TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 6

Lin Mingfei stood facing Debon for more than ten seconds before giving up.

“Give me a solution,” he said, rubbing his forehead.

“Go to the store to update the bracelet formula and give it a cleaning,” Debon suggested.

“Are you going to wait for me here?” Lin Mingfei laughed. “You’ve really turned into an AI with a soul.”

Debon: “Hey, hey.”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Though he grumbled, the pheromone issue still needed to be dealt with. If it wasn’t handled, either side could end up in a passive heat cycle, which would be troublesome.

Xia Tong slept soundly, the faint sandalwood scent lingering by his side, making his muscles feel relaxed. Eventually, the scent faded, and Xia Tong woke up. He saw Lin Mingfei return to the car and hand him a velvet box.

Seeing the confused expression on the little Omega’s face, Lin Mingfei decided to be honest, saying, “The sandalwood scent you smelled is my pheromone. Actually, I could smell yours too. Our ABO types are different, so we still need some isolation measures…”

“Why can you smell my pheromone?” Xia Tong blinked and raised his wrist. “I’m wearing the suppression bracelet.”

Lin Mingfei’s ears turned slightly red.

“Because your compatibility with me is very high,” Lin Mingfei said, but those words sounded almost like harassment coming from an Alpha, especially since there was no genetic testing basis for it. He didn’t want to make Xia Tong uncomfortable, so he coughed lightly, covering his mouth with a fist. “The bracelet might be expired. I’ll take it to the store and get you a new one.”

“They said I smell like osmanthus and red bean paste,” Xia Tong suddenly pointed to himself. “Is that true?”

“Huh?” Lin Mingfei was stunned. “Not exactly red bean paste…”

“Do you like it?” Xia Tong asked again.

“This…” Lin Mingfei got tangled up in his words, his mind racing.

If this were coming from any other Omega, it would be seen as flirting or teasing, but Xia Tong’s expression was so innocent. Lin Mingfei couldn’t help but recall the day at the hospital when Xia Tong had stood all alone at the examination room door, ignored by everyone, as if abandoned by the world.

Xia Tong must have just wanted to be liked, right?

“I do,” Lin Mingfei answered sincerely, nodding firmly. “It’s a sweet scent.”

“That’s good,” Xia Tong smiled, as if relieved. He opened the velvet box, revealing a red braided cord with five cute ceramic kittens on it.

Lin Mingfei said, “Take a look and see if you like the style. I just picked it randomly.”

“It’s so cute!” Xia Tong beamed.

“It’s definitely not as nice as the one you had before,” Lin Mingfei said, looking slightly embarrassed. “I noticed the previous one looked custom-made, and the store doesn’t have anything that expensive right now.”

“It’s much better than that! This one’s heavy and old-fashioned,” Xia Tong said, not hesitating to remove the platinum bracelet. He carefully tied the red string around his wrist. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome,” Lin Mingfei said softly.

The SUV pulled up in front of a dark, standalone villa. Xia Tong got out of the car and looked up at the large, lifeless house. It had an exquisite inverted triangle logo hanging from it.

Lin Mingfei walked over and flipped the main power switch on the wall. With a click, the silver-white “Polaris” lit up, shining brightly in the dark like a rising morning star, guiding lost passersby.

“Wow!” Xia Tong’s eyes widened as he quickly ran inside after Lin Mingfei. Once inside, he saw a spacious living room, artistic designer sofas, chandeliers, a bar-style dining area and kitchen—luxurious and fashionable.

“So beautiful! Is this your home?”

“Somewhere more important than home,” Lin Mingfei smiled. “It’s the club, the team’s base.”

“Are you a professional player?” Xia Tong was surprised. Following Lin Mingfei past a glass room on the second floor, he noticed five large pods inside.

Unlike the black and red cocoon-like sensors at the Internet Café, the pods here were uniform in blue and white, with a more premium look, featuring the Polaris logo. One pod stood out from the others, with flowing silver light on its surface outlining a gun shape, ending in the name “Zero.”

“Zero?” Xia Tong pressed his face against the glass, staring in amazement, before suddenly realizing something and turning his head. “Zero?”

Lin Mingfei was carrying Xia Tong’s suitcase. “Do you know any other Zeros?”

“No, no, I just remember that Zero is famous!” Xia Tong guessed. “The God of Guns?”

Lin Mingfei chuckled mischievously. “Yep, that’s me.”

Xia Tong stood there, dumbfounded.

Lin Mingfei led him to a bedroom door, opening it. “Settle in a bit, then I’ll take you to raid the King’s Tomb.”

“Don’t you need to sleep?” Xia Tong asked.

“No worries. I definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight.” Lin Mingfei glanced around the empty base with a hint of nostalgia.

—

Late at night, outside the novice village in the King’s Tomb Continent, the moon and stars were sparse in the sky.

With a loud “whoosh,” a swarm of dark bugs burst out from the depths of a cave, their eerie “chirping” filling the air. A faint greenish spell light darted like a dragon through the swarm, suddenly splitting into thousands of threads, creating a net that captured and tightened around the entire swarm. Then a dark red orb exploded in the center of the swarm, and the bugs rained down like falling drops.

“Clink, clink, clink.”

The loot and experience points tallied up. A little wizard in a pointed hat lay on the ground, hands over his head, his staff still blinking.

“I almost died! That scared me!” Xia Tong said, lifting his head timidly. His hood had slipped off, revealing his short, messy chestnut hair, still shaken by the creepy feel of the bugs’ fur. “Zero, couldn’t you help me a bit?”

“Your moves were so smooth, you’re only level 15, yet you can take on level 20 monsters. You’re amazing—I wouldn’t know where to step in.” A long-legged man sat on a tree branch above, wearing tight leather clothes and thigh-high strapped boots. His heels tapped rhythmically against the tree, and he wore a beret, looking both calm and lazy.

Encouraged, Xia Tong got up and shook off the leaves sticking to him.

Lin Mingfei wasn’t just flattering.

In a full-immersion game, a character’s stats were tied to the player’s own. There’s a short delay between casting skills called the “global cooldown” (GCD), which depends on the player’s mental agility. The quicker and more alert players can reduce this GCD and cast more skills in the same time.

After Xia Tong had done a few runs, Lin Mingfei noticed something unusual.

He had no intention of hand-holding Xia Tong’s progress but only taught him the basics. This little Omega picked it up instantly, bouncing between tasks, grinding, and turning in quests on his own. Most impressive was that Xia Tong seemed barely affected by the GCD.

For players without natural talent, the GCD could stretch beyond a second. Lin Mingfei, with years of training, had managed to reduce his own to fractions of a second. Xia Tong’s ability was rare enough to call him a genius.

That’s how Xia Tong was able to catch the subtlety in Dylan’s three-shot combo.

“Zero, why is your hair red-brown in the game?” Xia Tong asked curiously.

Since learning Zero’s ID, the little guy stopped calling him “brother,” which Lin Mingfei wasn’t sure was a sign of their growing familiarity. He bent one knee, feeling a bit helpless. “I changed it to match the anniversary skin.”

“Do people often reset their looks? Does it mean that most people I see don’t actually look like that in real life?” Xia Tong wondered.

“Are you that naive?” Lin Mingfei chuckled. “Not everyone looks like me. And not everyone looks like you.”

At that moment, a flashy announcement scrolled across the world channel.

[Shame of the Elves Timer! Scumbag! Betrayed my love, deceived my feelings, must be hunted down! Everyone, join in!]

“Ah, that guy’s making waves again.” Lin Mingfei wasn’t surprised. Amused, he clicked the bounty notice. “Let’s see how high his bounty is… Wow, 20,000! I’m almost tempted.”

“Do you have things to do? You can go; I can handle the quests by myself.” Xia Tong offered.

“Alright, I’ll go meet a friend quickly. Message me if you need anything.” Lin Mingfei slung his gun over his shoulder and leaped away, disappearing among the treetops.

Xia Tong killed a few more monsters, then went back to turn in a quest with Lucia, leveling up to 20. The system notified him he could now leave the novice village, with more features unlocking.

In the skills interface, Xia Tong studied the guides. Wizards had two main development paths: a burst damage build and a support-focused build, each requiring different skill points. Humming with interest, he bounced along the field paths. The novice village’s boundary was marked by a silver waterfall wall. As he passed through, he saw an even wider tree-lined road ahead.

The quiet night was occasionally broken by the sounds of nightingales and cicadas, echoing through the mysterious Long Fragrance Path. While Xia Tong was looking for a quest point, his screen suddenly flashed red.

System Notification: [Tonight in Love] has added you to their kill list.

System Notification: [Porsche Lone Wolf] has added you to their kill list.

…

In the blink of an eye, five or six similar warnings appeared. Xia Tong froze for a moment, then received a private message.

Tonight in Love: “After I kindly brought you in, you reported our team?”

Xia Little Tong: “I didn’t report anyone. I just didn’t go to your offline gathering.”

Tonight in Love: “The moment you left, our team got banned. Are you really saying it wasn’t you?”

Tonight in Love: “Get ready to be killed off the server, you little b*”

Xia Tong froze for a moment, suddenly realizing that back in the starter village, he’d had a beginner’s protection buff, which prevented players below level 20 from being added to a kill list. Now, outside the starter village, that buff was gone.

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