Chapter 389 - THE RIGHT TIME TO GIVE UP

DUAN YU browsed on his phone and chuckled when he saw the top post on the game forum of Arcadia. It seemed that these two from team Yunyue were still in the habit of spreading dog food.

He clicked some of the photos and faced the screen of his phone to the person sitting in front of him. "Look, Ah Hui. Why don't you take notes from the captain of Yunyue and also take Ah Min on a date? Maybe you'd finally have a headway on your feelings."

The tall young man with a slightly buff body just glanced at the phone and then took back his gaze as if he didn't see anything. He had a buzz cut and deep-set eyes. It seemed like his expression was always on a perpetual frown. Making him looked like some stern old man. 

Seeing that he was ignored, Duan Yu just shrugged and picked up the tea he was drinking. 

The core members of team Celestials were currently on vacation. They took advantage of the one-week holiday to go somewhere and just rest. He and Zhong Hui were currently sitting on the dining area of the hotel they were staying in and waiting for the others to come down so all of them could have breakfast. 

Song Liuli would definitely wake up later, so he didn't bother to go to her room. But he was quite surprised to see that Zhong Hui didn't come down with Li Xu Min when the two were usually attached to the hip. No, it's more accurate to say that Zhong Hui always attached himself to Li Xu Min. 

"Hey, Ah Hui, you didn't fight with Ah Min, right?" he asked.

Zhong Hui only looked at him as if he asked the most ridiculous question. 

"Okay, sorry for asking something impossible," he said. "But why didn't you come down with him?"

"He forgot something in his room and told me to go ahead."

After Zhong Hui said that, a young man with messy black hair and big glasses almost covering half of his face came rushing towards their table. It was Li Xu Min – team Celestials captain.

"Sorry, did you two wait long?" he asked. 

"We didn't," Zhong Hui said, his frowning expression somewhat softened.

"Where's Li Li and Ming-er?" Li Xu Min asked after seeing that two of their members were not here.

"Both of them are still probably asleep," Zhong Hui said. "Don't mind them. I'm sure they'll come down once they're hungry."

"Ah Min, look at this," Duan Yu called, which made the other turned their head towards him. He showed their captain the picture he had shown to Zhong Hui earlier.

It was the picture of YUN and Noctis looking at each other as if they're the only people in the world.

Li Xu Min looked at the phone screen. "Oh, isn't this YUN? Is the guy with him one of the new members of Yunyue?"

Duan Yu nodded. "His name is Noctis."

Li Xu Min smiled. "It seemed like the two of them really get along with each other."

Duan Yu stared at this innocent smile and shook his head. Then he looked pitifully at Zhong Hui. It seemed like it would take forever before Li Xu Min noticed the feelings of this guy. Poor chap.

He looked down again at the forum post. He remembered Noctis still owed him a favor. He wondered when would be the good time to let him pay up. 

Maybe he should wait until the end of the Rookie Carnival.

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Zhu Lian stared at the screenshots on the game forum. She looked at YUN and then at the white-haired moon elf. Then, she stared once again at YUN.

She woke up this morning with the messages of people asking her on WeChat if she had seen the current top post on the game forum of Arcadia. Curious, she went and checked it. When she saw the title, all her sleepiness disappeared. She thought YUN was seen on a date with some female player. She quickly opened the post but what she saw next was something she didn't expect.

It was not some female player but some white-haired moon elf. She immediately remembered the guy. He was with YUN in that private box at Yuexing Pavilion. And then she remembered another important thing, that threat that YUN made when she became aggressive towards the moon elf.

[Don't barge into someone's territory as if you have every right to do so and then proceed on talking down to people like some entitled brat. Next time you do, don't do it front of me. Especially not in front of my important companion. Because if you do, I will slice you.]

'My important companion'. That's what he said. She didn't notice it then because she was so shocked that Shen Ji Yun would tell her that he would slice her right at her face. But now, she remembered it quite clearly. YUN said those words. And it was pertaining to the moon elf.

She stared more closely at the screenshots. And she could see it. The way Shen Ji Yun was looking at the moon elf. It was full of gentleness. And something else – another emotion she couldn't recognize. Just that was enough to show how important the moon elf was to him. 

In more than three years that she had watched Shen Ji Yun, this was the first time she had seen him looking at someone like this. Even his closest friend, Bai Ze, had never received this kind of gaze. She knew. Because she had always been looking his way. 

Always.

Her phone fell on her bed. Zhu Lian stood up and walked out of her room. It just so happened that her younger sister also just walked out of her own room which was just in front of hers. 

So, the two sisters just ended up facing each other.

"Sister?" Zhu Jingyi asked. 

Just one look and she could immediately tell that something was wrong. But before she could ask what it was, her sister suddenly flung herself towards her.

"Jingyi…"

"Sister?" she asked again and then her whole body stiffened when she heard the other's silent sobs. She started to panic. "Sister, what's wrong?"

Zhu Lian didn't answer and just shook her head. She continued to sob, tears flowing down her eyes. Because at this moment, she suddenly understood one thing.

That she had already lost.

And the most pathetic thing was, she lost without even trying to fight. She once again remembered the way Shen Ji Yun looked at that moon elf.

"Jingyi… maybe I should just give up."