Extra Chapter: Companions for Eternity – translated by Samuki (1/2)
“This time, Dàgē will surely regret it, right?” Lü Jing smiled bitterly.
“We hinted at it to him before,” Yun Fei retorted half-heartedly.
“Yeah, we did hint at it, but he still chose to believe in us…” Lü Jing suddenly turned to yell into the abyss beyond the cliff, “Dàgē, why are you such an idiot?!”
Yun Fei, too, couldn’t hold his feelings in any longer and yelled angrily into the pitch-black darkness beneath. “You’re a complete idiot! You didn’t even realize that we’d set everything up right from the start. We’d noticed you fighting mobs on your own for a few days, saw that you were a strong player and wanted you to power-level us, so we deliberately aggroed the Flaming Skeletons and got them to chase after us. How could you not have figured it out? How could you not have realized that it’s impossible that Jing, who only knows True Thrice-Concealed Flames, would attack mobs of the same element like the Flaming Skeletons?”
“It should have been obvious that I held a grudge against the owner of Oriental House, so why did we still deliberately choose to go there to eat? You don’t need a brain to know that I wanted you to deal with that bastard Huang Wei for me.” Jing’s expression was fierce.
“We knew full well that no one has ever managed to complete this quest for the hair tie. In fact, that no one has even survived it, but seeing that the reward money was ten thousand crystal coins, we still brought you here on a suicide mission, just to try our luck. And you just followed us like this, without even bothering to ask us about the quest details?” Contempt was evident on Yun’s face.
“You saw for yourself how strong the Demon King was, but you still didn’t suspect us, and even entrusted the hair tie to Yun so easily? And you walked to the edge of the cliff? Even when Yun grabbed you by the ankles, you still managed to look so puzzled.” Jing began to laugh wildly. “How could anyone on Earth be this naïve, this foolish?”
The two of them finished yelling, their chests heaving with the effort, as though they had screamed out all of the frustrations weighing on their minds. Their expressions were identical – identically lost and numbed.
After a long while, Jing said quietly, “Let’s go. The Central Continent awaits us. Don’t forget, Xiao Lan is there as well.”
“Yeah,” Yun said, casting one last look back at the cliff, his emotions so complicated that even he himself couldn’t tell what they were.
“Now that we’ve got the tickets, let’s get something to eat while we wait for the ship.” Lü Jing’s face was still as hard as stone.
“Yeah,” Yun Fei answered, and then frowned. “Though do we have to leave so soon? I wish we could stay on the Eastern Continent a little longer.”
“Don’t be silly,” Lü Jing said fiercely. “Don’t forget, Dàgē will surely return to White Tiger City. It’ll be a blessing enough if we don’t bump into him while we’re waiting for the ship, and here you are, thinking of staying a little longer?”
Yun Fei didn’t reply and merely followed Jing into a nondescript inn silently.
“Owner, two plates of fried noodles, a plate of green vegetables, and a bowl of fish soup,” Yun said as he looked at the menu, ordering Jing’s – who wasn’t a picky eater – share in addition to his own as per usual.
“Yes, sir, coming right up,” said an NPC dressed as a waiter with a smile. He left to give the cook their orders.
Yun Fei suddenly remembered something and hurriedly shouted, “Ah, right, I forgot the wontons in chili oil – Waiter! We also want a plate of…” Yun Fei’s face went white mid-yell.
“And a plate of?” The waiter returned and asked dutifully.
Lü Jing looked at Yun Fei, who had fallen silent, but she merely said indifferently, “And a plate stir-fried shredded meat.”
“Sure, coming right up.”
Yun Fei remained silent until the food arrived, but when he raised his chopsticks, he discovered that he had no appetite at all. His stomach felt heavy, as though a rock had been stuffed into it, and his heart was filled with a myriad of nameless emotions. Finally, he sighed, put down his chopsticks, and looked at Lü Jing, who was eating the fried noodles at a steady pace. “Jing, I don’t like the way things are.”
“You think that I like it any better?” Lü Jing, too, put down her chopsticks, a stiff look on her face. “Besides, wasn’t it you who planned this entire thing, right from the beginning to the end?”
“But I didn’t think that all of those schemes would be used on the same person; I thought that no one would help us twice,” Yun Fei said, frustrated. “How on Earth does a Dàgē who’s dumb to such an extreme even exist?”
“It’s precisely because he was so dumb that he was tricked by us. It’s a good thing, in a way; let this be a lesson to him, so that he won’t be tricked again,” Lü Jing said quietly, and then she quickly began to eat again, making it clear that she wasn’t in the mood to discuss the matter any further.
Yun Fei could only sigh as he gazed out of the restaurant, as though he fervently hoped that someone would suddenly barge in.
A figure really appeared in the doorway. Yun Fei was startled, but also a tad worried, and he wondered if Dàgē would forgive them this time. In his heart, he secretly wished that Dàgē would be so foolish that he would continue to forgive them.
“I’ve finally found you two adulterers! This time, that cloaked fellow won’t be around to get in my way!” the person said as he came through the doorway, and Yun Fei and Lü Jing recognized Huang Wei’s venomous tone as well.
“Huang Wei.” Lü Jing blanched.
“Yes, it’s me, your most beloved husband, Jing-Jing, my sweetie-pie,” Huang Wei said, leering at Lü Jing.
There was no way Yun Fei could simply watch idly as his best friend was being harassed. “Huang Wei, don’t think that we’re still newbies. It’s not going to be so easy for you to bully us now.”
“And just what exactly can a barrier master do, going up against my lackeys?” Huang Wei looked coldly at Yun Fei. “To think that you’re actually stupid enough to choose to be a barrier master, a rubbish class.”
“What did you say?!” Yun Fei was enraged. What he hated more than anything else was other people belittling the barrier master class; these people didn’t even have the faintest clue as to how useful a barrier master could be in defending a city. He just hadn’t managed to find anyone wise enough to appreciate his decision yet.
“I said, you piece of trash, stay the hell away from my wife,” Huang Wei drew his shiny gold dao, and swung it at Yun Fei mercilessly.
“Yun!” Lü Jing shoved Yun Fei aside and the gold dao bit into Jing’s body brutally. Biting back a cry of pain, she glared at Huang Wei, then turned into a pillar of white light and shot into the sky.
“Jing…!” Yun Fei yelled, watching as the white light disappeared.
“Damn it, I got the wrong person,” Huang Wei said, regarding Yun with spite. “You piece of shit, I know that you guys intend to run away. I also know that you’ve bought ship tickets, but I’m warning you, if you intend to run away, do so alone. Lü Jing will never be able to escape from the Eastern Continent and from my control.”
“Hmph, the tickets are valid forever. Even if we can’t take this ship, we can always take the next one,” Yun Fei retorted, looking at Huang Wei coldly. “I don’t believe that you have the ability to change Second Life’s rules.”
Huang Wei began to laugh loudly, however. “I might not be able to change the rules, but I can arrange for my people to stand guard at the docks around the clock and kill you guys each time they catch sight of you. Let’s see just how many levels you two have for my boys to rid you of.”
Yun’s face was white as a sheet. “You…”
“Listen, kid, I’m warning you, don’t think about running away with Lü Jing. Don’t even think about getting close to her again. If you do, I’ll make you pay.” Huang Wei turned around to his lackeys and commanded, “Give this kid a sound beating. Heal him up whenever he’s about to die and then continue to beat him, and don’t let him use death to escape. Beat him until he’ll never dare to get close to Lü Jing again.”
“Huang Wei, I’m telling you, I’ll definitely bring Jing to the Central Continent, I definitely will!” Yun Fei bellowed. Unfortunately, facing several warriors, there was really nothing a barrier master could do…
“God damn it!” Gu Yun Fei fled offline in a pathetic manner, only to find that the phone was ringing off the hook.
As soon as he pressed the “Answer” button, Lü Jing’s frantic face instantly appeared on the screen. “Yun, are you alright? Why didn’t you return to the rebirth point after so long?”
“Isn’t it obvious? That bastard Huang Wei beat me up into a pulp and even got a priest to heal me, so that I couldn’t just die. Finally, when I couldn’t take it any longer, I logged off,” Yun Fei replied. He couldn’t resist touching his face; just a short while ago, his face had been left swollen by the beating he’d received in-game.
Lü Jing looked pale. “Why didn’t you log off sooner, and instead let him continue to beat you up, you- you idiot?!”
“I have my pride!” Yun Fei muttered sullenly.