Although we parted on bad terms that night, Han Yebin kept his word and came to help me shoot the video the next day.
When he showed up at the door of Class A with a DV camera, we all immediately gathered around him. After all, Han Yebin had been our substitute teacher, so most people were friendly to him, but there were exceptions.
"Teacher Han..." Xu Wenfeng deliberately dragged out his tone and stood at the door. "Why are you here? Are you planning to be a substitute teacher again and bring trouble to our lovely students?"
Han Yebin simply ignored Xu Wenfeng. When he saw me walking towards him with a frown on my face, a sly light suddenly flashed in his eyes. Then he smiled brightly the next second and shouted at me while holding up the DV camera in his hand.
"Hi, Xiaotong, I'm here, let's go!"
I was petrified, and the whole class was in an uproar. Xu Wenfeng looked so shocked that his jaw dropped.
"You, you called her 'Xiaotong'?" Xu Wenfeng looked at me, then at Han Yebin, and opened his mouth for a long time before he shouted.
"When did your relationship become so good?"
What is this guy thinking? Is he taking revenge on me for forcing him to have dinner at my house yesterday? I glared at Han Yebin, who glanced at the shocked Xu Wenfeng and smiled even brighter.
"Ling Jiantong!" Although he looked so shocked that he couldn't recover, Xu Wenfeng still asked persistently, "When did your relationship with Han Yebin become so good?"
Why does this sound so familiar...Oh, yes, my brother just asked this yesterday.
I sighed helplessly in my heart and directly quoted the official answer I had used before.
"It's not a big deal... We are all classmates, hahaha, it's normal to help each other, yeah, it's normal."
"Jiantong, I'm your classmate too!" Xu Wenfeng seemed a little aggrieved, and at the same time he glared at Han Yebin who was smiling angrily, "And we are classmates, our relationship is much closer than his, if you need help, I'll be the one to help!"
"Uh, well..."
Han Yebin suddenly reached out and pulled me behind him, while he stood in front of Xu Wenfeng.
"The weather is very good today..." Han Yebin glanced out the window, pretending to look out, "The light is also plenty."
"Ah?" Xu Wenfeng was obviously not used to such a drastic jump in the topic.
"So..." Han Yebin raised his eyebrows and smiled at Xu Wenfeng, his expression was very innocent, "We don't need light bulbs for lighting." After saying that, he pulled me away without looking back. It was not until we walked out of the teaching building that we heard Xu Wenfeng in the building roar with grief and anger.
"Han Yebin! You damned guy! Who do you say is the light bulb?"
In the next few days, Han Yebin came to me every day to shoot videos. Although some people in the class offered to help me, they were all rejected by Han Yebin, saying that "the useless guy should just be a passerby."
"Don't you know that this will offend people?" I was quite indignant at Han Yebin's infuriating refusal. "Everyone is very dissatisfied. Now they look at me as if I am an accomplice!" This guy is vicious enough, and he even dragged me into it as a scapegoat!
"I just want to keep my job." Han Yebin said with a smile, "If all the work is done by others, your brother will definitely not let me go to your house for free meals anymore."
"How dare you say that!" I want to roll my eyes when I mention this - he was very reluctant when he came to my house for the first time, but now he is very active. Moreover, this guy would come to pick me up at the classroom door in a very high-profile manner after school under the pretext of coming to have a free meal, so Xu Wenfeng has to ask me several times a day "What is the relationship between you two?"
“Oh, by the way…” I said, “Once the video is finished, I can do the post-production by myself.”
"Ah? Why?" Han Yebin was stunned.
"I'm the one who's in charge of the class video production. Asking you to help is actually a violation." I shrugged. "If you take care of the post-production, I'm afraid those people in the 'campus beauty party' will make irresponsible remarks again, so... I'd better do it alone!"
Although Han Yebin protested repeatedly, I was determined and took over all the post-production work as soon as the video shooting was finished. The one who was most happy about this was probably my brother. He said, "Since you don't need to help anymore, don't come to my house for free meals." He simply refused Han Yebin at the door, but under my strong protest, my brother finally took out a meal card for the faculty and staff cafeteria reluctantly.
"With this, you don't have to eat instant noodles every day!" I happily handed the meal card to Han Yebin, "All three meals are included, why don't you thank me quickly?" The "luxurious lineup" of instant noodles I saw when I went to Han Yebin's house last time really shocked me, so I really want Han Yebin to eat well and not go down the road of no return as an "instant noodle party".
But when Han Yebin took the card, instead of thanking me, he glared at me dejectedly and said something that almost made me sprain my waist.
"Why, are you going to support me?"
"Stunned" and "unbelievable" are no longer enough to describe my expression at that moment: "You, why would you think so?" This guy's brain structure is indeed different from that of normal people!
"You said it yourself." Han Yebin curled his lips and said as a matter of course, "I didn't do anything and you paid for my three meals a day. If that's not keeping me, what is that?"
I finally heard the resentment in his words, and was speechless: "Why are you so upset that I don't allow you to help me with post-production?"
"No reward without merit." Han Yebin said seriously.
I rubbed my brows and felt a dull headache. "Then I will definitely ask you for help if I have any problems in the future, okay?"
"That's more like it." Han Yebin finally smiled and happily put away his meal card. Seeing this, I couldn't help but wonder in my heart - I really can't believe this guy is destined to be a hard worker. He's not even happy to eat and drink for free, and he's only happy when others order him around?
After that day, I began to devote myself to post-production. Although it was busy, I felt very fulfilled. After a week, I finally finished the video!
"OK!" I sent the video to An Mujin's email address, and when I saw the "Sent successfully" prompt pop up on the screen, I smiled with relief.
I haven't logged into the game for a long time. I think I should hurry up and harvest the vegetables in the field.
So I quickly clicked on the icon of "Fantasy Jianghu", but found that the game actually had an update package, which would take more than ten minutes to complete. While waiting for the update, I made myself a cup of coffee and clicked on the game forum to see if the content of this system update had been posted in the forum. As a result, as soon as I entered the forum, I saw a bold and eye-catching hot post standing out from the many posts -
[Gossip] "Breaking news! Even a hero cannot resist the temptation of beauty. The number one assassin, Du Ye Xing, and the number one female expert of Hanyan Country, Mu Jin Hua Kai, are living together and flying together!"
The coffee in my mouth spurted out.
After I hurriedly wiped off the coffee that sprayed all over the screen and rubbed my eyes hard to make sure I read the title correctly, I immediately clicked on the post.
The body of the post only has one sentence – “Look at the pictures, no explanation.”
More than ten game screenshots were posted below, showing clearly a black-clad assassin and a white-clad heroine fighting side by side. The IDs above their heads fully explained their identities - "Walking Alone at Night" and "Hibiscus Blooms".
No matter which forum, gossip has always been a favorite of the masses. There are all kinds of comments under the posts, and even as I was reading, new comments kept popping up.
"It's true that even a hero can be tempted by beauty! Has the thousand-year-old iceberg finally come to his senses?"
"Don't people who travel alone at night never team up with others? From what I see, the relationship between these two people must be complicated!"
"Actually, they are a good match. But Mu Jin Hua Kai is from Han Yan Country. Didn't they have a bad relationship with Han Yan Country before the lonely night trip? Are they going to play Romeo and Juliet?"
I looked at those comments and felt a little blocked in my heart. What do you mean he never teams up with others? He even teamed up with me... As for "Hibiscus Blossom", she is indeed a member of our Hanyan Country, but I am not very familiar with her because she is a member of the expert circle. A rookie like me can only look up to her. However, I have never heard that she has any contact with Du Yexing before.
At this time, a window popped up indicating that the game had been updated. I clicked the mouse and logged into the game.
In the list of online friends, the name of "walking alone at night" was ranked first, so bright that it was almost blinding. I was hesitating whether to say hello to him, but suddenly I received a message from him.
"coming?"
My fingers lingered on the keyboard for a long time before I typed out a word.
"Um."
He asked again: "Is the video finished?"
"Hmm." I thought about it and typed another line of words, "Want to go on the mission together?"
While waiting for the reply, I felt so nervous that I held my breath. My heart was hanging high in the air without me noticing, and then suddenly fell after I saw the reply.
"I'm busy now, maybe next time."
Something? What is it? Could it be... am I going to accompany Mu Jinhuakai on a mission?
I don't know why, but when I thought of this possibility, I felt stuffy inside, as if it was filled with thick cotton wool soaked in water, which was both blocked and uncomfortable. I stared at the screen for a while, then sighed softly, moved the mouse, and planned to log off.
But just when I was about to click the "Exit Game" icon, a line of eye-catching The bold and red font was as shocking as its content.
[System] The first battle to defend the kingdom! A large number of monsters are rushing out of the forest and attacking your kingdom. Great warriors, pick up your weapons and fight to defend your homeland!
The same system message was posted three times in a row, almost filling up the entire world channel. I was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered the system update before logging into the game. I quickly switched to the forum page, and sure enough, I saw the explanation of this system task in the pinned post -

Kingdom Defense: High-level monsters will besiege the kingdoms. The kingdom that successfully repel the monsters will receive reputation and money rewards; otherwise, it will be punished by the system.
PS: Within the specified time, if the number of player deaths (including times) is greater than that of the monster kingdom, the players belonging to this country will be punished by being demoted by three levels.

I immediately returned to the game and clicked on Wang Guoqun, which was already in an uproar.
"Why is it so sudden? We are totally short-handed!"
"If anyone can contact offline players, please do so now! We can't hold on any longer!"
Maybe someone saw I was online and asked immediately.
"Sister Xiaoshui, where is the king? Why isn't he here?"
I know the situation is critical, but -
"My brother is working overtime tonight and can't come up to play games."
Sighs were heard in the channel. Everyone knew that high-level monsters were equivalent to big bosses, and the human wave tactics were useless. Only outstanding masters could decide the outcome of the battle. But perhaps we were unlucky today, and there were not many masters online. This offensive and defensive battle...we will have a hard time.
"Mujinhuakai is online, but when I sent her a text message, the system prompted that 'the other party is currently unable to receive messages.'" said someone in an incredible tone.
I was stunned for a moment, and then a light bulb suddenly came to my head, and I subconsciously sent a text message to Du Ye Xing. As expected, I also received a system reply that "the other party is currently unable to receive messages."
This is very similar to the situation where I and Du Ye Xing accidentally triggered a hidden mission before...
——So, it turns out that Walking Alone at Night is doing a mission with Hibiscus Flower, and it’s a hidden mission.
"No matter what..." Finally, Butterfly Feifei said in the channel, "Everyone, go all out first and hold out as long as you can."
The battle line was organized hastily, so the fight was naturally also hasty.
The swarming monsters quickly blocked the city gate and launched a frantic attack. I didn't dare to go up and cause trouble, so I could only climb up the city wall and help the side that couldn't hold on. I helped them replenish some red medicine (blood-adding medicine) and blue medicine (mana-adding medicine). As time went by, the death record in the upper right corner of the screen began to show numbers and slowly climbed up; the number of monster deaths in the upper left corner, however, was progressing slowly.
"The city gate is about to be breached!"
As soon as someone shouted this, there was a loud bang, and a big hole was broken in the city gate. The monsters rushed in, and at the same time they were covered by layers of halo. This was a manifestation of status gain - according to the system settings, if the monsters attacked the city, their attack power and defense power would increase by 30%, making it more difficult to destroy them.
If the battle just now could still be held up, then now it is a complete collapse - the player death count is increasing like the rolling pattern on a slot machine, while the monster death number is almost completely stagnant.
Oh no, we’re going to lose!
Watching the fierce battle under the city, I was so anxious that my hand holding the mouse was sweating. At this moment, the information prompt bar in the lower right corner suddenly lit up, and when I opened it, I was stunned.
——Player Du Yexing applied to join Hanyan Country. Do you agree?
At this moment, I almost began to doubt whether there was a possibility of duplicate names in the game.
Just then, someone suddenly shouted in the channel.
“The hibiscus is back in bloom!”
On the battlefield, a woman in white appeared. She was wearing a white veil and holding a long sword. She rushed into the battle group like a rainbow. Following closely behind her was an assassin in black. There was a thousand-year-old ice on his face, and the peerless Guangwu in his hand flashed the cold light of the blade of death.
"Walking alone at night?" Someone recognized the assassin and was horrified. "Why is he here?"
There is a long history of grudges between Du Yexing and Hanyan Country. Now we have been severely damaged by the monster and are unable to take care of ourselves. The appearance of Du Yexing undoubtedly makes people think of the words "taking advantage of the fire" and "waiting for an opportunity to retaliate". But before panic spreads, Hibiscus Flower spoke.
"Don't worry, Du Yexing is here to help us. He has agreed to join our Hanyan Nation."
There was silence in the channel for a moment.
I just remembered that Du Yexing's application information had not been approved yet, so I quickly clicked "Agree". A yellow prompt immediately appeared in the channel - "Player Du Yexing has joined Hanyan Country, everyone welcome him!"
If I could see everyone's expressions, I believe that everyone would be staring blankly at the moment - the loner who always went his own way and refused to be bound by anything, actually joined the Hanyan Kingdom? Isn't today April Fool's Day? Or is tomorrow the end of the world?
"From now on, we are comrades-in-arms." The blooming of the hibiscus flower broke the strange silence in the channel and finally made everyone start thinking.
"Could it be... that the rumors are true?"
"Oh! I think I understand what's going on..."
"Wow, Goddess Hibiscus, I'm heartbroken!"
Everyone who has come to their senses has already known the reason why Du Yexing joined Hanyan Kingdom - it seems that the gossip about the couple that has been circulating on the Internet must be true. Du Yexing definitely joined Hanyan Kingdom for the sake of Mu Jinhuakai, to help us fight the enemy together.
In response, Mu Jinhua smiled but said nothing, and Du Ye Xing said nothing, but directly charged into the group of monsters with his sword. The help of the two masters greatly boosted the morale, and the people who had been in despair finally regained their spirits and fought against those rampant monsters.
Du Yexing and Mu Jin Hua Kai are worthy of being the top masters in the strength ranking list. Even though they are surrounded by huge monsters, they do not panic at all. One is black and the other is white, one is hard and the other is soft. Their moves are smooth and flowing, and their swords are as powerful as rainbows. Their two-person combo skills come one after another, and the huge damage output is breathtaking. The gorgeous special effects turn the cruel battlefield into a stage to display their powerful strength. There were constant exclamations all around, and I was also deeply shocked, almost watching in a trance.
Is this the power of a combination of experts?
Such harmony, such tacit understanding, they are simply a match made in heaven, and no one can come between them.
Because I was distracted, I didn't notice that a monster had jumped onto the city wall. When I reacted, the roaring monster had already pounced on me. In a flash, a silver light suddenly shot out, and then the monster howled, and immediately turned around and jumped down the city wall.
——This means that the hidden weapon attack just now directly drew away the monster’s hatred.
When I turned around, I met the gaze of Du Yexing, and then the mailbox rang.
Walking Alone at Night: "What are you doing up there? Come down."
I typed dejectedly: "You don't understand, if I go down, it will cause panic among everyone..."
"Panic? Are you scarier than the monster?"
"You can say that."
"I don't care, come down, stand behind me and add blood."
I leaned over to take a look - wow, there were at least several nurses surrounding Du Yexing to give him blood. Didn't he think this treatment was not enough?
After thinking about it, I decided to go down from the city wall, stand at a distance that is neither too far nor too close , and take the opportunity to throw a few red potions to everyone to replenish their blood.
With the fierce killing of Hibiscus Flower and Du Yexing, most of the monsters that rushed into the city were finally eliminated, but there were still many high-level monsters lingering near the city gate.
[Kingdom] Hibiscus Blooms: Everyone, get ready, rush out and destroy them in one go!
Because Du Ye Xing had hardly spoken in the channel, everyone followed Mu Jin Hua Kai's lead, and when they saw her speak, they immediately responded. I was about to follow the group out, but suddenly I heard Mu Jin Hua Kai speak.
"In order to reduce unnecessary casualties, players with weak skills are requested to log off on their own initiative."
Hibiscus Flower made a mobilization in the channel, and immediately received a unanimous response from everyone. Many eyes immediately turned to me - in Hanyan Country, if I say that my operation is the second worst, then no one dares to say that they are the best. I took a deep breath, suppressed the sudden shame in my heart, and was about to log off, but suddenly a sentence popped up in the channel.
[Kingdom] Walking Alone at Night: Anyone can walk, except the pair of pupils cut through the water.
[Kingdom] Hibiscus Blossoms: But...
[Kingdom] Walking Alone at Night: Hanyan Kingdom was founded by her and Feng Xiaoshuihan. Now that Feng Xiaoshuihan is gone, she is the master of the kingdom and should stand by the kingdom.
[Kingdom] Walking Alone at Night: If you are weak in operation, just stay with me. I will protect her from death.
I was stunned. After a brief silence in the channel, comments began to pop up like mushrooms after rain.
"Hahaha, well said! Sister Xiaoshui must stay!"
"Your Highness the Princess is our spiritual support! Stay, stay!"
"Supreme! Hehe, but Your Highness Princess must follow the Master closely, we will watch from a distance!"
I was suddenly touched.
I thought I was always a drag, but everyone still tolerated me. Walking alone at night came up to me and directly sent a team invitation with a message attached.
"Follow me closely..." he said, "be careful."
So I became his night-walker and followed him to the battlefield.
After destroying the monsters in the city, the threats outside the city were no longer a concern. Du Yexing and Mu Jinhuakai were in the front killing monsters, and I stood behind them obediently, diligently healing them - although my accuracy was very poor.
The closer you stand, the more you can feel the strength of this duo. Even through the screen, you can feel the surging fighting spirit and confidence of the two strong men. One is like moonlight, the other is as cold as an iceberg. In the chaotic sword shadows, they are calm and domineering.
"Hey, what are you daydreaming about?"
ah?
I realized that I was once again stunned by watching people killing monsters. When I came to my senses, I found that the monsters that were originally all over the ground had disappeared.
"Where's the monster?"
"Kill them all." Du Yexing calmly put away his weapon and looked at me with a half-smile. "Why, are you shocked to the point of being stupid?"
I was indeed shocked. Looking around, I saw people from the kingdom cheering and rejoicing. The crisis was resolved, and everyone started to walk towards the city in twos and threes. The channel was filled with voices praising "Walking Alone at Night" and "Hibiscus Blooming".
Really, win.
No matter why Du Yexing chose to join the Hanyan Kingdom, which was once irreconcilable with him, because of him and Mujinhuakai, we waited for a victory from despair. I was about to thank him sincerely, but suddenly I heard Mujinhuakai, who was standing beside me, shout.
"careful!"
Almost at the same time, several huge fireballs fell from the sky and smashed around us. My thin health bar was slid into a layer of blood skin, but fortunately Du Yexing immediately threw me a handful of blood medicine, which barely saved my life.
"It's Flamemon!"
Flamemon is a spell-type monster with a very long attack range and is extremely cunning. Although it was unexpected to be attacked, Du Yexing and Mu Jinhuakai quickly locked the location of Flamemon - it was hiding behind a dense bush outside the city. The two of them didn't say much and rushed to fight the monster. I thought about it and followed.
This was a mutated Flame Beast, its entire body covered in flames, and its pair of big copper bell eyes that glowed with a faint light made people feel creepy. Because we had encountered similar monsters in the previous city battle, Solitary Night Walker and Hibiscus Flower Bloom still cooperated with each other according to the previous fighting methods, watching the Flame Beast's health bar slowly shorten, but when we were about to kill it, we suddenly saw the Flame Beast howling to the sky, and then it ignored the hatred value and rushed towards me standing beside it.
This is a "life-threatening attack" that many mutant monsters will use before they die, but no one expected that they could ignore the hatred value and attack the weakest player in the team. I even forgot to run away, and I was about to die in the opponent's self-destruction attack. Suddenly, a black shadow flashed in front of me, and I saw Du Yexing sprinting and knocking away the Flame Beast. Then there was a loud noise that shook the earth, and the Flame Beast exploded, and Du Yexing also turned into a white light in the raging fire and disappeared.
The system gave a prompt at the right time - "Thanks to the fierce counterattack of the warriors of Hanyan Country, all the siege monsters have been eliminated! Congratulations to Hanyan Country for winning the defense of the city!"
But I was not in a happy mood - because Mu Jin Hua Kai and I were running towards the resurrection point in the city at the same time. On the way, Mu Jin Hua Kai only said one sentence .
"If it weren't for you, he wouldn't have died at all."
Du Yexing was standing outside the resurrection point, as if he had expected us to come looking for him. He didn't have the slightest regret for losing a level after death, and when I said "I'm sorry" to him, he even raised his eyebrows, with a nonchalant tone.
"You can't die at the hands of that disgusting monster. I'm the only one who can kill you."
It was as if a warm current flowed into my heart. My face turned red. Just as I was about to say something, Mu Jin Hua Kai stepped in front of me and said to Du Ye Xing: "The matter here has been resolved. Do you want to continue to do that task?"
Du Yexing nodded: "Go." He turned to look at me, "Then we'll go first."
"Yeah." The brief joy just now seemed fake, and it took me a lot of effort to type out the complete sentence.
"Goodbye, I wish you a successful mission."
Du Ye Xing said nothing more, and walked towards the teleportation point in the city with Mu Jin Hua Kai. I stood there for a long time, until I could no longer see their figures, then I sighed softly and logged off silently.