TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 87

They said Xia Tong could stack his Soul-Reversal infinite combo like it cost nothing. Goblin hadn’t believed it at first, but after seeing it with his own eyes, he felt utterly wrecked.

At the respawn point, the burnt stench left by the lightning strike from the Soul-Rending Curse still clung around him, refusing to dissipate, so strong it made him frown. In the distance, where he’d originally been standing, there was a massive crater—Xia Tong’s mark of rage.

Goblin felt a little dazed. Falling out with Xia Tong really hadn’t been his intention.

Before the server maintenance ended, Dylan had just given their entire team a sour look. Mo Lan had cut straight to the truth, saying, “Dylan’s been getting harder and harder to deal with lately. Goblin, I’m starting to think you’re kind of pathetic—why do you insist on sticking your face onto him? He’s clearly sick of you. Can’t you tell?”

Goblin had actually noticed it a long time ago; he just hadn’t wanted to admit it.

Most people naturally develop goodwill toward the strong, unconsciously wanting to draw closer, wanting recognition from them, as if by doing so, they themselves might also become strong.

After winning the previous season’s league championship, Sabertooth Tiger had become a red-hot gold-medal team, surrounded by endless praise and accolades. It made them feel special—this was the honor that belonged to their team. But when you took them apart as individuals, it became faintly ironic. Only Dylan could be revered as the strongest in the professional field. Remove Dylan, that shining focal point, and the other four would fall into endless darkness. It was hard not to feel resentment, as if the other four had only reached the champion’s throne by clinging to Dylan’s halo.

Among them, Goblin’s situation was the most awkward. Many people liked to compare him with MM-dou from Shadow Team. In the previous finals, MM-dou had faced Dylan head-on. Although he lost, the audience still remembered the iconic scene of him being defeated by the champion team’s MVP. Anyone who could survive to the end and fight the champion MVP was undoubtedly someone on par with the champions—so MM-dou was always revered as the strongest wizard on the national server.

Over time, Goblin was constantly exposed to these comparisons and discussions. He never said anything out loud, but deep down he was always insecure. He admired Dylan and yearned to become someone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the wizard role. So subconsciously, he wanted to get close to Dylan, to become Dylan’s lackey. He always felt that the better his relationship with Dylan was, the more it proved Dylan’s recognition of him—and the more his own ability would be validated.

But he never expected that in the end, Dylan would come to despise him like this—and in the eyes of his other teammates, this kneeling, boot-licking behavior of his was truly embarrassing.

That was what hurt Goblin the most. He had been working so hard to win the recognition of the audience outside, yet he had never imagined that he wouldn’t even gain the recognition or understanding of the teammates he fought alongside. His teammates even thought he was low.

He was dejected to the extreme, so when he logged into the game, he didn’t call Yoyo or the others, instead coming up on his own to clear his head.

And then, purely by chance, he ran into Xia Tong.

When Goblin saw that Xia Tong was also doing quests alone, for some reason he actually felt a bit lighter inside. That solitary figure stirred a strange sense of resonance in him, giving rise to a feeling of closeness.

And Xia Tong’s looks… really did hit all of his soft spots.

Goblin had always liked this type—someone who looked well-behaved and clean-cut—so within the team he had always been closer to Yoyo than to the others, because Yoyo also had an innocent, doll-like face. Back when he didn’t know anything yet, Goblin had even confessed to Yoyo, but unfortunately Yoyo was an alpha… After learning that fact, it took Goblin a long time to piece his shattered teenage heart back together.

Xia Tong, on the other hand, was a 24-karat pure omega.

At the respawn point, Goblin stretched his legs, let his HP bar fill back up, repaired his equipment, regained his fighting spirit—and then shamelessly went after Xia Tong again.

Xia Tong was halfway through his quest following a guide when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Goblin’s shadow. His expression instantly darkened.

“Why are you following me again?! You’re seriously so annoying!” the little wizard snapped. “I already told you I don’t want to learn how to play wizard from you! You’re not even that good! I could beat you with one hand!”

“I didn’t ask you to learn from me how to play wizard!” Goblin had learned his lesson this time and went along with Xia Tong’s mood. “I’m here to apologize. Sorry—I said the wrong things earlier.”

Xia Tong was the type who softened easily to gentleness but resisted force. Faced with Goblin’s sincere apology, he didn’t even know how to stay angry anymore. After freezing for two seconds, he said, “Ah… then, it’s fine.”

“Let me team up with you to do the quests. I’ve done this questline before—doing the earlier parts with two people is much more efficient,” Goblin offered eagerly.

“You’d really be that nice?” Xia Tong asked suspiciously.

“Just take it as me apologizing,” Goblin said, sending him a party invitation.

Xia Tong hesitated for two seconds, then accepted. He pursed his lips and said, “Fine, whatever—but you’re not allowed to mess around!”

Goblin smiled. “I won’t, I won’t.”

—

At first, Xia Tong was still wary of Goblin, but later Goblin’s performance was genuinely decent. Not only did he not cause trouble, he even took the initiative to help him farm monsters and such. Gradually, Xia Tong became less hostile.

“By the way, why didn’t you call your teammates to do quests with you?” Goblin asked. “Did they refuse?”

“No, it’s just that I didn’t call them at all,” Xia Tong said. “Everyone’s already working so hard every day. This was just something I suddenly wanted to do—there was no need to drag them along!”

“Oh, I see,” Goblin said. “It seems like the relationships within your team are pretty good.”

“Pretty good? They’re way more than that—they’re incredibly good!” As soon as this came up, Xia Tong’s eyes lit up. “Xiao Bo is great, Fatty is great, Brother Shi Ya is great, and Zero is the best of all!” When he mentioned Lin Mingfei, two adorable, charming blushes rose on his fair cheeks, like a freshly steamed little peach bun.

Goblin stared at him for a long moment, his throat bobbing, his expression a bit complicated. “By the way… I’ve always been curious. Did you join Polaris because of… Zero?”

“Of course!” Xia Tong answered without a second’s hesitation.

Goblin murmured, “I knew it…” He didn’t know that Xia Tong had joined Polaris because Lin Mingfei had reached out a helping hand at just the right moment, offering a one-of-a-kind kindness and shelter—and that through a series of coincidences and fateful chances, Xia Tong had become firmly embedded in Polaris’s crown.

“What do you mean, ‘I knew it’?” Xia Tong asked, puzzled.

“I just knew it,” Goblin said sourly. “You and Zero have that kind of relationship.”

“What kind of relationship?” Xia Tong frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

Goblin looked at Xia Tong. This little omega’s gaze was pure and innocent, and when he talked about Zero, it was filled with spotless enthusiasm and affection. That sweetness and sincerity made it really hard not to be moved.

What kind of methods had Zero used to coax this omega into willingly charging headfirst into a full-dive esports arena dominated entirely by alphas, braving enormous public pressure—and then staying so devoted to him, defending him at every turn, spending every day by his side… What kind of divine life was this? What right did Zero have? How did he manage to trick such a cute and capable omega?

Zero was nothing more than someone born with a fairly decent face, paired with a slick, sharp-tongued mouth. When he played games, he used a lot of dirty tricks that made people think he was impressive… That was it, really. What was so great about him? How did he end up with a whole group of little omegas swarming around him, letting him do whatever he wanted—

Goblin clenched his fist quietly and said in a low voice, “Hey, you follow Zero like this—don’t you care at all about that fan he slept with before?”

“What? What fan he slept with?” Xia Tong finally turned his head seriously and faced him.

“You didn’t know?” Goblin was surprised. “It was all over the place before. He slept with an underage fan who liked him a lot—played with their body and feelings—and things got out of hand and ended up costing a life. Didn’t he tell you about that?”

Xia Tong froze for a moment, unable to say a word.

In his memories, he seemed to have heard others mention something similar.

…

“Lin Mingfei slept with a fan—accidentally slept with a sickly omega, and it ended up costing a life.”

Oh right—yes. It was Kuq’s Jingang who mentioned it in front of him and Zhou Yanjun. And Zhou Yanjun had gotten very angry. Extremely angry…

Sleeping with fans? Hooking up with fans?

At that time, he had known nothing about such things. He didn’t understand at all what those verbs actually meant.

But now, he was no longer the Xia Tong who knew nothing about the world.

Unbidden, an image surfaced in his mind—the scene from that day when his heat had struck suddenly. His consciousness had been hazy as Lin Mingfei pinned him down on the pillow. The contact and marking had been rough yet gentle, every touch like an electric current running through his body.

To him, those actions had been something extraordinarily special—like a red-hot branding iron, sizzling as it left an imprint on his soul. Was that what people meant by “sleeping with someone”? Or was it still not enough?

Xia Tong lowered his eyes. He didn’t even realize his eyelashes were trembling violently.

For no apparent reason, his chest hurt terribly, as if a thousand-pound boulder were pressing down on him. His heart struggled desperately beneath it, each beat making his chest tighten until he could hardly breathe.

What had been special to him—was it not special to Lin Mingfei at all?

“My god, you’re really too stupid,” Goblin shook his head with a look of pity. “I knew it—someone as dumb as you must’ve been fooled silly by that old scumbag alpha Lin Mingfei. Of course he didn’t tell you the truth. That’s normal—people like Lin Mingfei are just dirty. You can tell from the way he plays games. I’d bet he’s fooled more than one omega—sleep with them and toss them aside, heartless once it’s over—”

“Shut up!” Xia Tong blurted out, his face turning pale with anger. “What kind of person he is is not for you to judge!”

“Why can’t I judge? If he dared to do it, why be afraid of people knowing?” Goblin sneered. “Go ask around—it’s not just me who knows. I’m just reminding you out of kindness because I feel sorry for you. You’re being used as a gun and don’t even realize it—probably still helping him count his money afterward—”

“I don’t need your reminders! Everyone on Sabertooth Tiger is a bad person anyway!” Xia Tong shouted angrily. “You’re only saying this because you can’t beat me and want to tear me down—”

“So did I hit a nerve?” Goblin said. “Tch. Looks to me like you clearly believe it.”

“Get lost!” Xia Tong was furious. He was just about to say more when, out of nowhere, the game’s streaming plugin suddenly resumed operation. Xia Tong abruptly cut himself off. He stared at Goblin for a while longer, realized his emotions wouldn’t settle, then turned around and forcibly logged out of the game.

The hatch of the “Cocoon” slowly rose. Xia Tong opened his eyes and returned to the real world—only to find that the unbearable pain in his chest was painfully real, not something that disappeared with the disconnection of sensors.

He propped himself up and climbed out of the pod, sniffed, and realized that in his current state he couldn’t properly talk to anyone on the Polaris team. So he grabbed his clothes and hurried out the door.

Luckily, at this hour everyone in Polaris was in their rooms, squeezing in precious sleep. No one noticed him leaving the base. Xia Tong walked briskly through the night wind, pulling up the hood of his padded jacket to keep warm. He moved against the flow of people, not knowing how long he walked, until he finally stopped beside the familiar sign that read “Dongsheng Barbecue.”

The night market was as lively as ever. Run-down yet not shabby snack stalls lined up one after another. Gu Dongsheng was leaning against the back of his metal cart, humming a little tune in a Beijing accent, grilling two sliced eggplants smothered in minced garlic. Suddenly, a figure blocked him, dispersing the white smoke, and he frowned in confusion. “What’re you doin’?”

Xia Tong pulled off his hood.

Gu Dongsheng: “Ah—Big-Eyed Xia!”

Xia Tong: “……”

Gu Dongsheng: “Heh, just kidding. Xia Tong, right? I remember you. Here for barbecue today? Got money?”

Xia Tong: “No.”

Gu Dongsheng: “Oh. Then scram.”

Xia Tong: “……”

Seeing Xia Tong’s likable little face reddened by the cold wind—his nose tip and eye rims red too, like he’d been bullied, just like a little rabbit—Gu Dongsheng couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright, I won’t chase you off, okay? What do you actually want? Just say it!”

“I… I have a question I want to ask you, Uncle Gu,” Xia Tong said softly, sounding wronged.

“Then ask,” Gu Dongsheng said. “But if you’re gonna ask how many stars there are in the sky… I damn well can’t answer that.”

“That’s not what I’m asking…” Xia Tong bit his lip, hesitating. “Aren’t you Zero’s dad… I wanted to ask—did Zero ever have an omega he was very close to?”

“Ah, a very close omega?” Gu Dongsheng freed one hand and stroked his chin, thinking seriously. “Yeah.”

Xia Tong’s mouth fell. “Wuwu—”

Gu Dongsheng: “Does his mom count?”

Xia Tong: “……”

Gu Dongsheng sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, right—he doesn’t get along with his mom. Then that probably doesn’t count. Other than that… probably not?”

Xia Tong: “But I heard… there was an omega who really liked him, who died because of him.”

The playful look on Gu Dongsheng’s face froze instantly.

“Did you read some weird, sensational post online?” He didn’t turn the eggplants that faintly smelled scorched.

“No. Someone else told me,” Xia Tong shook his head. The sense of grievance surged up again, turning into a sour tightness that clogged his nose. “I don’t really believe it… but I’m scared. What if he lied to me? What if there really was an omega like me who liked him very much, and died because of that liking… what should I do then?” As he spoke, he raised a hand to his eye, tears seeping out from the corners.

“Sigh.” Gu Dongsheng let out a soft sigh, pulled a roll of cheap-looking paper towels from the side, and handed it to Xia Tong. “Wipe your face first. About this matter… although the ending really did turn out that way, Zero himself was actually quite wronged.”

Xia Tong wiped his eyes, sniffed again, and looked at Gu Dongsheng seriously.

“Actually… I know about this matter,” Gu Dongsheng said with a sigh. “But I’ve never told Zero that I know, and I always pretended nothing was wrong in front of him. Zero’s that kind of kid who’s a bit too strong-willed—an alpha who’s independent to the point of arrogance. He always thinks he can handle everything perfectly on his own, and he’s not good at accepting help or protection from others. I didn’t want to hurt his pride or undermine the way he handles things. When he was overseas getting treatment for his eyes, honestly, my heart really ached for him—but I couldn’t just rush over to find him either. I was afraid that if the two of us alphas disagreed even slightly, we’d end up fighting on the spot.”

Xia Tong: “So what exactly is the truth—?”

Gu Dongsheng: “There really was an omega who liked Zero very much. He was a kid from the relatives on Zero’s mother’s side… sigh, if you calculate the relation carefully, you can barely even call them relatives—it was distant as hell. At most, you could force it and call them friends. You have to understand what kind of guy Zero was back then—handsome, famous, successful. It was completely normal for someone to fall for him like they’d lost their mind. But that boy was a bit… how should I put it? If you want to be nice, you’d call it obsession. If you’re being blunt, you’d call it mental illness. That had a lot to do with his family environment. That whole family wasn’t very normal-looking to begin with. Later, when something happened to the kid, they dumped all the blame on Zero…” Gu Dongsheng rambled on about the past, shaking his head and sighing, occasionally mixing in his own judgments.

Xia Tong listened in a daze. Then his lips began to tremble. By the time Gu Dongsheng got to the part about Lin Mingfei going overseas for treatment, Xia Tong suddenly burst into tears right there on the street.

“Waaah—Zero had it so rough, waaah, waaah!”

People around them eating fried skewers all turned to stare. Gu Dongsheng was so embarrassed he wished he could wrap his head up with a rag. “…Damn it, why is it that every time you come to my place, you cry like the team captain just died?”

Xia Tong: “But Zero really did have it so rough!! Waaah! And people still misunderstand him like that!! I misunderstood him too!! I’m a bad person—waaah!!”

Gu Dongsheng: “Sigh… alright, alright. If you really think he had it rough, then just treat him better, isn’t that enough?”

Xia Tong pulled a long strip from the roll of paper towels, folded it up, and blew his nose loudly.

“You’re right! I’m going to be nicer to Zero!” he said in a muffled voice. “I want him to feel the warmth of the world! I want to protect him!!”

“You’re going to protect him?” Gu Dongsheng rolled his eyes so hard they were practically skyward. “Ha! With all my connections, I couldn’t protect him—just you?”

“That’s because he doesn’t accept your protection… that doesn’t mean he won’t accept mine!” Xia Tong argued, sniffling. There was no intimidation in his tone at all, but the content of his words was extremely irritating.

Gu Dongsheng conceded defeat. “Fine, you win. Go ahead and try. See whether he accepts your protection or not.”

Xia Tong took several deep breaths, then suddenly became incomparably resolute. He clenched his fist and said, “I’m going to protect Zero in my own way! I’m going to give Zero a future filled with light!”

Gu Dongsheng half-heartedly clapped his hands at the side. “Wow, amazing, you’re so impressive.”

Xia Tong ignored the sarcasm, puffed out his cheeks, and swore earnestly, “First, I’m going to make those bastards who misunderstood him and slandered him apologize to him! Yes—apologize!”

“…I really never expected that in my godson’s lifetime, he’d end up with a fate like this—being protected by an omega,” Gu Dongsheng shook his head, his expression complicated. “All I can do is wish the two of you a hundred years of happiness in advance.” After a pause, he suddenly seemed to think of something and crooked a finger at Xia Tong. Xia Tong leaned closer, and Gu Dongsheng recited a phone number to him.

“This is my number. Remember it,” he said. “If anything happens and Zero can’t bring himself to ask me for help, you can ask on his behalf. I can’t pick stars or grab the moon, but when it comes to matters involving people… I can probably smooth most of them over.”

Xia Tong smiled, nodded, and said, “I’ve got it! Uncle Gu, you’re really a good person! Then I’m heading off!!”

Gu Dongsheng snorted softly, lowered his head, and took out his worn leather wallet from his pocket. He flipped to the inner compartment and looked at the yellowed photograph of a woman inside, his gaze gentle. “You can keep the ‘good person’ card. The thing I least want in this life is to receive a good person card. I just hope that all you little brats live well.” He lifted his eyes and watched Xia Tong’s cheerful figure run off into the distance. “Yes—live well.”

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