Chapter 1581: Those Promises

It was midnight when I awoke from my dreams. Moonlight spilled through the windows like water. The pillow cloth was wet with tears.

I slowly sat up and curled up into a ball, shivering. It wasn’t because of the fear toward unknown death, but because I still had so, so many things to do in life. I wanted to stay by Lin Yixin and He Yi’s side for many, many years to come. I wanted to accompany Xinran and Beiming Xue on their life’s journey. But now, the final full stop was about to be penned in my life’s diary. How could I possibly accept this outcome without a struggle?

I buried the terrible guilt and regret deep within my heart. I don’t deserve it…

……

I picked up my phone and called Du Thirteen. A few beeps later, he accepted the call and asked, "This is quite the late call, Lu Chen. Do you need anything?"

"Do you want to hang out tomorrow, Thirteen? Let’s meet up tomorrow at 9 am at the New Island Cafe on the opposite side of the gaming base. There are a couple of things I will need your help with."

Du Thirteen agreed. "Sure. 9 am, right? See you then!"

"Yeah…"

I put my phone away and lay down. Then, I fell asleep once more.

The next morning, I went downstairs after bidding He Yi and Lin Yixin goodbye. I felt a bit stronger today, so I thought I would be able to drive without issues. Also, if I had weakened to the point where I couldn’t even pull the handbrake, then I wouldn’t be able to make the trip to my car in the first place[1].

It wasn’t long before my X12 arrived on the road on the opposite side of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ gaming base. New Island Cafe was located on the second floor.

Du Thirteen was already there when I reached the table. He also brought Gui Guzi with him. They were as close as brothers, so I probably should’ve seen this coming[2].

……

"Have you eaten breakfast yet, Boss Broken Halberd?" Gui Guzi asked.

"No. Let’s order something, shall we? Nothing too sweet though…"

"Yeah!"

It wasn’t long before our meals were served. We sat around the round table, ate our food and chatted idly about everything—

Gui Guzi asked, "Are you feeling better today, Boss Broken Halberd?"

"Mn." I nodded. "I’ve regained much of my strength. I drove myself over, didn’t I? Oh right, the second season of the WEL is about to begin. What are your team’s plans for the competition, Little Gui?"

Gui Guzi declared confidently, "It’s simple! We steamroll everyone with our Divine Armaments! I have the Ghostblade Halberd, Fighting Spirits, the Axe of Pangu, and there are also Chengfeng, Moonlight Stone and Chaos Moon. Chengfeng and I are solid point winners, and we should always be able to win the 2v2s. As long as we don’t run into a team like yours too soon, we should be able to make it into the finals without problems."

I curled my lips. "Don’t worry, I won’t get in your way this time. You should be able to kick my ass easily even if you were ‘unlucky’ enough to run into me…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Du Thirteen looked confused.

I paused for a moment before answering, "Yesterday, I sparred Yiyi at Dark Moon City and found that my brain lag is back. My reaction time is over 2 seconds again. It’s almost as bad as when I was at my worst. That is why any of you should be able to defeat me even with my Divine Armament. I’m good at predicting, but not even I can predict what strategy or action my opponent will be pulling two seconds later…"

"Fuck!"

Du Thirteen gripped his fists tightly. "This… goddamned virus! How much longer does it plan to torment you?"

I shrugged. "It’s fine. I’ve come to accept it. The virus is the only reason I managed to live until now. It’s been more than a year since my miraculous revival, and I’ve seen everything I wished to see, and experienced all the glories I wished to experience. It’s worth it, isn’t it?"

"Of course not!" Gui Guzi’s eyes reddened with tears. "We brothers swore an oath to walk with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls until the end, and that Bloody Mercenaries will be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ toughest shield. But what is this? Bloody Mercenaries without Lu Chen are no Bloody Mercenaries, and the same goes for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Boss Broken Halberd, you said you would be there when I got a girlfriend. You said you would gift Beiming the best wedding gift in the world when she got married, so why are you acting like you’re going to go back on your word?"

I bowed my head and nearly burst into tears myself. "Stop, Little Gui…"

Gui Guzi had no problems bursting into tears. "Why should I? A man’s promise is worth a thousand gold, but you are our faith, Boss Broken Halberd. Your promises, more than anyone else’s, are priceless! You promised us that you would walk with us until the end, so it’s your responsibility to survive no matter what! If nothing else, please… please live for us brothers. Please…"

Thirteen was crying as well. Disregarding his usual grace and wiping his snot and tears on his sleeves, he said, "You’d better live no matter what, you fucking twat. If you give up on the world and those who have sworn to follow you until the end, I will look down on you for the rest of my life! I won’t treat you as a brother any longer!"

I leaned against my chair and said nothing.

A short distance away, a couple shot us an astonished and disturbed look. Then, the girl stuck out her tongue and said, "I’ve never seen three big men crying like this before. Don’t they have any shame at all?"

The guy hid a snicker. "Of course not. I heard that only the most useless of men would openly cry in public like this…"[3]

……

A while later, I let out a cough. "Alright, stop crying already, you two. You’re going to scare the customers if you continue…"

Then, I took out a golden card from my pocket and slowly pushed it across the table. "There is 500 million on this card, and the password is my birthday[4]. You know when my birthday is, so I’m leaving this in your care, Thirteen."

Du Thirteen looked confused. "What for?"

I looked outside the window as I explained, "Although I’m fully confident that California’s research institute will find a cure, there’s always the possibility that I won’t last until they do. Plus, it’s not like the Americans’[5] technology is invincible. If—if I do bid this world goodbye, then…"

I nodded at the card and said, "Then I leave it to you to take care of my family, my father, my third uncle and auntie[6], Thirteen. You, Chengfeng and Little Gui are the best brothers I’ve ever had, but I can’t burden Chengfeng with this because he’s already too busy with his job. Therefore, I can only ask the two of you to fulfill my filial duties. In the past few years, I’ve given little attention to the real world in favor of the virtual world. I was a bad son to my father and my late mother. I would like to make up for my past mistakes, but I’m afraid that I may never have the chance to do so. I need you to promise me that you—"

Gui Guzi interrupted me, pushing the card back to my side of the table, "Boss Broken Halberd, we are brothers, aren’t we? Your father is our father, and we would’ve taken care of him even if you didn’t ask us to do this. For as long as I and brother Thirteen are alive in this world, we will never allow your father to suffer any grievances! As for this money, we don’t need it. We’re hardly poor…"

I smiled. "Don’t give me that bullshit. I know you’ve earned a lot of money from the game, but how much have you really earned? A million? Ten million? You can only play for so long, and all the earnings you’ve made will run out eventually. What will you do then? Also, this isn’t really my money; it’s Eternal Moon’s, so don’t feel guilty about it. I’d like to save you both some money while I still can. Oh right. This is just a heads-up, but I may not be attending your and Lulu’s wedding, Thirteen, for one reason or another. You’ll have to do with my blessing. Ah, of course, you’ll still have my blessing even if you decide to marry another woman in the future…"

Du Thirteen’s eyes reddened again. "Would you stop talking like this already? I’m going to cry again, you motherfucker…"

Gui Guzi finally accepted the card, but he said, "I’ll take the card, but I won’t use a single yuan, Boss Broken Halberd. I’m certain you’ll return to take it back one day. I never liked owing anyone anything, and I’m not about to start now!"

I nodded smilingly. "Sure! It’s 500 mil, man. Why would I give it up if I could keep it? I can sell my CGL ranking and still not earn that much money… In fact, I promise to treat you all to a month of luxury at the 7-star hotel next to Taihu Lake right before Little Gui returns the card to me!"

Du Thirteen laughed. "You promised! You’re a grandson if you fail to keep your word!"

"I will, just you wait!"

"Ha…"

……

A while later, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, Heaven’s Rain, Moonlight Stone and more heard that I had showed up at the cafe and came over. It was very rare for the coffee shop to see this many customers around the same table.

"Are you okay, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon carefully took a seat beside me while asking, "Do you want me to give you a massage?"

I shot her a glance. "I ain’t paying if your technique isn’t up to par, you hear?"

"Screw you!"

That was what she said, but she still put my leg on her thighs and began massaging it carefully.

Eighteen Steends of You and Yun rubbed his palm enviously. "Damn, I’m so envious. I don’t think any other man has ever enjoyed such a service from Miss Chaos Moon. You’re so lucky, dude…"

I grimaced. "You wanna replace me? Cuz I can tell you right now that she doesn’t know how to control her strength at all…"

Li Chengfeng took a sip of his coffee and frowned. "Ah shit, why is this so sweet?"

Heaven’s Rain asked, "You want me to order you a new cup?"

Li Chengfeng nodded. "Yeah, go for it[7]!"

While "enjoying" Chaos Moon’s service, I asked, "Alright, since everyone is here, you may as well give me a report. Tell me what’s been going on inside the game…"

Li Chengfeng nodded smilingly. "There hasn’t been anything major, to be honest. For starters, China’s Gaming League’s income has increased drastically since we conquered Titan City, Seven Star City, Burning City and Cyan Earth City, and Tang Feng had personally voiced his thanks to our contributions. In other news, you remember Vienna's Sorrow, Beethoven’s Joy and those players who deleted their accounts as an apology for failing their country? Well, they’re grinding new accounts from zero…"

I shook my head. "I should’ve known they wouldn’t give up so easily…"

Li Chengfeng chuckled. "If you think that’s funny, wait until you hear this one: After we conquered Cyan Earth City, and Elephant City was occupied by the Russians, the Indian server players were stuck with Cyan Earth City being their only supply spot. God of War and Breeze and Rain had no choice but to invade Purple Grape City’s domain en masse to find new leveling grounds and supply spots. Because of this, they’ve fought at least a dozen or so major battles against the Japan server in just the last three days. Also, I heard that the Japanese are now migrating en masse to the southern portion of the continent after losing their final main city and becoming unaffiliated…"

I commented, "They brought it upon themselves…"

"Oh, one more thing…" Li Chengfeng added. "Flowing Cloud has joined the China server forums as herself and publicly asked for your contact number. However, no one’s willing to give it to her…"

I looked confused. "What does she want with me?"

"I don’t know… maybe she wants to ring you up for a one-night stand?"

"Fuck you!"

"Haha…"

1. T/N: let me remind all of you that his doctor SPECIFICALLY TOLD HIM NOT TO GO ANYWHERE ALONE BECAUSE HE MAY EXPERIENCE SUDDEN BOUTS OF WEAKNESS. MUCH LESS DRIVE A FREAKING CAR ☜

2. T/N: my god, the healthy guy brought someone with him, the dying one didn’t. What is this world even? ☜

3. T/N: some people are dicks like this ☜

4. T/N: if I remember correctly, Lu Chen’s birthday had already passed when the novel began, so not many people in this novel actually know his birthday since they haven’t celebrated it ☜

5. T/N: to those who are going to complain that America and Canada are separate, I know, but Lu Chen doesn’t differentiate them ☜

6. T/N: I’m injecting a bit too many T/Ns here and I apologize, but what a fucking mess. You know they’ll never tell his family what he really died from, but they’ll have to come up with a convincing lie either, so that’s additional pain to everyone ☜

7. T/N: one thing I noticed about the entire gang is that they always make someone else do shit they can do themselves. How hard is it to order a goddamn black yourself? ☜