TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 18

This was the first time Zhou Yanjun had encountered someone who got angry and gave a forewarning about it, making it quite ceremonial. However, the warning itself had no intimidating effect.

It was impossible for him to not talk to Xia Tong. Zhou Yanjun was an impatient person, and at this moment, he was confused and felt wronged. He had kindly tried to greet the little guy, but was inexplicably scolded.

“What gorilla? Who’s the gorilla here?” he asked, frustrated.

“KUQ’s, the one who was always with Dream Princess, fondling and messing around with that gorilla…” Xia Tong tried to describe, attempting to help Zhou Yanjun recall.

“Okay, okay, stop!” Zhou Yanjun gave up on Xia Tong’s powerful expression skills. “I know who you’re talking about, it’s King Kong, right? …Wait, hold on, what do you mean by *our* KUQ? It’s their KUQ, okay? Look at my prefix, I’m not friends with them!”

“I don’t care, anyway, you helped him hit me, so he’s a bad person, and you are too!” Xia Tong was still angry.

Zhou Yanjun felt helpless, knowing he couldn’t clear his name in Xia Tong’s eyes. He could only continue asking, “What did he do to you?”

Recalling the previous encounter, Xia Tong’s anger slowly turned into grievance, and he started to complain, “They didn’t let me into the dungeon! They kicked me out of the team!”

Zhou Yanjun: “What dungeon? The Snowy Tomb?”

Xia Tong: “Yeah, I was doing a quest.”

“Hah, what’s the big deal, I’ll carry you through it,” Zhou Yanjun sighed in relief.

“Can you?” Xia Tong was a little doubtful.

Zhou Yanjun indignantly shouted, “Hey! You little rascal dare doubt me? You know, back in the day, our P team was the first to break into the Snowy Tomb. We drafted the first version of the strategy guide!”

Xia Tong gave no face: “I don’t know anything about that!”

Zhou Yanjun: “…Forget it! A true hero never boasts about past achievements! Wait for me, I’ll come find you.”

Xia Tong: “Alright then.”

Zhou Yanjun: “It’s just right, Xiao Bo is coming too, let’s form our own team and go!”

Without further delay, Zhou Yanjun sent an invite to form a team. Xia Tong agreed, and after entering the team, he saw the names “Polaris_Fire” and “Polaris_Island” neatly listed in the team lineup.

The more Xia Tong looked, the more he felt that his username, “Xia Xia Tong,” looked particularly out of place.

“My name is so uncool, it messes up the lineup,” he said.

“Then change it. I’ll buy you a name change card,” Zhou Yanjun replied, eager to boost his favorability with Xia Tong.

“Change it to start with Polaris,” Bo Yu suddenly suggested.

Xia Tong was stunned for a moment, and a small bubble of hope unexpectedly floated up in his heart, which didn’t go unnoticed.

“Can I really do that?” He asked, a little shy.

Zhou Yanjun burst out laughing: “Of course! Haha, Xiao Bo, you really have ideas! It’s a great idea, Xia Tong, if you change your name to start with Polaris, you can pretend to be our unofficial member.”

There are indeed many players who, in love with a professional gaming team, jokingly add the team’s prefix to their usernames. The game and the teams never forbid it; it’s a part of the fan culture.

“Okay, I’ll really change it then!” Xia Tong said eagerly.

“Change it, hurry up!” Zhou Yanjun urged. “What are you worried about? I’ll buy you the name change card right now.”

“I’ll go think of a good name!” Xia Tong was excited. He was about to put his brain to work and come up with a name that would stand out, but suddenly a few phrases echoed in his mind.

…

“When Ping Shuai comes back, we can start rehab training.”

“He used to be our team’s wizard.”

“You’re sleeping in his room now!”

…

The words echoed in his ears, a faint static accompanying them, and Xia Tong’s pupils widened for a moment.

The original Polaris wizard player was coming back.

What did this mean? It meant the five-person room would be full, it meant the four friends he had made would shift their focus elsewhere, it meant that he, an outsider who had been brought into the base by Lin Mingfei, was now redundant and would need to leave.

This sudden realization felt like a sharp knife without a sheath, hastily scraping a piece of flesh from his heart, the coldness spreading outward, and it hurt.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yanjun had already quickly bought a name change card and was preparing to trade it.

“Hurry, join our fan club!”

But Xia Tong didn’t click to accept.

He realized that deep inside, there were darker, hidden desires that had slowly come to the surface, exposed to the light after the outer shell was peeled away. These desires were shameful, not meant to be seen by others.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to change it to Polaris?” Zhou Yanjun, oblivious to Xia Tong’s feelings, asked insistently. “Don’t you like our Polaris? Come on! We should be united as one!”

“I don’t dislike it,” Xia Tong muttered quietly to himself.

But we’re not one family. These words kept echoing in his mind.

Even if he changed his prefix, what would it change? That prefix would constantly remind him… remind him that he was just a counterfeit trying to blend in.

It really… he had stepped into this strange new world, and Lin Mingfei had brought him into such a wonderful place.

Unlike Zheng Linchuan, everyone had been so kind to him here—too kind, so kind that he didn’t want to leave.

His nose tingled, and suddenly he felt a rush of sadness.

Though not face-to-face, Zhou Yanjun sensed something was wrong.

“You know what? If you don’t want to change it, fine. Forget we even brought it up! Let’s go, we’ll take you to the dungeon.”

“My stomach hurts, I need to go to the bathroom. I’m logging off now,” Xia Tong typed in the chat box, and before Zhou Yanjun could respond, he quickly logged off.

The cocoon-like door slammed open, and Xia Tong practically ran out, hurriedly heading into Lin Mingfei’s bedroom, slamming the door behind him and locking himself in the bathroom.

The silence suddenly surrounded him, and the last bit of strength holding him up faded away. His tears started to flow uncontrollably, “drip drop” as they fell, while Xia Tong desperately inhaled and shakily pulled out his phone to message Lin Mingfei on WeChat.

【Zero, thank you for bringing me around these past few days. I’ve been really happy here.】

【Should I move out? I’ll ask Debon to help me find a new place to stay, don’t feel bad about telling me.】

He typed those messages as tears blurred his vision, the sadness that had been locked away coming flooding out. He bit his lower lip tightly, trying hard not to make a sound, but his fingers uncontrollably typed a few more words.

【But brother, I’m really going to miss you.】

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