Slept straight through to noon.
Yu Huaiting was woken by hunger.
He snapped his eyes open, stared blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, then abruptly sat up and checked the time on his system panel.
12:30.
Yu Huaiting scrubbed at his hair irritably, splashed some cold water on his face, and rushed out the door.
He strode over to Fu Songcheng’s door next door, took a deep breath, and raised his hand to knock.
No answer.
Yu Huaiting’s heart lurched. He knocked harder. “Fu Songcheng? I’m here to get breakfast with you!”
Still no answer.
Yu Huaiting paced irritably by the door.
Had Fu Songcheng gone out?
Where did he go? Had he deliberately taken a solo mission to avoid him?
The moment that possibility crossed his mind, Yu Huaiting’s head went hot. He turned and glanced at the window leading to the outside of Fu Songcheng’s rest room.
Climbing through his window—not like it’s the first time anyway.
He circled out of the corridor, stepped on the protrusions of the outer wall, and agilely climbed to Fu Songcheng’s rest room window.
The window was locked from the inside. Yu Huaiting narrowed his eyes and clenched his right fist.
Bang!
With a crisp crack, the glass—thanks to his extremely high Strength attribute—was smashed into a spiderweb of cracks, then with a crash it shattered all over the floor.
Yu Huaiting braced one hand on the windowsill and nimbly vaulted inside.
The room was empty and bare. The bed was made immaculately, the corners of the blanket even pulled flat and neat.
Yu Huaiting walked over and touched the bed.
Cold.
He left long ago.
Yu Huaiting stood in place, an inexplicable fire rushing straight to the top of his head, yet he didn’t know who to vent it on. He’d tossed and turned all night, decided to find Fu Songcheng and talk more—and Fu Songcheng didn’t even bother with him, heading out early in the morning.
“Fu Songcheng, damn you.”
Yu Huaiting muttered through gritted teeth.
He yanked open the system panel and clicked into his friends list. Fu Songcheng’s avatar was lit up, showing online.
He immediately sent a message: [Where are you?]
[System Notification: The other party has set Do Not Disturb.]
“Fuck!” Yu Huaiting kicked the bed leg.
He couldn’t just wait around like this. Yu Huaiting swiped open the system shop, his gaze rapidly scanning through the various odds and ends of items.
Since Fu Songcheng could write love letters to the in-instance Yu Huaiting from outside an instance, then now that both of them were outside, wouldn’t writing a love letter be an even better way to locate him?
Yu Huaiting spent 10 points and bought a love letter for the first time.
[Purchase successful. Please compose the letter content.]
Yu Huaiting stared at the pale pink light screen that popped up, his finger frozen midair, and found he actually didn’t know what to write.
Write “Where are you”?
Too stiff.
Write “I was wrong, come back.”
Just thinking about it was disgusting.
Yu Huaiting irritably scratched his hair, then in a fit of self-abandonment wrote only a few words: [What are you doing? Why aren’t you in your room?]
Clicked send.
Watching the pink envelope turn into a streak of light and vanish into the void, Yu Huaiting took a deep breath and immediately activated his tracking skill, locking onto the data thread on the system panel only he could see.
As long as Fu Songcheng opened the letter, he could follow the trail and find him.
Just as he was waiting smugly for the result, a system notification suddenly came.
[System Notification: Congratulations on unlocking a hidden achievement!]
[May Your Letter Be Well-Received]
[Bitter Couple progress -2%!]
Bitter Couple? What’s that?
Yu Huaiting frowned at this identity. Besides ‘Lover,’ there were other identities?
What was this “Bitter Couple” thing?
…
Meanwhile, in the combat training hall.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Dull sounds of flesh colliding echoed through the empty hall.
Fu Songcheng wore a black tight-fitting training suit, drenched head to toe in sweat.
His sparring partner was a fitness coach who—after entering the instance—made a living, like Chen Muhuai, by guiding newcomers and teaching combat in exchange for points.
At Fu Songcheng’s request, the coach threw punches at extreme speed, driving straight at Fu Songcheng’s face.
Fu Songcheng calmly tilted his head to dodge, his waist surging with power as his whole body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a string, the wooden dagger in his hand slashing toward the coach’s throat.
Clang!
The coach reacted extremely fast, blocking the strike head-on with the armor on his forearm, while a heavy whip-kick swept toward Fu Songcheng’s flank.
Fu Songcheng immediately pulled back on guard, taking the kick on his forearm. The impact slid him backward several meters, his shoe soles scraping out a grating sound against the floor.
“Hoo…”
He let out a long breath and shook out his numb arm, his eyes only growing brighter.
After the past few instances, his attribute points had surged. Both Strength and Agility were now far above the baseline for new players.
But his combat technique and reaction speed couldn’t quite keep up with this enhanced body.
During the fight with Brother Dao, when he’d watched Yu Huaiting charge in with his greatsword, he’d wanted to follow up—but he was half a beat slow from lack of training.
He didn’t want to be all stats and no skill.
“Again.”
Fu Songcheng stared at the coach and gripped the wooden dagger once more.
Just then, a red dot popped up on his system pop-up.
“Hold on.”
Fu Songcheng gestured for the coach to stop and opened his message column.
He instinctively felt it was Yu Huaiting’s message.
[What are you doing? Why aren’t you in your room?]
Receiving his message, Fu Songcheng actually felt a sort of “as expected” smugness. His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard and tapped a few times.
[Training.]
Clicked reply. Then he closed the letter interface and said mildly to the coach, “Please continue.”
…
“Training?”
Yu Huaiting looked at the brief reply popping up in his vision, his brows relaxing.
At least Fu Songcheng wasn’t avoiding him.
Knowing the general area, plus the aid of his tracking skill—that was enough.
Following the now-clear red data thread on his system panel, Yu Huaiting quickly left the rest area and headed straight for the training hall.
This kind of training hall was usually frequented only by new players, because the coaches here rarely entered formal instances. Most veteran players disdained training with people who didn’t even dare enter formal instances.
The red thread disappeared before a heavy metal door.
The door plate read: [Advanced Combat Room No. 03].
Yu Huaiting kicked the heavy metal door open.
Clang!
The massive sound exploded through the empty training room.
On the central mat, Fu Songcheng had his back to the door, having cornered the coach.
His movements were fierce, every strike precise and lethal.
A heavy punch from the coach grazed past Fu Songcheng’s cheek, yet Fu Songcheng didn’t even blink—he answered with a backhand blade pressed to the coach’s throat.
“Stop.”
Fu Songcheng noticed Yu Huaiting and withdrew, stepping back.
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