Chapter 59: So Love Disappears

The night was already deep, but Lin Yi had yet to fall asleep.

"Charge him! Kill him!"

"Oh man! Why are there so many people in the bushes? Fall back immediately!"

"Sigh, I told you all to retreat, but you wouldn't listen. Now the enemy has pushed all the way to our high tower."

...

A voice full of grievance suddenly came from the smartphone.

"Can you stop bossing us around? We are just in the bronze tier, what kind of performance do you expect? Besides, I am not familiar with this hero. You are such a hateful man, hum, I'm not playing anymore, this fairy is unhappy!"

"Hum, I'm not playing either. Goodbye, stinky man!"

Right after that, Lin Yi watched as Hou Yi and little Luban both went AFK and never returned.

Bang!

Defeat!

He was *this* close to reaching the silver tier!

Lin Yi put down his phone with a sigh and rubbed his eyes. This account of his was brand new; it originally came with three free heroes: Angela, Jiang Ziya, and Lian Po.

Ranked matches required five heroes to unlock, so he had topped up his account to buy two more: Lanling King and Mozi. After practicing with Lanling King for a couple of rounds in the casual mode, he quickly got the hang of it.

Full of excitement, he dove into ranked matches. The start was very touching—a three-game winning streak—but the ultimate outcome did not go as desired. After playing for several hours, he was still stuck in stubborn bronze!

Suddenly, Lin Yi felt a wave of nostalgia for the days when he used to team up with his college roommates for five-player matches. Back then, they shared a common goal and a common enemy.

Playing by himself now lacked that kind of joy. It was much like how a man in his forties might still feel the urge to toss a firecracker into a pile of cow dung on the roadside, only to realize that doing so no longer brought the same thrill he felt when he was a kid.

"Time to sleep, time to sleep." Feeling listless, Lin Yi went to bed to rest.

The next day, the morning sun rose.

Dance studio.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

The familiar sound of a slaughtered pig broke the morning peace.

"Lin Yi, just hold on a little longer." Yao Shishi pressed both hands down on Lin Yi's thigh, a few strands of long hair floating in midair as she smiled slightly and said softly.

"It hurts!" Lin Yi's eyes split wide with agony as a painful expression washed over his face. His lower half felt as though it was about to rip apart.

Indeed, the notion that it wouldn't hurt after the first time was an outright lie.

"Bear with it just a bit more, it'll be over soon." Yao Shishi wiped the sweat from her forehead, placed her hands down again to press against Lin Yi's thigh, and said gently.

I can't bear it!

The pain was one thing, but a delicate fragrance kept drifting into his nose from time to time. This was pure torture!

Yao Shishi bit her lips and looked up at the wall clock ticking away.

"Alright, time's up, that's enough."

"Help... help me up," Lin Yi said weakly.

Yao Shishi chuckled softly, placed Lin Yi's arm over her shoulder, and supported him as they walked over to a bench. Then she bent down to gently lower Lin Yi onto it before walking away to get a drink of water.

"How is it? Does it feel good being pinned down by Senior Sister Yao?" Xu Min walked over with her hands behind her back and a brisk, jaunty step.

Dark lines covered Lin Yi's forehead. He suspected that Xu Min's words had a double meaning, yet he couldn't find any evidence.

In the end, he decided to remain silent and ignore this woman.

"How does it feel?" Xu Min sat down, leaned closer to his ear, and asked with a mischievous little smile.

Lin Yi glanced at her, then turned his head away.

How was he supposed to answer this? It hurts? It feels great?

Clearly, this was a death trap.

"Tell me about it, won't you? I won't tell anyone else." Xu Min inched closer to Lin Yi, cast a glance around, and whispered stealthily.

"Tell your head, go play somewhere else." Lin Yi rolled his eyes and retorted irritably.

How does it feel? Could he possibly answer that?

No feeling at all? What if this woman suddenly raised her voice and shouted, "Yao Shishi, Lin Yi says he feels nothing for you!" What would he do then?

What would Shishi think? Would she give him a hard time in the future?

This woman was simply trying to push him into a pit of fire!

"Wuwu, you're being mean to me!" Xu Min's eyes turned red as she gazed at Lin Yi with a pitiful, aggrieved expression, her eyes full of sorrow.

"I..."

Lin Yi was exasperated to the point of laughter. He rubbed his head, let out a cold snort, and said mercilessly, "Your act is too forced. I'm not buying it. Go on, keep going."

With that, he turned his head back, rested his arms on the bench, and watched Xu Min with an amused expression.

Xu Min arrogantly curled the corners of her lips, rolled her eyes at Lin Yi, and scoffed, "Tch! No fun!"

"What are you two chatting about?" Yao Shishi walked over from not far away, handed the water in her hand to Lin Yi, and asked curiously.

"Thank you!" Lin Yi said gratefully.

"You're welcome!" Yao Shishi smiled sweetly.

"Shishi, you shouldn't have given him water. This guy is an ungrateful wretch. He said you kept pinning him down and then kept complaining to me about it," Xu Min grabbed Yao Shishi's hand and said with a deadpan, serious expression.

Cough! Cough!

Lin Yi choked so hard that tears welled up in his eyes. This woman was truly capable of turning black into white; he had never said any such thing!

"There's no such thing, she's just making things up." Lin Yi hurriedly waved his hand to explain.

"Hmph! You were clearly just telling me that earlier, but now you refuse to admit it. Are you even a man?" Xu Min immediately sneered with contempt.

"Stop twisting the facts and throwing dirt on me, or I'll sue you for defamation!" Lin Yi threatened fiercely.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing you two. Don't I know what kind of personality Xu Min has?" Seeing this scene, Yao Shishi hurriedly stepped in to mediate.

Hearing that Yao Shishi was taking Lin Yi's side, Xu Min looked at her with an aggrieved expression and said plaintively, "Shishi, so love really does fade, doesn't it?"

Puff!

Choking to the point where he couldn't even catch his breath, Lin Yi quickly pounded on his chest. Why did this woman have so many dramatic acts in her?

Yao Shishi: ...

"Alright, I won't tease you guys anymore. I need to go back and practice dancing with the others." Xu Min chuckled and trotted away.

"Is she... always like this?" Watching Xu Min's departing figure, Lin Yi remained silent for a moment before asking.

"She has always had a dream, which is to become an actress, but her parents won't allow it," Yao Shishi sat down beside him and slowly explained.

"Why?" Lin Yi asked curiously.

"Because they're afraid she'll be taken advantage of."

Lin Yi: ...

That actually made some sense.

Time flew by, and noon arrived in a flash.

This time, Teacher Xu did not issue another warm invitation to Lin Yi. She drove off in her little red car, vanishing from Lin Yi's sight in a flash.

Lin Yi sighed and walked out the front gate. He still had to walk a distance to reach the bus stop and then transfer once.

He was contemplating whether he should buy a small car to get around, since commuting like this every day was a bit troublesome.

However, he hadn't even taken the driver's license test yet, and driving without a license came with risks!

Lost in thought over whether or not he should buy a car, Lin Yi unconsciously walked more than half the distance.

"Let go of me! What on earth do you still want? I've already given you the money! I'm begging you, stop coming to bother me!"

A familiar voice came from not far away. Lin Yi looked closely and saw Yao Shishi and a man locked in a tug-of-war. The man was grabbing her arm with a fierce expression, spewing a stream of profanities, while Yao Shishi was in tears, desperately pleading in a low voice.

Unable to stand it any longer, Lin Yi strode forward, gritted his teeth against the pain, and delivered a swift kick to the man.