Chapter 92 - TEAM INVITATION

"YAN YAN, is it your nickname?" Shen Ji Yun asked.

"I guess?  It's just the name my older brother calls me."  

Truth to be told, when he first heard Luo Ren called him that, he wanted to wince.  The name 'Yan Yan' was just too… cutesy?  But then he slowly got used to it.  It soon evoked memories he thought he had long forgotten.  Memories of the parents he lost too soon.

They would also call him 'Yan Yan' in a very loving tone.  After that, memories just came flooding in.  His mother who would always gently hold him whenever he fell down and would stay by his side and tell him wonderful stories until he fell asleep.  His father who would always play with him and would give him whatever he wanted no matter how unreasonable it was.  Before the day ended, both would never forget to tell him how much they loved him.  

After they died, he slowly forgot about that.  Those memories that were so dear to him slowly disappeared from his mind.  It's not just because they died when he was only four.  It's more because of the fact that he was suddenly thrown into this new environment where no one, not even those so-called relatives, cared about him.  His young mind just couldn't handle the stark contrast.  

So he just chose to forget.  Because if he didn't, he knew, even at that age, that he would just fall into deep depression.  He probably wouldn't be able to move forward and continue on with his life.

But after being reborn, he wasn't afraid anymore to remember those memories.  Maybe it was because of the love and care of his new family that he didn't fear those memories anymore.  Instead, he treasured every bit and pieces of memory he could remember.

Suddenly, an egg tart appeared in his line of sight.  He raised his head and saw Shen Ji Yun pushing the egg tart to him.  He looked at him confusedly, wondering why he was suddenly giving him food.

"I heard eating sweets could immediately lighten up someone's mood," Shen Ji Yun said.  

They were just talking when he noticed the sudden change on Luo Yan's face.  It was not really noticeable if one was not staring at him.  But it just happened that Shen Ji Yun was.  So he saw the slight dimming of his bright eyes.  He thought that maybe the rabbit suddenly thought of something sad.  That's why he pushed the menu button on the side and immediately ordered an egg tart for him.  He remembered how Su Yuqi would eat sweet things whenever she's sad or in a bad mood.  And most of the time, after doing that, she became happy again.  Though it didn't really show much on her indifferent face.

"They said sweets could lift people's spirits," he said.

Luo Yan raised one of his brows.  Did he look down?  His sad thoughts must have leaked out and showed on his face inadvertently.  Then was this guy comforting him?  He looked down at the egg tart and then looked back again at Shen Ji Yun.  

He smiled a real smile.  "Thank you."

Shen Ji Yun stared.  Luo Yan's blue eyes dusted with gold bent into crescents, his red lips were slightly parted, showing a row of white teeth.  Shen Ji Yun gazed away.  His heart was beating madly for no reason.  The feeling was not really uncomfortable.  Just weird.  Maybe because he didn't know the reason why he's feeling like that.

He took a deep breath.  "Your question regarding the task, what is it about?" he just asked.

"Oh, it's nothing serious really.  I just want to know if there's a way to segregate the task according to the rewards?" Luo Yan asked while eating the egg tart.

"No, there's no way to do that," Shen Ji Yun answered.  Someone actually suggested that to his uncle but his uncle rejected it.  Saying that something like that might make the players lazy.  So it's better to be diligent and properly sift through the task list.  

Luo Yan wasn't that much disappointed by that answer.  He had been searching in the forums about the task system in Arcadia and it didn't give the result that he wanted.  So Shen Ji Yun's answer was already something he expected.  "I see."

"What particular task are you looking for?"

"Tasks that give out skill books as rewards."

"I know some task that could give you those.  I'll make a compilation and send it to you later."

Luo Yan was slightly surprised by Shen Ji Yun's sudden suggestion.  "Is it alright?"

Although he's thick-faced most of the time, he's not that shameless that he would take advantage of someone who's really good to him.  And Shen Ji Yun had been nothing but good to him.  He might be exuding this 'don't come near me, I don't want to talk you' atmosphere, but with their few interactions, Luo Yan could tell that this guy was really a good person.  And, if he could help it, he didn't want to take advantage of that kindness.

"Yes," Shen Ji Yun said without hesitation.  "I'll send it to you once I'm done."

Luo Yan looked at his serious expression and just knew that it would useless even if he refused.  "Okay.  Thank you," he said, happily eating the rest of the egg tart.

Shen Ji Yun saw the rabbit's happy expression and he felt happy too.  Then he remembered the other reason why he met up with him.  "Actually, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Do you and your brother already have a plan to join a team?" Shen Ji Yun reluctantly added the short-tempered gnome.  Because he knew the two brothers were inseparable.  So if he wanted to invite Luo Yan to his team, he needed to invite the gnome as well.

Luo Yan shook his head.  "Not yet.  Why did Brother Ji Yun ask this?" he asked, although he already had a guess.

"I want to invite you and your brother to join my team."

Sure enough.  "Is Brother Ji Yun's team one of those big teams?" 

"Big teams?  You mean those with a lot of members?" The rabbit nodded to his question.  "Then, no.  Including me, there are only three members."

Luo Yan was truly shocked to hear that.  He thought that because he was the nephew of the man who developed Arcadia, his team would definitely be one of those big shots.  But only three members?  Could it be that Shen Ji Yun was not really good at this game?  Then add that to his almost anti-social personality and no one would surely want to be part of his team.  He looked at him sympathetically.

Shen Ji Yun saw the sympathy in those big eyes and he started to worry.  Could it be that Luo Yan didn't want to join and he just didn't know how to refuse him?  "You… you don't want to?"

Suddenly, there was a small crack in Shen Ji Yun's expressionless face.  His blue eyes were filled with anxiety and a little bit of grievance.  He looked like an abandoned puppy who refused to recognize that he'd been abandoned.  Luo Yan suddenly felt a bit itchy in his heart.   

He cleared his throat.  "Let me talk about it with my brother first."

Shen Ji Yun was suddenly revived.  The rabbit didn't directly reject him!  "Okay."