li asked.
He opened the furnace and took out the remaining half of Yuanbao’s pill.
“Do you want this?”
The little beast’s eyes instantly shone.
It lunged like a starving tiger and swallowed the pill in one bite, so fast Dong Li barely had time to react.
Yuanbao watched the whole thing.
Then angrily lashed its tail.
That was the half it had deliberately saved…
Fine.
Whatever.
This Taotie was even more badly injured than Yuanbao was. If it waited much longer, it might actually die.
After eating the half pill, the little beast seemed to recover a little.
It looked at Dong Li again and sniffed the air.
When it realized there was no more food, a hint of disappointment appeared in its crimson eyes.
Dong Li quietly studied it.
Then he cautiously reached out a hand.
“Did you… come all this way looking for me?”
The little beast immediately backed away, avoiding his fingertips.
Dong Li didn’t force it.
This was only their second meeting, after all. They weren’t exactly familiar yet.
He still didn’t know much about the creature either.
Based on its size and its fondness for his medicine, he could only guess that it was probably somewhat similar to Yuanbao.
Dong Li thought for a moment.
“I’m going to the herb field tomorrow. Once I get some fresh herbs, I can make more medicine. I’ll share some with you!”
The little black beast was about the same size as Yuanbao.
Even after eating half a pill, its wounds were still visible.
It looked terribly pitiful.
Back when Dong Li first found Yuanbao in the rear mountains, Yuanbao had looked at him with the same miserable expression…
The little beast understood him.
It immediately shuffled a little closer, its eyes lighting up once more.
Hungry.
So hungry.
Still so hungry…
Once it had food, it could recover faster!
Dong Li was itching to pet it.
He reached out again.
“Oh, right. I’m Dong Li, and this is Yuanbao—”
Just then, Shu Bai returned from outside.
The black beast didn’t trust anyone else.
It darted beneath a cabinet in the corner.
Yuanbao instantly burrowed back inside Dong Li’s coat.
By the time Shu Bai entered the room, everything looked perfectly normal.
Completely unaware of what had happened, Shu Bai simply called Dong Li over to wash his face.
Late that night, the room was quiet.
Shu Bai and Dong Li each slept beneath their own blanket on the mattress.
Rongrong was curled against Dong Li’s neck, fast asleep.
One corner of the blanket shifted.
Yuanbao poked its head out and looked toward the cabinet.
A pair of crimson eyes stared back from underneath.
Yuanbao’s gaze turned cold, carrying a clear warning.
Beneath the cabinet, the little black beast was curled into a ball.
It lowered its head and licked the wounds on its body, giving a silent little scoff to itself.
Yuanbao…
What a stupid name.
—
A night passed.
At six in the morning, sunlight began spilling through the window.
It was Dong Li’s first time sleeping anywhere outside the Fuling Region.
Combined with everything that had happened over the past day, he hadn’t slept particularly well.
He vaguely remembered having some kind of blurry dream, though none of the images were clear.
Just as the dream was finally coming to an end, voices woke him.
Dong Li opened his eyes.
Rongrong stood nearby on alert.
Shu Bai was in the room with an unfamiliar NPC.
The NPC frowned deeply and pointed at Dong Li.
“Who is he?”
Shu Bai stumbled over his explanation.
“H-He’s Dong Li. A fox spirit from the Fuling Region…”
“The medicine shop only employs one fox spirit from the Fuling Region. You.” The NPC’s voice sharpened. “What is going on?!”
Dong Li immediately sat up and pulled Shu Bai behind him protectively.
“I just came to visit my friend,” he said, watching the NPC warily. “I haven’t done anything.”
[Level 3 NPC · Dog Spirit]
[Region: Dragonbone]
A sturdy wolfhound spirit stood behind the NPC.
The NPC seemed not to hear Dong Li at all.
His tone remained hostile.
“Your friend? A fox spirit of the Fuling Region cannot simply leave without permission. Either you return immediately, or I’ll escort you back myself!”
Dong Li’s eyes widened.
“No! And who are you to tell me what to do?!”
He had finally managed to get out of the Fuling Region.
There was no way he was going back!
At his refusal, the wolfhound behind the NPC stepped forward, preparing to attack.
Rongrong immediately jumped in front of Dong Li and swiped one paw.
The wolfhound was several times larger than Rongrong, yet it seemed oddly afraid and was forced half a step backward.
The NPC’s face darkened even further.
“You dare!”
He strode forward.
The little white fox spirit at his feet was in the way, so he kicked it aside and reached for Dong Li himself.
That little white fox was Shu Bai’s spirit form.
Seeing it kicked away only made Dong Li angrier.
He stopped thinking.
Grabbing his little medicine furnace, he swung it as hard as he could at the NPC’s head.
To his surprise, the NPC dropped instantly.
Just like Supervisor Ba.
Apparently NPCs really weren’t very good at taking a hit.
Dong Li stood there holding his furnace, stunned.
Then something small and black rolled out from beneath the cabinet in the corner.
A massive black head suddenly materialized.
Its jaws opened wide—and swallowed the unconscious NPC and his dog spirit whole.
Then the enormous head vanished.
Dong Li stared in horror.
The little black beast from last night sat innocently on the floor, licking its mouth.
Rongrong was stunned too.
Beside them, Shu Bai had completely frozen.
Dong Li finally snapped out of it.
He grabbed the little beast, lifted it into the air, and shook it hard.
“Y-You! Spit them back out!”
The black beast remained completely unmoved.
Inside Dong Li’s coat, Yuanbao closed its eyes.
It really wanted to punch this greedy idiot.
Not far outside, Lufiel was sitting on a rooftop.
He vaguely sensed an unusual trace of demonic energy.
His gaze shifted toward the medicine shop.
Author’s Note:
Taotie: So noisy… Oh, they fell over? Might as well take a bite!
