I Don't Just Eat with Anyone

:Why did Zheng Xun get a reward?

:Zheng Xun did his part, so he should get one. But why was his as big as Captain Xu's and Luo's?

:Azure Mist fan above, have some shame. Without Zheng Xun, your first team would be getting carried out right now, and the funeral feast would start as soon as the suona played. Get it?

:Forget it. Some people are selectively blind. You can't reason with them.

:More than anything else, I'm curious what Erchui's reward is.

:Erchui, hurry and open it!

Unlike usual, the fans were eager to see, but this time Zheng Xun didn't open it in public.

"What are you looking at?" he said, completely unabashed. "You're all outsiders. It wouldn't be convenient for me to open it here."

He hugged the gift box and prepared to leave. Xu Guan thoughtfully asked if he needed a car to pick him up.

"Hmph." Zheng Xun even put on airs. "I have my own dedicated driver now. I don't need yours."

No sooner had Zheng Xun finished speaking than someone pushed the door open from outside.

Wearing sunglasses, Cheng Jie shouted from the doorway.

"Old Zheng, where are you? You've been dawdling forever. Why aren't you out yet? Did Azure Mist kidnap you and kill you?"

Luo Mingxuan grinned when he saw who it was.

"Cheng Jie, you gave up being a top player worth tens of millions to drive someone around? Haven't seen you in a few days, and you've fallen this far?"

Cheng Jie's face darkened.

"Cut the crap. I like it. Zheng Xun is Songbird's giant panda now, and he still owes us several dungeon runs. Old Zheng, what are you dawdling for? Hurry up, hurry up."

Zheng Xun fiddled with his phone, tossed the gift box to Cheng Jie to carry, and headed straight for the car without acknowledging anyone.

That was just how he was. He did as he pleased, and everything depended on his mood.

The promised embedded reporter livestream didn't even get a proper ending. He left millions of people hanging, and they couldn't even complain about him.

Back in the car, Zheng Xun sat in the passenger seat again, while Cheng Jie drove and talked nonstop.

"You caused quite a stir at Azure Mist, especially with that Meng Yijia business. It's already trending."

Several topics from the dungeon had climbed the trending rankings in quick succession.

#Zheng Xun embedded reporter#

#Meng Yijia Zheng Xun#

#Meng Yijia Huo Ziyan#

#Zheng Xun dungeon reward#

There were so many explosive topics that netizens were kept busy rushing around to follow the drama and comment, with no mind for anything else.

Of them all, the matter between Meng Yijia and Zheng Xun was the most hotly debated.

The part where Zheng Xun had nearly been killed by the mechanism was clipped into a separate video, which quickly reached the top ten on a video site's daily chart.

All sorts of self-proclaimed experts also analyzed the conversation between Zheng Xun and Meng Yijia.

On one well-known gossip app, people even dug up what had happened between Meng Yijia and Huo Ziyan the year before. Reports on it at the time had all been vaguely worded, and the final result was that Huo Ziyan had been kicked off the first team.

Major platforms were instantly filled with fan wars and onlookers following the drama. Zheng Xun's fans, especially his female fans, charged into the fray, cursing Azure Mist's fans and Meng Yijia's personal fans as scum. Azure Mist's fans closed ranks, unwilling to hear anyone curse their vice captain. Whether he was wrong or not, they defended him blindly.

Mixed in among them were a few pitiful longtime Huo Ziyan fans. Their posts were all heartbreak, and their comments all sympathy for Ziyan. In any case, they portrayed Huo Ziyan as a punching bag who had suffered a monumental injustice and couldn't speak up for himself.

Cheng Jie embellished what he'd seen online as he recounted it to Zheng Xun.

Zheng Xun didn't respond for a long while, and Cheng Jie grew a little dissatisfied.

"What are you doing? You can't even give me a response?"

At a red light, he glanced at the page on Zheng Xun's phone.

"A forum? What are you looking for?"

"I'm finding something." Zheng Xun forwarded the video in the post to Xu Guan. "I was afraid Captain Xu might turn a blind eye to the miserable sight of me nearly being murdered when he reviews the run, so I decided to send it to him myself."

Cheng Jie burst out laughing.

"You're pretty wicked. Meng Yijia must hate your guts."

"Don't care. He came after me, so nobody gets to have an easy time."

When Zheng Xun sent the video, Xu Guan was in the car returning to Azure Mist.

The team members were all exhausted and had fallen asleep in their seats, each covered with a team uniform.

Xu Guan didn't rest. He was in the habit of first going over the dungeon experience in his head so he could review it more effectively when he got back.

So he saw Zheng Xun's message as soon as it arrived.

He opened the video. Since he hadn't muted it, the sudden crash of the falling mechanism startled several sleeping team members.

Xu Guan quietly apologized. He muted it and only then continued watching.

Meng Yijia, sitting in the front row, heard the sound from the video and found it somewhat familiar.

He hadn't slept either and had been reading the comments online. Plenty were attacking him, and plenty were questioning Zheng Xun.

The key to the matter was how the Azure Mist Guild-or rather, Xu Guan-viewed it.

He had his back to Xu Guan and didn't dare turn around casually. Apart from that initial sound, the back row had remained completely quiet.

Xu Guan said nothing. That silence was even more unsettling.

By the time Meng Yijia finally worked up the courage to turn around, he found that Xu Guan had already closed his eyes to rest.

As usual, there was no meeting on the first night after returning from a dungeon. The team members each went back to their rooms to catch up on sleep.

Meng Yijia wanted to speak to Xu Guan alone, but after they returned to Azure Mist, Captain Xu seemed utterly exhausted. He waved a hand without saying a word.

Meng Yijia had no choice but to return to his room uneasily.

But he still couldn't let it go, and the thought of Huo Ziyan, who had started it all, made him angrier.

He called Huo Ziyan out alone and berated him for over an hour.

Huo Ziyan had been happily messaging his younger sister when he was suddenly called away to be scolded. He was baffled.

But when he recalled Zheng Xun's earlier warning, he felt better again.

He had just thought of Zheng Xun when a message arrived from him.

:Little Huo, Little Huo, Little Huo!

:Sand Zone mining dungeon, get here!

:Hurry up, Little Huo!

After getting to know Zheng Xun a little better, Huo Ziyan discovered that he wasn't like those arrogant top players. Instead, he was a little direct and straightforward, like a child.

He laughed out loud when he was happy and took revenge on the spot when he wasn't.

He gathered his things and prepared to head to the material dungeon. As he was leaving, he ran into his roommate coming back.

His roommate said sarcastically, "Oh, going out again? You're a star now. I'd better watch myself and make sure I don't offend you."

Huo Ziyan hadn't intended to respond, but he seemed to have been influenced by Zheng Xun and had learned to look down on people who bullied the weak and feared the strong.

"Then you'd better watch yourself."

He slammed the door shut behind him.

His roommate hadn't expected Huo Ziyan, who had always been so spineless, to talk back. He hadn't even processed it, and by the time he was ready to get angry, the hallway was already empty.

Huo Ziyan arrived at the Sand Zone mining dungeon.

That was how the Sand Zone was: winds that cut at your face blew year-round.

He and Zheng Xun had a regular mining spot. He followed the route there and climbed down into the enormous mine pit, only to find two people standing there.

When he got a clear look at the other ragged figure, Huo Ziyan froze.

"C-Captain?"

Xu Guan hadn't rested. He had replied to Zheng Xun, saying he wanted to treat him to a meal.

No matter how sharp Zheng Xun's tongue was, he had genuinely done Azure Mist a great favor. Both sentiment and reason called for them to thank him.

:You pick the place.

Xu Guan was entirely sincere, but Zheng Xun's reply was dismissive.

:Plenty of people want to treat me to a meal. I don't need that.

Xu Guan thought Zheng Xun wasn't willing, so he would let it go. Perhaps he didn't like eating with people he wasn't close to.

But before long, another reply arrived.

:But I do need a miner. Are you coming or not?

:[Dungeon coordinates]

And so the esteemed captain of the Azure Mist Guild's first team came to mine.