“Chen Yu and Lin Feng schemed against us—it’s time to strike back.”
Fu Songcheng’s voice wasn’t loud, but it held an utterly unrestrained edge.
Hearing this, Yu Huaiting’s tall frame leaned closer. “If it weren’t for you, I’d have hacked them to death long ago.”
Fu Songcheng shot him a glance.
If it weren’t for me, you’d have broken the rules long ago and been wanted by every NPC in the instance.
“When you were guiding souls to trap Chen Yu, I used a tracking talisman on him—we should be able to find them with that.”
Yu Huaiting’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but whistle. “When? How did I not know?”
“When you were hacking at him.”
Fu Songcheng sometimes felt that Yu Huaiting’s attention-grabbing nature actually made it quite convenient for him to pull little tricks behind the scenes.
It was just a pity Yu Huaiting wasn’t doing it on purpose to draw attention—rather than genuinely being a fool.
“Let me think how to attack…”
Fu Songcheng narrowed his eyes. In his mind flashed again the suffocation of the side room illusion, the swelling ache of blood-congested eyeballs, and the humiliation and despair of being force-fed poison.
His slender fingers wrote and sketched on the system panel, writing every sensation he’d just experienced into the assault design.
Recalling the extreme suffering he’d just endured, Fu Songcheng’s tone was light. “They like to play—well, we can’t let them have a solo performance.”
Yu Huaiting watched Fu Songcheng—refined and courteous, eyes narrowing with a wicked glint, focused on writing and sketching on the system panel.
His Adam’s apple rolled up and down, the laughter and admiration in his eyes impossible to hide. “Kill them.”
Having finished his design, Fu Songcheng hovered his finger over the red [Confirm Launch Attack] button.
Just as he was about to press it, a pop-up shoved itself right before his eyes:
[System Judgment: To launch this attack, 17% of the ‘love value’ progress between players Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting must be mortgaged.]
[Confirm consumption and attack? (Yes/No)]
Fu Songcheng’s finger stopped dead in midair.
17% of the love value?
He had no idea what the current total “love value” progress between him and Yu Huaiting was.
Once love value was zeroed out, the instance couldn’t be cleared.
He wasn’t sure whether his and Yu Huaiting’s love progress was enough to launch the attack, nor did he have any item to measure the love between two people.
Trading an unknown cost for a heavy blow to the enemy—was this deal worth it?
Fu Songcheng’s mind raced.
In the few short seconds he was weighing the pros and cons, a hand with defined joints and thin calluses suddenly reached over from beside him and unceremoniously smacked heavily onto the [No] option on the system panel.
The red light dispersed, the attack program terminated.
Fu Songcheng turned his head in astonishment, only to meet Yu Huaiting’s face, dark enough to drip water.
“What are you doing?”
Fu Songcheng was somewhat displeased—being interrupted made him very uncomfortable.
“What am I doing? I should be asking what you’re doing!”
Yu Huaiting’s voice rose, his tone carrying undisguised irritation and anger.
He pointed at the spot where the pop-up had just vanished, practically grinding his teeth. “Consume what? ‘Love value’? Who do they think they are—what gives them the right to use our things to trade for an attack opportunity?”
Fu Songcheng was stirred to anger. Though he was still hesitating, he said something he didn’t mean: “This is just a data metric of the system. As long as we can deal a heavy blow to Chen Yu and Lin Feng, consuming a bit of data is worth it. I was only considering the risk of that proportion…”
“I don’t think it’s worth it.”
Yu Huaiting cut him off roughly. His tall frame pressed forward, staring into Fu Songcheng’s eyes with immense oppression.
Though he usually called Fu Songcheng “Brother Fu” in that never-serious way.
But right now, fury burned in his eyes. “Fu Songcheng, are you really considering trading love value for an attack?”
Fu Songcheng explained: “This is the rule the instance gave.”
“What does the instance count for? Even if I break the rules, I can carry you and cut our way through.”
Yu Huaiting sneered, his tone carrying undisguised arrogance and confidence.
“You asked me over and over why I like you. You suspected our feelings were being interfered with, being manipulated—and now, just to win, you’re treating emotions as betting chips?”
Yu Huaiting irritably scratched his hair. “You don’t deserve my affection.”
Blunt, unreasonable.
That was how he expressed his feelings—unhappy, frustrated, he had to get it out.
If the previously steady and serious yet unintentionally flamboyant, proud Fu Songcheng had attracted him, then this Fu Songcheng now, deliberating whether to mortgage emotions, disappointed Yu Huaiting.
Fu Songcheng demanded Yu Huaiting respect him—yet in truth, Fu Songcheng himself hadn’t respected Yu Huaiting’s feelings.
What right did he have to earn my unreserved affection?
Yu Huaiting turned his head away in anger.
He decided that until Fu Songcheng spoke, he wouldn’t talk to him!
Having heard Yu Huaiting’s accusation, Fu Songcheng instantly sobered up.
Yes… what had he been agonizing over?
His thinking just now had completely fallen into the system’s trap.
He’d been calculating the 17% proportion, weighing the pros and cons of winning and losing—his subconscious had even accepted the system treating “love value” as a tradeable chip.
This wasn’t how Fu Songcheng did things.
He was a chess player—one who controlled victory and defeat, who calculated gains and losses.
He could use the rules, could trample the rules—but he absolutely would not allow himself, or any part of himself, to be swayed by victory or defeat, and even less allow the system to price him.
To defeat Chen Yu and Lin Feng, he naturally had other methods.
A revenge bought by compromising with the system was an insult to him.
Fu Songcheng took a deep breath, and the turbid air in his chest born of hesitation was thoroughly expelled.
He looked at Yu Huaiting, his gaze complicated.
Some gratitude, some apology.
“I’m sorry.”
Fu Songcheng’s voice regained its usual calm and steadiness, even carrying a sense of release. “I shouldn’t have considered whether to mortgage love value.”
It was the first time Yu Huaiting had heard Fu Songcheng apologize. He was taken aback, his momentum softening, but he still stubbornly refused to respond to Fu Songcheng.
He hoped Fu Songcheng would say more, was waiting for what came next.
And Fu Songcheng didn’t disappoint him.
“Even if the feelings between us have been tampered with by the instance, we shouldn’t proactively put them on the gambling table.”
“If we mortgaged love value—if you didn’t like me, or I was still full of wariness toward you—then it wouldn’t just be a heavy blow to the enemy. It would be to us as well.”
Fu Songcheng put the [Story Fragment] floating in midair into his system backpack, and enduring his embarrassment, tugged at Yu Huaiting’s hand, imitating Yu Huaiting’s habitual coquettish tone.
“Forgive me, okay?”
After saying it, his ears burned hot, feeling like he’d lost all his dignity, and he involuntarily wanted to let go and flee the scene.
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