Chapter 80 : The End of Kindness
The End of Kindness
Once immersed in the game, time in the outside world always seemed to fly by.
She'd lost count of how many wild monsters she'd fought until the sun over the continent of Kaloran gradually set, slowly sinking below the horizon. Only then did Cecilia stop what she was doing and open her personal interface.
Her level was still 17, and her experience bar had increased by about 20%, still a long way off from level 18.
Yet, compared to other players, such leveling efficiency was already astonishing and still just barely acceptable.
After checking the nearby loot, Cecilia turned her head and said to Gu Yanxi beside her, "Let's call it a day."
"Eh? Why are you logging off so early today? Don't want to play a bit longer?"
Gu Yanxi tilted her head, a look of obvious puzzlement on her face.
Usually, unless there were special circumstances, Cecilia always stayed in the game as late as possible, wishing she could spend all 24 hours in the virtual world—after all, her time really was running out.
However, today, not long after six, she wanted to call it quits and log off early.
What's more, during today's monster fighting, Cecilia seemed constantly distracted, which Gu Yanxi found rather unusual.
"Yeah, there's something I need to take care of tonight."
Cecilia nodded calmly, speaking quietly as if to herself.
"Is it about the leaflet this morning? Are you going to trouble those people?"
Recalling the morning's incident, Gu Yanxi caught on quickly.
"That's right. I still can't let it go—I need to know exactly who's behind this."
Cecilia didn't intend to hide it from Gu Yanxi, nodding straightforwardly.
Though she said that, Cecilia very well knew in her heart that in the real world, anyone who could put up a 150,000 RMB reward to investigate her could only be Dragon Abyss—or at least, there were very few other suspects.
She couldn't say one hundred percent, but Cecilia was at least ninety-eight percent certain that Dragon Abyss was the mastermind behind this flyer incident.
"All right, just make sure you stay safe."
Gu Yanxi could see that Cecilia was in a bad mood, and knew that no amount of persuasion would help.
So, after pressing [Exit Game] on the main interface, and with two blue flashes on the prairie, both of them exited the game together.
Back in reality, Cecilia took off her helmet and, using her weak abdominal muscles, sat up from Gu Yanxi's bed.
From the living room outside came the pungent smell of frying pepper—Yao Qian was already starting to prepare dinner.
Since all three members in the household were women, Yao Qian hadn't bothered with extra precautions. She wore a cool, silk, short pyjama dress; her white, full thighs revealed beneath the hem, her mature figure leaving nothing to the imagination, and her ample chest swayed as she walked, making it hard to look away. (abridged)
Looking down at her own flat chest, for some reason, Cecilia felt a powerful sense of oppression sweep over her.
At the dining table, seeing her mother like this, Gu Yanxi's pretty face was already blushing crimson, coughing from time to time and sneaking pinches at Cecilia under the table, warning her not to stare everywhere.
Under Yao Qian's puzzled gaze, Cecilia gritted her teeth and endured through dinner. Back in her room, when she looked at her fair thighs beneath her pyjamas, she found red, swollen marks all over.
Even though Gu Yanxi hadn't pinched that hard, the fragility of Cecilia's skin was still far beyond their expectations.
"S-sorry, that must really hurt, right?"
Seeing the bruising on the silver-haired girl's white thigh, Gu Yanxi's eyes were brimming with tears, feeling deeply sorry. She blew gently and fussed over her with concern.
But Cecilia couldn't help feeling that Gu Yanxi was more interested in copping a feel than anything else.
Suddenly, an unprecedented tingling sensation shot straight to Cecilia's brain; her face flushed red, almost as if it would drip blood, and a rush like an electric current ran down her spine and through her legs, making her almost cry out.
Quick as a flash, Cecilia grabbed the hand that had snaked onto the inside of her thigh and shouted in embarrassment and anger, voice low:
"Where are you touching? Cut it out and focus!"
"I just brushed it by accident, why such a big reaction..."
Who told you, during dinner, you kept staring at my mom...
Reluctantly withdrawing her hand from the girl's soft, delicate thigh, Gu Yanxi muttered in a low voice, finally feeling better.
Rubbing her burning cheeks, Cecilia took quite a while to recover from the stimulation.
As she unbuttoned her pyjamas and turned around, she asked softly, "Do you have any clothes that are easy to move in? Preferably black, top and bottom. Lend me some for tonight."
After a pause, Cecilia added, "Something I can fit into, bigger is okay."
"Easy to move... dark clothes... and something you can wear?"
Gu Yanxi quietly repeated Cecilia's requests, looking at her fair, smooth back, and after thinking for ages, still couldn't think of anything suitable.
"If you want to move around easily, you'll probably need to stick to skirts. I have sweatpants, but they're all too long, probably won't fit. How about a short skirt? It's airy."
Gu Yanxi offered.
Sitting on Gu Yanxi's bed, slowly undressing, Cecilia looked at her slim, fair calves. Though reluctant, she could only give a soft "Mm."
She'd barely been out in the past two days, and the plan to buy clothes online was on hold—she could only make do with Gu Yanxi's clothes.
Having something to wear was good enough; a short skirt would do.
She wore maid outfits running around in-game every day—so just wearing a short skirt once didn't bother Cecilia anymore.
After rummaging for ages, Gu Yanxi finally found suitable clothes for Cecilia after eight o'clock in the evening.
A loose, black hooded sweatshirt that covered up the girl's shapely waist, the hem falling to her thighs; the sleeves were so long they would cover her hands if not rolled up.
A plain, grey pleated skirt, adjustable at the waist to the tightest fit, barely wearable.
No stockings, and since Cecilia didn't like the feel of thin fabric tightly wrapping her legs, she simply went bare-legged.
She put on the white high-top canvas shoes she'd worn before, pulled up the hoodie to cover her long silver twin-tails; from a distance, she'd just look like a gloomy, introverted girl, with no hint she was the famous Cecilia.
Cecilia spent a few minutes examining herself carefully in the mirror, making sure nothing was off. Then she took the folding knife 'Malfeasance' that Aesther had given her last time and tucked it into her sweatshirt pocket.
Finally, under Gu Yanxi's worried gaze, Cecilia left the front door, her figure gradually disappearing into the darkness of the building's corridor.
"Xixi, is Nana going home? Haaa, that troublesome child, couldn't even tell me she was leaving..."
The main bedroom door slowly opened, Yao Qian's voice drifting out.
Biting her lip, Gu Yanxi whispered,
"... No, she's just going out to buy something. She'll be back soon..."
.......
Two minutes later, Cecilia arrived at the gate of the apartment complex.
She turned her head and casually glanced at the nearby bulletin board. As expected, a new missing person poster had already been put up.
A few elderly men and women stood around the sign in the dim light, pointing and chatting animatedly.
"My god, just for providing a clue, the reward is a hundred and fifty thousand!"
"Add another fifty thousand, and I'd have enough for my son's dowry! The girl's family will even return three sets of bedding!"
"What? Triple? Wouldn't that be six hundred thousand? Your son's lucky!"
"Haaa, not six hundred thousand—I meant three 'bei,' three sets of quilts!"
"....."
The elders' discussion grew more heated.
"Hmph..."
Cecilia let out a barely audible snort from her nose, circled the bulletin board, and walked out of the complex gate.
Honestly, she didn't want to fall out with Dragon Abyss in the real world. After all, she was still half-undocumented and had nowhere near his power or connections.
But Dragon Abyss had simply gone too far, taking her temporary tolerance as permanent weakness to be exploited. If she didn't make a clear stand and scare him off for good, his harassment would never end.
Moreover, before heading out, Cecilia had already checked online—Dragon Abyss's power base wasn't in Xijiang City, but in Donghai City hundreds of kilometers away.
That meant the farther his reach, the less influence he had over Xijiang.
Besides, the current social climate was all about "cracking down on gangs and eliminating evil."
Even Dragon Abyss wouldn't dare go too far—if he suffered a setback, he probably wouldn't even have the guts to call the police. That was Cecilia's real source of confidence.
Even now, having become a delicate, weak girl, Cecilia remained just as tough as before.
After all she'd been through, she hadn't grown soft—if anything, she was even fiercer. Ever since leaving home as a child and fighting alone in an unfamiliar city, struggling at society's harshest bottom rung, she'd learned the most basic rules of survival.
When the devil bares his claws, it is the end of kindness!