Can't Shake Off My Arch-rival After Falling in Love Online - Chapter 16

In the new semester, the specialized courses were divided into groups. Just as Shu Xing had predicted, the groups were based on dormitory assignments. As the student with the best grades in the dormitory from the previous semester, Shu Xing naturally took on the role of group leader.

There were only two classes in Shu Xing’s major. Originally, they were supposed to be taught separately, but a few days into the term, the school decided this was a waste of faculty time. They merged the classes and integrated the groups. Consequently, each group ended up with two leaders. The question of who would ultimately hold the authority over group assignments became a major issue. In university life, being a group leader often meant carrying a lot of responsibility, doing more research, and, if you were matched with terrible teammates, constantly having to clean up their mess.

Shu Xing was dying to toss this hot potato to the other class’s leader. However, everyone else felt the same way. After much back and forth, they decided to maintain the status quo of having dual leaders.

“Classmate, classmate!”

After the specialized course ended, Shu Xing was urgently called back by a guy wearing glasses. It was the other group leader from the merged class.

“What is it?” Shu Xing was a bit confused as to why he was being stopped, his eyes blinking in curiosity.

The guy lowered his head slightly, looking a bit embarrassed. “Um, it is like this. The professor mentioned in class that we should build a bridge of communication between the two sets of members. I was thinking, maybe the two of us leaders should add each other on WeChat first? It would make it easier to set up a group chat and assign tasks later.”

“Oh, I see.” Shu Xing thought it was something serious. He smiled, his eyes bright and sparkling, and said generously, “Of course we can.”

The guy’s already reddish earlobes turned even redder upon seeing Shu Xing’s smile. He lowered his head, took out his phone, and nervously opened the scan code interface. “I, I will scan you.”

“Okay.”

Behind him, Cheng Xinyu was urging Shu Xing to hurry up. Shu Xing opened his WeChat QR code, turned back to reply, “Coming right now.” As the system beeped to confirm the scan was complete, Shu Xing’s gaze returned to his screen. When he realized he had given out the QR code for his alternate account, his pupils instantly contracted, and his heart gave a violent jolt.

Holy crap, I just finished replying to Yu Hui and forgot to switch accounts.

The guy with glasses keenly sensed the unnatural expression on Shu Xing’s face and asked in a low voice, “What, what is wrong? Is there something inappropriate?”

Shu Xing wanted to cry but had no tears. Under the guy’s intense gaze, he could only remedy the mistake by selecting the “Chat Only” option for the privacy setting.

“Accepted.”

“Thank, thank you. I will head out first then. See you, classmate.”

Once the guy walked away, Shu Xing gradually came to his senses. Actually, there was not anything particularly strange on his alternate account’s Moments; at most, it might be a bit of a hassle to communicate there. Forget it, a mistake is a mistake. He would find a reason to add the guy on his main account when there was an opportunity later.

Shu Xing had nothing to do that evening, so he took some time to visit the pet hospital where he used to work to play with the cats and dogs. Pei Chun was quite busy; after a few brief words with Shu Xing, he received a surgery call and went upstairs to work.

Shu Xing had not told Yu Hui that he had already resigned. He still maintained his working person persona. When it reached his usual clock-out time, he sent Yu Hui a message saying he had “just got home.” Now that Shu Xing was living off-campus, it was much more convenient to have voice calls with Yu Hui. However, Yu Hui had rarely pestered him for voice calls lately. Shu Xing was not a particularly clingy lover; he guessed Yu Hui might be living in a dormitory and understood it might be too noisy to talk, so he did not demand it.

That weekend evening, Shu Xing went to a nearby supermarket to buy many ingredients, planning to cook a big feast at home. Shu Xing did not actually know how to cook; he had only just learned by following recipes online over the last few months. At the start, being clumsy, he often cut his fingers. Fortunately, most of the time he only nicked his fingernails. Only when he occasionally cut himself while peeling a melon would he take a photo of the bleeding wound before it healed to send to Yu Hui to act pitiful.

Seeing photos of Shu Xing’s injuries naturally made Yu Hui very worried. After coaxing him with sweet words, he would send large transfers, telling Shu Xing to order takeout instead. Yu Hui had even suggested hiring a housekeeper to cook for him regularly, but Shu Xing felt it was unnecessary and refused.

As time went on, Shu Xing quite liked the feeling of cooking for himself. To that end, he bought many exquisite and expensive sets of tableware online. In his spare time, he would make a feast, learn how to plate food from the internet, and post beautiful photos on social media to build a refined lifestyle image: “Not only am I rich, I also occasionally enjoy the refined life of living alone.”

Yu Hui’s voice call came through just as Shu Xing finished cleaning up the kitchen scraps. When the call connected, Yu Hui’s deep, gentle voice instantly came through the speaker.

“Babe, I miss you.”

Since they had not had a voice call in a while, there was a trace of suggestive stickiness in the tail of Yu Hui’s voice. Having spent so much time with him, Shu Xing knew exactly what that tone meant. It had been too long since he had released his desires, and he was overwhelmed with lust.

Thinking about it, Shu Xing and Yu Hui really had not engaged in text sex for a long time. This summer break, they had been very pure and had not hooked up once. For a hot-blooded male university student like Yu Hui, holding back this long was surely his limit.

The dishwasher nearby gave a soft chime. Shu Xing leaned down to organize the plates. While putting the tableware back into the cabinet, he said noncommittally, “How much do you miss me?”

“Very, very much. I cannot wait to see you.”

Shu Xing’s hand paused. It was almost their second anniversary, which meant he would have to find another decent excuse to stall their first meeting. Shu Xing’s lips pressed together slightly, feeling a bit tired of dealing with it. “I really want to see you too, babe.”

Not wanting to continue that topic, he cleared his throat after tidying the kitchen and redirected the conversation. “Are you getting online today? I can accompany you for a dungeon raid or the arena.”

Yu Hui followed his lead obediently. “Sure. My roommates want me to help them rank up. Would you like to play with them?”

Usually, when Shu Xing played with Yu Hui, Yu Hui would bring along a few friends from the guild. Shu Xing was used to a group of people crowding together for dungeons. He was also long past the days of meticulously trying to seduce Yu Hui, so he did not mind. “Alright, wait for me. I will go turn on the computer.”

“Okay.”

Logging in, Shu Xing saw that since he was Yu Hui’s game partner, his spawn point was set right next to Yu Hui. Soon, Shu Xing saw a pair of partner characters surrounding Yu Hui. One was named “Type 1 for Hell Ice,” and the other was “Brother, are you really giving it for 11.”

Two very strange couple IDs, both playing on tired game memes. Seeing him go online, this couple suddenly started circling his character like they were observing a monkey at the zoo. Voice calls were not available in the game, but Shu Xing could easily imagine the enthusiastic howling of this couple.

Shu Xing asked Yu Hui, “Babe, are these two your roommates?”

Yu Hui gave a soft “Mn.” Fearing his roommates might scare his babe, he added, “They are usually a bit eccentric. They are just excited to see you.”

Shu Xing nodded at nothing. Noticing Yu Hui’s background was quiet, nothing like the noisy atmosphere of a dormitory, he asked, “Are you guys not together?”

Yu Hui said, “I had things to do outside today, so I did not go back to the dormitory.”

“Oh, no wonder it is so quiet.” Shu Xing added, “Then do your roommates not need to communicate with us via voice?”

Yu Hui replied, “It is fine. They are chatting happily on another voice app. Besides, I want my babe to only talk to me.”

“Alright.” Shu Xing was once again directly enveloped by Yu Hui’s possessiveness.

Yu Hui’s account was not only number one in collection value; he was also the undisputed number one in combat power. Therefore, teaming up with his main account meant they mostly matched with top-ranked acquaintances from the guild. Every time they matched with someone familiar, the opponents would see the IDs “Yu Hui” and “Hang Shu” together and know the little couple was sweetly ranking up. Many players, upon realizing this, would send pleas for mercy in the world chat, either asking Yu Hui to gift them some points or simply going AFK like a cowardly lizard.

After several matches like this, Shu Xing got a bit bored. Yu Hui and his roommates were not very satisfied either. Ultimately, Yu Hui decided to switch accounts. He randomly rented a low-level account online and hopped back on. With the account switch, the matches became more normal, though with Shu Xing’s account in the group, they still matched with the occasional acquaintance.

However, people in this game only feared the combat power of Yu Hui’s main account. Many knew that Shu Xing’s account was heavily inflated. As long as Yu Hui was not on his main, even guild friends would not take him seriously and would play the matches normally. But since Shu Xing played the healer role, and in the arena everyone followed a gentleman’s agreement for 1v1 duels, they would not target a non-aggressive healer too much.

In this match, Shu Xing and the others unfortunately matched with Ni Xin’s team. Shu Xing specifically noted the IDs in Ni Xin’s group; they were all people he did not recognize, likely members of other guilds.

“Why did we match with Ni Xin?” Shu Xing complained, feeling a bit unlucky.

After the previous babe incident, Yu Hui also felt a bit repulsed by Ni Xin. “Maybe his team just happened to be in our point bracket.”

At that moment, a message appeared in the world chat.

Ni Xin: “Hang Shu? Is the owner playing or is Yu Hui playing for you?”

What an obvious probing question. If Shu Xing replied “Yu Hui is playing,” Ni Xin would likely scramble to gift them points. Shu Xing watched for a moment, then pretended to be busy picking his character and did not bother to reply.

On the other end of the game, Ni Xin saw no one was replying and guessed that the owner Hang Shu was playing. He knew Hang Shu played healer, so after the match started, he directed his teammates to prioritize focusing their fire on the opponent’s healer. Ni Xin had wanted to beat the crap out of Hang Shu for a long time. Damn it, that white lotus acted so pretentious every day. He had been forced to play healer and suck up to Yu Hui for over half a year without winning him over. This green tea guy, who knows what methods he used, managed to become Yu Hui’s game partner in less than two months. What was even more infuriating was that they had not broken up after nearly two years!

A while ago, he heard from Tian Yi in the guild that Yu Hui was actually going to meet Hang Shu in person. Just thinking about it made him furious. He could not touch Hang Shu in the real world, but surely no one could say anything about bullying him in the arena, right? Besides, Yu Hui was not on his main account right now, so he could not hold him accountable immediately. Even if he did ask, Ni Xin could righteously say it was fair competition and normal gameplay!

When Ni Xin saw that Hang Shu had brought three burdens along, he laughed so hard he could barely hold his mouse. One carrying three, and he was playing a healer himself; that was just asking for a beating.

A highly targeted match was naturally difficult to play. Even though the combat power of both sides was not that different, Yu Hui’s two roommates could not keep up with the rhythm of the battle. Consequently, the match was lost without surprise. Shu Xing was suppressed and targeted the entire game. He chalked it up to a lack of skill and sighed helplessly after the game ended.

Exiting the results screen, Shu Xing accidentally caught sight of several messages Ni Xin suddenly sent in the public chat.

Ni Xin: “Oh dear, Hang Shu, I did not even notice you were playing healer. My apologies for focusing all the fire on you!” Ni Xin: “I saw that healer was playing quite poorly, so I thought I would pick on the soft persimmon first. I did not realize it was you. T_T” Ni Xin: “Hang Shu, you surely would not get angry over such a small thing, right?” Ni Xin: “But the game mechanics allow everyone to play this way, so you will not blame me, will you?”

Shu Xing could not help but tilt his head. What was this idiot trying to pull now? Shu Xing had not left the guild; Ni Xin could have sent a message in the guild channel, but he specifically chose the public chat. Did he want everyone online to know that he had just taken a beating and was playing quite poorly? What a total jerk.

Yet, the way Ni Xin spoke left Shu Xing with no way to retaliate directly. If he argued, it would seem like he was throwing a tantrum because he got beaten. If he cursed at him, he was afraid it would only give the guy more satisfaction. In this dilemma, Shu Xing ultimately chose to ignore him. He said softly, “Babe, start the next one. I will not play healer next match. I will switch to something else.” It was not because the previous match was unpleasant; he had just played healer all night and was getting a bit bored.

“What is wrong?” On the other end of the voice call, Yu Hui asked, sounding like he had seen something. He suddenly said, “Babe, wait for me a moment.”

“Hm? Okay.”

Shu Xing thought Yu Hui was going to the bathroom. To his surprise, right after he finished speaking, the account Yu Hui had rented instantly left the party. Immediately after, his main account came online. Soon, a system announcement appeared in the guild channel: “Yu Hui has left the guild,” causing a stir in the channel. Before Shu Xing could process what Yu Hui’s move meant, several system messages popped up in succession.

“Attention all players: Player Yu Hui has enabled Slaughter Mode.” “Player Yu Hui’s Slaughter Mode duration remaining: 23:59:59.” “Player Yu Hui is slaughtering player Ni Xin in Xinglin Village.”

In this game, players could enable Slaughter Mode at any time. Once enabled, one could slaughter anyone outside their own guild. The cost was a global system announcement and the risk of being hunted by the entire server. Furthermore, this mode could only be changed back to safe after 24 hours.

However, Yu Hui simply ignored the announcements and casually posted on the public chat: “I thought it was a wild mob on the roadside, so I hit it.” He then specifically added: “But the game mechanics allow everyone to play this way, so I surely do not need to give you any compensation, do I?”

Ni Xin had not had time to put the gear and resources he dropped in the arena into his warehouse. After being slaughtered, his items were scattered all over the ground and were instantly snatched up by the players watching the drama.

Yu Hui’s move was clearly to vent frustration for Shu Xing. Combined with the two system announcements, Ni Xin’s face was practically being dragged across the floor. How could Ni Xin have known that Yu Hui was present in the previous match? Since Yu Hui’s 24-hour slaughter period had not ended, even though he knew Yu Hui did this on purpose, he did not dare complain. He could only reply silently in the public chat: “It is fine. No compensation needed.”

On the voice call, Yu Hui called out “Babe” softly, his voice sounding like he was coaxing someone. “Feel a little better now?”

Having watched the whole thing, Shu Xing’s mouth hung open slightly. The corners of his lips slowly curled up as he laughed. “Mm, much better.”

Yu Hui said, “Then why do you not show your husband some appreciation on the public chat?”

“What should I show?”

“It is up to you, babe. You can post whatever you want.”

Shu Xing thought for a moment and said, “Alright, I will reply.”

Shu Xing typed a few words on the keyboard.

Hang Shu: “My apologies. My husband was reckless.Please forgive him.”

Hang Shu: “[Rose] [Rose] [Rose]”

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