Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Before Cheng Miao could react, an icy voice spoke beside her. “What? Regretting your choice?”
The final shred of vigilance in Cheng Miao’s mind blared an alarm. She immediately recovered her usual cool composure and nodded to Qiudong. “No regrets. It’s just a cat. Who doesn’t have one?”
The people present were either Bai Jiang and Li Cheng’s group, whom she already knew well enough that they would not ask why Qiudong had followed her to a Grand Hotel.
Cheng Miao could continue treating them as friends, despite the enormous gap between their inns, precisely because they were intelligent people who understood boundaries.
As for the others, Jiang Chen and the Baili couple were all shrewd beyond measure. Perhaps they already knew the reason, or perhaps they had guessed it.
Gu Jian, meanwhile… simply was not interested.
Outside the instance, Cheng Miao thought he seemed a little more normal, but he was also less lively than he had been inside.
His mood improved inside instances. What a strange man.
Everyone ate and drank from sunset until the Milky Way filled the sky.
When Cheng Miao asked about Qiao Jin and Qian Ming, only Gu Jian had seen them once. It seemed both had safely left the [Reversed World] instance.
She also asked about Freckles.
Freckles was low-level and had teamed up with Bai Jiang’s group once. Now she had partnered with Yang Ke, the sunny campus heartthrob from the apartment instance, and was steadily growing stronger.
Knowing all her old friends were alive, Cheng Miao breathed a sigh of relief.
Then she remembered something else and looked around the group. “Have any of you met two brothers? The older one is outgoing and capable, while the younger one is shy and timid. They’re very close, and their names are Qin Wen and Qin Wu.”
Li Cheng’s group shook their heads. Jiang Chen looked at Cheng Miao. “Why? Do you know them?”
Cheng Miao nodded. “We shared one instance. The older brother, Qin Wen, was a good person.”
Jiang Chen bent one long leg and rested a hand casually on his knee, tapping it lightly. “I’ve met someone named Qin Wu, but he was very capable. He didn’t sound like the person you described.”
Cheng Miao’s heart skipped a beat. She was accustomed to watching players die in instances, but she had yet to lose someone she personally knew.
Could Qin Wen have…?
Remembering how poorly Qin Wu had performed in their instance, Cheng Miao wondered whether Qin Wen had later died protecting him.
Jiang Chen had been watching Cheng Miao’s expression. When sadness appeared on her face, his eyes seemed to hold a river of stars.
“Miaomiao, remember this. People will constantly fall behind on this road, but you can’t let that affect you. You have to keep moving forward.”
The subject cast a pall over the gathering. Apart from the Baili couple, who were largely unaffected, everyone became more or less melancholy.
Gu Jian twisted his head like a crow to peer at Qi Jiajia, who had lowered hers. “Hey, are you sad?”
Qi Jiajia raised her expressionless face and met his gaze. “No. I’m just a little bored.”
The small amount of sadness gathering in Cheng Miao shattered instantly under the combined force of those two.
Cheng Miao looked at Jiang Chen. “I remember that Survival Inn lets people make wishes. Can it grant any wish at all?”
Approval flashed through Jiang Chen’s eyes. “Yes. Any wish. So Qin Wu can save enough money to exchange for Qin Wen’s return.”
Cheng Miao nodded and felt somewhat better.
In fact, when they had first reached the Grand Hotel, Cheng Miao had already asked Qin Musong whether he wanted to exchange for his daughter’s return.
She still remembered the man standing as upright as a pine in the garden, watching Qi Jiajia play with Lin Zhu in the pool. His voice had been gentle and firm.
“My daughter died. That is a fact. I don’t know how the Game would bring her back, but until I understand it, I won’t consider doing so.”
“Besides, this is a major decision. I can’t make it on my own without discussing it with my wife.”
After that conversation, Qin Musong’s image became even more towering in Cheng Miao’s heart.
Sob, sob. The mature man was so handsome!
Lin Zhu and Qi Jiajia wanted nothing, Qin Musong had no intention of making a wish, and Cheng Miao did not know what she wanted. As a result, their team had not even looked at the wish function yet.
That was rare among high-level players who had reached the Grand Hotel tier.
But for players who had lost companions in the Game, the wish function was nothing less than hope, a guiding light.
It kept them moving forward.
After Li Cheng’s group left drunk, Cheng Miao exchanged contact information with the Baili couple and Gu Jian, then returned to her own Grand Hotel.
“Little Miaomiao, come visit our Grand Hotel in a couple of days.” Lian Ge’s smile was intoxicating. Her vivid red cheongsam made her skin look even more like jade.
She and Baili Qianqiu had not spoken much during the meal, but they still made Li Cheng’s and Bai Jiang’s groups feel respected.
Still, they walked different roads and did not exchange contact information.
Being able to see them in the large group chat and know they were alive was enough.
“Wow, I want to come too!” Baili Qianqiu smiled and pushed away Gu Jian, who had leaned closer. “Not you. You’re too much trouble.”
Then he looked toward Jiang Chen, who stood gentlemanly to one side, and curved his lips. “Jiang Chen can come.”
Jiang Chen adjusted his glasses and bowed slightly with gentlemanly courtesy. “Many thanks.”
Gu Jian cried out dramatically, “What is this? Ever since Cheng Miao showed up, you’ve all started holding more gatherings, but you never invite me!”
Cheng Miao rubbed her hands together eagerly. Lian Ge and the others were Resort players. She would finally see how the experts lived.
On the way back, Cheng Miao curled a finger around the cat tail at her neck and discussed something with her teammates. “In the future, if we want to meet Li Cheng’s group, let’s go to them instead.”
Lin Zhu’s hair had grown long enough to tie into a tiny ponytail at the back of his head. It bobbed as he walked, and Qi Jiajia, riding on Qin Musong’s back, kept reaching out to tug it.
“Why, Sister Miaomiao?” Lin Zhu did not become angry and good-naturedly let Qi Jiajia play.
“Miaomiao is right. For Li Cheng’s group, occasionally visiting a high-level inn can be motivating. But too much of that stimulation could make them give up on themselves instead,” Qin Musong explained.
“Why do they get to live in such a wonderful Grand Hotel while we work every day and can only afford a Hotel?” Qi Jiajia imitated Jiang Qi’s excitable voice.
“They wouldn’t think that way, would they?” When Qi Jiajia twisted and squirmed to reach his hair, Lin Zhu took her from Qin Musong and carried her instead. That let Qi Jiajia pull his ponytail even more openly.
“The point is to keep them from ever thinking that way. But you’re right. They all understand boundaries. They may have thought of it before we did.” Cheng Miao’s eyes curved with her smile.
Cheng Miao pinched the tip of Qiudong’s tail and spoke before his paw could smack her. “Is it very difficult to advance from Resort to Club? Even the Baili couple, Gu Jian, and Jiang Chen are so strong, but they’ve all remained at Resort.”
Qiudong’s icy blue eyes flickered. Curled into the hollow of Cheng Miao’s shoulder, he said nothing.
Cheng Miao did not press him. It was only after they returned to their Grand Hotel and Qin Musong lit the fireplace that Qiudong jumped onto the sculptural marble coffee table, swished his tail, and answered her earlier question.
“They aren’t players.”