SWNOVELXO Chapter 40 - Flaunting relationship
“Eaten already.” Jiang Zi’s voice was clear and melodious, with a gentle look in her eyes. “Why are you so happy?”
“Yeah, something to celebrate, hehe.” Tang Yuan sat on a chair, hugging her tablet. She put her phone on a stand and turned on the speaker. “What are you doing right now, sister?”
Jiang Zi glanced at the livestream playing on her computer screen. It had just started, and she had only just connected it to her tablet. “Waiting for you to call me to play games.”
“Hahaha, I’m coming right now.” Tang Yuan quickly navigated to the game screen and opened her friends list. “Huh? When did I have this top-ranking friend?”
“Maybe you accidentally added them without noticing?” Jiang Zi answered smoothly, her expression unchanged, while her fingers swiftly logged out of her main account and into another.
“Maybe.” Tang Yuan, curious, checked the friend’s profile multiple times. Their battle record can be checked, and they had a perfect win record.
“I wanted to invite them to play.” Noticing that Skyward Era was online, Tang Yuan felt a bit tempted. But just as she was about to send a team invitation, their profile went offline.
Tang Yuan sighed with disappointment. “If I’d been quicker, maybe I could’ve invited them.”
Switching accounts, Jiang Zi tapped on her character in the game, her voice calm and indifferent. “You really wanted to play with them?”
“Not really.” Tang Yuan sent an invitation to Jiang Zi. “It’s just that people say they’re really skilled, and I wanted to see what a real pro is like.”
Whenever the Skyward Era’s Livestream went live, their stream would instantly draw millions, especially since they hadn’t streamed since the new server launched. Fans had been eagerly waiting for tips and strategies.
So, when Skyward Era went live, it took less than a minute for over 100,000 viewers to flood in.
【You’re finally streaming again, sister Era!】
【Do you even know how much I’ve suffered in the new server? You have no idea. You didn’t even stream when clearing the leaderboard!】
【Here I am, desperate for some tips!】
【I’ve been stuck on the same level forever, always leveling up only to fall back down—I’m losing my mind!】
【Look at the completion rate for Thunder Secret Realm! You cleared it, but without a guide, what am I supposed to do?】
【Hold on, she’s using a new account—this has got to be a step-by-step guide!】
Jiang Zi accepted Tang Yuan’s team invite, and the game screen automatically shifted to Tang Yuan’s lobby.
After teaming up, Tang Yuan hung up the call and turned on the in-game team voice chat.
Tang Yuan ran up beside her. “I’ll help you level up and fight monsters. Don’t be scared; I’m very good at this; it’ll be like slicing through butter. Once you level up, I’ll take you through the secret realm—it’ll be quick.”
Jiang Zi put on her black gaming headset, a faint smile tugging at her lips. “Ok, not scared.”
Tang Yuan’s sweet voice carried clearly into the livestream.
【Wait, what??】
【Hold on, who’s scared here?】
【No wonder she switched to a smaller account—she’s teasing her clueless friend.】
【The game’s privacy settings are too strong; it’s possible to hide player names. I really want to know who this cute girl is!】
Jiang Zi’s livestream was full-screen game footage—no face, no hands shown.
She let Tang Yuan’s voice play over the stream. Did she have any ulterior motives? Not really, she just wanted to flaunt their relationship a bit.
But later tonight, when Tang Yuan searched for game-related videos online, she’d surely stumble upon this livestream. Imagining Tang Yuan’s likely reaction—getting all worked up—Jiang Zi felt a strange anticipation.
A flustered little Tang Yuan, so lively and cute.
Tang Yuan transported them to the Spirit Beast Mountain Range, heading straight for the depths where high-level spirit beasts spawn. These beasts spawned randomly and could easily crush players of the same level, making Tang Yuan’s reckless dive into the danger zone pretty rare.
【It’s obvious, the player guiding Sister Era is a newbie.】
【Or maybe they’re as good as Sister Era?】
【Ugh, I hate to see Sister Era pretend to be weak just to surprise people.】
Three high-level spirit beasts appeared right in front of them. Tang Yuan placed a protective barrier around Jiang Zi’s position. “Stay here, I’ll drag them over for you to finish off. This way, it’s the fastest.”
Jiang Zi stood still, holding a starter-level mystical sword given by the system, dressed in beginner’s gear—she looked a little silly.
Tang Yuan couldn’t help but pat her head, feeling like a mother guiding her little one.
As the three beasts ferociously charged at the barrier, Tang Yuan stepped out, drawing her spiritual sword.
“Little ones, slicing through you will be a breeze.”
She moved like lightning, her enchanted robes gleaming as her longsword slashed through the air in a flash of silver. Her sword aura swept through the battlefield, cutting down the three beasts with ease—their heads hitting the ground almost immediately.
With a twist of her wrist, she pointed her sword to the ground, her tone playfully arrogant. “Oops, guess I went a bit overboard.”
【…Damn Whale!】
【No skill, just a bunch of boosters.】
【She used about 500 yuan worth of items to take down three beasts, and she’s acting like it was easy.】
【That technique looks so familiar. I think I know which top player this is.】
【Come on, how else do you think the top spot on the wealth rankings was taken? Right, Sweetheart TangYuan(Dumpling)?】
Tang Yuan put on a show, flaunting her skills, hoping to get some praise from Jiang Zi. She eagerly ran back to the safety barrier, grinning. “Impressive, right?”
Jiang Zi looked at Tang Yuan, who resembled a puppy seeking approval, and barely held back her laughter. “Yes, very impressive. Good thing you’re here—it was a bit scary.”
Hearing the praise she was fishing for, Tang Yuan’s little heart swelled with satisfaction. She quickly reassured Jiang Zi, “Don’t be scared, don’t be scared. This game does feel pretty realistic, but in the face of absolute power, everything else is just fluff, hehe.”
Following Tang Yuan’s instructions, Jiang Zi harvested the spirit beast cores to gain character experience and smoothly replied, “Yes, with you protecting me, I’m not afraid.”
【…You’re unrecognizable right now.】
【Good thing you’re protecting me~】
【Is this a voice changer? Did someone swap out for our Sister Era?】
【Give us back Sister Era! I need guides to help my progress!】
After that, Tang Yuan continued to take the lead, though her approach to using spiritual energy lacked finesse. Her control was rough, and each time she spent money on the game, she couldn’t help but go all out. This left Jiang Zi with very few spirit beasts to finish off, resulting in minimal progress aside from gathering cores for experience.
After an hour of effort, Jiang Zi finally advanced from the mid-stage to the late-stage of the Qi Condensation rank.
Tang Yuan tossed her sword to the ground and dramatically flopped backward, looking like she’d been down for a while despite being unscathed.
Tang Yuan spoke weakly, “What do I do? I just can’t hold back, leveling up is so hard.”
“Let’s head back to the lobby. I’ll send you some resources to boost your level.”
Hearing Tang Yuan’s resigned tone, Jiang Zi crouched down beside her. “There’s no need. You’ve been protecting me too well. How about I try fighting on my own for a bit? If I can’t handle it, then you can help, okay?”
Tang Yuan lay on the ground without responding momentarily, then finally got up. “Alright, let’s go to the outskirts. The spirit beasts there are lower level.”
With that, she placed a teleportation charm on the ground, then turned and pulled Jiang Zi into an embrace, jumping into the teleportation circle.
The two appeared in the outskirts, where there were more players.
There were few players like Tang Yuan, who relied on money, or like Skyward Era, who relied on pure skill to venture straight into the heart of the map. That’s why they hadn’t encountered a single player during their hour in the inner areas.
But once they emerged, they were met with a crowd.
And many of them seemed to be deliberately converging toward Jiang Zi and Tang Yuan.
Tang Yuan, still holding Jiang Zi’s hand, momentarily forgot to let go. “Have we encountered a zombie horde or something?”