Chapter 69: I Have a Friend

Lu Qiuchen stared at the red warning flashing in her vision: ten seconds remaining.

But she ignored it. After a brief hesitation, she still couldn’t bring herself to break White Glove’s trust.

She relaxed her muscles as suggested and controlled the ice shard to stab into her own shoulder.

A slight pain came through, and Lu Qiuchen quickly reached out with a tool to catch the blood.

Now it’s up to you! You have to pull through!

The warning in her vision actually disappeared! Lu Qiuchen was thrilled.

Then, looking at Panda and the other seven players, her gaze turned into pure, naked malice.

It was you guys bullying my good friend… the “good” friend from the past, right?

Daring to snatch the gear! Even trying to steal the mount! If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, you might have gotten away with it!

A flash of light streaked between the eight of them.

Their bodies went limp and collapsed.

The vision shifted from full color to black and white, then to pitch black.

Finally, the message appeared: YOU HAVE DIED.

Panda hadn’t even figured out what had just happened.

Why did the final boss kill them all?

He didn’t even mourn the lost gold-tier gear. Instead, he went straight to the forum to look for lore posts about the Dragon Tomb dungeon.

But he didn’t need to search. The moment he opened the forum, the entire screen was filled with screenshots of that boss from earlier.

Apparently, other guilds who cleared the dungeon had uploaded screenshots and clips from their recordings.

Panda quickly found a post summarizing the story and skimmed it at lightning speed.

He was stunned.

Why were other teams’ runs normal, but his whole party had died?

And they hadn’t even gotten a single piece of gear or a copper coin!

Panda’s heart suddenly jolted.

He knew where the problem lay!

It had to be because they wasted too much time!!

The system had already forced them to watch the storyline!

If only he hadn’t been so greedy. He should have just handed over the gold-tier gear and waited to reclaim the adult wyvern outside!

One gold-tier piece wasn’t worth much, but a fully grown wyvern could unlock the knight’s class change.

That was a big deal!

It was definitely worth more than the griffin egg that had been discovered before.

If they could sell it, the eight of them would split a huge sum!

With that kind of money, why bother playing “Eternal” anymore?

It was all his own greed’s fault—he’d lost both his money and his reputation, ending up with nothing.

He already knew what kind of scandal would spread on the game forums today.

Meanwhile, inside the dungeon, Lu Qiuchen was also filled with regret.

Why had she gotten so excited just now?

She’d forgotten to leave a living witness.

Now, only Zhang Cheng remained as a player.

And she had just used a tool; the system wouldn’t spawn another for half an hour.

She had nowhere to run.

What was she supposed to do in these thirty minutes facing Zhang Cheng?

Kill him?

But she had come here to save him.

If she killed him after saving him, what was the point of coming here?

But what if he clung to her and didn’t let go?

Last time, he almost recognized her.

How could she keep her identity secret this time?

Frowning, Lu Qiuchen lowered her head and pondered, unaware that Zhang Cheng ahead was growing increasingly agitated.

*****

Zhang Cheng snapped out of his panic and realized he was still alive.

The bodies beside him had vanished.

Relieved to have survived, a thought struck him—why was he the only one left alive?

Looking around, only the Dragon Maiden in the distance was alive; everyone else was dead.

Now, he was the only player here.

Why?

Neither side had any grudges.

Could it be because he was handsome, and the enemy had taken a liking to him?

Of course not.

That left only one reason:

This Dragon Maiden had come to rescue him when she saw he was in danger!

Everything suddenly connected in his mind.

Hadn’t Lu Qiuchen said he created a Dragon Maiden?

And something else—he’d already forgotten the exact name, but it was supposed to transform into a dragon.

At that time, Lu Qiuchen had been happy to show off about it to him.

Zhang Cheng’s heart raced.

Coupled with his earlier guess and hints from his father, he was now certain that the Dragon Maiden was Lu Qiuchen!

Everything matched!

Zhang Cheng instinctively wanted to rush forward, but looking at the beautiful woman before him, he recalled how Lu Qiuchen had ignored him the last time they met.

Suddenly, it clicked!

If he became a woman, meeting a male Lu Qiuchen would also feel very awkward!

Just thinking about it made him embarrassed.

What now?

How could he start a conversation with Lu Qiuchen without scaring her off?

She was so cold to him—how could he get her to acknowledge who he really was?

Zhang Cheng’s mind raced.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he knew he had to take the initiative.

He had to take a chance!

It was like dating: if you never start a conversation, there’s no chance for anything to develop.

“Lu Qiuchen!”

Hearing Zhang Cheng’s loud call and approaching footsteps, Lu Qiuchen was snapped out of her thoughts, her heart skipping a beat.

She hadn’t yet figured out how to face Zhang Cheng.

A wicked thought suddenly sprang up—if she couldn’t think of a way, maybe she should just kill him first!

Lu Qiuchen looked up and saw Zhang Cheng waving at her while shouting.

“Lu Qiu…chen, hello, Cecilia.”

As Zhang Cheng quickly ran closer, she glanced briefly over her own head, then hurriedly corrected herself.

“Sorry, I mistook you for someone else.”

Seeing the complicated mix of embarrassment and disappointment on his face, Lu Qiuchen felt a spark of wicked delight flare up inside her.

Zhang Cheng was wearing a battered set of armor.

At this moment, he wasn’t wearing his helmet, so Lu Qiuchen could clearly see his facial expression.

He had been happily running over but changed expression abruptly when the distance closed, as if she were a monster.

His attitude irritated her.

“Um… Miss Cecilia, can I ask you a question?”

He spoke again.

‘No, go away!’

Although Lu Qiuchen wanted to say that, she felt conflicted about Zhang Cheng.

She both missed their friendship and yet hated him without reason.

She wanted to use him to learn about the real-world situation, but at the same time wished she could just cut him down and never see him again.

“Go ahead and ask.”

Lu Qiuchen reminded herself that she was mainly here to gather information.

Since Zhang Cheng hadn’t recognized her and had mistaken her for someone else, she could try to subtly probe for intel.

“I have a good friend, named Lu Qiuchen…”

Zhang Cheng’s eyes were filled with nostalgia.

Lu Qiuchen clenched her fists tightly.

‘I said you can ask questions, not tell stories!’

But she was very concerned about how Zhang Cheng viewed her.

If he said anything bad about Lu Qiuchen, she would disown that friend!

If he dared to say anything negative, she’d kill him and sever all ties forever!

“Lu Qiuchen is my good friend. We’ve been close for nearly six years.”

You’re lying! We only knew each other for three and a half years before I came here…

“In those first three years, we spent two-thirds of each year together… but one day he left, going far away.”

‘That was just high school when we were in the same class every day and lived in the same dorm in college!’

“My uncle and aunt were very sad. They both quit their jobs. My uncle’s hair turned white. My aunt was hospitalized because of it. In the end…”

Lu Qiuchen shuddered but forced herself to hold back tears, her eyes involuntarily reddening as she turned her head slightly to hide her expression from Zhang Cheng.

Zhang Cheng looked at her questioningly and continued, “In the end, they had another little girl.”

Lu Qiuchen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, angry or happy.

Tears welled up but wouldn’t fall.

Even as a legendary-level powerhouse, her body trembled slightly at that moment.

Just as she was about to lose control and attack, Zhang Cheng cleared his throat and gave a shy smile.

“Miss Cecilia, sorry, I went a bit overboard just now.”

“Lu Qiuchen is my good brother. I’m still talking here, but his body is already buried deep in the earth.”

‘So his body really is dead… am I going to be like this forever?’

Lu Qiuchen felt tears threaten to spill uncontrollably.

She remembered she could use magic now and turned the tears in her eyes into water elements, preventing any sign of weakness.

“He is gentle, hardworking, kind, wise, honest, brave…”

The more Zhang Cheng praised, the more uneasy Lu Qiuchen felt.

Though the compliments seemed right, she sensed some hidden meaning.

“All the beautiful words in the world combined are not enough to describe him.”

She listened to a minute of praises and felt numb.

The more she heard, the angrier she became—especially the last sentence.

It felt like Zhang Cheng was mocking her!

“I love him the most. I’ve sworn that if he’s a girl in the next life, I will definitely marry her! Miss Cecilia, do you think I can succeed?”

Lu Qiuchen understood completely now—he had fully recognized her and was just teasing her all along.

No serious questions at all!

How dare he mock me! I’m going to kill you!!!

Her face flushed bright red as she ground her teeth and let out a terrifying laugh.

“Zhang Cheng!”

Lu Qiuchen shouted, forgetting to use magic, and lunged at the hateful man in front of her.

Shadow.

*****

It was 4 a.m.

Zhang Cheng logged out of the game, closed the pod door, and sat inside, laughing heartily to himself.

He laughed until his jaw ached, until tears streamed down his face, until his voice choked, leaving only sobs.

Zhang Yu in the neighboring room was awakened and startled by the terrifying laughter, thinking some lunatic had appeared.

She got up and hurried to find her brother.

In the corridor, she heard the laughter coming from their own guest room.

Zhang Yu recognized it was her brother’s voice and panicked, thinking he had lost his mind.

Downstairs, curses rang out, mixed with venomous words about disturbing the peace at this hour and wishing ill on whoever was causing the noise.

Zhang Yu ignored it, pushed open the door, and turned on the lights.

The gaming pod was still lit inside.

Knowing her brother was in there, she quickly opened the pod door from outside.

The bright light blinded Zhang Cheng inside, partially covering his face but still revealing his swollen red palms and tear-streaked misery to his sister.

Zhang Yu didn’t ask why.

She first took a towel to wipe his face and body.

Although players aren’t allowed to wear clothes inside the pod for long periods, the game company had considered awkward situations like this.

So devices controlling excretion and other physiological needs had to be manually disengaged, leaving Zhang Cheng with only his upper body exposed—an embarrassing scene for him.

After a while, Zhang Cheng cleaned up and sat on the living room sofa.

Facing his sister waiting for an explanation, he croaked out hoarsely, “I found Lu Qiuchen.”