Chapter 7: A decision

[idraax]

Xu Boyuan constantly felt like crying these days. First, that Lord Grim had nearly depleted their guild coffers of all their rare materials. Seriously, what was he doing with all those Mithril Pendants anyway? He'd never seen Cleansing Rain or Gentle Mist wearing any of them. Now, Bound Boat was standing in front of him and talking about how he had seemingly run into the Blood Gunner at a bar. And he was supposed to be the sane one!

"Are you still drunk?" Xu Boyuan asked. He was really regretting taking the guild leader position. It was too much stress.

Bound Boat shook his head.

"I wasn't drinking. I was driving."

Xu Boyuan sighed before waving Bound Boat away.

"Go away," he said. "Come back when you're sober."

Bound Boat groaned.

“I know what I saw,” he called over his shoulder as he left. Blue River slumped in his chair and buried his head in his hands. He knew he shouldn’t have gotten out of bed today.

---

Word quickly spread about what Bound Boat had seen. Xu Boyuan constantly had guild members messaging him to ask if it was true. He directed them all to Bound Boat as Bound Boat was the one who started it all.

It probably was true. Bound Boat wouldn’t keep up the joke for this long. Xu Boyuan groaned and turned back to his screen. There was a message waiting from Lord Grim. He stared at it for a long time before bracing himself and opening it. It was another materials request.

He ignored it. The guild didn’t need a record broken right now ...although, he could use a party to dungeon with. He opened up the chat.

“Need another party member?”

“Sure,” Lord Grim replied and sent him coordinates.

Xu Boyuan quickly made his way over. Lord Grim took one look at him and frowned.

“Something wrong?”

Xu Boyuan shrugged. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Lord Grim what Bound Boat had seen. If word got out, people would think Blue Brook was full of fools.

Lord Grim hummed before asking, “Is it about that rumor that one of your members saw a wild BOSS?”

Xu Boyuan nearly spat out blood. How had the rumor spread so far already?!

“No, nonono,” he said frantically, “No one saw the Blood Gunner in real life!”

Lord Grim smirked.

“The Blood Gunner?”

Too late, Xu Boyuan realized what he had said. Hanging his head, he pleaded with Lord Grim.

“Please don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin our reputation.”

“What reputation,” Lord Grim said. “Anyway, they wouldn’t be the first to see Glory in real life. Did you hear about Luo Ji?”

Xu Boyuan nodded. By now, everyone had heard of Luo Ji. He almost felt sorry for him, being in the spotlight like that.

Lord Grim stepped closer and leaned down to whisper conspiratorially.

“There were other incidents like that.”

Xu Boyuan’s heart pounded as Lord Grim described a rumour he had heard about a horned wolf being seen in Tiny Herb’s territory and various other incidents. It seemed Bound Boat’s vision was only the latest. He’d have to apologize to his friend after this, but first, the dungeon.

He tightened his grip on his sword and turned to face the dungeon entrance.

“Let’s go.”

---

Sun Xiang was finally adjusting to being in the past. One Autumn Leaf's yelling about what combinations he could and couldn't do definitely helped. However, his avatar was quiet today. Ie was barely a presence in Sun Xiang’s mind and Sun Xiang found that he missed it, even though he’d gone through an entire lifetime without it before.

What’s wrong? You haven’t been this quiet since-

The white of bone peeking through ripped apart skin. The thick coppery smell of blood filling his nose.

Sun Xiang found himself in the bathroom heaving into the sink.

He talked to him, One Autumn Leaf said as Sun Xiang rinsed his mouth out.

There was envy in One Autumn Leaf’s voice, along with the ever-present anger. Sun Xiang wanted to tease him, but they still weren't close enough for that.

"Did he tell Ye Xiu about you?" He asked instead.

He still hadn't gotten used to the sudden pauses in his head.

I don't know.

One Autumn Leaf sounded even more frustrated and not for the first time Sun Xiang wondered if the avatar was only talking to him because there was no one else.

He got up, wobbling a little as his head gave a sharp throb in protest. Though the headache that had been there earlier was slowly fading, it still lingered, sending the occasional pulse of pain to remind him that it was there. He swayed in place for a few moments, blinking slowly as it subsided. Then, he picked up the account card from its place next to the pillow and walked out the door.

The hallway seemed unusually dim for this time of day and as Sun Xiang walked through it, his echoing footsteps sounded louder than usual.

Where is everyone?

Then, he caught sight of the clock.

Oh.

He had, apparently, slept the whole day.

Where are we going?

One Autumn Leaf interrupted his thoughts, sounding almost concerned.

Instead of answering him, Sun Xiang stepped out into the street.

The mist softened the glow of the streetlamps and his shoulders loosened. He took a breath of damp air. It tasted like gas.

Hey, are you listening to me?

It's Friday, Sun Xiang thought back, where else would we go?

One Autumn Leaf went quiet, distant. Sun Xiang left him to his thoughts and pulled open the cafe door.

Ye Xiu was at the desk being berated by an older woman. It was probably his boss, Chen Guo. Sun Xiang had seen her around before, usually fixing any computer issues that came up.

He lingered on the side and waited. Eventually, Chen Guo noticed him and grinned scarily at Ye Xiu.

“Oh,” she said. “Your friend’s here. Don’t forget you have a job.”

With that, she walked off. Ye Xiu nodded at Sun Xiang before looking back at the computer.

“5C.”

“I’m not here for a game,” Sun Xiang said, taking out One Autum Leaf’s account card.

What are you doing? One Autumn Leaf asked warily.

Ye Xiu looked at him with surprise.

“Oh?”

“Here,” Sun Xiang said, stepping forward to pick up one of Ye Xiu’s hands.

“Um-” Ye Xiu started.

Sun Xiang placed the account card in Ye Xiu’s hand and let go the moment Ye Xiu’s fingers automatically curled around it.

“I’ll need him back by Monday,” Sun Xiang said and, before Ye Xiu could say a word, ran out of the cafe.