Chapter 214: Return

After hearing what he said, Nan Yu blinked. Right, how had he not thought of that? Once he went back, he would mention it to Yu Lanfeng.

Wait, Yu Lanfeng wasn't just a Marshal. He was also a businessman whose wealth rivaled that of the entire Empire. He had investments in all kinds of companies and owned many large companies himself. In particular, there was the new game they had been developing and so on. All of those things burned through enormous amounts of money.

If even the two of them could think of something like this, would Yu Lanfeng really not have thought of it? So perhaps he had already considered it long ago and simply hadn't shown it...

Hold on. Nan Yu suddenly realized that Yu Lanfeng had never actually talked to him about his finances. It wasn't as though Nan Yu wanted his property, but...

Forget it. Maybe it was because they had been so busy with matters at the border recently. They had been far, far too busy to discuss something so complicated, so it had simply slipped his mind for the time being.

Nan Yu felt that he shouldn't think too much about it. Thinking too much could easily lead to misunderstandings. He should just wait. Yu Lanfeng wasn't the kind of person who was so stingy and miserly that he wouldn't even discuss money with him.

Besides, maybe he was waiting until they got engaged to talk about it.

Speaking of which, Nan Yu suddenly remembered that after New Year's this year, he would officially become an adult. Then he could get engaged to Yu Lanfeng... and after they got engaged...

He didn't know whether his thoughts had simply slipped beyond his control, but he involuntarily remembered those nights when the two of them had huddled together under the covers and helped each other out.

Nan Yu's face flushed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal. After all, doing intimate things was perfectly ordinary and normal for two people who had already become partners, wasn't it? What was there to be embarrassed about?!

Yang Zhou leaned closer to him. "Nan Yu, what's wrong? You look a little strange."

Nan Yu waved his hand. "Nothing. I just thought of something. You're still in school right now, but graduation isn't that far away. Have you ever thought about what you want to do after you graduate?"

Yang Zhou immediately collapsed onto the sofa. "Me? I guess this is pretty much all I'll ever amount to in this life. I'm no good at anything. Grandpa once tried to teach me how to do business, but when he realized I had absolutely no talent for it, he gave up."

"Of course, at first he still thought he could hire other people to manage the company and let me enjoy myself. But what he never expected was that once those people learned Grandpa intended to leave everything to me, they actually started thinking, 'If I can't have it, then you won't get it either,' and kept causing trouble."

"Grandpa's entire life's work disappeared just like that. Fortunately, in the end, he still left all the money to me. Before he died, he told me to live comfortably and not force myself to do things I wasn't good at, or else one day I might not even be able to maintain the life I have now..."

Nan Yu said, "Is that so? Then... don't you want to work a little harder and close the distance between you and him? If you did, there probably wouldn't be as much resistance to the two of you being together, right?"

As soon as he said this, Yang Zhou fell silent against the sofa. His gaze became slightly unfocused, and Nan Yu couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Nan Yu didn't interrupt him. He simply sat quietly beside him and waited for him to speak.

About ten minutes later, Yang Zhou took a deep breath before saying in a somewhat heavy voice, "He and I... aren't suitable for each other."

Nan Yu looked up at him but said nothing.

Yang Zhou said, "He and I aren't suitable for each other."

He repeated it again.

Nan Yu still didn't speak. Yang Zhou's eyes were lost as he talked, as though he were speaking to Nan Yu, yet also as though he were saying these words to himself.

Yang Zhou said, "He's the Crown Prince, the person who's going to inherit this Empire in the future, while I... what am I?"

Nan Yu remained silent.

Yang Zhou said, "I'm nothing more than a Low-Tier Mental Power User. If I want to become his partner and stand beside him, then at the very least, I have to become a Mid-Tier Mental Power User."

"Just look at the current Emperor and Empress. The Empress is also a Mid-Tier Mental Power User, but even that is merely the most basic requirement."

"After all, the Empress has an outstanding younger brother like Marshal Yu, while I... my relatives can't do anything except hurt me!"

At this point, Yang Zhou gave a mocking laugh. "Even if we take ten thousand steps back and say I really did end up with him, those relatives of mine would definitely spare no effort trying to squeeze benefits out of me. And if I refused, they'd pull every dirty trick imaginable until they dragged me down from that position."

Nan Yu asked, "So you're going to give up?"

Yang Zhou's reaction was far calmer than Nan Yu had expected.

Yang Zhou said, "Nan Yu, what else can I do except give up?"

"Tell me, what could possibly change if I refused to give up? Neither he nor I has the right to decide."

Nan Yu vaguely thought of how Yuan Qiyang was still only the Crown Prince. As the Crown Prince, he currently had to consider the attitude of a Marshal like Yu Lanfeng, let alone when facing the Emperor and Empress.

He simply had no power to resist them at all, much less Yang Zhou.

Nan Yu thought about the Nianshen Grass he possessed, but... he definitely couldn't let Yang Zhou know he had it right now. Otherwise...

If his current strength were exposed, there probably wouldn't be anyone capable of taking the Nianshen Grass away from him, but... at the same time, he would lose his freedom.

It wasn't that he never intended to let the Empire know about his situation. He simply wanted to wait a little longer. Surely delaying it just a little wouldn't be a problem?

He was only in his teens and hadn't even reached adulthood yet. He didn't want to live a life where he was constantly monitored and followed everywhere. He still wanted to travel through the vast sea of stars together with the person he loved.

He wanted to live freely, rather than being confined to one tiny place every day, forbidden from going here or there. That was why he couldn't let Yang Zhou know yet.

Nan Yu knew he was being somewhat selfish, but... he still didn't want to tell Yang Zhou about this so soon. What he could do for him right now was... encourage him.

In fact, if Yang Zhou truly backed down before he had even faced any of those difficulties, then... even if Nan Yu reached out and helped him now, it would ultimately be meaningless.

Nan Yu asked him again, "Yang Zhou, are you really planning to give up now?"

The relationship between Yang Zhou and Yuan Qiyang wasn't even known to anyone except Nan Yu and Yu Lanfeng. In other words, their relationship hadn't been exposed at all yet.

Yet before their relationship had even been exposed, Yang Zhou was already pessimistically imagining all the hardships they would face in the future, and was even considering abandoning their relationship because of hardships that existed only in his imagination.

It was obvious from this that Yang Zhou had very little confidence in his relationship with Yuan Qiyang. The future the two of them were supposed to face together hadn't even begun, yet one of them was already giving up.

Yang Zhou's lips moved. Perhaps he wanted to say that he would give up, but for some reason, he pressed his lips tightly together, as though making one final resistance.

Silence lingered in the air for a long time.

Finally, Yang Zhou said hoarsely, "I don't want to give up..."

After saying that, he covered his face with both hands and turned away, unwilling to let Nan Yu see his sorrowful, despairing expression.

"I... I don't want to either... I don't want to... Nan Yu... I really don't want to..."

He cried as he spoke. Just hearing his voice was enough to tell how desperate he was.

Nan Yu's heart ached as well. He clenched his fists tightly, forcibly suppressing the urge to tell Yang Zhou about the Nianshen Grass.

He gently hugged Yang Zhou from behind.

"Everything will be all right. Why don't you just let things take their natural course? Maybe things aren't as terrible as you imagine."

"Give it a try, Yang Zhou. Just give it a try. Don't be afraid to even try. Give it a try, okay? Just try!"

Nan Yu didn't know how long Yang Zhou cried before his tears finally stopped, but he knew Yang Zhou must still be hurting inside. He didn't say anything and simply sat quietly beside him until Yang Zhou had completely returned to his usual self.

Only then did Nan Yu look at him. "How do you feel?"

With reddened eyes, Yang Zhou looked at Nan Yu with complete seriousness.

"I'll give it a try!"

"Nan Yu, I want to try. Actually, I'm really unwilling to accept this too. Why can't it be me? Why the hell can't I?"

"What we have is real. I love him very much, and he loves me very much too."

"Although I don't know why someone with his status would ever fall for me, that's simply the truth. Instead of obsessing over why, I might as well let things take their natural course."

After saying that, he looked at Nan Yu again.

"You're right. Sometimes it's really enough to just let things happen naturally. As for those things that might happen in the future, I'll deal with them when they actually happen. Thinking about all of it now is nothing more than scaring myself."

Seeing that Yang Zhou's expression had relaxed considerably, Nan Yu knew he truly meant what he was saying rather than merely telling himself lies to convince himself.

Nan Yu also breathed a sigh of relief. "It's good that you've figured it out."

Perhaps because he had thoroughly vented his emotions just now, Yang Zhou was in a much better mood. He even took out two gaming helmets.

"Come on. You haven't logged in for a long time. Go take a look at your guild. Fortunately, before you left, you made me the vice guild leader. Otherwise, there really would've been a lot of things about the guild that couldn't be changed."

Nan Yu was also somewhat eager to see his guild. After all, he hadn't logged in for several months, and he had no idea how the guild had developed during that time.

He took the gaming helmet, and the two of them returned to the room, lay down on the bed, put on their helmets, and entered the game.

The first thing Nan Yu did was open his guild interface.

To his surprise, the guild had already reached Level Six!

Hadn't it only been Level Two when he left? Or was it Level Three?

Everyone knew that leveling a guild became increasingly difficult at the higher levels. Yet in just a few short months, they had managed to reach Level Six. It was obvious how hard everyone in the guild had been working.

He then checked the guild mission panel. Apart from the basic contribution mission and reward he had previously set up, two additional missions had appeared beneath it.

Rewards had been configured for completing them. One was a daily mission, while the other was a weekly mission that could only be completed once each week.

The weekly mission was actually rather surprising. It was a mission to kill red-name players. Anyone who killed ten red-name players within one week could receive one thousand credits.

That's right—the weekly mission directly paid out credits!

If someone completed all four weekly missions in a month, they could earn four thousand credits, and that wasn't even counting the rewards from the two daily missions above.

Anyone who joined his guild could potentially earn far more each month than a manager at a major corporation!

More importantly, everyone in this guild was an absolute gaming expert!

At that moment, the guild channel was already bustling.

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "Everyone, look over here! Our esteemed guild leader, who's been missing for several months, has finally returned! Everyone come to the guild headquarters and meet our guild leader!"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "..."

Big Brother: "Whoa! The guild leader is back! You've been missing for months. Where did you go? Every time we asked the vice guild leader, he refused to tell us anything, but we all knew he actually knew! He just wouldn't tell us, so we're going to complain to the guild leader about him!"

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "Hahahaha!! Complaining won't do you any good! Do you know what kind of relationship I have with the guild leader? You think you guys can compare?"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "I'm here. Where's the guild leader? Ah... I see him."

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "All right, stop messing around. If you're free, hurry back. Especially the newer members who haven't met the guild leader yet. Come back and let's all get together."

Against the Current 【Vice Guild Leader】: "Oh, right. Everyone needs to know that every single gold coin in our guild account was topped up by the guild leader. Remember to cling tightly to our great guild leader's thigh! He's even richer than I am, richer, richer, richer!!!"

Big Brother: "!"

Second Brother: "!"

Third Brother: "!"

Fourth Brother: "!"

Fifth Brother: "!"

Sixth Brother: "!"

Little Brother: "Coming, coming!"

Night Walker: "Coming."

Illegal Intrusion: "I'm in a dungeon. I'll come back after I finish."

Long Wind Across the Sky: "I won't be coming back. I'm hunting down a red-name player right now, so it'll probably take a while. You guys don't need to wait for me."

Starry Sky Stars: "Checking in. Coming right back."

I Am the Hero: "Roger, roger. Coming back now."

Miss Treasure: "This Queen has arrived!"

Above You: "Mm."

Nan Yu counted them. There were sixteen in total, not a single one missing.

No, that wasn't right. Long Wind Across the Sky wasn't coming, which meant fifteen of them would be gathering shortly.

Nan Yu didn't have to wait long. In the meantime, he also checked Yang Zhou's level and his long list of achievements.

"I have to say, you're seriously impressive. Have you spent the past few months living inside this game or something?"

Yang Zhou's gaze darted away slightly. "Oh, come on, I couldn't help it. I was seriously bored. You weren't at school, and I don't have anyone there I'm particularly close to. The other people in class who approached me weren't actually trying to become friends with me. Every time they came over, they just asked about you. Eventually, I got sick of it. I figured I'd rather stay by myself. It's much more peaceful."

"After coming back here, I didn't have anyone to talk to either, so I logged into the game. I could have fun and kill time at the same time. I've been training together with these guys, and now I'm practically half a gaming expert myself!"

Nan Yu smiled slightly. "There's nothing wrong with liking games. By the way, have you guys heard that the game is going to release a new dungeon?"

Yang Zhou blinked. "We've heard about it, but there still aren't any concrete details. They've only said it'll probably come out sometime next year."

Nan Yu said, "Of course I know. The Marshal previously brought me over to test a simple version of it. But what I tried was only a test version and was very basic. I'm sure that once the real thing comes out, it'll be far more impressive than what I saw back then."

Yang Zhou exclaimed, "Whoa! So when the Marshal came and took you away before, he really brought you to play the new dungeon? Can you tell me about it?"

Nan Yu shook his head. "No."

Yang Zhou asked, "Why? You have to keep it secret even from me?"

Nan Yu said, "It has to be kept secret from everyone. I can't talk about something like this carelessly. Besides, once I tell someone, it won't be a secret anymore."

Yang Zhou suddenly changed the subject. "By the way, when are you and the Marshal getting married?"

Nan Yu said, "That? When I..."

Wait!

Why the hell was he asking that?!

That was close, way too close. He had almost blurted out, "When I become an adult."

Seriously, that had been dangerous.

He rolled his eyes. "Why are you asking about that?"

Yang Zhou said, "You and the Marshal really suit each other. You're seriously such a perfect match that even I can't help wanting to give you my blessing."

Nan Yu blinked. He felt that Yang Zhou's words carried some hidden meaning, but he didn't bother arguing about it. After all, Yang Zhou was still feeling somewhat down.

Fortunately, the guild members soon returned to the guild headquarters.

There was a teleportation array at the headquarters, and only the sixteen members of their guild could use it to teleport back. No one else could use it.

Nan Yu saw those "brothers"—the six older brothers and one younger brother—and afterward, several new members he had never met arrived one after another.

It seemed like some things had changed, but Nan Yu didn't care about that. What he cared about was the current membership of his guild. As for those who had been there before, there was nothing wrong with parting on good terms.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Everyone except Long Wind Across the Sky is here, right? Actually, I called everyone back this time just so we could have a small gathering and let those who don't know me get to know me."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "To help us get a little closer, I've decided to send out some red packets in the guild for you guys to grab. There are sixteen of you in total, so I'll set each red packet to ten shares. I'll send ten rounds in total, with ten thousand gold coins in each round. How much you get depends on your luck and how fast your hands are, okay?"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Hey, hey, hey! Wait a damn minute! You're seriously sending red packets behind my back?! No way, no way! I want in too!"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "What about the red-name player you're chasing?"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "It's fine. He went into a dungeon. I'm keeping an eye on him, so he can't get away!"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Fine, you can join in too. Like I said, how much you get depends on your luck, and whether you get anything at all depends on how fast your hands are."

Nan Yu sent out the first gold-coin red packet.

The ten people who successfully grabbed a share were quickly revealed. Three were among the seven brothers. Of the remaining seven, six were among the six newer members, while the last was Long Wind Across the Sky.

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Yeah, yeah, yeah!! I got the most! More than four thousand gold coins! Yeah, yeah, yeah!"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "All right, the second one's coming. Everyone, get ready."

He quickly finished sending all ten red packets.

Some people had slower hands and failed to grab anything from the first six. During the final four rounds, those who had already gotten something from the first six deliberately stopped competing, leaving the remaining shares to those who hadn't managed to get anything.

In the end, everyone was happy.

And seriously, Long Wind Across the Sky's luck was absurdly good. There were ten red packets, and even though he didn't compete for the last four, he still managed to grab twenty-nine thousand of the hundred thousand gold coins all by himself.

The exchange rate between gold coins and credits in the game was 1:1. Although cashing out gold coins required a 5% transaction fee, that was still a considerable amount of money.

The corner of Nan Yu's mouth curved upward.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Well? How was it?"

Even the person who received the least had gotten three thousand gold coins. Of course, because the difference was so large, Nan Yu privately sent that person another small red packet containing five thousand gold coins.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Everyone familiar with me now?"

"We sure are, Boss!"

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Starry eyes! Boss, do you need another leg pendant? Pick me, pick me!"

Treasure Girl: "Oh my, Boss, what do you think of me? I'm pretty, you know. I could even warm your bed if you want."

Starry Sky Stars: "Whoa, Treasure, you really are a treasure. Don't you know our great guild leader already has someone? Be careful his other half doesn't beat you to death."

Treasure Girl: "Huh? Really? But I'm so pretty and adorable. Is there really a man out there who could bear to beat me to death?"

Above You: "You can try."

Treasure Girl: "Never mind. For some reason, I suddenly feel a chill down my back. Even though we're inside a game, a woman's sixth sense is still very accurate, so I'll believe you guys for now."

Afterward, everyone looked at Nan Yu.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Mm... I really do have a partner. I'm not lying to you about that. But I can't tell you who it is yet. I can bring him over for you guys to meet in the future, though."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "There's one more thing. Because of my identity and profession, there's a good chance I'll suddenly disappear for several months at a time in the future. I hope you guys won't forget me by the time I log in again. Of course, it doesn't matter if you do. Every time I come back, I'll send you red packets, so that way you'll all remember me."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "All right. I called everyone here today just so we could get acquainted. If you have any questions, you can ask now. If it's something I can answer, I'll answer."

Night Walker: "Guild Leader, if you won't be online very often, does that mean the vice guild leader will have complete responsibility for managing the guild?"

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Yes. He's a friend of mine in real life, and I trust him a lot. I'm comfortable leaving the guild in his hands. Of course, there's no way every decision he makes by himself can be one hundred percent correct every single time, so that's where all of you need to offer your opinions. After all, you're among the people who understand this game best."

He then looked toward Yang Zhou.

Against the Current: "That's what I've been doing all along. Don't worry."

Night Walker nodded. "The vice guild leader really does do that. Whenever there's something he doesn't understand, he asks us, and when he sets up guild contribution missions, he takes our opinions into consideration too."

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "That's good. This guild belongs to all of us. I hope everyone will maintain it together and offer plenty of suggestions. If something isn't good, we'll improve it. From now on, this guild will be your home in the game. I hope it can always remain a good place for everyone."

Nan Yu said a few more things and answered several questions. The atmosphere was quite pleasant.

These gaming experts obviously wouldn't want a guild leader who had nothing but money and knew nothing about the game constantly interfering with everything.

Someone like Nan Yu was just right.

After their initial probing, they were completely reassured. This wealthy big shot was obviously extremely busy in real life and didn't have much time to log in. He even left management of the guild entirely to the vice guild leader.

Just as Nan Yu was about to bring the conversation to an end, a cry for help suddenly appeared in the guild channel.

Long Wind Across the Sky: "Holy fucking shit! Someone ambushed me! They're camping my corpse!"

Night Walker: "Send coordinates."

A set of coordinates quickly appeared in the guild channel.

From South to North 【Guild Leader】: "Let's go. He's very strong. If they managed to ambush him successfully, they must have planned this in advance. Let's go see who it is. Don't worry about anything. If something happens, I'll take responsibility."

Everyone immediately left the guild headquarters and headed toward the coordinates.