After watching today's animated film with Li Shin, Liu XiYang then prodded this foolish woman to clean the dishes. However, Liu XiYang couldn’t fully comprehend who was taking care of whom throughout these past three months since they've returned home.
Unable to do laundry or cook, all she did every day was play games on her mobile phone and watch cartoons adored by children. If not for some sense of police conscientiousness, Liu XiYang would have suspected her of soon turning into a lethargic rice bug.
"Ah! Xi Yang!!!" Suddenly, Li Shin, who was washing the dishes, let out a scream.
At the sound of this scream, Liu XiYang instantly became alert. Was there an enemy attack? But the very next second…
"Xi Yang, it just occurred to me! Did you report to the university in the west of the city today? My God, I'm glad you didn't run into that bad guy from the news. Otherwise, a gentle and adorable boy like you who might have been captured by the villain; what could we do then? How would I explain this to my fellow students!" With some fear, Li Shin was cleaning the dishes and rambling.
Li Shin didn’t know that Liu XiYang has superpowers. He initially planned on returning to the school he attended before the outbreak of the Demonborn incident. Due to skipping school for three years, his student status was already revoked, but it didn’t matter. After all, Liu XiYang was just attempting to reenter the life of an ordinary person. Although regrettable, there was nothing to be done about it.
When Liu XiYang thought about the new mission he had just undertaken, he gave a resigned sigh while observing Li Shin. Even though she was clumsy and foolish, she was also very sincere in caring for Liu XiYang. Therefore, he had to tell her a benign lie.
"I will be returning to classes soon. The school provides a full boarding system. It's actually a good opportunity to get away from you," Liu XiYang didn’t inform Li Shin that he was attending Hero Academy because she perceives superpowers as equally representing extreme danger. Therefore, Liu XiYang deceived her into thinking he's attending a regular school.
However, the very next second, a mournful groan rang out in the room.
"Ahhh! You’re leaving me, Xi Yang?. What if you get bullied at school? I can’t bear to be apart from you…” Li Shin suddenly dropped the dishes and ran towards Liu XiYang with a tear-streaked face. She tightly embraced him and burst into tears.
However…
"Hey! Your hands are all wet! Don’t wipe them on my clothes! And your runny nose too!!!"
After finally calming Li Shin, Liu XiYang changed into a new shirt with a small panda print. He looked at her curled up on the couch with her mobile, mumbling something about being so heartbroken that she "must splurge on game credits for comfort". He sighed, shifting her legs off his and was about to stand up when she slid her legs back onto his lap, her toes, painted with petal-pink nail polish, fidgeting on his belly.
"Li Shin, I still need to wash the dishes. God knows it took you ages to clean just a few chopsticks...now move your smelly feet!" Liu XiYang swatted at her feet while speaking.
"No way! And they're not smelly, they’re fragrant! I don't care, Xi Yang, you have to play the game with me!" Even though she is ticklish, she insistently rested her feet on Liu XiYang's thighs, even attempting to wriggle them under his shirt, apparently not satisfied until her feet were on his belly.
Liu XiYang watched Li Shin’s shameless face, her long, white legs and slender feet; this was the same Liu XiYang who could easily defeat a towering Demonborn with a single punch. Yet for now, he could only helplessly watch.
"XiXi, play 'Honor of the King' with me! I just spent 648 on it, hehe, got lots of new skins! Watch me take you soaring in the game!" Li Shi Ning told Liu XiYang suddenly with an expectant look.
"A game only grade-schoolers would play, you think I would partake?" Liu XiYang looked at Li Shi Ning with disdain and said coldly.
After all, looking at the expectant face of Li Shi Ning, Liu XiYang knew that she wanted to flaunt her newly purchased skins, so would he allow her?
Ten minutes later...
"Yes, that's the way! Crush them! Yah! We won!" Li Shi Ning threw herself onto Liu XiYang who was seated next to her, shouting ecstatically.
"Tch… such a game that grade-schoolers play," Liu XiYang casually tossed away his mobile phone with the victory sign on the screen, leaning back nonchalantly on the sofa.
"XiXi, I think the AI is too simple now, let's try the ranked game next!" Li Shi Ning, who just scored a victory against AI and showed off her new skin to her teammate, suggested with a satisfied look.
" Of course… no problem," said Liu XiYang calmly in response to Li Shi Ning’s suggestion. He picked up the phone again with an unaffected expression, but inwardly, it was a storm… Damn! What kind of game is this? Even though he had heard of moba games, why did it feel so hard when he actually played it!
Despite Liu XiYang's extraordinary reaction times far exceeding that of average people, it was still insufficient. He was even caught off guard by the invisible enemy in the lane, being ambushed by five men. “Ah, Ironbeard at level 38 of grade A, MechaPunk at level 16 of grade A, FlameCar at level 12 of grade A, MountainWarrior at level 7 of grade S, and FlameEmperor at level 3 of grade S. I'll remember you all,” Liu Xiyang muttered under his breath.
Li Shi Ning clicked the button that indicated the start of the ranked games with a serious, solemn expression. Seeing the matchmaking countdown on the screen, Li Shi Ning and Liu XiYang exchanged an intensive glance and both gulped simultaneously.
" XiXi… it's starting." Li Shi Ning whispered seriously.
"Yep, I'm ready!" Liu XiYang responded affirmatively.
The next moment, the match was successful and went into the hero selection interface.
Li Shi Ning swiftly selected a young girl with huge twin tails, short skirt and boots, holding a gigantic heart-shaped bow and arrow.
Superhero A grade, 4th place — Love Feather! Also, a main ADC hero in “Honor of the King” with extreme difficulty and a glamorous, rare skin “Eternal Night-Shadow Envoy” that costs 388 yuan!
"Yay, I got it! Xi Xi, this hero is super cool in the videos I've watched. And her skin is really cute! Watch me carry this round!" Li Shi Ning, who just spent a hefty sum on the new skin, exclaimed excitedly.
Liu XiYang nodded, and as per their prior agreement, picked a support hero named "Milk Tea Messenger" who is rated grade A and 67th place.
As the game entered the loading screen, one could clearly see the heroes being used by friend and foe, and the skins they chose. Li Shi Ning's recently purchased skin, “Eternal Night-Shadow Envoy”, was distinctly visible. A visibly proud Li Shi Ning was sitting next to Liu XiYang, wearing a satisfying grin.
However, Liu XiYang also noticed something, the opponent in this game had chosen the same superhero, named Feather of Love.
"Xixi, look, the person on the other side picked the same superhero as me! However, she definitely can't beat me, because I'm a high-level player with a skin on! Hehe!" Lee Shin-ing also noticed the Feather of Love on the other side, but was still confidently smug.
The game officially started, the superheroes of Liu XiYang and Lee Shin-ing showed up in the game screen. Following the system prompt, Liu XiYang had purchased the equipment and was preparing to follow Lee Shin-ing to the bottom lane when a message popped up on the game's chat window.
"Yo, Big Boss with skins huh! Impressive, impressive, can't wait for your performance" It was the opponent who had chosen the same Feather of Love superhero as Lee Shin-ing.
Looking at this sarcastically phrased message, Liu XiYang frowned, yet when Liu XiYang saw Lee Shin-ing giggling beside him, he couldn't help but shake his head helplessly.
"He's mocking you." Liu XiYang pointed out.
"Eh?? I... I thought he was praising me... Hmph! Xixi, let's show him how we work together!" Lee Shin-ing came to her senses, first widening her eyes in surprise, then pouting in anger.
Unfortunately, a few minutes later, due to the complex nature of the Feather of Love's skills and Lee Shin-ing's limited ability, she made a mistake and was defeated by the opponent's Feather of Love.
Just as Lee Shin-ing bit her lip and steered the revived Feather of Love back to the line, the enemy's Feather of Love typed out a new taunt.
"Hahaha, I thought the guy with skins would be tough, turns out you're just trash! How dare you play Feather of Love with those skills? Just watch how I play and learn!"
Seeing the offensive language on the screen, Liu XiYang frowned again. However, he relaxed a little when he saw Lee Shin-ing still biting her lip, saying nothing, and seriously operating her game character to fight. Meanwhile, he reminded himself that it was just a game.
"Lee Shin-ing, ignore these baseless words, block him." Liu XiYang said.
"No, Xixi, I have to win. Only by winning can I shut him up!" Lee Shin-ing declared stubbornly.
Yet... a few minutes later, with help from the enemy's jungler, the heroes controlled by both Lee Shin-ing and Liu XiYang were defeated by the enemy's Feather of Love.
"Trash will always be trash! I guess you two losers must know each other since you always stick together, hahaha! If I were you, I'd delete the game now. How dare you play rank with this skill level? Even bot match teammates like you would embarrass me!"
"How dare you! Xixi is not trash! Xixi is a greater hero than you or anybody else! I want you to apologize to Xixi!"
In fact, Liu XiYang didn't mind these baseless words, after all, for him, it was just a game, he wouldn't get angry because of it. But he was worried about Lee Shin-ing.
To his surprise, Lee Shin-ing had chosen to endure when she was insulted, but when she saw Liu XiYang being verbally abused, she started to argue for Liu XiYang against the foul-mouthed opponent. Geez... what a foolish woman.
