Can't Shake Off My Arch-rival After Falling in Love Online - Chapter 14

“Holy crap, Xi-ge, why did you stop moving!”

“Xi-ge? Xi-ge? Why are you not talking?”

“It is over! Did Xi-ge lose his connection and drop out?”

Inside the voice software, Cheng Xinyu and He Wennan were calling out Xi Yang’s name like little chicks looking for their mother.

Xi Yang had promised to use his main account to carry them through the arena and rank up, but after just a few rounds, he had gone AFK and vanished. Matchmaking with Xi Yang’s account usually pitted them against god-tier players. Between the two “chicks,” one was a returning player who had not figured out the new game mode, and the other was a fresh newbie who did not even know how to assign skill points. They were being crushed in the arena like ants under a boot, dying multiple times.

Strangely, these opponents seemed to know Xi Yang. Even though he was standing there idle, none of the enemy players went over to hit him.

Watching the opponent’s kill score reach the limit and losing the match, Cheng Xinyu and He Wennan dejectedly exited the game interface. They still called out Xi Yang’s name a few more times into the microphone, trying to bring their “carry” back.

Xi Yang had finally coaxed his online partner to sleep on the other end of the voice call. Just as he returned to the gaming voice software, he heard He Wennan’s loud voice howling, which startled him. He quickly clicked the mute button on the interface with his partner, only relaxing once he was sure he was muted.

His partner had finally managed to go to bed early for once; he could not let them be woken up.

Having lost in the arena, all the points Xi Yang had just helped Cheng Xinyu gain were wiped out in a single round. He felt a bit resentful about Xi Yang going AFK and muttered, “Xi-ge, what were you doing! He Wennan and I were being slaughtered like pigs!”

Xi Yang replied casually, “I had something to do.”

Cheng Xinyu pressed, “What could be more important than the two of us?”

Xi Yang chuckled clearly, his tone light and airy. “Well, there is.”

Just as Cheng Xinyu was about to argue, he heard He Wennan suddenly scream into the voice chat, vibrating his eardrums.

“Holy crap! Holy crap!” He Wennan had clicked on Xi Yang’s profile card and was staring at the character display interface, which showed Xi Yang’s character in magnificent gear, alongside a stranger’s character also dressed in exquisite clothing.

The male character named “Xing Shu” was being held in the arms of Xi Yang’s character. The pose was intimate, and the screen was filled with pink floating hearts.

He Wennan was no longer a total fledgling; he understood what this interface meant. Suddenly catching the scent of gossip, he began chirping like a sparrow. “Xi-ge, where did you get a Love Bond? What is the relationship? Is it your partner? Are you in a relationship? Is the person from our school?”

Hearing He Wennan, Cheng Xinyu quickly opened the profile card as well. Sure enough, he saw the ambiguous and intimate character interaction. His eyes were sharper than He Wennan’s, and he noticed the max-level intimacy rating in the top right corner.

In this game, reaching max intimacy required being in a party and running dungeons 24/7 for at least half a year. He had not seen Xi Yang playing this game frequently in the dorm, which meant these two had been bound in a Love Bond for a very, very long time.

Xi Yang listened to He Wennan’s rapid-fire questions without speaking. By choosing to use his main account to play with them, he was no longer afraid of exposing the fact that he had an online partner. Besides, his “baby” had agreed to meet him offline today; they would find out about this relationship sooner or later anyway.

Telling them now or later made no difference. Xi Yang intentionally delayed his answer for a moment, letting the gossip build up between the two roommates, before “coming out” as smoothly as water. “Yeah, my boyfriend.”

Because the reveal was so seamless, Cheng Xinyu and He Wennan’s brains had not even finished deconstructing the information before Xi Yang continued, “He is not from our school. I will bring him to meet you guys next time.”

The voice software fell into a long, profound silence. Xi Yang knew their brains had likely crashed, so he thoughtfully gave them time to process.

A few minutes later, the voice chat erupted with sounds like honking geese.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!”

“What do you mean boyfriend? Is it the meaning I think it is? My god!”

Xi Yang laughed softly. “What else could it be?”

Cheng Xinyu and He Wennan’s jaws hit the floor. “Damn.”

“Xi-ge, what does the male sister-in-law look like? Is he handsome? Do you have a photo?”

Xi Yang thought for a moment. “He has a very nice voice and a cute personality, but I have not seen him yet.”

He Wennan let out an “Ah?” and said, “Then why did you say you would bring him to meet us!”

“What is the rush,” Xi Yang said. “We have made an appointment to meet after school starts. Once we have met, I can introduce him to you, right?”

He Wennan replied, “Oh, that makes sense!”

Afterward, He Wennan and Cheng Xinyu began teasing Xi Yang, claiming that dating in secret was a betrayal of the dorm, the organization, and a violation of dorm regulations.

Xi Yang explained lazily, “We bound our Love Bond the summer before university started. Forget regulations; back then, I did not even know where you two were.”

Left with no comeback, Cheng Xinyu and He Wennan offered their blessings to the couple, albeit a bit saltily. “Wishing you a long life together.”

In reality, Xi Yang and the other person had only bound their CP relationship that summer to make dungeon bonuses easier; they had not actually been together then. They did not truly start “dating” until after university started. By then, Xing Shu rarely logged in, but their chatting never stopped. Once Xi Yang realized his feelings for Xing Shu went beyond just relying on a teammate, he confessed and proposed the online relationship. But there was no need to tell Cheng Xinyu and the others those details.

“Xing Shu, Xing Shu,” Cheng Xinyu repeated the ID. “It is quite a catchy nickname.”

He Wennan wondered, “Wait, Xi-ge, why is your name ‘Yu Hui’? Why did you not change it to something like Regular Script or Cursive Script? That way you would have matching couple IDs!”

Before Xi Yang could speak, Cheng Xinyu chimed in, “What do you know? Xi Yang and Yu Hui. It is a pun!”

He Wennan suddenly found that very logical. But thinking about puns, he read the ID Xing Shu a few more times. He felt something was slightly odd, but he did not dwell on it.

Looking at the beautiful Love Bond animations on Xi Yang’s profile, the two single dogs soon became jealous. They started shouting about pairing up themselves, only to be deterred by the price of wedding rings in the game shop.

The prices were astronomical; the highest tier was nearly 20,000, and even the lowest tier cost over 600. He Wennan’s family had cut off his funds for the summer, so he could not spare a cent. Cheng Xinyu, however, eventually gritted his teeth, topped up 648, and forced He Wennan to bind a CP relationship with him.

After binding, the two even shamelessly changed to matching couple IDs. When these two straight guys acted “ambiguous,” they were completely unabashed, spending the rest of the night calling each other “husband” and “wife,” which thoroughly grossed Xi Yang out.

Working full-time at the pet hospital during the summer was not as easy as working part-time. Part-time hours were fixed, but full-time often involved overtime, which was becoming a bit much for Shu Xing to handle.

As time passed, Shu Xing was so tired after work that he would just shower and crawl into bed, too lazy to even open his games. Aside from chatting on voice calls with Yu Hui, he did not want to do anything else.

Finally, with the new semester approaching, Shu Xing decided he would be too busy and temporarily resigned from his weekend part-time job with Pei Chun. Pei Chun was a good person; he not only accepted the resignation but also gave Shu Xing a bonus on top of his summer salary. On Shu Xing’s last day, Pei Chun even treated him to a meal, saying he was welcome back anytime he was free.

Since Yu Hui had rented an apartment for him for a year, Shu Xing did not plan to live in the dorm. He went back to the dorm to pack a few things and asked He Wennan and Cheng Xinyu to look after his mattress. When they learned Shu Xing was moving out, they wailed that the four-person dorm would be one short, bombarding him with accusations of being a dorm traitor.

After the bombardment, they felt a bit sad. Cheng Xinyu asked pitifully, “Xing-mei, without you, who is going to bring me small cakes!”

“Oh, about that,” Shu Xing’s bright eyes darted around. “I heard there are a lot of group projects this semester, so I stopped my part-time job at the pet hospital. Even if I lived here, I would not be able to bring you any.”

“Ah,” dejected, Cheng Xinyu had to accept reality. “Can you take us to your place to play sometime?”

“Well,” Shu Xing initially wanted to refuse, but considering He Wennan and Cheng Xinyu were from out of town and likely did not know the local real estate prices, he was not too worried about them questioning how he could afford a high-end apartment. So he agreed, “I will invite you over when I am free.”

Cheng Xinyu cheered, “Yay!”

Shu Xing noticed Xi Yang was not in the dorm and looked around curiously. Since Xi Yang’s apology, Shu Xing’s opinion of the man had improved slightly. Plus, since he felt he knew Xi Yang’s little secret, Shu Xing felt he had the upper hand when facing him.

He probed, “Where is Xi Yang? Why is he not here?”

He Wennan replied, “Oh, Xi-ge? I heard a friend came to school to hang out with him. He left a while ago.”

“A friend?” Shu Xing’s lips curved slightly. What friend? It is probably his online partner coming to find him!

“Yeah! Quite a handsome guy, apparently from the neighboring school,” He Wennan said, then leaned in as if remembering something. “Oh, right, Xing-mei, do you know?”

Shu Xing was not used to He Wennan’s face being so close and leaned his neck back. “Know what?”

Cheng Xinyu seemed to sense what He Wennan was about to say and leaned in too, his tone mysterious. “Xi-ge, he,”

He Wennan added, “Xi-ge, he,”

Shu Xing did not know what they were getting at. “What about him?”

He Wennan revealed, “Xi-ge has an online partner!”

Shu Xing thought it was going to be something major and acted dismissively. “I know.”

He Wennan was disappointed by the lack of shock on Shu Xing’s face. “You know? How do you know?”

“I guessed.”

“Holy crap! You could even guess that!”

Shu Xing felt a bit gloomy seeing He Wennan deflate. He thought it was a secret only he knew, but apparently, the whole dorm knew. How boring.

He Wennan continued, “Xing-mei, remember that Xianxia game you played for me last time? Xi-ge and his partner met in that game. They are both super high-level. Maybe we should ask them to carry us next time?”

Shu Xing had not touched that game for over a month and did not want to play with Xi Yang, so he refused bluntly, “No, I quit a long time ago.”

He Wennan replied sheepishly, “Oh, okay.”

Shu Xing did not stay in the dorm long. He walked down the dormitory path to the grassy plaza, where many cats were lying under the shade of the trees. The school did not ban stray animals, so cats and dogs of various colors could often be seen on the lawns.

There were student organizations dedicated to feeding them, and Shu Xing was a member. When he worked at the hospital, he often brought back food, so these “upperclassmen” cats were very close to him. It seemed a new litter had been born over the summer; several tiny kittens were tumbling through the grass.

Shu Xing crouched by the lawn, reaching out and softly calling “Mimi.” One kitten heard the call and came hopping over. The early autumn weather was still hot, and the direct sunlight cast a warm glow on Shu Xing’s face. He picked up the kitten and petted it on his lap.

Habitually, he checked the kitten’s ears; no ear mites were present. He also checked for ringworm; it seemed the mother cat was raising them well. Reassured, he put the kitten back, and the yellow-and-white feline quickly ran back to the group.

“Eh? Is that not Shu Xing?”

Someone nearby called his name. Shu Xing stood up and looked toward the sound. Across the road, about ten meters away, Shu Xing saw the tall Xi Yang standing with his hands in his pockets. Beside him stood the boy who had called Shu Xing’s name.

The boy was roughly the same height as Xi Yang, waving enthusiastically. “Shu Xing! What a coincidence!”

The boy’s face gradually overlapped with memories. Once Shu Xing realized who it was, his pupils trembled. His bright tea-colored eyes turned cold and still, showing no joy at a long-lost reunion.

This is terrible. A high school classmate was actually Xi Yang’s friend.

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