Once you joined a faction, fighting with the opposing side in the open world was simply an unavoidable part of the deal, and getting killed out there was entirely normal. Killing an opposing faction player earned you faction reputation — it was one of the game’s features, and anyone who joined a faction had to mentally prepare for the possibility of being killed. That said, most players didn’t go out of their way to specifically camp opposing faction members in the open world. For one thing, the game had organized faction activities like battlegrounds and sieges — participating in those daily generated more than enough reputation. For another, nobody wanted to invite trouble onto themselves. If the person you were hunting happened to be stronger than you, it might be you lying on the ground. And getting on the wrong side of an entire guild just by killing one person was never a good trade-off. So Xia Zichen hadn’t given the Xiao Guai Zui Guai situation much thought.
But clearly it wasn’t so simple. The corpse-camping had been going on for three days. Unless she didn’t log on at all, she was being hunted down at the respawn point every session until she went offline. Getting killed didn’t cause a level drop, but it did cause a loss of in-game gold. One or two times was manageable, but with the frequency piling up and her gold visibly shrinking, it was a legitimate frustration. And when a piece of equipment’s durability hit zero from repeated deaths, repairing it cost money too — the amount varying by gear quality. Given Xiao Guai Zui Guai’s current gear, each repair would cost at least one hundred gold.
Because she was an opposing faction player, Xiao Guai Zui Guai was never fast enough to turn off faction mode the moment she logged in. And even if she managed to click the toggle, it took ten minutes before faction mode actually deactivated — more than enough time for the people camping her to kill her several times over. Being killed in that window reset the deactivation countdown, so she’d have to click it again if she ever got a chance. Since the opponents were killing an opposing faction player, their kill counts didn’t increase their kill tally, meaning there was no risk of going to jail. And their guild was rotating people through the camping in shifts — whoever had nothing to do came to camp, whoever had something to do went and handled it, allowing continuous rotation around the clock.
Lian Feier had organized a guild group to go help Xiao Guai Zui Guai earlier, but whatever was said on the other side made every guild member quietly back out without a word, and nobody offered to help after that. An Jing would naturally have gone to dig up the details on that. Xia Zichen was the type who couldn’t be bothered to ask. Wuqing Xue had also logged on and reached out to the opposing guild master, but clearly the other side hadn’t offered him any face. What exactly was going on, Shen Yicheng hadn’t said. The opposing guild was slightly larger than Zhanming Hall, and did have the standing to decline to show Zhanming Hall face. But generally speaking, as a guild that wasn’t purely faction-oriented, nobody liked making unnecessary enemies — the neutral players on both sides who didn’t participate in faction activities but ran dungeons could easily end up in the same party someday, so there was no reason to make things ugly. The fact that the other side wasn’t giving any face this time made it clear that the situation was more complicated than it had first appeared. In other words, Xiao Guai Zui Guai’s situation was absolutely a case of both sides being at fault, and she was not in the right.
Xia Zichen logged on as usual, getting through other daily tasks while waiting for Canmo Wuhen to come online. Partway through, a message came in from Shen Yicheng.
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: What are you up to?
[PM] [Chenxi]: Dailies. What’s up?
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: You’ve heard about the Xiao Guai situation, right?
[PM] [Chenxi]: Yeah.
At his computer, Xia Zichen’s brow furrowed slightly. He didn’t know what Shen Yicheng was working up to. He knew about the situation, but there was nothing he could do to help.
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: The people involved are from one of Tianfeng Yage’s allied guilds. Talk to Canmo Wuhen about it and ask him to step in and smooth things over.
That Canmo Wuhen was now being brought into this made Xia Zichen’s frown deepen. He still remembered An Jing specifically warning him to stay out of it.
[PM] [Chenxi]: What actually happened here?
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: Nothing major. Just a misunderstanding.
[PM] [Chenxi]: A misunderstanding? That seems unlikely. If it were just a misunderstanding, would the other side bother chasing her down for three days straight?
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: Xiao Guai didn’t mean to. The other side is being unreasonably petty about it.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Yicheng, this may just be a game, but it has its own rules. People play to relax — nobody goes out of their way to corpse-camp someone for no reason. Zhanming Hall has been around long enough, we have plenty of members in factions, getting killed is par for the course, but something like what’s happening to Xiao Guai Zui Guai is completely one of a kind. If you can’t even explain the situation clearly to me, how am I supposed to go talk to Canmo Wuhen? If he asks me what happened, am I supposed to play dumb and say it was a misunderstanding?
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: As far as I can tell, Canmo Wuhen is the only one who can resolve this.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Him being the only one who can resolve it doesn’t mean I have to be the one to make it happen — especially not without any proper explanation. When you get down to it, Canmo Wuhen and I are only friends in the game. That’s different from my relationship with you and the others. With you all, if something in the game needed help — even if I was in the wrong — I could call on you. But Canmo Wuhen is different. Our friendship is good, but it hasn’t reached the point of being real-life friends.
Xia Zichen exhaled slightly and kept typing.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Say I stopped playing this game tomorrow — you and the others, I’d still have a connection with. But Canmo Wuhen and I would most likely lose contact entirely, with no further involvement in each other’s lives. So what grounds do I have to pull him into this when you can’t even give me a legitimate reason why Xiao Guai Zui Guai is in the right?
Shen Yicheng went quiet. Xia Zichen didn’t press him.
Shen Yicheng could be underhanded at times, but he was smart. He would have already thought through everything Xia Zichen was saying.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Hui-ge didn’t get involved. An Jing didn’t get involved. The guild is usually pretty tight — if everyone is keeping their hands out of this one, the situation definitely isn’t as simple as Xiao Guai Zui Guai’s version of it. I don’t want to get involved, which is exactly why I refuse to even ask. And you were never someone who meddled in other people’s business either.
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: Xiao Guai has been crying to Feier about this every day for days, and Feier came to me to figure something out. I don’t want to deal with this either, but if nothing gets resolved it just keeps going in circles. What’s the point?
Xia Zichen gave a quiet, derisive exhale.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Xiao Guai is Lian Feier’s friend. Lian Feier is your wife. That makes it your problem. It has nothing to do with me. Even if I do nothing, you can’t blame that on me.
Shen Yicheng was silent for a stretch.
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: Zichen, I’ve always thought of you as someone with principles, but not someone who was hard to talk to. I didn’t think you’d refuse something I asked.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Then I can only say you don’t know me. I’ve always kept the game and real life clearly separate — with everyone, without exception. Otherwise I wouldn’t have kept quiet about playing a gender-swapped character for this long.
[PM] [Wuqing Xue]: Fine. I hear you. Go do your thing.
Chenxi said nothing more and went back to doing dailies. Xia Zichen’s position on this was firm — what came next was no longer his problem.
But when he logged on the next day, he received news that genuinely surprised and baffled him — Canmo Wuhen had stepped in and resolved the situation himself.
The moment he was online, An Jing messaged him. “Little Zhen-zhen, what happened? Didn’t I tell you to stay out of it?”
Xia Zichen frowned slightly. “I didn’t get involved.”
“Did Yicheng come to you about this?” An Jing asked.
“He did. But I told him I wasn’t going to get involved, and I didn’t say anything to Canmo Wuhen.” He checked the friends list — Canmo Wuhen wasn’t online yet.
“Then what happened?” An Jing was puzzled too.
“What did the other guild say?” Xia Zichen asked.
“Just that Canmo Wuhen stepped in and the other guild master showed him face. I don’t know the specifics. All I know is Xiao Guai Zui Guai logged on today and nobody was camping her.”
Xia Zichen pressed his lips together slightly, then asked, “What did Xiao Guai Zui Guai actually do to set them off?”
“Xiao Guai Zui Guai’s version is that she accidentally killed someone. Yicheng apparently couldn’t get anything more out of her. I couldn’t be bothered to ask Lian Feier, and nobody else in the guild knows. Word is she killed a low-level alt.” An Jing explained. “If all she did was kill a low-level alt, the other side wouldn’t go this hard after her.”
The two were still talking when the opposing guild master suddenly made an announcement in the world channel.
[World] [Shanya Yiyu]: Xiao Guai Zui Guai — today I’m letting you off for Canmo’s sake. This started with you killing my wife’s under-leveled alt and camping her, followed by you hurling abuse at my wife in the nearby channel. If you wanted to fight with me, fine. But you went after my wife’s low-level alt — I was always going to come after you for that. Don’t pull this kind of disgraceful move again, or you’ll get killed every time I see you.
The truth was out. Shortly after, voices condemning Xiao Guai Zui Guai’s behavior appeared one after another in the world channel. The opposing guild’s members chimed in publicly declaring that next time, they’d drive her out of the game entirely.
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: Well, good thing I didn’t get involved — I would’ve been made a fool of.
[Guild] [Xiao Dongxi]: Killing a low-level alt and then corpse-camping them is just wrong.
[Guild] [Wangyanyuchuang]: Next time just keep a lower profile and stop bringing trouble to the guild.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Nothing more needs to be said — though someone has to actually be willing to hear it. We owe Canmo Wuhen for this one. Continuing to worship him! Starry eyes!
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: He definitely did it for Chenxi’s sake!
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Agreed!
[Guild] [Xiao Dongxi]: +1…
The guild channel was buzzing with discussion. Xia Zichen didn’t participate. Killing a low-level alt in and of itself wasn’t a particularly big deal — some players with less-than-sharp skills resorted to targeting low levels in the open world if they wanted any kill count at all. But killing low-level alts was something widely looked down upon on this server. Even those who did it usually killed and walked away without even picking up the dropped gold, let alone doing something as low as corpse-camping on top of it — and she’d also hurled verbal abuse in the nearby channel on top of that. Xiao Guai Zui Guai had managed to bully her way to the opposing guild master’s wife. Any self-respecting guild master couldn’t just let that slide — doing nothing would make him look weak in front of his own members. That she hadn’t been driven to delete her account was already getting off lightly.
He was still turning this over in his mind when Canmo Wuhen’s icon lit up online. Xia Zichen sent him a PM. “Sorry for the trouble with the guild situation. I had been hoping they’d sort it out themselves, but somehow you ended up having to step in.”
He couldn’t exactly accuse Canmo Wuhen of meddling — Canmo Wuhen wasn’t the type to go around inserting himself into other people’s business. But for the unexpected help, Xia Zichen genuinely didn’t know what to say.
“I know you didn’t want me involved. I didn’t particularly want to be involved either.” Canmo Wuhen sent a party invite, then continued. “But Shanya Yiyu wasn’t going to give Wuqing Xue any face. If this dragged on, Wuqing Xue would have had to come back to you — for the sake of his standing as guild master and for Lian Feier’s sake — and push you to bring it to me. And when it comes to connections, only Jianlang and I could have talked to Shanya Yiyu.”
Canmo Wuhen’s read on the situation was accurate, and Xia Zichen had nothing to argue with.
Seeing that he didn’t respond, Canmo Wuhen continued. “With your personality, you’d never ask me that. Things would have gotten awkward at that point. You’ve been in Zhanming Hall this whole time and do have ties with them — having things blow up between you wouldn’t look good. So rather than wait for you to come to me, it was better for me to just go resolve it. And now Wuqing Xue owes you one.”
There was nothing to criticize in the way Canmo Wuhen had handled it, and no standing to criticize it either. And since Canmo Wuhen had taken initiative to sort it out himself, Xia Zichen didn’t need to feel like he owed him anything. Just as Canmo Wuhen had said — even if Shen Yicheng had been talked out of it temporarily, if the situation stayed unresolved he would have come back eventually, and that would have been the hardest moment to deal with. At least now Canmo Wuhen had taken care of it cleanly, and there was nothing left to worry about.
“Alright. It was a minor thing. If something like this happens again, I won’t be getting involved.” As they were talking, Canmo Wuhen’s character had already appeared at Chenxi’s side.
Xia Zichen looked helplessly at the figure that had materialized beside him with unhurried ease. He gave a quiet acknowledgment and said nothing more. With the explanation done, the two of them flew off to the daily dungeon.
Standing at the dungeon entrance about to call for party members, a familiar name appeared in the nearby channel.
[Nearby] [Shanya Yiyu]: Canmo — rare that we run into each other. Come run together.
Canmo Wuhen didn’t respond in the channel — he simply added Shanya Yiyu and a female character named Youya directly to the party.
[Party] [Shanya Yiyu]: Chenxi? You’re Canmo’s wife, right? Haha, nice to meet you. This is my wife, Xiao You.
[Party] [Youya]: Hi Chenxi, hi top player ^_^
[Party] [Chenxi]: Hello. Though I should clarify — Canmo and I are just friends.
He and Canmo Wuhen genuinely had nothing of that sort going on. Besides, he was a guy playing a female character — “wife” was not a title he could accept.
[Party] [Shanya Yiyu]: No need to be shy, I get it. When Xiao You and I first got together, she didn’t want me calling her my wife either.
[Party] [Chenxi]: Really, that’s not what this is… you’re misunderstanding…
[Party] [Shanya Yiyu]: You’re Chenxi, right? From Zhanming Hall?
[Party] [Chenxi]: That’s right.
[Party] [Shanya Yiyu]: Then I’ve got the right person. When Canmo came to me, he said his wife Chenxi was in Zhanming Hall, and that if I kept camping that girl it would put her in a difficult spot. If it hadn’t been out of consideration for him running into someone he actually cares about, I wouldn’t have let that girl off.
Xia Zichen was momentarily at a complete loss for words. He absolutely had not expected Canmo Wuhen to have said something like that.
[Party] [Chenxi]: Thanks for not holding it against us. I’ll make sure the guild master keeps better control of the guild members going forward.
Xia Zichen could have technically said nothing — but his position had already been passively linked to Canmo Wuhen’s, and since Canmo Wuhen had acted on his behalf, these polite words still needed to be said. It was a matter of giving Canmo Wuhen face.
[Party] [Shanya Yiyu]: We’re all on the same side now. Don’t mention it. When Xiao You and I get married, you and Canmo have to come.
[Party] [Chenxi]: We’ll be there.
With the Shanya Yiyu situation settled, Xia Zichen sent Canmo Wuhen a PM, brow furrowed. “Saying it that way is very easy to give people the wrong idea.”
“Wrong idea about what?” Canmo Wuhen was as composed as ever.
“I’m not your wife.” Xia Zichen didn’t like this kind of misunderstanding. An Jing joking around was one thing, but having other people misread the situation made him genuinely uncomfortable.
“Do you want to be?” The question Canmo Wuhen asked was subtly phrased, yet carried no pressure to answer.
Xia Zichen looked quietly at the screen — at Chenxi and Canmo Wuhen side by side.
He had never told Canmo Wuhen about playing a gender-swapped character, because he had always thought of them as nothing more than friends — or more precisely, people who knew each other online. He had always kept a clear line between the online world and real life, and had no interest in an online relationship. It felt too unreal to him, and he couldn’t bring himself to believe in it. Just as he had said to Shen Yicheng before — he genuinely appreciated Canmo Wuhen. But if the day came when he stopped playing the game, Canmo Wuhen would completely leave his world. That didn’t require any decision from Canmo Wuhen — it was something he had already decided for himself.
So whether he was playing a gender-swapped character — as long as their relationship remained at the level of friendship — wasn’t something that needed to matter. Canmo Wuhen hadn’t asked, and Xia Zichen had no reason to bring it up.
But if the nature of what they had ever underwent a genuine shift, he would have to face this honestly.
Even with all the time they had spent together, he didn’t know where Canmo Wuhen actually stood on the subject of gender-swapped characters. In any online game, there were always some players who felt an aversion to it. He couldn’t guarantee Canmo Wuhen wasn’t one of them. He didn’t want to deceive anyone’s feelings — especially not when love was involved. The weight of that wasn’t something he could carry…
After a moment’s hesitation, Xia Zichen asked obliquely, “Aren’t you worried I might be a guy playing a female character? You’d be leaving yourself open to being laughed at.”
“That’s not important. I only know you as Chenxi — that’s enough. You don’t need to overthink it.” Canmo Wuhen paused, then continued. “Don’t take Shanya Yiyu’s words to heart either. I just found a sufficiently compelling reason to get him to let Zhanming Hall off.”
Canmo Wuhen’s words gave Xia Zichen the sense that something was being held back — something he couldn’t quite read. And perhaps his concerns were unnecessary after all. Canmo Wuhen had simply used him as a convenient pretext.
“Stop overthinking. We’re still friends. Don’t worry.” Canmo Wuhen called in one more DPS and said, “Let’s go in.”
The thing Xia Zichen had already mentally prepared himself to bring up was glossed over by Canmo Wuhen in the most offhand way possible. As if it truly didn’t matter. Or as if Canmo Wuhen simply didn’t want to know.