Chapter 12: He Qing
Players were allowed to enter instance dungeons once they reached level 25, which meant that Shen Jingbin could now do the same.
In the past when she used to play online games with a keyboard, what she loved doing the most was entering dungeons. This was why she immediately sent a carrier pigeon to Shen Jingchen the moment she hit level 25.
Unfortunately, she didn't receive a reply even after waiting for a long while. She guessed that he was probably still in the dungeon and had his hands full.
Shrugging her shoulders, she opened her control panel to begin her investigation on dungeons.
Even though virtual reality MMORPGS had the words "virtual reality" in them, in the end, they were still online games. This meant that things such as control panels and other system interfaces were a necessity.
To limit the impact on a player's sense of realism to the minimum, the control panel, chat window, quest log, maps, and other windows were usually hidden. When players needed them, they could pull up their desired interfaces by incanting their name.
Inputting characters was done through players thinking about what they wanted to write in the interface.
All these windows took on a translucent appearance and showed up in the top left hand corner of a player's field of vision.
Level 25 players were still considered newbies, so there were a few dungeons available to them. On top of that, they were mostly for EXP1. They weren't all that difficult to complete and they didn't drop any good items. After looking at it for a while, she decided to slowly work her way up from the first dungeon.
Shen Jingbin ran up to the entrance of the first dungeon and squatted in front of it, intent on seeing if there'd be any kind souls who were willing to take her along.
In reality, she'd been far too optimistic.
While waiting, someone who had the appearance of a sweet looking younger sister conceitedly walked in front of her. After casting a glance at Shen Jingbin, she looked as if she'd received a huge shock and cried out, "Oh my god, when did another ugly monster appear! Brother Mao, quickly! Beat her to death! Just looking at her makes me feel disgusted!"
The man who was referred to as "Brother Mao" stepped up, brandishing his broadsword at the person squatting in front of him. He abruptly let out a hearty laugh and said, "Haha, Lil' Rose! This isn't a monster but a player! However, this is definitely my first time seeing such an ugly woman on this earth."
Lil' Rose looked down at Shen Jingbin, shooting her a supercilious look as she said, "Don't try and lie to me Brother Mao, how could a player be this ugly? I'd have committed suicide long ago if I looked like that. I wouldn't terrorize others by showing my face!"
The back and forth between the two was far too unpleasant. Shen Jingbin couldn't help but face them with an expressionless look and retort with her own brand of sarcasm, "People who lack knowledge should shut their mouths to avoid exposing their IQ 2. Aren't people like the two of you the ones who truly deserve to commit suicide as a form of apology?"
Shen Jingbin's comment left Lil' Rose depressed. Raising her eyebrows in anger, she retorted "What did you say?!"
"So not only are you ugly, you're brainless too, huh?" This sentence infuriated the girl to the point where her eyes turned bloodshot.
Brother Mao was furious as well and swung his broadsword, pointing it at her, "You sure have a venomous mouth. Fuck, hurry up and apologise to I, your father. Otherwise, your father will finish you off. Just try me!"
Shen Jingbin patted the hem of her clothes and stood up, absent-mindedly saying, "You're so old, and yet you're still so naive?"
Brother Mao's fury instantly rose to its limit. In his rage, he lifted up his broadsword and chopped downwards. As Shen Jingbin was about to dodge, a "clang" sound was heard, and Brother Mao's sword was stopped dead in its tracks.
The one who stopped him was someone dressed as a Swordmaster.
"Is there really a need to bully low leveled players?"
"Brother He Qing!"
When this person appeared, Lil' Rose immediately shouted out bashfully, her coquettish voice causing Shen Jingbin to break out in goose bumps.
He Qing didn't pay any attention to Lil' Rose. Instead, he turned his head slightly towards Shen Jingbin, looking as if he hadn't even seen Lil' Rose and said in a gentle tone, "I'm sorry, my friend was being too hot-headed. I'll apologize to you in his stead."
Shen Jingbin shrugged her shoulders and said, "No matter, either way he hasn't done anything yet."
He Qing's warm smile remained on his face but he no longer spoke. Suddenly, Shen Jingbin received a friend request from him, causing her to cast a look of doubt at him.
He Qing said, "You look like you're planning on entering this dungeon. It just so happens we're entering one as well; we'll bring you along."
Disinclined to enter a dungeon with Lil' Rose, Shen Jingbin hurriedly waved her hands and rejected, "Forget it, I'm not interested."
Shen Jingbin only accepted He Qing's friend request after noticing his unrelenting gaze, logging off after casually tacking on a throwaway remark.
After the white light she'd transformed into had disappeared, Lil' Rose indignantly asked, "Brother He Qing, what were you doing just now?! That ugly wench actually insulted me. Forget about you not helping me, you even tried to bring her along into the dungeon. What's the meaning of this?"
He Qing gave a smile that wasn't a smile and glanced at the pair who were still fuming and said, "Idiot, that ugly woman is the disciple of White Cloud Temple's Sect Leader. She's very useful!"
After which, he whispered softly, "The two of you almost ruined this fortuitous event of mine."
…
After crawling out from the gaming pod and still engaged in the act of ridiculing the two "geniuses", Lil' Rose and Brother Mao, Shen Jingbin heard the sound of her door being rapped on.
"Please enter."
With a phone in hand, the nanny, Aunt Zhang, poked half her body through the entrance and said, "Little Jingjing, your Granddad is calling."
Rising to receive the telephone, Shen Jingbin quietly gave her thanks to Aunt Zhang and spoke into the phone, "Hello, Granddad."
The voice returned over the phone was one that contained a hint of the vicissitudes of life while still sounding friendly, "Little Jing, Granddad just received an invitation to be part of a judging panel for a competition. Although you don't compete anymore, you can still accompany me for a look. I'll send someone to pick you up when I'm back tomorrow."
"Ok, got it."
"Oh, that's right. Remember to bring that little brat Shen Jingchen along as well. All he knows how to do is play online games everyday, I need to have a nice chat with him about life."
Shen Jingbin's eyes lit up as she said, "Yes! Granddad!"
It looked like there was going to be a nice show for her to see soon.
After hanging up, Shen Jingbin walked out of her room with the phone in her hand and passed it back to Aunt Zhang who was waiting just outside. Behind her was a wall filled with martial arts trophies that were so dazzling, they could practically blind anyone who looked at them.
Aunt Zhang took the phone and cast a glance at the wall behind her out of habit. She silently lamented to herself: Didn't you say that Little Jing from their family is very beautiful and looked like a delicate maiden? Then why does she possess such terrifying skill in martial arts? At this rate, can she still marry out in the future?
Experience ↩ Intelligence Quotient ↩