A moment later, Yi Dong entered, supporting the staggering Cui Xiaoyu, who managed to raise his hand to greet everyone before collapsing onto the carpet, motionless.
At first glance, he looked dead...
"Hey!" Kang Lan jumped, looking at the nearly two-meter-tall man on the floor with a shocked expression, and whispered to Yi Dong, "Is this strong man alright?"
Yi Dong shook his head, "He's fine, he just ran into the door. He should be fine after he recovers for a bit."
Yu Cheng pursed her lips, then suddenly stood up and trotted over to Cui Xiaoyu, peeking at him for a while before turning back to nod at everyone, whispering, "He seems to have really been dazed from the impact. He'll be fine if he just lies there for a bit."
"So this is the Cui Xiaoyu who didn't make it earlier," Ji Xiaoge looked at Cui Xiaoyu curiously, then turned to Yi Dong and asked, "How exactly did he run into the door?"
Yi Dong opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he was interrupted by Cui Xiaoyu, who struggled to sit up. This big man, who was surprisingly large yet inexplicably scholarly, let out a long sigh, covering his forehead as he said, "I ate too much this morning and took a nap, but I overslept. And it's New Year's, so I couldn't get a taxi..."
"Uh, I remember your hotel is quite far from here," Mo Tan, who had met Cui Xiaoyu in real life, nodded and then asked curiously, "So why did you run into the door?"
Cui Xiaoyu slapped his cheeks hard, then turned to Mo Tan and grinned, "Long time no see! I couldn't get a taxi, so I ran all the way here. Yeah, probably ran for about two hours. I got so hyped up at the end that I couldn't stop and ran straight into it."
"Such strong recovery ability!" Yu Cheng looked at the strong man who had recovered as if nothing happened in the blink of an eye, muttering in a daze, then she processed what he had just said and blinked in confusion, "But I heard several thuds just now..."
Yi Dong chuckled dryly, "That's right, because he hit his head first, then knocked his knee when he fell, and finally smashed his face into the door. I was almost scared to death just now."
Cui Xiaoyu, however, waved his hand indifferently, stood up, and grinned at everyone, "Happy New Year, everyone! I'm Cui Xiaoyu. I missed the last gathering due to some unexpected circumstances. Yi Dong, Mo Tan, and Huo Yan Yang all know me."
"Ahem, you should just call me by my name," Wan Yang coughed lightly, shaking his head a bit uncomfortably, "Calling me Huo Yan Yang outside the game feels really chuunibyou."
Then everyone introduced themselves one by one, until Ji Xiaoge greeted Cui Xiaoyu with a smile...
"Hey!" Cui Xiaoyu suddenly furrowed his brows, craning his neck to examine Ji Xiaoge carefully, his expression so focused that he even ignored the faint murderous intent seeping from Ji Xiaodao's eyes.
"Ah, that's what it is..."
Looking at the thoughtful Cui Xiaoyu, the bewildered Ji Xiaoge, and the increasingly cold-eyed Ji Xiaodao, Mo Tan immediately understood, but he couldn't explain the situation now. He could only pretend to be confused and join the others as a bystander.
Half a minute later...
"Hey," Ji Xiaodao, her expression completely cold, finally broke her silence. She subtly stepped in front of her sister, glaring at Cui Xiaoyu, who seemed like a pervert (everyone thought so), with an unfriendly gaze, "What are you looking at?"
This young woman, accustomed to warding off harassers for her sister in daily life, had dagger-like eyes and exuded a low-pressure aura that kept people at a distance, making Wan Yang, who was already a bit sensitive to cold, subconsciously pull his down jacket tighter.
"Uh, Xiao Dao, don't be like that," Ji Xiaoge tugged at her sister's sleeve, then asked Cui Xiaoyu somewhat confusedly, "Is there something wrong with me, Cui Xiaoyu?"
"It's just because you're pretty..."
Everyone except Mo Tan thought this simultaneously. Wan Yang, who was most familiar with Cui Xiaoyu, even turned his head away in embarrassment, feeling a little ashamed.
Although Ji Xiaoge, dressed like a tomboy, was still very beautiful, even exceptionally so, it shouldn't have made him act like that.
But Cui Xiaoyu still didn't react, just staring at Ji Xiaoge, deep in thought...
Wan Yang covered his forehead...
Yi Dong coughed repeatedly, to no avail...
A hint of disdain flashed in Kang Lan's eyes...
Yu Cheng tightened her clothes and moved two steps to the side...
Seeing the atmosphere grow increasingly awkward, Mo Tan, who had accidentally switched personalities in the restroom earlier, finally couldn't hold back. He stood up, walked to Cui Xiaoyu's side, patted his shoulder, and said meaningfully, "Have you and Xiao Ge met before?"
He subtly emphasized the word 'Ge', but it was still rather obscure.
"Nonsense~"
The others thought in unison.
But Cui Xiaoyu suddenly clapped his hands, "That's right!"
"Right my ass..."
The others continued to think in unison.
Ji Xiaoge's eyes widened, "Eh?! I haven't met you."
Ji Xiaodao snorted disdainfully.
"No, no, no, it must be you, I finally remember!" Cui Xiaoyu, however, suddenly pointed at Ji Xiaoge and shouted, "Ye Ge! You're Ye Ge, aren't you!"
Everyone was stunned, the Ji family sisters were also stunned, and Mo Tan quietly let out a long sigh.
"I am Ye Ge, that's right," Ji Xiaoge was stunned for a while before nodding, looking at the strong man she had no impression of with some confusion, "I don't know you..."
Cui Xiaoyu shook his head like a rattle-drum, "No, no, no! You know me! You can't not know me! I'm Cordova, the one from Tian Zhu Mountain! Cordova!"
"Cordova!?"
Ji Xiaoge was startled, subconsciously picturing in her mind that player who was covered in mechanical structures, had two rows of heat dissipation vents behind his neck, would go OTZ when low on energy, carried a large staff on his back, could go head-to-head with a dragon for a while, was called 'prodigal son,' 'defective product,' and 'unlucky fellow' by Teacher Lu Wei, and had a Dog-Headed Kobold body as his second form. She opened her small mouth in extreme disbelief, "You're really Cordova! You don't look like you at all in the game!!"
"Of course I don't look like it. The body in the game was made by that old Undead Lu Wei. I'm not a robot," Cordova laughed loudly, then made a funny face, "You haven't even seen me when I was a Sand Goblin. Otherwise, you'd remember me even less."
Ji Xiaoge burst out laughing, then suddenly, as if possessed, blurted out, "That little bearded dwarf sister has been longing for you to go back soon!"
Mo Tan, who was sipping warm water, suddenly choked and coughed violently, clutching the sofa.
The others also reacted at this point, "You two know each other?!"
"We do, we do!" Ji Xiaoge nodded vigorously, patting Cui Xiaoyu's shoulder, "My mentor in the game is his creator. We played together for quite a while recently, but he's gone off to do quests elsewhere now."
Yi Dong whistled, teasing, "I'd like to know more about that little bearded dwarf sister~"
Cui Xiaoyu's face instantly turned green, "Know my ass!"
"Ah, why don't I have such good luck?" Kang Lan smacked his lips, shaking his head and sighing, "As an elf, I haven't even met a single beautiful female of my own race. I'm truly ashamed of my heritage."
Yu Cheng handed Mo Tan a cup of water, chuckling softly, "So he's Cordova. That's great, he seems like a good person."
Mo Tan almost spat again.
Wan Yang draped an arm over Cui Xiaoyu's shoulder, grinning, "Yu Ge is mighty! I truly didn't have any intention of despising you as a pervert just now!"
"Huh?" Cui Xiaoyu, who hadn't thought of it that way, was stunned for a moment, then looked at everyone with a particularly pained expression, "So you guys thought I was a lecher just now, huh?"
Coughs rose and fell.
Ji Xiaodao nodded slightly to Cui Xiaoyu, "Sorry about that just now."
"Ha~ What's there to be sorry about?" Cui Xiaoyu laughed heartily, then plopped back down on the carpet and pulled out his phone, "So many good things have happened recently, tsk tsk, everyone, look at this! It's truly amazing!"
Everyone gathered around to look, and it turned out to be today's update announcement for Innocent World.
Cui Xiaoyu poked the screen, "Come, look at this one~"
"Huh?" Yi Dong craned his neck to glance at it, then crossed his arms and shook his head, "You're a step late. Everyone has been discussing this topic for a long time."
Ji Xiaoge covered her small mouth tightly, laughing tremblingly, "It's always so interesting to read!"
Yu Cheng also smiled slightly, "The official is very mischievous~"
Wan Yang and Kang Lan exchanged a smile, "That's a meme from several hours ago."
Mo Tan: "..."
"Right, it's especially useful, right!" Cui Xiaoyu slapped his thigh hard, laughing heartily, "That's what I'm saying, getting teleported to a septic tank after logging in is definitely a BUG! The next morning, I wrote over twenty complaint letters and sent them to that trash game's official email. Sure enough, they fixed it for me, damn it, that's really not a place for humans to stay, that smell! Now I finally don't have to be on edge when logging in... Uh... What are those expressions?"
Everyone: "..."
"I knew it!"
Only Mo Tan turned his head away in pain.
Ten minutes later.
Cui Xiaoyu slurped a mouthful of hot water, his face ashen, his voice unusually low, "So... you all think it's impossible for someone to be that unlucky, right?"
The laughing, swaying crowd twitched weakly, and Ji Xiaoge was already rolling around on the floor, clutching a cushion.
Cui Xiaoyu: "...MMP."
Ji Xiaodao, who had been keeping a straight face, suddenly burst out laughing.
"Huh?" Cui Xiaoyu subconsciously glanced at her, then his body jolted again (he had been rattled by this group earlier), and he stared at her face suspiciously, "Have I... met you too?"
Ji Xiaodao shook her head.
Cui Xiaoyu pursed his lips in a bit of a dilemma, "No, I definitely met you too. Let me think..."
"Oh my, Yu Ge, are you stupid!" At this moment, Wan Yang suddenly put an arm around his shoulder from behind, laughing, "Xiao Dao is Xiao Ge's biological sister. They naturally look alike. You've already met her sister in the game, so it's normal to find her sister familiar, right?"
Cui Xiaoyu blinked twice, "Is that so?"
At this moment, Ji Xiaoge, who had finally stopped rolling around, also looked up, wiping away tears, and laughed, "It should be like that. I have short hair in real life, but long hair in the game. Xiao Dao has always had long hair. You probably confused her with me in the game, right?"
"Uh, I guess that makes a little sense," Cui Xiaoyu scratched his hair, then shrugged at Ji Xiaodao, "Sorry, please don't think of me as a pervert."
He even elbowed Wan Yang after saying that.
Ji Xiaodao shook her head, "I won't, don't worry."
"Alright, alright, Yu Ge, keep telling me about those times you died before!" Wan Yang eagerly pulled Cui Xiaoyu to sit on the carpet, asking with great interest, "You've finished talking about being beaten to death by orcs and being stabbed to death by a pervert. What's next?"
Cui Xiaoyu rolled his eyes, "Can we talk about something happier?"
"We're all family, no need to be formal!" Wan Yang rubbed his hands with a mischievous grin, his eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge, "Tell us, tell us!"
Yi Dong and Kang Lan also gathered closer, "What's going on? What's going on?"
Wan Yang, beaming, turned his head and explained Cordova's previous 'boasted' death experiences to the two, finally stating that it was to be continued and he was currently pressing for updates.
"Holy crap, that's exciting!" Kang Lan was instantly shocked, quickly sat cross-legged on the floor, and conveniently pulled out a handful of melon seeds from his pocket, "Tell us, tell us!"
Yi Dong, meanwhile, dragged Mo Tan, who was guarding the coffee pot, over, saying that good things should be shared with brothers.
Ji Xiaoge also pulled Yu Cheng, who was huddled in the corner of the sofa, over. Everyone sat on the floor around Cui Xiaoyu, each with a handful of the small melon seeds distributed by Kang Lan, clearly intending to have a storytelling session.
"I'm truly a sinner," Cui Xiaoyu, seeing this scene, knew that revealing his dark history was inevitable, so he no longer struggled. He slapped his thigh hard and simply started from the beginning, "Back in the day..."
For the next ten minutes, there was a continuous crunching of melon seeds and various exclamations including, but not limited to, 'Ew~', 'Wow', 'Oh my goodness', 'That's possible?!', 'That's too exciting', 'Is Garfield the same Garfield cat?', 'Did it really explode?!', 'So scary', 'Holy crap 666'. The atmosphere was extremely lively, and Cui Xiaoyu, as the person involved, became more and more excited as he spoke, seemingly having forgotten how utterly despondent he had been at the time.
Then...
"The most exciting part was the Southeast Continent!" Cui Xiaoyu smacked his lips, snatched the melon seeds from Wan Yang's palm, and as he crunched them, he shook his head and said, "I already had a Rune Body back then, you know! And guess what?! A pervert instantly killed me! Instantly killed me, can you believe it?!"
Everyone was in an uproar, and Ji Xiaodao's eyes suddenly widened.
"It's him!!!"
Chapter 227: End