Xia You took a bath and, claiming she was tired, went to bed early.
The work at "Golden Splendor" primarily took place at night, and the changes in work hours were bound to affect her login times, which might also affect her task completion with Yijie.
Once she entered "Military Road", Player Zero noticed that her last two logins had her appearing directly on the main street of Babylon, presumably the system-designated login point.
It must be said, after the public beta test of the "Military Network," all aspects have improved, but it still differs significantly from traditional online games. For example, it didn’t use system-wide shouts, but rather quaintly adopted a "Messenger" NPC, who relayed messages for players. The Messenger, like a homing pigeon, efficiently delivered messages but charged a fee depending on the distance; 10 Military Road Coins for within the same city, and generally 20 for cross-region.
Player Zero, unsure if Yijie had logged in, found an NPC marked "Messenger" and gave him 10 Military Road Coins: "Tell player Yijie, I’m heading to the Forge Room first, ask him to meet me there."
According to Yijie’s plans, before joining Hammurabi’s Personal Guard, she needed to improve her skills, and if nothing went wrong, she would still need to keep taking on tasks in the coming days. Player Zero decided to look around before meeting up.
Having a big man following her around made everything inconvenient.
After taking the fee, the Messenger NPC disappeared with a "whoosh," making Player Zero wonder about the NPC’s speed. Last time her Loli Reconnaissance Skill was taught by NPC Maggie, she wondered if she could develop a good relationship with the Messenger NPC. If she could learn to move at that speed, she might be able to escape if ever she couldn’t win in a fight.
(You’re so content with so little,) Little Eight expressed displeasure. When Player Zero was Xia You, Little Eight rarely spoke, but once she entered "Military Road", Little Eight became much more active.
After a fruitless stroll, Player Zero remembered her Dayu’s Divine Talisman and began worrying about her necklace. For now, she put aside concerns about medicine and decided to first check the Forge Room.
"Women are such a hassle, always dilly-dallying," observed Lu Xun, who was dragged out shopping by Ding Ling tonight. Approaching nine o’clock, he frequently checked his watch. Around ten, he needed to rush back home.
Ding Ling’s temper flared up again due to Lu Xun’s frequent watch-checking.
"Brother Xun, don’t tell me you’ve got another woman waiting, you look so anxious," Ding initially refused to let Lu Xun work in the military region, having seen several attractive female soldiers there, each looking like a vixen.
Later, her father spoke up, stating that compared to any other place in the country, the ratio of female soldiers in Rand Military District was the lowest, especially since Lu Xun was in charge of the Armed Department, a typical "Monk’s Temple."
Over the years, Ding Ling frequently checked Lu Xun’s mobile communication records without finding anything suspicious. However, over the last month, he seemed distracted, barely present while they shopped or dined.
When buying clothes, whenever she asked for his opinion, Lu Xun only answered, "Nice." He just mechanically received the shopping bags.
"You’re thinking too much. I’m just tired and want to go home to rest early," Lu Xun defended. He wasn’t meeting any woman; he just had an appointment to play "Military Road". That person hardly counted as a woman, what with being so narrow-minded and cunning. Yet his eyes involuntarily darted away.
He was lying. Known in the army as a "solid man," just a few hours of shopping shouldn’t have tired him out.
Ding resolved to keep Lu Xun at home tonight, even if she had to feign illness, making that woman he met wait and see.
Unexpectedly, when she mentioned feeling unwell and needing to go home, Lu Xun seemed relieved and no longer appeared hurried on the way back.
After handing her over to the caretaker, Ding Ling wasn’t reassured and insisted: "I forbid you to go out. If I miss you in the middle of the night, you have to come to see me."
Lu Xun reassured her a few times before heading to his own room. Unconvinced, Ding Ling waited in the living room for a while but didn’t see Lu Xun leave. She then had the caretaker push her to the doorway of Lu Xun’s room, where there was no sound of phone calls, and even the lights were off.