The Almighty Ring

“Ugh… What can I do for you, Mr. Welton?” asked Jiang Fei, biting through his teeth as he held back his annoyance. There was no way he could express his discomfort in the face of a Level 5 Metahuman, especially when Ariel was not around!

“Oh man… I’m truly sorry. Are you sure you don’t want me to leave? I can always come back later,” said the American. Stuff like these was nothing to be ashamed about.

“Just spit it out…” said Jiang Fei, at the verge of raising his voice.

“Well then. My bad for disturbing you when you guys were having a good time. Anyway, it’s about the Winter Islands. The government is tearing down their facilities there and might take some time. Roughly… one month? I think? Most importantly, there are some locals that would not want to leave. Xavier wanted me to ask you to take care of those locals,” Welton explained.

“Is that it?” Jiang Fei hissed. A Level 5 Mutant travelled halfway across the world, just to relay some unimportant message!

“Yeah… That’s pretty much everything,” Welton snickered.

“Argh… Thanks for that then. Do me a favor. If there’s anything about the island that you want to tell me about, contact this person instead,” said Jiang Fei, handing him a card that belonged to Han Tianyu.

“Oh nice! I can call him next time. Guess I’ll take my leave now. Get busy, you guys!” said Welton with a smile on his face before flying out of the window with a faint blue light.

“Uhm… Jiang Fei, could you please get off me,” said Si Tuying, blushing madly since his entire body was over hers. It all happened too fast and ended too quickly. Jiang Fei did not even bother to stand up straight!

“Oh… right… sorry about that,” said Jiang Fei, lifting himself up and helping Si Tuying to sit up right. When Welton left, the sensual atmosphere in the air followed him out of the window. Jiang Fei was no longer in the mood.

If Welton was not there, Jiang Fei would have already went his way with Si Tuying. Even though Si Tuying was more than happy to let Jiang Fei take her, a revived Isabella might not feel the same way. Who knew what storm she would conjure if she discovered that Jiang Fei had made love to Si Tuying.

Isabella was known to be the jealous type. Because they were in the game, some things were just… not programmed to work. Even so, she had always wanted Jiang Fei’s first time to be with her. Things might really turn out for the worse if Isabella found out that Jiang Fei was no longer a cherry boy!

He had a sudden thought. For everything that he had done, he did it to create the perfect Level 5 body for Isabella. Once revived, she would be much stronger than Ariel. If she decided to throw a massive fit, no one around could stop her from tearing a hole in the world.

Once both Jiang Fei and Si Tuying had calmed down, the two continued to talk about martial arts and Si Tuying’s progress. Neither one could bring themselves to … get into the mood.

“I see that your powers is stabilizing at Level 3. You must have trained really hard while I’m gone,” said Jiang Fei, pulling her closer to him.

“Yes! I was training everyday with big sister! She has been a great support!” Si Tuying buried her face deep in his chest. It was a habit that she cultivated since she could not resist him. It was a girly way of cuddling which Jiang Fei felt cute. It was a genuine expression of her love for him and nothing similar to vixens like Yang Po and Yang Qing—fake and disgusting.

“Actually… You don’t need to push yourself so far,” said Jiang Fei. He got a little worried for her since he could feel the muscles in her arms. They were firm and tough, those unfit for a girl.

“It’s nothing at all! By the way, can I take the second pill now?” said Si Tuying, pulling herself up and looking into Jiang Fei’s eyes.

“Why the rush,” said Jiang Fei as he stroked her hair. Si Tuying was more than ready to take the second batch of potion but Jiang Fei did not want her to suffer so soon. Not when he had just returned home.

“Because I don’t want to be sitting at home, kneeling in front of the altar, praying while crying my eyes out for you. I want to be there with you, in the face of danger, fighting by your side as your equal!” said Si Tuying, staring straight into Jiang Fei’s eye.

Jiang Fei was stunned at Si Tuying’s confession and felt extremely touched.

“Thank you for that…” said Jiang Fei with a heavy heart. She would only confess such a thing because of all the pain that she had to suffer through everyday. The thought of Jiang Fei exposing himself to danger was not something anyone could take.

Ever since Jiang Fei had gotten into the Metahuman Society, his lifestyle changed abruptly. He stopped schooling. He stopped conforming to social norms. Playing games was the only thing that he did similar to normal kids his age. At least he had that going for him. There would be times like this when war erupted because of stupid reasons. He had to face his enemies head on. Even with 0541 in his finger, Jiang Fei was still facing tough challenges that would have ended his life if he was not careful. Such an adventure was not worth involving Si Tuying. He could not bear to see his beloved injured, or worse…

Jiang Fei’s parents had purposely dragged out Shang Guanqi and Ariel out of the house, just to make some space and time for Jiang Fei and Si Tuying. It was not until late at night, roughly after dinner time that they returned home with luxurious take-out food.

After dinner, everyone chatted for a bit until it was almost 10pm. By then, Jiang Fei parents was going to hit the hay and had Shang Guanqi, Ariel, and even Si Tuying to go to sleep.

Jiang Fei said he had something else to tend to and was left alone in the living room. It was then when 0541 started to pester him again.

“Captain! The special event is about to start. You do not have much time left. I urge you to log into the game right away!” said 0541. Even when Jiang Fei was fighting Mutants in Japan, 0541 was still profusely pestering Jiang Fei to play the game.

“When are you going to answer my questions properly? Sheesh! I’m busy as well, you know? What event could be so important that I am needed to login and play even when I am busy fighting Mutants?!” Jiang Fei barked and rolled his eyes. Although not all the time, Jiang Fei had been obedient enough to follow 0541’s suggestions and play the game even though he had no idea what it was for.

After a nice hot bath and a little tidying up, Jiang Fei was ready for bed.

The online population of the game was declining rapidly ever since the high tensions between China and America. Approximately 70% of all Chinese players did not login as frequently. That night, even though the news had reported that China had emerged victorious, many of them were not yet ready to join the game.

The game, Dawn Break, was made by the military to help create artificial souls. Even though the war was over and Androids were created, the game continued on to function.

After skipping the game for so many days, Jiang Fei had missed out on a lot of in-game main story scenarios. The Shadow Faction and the Draconian race had been at war with each other and the war was reaching its climax. When Jiang Fei was abruptly logged out by 0541 when he was in Japan, Empyreal Dragon followed their original plan and raided various Dragon Lairs. Unfortunately, without Jiang Fei’s help, the guild had failed to defeat the Overlord tier boss.

After some time, the war between the Shadow Faction and the Draconian race had reached its climax. The flames of war spread, even to the borders of Neutral Faction zone. However, due to the sudden trend of inactive players. Many game benefits were left unclaimed. Only the NPCs were fighting each other.

When Jiang Fei finally logged in, the Elder Prince, Otis, had lured the main Draconian army into the Shadow Faction’s territory where Sea Emperor Poseidon and his men were ready for an ambush. Currently, the war was about to reach its conclusion with very few players active in the game to reap the rewards.