Chapter 168
Chapter 168
The corner of Cheng Miao’s mouth twitched. Lian Ge was so beautiful, yet her personality was rather interesting.
She remembered asking Baili Qianqiu why the married couple did not enter instances together when she met him in the Apartment instance. His answer at the time had been, “Ge’er is sulking.”
Cheng Miao tilted her head. When two people this stunning got into an argument, did they also end up mired in petty domestic squabbles?
The question was temporarily pushed from her mind when they reached the magnificent manor.
Centaur Resort was enormous. Every player who stayed there received an entire manor to themselves.
Cheng Miao clicked her tongue as she gazed at the grand European-style manor. She had only ever seen places like it in very old British television dramas.
The resort staff were all dressed as maids and butlers, and each of them looked courteous and refined.
“You don’t have any animals here,” Cheng Miao remarked as they walked.
Baili Qianqiu glanced back at the fascinated look on her face and, for once, laughed aloud. “Not everyone is as comfortable as you are with a group of animals talking and working like people.”
Baili Qianqiu idly turned the wine bottle in his hands. “You already know that at higher-level inns, you can have the staff appear in all sorts of forms. The higher the room fee you pay, the more comprehensive the service you receive.”
“That is why many players don’t have animals in their rooms, and very few players are close to their receptionist.”
Cheng Miao stroked Qiudong’s paw pad. With a swish, Qiudong pulled his paw back and tucked it beneath himself, then flicked his tail against her collarbone again and again.
“Is your receptionist a centaur?” Cheng Miao asked curiously. The receptionists at Resorts were all legendary creatures.
Baili Qianqiu nodded. “We only met once, when we first arrived. We haven’t seen the receptionist since. Receptionists don’t make any special effort to associate with us, either. Everyone knows we’re walking different paths.”
Cheng Miao nodded without speaking. Jiang Chen seemed to notice her low spirits and brought up something else with a faint smile. “Want to guess what Gu Jian’s staff look like?”
Cheng Miao could not imagine.
Jiang Chen shook his head. “Every last one looks exactly like him.”
All four of them went speechless. Now they understood why Baili Qianqiu and Lian Ge refused to live with Gu Jian. Who could possibly stand that?
“What about you?” Cheng Miao looked at Jiang Chen, whose smile was always gentle and impeccable, and could not help growing curious.
“I don’t use any staff.” Jiang Chen’s eyes were warm. “I’m the only person in my Unicorn Resort.”
Wasn’t that… terribly lonely?
Cheng Miao did not ask the question aloud. Through Jiang Chen’s eyes, she looked into his inner world. Perhaps she was mistaken, but she could not understand why the heart of such a gentle and steady man resembled a silent, extinct volcano.
It was blanketed in pale ash, boundless and utterly devoid of life.
Cheng Miao did not like seeing Jiang Chen that way. Just as she was about to say something to cheer him up, his gaze shifted. “Look. There’s the troublemaker now.”
Cheng Miao followed his gaze. Gu Jian, who had not been invited, was wearing sunglasses and lying stiff as a corpse in the middle of Centaur Resort.
Baili Qianqiu gave him no consideration whatsoever and marched straight toward him.
Just before Baili Qianqiu’s foot came down on him, Gu Jian nimbly rolled to his feet. Grinning, he drove his right fist toward Baili Qianqiu’s chest without warning.
Baili Qianqiu’s expression did not change in the slightest. He tossed the bottle from his right hand and caught it smoothly with his left, while his right palm blocked Gu Jian’s attack.
He then closed his right hand around Gu Jian’s fist and forced him backward. At the same time, he twisted at the waist and swept a beautiful roundhouse kick toward Gu Jian’s legs.
Cheng Miao and the others watched, dumbstruck, as the two men traded blow after blow.
Cheng Miao had no idea what was happening, but Qin Musong pointed out the key detail: Gu Jian could not beat Baili Qianqiu.
Qiudong delivered the final verdict: Gu Jian was not even close.
Neither of them was wrong. Three minutes later, the fight ended with Baili Qianqiu down on one knee, pinning Gu Jian with the other. His right hand was clamped around Gu Jian’s neck, while his left still held the wine bottle perfectly steady.
“I’m done!” Gu Jian managed to squeeze out through a face reddened by Baili Qianqiu’s grip. Baili Qianqiu chuckled and stood, then pulled Gu Jian up from where he continued to sprawl on the ground.
Jiang Chen had clearly seen this scene many times before. He did not look surprised in the least.
Lian Ge pushed open a French window in the kitchen and beckoned to Cheng Miao. It was an utterly ordinary gesture, yet when Lian Ge made it, the moment looked as serene and beautiful as an oil painting.
A white qipao embroidered with green lotuses, a bright French window, ivy and flowers twining outside the glass. Cheng Miao could only marvel at such beauty.
Cheng Miao walked over and whispered inquisitively, “What happened between you two? Did you have a fight?”
Lian Ge cast Baili Qianqiu a bewitching glare. “It wasn’t anything that serious. We simply disagreed a little while choosing our clothes.”
Only then did Cheng Miao notice the subtle lotus pattern woven into Baili Qianqiu’s pale shirt.
So they had been arguing over which matching outfits to wear.
Well, then. They had lured a single woman in just to slaughter her with their affection.
Cheng Miao sank into gloom.
Qiudong lay on her lap, seemingly asleep. Having given in to despair and forgotten who Qiudong really was, Cheng Miao kissed him on the head.
She did not notice Qiudong go rigid. Still savoring the revelation that a cat’s head truly did smell like a cat and sunshine, Cheng Miao kissed him again.
Her mood improved at once.
Gu Jian, watching from the side, wanted to ruin the moment. He had just opened his mouth to warn Cheng Miao when Qiudong fixed him with a murderous glare.
Gu Jian mimed zipping his lips shut. That was one cat he could not afford to provoke.
Dinner was lavish, a feast worthy of the master of a great manor.
Cheng Miao concentrated on eating and did not reveal anything unusual.
However, a shrewd person would always be shrewd.
Lian Ge swirled the wine in her glass. “You know we’re cleared players now, don’t you?”
Cheng Miao had not expected Lian Ge to bring it up herself. She dabbed the corner of her mouth with her napkin, unsure where to begin.
Lian Ge toyed with her dinner knife, looking at Cheng Miao as though she were a younger sister. “You want to ask why we haven’t returned to reality?”
Cheng Miao nodded obediently.
Lian Ge chuckled. “Because there’s nothing there. Qianqiu isn’t there, either.”
Cheng Miao blinked. Lian Ge leaned closer, her fragrant breath brushing Cheng Miao’s face. “Even if we really returned to reality, we could never live together the way we do now. We’re different people.”
It took Cheng Miao a moment to understand. That was true. The region of China was vast and home to billions of people. How were they supposed to find one another?
Besides, by then everyone would have their own lives, their own paths, and their own social circles.
Even lovers who had faced death together would still have mountains and rivers separating them. If they managed to meet again, how would they balance everything?
Could their feelings really withstand all the other trivialities of life?
Lian Ge’s gaze passed over Cheng Miao, Qi Jiajia, Lin Zhu, and Qin Musong before settling meaningfully on Qiudong.
“So sometimes, going back isn’t necessarily the best choice. After all, once we’ve entered the Game, we’re no longer the same people we used to be, are we?”
Cheng Miao’s eyes trembled sharply. She lowered her head, and no one knew what she was thinking.