Little Mushroom and Big Black Dragon

Chapter 2

He put away the invitation.

He pulled out a chair and sat down in front of the computer.

As the computer started up, Ye Nanxun put on his VR glasses and leaned back against the chair as its backrest gradually reclined.

The familiar surroundings dissolved into particles, and Ye Nanxun appeared in a small room flooded with sunlight.

Birdsong drifted in from outside, while leaves rustled in the gentle breeze.

A game interface unfolded before him.

Though Ye Nanxun could be called a shut-in god and barely left home in daily life, he loved immersing himself in the virtual online world.

No one here knew that his pheromones were Poison Mushroom, nor would anyone look at him with strange, rejecting eyes.

Ye Nanxun did not hate his pheromones. He simply disliked the feeling of being hated and rejected.

After selecting a map, the environment around him changed once more, and a white mushroom the size of a two- or three-year-old child appeared in a forest.

This was Ye Nanxun's in-game avatar.

Players in this game could freely customize their appearance.

Most players either chose handsome men and beautiful women, or all kinds of cool, wild, cute, and pretty demi-human avatars.

Ye Nanxun had chosen an unpopular mushroom avatar. After playing for so many years, he had never encountered another mushroom.

Though that might also have had something to do with his personality.

A shut-in god in real life, a lone wolf in games.

The adorably clumsy Big Mushroom bounced along the ground, its two little round hands like Doraemon's wrapped in mycelium. It fought its way through the stages and, familiar with the route, arrived at the final boss level.

As usual, Big Mushroom charged forward and swung the mycelium in its hands.

In less than two seconds, Big Mushroom was brutally KO'd and sprawled lifelessly on the ground.

Ye Nanxun did not hurry to quit the game. Lying on the cold ground, he gazed eagerly at the super boss that had tormented countless players.

A lifelike black dragon.

It took him one second to raise his two bun-like hands at the black dragon.

It also took the Black Dragon boss one second to slap him to the ground with its claw.

"Today should be my last time coming here."

Ye Nanxun lay on the floor and spoke to himself.

This game had been on the market for a full fourteen years. As the hardest boss in the game, the Big Black Dragon before him had never been defeated.

A player had once lamented that he had been in elementary school when he started playing the game, and now his child was nearly old enough to run errands, yet the game's ultimate boss still had not been defeated by a single player.

That was an exceedingly rare phenomenon in any game, and players had protested against the game company several times over it.

Players were convinced that the company had deliberately created such a powerful boss to keep them hooked. The Black Dragon boss simply could not be defeated.

Yet no matter how many times it was cursed at or how many years passed, the Big Black Dragon in the game remained invincible.

Even now, a steady stream of players continued to challenge the Big Black Dragon.

Ye Nanxun was one of them.

Two seconds of survival time would never make the rankings.

But twelve years of uninterrupted attempts had earned him first place in total challenge attempts.

Black Dragon: "You're finally giving up?"

The bosses in the game came with AI chat systems, and each boss had a distinctive voice.

For more than a decade, Black Dragon had remained the game's most popular boss. Aside from its cool model and unrivaled strength, its deep, magnetic voice was another reason.

Players had once compared Black Dragon's voice with those of voice actors, only to discover that not a single person's voice matched Black Dragon's.

The invincible Black Dragon boss was quite aloof. Usually, Ye Nanxun would talk to himself for ages before it occasionally responded with a sentence or two.

Whether in real life or in the game, Ye Nanxun did not have many friends around him.

Most of the friends he had met in the game had gradually left it one after another as they grew older.

In the end, only Ye Nanxun remained.

Big Black Dragon was only a boss, but in a sense, it had become the presence that had accompanied Ye Nanxun the longest.

Now, he was leaving too.

Rarely had Big Black Dragon responded so quickly. Ye Mushroom lay on the ground and said, "I'm going to challenge the big bosses in the real world."

Ye Nanxun silently counted them in his heart.

Five bosses in total.

Four alphas and one omega.

This time, Big Black Dragon did not reply.

Ye Mushroom was used to Big Black Dragon's aloofness. He continued, "Those big bosses are wealthy and powerful bad people. I can only defeat them by becoming stronger than them, or by finding an even wealthier and more powerful backer."

Black Dragon spoke again. "Oh? They sound like difficult bosses to deal with. Little Mushroom, do you stand a chance?"

Ye Nanxun fell silent for a moment. "I... have to win."

He had wanted to say that he did not know what his chances were.

But he had to win.

Perhaps because Ye Nanxun had said this was his last time here, Big Black Dragon was unusually talkative today.

Big Black Dragon: "It sounds like you need a meticulous, perfect plan."

There was a hint of lighthearted laughter in Ye Mushroom's voice. "I have a rough plan, but plans can't keep up with changes. I can only take it one step at a time."

Before Black Dragon could speak this time, Ye Mushroom continued, "Aren't you curious about what I'm going to do next?"

He could not tell his parents a single word about these matters. Keeping it bottled up made him miserable, and he did not dare tell anyone else.

In the past, he had treated Big Black Dragon as someone to confide in. Even though he was facing only a model, an AI that merely responded with a sentence or two now and then, Big Black Dragon would not reveal his secrets.

Nor would it hurt him with cold, rejecting words upon hearing that his pheromones were Poison Mushroom.

Black Dragon's reply was very AI-like. "Little Mushroom, what are you going to do next?"

Rigid and emotionless.

Ye Mushroom eagerly told Big Black Dragon his plan.

"Next week, Dream City's top omega coming-of-age ceremony will be held at the Imperial Palace. I'm a very rare SS-rank omega, so I can get one chance to attend the Imperial Palace banquet."

Ye Nanxun did not like drawing attention to himself. Even thinking about appearing in public and being watched by so many people made him feel anxious, nervous, and uneasy.

But kidnapping and imprisoning an unknown SS-rank omega was entirely different from kidnapping and imprisoning an SS-rank omega known to the powerful and wealthy.

If he appeared publicly before the powerful and drew attention from all sides, those people would have reservations if they wanted to kidnap him without anyone noticing.

If he was lucky, perhaps he might even see Yan Beiyou.

Yan Beiyou was the most powerful alpha in this beloved-by-all novel. At eighteen, he had overthrown the regime and taken control of the galaxy, and fourteen full years had passed since then.

Before the great ruler of the galaxy, the male leads who represented power and wealth were nothing at all.

Watching Little Mushroom revive and log off on the phone screen, Yan Beiyou also exited Black Dragon's control interface.

On a whim, he had logged into the game and seen Little Mushroom's thousands of challenge records.

Yan Beiyou had taken over the AI and chatted with Little Mushroom for a while.

The subordinate beside him had no idea that, during the lengthy meeting, His Majesty had just been secretly slacking off and playing games.

"Your Majesty, will you attend next week's top omega coming-of-age ceremony?"

Yan Beiyou lazily lifted his eyelids. "We'll see when the time comes."