Four Split Personalities

Three days later

March 3, 2049

Game Time AM09:28

[Your mental connection has been detected. Synchronizing personal information...]

[Connection complete. Loading character information.]

[Welcome back, Hei Fan of Absolute Neutrality. You are about to enter The Realm of Innocence. Good evening.]

...

Northeast of Innocent Continent, Holy Land, City of Light

Central City District, Dawn Avenue, Saint Lirte Dawn Chapel, Deluxe Suite

"Yo, good evening~"

Just as Motan opened his eyes, he saw a burly, athletic synthetic brother grinning at him, holding an expensive-looking teacup. He was sitting at the round table in the main hall, seemingly engrossed in a book. If not for the murderous aura emanating from that... cough, a tri-point double-edged... umm... Staff of the Punisher behind him, one might really perceive a sort of scholarly air about him.

This man was none other than Mr. Cordova from Sky Pillar Mountain, firmly ranked second in the player’s comprehensive strength leaderboard, having been single for twenty-two years at the ripe age of twenty-two, currently a second-class soldier of the FFF Group’s East Asia Division’s Seventh Special Warfare Squad, former Captain of the Misha County Iron Light Cavalry, whose grandfather was detained for trading in banned publications just yesterday, regarded as a good brother by his friends, a well-behaved son in his parents’ eyes, seen as an unlucky sod by Master Lu, surnamed Cui... cough cough, named Xiao Yu, the unofficial unit of measurement for the ’bad luck level’ attribute hidden in this book, the respected Mr. Cordova from The Realm of Innocence!

"I’m definitely not an unlucky sod!!"

Cordova roared to the heavens, then paused for a moment, chuckling awkwardly at the dumbfounded Motan, "Er, I’ve had this feeling lately that someone’s been slandering me. Don’t mind it, um, good morning."

Accustomed to his friend’s occasional odd behavior, Motan scratched his head and lethargically slithered out of bed, complaining while putting on his boots from his bag, "Better to stick with ’good evening.’ Waking up from bed and getting a ’good morning’ from a man feels super awkward..."

"Have you had experiences of being greeted by a man in the morning before?"

Cordova rolled his eyes.

"No, and I won’t in the future."

Now fully booted, Motan stood up and grabbed a freshly laundered priest’s robe from the cabinet to slip on before moseying out of the bedroom, pouring himself a cup of cool boiled water from Cordova’s teapot, "You look pretty bored..."

"Not too bad. I timed it just right, went for a stroll in the city; this place is really huge."

Cordova laughed, then gave Motan a sidelong glance with raised eyebrows, "You seem to be in a bad mood."

Having not been able to properly chat with the active Yu Chen in the game for three whole days and just having been forced for the eleventh time to explain the dialectical relationship between ’Scale Against’ and ’naked men’ to Ji Xiaoge, Motan gave a dry chuckle and took a gulp of boiled water, "No way."

Cordova shrugged, then sneered slyly, "Is it because Yu Chen hasn’t been interacting with you much lately?"

[This guy is kind of spot on!]

Startled by this strike to his sore spot, Motan managed to maintain his composure and said, "You’re overthinking it."

"Plus, since Xia Lian and the others are looking into how to treat Yu Chen, it’ll be hard for you to see her these days anyway."

Cordova kept staring intently at Motan, asking with utmost certainty, "So that makes you even more upset, doesn’t it?"

[Are you freaking poisoned or something!]

Struggling to suppress the urge to flip the table, Motan hummed with feigned indifference, "Joking. Why would I be upset?"

"Hmm hmm, deep down, you’ve been thrilled all along about being misunderstood and forced to play a couple!"

Cordova grinned, revealing a row of big white teeth glowing with faint blue rune energy.

[There’s no Mind Reading Technique in this game, right? There isn’t, right? You’re really wasting your talent by not becoming a fortune teller!]

Beading sweat at his temples, Motan was at a loss for words and could only offer a grin that was all skin but no cheer, attempting through facial artistry to halt this round of not-so-public execution.

"Ah, the bitter-sweetness of young love~"

Cordova elegantly sniffed his cup of plain water, speaking lightly, "Don’t worry. When you successfully win over Yu Chen, I, as a friend, will personally burn yours."

[Don’t joke so seriously about such a nasty thing! That makes me involuntarily think about how many couples you’ve burned already! Is the risk of being friends with you a bit too high, you soulless fiend!]

Motan internally ranted before seriously addressing Cordova, shrugging, "I’m not planning on chasing her."

Momentarily surprised, feeling as if Motan wasn’t lying, Cordova blinked, astonished, "Why not? Don’t tell me you don’t like Yu Chen at all. I’ve got a pretty good eye for people..."

"It’s not that."

Motan shook his head, leaning on his hand and looking down, "I didn’t say I don’t like Yu Chen... it’s just that I’ve no plans to chase her."

"Huh?"

Cordova was shocked again and blurted out instinctively, "Are you waiting for her to take the initiative then?"

"No..."

"Then is it because your families are sworn enemies but only you know the truth, so you can’t pursue her knowing this one-sided reality?"

"Even Korean drama writers wouldn’t dare write a story like that these days, buddy."