Chapter 22: Came to Find Me, Four Seeking a Team

Elven City, in the south.

Two players left, carrying all the pet eggs they owned. For some reason, Xiaoyu was exceptionally well-behaved this time, calling Kuangsha “good daddy” all along the way. She pleaded with him to give her all his pet eggs except for the best one.

After a round of trading, the two saw a teleportation array inside the giant tree’s hollow. They dashed inside and returned swiftly to Han City. Xiaoyu and Hua Tian handed the pet eggs over to Captain Han.

In the team leader’s office, Han Qianyun glared at the two dazzling rainbow-grade pet eggs—still, two of them—sighed, and then said, “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” She gently ruffled Xiaoyu’s hair.

“Hehe, Han-sis, you’re the best! Please reset my team points to zero!” Xiaoyu’s eyes sparkled with hope as she nudged Han Qianyun persistently.

Looking at Xiaoyu’s feet, then her hopeful gaze, Han Qianyun turned to Kuangsha. “I saw you both come in carrying a pet egg each. Should I count them separately, or just as one person’s contribution?” She picked a pet egg from the sack on the floor to check, but its level wasn’t high enough.

“Count them separately. If Xiaoyu hadn’t stopped me, I wouldn’t have gotten the Leaf Elf,” Hua Tian replied honestly, not wanting to say more as he saw the two women playing before him.

“Wait a bit, don’t pull my hand. Let me calculate how many team points the rainbow-grade egg is worth. Don’t crowd in. If you hug me again, you’re getting nothing. Let’s see, a billion, ten billion… I’ll calculate ten billion for now.”

“Alright, it’s yours. Check it yourself.”

Hearing this, Xiaoyu, who had been shunted aside, looked at her information, narrowed her eyes, and then glanced at Kuangsha who was also checking his. Curiosity piqued, she peeked at his details. Suddenly, her own team points didn’t seem so impressive anymore. She quietly slipped away to the warehouse.

Name: Xiaoyu [Female]
Level: 23 [Intermediate]
Class: Paladin
Stats: 08.66.146
Skills: Blessing [Purple Grade lv3], Healing Tree [Orange Grade lv4], Obedient Shield [Red Grade lv1]
Technique: Focus [Level 6]
Equipment: Holy Staff [Green Grade Weapon], Illusory Beauty Belt [Green Grade Belt]
Gold: 100
Team: Han Crown Squad [Member]
Team Points: Ten million

Name: Kuangsha
Level: 24 [Intermediate]
Class: Berserker Shield
Stats: 133.133.133 [Max for Intermediate]
Skills: Earthshaker [Void Grade lv5], Heaven-Devouring Fist [Void Grade lv4], Lucky Meteor [Void Passive lv0], Command [Weapon], Blood Claw [Weapon]
Skill Commands: 500,231 [Units]
Technique: Fist Technique – Corpse Hunter [Level 10]
Equipment: Destiny Gauntlets [Purple Grade Weapon], Zombie Pants [Yellow Grade], Zombie Belt [Yellow Grade], Zombie Armor [Yellow Grade]
Gold: 58
Team: Han Crown Squad [Vice-Captain]
Team Points: 1,301,084,535 (1.3 billion)

Arriving at the ever-expanding warehouse area, Xiaoyu searched the Paladin section for an hour, looking through equipment, skills, and techniques. She found the Paladin gear scarce, and what little there was didn’t surpass her current equipment—or was simply so ugly she refused to wear it. Gradually, she lost interest in window shopping.

...

Strolling through the city, Xiaoyu carried groceries, tea, and fruit she’d just bought to the Liu siblings’ newly renovated, luxurious house.

Inside, Liu Xin opened the door and, seeing her future sister-in-law, took the things from her hands and urged her to help make snacks. The three of them settled onto the plush sofa for a game of three-player poker. After several rounds, when they learned she’d formed a team, they paid it little mind—after all, a few tens of thousands of team points paled next to a good rest and the large-scale missions planned for the afternoon.

Thanks to Kuangsha’s recent bounty of crafting books (not the void-grade belt one), the life skills of Han City’s crafting players had seen dramatic improvement. Everyone dug for dark iron, refining stones, and other ores, scouring for iron, silver, and copper. The vice-captain had reportedly gotten dark iron from wild monsters, opening another avenue for resources.

Sipping tea from the game world, Liu Wei asked curiously, “What quest did you do this morning?” When Xiaoyu shook her head, Liu Wei was puzzled—if she wasn’t questing, what was she up to? Maybe she’d found a new method? If it worked, he’d try it with her tomorrow. But today, their three-person mission promised at least a hundred thousand team points each, maybe up to three hundred thousand.

Xiaoyu silently held out both hands, spreading her ten fingers. Liu Wei and Liu Xin assumed she meant a hundred thousand and let it go—ten thousand team points for a morning’s work wasn’t bad. They shuffled and played cards until noon.

Liu Wei checked the tasks he’d posted earlier. Upon hearing the notifications of their completion, he nodded in satisfaction. He’d posted them days ago, and today he’d earned another three hundred thousand team points. No way he was cooking today! Looking at Xiaoyu, his expression said it all: time for the future wife to cook. She used to outpace him by ten thousand points, but now he was ahead by one hundred ninety thousand. He hurried to declare victory—no way he’d go hungry.

Liu Xin, watching her brother and future sister-in-law’s playful rivalry, suggested they reveal their total team points—only Xiaoyu had yet to do so. Hearing Xiaoyu say, “You’ll be stunned when you see it!” Liu Wei laughed. “There’s no such word as ‘stunned’ in my dictionary.” Liu Xin ignored him, looked at Xiaoyu’s points again and again. She remembered her future sister-in-law had recently been negative nine hundred million—how was she positive now?

Disbelieving, Liu Xin blinked repeatedly, then asked, “What did you do just now? How did your team points go positive?” She glanced at her brother—he was doomed to cook now. Liu Wei saw his sister’s look, checked the scoreboard, and was crushed. The ten-billion gap meant a net swing of twenty billion—he’d never catch up. He’d be cooking for life. Looking at Xiaoyu, he seemed to ask, “Didn’t you say you only earned a hundred thousand today?” Xiaoyu shook her head vigorously. “I never said a hundred thousand. That was your imagination. My ten fingers meant… over a billion.”

Liu Xin dragged the nearly-stunned Liu Wei into the kitchen corner, pressing her for details about the morning. Xiaoyu gave a rough account.

“What? You just watched the show and cleared your team points? And still have… how much left? Ten million more?!” Stunned, Liu Wei crouched behind the sofa, eavesdropping on the two women’s conversation. They barely noticed him, content to nibble snacks. Eventually, Liu Wei couldn’t help but speak up.

...

“Let me go! I’m going to chop him up—that lovesick fool, not inviting his only bro!” Liu Xin and Xiaoyu quickly grabbed a leg each, holding him tight. Liu Xin said, “He’s the vice-captain, and you can’t beat him. Even if you could, would you dare?” Xiaoyu, always blunt, added, “You’re a Gunner—a shooter. There’s no way you’d win in a brawl. Even before your shots land, he’ll flatten you. Believe it or not.”

With one comment after another, Liu Wei calmed down, looking at his negative team points as if they were poison, wanting to spit them out. He made a decision. “Don’t cause trouble for him. He really would beat you to death.” Still held tight, Liu Wei shouted, “Let go of my hands and waist! I’ll go team up with him.”

Once released, Liu Wei stumbled, righted himself, and ran straight for the door.

“No lunch? Weren’t you the one who said we’d do a big mission this afternoon?” Liu Xin shouted after him as he hurried out.

“Forget lunch! Forget the mission!” His words echoed down the corridor.

...

Liu Wei found Kuangsha in the vice-captain’s office, staring blankly at a map from his single-seat sofa.

“Brother Kuang! Master Kuang! Have mercy—take me monster hunting! I’ll charge at the front, I swear. Heck, you can even treat me as a girl if you want!”

Hua Tian, lost in thought, was jolted by the outburst. “Liu Wei, what are you doing? Let go of my leg. Stop pulling or you’ll hurt yourself. Fine, don’t crush me—get off, I’ll take you. Now down you go.”

Xiaoyu and Liu Xin, having fetched lunch, saw Liu Wei trying to pin down Kuangsha but, given his slight build, it was a lost cause.

Xiaoyu approached them. “Kuangsha, let’s team up. The four of us together.”

Without looking, Hua Tian knew who it was. Even a pig would recognize her after two team-ups.

“You’re not scared now? So eager? Just the two of us… four?”

He turned and saw, “Ah, Sister Liu, you’re here too.” Standing up lightly, he lifted Liu Wei from his lap back to the sofa.

“Well then, since you’ve invited me, I suppose I have no reason to refuse… or do I?”