Chapter 142

Chapter 142: Chapter 140: "Clearing All Obstacles for You"It doesn’t count," Su Ming’an said. "I am just a traveler who has left his homeland for this year."

"Is this your house..." Moli thought to turn around, but she bumped into the kettle that Yu Ruohuo had just finished using.

The kettle fell to the ground with a "bang," its lid coming off and water spilling everywhere.

"Ah..."

She hurriedly apologized, somewhat at a loss.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t know there was something here..." She apologized frantically, bowing incessantly.

The simple girl who had lost everything, even though she had resolved to start over, couldn’t help but feel panic when faced with new things.

Su Ming’an also had the idea of changing places. He wanted to find a place for Moli and those three followers, who were still posing as statues in the square.

After all, it wasn’t right to keep that group standing in the square all the time.

He heard that the place where the three followers were had become a famous tourist spot, attracting many people who came to take photos with the motionless followers.

He dialed Yu Ruohuo’s contact directly.

"... Su Ming’an."

Yu Ruohuo’s face appeared on the video panel.

The background behind her was the interior of a room, but the windows that originally showed the outside were boarded up.

Her expression was haggard, and when she looked over, Su Ming’an saw her eyes were full of blood vessels.

He originally wanted to ask Yu Ruohuo to help him find a house, but upon seeing her expression, he changed his tone:

"Why did you nail the windows shut?"

Yu Ruohuo slightly lowered her head. She sighed, her expression deeply weary.

"I have left the First Guild," she said.

Su Ming’an remembered the debacle that had ended the Third World.

Since the impeachment of the vice president was overdue, Lv Shu had already been stripped of his position, but his own position as president remained—because during the start of the game instances, members were not allowed to carry out impeachment to prevent conspiracies during the high rank member’s participation in an instance.

But there was a twist in this matter.

The people who came to the First Guild were there purely for the title of the strongest or for the guild name "Lighthouse." After Su Ming’an’s overwhelming victory in the Fourth World, a wave of support surged for the Number One Player.

...Because Edward and Mizushima Kawa Sora, who were seen as the hopes, lost miserably.

It was an utterly one-sided suppression.

On one hand, there was reckless targeting that contributed nothing to the overall situation, ending up being voted out without ever really engaging in the battle.

On the other hand, from start to finish, it was as if he had foresight, turning a severe disadvantage into a victory, effortlessly as if he had anticipated everything.

People thought, even if Su Ming’an was suspected of being the Organizers’ lapdog, he was far stronger than the useless Edward and his team.

Su Ming’an had thought that he would hear the alert about his impeachment as president as soon as he returned, but up until now, his position had remained secure.

He hadn’t had time to check the forums yet, but looking at the world chat and guild links, it was all a stream of flattery.

"So, why did you leave the guild?" Su Ming’an asked. "Although the guild doesn’t greatly help in increasing a player’s strength, it has a good social function and can help you connect with some high rank professional players."

"I..." Yu Ruohuo sighed. "I’ll just say it, they wanted your Number."

... Number?

Su Ming’an knew it was his own "BE3030" number, visible only between close friends. And he had only added three friends.

Yu Ruohuo, Lv Shu.

He was unclear about Lv Shu’s situation and didn’t know where this person had gone, but Yu Ruohuo’s movements were easily tracked, continuously harassed by those wanting her number.

"Can a prop that locates the same instance through the number exist?" Su Ming’an wondered. "I heard such props are extremely rare."

"Yes. But once located, your situation would become very dangerous," Yu Ruohuo said. "During your participation in the Fourth World instance...I was constantly harassed by various private messages, the benefits they offered were so substantial that it alarmed me. I thought it would be okay to ignore them, until one day the guild also approached me...I had no choice but to leave the guild, found a new house to live in, but soon my whereabouts were leaked again, I could only nail the windows shut, I know they can’t come in, but I am just scared..."

Listening to Yu Ruohuo’s account, Su Ming’an gradually understood the kind of scrutiny these people around him were subjected to.

Yu Ruohuo was originally just an ordinary office worker.

She was afraid of the dark, afraid of ghosts, at best knew a bit of gunplay. But her originally peaceful nature had gradually changed in the world of the game.

She had thought about confining him, even had some dangerous thoughts, but now, she would even nail up the windows for a bit of peace of mind, sealing herself off completely like a patient with an extreme fear of the outside world.

"There’s another very important thing," Yu Ruohuo emphasized. "You just came back and probably haven’t had the chance to check the forum, nor know what the other eleven players have specifically experienced in the game. I must warn you—LV Shu, something is very wrong with him..."

"Hmm," Su Ming’an nodded.

"You’ve noticed it too, haven’t you? But do you know why? Let me tell you, it’s because..."

"It’s because Lv Shu got a note describing my past," Su Ming’an interrupted.

Yu Ruohuo’s eyes widened: "You guessed it?"

"Hmm," Su Ming’an said. "Moreover, he probably didn’t just get mine, but also got the , the one describing him—because the content on it was exactly the same as his own past, he was very sure that the content about me on my note was correct."

"So," Yu Ruohuo swallowed.

She suddenly realized something:

"The note describing your past, it really contained some very unusual content, didn’t it..."

...enough to make Lv Shu so unnerved.

Yu Ruohuo clutched at her clothes, not sure how she felt.

After all, she and this person were essentially on two parallel lines.

If it weren’t for their initial encounter, he would still be the world’s top Number One Player, and they would no longer be entangled.

She didn’t know what she should do now, but she was thinking about something—Lv Shu already showed signs of detaching, and if she left... Su Ming’an would indeed be left completely alone.

She watched the person on the screen in front of her, seeing his eyes remain calm from beginning to end.

"Regarding my past, there’s nothing special," Su Ming’an said lightly. "My past is just a plain student’s growth history, maybe not quite the ’good person’ he dreamt about. After all, my past self was really quite ordinary."

...Really?

Yu Ruohuo didn’t ask again.

"I just want you to be aware of him, it’s good if you noticed," Yu Ruohuo said as she flicked her hair. "Now let’s talk about you, you contacted me because..."

"Sir, here’s the cabbage you wanted."

In a busy department store on the street, a casual player dressed as a sales assistant hauled a plastic bag taller than a person to the counter.

Her small eyes were full of profound bewilderment, filled with the question, "Are you insane? Why would you buy so much cabbage at once?"

... The sales clerk, Zhu Qing, was a casual player.

Aside from adventurous players who entered the field, those who did not participate were divided into secondary occupation players and casual players.

Secondary occupation players were categorized into various fields such as pharmaceuticals, blacksmithing (making warrior iron armors), tailoring (making magic series fabric armors), array research, gemstone engraving, etc. Those with no interest in these fields, wishing only to stay away from conflicts, were called casual players.

They often set up shops around the plaza, fulfilling their various dreams of owning bubble tea shops, bookstores, and grocery stores since purchasing stock only required visiting the Main God Space store and buying at low points as a registered casual player, which made it very convenient.

Zhu Qing was one of them; she was very laid-back and started a department store on a server plaza after the beginning of the world game without much fluctuation in her mood. Her daily routine involved selling items, chattering on forums, and collecting various merchandise like a hamster.

Nearby, many people were just like her. Initially, they found those magical secondary occupations intriguing, but after a while, they were deterred by the countless mathematical and physical formulas involved.

Drawing arrays required memorizing various patterns, making potions involved memorizing reactions, and even blacksmithing meant swinging hammers daily until their arms and legs ached...

Moreover, starting the secondary occupations required too many points; many people, after studying for a while without success, almost went into debt and starved to death, and thus gave up. Only those with extraordinary talents or a strong interest continued.

Just yesterday, Zhu Qing had stared at the merchandise produced by Qianze House until midnight; the Number One Player’s standees were so exquisite that she couldn’t resist and her hand even felt sore from trying to snatch them.

Although the Qianze House’s painter, Su Ming’an, had done something foolish causing a panic, it seemed that the panic had been quickly suppressed, and she didn’t pay much attention to it.

... After all, it’s not like someone would specifically come to blow up her house.

However, places like the tea house were indeed affected; who knew if a lunatic might come for a second round.

Today, Zhu Qing encountered a very strange customer who was shrouded in "Privacy On" black mist.

Although the Main God Space had this setting for personal privacy, it was really rarely used.

... Not to mention, the person started by asking for a huge bag of cabbages.

Bigger than a person, a huge bag.

Zhu Qing was sore from moving it.

... Eat yourself to death!

She watched the weird person crouch down, waiting to see the embarrassed look on his face from not being able to carry it.

... Then, she saw the person in front of her lift up the bag that nearly crushed her, with just one hand.

Zhu Qing was dumbfounded as she watched the person easily stand up, pay with points, and leave.

"So strong, an Adventure Player?" she muttered, "Or maybe a not so weak Adventure Player... Oh man, why would an Adventure Player buy such a huge bag of cabbages? I thought this person was some farm owner... Hang on, I don’t think the Main God Space even has pig farming or agriculture occupations."

She scratched her head, completely baffled. Seeing that there weren’t many customers recently, she simply opened the forum and searched for the keyword "cabbage".

The screen refreshed, and rows of titles appeared before her:

Zhu Qing suddenly looked up.

She realized she might have just missed an astonishing figure.

She regretted not talking a bit more to confirm the person’s identity, but she was also engulfed by many more doubts.

Although it was very likely she was overthinking it and the person simply liked eating cabbages,

But if that person really was Lv Shu...

—It’s just that, having seen the forum videos, the mantis Bi doesn’t eat much cabbage in a day.

So why did that person buy such a huge bag, even taller than a person, full of cabbage?

Su Ming’an sat in the chair, browsing the forum.

Moli was sitting on the bed behind him, holding a fairy tale book he had just bought for her in the Main God store.

... Although he really wanted to find a new place for her to stay, he decided to first look through the forum to understand the recent changes in the Main God Space before finding a suitable place.

To prevent Moli from just staring at him with nothing to do, he spent 1 point to buy dozens of fairy tale books and threw them all to her, so she wouldn’t disturb him.

Moli seemed happy. This naive girl seemed to have never seen such stories before, even enjoying the childish fairy tales with relish.

He clicked on the world forum, familiar personal interfaces and the usual overflowing inbox greeted him.

His current fan count was 997,853,941, almost reaching the point where it could no longer increase.

He first clicked on the forum homepage to see the recent major events.

But before he could take a close look, the crisp friend notification "ding-dong" sounded.

... A friend sent him a message? Yu Ruohuo?

He clicked on it, and then he saw the line of text that appeared:

He paused, not understanding what this person meant, and then he heard another new message notification.

"Ding-dong!"

Su Ming’an’s fingers rapidly tapped on the keyboard:

"Ding-dong!"

Su Ming’an quickly hit the key.

Su Ming’an swiftly stood up from his seat. Before leaving his personal space, he saw the last message from Lv Shu’s dimmed profile icon.

"Ding-dong!"