Ch65 - 8 Hour Game Battle

Nan Zhou was very confused. It was the first time they had come to Squirrel Town since entering the game. Since then, Jiang Fang had always been with them and never acted alone. He also didn’t update the world channel. Therefore, Nan Zhou should have access to the same amount of information or perhaps even more.

Nan Zhou believed that his ability to observe the surrounding environment wasn’t bad. Yet no matter whether it was when the three of them were acting together or when Nan Zhou went alone to the entrance of Squirrel Town to check the number of players and to find hiding spots, he didn’t see any announcements in Squirrel Town that there would be fireworks in the center square at 6 o’clock in the evening. 

Jiang Fang gently pressed the tip of his tongue against his palate.

“…I used to be interested in the game Forces of Temptation.”

He was extremely calm. “The exclusive promotional video of Squirrel Town had a scene of bells and fireworks.”

Then he glanced at Li Yinhang. “Do you remember?” 

Jiang Fang felt that this lie wasn’t very clever. He even gave a dissatisfied ‘tsk’ in his heart. He had accidentally revealed the detail of ‘6 o’clock’ so he had to add the slightly extra detail of ‘bells’ in his lie. In this way, his lie couldn’t be perfect. Jiang Fang thought he needed a follow-up explanation so he conceived four different ways of coping in his mind.

However, Nan Zhou’s cold and clear eyes only stared at him for a moment. Then Nan Zhou lowered his gaze. “Ah, that’s it.”

Li Yinhang didn’t think too much. Buying Forces of Temptation hadn’t been in her life planning at all so she rarely paid attention to it. It was only when the announcement was right in front of her that she would give it one or two glances.

Besides, she didn’t think it mattered. It didn’t matter where the bigshot saw the fireworks notice. This was his ability. There was a big account and it was a good thing to be able to watch fireworks.

They headed over to the central square. Squirrel Town was artificially emptied so they didn’t have to worry about someone secretly calculating against them. Li Yinhang was relieved and led the way.

Jiang Fanga and Nan Zhou were at the back. There wasn’t an extra pair of ears so Jiang Fang didn’t have to maintain the clumsy lie. He generously told Nan Zhou, “I lied.”

Nan Zhou nodded. “I know.”

Jiang Fang raised an eyebrow slightly. “Teacher Nan, why didn’t you ask me?” 

“Because you gave me a reason.”

Jiang Fang smiled. “Do you believe what I say?”

Nan Zhou looked at Jiang Fang with a light in his eyes. “Yes.”

Nan Zhou continued, “Brother Fang, you are a very important collaborator of mine. I know that you have something you are hiding from me but it doesn’t matter. I also have secrets that I can’t tell others. As long as these secrets don’t affect our final first place ranking, it is fine. You knowing the town and the game is a good thing for us.” 

Jiang Fang thought of Nan Zhou’s pious look toward the wishing fountain. “Do you want to win this game?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Fang spoke with a smile, “You must have a very good wish.”

Nan Zhou was noncommittal. 

Jiang Fang’s smile became gentle. “Then let’s work hard together.”

The first thing they would do together was to watch the fireworks. The fireworks in Squirrel Town were different from other places. It wasn’t set off at night but sprayed against the glorious sunset, blossoming at the most brilliant time.

The silver lights like the small tails of a comet exploded in the sky, emitting thousands of lights and shadows. The background color of these lights and shadows wasn’t a thin black but a blazing and gradual golden-red. Against such a background, the endless and gorgeous fireworks became even more enthusiastic and wild. They were like asteroids magnificently colliding and bursting into stardust.

The spectacular fireworks had long looked shabby to players who had lived in Squirrel Town for a long time and had to think hard about making a living. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Only Jiang Fang wasn’t interested in the sky. He turned his face sideways, his hands by his side as he gazed at the colorful lights reflected in Nan Zhou’s black eyes.

Nan Zhou told him, “I lost my old sketchbook. Otherwise, I would’ve drawn this.” 

Jiang Fang gave a low hum in response but he was unwilling to move his eyes away from Nan Zhou. His eyes were as gentle and weary as the dust of fireworks as he watched Nan Zhou.

Nan Zhou was very focused on watching the fireworks. Therefore, Jiang Fang believed that his behavior of crossing the boundaries of being a gentleman and being presumptuous could be temporarily permitted.

The fireworks lasted a whole hour. It was dark when the fireworks came to a slow stop. This was perhaps the most comfortable and reassuring hour since Li Yinhang inexplicably entered this Forces of Temptation hell game. The evidence was that after watching the fireworks, she fell asleep hugging a lovely, white marble squirrel statue to one side.

Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang had no intention of waking her. They lay down on the spot to enjoy the stars after the fireworks and smoke dispersed. 

Nan Zhou whispered to Nanji Star on his palm, “Nanji Star, look, which one are you?” (TL: Remember Nanji = South Pole)

Nanji Star lay on the palm, short neck twisting around as he looked for himself. His black eyes were full of the light of the stars. Jiang Fang knew that the South Pole star wasn’t easily seen. Even in the best weather and the clearest sky, it needed great luck to see it. Its position was at the limit of the visible range of the human eye.

Even so, Jiang Fang naturally followed up on Nan Zhou’s words. “We should help Nanji Star find it together.”

Nan Zhou didn’t give him a response but his hand moved silently from the side and grabbed Jiang Fang’s sleeve. After confirming the position, he accurately handed the hand that had been twisted and dislocated to Jiang Fang’s hand. 

Jiang Fang, “……”

Nan Zhou told him, “On the stairs today, you wanted to hold my hand. I saw it. I’ll give it to you.”

Jiang Fang paused before his voice revealed a slight dryness. “Why?”

“I think you were unhappy you couldn’t hold it.” 

Nan Zhou’s words were straightforward but he looked serious and business-like. He placed his hand on Jiang Fang’s palm and the small bones protruding from the wrist gently rubbed against the palm. Nan Zhou said earnestly, “Keeping my collaborator happy is also what I want to do.”

Nan Zhou watched the other person and shook his hand lightly.

“Are you happy now?”

Jiang Fang didn’t know if he should laugh or not. Finally, he laughed softly. His laughter seemed warm. 

Nan Zhou obediently gave his hand while the other hand gently pinched his earlobe.

…It was hot. It was a strange feeling.

Jiang Fang squeezed the wrist bones lightly and wondered, “Does it hurt?”

Nan Zhou’s answer was blunt. “It hurt. In the future, don’t hurt me. I am a person who can’t control myself when I’m hurt.” 

“I’m sorry.”

Nan Zhou turned and blinked when he saw the guilty, smoky gray eyes. He added, “In fact, it doesn’t hurt that much.”

He gestured to his bones. “They will be connected soon.”

The two men holding hands were silent for a while. Right now, their minds were no longer on the stars. Nanji Star actively jumped on Nan Zhou and Jiang Fang, practicing his short-distance flying skills. It was quiet for a while before Nan Zhou suddenly asked Jiang Fang, “You… are you healthy?” 

“Why do you ask?”

Jiang Fang covered his eyes with one arm, the muscles of his thighs stiff and hot. If Nan Zhou continued to hold him like this, Jiang Fang was frightened that the monster lurking in his bones would abruptly show its fangs and scare Nan Zhou.

Who would’ve thought that Nan Zhou wasn’t self-conscious at all? He took the initiative to come over and poked at Jiang Fang’s chest with his fingers. “Your heart is beating very fast.”

He frowned. “This isn’t healthy.” 

Nan Zhou’s actions didn’t contain any feelings of lust, passion or desire. He was just carefully discussing health issues with Jiang Fang. Nan Zhou was very worried about the frequency of this person’s heartbeat. “You touch it. It is fast again.”

Jiang Fang took a deep breath, turned to the side and placed his hand on Nan Zhou’s chest, listening to the heartbeat.

Nan Zhou murmured, “…Touch your own.”

Jiang Fang said, “I’m touching it.” 

The constant, steady and quiet heartbeat moved slightly against his palm. Nan Zhou didn’t understand the meaning of Jiang Fang’s actions but he took it as Jiang Fang being concerned for his own body.

“Don’t worry,” Nan Zhou spoke seriously. “My heart is healthy. I can protect you for a long time.”

After making this guarantee, he thought that Jiang Fang’s heart started beating even faster. Nan Zhou couldn’t help being worried. Originally in Nan Zhou’s view, Li Yinhang was a small animal.

Jiang Fang was a stronger small animal. Now his cognition had been updated to version 2.0. Brother Fang was a small animal who was strong but in poor health. The knight Nan Zhou said nothing but he quickly drafted an animal protection plan in his brain. 

Meanwhile, the Longtan trio in Rust City were sleeping soundly. The people living next door to them had gone to do an instance. They didn’t care. They had just saved their lives from a monster and they wouldn’t use their own lives to gamble on luck.

Xie Xiangyu’s anger hadn’t disappeared after leaving the instance and he went to sleep. Once he woke up, he realized the wonderful story he had missed. He was angry and full of hate. He bit his pillow and rolled all over the bed.

The Shunfeng trio had just left an instance and happened to miss this wonderful story. The thin monkey was slightly hurt and Shen Jie gave him medicine that caused him to grimace and move around in pain. After being glared at by Shen Jie, he didn’t dare act rashly.

In order to distract himself, the thin monkey started looking at the world channel that had just been updated. He appreciated with great pleasure the mutual online cursing of two teams who had been in an instance together and greeted their mothers. Then he suddenly made a surprised sound. “Sister Shen, they are discussing Li Yinhang and Cube Boat—” 

Shen Jie’s actions paused. “Hmm? Tell me about it.”

The thin monkey looked through the history while repeating everything that happened in Squirrel Town.

Somewhere in Ancient City State, Yu Tuisi sat in the dark. He had seen Jiang Fang and Nan Zhou’s entire operation. His cautious temperament meant he wasn’t interested in the instance boss, nor would he take the risk.

The door lock of the room clicked. A person crept in like he was afraid of waking someone up. 

Yu Tuisi closed the operation page and turned on the light in the hall.

Chen Sufeng had been cautiously locking the door behind him and was caught off guard when the light suddenly turned on. He turned his head and guiltily called out, “Brother Yu…” He tried to wipe at the corners of his lips but he couldn’t erase the wound.

Yu Tuisi knew that this child had taken advantage of his nap to go to the arena where there was a mix of good people and scumbags. He also knew that Chen Sufeng had given him sleep medicine and ran out to play with others for three days.

He also knew he couldn’t persuade Chen Sufeng. This person loved Chen Suye just as much as he did. The determination that his brother must be resurrected didn’t lose to Yu Tuisi’s own. 

Yu Tuisi’s physical condition was like this and he couldn’t help. He could only sit here and wait for Chen Sufeng to come back.

“Wash your face.” Yu Tuisi spoke quietly as he met Chen Sufeng’s embarrassed, red face. “Then have something to eat.”

***

Meanwhile, an unnamed space. 

Countless moving threads of dark blue and light silver light filled the whole space. They crisscrossed and surged. They were like ten thousand furious waves when they surged and like a trickling stream when calm.

It was silent like a ghostly tomb.

Two thin and long virtual shadows were among them. The spiritual streams flowed through their bodies like they were also ghosts woven out of countless vertical rays. Their forms occasionally swayed with the fluctuations of light.

They communicated silently. 

“What is the final situation in China?”

“It is too late. Door can’t be sent back. It has been over six hours since the creature left the instance and the activity is completely gone.”

“The designer of that instance must be angry.”

“Of course. That is an instance civilization carefully designed by a senior designer for 20 years. It was being tested on the campus and would soon spread to the entire world. It was going to be a long-term, terrifying and highly playable devouring instance that could run for a hundred years. Now? It is all destroyed.” 

“Can another one be designed?”

“No. The monster was designed at the beginning of the instance and is the root of the instance. Now that it is dead, it is impossible to design another one. The highly intelligent humanoid creatures in there that were originally used to increase the playability of the game are free.”

“So the instance can only be discarded?”

“Probably.” 

“It is really a failed collaboration. I’m afraid the designer will regret signing with us and will seek compensation from us.”

“It is a loophole in his own design. It is indeed a great idea to bind the monster to doors that can be seen everywhere but he didn’t expect a player to take down the door.”

“We didn’t expect a player to capture an instance boss using our warehouse.”

“Don’t worry. This bug has been corrected and the mandatory update program is being made urgently. In addition…” 

The humanoid creature made up of the light flow looked at a certain place within the thousands of streams of light.

“The winning rate of Cube Boat has increased. Now based on those who bet on them to win, they are ranked 3rd in China and in the global service… they are ranked 19th.”

“…This is really a team with unique characteristics.”

*** 

Nan Zhou didn’t know that the boss he captured to save Sun Guojing’s life had doubled his value. He was holding Jiang Fang’s hand and staring up at the virtual starry sky. Every time he was very close to Jiang Fang, his mood would naturally calm down. He could even think calmly about the past.