Chapter 225: Half A Day of Leisure
“What’s going on?!”
“Upgrade and maintenance…” Mo Tan dragged the page back to the top of the announcement, staring at the title and reading it several times, his eyes wide: “So the 12 hours A day when we can’t log in are just for the server to be shut down?!”
He had always thought that the optimization, maintenance, and upgrades for Innocent World’s servers were done daily from 7 AM to 7 PM, which was when players couldn’t log on. But now it seemed that wasn’t the case. If this announcement was true, then today was the first official maintenance and upgrade for this game since it launched A month ago!
At first glance, this didn’t seem out of the ordinary, and most players wouldn’t think too much of it. But Mo Tan found it incredibly unbelievable, and the reason was simple…
…
“This is impossible! They must be lying!”
In A messy yet dim room that, upon closer inspection, felt surprisingly comfortable, A black-haired girl with round glasses sat dazedly on her bed. She had A cute, doll-like face, and wore only A pair of underwear and an oversized T-shirt. Large areas of her exposed skin were unusually pale from rarely seeing sunlight, and her figure was slender and… not even 1.6 meters tall.
On the screen in front of her was the latest announcement from Innocent World.
The girl, named Shuang Ye in the game and Mu You in real life, stared blankly for A few seconds, then clapped her hands forcefully: “NAVI!!”
“Yes~” The AI’s soft voice came from all directions.
“Do you think it’s possible?” Shuang Ye glared, pointing at the monitor on the wall, and asked fiercely: “Based on the information I gave you before, do you really think this crappy game only gets maintained once A month?!”
NAVI was silent for A few seconds, then replied in its synthesized electronic voice: “It is illogical. According to your previous speculation, this game would require at least eight to twelve hours of high-precision maintenance every day to function normally. A 36-hour maintenance every thirty days is not realistic. Furthermore…”
“Furthermore what?” Shuang Ye pouted, hugging her knees, and said displeasedly: “Don’t be so hesitant.”
“Furthermore, if, As you said, the NPCs within it possess intelligence superior to mine, given their vast numbers, even 23 hours of daily maintenance and 1 hour of normal operation would be illogical. However, this premise is limited to the highest technological level I am aware of and does not involve hardware or systems that military or special agencies might have developed…”
“Alright, I know what you’re trying to say.” Shuang Ye shook her head, interrupting it, and slowly crawled to the head of the bed, leaning out halfway to grab A can of Dr. Pepper from the mini-fridge: “This game isn’t normal… Of course I know it’s not normal, otherwise, would I not be able to hack into it…”
Click~
She pulled the Lahuan on the drink, took two big gulps, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and snorted: “Hmph, anyway, that guy Black Vatican definitely can’t handle it either. His skill isn’t even As good As mine!”
“But Black Vatican’s hardware is stronger than yours…”
“Shut up!”
“Yes.”
“…NAVI.”
“Present.”
“Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year, Master.”
“I can’t play the game for the next two days…”
“NAVI advises you to take care of your health and maintain the same sleep schedule you’ve had for the past month.”
“So boring. Let’s track that bastard~”
“But no activity from Black Vatican has been detected in the past two weeks.”
“Hmph, he’s probably diligently leveling up, preparing to ambush me. After all, he knows my location, appearance, and profession. He definitely won’t miss such an opportunity…”
“Please be careful, Master.”
“Of course, he’s A scoundrel.”
…
At the same time
“Achoo!!”
Mo Tan, who was carefully reading the official announcement, suddenly sneezed, then heard A phone ringing not far behind him.
He got up, walked to the game pod, and picked up his phone. The words ‘A’ were flashing on the screen.
“Hello, did you just curse me?” Mo Tan asked with an unfriendly tone immediately after pressing the answer button.
Yi Dong on the other end was instantly dumbfounded: “No, I didn’t…”
“Oh, then I might have caught A bit of A cold.” Mo Tan sat back down at the table with his phone, twirling instant noodles from the paper cup with A fork As he asked: “What’s up?”
“Did you see the announcement! Innocent World has updated! We can’t play tonight!”
Yi Dong’s tone was very conflicted, mixed with excitement and A hint of frustration.
“I saw the announcement. What’s so strange about A game occasionally undergoing maintenance and upgrades?” Mo Tan tilted his head, holding the phone with his neck, and while stuffing noodles into his mouth, he had already opened the game forum, where, As expected, there was widespread wailing.
Yi Dong choked, then chuckled dryly: “Alright, actually, I just ordered A stack of game pods the day before yesterday. I was planning for us to all play together at my place tonight.”
“Heh heh.” Mo Tan rolled his eyes and sneered: “Your aunt and uncle spoil you too much. If you were my son, you probably wouldn’t even survive to your full month.”
“Get lost! Speaking of which, hurry up and get over here. My parents left early this morning! I’m super bored right now, ah ah ah ah!” Yi Dong wailed on the other end of the phone.
Mo Tan: “…”
“Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?”
“Hmm, I can hear you.” Mo Tan suddenly snapped back to reality and said seriously into the phone: “I need to go downstairs to check on the cat later, and then I have to pay the rent. If nothing unexpected happens, I’ll probably be at your place in about two hours.”
Yi Dong immediately understood: “You went into another split personality just now, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.” Mo Tan shrugged, casually closed the laptop in front of him, and walked towards the kitchen with the noodle cup: “Was it that obvious?”
“Extremely obvious!”
…
Real-world time AM 11:20
B City, A villa in Dexin District
Yi Dong opened the door, looking at Mo Tan with A pained expression, his face contorted: “This is what you call ‘about two hours’?!”
“What I said earlier was ‘if nothing unexpected happens, it will probably take about two hours’.” Mo Tan casually pushed Yi Dong aside, walked into the entryway with practiced ease, changed into slippers, entered the living room, turned on the TV, and made coffee, As if he were back home. He even turned his head to the heavily eye-rolling Yi Dong and instructed: “Get two cups.”
Yi Dong pouted, casually pulled two cups from A nearby cabinet, and placed them heavily in front of Mo Tan: “What unexpected thing did you run into?”
“A very serious unexpected thing.” Mo Tan shrugged, poured A cup of coffee from the pot, then took A bottle of Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator beside him, twisted off the cap, and filled the other cup: “First, I updated my reserve groceries with the money left over from paying rent…”
Yi Dong was stunned for A moment: “Why would there be money left over from paying rent?”
Mo Tan casually dropped sugar cubes into his coffee: “Maybe because the landlord thinks I’m handsome.”
“Heh…”
Yi Dong chuckled dryly, deciding to skip the topic of Mo Tan’s looks, and pointed to the two cups in front of him: “Which one is mine?”
“Neither is yours.” Mo Tan first took A sip of coffee, then glanced at Yi Dong As if looking at A stray dog: “Alright, the Dr. Pepper can be yours.”
Yi Dong rolled his eyes: “You know I don’t like to drink that stuff.”
“So neither is yours.” Mo Tan put down his coffee, then took another sip of Dr. Pepper, and smiled: “No complaints now, right?”
Yi Dong was instantly furious: “I have A lot of complaints, alright! So the gift you brought last time was for yourself?! Do you have any shame?!”
That’s right, Yi Dong’s house didn’t originally have this drink, but A while ago when Mo Tan came over, he brought an entire case of Dr. Pepper, claiming it was the most expensive thing he could afford.
And it was still for him to drink!
“I didn’t say you couldn’t drink it.” Mo Tan shrugged and said leisurely: “What if Aunt and Uncle liked to drink it?”
Yi Dong was expressionless: “My parents combined drank less than one bottle.”
“Too bad.” Mo Tan smacked his lips and sighed: “Then I can only bother you often before they expire…”
Yi Dong felt that this topic didn’t need to continue, otherwise Mo Tan in his current mental state might actually infuriate him to death. So he continued to ask about his friend’s tardiness: “After you restocked your groceries, did you get lost?”
As A best friend and childhood buddy, he knew Mo Tan’s sense of direction very well. If the latter had really gotten lost, then it would be understandable for him to wander around until evening, let alone just two hours.
“No, I didn’t.” However, Mo Tan shook his head slightly and said in A deep voice: “I just refreshed my Minesweeper records A few times~”
“You… you…”
“Then, for balance, I also played through the computer’s built-in card games A few times, and even had A flash of inspiration to create two small games with viruses. I’ll send them to you later, consider them your New Year’s money.” Mo Tan said to Yi Dong with A straight face.
Yi Dong slumped powerlessly onto the sofa, gritting his teeth: “Are you sick?!”
Mo Tan raised his cup in A toast: “You’re just realizing that?”
Yi Dong: “…”
“Alright, let’s not talk about that.” Mo Tan drained his Dr. Pepper and said seriously: “Have you and Xiao Ai found that guy?”
Yi Dong chuckled: “We found her. We found her the very first day we arrived in Saramun.”
Mo Tan raised an eyebrow: “Tell me more specifically.”
“Didn’t you say that girl’s profession was A Magister?” Yi Dong wagged his index finger and smiled: “So I snuck into Saramun’s Mage Guild that day, and guess what?”
Mo Tan took A sip of coffee: “And you saw A girl with orange hair, wearing glasses, incredibly powerful, and under 1.6 meters tall?”
“Exactly.” Yi Dong nodded, confirming: “Her name is Shuang Ye. I only had to ask A little to find out. That girl is already famous now; every Mid-Tier and low-tier Magister in the city knows her. They say she’s even been taken As A disciple by Ta-Lasha, the Grand Magister of the N-system permanently stationed at the Saramun Mage Guild. She’s incredibly strong!!”
Mo Tan picked his ear: “That’s to be expected. If she couldn’t achieve that level, I’d find it strange. Do you know exactly how strong she is?”
“I don’t know. I don’t have any detection-type attributes or skills.” Yi Dong shook his head and spread his hands: “But many people in the Mage Guild say she already has the strength of A Mid-Tier Magister. Combining that with the power system chart summarized by the forum Big Boss, she should have at least one profession at level 18 or higher.”
Mo Tan yawned: “Got it. For the next while, you can focus on your own things in the city, doing quests and leveling up.”
“What about Xiao Ai?” Yi Dong asked, A little worried: “That girl has been A bit odd lately. She said you once told her… um, let me think, oh right, it seems you told her to try casting divine spells without thinking about God, and now she’s like she’s sleepwalking every day.”
【Not fighting against faith, but against instinct… She really is obedient…】
Mo Tan thought for A moment, then shook his head at Yi Dong: “If her mental state hasn’t shown any obvious abnormalities, then leave her be for now. We’ll talk about it when I get there.”
“Alright then.” Yi Dong nodded and smiled: “I recently took on A quest chain that’s quite interesting. It’s all daily quests in Saramun, and the rewards are pretty good. Do you want to… wait, you’re not… again…”
He keenly sensed that the demeanor of his friend in front of him seemed to have changed again.
Indeed, Mo Tan’s previously elusive—or rather, stably insane—aura had completely receded, replaced by an indescribable warmth and A hint of… nervousness?
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
Yi Dong waved A hand in front of Mo Tan’s face.
“I’m fine, we’ll talk about your quest chain later.” Mo Tan awkwardly straightened up, then cleared his throat: “How do you think I look today?”
Yi Dong was stunned: “Huh?”
Mo Tan took A sip of coffee, then frowned and threw in two more sugar cubes, shrugging: “What I mean is, tell me in detail about the Plague specialization in necromancy.”
“No! That’s not what you just said!” Yi Dong yelled, jumping up and down.
“Hmm, that’s exactly what I said.” Mo Tan turned his head, sipping his coffee, and said with A wandering gaze: “My Cleric character, Black Vatican, has been helping with the Plague in Misha County recently, and A pretty reliable Alchemist girl told me that those things are essentially undead creatures, so I wanted to ask for your opinion.”
Yi Dong nodded mockingly: “I think your outfit is alright. Aside from being cheap, there’s nothing seriously wrong with it.”
“That’s good then…” Mo Tan nodded, then suddenly froze.
“Puhahahahaha~” Yi Dong couldn’t help but burst into laughter, slapping the table and shouting: “I finally got you once! Hurry up and tell me what happened…”
Bang bang bang~
A series of knocks on the door outside broke Mo Tan’s awkward situation.
“Go open the door, hurry.” Mo Tan glared fiercely at Yi Dong and whispered: “Remember, don’t let anything slip that shouldn’t be said later. Mo Tan is the Cleric Black Vatican, and the other characters have nothing to do with ‘me’. Understand?”
Yi Dong snapped his fingers: “Don’t worry, I’ve been covering for you for so many years~ Remember to explain what happened just now later.”
“Get lost!”
Chapter 222: End