LSDWTWHA chapter 41

Chapter 40

Back at the supply point, Su Su suddenly remembered that there was still a person locked inside the escape pod of the “Dog Tooth.”

He let the player out of the escape pod and handed over the control of the “Dog Tooth.” “All yours.”

After saying that, he prepared to leave.

“Wait!” The driver of the “Dog Tooth” suddenly followed him, a bit shyly. “Um, are you really that new player who soloed the ‘Star Thief Leader’ a few days ago?”

“Uh-huh.” Su Su replied, since the other party had already heard his previous conversation, there was nothing to hide.

To his surprise, the other party suddenly rushed forward excitedly: “Big shot, can I follow you from now on?”

“Ah?” The development of events was beyond Su Su’s understanding, and he tilted his shark head in confusion.

The other party, however, looked like a fan encountering an idol: “I saw that video; you were super cool, way too cool! I can’t believe you’re just a newcomer playing for the first day. Today you soloed the ‘Centipede Shield Bug.’ Ah, you’re just too low-key by not doing PvP, otherwise you could easily get into the top ten on the leaderboard.”

Leaderboard? Su Su had heard some things about the leaderboard before but hadn’t paid much attention to it. However, at this moment, he felt a stir in his heart.

That’s right, he could train by accepting tasks for killing the Bug Race, and for PvP training, he could participate in the competition, which would also allow him to understand his own strength—why not?

“Sure, I might give it a try.” Su Su inadvertently voiced his thoughts.

“Definitely!” The “Dog Tooth” driver seized the moment to market himself: “I know the most about the leaderboard players, and if you want to know about anyone, just ask me. Can you add me as a friend, big shot?”

Just as Su Su was about to agree, Qi Hanyi pressed his hand down: “I have all the information you need, there’s no need to seek help elsewhere.”

“You have it too?” Su Su turned back in surprise; he hadn’t heard the other party mention it before, and weren’t they both new players of the same generation?

Meeting Su Su’s bright black-and-white eyes, Qi Hanyi averted his gaze.

A strange possessiveness began to stir, and unfamiliar emotions brewed in his heart. He disliked seeing other names on Su Su’s friends list, disliked it when random people tried to approach Su Su with cheap tricks. He didn’t like Su Su’s gaze, filled with interest and expectation, lingering on others.

What others could offer, he could offer too. So, just look at me, okay?

Then, Qi Hanyi dismissed the dangerous thoughts from a moment ago. Su Su was an independent individual equal to him, not a possession he could claim. It was normal for someone as outstanding as Su Su to be admired and wanted by others; who was he to stop that?

“I know people at the game company. As long as it doesn’t involve anyone’s privacy or confidential information, I can tell you what I find out.” Qi Hanyi paused, uncomfortably adding, “But he’s an old player, and he might know some things we don’t. If you want to add him, feel free.”

“I’m here to play games, not to be a reporter. Why do I need to know all that!” Su Su waved his fin at the “Dog Tooth” driver. “My friend has the data; I don’t need your help. I hold grudges; you guys snatched my stuff today. I don’t want to add you as a friend, so let’s just leave it at that.”

The “Dog Tooth” driver left in disappointment. Su Su nudged Qi Hanyi with his round, chubby body: “I’m going to the starship reset point; what about you?”

“Together.” Qi Hanyi knew this wasn’t right, but he couldn’t help feeling pleased by Su Su’s straightforward rejection.

A round, cute shark mascot and the most ordinary astronaut walked side by side in the lobby of the supply point.

The mascot looked at its companion, swaying as it walked: “Do you really know people in the game company?”

Looking like an astronaut, Qi Hanyi replied, “Of course. What do you want to check?”

“Nothing much.” The little shark shook his head, mumbling, “I thought you were saying that on purpose.”

Qi Hanyi hesitated slightly and then fell half a step behind Su Su. So, Su Su’s rejection of the other party wasn’t because he heard that he had the data but merely because he minded this matter?

He looked with a complex expression at the sleepy little shark who swayed with every step and suddenly realized his instincts were sometimes as sharp as his straightforward nature. The apparent rough style of dealing with things was sometimes particularly delicate and gentle.

Resetting the starship took fifteen minutes, so Su Su took this time to check the “Star Wars” game leaderboard.

The leaderboard had many categories, with the first column being the achievement list, ranked by kill points against the Bug Race—the more Bug Race creatures killed, the higher the level, and the better the ranking on the leaderboard. It was further divided into the overall achievement list and profession-specific achievement lists.

The top rank was held by “Simplify Complexity,” a starship occupation player whose position was quite conspicuous among the multitude of mecha players. She was ranked first on the achievement list and had more than double the achievements of the second place.

Su Su remembered this name; the players who had come to snipe monsters had mentioned her before.

So, Su Su curiously asked Qi Hanyi, “Do you know anything about ‘Simplify Complexity’? Is she really that powerful?”

Qi Hanyi didn’t know for sure, but looking up a bit of information wasn’t difficult for him: “I’ll check and let you know tomorrow.”

“Yay.” Su Su continued to scroll down. He opened the starship PvP arena ranking, and to his surprise, the name at the top was familiar again.

Starship PvP Arena First: “Never Return.”

“That’s him!” Su Su excitedly slapped his fin: “That Phoenix! Once my Silver Dragon is repaired, I’ll look for a chance to fight him.”

“He probably won’t fight you,” Qi Hanyi said, “at least not before the matches start. Right now is the preparation period; he’s aiming for first place and will be busy training his team, deploying tactics, and modifying his starship. He wouldn’t appear in the arena. Even if he did, he wouldn’t fight players near his level.”

“Why not?” Su Su asked with disappointment in his voice.

Qi Hanyi explained, “The battles in the arena are public. With his fame in the game, there will naturally be many spectators. If he doesn’t want to lose to you, he needs to give it his all, which will expose his combat strategy and various strengths, making it easier to reveal his trump cards.”

Su Su thought to himself humans were indeed cunning; sharks didn’t have this many schemes: “Should I avoid going then and hide my strength?”

“You don’t have to.” Qi Hanyi looked at Su Su with a matter-of-fact tone, saying something almost ridiculous: “As long as you progress faster than what they see, they’ll never figure out your trump card.”

“True.” Su Su puffed out his tiny chest with pride. Among the acknowledgment of his strength, hearing it from his friend made him happier.

The starship was reset, and it was almost time for Qi Hanyi’s evening training. After bidding farewell to Su Su, he logged out of the game.

Emerging from the game felt like waking up from an exceptionally vivid dream. Qi Hanyi opened his eyes, stood up from the chair, glanced at the quiet nutrient tank beside the water tank, and opened his assistant’s communications.

“Investigate the game-related information on ‘Simplify Complexity’ from Star Wars. I need it by tomorrow.”

Jian Cheng replied quickly, “Can I ask what it’s for?”

Qi Hanyi frowned slightly; his assistant was usually quiet and obedient, and tasks were usually handled quickly and well without asking too many unnecessary questions. This was the first time for such a question.

“Just a personal matter.” Qi Hanyi answered briefly.

Jian Cheng asked, “Did she offend you?”

His assistant’s unusual curiosity puzzled Qi Hanyi, but when Qi Hanyi noticed that Jian Cheng deliberately referred to “Simplify Complexity” as “she,” he had a guess in his mind.

“Do you know her?” Qi Hanyi asked. He hadn’t mentioned the player’s gender, and that name didn’t particularly sound special, but Jian Cheng seemed to know it was a female player.

“My sister, Jian Fan,” Jian Cheng replied honestly. He then worried about his sister getting into trouble and began to rattle on, “Is it related to the recent competition in Star Wars? I heard you held a competition in the game recently. She has practically been living in the game, never offline, just to get first place and see you.”

“My sister Jian Fan has a cool personality and can be a bit headstrong. If she offended you in the game, please forgive her. She definitely didn’t mean it; she actually admires you a lot. She says playing the game is to practice her starship piloting skills and Bug Race killing abilities in advance, hoping to enroll in the Imperial Military Academy next year. She said she definitely wants to work on our Baize starship.”

So it was Jian Cheng’s sister?

This answer genuinely surprised Qi Hanyi.

“She didn’t offend me; she’s number one on the achievement list, and I was a bit interested,” Qi Hanyi stated, not mentioning Su Su and just saying it was for his inquiry.

In the vast majority of battles against the Bug Race, mecha players were still the primary combat force. Starships were more responsible for mobile transport, combat fortresses, fire suppression, and other roles.

In actual gameplay, even if starship players made hunting the Bug Race their main job, they would struggle to compare with top mecha players. After all, unlike starships that fundamentally functioned on long-range mobility and transport, mechas were created specifically for combat.

So “Simplify Complexity” being able to suppress a bunch of mecha players with more than double her achievement was indeed impressive. Qi Hanyi’s interest in this was entirely reasonable.

“I know that,” Jian Cheng replied. “She doesn’t join any guilds, doesn’t team up, and doesn’t add friends. Every day, she logs in just to do one thing—kill the Bug Race, and she does it all solo.”

“At first, it was a bit challenging since starships and mechas are inherently different. But she insisted on getting first place, saying that only such achievements deserved her dream of going to the Baize starship. I saw she was really determined, so I taught her some techniques to kill the Bug Race, and her performance gradually improved.”

“She also said she must get first place in this competition; otherwise, she won’t get to see her idol.”

Well, she might be disappointed. Qi Hanyi turned off the communication.

On the other side, Su Su checked the reset starship one last time and then piloted it back to the guild. He noticed Yan Bai online and ran over to greet him.

Yan Bai feigned surprise upon seeing Su Su: “You still have time to log in? I heard that Qi Hanyi fainted at the military department this morning and was hurriedly sent back by the Qi family. So, didn’t you sing for him as treatment?”

Su Su had just wanted to deny it when he suddenly realized that if he agreed, it would imply that Qi Hanyi’s fainting was due to a mental force collapse, but this matter should remain confidential. Although Yan Bai was technically his cousin, Su Su remembered the story he told last time; he had a bit of hostility toward humans, and Su Su didn’t want to share much about Qi Hanyi’s situation with him.

Su Su played dumb: “He just fainted and woke up after lying down for a while. Why would I need to sing for treatment? Can singing even cure diseases?”

“Isn’t it mental force collapse?” Yan Bai directly brought it up.

Su Su shook his head: “What’s that?”

Yan Bai stared at Su Su for a while, trying to figure out if the other party was pretending to be clueless or was genuinely unaware, but he failed.

He suddenly noticed that Su Su had changed slightly compared to a few days ago—though hard to describe, if forced to do so, it was that he seemed more like a person now.

Yan Bai briefly explained mental force collapse and said, “Qi Hanyi getting this is not a secret in the circle. He married a mermaid, after all, for treatment. Unfortunately, you are a mermaid hybrid and cannot undergo differentiation; you can’t cure his illness. It’s just a matter of time before it flares up, so be careful and remember to run if things go wrong. Qi Hanyi won’t protect a mermaid; the head of the Qi family certainly wouldn’t treat a mermaid’s life seriously.”

“Oh.” Su Su thought to rebut that Qi Hanyi would protect him, wanted to say that even if he couldn’t cure him, he could wake him up, wanted to say that although the family head looked fierce, he seemed to like him a bit. But in the end, he couldn’t say anything.

Yan Bai seemed to remember something and snapped his fingers: “Right, Qi Hanyi is living at home now. Your gaming situation won’t be discovered by him, will it?”

It was already out in the open. Su Su felt a bit embarrassed but had to continue lying with a stiff head: “No, we don’t live together, and he usually doesn’t come over. Just pretend I don’t exist.”