Talking (Please Bookmark)

"Fuck @#...￥@...#%&!"

A line on the public chat screen broke the silence first.

The speaker was a level 28 warrior wielding a Frost longsword.

No wonder—it was Big Brother Purgatory.

"It must've been hard for you to type that many words. Practice typing more from now on; it won't hurt. Oh, and thanks for sponsoring that Purgatory. Bye-bye~"

Chen Hao rapidly finished typing, and he and Xu Pengkun activated their Town Portal Scrolls. A flash of light streaked past, and the mage and Taoist vanished.

In an internet café somewhere in Shen City.

Smack, smack, smack.

The sound of a keyboard being smashed against someone's head.

The café manager dared not speak out, since Brother Hu was still the one keeping this place safe.

Brother Hu was actually one of the better ones. At least he only played for free and did not charge protection money. Whenever something happened, he really showed up!

He had heard that some internet cafés had to pay at least 2,000 RMB in "protection fees" every month, yet when trouble came, those people were nowhere to be found. It was nothing but feeding dogs.

"What kind of shitty keyboard is this? So damn flimsy. Manager, get me another keyboard!"

The bald man tossed the keyboard, broken in two, aside and turned around. "Xiao Liu, find out where those two assholes are! If I don't beat them to death—"

Xiao Liu swallowed. "Um, Brother Hu, that might be a little difficult?"

The bald man's bull-like eyes widened. Hm?

"Brother Hu, times have changed. This isn't an era of offline brawling anymore. The people on our server come from all over the country. Who knows where those two assholes are playing from?"

"I see." The bald man pondered for a moment, unwilling to return empty-handed. "You guys keep guarding this place. Leave five people here to wait for the Zuma Boss to respawn. The rest of you, go outside. Kill every living person you see."

After giving the orders, the bald man grabbed the hat from the table, stood up, and headed out.

Xiao Liu called after him, "Hey, Boss, where are you going?"

The bald man waved a hand and strode away.

Damn it, do I need to tell you I'm going to find a typing class?

The scene shifted, and when Chen Hao and Xu Pengkun reappeared, they were back in Earth City's safe zone.

After returning to the safe zone, Chen Hao and the others sorted out the Staff of Judgment and Dog Book before storing them in the warehouse.

After closing the warehouse interface, Chen Hao felt that something was off. He switched out of the game and opened Legend's official website to check the Staff of Judgment's stats.

Staff of Judgment: Attack: 0–30, Weight: 80, Durability: 32, Required Level: 30.

When he returned and looked at the Staff of Judgment lying in the warehouse, its attack was 0–32.

Holy crap. Chen Hao's eyes filled with dollar signs.

Dragon Slayer had 5–35 attack, while this Staff of Judgment was only three attack points lower.

If he added a few bottles of Blessing Oil and gave this Staff of Judgment some Luck points, wouldn't it take off on the spot?

He dared to say that while it might not be number one in the entire region, it was unquestionably the best weapon on the current server!

What a pity he was not a warrior, so he could not show off with it!

Otherwise, he would strip off all his gear, hold a big club in one hand, and stand in the safe zone.

Just imagining that scene... damn.

Once they had wrapped things up, Chen Hao and Xu Pengkun logged off one after the other.

The crowd behind them dispersed.

The two came down from their peak state and entered a post-game haze. Aside from his anticipation for the unknown after the equipment drop and his excitement at seeing the godly Staff of Judgment, Chen Hao was mostly just feeling nostalgic. After all, this was a first-generation online game from twenty years ago, and its graphics were awful.

"Want to take a walk?" Chen Hao was the first to break the silence.

"Just what I was thinking."

The two immediately agreed.

A few minutes later, at a small plaza in a park.

There were barely any people around in the freezing weather.

Chen Hao's voice rang out across the empty grounds. "The world is in turmoil, heroes rise on every side. Looking upon them all, none are worth mentioning. If we speak of the heroes of this age, there are only you and Hao!"

"You only got a dozen points on your college entrance exam essay. Stop trying to sound cultured!" Xu Pengkun said with a look of disdain.

"Uh, don't hit me in the face. I just feel like we're both in the prime of youth, and we should do something worthwhile."

"Oh? How could words like 'strive to improve' come out of your mouth? Are you really the Chen Hao I know?"

"I just feel that being addicted to games is meaningless. It only makes us Chess Pieces of desire. I'm thinking—could we do something and become the chess players ourselves, competing for the world?" Chen Hao pinched an imaginary chess piece between his fingers and placed it at the center of the board, radiating a wildly melodramatic air.

That was because, on the very day before Chen Hao transmigrated, he had just finished watching season six of The Ravages of Time and had not fully snapped out of it yet.

Once a Ravage of Time, always a Ravage of Time!

What terrible taste in friends!

Xu Pengkun did not understand those memes, but that did not stop him from rolling his eyes. Still, Haozi's imposing manner made him see him in a new light.

He had originally intended to find a chance to talk Chen Hao into changing, only for the other guy to beat him to it. He chuckled. "Idiot! Even if you hadn't come to me, I was going to find you. These past two years, after seeing the outside world, I've always felt that the environment we used to live in was too limited. Our horizons only reached this tiny patch of land. We were too shallow-minded!"

Chen Hao remembered that in his previous life, Xu Pengkun had also sought him out for a talk during this holiday. But at the time, he had been hopelessly addicted to games and had not taken it seriously.

Later, one of them worked hard, put down roots in the capital, and moved his whole family into the city. The other spent every day with games, barely making a living through self-taught programming, drifting with the tide.

After that, Xu Pengkun never tried to persuade him again. He only sighed about it a few times after drinking too much. Though their friendship remained unchanged, thinking about it now, Xu Pengkun must have still carried regrets in his heart. After all, everyone could only make their own choices in life and be responsible for themselves.

Coming back to his senses, Chen Hao teased him. "Yeah, just what I'd expect from someone studying at a university in the capital. Not like me, attending some crappy vocational college in Ice City."

Xu Pengkun hooked an arm around Chen Hao's neck. "Are you mocking me? Like I don't know you!"

"Okay, okay, I surrender! I can't breathe—let go!"

The two messed around for a while. Chen Hao sat on a bench, while Xu Pengkun stood beside him, afraid of dirtying his down jacket.

Chen Hao suggested, "Let's sell our Legend accounts. The Minor Godly Item gear we're wearing, plus today's godly Staff of Judgment and Dog Book, should fetch a good amount. I estimated it on the way here—it should sell for around ten to twenty thousand RMB."

"You can bear to part with them?"

"What's there to be reluctant about? It's just a game. I've already devoted the first twenty years of my life to games. That's enough. There's so much more to life than games that we need to experience!"

"Chen Hao, you've changed."

"How have I changed? Gotten longer? Could it be that person from last night was you?" Chen Hao put on the horrified expression of a wronged woman.

"Get lost! You've become even more perverted. I'd better keep my distance from you from now on, lest my innocence be ruined."

"Your innocence was taken by that senior girl when you were sixteen. What innocence do you even have left!"

"Ah, if only you were a woman." Xu Pengkun voiced that lament for the ten-thousand-and-eighty-sixth time in his life.

Chen Hao nodded solemnly. "Same for you. Tell me about it."

"Do you have any connections?"

"I do!"

??? Something was off with you!

Chen Hao looked strangely at his childhood friend. "Your connections are that wild?"

"There's a female player on our server. We've traded a few times before. She lives in the capital and runs her own trading company. She's loaded. She should be interested. I'll ask her later."

"Oh, you meant selling the accounts. Then it's fine."

Xu Pengkun came to his senses. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing. I trust you to handle it. Just don't get scammed. You know my account anyway. There are six days until school starts—can you get it done before then?"

"No problem. I'll tell you when it's settled!"

"With that, our initial capital should be more or less enough."

"Have you figured out what to do? You're already talking about startup capital!"

"I have a few ideas, but we need to wait a little longer. For now, I'm planning to spruce up my family's internet café. Don't worry, I won't abandon you after having my way with you!"

"Fuck off!"

Glancing at his phone, Chen Hao saw that it was almost time to eat. "Want to come over to my place for dinner?"

"No, I need to go eat at my grandpa's place in a bit."

"Alright, I'm off~" Chen Hao swaggered away, then suddenly paused and looked back.

"Didn't you say I changed? Maybe it's because I dreamed last night that an old man touched my head and said some nonsense about an immortal stroking my crown and granting me eternal life! Then this place suddenly opened up." Chen Hao pointed at his head.

"Anyone who believes you is an idiot!"

"Haha~" Chen Hao laughed as he walked away.