TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 17

Lin Mingfei, sitting in the front, had sharp ears and eyes. He heard some noise from the back and looked over through the rearview mirror.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Xiao Bo’s face-blind!” Zhou Yanjun immediately tattled. “He thought your scandalous boyfriend is Xia Tong!”

Bo Yu’s expression instantly collapsed, and he pinched Zhou Yanjun’s thick thigh hard.

Zhou Yanjun yelped and, grinning through his teeth, corrected himself. “No, no—it’s that he thought Xia Tong was dating you!”

Bo Yu rolled his eyes in exasperation and gave up. He covered his face and leaned back into the seat, waiting for Lin Mingfei to explode.

Lin Mingfei narrowed his eyes slightly, his expression unreadable. Before he could say anything, Xia Tong, full of curiosity, turned his head and became a curious little child. “What? Scandalous boyfriend? Am I Zero’s scandalous boyfriend?”

“It’s nothing, don’t listen to them, just sit still and don’t move around,” Lin Mingfei softly scolded.

“Seems like you’re quite happy to spread rumors with our team leader,” Zhou Yanjun remarked, speechless.

“Is spreading rumors bad?” Xia Tong glanced at Lin Mingfei, then at Shi Ya. “What’s a rumor?”

“A rumor is negative news,” Shi Ya said. “For example, even though nothing improper happened between you and Zero, some people might say there’s an inappropriate AO relationship between you two.”

Xia Tong seemed to understand a little. “Oh, I see.”

“The person in the photo isn’t Xia Tong,” Lin Mingfei said, frowning, his tone somewhat displeased. “Stop randomly putting labels on people.”

Lin Mingfei actually responded directly to the photo issue, and all the eyes in the backseat widened.

“So, the O in the photo really is—”

“No,” Lin Mingfei looked a little annoyed, his eyebrows furrowing. “That’s a kid from my friend’s family. He was going through a rebellious phase and ran away from home.”

“Oh~~” The group in the backseat all simultaneously showed a “now I understand” expression.

“Later, something happened and the kid… he’s gone now. It’s been two years,” Lin Mingfei added flatly, as he applied the brakes and the SUV stopped at an intersection. The car fell silent.

After a while, Zhou Yanjun finally choked out, “These media guys are so heartless… Sorry, Captain, I won’t ask again.”

Bo Yu: “Me neither…”

Shi Ya crossed his arms and lightly sighed. “Life is unpredictable.”

After this topic, no one in the car spoke out of turn again. In the latter half of the ride, Lin Mingfei didn’t let anyone else take over driving. By the time they reached the destination, only Xia Tong was still awake, the others having fallen asleep. Xia Tong yawned a few times, his thick, curled lashes still wet, but he stubbornly kept his eyes open.

“Aren’t you going to sleep for a bit?” Lin Mingfei passed a traffic light and turned his gaze toward the little Omega in the passenger seat.

Xia Tong shook his head.

“I’m not sleepy,” he said seriously. “I’ll keep you company while you drive. I can chat with you too.”

Lin Mingfei was slightly taken aback.

“Anything is fine,” Xia Tong yawned again. “Anyway… don’t be sad.”

Lin Mingfei smiled softly, amused.

He could hear a bit of sympathy in Xia Tong’s words.

This soft-hearted little Omega probably felt sorry for him, for reopening old wounds.

Such a good little Omega, and yet he was discarded like an old shoe. That Alpha, Zheng Linchuan, really didn’t know how to appreciate him.

“Xia Tong,” Lin Mingfei softly clicked his tongue.

“Hmm?” Xia Tong looked up.

“Zheng Linchuan is an asshole,” Lin Mingfei said.

When Xia Tong heard someone insult Zheng Linchuan, he immediately perked up. His doe-like eyes widened, and he bit out the words with full agreement. “You’re right, he’s an asshole!”

“He has no mother.”

“No mother!”

“He deserves to have no descendants.”

“He deserves to have no descendants!!” Xia Tong clenched his fists and hammered his knee, nodding vigorously.

Lin Mingfei thought their behavior was a little dark, and he couldn’t help but glance at Xia Tong again. After enjoying the catharsis of the insults, he couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and he started laughing uncontrollably. Xia Tong seemed to catch his infectious laugh, and soon they were both laughing nonstop like they’d inhaled laughing gas.

—

After returning to the base, Lin Mingfei and Shi Ya went off on their respective errands without a moment’s delay. Zhou Yanjun helped Bo Yu tidy up his room, and the two eagerly rushed upstairs to the training room to play games.

“You still say you don’t play games? You’re even more familiar with the system than I am!” Zhou Yanjun said to Bo Yu, who was crawling into his gaming pod.

“There’s someone who’s even more enthusiastic than me,” Bo Yu pointed to the pod next door, where a halo surrounded the currently active pod.

Zhou Yanjun rubbed his chin and peeked inside the pod. He was shocked. “Didn’t know this little guy had such a big gaming addiction?”

At that moment, Xia Tong was busy leveling up in the game, trying to reach the highest level before Ping Shuai arrived so he could ask for advice. The little wizard was now quite proficient at monster hunting and questing. He quickly finished a map’s tasks and took on a team dungeon quest.

Xia Tong had already reached level 93. Aside from the equipment gap, his basic attributes were nearly on par with max-level players. Following the quest guidance, he traversed the freezing snow-covered wasteland, eventually finding a half-circular crypt entrance deep in the snow. The domain name for the dungeon appeared at the top of the screen—White Snow Mausoleum.

The area was crowded with people of various sizes and builds, all shouting recruitment ads.

“White Snow Mausoleum speed run 4=1!! Seeking aggressive DPS! All items rolled!”

“Materials farm for steady workers, no rush, 2K coins each! Hidden boss kill bonus 10K!”

To maintain enough freshness, the game “King’s Tomb” updates its version quickly. Every update brings a lot of new content and gameplay, while older dungeon tasks are eliminated or downgraded. Two years ago, the Snowy Tomb was one of the high-difficulty mainstream dungeons, but as time passed, the dropped equipment became outdated. With players’ basic stats improving, the Snowy Tomb has now become an ordinary dungeon that everyone can easily clear.

However, the Snowy Tomb still drops rare hidden items, and for that reason, the enthusiasm for running dungeons remains high. Xia Tong found several dungeon guides on the forum and studied them, then chose a team without any skilled workers to apply for entry.

The team already had two members: a knight and an elf, both at max level. The two of them walked over to Xia Tong and greeted him.

“Sorry, it’s my first time running this dungeon,” Xia Tong admitted. “I’m not max level yet, please take care of me, big brothers!”

“No problem, my friend knows a big boss, we can carry you through painlessly, you’re lucky to join us,” the knight said with a smile, pushing the elf playfully. “Hey, look at his character’s face, it’s so cute. You should ask him for his data later; I think his face fits your aesthetic standards.”

The elf turned his head, seriously appraising Xia Tong, and squinted. “The face is cute, true, but… did you intentionally make your character so small?”

“I’m not tall, it’s true,” Xia Tong scratched his head, not entirely understanding.

“Send me your face data later. Forget about the body stats, people will think I’m an Omega,” the elf said.

Xia Tong became a bit unhappy. “What’s wrong with being an Omega?”

“Omega players never get invited to dungeons,” the elf said. “They mostly just slack off.”

Xia Tong furrowed his brows, about to argue, but the elf suddenly changed his tone 180 degrees, full of enthusiasm. “The big boss is here! Come, let’s go worship!”

**Ding dong** [KUQ-KINGKON] has joined your team.

A hunter entered their view.

Xia Tong was momentarily stunned.

He had seen this name before. Back at Zheng Linchuan’s house, there was a foreign movie called *King Kong*, and it had these big words on the poster.

And this person was a familiar face.

“It’s you!” Xia Tong immediately pointed at him, recalling their previous encounter. “—You’re the one with the Dream Princess who always tops and fondles the gorilla!”

“…”

In an awkward, eerie silence and with eyes meeting, King Kong turned his head stiffly, his gaze going from shock to disdain and anger.

**Ding dong** [Xia Xia Tong] was kicked from the team.

Xia Tong: “???”

He tried to reapply to join the team but was instantly rejected. Realizing what had happened, Xia Tong’s nose wrinkled in anger.

It seemed they were deliberately doing this to provoke him, quickly filling the team and marching into the dungeon, disappearing in front of him.

Xia Tong stomped his feet angrily: “This is too much!!”

At that moment, a friend request popped up.

Polaris_Fire applied to add you as a friend.

Xia Tong clicked “Accept.”

Polaris_Fire: [Hey, running the Snowy Tomb? Little shorty, you’re really dedicated!]

Xia Xia Tong: [You’re the short one!!]

Polaris_Fire: [What’s up? Why so emotional?]

Xia Xia Tong: [Why does that gorilla have friends!!]

Polaris_Fire: [??? I don’t understand what you’re saying…]

Xia Xia Tong: [Oh! I almost forgot! You’re his friend too! You helped him steal my monsters! And spanked me!!]

Polaris_Fire: [??? When did I spank you? I, Zhou Yanjun, never hit Omegas, okay?]

Xia Xia Tong still vividly remembered the pain of landing on the resurrection point.

Xia Xia Tong: [You did, you did, you did!!]

Xia Xia Tong: [Don’t talk to me! I’m about to get really angry!!]

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