The two rode across four maps before finally stopping at the foot of a mountain range. Xia Zichen had actually wanted to suggest just flying directly to the destination, but seeing that Canmo Wuhen seemed to genuinely enjoy the process of riding in silence, he let it be.
They dismounted. Canmo Wuhen pointed at a jutting rock above them and said, “Go sit up there.”
“What’d you bring us all the way out here for?” Xia Zichen asked as he had Chenxi jump up onto the rock with a movement skill.
Canmo Wuhen sent a smiling emoji and said, “Just sit. Rest for a bit.”
“Mm.” Even though the earlier arena session with Shen Yicheng and the others had been mentally draining in all kinds of ways, talking with Canmo Wuhen never made him feel tired.
Before long, a mounted mini-BOSS spawned twenty feet ahead of them. Without a word, Canmo Wuhen activated his attack buff and charged straight in.
Chenxi, who had been sitting up on the rock, stood up. Xia Zichen clicked on the BOSS to check — two hundred fifty thousand HP. A solo fight was no problem for Canmo Wuhen, it would just take a little effort. He hadn’t personally fought this mini-BOSS before, but he had seen the description on the official website.
This type of mounted BOSS spawned randomly twice a day at the top of each hour somewhere on the world map. Defeating it had a chance to yield the horse it was riding — horses came in ten types and ten tiers, each with a different appearance and running speed. Which horse the BOSS happened to be riding was entirely up to luck.
The BOSS Canmo Wuhen was currently fighting was riding a pure white tier seven horse. The saddle and all the accessories were pure white as well — a clean, shimmering mass of white that was genuinely beautiful, and by open-world horse standards, it was top tier.
In truth, not many players actively farmed this BOSS. It wasn’t that the BOSS was difficult to fight — it was that the taming scroll was hard to come by. After defeating the mini-BOSS and obtaining the horse, you still needed a taming scroll to make it yours. If the scroll wasn’t used within twenty-four hours, the horse would automatically flee. All in all, yet another thing designed to stress players out.
Watching Canmo Wuhen kite the mini-BOSS — dodging while dealing damage — Xia Zichen kept a close eye on his HP. It didn’t look like healing was going to be necessary. That was the difference gear made. A newly capped beginner with low base HP and no idea how to kite a BOSS could get two-shotted even by a small enemy like this. Someone like Canmo Wuhen, though, with clean positioning and high damage output, should be able to finish it off once HP dropped to around thirty percent.
Just as Xia Zichen had expected, when Canmo Wuhen’s HP was still at thirty-two percent, the mini-BOSS dropped. Canmo Wuhen bent down to pick up the loot, then jumped up to where Chenxi was standing. Xia Zichen popped a big heal to top him back to full. Canmo Wuhen sent a trade request.
He clicked confirm. In the trade window sat the snow-white horse and one taming scroll.
“…Keep it. I don’t want it.” Xia Zichen cancelled the trade.
Canmo Wuhen sent the trade request again and said, “Don’t you think it’d look a little strange for a male character to ride a horse like this?”
Xia Zichen was momentarily at a loss for words. It was true that this kind of white horse was much more popular with girls, and looked far better on a female character. Male characters were better suited to black or dark reddish-brown horses. His current two-seater mount was black with white hooves and tail; Canmo Wuhen’s horse was a pure black tier ten — this white horse would genuinely serve no purpose for him.
Xia Zichen personally loved white, so he was quite fond of this rare white horse. And Chenxi was, after all, a girl.
“Just take it. I happened to get the taming scroll the other day — no use keeping it.” Canmo Wuhen sat down.
Xia Zichen clicked confirm. The horse and taming scroll went into his inventory. “Thanks.”
Having spent so much time with Canmo Wuhen, he knew that even if he refused, Canmo Wuhen would find another way to get the item into his bag regardless. Besides, this kind of horse wasn’t easy to get in the first place — if they stayed at a standstill over it, twenty-four hours later it would have been for nothing anyway.
“Don’t mention it.” Canmo Wuhen said lightly.
“How did you know there’d be a horse spawn here?” Xia Zichen asked the question that actually mattered. The mini-BOSS locations were supposed to be random across the map, yet when Canmo Wuhen had brought him here, he seemed to have known for certain that one would spawn here — and specifically a white one.
“There’s a bug here. Jianlang found it while he was farming horses — a white one spawns here at this exact time every time.”
Bugs were nearly impossible to eliminate entirely in a live game. If one was reported by players or discovered by staff, an update would be pushed to fix it.
“Oh.” He acknowledged it and switched over to the new horse, then used the taming scroll, binding the horse to its new owner. He let the horse out — the white coat shimmered faintly gold under the light, radiantly beautiful. Xia Zichen couldn’t help thinking that if Chenxi changed into the Yanyang Zhueyue set, it would be an even better match.
“Chenxi.” Canmo Wuhen called out to him.
“Mm?” Xia Zichen responded.
“Ride this one from now on.” He paused, then continued, “Keep the two-seater for me.”
Xia Zichen paused for a moment before slowly typing a single “okay.” Canmo Wuhen’s words felt a little ambiguous somehow, though he figured he was probably reading too much into it. Since they had first met, Xia Zichen had always maintained a certain distance — after all, a character-gender mismatch wasn’t something everyone could accept. And Canmo Wuhen had also done a good job of holding to a certain line, never explicitly defining anything. So the nature of their relationship had always remained friends, and well-matched partners.
When it came to the boundary between the game and real life, Xia Zichen had always been clear on where it sat, and had no desire to let it bleed into either of their actual lives. Running into each other in a game and playing together like this — that kind of coincidence was already enough. No need to be greedy, even if Canmo Wuhen occasionally made his heart skip for just one second.
From the time they first partnered up, Canmo Wuhen had been intermittently mailing Chenxi potions, consumables, and well-statted gems. In the beginning, Xia Zichen would send everything back, or convert it to market price and mail the gold instead. Back then he and Canmo Wuhen weren’t all that close — it had just been mutual help between players — and those items weren’t cheap. Even if they were genuinely useful for dungeon runs, he didn’t feel right accepting them for free.
But every time he sent things back or mailed the equivalent in gold, they’d come right back the next day. After a few rounds of this, Xia Zichen gave up trying. He brought it up with Canmo Wuhen directly, and Canmo Wuhen’s response was that he had too much stuff and nowhere to put it — if Chenxi could use any of it, use it; if not, sell it. If Chenxi wouldn’t accept them, he’d have no choice but to throw them away.
Even knowing it was a bluff, Xia Zichen had ultimately given in. On one hand, he ran dungeons regularly, and these items — potions and consumables — were things healers genuinely used and needed for dungeon runs, boosting constitution and healing output. On the other hand, it was Canmo Wuhen’s way of trying to close the distance between them, and Xia Zichen genuinely liked him. It wouldn’t do to reject him outright.
He had originally considered converting everything to market price and mailing the gold to Canmo Wuhen, essentially treating it as a purchase. But knowing Canmo Wuhen’s personality, he almost certainly wouldn’t accept it. So Xia Zichen had taken a roundabout approach instead — whenever he sold the guild’s materials to Jianlang, he would knock the price down by half, calling it a friends-and-family rate. It didn’t come across as too obvious, and it balanced things out a little.
After a full day of classes, Xia Zichen rolled his aching shoulders and bought dinner on the way back to the dorm. A professor had something come up, so tomorrow’s class had been bumped to today on short notice. Not exactly a pleasant way to spend the day, but knowing there were no classes tomorrow and he could rest — it didn’t feel so bad.
He pushed open the dorm room door to find only An Jing inside. Shen Yicheng had been called back home by his family and might not return tonight. Tang Hui had an evening class and wouldn’t be back until nine. With just the two of them, the room was quiet — though a touch on the empty side.
He set An Jing’s portion on his desk. The weather had been getting colder, and everyone had naturally fallen into the habit of grabbing food for whoever hadn’t gone out yet, saving the extra trip.
“I’ve had pan-fried buns from so many places, but this new one that just opened is genuinely the best.” An Jing said, eating his buns while scrolling through the guild channel’s rolling chat.
An Jing had a particular quirk when it came to food — whenever he stumbled upon something he really liked, he had to eat it at every single meal without fail, until he was so sick of it he couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. The bun shop right at the school gate had just opened a week ago, and An Jing had fallen for it immediately, which meant the three other roommates were now so thoroughly saturated with pan-fried buns that the mere sight of one made them feel full.
Xia Zichen washed his hands, came back, opened his computer, and started eating. “Anything going on tonight?”
“Going on” naturally referred to guild activities. A large guild had something planned almost every day. Zhanming Hall might not organize something every single day, but there were at least four events per week.
“The original plan was to take the players who just hit max level this week and anyone who needs gear into a ten-person dungeon, but I just checked — not enough people.” An Jing bit into a bun with an expression of pure contentment. “Starting at eight, and Yicheng and Ah Hui aren’t around. Calling people in from the world channel would also create loot distribution issues.”
“Check if anyone in your friends list is free, or borrow someone from the allied guild.” Putting together a ten-person dungeon party wasn’t hard in itself, but running one with new players required a bit more consideration.
An Jing nodded and opened his friends list to start looking.
After finishing dinner, Xia Zichen made himself a cup of coffee — no class tomorrow, so staying up late wasn’t a concern. He logged into the game and checked — Canmo Wuhen was inside a dungeon. Xia Zichen didn’t interrupt him. He couldn’t quite say when it had started, but every time he logged on, he’d pull up his friends list and check if Canmo Wuhen was online. If he was, he’d check his location. It had slowly become habit.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Divine healer, we need help!
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: We are critically short on strong DPS… =w=
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Three new players, it’s a real struggle on damage. And you’re the only reliable healer we’ve got…
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: The guild master and deputy masters picking exactly this moment to be absent — absolutely zero organization or discipline. Requesting compensation for emotional damages.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Qianlan, that last part was clearly the real point.
[Guild] [Chenxi]: Nobody in your friends lists who can help?
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Outside of guild members, I’m the only max-level player in my friends list…
[Guild] [Chenxi]: …
“Can’t find anyone?” Xia Zichen turned to ask An Jing, who was still scrolling through his friends list.
“There are plenty of people, but not many usable ones. Either the damage isn’t strong enough, or they’re already mid-dungeon.” An Jing let out a breath and took a couple sips of the cola he’d fished out of Tang Hui’s cabinet.
Xia Zichen was weighing whether to keep looking or just call it off and reschedule for another day. His cursor moved back and forth across the friends list, the guild channel scrolling with a constant stream of messages.
[Guild] [Wenrou Shenlan]: If there’s really no one, try calling in the world channel. Work out loot distribution ahead of time.
[Guild] [Shenye Qianxing]: Let me check a bit more. If nothing works, I’ll shout in world.
More players were hitting max level next week who would need to be carried, and if today didn’t happen, the new players’ gear would keep getting pushed back, making their own daily dungeon runs even harder going forward.
He checked Canmo Wuhen’s location again and saw he had already come out of the dungeon. Xia Zichen thought for a moment, then typed a message.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Are you busy?
The reply came quickly.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Not busy. Have you done your dailies today?
[PM] [Chenxi]: Not yet. If you’re free in a bit, could you help us run a ten-person dungeon?
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Sure. Invite me to the party.
Canmo Wuhen agreed without any hesitation.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Okay, hold on a moment. Do you have anyone else free on your end? We need two strong DPS — carrying new players, so ideally no gear needs.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Let me ask around.
Chenxi waited for an answer. Before long, Canmo Wuhen sent another message.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Invite Baicao Zhe. He’s free.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Got it, thanks.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Don’t mention it.
[Guild] [Chenxi]: Everyone joining the ten-person dungeon, form up and meet at the dungeon entrance.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Chenxi, you found people?
[Guild] [Chenxi]: Yeah. Who has party leader? Pass it to me.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: As expected, the divine healer always comes through. New players, move out, everyone assemble!
A few minutes later, all eight guild members were accounted for at the dungeon entrance. Wumei Qianlan passed party leader to Chenxi.
“Who’d you find?” An Jing asked while distributing the dungeon consumables to the new players.
Xia Zichen’s mouth curved up slightly. He said nothing, and simply sent party invites to Canmo Wuhen and Baicao Zhe.
The next second, both of them appeared in the party — and very quickly appeared at the dungeon entrance in person. Even through a computer screen, Xia Zichen could practically sense the stunned silence that had fallen over everyone.
Then the raid channel erupted with exclamations, pulling everyone’s attention back —
[Raid] [Fujia Hongniang]: AAAAAAH! TOP PLAYERS!! TOP PLAYERS!!!! THEY’RE ACTUALLY TOP PLAYERS!!!!
[Raid] [Juhua Guniang]: TOP PLAYERS!!! Can I get an autograph!! Can I get a screenshot together!! Baicao, god tier player, please let me cling to your coattails!!!
[Raid] [Wumei Qianlan]: Quick, tie them up, don’t let the top players get away!!
…
“Oh my god, Canmo Wuhen AND Baicao Zhe! Little Zhen-zhen, for players at this level you should’ve said something sooner!” An Jing’s voice exploded right next to his ear at the same time the raid channel went off.
Xia Zichen couldn’t help the helpless curve of his mouth. Canmo Wuhen’s reputation seemed to be even bigger than he had realized…