002. Fire Ruthless

The compet.i.tion in the afternoon was fierce. Qin Yu played care-freely until he was dripping with sweat, and even now, after he had showered, his wrist was still swollen.

Out of habit, he turned on his computer. While waiting for him to successfully logging-in to the game, he went to the dining room to take a can of cold drink called Seven Xi from the refrigerator. When Qin Yu turned back to the computer, his fingers paused on the open ring on the cold drink's can.

A bead of water slide down from the top of his head, continue falling into the white towel hanging on his neck, slide more to his collarbone, and more until finally it was hidden on his chest.

Qin Yu gulped and took a drink out of his Seven Xi, at the same time his hand reached out on the keyboard. He took a glance at the screen and was stunned. He had to take a second glance, because there, on his friends list, a "fragment" of his past suddenly showed up right in front of him.

「Fire Ruthless」 → 「Xiao Xian-Jin」: 「? 」

A few seconds later, Xiao Xian Jin replied: "......"

Qin Yu's Adam's apple bobbled. He stood startled for a few seconds until the smart bracelet on his desk suddenly began to flash, and a pleasant voice immediately sounded singing -

"My imperfect dream—you dream it with me

My imperfect courage—you say it makes it braver... "

The sound made Qin Yu regained his sense back to reality. He put down his Seven Xi on the desk, and quickly typed on the keyboard: "Is it you? "

Xiao Xian Jin: "Yes."

Although the system had showed this person's ident.i.ty, He Jin still confirmed with him -

Xiao Xian Jin: "And you are?"

"My imperfect worries—you worry about them as well

This imperfect me—you always treat me as your treasure ... ..."

The smart bracelet continued to sing, making Qin Yu looked irritably at it. Finally he turned his eyes to the camera lens, and with a soft "click" sound, the ring stopped. A square light curtain popped up above the bracelet, projecting a young man face with s.h.a.ggy hairstyle.

[T/N: Remember this story has a bit of futuristic theme. Smart bracelet in here is like a cell phone, only in bracelet form, which will project a transparent screen that shows the caller, so you can talk face to face. Just imagine those things in futuristic movies.]

"Qin Ge, why are you not online? Today's show is about to start. And look at you, only wearing a vest in this cold weather , did you just showered?"

"I'm not doing broadcast today."

"Hah? What ?!" The a.s.sistant thought he had heard wrong.

Qin Yu squinted in front of the computer screen's dialog box, and entered a string of letters one after another, his typing force almost knocked the keyboard down. During the whole process, he did not once glanced at the projected screen above his bracelet, and only told the caller, "I have something urgent to deal with."

He pressed the Enter key on the keyboard -

Fire Ruthless: "I am your husband."

- Then he simply cut off the call from the smart bracelet.

In the studio homepage, the audiences who had been waiting for the appearance of the Great G.o.d blew up after hearing and understanding the situation!

"What! No broadcast!?"

"Great G.o.d, how can you do this!"

"Wait, did I hear right? Great G.o.d is only wearing a vest? [Drooling emoticon] "

"Is G.o.d's body in good shape? Is it muscled? [Drools] [Drools]"

"I'm so jealous of a.s.sistant Peng! He can do video chat with Great G.o.d!"

"... Is n.o.body cares about the ringtones of the G.o.d? That it's an old song of TFBoys?"

....

A year and a half ago, the G.o.d level player who dominated the game [Demon G.o.d], "Fire Ruthless" , received an invitation to do live broadcast from a famous online platform "Fly Tour Network". He began to regularly do live sessions to explain Demon G.o.d's gameplay to other players. Because of his superb technique, sharp operation, and his magnetic voice, he quickly attracted numerous viewers. There were even many female audiences who didn't even know what "Demon G.o.d" is and only come with the sole purpose of hearing Fire Ruthless's voice. Thousands of broadcast video done, in each of them there were always many female fans who could be heard screaming things such as "Eargasm! I am pregnant!" "My husband!" etc ...

From low-key mysterious big game player to the popular gold-mine broadcast host that he was today, even his agent was shocked by his potential, especially after seeing Fire Ruthless in reality. The website was more than eager to expose him before the audience to attract more viewers.

But Qin Yu didn't want this to affect his real life, so he calmly refused.

This did not prevent the site to promote him. Just having a.s.sistant Peng phone called Qin Yu without cutting off the live recording was also part of their business strategy. Staff members from time to time also revealed some details and informations of the Great G.o.d, driving the female audiences to feel more and more crazy.

Fire Ruthless although still very young, but both his inside and outside appearance were excellent, no matter seen from which point of view, he was clearly a golden cash cow! [T/N: Golden cash cow: source of money]

He Jin did not know his sudden whim to come online has caused a huge commotion in the network community.

Watching the relentless fire sent that sentence, he was completely confused!

If we said it was the system's mistake in sending suspicious information to him, then there was no way this Fire Ruthless will still staying silent after sending that. So it means... The problem is with He Jin's memory. (= _ =)

He Jin tried hard to remember ...

That year, he was encouraged by his friends, so while lying to his parents saying he was going to partic.i.p.ate in a study group, he went to his cla.s.smates's house to play games.

His first contact with "Spirit Fairy", He Jin impression was of the beautiful game screen and rich playability which attracted him.

At the start of the game, players could, according to their preferences, to choose between two races, "human" and "spirit", to decide which path of cultivation immortality they wanted to be on.

The so-called "human" was the mortal, while the "spirit" was beings evolved from creatures such as gra.s.s, animal and poultry. Both cultivating immortality path would experience several realms such as "San Xian" and "Jin Xian". The biggest difference between human and spirit path was the spells learned in the leveling process, which would be different.

[T/N: San Xian and Jin Xian are t.i.tles that will be acquired at certain levels on the game. There will be more information about this in the later chapter.]

The "spirit" race at the beginning of the game had no gender. The players could determine this in the future according to their needs. He Jin selected "spirit", because he wanted to cultivate a "small fairy", so he readily put on " Xiao Xian-Jin" as his name. [T/N: Xiao Xian Jin means Little Fairy Jin]

The world of "Spirit Fairy" was undoubtedly new and fresh to He Jin, who was banned from any recreational activities since childhood. So he was excited by every experiences, whether it was simply exploring or doing tasks.

He vaguely remembered knowing a person named (Fire Ruthless). They often played together, and was also married in the game to make it easier to do some tasks. But he couldn't remember any specific details.

Wow, this man still remembers me?

Also have not divorced me in eight years?

Or is he like me, just coming online now after years of not playing?

.....

A sudden system prompt over the screen interrupted He Jin's thoughts -

〖System〗: Your husband "Fire Ruthless" uses "shadow"

[T/N: 'Shadow' is a skill in the game which can be used by married couples to instantly appeared in front of one another's character.]

There was a dazzling purple fluorescent flash, and a moment later a body of a tall handsome man appeared in He Jin's field of vision.

Black robe, black long hair that flowed down like waterfall, with a Ziyun sword hanging on his body, and a fluttering pair of wings on his shoulder, above his head written four characters - Fire Ruthless.

He Jin saw a floating dialogue bubble sent by the man to him: "Why did you never tell me goodbye?

He Jin: "..."

- This information is too much ah! (= _ =)

He Jin, with his paste like brain, couldn't really think of what kind of att.i.tude he should show in front of his - haven't seen since eight years ago game "husband" -......

However, he really should answer this question - why did he never say goodbye.

After he played with his cla.s.smates a few times, He Jin was no longer satisfied with his playing time. So, without telling his parents, he secretly installed the game in his home's computer. He also specifically deleted the shortcut keys on the desktop, and thought his action was perfect.

After that, it went without saying that he became addicted in playing the game. He played every day, and was quickly discovered by his parents. He was beaten, grounded for two weeks, and even threatened, that if he still played 'these things', He Jin will not be allowed to come back to school again.

During that period of time, he felt like those who was sent to "Addiction Rehab Center". That dark experience, He Jin did not want to talk about it anymore, so he simply told the Fire: "My parents don't let me to play games."

Fire Ruthless: "But I also gave my cell phone number to you."

Back then, the Internet and personal computers have already been popular, so obviously most children in the city also owned a smart phone with all kinds of social software developed. So people would always be able to contact each other.

To disappear without a word, was indeed a bit unreasonable.

He Jin also had a cell phone, but all his communications were under the watchful eye of his parents. So, He Jin simply did not has the courage to contact his online friends.

After that, he thought, they only met from the internet, if he didn't come online for half a month, he will slowly begin to lost the mood, and with longer time, he should be able to forget all about it.

And so, he never remembered about Fire Ruthless.

"I'm sorry ah ..." He Jin said these three words reluctantly, and lied, "my cell phone have also been confiscated."

Fire Ruthless: "And after graduation? You have never thought of coming back?"

Xiao Xian Jin: "Forgot ......"

After being banned from playing games by his parents, He Jin never had any chance of getting in touch with Spirit Fairy again.

In fact, even now, he didn't know what kind of feeling he is having after coming back to this game... nostalgic maybe? On top of that, he almost forgot what kind of game this was. After eight years, even with the little freedom he gained after he went to college, He Jin had long lost the mood to play the game.

He Jin asked: " You have been playing for these eight years?"

Fire Ruthless: "Yes."

Xiao Xian Jin: "Amazing ah."

Fire Ruthless: "..."

He Jin just casually asked, he did not expect Fire Ruthless really had been playing for so long. In his heart, he couldn't help but admire him!

Just then, his screen suddenly flashed red, and without waiting for He Jin to react, his screen popped out a bunch of notifications -

〖System〗: You are attacked by "Fire Ruthless".

〖System〗: You suffered 1650 damage.

〖System〗: You have died.

〖System〗: You gained 300 experience ~~~

...

He Jin looked at his "body", dumbfounded ... ... What the h.e.l.l?

However, after a few seconds, the weird "body" disappeared.

〖System〗: Your husband Fire Ruthless casts a "Resurrection Operation" on you and you are resurrected.

〖System〗: Your husband, Fire Ruthless uses "Blood Recovery" on you.

...

Even added 300 experience to his Tsing Yi character "... ..."

[T/N: He Jin often referred to his character as Tsing Yi which literally means Blue Clothed, I think. It's a little weird to use, so I'm sticking with Tsing Yi.]

Xiao Xian Jin: "Why did you kill me!"

Fire Ruthless: "My hand slipped."

Xiao Xian Jin: "..."

--------

※ Spirit Fairy - Past (Eight Years Ago)※

〖"Mission": Dear [Xiao Xian Jin], after three hundred years of ups and downs, you finally evolved and become a spirit deity, you want to get more powerful? Please go out of the cave, and find a celestial white breaded man on the road! 〗

He Jin looked at the white shadow in his screen, and turned it curiously- this is his character's body prototype.

Long fur, four short legs, a tail ... ... what?

Racc.o.o.n? Wrong color, fox? The tail is not that big ...

He Jin manipulated the "animal" to ran a few steps, and shocked, ths posture.. it looked a bit like ... a weasel! (= _ =)

He Jin wandering in the cave for a long time before going out. He found a beggar-like old man curled up at the cave's entrance, above his head written five characters - White Beard Man on the Road.

... ... what about the "Calestial" t.i.tle? (╯ '□ ') ╯︵┻ - ┻

Road Old Man: "Yo, 'spirit' friend, come here, I have an elixir here for you. If you eat it, you will be able to change to human form!"

He Jin took the elixir, right-click to take, and saw the white animal shadow slowly turned into another ent.i.ty, into a seven or eight year-old child's appearance.

Road length: "There is a starting village under the mountain, there are a lot of people asking for cultivation, go take a look at it. But you have to remember to protect yourself, or you will be beaten back to your original shape!"

He Jin: "..."

______________

Please note that english is not my first language, and this is not beta-ed, therefore there might be some grammatical errors here and there. Also, I don't know chinese, like at all so this translation might not be completely accurate.

Anyway in case you are wondering, Qin Yu's ringtone is a  song by TFBOYS - 不完美小孩 歌詞/ Imperfect child. Try listening to it!