Chapter 18

[N1]: How about that? Isn't it amazing?

[N1]: Does Xiaozhi admire me even more now? I'm the best Alpha in school.

[Sweetheart Bunny]: TD.

[N1]: No, no, Xiaozhi thinks that Omega is amazing, why can't you think I'm amazing?

[N1]: I can be Xiaozhi's idol too—

[N1]: Muscle.emoji

[Sweetheart Bunny]: You?

[N1]: Mm-hmm!

[Sweetheart Bunny]: TD.

Xie Nanyi's words sounded like boasting, but Pei Xingzhi knew that there was no exaggeration in them.

Xie Nanyi's popularity at school couldn't simply be due to his wealthy family. Numerous rumors circulated about him, with students mostly discussing gossip. His identity was largely speculation—he was the child of some board member, some of some CEO—all baseless rumors with no concrete truth.

Pei Xingzhi, as an active member of the student council and the school's Beta representative, knew relatively well among the students. However, his knowledge was limited to knowing that Xie Nanyi had obtained a mecha pilot's license before reaching adulthood. As for whether it was an SSS-level pheromone, how would a Beta like him know? To him, every pheromone was equally disgusting. Weren't SSS-level pheromones and inferior pheromones still pheromones? Did he, a Beta, have to categorize which one made him feel worse?

Even so, Pei Xingzhi didn't want to go along with Xie Nanyi's words. Making him happy wouldn't be good for him, so he insisted on talking back to Xie Nanyi.

[Sweetheart Bunny]: If we're talking about special admissions, you should be the one admiring me. After all, I'm the only one out of 100,000 Betas who took the exam and was directly admitted.

[N1]: Wow, I admire Xiaozhi so much!

[Sweetheart Bunny]: It's normal for you to admire me, after all, I'm so outstanding!

[Sweetheart Bunny]: So why is Chu Ling living with me? Shouldn't specially recruited Omegas be assigned to separate dormitories?

After chatting for a while, Pei Xingzhi finally remembered why he had come to talk to Xie Nanyi in the first place. That's how they always were; no matter what their purpose was, they would always end up talking about something else.

[N1]: Xiaozhi already knows his name? I'm a little angry!

[N1]: Angry.jpg

As soon as Xie Nanyi sent the emoji, Pei Xingzhi's virtual screen displayed another emoji, accompanied by a very obvious exhalation sound. Pei Xingzhi turned off the sound, but Xie Nanyi had upgraded the program, so the exhalation sound remained even after he turned off the sound.

The strange sound made Chu Ling subconsciously look over, but she immediately turned back the moment her eyes met Pei Xingzhi's.

Hearing the noisy noise, Pei Xingzhi felt his temples throbbing. He forced the device to shut down, finally stopping the annoying sound.

Upon restarting the computer, Xie Nanyi had already sent an apology message, along with the program's code.

Pei Xingzhi accepted the code without hesitation, and after making some improvements for him, returned it to him.

Half an hour later, Pei Xingzhi received a new message from Xie Nanyi. He opened it and saw a sincere apology that was three screens long.

Pei Xingzhi wasn't interested in reading it all. He tossed the apology letter into the editing program for a quick scan, just to enrich the vocabulary database.

Seeing that his apology letter had been accepted, Xie Nanyi took advantage of the situation and asked to continue the video call that had just ended.

Pei Xingzhi recalled the "just now" that existed in his previous life, refused his request without room for argument, and decisively logged off amidst Xie Nanyi's pleading. To avoid disturbing his leisure time, Pei Xingzhi also blocked Xie Nanyi.

After turning off the virtual screen, Pei Xingzhi moved his body, which had been dormant for a day, and regained control of it.

Chu Ling remained seated, fiddling with the small model. Pei Xingzhi leaned against the bed railing and watched for a while, but seeing that Chu Ling showed no sign of stopping, he slumped back onto the bed.

Xie Nanyi refused to answer him, and the person in charge was busy. Pei Xingzhi was so anxious that he scratched his head and could only open the gate to distract himself.

This "level" doesn't refer to the level-based game he previously edited; rather, it refers to a game called "Levels." Despite the odd name, the game's visuals are incredibly cute, featuring a chibi-style art style throughout. While not flashy, it's undeniably adorable.

After the animation finished loading, Pei Xingzhi clicked "OK" to enter the game interface.

Against a cartoon forest backdrop, two little figures huddle together, whispering to each other. Suddenly, a wizard in a hat descends from the sky, his staff shooting out a beam of light that strikes precisely at a shelled beast crawling in the shadows on the ground.

Pei Xingzhi tapped the screen to put away his staff and casually swiped the shelled beast's reward into his backpack.

As soon as he came online, the two little figures who had been whispering immediately crowded around him, chattering away and complaining about what had happened while he was offline.

[KuroKuro]: Waaaaah—peipei, you're finally online!

[Black Cat Isn't a Cat]: peipei—Why haven't you been online for so long! Do you know how much we've suffered while you've been gone?! It's only been three days, and I was almost driven to quit the game by that Pumpkin Party—

[peipei]: What's going on? That pumpkin party is coming to you guys again?

[Black Cat is not a cat]: He came to challenge you to a duel, but couldn't find you, so he beat us up instead.

Pei Xingzhi looked at the swordsman and priest on the screen, dressed in tattered clothes, and reluctantly opened his backpack to put two pieces of clothing on them.

[peipei]: Didn't I tell you guys to stay away from him when I'm not around? If he comes looking for you, run away. If you can't escape, just log off right there.

[KuroKuro]: We just couldn't outrun him, so he froze us and beat us up.

[peipei]: ...

Pei Xingzhi had brought this trouble upon himself, and there was nothing he could do. As the eldest brother, how could he watch his two younger brothers' backpacks be empty? He could only reluctantly give them some of the materials he had painstakingly collected.

[peipei]: I've given you the speed boost spell, so run faster next time you see him.

[Black Cat Isn't a Cat]: Peipei, I love you—but Kuro, I feel like I've forgotten something?

[KuroKuro]: I think I also remember forgetting something.

[Black Cat Isn't a Cat]: I remember now! Pumpkin Party said they would be tracking us, and as soon as Peipei came online, they would immediately come over!

As soon as Black Cat sent the message, a blue light flashed not far away. Before the group could see clearly, a white-haired, blue-eyed elf appeared in front of them.

[Pumpkin Party]: Long time no see, peipei.

Pei Xingzhi gritted his teeth, staring at the elf on the screen, wishing he could jump into the screen and beat it up. Pei Xingzhi swung his fists left and right at the screen, but unfortunately, he couldn't hit the physical entity behind the elf.

[peipei]: What!

[Pumpkin Party]: Come on, let's hit you, what else can we do?

Pumpkin Party acted swiftly, throwing out a dark, indistinct object without hesitation. Pei Xingzhi reacted quickly, immediately manipulating the wizard to dodge. The swordsman and priest, however, were not so lucky; they were caught off guard and surrounded by the black mist.

Pei Xingzhi dodged the elves' barrage of attacks. He manipulated the wizard to move his staff, and a magic circle suddenly appeared under the black mist. The black mist was slowly swallowed by the magic circle, and two bald little figures reappeared beside them.

[KuroKuro]/[BlackCatIsNotACat]: My armor—

Their armor melted completely, and their hearts died along with it. They logged off without saying goodbye to Pei Xingzhi.

After the two logged off, only Pumpkin Party remained in front of Pei Xingzhi. Pumpkin Party, thinking he had won a great victory in a 1v3 situation, sent a cheering emoji above his head.

Looking at the exquisitely detailed model on the other side, he inexplicably felt a strong sense of déjà vu as to how the other side looked so deserving of a beating.

Pei Xingzhi couldn't resist pressing the skill button and hitting him. The elf jumped, then suddenly knelt down on one knee, took out a flower, and handed it to the wizard.

A prompt appeared on Pei Xingzhi's screen asking, "Do you accept the 'Flower of Friendship' from player [Pumpkin Party]?" Pei Xingzhi didn't understand what this was all about. He had clearly clicked on the basic attack, so why had this person suddenly started adding him as a friend?

The two had been scheming against each other too much in their daily lives, and Pei Xingzhi thought he was testing her, so she refused to back down and accepted his "flower of friendship".

A halo surrounded the two of them, and colorful petals scattered between them. The elf hugged the wizard and spun him around, while pink bubbles swirled around them.

[World]: Congratulations to player [peipei] for accepting player [Pumpkin Party's] "Flower of Friendship," becoming the 3589th pair of best friends on this server. May your friendship last forever and never be separated.

The moment this announcement was released, the world went into an uproar.

The game was originally a niche game, and coupled with the extremely poor experience for new players, there were basically no new players joining. It relied entirely on the support of loyal veteran players. Over time, some players became well-known throughout the entire server.

Peipei and Pumpkin Party are popular figures that are frequently discussed around the world.

Besides the fact that they both consistently rank in the top ten, the main reason is that they are arch-rivals.

To what extent are we enemies?

Once one side joins an association, the other will relentlessly hunt down and kill everyone else in the association until the association leader can no longer tolerate them and kicks them out. Besides the association, anyone who follows them will also become a target for assassination. The killing spree continues until both sides are almost completely alone.

No one knows why they became such sworn enemies, but everyone knows that wherever Peipei and Pumpkin Party are, a bloodbath is bound to ensue.

But now this news tells them that these two arch-enemies have become close friends?

Is today April Fool's Day? This doesn't seem right at all.

[8871] (World): Is there a bug in the game? Can someone fix it?

[kanya] (world): Why do I feel cold all over? Is the world about to end?

[Security Guard at the Gate] (World): Is the game going to shut down?

[Mental Hospital] (World): Did you click the wrong thing?

[Don't want to hear] (World): Friendship Flower costs 5000 each, who can accidentally send this away?

The two people at the eye of the storm remained locked in an embrace, the image frozen in that moment. The two people in front of their virtual screens stared at this glaring image, each wanting to immediately delete their accounts and start over.

Deleting the account was obviously out of the question. Pei Xingzhi took a deep breath and looked out the window. Chu Ling had left the dormitory at some point, and he was the only one there now.

He felt unclean.

[Pumpkin Party]: No, you're really going to accept this?

Since the person opposite him didn't speak, Xie Nanyi had no choice but to speak first. He intended to dodge Peipei's skill, but accidentally clicked on the gift instead. The newest item in his inventory was the Flower of Friendship, and the gift was given away just like that.

He thought Peipei would click "decline," but to his surprise, she clicked "confirm."

Xie Nanyi switched screens and opened the chat window with Pei Xingzhi. The chat was still at the point of Pei Xingzhi's final plea. There were still words he hadn't had time to send in his input box.

"Xiao Zhi, are you playing the levels too? I'm playing too, want to add each other as friends?!"

When we were working on a project together, I noticed that he had a keychain with the image of the boss from the game "Kali" on his bag, so I guessed that Pei Xingzhi was probably playing this game too.

He logged in intending to adjust his game avatar. There are no fixed game IDs for levels; only the character appearance is constant. Each person's appearance is unique, and nicknames can only be added after you've added them as friends.

In other words, as long as Xie Nanyi changes her character model, the player in Pumpkin Party will completely disappear from the game.

His reputation is too bad; anyone who has played the game has heard of him to some extent. Using this image to recruit people is definitely not a good idea.

Changing the model is definitely not something that can be done simply by spending money or doing some manual work. Xie Nanyi went through some trouble to get the permission to change the model, but as soon as he logged on and saw that peipei was online, he forgot about it and was automatically teleported to peipei's location.

He even went out of his way to buy the flower of friendship, but ended up getting himself into trouble.

[peipei]: Wasn't it you who sent it? Who knew you actually sent it!

Pei Xingzhi also felt very wronged. He thought it was some new trick that the Pumpkin Party had come up with, but who knew it was actually a real flower of friendship.

[peipei]: Fine, I'll just give you the money!

[Pumpkin Party]: Never mind.

Xie Nanyi looked at the wizard opposite him, and the combination of old and new grudges made his hatred for this little wizard surge even more.

This account is definitely no longer usable; all the effort he put into getting access these past few days has been in vain.

Having reached this point, Xie Nanyi lost interest in the game and simply switched pages and logged off.

The message Xie Nanyi was about to send to Pei Xingzhi was still stuck in the chat box. She deleted the text and sent an emoji, only to receive a notification that she had been blocked.

The bracelet on his wrist beeped, and Xie Nanyi pressed his wrist irritably, trying to suppress the discomfort. A burning sensation spread from the etched area throughout his body. Assistant Qin stepped forward to inject the medication, but Xie Nanyi kept his eyes closed and remained silent. Only the thin layer of sweat on his forehead indicated that he was not as relaxed as he appeared.

After the injection was finished, Assistant Qin handed over the pills and whispered comfortingly, "Young Master, your emotions have been quite volatile. You should get some rest."

Xie Nanyi didn't care about Assistant Qin's words, she just nodded and reopened the virtual screen to check the messages.

Assistant Qin was already used to Xie Nanyi's stubbornness. He was just an assistant, and all he needed to do was help Xie Nanyi with her work. As for whether his advice was adopted, that was not his concern.

but……

Assistant Qin glanced at Xie Nanyi, who was intently staring at the screen, her eyes flashing slightly.

He was rather curious about what kind of magic Pei Xingzhi possessed that could bewitch the dignified young master Xie like this.

A note from the author:

The game content is entirely fictional.

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but I forgot to set a save time. (Private post by Marseille)