Chapter 261: Coming Face To Face With The Enemy (1)

There was a flash of light and Shen Jingbin was nowhere to be seen; she’d clearly logged off.

Zhao Chengning just stood there not knowing whether to laugh or cry, while those gossip-mongers from Jade Sea Pavilion who weren’t present, were clamouring for him in the guild channel.

[Guild] Tanabata Evening: Leader!!! LEA-DER! Tell us what’s happening now!

[Guild] Descent Of Rain And Snow: Nutty’s gone but we still haven’t completed the hidden quest. *sweat* Leader, hurry up and convince her to come back!

[Guild] Eight National Treasures: I’m confident that there’s nothing going on between Nutty and Pure Crane. Don’t misunderstand things, Leader. All Smiles and her girls are all nuts.

[Guild] Slight Chill: What are you guys talking about? What happened to Nutjob?

[Guild] Eternal Rest: Long time no see, Slight Chill. Nutty had to deal with some stuff, so she left the guild and joined Pure Crane’s guild instead. Now, there’s rumours going around that she two-timed Leader and left the guild after hooking up with Pure Crane. She was then confronted by All Smiles’ group.

[Guild] Slight Chill: Pure Crane? Doesn’t that mean that Nutjob’s gone over to Sovereign’s Descent? What the f*ck? Has she gone mad?!

[Guild] Dawn’s Twilight: Shut your mouth, Slight Chill, don’t go jumping to conclusions when you don’t even know what’s going on! Pure Crane left Sovereign’s Descent and formed his own guild.

[Guild] Slight Chill: What’re you bitching about? It’s not like I knew that. But, Nutjob does have a pretty good relationship with Pure Crane.

[Guild] Temperate Scarlet Moon: This feels way too complicated. First, Nutty leaves the guild without a word, and secondly, she then distances herself from Leader (and don’t tell me you guys didn’t notice it!). On top of all that, it was revealed that she and Pure Crane were having an affair, leading to all that face slapping. Now, we have Slight Chill saying that Nutty and Pure Crane were on pretty good terms… Ah, I feel a little dizzy.

[Guild] Yanmen Imperial Sister: Did you guys notice All Smiles saying that Nutty’s two-timing was confirmed by Hundred Daybreaks…? I smell something fishy.

[Guild] Lingering White Clouds: I do think Hundred Daybreaks’ appearance is rather suspicious. Wasn’t she the type of person who never meddled in rumours relating to matters of the heart? I think her getting involved means that there’s definitely something going on.

[Guild] Dawn’s Twilight: Hundred Daybreaks is an arrogant bitch; she doesn’t look anyone in the eye other than Quiet And Steadfast. In my opinion, she’s doing this on purpose to muddy the waters.

[Guild] Eternal Rest: It makes sense when you put it that way.

[Guild] Syrup Time: Oi! You guys are going off topic! Shouldn’t the most important thing be about how things are currently playing out between Leader and Nutty?! Leader, hurry up and convince her to come back!

[Guild] Quiet And Steadfast: I’ll say it now: In spite of what all of you think, things are going great between Nutjob and I. There aren’t any problems, and she’s not in a relationship with Pure Crane. She went over to Pure Crane’s guild for the sake of a quest, and she’ll be coming back once we’re done with our own Epic Quest.

[Guild] Quiet And Steadfast: I hope that you guys can put aside the rumours floating about and place your trust in her. After being together with her for so long, you should know what kind of person she is.

[Guild] Quiet And Steadfast: Just ignore the rumours for now. The more nonsense they spread, the more foolish they’ll look once the truth comes to light!

[Guild] Quiet And Steadfast: Alright, I snuck online so I don’t have much time. Contact Dawn if there’s anything. I’ll be going off now, Dawn.

After typing out a whole block of text, Quiet And Steadfast logged off.

Back in real life, Zhao Chengning crawled out of the gaming pod and used his handphone to give Shen Jingbin a call, only to have it be declined after ringing once.

Refusing to give up, he dialled her number once again. This time around, the other party didn’t hang up, but her tone was far from kind.

“What?”

Zhao Chengning chuckled and asked, “Why’d you suddenly log off?”

Shen Jingbin felt anger bubble up inside her when she heard his question and said, “You still have the gall to bring it up?!”

“Are you angry?”

“Hmph.”

Zhao Chengning could practically see her acting like a tsundere in front of him.

Truth be told, he was actually enjoying having her throw a tantrum.

“I just couldn’t think of how to break the news to you, and I wanted to wait for the right time to surprise you. I never would’ve expected you to be the one giving me a ‘surprise’ instead.”

Shen Jingbin was still feeling put off because of him. “I’m pretty sure I was the one who received a fright.”

“You suddenly divorced me and made it look like I was a nuisance; who do you think was giving who a fright?”

“It’s not like I knew that you were Quiet And Steadfast. Since I was in a relationship with you, I obviously had to clear up all the other loose ends.”

“Jingjing,” Zhao Chengning suddenly turned taciturn for a moment before he said, “I’m overjoyed that you’re so devoted to me.”

“...”

“Do you still want to divorce me?”

“... No.”

“Then are you still going to distance yourself from me? Don’t think that I didn’t notice what you were doing.”

“... Eh, I don’t think I will anymore.”

“Then, are you going to act like I’m a nuisance? After all, I am a little more charming in real life than I am in-game.”

“Why do you have so many questions? You’re so petty,” Shen Jingbin said weakly.

Zhao Chengning chuckled and said, “I’m just worried about my future.”

“...” She would’ve rolled her eyes if Zhao Chengning were in front of her.

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Mm, see you.”