If loving you could be like my weapon that 'never wears out', then no matter how time passes, the affection I have for you would not lose its durability. But reality has told me that between us, we lost to time.
...
In the three years of high school, I was always searching for the meaning of freedom. In the autumn of 2009, I graduated successfully. Although my college entrance exam results were not ideal at all, the whole grade failed completely, which was somewhat comforting. At that time, I understood why teachers often sighed to us: "You kids today are worse than the previous generation when it comes to studying."
While studying, I always felt there was no freedom. After graduation, I realized how terrifying it was to have too much unstructured time. Later, I decided to continue my studies and enrolled in a junior college.
In the blink of an eye, it was October, and I should go to school for registration. We freshmen were supposed to undergo military-style management for a few days after registration. Maybe because I'm not good at hard work, I went home after picking up my camouflage uniform and slept through the tough and unrewarding military training.
Suddenly, a classmate called me. It turned out that he wanted to invite me to play "Dream Westward Journey" again. I had played this game before but only superficially. After some classmates' equipment was washed away, I quit. Now that we're college students, in my impression, university students always have endless time to surf the internet. If I don't find something to play, I'd be betraying this identity. So I replied: "Alright, see you at the internet cafe."
In less than half the time it takes to burn incense, we gathered at the internet cafe, recharged our cards, and turned on the computers.
"You look for the server, let me know when you're done, and I'll create the character," I said and started messing with my QQ.
He fiddled around for a while and chose Liangfeng River in Guangxi's second zone.
After deciding, it took just a few minutes to create two new NetEase accounts and two new characters in "Dream Westward Journey." His shameless nickname was "One Night of Soul Loss," so if he can have a night of soul loss, I'll have a soul lost for one night. We both chose the same character and profession - Sword Hero, apprenticing under Cheng Yaojin of Tang Dynasty.
Because we had played before, we leveled up quite fast. In just two days, we reached level 59, also confirming that college life is indeed free and easy. This game is divided into stages, usually ending with a '9'. Levels 59, 69, 89, 109, 129, 138, 144, and 155 (the top level) each have their own group of enthusiasts. The higher you go, the more money it costs, and the top levels are mostly RMB warriors or proxy groups.
We commoners should be content with reaching level 69, and I like level 69. There are many people here, making it easier to form teams for activities. This is a very conflicting stage, with both proletarians and capitalists being relatively numerous. It's a rather bizarre stage because many weapons and equipment without level restrictions are found here. These items are luxuries. A piece of equipment costing tens of thousands of RMB isn't uncommon, but since it's still a low level, many proletarians linger here.
We belong to the proletariat, so we dare not aspire to too high a level. Entertainment is enough. Every day, we do small activities and catch little ghosts. We stayed at level 59 just to store experience points to reach level 69, which was our destination. He had already started looking for equipment suitable for level 69, while I was focused on gaining experience. Our common point was that we were both addicted, living a life of "seclusion from the world." I'm not sure whether I should thank this university life or hate it. Perhaps at the time, we thought it was something to be grateful for.
A week passed quickly, and I felt it was time to start getting equipment. On a quiet night, we still couldn't find a reason or the mood to sleep, continuing our online battle. He bought the first set of weapon books and iron for level 60 use.
"I know someone who can forge weapons," I smirked at him.
"Call him to help me!" He looked at me lecherously.
I thought, this guy even wants to save on forging fees. Wait until he produces a piece of garbage, and you'll be troubled all night. You won't be "One Night of Soul Loss" anymore; you'll be called "One Night of Troubles." Getting it forged by someone professional still costs a bit of money. This friend of mine, whom I met online, learned the skill of forging weapons. Once, I posted a message in the world chat asking for someone to forge weapons for free, and he eagerly volunteered. I just happened to ask him, and thus we became friends. That time, he forged me a national standard (as ordinary as it gets) weapon, leaving me "troubled all night." His purpose in forging weapons for free was merely to improve his forging proficiency. Many say the higher the proficiency, the greater the chance of forging a good weapon. I glanced at this ordinary weapon forger, who happened to be online, and he gladly accepted the job without any profit. A few seconds later, he set up a stall outside the blacksmith shop with the words "Free Forging" prominently displayed. My buddy beside me couldn't wait to click on the stall, select the corresponding forging level, and place the prepared book and iron in the appropriate positions. Surprisingly, he chose to enhance the forging process. His hand trembled slightly but still clicked. Forging is divided into regular forging and enhanced forging. Regular forging is simply the forger crafting the weapon, while enhanced forging involves the forger crafting the weapon, and the system automatically places the weapon in the blacksmith shop. You need to buy enhancement stones as materials and then exchange them with the blacksmith shop owner to retrieve the weapon. Buying enhancement stones costs a bit of money. However, judging by the names alone, enhanced forging has a much higher chance of producing a good weapon compared to regular forging, although miracles aren't impossible. Occasionally, regular forging can produce better weapons than enhanced forging, depending on your luck.
"Haha, looks like you're going to be troubled all night tonight," I laughed, leering at him.
"Tch~" He gave me a blank stare in response.
He quickly posted a message in the world channel to collect enhancement stones, receiving replies from many players within seconds. A few enhancement stones were traded into his bag, and his hundreds of thousands of MHB (game currency) were transferred to others' bags. He impatiently handed over the enhancement stones to the blacksmith shop owner and retrieved his Dragon Sword. He casually bought a charm to appraise the weapon, catching my attention. I wondered what kind of attributes the weapon would have once he clicked it. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, perhaps due to excitement, anticipation, or even a bit of fear. His hand trembled as he accidentally clicked off-target, missing the weapon.
"Shit, click it already!" I urged, eager to see what junk would appear.
He clicked the charm again, steadying himself this time. Then he clicked the sword. The moment it registered, his mouse immediately moved away. I didn't get a chance to see the attributes, and I guessed neither did he. Perhaps this time he was afraid, fearing disappointment.
"Shit, hurry up and check the weapon! What kind of junk is it?" I exclaimed impatiently.
That guy slowly moved his mouse towards the weapon. When he clicked it, both of us stared wide-eyed. The damage and accuracy combined made it an exceptionally rare weapon.
"Shit, treat me to a late-night snack!" My first reaction.
"Haha..." He was extremely excited, shaking my shoulders so violently I almost got a concussion.
"Fuck you, treat me to a late-night snack!" I said, slightly annoyed.
"Alright..." He agreed with a blissful expression, which was surprisingly rare for him.
We left the internet cafe and headed to a late-night snack stall. Along the way, he chattered incessantly like he had found gold, but I was distracted, barely listening to a full sentence. I hadn't felt this sour feeling in years, maybe because of envy and jealousy. It was so unfair, truly unfair. But what could be done? Reality was right there, and we had to accept it.
"A good weapon makes a great Tang Dynasty warrior." He cheerfully said a line I heard perfectly, though it was probably the one I shouldn't have heard. At that moment, I hesitated, retreating easily.
"I've found Tang Dynasty boring. I'm not playing it anymore. I want to try something else." Even I couldn't detect the confidence in my voice.
I was glad he smiled without saying anything, perhaps because he didn't hear clearly or because I never actually said it aloud. Three fictitious identities posing as brigadier generals defrauded funds and were sentenced.
Regardless of whether I said it or not, since I had no confidence in playing Tang Dynasty, it was best to switch professions early. The next morning, I rushed to the internet cafe alone. The phrase "a good weapon makes a great Tang Dynasty warrior" echoed in my mind. Tang Dynasty is a purely violent profession, mainly relying on high-damage weapons to grant it violent power. I needed to avoid it, so I chose the most frustrating profession for this role - the sealing class! Sealing classes generally have high defense and speed, restricting opponents into abnormal states, thereby slowly torturing them to death. However, sealing classes can't easily slaughter high-output factions. A single failure to seal an opponent might result in death under the opponent's blade. Sealing classes are divided into Daughter Village, Fangcun Mountain, Panshilin, Tian Palace, and Wu Zhuangguan. Daughter Village and Panshilin only accept women, and I didn't want to be mocked as a cross-dresser, so I avoided these two factions. The best team for activities would be Wu Zhuangguan. Using their skills, monsters can be considered dead once sealed. I resolutely chose Wu Zhuangguan, which would facilitate future team activities with that guy. Thinking about it, I seemed to regain a bit of confidence. In less than half a minute, a new NetEase user was born, and within a minute, a new character in "Dream Westward Journey" appeared.
Characters eligible to join Wu Zhuangguan could choose either the Dragon Prince or the Divine Heavenly Soldier. From the public's perspective, the Dragon Prince is millions of times more handsome than the Divine Heavenly Soldier. Perhaps due to a bit of inferiority complex or wanting to give myself a unique vibe, I insisted on choosing the Divine Heavenly Soldier. Nicknames in the game cannot be duplicated, yet my nickname remained "Soul Lost for One Night," just with an unfamiliar character inserted in the middle.
Over the next two weeks, there seemed to be a gap between him and me. I played my game, and he played his, like water and fire not mixing. However, since we weren't the same level anymore, naturally, they didn't mix. Two days after he obtained that weapon, he reached our ultimate goal of level 69. As for me, I started anew, but reaching level 69 in this game wasn't difficult. Two weeks later, we were fighting side by side again, albeit with my role now changed from output to support.
During my idle moments, I browsed stalls, looking for suitable equipment. My school doesn't rely on a single weapon to determine strength, so I managed to level up without equipment, intending to gradually supplement it later.
On a leisurely noon, after having my fill of food and drink, I wandered through the streets and alleys of the game, hoping to come across something that caught my eye. Walking along, I stopped in front of a "Massive Clearance Sale" stall. Though I didn't have high expectations, I casually clicked through the items one by one. When I reached the seventh item, my eyes lit up. It was a necklace. Both its attributes and price were worth snapping up immediately, but for some reason, I had this mindset that if I could haggle, I could save a couple of silver coins and not waste even half a coin. Immediately, I added the stall owner's ID. It turned out to be someone of the same level, with the nickname "Dumpling."
"Can you make your necklace a bit cheaper?" I eagerly sent him a message.
"Eating, wait a bit to talk," an automatic reply chilled my heart.
I waited cautiously, refraining from impulsively buying the necklace.
Waiting is painful. Five minutes passed, ten, fifteen...
Half an hour later, I checked the stall again. The necklace was still there, with no one snatching it up. Strangely, I felt a bit relieved. I sent another message to "Dumpling": "Are you back yet?"
The automatic reply remained unchanged, giving me the exact same response.
Just as I was about to turn away, the chat bar flashed.
"Okay, how much do you want?" the other side finally responded.
"How much are you willing to sell it for?" I quickly countered, thrilled that I could now bargain after waiting so long.
"You name it."
"Cut it by 200,000, and I'll snap it up for 1,800,000."
"No deal, that's too low."
"It's a fair offer; you're not losing anything."
"Alright, but I have a condition."
"What is it?" I was so excited that I felt like dancing.
"Um, you become my slave for three days."
I sent a glaring emoji and asked, "What do you plan to do?"
"Just for these three days, you follow my orders and do whatever I tell you."
I thought about it. It felt strange, but I couldn't pinpoint why. Anyway, it's virtual, so there's nothing to fear. First things first, securing the necklace was paramount.
"Fine, as long as I can do it, it's okay. Just change the price!"
Within half a minute, the necklace was reduced from 2,000,000 to 1,800,000 (game currency), and I instantly purchased it. Seeing it in my bag, I felt both grounded and exhilarated. At that moment, the chat bar flashed again.
"Starting tomorrow, you're my slave."
"Alright," I decisively replied. Although it might sound embarrassing if word got out, as long as it stayed secret, I had effectively saved 200,000, which made me feel smug. (Later, I realized I didn't just serve her for three days; how long afterward, I'm not sure, and how much longer I'll serve her, I also don't know.)
The next morning, I woke up early and aimlessly wandered through the dreamlike game world, forgetting all about yesterday's events. I don't know how long it had been since she logged on, but suddenly my chat bar flashed, and I opened it to see her message.
"Hello, what are you doing?"
"Bored."
"Come, take me and my friend ghost hunting."
"Alright, hold on." I briefly organized my thoughts and prepared to become a professional ghost-hunting captain.
"Let's meet at the gathering spot."
I found a place to form a team for activities and invited her to gather there.
"Okay, come join my team." She formed a team with her friend and invited me to join.
I searched for her team by name and applied to join. As soon as I clicked apply, she added me to her team, and I noticed her friend was only level 65, obviously a newbie.
She handed over the leadership to me, and I accepted it, becoming the cart driver and pulling them along. If being a slave was this easy, it really wasn't such a big deal.
I focused on pulling my team, while they chatted endlessly. The only thing that intrigued me was their flirtatious conversation, which I could never bring myself to say, let alone any man.
Her friend was also a female character, belonging to the same race but different sects—Dumpling followed the Disciple Sect, while her friend was from the Devil King Sect.
"Are you girls?" I curiously asked.
"Guess!" She ambiguously replied.
"..." I was speechless.
They continued their flirtations.
Actually, encountering real girls in the game is as rare as finding pandas. Most female characters are played by men. I also noticed that Dumpling, despite following the Disciple Sect, added all her stats to strength, making her quite violent. Suddenly, I developed a bit of respect for her.
"Dumpling, what's your QQ number?" I couldn't help but ask.
"None." She coldly replied.
"..." I remained speechless. In this era, not having QQ is almost unheard of unless you're an alien.
"I'll give you one!" I must have been possessed.
"Alright!" She acted convincingly.
So, I gave her a newly registered cool QQ number. Actually, there was no one in that QQ account except for my personal QQ, which I always kept online. Its level was decent, at least with a couple of moons.
Not long after, the QQ lightened up. It must have been her logging in. I excitedly sent her a smiling face via QQ.
"Let's chat in-game!" She coldly replied.
"... Oh," I was speechless.
I returned to the game. They were still chatting intimately, while I silently fulfilled my "slave" duties, diligently pulling them along. Occasionally, I joined their conversations, and gradually, we became familiar. I slowly began to like this "Dumpling," even though I didn't know if she was male or female. My intuition told me she was likely a girl.
Before I knew it, three days of being a cart driver had passed, but I had gotten used to inviting her whenever I engaged in any activity. She never refused, always shamelessly tagging along wherever I went. Slowly, I discovered that my friendship points with her were the highest among all my friends, even surpassing those with "One Night of Soul Loss."
Even after meeting Dumpling, I still accompanied that guy on activities and raids, and he gradually became familiar with her. Later, the three of us would frequently appear in the same team. However, I remained the cart driver, which was inevitable since I chose this profession, destined to pull carts. In this game, auxiliary classes are often discriminated against in many activities because they lack output. Therefore, our fate is usually to pull carts, leading a group of violent individuals to complete tasks we wish to undertake.
Many things, once you get used to them, remain habits. Habits eventually grow on you, and you begin to enjoy them. So, even as a cart driver, I pulled carts happily, carefully completing every task with my team. Moreover, in my team, there were always people I admired and envied, as well as those I liked.
One day, I realized my friendship points with Dumpling were almost reaching 1000. In this "Dream Westward Journey" game, after each battle, you gain 1 friendship point, accumulating over time. The key is that in this game, 1000 friendship points satisfy the conditions for marriage.
"Dumpling, let's get married!" I calmly sought her opinion.
"Alright!" She calmly gave me the answer I wanted.
Thus, I hastily dragged her to the matchmaker NPC and completed the procedures, fearing she might suddenly change her mind. Actually, this was my first time getting married in a game, and I didn't know much about it. Only upon reaching the matchmaker did I realize that getting married requires owning a house and paying a 500,000 game currency fee. My scalp tingled... I didn't own a house yet.
"I'll give you 500,000, go buy a house!" Dumpling must have known my dilemma. Then she threw 500,000 game currency into my bag.
"I want to build our own home!" I wanted to save face.
"Can you?"
"Let's try!"
We exchanged a few simple words, and I rushed to the housing official NPC to start building our wedding house. Clicking on the housing official, I realized I could only build the smallest house—a civilian house! Houses can be categorized into civilian houses, luxurious houses, and mansions. With my current capabilities, I could only build a civilian house. The issue was that I knew absolutely nothing about building houses! Nevertheless, I pressed on, unsure of the material properties required. Whatever he asked for, I bought it for him. Within five minutes, I somehow managed to build a civilian house, but the feng shui was disastrous—"wind ominous, fire strange." Feng shui can be classified as "purple qi coming from the east," "blessings filling the door," "suitable family environment," "water dried stone marsh," "wind ominous fire strange." Clearly, my house-building skills were abysmal! But it would have to suffice, as it was still a house I built myself.
"The house is ready, come to the matchmaker, we can get married now." Excitedly, I informed her, unable to contain my eagerness.
"Okay!" She remained remarkably calm.
In no time, witnessed by the matchmaker, we became husband and wife. The moment fireworks exploded across the sky, for the first time in many years, I experienced a sense of moving emotion, even though it was all virtual. Few attended our wedding, given my limited circle of friends. However, "One Night of Soul Loss" had been waiting half an hour before the matchmaker to receive candy from me.
...
Days passed one by one, and each day, I took my "Dumpling" wife on quests and raids. Those days, my entire life revolved around this dreamlike world.
Until one day, she suddenly said she was going to enlist in the army. My brain instantly buzzed with confusion. She gave a brief explanation, telling me that a friend of hers would continue playing her account, then logged off. Even the QQ number I had given her went dark and never lit up again. She was still as sharp and composed as ever when she left!
Feeling disheartened, I logged off too. For the next two days, I lacked the courage to open "Dream Westward Journey" again, staying in my dormitory, sleeping through day and night.
On the third day, I realized that apart from this game, I had nothing left in my life. Not knowing where to go or who to find, I reopened the game. To my surprise, my "Dumpling" wife was online.
"Good day, Mrs. Dumpling!" I greeted her impulsively, whether out of habit or genuine desire to reconnect.
"... I'm her friend."
"Oh... then where is she?" I still couldn't believe she had really gone to enlist.
"She has matters to attend to and won't be playing anymore." She delivered another unseen blow.
"Oh, will you keep playing from now on?"
"I don't know, I'll play if I have free time! Take me along for activities."
I suddenly felt a warm and even touching sensation.
"Alright," I treated her as usual, dragging her around the world. She shamelessly followed me everywhere. The only difference I noticed was that she now enjoyed flirting with male characters but paid little attention to female ones. Previously, the old Dumpling was always reserved, rarely speaking more than a few words, answering questions with short replies. She only became lively when interacting with her friend.
"Are you a girl?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, sort of." She was more straightforward than her friend.
"Then what about the person who used to play this account?" I casually asked, though it didn't matter much to me now. Sometimes, not knowing the truth might be better, at least leaving room for imagination. Later, I never asked her about the previous Dumpling again.
"No, he just said he liked the Bone Fairy character."
"Uh-huh..."
"Would you marry me?" I suddenly asked her, unsure why.
"Sure, anyway, it's all virtual, not real." She was calm, just like the old Dumpling.
"Alright, ha ha, good day, Mrs. Dumpling!" I shamelessly teased her again.
"Uh... Your name sounds terrible!"
"..."
"From now on, I'll call you Xiao Ye, haha." She seemed quite pleased with herself.
"Alright." Thus, "Soul Lost for One Night," a once fierce and stylish name, became "Xiao Ye," a name with a faintly melancholic tone. Yet, I grew fond of this nickname, as I wasn't particularly outgoing, and perhaps "Xiao Ye" suited me better.
Asking for QQ numbers was a routine procedure, so I wasn't an exception. She generously provided her QQ number. The only exception was that I disliked video chats! Perhaps it was due to a lack of confidence in my appearance or concerns about the other party not being ideal, so I didn't immediately initiate a video call. However, there