pappabearbooks Chapter 5 : Desire
Chapter 5 : Desire
DesireIt had only been a little over ten minutes since she first started playing in the arena, and Cecilia had already advanced from White Porcelain V to White Porcelain IV. This was much faster than she had expected.
But that was only natural—right now, she was decked out in a full set of level 15 purple epic equipment, had maxed out **Maid Outfit Mastery**, and was benefiting from the stat bonuses provided by both the **Grandmaster Vampire Craftsman** and **Weapon Master** titles. Just with these alone, she could look down on anyone below level 40, let alone level 30 players.
If her opponents didn't have any true damage-type skills, they couldn't even scratch her, let alone take her down, no matter how long they tried.
Reward is always proportional to effort. Compared to her now dazzling equipment, the other players were as pitiful as primitive cave dwellers with barely any clothes on.
After finishing another match, she checked the time—it was almost 10 p.m. There were still two hours left until her agreed midnight meeting with Gu Yanxi.
There was plenty of time, so she decisively queued for another opponent.
An hour quickly passed in these monotonous battles.
More and more people were gathering in the lobby outside, all keeping a close eye on the records of player number 0058. This number didn't seem particularly eye-catching at first, but behind it stood the current top-ranked player in the world.
What's more, she was a silver-haired, lolita girl dressed in a maid outfit. Even without considering her level or status, that appearance alone was enough to get all the LSP (lecherous otaku) players excited.
"Two hundred wins!"
With another gasp echoing through the lobby, Cecilia clinched her two hundredth consecutive win in the ring without any suspense, advancing from White Porcelain IV to Bronze II.
About "How Come the Strongest Player Like Me Is Only Bronze Rank"—an hour and two hundred wins—this speed was simply unheard of, no matter which player you asked.
In other words, if she wanted, she could easily snag the first legendary title on the global server in less than half a day.
After all, the first player to get their class's legendary title would receive a system reward of 100,000 points—a reward tempting to anyone.
However, even now, Cecilia was still hesitating, unsure if she should go for those 100,000 points.
Her concerns weren't groundless.
As everyone knew, each server—meaning each country—only had seven legendary titles, corresponding to the seven different classes in Legend of Kaloran. And her class obviously wasn't among those seven.
Ever since the game launched, nearly all players had subconsciously assumed that Cecilia's class was Assassin. But what if, after she took the legendary title, another Assassin player also managed to obtain the Assassin legendary title? That would be quite an awkward situation.
Cecilia had considered this for a long time in the past hour, and ultimately decided—she'd take the 100,000 points now, and deal with the rest later.
After all, it wasn't like she ever actually admitted to being an Assassin—other people just assumed it.
Meanwhile, as Cecilia's win streak grew, droves of players aiming for 1,000 consecutive wins left the arena one after another.
Many of them already had dozens or even a hundred-win streaks under their belt, but today, just like Yuewu, they had the bad luck of being matched against Cecilia, losing all those hard-earned wins and being forced to start all over.
For the diehard fans, getting matched with Cecilia was practically a blessing from their ancestors, but for those looking to climb ranks, spotting the girl in the white maid dress was just pure misfortune—a total jinx.
Time passed quickly, and another half-hour went by. At 11:30 p.m., the arena was still brightly lit and the lobby was abuzz with noise.
For many players, the night wasn't even starting until after midnight.
After finishing another match, Cecilia checked her record—278 wins, and now at Silver III.
Once she hit Silver, each win would boost her ranking by several positions—winning a single match here was worth two or even three earlier matches. As a result, promotion time kept shrinking. At first she'd need dozens of wins for one rank up, but now just over a dozen was enough.
But, there was a downside.
As her rank went up, the number of available opponents dropped sharply.
At first, there were loads of people in White Porcelain and Bronze, only taking a second or two to find a "sturdy fool" eager to give her free wins. But once she reached Silver, the number of matching players grew scarce—sometimes waiting over twenty seconds still wouldn't get her a proper opponent.
"Did I really scare everyone off?"
Coincidentally, it was also about time for Gu Yanxi to go to bed. Cecilia sighed with a hint of helplessness, choosing not to further torment the remaining players. Instead, she transported herself back to the arena lobby and logged out of the game.
...
When her consciousness returned to her body, she was greeted by the insistent buzzing of appliances vibrating throughout the room.
It was so late—what was Gu Yanxi up to?
Curious, she reached up, removed her helmet, and sat up on the bed with some effort.
The noise really was coming from Gu Yanxi.
But, contrary to her expectations, Gu Yanxi was sitting at the edge of the bed with her back turned, already changed into a conservative white pajama and blow-drying her long, lustrous black hair.
At that moment, Gu Yanxi also heard the faint sounds behind her. She turned her head, slightly embarrassed. "I only realized my hair was still a bit wet after I finished blow-drying it, so I wanted to do it again. Sorry, did I wake you?"
"No, I just woke up myself."
Cecilia shook her head, her two silver ponytails swaying playfully together.
Technically, with such an immersive game, players generally wouldn't wake up due to outside noise unless there was an actual fire or earthquake.
But after logging out this time, she suddenly felt a bit of cognitive dissonance.
Her body was obviously that of a girl, but inside, her soul was still genuinely that of a boy. It left her uncertain whether she was still the former Chen Zixuan.
Well, being a boy was all in the past now.
For the time being, she'd just be Cecilia—it didn't really matter anyway.
Gu Yanxi didn't seem to notice her turmoil. She stood up, put the hairdryer back in the drawer, and asked, "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Are you hungry? There's still some stuff in the fridge—I can heat something up for you in the microwave."
Only then did Cecilia realize the burning hunger gnawing at her stomach, so she nodded slightly and answered softly, "Mm, thank you."
No wonder—this landlord's home even came with a fancy appliance like a microwave. In her own kitchen, besides an induction stove and gas burner, there were no other cooking appliances at all.
Because there wasn't even a rice cooker, Chen Zixuan had never eaten rice at home before.
Even after he had some money, he'd been too busy rushing to level 15 to think about those things.
Since everything was ready to eat, just needing a quick heat-up or thaw after being taken from the fridge, Gu Yanxi moved quickly. In just a few minutes, she returned with a tray heaped with an assortment of random foods.
"I toasted the bread in the microwave, and put orange marmalade inside—not sure if you like it, but it's really sweet. There's chocolate and yogurt too; you can't heat those, so they're still cold. Maybe let them sit out for a while before eating, and you've still got your period... oh—pfft..."
At this point, Gu Yanxi couldn't hold back a soft giggle.
"What's so funny?"
Cecilia's face turned red; she knew exactly what Gu Yanxi was laughing about.
"It's nothing, really. To be honest, it's actually kind of nice. You know, I'm an only child—I've always wanted a little sister. But my mom refuses to remarry, so all I can do is daydream."
Gu Yanxi laughed awkwardly, sat down next to her, and held out the plate.
"Come on, eat up before it gets cold."
The silver-haired girl picked up a slice of jam-filled toast, took a small bite, and chewed sulkily.
Watching her eat, Gu Yanxi's lips curled into a gentle smile, almost like a pet owner quietly watching her pet have a meal. She continued, "I was so scared of you at first, you know? If I'd just known you were Chen Zixuan... You kept it from me for so long—now you've finally slipped up, right?"
"If I could, I'd rather you never find out. It's too risky."
Cecilia replied, stuffing the last bit of bread into her mouth.
Noticing a bit of jam stuck to her fingers, and following her usual frugal instincts, she let her soft, cat-like pink tongue gently lick her fingertip, savoring that last bit of marmalade.
At that moment, Gu Yanxi—who had witnessed the whole scene—suddenly felt herself zone out.
A hard-to-describe longing started stirring deep inside her heart.
Thump...thump...thump...
Gu Yanxi's heartbeat sped up steadily. As if she were being guided by invisible threads, her gaze unconsciously dropped to the delicate lips of the girl before her.
Back at noon, because of excessive blood loss, those lips had looked pale and parched. She didn't expect that after just one night's rest, they'd become plump and glossy like cherries.
Or perhaps...like marmalade...
Would licking them be as sweet as orange marmalade?
For a fleeting moment, this thought flashed through Gu Yanxi's mind.