Chapter 8

008. Couple Tasks

As Fire chatted with Flower Yiyi, He Jin was getting himself familiar with the control layout of the game. However, somehow his mind kept on remembering Fire Ruthless’s sentence from before.

“Because you are my wife …”

The relationship between them in the game was that of a husband and wife, so it should be a normal thing for the other guy to say that to him.

But Fire used such an ambiguous tone to said that, and it always left He Jin with a feeling like there was a “music” playing in his heart…

He is a man, so to have this kind of feeling for other man… how to say it, he did not feel disgusted, but a bit embarrassed, a little panicked, and there’s a little of this… aching feeling. (= _ =)

… well, maybe it’s just because he wasn’t used to the role of  a “cross-dressing male”.

But why should he adapt to this role! (= _ =)

Just as He Jin was about to get cranky, a sudden new message flashed on the bottom of his public column –

〖Private chat〗‘ Flower Yiyi’ said to you: “Hello ~”

In “Demon God”, the low level players couldn’t see the high level ones , nor can they hear their voices, so one could only add each other as friend to communicate using dialog box, or send a ‘private chat’ in the public column. Flower Yiyi choose he latter.

He Jin was surprised, he felt a little familiar with this name. He quickly remembered that he had seen it on the leaderboard just now! As he was going to reply, he saw another new message flashed on his public column –

〖Private chat〗‘ Flower Yiyi’ said to you: “Master’s Wife~ o (∩ _ ∩) o ~”

He Jin: “…..”

Feeling somehow embarrassed, Hejin asked Fire Ruthless: “Flower Yiyi… is your apprentice?”

Fire Ruthless: “Yes.”

Xiao Xian-Jin: “You told her about the relationship between us?” From Flower Yiyi’s name and cute expression, He Jin guessed that this person must be a girl.

Fire Ruthless asked: “Our relationship cannot see the light?”

[T/N: cannot see the light = have to be kept a secret.]

He Jin: “…..”

It’s not a matter of keeping it a secret or not, but so many years had passed, his relationship with Fire had long been “in name only”. Now , n only a moment he had been called as “wife”, and even called as “master’s wife’ by an expert (people on the leaderboard list are all called experts )… He Jin suddenly felt burdened, it was such a hardship!!

He Jin felt uncomfortable, but out of courtesy, he still returned a “Hello” to Flower Yiyi.

As He Jin was saying his hello, Qin Yu intended to bring Xiao Xian-Jin to leave, at the same time he sent a message to Flower Yiyi: “We will leave first.”

***

Flower Yiyi sat silently in front of her computer, staring hard at Fire Ruthless character who had taken Xiao Xian-Jin’s little figure in his arm to ride away together. The both of them were sitting on Fire Ruthless’s Poor Flame which he rarely ever put out. It was a reward he received from winning last year’s PK contest, a really unique God Beast.

She had never been treated like that by him, for they were demons with wings, if they wanted to go somewhere, they would just fly directly there. He always flew in front of her, with her following closely from behind. Before, she felt this scene was quite romantic, but she found out now that it was only her self-deception.

In the input box on her computer screen, there was a sentence that she had not gotten the chance to send yet: “Master’s wife, if there’s opportunity let’s play together later, I won’t disturb you now.”

She deleted each word, feeling a huge loss in her heart.

—–

He Jin didn’t know Flower Yiyi was just feeling hopeless, after the other did not send him anything back, he also didn’t care anymore.

Fire Ruthless re-opened his voice function and continued to bring He Jin to “find memories”. In every places, he would stop to mention a little something that had happened in the past. Getting lost together in the forest, their first time to kill other player together in Fairy Island, the first time playing firework in midwinter town…

With Fire’s reminder, He Jin not only recalled most of those things, but also slowly recovered his feeling from that time, when he was getting along with Fire.

They were really close, every time they would play together. And on weekend, when He Jin parents were out, they would secretly talk to each othe … but this feeling was certainly not the feeling of love between man and woman, but pure playmates friendship! Or at most, it’s a brotherly feeling. The Fire in his memory was like a brother who needed protection, and He Jin was like his troubled old hen.

The so-called “marriage” was actually very simple. And just as how He Jin had guessed before, it was all for the sake of getting experiences, in order to upgrade easier.

Although the game also had a of sworn-brother system, but the benefit was far less than a “marriage”.

Fire was a mortal man, his gender could no longer be changed, but He Jin was a genderless “spirit”, able to choose their own form. As long as he used an illusion of a female appearance, he and Fire could go hand in hand being a couple and even get married, which also explained why He Jin would be in a “Blue Clothed Lolita” appearance right now.

Didn’t he feel embarrassed for marrying a man? A 15-year-old ignorant juvenile how would care about these! It was impossible for him to take it seriously, for him back then, anything was fine as long as he could play happily!

…That’s all.

However, He Jin did not expect the memories that had long been abandoned by him would be touched by Fire. Fire was just so nostalgic though, a lot of details were reminded by him, all was done in order to make him remember. His tone was so kind, warm, and even with a hint of sweetness (…?). It was as if his original ordinary-playmate-friendship-feeling had been accumulating in the last eight years, gradually fermented, until it finally changed form. For Fire, to “wait” had become a habit, and “no divorce” became a matter of course.

At this moment, a little guilt was breeding in He Jin’ heart, for it was because he did not say goodbye that Fire’s feeling grew this heavy over time.

As if to disguise his guilty conscience, He Jin had been sending a lot of messages to Fire, though he did have a lot of questions to ask.

Xiao Xian-Jin: “How can you become a demon? I just look at the level introduction, it’s written there that only soul race can cultivate as demon, isn’t mortal only able to be Divine God?”

Fire simply explained the fallen road to him. He Jin found it strange: “You were already so dignified, why would you degenerate?

Fire Ruthless: “Too many Divine God players, there is no opponent.”

Xiao Xian-Jin: “…..”

Fire Ruthless then added: “After becoming Demon God, killing Divine Gods is more exciting.”

Xiao Xian-Jin: “Powerful… ”

After not meeting for eight years, who’d thought that the small silly fool follower of his unexpectedly would become the first ranked master!

He Jin asked: “What is your feeling about being ranked first?”

Fire Ruthless smiled: “May be the same feeling as when you get first place in your exam.”

He Jin was speechless … … how did you even think that Fire ah! (> _ <)

Fire Ruthless: “You asked so much, let me ask you one thing in return.”

He Jin generously replied: “Ask it.”

Fire Ruthless: “I remember you told me before that you want to take Hua University test, did you get admitted to it?”

He Jin was startled, he did not expect Fire would ask about real life thing. But the two of them got along well now, He Jin did not want to cover up too much and ended up appearing stingy in front of him, so he answered honestly: “Admitted.”

Fire Ruthless: “Hehe, so you were admitted, that’s good.”

He Jin: “…..”

Without them noticing, the game’s world had entered evening hours. Fire brought He Jin to a lake. Under the sunset, a glow purple rays sprinkled on the lake surface, making it sparkled like crystal, so beautiful, it almost felt like something out of wonderland.

He Jin suddenly recognized this place – Linghuo Lake.

Linghuo Lake was located in the middle of an island called “Choi Fong Island”. There was a bridge called “Magpie Bridge” on top of the lake. An NPC called “Cowboy” stood on one side of the bridge, while on the other side stood another NPC called “Vega”.

That’s right, this was a place to do a couple’s mission.

Couples in Demon God were able to do marital tasks daily, and they could gain rich experience when they completed it.

The specific gameplay was, the men and women players had to stand in front of Cowboy and Vega respectively. They would then questioned about some things, the purpose was to see if both spouses were connected in their hearts. If the two of them answered the same, they would gain experiences.

The number of problems were not much, a total of 10, with the level of difficulty gradually increasing. According to He Jin’s level, if they answered all the questions right, his experience could go up by half a bar.

This task seemed simple, but it wasn’t easy to do, because once the mission opened, the system would block any dialogue and voice features between the two players. Each question only had 10 seconds time limit, if you followed the rules to “answer”, the players who answered wrong would lost a “blood”, if you got five questions wrong, you would directly be “Rushed Out”. As long as one party died, the mission couldn’t continue, then the bridge would break, and the two players would be divided on both sides of the Island’s lake, unable to move for fifteen minutes, only able to stand still across the lake.

However, players who were familiar with the rules of the game could always find ways to cheat. If the two people who did the task were in the same room, they could tell each other their answers, or they could just report their answers to each other by phone, it would be done quickly and accurately!

Seeing as the two familiar NPCs were still standing in the same position as eight years ago, He Jin guessed that “Demon God” continued the existence of those couple tasks. He did not know whether the gameplay was still the same as before or not, though.

As if he could hear He Jin’s thought, Fire Ruthless suddenly asked: “Do you want to take a look?

***

※ Spirit Fairy – Past ※ (f)

A new rule of the game officially released by Spirit Fairy – Interracial!

This meant… mortals and spirits can get married! (≧ ▽ ≦)

System: In order to promote this play, during this month mortal and spirit couple who does activities to kill monsters together can get double experience, you can also do the task designed for couples to obtain higher experience Oh ~!

He Jin learned of this news and immediately went to Fire: “Let’s get married!”

Fire: “…..”

Qin Yu stared blankly at the screen.

Ah Jin actually wanted to marry him? (O_O)

Ah Jin…

Turned out to be a girl? ! (O __ O)

Qin Yu who had always thought Ah Jin was a boy, suddenly blushed ~! (O //// O)

The fourteen-year-old Qin Yu simply thought that a man could only marry a woman, even in the game.

He was playing a mortal man, so the Ah Jin who proposed to him should be a woman.

Xiao Xian-Jin: “Hello? Are you there?”

Fire: “Here …”

Thinking of what happened before, Qin Yu seemed to become shy in a moment. He had never been so intimate with a woman, and Ah Jin was not the same as his typical impression of soft and pretty girls…

But he seemed to like it. (>////<)

Xiao Xian-Jin: “What happened? You don’t want to?”

Fire: “I want …”

Xiao Xian-Jin: “Let’s go!”

Fire: “…”

He Jin who already understood the wedding process, pulled Fire to run. He first turned his appearance into a little girl’s appearance, and later took him to the Lover Island, both standing together before the “Love Fairy”.

Qin Yu confusedly followed after Ah jin, his brain still felt like it was swelling up. He only came back to reality when a system promt popped out on his screen-

System: Dear 「Fire」, the player「 Xiao Xian-Jin」made a request to Love Fairy to confirm your relationship. Please select “Accept “or” Refuse”.

Qin Yu chose to accept, his heart beating hard like a drum.

After that, there was a burst of pleasant sound around hin, and an information appeared on the world channel–

〖World〗: Congratulations to the player 「Fire」 and the player 「Xiao Xian-Jin」 for getting married, blessing to the new couple forever!

Looking at that sentence, Qin Yu whole face became hot.

While quietly saving screenshots of it, the brain fever-Qin Yu suddenly reacted. From now on, he already became Ah Jin’s husband … … ah, later he had to be more powerful, absolutely could not let Ah Jin be bullied by others! O (￣ヘ￣o)

After that, Fire started working more and more harder in doing tasks…