If Fang Zheng knew what the stall owner was thinking, he would definitely tell him.

Having money means you can do whatever you want.

After that, everyone exchanged and tasted their respective ice creams. After all, this was not real, so there was no need to worry about getting an upset stomach.

By the way, the so-called "Blue Hawaii" taste is really subtle. It's hard to describe it specifically, but at least... it has a tropical fruit flavor.

Although it was a date, the group obviously did not have a specific route for the date. They were just wandering aimlessly around the Town of Origin. After all, the Town of Origin was very large, and most of the girls from the Dark Moon Sword Guild were busy leveling up on weekdays. They were only familiar with a small area in the Town of Origin for their daily activities, and they were not very familiar with most places.

"Let's just treat it as traveling to a foreign country and appreciate the local customs and practices."

Since Fang Zheng said so, Eriri and Asuna naturally had no objection.

Walking on this unfamiliar street, listening to the hustle and bustle around her, Asuna incredibly discovered that her mood had calmed down a lot.

Although I can't say that I have fully recovered, at least I am no longer as anxious as usual.

"Let's take a break here."

After walking around for a while, the four of them came to a small park near the street. Perhaps because it was far from the center, there were no players around. There were only a few NPCs wandering around, so Fang Zheng decided to take a break here. Naturally, no one objected to this. Soon, they sat down on the chairs in the park, looking at the fountain and garden in front of them while resting and relaxing.

At this moment, Fang Zheng winked at Eriri, who nodded slightly. Then she looked at Yui with a smile.

"Yui, how about we go over there and take a look at the flower beds? The flowers there look beautiful."

"Okay, okay."

Yui nodded happily, then held Eriri's hand, and the two of them left the rest area and went to the fountain and garden not far away to play. Seeing Eriri and Yui leave, Asuna couldn't help but get nervous instinctively. She almost guessed that Eriri took Yui away to create some space for herself and Fang Zheng.

But what exactly did Fang Zheng want to say to himself?

"It's been a long time since we fought side by side."

But what Asuna didn't expect was that after Fang Zheng was silent for a long time, he actually said something completely different from what she had imagined.

"You were the first one to join the Dark Moon Sword. I still remember that I almost scolded you and drove you away, but then you came back on your own..."

“Woo…”

Hearing this, Asuna's face immediately turned red. Now thinking back carefully, she was too naive at that time. However, only a few people knew about the incident. Kuroneko and Aoba seemed to have forgotten it. Esther and Restia had not mentioned it either, so Asuna thought that everyone had forgotten about it.

But what she didn't expect was that Fang Zheng actually still remembered it.

How embarrassing!

"I've seen everything you've done."

However, Fang Zheng did not stop. He just leaned on the bench, staring at Eriri and Yui who were playing in the distance, and continued to speak.

"You have always been brave, strong, and hardworking. You have also seen that most of the players are still in the Starting Town. I said before that they adapt quickly, but you can also say that they choose to go with the flow. They are powerless to change their fate, and they don't want to change their fate. They are powerless to resist and fight, so they have no choice but to surrender."

“…”

Hearing this, Asuna looked at Fang Zheng with a little surprise and opened her mouth to say something, but Fang Zheng did not wait for her to speak and continued speaking.

"This is normal. After all, people are afraid of death. Everyone is afraid of death, and I am no exception. Before I do anything, I will make plans to avoid death... Is it surprising?"

“…It’s very unexpected.”

Hearing this, Asuna was stunned. In her impression, Fang Zheng had always been a very brave man, who would not change his expression even when facing death. But...

"I have always thought that you, Mr. Fang Zheng, are a brave person who is not afraid of death, because you always seem to be very confident, resolute and decisive..."

"I am very confident because I am sure of myself. I have enough confidence in my own strength, my plans, and my reactions. I am confident that I can resolve any threat that could endanger my life. But this does not mean that I am not afraid. On the contrary, it is precisely because I am afraid that I will try to make the plan as thorough and perfect as possible..."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng spread out his hands.

"But that's it. There's an old saying in my hometown, 'Do your best and leave your fate to fate.' It means that we humans can only do what we should do, and the rest can only be left to fate. Indeed, sometimes you work hard all your life, but in the end you fail because of bad luck. Such things have happened. But on the other hand, if you don't work hard, then you won't even have the experience of failing - just like these players in the Starting Town, their combat skills are very poor, and some people don't even choose to fight. Of course, in most cases, this is nothing. But what if there is a special event? For example, monsters attacking the city, what should they do at that time?"

Having said this, Fang Zheng smiled slightly.

"This is the difference between trying hard and not trying hard. I have tried hard, and I cannot guarantee that I will succeed, but at least I can stand at the watershed of my destiny. But those who don't try hard don't even have the chance to choose. Apart from that, the most important thing is firm belief and courage."

"Faith and... courage."

"That's right."

Fang Zheng nodded and retracted his gaze, his pair of dark eyes staring intently at Asuna.

"It's not a bad thing to be afraid of death. Every time before a battle, I would think, I don't want to die, I won't die - but I won't say I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of death. Because I still have a lot of things to do, and there are still many people who need my protection, and I'm not the only one who bears the burden. So I won't say I'm not afraid of death. It's easy not to be afraid of death, because death is also easy. But it's difficult to survive, especially when there are countless obstacles in front of you."

“…”

This time, Asuna didn't say anything, and Fang Zheng stared at her.

"My mentor once told me that a true warrior needs firm belief and courage, as well as the will to follow his own path forward. You are very strong, Asuna. Your strength is rare among the Dark Moon Swords. You always charge at the forefront in every battle, and the damage you cause in every Lord Boss battle is also among the top three. In terms of the degree of effort in training, no one can match you. However, you are not a qualified warrior. Even... Gabriel is more like a qualified warrior than you."

"Hey? Wait...Mr. Fang Zheng!"

Hearing this, Asuna couldn't stand it anymore. She could understand Fang Zheng comparing anyone, but she couldn't accept Gabriel, that good-for-nothing!

"Am I not as good as Gabriel?"

"In a way, yes."

Fang Zheng nodded mercilessly, which made Asuna's face turn pale.

I have worked so hard for so long, but in the eyes of Mr. Fang Zheng, I am not as good as that middle school otaku who always finds excuses to be lazy, curls up in his room to sleep during holidays, slacks off all day, and biubiubiu when fighting?

The reason why Fang Zheng specifically mentioned Gabriel was because, within the guild, the relationship between Asuna and Gabriel was not very good.

The reason is simple, Asuna is a hard-working training maniac, while Gabriel is a master of slacking off.

Especially after getting the bow and arrow made by Fang Zheng, Gabriel's ability to slack off has reached a new level. Before, when she had the one-handed hammer, she moved a little, but after getting the bow and arrow, Gabriel was too lazy to even move. She wished that others could carry her on their backs, and then she would only be responsible for BIUBIUBIU.

Fang Zheng still remembered that once, when Asuna was leading the team to level up, she couldn't stand Gabriel's decadent and lazy look, so she proposed to extend the leveling time and insisted that Gabriel make up for the level she had fallen behind.

As a result, Gabriel let Aoba go to the front to fight the monster, while she shot arrows from the back, and leveled up directly in just twenty minutes. Then the useless otaku went back to sleep yawning - Asuna was almost pissed to death.

Not to mention that Gabriel herself has a very casual personality. Her catchphrases are "Let it be", "Anything is fine", "Whatever"... This naturally makes Asuna, who is serious by nature, unable to stand.

"For a warrior, the most important thing is to stick to his beliefs. You may think that Gabriel is lazy and slacking off, but at least she sticks to her beliefs. Moreover, she didn't stop fighting because of laziness, did she? Her contribution in the battle is no less than anyone else's - I think you have heard Gabriel say that she wants to stay in this world forever, but to do that, she must survive first. But you are different..."

Having said this, Fang Zheng paused for a moment, then he looked at Asuna meaningfully.

"You're just asking for death, Asuna."

“…”

This time, Asuna opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

Fang Zheng's words were like a sharp knife, easily piercing through Asuna's defenses and making her see the reality that she was most unwilling to accept.

That's right, at the beginning, Asuna worked very hard, trying to level up, fight, finish the game as soon as possible, and then return to the real world.

But gradually, Asuna began to adapt to the game and gradually understood the online games. She began to know that the boss in the online game could not be killed by one person, and it was necessary to cooperate with others. In addition, the boss in the online game would become stronger as time went on, and people would spend more and more time to defeat the boss.

The more she understood this, the more desperate Asuna became. She didn't even know when she could return to the real world. So Asuna began to give up on herself, leveling up and fighting like crazy. For Asuna, it was either winning the battle or dying in the battle - if she died, perhaps it would be a relief for her.

This is also the reason why Asuna is addicted to the book. She just wants to escape. No matter whether it is death or the book, as long as it can make Asuna forget the cruel reality, it will be fine.

However, now, Fang Zheng once again pulled Asuna back to that cruel reality.

"This is what I wanted to say to you, Asuna."

Fang Zheng withdrew his gaze and looked at the fountain and flower bed in front of him again.

"You can face the Boss, so why don't you have the courage to face yourself? What are your beliefs? What are your ideals... What exactly do you want to do?"