NOVPUBAfter the conversation ended, the woman stared at Mu Chengsi’s departing back, her eyes flickering with something unreadable.
Rong Fan glanced up slightly. “Mu Chengsi was lying?”
“No, everything she said was true.” Yu Jiao withdrew her gaze. “But I still feel like something’s off.”
“Maybe it’s because Yi Xian died. With Mu Chengsi’s ability, she shouldn’t have messed up in a low-tier instance. It’s rare to see her crash like that.”
Rong Fan didn’t really care about that. He looked at Yu Jiao and got to the point. “Who do you want to send into the next instance?”
When he brought that up, Yu Jiao let out a long sigh—she really was feeling troubled.
“Who to send…”
If Bo Jingmo had already become suspicious of deva, then sending anyone might lead to even more exposure.
Seeing her hesitate, Rong Fan pulled out a data tablet. “If my guess is right, Bo Jingmo should hit ten stars after this next instance. Once he enters a mid-tier instance, it’s about time we pull him into the team. Otherwise, if the other old guys notice him first, things’ll get messy.”
“Tch, true.”
Speaking of those old teammates gave Yu Jiao a headache too. She looked at Rong Fan. “So what do you think we should do?”
That top guy wanted to recruit Bo Jingmo but didn’t want his identity exposed.
So annoying.
The office fell into silence for a few minutes. Then Rong Fan suddenly said,
“I’ll go with Mu Chengsi. See for myself just how far Bo Jingmo’s skills have gotten.”
“You’re not afraid of exposure?”
“It’s bound to happen eventually. If we want him in deva, he’ll find out who we are sooner or later.” Rong Fan spoke calmly. “As long as the final plan stays hidden, it’s fine.”
Yu Jiao paused, then chuckled softly. “True.”
She took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering to herself, “And about Bo Jingmo and the NPC… I still can’t wrap my head around him being okay with an NPC getting close.”
She knew full well how much Bo Jingmo rejected women. Back then, they’d worked so hard just to get Wan Wanwan to interact with him, and even then he acted half-dead.
And then there was Jiang Xi. Yu Jiao had thought that girl might be the exception, but when she saw how Bo Jingmo would rather commit suicide in the newbie instance than cooperate, she knew there was no saving him.
She’d basically already given up—only to now hear that Bo Jingmo might prefer NPCs.
Yu Jiao just couldn’t accept that.
Good-looking? Just how attractive was that NPC?
It was Rong Fan’s first time seeing this kind of situation too. He recalled what Yi Xian had said before and combined it with the latest events, frowning slightly.
“This time, I’ll keep a close eye on things.”
Once or twice might be coincidence—but more than that? It didn’t sit right.
Yu Jiao opened her eyes and tilted her head toward Rong Fan, letting out a cryptic chuckle. “But when I heard Mu Chengsi say that NPC had fox-like eyes, it reminded me of her.”
Rong Fan froze.
There was no need to say who “her” was.
He said nothing, only pressed his lips together and silently packed up his things, walking to the door.
One was tidying up in quiet, the other lying on the sofa with eyes closed in a fake nap.
The silence between them was suffocating, yet seemed laced with hidden emotion.
But just before leaving, the man suddenly paused mid-step.
Then, his raspy voice echoed through the office:
“Me too.”
Bang — the door closed behind him.
Yu Jiao leaned against the sofa with her eyes shut. When she heard the door close, she let out a faint, almost inaudible sigh.
What’s the point in remembering?
That person had died long ago.
——
Before leaving, Mu Chengsi handed over the penalty to deva via the system.
Points in the system couldn’t be transferred, but items could, so they usually bought items and turned them in to a central account.
While paying the fine, Mu Chengsi ran into Xu He. Thinking of how he used to team with Yi Xian, she was overwhelmed with complex emotions and lowered her head, wanting to leave.
But he suddenly called out, “Chengsi.”
Mu Chengsi paused and had no choice but to stop and look at him. “What is it?”
Xu He also knew about Yi Xian. He walked up and patted her on the shoulder. “You’ve worked hard.”
There was a large screen at the penalty area, showing the rankings of all players. Some names had asterisks next to them—those were players whose identities were still unknown.
He looked up at the screen, his voice emotionless and unreadable. “That’s the cruelty of instance games. These newbie players—when they agreed to enter in the first place, weren’t they already prepared to die?”
Mu Chengsi followed his gaze but said nothing.
Xu He seemed like he was just making a casual remark. He smiled and changed the subject. “So, are you still observing Bo Jingmo in the next instance?”
“I don’t know.” Mu Chengsi shook her head. “Sister Yu Jiao hasn’t told me…”
Buzz—
Before she could finish, a message popped up on her phone.
She looked down, froze for a moment, then her expression changed slightly. She looked back up at Xu He. “Brother Rong Fan just messaged me…”
Her voice faltered, like she hadn’t fully processed it.
“He said, in the next instance, he’s going in with me…”
Xu He’s eyes widened in shock. “Is he crazy?! He’s a high-level player!”
A high-level player going into a low-tier instance??
In deva, outsiders might think Rong Fan was just an ordinary member. But in reality, he’d once been on a team with Yu Jiao. Their status was equal.
His strength put him at the top of the rankings, but he’d never shown any ambition to rise—so he came off as an average member.
But now, this top-tier guy was going into a low-tier instance? Just for Bo Jingmo??
Mu Chengsi was confused too. She had planned to just leave, but seeing Xu He’s reaction, she suddenly asked without thinking, “Xu He, do you know why Sister Yu Jiao is putting so much importance on Bo Jingmo?”
Xu He had been around longer than Mu Chengsi. He paused, folded his arms, and sighed.
“Honestly, I don’t know the exact reason either. But I think I heard someone say once—Yu Jiao and Rong Fan care so much about Bo Jingmo because of one person.”
“One person? Who?”
Xu He narrowed his eyes and slowly said two words:
“Li Mu.”
The name was so unfamiliar that Mu Chengsi frowned slightly. “Also a player? I don’t think I’ve ever heard that name.”
Seeing that she really didn’t know, Xu He looked genuinely surprised and a bit amused. “Chengsi, you’re a mid-tier player and you’ve never heard of her?”
He sighed again. “Well, I guess that makes sense. She’s been dead for a long time now.”
“But she wasn’t just any ordinary player.”
Under Mu Chengsi’s puzzled gaze, Xu He suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the leaderboard screen.
His tone was calm, a mix of admiration and awe.
“Li Mu…”
“She was the one ranked number one on that leaderboard.”
