As the final note fell, the performance of the two came to a halt.
"I feel quite rusty," Tang Xin said. "I missed quite a few scales."
Xu Xiaoyou lowered her gaze, her eyes lingering on the ivory and ebony keys.
"You're right. I don't know why I only thought to find you and apologize now."
"It would have been better if I had come sooner."
"How much sooner?" Tang Xin asked. "Before I stepped onto that stage? Or while I was in my room reading those comments?"
Xu Xiaoyou didn't speak. A white glove gently covered her hand, and she turned her head. Tang Xin was looking at her intently, a complex sense of regret appearing in the young girl's eyes as well.
Tang Xin was sinking into a mire of internal struggle. The words in her heart rose to her throat multiple times, but she didn't have the heart to state her choice to the girl beside her. After a period of psychological battle, she took a deep breath and finally gathered her courage.
"I am still me..."
A sudden movement interrupted her words. Tang Xin's gaze flickered as a faint warmth flowed through her chest. With that head that was usually held high now bowed, the blonde girl's eyes were lowered. Light escaped from those amber-like pupils, and with her back to the moonlight, her entire face was submerged in shadow, her expression unreadable.
"Don't say it."
Tang Xin could clearly feel Xu Xiaoyou's body trembling slightly and her voice, which was so soft it was nearly inaudible.
She seemed like a fallen noble, or perhaps an injured cat.
A complex range of emotions flashed through her eyes. Tang Xin raised her hand, awkwardly responding to this warmth by burying the girl's head in her embrace.
She allowed her own body heat to transfer warmly to the other girl, her voice very gentle.
"If you really are tired after everything, Yuzu..."
"Then take a good rest here with me."
Late at night, Xu Xiaoyou stood before the mirror, ensuring her necktie was meticulously arranged. Only then did she nod and push open the large doors before her.
The banquet was at its peak of excitement. The scene was a mess, with wine bottles scattered everywhere on the floor. A man wearing glasses was calculating data on a blank tactical analysis board. A bare-armed man stood with one foot on a table, arm raised high as he shouted like a captain commanding a fleet, his shirt waving like a naval flag. In the middle of a collapsed champagne tower lay a man dead drunk, while those around him laughed and took commemorative photos.
Players who had been at each other's throats not long ago were now acting like brothers, arms around each other's shoulders, looking for all the world like long-lost friends. Everyone had let go of their grudges and immersed themselves in the atmosphere of revelry. No one noticed the arrival of the blonde girl.
"I'm telling you... hic... I was so amazing at the end. The people from Age of the Dead came... hic... trying to steal our outpost. I hacked my way from the east all the way to the west. Huan-yuyu, I just... hic... slaughtered them all!"
The little red raccoon patted her flat chest, her flushed face full of pride.
"Am I amazing, Meijiu?"
"You're amazing, Meijiu!"
"That's our Meijiu!"
"This guild would really fall apart without you."
"You're telling me..." Akabane said excitedly. "Don't look at me like this. Everyone says I'm silly, but I'm not silly at all. I'm actually quite sharp. Yuzu insisted I be the vice president, and no matter how I tried to refuse, it was no use. I really... hic... didn't have a choice with her!"
As she spoke, Akabane's expression turned to confusion. The guild members who had been cheering for her went silent, silently looking behind her.
Akabane realized something and suddenly felt a chill. She laughed sheepishly, scratched her head, and turned around to find the blonde girl standing behind her with a darkened expression. She didn't know how long she had been watching, but she wore a half-smile that wasn't quite a smile.
"Yuzu, why are you here? Hehe, what a coincidence."
"I thought you weren't coming tonight."
Smelling the scent of alcohol on the girl, Xu Xiaoyou sighed and took Akabane's hand, leading her through the crowd.
"Didn't I say I had a big announcement tonight and told you not to drink?"
"What drinking? I didn't drink. They said it was orange juice!"
For a moment, dangerous glares landed on several guild members. They hurriedly began whistling, looking as if it had nothing to do with them.
"Yuzu, why are you... carrying a... hic... trash can on you?"
Xu Xiaoyou shook her head, then suddenly realized something. She felt a bad premonition, but it was too late. Just as she turned around, she saw the girl tightly clutching her bulging mouth. In the blink of an eye, splashes of rainbow colors flew everywhere, covering her completely. The scene was utterly disastrous.
Xu Xiaoyou pressed a hand to her forehead.
Ignoring the rainbow colors the girl had vomited all over the floor, Xu Xiaoyou supported Akabane to the washroom. She patiently cleaned the remaining filth from the girl's mouth and collar. Then, looking at the rainbow splashes all over herself, she felt a momentary dilemma.
"Oh? Just get back from a date?"
A nonchalant mockery reached her ears. Angelina pinched her nose, surveying her disheveled state.
Seeing Xu Xiaoyou suddenly fall silent with a face that looked none too good, Angelina shrugged. She handed a glass of hot water to Akabane, who looked at her like a mouse seeing a cat, appearing somewhat afraid.
"Ugh..."
Angelina took the red raccoon from Xu Xiaoyou's hands and supported her at the sink. While patting Akabane's back, she casually brought up:
"What did she say? Is she willing to come?"
"Where's Youyou?" Xu Xiaoyou asked, cupping water to wash her face.
"Don't answer a question with a question." Angelina was annoyed just thinking about the black-haired girl. "She's in the room waiting for you right now. She looks like she's here to demand answers. I don't think she's going to have a proper talk with us."
"Let me congratulate you in advance. Your makeshift team is officially complete. Truly wonderful. But we still have a grade 1 buffer who just passed the beginner dungeon. Have you thought about how to play if we meet a veteran powerhouse in the qualifiers?"
"We have five thousand league points. That's an advantage other guild teams don't have," Xu Xiaoyou said.
During the stage of the Visiting Battle by Overstepping Authority, league points rewarded from the world dungeon could be exchanged in the game shop for dungeon-related items once the 5v5 matches began.
If they encountered a veteran team in the first round, they couldn't afford to be stingy with their league points if they wanted to advance smoothly with their current team strength. Every point would be crucial.
Most of the guild's funds had to be used to handle emergencies and maintain daily operations. Trying to secure enough startup capital in such a short time was practically a pipe dream. Xu Xiaoyou would likely have to go into the first battle with empty card slots.
Currently, Light-Chaser Garden's honor points stood at 23,134, ranking ninth on the entire server's guild leaderboard. To go from formal establishment to the top ten in just one week was a miracle in the history of Oasis, for a time even overshadowing the former Queen's Arms.
Light-Chaser Garden was one of the rare large guilds where the strength of its second and third teams on paper was far higher than its starting lineup. Many professional players had joined because they saw the future prospects of Light-Chaser Garden, making up for its lack of high-end combat power.
With one grade 5 main attacker, three grade 4 members, and one grade 3 commander, the personnel configuration of Team 2 was luxurious enough for any major guild.
Even Team 3, led by Shadow Weaver Poem and consisting of Su Sui, Golden Beetle, Tyrant Bear, and a newly arrived grade 4 buffer, had more than enough configuration to achieve a high rank, if not reach the finals.
In contrast, the starting lineup—a grade 1 buffer and four grade 3s—could only be described as pathetic. Most starting lineups of small roadside guilds had this kind of configuration. With even a bit of bad luck, they would be eliminated in the first round of the qualifiers.
Countless bets regarding the league had already been set in the shadows. Almost no one favored the blonde girl's team, resulting in overwhelmingly lopsided odds.
No one could understand why Xu Xiaoyou didn't use the guild's existing high-end combat power and instead insisted on cobbling together such an eccentric team.
She naturally had her own considerations for doing so.
The scene shifted. Xu Xiaoyou had changed her clothes and led the now-sober Akabane into the room. The black-haired girl's eyelids lifted slightly, and upon seeing Angelina, she let out a disdainful scoff.
"Why is this person here too?" Bai Youyou looked at Xu Xiaoyou.
The Order Court's kill-and-seize operation had failed. Furthermore, the Order Court had never cultivated its own player faction. Most of the teams they sent to compete were mercenaries. The family naturally wouldn't place all their bets on those mercenaries, nor would they hand over the Sovereign Key of the Omniscient.
Thus, they had signaled to her, both explicitly and implicitly, to remain in Xu Xiaoyou's team for the league.
After much negotiation, Bai Youyou could only compromise and agree to all of Xu Xiaoyou's requests.
"You think I want to be in the same place as you?" Angelina crossed her arms, her face full of irritation.
"What a shame you weren't in the palace back then. Otherwise, in a few more years, you could have gone back to hugging someone else and begging them to pet your head," Bai Youyou said, spreading her hands.
"Speaking of which, you couldn't even recognize someone's Substitute. You really are the same as before, being led around by the nose everywhere. Do you want to go crying and shouting about 'going home' this time too?" Angelina retorted.
"I'm sorry, but one shouldn't argue with single-celled floating organisms. I overestimated you, little wolf cub. It's not that your brain is underdeveloped; it's that it didn't develop at all," Bai Youyou replied.
"The next time I try to treat you like a human, remember to act more like one, okay?"
"Want to fight? I promise I'll put white flowers on your grave on this day next year," Angelina said in a low voice.
"Are you a paramecium? Is that the only way you know how to solve problems?" Bai Youyou raised her voice.
Smelling the increasingly thick scent of gunpowder in the air, the bubble on the head of the still somewhat dazed Akabane burst with a 'pop'. She looked at Angelina, then at Bai Youyou, shrinking her shoulders before finally looking to Xu Xiaoyou for help.
"Hey, let's not be in such a hurry. Is there anything that can't be discussed properly?" Xu Xiaoyou stepped forward to play peacemaker.
"Shut up!"
Both girls shot her fierce glares simultaneously.
If there was anyone they wanted to beat up most right now, it was the Pomelo Pest.
Xu Xiaoyou looked helplessly at Akabane and shrugged, indicating she was powerless to help.
It seemed that making their relationship spontaneously harmonious without external help was already impossible.
Xu Xiaoyou could only place all her hopes on the Little Blue Bird. She believed that with a new catalyst and the girl's delicate thoughts and empathetic personality, there would surely be a different kind of chemical reaction.
Thinking of this, Xu Xiaoyou cleared her throat. "Just in time, let me grandly introduce the final piece of our team puzzle, the top-tier buffer in all of Oasis."
With that, she took on a mysterious expression and stepped aside. A blue-haired girl with a pure face stepped out from behind her. Her presence was not at all weaker than the two girls facing off, faintly forming a counter-force.
It wasn't until then that Bai Youyou and Angelina noticed the blue-haired girl. Because the other had concealed her presence so well, they had even thought she was an NPC from the banquet.
The gunpowder in the air did not dissipate; instead, it grew even more intense, even striking sparks. The powder keg was ready to blow at any moment. Akabane felt a bad premonition and wanted to warn the blonde girl, but she was scared into silence by Tang Xin's gesture of a finger to her lips.
Wow, this is really scary!
Help, she really wanted to flee this place.
Xu Xiaoyou completely failed to notice the abnormality and signaled Tang Xin to say something to ease the atmosphere.
The next moment, she froze in place.
Tang Xin leaned in close, naturally taking her arm, her voice full of confusion. "Eh? Yuzu, are they also your friends?"
"You seemed to have never mentioned them to me before." Tang Xin covered her mouth with a light laugh.
Xu Xiaoyou's heart skipped a beat.
The development of the situation seemed different from what she had imagined; it was hurtling in a very terrifying direction.
The prospects for her team were truly worrying.
"Just kidding." Tang Xin's expression returned to calm as she sat down beside Akabane.
Akabane, who was feeling a bit uncomfortable, felt two pokes on her shoulder. She turned her head and saw the blue-haired girl handing her a bitter melon candy from under the table, blinking at her. She looked like a completely different person from her previous devious appearance.
The brief farce ended, and the previously stiff atmosphere eased somewhat. Angelina and Bai Youyou temporarily set aside their personal grievances.
The scent of gunpowder in the air gradually faded.
Xu Xiaoyou cleared her throat twice. As expected of the Little Blue Bird; though the process was a bit convoluted, she had managed to help her navigate the major crisis without further incident.
She snapped her fingers, and a small blackboard appeared behind her.
Xu Xiaoyou began to lay out everything related to the league, from the combat configurations and distributions of the major guilds to the basic rules of the league, analyses of various maps from previous years, and finally, emphasizing the role distribution of their team.
"I don't have a problem with serving as the guerrilla," Akabane said, sucking on the bitter melon candy.
"I don't have a problem either," Tang Xin nodded.
"Are you really not afraid that letting someone like her be the support will lead to her attacking her own teammates if she goes crazy?" Angelina raised an objection.
"Then I'll be the main attacker," Bai Youyou sneered. "Do you want to see a support who loses control during a fight and doesn't even care about their teammates?"
Xu Xiaoyou was troubled.
She was precisely wrestling with this. Bai Youyou and Angelina's roles overlapped somewhat. Having experienced previous events, it was clear that Bai Youyou's personality was relatively more stable. She was worried that if Angelina got caught up in the heat of battle and went wild, she wouldn't follow commands or care if her teammates lived or died.
After much thought, Xu Xiaoyou still entrusted the heavy responsibility of the support role to Bai Youyou.
A bomb that might explode at any time was at least more reassuring than a bomb that definitely would.
"Don't forget, you said there was a major announcement tonight, which is why I came. So, what is it?" Angelina asked with a frown.
Bai Youyou watched searchingly.
Akabane was curious.
Tang Xin was preoccupied.
Xu Xiaoyou said mysteriously:
"I've secured a large, fully equipped training base."
"If nothing goes wrong, we'll be living together until the end of the league."
Everyone cried out in unison: "Huh!?"
Rate on N.U.
