Aincrad's 25th floor, main street area.

Lisbeth's weapons shop.

When Fang Zheng walked into the store, the first thing he saw was Lisbeth's face that looked like she had lost all hope in life.

"What happened again? It looks like someone has done something indescribable?"

Looking at Lizbeth, who was lying on the counter as if exhausted, Fang Zheng greeted her with a smile. When Lizbeth heard Fang Zheng's voice, she opened her eyes, looked at him, and then sighed deeply.

"Why……"

After sighing, Liz closed her eyes again and rested her chin on the counter, motionless.

"What's going on? Dumped? Don't worry, you will always find the right man."

"Who's looking for a suitable man?"

Hearing this, Liz stopped pretending to be dead and stood up after slapping the table, staring at Fang Zheng angrily. At this moment, Yui also poked her head out from behind Fang Zheng and waved at Liz.

"Hello, Sister Liz."

When she saw Yui, Liz's expression that was originally like that of a lioness suddenly changed into that of a house cat. She glared at Fang Zheng fiercely, then smiled at Yui and waved her hand.

"Hey, isn't this Yui? Hello? I hope I didn't scare you."

"No, but Sister Liz, what happened to you just now?"

"Nothing, just... thinking of some unpleasant things."

Liz replied helplessly and then looked at Fang Zheng.

"You are here to pick up the goods."

"Yeah, you should have finished it."

"Of course it's done..."

As she spoke, Liz opened the inventory, but when she looked at the weapons in the inventory, she grunted for a long time and couldn't help complaining.

"I said, what's your brain like?"

"Um?"

Hearing Liz's complaint, Fang Zheng was stunned for a moment.

"What's that?"

"I mean these weapons!"

Liz looked at the various transformable weapons in the inventory, and her mouth was almost watering. Not long after the Boss of the 25th floor was defeated, Fang Zheng came to Lizbeth's shop and gave her several weapon blueprints for her to help build.

At first, Lizbeth didn't pay much attention to it, but after these weapons were made, she couldn't let them go. These weapons were not only beautiful in appearance, but also easy to use. It means that Liz still knows that she has professional ethics, otherwise she would have taken these weapons and run away!

Because these weapons are so pretty! Why aren’t they mine?

Right now, Liz was like a bank clerk, watching the money flowing through her hands, but in the end, not a single one belonged to her...

This feeling is really not pleasant at all!

"I'll cut the price in half for you, how about you build one for me?"

"Of course, no problem. As long as you join the Dark Moon Sword, I will forge it for you."

Facing Liz's request, Fang Zheng gave a calm answer. After hearing Fang Zheng's answer, Liz pouted in dissatisfaction. Fang Zheng had invited her to join Dark Moon Sword before, but as a production player, Liz was not willing to join a specific guild.

She had only made a beast-cutting knife for Fang Zheng before, so she didn't care much about it. But this time, seeing the various gorgeous and cool weapons Fang Zheng designed for others, Lizbeth, as a craftsman, finally couldn't help it anymore. It would be great if she could have such a cool weapon... But...

Selling yourself for a weapon?

I always feel that this is a bit cheap...

"Let me think about it."

After much hesitation, Liz still didn't make a decision. After all, her life was pretty good now. Although those transformable weapons were good, she felt a bit disadvantaged to exchange herself for them. Fang Zheng didn't care about this. Liz was indeed the best and highest-level blacksmith he knew, but it wasn't like he couldn't forge weapons without her. If it really didn't work out, Fang Zheng could practice blacksmithing himself...

But it takes a lot more time.

"Forget it, let's deliver the goods first."

With a sigh, Liz shook her head and put the matter behind her. Then she opened the prop bar and started to hand it over to Fang Zheng.

"I made these weapons according to your requirements, using the best materials, so there shouldn't be any problems... Of course, if there are any problems, I can't do anything about it, after all, your weapons are too weird..."

Listening to Liz's complaints, Fang Zheng just smiled and said nothing. After putting away his weapons, he patted Yui's little head and took her out of the weapon shop.

Walking towards the teleportation crystal, Fang Zheng also took Yui with him, listening to her smilingly telling about the nearby shops - unlike Fang Zheng, Yui usually liked to go shopping on the streets. She knew exactly what shops and restaurants were on the main streets of each floor, where the food was better, where there were hidden shops, etc. This also made Yui quite popular with the girls. Basically, every time they went shopping, they would take Yui with them and enjoy it.

However, there is still no clue about Yui's life experience. Fortunately, as time goes by, Yui gradually gets familiar with other people. Except for not recovering her memory, Yui is no different from an ordinary child.

"dad!"

Just when the two of them walked to the street entrance, Yui suddenly stopped and pointed curiously at a place not far away.

"Look over there, Eriri-sister is there!"

"Eri-ri?"

Hearing Yui's words, Fang Zheng stopped and looked in the direction of Yui's finger. Sure enough, he saw Eriri sitting on a dining table not far away, holding a bottle of drink in her hand, staring at the sea and sky beside her with her eyes, and her face seemed a little gloomy.

"Eri-sister seems unhappy... Did something happen?"

Seeing Eriri's expression, Yui approached Fang Zheng with some uneasiness and asked in a low voice. During the days of getting along with the little girl, Fang Zheng found that Yui was very sensitive to other people's mood swings. She could immediately feel whether others were happy or angry. Obviously, she was a very sensitive child.

"Well... let's go over and take a look."

Seeing Ying Lili looking absent-minded, Fang Zheng also felt that something was not right. You know, Ying Lili was a very lively and cheerful person in the guild, and she rarely acted like this. Could it be that she had some conflict with the people in the guild?

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng also held Yui's hand and walked towards Eriri.

The girl with the blonde twin ponytails seemed to be in a daze. She didn't even notice Fang Zheng and Yui approaching her. Seeing Eriri's expression, Fang Zheng sighed helplessly, then he reached out and knocked on the table.

"Eri-ri?"

"Um... Hey? Who is it?"

Hearing Fang Zheng's voice, Ying Lili was stunned for a moment, then she suddenly jumped up and looked at Fang Zheng in surprise. After seeing the two people, she let out a long sigh.

“Oh my god, it’s Mr. Fang Zheng and Yui, please don’t scare me…”

"I didn't mean to scare you, but what's wrong with you?"

Fang Zheng pulled out a chair and asked Yui to sit down. Then he sat opposite Eriri and looked at her curiously.

"Did you have an argument with someone in the guild? Or are you worried about something? If so, why not tell me about it? Maybe I can help you."

"Oh...it's not a big deal..."

Hearing Fang Zheng's question, Ying Lili hesitated for a moment. She reached out and swirled the straw around in the cup. After a while, she spoke in a low voice.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, if we can get through the 100th floor, we will be able to leave this world and return to reality."

"That's right."

"...To be honest, I don't know whether I am willing to go back now."

"oh?"

Hearing this, Fang Zheng raised his eyebrows curiously.

"Why?"

"…I have a boy I like."

Having said that, Eriri paused for a moment, then she spoke again.

"To be precise, there was a boy I liked 'once'. His appearance was far worse than yours, Mr. Fang Zheng. He was an ordinary, nondescript guy. He was also a otaku, a fool who would put light novels in the library and hold an animation research meeting at the school festival. However, I fell in love with such a guy, or rather... I have always liked him."

“…”

Fang Zheng did not interrupt. At least for now, he had already guessed the ending.

"Then, that idiot came to me one day and said that he had met 'the person of destiny' and planned to make a game with her as the protagonist. To be honest, I didn't care much at that time, because I knew that he was an idiot who only had eyes for the second dimension. The reason why he fell in love with that girl was probably because he wanted to see her in the second dimension, not the real her. But I was wrong..."

Ying Lili lowered her head and held the cup tightly with both hands.

"...Although many things happened in between, in the end, I still lost. Just like Gabriel said, I am a loser. Although I am proud of being his childhood sweetheart, in fact, we have only been together since elementary school, and he has a childhood sweetheart who has been with him since birth. Compared with her, I am just a copycat... And, he also found his 'destined person'..."

"...To be honest, I was really unwilling and sad, so after the full stealth game came out, I entered the game under the pretext of collecting materials. Unlike other people, in fact, when I knew that I might never be able to leave this game, I even felt a little happy deep in my heart. If I continue to live in this game, or die in battle one day, then I won't have to go back to that hateful real world, and then I won't have to face all the troubles. He won't have to worry about me anymore, and can date whoever he wants..."

Having said that, Eriri turned her head and looked at the sea not far away.

"I have also thought that maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing for me to die like this. That guy might be sad and upset for me. But they will continue to date and get married one day. Maybe ten years later, they will bring their children to burn incense for me, and then recall all the stupid things that happened when we played games together in front of my grave... and I just need to become a photo on the tombstone, blessing them with a smile..."

…

You have arranged yourself too clearly.

Seeing the cold aura emanating from Ying Lili, Fang Zheng was speechless. But he could understand it. After all, girls of this age value love more than life and death. Look at the novels written by Qiong Zaojian, where the heroines jump off cliffs, jump into rivers, and jump into the sea for love without blinking an eye, and they are still rated as "the master who understands love the most"...

"You are still young and cute, why bother talking about life and death?"

Thinking of this, Fang Zheng shook his head.

"Life is still long, you should also think about your parents. It is indeed painful to break up, but as long as you have a new love, won't it be solved? There are many beautiful women in the world, why do you have to love only one flower? There are so many men in the world, do you really have to hang yourself on this crooked tree? With your conditions, it would be easy to confess to any man, right?"

"Really?"

Hearing Fang Zheng's comfort, Ying Lili turned around and looked at Fang Zheng curiously, and Fang Zheng nodded.

"Of course. If you don't believe me, just find a guy without a girlfriend on the street and confess to him to see if he will agree."

"That……"

This time, Ying Lili hesitated for a while, then stared at Fang Zheng and spoke again.

"What if I want to confess my love to you, Mr. Fang Zheng?"

"……Why?"