The mock exam on Monday came as scheduled.
Perhaps it was true that enemies met on a narrow road. Although the examination room assignment disrupted the class and student number, Tong Weiwei and I were still assigned to the same examination room. When everyone was walking into the examination room one after another, Tong Weiwei squeezed in front of me without leaving a trace, her head still proudly raised, her tone contemptuous and provocative.
"Humph, I won't lose, just wait till you cry!"
There were dark circles under her eyes, probably the result of studying all night. I didn't want to be outdone, so I raised my head and glanced at her sideways.
"I return this sentence to you exactly as it is."
We glared at each other for a while, snorted at the same time, went into the examination room, found our seats and sat down.
Once the exam started, time flew by. A full day of mock exams was over, and the real heart-wrenching moment arrived - the results announcement on Wednesday.
"We just started removing the seals and sorting the test papers this morning..." On Wednesday morning, my brother drove me to the school gate and said to me before I got out of the car, "I will notify you as soon as the results come out."
"good."
It would be a lie to say I wasn't nervous. At least I was absent-minded in the first two classes in the morning. Not long after the bell rang for the third class, my phone in my schoolbag vibrated - it was a text message. I hurried to check it out, and it was indeed a text message from my brother. The content was very simple, just two words.
"Congratulations."
Haha! I was so happy and smiled that the teacher on the podium looked at me several times in surprise.
In the afternoon, the mock exam results were officially announced. Tong Weiwei's face turned green when she saw the results - she failed math, and my score was 20 points higher than hers. In the end, the cheating dispute ended with the head teacher keeping Tong Weiwei for ideological education and notifying her parents.
After school, I actually saw Han Yebin at the school gate. He was leaning against the school gate with his schoolbag slung over one shoulder, not caring about the admiring looks from the girls around him. The sun was setting, and the afterglow of the sunset was like a wine-red veil over his shoulders, and even his bright eyes were stained with a light crimson color. I was hesitating whether to say hello to him, but when Han Yebin saw me, he immediately waved his hand.
"come over."
I walked over, Han Yebin tilted his head and winked at me.
"I heard you did well in the exam?"
"You are well-informed." Seeing his pretentious expression, I laughed, "I see, you are waiting here to take credit for it, right?"
"They say a rotten tree cannot be carved. I carved a rotten tree like you so successfully. Shouldn't I be grateful to you?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" I said with a smile, "I am so grateful that I am crying. I wish I could frame your photo and hang it on the wall to admire you!"
"What?"
"Hahaha, just kidding." Maybe it was because of the tutoring experience, or maybe it was because I was in such a good mood, but I always felt that talking to Han Yebin was as relaxed and natural as meeting an old friend. I laughed for a long time before getting serious. "My brother is making a big dinner tonight to celebrate, do you want to join us?" After a pause, he added, "Don't worry, there will definitely be no burnt tomatoes or burnt eggs. Um, there will be no pork ribs cooked in black vinegar!"
"Oh..." Han Yebin seemed to be uninterested, and the smile on his face also faded a little, "Are you really going home for dinner? Have you already told your brother?"
I nodded and invited him again: "Come too, my brother will definitely welcome you."
"Hmph, Ling Hanfeng is a sister-con. If I go there, I'll be glared at to death by him..." Han Yebin muttered softly.
"What?" His voice was too soft for me to hear clearly. "What did you just say?"
"Oh, it's okay!" Han Yebin waved his hands quickly, his smile a little dull, "I mean, since you and your brother have already made plans, I won't join in the fun."
"Eh? But..."
"That's it!" Han Yebin looked at the sky and paused, "Then I'll leave first."
He took two steps, then suddenly turned back as if he remembered something.
"Change your mind?" I asked, smiling, but he shook his head.
"I just want to tell you that the exams are over anyway, so you can take a break and relax."
"Ah?" I was stunned for a moment, not understanding what he meant. "Relax?"
"Yeah!" Han Yebin thought about it and suddenly showed a strange smile, "For example... playing games or something."
Without waiting for my reaction, he waved, turned and left, and soon disappeared in the bustling crowd at the school gate.
What on earth was he trying to say? I scratched my head in confusion.
Didn't he tell me to be grateful to him before? So he just left like that?
——It seems that the brain circuits of geniuses are not easy for mortals like me to understand.
But after hearing what Han Yebin said, I really wanted to play games - I had been off the Internet for a long time in order to prepare for the exam. After dinner, my brother was busy working in the room, and I logged into "Fantasy Jianghu" alone.
Familiar music, familiar scenes, familiar characters, but a different mood. Walking alone at night has promised not to hunt me down again, so I can finally wander the streets with confidence. I visited a few stores, set up a stall for a while, and then went to my own field to harvest all the radishes and cabbages. Just as I was about to go outside the city to dig some medicinal herbs, a message suddenly popped up on the world channel.
[System] A large group of vicious yellow wind monsters are attacking the Purple Bamboo Forest. The guardian of the bamboo forest is asking for help from all heroes! Warriors, pick up your weapons and fight to protect the peace of the Purple Bamboo Forest!
This is the system fixed task "Double Winged Fairies" every Wednesday, which is limited to three hours and can be participated by forming a team. Players will get corresponding points according to the number and level of Yellow Wind Monsters killed. At the end of the task, they can go to the Purple Forest Fairy, the guardian of the bamboo forest, to exchange rewards. I haven't killed monsters in the wild for a long time, and I can't help but feel a little excited. I opened the friend list and wanted to invite a companion to go on the task together.
To be honest, it is quite risky to team up with a clumsy player like me. Looking down the rankings, those who have teamed up with me so far and have been able to stay safe in my clutches...
——The candidate is alone, traveling at night.
I hesitated for a long time, and finally shamelessly sent a message to that person.
"Hi, are you there?"
The reply from Duyexing was a little faster than I expected.
"exist."
I said with a playful smile: "Comrade Killer, would you be willing to do me a favor and team up with me to do the mission of 'The Twin Wings of Immortals'?"
The reply from the other end was still as fast as ever: "I never team up with others."
"But I remember that someone seemed to have teamed up with me twice!"
"I don't mind beating you into amnesia."
"Really not going?" I didn't give up and started lobbying hard, "I heard that the random rewards for points are very generous, it may be Guangwu!"
"Do you think a piece of Guangwu can impress me?" Du Yexing snorted coldly.
I was speechless, because what he said was right - Du Yexing's equipment was among the best in the entire server, and ordinary task rewards were not even worth his attention.
Knowing that there was no hope, I could only sigh and close the dialog box. Just as I was worrying about where to find a team target, a message prompt box suddenly popped up - the sender was Du Yexing, and the content of the message almost made me pop my eyes out.
"I'm at the entrance to the Purple Bamboo Forest," he said. "You have three minutes to show up, or you'll have to take your own consequences."
When I hurried to the entrance of the purple bamboo forest, I saw the black-clad assassin standing quietly in the green bamboo forest.
The sun cast a mottled shadow through the gaps in the woods, the breeze blew, the bamboo leaves swayed, and the man's silent figure appeared quiet and gentle in the interweaving of light and shadow, and even his cold eyes seemed to exude a bit of tenderness.
——Of course, if his face wasn’t so ugly, the picture would be more harmonious.
"Thirteen minutes have passed."
He said coldly, obviously very dissatisfied.
I didn't greet him right away, but instead circled around him a few times and asked the questions that had been bothering me all the way.
"Are you really walking alone at night?"
The black-clad assassin stared at me in silence.
"You're not a hacker, are you? Someone who stole my account?"
The black-clad assassin remained silent.
"You are definitely not me." I concluded with certainty, and I felt that I had sufficient evidence. "First of all, he knows that I am a road idiot. It is impossible for me to find this place successfully within three minutes! Secondly, a guy like him who likes to be alone and likes to show off will not suddenly agree to come to do a mission!" The person in front of me remained silent, and I became more and more certain of my guess. "In fact, before you came, he had already strongly rejected my request to join a team to do the mission. Tell me, are you a hacker?"
Facing my firm words, Du Yexing only said one sentence leisurely.
"I think you might be itching for trouble again. I don't mind hunting you down again."
I quickly sent out a team invitation with a bright smile on my face: "I am sure that you are the real one, so... I hope we have a pleasant mission."
Form a team, enter the forest, receive tasks, and complete them.
Simple steps, normal process, but because of an extraordinary person around, everything started to look abnormal. To be honest, I just invited Du Yexing to do the task because I was impulsive. After all, I knew in my heart that a master like him would never pay attention to a rookie like me? And I was a stupid rookie who made him hate me so much.
Pie falling from the sky is not always a good thing, because if you are not prepared to catch it, it is very likely that you will be knocked unconscious by it. In order to avoid being knocked unconscious, I humbly asked for advice.
"The great god who walks alone at night."
"Um?"
"Why did you suddenly agree to accompany me on the mission?" You had clearly refused so decisively just now!
Du Yexing wiped out a circle of yellow wind monsters with one sword and glanced at me sideways.
"I just suddenly wondered if some idiot would be frightened to the point of fainting if I showed up... Apparently, she was much more of an idiot than I expected."
I decided to play dumb with a smile.
The mission continued without any conversation along the way.
As time went by, more and more people entered the forest to do missions, and everywhere was filled with people shouting and fighting. Du Yexing was very dissatisfied with this. It was obvious that he really didn't like this kind of group activity of gathering together to fight monsters.
"There are too many people." I killed a yellow wind monster that was rushing towards me with one sword. I stopped and frowned when I looked at the dense crowd in the woods.
"Because everyone wants the point reward." The distribution of point rewards is random. The higher the points, the higher the chance of getting good things. Someone got a Guangwu a while ago, which caused quite a stir among players.
"It's stupid to put hope on random rewards." Du Yexing turned the Guangwu dagger in his hand, which was shining with cold light, and suddenly a playful gleam flashed in his eyes.
"In fact, it's faster to kill people and get equipment directly than to kill the Yellow Wind Monster."
I widened my eyes and stared at him blankly.
"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll make an exception and help you this time." Du Yexing raised his hand and pointed at the people fighting monsters in the distance, "If you see anyone's weapon you like, tell me and I'll go and explode it."
I am silly.
The tone is very similar to when I go to the pork shop to buy pork, the shopkeeper holds a boning knife and points at the rows of pork hanging up and says with great confidence - dear, which piece of pork do you like? I will chop it for you right away. I guarantee that the meat will be fresh and delicious, and the price is good!
“Isn’t this bad?” I finally found my voice and tried to dissuade him. “I’m not here for the reward. I just want to complete the mission… I just want to complete the mission.”
"Really?" Du Ye Xing looked quite regretful, "But killing people is much more interesting than killing monsters."
You are obviously bored of killing monsters so you want to kill people for excitement? You are a killer indeed!
Of course I didn't have the courage to shout it out, so I could only continue to smile and say, "I still prefer to work hard to get rich and be self-sufficient."
Seeing Du Yexing still looking at the players running happily in the bamboo forest with reluctance, I quickly pulled him deeper into the forest.
"Let's go over there! There are fewer people there!"
Deep in the Purple Bamboo Forest is a level 50 training area, and the level of the Yellow Wind Monsters here is also much higher. A single slap can kill a level 30 rookie like me, but with Du Yexing here, I can occasionally use my power to bully others. For example, when he chops a Yellow Wind Monster to pieces and it is weak and unable to move, I can show off my power by poking it with my sword until its skin is reduced to 0.
So, when Du Yexing used his "Thousand Night Meteors" to knock a yellow wind monster away, I immediately rushed up happily and started to kill the half-dead yellow wind monster with one blow after another.
Just as the Yellow Wind Monster was about to die, an arrow suddenly flew across the sky and hit the Yellow Wind Monster on the forehead. The next moment, the Yellow Wind Monster disintegrated into a wisp of yellow wind and died completely.
I was stunned for a moment, then turned around and saw a group of people walking out from the other side of the woods. The leader was holding a Qiongtian bow in his hand and looked very proud.
"Hey!" I was angry and said in a bad tone, "Can't you see there are people here? How can you just steal monsters!"
The leader's ID was "帅帅更健康". Facing my questioning, he showed no apology at all. Instead, he said with a smirk, "Beauty, you didn't receive the mission, so you won't get any points if you kill the Yellow Wind Monster. It's better to let those of us who have received the mission kill it, otherwise it will be a waste."
"I'm on a mission, too." I said, pointing back. "I came here with him."
But these people just looked at me with amusement. I turned my head in confusion and suddenly felt a headache - this guy Du Yexing was gone, and he was clearly behind me just now!
"Beauty, lying is not good." "Handsome is healthier" smiled even more brightly, "If you really want a teammate, you can tell us. We are still happy to be your protector, hahaha!"
"I'm not lying." These guys were laughing in an extremely obscene way. I got excited and shouted impulsively, "I, I'm here to do the mission with Du Ye Xing!"
There was sudden silence in the bamboo forest.
Those people were all stunned for a while, then "Shuaishuai is healthier" covered his stomach and almost rolled on the ground with laughter.
"Hahaha, did you hear that? She actually said that she and Lone Night Walker came here to do the mission together! This is really the funniest joke I've heard this week, hahaha..."
Several people who were traveling with me were also laughing extremely exaggeratedly, and they looked at me as if I were an idiot. I was angry and annoyed, and was thinking about how to fight back against these guys when a voice suddenly interrupted me.
"Is it that funny?"
Wearing a black assassin's suit and an ice dagger emitting a faint blue light, the man walked over on bamboo leaves and stood in the bamboo forest swaying in the breeze, like a painting.
"God!" I was overjoyed, "Where did you go just now?"
"A small BOSS appeared, so I went to deal with it." Du Yexing walked to my side, frowned and looked at the people opposite, "What happened?"
My answer was succinct: "They're stealing monsters."
Du Yexing nodded, and when he looked at those people again, his eyes were full of hostility. Du Yexing was trained as a killer, and had the skill of hiding his ID. He did not reveal his ID at this time, but his top-grade dagger "Dark Night Flowing Light" was very signature, and several people were already nervous.
"Boss, he...he seems to be walking alone at night." One of them said tremblingly.
“Impossible, impossible!” “Handsome and Healthier” waved his hand and said carelessly, “I never team up with anyone when I walk alone at night. The whole world knows it!”
"But looking at his outfit, he looks very similar to Walking Alone at Night..." said another person.
"If I say it's impossible, it's impossible!" "Handsome and Healthier" seemed very dissatisfied with the submissive attitude of his subordinates, and curled his lips and said, "Humph, if he walks alone at night, then I am still Feng Xiaoshuihan!"
The news that Du Yexing was imprisoned by Feng Xiaoshuihan a while ago was widely spread in the game, so everyone has recognized that these two people are mortal enemies, and the only one who can control Du Yexing is Feng Xiaoshuihan. At this time, "Shuai Shuai is healthier" said this, which completely hit Du Yexing's sore spot. I turned around in fear and saw that Du Yexing's face suddenly turned dark.
"Am I walking alone at night..." The assassin in black stepped forward, his eyes cold, "You will know after trying it."
The next second, a black shadow shot out like a gust of wind. The knife lights were dazzling and the sword energy was overwhelming. In the blink of an eye, Du Yexing killed the group of people like cutting melons and vegetables. The light of death lit up one after another, and then the light faded away, and it returned to calm.
I silently made the sign of the cross on my chest - foolish human, do you know what the consequences will be if you provoke the god of death?
A moment later, the voice of "Shuai Shuai is healthier" appeared on the world channel. Instead of being angry about being killed, he repeatedly shouted the same sentence in an incredible shocked tone.
"Du Ye Xing actually teamed up with others in the Purple Bamboo Forest to complete the quest 'Pair of Winged Immortals'! Du Ye Xing actually teamed up with others in the Purple Bamboo Forest to complete the quest 'Pair of Winged Immortals'!"
The response from people around the world was enthusiastic.
"Hey, today is not April Fools' Day, this joke is ridiculous!"
"Idiot, I never team up with anyone when I travel alone at night, and even if I do, I won't do such an idiotic mission!"
"How dare you insult my idol! If you want to gain recognition, can you use a smarter method?"
One-sided ridicule and disdain.
Although "Shuai Shuai is healthier" tried to argue, it soon fell into the saliva of the people and died heroically in the countless condemnations that flooded the screen...
I silently closed the world channel window.
On the other side, Walking Alone at Night continued to kill the Yellow Wind Monsters as if nothing had happened. He stabbed one at a time and killed a pair of two at a time. The mission points kept rising like a rocket, which made my eyelids twitch.
This guy is so powerful... Is he a human being?
Perhaps because I didn't move for a long time, Du Yexing stopped and looked at me strangely.
"What's wrong?"
I thought about it and finally asked the question in my heart: "Why do you always keep to yourself?" It's really incredible that "resolutely not teaming up with others" can become a style that everyone knows.
"I just hate playing with others." Du Yexing said calmly, "Games are all virtual. People on the Internet wear masks. They are so hypocritical that they are annoying. I feel more comfortable alone."
This is really too extreme. I was stunned: "But games are meant to be played together to be fun. Even if there are hypocritical people like you said, most people are still very sincere. I made a lot of friends in the game, such as the people in Hanyan Country. They are all very good people."
"Oh?" Du Ye Xing disagreed, "Then why don't they accompany you to complete the mission?"
I am speechless.
"Anyone can be your friend when you are happy together, but when you are in trouble, they will avoid you. When you really need them, they will leave faster than anyone else." Du Yexing sneered, "Is this what you call friendship in the game?"
Does accompanying me on a mission count as "sharing hardships" ?
Well, for most people...it's a disaster.
Knowing that I couldn't change Du Ye Xing's extreme "view of games", I could only shrug and give up discussing this issue. But there was one question I wanted to ask, but I hesitated and finally didn't ask it.
——In that case, why would you agree to team up with me and accompany me on the mission?
The three-hour mission time passed quickly. After the mission was completed, although I didn’t use my points to redeem Guangwu, I got several pieces of blue-letter equipment, which made me drool.
"I don't want these things, you can take them." Du Yexing directly sent the transaction.
I closed the transaction window and shook my head: "You contributed the most, so it should all be yours." Seeing Du Yexing frown, I quickly added, "If I accept it, I will feel uneasy. I won't dare to ask you to do the task next time."
Du Yexing hesitated for a moment, and finally did not send another transaction. I looked at the high points record on the panel, and my heart moved, and I blurted out.
"Walking alone at night, have you ever thought about building your own kingdom?"
Du Ye Xing looked at me in surprise: "What?"
"Although many people are afraid of you, there are also many who admire you. With your strength and prestige, if you really establish a kingdom, there will definitely be many people vying to join."
"Everything is illusory in the game." Du Yexing sneered, "Maybe their fear of me is real, but worship or something like that, I don't care about that kind of hypocritical and blind emotion, let alone building a kingdom because of it."
"But I really admire you." I said seriously, "My admiration for you is real."
The more you interact with Du Yexing, the more you will feel how powerful he is. Not only in terms of strength, but also in spirit, he has the aura of a fearless king.
Lone Night Walker looked at me for a while, then slowly asked, "What about in reality?"
"What?" I didn't react.
"I don't believe in the Internet, I only believe in reality." Du Ye Xing stared at me, "If it was me in real life, would you still admire me?"
"If you are the real you in the game, then of course I will still admire you in real life." I laughed, "Because you are still you."
Du Yexing snorted coldly, seeming to be very disdainful, but for some reason, I felt that he seemed to be in a better mood.
"Do you have someone you admire in real life?" he suddenly asked.
"Yes!" I answered without hesitation, "The person I admire most is my brother."
"What about the others?"
"Others?" I was a little confused.
Du Ye Xing, however, explained patiently, contrary to his usual behavior: "For example, there is a person who is a popular figure in school. He is good-looking, has excellent grades, and has a good personality. Have you ever met such a person? Would you admire or even like him?"
A person immediately popped up in my mind: "Uh... such a person, there is a very similar person around me." I paused, "But he has a very bad personality, he is a complete little devil."
The corner of Du Yexing's mouth seemed to twitch: "Really? It's not your prejudice, is it?"
"I suffered a lot at his hands." Thinking back to those days of fear and anxiety, I was filled with emotion. "I really hated him in the past. I thought he was just a 'big vase'. I really wanted to never have anything to do with him again."
Du Yexing's expression seemed to turn ugly, but I didn't notice and continued talking.
"But after getting to know him more, I found that he is not bad." I glanced at Du Yexing and suddenly laughed, "Come to think of it, he and you are a bit similar. You need to get to know him more before you can find that he is a good person."
"That's because you are blind." Du Yexing glared at me in dissatisfaction.
"And you two are similar in one thing," I said. "You both act in strange and unpredictable ways."
Du Ye Xing seemed surprised: "Really?"
"Yes." I nodded. "For example, today, something happened and he helped me a lot. After school, he waited for me at the school gate to ask for a reward, but suddenly he changed his mind and left. It was really strange."
"You're stupid!" Du Yexing was unexpectedly excited. "He wanted to leave, so you didn't try to stop him?"
"I did!" I felt wronged, "I invited him to my house for dinner, and I invited him twice!"
"Can you be any more insensitive?" Du Ye Xing seemed annoyed. "Maybe he wants to celebrate with you alone? If we go to your house, won't your brother be the light bulb?"
"Is that so?" I opened my mouth wide, still finding it hard to believe, "No way..."
Du Yexing held his forehead with his hands, and seemed to be really speechless to me. He turned around angrily and said, "I'm leaving!"
"What's wrong? Why are you leaving when we were having such a good chat?"
"Who is chatting with you?" Du Yexing glared at me fiercely. I don't know if it was my illusion, but I always felt that he seemed to be very resentful. "You are really an idiot, the most stupid girl in Tianyin Academy!"
After he finished speaking, he ignored me and used a teleportation scroll to return to the city, leaving me alone in a daze.
Why did you suddenly get so angry? I didn't say anything wrong. It's really inexplicable.
But what Du Yexing said at the end, "the dumbest and dullest girl in Tianyin Academy", really concerned me - he had said before that I was a student of Tianyin Academy, could it be that... Du Yexing knew me in real life?