THE two people who appeared were a little girl with long black hair and was wearing a domino mask as Lan Yu was. While the other was a young man wearing an all-white suit. And Lan Yu couldn’t take his eyes away from him.
He had golden hair and a pair of golden amber eyes that were bent into crescents showing how much he loved to smile. He was like a little sun, shining brightly wherever he was.
Lan Yu immediately recognized him. He was Michael – the captain of team Celestials and most of all, the game account of Li Xu Min.
He couldn’t believe that he was actually standing in front of him right now. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was! All the disgust he felt while going into this pavilion was all worth it.
But despite feeling all that excitement, he somehow couldn’t understand why he didn’t feel what he thought he would feel once they met. That heart-throbbing and heart-racing feeling. But there was none of that. Even now, his excitement was already subsiding.
Could it be because this was inside the game and not in reality?
Once again, he felt a bit suspicious. But his brain immediately reasoned out with him.
If there’s one thing this game was consistent in, then that’s not allowing the players to change the structure of their avatar’s features and body structure. They could wear wigs or temporarily dye their hair and also temporarily change the color of their eyes. But that was it.
Once a player had their avatar, that would be it. And since a player’s avatar was based on their real appearance, no two players could look the same. With that, there was no way that the ’Michael’ standing in front of him was not Li Xu Min.
He could only come to one conclusion – he’s probably just overly nervous.
"Oh, it seems that we’re not the first ones here," Li Xu Min said.
Hearing his voice, Lan Yu was now completely convinced that the person in front of him was indeed Li Xu Min. He let out a sigh of relief. And his excitement was back to the fullest.
Li Xu Min walked inside and sat down on one of the free seats. Lan Yu wanted to sit beside him but before he could do so, the girl who came with him moved faster. The moment she sat down, she raised her head and smiled at him. Lan Yu couldn’t help but feel that she was mocking him.
He took a deep breath to calm himself. Li Xu Min was here, he couldn’t show him any bad side of him. So, he just quietly sat down opposite Li Xu Min.
He readied his usual sweet smile and turned to Li Xu Min. "Do you know what this special gambling event is?"
Li Xu Min returned his smile which made his heart thumped. "I also have no idea. I was just pointed to a room and was told to tear a scroll. Then I appeared here."
"Since there’s no NPC here, maybe we’re still waiting for other players," said the girl shrugging. "How about we talk about something interesting to pass the time?"
"Hmm... I can’t really think of anything interesting," Li Xu Min said.
"There’s one interesting topic that has been trending since this morning. You know, the one about Noctis."
Lan Yu was a bit startled when he heard that. He didn’t really want to open that kind of topic with Li Xu Min here. If they planned to talk about something, then they could just talk about Li Xu Min himself. He would be much interested in that. But before he could say his opinion, the other had already said up his opinion.
"Oh, yes, I happened to read about that. But really, I think it’s a very foolish article. It’s even weirder that people believed it."
"I think so too. It’s like people just lose their brain or something. It was so obvious that someone who hates Noctis was pulling the strings."
Li Xu Min nodded. "Yes. They must be a real schemer. The type that wouldn’t hesitate to ruin another person for their own agenda. I hate that type of person the most."
Lan Yu started shaking hearing the conversation of the two. Especially after hearing that last sentence that Li Xu Min said. He so wanted to change the topic but he was still a second late.
"Who do you think is responsible for that?" the girl suddenly asked.
If Lan Yu could sweat right now, he probably had already sweated buckets the moment he heard that question. He couldn’t explain it but he felt like he wouldn’t like Li Xu Min’s answer. His mind just started to think of ways to change the subject. But in doing so, his rationality started to slowly go down the drain.
"Ahm, y-you’re Michael, right? I’ve been a big fan. I’m really happy to finally meet you right now," he said, almost fumbling.
"They’re talking about something interesting. So, why don’t you shut up?" the player who had been silent since earlier suddenly said, looking at him with those cold blue eyes as if he wanted to tear him apart.
That made Lan Yu temporarily speechless. And when he saw Li Xu Min looking apologetic at him, he knew that the other was more interested in continuing talking about the topic of ’Noctis’.
The other turned to the girl and said in response to her question earlier, "I think the one responsible for that article is that guy he fought during the prelims of the Rookie Carnival. You know, the one who’s also an Angel race. What was his name again?"
"Oh, I know who you mean, it’s that white lotus guy, right? I also kind of forgot his name. But I think you have a point. After all, if you read through the comments under that article, it’s not only about Noctis. A third of it was about clearing that guy’s reputation. He probably hired some water army for that. Killing two birds at once – getting revenge on Noctis for humiliating him and then also clearing his name. Really, I can’t believe that people couldn’t see that."
Li Xu Min nodded at what the girl said. "I also actually have the same thoughts. If he didn’t make too much effort into clearing his name, then I probably wouldn’t suspect him."
"I know right?" the girl agreed. "I just couldn’t understand how most of the people who had read that article automatically believed that Noctis was a bad guy and that Angel was a victim. It’s seriously fucked up." ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ noveⅼfire.net
"Maybe it’s just like you said, he also hired a water army to make it seem like most people believed in the article," Li Xu Min said. "In doing so, people truly believed that it was the case."
"Disgusting herd mentality," the blue-eyes guy added in disgust.
"What was that guy’s name again, I really couldn’t remember for the life of me."
"It’s Raphael," the guy with blue eyes said while glancing sideways at Lan Yu as if he knew who he was.
Hearing his game account name, in addition to the conversation between the girl and Li Xu Min, Lan Yu’s heart just completely sank.