Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Cheng Miao loved snow too. As a southerner, she had rarely seen it. Surrounded only by her own people, she became a child again and started a snowball fight with Qi Jiajia and Lin Zhu.
“Hey, big guy. Come help me carry things.” Qin Musong froze, still unaccustomed to being so familiar with a Front Desk attendant.
He looked at the three people playing wildly in the snow, rubbed his nose, and chuckled before following Brother Parrot.
Soon Qin Musong returned carrying a stove in one arm and charcoal in the other. A basket held several teacups, and a kettle dangled from his little finger.
Brother Parrot flew behind him with tea leaves in its beak.
By the time Cheng Miao and the others had finished playing and turned around, Qin Musong had already started the fire without complaint. Steam burbled from the kettle, and a hint of tea mingled with the fragrance of plum blossoms.
Cheng Miao had studied liberal arts and adored such poetic scenes. Even Qi Jiajia’s usually gloomy face held a smile.
“Your service is incredible.” Cheng Miao accepted a cup of tea and inhaled. It smelled fresh and fragrant, unlike the tea she usually drank.
Brother Parrot pecked daintily at its tea and raised its little head. “Naturally. I’ve never brought players here before. Usually, I only come with a few old friends.”
The moment it finished speaking, Cheng Miao saw an agile black figure leap from the roof. “Qiudong!”
Qiudong surveyed the cheerful group, then cast a surprised glance at Brother Parrot, which was quietly drinking tea.
The bird might be talkative, but it had an eccentric temper and genuinely liked very few people.
Yet it had brought Cheng Miao’s group into a private realm belonging to Front Desk attendants. These players truly were different.
“Aren’t you cold?” Cheng Miao’s intelligence dropped to zero whenever she saw the cat. She leaned closer, then looked down at herself. She had arrived wearing only a shirt and jeans. Lin Zhu had already fetched blankets from their rooms, and each person had wrapped themselves in one, making them look like four bundled Arctic explorers.
Qiudong swished his tail, brushed past Cheng Miao, and sat beside Brother Parrot.
Reading the situation, Lin Zhu poured Qiudong a cup of tea. The cat bent gracefully and lapped at it with his pink tongue.
Cheng Miao moved closer again and whispered with Brother Parrot for a long time. Brother Parrot flapped away, then returned carrying a bag of marshmallows in its beak.
Cheng Miao asked Qi Jiajia and Lin Zhu to skewer them on sticks. “Have you ever had toasted marshmallows? They’re ridiculously good.”
Qin Musong was already in his thirties or forties and had never eaten such a girlish snack.
Lin Zhu rarely ate snacks. Qi Jiajia had been raised under such strict rules that she had never even seen an undignified treat like this.
Cheng Miao quickly toasted the marshmallows until they developed tiger-striped patches, then gave one to each person. They took cautious bites and were immediately overwhelmed by sweetness, crisp outside and molten within.
“Wow, it’s like ice cream, Sister Miaomiao!”
Qin Musong found them too sweet and stopped after finishing the one Cheng Miao gave him.
When he saw that Qi Jiajia still wanted more, he skewered two himself and crouched beside the fire to toast them.
Qi Jiajia glanced at Qin Musong, lowered her head, and crouched nearby, concentrating on the marshmallows in the flames.
Some played with the cat, some drank tea, and others ate marshmallows. Lin Zhu even built a small snowman in the backyard, leaving his hands and the tip of his nose red with cold.
Cheng Miao finally fulfilled her wish and touched the thick, soft fur on Qiudong’s back. She had merely snatched one stroke while the cat was distracted and did not dare try a second.
She looked up at the distant mountains and breathed out a cloud of white mist. This was the happiest day she had spent since entering the Survival Inn.
Before bed, everyone went to the cafeteria and drank a large cup of ginger tea. They would enter another instance tomorrow, and Cheng Miao did not want anyone getting sick.
As Cheng Miao was about to enter her room, Brother Parrot stopped her. “Give me your phone.”
She obediently took it out. Brother Parrot landed on it and pecked several numbers with its beak. “That’s my number.”
Cheng Miao took back the phone and felt the raised keys. “You have a phone too?”
Brother Parrot haughtily shook the feathers atop its head. “Of course. You’re the first player to receive my number. Call if you need anything. I’ll come find you to play… assuming your Front Desk attendant and I aren’t enemies.”
Cheng Miao carefully saved Brother Parrot’s number. After taking two steps toward her room, she turned back. “Have you always been a Front Desk attendant?”
Brother Parrot was tugging the light cord over the front desk. At her question, it twisted its head around and narrowed its eyes. “Of course not. Who stays a Front Desk attendant forever?”
Cheng Miao watched it without betraying her thoughts. “Then what were you before?”
“Before…” Brother Parrot shook its head and pulled the cord. Darkness swallowed the front desk. Its voice emerged from the blackness, crisp but touched by age. “Who remembers things from that long ago?”
Cheng Miao woke refreshed the next morning and ate a lavish breakfast with her teammates.
She had asked for their opinions in the group chat the day before. No one objected to Black Cat Hotel.
When Brother Parrot saw her write Black Cat Hotel as their next stop, it pretended to wipe tears with one wing. “Good times are always so short. Cheng Miao, remember to visit me.”
Cheng Miao reached out and stroked its head. Brother Parrot readily pressed its ridiculous tufts into her palm. “Go on, go on. All this dawdling is making me sentimental.”
Cheng Miao laughed, waved goodbye, and headed toward the mountains beyond the wheat fields.
“Looks Are Justice Team, charge!”
Qi Jiajia snapped, “Lin Zhu, you’ve gotten really annoying lately!”
“Huh…? Have I? I thought you’d like me better if I were livelier.”
“I don’t like you no matter what you’re like!”
“…”
Listening to her teammates bicker behind her, Cheng Miao tightened her grip on the Instance Pass.
She hoped every one of them would survive. She hoped they would all make it home.
The instant Cheng Miao entered the instance, she checked the people around her. Only after confirming that every teammate was present did she relax.
This instance lay deep in the mountains. Surrounded by layered peaks and dense virgin forest, Cheng Miao rubbed the back of her neck uneasily.
She was afraid of insects. An instance set in a forest might prove troublesome.
The mission had not begun yet. The players gathered beside a creek in the deserted wilderness, where even birdsong was scarce.
There were fewer players than in the previous instance, though still a fair number: fifteen in total. Cheng Miao recognized no one.
Perhaps Qin Musong simply radiated too much security. Before the mission even began, someone approached to strike up a conversation.
They were brothers. The older one was tall, slender, and quick to smile, like the heartthrob in a romantic drama.
The younger brother had shy eyes and slightly yellow curls. He looked like a drama heartthrob too, only the bashful kind.
The older brother was Qin Wen and the younger Qin Wu, their names forming the phrase “accomplished in both letters and arms.” Somehow, both had ended up in the Survival Inn. At least they had entered together and could look after each other.
“Hey, handsome. Didn’t I see you in that zombie instance?” Qin Wen grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. Cheng Miao looked the brothers over. The older one’s body language was relaxed, while the younger seemed deeply nervous, almost as if this were his first Game.
Qin Wen was observant. Noticing Cheng Miao’s scrutiny, he nodded without reservation. “I’m a veteran player. This is only my brother’s second instance.”
Qin Musong nodded. “I remember you. You can handle yourself.”
Qin Wen’s smile widened. He patted his brother’s head. “Most basic instances require cooperation, but there are always brain-dead players around. Running into a real expert makes things a lot less stressful.”
Qin Musong did not respond. He merely looked toward Cheng Miao.
Qin Wen followed his gaze in surprise. He had witnessed Qin Musong’s skill and character. Yet this team’s leader was not him, but that beautiful, somewhat aloof young woman?