Guide on How to Fail at Online Dating - Chapter 08

Before the two involved parties could react, the world chat channel erupted into chaos. The messages scrolled by at an astonishing speed—impossible to read without freezing the screen.

[World] Brother, is he big or not:?

[World] Don’t Ask About My Return: ????

[World] The Wind is Freer Than Me: Am I hallucinating from pulling an all-nighter??

[World] I Am Like Dust: Heart’s Desire and Sweet Scenery? Scumbag vs. Chronic Liar? Masters at play? A clash of titans??? The ultimate showdown at the Forbidden City’s peak????

[World] Go to Bed Early: Wait?? What’s this hidden plotline about the Demon King’s Wrath?!

[World] Destiny’s Peach Blossom Tea: Does it even matter? I just want to ask, what kind of weird pairing is this? I went out for a meal, just one hour, and now the gossip world has no place for me?

[World] Loves Dumplings: Damn, that scammer account has some insane luck, actually got a treasure map drop and even triggered a hidden quest. The rewards must be off the charts, right?

[World] Luoluo shamelessly unaware: Hehe. An insider steps forward to spill the tea—this treasure map was actually gifted to Little Sweet Scenery by Heart’s Yearning.

[World] Don’t Ask When I’ll Return: ???

[World] Sleep Early: [Confused]

[World] Goodnight to the world: [Confused] But wait, isn’t the treasure map a bound item? How can you give it away?

[World] Lulu’s Biggest Fan: Must’ve teamed up for this grind—what absolute legends. How many quests does it take to drop a treasure map? Setting the gold standard for scumbags everywhere.

[World] Loves dumplings: Whether it’s the object of affection or a sweet little scene, warming the sky, the earth, and even deceivers, I’m in love with this bad boy.

[World] Destiny’s Peach Tea: Today’s Most Baffling Spectacle.

…………

Jing Huan was stunned as he watched the players in the game spin a tale about him and Heart’s Desire all the way to Chapter 42—on their wedding day, Heart’s Desire eloped with a new lover, while Sweet Little Jing absconded with the betrothal gifts.

Fuck, how far has this been edited?

He moved the mouse to the taskbar, wanting to take a glance at the task prompt.

Hidden quests are a special feature in Nine Heroes. They were frequently triggered by players when the game first launched, but became extremely rare later on.

Despite playing for so long, Jing Huan had never triggered one, let alone seen it, and knew almost nothing about this quest.

The quest hint only provided a brief instruction: « Please head to LuoJia Mountain 13272 to seal the Demon King. »

Alright then.

[Team]SweetScenery: Big bro… Did I mess up? [crying]

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t reply immediately.

He was nearly deafened by Lu Hang’s shouting.

Holy shit! A hidden quest!! » Lu Hang was so excited he almost dropped his phone. « A treasure map actually has a hidden quest? You’ve hit the jackpot! The rewards were already insane, and now with a hidden quest on top of that? Who needs Enchantment Spirit Pearls?! You might even get a divine weapon straight up!

« Impossible. Hidden quests have never given equipment rewards, » Xiang Huaizhi cut off his fantasy.

Fine, calling it a divine artifact might be a bit of an exaggeration… » Lu Hang moved closer to him. « Hurry up and ask Little Sweet Scene if what she said earlier still counts?

What did she say?

What else could it be? Didn’t she promise to give you whatever she digs up?

Xiang Huaizhi didn’t respond to him.

At the moment, he wasn’t interested in anything other than the Enchanted Spirit Beads. The only reason he followed Xiao Tianjing to dig for treasures was the thought that if she really unearthed an Enchanted Spirit Bead, he might be able to buy it at market price right away.

Brother War God? » The sweet voice of Xiao Tianjing came through the headphones again, « …I really messed up this time.

Xiang Huaizhi placed his hands on the keyboard, typed two characters, then immediately deleted them.

He pressed the push-to-talk button: « No. »

Jing Huan froze in surprise.

…This person’s voice sounds oddly pleasant, doesn’t it?

It wasn’t deliberately lowered or deepened—just an ordinary tone, yet it felt soothing to the heart.

True, without these conditions, one can’t even qualify as a scumbag.

Jing Huan said with grievance, « But people in the world channel are all cursing at me. »

Xiang Huaizhi hadn’t opened the world channel, so he naturally had no idea it had already descended into chaos: « Just block it. »

Jing Huan: « Mhm, blocked it… So what should we do now? Should we take on this quest? »

Xiang Huaizhi also glanced at the taskbar: « Wait a moment. »

« But the mission only lasts forty-eight hours, you know. »

Xiang Huaizhi opened the official website: ‘Hidden missions all have a forty-eight-hour time limit. I’ll go check some information first. Dying in a hidden mission is treated as a normal death—charging in recklessly might get you killed and lose levels.’

« Is the boss that terrifying? » Jing Huan paused, then said excitedly, « Brother, are you saying you’ll help me kill the boss? »

Xiang Huaizhi stated the facts: « My name is on the mission. Without me, you can’t trigger the battle. »

Jing Huan sneered inwardly but replied sweetly, « Thank you, brother! »

Xiang Huaizhi: « …I’ll go check some materials. Will you be free tomorrow afternoon? »

I’ll be here, brother, » Jing Huan said obediently. « I’m available anytime.

Then let’s tentatively schedule it for tomorrow afternoon. We’ll leave extra time in case we don’t clear it on the first try. » Xiang Huaizhi moved his cursor to the ‘Leave Party’ option. « That’s all for now.

Brother, wait! » Jing Huan quickly called out to him, « …Should we add each other as friends? Otherwise, how will we contact each other later?

Xiang Huaizhi’s eyebrow twitched slightly: « Hmm. »

His tone sounded very reluctant.

Jing Huan let out a cold snort.

Fine, go ahead and dislike me now. There’ll come a day when you’re crazy about me and can’t have me.

Just after adding each other as friends, Heart’s Desire quickly went offline. Jing Huan returned to the main city, searched for Heart’s Desire in the friends list, and checked the profile.

Heart’s Desire, male, level 150, Demon race, Qiya Mountain faction.

Personal motto: None.

Today’s mood: none.

Friend’s comment: None.

…Is this person pretending to be aloof? These days, even his seventy-year-old grandmother has a personal signature.

Jing Huan propped her chin on her hand, clicked open the friend evaluations, found the words « brother » from the system tags, and pressed them repeatedly.

[Heart’s Yearning: Friend evaluations are not yet open. Evaluation failed!]

“……”

Jing Huan closed the document directly.

The next day, Jing Huan went to the university. He had a class in the morning, and the old professor marked him as someone to check attendance on, so he couldn’t skip it.

Gao Zixiang had saved him a seat early. When Jing Huan arrived, he found Gao Zixiang and Lu Wenhao huddled together, whispering about something.

What, did my absence give you two an opportunity? » Jing Huan sat down in the empty seat, crossing his legs. « Already getting cozy?

Cozy my ass! » Gao Zixiang looked up. « We’re reading some big news.

Jing Huan didn’t seem to care much. « What news? »

You wouldn’t be interested even if I told you. It’s about Nine Heroes.

Jing Huan glanced sideways: « …Go on, I’m listening. »

Actually, it’s nothing major. Just someone on another server dug up a treasure map and triggered a hidden quest… The game’s been running for ten years, and there are still undiscovered hidden quests? Isn’t that ridiculous? » Gao Zixiang put his phone away. « Last night, a server-wide system message suddenly popped up in the game interface. Our guild was in the middle of a group dungeon run at the time, and everyone was completely stunned.

Jing Huan: « … »

Has this news spread so quickly?

He withdrew his gaze and said, « …Isn’t it just a hidden quest? What’s so special about that. »

« Huh? You have the nerve to say that—have you even seen what a hidden quest looks like? » Gao Zixiang mocked him.

I— » How come I’ve never seen this? The mission in the announcement screenshot you’re looking at right now was triggered by yours truly! « …never seen it.

Gao Zixiang patted his shoulder as a gesture of comfort: « Actually, the highlight of this matter isn’t entirely about the hidden quest—it’s the person who triggered it… »

Gao Zixiang stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing something, and immediately fell silent.

« The person who triggered the mission? Who? »

No, no one. » Gao Zixiang paused, « Anyway, they’re both terrible people—one’s a scumbag, the other a female scammer. Both are notorious, so they deserve each other.

Jing Huan: « ? »

Jing Huan: « Don’t just listen to one side of the story for certain matters. »

And I’m not making this up—that’s what everyone on the server says. The female scammer is even being hunted by the top guild in the district. She probably doesn’t dare log in anymore. The guy’s no good either. If it weren’t for his powerful account, he’d have been hunted down long ago. » Mentioning the scumbag made Gao Zixiang angry on behalf of his friend’s sister, and he slammed the desk hard. « Honestly, the way these two are getting roasted by the entire server is entirely their own fault. They deserve it.

Jing Huan didn’t expect to be scolded by a friend so early in the morning, and it gave her a headache: « Shut up, will you? »

Lu Wenhao, bored out of his mind, refreshed the Nine Heroes forum again.

Little did they know, this refresh would reveal something astonishing—

It was a post from a player on the « Mirage and Moonlight » server.

OMG, I woke up to a system notification this morning… All I can say is, the Idle Pavilion guild really got the short end of the stick!

Without any preamble, the OP directly posted a screenshot of the game—

[System Message: Players SweetScenery and Heart’sDesire from this zone have successfully triggered the hidden quest [Fury of the Demon King]. This hidden quest is related to the server’s stability. If the two players successfully seal the Demon King within forty-eight hours, the zone’s stability will increase by two hundred points; if the task fails, one hundred points of stability will be deducted. Within forty-eight hours, players in the zone can contribute materials at the Forge Master to enhance SweetScenery and Heart’sDesire’s equipment attributes, lending a hand to the zone’s development and cheering on the brave warriors!]

Server stability is one of the most crucial server attributes, significantly impacting major guilds—a drop in stability greatly increases the chances of guilds being robbed by bandits, and in severe cases, it can even destroy the guild’s herb fields.

This means that within these forty-eight hours, all major factions in the district must each contribute some resources… to « cheer on » Xiao Tianjing and Xin Xiangwangzhi.

At this moment, the usually bustling faction channel of the Idle Pavilion was as quiet as a chicken, with an oppressive atmosphere.

For ten minutes after the system message appeared, not a single soul spoke up in the faction.

I don’t know how long it had been, but there was finally a response in the channel—

[Gang] Don’t Ask When I’ll Return: …So these two days… are we still hunting down Little Sweet Scene?