Haven Online

Anyone who knew Xinya would not be able to conceive the thought of him being a sadist. Even though he had to admit to himself as he watched his anxious expression as he slowly lifted the jewelry box lid, he might have a little sadism in him.

It was just so extremely amusing for him to watch as the stark anticipation continued to build in those bright grey eyes. Watching as the adorable boy tried to contain himself from snatching the box right out of his hands.

"Drifting Cloud..." whined Melting Snow, clenching his fists in order to stop himself from taking the box from his friend. "Hurry up and open it, I want to see what's inside."

Looking into the Melting Snow's over eager eyes, Xinya decided to stop teasing the boy and just open the box, especially since he felt that if he didn't, the boy might snap. Although that was interesting to see, he did need to keep the box intact. 

"Alright, already. I plan to sell this box, so I didn't want to open it too fast in case it is fragile," Xinya explained, continuing to open the box slowly but at a faster pace than before.

Not knowing that he was duped, Melting Snow tried to calm himself. He couldn't wait to find out what was in the box, his imagination was overflowing with ideas.

The lid was lifted inch by inch until the object concealed inside the bejeweled box was revealed. And just like that, Melting Snow's anticipation turned into crushing disappointment.

"It's another book," muttered Melting Snow with drooping shoulders and a bitter smile. Once again, his hopes of great treasure were dashed as quickly as they had come.

Chuckling at the furry-eared boy's depressed expression, Xinya took the leather-bound book out from the jewelry box and began examining it. "Melting Snow, you should know that some books can be just as interesting as treasure."

"That's where you're wrong. Nothing is more exciting than treasure. Well, there are cows and other baby animals, but they are the exception," replied Melting Snow indignantly. 

Xinya didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the boy's words. Deciding to do neither, he opened his interface and pulled up his inventory.

Placing the jewelry box inside of it for safekeeping, he brought his attention back to the book in his hand. He was extremely interested to know why a book would need to be under lock and key.

However, just as he started to open the book's cover, a system announcement completely halted his actions.

[Quest Triggered!]

"What's going on? How did we get a quest?" asked Melting Snow, looking at Xinya in a completely dumbfounded manner.

But as soon as the question crossed his lips, it was answered by another system announcement.

[System: By finding Song Lingchen's journal, Drifting Cloud and Melting Snow have activated DEV-M chain quest-The mystery of Qīngchú Niǎo's farm! The quest will officially start once the players have found the first clue!]

Xinya knew it! Ever since he read about this farm on the forums, he had an inkling that there was something peculiar about it. Because there was no way that an NPC would set fire to their farm by mistake. 

While he began to contemplate the mystery that could surround this farm, Melting Snow was in a shocked stupor.

He should have known better to be disappointed in what they found because he knew that 99% of the time, any random object in Xinya's general area becomes an amazing quest. It was true for the Mayor's cake, and it was true this time as well. 

Although he might not have gotten his treasure, he sure did get the start of a fantastic adventure—an incredible adventure in which he would get to play a detective.

But one thing was bothering him. How did they get a quest when there are no NPC's around? Could the NPC's be invisible? He should really ask Drifting Cloud this.

"Drifting Cloud, do you know who this Dev-M is and why he gave us a quest?" questioned Melting Snow, slightly wondering if there was really an invisible NPC down here somewhere.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Xinya turned and looked at Melting Snow's confused face. And had the realization that the boy didn't know anything about these types of quests. 

But then again, these quests were extremely rare, and players who got them weren't going to brag about it, since that meant more people trying to get them. The only reason he knew about them was the simple fact they were leaked out to the public by the staff.

Haven Online was nearly sentient, besides the overall world design, and a bit of a guiding hand from the DEVs. But besides that, the game developers had no control over what quests the NPCs gave out. So because they wanted to be a part of the game in another way, they created some special quests in the world. 

"No, I don't know who DEV-M is, but I do know he's not an NPC but a game developer," Xinya replied matter of factly. 

Scratching his temple, Melting Snow asked, "That's strange, why would a game developer give us a quest? Do they give them out a lot?" 

"No, these types of quests are rare," Xinya patiently explained. "The only way you can get a DEV quest is if you find a random item that belongs to a dead NPCs with unfinished business. The quest will come in steps and could take weeks to months to complete. But that depends on rank the DEV quest is. The higher the rank, the higher the reward will be for each step of the quest."

"Oh, I see. But how do you know all this? I never came across anything like this before on the Haven Online sites."

"Well..." Xinya started, not knowing how to respond.

He had messed up, this was something he shouldn't have known. Biting his lip, Xinya thought about all the things he could tell the boy that wouldn't seem like a lie. 

Xinya knew for certain that he couldn't say he saw it on the forums since he knows the boy goes on them all the time looking up things. What would he do if Melting Snow asked him for a link, no he had to come up with something else. 

That's when the perfect lie came to him.

"Well, I have a penpal in America who plays this game too. He told me about it." Xinya explained, looking everywhere but in Melting Snow's eyes. 

'I really hate having to lie like this.'

"Oh, I see. Luckily, you knew someone who came across this before, or we would probably be in the dark about this quest," Melting Snow replied. 

From those words alone, Xinya could see the unwavering trust the boy had in him, and it made him feel guilty for lying like this. But the truth was even more unbelievable.

Averting his gaze away from Melting Snow's big puppy dog eyes, Xinya said, "Right. Without him, I wouldn't know most of the things that I do."

"So, should we start looking for the first clue?" Melting Snow asked.

"I think the journal holds the first clue," Xinya told him. "How about we go back upstairs and set up camp. Then we can see what's inside of this journal."

"Sounds like a plan! Don't forget, you still owe me a snack." 

Laughing as he walked out of the office room with the boy, Xinya said, "How could I forget that, I already got something special planned."

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