“Bzzzz…”

Lately, Churan’s phone had been going off a lot, and every time it was Xin Qian.

Today Song Qian didn’t have class either, so he’d come over to hang out again.

When he heard Churan’s phone ring yet again, Song Qian looked absolutely jealous.

“Man, I’m so jealous. Your luck with girls is overflowing. I’m gonna learn from you and become a quiet, beautiful man myself.”

“You could be a basket, sure. As for ‘beautiful man’—try again in your next life…”

Churan glanced at his phone, saw Xin Qian’s name on the screen, and let out a helpless sigh as he shot back. When it came to roasting Song Qian, Churan never pulled his punches.

“Go on, pick it up, pick it up. I won’t interrupt you two discussing your future together,” Song Qian huffed.

Churan spat in his direction. “Her little sister’s missing. She asked me to help keep in touch. The only ‘future’ I’m discussing is kicking your ass.”

“Hello? Sis An.”

Not giving Song Qian a chance to clap back, Churan picked up the call.

“Hey, is this Churan?”

On the other end came Xin Qian’s voice, but she didn’t sound very happy. Yesterday, when Churan passed her the intel on Xin Qian’s sister, she’d been pretty cheerful. How did she flip in just one night?

“Uh… what’s wrong?”

Hearing that off note in her tone, Churan asked, confused.

“It’s about the tutoring job. Actually, the reason my sister ran away from home was because my parents suddenly came back and scolded her. She got pissed and bolted. If my parents hadn’t come back, you being her tutor wouldn’t be a problem. But now that they’re back… I talked to them about it, but they said they want to give you a personal assessment first…”

“…Got it.”

Hearing that, Churan understood exactly what was bothering her. Xin Qian had already thrown him the olive branch, but now an extra hurdle popped up halfway. Whether he could grab that olive branch or not depended on his own ability.

Both ends of the line went quiet for a few seconds. Then Churan broke the awkward silence.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Mm. This is as far as I can help. My parents are really strict.”

He heard Xin Qian sigh quietly on the other side. He knew she genuinely wanted to pave the road for him, but the conditions were too harsh. This was all she could do.

“It’s more than enough. Thank you, Sis An.”

Even though he hadn’t really done anything for her yet, she’d already gone all out for his future. Churan was deeply grateful.

“Okay. In a couple of days I’ll send someone to pick you up. How’s my sister today?”

From her tone, he could tell Xin Qian still had a lot on her plate, but nothing urgent. Right now, the runaway Lengjiang was clearly the priority.

“Xiao Leng’s with me. She says she’s doing fine.”

Churan said while his hands moved over the keyboard.

“Mm, I’ll leave her in your care then. I’ve got to get back to work.”

With that, Xin Qian hung up. Her parting words felt a little strange to Churan. On the surface it was just a normal sentence, but there was something… off about it.

He set his phone down and looked back at the screen.

Lengjiang was the same as always, running dungeons and doing quests with him. After that long, grinding road of leveling, Churan had finally hit max level and unlocked the “True Newbie” experience.

“Bzzzz…”

His phone buzzed again. He put down the mouse, picked up the phone, and checked the caller ID.

He assumed it would be Xin Qian. They had just talked, but she was a busy person—maybe she’d forgotten to mention something.

But when he saw the number, his brain just flatlined.

It wasn’t Xin Qian.

It wasn’t his aunt, his uncle, or his cousin.

The person calling was someone he’d never have guessed in a million years.

Because the caller was—

Shen Junyao.

“Bzz… bzz…”

Churan stared blankly at the screen, not answering. The ringtone kept going.

Song Qian heard the phone ring for an oddly long time with no one picking up, so he curiously turned his head.

“What’s wrong? Pick up, man.”

He set his own mouse down and leaned over, nosy as ever. This guy had to stick his nose into everything, no matter how trivial.

When he saw the three big characters on the screen, he froze too. Then he quietly slunk back to his own computer, pretending nothing had happened.

“Hey… what did you do this time?”

Seeing that guilty look on his face, Churan narrowed his eyes at him. If Song Qian was this twitchy, it meant he’d exposed something at school again. Otherwise, how would two people who’d gone their separate ways end up reconnecting like this?

Honestly, Churan really didn’t want to take this call. But if he didn’t… wasn’t that basically slapping her in the face?

He and Shen Junyao had gone their separate ways a long time ago. If her grudge was really that deep, the only place she could come pick a fight now… was in-game.

But if Shen Junyao found out that “He Yucheng” was really him, then what?

He’d been stuck in the hospital this whole time and never revealed his real-life info in-game. So the one who’d exposed him…

Under Churan’s stare, Song Qian’s scalp started tingling, but he still forced himself to calmly keep playing, pretending he hadn’t noticed anything.

Which only made Churan more certain this idiot was behind it.

“Beep…”

Because he took too long, Shen Junyao’s call cut off on its own.

At first, Churan wondered if she’d dialed the wrong number. But with Song Qian’s reaction factored in, it looked more like she’d called him on purpose.

If she was just calling to chew him out, even if he answered he’d just hang up without hesitation. He had zero interest in being anyone’s punching bag.

After a short while, the phone stayed silent.

Churan put it down. Looked like she really had dialed the wrong—

“Bzzzz…”

Just as he set it down, Shen Junyao’s name popped up again.

He was speechless. He hesitated, unsure whether to answer.

“Just pick up. I don’t think they’d be bored enough to call you just to flame you,” Song Qian muttered from the side, like he couldn’t stand watching anymore.

Churan gave him a flat look. Song Qian immediately turned his head away, guilty as sin. Yeah, it was definitely his doing.

Even though he really didn’t want to, Churan felt like he still had to take this call. She was giving him face by calling. If he refused twice, it would say more about his character than hers.

Because of certain things in the past, his relationship with Shen Junyao had basically reached a water-and-fire-can’t-mix level.

But after that request last time, once the job was done, things between Shen Junyao, Li Xiu-jie (Solitude, Sorrow) and He Yucheng hadn’t exactly improved—but at least the hostility had eased.

If the two of them found out that He Yucheng was actually him…

Who knew where the plot would go from there.

No use overthinking it. For now, he’d just have to bite the bullet and pick up.

“…Hello.”

Churan answered in a small voice. Since this was all Song Qian’s mess, he turned on speaker mode on purpose, just to see how Song Qian would react.

“Churan, I didn’t expect you to really be He Yucheng.”

Shen Junyao’s voice was still that same cold tone that always rubbed him the wrong way. Not surprising. They’d had that whole mess in the past, and their relationship had been frozen ever since. Strictly speaking, both sides had handled things badly back then.

But the past was already past. After this call, at least they could completely cut things clean.

“Mm.”

Churan didn’t say much. Whether or not it was Song Qian who exposed him, both of them knew the answer.

“So, what did you call me for this time?”

He asked even though he knew the question was pointless. If she’d gone this far as to call, it was probably to issue some kind of challenge.

Fine. They’d settle it in the game. Anything else would be pushing it.

“Nothing much. There isn’t really anything to say.”

This kind of call was awkward from the start. Their relationship was already pretty thin. Calling like this was basically just to let both sides walk out of the shadow.

“In the Sovereignty War, I won’t hold back. Good luck.”

Shen Junyao wasn’t the type to sugarcoat anything. For her, this was already a huge concession.

Churan only smiled. Her words carried a lot of meaning—including a very clear “this is where we cut ties,” which was exactly what he wanted too.

“Mm. I’ll send that right back at you.”

As soon as he finished, Shen Junyao hung up.

Churan put his phone down and lifted his head, staring at Song Qian with a blank face.

Song Qian coughed awkwardly. “Don’t look at me. They’d already figured it out. They just came to me to confirm.”

“…”

Churan didn’t respond. The attitude on that call had made everything clear. In real life, there’d be no more connection between them. In the game, they’d only exist as enemies on opposing sides.

As long as no one crossed the line, they’d just be strangers to each other.

And that was enough. No more obligations. No more restraints.

Both of them had taken a step back and let everything go.

“What’s wrong, having an existential crisis? Or are you regretting it now?”

Seeing him sit there motionless, this punchable idiot, Song Qian, silently drifted back in front of his face.

Churan nearly jumped out of his skin. He reached under the quilt and pulled out a fly swatter.

“Smack!”

“Damn! Why the hell do you carry a fly swatter on you?!”

“If I left it in front of you, how would I hit you with it…”

“…”

Song Qian had no comeback. He could only admit defeat. “Okay, okay, I can’t out-talk you. But are you really sure about it? The contract and all.”

By signing Xin Qian’s contract, Churan was basically agreeing to change his entire life.

He’d be working out of province, living out of province. With his frail body, who knew if the climate alone would knock him flat?

“Yeah. It’s the only thing I can do. If I stay here, even if the illness doesn’t kill me, I’ll suffocate sooner or later.”

Churan’s voice was serious. Seeing that his mind was made up, Song Qian didn’t say anything more.

“All right then. I’ll come visit you when I can. Just don’t forget me once you’ve got a wife.”

“…”

“Wait—bro, my bad, my bad, put the fly swatter down…”

“You’re a giant fly. What else am I supposed to hit with a fly swatter if not you?”

“Stop… stop… aaagh!”

------Split Line---------

After chapter 55, Volume Two begins…

(Feels like a myocardial infarction.)