Fu Songcheng didn’t shrink back from Yu Huaiting’s highly aggressive move.
He leaned calmly against the sofa back, his deep, dark eyes quietly fixed on Yu Huaiting.
“If I remember correctly,”
Fu Songcheng’s pace was unhurried, carrying the faint hoarseness unique to just having left an instance, “the last time we met, we should have reached a consensus—that we’re both dragging down each other’s clear efficiency.”
He lifted his chin slightly, his gaze sweeping over Yu Huaiting’s flamboyant face. “I’ve only just cleared one D-rank formal instance, and you—number one on the Power Ranking—actually stoop to come find me for a team-up?”
Hearing this, a low, muffled laugh spilled from Yu Huaiting’s throat.
He didn’t pull back—instead he pressed even more brazenly closer, his warm breath almost brushing the tip of Fu Songcheng’s nose.
A wicked curve tugged at the corner of Yu Huaiting’s lips, his eyes hidden beneath white fringe glittering with undisguised interest. “Open your panel and look for yourself—see how hot you are right now.”
With that, he even leaned toward Fu Songcheng’s ear and took a breath.
Fu Songcheng’s ear tips reddened slightly. With a flicker of thought, he summoned the system light screen.
The original rankings had, remarkably, gained a new module: [Rating Ranking].
His gaze swept quickly across the top of the list.
[No.1 Shen Ning (Comprehensive Rating: SSS+)]
[No.2 Fu Songcheng (Comprehensive Rating: SSS)]
[No.3 Yu Huaiting (Comprehensive Rating: S)]
“See it?”
Yu Huaiting’s slender fingers tapped lightly, neither hard nor soft, on the sofa leather beside Fu Songcheng’s face, making a dull tap-tap sound.
“You, and some Shen Ning, got an SSS-rank heaven-defying rating in a D-rank instance. Kicked me straight down to third.”
Here Yu Huaiting’s eyes turned somewhat dangerous. He suddenly leaned close, grinding his teeth. “My last S-rank instance, I single-handedly nearly wiped the entire map of monsters clean, and the system’s final settlement only gave me an S.”
He straightened up, looking down at Fu Songcheng from above. “What the hell did you do in that D-rank novice village?”
Fu Songcheng shut off the system panel and calmly analyzed the situation before him.
No wonder Yu Huaiting had come running to find him so impatiently.
The system clearly had a hidden scoring logic, and Yu Huaiting’s “kill everything” strategy obviously didn’t touch the core of that logic.
“Sorry to disappoint you. I’m useless in a fight—I can’t fight like you in an instance.”
Fu Songcheng gave him a cold glance. “As for what I did…”
Fu Songcheng deliberately paused, watching Yu Huaiting’s torn, itching-with-curiosity yet forcibly composed expression, a trace of mischief flickering in his eyes.
“Actually, it was nothing much.”
Fu Songcheng laced his ten fingers together and rested them on his knees. “Just that I demolished a feudal den and physically sent off some NPCs whose brains were wrapped in foot-binding cloth.”
Yu Huaiting blinked, a rare blankness appearing on that usually imperious face.
“That’s it?” Yu Huaiting looked at him in disbelief. “You’re messing with me—there’s definitely something else! How does that compare to the difficulty of my A-rank instance?!”
“The system judged that I ‘drastically altered the instance’s core plot.’” Fu Songcheng couldn’t be bothered to argue. “Anyway, I didn’t do much. Believe it or not.”
Yu Huaiting suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Fu Songcheng by the collar and hauling him half-upright until their noses nearly touched. “Fine, I believe you. So—are you coming with me into my next instance or not?”
Fu Songcheng was forced to tilt his head slightly, his brows furrowing deeper.
He didn’t like this kind of contact that destroyed his safe distance. The faint smell of blood and aggression on Yu Huaiting made him instinctively uncomfortable.
“Let go.” Fu Songcheng ordered coldly.
“No.” Yu Huaiting not only didn’t let go—he braced his other hand on the chair back behind Fu Songcheng, completely cutting off his retreat.
Those pale eyes stared dead at him, like a vicious wolf that had locked onto interesting prey. “Fu Songcheng, I take back what I said before. You’re qualified to be my lover.”
Fu Songcheng sneered inwardly.
Reason told Fu Songcheng this was a win-win deal.
But emotion and instinct were frantically sounding alarms.
Teaming up with Yu Huaiting was like dancing on a knife’s edge.
From his interactions with Yu Huaiting, he’d clearly sensed Yu Huaiting’s eccentric volatility, his willful flamboyance; even as number one on the Power Ranking, his presence would bring Fu Songcheng extra risk.
But teaming up with him to enter higher-level instances might be the shortest path to rapid leveling.
Fu Songcheng wasn’t quite sure. He suddenly thought of the item from the library instance: [Book of the Self].
[Item Function: By questioning the Book of the Self, you will receive your truest answer and blessing.]
He tried using the item, reciting his question silently in his mind.
‘Should I really team up with this moody, arrogant, manic high-level player with no sense of boundaries?’
The book hadn’t yet given an answer before he closed the system pop-up. The moment he’d asked the question, he’d already had his answer.
The flaws described in his question were all the conflicts and disagreements he’d silently anticipated might arise from entering an instance with Yu Huaiting.
But when he started envisioning entering an instance with Yu Huaiting, Fu Songcheng suddenly realized—he was also faintly looking forward to entering a higher-level instance together with Yu Huaiting.
“Take your hand off. We can talk.” Fu Songcheng spoke again, his tone now carrying an unquestionable coldness.
Yu Huaiting stared at him for a few seconds, then pursed his lips regretfully, released his hand, and smoothly retreated to the single sofa opposite, resuming that lazy, flippant posture.
“Let’s talk, my lover.” Yu Huaiting lifted the now half-warm coffee, looking at him with a half-smile. “Do you need me to sign a contract of sale?”
Fu Songcheng cut straight to the point, no wasted words: “You can keep your fighting style, but when we encounter key NPCs and core plot points, without my permission, you’re not allowed to kill anyone at will.”
Yu Huaiting let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, I’ll listen to you.”
“Second,” Fu Songcheng’s gaze sharpened, “no one is allowed to deliberately create crises for the sake of seeking thrills.”
“Brother Fu, don’t you find it boring?”
Yu Huaiting propped his chin on one hand, idly fiddling with the coffee cup’s handle. “The instances are already so oppressive—if you don’t find yourself a little fun, it’s so dull!”
“My idea of fun is walking out of the system alive, not dying on the way to finding fun.”
Fu Songcheng countered without yielding an inch. “You can leave.”
The air between them froze for a moment.
One was a cautious man accustomed to controlling the whole board and planning every step; the other was a madman who despised rules, tearing through everything on instinct and intuition alone.
Their personalities were worlds apart, as if standing at opposite ends of a scale—neither could easily convince the other.
But Fu Songcheng wanted to level up fast, and Yu Huaiting wanted to find bigger fun in Fu Songcheng.
They guarded against each other, yet craved using each other.
After a long while, Yu Huaiting suddenly let out a soft laugh. He stood up, walked up to Fu Songcheng, and extended his right hand from above. “Fine, I agree. You’re the boss~”
Fu Songcheng looked at the hand suspended midair—slender, with defined knuckles, thick calluses at the web of the thumb from years of wielding cold weapons.
He raised his eyes, meeting Yu Huaiting’s aggressive gaze directly, and slowly extended his own hand, clasping it.
Their hands joined—one slightly cool, one blazing hot.
“Good that you know it.”
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