Since You Don't Want to Sacrifice Yourself, Be a Net Cafe Attendant Instead

The tension had reached its peak.

"No! Absolutely not!!" Ice Empress clutched the keyboard in her arms as tightly as if it were her soul bone. Her stunning face was filled with determination. "Tianmeng, stop talking nonsense! If I have to lose my body—if I can't cast fireballs with my own hands or slay dragons myself—then I'd rather die!"

Beside her, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm anxiously circled through the air, his spiritual projection on the verge of collapse. "Bingbing! Can you be reasonable? If you don't sacrifice yourself, your four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation will arrive soon! You'll be reduced to ashes!"

"And without your Ultimate Ice, what will happen to Yuhao's second martial soul? What about my god-making plan? We're all finished!"

Ice Empress snorted, twisted open the Happy Water in her hand, took a swig, and let out an elegant burp. "Then I'll die!"

"Even if I die in this gaming chair and get blasted to ashes by the heavenly tribulation, I refuse to crawl into this kid's stomach and sit in prison!"

"And don't mention that god-making nonsense to me. Right now, all I want to know is how to get to Hosgar Peak and learn Dragon Shout!"

This was a textbook case of gaming addiction flaring up.

For Ice Empress, who had only just encountered this new world, the allure of games had already surpassed her fear of death.

Huo Yuhao stood nearby with a helpless, awkward expression, feeling like an unnecessary extra.

He had clearly come here to find his second martial soul, yet things were becoming increasingly surreal.

Just as Tianmeng was falling into despair, a slender hand gently placed a file on the table before Ice Empress.

Everyone looked up.

Lu Yuan had somehow walked over, holding his ever-unfinished cup of hot cocoa, a faint smile on his face.

"You're too noisy." Lu Yuan glanced at Ice Empress, then at Tianmeng, who was nearly in tears. "It's such a small matter. Did you really have to argue until my head hurt?"

"Boss!" Huo Yuhao looked as though he had seen a savior.

Lu Yuan waved a hand, pointed at the file on the table, and said to Ice Empress, "You don't want to sacrifice yourself? You don't want to lose your body? You want to play games every day? Easy."

"Sign it!"

Ice Empress lowered her head suspiciously and looked at the file.

Origin Internet Cafe Employment Contract (Probationary Period)

Party A: Origin Internet Cafe (Lu Yuan)

Party B: Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion (Ice Empress)

Clause One: Party B voluntarily becomes an employee of the internet cafe, responsible for maintaining order, cleaning duties, and... serving as the establishment's mascot hostess.

Clause Two: Party A guarantees that during Party B's employment at the internet cafe, Party B will be protected by the internet cafe's absolute domain. Heavenly tribulations cannot affect Party B, her lifespan will be frozen, and her cultivation will not decline.

Clause Three: Party B is entitled to employee benefits: unrestricted free computer access around the clock and unlimited Happy Water.

"This..." Ice Empress stared at those lines, her emerald pupils abruptly contracting. "The heavenly tribulation... can't touch me?"

She looked up at Lu Yuan, her eyes full of disbelief. "You... you can block a four-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation?"

Lu Yuan shrugged and pointed upstairs at Di Tian, who was loudly shouting while gaming. "I can't even be bothered dealing with that black dragon's eight-hundred-thousand-year heavenly tribulation. Do you think your four-hundred-thousand-year one is anything?"

Ice Empress fell silent.

Indeed, even Di Tian was squatting here and refusing to leave. This place was definitely terrifying beyond measure.

And... free computer access around the clock? Unlimited Happy Water?

For Ice Empress, whose gaming-addict soul had only just awakened, this was simply an irresistible temptation!

She could stay alive, keep her physical body, and play games every day!

Wasn't that ten thousand times better than becoming a soul ring?

"I'll sign!!" Ice Empress did not hesitate in the slightest. She bit her finger and pressed her bloody handprint onto the contract, as though afraid Lu Yuan might change his mind.

The contract transformed into a flash of golden light and vanished.

Ice Empress instantly felt herself forming a strange connection with the mysterious internet cafe. The sense of danger from the heavenly tribulation that had always hung over her head had truly disappeared!

"Done." Lu Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "Starting today, you're this shop's number one net cafe attendant! Remember to change clothes tomorrow. That dress drags on the floor—it'll be too hard to sweep in."

Hugging her cola, Ice Empress smiled like a little girl who had received candy. "No problem, Boss! As long as you let me play games, I'll wear anything!"

At that moment, the sound of a heart breaking came from nearby.

"What about me...?" Huo Yuhao and Tianmeng Ice Silkworm stood there blankly, utterly lost.

Tianmeng was nearly crying. "Boss... Bingbing belongs to you now, so what about Yuhao? Without Ultimate Ice, his second martial soul slot will be empty! He'll still be trash!"

"My million-year soul ring... was it all for nothing?"

Although Huo Yuhao said nothing, his eyes also dimmed. It was good that Ice Empress could survive, but his journey to the northernmost lands seemed to have truly ended in vain.

"What are you panicking for?" Lu Yuan turned around and looked at the dejected Huo Yuhao. "Do I look like the kind of person who only handles the killing and not the burial... no, the kind who only sells games and provides no after-sales service?"

Lu Yuan walked behind the counter, pulled open a drawer that seemed like Doraemon's pocket, and took out a data card radiating an icy blue glow.

"Huo Yuhao." Lu Yuan waved the card in his hand. "Since you were the one who got Ice Empress hooked, and since I was the one who sent you into Monster Hunter: Iceborne for special training... consider this your reward for clearing it."

"Ice Empress doesn't want to follow you? No problem. I found you someone even stronger."

Lu Yuan flicked a finger.

The data card transformed into a dazzling stream of icy blue light and hovered before Huo Yuhao.

Within that light, the faint phantom of a dragon could be seen. Its entire body was formed from flawless ice crystals, and it radiated the majestic pressure of an elder dragon.

"This is..." Huo Yuhao's eyes widened. He recognized that figure!

It was the cover monster of Monster Hunter: Iceborne! The elder dragon that commanded the laws of ice! Velkhana!

"This is the data essence of an elder dragon species—Velkhana." Lu Yuan's voice was filled with temptation. "It has no self-awareness. It won't argue with you like Ice Empress, nor will it go on strike because it wants to play games. It possesses Ultimate Ice no weaker than the Ice Jade Scorpion's, as well as true dragon blood that surpasses ordinary soul beasts."

"Well? Are you satisfied with this replacement?"

Before Huo Yuhao could speak, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had already gone insane within his spiritual sea. "Holy shit!!! A dragon?! An ice dragon?! This aura... this quality... it's way stronger than Bingbing's scorpion!!"

"Yuhao! Hurry! Hurry and agree to the boss! We're going to get rich!!"

Huo Yuhao looked at the beautiful ice dragon phantom before him, and the last trace of disappointment in his heart instantly vanished.

This was an elder dragon! A hunter's ultimate dream!

"Thank you, Boss!!" Huo Yuhao shouted excitedly.

"Go on." Lu Yuan casually waved a hand, and the icy blue stream of light burrowed directly into Huo Yuhao's body. "System-produced goods are always top quality. No pain, only pleasure."

Buzzz—!!!

A wave of extreme cold erupted from Huo Yuhao's body, yet he did not feel cold in the slightest. Instead, it felt incomparably familiar.

Behind him, the place that had originally belonged to the Ice Jade Scorpion was now occupied by the phantom of an ice crystal dragon spreading its wings.

Its proudly raised dragon head and crown-like ice horns radiated the majesty of a sovereign ruling the world.

Second martial soul: Velkhana, awakened!

"Hmph." Ice Empress, who was gaming beside them, took a moment to glance over and curled her lip. "Tch, all flashy-looking... isn't it just a dragon? Boss, how do I clear this stage? This monster called the Troll regenerates health so fast!"

Lu Yuan smiled and patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder. "All right, stop showing off and get back to rest. Remember, you're a man who now possesses the power of an elder dragon."

Huo Yuhao withdrew his martial soul, bowed deeply to Lu Yuan, then looked once more at Ice Empress, who had completely fallen into gaming addiction before the computer. A complicated smile appeared on his face.

"Then... Senior Ice Empress, I'll be leaving first?"

"Call me Net Cafe Attendant!" Ice Empress shouted without turning around. "Or call me Sister Ice! Don't interrupt me while I'm catching Root!"

Huo Yuhao gave a bitter smile and turned to leave the internet cafe. Though he had lost a soul spirit, he had gained purer power—and kept his life.

Inside the internet cafe, Lu Yuan looked at the stunning mature woman who had just joined as a net cafe attendant, then at the black dragon security guard upstairs who was immersed in gaming. He took a satisfied sip of cola.

"One Beast God and one ruler of the northernmost lands. Now let's see who dares cause trouble in my shop!"