Lu Qiuchen hovered in the air, holding Zhang Cheng’s inner shirt and chainmail, pulling him close in front of her.
She had rushed into the dungeon in a moment of excitement, clearing out the bystanders, but now that she stood face to face with Zhang Cheng, she found herself at a loss for words.
How should she ask? Should she just directly ask why he was so obsessed? What if he really was some kind of pervert?
Lu Qiuchen lowered her head and opened her lips a few times but swallowed the words back. In the end, she gave up and muttered, “Zhang…”
Just as she looked up to speak, she found Zhang Cheng staring blankly at her, his cheeks flushed red.
Panic filled Lu Qiuchen’s eyes. She loosened her grip, and Zhang Cheng fell to the ground, instantly wiping away all the tangled thoughts she had a moment ago.
“How did I never realize you were such a pervert before! You actually looked at me like that!”
Zhang Cheng was equally baffled. The girl before him was increasingly resembling the face of his best buddy reincarnated. When she suddenly let go of him, the faint desire he’d felt just moments ago vanished. Hearing her accusation, he immediately protested in indignation.
“WC! You’re just a kid!” Zhang Cheng sat on the ground, eyes wide. The mage’s face did resemble Dragon Girl’s, but there was no hint of childlike innocence in those eyes.
Lu Qiuchen realized she had been too rash. Now that she’d changed her hair color and eyes, and was wearing starry contact lenses, Zhang Cheng simply couldn’t recognize her. Add to that her bold behavior just now—Zhang Cheng, as a normal man, being somewhat interested in her was understandable.
But just as she comforted herself with that explanation, Zhang Cheng was still sitting on the ground, staring hard at her with rising anger.
“What happened to your eyes? And what about your horns? You’re not Dragon Girl anymore?”
Lu Qiuchen was momentarily stunned—she hadn’t expected his focus to be on this. Not wanting to explain much, she directly used admin privileges to remove her temporary disguise, revealing her true form once again.
Since she’d successfully sparked a conversation, and Beta would likely patch the loophole soon, time was tight. She decided not to explain further and instead asked the question she’d been holding back.
Seeing the familiar Dragon Girl, Zhang Cheng understood it had all been a disguise. Remembering why he had sought out Lu Qiuchen in the first place, his expression turned dark and anxious.
“Kid, listen to me…”
“Zhang Cheng, you know I…”
They spoke simultaneously and froze upon hearing each other’s words.
“You know how I got into the game?” Lu Qiuchen clenched her fists excitedly, landing and crouching as she stared intently at her friend. Though Zhang Cheng hadn’t finished, she caught some keywords.
Zhang Cheng hadn’t expected Lu Qiuchen to focus on the same thing he did. Seeing her excitement made him feel even more guilty and uneasy.
“Sorry, your current situation actually started because of me…” Zhang Cheng lowered his head and began recounting the events slowly, avoiding eye contact.
He explained everything to Lu Qiuchen, then nervously looked up. As expected, her face was filled with resentment and sorrow.
“Sorry! It’s all my fault!” Zhang Cheng switched from sitting to kneeling, slapping his own face repeatedly.
He knew this was just a game, but also understood how important it was to show genuine remorse now.
“I don’t expect you to forgive me…” The pain of being slapped in the face in-game was too mild. Zhang Cheng figured bowing and apologizing properly might work better.
Just as he lowered his head, he noticed tears dripping onto the ground in front of him. Instinctively, he looked up to see Lu Qiuchen’s eyes brimming with tears, her gaze hazy as glistening droplets slid down her cheeks.
“I… hate you…” Lu Qiuchen’s voice was muffled, tinged with crying as she covered her face with both hands to wipe away tears.
She had thought that her arrival in this world was due to sins committed in her past life, that she needed to suffer to repay her karmic debts. She had also considered that her transmigration had no special cause—that she was born a protagonist destined to rule this strange world after hardships, like many other transmigrators in stories.
But she never imagined that the cause of all her suffering would turn out to be her best friend and his father.
Zhang Cheng wanted to say something comforting but couldn’t find the right words. He could only dryly mutter, “I think there’s still hope to get back to Earth… I’ve already joined the game company. I’ll find a way to climb to the top and pull you out of the game!”
Hearing this, Lu Qiuchen’s heart stirred. Combining Zhang Cheng’s words with what the succubus had said, the truth became clear.
Eternal Group had conspired with the dragon clan in Eternal World for all of this. Unfortunately, she was just a pitiable test subject dumped into the Eternal World.
The one small consolation was that the experiment had succeeded.
If Eternal Group could send her into Eternal World, shouldn’t they also be able to bring her back?
The succubus must know something as well. Since she could hack into the game, maybe she could slip through the spiritual realm’s cracks to Earth?
For the first time, Lu Qiuchen truly saw a glimmer of hope to return home. Lost in thought, she stopped crying without even noticing.
Rubbing her eyes as she came back to herself, she recalled how Zhang Cheng had seen her crying and felt a flush of shame.
Sniffling, she realized her posture was far too feminine. She hadn’t minded doing this in front of strangers before, but showing her feminine side to her once male best friend was unbearably embarrassing, her face burning red.
Zhang Cheng tactfully didn’t press the matter. Putting himself in her shoes, he thought: if he were a woman and cried in front of a former male friend… that would be mortifying.
The awkward atmosphere lingered between them for a while. When Zhang Cheng saw Lu Qiuchen’s expression gradually soften, he cleared his throat but was immediately glared at with a mix of resentment and shame, so he fell silent.
Lu Qiuchen suddenly remembered she hadn’t asked about Zhang Cheng’s parents yet. She lowered her head, avoiding his gaze, and asked, “My parents…”
“Uncle and aunt are doing well… By the way, should I tell them about you? If they know, they’ll definitely…” Zhang Cheng carefully inquired.
“No!” Lu Qiuchen screamed and suddenly looked up.
Zhang Cheng hadn’t expected such a strong reaction and was startled. Then he saw the threatening look in her eyes and could only nod quickly like a pecking chicken.
“I won’t tell, I won’t tell.”
Satisfied with his answer, Lu Qiuchen let out a breath, and both fell silent again, lost in their own thoughts.
Zhang Cheng, seeing that the matter was settled, noticed a faint mixture of hatred and hope in Lu Qiuchen’s eyes. He knew this hurdle was at least temporarily passed.
Remembering the promise he’d just made, Zhang Cheng’s spirits lifted. He was determined to climb to a high position in the company and rescue Lu Qiuchen from the game!
Lu Qiuchen, still confused by the sudden revelations from Zhang Cheng, needed time to process everything.
The two sat quietly, each lost in their thoughts, until Beta’s voice came through.
“Emergency situation resolved. Emergency status lifted. Player privileges revoked. Detecting plot progression…”
“Plot interruption detected. Plot will continue in 15 seconds.”
Lu Qiuchen was stunned, her mind suddenly clear. Using the last moment before privileges were withdrawn, she quickly donned her temporary disguise and activated invisibility. She shouted to Zhang Cheng, “Add me as a friend!”
Zhang Cheng looked up just as her figure faded away. Thinking she had logged off, he lifted his arm to stop her but she was already gone, leaving him feeling disappointed.
After a moment’s hesitation, Zhang Cheng recalled that since defeating the Evil Spirit boss, his friend list had been set to block friend requests to avoid harassment. He quickly reopened permissions.
No sooner had he done so than a friend request popped up. Zhang Cheng accepted it and opened the profile, only to find all the information filled with question marks.
He added the friend as Lu Qiuchen and sent a message, but it was met with silence.
Meanwhile, Lu Qiuchen frowned at the empty chat window on her friend list. Beta was ruthless—friend chat had been disabled, leaving only the location feature functional.
Three flashes of white light appeared. The three players she had thrown away earlier returned to the dungeon, confused. Seeing Zhang Cheng standing at the center, they hurried over to ask what was going on.
Before anyone could speak, a system message arrived, stating there had been a system error causing abnormal dungeon parameters. They would be rolled back to before the Battle Mage appeared and would receive extra compensation after the plot was complete.
The others, enticed by the compensation, dropped the matter, but Zhang Cheng grew excited, realizing Lu Qiuchen would reappear soon.
Nothing unusual happened after that. The story returned to normal, and the four proceeded to kill the Battle Mage as planned, who then summoned a level 100 high-level demon.
Reluctantly, Spicy Rabbit Head used a teleportation magic stone to “summon” Lu Qiuchen, who appeared and easily slew the demon, concluding the plot and awarding everyone a pre-prepared reward.
Since Zhang Cheng’s equipment had been tampered with earlier, and Lu Qiuchen was under system supervision, she couldn’t remove the modifications. She steeled herself and handed over a pair of purple-grade boots.
Inside was a note asking Zhang Cheng if he had any issues with his sexual orientation. When she’d written it, she hadn’t felt embarrassed, but now it made her blush fiercely.
Zhang Cheng happily took the reward and immediately sensed something unusual about the boots.
No choice—the equipment description plainly stated: “Knight’s boots given by a maiden to her beloved. Hidden within the boots is a love letter filled with the maiden’s affection.”
Looking at Lu Qiuchen’s calm expression, Zhang Cheng twitched involuntarily. The system’s description was definitely mischievous.
But after putting the boots back in his bag, he found the love letter hidden inside. The system had detected two separate items and split them upon entering the inventory.
Zhang Cheng chuckled, his curiosity piqued. The system really liked to play tricks, even preparing props in advance.
Opening the letter in his inventory, Zhang Cheng froze. The handwriting was unmistakably Lu Qiuchen’s, and the affection poured out between the lines. It really was a love letter—why did it even have his name in it? Was she going crazy?
He glanced strangely at Lu Qiuchen. Suddenly, he noticed she looked unusually nervous, her eyes lacking the hatred from before. When she caught him staring, she avoided his gaze.
Zhang Cheng felt something was off. He’d thought it was just the system’s prank, but now it seemed his buddy was serious.
Though she was now a woman and quite beautiful, and Dragon Girl certainly appealed to his preferences, wait!
Lu Qiuchen had a girl’s body but retained a boy’s personality. They knew each other inside and out, shared interests, similar values, and complementary temperaments…
Thinking about it, wasn’t she his ideal woman? Maybe… it wasn’t impossible?
Damn it, how could he be falling for this! The Dragon Girl in front of him used to be a man. He had to think about other girls to save his orientation!
But realistically, there was no such perfect girl in real life… after all, this girl was a fantasy creature from a game. How could real women be flawless? That thought made him feel even more hopeless.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t meet in person. Lu Qiuchen was still in another world… Sigh. Even if he climbed to the top of the company and rescued her, he’d probably be a middle-aged man by then.
…
While Zhang Cheng was lost in these thoughts, Lu Qiuchen noticed him glancing at her oddly and felt uneasy.
‘Besides asking about his orientation, I don’t think I said anything too much in that note. Why is he looking at me like that? Could it be because I hit the mark? Damn, could Zhang Cheng secretly be… No, why else would he look at me like that?’
Lu Qiuchen had no idea Beta had altered her note into a pink love letter. She was still obsessing over her friend’s orientation, though in a way, she wasn’t wrong—Zhang Cheng was indeed wavering.
What neither of them knew was that Beta had marked a pending task as “in progress” in the database.
RW-JC-SY00471: Confirm whether the soul can be influenced by love after crossing worlds, and continuously observe the subject’s response until it reaches preset parameters.
…
As the four exited the dungeon, a system broadcast appeared in the game:
“The main storyline has been successfully triggered by players ‘Spicy Rabbit Head, Disoya, Pink Rabbit, Turkey-Flavored Guoba’. Phase four of the main storyline, guild wars, and auction house system will be available to all players after the next scheduled maintenance. Please watch for announcements on the exact time.”
While most players excitedly discussed the new content, some perceptive players sensed something unusual.
Guild wars and the auction house were worth attention, but more noteworthy was that this would be the first server maintenance since Eternal’s launch!
Considering the massive system failure an hour earlier, it was very likely the Eternal World game company’s servers were encountering issues!
Or rather, it was incredible that with over a billion global players and 200 million daily active users, Eternal had not undergone any maintenance in one and a half months!