He Jin ordered a sweet and sour pork ribs and cabbage meat paste from the second cafetaria, and then walked leisurely to the dormitory building while holding his lunch box at his side.

On the path to the dormitory building, there were a land of ginkgos and fallen leaves everywhere, yellow-brown in color and shaped like golden fan, which created a slight crunching sound when stepped on.

Around him, a group of beautiful and nicely dressed girls passed, bustling around with gentle laughter. In their hands, they were carrying multi colored ball-shaped props which were usually used for cheers. Their conversation revealed the words “tennis” and “school idol”. Such keywords were said with deep enthusiasm, which dip slightly in the cold chill of late autumn. Just watching them exposing their long legs in this season, He Jin couldn’t help but let out a shudder.

The road ahead lead to the school’s tennis court, which seemed to hold some big competition this afternoon. Moreover, the “school idol” the girls had been talking about was also rumored to be participating in said competition.

However, none of these were a concern for He Jin – having spent two and a half years in this campus, the things that had to be experienced, he had already experienced them all.

Junior was the busiest year of major courses, especially after the second half of the semester began. The relaxed and brilliant university life seemed to have gone away, and the feeling of anxiety as well as a sense of hesitation for the future began to spread gradually.

He Jin sighed, recalling last night’s phone call from home. The woman in the phone said that his father had arranged a good job for him in his hometown. It was in a well-known institution, a recommended place for civil servants, with high pay and many good benefits. Once he graduated, he could just go right to work…

Thinking about this somehow made He Jin feel a little tired.

As he arrived at the dormitory building, at the same time a few figures suddenly rushed out of the building, recklessly running in his direction. They colided with He Jin who was standing there in a trance, still holding onto his lunchbox like a fool. He Jin tried to dodge, but was finally hit full force by one of the men.

A “bang “sound was soon heard. He Jin staggered, and his lunch box fell on the ground.

“I’m sorry…”, the man pulled him, then stopped to pick up the box for him, “Did it break?”

“It’s okay. ” He Jin took the box. This was a lunchbox with a lock made out of an plexiglass, so it had good sealing, and would not be broken even when smashed. Count this boy lucky, there was no need to compensate on his part.

He Jin raised his eyes, and saw a man wearing a blue and white polo shirt, combined with Nike’s casual jacket. The man was tall, with long arms, a neat short hair, slightly narrowed eyes, and pursed lips, which made him give off a bit of a stern look.

It’s a member of the tennis team, were they rushing to the competition?

He Jin waved a hand to indicate that it was really alright. Then, without saying anything, he grabbed his lunch box and walked away.

A few years ago, the National Association of Colleges and Universities called on universities to improve their living environment, to make it similar to those of foreign prestigious schools. The government then grant funds to some key institutions for rebuilding old school buildings.

His university was included in the area of funds allocation. The old school dormitory, which countless alumnis used to call “pigsty dormitory”, was abandoned and changed into a new two-person sharing room, with every two or four people had to share a discussion and dining room. There was a refrigerator, a microwave, and even air-conditioning and heating. The conditions after the transformation were so good that even many private school’s students felt envious.

He Jin opened the door of his room and saw three people sitting around a table, getting ready to eat. When they saw him, one of them shouted: “Jin Ge, why are you so slow?”

[T/N: Ge, short for Gege, means older brother in chinese, it is used to call an older man, similar with Oppa or Hyung in Korean.]

The person who called him was Hou Dongyan, He Jin’s roommate. He had a small stature, with a big nose and ear, which made him look like a monkey, therefore his nickname was also “the Monkey”.

“I took a trip to the school before going to the cafetaria, so I was late.” He Jin sat down on an empty seat, opened his lunch box, and was dumbfounded. He saw inside, his ribs and cabbage had turned into a sticky mess as a result of his fall before. Originally, the dishes sold in the cafetaria already looked bad, but now, his red and white paste was in a shape even more unbearable to look at.

“Ugh, what kind of disgusting dish are you eating?” Hou Dongyan bluntly said.

He Jin: “…”

“The school? Are you busy with something?” Another person asked.

From childhood, He Jin had always been in the class committee, so after entering university, it’s only natural for him to take part in the student union as well. In the previous two years, he had put a lot of effort in his student union activities. He had always done his job well, so he was promoted to be the Study Department’s Minister. However, starting from the beginning of this year, it was obvious to see that He Jin was unmotivated. Originally, many people recommended him to the presidium this semester, and he even had the opportunity to run for the president of the student union. However, somehow he already felt like withdrawing.

“Nothing, just want me to campaign for votes..” He Jin moved his chopsticks around, no longer had any appetite.

———

After class in the afternoon, He Jin went back to the dormitory to rest for a while. When he woke up, he saw Hou Dongyan bent in front of his computer, playing games. From time to time, the man would let out a grumble or two, all the while looking very excited.

This guy is a game maniac. From freshman until now, He Jin had never seen him a day without playing games on his computer. And although not to the point of skipping classes, he was also clearly not necessarily motivated in his study, which caused his result to fall on the low to middle range. Even now, this close to senior year, this guy had not changed. Eat, sleep, playing games every seconds. He Jin sometimes felt really envious of him.

Seeing an unfamiliar picture on Hou Dongyan’s computer screen, He Jin slipped to his side and asked: “Still playing?”

Hou Dongyan took off his headphones, stroked his chest and shouted, “Why are you so quiet? You scared me!”

“You are the one who didn’t hear me,” He Jin glanced at him, looked at the computer and asked, “What’s the game?” He could see a very magnificent fairy background on the screen, with mountains in the distant and view of broad sea,– He Jin had never seen this picture before.

Was asked about something he liked, Hou Dongyan immediately felt excited: “This is [Demon God], a domestic 3D game, the official website just announced they will release a ‘ holographic ‘ version soon. It’s the current hot topic now! ”

“…… Demon God?” He Jin felt a little familiarity with the name, but in this era, these two words were commonly found in game names, so the name Demon God wasn’t really unique.

“This game was very popular before, you never heard of it?” Hou Dongyan pointed his mouse to the game screen while explaining, “But the name has changed, it’s called [Spirit Fairy] before. I used to play this a couple of years ago, but felt it’s not as fun compared with games from Europe and the United States, so I abandoned it. But I started playing seriously recently and did not expect it to be so great! It has completely broke through my expectation of domestic-made games! The key of it’s popularity is its upcoming ‘holographic’ version, which is the third holographic game in the world after the United States’s [Beast Soul] and [Magic Tower].”

Hearing this, He Jin was startled. Not because of the “holographic” phenomena, but because of the game previous name, “Spirit Fairy” — this was the name of a really popular game during his middle school time, which was also the only online game He Jin had ever played.

At that time, China’s internet novels had began to gain popularity, especially in the world. Fantasy, and cultivating themes became really well known among the young people who claimed that they felt like they were being sucked into the author’s fantasy. During this time, Green Fox network launched a large-scale 3D cultivating online game “Spirit Fairy” with the theme of cultivating immortality, which attracted countless young players to play.

Almost all of He Jin’s classmates were playing the game back then; every day after school all they talked about were topics related to this game. Some people even established a class group association for this game, making it more difficult for He Jin not to follow along.

“…… Six months ago, [Magic Tower] also opened a server in foreign countries and received so many praises and attention from the public!” Hou Dongyan was still gushing, “Oh right, recently the game official also released an event, it is said that accounts which were registered during the game’s previous version, [Spirit Fairy], has the opportunity to win a Demon God’s holographic helmet, which is worth thousands of dollars. But when [Spirit Fairy] was released, we were still in junior high school, I have long forgotten my account’s password ah!”

Hou Dongyan sighed before suddenly realizing that the person he was talking to was He Jin, someone who had never played games before. Telling him these things was like to a chicken talking with a duck.

[T/N:鸡同鸭讲: A Chinese idiom, means two people who cannot communicate due to a language barrier.]

“Okay, I know you certainly have no interest in these things..” Hou Dongyan looked at the time. He was just about to put down his headset and ask his roommates to eat dinner in the cafetaria, when he heard a voice on his side asking, “Do you have the installation package for this game?”

Hou Dongyan: “…” did the Sun suddenly rise from the west?

—————

After dinner, He Jin double clicked on the “Demon God” icon that had been installed in his computer, and entered a string of familiar username and password in the long-shaped login box.

Hou Dongyan let out a sound of surprise as he looked from beside him, “You unexpectedly have an account?”

He Jin: “I played in junior high. ”

Hou Dongyan eyes grew even bigger: “And do you still remember the account’s password?” ”

He Jin: “All of my social network account passwords are the same, and if they are wrong, it might just be the pin number …”

“No, I think it’s right” he said. Hou Dongyan also looked expectantly at the screen. Today’s He Jin was really an eye-opener for him. He had known this guy for two and a half years, and never once did he saw him doing anything except studying and doing the typical student’s works. He had always thought that He Jin was a stereotype definition of a nerd, a workaholic. Never would he think that he also played online games!

The network speed this year had been really fast, and because the server was so popular, queue rarely happened in the game. After He Jin pressed the login key, he only needed to wait a moment, and the game already started, indicating the account password was correct.

Then, a system notification box popped out on his screen-

〖Dear “Xiao-Xian-jin”, Welcome back to [Spirit Fairy]! The game has been upgraded over the past eight years, and is now called “Demon God”. Because the system detected that your account is registered with the initial version ID, you have the opportunity to enter “Demon God” holographic helmet’s lottery event! The lottery winning rate is up to 5%, please click on the following Web site to … 〗

“Ah Ah Ah! Hurry up!” Hou Dongyan patted the back of He Jin’s chair to urge him.

He Jin’s eyes twitched, but he still opened the lottery interface. It brought him to a form page, with a message saying that he needed to fill out a series of information about himself first, including real name, mobile phone, contact address and identification card number.

“Is this really alright?” he asked, turning a bit cautious.

Hou Dongyan explained: “Brother, nowadays playing any kind of games all uses this real-information system. If you want to register an account, you must fill these first. Not to mention this is Fox NET’s game, which already has national game certification policy. If you are still unsure, you can fill it with my identity card information. If you win, I will send it back to you!”

After thinking about it, He Jin then filled out the form with Hou Dongyan’s information, but unexpectedly, soon after submitting, an error notification popped out.

〖I am sorry, this identity card information has already been used. Demon God adopt a one-person one-identity policy. Each Identity card information can only be used in one game account. 〗

Hou Dongyan: “…”

Helpless, He Jin had to change the information to his own before he successfully entered the lottery. The lottery results would be announced after one month, at the same time with the release of “Demon God” holographic version.

Going back to the game interface, He Jin’s character image had appeared, a little girl wearing blue lolita-styled clothing.

“Poof …” Hou Dongyan laughed out loud, “Jin Ge, you played a female character!”

He Jin face turned slightly red, he lightly coughed and readily gave an excuse: “Blind election.”

He himself also forgot that his character was a woman. (\=_\=)

However, it was actually common for boys to play female characters in games. Nowadays many female characters in games are designed to be sexy, enchanting, and male players often played with female characters purely for the feast of their eyes. Hou Dongyan’s “Magic Tower” character itself was a red-haired female elf.

Hou Dongyan took a glance at the server where Jin was, and let out a disappointed sigh, “We are in different server ah!”

He Jin: “I’m just loging-in to have a look, and not really to play anyway.”

After hearing He Jin said this, Hou Dongyan just nodded and said jokingly, “Then if you won the helmet, send it to me,” before he turned to play on his own account.

He Jin went smoothly into the game. His character was standing in a deserted flower valley. All around him, the mountains were filled with white-yellowish grass, which appeared golden under the sunlight.

The scenery was very beautiful, making He Jin felt slightly amazed.

Adjusting the perspective of his blue clothed character, He Jin looked at the new scenery and dazzling view, and couldn’t help the particularly unfamiliar feeling brewing inside him.

He turned over to check on his friend list, which was full with grey names, and read the top several names: Flying meat clip bun, egg-ache omelet, lying gun dumplings … Most of them were his junior high school classmates at the time.

–Wait, Fire Ruthless?

Among the barrage of food-based names in his friend list, this name looked a little out of place. However, somehow He Jin got a very familiar feeling from it, though he couldn’t think of any specific person of who this name belonged to. After all, it had been eight years since the last time he played this game, so it was impossible for him to remember who was who anymore.

As he was thinking of this, in the next second, the name he had been looking at suddenly lit up, followed by a line of golden characters floating over the screen-

〖System〗: Your husband “Fire Ruthless” is online.

The competition in the afternoon was fierce. Qin Yu played care-freely until he was dripping with sweat. Even now, after he had showered, his wrist was still swollen.

Out of habit, he turned on his computer. While waiting for him to successfully logging-in to the game, he went to the dining room to take a can of cold drink called 7 Up from his refrigerator. When Qin Yu turned back to the computer, his fingers paused at the ring-pull on the cold drink’s can.

A bead of water slide down from the top of his head, continued falling into the white towel hanging on his neck, sliding more to his collarbone, more and more until it was finally hidden under the vest clinging onto his chest.

Qin Yu gulped and took a drink out of his 7 up, and at the same time, his hand reached out on the keyboard. He took a glance at the screen and was stunned. He had to take a second glance, because there, on his friends list, a “fragment” of his past suddenly showed up right in front of him.

「Fire Ruthless」 → 「Xiao Xian-Jin」: 「? 」

A few seconds later, Xiao Xian Jin replied: “……”

Qin Yu’s Adam’s apple bobbled. He stood startled for a few seconds until the smart bracelet on his desk suddenly began to flash, and a pleasant voice immediately could be heard singing –

“My imperfect dream-you dream it with me

My imperfect courage-you say it makes it braver… “

The sound made Qin Yu regained his sense back to reality. He put down his 7 Up on the desk, and quickly typed on the keyboard: “Is it you? ”

Xiao Xian Jin: “Yes.”

Although the system had showed this person’s identity, He Jin still confirmed it to him –

Xiao Xian Jin: “And you are?”

“My imperfect worries-you worry about them as well

This imperfect me-you always treat me as your treasure … …”

The smart bracelet continued to sing, making Qin Yu looked irritably at it. He sighed and finally turned his eyes to the camera lens. He pressed at something on his smart bracelet, and the ringing stopped. A square light curtain then popped up above the bracelet, projecting a young man face with shaggy hairstyle.

[T/N: Remember this story has a bit of futuristic theme. Smart bracelet in here is like a cell phone, only in bracelet form, which will project a transparent screen that shows the caller, so you can talk face to face. Just imagine those things in futuristic movies.]

“Qin Ge, why are you not online? Today’s show is about to start. And look at you, only wearing a vest in this cold weather, did you just shower?”

“I’m not doing broadcast today.”

“Hah? What ?!” The assistant shouted, thinking he might have heard him wrong.

Qin Yu squinted in front of the computer screen’s dialog box, and entered a string of letters one after another; his typing force almost knocked the keyboard down. During the whole process, he did not once glanced at the projected screen above his bracelet, and only told the caller, “I have something urgent to deal with.”

He pressed the Enter key on the keyboard –

Fire Ruthless: “I am your husband.”

– Then he simply cut off the call from the smart bracelet.

Meanwhile, in the studio homepage, the audiences who had been waiting for the appearance of the Great God blew up after hearing and understanding the situation!

“What! No broadcast!?”

“Great God, how can you do this!”

“Wait, did I hear right? Great God is only wearing a vest? [Drooling emoticon] ”

“Is God’s body in good shape? Is it muscled? [Drools] [Drools]”

“I’m so jealous of Assistant Peng! He can do video chat with Great God!”

“… Is nobody cares about the ringtones of the God? That it’s an old song of TFBoys?”

***

A year and a half ago, the God level player who dominated the game [Demon God], “Fire Ruthless”, received an invitation to do live broadcast from a famous online platform “Fly Tour Network”. He began to regularly do live sessions to explain Demon God’s gameplay to other players. Because of his superb technique, sharp operation, and his magnetic voice, he quickly attracted numerous viewers. There were even many female audiences who didn’t even know what “Demon God” was and only came with the sole purpose of hearing Fire Ruthless’s voice. Thousands of broadcast video were done, in each of them there were always many female fans who could be heard screaming things such as “Eargasm! I am pregnant!” “My husband!” etc …

From a low-key mysterious big game player to the popular gold-mine broadcast host that he was today, even his agent was shocked by his potential, especially after seeing Fire Ruthless in reality. The website was more than eager to expose him before the audience to attract more viewers.

But Qin Yu didn’t want this to affect his real life, so he calmly refused.

This did not prevent the site to promote him though. Just having Assistant Peng phone called Qin Yu without cutting off the live recording was also part of their business strategy. Staff members from time to time would also reveal some details and informations of the Great God, driving the female audiences to feel more and more crazy.

Fire Ruthless, although he was still very young, but both his inside and outside appearance were excellent. No matter how you looked at it, he was clearly a golden cash cow!

[T/N: Golden cash cow: source of money]

He Jin did not know his sudden whim to come online has caused a huge commotion in the network community.

He was completely confused at the last message Fire Ruthless had just sent to him.

If it was a system’s mistake, sending suspicious and strange information to him, then there was no way this Fire Ruthless would continue to stay silent after sending that. So it meant… The problem was with He Jin’s memory. (\= _ \=)

He Jin tried hard to remember…

That year, because he was encouraged by his friends, he lied to his parents, saying he was going to participate in a study group. In actuality though, he went to his classmates’s house to play games.

At his first contact with “Spirit Fairy”, He Jin impression of the game was of its beautiful display screen and rich playability, which attracted him.

At the start of the game, players could, according to their preferences, choose between two races, “human” and “spirit”, to decide which path of cultivation immortality they wanted to be on.

The so-called “human” was the mortal, while the “spirit” was beings evolved from creatures such as plant, and animal. Both cultivation immortality path would go through several realms such as “San Xian” and “Jin Xian”. The biggest difference between human and spirit path was the spells learned in the leveling process, which would be different.

[T/N: San Xian and Jin Xian are titles that will be acquired at certain levels on the game. There will be more information about this in the later chapter.]

At the beginning of the game, the “spirit” race had no gender. The players could determine this in the future according to their needs. He Jin selected “spirit” simply because he wanted to cultivate as a “small fairy”, so he readily put on ” Xiao Xian-Jin” as his name.

[T/N: Xiao Xian Jin means Little Fairy Jin]

The world of “Spirit Fairy” was undoubtedly new and fresh to He Jin, who was banned from any recreational activities since childhood. So he was excited by every experiences, whether it was simply exploring or doing tasks.

He vaguely remembered knowing a person named Fire Ruthless. They often played together, and was also married in the game; something they did to make it easier to do some tasks. But he couldn’t remember any specific details about it.

Wow, this man still remembers me?

Also he has not divorced me in eight years?

Or maybe he is like me, just coming online now after years of not playing?

***

A sudden system prompt over the screen interrupted He Jin’s thoughts –

〖System〗: Your husband “Fire Ruthless” uses “shadow”.

[T/N: ‘Shadow’ is a skill in the game which can be used by married couples to instantly appeared in front of one another’s character.]

There was a dazzling purple fluorescent flash, and a moment later, a body of a tall handsome man appeared in He Jin’s field of vision.

Wearing a black robe, with black long hair that flowed down like waterfall, a Ziyun sword hanging on his body, and a fluttering pair of wings on his shoulder. There were four characters written above the man’s head: Fire Ruthless.

He Jin saw a floating dialogue bubble sent by the man to him: “Why did you never tell me goodbye?

He Jin: “…”

– This information is too much ah! (\= _ \=)

He Jin, with his paste-like brain, couldn’t really think of what kind of attitude he should show in front of this – haven’t seen since eight years ago – game’s “husband” of his……

However, he really should answer this question – why did he never say goodbye…

Truthfully, back then, after he played with his classmates a few times, He Jin was no longer satisfied with his playing time. So, without telling his parents, he secretly installed the game in his home’s computer. He also specifically deleted the shortcut keys on the desktop, and thought that his action was perfect.

After that, it went without saying that he became addicted to playing the game. He played every day, and was quickly discovered by his parents. He was beaten, grounded for two weeks, and even threatened, that if he still played ‘these things’, He Jin would not be allowed to come back to school again.

During that period of time, he felt like those who were sent to “Addiction Rehab Center”. That dark experience, He Jin did not want to talk about it anymore, so he simply told Fire: “My parents don’t allow me to play games.”

Fire Ruthless: “But I also gave my cell phone number to you.”

Back then, the Internet and personal computers had already been popular, so obviously most children in the city also owned a smart phone with all kinds of social software developed. So people would always be able to contact each other.

To disappear without a word, was indeed a bit unreasonable.

He Jin also had a cell phone, but all his communications were under the watchful eye of his parents. So, He Jin simply did not have the courage to contact his online friends.

After that, he thought, they only met from the internet, if he didn’t come online for half a month, he will slowly begin to lost the mood, and with longer time, he should be able to forget all about it.

And so, he never remembered about Fire Ruthless.

“I’m sorry ah …” He Jin said these three words reluctantly, and lied, “my cell phone was also confiscated.”

Fire Ruthless: “And after graduation? You have never thought of coming back?”

Xiao Xian Jin: “Forgot ……”

After being banned from playing games by his parents, He Jin never had any chance of getting in touch with Spirit Fairy again.

In fact, even now, he didn’t know what kind of feeling he was having after coming back to this game… nostalgic maybe?

On top of that, he almost forgot what kind of game this was. After eight years, even with the little freedom he gained after he went to college, He Jin had long lost the mood to play this game.

He Jin asked: ” You have been playing for these eight years?”

Fire Ruthless: “Yes.”

Xiao Xian Jin: “Amazing ah.”

Fire Ruthless: “…”

He Jin just casually asked, he did not expect Fire Ruthless really had been playing for so long. In his heart, he couldn’t help but admire him!

A second later, his screen suddenly began flashing with red, and without waiting for He Jin to react, a bunch of notifications also popped out one after another-

〖System〗: You are attacked by “Fire Ruthless”.

〖System〗: You suffered 1650 damage.

〖System〗: You have died.

〖System〗: You gained 300 experience ~~~

…

He Jin looked at his “body”, dumbfounded… What the hell?

However, after a few seconds, his weird “body” disappeared.

〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless casts a “Resurrection Operation” on you and you are resurrected.

〖System〗: Your husband, Fire Ruthless uses “Blood Recovery” on you.

…

Even added 300 experience to his Tsing Yi character “… …”

[T/N: He Jin often referred to his character as Tsing Yi which literally means Blue Clothed, I think. It’s a little weird to use, so I’m sticking with Tsing Yi.]

Xiao Xian Jin: “Why did you kill me!”

Fire Ruthless: “My hand slipped.”

Xiao Xian Jin: “…”

——–

※ Spirit Fairy – Past (Eight Years Ago)※

〖”Mission”: Dear [Xiao Xian Jin], after three hundred years of ups and downs, you finally evolved and become a spirit deity, you want to get more powerful? Please go out of the cave, and find a celestial white bearded man on the road! 〗

He Jin looked at the white shadow in his screen, and turned it curiously- this is his character’s body prototype.

Long fur, four short legs, a tail … … what?

Raccoon? Wrong color, fox? The tail is not that big …

He Jin manipulated the “animal” to ran a few steps, and shocked, ths posture.. it looked a bit like … a ferret! (\= _ \=)

He Jin wandering in the cave for a long time before going out. He found a beggar-like old man curled up at the cave’s entrance, above his head written five characters – White Bearded Man on the Road.

… … what about the “Calestial” title? (╯ ‘□ ‘) ╯︵┻ – ┻

White Bearded Man on the Road: “Yo, ‘spirit’ friend, come here, I have an elixir here for you. If you eat it, you will be able to change to human form!”

He Jin took the elixir, right-click to take, and saw the white animal shadow slowly turned into another entity, into a seven or eight year-old child’s appearance.

White Bearded Man on the Road: “There is a starting village under the mountain, there are a lot of people asking for cultivation, go take a look at it. But you have to remember to protect yourself, or you will be beaten back to your original shape!”

He Jin: “…”

Although he was still unable to truly get along with the other man, but to be able to meet an old “acquaintance” online, He Jin couldn’t help but felt a little happy in his heart. He typed: “This game seems to have changed a lot.”

The reply to his casual remark came in the form of a red pop-up box on the screen –

「Fire Ruthless」 invites you to “ride together”, please choose “reject” / “accept”.

-And one sentence: “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Without him noticing, a beast with black and red furs had appeared at the other man’s side. The beast’s whole body was covered in flames, making it looked like it was burning. He Jin eyed it for a second before clicking the “accept” option.

Tsing Yi automatically climbed on the beast, weakly leaning on Fire Ruthless’s body.

He Jin: “…”

On the screen, the sight of his petite and commoner-like character, sitting together with the other’s tall and mighty figure… how to look at this ah. (\= _ \=)

After all, eight years ago they both were still small children, even if they got married later on, it only felt like they were playing house. But it’s different now, in the view of He Jin’s twenty-two-years-old self, he was 100% male, so he couldn’t possibly become someone else’s “wife “. So, to be hugged from behind by another man… it felt a bit awkward.

But in the end, this male-female sitting posture was the system default in this game, there was nothing he could do.

The “sacred animal” who carried them began to run, and not long after, its four legs began to take off the ground, flying straight to the sky, as if it was aiming at the clouds.

He Jin tried to find something to talk about to get rid of his embarrassment: “What is this mount? It looks handsome.”

Fire Ruthless: “Poor Flames.”

Xiao Sin A Jin: “What is it called?”

Fire Ruthless: “Blazing Soul Rosefinch”

Xiao Xian Jin: “How do you have wings behind you?”

Fire Ruthless: “It is the Wings of Magic.”

Xiao Xian Jin: “…”

He Jin did not speak again. Although hearing about those things gave him a very cool feeling, but he had never heard of them. Asking about them so much might makes him seemed a bit silly.

Fortunately, the scenery around them was nice, so he could distract himself with them.

They soon left the Flower Valley, and entered a mountain path. There were green grasses all along the way, with a few flowing flowers here and there.

The feeling the game gave off was very real now. The computer hardware’s technology was up to date, so there would be no data lag, machine problem, and other phenomena. The game scene details were comparable to fantasy movies, with each frame showing a very beautiful picture.

He Jin put on his headphones, and heard the simulation sounds coming from the game – the wind blowing through the leaves, birds chirping as if they were singing. The sound of Poor Flame when running was so soft, but with an occasional hisses, which somehow made his adrenaline pumped up.

Xiao Xian Jin: “So beautiful …”

Fire Ruthless: “After the holographic version comes out, it will be even more beautiful. Aside from seeing the scenery, you will also be able to feel them… Right, that holographic helmet lottery, are you joining it?”

Xiao Xian Jin: “Yes, I entered it before.” He Jin was a bit excited about the lottery game’s results.

Fire Ruthless: “Oh…”

While talking, Fire took him to a village with an antique entrance- wooden pillars with letters written on them: The Novice Village.

Fire Ruthless: “Do you recognize this place?”

He Jin glanced around, hesitated and asked: “Here is… The Novice Village?”

Fire Ruthless: “Yes.”

Beside the ancient looking village’s gate, he also saw many villagers cutting firewood on the edge of the mountain’s forest. They were the NPCs who would be giving out novice tasks in exchange of medicine Dan to mark the players’ step of entering the door of immortality. Seeing these familiar scenes and NPCs, He Jin’s memory slowly began to brighten!

Although the impression he had now was not as strong as when he first started playing years ago, but every newbie players surely had some kind of feeling towards this village.

Here was where He Jin first learned to roll and jump, his first time to do tasks and missions, first time to learn to buy things, to take medicine to recover his blood, the first time to find ways to chop things, and then gain experience, to have achievements, to get more powerful equipments… Each growth and upgrades left him with a full sense of accomplishment.

He Jin felt his mood changed back to become a bit similar with those of eight years ago- it was a feeling of freedom, as if he was finally broken free from a cage; like flying among the clouds, so at ease, free, and happy. The corner of He Jin’s mouth unconsciously curved up into a smile.

Before, he said that even if he logged in back into this game, it did not mean he would start playing again. But now he felt a little shaken.

Fire Ruthless took him around the village, and to the back of the mountain. There, they saw many mountain monkeys scratching on rocks and slopes on the hill.

Fire Ruthless canceled their riding status. After they landed on the ground, a monkey suddenly appearead not far from where they were standing, rushing over and trying to scratch them. He Jin instinctively wanted to counterattack, but while he was still scrambling to find the skills key, Fire Ruthless already let out a stream of blood like-ripples skill to the center of the monkeys. The ripples quickly spread everywhere. The monkeys tried to escape, but they couldn’t!

At the same time, He Jin’s screen was also flashing rapidly –

〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless kills 1 monkey, you gain 1 experience .

〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless kills 1 monkey, you gain 1 experience .

〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless kills 1 monkey, you gain 1 experience.

〖System〗……

***

Two seconds later, the whole mountain finally fell into silent, and the hundreds of monkeys had been turned to ashes in an instant.

In just a moment, Tsing Yi suddenly gained hundreds of experience points: “…”

Fire Ruthless stood calmly in front of He Jin, his sword already placed back hanging by his side, and his clothes free of any blood, as if the monkeys slaughtering incident had nothing to do with him.

The man had a speech bubble floating above his head: “This place we are now, do you have any impression of it?”

Different people, different place, different words.

However, the scene with the monkeys had opened He Jin’s dust-laden memory …

He asked somewhat uncertainly: “Are you in lower grade than me?”

Fire Ruthless: “Yes.”

He Jin remembered, this guy had to be that – take a blunt sword to the mountains and then died numerous times – mortal rookie? (\= _ \=)

Mortal (human race) couldn’t use any spells until they took the step into immortality. They could only use knives, swords, stones and other tools, or even bare handed, to fight. Therefore, the lower-level human race died easily.

At that time, He Jin passed here and saw a fierce rookie, who turned out to be Fire, being fooled around by the monkeys. He gave him a little help, and after that, they got acquainted with each other.

Back then, meeting new friends on the internet was also a very new experience for He Jin. Moreover, since he was older, He Jin felt somehow rensponsible to take care of the other boy.

Although he was originally brought to play by his classmates, He Jin could not keep up with their pace in leveling. Over time, he was finally casted aside, leaving him with only one person to team up with, Fire, who he had gotten to know in the game. So He Jin naturally began playing with the other boy more and more often.

Finally understanding the mystery behind this ‘Fire Ruthless’, He Jin was surprised: “So it is you!”

However, this guy was originally called “Fire” and not “Fire Ruthless.”

Xiao Xian Jin: “Why did you change your name to Fire Ruthless?” No wonder he did not recognize him before!

Fire Ruthless: “Why do you think?

The other guy’s response made He Jin felt a bit confused. Fire Ruthless saw him thinking, and said, “You leave eight years ago. How can I still have a heart?”

[T/N: Qin Yu’s name in the game can mean either Fire Ruthless or Fire Heartless.]

He Jin thought he was joking, so he also followed with a joke: “Why, is it hard to divorce in this game if the two people are not online at the same time?”

A cold wind blew, and then silence.

On their side, Blazing Soul Rosefinch flapped it’s wings with a shrill cry: “squeak – ah!”

That sounds a bit weird, like the beast was saying: “fool ah …”

Ten seconds later, Fire sent only one sentence: “Whether it’s in the Spirit Fairy or Demon God, only the proposed person have the right to dissolve the engagement.”

He Jin blanched, thinking that he must be the one being proposed to before, which made Fire Ruthless unable to divorce him.

HeJin felt a little guilty: “I’m sorry ah, to have delayed you for so long … Why don’t you take me to the place where we can dissolve the engagement??”

Blazing Soul Rosefinch: “Squeak …”

He Jin: “…”

Fire Ruthless’s hands seemed to stiffen at his side, but there was still no action from him. He Jin was going to ask again, when his screen began to flashed repeatedly.

〖System〗: You are attacked by “Fire Ruthless”.

〖System〗: You suffered 1650 damage.

〖System〗: You have died.

… And so he died again for the second time…

***

※ Spirit Fairy – Past ※ (two)

He Jin looked at his character level on the upper left corner of the screen – “Half-Demon (10).”

Finally rose to level ten, from simply a “spirit” he had turned into a “half demon”! ~ \ (≧ ▽ ≦) / ~

His character image had changed from the seven or eight year-old child it originally was, into a ten-year-old appearance with grayish-white hair. Although, the gender still couldn’t be determined, but his body had grown much taller and his running had become faster!

He Jin excitedly went to get the next task – collecting herbs.

This was a simple task. He Jin ran to the mission’s location, entered the mountain, and saw a figure killing mountain monkeys.

The task of killing mountain monkeys was a norm in Spirit Fairy. Many new players had been defeated here, especially the low-level “mortals” whose only form of attack was at close range.

He Jin was brought to play this game by his classmates, so in the beginning he had someone to help him , and did not experience any suffering. Not to mention he played the “Spirit” race, capable of using long-range magic attacks, although the power is not big, but he still could use a flying attack to kill, so he has no deep resentment towards the monkeys.

On the other hand, the “mortals” kept on dying, so a lot of them began to complain, saying that this was a system bug. Monkey’s lethality is so high, simply unscientific!

Unexpectedly, the official gave an answer: The purpose of this task is to let everyone experience the rugged road to Cultivation …

The players felt bitter, but also helpless. Over time, “when killing the monkeys, teaming up is a must” had became everyone’s consensus.

When He Jin saw that figure called Fire in the mountain, the other boy surprisingly had been killed by the monkeys for who knows how many times!

Originally, he thought after Fire realized how powerful the monkeys were, he would go to the world channel shouting for people to team up with, but He Jin miscalculated. This stupid mortal was actually a man looking for death!

… what a good dedication. (\= _ \=)

In the game system settings, when a mortal male character died, there was a very heroic action that they’d do – one hand covered their chest, knees kneeling, body bloody, before falling straight down and died

He Jin had seen other people’s death before, but when he saw this man dead, somehow he could not stop himself from laughing.

After a character died, the player could choose to rebirth at the nearest resurrection point, and the body on the ground would disappear.

But this guy, after his death he had been lying there for so long, without any movement!

Is he too depressed after being killed? Haha!

He Jin collected herbs around the mountain, and when he went back, he saw that the boy from before had repeated his process of dying numerous times once again. Is he a fool ah?

However, this time, when he had only a little blood left, the man sent a bubble box containing a call for help to He Jin: “99999999 …” The next second after the bubble appeared, the man was attacked by three monkeys at the same time.

Once again, one hand covered his chest, knees kneeling, body bloody – die!

Fire: “…”

He Jin finally could not help but laugh out loud!

He sent a friend request to the man and said: “Let’s team up, I’ll help you.”