DADH Chapter 22

Huo Yi glanced at the three young men standing outside his courtyard gate. He had originally intended to turn and head back to his small farmhouse, but suddenly he noticed the task board in front of the three.

Huo Yi’s steps faltered, and he turned to look. A touch of impatience appeared in his originally indifferent gaze.

More task takers?

Based on the limited information about the game that he had learned since arriving in the interstellar realm, he could roughly guess that the game was still in development.

That little dragon whelp from before, who had been elusive and elusive, wasn’t truly a player in the real sense, or rather, not yet a full-fledged player.

But these three…

Taking the lesson from that unreliable little dragon whelp’s words to heart, the moment the three appeared, Huo Yi directly used his divine sense to inspect their data.

Sure enough, he found differences in their data. The data of these three individuals was separate, completely detached from the data structure of this holographic world. In short, they were genuine players.

A glint flickered in Huo Yi’s eyes. He first duplicated the data, then loosened his divine sense a bit to observe the construction process of this holographic world.

As expected, the game world had been fully constructed.

Unfortunately, he still couldn’t fully invade the world’s data with his divine sense to directly locate the dragon egg. But the advantage was—

Huo Yi gave the three a cold look. “Follow me.”

With the completion of the game world’s construction, he no longer needed to worry so cautiously about ruining the NPC’s character and causing a chain collapse of the world, nor did he need to endure those nauseating pleas for help.

Jing Family’s eldest and second sons had the same handsome and cold eyes. One moment, they were perplexed by the fact that this “Uncle Pippilu” newbie task NPC looked so young despite being called “uncle.”

Then, they were met with an inexplicably cold expression from this NPC.

And they even spoke to them in a commanding tone.

The expressions of the eldest brother, Jing Chen, and the second brother, Jing Xing, immediately turned cold. The two were fortunate to be known throughout the interstellar realm as “walking blocks of ice,” and that description wasn’t an exaggeration.

Jing Yan, sandwiched between them, immediately felt the temperature drop in the air!

Among the three brothers, aside from Jing Yan, who had played holographic online games before, the other two were young and had become generals solely through accumulating military achievements. Their efforts and time invested were naturally many times more than others, leaving little time for leisure and entertainment.

Thus, the two young generals renowned across the interstellar realm were, in fact, novices when it came to gaming.

In Jing Yan’s mind, he exclaimed, “What the heck?” He had only turned his head for a moment to admire the intricately modeled holographic game world, and the next thing he knew, his two older brothers were squaring off with this cold-faced NPC.

The three blocks of ice exchanged icy gazes.

And it seemed like a tense standoff was about to unfold.

Jing Yan: “…”

His first reaction was actually, “There’s someone (AI) who can exchange cold gazes with my older brothers?”

His second reaction came a bit later. He hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed his two brothers, who looked like they were about to pummel this NPC: “Brothers, let it go. This is just an NPC, there’s no need to lower yourselves to his level!”

As he spoke, Jing Yan took advantage of the fact that the holographic game system automatically severed NPC’s listening programs when players discussed game-related matters. He began explaining to his two “interstellar veterans” brothers.

The AI in the game was different from the intelligent AI in real life and the military assistance AI!

The latter is designed for the convenience of life, for better human service. It’s certainly all about catering to people’s needs!

NPCs in the game are intentionally given these “personalities” to enhance the entertainment value of the game. So, they are not specifically targeting the two of you!

It’s part of the design!

Design!

Jing Yan explained painstakingly.

However…

The expression on Jing Family’s second brother’s face didn’t show the slightest relaxation: “Oh.”

After listening to Jing Yan’s explanation, he thought of their own delicate and lovely youngest sibling, Jing Nian. The thought of him facing these peculiar NPCs alone made his expression even darker.

He looked at Jing Yan with a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes: “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Jing Yan: “…” Aren’t all games like this? I didn’t anticipate that you guys didn’t know!?

“That person who designs the game, Na Yang, right? He’s the one who created these NPCs?” The usually silent eldest brother of the Jing family unexpectedly spoke at length.

Clearly, both he and the second brother’s first thought was: Jing Nian, trapped in the game, has to deal with these NPCs?

The chilly and dissatisfied gaze of the eldest brother fell lightly on Jing Yan: “It’s one thing for outsiders, but why didn’t you say anything?”

Faced with the blame from his two brothers.

Jing Yan: “…” Did the sky just fall into a pot?

“Not… I’m to blame for this? And the person who developed the game isn’t named Na Yang, Na Yang is that jerk friend who got the early access card for Xiao Nian’s closed beta!”

Doesn’t matter.

In any case, all of this is on Jing Family’s revenge list. They’ll settle the score together when they find Jing Nian.

Neither of the two brothers listened to Jing Yan’s explanation. They both instinctively walked toward the cold-faced NPC and urged impatiently, their brows furrowed, “Let’s go.”

Huo Yi, who was dubbed as “this kind of NPC,” calmly glanced at the three brothers, then raised his foot to lead the way.

The moment he saw their faces, he recognized their identities. They were the brothers of that lost young man. He had seen two of them in the youth ward, and one had crossed paths with him when leaving the ward.

Upon hearing Jing Yan and the others mention that NPCs couldn’t hear players discussing game-related topics, Huo Yi stood still, pretending not to hear, and eavesdropped openly.

Oddly enough, amid the conversation of the three, they were certain that the soul of the lost young man was in this game world.

This was something he hadn’t considered at all.

While pondering, Huo Yi led the three to the vegetable field in silence.

On the way, he heard them discuss a lot about the game and “Jing Nian.” Huo Yi secretly took note of it. After all, the youth named Jing Nian was implicated because of his dragon egg.

Recovering the soul of the young man named Jing Nian was also one of his responsibilities.

At this moment, the task panel of the three displayed: 【Newbie Task 1: Go to [Uncle Pippilu’s] [Vegetable Field] and take a look.】

Jing Yan quickly turned around to educate his two gaming novice brothers.

“Usually, these types of newbie tasks are very simple. In a vegetable field, it’s usually about catching bugs…”

Before he could finish speaking, the two action-oriented brothers had already entered the vegetable field and were standing next to the vegetables, ready to catch bugs.

Seeing this, Huo Yi at the edge of the field, thinking about the unconscious young man who had been caught up because of him – after all, these people were that young man’s brothers – was about to give a timely reminder. He even prepared to provide them with the task tool, a woodcutting knife.

However, before Huo Yi could say anything, the Jing brothers had quickly bent over, pulled apart the outer leaves of the vegetables, and were ready to “catch bugs.”

The moment the two men pulled apart the outer leaves, a terrifyingly massive green insect over a person’s height suddenly emerged.

However, both men merely leaned back slightly, their expressions unchanged. They delivered a precise punch, without even a flicker of emotion in their eyes.

Seeing that the task list hadn’t been updated and still displayed 【0/20 Green Bugs】:

So, the two of them simultaneously lifted their feet and gave a straightforward chop to the head of the green bug.

The head of the large green bug was instantly severed.

Seeing the task list display 【1/20 Green Bugs】, the two men exchanged a glance. They each walked to a row of vegetables and repeated the previous action.

Even when they killed too quickly, and the green bug in the next vegetable hadn’t even reacted yet, the two of them impatiently kicked the vegetable, directly sending the bug flying out for them to kill.

Nearly one bug per second.

After 20 seconds, behind the two brothers lay a neat row of decapitated green bug corpses.

Seeing Jing Yan still standing on the field’s edge, eyes wide open and stupefied, not participating in bug-killing for the task, both of the brothers showed a hint of displeasure in their brows.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and do the task, finding Jing Nian is important,” urged the second brother.

As a military academy student, Jing Yan was naturally quite familiar with his two brothers’ combat style. The Imperial Army kills Zergs this way against the insectoid species.

The school often used videos of his two brothers exterminating Zergs as classic teaching examples. He had seen them numerous times, whether in class or in actual combat.

But…

Jing Yan looked at the rows of vegetables his brothers had trampled to bits in their bug-killing frenzy. His mouth twitched. People kill bugs to protect the vegetables, you know?

He turned to the farmer beside him, who was holding three woodcutting knives. The farmer remained expressionless, showing no reaction to the damaged vegetables. Jing Yan found this quite puzzling.

Huo Yi saw him looking and handed him a woodcutting knife.

Jing Yan took the knife and charged into the vegetable field.

Huo Yi put away the remaining two woodcutting knives. Relying on his NPC status, he unabashedly reassessed both Jing Family’s eldest and second brother.

As far as he knew, this interstellar world was a peaceful one without much bloodshed or conflict. Although it was only a holographic world, judging from the techniques and movements of the two men:

Even in reality, these two were formidable fighters.

Decisive in combat, clean, and efficient—these qualities would make them promising martial cultivators even in a fantasy world.

After completing the task, the three brothers looked back at Huo Yi, whose task panel showed “Talk to Me.”

Huo Yi withdrew his assessing gaze and gave each of them a packet of seeds, pointing to an empty patch of land nearby. “Plant them there.”

Originally, the skill of planting required the farmer Pippilu to give players guidance and demonstration once before teaching it.

However, even when in the mortal realm, Huo Yi was an illustrious high-ranking noble. Once he could deviate from the persona of a farmer NPC, he was disdainful even of the clothes on his body.

Not to mention making him lower himself to demonstrate farming in the fields?

Certainly not possible.

Born in an era of high technology and full automation, the three brothers who had absolutely no idea about farming: “…”

This time, not only did the veins on the foreheads of both older brothers start to throb, but even Jing Yan felt like throwing the seeds.

But thinking about their younger brother, they could only endure.

They had to level up as quickly as possible. The map of this darned game had level restrictions. When their levels were low, they couldn’t even leave the newbie village!

In front of Huo Yi, the three brothers, while disdainfully handling the task, opened the interstellar network search and found videos of farming in ancient times. They learned by following along with the videos.

Dig a hole, put the seed in, cover it up, and then water it.

It didn’t seem difficult, but because the soil of the empty field was a bit moist and loose, the clothes that were already dirtied by killing bugs got even dirtier after planting the seeds.

The three brothers looked extremely disheveled. If it weren’t for their figures and faces, they could line up along the street and beg.

【Obtained the skill [Planting Technique] from [Farmer Pippilu]!】

In front of the three of them, an identical message popped up.

“Phew~” Jing Yan wiped off some sweat and glanced at the task panel, then turned to his two brothers.

“The main quest has refreshed. Maybe we should focus on the main quest first; it’s the fastest way to level up.”

“Why didn’t you mention before how troublesome it is to find people in this game?”

Jing Xing furrowed his brow and, as he spoke, turned towards the direction from which the three had come.

If he had known there would be so much trouble, when he was urging that studio to speed up the construction progress of the game world earlier, he should have had them adjust the data in advance. At the very least, they should have unlocked the map restrictions.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be stuck here doing tasks, not knowing when they could fully explore the map.

They had come to Uncle Pippilu to pick up newbie quests because the main quest required them to have the Planting Technique skill to proceed, so they had no choice but to come over.

The reward for this newbie quest was really quite stingy.

They had already gained Level 5 experience from the warrior side before, but here, completing two newbie quests only advanced them by one experience level. The three of them were a bit speechless.

Feeling too disgruntled, the three brothers, dragging their grimy pant legs, had no intention of dealing with this stingy farmer NPC. They walked together towards the warrior’s side.

Huo Yi, who was preparing to listen to more information about “Jing Nian” to help find people: “…”

Finally, his gaze flickered, and he used spatial elements to hide himself and followed them.

—

Dragon Abyss.

Due to the recent madness of the dragon tribe, which had caused upheaval, the native inhabitants of the Lost Forest had fled again in the dead of night, leaving only the pitiable ones who had nowhere else to go and those who were daring.

The last group believed in the prophecy about the invasion of outsiders.

Though oppressed by the dragons, the invaders prophesied would bring about annihilation.

Staying in the Lost Forest, they believed that when the outsiders invaded in the future, they would be protected by the dragons.

Even though it wasn’t the dragons who actively provided this, there was no doubt that as long as the outsiders dared to step into the Lost Forest, it was a provocation to the dragons. They would undoubtedly be expelled by the dragons!

Naturally, they would be safe then.

Therefore, upon hearing that the dragon tribe was celebrating the hatching of their young master, various races still residing in the Lost Forest came uninvited, each bearing “blessing gifts.”

Considering their good intentions and the gifts they brought, the dragons reluctantly allowed these spirits, creatures, and dwarves to visit their young master’s hatching ceremony.

For the dragons, the hatching ceremony was both ancient and grand.

Hence, all the work involved in decorating the Abyss and beyond the Lost Forest was assigned to the elder dragons.

The young dragons from the previous hatching, because they weren’t permitted to participate in the subsequent preparations, ended up being idle.

After the fun of sneaking a peek at the young master outside the palace was forcibly taken away by the elder dragon Hesse, they became thoroughly bored.

Thus, when they heard that all the beings in the Lost Forest were coming to attend the young masters’ hatching ceremony, an elder dragon charged straight to the entrance without any niceties, admonishing them, “Remember to bring two gifts when you come! Got it?”

The beings whose door had been knocked down trembled: “N-no problem.”

Another young dragon was inspired by this and distributed the preferences of the two young masters to all the creatures in the Lost Forest, telling them, “Give gifts according to this list!”

After the two forest bullies, having reminded (threatened) the entire Lost Forest, were caught by the elder dragons. They realized that not only had they tarnished the image of the “young masters” everywhere, but they had also spread their preferences. They were instantly infuriated.

The two tyrant dragons who had been strutting around the previous second were now miserably hanging from hooks in the depths of the abyss, their punishment lasting until the start of the ceremony.

Even Hesse, along with several other elder dragons, were so furious that flames seemed to spew from their nostrils.

The little hatchlings who had been quietly watching the excitement, their eyes gleaming with excitement, were all pulled out and lined up.

With a serious tone, they lectured these clueless youngsters: “Why do you think the dragon tribe can get away with not reasoning with other creatures?”

“Of course, it’s because we’re powerful!” A dragon in the lineup proudly puffed up his chest.

Hesse’s gaze swept over the row of young dragons. It was evident from the small movements of their puffed chests that they all thought so.

The elder dragons present sighed collectively, looking at these clueless youngsters as if they were idiots.

“You’re being foolish. Of course, it’s because we can run fast and have tough skin and thick flesh. We can take hits and falls, and regular attacks don’t hurt us.”

Huh?

The young dragons, who had always been proud of the dragon tribe’s prowess on the Grans Continent, were dumbfounded.

One after another, their silly heads crowded together in a row, and they stretched their necks to get closer to the old dragon who was speaking. They observed the expression on its face with a skeptical look from all angles.

You must be kidding us. We’re so invincible, how could we possibly get hit?

Seeing this, the elder dragons burst into uproarious laughter, mouths wide open, thunderously: “You idiots, you surely don’t know that the older dragons of our tribe are susceptible to getting hit easily, right? You think others won’t resist every time?”

The young dragons choked up: “So why do we still act so domineering?”

The elder dragons responded naturally: “Naturally, it’s because we’re strong.”

The young dragons: “…” Speechless.

“But…”

The young dragons immediately turned towards Hesse, the one who had spoken up.

Hesse cleared his throat and lowered his voice: “But the situation is special now. Our young master is still weak. If you go out and cause trouble, it’s fine if you get beaten up as if it’s nothing. But if the young master goes out to play and gets involved because of you, what do we do then?”

“Our young master’s dragon scales haven’t fully grown yet…”

—Moreover, walking is still a struggle, let alone escaping. The unfinished words from Hesse were all filled in by the young dragons’ imaginations.

Judging by themselves, they contemplated that if a dragon bullied them and they couldn’t get immediate revenge due to being weaker, they would certainly take the chance to give the bully’s brother a beating if they happened to encounter them. They would proudly taunt, “I might be able to escape your big brother, but we’ll get back at them through you!”

Suddenly, the delicate young master was associated with the image of “the one who got beaten up” because of them, and this depiction infuriated them to the point of red-eyed anger!

Who dares!

Each and every spirited young dragon’s blood was pumping. It was as if they had already envisioned themselves taking revenge against those enemies who couldn’t be defeated by them, and their fighting spirit was hard to suppress.

Seeing that the lecture was effective, Hesse finally shared with this group of young dragons the recent need for the dragon tribe to act discreetly.

Behind the dragons, there was a seemingly inconspicuous piece of rock.

Jing Nian and the young dragon cub, who had sneaked out to play, were hidden in an invisibility cloak given by a hamster-like person. Unexpectedly, they eavesdropped on the entire process of the elder dragons educating the young dragons.

Jing Nian’s mouth twitched. Apparently, these dragons were quite savvy about their own behavior style, even knowing they were prone to getting beaten up.

And the young dragon cub had keenly focused on the part where the elder dragons mentioned its weakness.

Suddenly, its little mouth pouted, recalling its unsuccessful attempts at flying earlier.

Tears seemed about to well up in its eyes.

Jing Nian noticed and quickly called out to it, “Ao Ao~”

Huh?

The young dragon cub, on the brink of tears, suddenly heard Jing Nian call it, and it looked over with a pitiful expression.

Now, it was Jing Nian controlling the body.

In the Dragon Soul Space.

Jing Nian pulled the young dragon cub into his arms, lowered his head, and affectionately kissed its forehead as he comforted, “You were the best today. You managed to fly up by a whole, uh, half a millimeter!”

Jing Nian pinched his fingers to show half a millimeter, but his tone was extremely proud.

As if the young dragon cub flying half a millimeter was an incredibly impressive feat.

Suddenly, the young dragon cub, who had no concept of millimeters, was appeased.

In the face of Jing Nian’s sincere praise, the young dragon cub’s pupils slightly relaxed, tears visibly withdrew, and even its tiny wings couldn’t help but flap happily.

“Ao Ao~ The best!” Jing Nian gently tapped its small nose.

Suddenly, the young dragon cub’s neck involuntarily shrank a bit, and it looked at Jing Nian with astonishment, unable to suppress its excitement, wanting to confirm again: Really!

“Really! I’ve never seen a more amazing little dragon than Ao Ao~” Jing Nian softly cooed.

Sure enough, the gentle and sincere gaze directly made the young dragon cub blush pink. Its small claws couldn’t help but cover its face shyly. It crawled into Jing Nian’s arms, burying its head in his neck, and with a childlike voice, it praised him back.

“Jin, Jin~ And chubby!”

The young dragon cub’s small childish voice always split at a certain point in words, turning into an adorable, blurred sound.

Jing Nian, praised for being the chubbiest, couldn’t help but laugh and cry.

But when the little cub clung to his neck and acted spoiled, he suddenly froze.

He recalled his own childhood.

Because of a genetic defect, there were times when he couldn’t eat food or drink nutrient fluids. At those severe moments, his family members would actually eat a mouthful of food and drink a sip of nutrients on his behalf.

Just like what he was doing now—applauding, praising, and feeling proud of him.

Although there was an element of comforting involved, watching him vomit over and over again, and then starting to try eating again, was akin to how he used to be.

It was as if he was watching the young dragon cub, tirelessly flapping its little wings, never managing to take off, yet never considering giving up.

And there… there truly was a sense of pride.

For someone with a genetic defect, in severe cases, all bodily functions could only be maintained through mechanical assistance.

In an era of advanced medical technology, eating was the simplest and easiest aspect to achieve. It didn’t even require going through the mouth. It could ensure that the necessary nutrients for bodily health were taken in.

But self-feeding was also the most important step for a person with a genetic defect to break free from mechanical assistance.

Only when he could eat independently would he be able to start training other bodily functions step by step, fully liberating himself from mechanical assistance and becoming a normal person.

As Jing Nian comforted the young dragon cub, he suddenly missed his family.

He used to be so foolish. Rationally, he knew his family didn’t consider him a burden. But emotionally, he couldn’t shake off the idea that he was “the burden of the Jing family.”

If it wasn’t for him, his older brothers wouldn’t have worked so desperately to achieve military merits, going to the border battlefield to fight the Zerg race at such a young age.

His parents, even his twin older brother, were no different. They all struggled even harder for his sake.

Because a genetic defect was one of the most challenging conditions in the interstellar era to treat, the difficulty lay not in the treatment techniques, but in the scarcity of medicinal solutions.

Although the nation had been attempting to develop alternative treatment drugs, there had been no progress so far.

To the point of scarcity, even if his father was a marshal, they could only request a small amount from the country’s research resources to alleviate his genetic degeneration situation.

In fact, being able to maintain the symptoms without worsening, and surviving to adulthood as a child with a genetic defect, was already rare.

And like Jing Nian, who could live like a normal person despite the genetic defect, was even rarer.

That’s why their entire family accumulated military merits so diligently—to exchange for more of that medicine, to cure him.

So, in the past, when they saw the little him struggling to eat, everyone truly felt proud, not just pity.

It was more than mere sympathy.

In the Dragon Soul Space, Jing Nian’s young dragon soul teared up.

Since Jing Nian was controlling the body, large teardrops rolled down into the sand vulture’s neck.

Due to his illness, most of the time, Jing Nian could only be protected at home, rarely attending school. Apart from online interactions, he had minimal human contact. Once he painted himself into a corner, he had to be strong internally, not wanting to burden his family even more, so he concealed anything he hadn’t figured out.

His family members who were always busy and barely had time to see him didn’t notice this aspect of his psyche.

This was also why when he actually achieved his dream of becoming an “Interstellar Champion” and wanted to tell his family, he hesitated and retreated.

He considered himself a burden, but his family didn’t.

To his family, his striving to overcome his illness was another form of progressing side by side.

Looking back now, after realizing this, Jing Nian was filled with regret.

Having spent so much time in this game world, he inevitably felt a sense of insecurity. He was afraid of never seeing his family again.

Sensing Jing Nian’s emotions, the little dragon cub gradually recovered from its shyness. It gently leaned over, pressing its face against Jing Nian’s, and soothingly cooed.

“Little brother, don’t cry~”

—It thought Jing Nian was crying because he couldn’t even fly half a millimeter.

“Big brother will carry you~”

—When Big Brother learns to fly, he can carry you and fly.

“Little brother, you’re chubby too~”

—Like this, little brother will be great too!

While comforting his younger sibling, the little dragon cub also imitated Jing Nian’s comforting gestures, giving him a peck on the forehead.

Usually, after Jing Nian kissed it, he would touch its small dragon horn.

Jing Nian didn’t have dragon horns, so it made do with what made it “happy” and touched its favorite shiny golden hair.

The gentle touch of the little cub quickly pulled Jing Nian out of his downcast mood.

Besides the self-blame he harbored about burdening his family, his heart was actually filled with determination and optimism. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to endure until his condition improved.

So he regained his spirits.

Even if he couldn’t return home temporarily, when the game opened and he became a server-wide powerhouse, he would find a way to contact his family!

Moved by the companionship of the little dragon cub, as a way of repaying it, Jing Nian decided that while he worked hard to level up, he would also raise the little dragon cub to be a morally upright and excellent dragon!

Having just made up his mind.

Unexpectedly, the next second, the invisibility cloak’s effect suddenly wore off.

Jing Nian: “…”

Facing a pair of flaming dragon eyes in the next moment, he subconsciously switched control of their bodies.

One second, he was comforting his younger sibling; the next, the little dragon cub suddenly gained control of the body. It blinked innocently at the grand dragons before it, standing on the sand vulture’s back, as if it had just woken up.

The little dragon cub’s gaze was clear, innocent, and it met the eyes of the old dragons who had just spoken ill of the little dragon cub¹“bad words” that hit one of the little dragon cub’s weak spots, the fact that it was a weak dragon.

Old dragons: “…”

Seeing the tear streaks around the little dragon cub’s eyes, they knew for sure that the crybaby number one young master had cried after hearing their words, but the number two young master had calmed him down.

So, they didn’t dare bring up what had just happened.

They pretended to be clueless, grinned, and cheerfully greeted the little dragon cub.

With Jing Nian’s diversion, the little dragon cub, who had already forgotten their words, immediately laughed and greeted them happily.

This incident passed by just like that.

Originally, the preparations for the hatching ceremony were complete, and the next step was to hold the official ceremony.

However, unexpectedly, the great prophets of various races once again transmitted messages about premonitions ahead of time.

As a result, the matter of seeking the protection of the dragon clan became even more urgent for various races.

Even the typically uninvolved Elven Clan’s main household couldn’t escape.

Though the Lost Forest also housed elves, it was just a minor branch of the elven race. The true core of the Elven Clan was similar to the Dragon Clan.

The Dragon Clan revered the Dragon Lord.

The Elven Clan regarded the Elven Emperor as the supreme existence.

And unbelievably, the Elven Emperor had been sent to the Dragon Clan!

They even called it an act of accompanying the young dragon master. After all, this time, aside from the young master, the Dragon Clan had no other dragon cubs.

Coincidentally, the Elven Emperor was currently a language-learning young cub.

The Elven Emperor’s young cub was beautiful, with golden hair and green eyes. Even its wings shone with a radiant golden hue, which instantly captured the little dragon cub’s favor.

Furthermore, the inherent life force of the Elven Emperor, stronger than the natural power carried by High Elves, could better soothe and stabilize the two young masters’ dragon souls.

The dragons reluctantly accepted leaving the Elven Emperor’s young cub as a playmate for the young master.

The news of the Elven Clan sending the Elven Emperor into the Dragon Clan to avoid disaster quickly spread.

Then, many peculiar races started sending their “hopeful children” to the Dragon Clan, hoping to leave a spark for their own races in times of future catastrophe.

Faced with the young cubs sent into the Dragon Abyss.

Any small creature that was gold or blue, small beastmen, and so on, caught the little dragon cub’s eager interest and were kept.

A green-skinned, big-footed little monkey was rejected by the little dragon cub because of its ugliness, causing its ugly-cute little face to droop like the sky had fallen.

Jing Nian couldn’t bear to see this and decided to keep it too.

Then, pairs of young cubs gazed at the little dragon cub with eyes that were clear, full of hope and eagerness.

Through the eyes of the little dragon cub, they all looked straight into Jing Nian’s eyes with their soft, tender gaze.

Some of them were furry, some were strangely cute in appearance, and some even started putting on enthusiastic performances, trying to win the affection of the little dragon cub (Jing Nian).

Jing Nian’s heart trembled: “…”

“How about we keep them all?” Jing Nian suggested to the little dragon cub.

The little dragon cub happily rubbed a fluffy yellow teddy bear in its paws and nodded nonchalantly.

And so, the Abyss Kindergarten began…

–

【Dragonslayer】 Game Studio.

Na Yang entered the studio with a suave and handsome man, and the sound of the door opening caught the attention of those inside.

In the studio, people who were initially quietly sitting in front of their screens turned their heads one after another. Seeing the man behind Na Yang, they exploded with excitement, blushing with enthusiasm.

Someone couldn’t help but exclaim, “Qu Huang!? Yiqu Liushang!”

Several people with more playful personalities immediately stood up and rushed to the door, surrounding it. “I’m not mistaken, am I? My idol is in our studio!”

Suddenly, the attention of most of the studio was drawn, and someone exaggeratedly rubbed their eyes and sneaked a look behind the man.

The man called [Yiqu Liushang] smiled knowingly. “Don’t bother looking; you can’t see Yi Nian.”

The person who had their thoughts revealed immediately sighed, “Ah… Can I see Nian Nian’s face before I die?”

[Yiqu Liushang] chuckled and wasn’t offended. Instead, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “You’re not a shipper of me and Yi Nian, are you?”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s fine, you can ship us; we don’t mind.”

“Ah, ah, ah! I’ve gotten the main character’s seal of approval! Rounding it up, it’s like getting the main character’s kiss!” The person who got confirmation almost excitedly jumped up from the crowd. When he said the word “kiss,” he suddenly realized and quickly covered his mouth.

But then he turned and met the man’s gentle nod and a smile.

As if he wasn’t offended at all!

–

One of the Double Kings of Holographic Esports — [Yiqu Liushang] — would be participating in the promotion for the beta testing of 【Dragonslayer】, a piece of news that stunned everyone in the studio.

Could such a great thing really happen to me?

Although 【Dragonslayer】 was indeed preparing to apply as a project for the Interstellar League, it was already their grand daydream to envision such a scenario.

It wasn’t that their game wasn’t up to par; developing 【Dragonslayer】 was driven by ambition from the start. They were trying to bring a whole new mode to holographic esports.

However, aside from the technology and gameplay, the most important thing was to meet the player number requirement to pass the application.

But now, with Qu Huang, who had just won the Interstellar Grand Slam!

With his charisma, those players were a sure thing!

Hearing that [Yi Nian]’s family didn’t agree with opening the game for beta testing, Yiqu Liushang furrowed his brows, looking somewhat surprised at Na Yang.

Na Yang: “Xiaonian’s family probably hasn’t had much contact with games.”

Because they were all out on the frontier battlefield.

“So they don’t understand the difference between a group of people treading on a map and a few people treading on a map. I guess they’ll change their minds when they come out later.”

Na Yang said with a bitter expression, thinking that before they agreed, he would probably get beaten up by the initiator of this idea.

Yiqu Liushang was even more surprised. In this interstellar era, were there still people who didn’t play holographic games?

Na Yang was Jing Nian’s real-life friend.

Yiqu Liushang was Na Yang’s older brother’s college classmate, they knew each other but weren’t close.

Unexpectedly, they found out that Jing Nian and Yiqu Liushang were internet friends, so Na Yang and Yiqu Liushang became somewhat familiar due to Jing Nian.

Jing Nian also got to know Yiqu Liushang more because of Na Yang.

In the end, it was Na Yang who brought together Jing Nian and Yiqu Liushang in a team to win the Interstellar Grand Slam.

However, Jing Nian and Yiqu Liushang never deliberately exchanged their real-life information, and Na Yang also didn’t reveal Jing Nian’s family background to Yiqu Liushang.

After Jing Nian had an accident and couldn’t be reached, Yiqu Liushang couldn’t get in touch with Jing Nian and found Na Yang.

In a few words, he extracted the information about Jing Nian’s trouble with the internal testing of 【Dragonslayer】.

Yiqu Liushang wanted to come, and Na Yang couldn’t stop him.

All he could do was tell Yiqu Liushang that Jing Nian’s family still didn’t know about him being [Yi Nian], to which Yiqu Liushang indicated he understood.

However, Na Yang hadn’t told Yiqu Liushang that Jing Nian was the renowned Marshal Jing’s son.

So, faced with Yiqu Liushang’s curiosity, all he could do was chuckle and say, “You’ll find out soon.”

The head of the studio informed him that the Jing brothers had also logged into the game.

Leading Yiqu Liushang to the display projecting the Jing brothers inside the game, when Na Yang saw that all three brothers were using their own faces, he turned to Yiqu Liushang, waiting for him to recognize the Jing brothers and show a shocked expression.

However, unexpectedly, [Yiqu Liushang] saw the Jing brothers clearly and his complexion changed dramatically.

“Is [Yi Nian] the youngest Jing!?”

 

Author’s Note:

Huo·Pippilu·Yi Diary 1: On the third day of waiting for Little Trickster, three older brothers arrive.

Huo·Pippilu·Yi Diary 2: On the tenth day of waiting for Little Trickster, a love rival arrived!!!

Scummy Author: Hahaha, that’s right, Yiqu Liushang is a big love rival, a formidable one!

Jing Nian: Engrossed in the Young Cubs Paradise, please don’t disturb~

• 1
  “bad words” that hit one of the little dragon cub’s weak spots, the fact that it was a weak dragon