The King of Black Fog

"..."

Yang Qinglan sat down as Li Changzhou took out the Snow Mountain Water Bottle, and she poured herself a cup.

"Are you two even listening?" Li Qianxia swung a pillow at them.

Li Changzhou casually caught it and tossed it onto the sofa before sitting down opposite Yang Qinglan.

Li Qianxia grabbed another pillow to prop up her chin, looking content as she took out her phone to check out tourist spots.

"What do you think Xiao Yue wants with me?" Li Changzhou asked while pouring water for himself.

"If I'm not wrong, as a game staff member, Xiao Yue must adhere to certain regulations she can't violate," Yang Qinglan said, taking a sip of Snow Mountain mineral water, "They didn't even send out a game notice and directly revealed your identity, just mentioned the code name 'Master'."

"Could it be she's going to compensate me?" Li Changzhou mused.

"Bro, I've thought about it, and for the first stop, let's go to Daocheng!"

"Then keep dreaming."

Li Qianxia was about to grab a second pillow when the doorbell suddenly rang.

Li Changzhou stood up and opened the door to find Xiao Yue standing there with a tray that held a bottle of champagne (probably, Li Changzhou wasn't sure), and a dish of dried fruits.

Without a word, Li Changzhou stepped aside to let her in.

As soon as Xiao Yue stepped inside, she placed the tray on the table, picked up the champagne, popped the cork, and took a big gulp.

"Curse those immortals!" she suddenly burst out in Sichuanese, "I've been bewitched by beauty after all! It's all you damned kids' fault!"

"Mind your language," Yang Qinglan said calmly and indifferently, nibbling on a nut.

Xiao Yue's gaze wandered, "Little sister, what's your name?"

Li Changzhou gripped her right shoulder from behind.

"Ah! Ow, ow, let go!" Xiao Yue's pretty face wrinkled in pain.

Li Changzhou added more pressure, "Speak if you have something to say!"

"Let go first!" Xiao Yue struggled to shrink toward the floor, trying to escape his grip.

Li Changzhou relaxed his hold and sat back down across from Yang Qinglan.

Xiao Yue rubbed her shoulder, hissing cold breath, and sat down facing the glass window.

"I know you're both annoyed right now, but so am I," Xiao Yue said, pulling at the collar of her uniform to reveal her pale right shoulder, which had turned purplish from the pinch.

She stuck out her tongue and licked the spot that had been pinched by Li Changzhou, leaving it all slobbery.

Then, letting her collar hang half-open, she continued, "There is a way to make amends, though."

Li Changzhou remained silent, and Yang Qinglan asked, "What way?"

"As an official player like me, I actually have special privileges," Xiao Yue said, taking another sip of champagne, "Do you remember, during the live broadcast, with just a snap of my fingers, I made the insect's sprayed goo disappear?"

Yang Qinglan gave a slight nod to signal her memory of it.

"My privilege, or rather, my ability, is to make all players' skills ineffective on the train," she explained.

"Impressive, but how does that remedy your mistake? We make passengers' skills ineffective and then kill them?" Yang Qinglan asked.

"Sister, you can kill me," Xiao Yue said, her tongue flicking over her lips.

Li Changzhou stretched out his hand and pinched her left shoulder, repeating the earlier scene.

"Really!" A pained Xiao Yue pulled herself back up from under the table, complaining as she fully opened her collar into a deep "Y" shape.

"The right side isn't even healed yet!" She started licking her left shoulder.

When Li Changzhou and Yang Qinglan looked carefully, they saw she was not pretending to be seductive; the saliva on her right shoulder had disappeared, and the bruise had faded to a faint mark.

"With this skill, the four of us could enjoy seven days and nights of bliss," Xiao Yue said, licking her lips with a suggestive smile.

Li Changzhou rubbed the philtrum under his nose with the pad of his middle finger, imagining Yang Qinglan with such an ability, bending over, tying her hair up...

He almost got a nosebleed!

Suddenly, the sound of a train whistle filled the air, and the train slowly left the platform.

The scenery outside the window retreated rapidly, soon reaching a lush field of rapeseed flowers stretching out endlessly, the sky a brilliant blue—like the world was stitched together from two pieces of fabric, one yellow and one blue.

Li Qianxia exclaimed and crawled over to the window, pressing her face against the glass, captivated by the view.

"Wen Zi is so cute," Xiao Yue commented, looking at Li Qianxia's upturned bottom.

Reluctantly tearing her gaze away, she continued to explain, "My ability is to discard skills, and I have a colleague who can erase the memories of players on the train to prevent them from knowing things they shouldn't know."

"You plan to erase those people's memories?" Yang Qinglan questioned.

"Yes," Xiao Yue nodded, "But we aren't allowed to use our abilities arbitrarily. It's only when a player violates the punishment regulations that we can take action. Oh, by the way, you pinching my shoulder earlier was a violation, but Xiao Yue isn't going to hold it against you."

"But I want to hold it against you," Li Changzhou said with a cold smirk.

"Don't be ungrateful, I'm trying to help you!" Xiao Yue protested.

"You're helping yourself," Yang Qinglan said coldly, "People like you have your own set of punishment regulations, and not leaking player information is among them."

"Alas," Xiao Yue sighed heavily, clutching her head in apparent frustration.

Because she bent over and her arms were wrapped around her head, her deep "Y" neckline plunged even further.

Li Changzhou kept his gaze fixed on the fruit plate, not looking elsewhere.

"After every train ride, you get evaluated, and so do we. With this incident... I'm utterly doomed," Xiao Yue muttered to herself.

Suddenly, she perked up, her chest jumping: "But if I can erase their memories, it'd be convenient for you, and my punishment would be significantly reduced!"

"What needs to be done?" Yang Qinglan inquired.

"Create a disturbance! Have a mass brawl!" Xiao Yue replied, "You guys go out and get into a fight with everyone. That way you'd violate the regulations. How we dole out punishment is negotiable, as long as it doesn't break the rules. We'll present it as a penalty, saying we have to increase the difficulty of the instance, then erase the memories afterward, to prevent them from knowing we can manipulate the difficulty of the instance."