Chapter 98

Chapter 98

And so, the readers in the comments section all left messages one after another. Some even went so far as to tell the Author to go fall in love already.

However, the Author himself had a rather lofty opinion of himself. He believed he was still a young flower in bloom and was in no hurry to find someone to marry him.

As a result, his romantic experience was delayed again and again, until there was no delaying it any longer. He had no choice but to rummage through his memories of novels he had read before, searching for any dating experiences he could use as reference.

In post-apocalyptic novels, the two male leads killed zombies and dug out crystal cores together, which was basically saving up a huge deposit in the apocalypse. In campus novels, the two male leads had just confirmed their relationship, then spent half a month grinding practice questions to prepare for finals. In interstellar novels, the male and female leads went flying an airship together, and the female lead gazed at the male lead in worship… Oh. Ning Wang would not gaze at him in worship, Ning Shuo did not know how to fly an airship, and for the time being, no airship could be found in the System either.

In the end, the two of them unanimously decided: they would just go shopping.

The Rest Area where they had settled in the Central Zone had a modern style. The surrounding area was full of malls, cinemas, hotels, and all kinds of restaurants. There were also many NPCs selling little trinkets by the roadside, adding quite a bit of modern atmosphere.

This Rest Area had a large Player population, and everyone wore a satisfied smile.

That made sense. During the arena period, the death rate in Scripts had dropped significantly, and it was easier to earn Heat Points too. On top of that, this Rest Area was practically identical to the modern world. Anyone would lose themselves in it.

The Scripts Ning Wang had been through rarely had these little roadside trinkets. Even if they did appear, he would not pay much attention to anything unrelated to the mission.

Now that he was walking down this street with entertainment in mind, the novelty on Ning Wang’s face was obvious.

Holding Ning Shuo’s hand, he walked a few steps to the nearest stall. There were quite a few lenticular cards displayed on it.

Ning Wang casually picked up a lenticular card printed with a cat and found that the moment he lifted the frosted card, the image on it seemed to move.

The cat’s wide-open mouth suddenly closed.

He tried tilting the card again, and the closed mouth turned wide-open once more.

Ning Wang’s eyes were bright. “This is fun.”

Xie Ning liked all things novel and unusual. When Ning Shuo had first arrived in the modern world, he had traveled for a while as well. Because he had no money, he had even studied while traveling and taken online freelance jobs to earn travel expenses.

The first time Ning Shuo saw a lenticular card, he too had immediately taken a liking to the big-mouthed cat on the stall.

At that time, he had only ten yuan left on him. With a pang of reluctance, he spent a grand five yuan to buy that lenticular card. Delighted, he lifted the card high over his head and watched the image shift constantly under the sunlight as he changed the angle.

Ning Shuo had always had a rich inner world. Watching the cat’s mouth open and close as the angle changed, he silently gave the big-mouthed cat sound effects in his heart.

No matter how much of a chuunibyou he was, he would not, upon first arriving in a foreign land, suddenly shout and yell in the middle of the street like a lunatic.

So back then, Ning Shuo had created a little person inside his heart. That little person had the same personality as Ning Shuo, and Ning Shuo could share all his happiness with him, as well as all his worries.

Now, that little person in his heart, the one just like him, had leapt out in front of him. In those eyes that were just like his, eyes Ning Shuo liked very much, was the same novelty Ning Shuo had felt back then.

Ning Shuo thought, How silly.

How adorable.

Ning Wang was having the time of his life playing with that lenticular card, silently giving the big-mouthed cat sound effects in his heart too.

As he played, it suddenly occurred to him that he might look very childish like this. Just as he was about to observe Ning Shuo’s reaction out of the corner of his eye, he heard a sudden “Wah” and “Woo” beside him, perfectly matching the cat’s opening and closing mouth.

The sounds in his heart had been voiced aloud. Ning Wang laughed happily and led Ning Shuo by the hand toward somewhere else.
One was testing out something new; the other was revisiting familiar ground.

As Ning Shuo wandered through the entire Rest Area with Ning Wang, he also picked up pieces of his old feelings along the way.

And the feeling he had now-being on a date with the person he loved.

All of a sudden, Ning Shuo kind of understood how those romantic date scenes were supposed to be written.

It wasn’t that two people had to do anything in particular. As long as they liked each other, just being together was enough to make them happy.

…

The Rest Area in the Central Zone was much more advanced than those in the other Star Zone divisions. For example, although the current season should have counted as autumn, soft snow drifted down from the sky like wisps of cotton.

In the neon-lit city night, an NPC was just about to close up shop according to instructions when someone in a long coat appeared in front of the stall at some point. “Hello.”

The coat was tailored, making the person’s figure look even taller and more slender. His long fingers sifted through the lenticular cards before finally picking out one with a wide-mouthed cat design. “I’ll take this one. I’ve transferred the Heat Points to you.”

One hand tucked in his pocket, he idly swung the card back and forth with the other. Snowflakes landed on his shoulder, then dissolved into data after a short while, yet for some reason, they carried the same sense of movement as snow melting into water.

The man lifted the hand from his pocket and brushed at his shoulder.

Dry. No dampness from melting.

He lowered his eyes, slipped the lenticular card into the pocket of his coat, and walked toward the entrance of a hotel.

A man around thirty-five years old was waiting for him at the door. “Rex, what made you suddenly want to buy a toy?”

The young man smiled. “It suddenly reminded me of a friend, so I went and bought it. Uncle Fei, do the snowflakes in the Central Zone’s Rest Area not have any dampness from melting?”

“Oh, come on. What kind of autumn has snow falling in it? If it’s already snowing in autumn, then snow that doesn’t melt is perfectly normal.”

“True.”

“Have you memorized the members from the other Team rosters?”

“Only the veterans. There’s no information on the new members for me to memorize, is there?”

“The veterans are exactly who you need to memorize! Especially that Willow from Zone F. Zone F may never rank very high, but Willow has been in the System for eight years, and he’s made it to the Star Zone Arena for six of them. Every single time, he’s gotten out in one piece! Look at the people ranked above him in the Star Zone standings-how many of them have fallen in the Arena? That only proves Willow is unfathomable!”

“…Got it, Uncle Fei.”

—

Days spent on dates always passed quickly. The only downside was that Rao Lin felt his tongue was getting a little too used to blandness.

He did want to order something with more flavor, but Ning Wang had ordered him a bit too much clear, watery food, and Rao Lin wasn’t especially willing to waste it.

So he bought a few packets of salt on his own. Unfortunately, when he added it, the salt either spread unevenly or he put in too much. In the end, Rao Lin quietly accepted the bland food and secretly decided that once he got the chance, he would split those two into separate rooms.

The Star Zone Arena began as scheduled. There were several entrances to the Arena, and Rao Lin led them through the one closest to the Zone F audience seats. The moment they went in, Ning Shuo heard a familiar voice shouting, “King! Over here!”

Ning Shuo looked over and immediately spotted Qi Yang, along with quite a few familiar faces, such as Shen Zhiwang, Yu Qian, and the others.

He lifted a hand toward the stands, putting on the perfectly calm air of someone who was absolutely going to win this Arena.

Then, the moment he saw someone not far away, that pose abruptly froze. His body leaned forward before he could stop himself.

After knowing him for so long, Ning Wang had rarely seen Ning Shuo lose his composure like this.

He instinctively took Ning Shuo’s hand. “What’s wrong?”

Ning Shuo’s footsteps faltered. “…I think I just saw Rong Xi.”