To Sweep Across Like Wildfire - Chapter 30

Chapter 30

“Really?” Meng Chi decided to play dumb.

Shen Qingruo’s eyes filled with laughter. She slowly leaned down to meet Meng Chi’s gaze, their faces inches apart, to the point where Meng Chi could feel her warm breath against her lips. Shen Qingruo clearly didn’t intend to let her off the hook, exposing her: “Yes, really.”

“…” Meng Chi forced herself to stay composed. “So… does this cost extra?”

Shen Qingruo pulled back slightly and straightened up. Just when Meng Chi thought she wouldn’t do anything, she felt a slight coolness on her cheek. Shen Qingruo’s finger brushed against her face, gently tilting her chin up.

“It costs extra,” Shen Qingruo’s voice carried a hint of seduction. “But you’ll have to pay it back in a different way.”

Her thick eyelashes fluttered, and her thin lips slowly pressed down.

…

Ten minutes later, Shen Qingruo was lying on the sofa, one long leg dangling lazily. She said, “Should we go back to the bed?”

She continued, “In a certain place, you should do the things meant for that place. The sofa is for sitting, watching TV, and playing with your phone. Our soft, big bed is the place for… exercise. I’ll tell you a little secret: it’s really sturdy…”

Even at a time like this, she didn’t forget to pitch her bed. A moment later, she finally revealed her true motive: “This sofa cushion was really… expensive…”

Meng Chi’s voice was a bit raspy. “It’s fine. I’ll pay you back for it.”

Over an hour later, the two had moved to a different sofa. The original spot was a mess, covered in suspicious marks.

Shen Qingruo pulled out a cigarette and sniffed the tip, seemingly trying to satisfy her craving that way. At the same time, her flushed knee bumped against Meng Chi’s leg. She held out a hand like a debt collector and said, “Pay me back for the sofa cushion.”

The back of Meng Chi’s head felt numb; she hadn’t fully recovered from the previous situation. She reached out and took Shen Qingruo’s hand, interlacing their fingers. Once she regained her senses, she didn’t want to let go. She was about to ask if she wanted WeChat or Alipay, but the words stayed in her throat. Her voice was husky: “Are you free tomorrow night? We can go out and buy one?”

Shen Qingruo, holding the cigarette between her long fingers, was about to bring it to her lips when she paused for two seconds. She turned to look at Meng Chi. After a moment, she lowered her hand, the unlit cigarette dangling from her slightly swollen lips. “We’ll see tomorrow.”

Meng Chi lowered her gaze, then heard Shen Qingruo add: “I have some things to do tomorrow. We can go after I’m finished.”

The corners of Meng Chi’s mouth curled up uncontrollably. Fearing Shen Qingruo would tease her if she saw, she turned away. “Where’s your lighter? I’ll light it for you.”

She had seen how much Shen Qingruo was craving it.

Shen Qingruo bit the filter and took a deep breath of air as if to soothe her addiction. She glanced at Meng Chi and said, “Forget it. Smoking too much isn’t good anyway; I’m worried about lung cancer.”

She pressed her tongue against the filter, impatiently flicking the cigarette to the other side of her mouth.

“But just chewing on tobacco isn’t good either, is it?” Meng Chi said.

She felt like Shen Qingruo was about to eat the cigarette.

Shen Qingruo’s craving was acting up, and she gave Meng Chi a light glare. Whose fault was it that she was stuck in this “to smoke or not to smoke” state? Wasn’t it because she was worried about being a bad influence on the kid?

Xie Zhen often said she lacked morals—maybe she really was “black-hearted.” Since the kid met her, she hadn’t learned a single good thing; she was secretly buying cigarettes and drinking. If her parents found out their “good kid” had been corrupted like this, they’d probably come knocking on her door.

Even though she was “black” and felt she’d never be “good” in this life, in front of Meng Chi, she wanted to show just a tiny bit of “red” purity/goodness.

At least let Meng Chi see that small spark.

Besides, she didn’t want Meng Chi breathing in secondhand smoke.

Shen Qingruo didn’t have a mirror in front of her, so she didn’t know what she looked like: the corners of her eyes were red, her eyes were slightly misty—she looked exactly like someone who had just been “handled.” If Xie Zhen saw her, she’d definitely say, Holy crap, you look so thirsty right now.

So, even though she glared at Meng Chi, it lacked any real intimidation; instead, it looked quite alluring.

Meng Chi’s expression shifted. She remembered that both times, Shen Qingruo had kept the cigarette in her mouth, biting the filter flat, but never lighting it. It was clearly because she didn’t want Meng Chi to smell it.

This person bullied her constantly, yet at certain moments, she revealed an unexpected, hidden tenderness.

Shen Qingruo withdrew her hand from Meng Chi’s grasp and pulled her laptop back onto her lap. Just as the screen lit up, her ear felt hot—Meng Chi had kissed her ear and retreated, looking at her softly.

Shen Qingruo’s eyes went back to the screen, looking like she couldn’t take anymore. “Don’t… I can’t do any more… my legs are weak…”

While Meng Chi looked down at her phone, Shen Qingruo’s gaze slid over surreptitiously. Seeing Meng Chi’s red ears, she suppressed the urge to play with them. It took a significant effort to force her eyes back to the laptop.

She had always thought she was a workaholic, but it seemed she had just been young and naive—she simply hadn’t encountered a “powerful enemy” until now.

…

Meng Chi read the news for a bit, then reflexively opened Peacekeeper Elite. The game’s startup sound echoed, and she hurriedly muted it, fumbling for her earphones.

A lazy voice drifted from beside her: “It’s fine, you don’t have to mute it.”

Meng Chi gave an “Oh” but still obediently put on her earphones. As soon as she logged in, a squad invite from “The One and Only Cutie of Erangel” popped up in the bottom right corner. After thinking for a moment, she accepted and entered the lobby.

The voice of “Cutie” (Jiang Sitian) came through the squad mic, sounding threatening: “There is a path to heaven but you refuse to take it; there is no gate to hell yet you push your way in! You account thief, you’ve got some nerve trying to steal from your sister! Didn’t you ask around the neighborhood about my reputation? I suggest you delete the account now for your own safety. Don’t force me to track you down through the internet—it won’t be that simple then, you little thief.”

Meng Chi: “…”

Sitian’s fierce tone reminded Meng Chi of the news she had just been reading. Since she hadn’t closed the news tab, she conveniently sent the link to Sitian’s WeChat.

Jiang Sitian had just finished a match and was boredly scrolling through her friends list. When she saw Meng Chi’s icon light up, her eyes widened and she sat bolt upright, firing off a squad invite.

This thief had walked right into her trap! Didn’t they check whose account they were stealing? They stole the account of the “gaming-proof” Meng Chi—the woman that even a hundred-billion-dollar gaming empire couldn’t conquer! Even if an eighty-year-old started gaming, Meng Chi wouldn’t!

After yelling at the person, she noticed they remained silent. See? Guilty conscience.

A moment later, she received a WeChat message from Meng Chi—it was a news article:

“Cracking Down on Organized Crime: We Are in Action!”

Jiang Sitian: “?”

The thief had stolen her WeChat too, and they seemed pretty arrogant!

Just as she was about to continue her tirade, a purposefully lowered voice came through the squad mic: “It’s me, Meng Chi.”

“Huh?” A hundred thousand question marks raced through Jiang Sitian’s head.

She could almost see through the screen: an eighty-year-old woman wearing reading glasses playing a game, the frequency of her hand tremors matching the speed of recoil control.

Meng Chi heard a moment of silence. Just as she thought her earphones were broken, Jiang Sitian’s trembling voice came through: “Meng Chi, if… if you’ve been unhappy lately, you must tell me. Don’t keep it bottled up, and please don’t do anything rash.”

Meng Chi: “…”

She turned her mic on again and said, “I haven’t done anything rash. I’m fine. I’m taking my medicine every day—I mean my vitamins.”

She noticed there was another person in the squad. “Let’s start. It’s not convenient for me to talk, so I’ll just type later.”

Compared to Jiang Sitian, the other person in the squad was much calmer, with a gentle voice: “Let’s go.”

Jiang Sitian seemed to listen to this person. She immediately dropped her rowdy act and said, “Okay, I’ve set the map to random. Oh, let me introduce you: the new person is my classmate, Meng Chi. Meng Chi, Number 2 is Sister Nianzhou.”

Meng Chi and Wen Nianzhou exchanged greetings.

Back in middle school, Wen Nianzhou used to carry Jiang Sitian in League of Legends, so Meng Chi had always known she played games, but she didn’t expect her to play Peacekeeper Elite too. She noticed Wen Nianzhou didn’t talk much. Since Meng Chi was also a woman of few words around strangers, it saved them the awkward small talk.

“Number 3, follow my jump,” Wen Nianzhou said as the match began.

Meng Chi realized she was Number 3 and quickly clicked to follow. Wen Nianzhou was quite good at the game; she led the parachute jump and landed very fast. While another squad was still in the air, she quickly grabbed a gun and started shooting at them. Not wanting to hog all the kills, she actively called out: “Number 1, Number 3, come and hunt some birds.”

Although Meng Chi was familiar with the buttons, she was still very much a beginner. It took her forever just to pick up a gun. By the time she reached them, there were already four glowing green loot boxes on the rooftop.

Wen Nianzhou had already hopped off the roof. Seeing the kill feed, she said while looting, “Number 1, why did you wipe them all out?”

She meant: Why didn’t you leave one or two kills for Number 3?

“Ah, two of them landed and found guns. I was afraid they’d counter-attack,” Jiang Sitian said sheepishly.

Judging by Meng Chi’s stiff movement, Sitian realized she was brand new. “Sister, leave the rest to you. Meng Chi just started; I’ll show her the ropes.”

“Okay,” Wen Nianzhou said concisely.

Before Meng Chi could say she didn’t need help, Jiang Sitian was already calling her over. She saw a character in colorful clothes standing on some stairs.

Seeing Meng Chi run over, Sitian dropped two guns. Her tone was as gentle as a drill sergeant on the first day of training: “This one is the ‘da-da-da’ submachine gun for hitting people. The other one is the ‘tu-tu-tu’ assault rifle for hitting people.”

Meng Chi: “…”

Meng Chi: “Okay.”

To prevent Jiang Sitian from picking up a sniper rifle and calling it the “bang—bang—bang—” gun, Meng Chi quickly explained that she had played a few matches and knew the basic rules. After some convincing, Jiang Sitian walked away doubtfully, saying, “If there’s anything you don’t understand, just ask me.”

Through two skirmishes, Wen Nianzhou let Jiang Sitian and Meng Chi handle the weaker enemies, while she took out the strong ones herself, letting them come over to finish the kills to rack up points.

Jiang Sitian whined, “Sister, you protect me too well. I’m going to forget how to shoot.”

Wen Nianzhou said, “Then you take the next squad.”

Jiang Sitian: “If I don’t know how to shoot, then I don’t know how to shoot. I’ll just be Sister’s little logistic support, hiding under your warm and reliable wings.”

Meng Chi: “…”

She suddenly felt like muting Jiang Sitian.

After another close-quarters fight, a lazy voice drifted from beside her: “Number 2 is a very good player. Very strong.”

Jiang Sitian waited for the intense firefight to end before crawling over to loot the boxes, singing Wen Nianzhou’s praises: “Sister’s wings are so warm, I never want to leave…”

Then, she heard a beautiful, complimentary voice coming from Meng Chi’s side. She reflexively said, “Yeah, yeah, Number 2 is just that strong…” She stopped mid-sentence. That wasn’t Meng Chi’s voice, and it sounded familiar.

Jiang Sitian’s sugary tone shifted back to normal: “Who are you?”

Meng Chi had been so focused on the game that she hadn’t realized Shen Qingruo was watching her play.

Shen Qingruo’s gaze slid over Number 1’s nickname. She said slowly, “Cutie, don’t you remember me?”

Her voice held a hint of mischievous charm.

Jiang Sitian gasped and blurted out, “Are you that bad woman who made Meng Chi lose her mind?”