Chapter Ninety-Three: The Little Thermos Boils Water

Yunshuo Huang arrived at the group chat and found everyone already talking.

“Running the time-and-space journey? I can carry hard!” he asked at once.

“Let me do it,” said Piao Xue Ye.

“I’m in too,” said Jun Chu.

“Good.” Huang Yunshuo nodded. He would find two people himself, and Chenlu Qingshuang would find one on her side—just enough for five.

He clicked the two avatars, chose to form a party for the time-and-space journey instance, and pulled Chenlu Qingshuang in as well, then waited for her to bring in the last person.

In the group, Jun Chu wore a wicked grin. “Chenlu Qingshuang, huh? Level fourteen—same as you, Piao Xue.”

“Tsk tsk, what a surprise. Piao Xue, let’s see whether she’s prettier than you.”

“I told you long ago, Piao Xue, don’t rush to switch your Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss. Better to change the scroll early and go find Da Huang—that’s the real deal. Look, they’re from the same town; they queue together for dungeons whenever they have nothing else to do!”

“Familiarity breeds affection.”

Piao Xue Ye: “…”

[Tiny Hot Water Bottle has joined the group.]

Huang Yunshuo glanced at the player called Tiny Hot Water Bottle. She was a level sixteen girl, even higher level than he was. In fact, after taking one dungeon’s worth of experience, Huang Yunshuo was almost ready to rise back to level sixteen himself.

“Let’s go in!” said Chenlu Qingshuang when she saw the party was full.

A flash of white light later, Huang Yunshuo appeared once again in the Hall of Rebirth. Unlike last time, this time they were on the red side.

Among the dense crowd, they searched for the green names of the same party, and soon the five of them gathered together.

Piao Xue and Jun Chu were both level fourteen, each holding the Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss they had exchanged for four thousand points.

Those two were still formidable. In three dungeon runs they had earned four thousand points, seeming to be even a little stronger than Chenlu Qingshuang.

But it was likely they were queuing as a group today. Chenlu Qingshuang had queued solo twice and earned fewer points, which was only normal; there was no one coordinating with her to secure buffs and farm points, so their true strength could not be directly compared.

Tiny Hot Water Bottle was a pretty girl around one meter sixty-five in height. Her fair, delicate face carried a hint of baby fat, her eyes were especially lively, and she had a slender waist and long legs—unfortunately, her chest was as flat as a runway.

She held a Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss staff in her hands, a mage. Right now, she looked at the three of them with a cautious expression. Her gaze skipped over Piao Xue and Jun Chu, who were carrying weapons of the same series, and settled on Huang Yunshuo with a trace of suspicion.

“Why don’t you have a Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss?” she demanded, her voice still rather pleasant.

“Couldn’t afford it,” Huang Yunshuo said.

That was true enough—just not that he couldn’t afford the Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss, but that he couldn’t afford the Champion’s Aria.

“Tch. You can’t even afford a Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss?”

Tiny Hot Water Bottle looked thoroughly disdainful, and even glared somewhat unhappily at Chenlu Qingshuang, as if to ask why she had dragged her into a five-man queue with this scrub. Was she trying to cling to her long legs?

Her long legs were not something just anyone could cling to.

Under Tiny Hot Water Bottle’s gaze, Chenlu Qingshuang fell silent, not knowing what to say.

Piao Xue glanced at Chenlu Qingshuang. This woman was actually three centimeters taller than her own one meter seventy-five frame; any ordinary woman would feel at least some pressure standing before her.

“Let’s hurry,” Piao Xue said. “After three runs, it’ll be at least two o’clock. We won’t have much time to rest.”

Because of the online upgrade to the Hurricane Helmet, they should have logged off before midnight in the first place. Today they could probably hold out until around two at best; any later and it would be impossible, with a huge impact.

“Let’s go!” Huang Yunshuo nodded, gripping his battered iron sword as he followed the surging crowd out of the Hall of Rebirth.

“Should we camp the wild monsters first?” Jun Chu asked. As an assassin, he was used to going for the last hit, so he naturally used the word “camp.”

Tiny Hot Water Bottle rather agreed with him. After all, so long as you camped successfully, you could earn a buff, and that was still a very worthwhile trade.

“No camping. We follow the NPC troops,” Huang Yunshuo immediately vetoed their idea.

Jun Chu, lacking any strong opinion of his own, gave an absent “oh.” Of course Chenlu Qingshuang and Piao Xue could not possibly object to Huang Yunshuo either, which left Tiny Hot Water Bottle very displeased.

“Hey, what do you mean by that? Camping wild monsters at the start is perfectly normal, isn’t it? Do you even know how much of a boost getting one buff gives you in the early game?”

“Don’t look down on a tiny little buff. Success is built up drop by drop. One stack of a buff may give little, but what about two stacks, three stacks, ten stacks?”

Tiny Hot Water Bottle pressed Huang Yunshuo hard with her questioning, looking quite angry.

Damn it, and he was still carrying that battered iron sword. She had never seen this iron sword before; its attack bonus was probably even higher than a shabby beginner’s iron sword. So what? In front of the Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss, didn’t he still have to obediently call her “dad”?

Piao Xue and Jun Chu watched the drama with schadenfreude from the side, while Chenlu Qingshuang was covered in black lines.

She considered privately messaging Tiny Hot Water Bottle to tell her a thing or two, but after thinking it over she held back. Once this idiot streamer actually started making moves, then decide whether or not you still want to take back what you’ve just said.

Tiny Hot Water Bottle was dissatisfied, but she still didn’t leave the party to go camp wild monsters on her own. Instead, she followed behind Chenlu Qingshuang in a huff, calling her Sister Shuang every other sentence, no one knew what she was whispering about.

“How many points did you get last round?” Jun Chu asked Huang Yunshuo in a low voice. He didn’t believe for a second that Huang Yunshuo couldn’t afford a Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss, though this guy had been busy making dirty money yesterday and only had time for one run.

“Seven thousand,” Huang Yunshuo replied softly.

Piao Xue Ye: “…”

Jun Chu: “Damn. No wonder you’re so desperate. So you’re saving up for the Champion’s Aria?”

“Yeah. Once that thing is equipped, its stats are even higher than the rocket launcher I’ve got on.”

Huang Yunshuo grinned lewdly, only to be glared at by Piao Xue Ye, after which he hastily put his expression back to normal.

Chenlu Qingshuang occasionally cast discreet looks from behind at the three people ahead of her.

Da Huang’s two friends were strong.

Today her solo queue luck had been poor. If not for the fact that, in the third match, she had followed Huang Yunshuo and earned a windfall of points, she wouldn’t even have had enough for the Twin-Headed Hound’s Kiss. Of course, she could blame no one but herself for having wandered off to play alone in the first two matches.

That female knight, Piao Xue, and the apostle of the Broken Army both had three dungeon attempts remaining on display, clearly indicating that in just one day yesterday, the two of them had each earned four thousand points. They were unquestionably top-tier experts.

Her ambitious friend would surely try to recruit these two, wouldn’t he?

The female knight named Piao Xue was truly beautiful: elegant bearing, commanding presence, stunning looks. If Chenlu Qingshuang herself were not a little taller than her, she probably would still feel some pressure.

Especially with the way Piao Xue stood there, holding a long spear—dashing and valiant without losing a trace of gentleness and refinement—Chenlu Qingshuang felt as though she were almost falling for her.

Just looking at the countless players around them, all glancing in this direction, made it clear just how much charm this girl possessed!