Reign of the Hunters

It’d been awhile since something like this happened to her. It was as if she had become a more decent person since her reincarnation. There were quite a lot of similar threads calling for her blood during her last life. She actually felt lonely at one point. To be able to see such remarks about her once again, wasn’t it like a “reunion?”

Reading through the post word by word, Ye Ci felt that the person who posted it was quite talented. All the things mentioned in the thread, with the exception of Ye Ci ransacking Steel Blooded Battle Spear’s guild warehouse did happened, but with a few twists here and there, they became and entirely different matter.

Who could be this person with such literary grace? Was it Thousand Sunsets? Zero Arsenic? Or was it Peacock Blue? Or was it someone Ye Ci had never met before? Ye Ci closed the forum shortly afterwards. She was not really interested in the thread. After all, things like this were just gossip that would eventually die down.

Ye Ci climbed out of the gaming cabin. The house was quiet. Bai Mo was probably still logged into the game, while her parents went on an outing with Tan Polang, leaving them behind. Ye Ci walked towards the balcony and went outside. She sat on the balcony and stared at the brilliantly illuminated city. She felt that her days were beautiful. They were calm and warm.

A gust of night wind blew past Ye Ci. The coldness of the wind caressed her skin, creeping up to her brain through her nerves. This was a refreshing experience for her brain that had been immersed in the game almost every day.

“If you’re going to jump, I ain’t calling 120 for you.” A faint voice emanated from behind Ye Ci.

Ye Ci turned around and saw Bai Mo who was leaning against the sliding door, looking Ye Ci with a smile. She smiled back, “What? So heartless? You could at least try and save me if I jumped. You’re so mean!”

Bai Mo pursed his lips and walked to Ye Ci’s side. He took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and handed it to Ye Ci, “You smoke?”

Looking at the cigarette between Bai Mo’s slender white fingers, Ye Ci accepted his offer after a brief pause. She raised the cigarette to her nose, took in a deep breath, and lowered it. Bai Mo already had a lit cigarette in his mouth, “Since when did you smoke?”

“I don’t. But I think smoking one now is a perfect backdrop for your sorrowful mood. Just think of it as a... Nice background.” Bai Mo answered with sarcasm.

“What, you think I’m pitiful?” This aroused Ye Ci’s curiosity.

“You sure give off that feeling.” Bai Mo answered truthfully.

Ye Ci raised her eyebrows and smacked Bai Mo at the back of his head, “You’re the one who is pitiful. Your entire family is pitiful!”

“Aren’t you part of my family?” Bai Mo glanced sideways at Ye Ci. Realising that she had made the wrong choice in words, Ye Ci rolled her eyes at Bai Mo and continued staring at the horizon.

“Oi, that Thousand Sunsets guy must’ve hated you a lot then?”

“I guess so.” Ye Ci shrugged. Who would know about that? It’s not as if she could read his mind or something.

“What are you going to do?” Bai Mo rested against the balcony, and stared at Ye Ci. Ye Ci’s face did not show even a hint of emotion under the bright light of the night sky. Bai Mo was worried by her behavior.

Ever since she was young, Ye Ci was someone who would keep her worries to herself. The thing that happened today was like an unexpected calamity. No matter who was involved, it would definitely hurt.

Ye Ci turned around and narrowed her eyes. She then spoke up, “Do you think somebody would believe me if I post another thread to explain the whole thing?”

“Are you dumb? Explaining means that you have something to hide. Even if you didn’t do it, people would sure as hell think that something was up.” Bai Mo puffed out a smoke ring. This was indeed a thorny problem. But wouldn’t that mean that Ye Ci would have to shoulder the accusations silently?

Ye Ci chuckled, “Of course I know that trying to explain everything is the worst possible solution.”

“Then why would you...?”

“I just wanted to know if an outsider would think like me.” Said Ye Ci as she climbed down from the balcony and returned her unlit cigarette to Bai Mo, “I’ll give this back to you. I don’t need this thing as a backdrop.”

Bai Mo grabbed hold of Ye Ci’s wrist and asked in a worried tone, “Are you alright?”

“It’s nothing.” Ye Ci shook her head. Of course she was alright. She already knew what must be done. How could she not be alright? She pulled her hand away from Bai Mo’s grip and smiled at him, “Mom and dad will be home soon. If they see you smoking, you’ll get it from your parents tomorrow.”

Seeing that Ye Ci was unwilling to tell him more, Bai Mo decided to drop the matter. He leaned against the balcony again and took in two deep huffs of cigarette smoke, and shouted out to Ye Ci who was entering the house, “Hey!”

“What?” Ye Ci looked at Bai Mo leaning on the balcony. The smoke of the cigarette had blurred his features, and at that moment, he looked like a very matured man.

“No matter what your decision is, no matter what you’re going to do, don’t forget to tell me. I’m your guild leader, and I’m your brother.”

Ye Ci smiled, she felt a sliver of warmth in her heart. It was good to see Bai Mo alive again. It was really good.

“I know.” Ye Ci replied and headed back into the house. Just then... She suddenly spoke up, “Prepare some champagne for me!”

“What?” Bai Mo turned around, puzzled. Why did she suddenly want champagne?

“It’s for the backdrop!” Ye Ci entered her room. She closed the door and prepared to go to bed, leaving a confused Bai Mo behind. Champagne as the backdrop? What did she mean?

The night was deathly silent.

How long had it been since there was such a quiet night? Everything was so still, waiting for tomorrow’s dawn.

The weather on the second day was splendid indeed. It induced a good mood early in the morning. Ye Ci was still snoring on the bed, but somebody was knocking on her door loudly. Bai Mo’s voice accompanied the sound of the knocking, “Ye Ci! Ye Ci! Hurry, open the door!”

Zuo Xiaolan’s voice rang up as well, “What happened? What are you doing? Bai Mo, why are you awake so early? Are you going to help me make breakfast?”

Bai Mo immediately shook his head, “No no aunty, I need to talk to Ye Ci.”

“Well, you might as well continue knocking on the door. She’s dead asleep.”

Hence the knocking on the door resumed. Ye Ci could no longer stand the noise. She poked her head out from under her blanket and stared groggily at the door. Didn’t Bai Mo know that waking up so early in the morning on such a cold day was torture?

Bai Mo was very persistent. Out of consideration for the safety of her door, Ye Ci had to open it. Bai Mo immediately rushed into her room, with Tan Polang following close behind. Ye Ci let out a yawn and climbed back onto the bed. Her pyjamas had lost their warmth when she opened the door for Bai Mo, how troublesome.

“Ye Ci, something big happened!” Bai Mo dragged a stool to the side of Ye Ci’s bed. He sat on the stool, and began shaking her with all his might, trying to wake her up.

“What?” Ye Ci apparently refused to do so.

“Steel Blooded Battle Spear’s guild warehouse was ransacked. There’s nothing left.” Tan Polang, who was standing at the doorway, spoke up before Bai Mo could answer Ye Ci’s question. He was woken up by Bai Mo’s ringtone and when Bai Mo went onto his computer to check on the forum, he groggily woke up and took a look as well. That was why he also had knowledge of what had happened.

“Oohhhhhh...” Ye Ci pushed Bai Mo’s hand aside, and resumed sleeping, appearing to not be interested in the topic.

Bai Mo chuckled, “The entire Steel Blooded Battle Spear guild went crazy. They posted it onto the forum, but this time, nobody believed them. Even those who believed that they were robbed yesterday began to doubt them.”

“Isn’t that good?”

“It is.” Bai Mo scratched his head. He noticed that something was not right with Ye Ci’s reaction, but he could not exactly pinpoint what was wrong. Tan Polang said to Ye Ci, who was buried underneath her blanket, with tilted head, “Your reaction is weird.”

“Oh?” Ye Ci narrowed her eyes at the little brat.

“I heard that they unjustly accused you yesterday, and something like this happened and cleared your name, while also indirectly exacting revenge for you. Why are you not excited at all?” Despite his young age, Tan Polang was very observant. He immediately noticed something fishy with Ye Ci’s reaction.

“There’s nothing to be amazed about. I already knew.” Ye Ci was forced to give up on her sleep due to the noise and sat up.

“Who told you?” The two people were baffled. They were some of the first to find out, but Ye Ci had found out about the matter even before them.

Ye Ci remained silent. She jumped down from her bed and walked up to her dresser. She began brushing her head with a comb and said in a calm voice, “Don’t you guys wanna know who did it?”

“Who?”

“Me!” Ye Ci turned around and smiled at the two.

“You?” Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“I’m not one to suffer in silence.” Ye Ci tapped the corner of her mouth, “Since they claimed that I’d ransacked their guild warehouse, and I couldn’t clear my name, why not just make it a reality? You can’t expect me to just shoulder it silently, do you? That’s so dumb.”

“H-how did you do it?” That was the only question the 2 members of the opposite sex wanted to ask.

It was... A long story.

Ye Ci had slept very early the night before. It was way earlier than she normally would. She then set her alarm clock to ring at 2:30am. It was a magical time. A person would normally be deep asleep at around 1:30 in the morning right up until 4am. This was a time when a human being was the most tired. This was the time when somebody’s awareness was at its lowest.

Although Fate was played using a gaming cabin, the gaming cabin would not change a human’s physiology. That was why Ye Ci woke up at that time and went online.

Ye Ci, who had always been health conscious, had never played the game late at night. When she went online, the game was deathly quiet. Even the guild encampment of Upwards Ho! was empty and devoid of players. They had all gone offline and had off to bed...