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Chapter 146 Midsummer Rose’s Fate

The patter of the rain sounded in the room, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the roaring of thunder. It was a stormy and rainy night.

This was the heaviest thunderstorm by far since the beginning of summer. Xiaofeng glanced at the calendar and noted that the weather was not expected to start turning chilly yet. Perhaps this storm would do them some good and cool things down a little; at least they would not have to switch on the air-conditioner every day. Xiao Ling’s body had always been weak and frail. She might fall ill if she stayed in an air-conditioned room for too long.

The thunderstorm washed over Chenghai City like some sort of baptism. At the same time, inside the game world, an uproar swept across the Huaxia District, especially among the prominent guilds.

Two days ago, the first-ever guild token had been auctioned at a sky-high price of ten million gold, which was equivalent to one billion bucks in the real world. Every player in the game knew that it would be not too far off the mark to label this as the greatest event in the Huaxia District. Countless players had expressed their shock over this sky-high price. As the seller of the token, the Midsummer Guild would forever be remembered by the players of Huaxia District.

However, two days later, the Midsummer Guild, which was at the height of its glory and prestige, had lost the defensive battle at their encampment, and the guild was thus forcibly disbanded. Not only did this mean that the one billion bucks’ worth of the guild token had just become an empty investment, but also that the infamous Midsummer Guild had suffered devastating losses because of it.

Normal players were unclear on the specific reasons behind the loss of the defensive battle; most of them went onto game forums and bemoaned the difficulty of such battles involving the defense of a citadel against creep waves of monsters. After all, even the Midsummer Guild -with its several million members- had failed to ward off the assault, and then it seemed like most players would have to rethink their approach in forming guilds; at this rate, any guild should only accept members who were several levels above the average level of all players for it to even stand a chance at victory.

On the other hand, the guilds who did know the specific reasons behind the failure of the defense chose to keep quiet. They all knew that Midsummer had fallen to the hands of one person.

“Prince, the Midsummer Guild had failed to defend their encampment. The guild had been disbanded.”

Back in Donghuang City, the Crown Prince, who was wise despite his youth, had just received the news. He reacted by nodding to the messenger, which was a rare thing for him to do.

“You guys did rather well,” the Crown Prince said.

There were quite a few players standing in front of the Crown Prince right then. If one had been present at the Vast Plain a few hours ago, one would no doubt recognize a few familiar faces here. In fact, each and every one of these players was high-level players. Still, right now they were all behaving obsequiously in front of the youthful Crown Prince. None of them dared to step out of line.

“Um, actually, we had nothing to do with the Midsummer Guild’s failure in the defensive battle.”

The few players felt awkward when they had heard the Crown Prince’s words of praise just now.

“Hm?”

The Crown Prince’s gaze found them. Inside his eyes was a look of mild confusion. He beckoned them to keep going.

“It was actually because of the Master Healer...”

After that, the few of them gave the Crown Prince a full report on the details of that battle at the Vast Plain just now. They had reported everything in depth, taking great care to be as accurate as possible.

“The Master Healer, I see...”

The Crown Prince went silent after he had heard everything. Moments later, he pulled up the ranking list and studied the name of the mysterious Level 18 player who was at the top of the list. This player was a good two levels above Ximen Chuixue, the player who ranked second in the list. After a while, the Crown Prince turned around and walked away.

“Let’s just leave it at that,” said the Crown Prince as he walked. “You don’t have to focus on the Midsummer Guild anymore. Someone else had helped delivered my payback. It’s better to focus on the preparations to form a guild. Go to the forums and purchase the locations of high-level BOSSes. Make bids at higher prices so that you can secure the purchase. Creep waves of monsters aren’t too difficult to hold off. Players from the north like us can’t afford to fall behind players from the south anymore.”

“Yes, my lord!”

...

The sound of the rain softened. The rumbling of thunder was gone too. With that, the tiny figure under the blanket no longer trembled.

Xiaofeng peeled back the blanket gently and peered at the figure underneath it. Xiao Ling was already fast asleep with her long, golden tresses fanned out around her and her small head nestled against her arm. A look of helplessness and terror still marred her delicate face, though. Her eyes were shut tight and her lashes were fluttering conspicuously. He glanced down at the bunched-up hem of his shirt where Xiao Ling’s hand was still clutching tightly. Judging from the wrinkles he saw on his shirt there, Xiao Ling had put quite a bit of strength into her grip.

Xiaofeng tidied up Xiao Ling’s messy tresses to prevent her hair from tangling up while she slept. Then, he patted Xiao Ling gently, starting from her back before moving to her shoulder. The scrawny nature of her shoulders and the tenderness of her skin compelled Xiaofeng to be extra careful in his touch, not daring to use even the slightest bit more strength than necessary. As a result, his comforting strokes were very light and gentle.

Finally, the creases and tautness on Xiao Ling’s face slowly eased. Once again, a look of peace washed over her face and her grip on Xiaofeng’s shirt eased up as well.

Slowly, Xiaofeng removed his shirt from Xiao Ling’s grip. He lifted Xiao Ling’s head gently and placed his own pillow under it. After that, he draped the blanket over Xiao Ling’s form and got out of bed soundlessly.

The living room was clean without stray packets of snacks or junk food lying around. The kitchen seemed to be untouched, too. Thus, Xiaofeng came to the conclusion that Xiao Ling had indeed skipped dinner. Xiaofeng frowned guiltily at the thought. Once he came out of the bathroom, Xiaofeng went into the kitchen to boil a pot of porridge; he would wake Xiao Ling up later and ask her to have some of it.

However, there was a sudden glint in Xiaofeng’s eyes before it disappeared. All of a sudden, Xiaofeng turned around and stared at the door of the apartment.

Despite the noisy patter of the rain, which dulled his senses a little, he was still sharp enough to detect a slight but abnormal movement just outside the door of the apartment.

In an instant, it was as if Xiaofeng had transformed into a phantom, blending and merging into the darkness as he silently crept towards the door. At the door, he took a peek through the peephole. But then he instantly froze.

A second later, Xiaofeng yanked open the door. “What the heck are you doing?” he asked.

A tall and slender figure stood outside the door, though the figure was wet and sodden, just like a drowned rat. Wet clumps of her long hair fell past her shoulders with droplets of water dripping off their ends. Her short-sleeved t-shirt and her denim shorts clung to her slender body like a second skin. The skin on her pale arms and long legs were filled with wet trails.

The moment the sound of the door opening as well as Xiaofeng’s voice was heard, the figure slowly raised its head to reveal a beautiful face. That face belonged to none other than Si Yejing.

“Smack!”

It merely took a single glance at Xiaofeng for Si Yejing to lose it. Her arms had shot up immediately in order to slap Xiaofeng although the strike was eventually blocked by Xiaofeng.

“What the heck are you doing? Are you out of your mind?” Xiaofeng said with a frown, holding Si Yejing’s palm in a tight grip.

Her palm was so cold that it was as if he was touching and holding an ice block; there was basically no warmth in her palm. Judging from her wet clothes and her uncanny resemblance to a drowned rat, she had most likely run all the way here through the storm.

Si Yejing did not say a word. Instead, she stared back at Xiaofeng with eyes that seemed like ice. Hidden behind layers of sodden hair, her eyes not only seemed cold but confused as well.

“Let’s talk inside,” Xiaofeng said, dragging her indoors, mainly because of the fact that his neighbor just walked past and was now looking over strangely.

Plus, in her current state, Si Yejing would probably end up in a hospital if he left her alone.

Inside, Xiaofeng switched on the heater in the living room. It might seem a little weird to use the heater during summer, but the temperature had dropped considerably tonight due to the storm. After that, he tossed a dry towel at Si Yejing. “What the heck are you doing here?” he asked with a frown.

Si Yejing sat there on the couch. The water dripping off her body had already formed a wet patch on the cushion covers. She grabbed the towel instinctively and began drying her hair. Still, she remained wordless as she stared at Xiaofeng with a conflicted look in her eyes.

After a while, Xiaofeng yielded to Si Yejing’s endless stare and averted his eyes. “Are you done with your games? If you’ve got nothing to say, then I’m going to bed,” Xiaofeng said. “Seriously? Running around in the middle of the night? You must have gotten quite sick in the head.”

“You! Do you know what you’ve done?” Si Yejing said in a slightly hoarse voice, finally breaking her silence.

Si Yejing’s eyes remained fixed upon Xiaofeng. Xiaofeng thought he had detected coldness in her question, even a bit of hatred.

“What did I do?” Xiaofeng asked in return.

All of a sudden, Si Yejing went into an outburst; she sprang to her feet and hurled the towel back at Xiaofeng. “You’ve destroyed my cousin’s hopes! You’ve destoyed her life, and her fate!” she yelled in a raspy voice.

“Lower your voice,” Xiaofeng said. “I’m assuming you’re referring to the defensive battle at the encampment?”

Xiaofeng shook his head and threw the towel back to Si Yejing. He had a vague idea how important the Midsummer Guild was to Midsummer Rose. Still, none of that changed the fact that the Midsummer Group was his target. If she wanted to put the blame on something, she would just have to blame it on Midsummer Rose’s foul luck.

Si Yejing did not reach out to grab the towel, which flopped to the floor in a pile. She glared at Xiaofeng with a hysterical look in her eyes. “Do you know how pitiful my cousin is right now?”

“She was born in a wealthy family and was blessed with ethereally good looks since birth! But it was also precisely due to her good looks that she had to suffer such a tragic fate!”

“She had caught the eye of powerful family, one that we would definitely not be able to resist. Apparently, her ethereal and exquisite comportment suited their family’s worldview. That was why she had to be married off to that family by the time she reaches the age of 22.”

“However... the person that she is supposed to marry is... is deceased! He’s been dead for many years! Do you know what a posthumous marriage is?”

Throughout Si Yejing’s hysterical tirade, her voice had been husky and laced with emotions: dissastisfaction, rage, misery and melancholy.

“Posthumous marriage...” Something inside Xiaofeng’s heart shifted and a slight change formed on his face. That was a practice that had long since been tabooed. Then again, Xiaofeng knew very well that certain traditional families still observed such practices; not only that, they even placed a lot of emphasis on it.

“In that case, do they want your cousin to... to be buried alive with the dead? That’s such a ridiculous and unreasonable demand. Can’t you guys just reject it?” Xiaofeng said with a frown.

“Look, I already told you. Their family is powerful beyond you can even imagine. There is nothing anyone could do in this world that can resist them. To the average person, my cousin’s family is already very powerful. Even so, her family doesn’t stand a chance against that family. Whether it is financial power or political influence, my cousin’s family won’t even last a single blow from them even in an all-out effort. It didn’t matter to them that my cousin ends up dead. Because they had no intention of keeping my cousin’s life in the first place...”

Si Yejing’s legs grew weak and she fell limply into the couch. Some time during her speech, her tone had become weak, soft and filled with lethargy.

“But the Myth’s inception gave my cousin a sliver of hope. She was unable to stand up against the harsh reality of this world. But in the second world, she might stand a chance. Because that family would venture into the second world eventually, and they would have to do it from the ground up, the same starting point as her. In the second world, they aren’t untouchable like they are in the real world. So my cousin thought that by surpassing that family in the second world, she would gain the power to change her fate.”

“That was why she has fought tooth and nail and buy the Midsummer Group. She had bet her life, and her destiny on the acquisition of the Midsummer Guild!”

“However!”

Once again, Si Yejing’s eyes were filled with a myriad of complex emotions -hatred, rage, coldness, et cetera- as she glared at Xiaofeng.

“But you’ve ruined everything!”

“The Midsummer Guild is gone! She’s lost billions, none of which she could afford! My cousin won’t have a second chance again after this!”

Si Yejing was very riled up. Droplet slid down her cheeks, which appeared even paler due to the cold; not all of those droplets were rainwater.

Xiaofeng remained silent. He was unaware of the backstory of Midsummer Rose until now. He had no idea the kind of fate that awaited Midsummer Rose as well as what the Midsummer Guild meant to her.

When Xiaofeng thought about what he had done wrong, he came to the conclusion that Midsummer Rose had done nothing wrong, and neither had he. Everything was down to luck. Midsummer Rose was just unfortunate enough to run into him.

Xiaofeng’s target was the Midsummer Group. Xiaofeng would act all the same whether the Midsummer Group was controlled by Midsummer Rose or anyone else!

That resolve could never be wavered, nor could it be called into question.