VRMMO: The Unrivaled

Whew!

Taking off the helmet, I took a deep breath. My body could not quite stand being online for eight hours. Maybe because I had been buried in the soil for so long?

It was still drizzling rain outside. It was rare to have such gentle rain in the summer that made people's hearts ripple. I inwardly marveled. Rain can make my heart ripple? When did I become so sentimental? 

I went downstairs and entered the small noodle shop. I shouted loudly, "Boss lady, a bowl of sliced beef noodles, dry cut, the five yuan a bowl kind. Remember to put a bit more beef in!"

The boss rolled her eyes at me and went to make the noodles.

Not long after, a large hot steaming bowl of noodles was delivered in front of me. Yes, since three years ago when Suzhou's real estate market crashed, the price of food and restaurants had lowered greatly. Pro players like me could finally eat meat everyday.

I lowered my head and ate. There wasn't much beef, just a few pieces sliced as thin as paper. Damn!

……

After eating the noodles and drinking the soup, I rubbed my stomach and went upstairs. Already half-asleep, I entered deep slumber the instant my head touched the pillow.

In my dream, I was lying on a small mountain of golden coins, pillowed by an enormous Phantasmal Magic Stone, Purple Crystals underneath me. I held a divine Fire Sword in my left hand, a divine Dead Wind Blade in my right. I wore a set of top-tier Ghost Blade Armor. I had my legs crossed as I shouted down, "Can you be more gentle and professional?"

"Apologies, Master!"

The soft and sweet voice of a female came from my feet. This was a young elf dressed in thin robe that was massaging me, kneeling by my legs. That abundant and tender body was enchanting. Yes, life was good!

In the distance, the marshal of the Night Creatures, an undead covered in barbs, knelt on the ground as he trembled all over. He pleaded, "Great warrior, spare me. I came out to make a living, let me go. I have an eighty-year-old mother, a nursing son and wife!"

My order came swiftly. "Kill him!"

Countless gods descended, and cut the Night Creature marshal into eighty-one pieces. The pieces were strung together and roasted to be shared. As they ate, they shouted "Long Live the King."

At this time, a soft voice came by. "Grapes? My king ..."

I turned and saw a purple grape held in a small crimson mouth coming toward me. An enchanting fragrance and sweetness entered my mouth. I could not endure it and looked up at the beauty giving me this grape but suddenly stilled. This beautiful face was one that I missed—He Yi!

"!?"

I shouted in shock and immediately sat up. "Bo-boss, how can it be you?" 

 　　……

"Lu Chen, dammit! Wake up!"

I suddenly opened my eyes. So it was all a dream. The person sweating heavily in front of me was Du Thirteen, my good friend.

"Thirteen, why are you here again?" I asked.

"What, am I not welcome?" Du Thirteen patted the luggage next to him which had a helmet hanging off the case. He grinned. "I just started my vacation. It’s boring staying at home alone so I came over to live with you. We can play Heavenblessed together, level up together. So good, haha ..."

I looked around my room and said, "This is a one-bedroom suite without air conditioning, where will you sleep?"

"I will sleep in the living room."

"Then you will be responsible for the entire rent..."

"Damn! Aren’t you too black-hearted?"

Du Thirteen's eyes widened. "Stop wasting words, what level are you? How about I boost you? I am halfway through Level 9, I can reach Level 10 this afternoon and leave the starting village, haha! Bro, you have three seconds of delay, you should at most be at Level 8, right?"

I smiled mysteriously. "Wrong, my present level is—11!"

"What?!"

Du Thirteen was shocked. "How is that possible? But three-second delay! Even if you managed to keep playing when other people would have given up, how could you level up so quickly?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Thirteen, I have to tell you something."

"Hm, what is it?"

"My reaction has shortened to about seven tenths of a second. I tested it this morning."

Du Thirteen was dazed. Suddenly, he erupted in laughter. He was extremely excited, his face flushed. He suddenly hugged me tightly and shouted, "My brother has returned, haha, my brother Falling Dust has returned!"

I laughed out loud as well. "Okay, do not be so excited."

"How can I not be excited?" Du Thirteen laughed. "My brother is about to return. Haha, the great genius is about to enter the stage. The dancer on the edge of death is about to come to the world! Hm, damn that Candlelight Shadow. So arrogant. The two of us together will overturn his Martial God legend. Martial God my ass!"

I pressed on his shoulder and also pressed down his enthusiasm. I smiled slightly and said, "No need. Candlelight Shadow is not in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai area so he will not appear around Floating Ice City. I still have a 0.7-second delay. With such a long reaction time, I can’t win against Candlelight Shadow. Let's lay low for a while. I didn’t use my previous ID, so Candlelight Shadow can’t find me. When the time is right, I will make him pay for everything he owes me with interest!"

"Good, I will always support you!" Du Thirteen patted my shoulder and laughed out loud. "Lu Chen, your delay had shrunk to below one second. To celebrate, how about we go drinking at noon?"

"No, I’m going to level in the afternoon. Those with high levels have great advantage in the early stages. Once we are ahead, we can celebrate. In any case, you are living with me now. I can drink with you anytime!"

"Haha, alright. I'll go buy some food at noon, and we will grind for a week without going out!"

"Okay!"

"Right, I’m aiming for Level 10 this afternoon. Go level by yourself. When I leave the starting village, I’ll go to Floating Ice City to find you. What’s your ID?"

"Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! What about you?"

"Amazing Expert!”

"..."

"Damn you, Lu Chen! Don’t look at me like this..."

In reality, Thirteen was a complete newbie, and yet he dared to use a name like this. If I had known, I would have changed my ID to "Beautiful Youth." 

 　　……

At around 2 pm, the pair of us went to the market, buying a lot of instant noodles and frozen dumplings. Then we ate at a Hunan restaurant. When we returned home, we went online separately. I was still in my room while Thirteen was going to live on the sofa in the living room. This boy's family was actually very good, but he’s had enough of ‘good’ and decided to live in this dog house with me.

3:30 pm, time to go online!

Swoosh!

My vision went black. I knew this was my "home"—a grave.

Yes. Before a player logged off, they had to find a safe place. Otherwise, their safety could not be guaranteed. Usually, people would buy simple tents from the system NPCs. Ten copper for one that could be used for a long time. But Night Creatures did not have tents. Everyone burrowed into graves to sleep.

My grave was near Frost Mound, its gravestone slightly tilted to the side.

Rustle...

Climbing out of the grave, I looked interestedly at the words engraved on the stone. Grave of Viscount Lot. Damn, no wonder I had such a comfortable sleep. So this was a noble's grave!

However, the characters were too disgusting!

Therefore, I pulled out the green blade to erase the engraving and wrote, "One bedroom, asking to rentshare, details in person."

Hahaha. 

……

After leaving this warm little home, I grabbed my longsword and walked toward Frost Mound. Guarding it was still Sentinel Leader Fark. The guy looked as though he wanted to speak, just like the day before. I was certain he had another quest to give me.