Star Abyss Walker

Chapter 130 Running Away from Home (Bonus Chapter 11)

Late at night, lying in bed, the matter of the Ember Domain Guild kept replaying in my mind, and I couldn't shake it off. So I picked up my phone and sent Zhang Ruolin a WeChat message: "Are you free? Let's have a voice chat?"

A few seconds later, Ruolin sent a voice message.

"What's wrong, can't sleep?" she asked with a smile.

"Ah."

I tucked the pillow behind my back and leaned against the headboard: "Ruolin, there's something I just can't shake off, so I wanted to ask for your opinion."

"You said."

“Yesterday, Shen Jin made it clear that he wanted to fight us to the death. If it weren’t for the fact that Qiang Chu Ru Long had brought out some kind of administrator, we would probably have been fighting to the death. But this matter is not over. Someone as ambitious as Shen Jin will definitely not give up. This is tantamount to planting a seed of disaster for us.”

I frowned. "So I have an idea."

“You’re right, I have the same concern.”

Ruolin asked, "So... what's on your mind?"

"Give me God's Ember WeChat, I'll add him as a friend and privately arrange a 1v1 match between us in the wilderness, what do you think?"

I explained, “If we win, I have two options: one is to kill Shen Jin directly and solve this problem once and for all; the other is to spare his life, but that would also be a way of telling him that he is no match for me and that he should avoid provoking us. After all, only by showing our strength and making the other side feel intimidated can we deter our enemies and prevent problems before they arise. What do you think?”

"..."

Zhang Ruolin was clearly surprised by my idea. After several seconds, she said, "Ding Han, your thought process really surprised me. However, I have to say that you have a pretty clear understanding of the survival of the fittest in 'Star Abyss.' But I don't quite agree with this. First of all, if Shen Jin doesn't follow the rules and sends people to ambush us, you will be in great danger. Secondly, we are currently in the city, which is relatively safe. We will be together for the next event, so everyone just needs to be more careful."

"So, you don't agree with my idea?"

"Hmm, I disagree."

"Ok."

I breathed a sigh of relief: "Then let's put this matter aside for now. You should go to sleep early; I'm going to sleep now."

"it is good."

……

After getting rid of Ruolin, I sent another message to Gun Out Like Dragon: "Alliance Leader Dragon, want to chat sometime?"

Yes! Call me back via voice message.

"it is good!"

The next moment, he connected with Gunfire Like a Dragon via voice chat and smiled, "Why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night? Is something on your mind?"

"That's it."

I laughed and said, "Alliance Leader Long, first of all, thank you for your righteous help yesterday. If your brothers from the Crimson Sky Alliance hadn't shown up, we would probably have had to fight the people from the Ember Domain."

"It's a small matter. Maintaining harmony among players is one of the responsibilities that the managers have assigned to me."

Gun Chu Rulong chuckled: "Ding Han, you probably didn't just come to see me to say something like thank you, did you?"

"of course not."

I took a deep breath and said, "Alliance Leader Long, do you think Shen Jin will swallow this insult and not cause trouble for us?"

I don't think so.

"But he has to swallow this insult," said Qiang Churu, straightforwardly. "I brought up the managers."

So, what exactly is a manager?

I haven't had any contact with managers yet, so I'm quite curious about this.

"The managers..."

Gun Out Like a Dragon laughed and said, "In my understanding, the manager should be equivalent to the GM in Star Abyss. They are the ones who unite and control the players, and also the ones who give players missions and tell them the direction to move forward. I even have a guess."

"What guess?"

"Ding Han, do you still remember why you traveled to the Star Abyss World in the first place?"

"of course I remember."

I frowned: "If we hadn't entered that so-called CD-KEY after creating our character, we probably wouldn't have come to the Star Abyss World at all."

"Yes."

"It seems everyone's experience is similar," said Gun Churulong. "I also received a CD key from someone claiming to be the 'planner brother' in a player group for Star Abyss. He said that if I entered this key, I could get a beginner's set, and when I reached level 40, I could directly receive a set of second-generation power armor. I really believed his nonsense."

He lowered his voice and said, "So, I suspect that the administrators who issue missions in 'Star Abyss' are very likely the game planner in disguise."

"Good guy..."

I asked in surprise, "Then what's in it for him?"

"Guide the player to achieve their own goal, nothing more."

Gunshot Like a Dragon said, "Of course, it's also possible that I'm wrong. These GMs might be real GMs who don't have their own intelligence and are just responsible for guiding us players."

I took a deep breath: "Since I entered Star Abyss, I haven't met a GM yet, maybe..."

"There's a chance."

Gun Like a Dragon laughed: "The manager's identity is very mysterious. He comes and goes without a trace. I'm not sure where he is, so there's no way I can take you to him. Let's wait for the future. It's only a matter of time before a top player like you meets a GM. He might even come to you on his own even if you don't go looking for him."

"understood."

I nodded, exchanged a few pleasantries with Qiang Churulong, and then ended the conversation.

My mind is a bit of a mess. Never mind, I'll just go to sleep first and deal with the future later.

……

I closed my eyes and slept until dawn. When I woke up, the living room was empty. It felt especially desolate when Lin Qingying wasn't home.

After washing up and having breakfast, I squeezed onto the bus to go to work.

"Ding Han!"

Just as I squeezed onto the bus, someone shouted behind me. I turned around and saw it was Fatty. He rolled down the window and yelled, "Get off and ride with us to work!"

"Never mind, I'll put in the coin!"

I waved my hand and sat down by the window.

A quick glance revealed that the car the fat man was in belonged to Shen Yue. Shen Yue came from a well-off family and drove a white CC. It was clear that their relationship was becoming increasingly passionate, as Shen Yue had actually gone out of her way to pick up the fat man to go to work.

This is a soft meal.

Arriving at the company, a busy day began. In the afternoon, during a brief respite, Fatty's phone rang.

"Shh!"

He gestured for me and Haozi to be quiet and said, "It's my mom's video, so watch your words."

"..."

I was speechless for a while.

The next second, Fatty answered the video call, and sure enough, there was a familiar figure on the other end. In the real world, Fatty's family lived in the same neighborhood as mine, and the two families were very close. My aunt was someone I saw all the time.

"mom."

The fat man smiled憨厚ly and exchanged a few polite words with the aunt.

"what?"

On the phone, the aunt seemed to see me and said, "Xiaowei, isn't that Ding Han behind you?"

"Yep!"

The fat man laughed and said, "Ding Han is now working in the same department as me."

"Hey, that's more like it. Good brothers should stick together so they can look out for each other. Come on, let me talk to Ding Han."

"okay!"

The fat man spun around in his chair, leaned his head against mine, and laughed, "Mom, look, hasn't Ding Han gotten even more handsome lately?"

"He really looks handsome!"

"Hello Auntie!"

I flashed my signature smile: "How have you been lately?"

"Very good, very good."

The aunt smiled and said, "Ding Han, I saw your dad this morning on my way to work. The two of them chatted for a bit at the entrance of the community. In my opinion, your dad has had a tough time. He raised you all by himself and worked so hard to get you a master's degree. If you were sensible, you should work hard, find a girlfriend and get married, so your dad won't have to worry about you at his age."

"Yes, yes..." I nodded repeatedly.

"correct."

The aunt continued, "Our Xiaowei has already found a girlfriend named Shen Yue. I've seen her in videos, and you should have seen her too, right?"

"Yes, I've met her. Shen Yue is a very nice person."

"It's pretty good, so what about you?"

The aunt said, "You are much better looking than our Xiaowei. You should settle down and find a girlfriend. Your dad can help you with a down payment and buy a house in Huaining so you can get married. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Auntie, don't worry, I know what to do, I'll get right to it!"

"You child, you only know how to be perfunctory with your elders. You've always been like this since you were a child."

"Mom, look at you, always nagging!"

The fat man took the phone and said, "Ding Han finally got some peace and quiet, and now you're nagging again."

"How can you talk like that? I watched Ding Han grow up, he's practically my son. What's wrong with giving him a few words of advice? You two think you're all grown up now that you're working outside, and that you can't be talked to like this?"

"Look what you've gotten yourself into again! I'm really fed up with you!"

For a moment, Fatty listened to the rambling on in the video, while Mouse, sitting next to him, stared in disbelief and whispered to me, "Having a mom like that is really not easy..."

"It's not easy."

I wholeheartedly agree.

However, what my aunt said did put some pressure on me. Although Lao Ding didn't say many things, I had to be aware of them.

However, as a player in the unfathomable world of "Star Abyss," things like falling in love and getting married are far from easy. In the face of leveling up and becoming stronger, these trivial matters should naturally be put aside.

……

In the evening, I had a dry pot meal with Fatty and Shen Yue. Afterwards, the two of them went to see a movie, while I took a car home.

Around seven o'clock, a light winter rain began to fall from the sky.

Huaining City doesn't get much snow in winter, but it gets quite rainy. After a rain shower, the weather suddenly becomes much colder, and the wind feels like knives scraping your bones when it blows on your face.

"Beep beep~~~"

Just then, the phone rang; it was Milo calling.

"What's wrong, Luo'er?"

"Ding Han, something terrible has happened!"

His voice was panicked as he said, "I just got word that Xiao Bei has run away from home and should no longer be in BH City!"

"Running away from home?!"

"Ok!"

Milo's voice was anxious: "Uncle Lu just called. I reckon Xiao Bei only has two options: either he's gone back to Xicheng, or he's gone to Huaining City to find you!"

"Find me?"

My heart skipped a beat.

"Anyway, if you see her, you need to pay more attention to her and take good care of her, okay?"

"understood."

"Okay, let's leave it at that for now."

He hung up the phone in a hurry.

……

When I arrived at the bottom of the building, I saw a person sitting on the lowest step of the stairs.

She was dressed in a designer women's winter outfit, her trousers covered in mud, looking as if she had tripped and fallen, appearing quite disheveled. She was holding a piece of bread that looked dry and hard, took a big bite, then unscrewed a mineral water bottle placed on the steps and took a small sip.

It wasn't until I looked up that I finally recognized her.

"Lu Xiaobei?!"

(End of this chapter)