Chapter 571: The Center Of The Secret Area
Its sharp claws grabbed Lu Li's shoulder and pulled down.
Lu Li lost a large chunk of HP, but he refused to admit defeat. He stabbed his dagger deep into the Abyss Undead Bug's eye and twisted it. This attack wasn't enough to blind the target, but it did hit its weak point.
The Abyss Undead Bug let out a cry as it took double damage and lost a significant amount of HP.
Neither man nor beast had the advantage at this point.
The Undead Bug wasn't easy to fight. It had a lot of combat experience and wasn't like the monsters that took turns with the player to attack.
After taking a heavy hit from Lu Li, it fell back and kept some distance between them to prepare itself.
Lu Li already knew that it was going to use its poison, but he didn't rush forwards. Instead, when he saw the attack coming, he quickly drank an Advanced Antidote.
The attack dealt more than 400 damage, but the deadly poison did not trigger.
In fact, his rebirth had completely changed things for him. The knowledge alone allowed him to perform much better than he did in his previous life.
In his last life, he had died to this monster at least a dozen times, but now, he wouldn't make the same mistake.
Although Lu Li's HP and Attack wasn't as much as the Abyss Undead Bug's, he had more skills, more potions and more intelligence.
After a little over a minute, the Undead Bug exploded into pool of blood.
Lu Li had already rolled away before this happened, so the poisonous explosion didn't hurt him.
A lot of players were very wary while they were fighting the Abyss Undead Bug and knew when it was dead because they would receive the EXP.
However, the Undead Bug relied on this and would often kill the player after it had died.
The Undead Bugs were harder to kill and only gave a little more EXP than the lava monster. There was almost no difference in terms of EXP bar growth.
However, the Undead Bug's drops were free for him to pick up.
When Lu Li fought what he suspected was a Boss, he reasoned that it must have dropped some good items. Unfortunately, they had all fallen into the lava and he had no way of getting to them.
Lu Li bent over to pick up what was left of the Abyss Undead Bug.
He picked up an Undead Bug Carapace, which was a Rare Material that was good for making leather armor. Even if a Mold didn't specifically ask for it, it could still be added.
Adding the Undead Bug Carapace would provide some damage reduction properties.
This kind of Rare Material wasn't necessarily needed for any equipment, but adding it would yield some unexpected benefits. Some players thought that this was an exotic kind of material because they were not necessarily dropped by a Boss, but by a specific type of monster.
The Undead Bug had dropped nothing other than the Undead Bug Carapace.
After Lu Li had killed a dozen Undead Bugs and acquired five Undead Bug Carapaces, he decided to leave. He didn't have much time and was bound to be kicked out when he logged off. When he came back online, he might not still be here.
Moreover, there was a display over the secret area that said 1/2, which probably meant that Lu Li only had one more chance to explore afterwards.
He planned to explore as much as he could at this time, but next time, he could be more prepared. The Undead Bug Carapace was good, but five of them was only enough for Lu Li to use.
In general, the exit point would be in the center of the secret area.
Lu Li worked out where he needed to go based on what he had explored so far and headed there.
He wanted to find out what the most powerful presence was in the area. As such, his movements were bold and unrestrained; he didn't even stop when he saw monsters.
His high movement speed afforded him the luxury of being able to do this.
As long as it was not more than 10 levels ahead of him and it wasn't a Boss, Lu Li was confident that he could take it out quickly.
Lu Li encountered more than one monster during his travel. There was a one-footed ostrich creature that had an amazing jumping ability, but it was very silly. It jumped over Lu Li and landed face first into the dirt before taking a long time to pull its head out.
The lava monster was the most common thing here and each of them was a Strengthening Stone in Lu Li's eyes. It would be a waste not to take them.
There was also a ma.s.sive worm that could shoot silk. It almost captured Lu Li, but he managed to use his Shoes' Direct Thrust to get far away from the attack.
After crossing several of these strange areas, Lu Li arrived at his destination an hour before the day's playtime finished.
At least, this was where he thought the center of the secret area was.
There was a big tree here. This was the first time that Lu Li had seen a big tree like this in the secret area. It was also probably because of the tree, but visibility was much better here.
The tree was so big that Lu Li couldn't really find the words to describe it.
If he had to compare it with something, he could only think of the world's biggest tree – Teldra.s.sil. One could only imagine what it would have looked like when it was alive.
Yes, this tree was already dead.
From afar, the silence of this tree could be felt. Although the leaves had lost all their moisture, they stubbornly refused to fall. Like the demons who had died in this abyss, this tree hadn't rotted.
Lu Li was now even more convinced that this was a destroyed small world.
He escaped into the shadows and stayed near them cautiously, inching forwards to see what else was left around this tree.
Lu Li felt like the difficulty of this secret area probably wasn't as high as he had initially thought. After all, the world had been destroyed, so the strong creatures that hadn't died would have slowly lost their strength as there were no resources.
Although Dawn was a game made for playability, any designer would hardly refuse the temptation of creating an entire world.
A world could be called a world because it had its own rules.
After getting closer, Lu Li found that there was actually a creature under the tree.
Burning Legion!
It actually was the Burning Legion!
Lu Li almost peed himself. He immediately wanted to slap himself in the face. How was the Burning Legion not difficult? Was he a t.i.tan G.o.d?
The Burning Legion was one of Dawn's major villains in the lore. Sargeras was originally the most powerful warrior of the t.i.tans, but he lost himself in the conquest. He became convinced that everything he had done was wrong and set out the fix it. He also wanted to destroy the order that was established by the t.i.tan G.o.d.
As such, he released these mighty creatures in captivity, all of whom groveled under his feet.
That was the Burning Legion, Azeroth's most deadly enemy. Characters like Tyrande and Medivh racked their brains and were barely able to defend themselves from what was considered the root of all evil.
The Doomguard and h.e.l.lhounds were the Burning Legion's strongest units and they were loyal to an even more powerful Demon.
Lu Li was currently only level 38; he was in no way close to being able to fight the Burning Legion.
Chapter 572: Doomguard
After calming down, Lu Li found some inconsistencies with his conclusion. He watched for a while, but only found Doomguards and h.e.l.lhounds. There weren't any higher-end Burning Legion units.
In the center was what seemed like an altar.
Lu Li slowly approached it, but he didn't dare to get much closer. Not only were the h.e.l.lhounds capable of absorbing mana, but they were also quite strong. If they found him, the sheer number of Doomguards would be enough to gang up on him, even though this was just a Burning Legion scouting party.
There was the dead tree, an altar and Doomguards in this abandoned little world. Lu Li kept speculating.
Sargeras or his men were probably here killing the Abyss demons that were resisting. They had destroyed the world tree and forced the indigenous species of this world to follow him as he went on destroying other worlds.
These Doomguards and h.e.l.lhounds might have been the ones that were too weak to escape.
However, that couldn't be right – these had to be the descendants of those survivors. No one had studied the lifespan of these things, so he couldn't be sure.
Right now, it seemed as though they were trying to summon a formidable ancestor.
He didn't know that there wasn't a Boss here, but it was reasonable to a.s.sume that monsters that could build an altar weren't weak. Furthermore, it would be impossible for the population to reach this size without a leader.
Lu Li observed as he walked around the tree and finally found a bigger Doomguard.
It was said that Doomguards were able to evolve when they became strong enough. It was even possible for them to become Demon Lords. Obviously, this Doomguard had not yet evolved, and Lu Li speculated that it might not even be a fully-fledged Boss.
Lu Li wandered around, then picked a Doomguard that was furthest from the others.
He wanted to test out the strength of the Boss, but there were too many monsters around it. Moreover, h.e.l.lhounds were particularly sensitive creatures. He was also worried about the unknown level of the Boss.
If the Boss was too strong, he might just instantly lose 10% EXP.
In fact, most experienced players could guess a Boss' level based on the monsters' levels.
Some players thought that the Bosses of the same species would have the same skills. The only differences would lie in the Boss' occupation and unique skills given by the System.
Lu Li had already seen quite a few Doomguards before.
He also chose a Doomguard that had a h.e.l.lhound following it. In the Burning Legion, the Doomguard was the combat unit and some of them had h.e.l.lhounds as hunting dogs.
Lu Li planned to stun the Doomguard and kill the h.e.l.lhound first.
Unfortunately, he was discovered by the h.e.l.lhound before he even got close. The monsters here had to be much higher-levelled. Lu Li took out his crossbow and shot an arrow at the Doomguard's body.
-13.
The damage was quite low. One reason was because Thieves weren't crossbow users, but it was also because of the level gap.
After the attack, Lu Li saw the target's level and HP. The Doomguard was a level 45 Elite, while the h.e.l.lhound was level 42. The former had 12,000HP while the latter had 8,000HP.
These two were not going to be easy to deal with, and he didn't have much time left either.
Lu Li activated the effect on his shoe – Wirt's Fake Leg, Instant Cast, leap forwards or backwards 8 yards. This time, he chose to bounce backwards before he used Vanish. This successfully put him outside the h.e.l.lhound's detection range.
The h.e.l.lhound sniffed around for a while, but was ultimately unable to find him.
The Doomguard waved his double-headed spear and couldn't help but roar. The other Doomguards came and explored the area, but Lu Li had already left, so they were just looking in vain.
These Doomguards were actually capable of summoning their allies, so Lu Li felt like it would be very difficult for him to overcome this secret area.
Because monsters were around level 45, the Boss would likely be level 50. After all, it ruled an entire clan of monsters and was likely at the top of the food chain in this small world.
Lu Li hoped that he would be able to bring other players here – there was not much that he could do alone.
The other thing he was concerned about was the gorillas that were outside. He didn't want to be chased like a dog again, so he needed to kill the gorillas with the guild's main force.
The gorilla Boss was level 45, and it was unlikely that throwing rocks was all it could do.
Lu Li retreated in Stealth until he was a safe distance away before channeling the return portal.
When he returned to Darna.s.suss, the world suddenly became blindingly bright, and he received a whole variety of messages.
"Lu Li, get rid of the Boss quickly. The monkeys have discovered our s.h.i.+p..."
"If you don't come, we'll have to go."
"Lu Li what happened to you? Why aren't you showing up on the map?"
"Lu Li..."
"Lu Li..."
Most of them were from Laugh Into the Heavens and Hachi Chan, who were wondering why he hadn't returned yet. They asked about where he had gone and why they couldn't contact him, before finally asking about how he suddenly managed to level up.
Lu Li then remembered to open up the level rankings. He was first on the list and was the only level 38 player.
He was probably going to be in the lead for quite a while now. As he thought of those players who had several teams working to level them up, Lu Li couldn't help but feel a sense of superiority.
'You guys keep going – I have a technique that'll make you eat the dust.'
These messages obviously couldn't be ignored. Lu Li just gave an excuse, saying that it was too late and that it would take too long to explain. It was probably better for him to keep this a secret.
He pleaded Laugh Into the Heavens to keep the gorilla island a secret to avoid the Boss being taken by someone else.
Of course, Laugh Into the Heavens had no problem with that – he had already saved the princess. Lu Li and Hachi Chan had received some EXP for helping him, but he had received a larger EXP reward, a Skill Point, a Gold equipment and a Skill Book. It was a huge harvest for him.
He proposed giving Lu Li the equipment and the Skill Book, as he had played a decisive role in getting the boat and pulling the Boss away.
However, Lu Li refused without hesitation.
He just wanted the Ancient Demon Eye, and now that he had it, he didn't want anything else that didn't belong to him. He wasn't being pedantic; it was just a basic professional ethic.
Moreover, the equipment was only decent. For someone like Lu Li, it was far from exquisite. The skill book was also for a Druid skill that couldn't be considered as being too rare either.
Additionally, Lu Li had received countless congratulations from his acquaintances. He also saw a message from Water Fairy.
This female tyc.o.o.n didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point – she wanted to pay Lu Li to share his levelling method.
Lu Li was helpless. Even if he wanted to take her, he needed to wait until he was ready before going back to the secret area.
However, Water Fairy also had another purpose for sending the message. She said that she would visit Lu Xin tomorrow at the hospital, which meant that Lu Li would get to see the legendary Water Fairy in real life.
He wasn't terribly excited about this – after all, he wasn't interested in that way. However, he definitely was curious. Would Water Fairy wear a veil in real life just like in the game?
Chapter 573: Enchanting
Water Fairy came over; this had already been decided a few days ago.
Lu Li never really understood why Water Fairy insisted on visiting a little girl that she barely knew. He could only interpret this as Water Fairy trying to secure the relations.h.i.+p between Drizzle Court and Ruling Sword.
Lu Li had tried to decline her request, claiming that his sister didn't need any visitors.
However, Water Fairy had her own excuses – she lived in Jingling, she should visit a friend's sister when she lived so close to them, especially when Lu Xin's condition was quite serious...
Besides Water Fairy, the elites in the guild also decided to visit.
Even though Lu Li didn't care too much if there were any visitors for Lu Xin, it was only natural for the guild elites to show their care towards their boss. They worked under him after all.
Those who were close to Lu Li had even more reasons to visit.
Hence, a crowd of visitors appeared on the day that Lu Xin was moved out of the isolation ward.
Others thought that someone of great importance was staying in the hospital, and the security personnel were on their best behavior.
Square Root 3 was the one who was in charge of this event. It wasn't an easy task, but luckily for him, there were only two elite groups in the guild. If this was another big guild with dozens of hundred-man teams, the police would definitely have been alerted.
The second hundred-man team of Ruling Sword had already been formed. It most consisted of guild members who had good performance on average.
This time, they weren't as strict with the terms and conditions. Those who couldn't move into Jiangnan city because of study or work reasons were still given a chance, as long as they came to Jiangnan to sign their contract.
The guild also paid for their traveling expenses.
Lu Li and Square Root 3 didn't really have a choice in this matter. At the start, they planned to have the first few elite groups as full-time workers. That way, they would be more efficient in the game and more secretive. Ruling Sword had developed too fast and it was important for them to set a stable foundation.
Unfortunately, in the process, they had found that this kind of procedure caused them to lose some good potential guild members.
Some people needed to wait until they graduated to join the elite group, or even quit their unwanted job. However, not everyone was patient enough to do this and they demanded for the elite group to accept them.
There were also some players who had successful careers in real life that didn't clash with their gaming time. It was unrealistic for them to quit their job to play a game.
There was a Thief player with the ID Bai Renyou who was a young politician and was the only child in his political family. However, he also had good gaming skills and was one of the deciding factors that led to Lu Li and Square Root 3 changing their minds.
The second elite group mostly consisted of guild members who had good skills, but also could not live in Jiangnan city due to certain reasons.
The past two days of the weekend had been their peak travel time to sign their contract in Jiangnan city. As soon as they had heard that Lu Li's sister was staying in the hospital, they were determined to show up for a visit.
Flowers and gifts quickly filled the guest room in the hospital.
Apparently, all the bouquets near the hospital had been totally sold out.
Of course, Lu Li didn't let these people through the door to visit Lu Xin. Although she was in a much better condition, there was no way she would have enough energy to greet such a great number of people. Everyone entered in small groups, had a short chat, placed down their bouquets and left.
No one felt like they weren't being treated fairly – they were well aware of how many people were still lining up downstairs.
Lu Li had begun allowing visitors since 9am in the morning and the process had extended for an entire two hours. Even he felt tired dealing with so many guild members.
This was also the time that Water Fairy chose to arrive.
Lu Li had spent some of his time imagining how Water Fairy would show up. Perhaps a limo with a row of body guards on each side would arrive, and a pack of suited guests would instantly fill the hospital.
However, after he saw her in real life, he realized that he was overthinking.
Rich people didn't always put their luxurious life on display. Water Fairy wore some slightly lose sports clothes with a backpack. A white scarf was wrapped around her neck, and only her forehead and bright eyes remained unhidden.
There wasn't a ridiculous group of body guards around her – only a young and pretty girl stood behind her.
While the young girl behind her was already very pretty, she still wasn't as beautiful as Water Fairy herself.
It was very easy to tell which girl was Water Fairy.
Even with active wear and her forehead above the scarf, you could still tell that Water Fairy was an enchanting girl.
Someone like her was always the focus of all attention. Regardless of age and gender, those who were near the entrance of the hospital all turned around to look at her.
Lu Li had never received this kind of treatment – he was the type that was easily ignored and blended well within a crowd.
Water Fairy waved her hands as soon as she saw Lu Li came out.
She had stood there only for a little while, but four or five people had already walked over to ask for her number. All she did was give them a cold look and they backed off.
Lu Li didn't really didn't want to walk over. He felt like she had already seen him, so she could just walk over herself.
Perhaps it was because Water Fairy had a pair of eyes that could talk, but Lu Li subconsciously walked over to her. Suddenly, he also became the center of focus.
Everyone discovered that the mysterious and pretty girl was smiling at Lu Li.
The smile wasn't too noticeable, since the majority of her face was covered by a scarf.
However, everyone was paying attention to her every move, so they could tell that she was smiling at the guy who had walked over towards her.
"Wait, isn't that Lu Li?" The one speaking was one of the Ruling Sword guild members who had just visited Lu Xin.
Not all the players who visited Lu Xin left immediately. Some of them went around Jingling to look at the scenery, while others gathered around the entrance of the hospital to talk. They chatted about interesting events that happened in the game and bragged about their own adventures. Then, they saw an outstanding beauty appear, but none of them had the courage to approach her. All they could do was laugh in silence at those who attempted to talk to her but had no luck.
Then, they saw their boss.
There was no way they would be mistaken; it was Lu Li for sure.
They had only just seen Lu Li and talked to him for a while. Some of them had even talked to him alone, so there was no way they would recognize the wrong person.
"No way, our boss knows her?" It was normal for them to be surprised. Although Lu Li was amazing, that was only in the game. His accomplishments probably wern't enough to make an impact in real life.
Chapter 574: A Meeting in Real Life
"So you look the same as your character in the game."
Water Fairy checked out Lu Li, but she wasn't disappointed.
From her first impression, Lu Li was someone who didn't stand out. He was the type of person that you could find in an office or on a construction site.
In simple terms, he wasn't the type to stick out like a sore thumb.
"That isn't important." Lu Li wasn't interested in adjusting his face in the game; he would much rather spend that amount of time to kill a few more monsters.
Dawn didn't provide players with the option to change their original features, but gave players some other choices to adjust their appearance.
For example, players could place a scar on their face. Most Night Elves had face tattoos, and could also change their hair color. There were races in the game that would totally change a player's appearance, for example, Orcs and the Undead.
"This is Falling Star, our guild master. She insisted on coming along," Water Fairy said, gesturing at the pretty girl who stood beside her.
"Welcome," Lu Li nodded his head, feeling a little strange to have these words come out of his mouth. He then changed his tone and said, "Thanks for coming by to visit my sister. She's quite weak at the moment and is still resting. If you guys don't mind, there's a guest room available over here..."
Lu Li gestured with his fingers and Water Fairy immediately understood what he was trying to imply.
The two girls followed behind Lu Li and entered the guest room provided for him by the hospital.
It was rare for hospitals to organize these kind of things, but Lu Li was willing to pay. There were also too many visitors, which could possibly cause an impact on other patients. This was why the doctors gave them special considerations and provided them with a guest room.
"This is actually a pretty good place." Water Fairy was pleasantly surprised.
This was the best hospital with the best wards, but there were also other better treatment methods. Good examples included family doctors and services provided for special groups of people.
"It's all thanks to you," Lu Li said as he brought the two girls into the guest room.
Square Root 3 and a few others were casually chatting away in the room. They were a little dumbfounded when they saw Water Fairy and Falling Star. Even Square Root 3 had never seen Water Fairy in real life, not to mention that she had half of her face covered up.
As soon as they heard that it was Water Fairy, they all widened their eyes.
Unfortunately, Water Fairy wasn't interested in removing her scarf; she just sat there in silence.
In real life, Water Fairy wasn't as friendly as she was in the game, and it seemed like she was more stubborn and cold. She didn't simply interact with anyone, but this was also closer to the first impression that she gave Lu Li.
It wasn't until the two of them started working together that Lu Li had changed his opinion of her.
"Nice to meet you." Square Root 3 shook hands gently with Falling Star, but he was smart and didn't bother Water Fairy.
Water Fairy only nodded her head and the atmosphere became slightly awkward.
"You're still as good as ever, but unfortunately, our guild only takes girls. Otherwise, we would have invited you already," Falling Star said, breaking the awkward silence. She was too familiar with this situation; it was almost always like this whenever they went out.
"Luckily, I didn't go ahead and recommend myself. Otherwise, it would've made things real awkward," Square Root 3 laughed.
Everyone understood the joke and laughed too. Only Lu Li and Water Fairy remained. One honestly didn't find the joke funny at all, while the other probably wanted to maintain her image.
The few guild members that Square Root 3 brought in laughed to save his face, but their glances landed on Water Fairy every now and then.
People were always interested in mysteries.
Although people would be amazed by her beauty if Water Fairy took off her scarf, they wouldn't be as curious.
"I'm going to take them out. You guys talk." Square Root 3 was very capable in social situations and was aware that he wasn't welcomed here.
He still didn't believe that Water Fairy was the type to visit a patient in real life.
Rumors often went around, and different people would be interested in her. These people included rich tyc.o.o.ns or powerful men, but it seemed like nothing ended well.
Square Root 3 had some connections in that section of the world and understood that these weren't simply rumors.
Falling Star tried to ask him to stay back, but she wasn't too persistent about it.
Square Root 3 brought the others with him and left. Now, there were only three people left in the room. Water Fairy let out a long sigh and removed her scarf.
As expected, she was beautiful – G.o.d had really spent a lot of time on her.
However, Lu Li wasn't too surprised. The expression remained on his face and his eyes only briefly scanned across Water Fairy's face, not even pausing.
He preferred the Water Fairy in the game over the one in real life.
In the game, they synchronized well. They had completed quests together, escaped from a.s.sa.s.sinations together and had also a.s.sa.s.sinated others together as well. However, the situation was different in real life – they were almost strangers.
"We're here mainly to visit your sister." Falling Star looked at the two of them; the silence was giving her a slight headache.
"The doctor said she'll be able to leave the hospital after some time." Lu Li still didn't mention a single word about taking them to visit Lu Xin.
Falling Star was quite curious as to what Lu Li's sister looked like, but she wasn't someone who would cross that line. If Lu Li wasn't interested in taking them to see his sister, then she wouldn't bother him with it either.
"What do you plan to do with the first kill for Zul'Farrk?" Water Fairy asked.
Her voice was nice – it wasn't s.e.xy, but it wasn't coa.r.s.e either. It was special, and it sounded better than her voice in the game. After all, no matter how advanced technology was, it couldn't fully replicate real life.
Lu Li thought about the question for a moment then said, "We'll do our own thing, but we can share the guide. After I've fully constructed the guide, you guys take the First Clear. Then, we'll complete the dungeon."
This meant that even if Lu Li could get the First Clear, he was going to give it up in the very last moment and share the complete guide with Drizzle Court.
"Sure." Water Fairy had no complaints to this.
She was a proud person and it was already embarra.s.sing enough for her to ask Lu Li in order for Drizzle Court to get a First Clear. She couldn't ask for anything more.
"The player levels for the team have to be 35 or above. You need one Priest that can cure disease and control the Undead, one Shaman..." Lu Li began explaining the cla.s.s structure of the team.
"We don't have Bloodl.u.s.t. The drop rate is too low," Water Fairy pouted. She felt like there was a big difference between her and Lu Li. and this caused her to feel a little down.
"You guys can at least dispel disease status, right?" Lu Li asked.
"Probably?" Water Fairy turned to Falling Star, then after Falling Star nodded her head, she confirmed, "Our Shaman knows how to dispel disease status and dispel magic effects."
"That's better. Is there a Mage who has learnt Arcane Explosion?" Lu Li wasn't going to change his own team, but he wasn't too sure about the strength of Drizzle Court. He hoped that they had the very best team composition.
Arcane Explosion was a group-damaging spell that could be casted while the Mage moved. It was suitable for clearing smaller groups of monsters with high movement speed and a low amount of health.
"A Mage who can cast Arcane Explosion, yup." Water Fairy remembered Deadly Green Orange. As a professional compet.i.tor, Deadly Green Orange had more skills than the average player.
Arcane Explosion wasn't a rare skill, but most Mages wouldn't spend too much time looking for it. Blizzard did way more damage compared to it.
"The others don't matter as much, but the stronger they are, the easier it will be. Make sure you pay extra attention to interrupting spells..."
A meeting that would have caused an uproar in the gaming world became a discussion on how to complete the Zul'Farrk dungeon. Interestingly enough, neither of them felt anything weird about the situation.
Chapter 575: No Place to Go
A topic that would seem plain and boring in the eyes of many became an interesting discussion between Lu Li and Water Fairy.
After they settled the details of the dungeon, they moved onto how they should play against different cla.s.ses. They shared their tactics with each other, tactics that they usually wouldn't share with other people. Falling Star was almost about to fall asleep.
"Take me to your sister," Water Fairy said as she stood up, ignoring Lu Li's reluctance.
Some people were used to commanding others around them. If they wanted something done, it would be done; they didn't easily take no for an answer. Water Fairy had come to visit the patient, so her trip wouldn't be complete if she didn't see the little girl.
Lu Li could find ways to deal with other people, but it wasn't so easy to turn down Water Fairy.
He slowly began to discover that once someone became your debt owner, unimportant matters were no longer unmovable.
"It should be alright for Lu Xin to just see one person. Lu Xin also really liked Water Fairy anyway," he thought to himself.
Lu Xin finally saw her first visitor after the few hundreds of people who had visited the guest room beforehand.
Lu Li had seen his sister every day over the past few days. The little girl wasn't as fragile as she was before, and the nurses would often walk her around the ward as this helped with her recovery.
The medical world had developed greatly over the past few centuries in terms of healing injuries.
Usually, after three days, the patient wouldn't be threatened anymore by infections, and their injuries would fully heal after one month. Lu Li was just being overly anxious by keeping his sister in the isolation ward for a week. This had nothing to do with the hospital's choice.
If it wasn't for the fact that there weren't any patients who urgently needed the isolation ward, the siblings would have been kicked out long ago.
Lu Xin didn't have much sleep – she was lying on the bed with her head sticking out of the blanket. The boredom on her face was quite obvious. As soon as she heard someone enter, her eyes immediately looked over.
"Water Fairy..." The little girl immediately recognized who had come.
Everyone enjoyed looking at beautiful things; this had nothing to do with gender. Lu Li was slightly jealous that his sister easily recognized Water Fairy, considering that she wasn't too good at recognizing faces.
"Xin Xin, are you alright?" Water Fairy walked over, bent down and gently held Lu Xin's hand which was sticking out of the blanket.
It was very easy for girls to get along – sometimes, it would only take a single meeting for them to bond like sisters.
If Lu Li was the one who was lying in the hospital bed today, there was no way he would receive this kind of treatment.
"I'm already much better, but my brother is still making me lie down here," Lu Xin complained.
"You'll be able to get up after a few days. You should rest up." Water Fairy didn't have much experience with children; her actions were solely based off what she felt from the bottom of her heart. A fragile little girl would always cause people to feel sympathetic towards her.
They talked for about half an hour and until Lu Li finally managed to kick the two guests out.
Water Fairy and Falling Star were busybodies and left as soon as they came out of the ward. Lu Li didn't leave the hospital, so he didn't invite them for a meal either. They said their goodbyes at the carpark.
"Little girl, you're misbehaving, aren't you?" Lu Li came back as soon as he sent the guests away.
They weren't in the isolation ward anymore, so there was no need for strict protections. Outside of the time that Lu Xin needed for rest and sleep, Lu Li would sit on the couch of the ward to accompany her.
"Why did Water Fairy come?" Lu Xin pulled up her blanket and only left her eyes out to gaze around.
"She's here to visit you," Lu Li answered as he sliced an apple, spinning his knife as if he was holding the Shard of the Defiler in his hands.
"Why? I don't know her that well, bro..." Lu Xin lowered her voice, but there was actually only the two of them in the ward.
"What?" Lu Li gave her a strange glance, but he still moved his ears closer.
"Everyone is saying that you two are together. The forums called you guys... a couple," Lu Xin whispered as she suddenly became a little emotional. "If you two are together, can I still live with you guys?"
Time spent in the hospital was quite boring. There was nothing for her to do and Lu Li didn't allow her to play games, so she spent a great deal of time overthinking.
She had already begun to imagine the moment when Lu Li had his own family and she became unimportant. She would wander alone in the streets, cold and hungry, with shoes that showed her toes.
"What are you even thinking about?" Lu Li said as he knocked his sister's head gently. He could tell that she was letting her imagination run wild.
"Water Fairy is so pretty. It would be so nice if I can grow up to look like her." The admiration was clear in Lu Xin's eyes.
"It doesn't matter if she's pretty or not. You don't have to become like her."
Lu Li rubbed his sister's soft hair. Because of the surgery, the doctors had trimmed the little girl's long hair, so she looked even more pitiful.
"She's so pretty. Don't you like her at all?" Lu Li didn't believe in this.
"It doesn't matter if I like her or not. She doesn't belong in our world, and your brother is only playing games to earn money. I haven't thought about anything else," Lu Li explained.
"And you say you haven't thought about it...If you haven't thought about it, then how would you know you two don't suit each other?" Lu Xin pouted and yawned.
"Just one more week and I'll let you play games." Lu Li didn't want his sister to sleep all day long either; the doctors advised against this. It wasn't good to have too much rest.
"I want to go home." There was only one more week, but she didn't feel any happiness.
"Home? Which home?" Lu Li didn't think that his sister would make such a request. Where was their home? Could the house that the lady landlords owned count as their home?
"I don't know either," Lu Xin said as she rubbed her cheeks against her brother's palms.
They already given their old home away and had never gone back since. The house of the lady landlords didn't seem like it belonged to the two of them either. Now that they thought about it, they actually didn't have a home.
"Don't worry." Lu Li felt sympathetic towards the helplessness of the little girl and promised, "I'll earn enough money soon, so we can buy a big house. We'll plant flowers in our backyard and I'll buy you a little dog and a cat..."
"I like hamsters too," Lu Xin's eyes were glistening.
"Sure, we'll have a couple of them. If we only buy one, it won't have any company." Lu Li wasn't too sure if hamsters could be kept with cats, but if this was his sister's request, he wouldn't say no.
Water Fairy was pretty indeed; Lu Li had to admit this too. He wasn't stupid and he didn't have different taste to most people either.
However, he just didn't feel like her beauty had anything to do with him. He was just another average human, a brother who wanted the best for his sister and a man who wanted to develop his own club.