Chapter 2 The Ringleader

[Private Chat] Flowing Light talks to you: I want a divorce.

Upon seeing this Private Chat message from Flowing Light, Blooming Pear Tree was so shocked that his stocky body shook.

[Private Chat] You talk to Flowing Light: No, don't act on impulse. Sis, come to YY896797***. Let's talk it out.

A minute later, both of them got into the YY chatroom.

Zheng Xiaoguang started by asking, "Big brother, did you hold a splendid wedding ceremony last night?"

"Yes, I spent 6,666 gold ingots on that wedding and redeemed a packet of wedding candies for your character. How is it? Your big brother treat you well, right?" Blooming Pear Tree, the ringleader of the whole thing, said smilingly.

Shiny Sky was not a generous game. A character above level 40 needed to pay 100,000 taels of silver to get a marriage certificate at the temple of the matchmaking god, and if this character and his or her partner wanted to hold a wedding ceremony, they had to splash out lots of gold ingots on it. Many players in this zone had gotten married by now, but only Blooming Pear Tree had held a wedding ceremony for Bluegreen-Clad and Flowing Light.

"It's really nice of him to pay for my wedding. Shiny Sky's wedding candies are really great. They can be used to recover one's health and magic power, and during this process, I even have chances to unlock new materials, equipment, and adventurous missions. The official line is that only the newly-wed couple can use gold ingots to redeem wedding candies from the matchmaking lady during the wedding. It costs a character 10 gold ingots to redeem a wedding candy, and 10 gold ingots equal RMB one yuan. Uhm, that's good."

"Wait a minute. What am I thinking about now?" thought Zheng Xiaoguang.

"I still want a divorce even if this wedding cost you lots of gold ingots," Zheng Xiaoguang said affirmatively.

"You silly girl, why do you want a divorce?" Blooming Pear Tree continued to persuade her for five minutes, trying to win her over intellectually and emotionally. He told her that if she divorced Bluegreen-Clad right after they got married, the League of Strong Families would feel that it was played and humiliated by the Matchless and would never ally itself with the Matchless. Blooming Pear Tree said that the League of Strong Families might even work together with the Sacred Temple to fight against the Matchless if Zheng Xiaoguang really divorced Bluegreen-Clad.

Zheng Xiaoguang understood this, but she still whined feebly. "But why does it have to be me? Are you still my big brother?"

"Of course, I'm still your big brother." Blooming Pear Tree nearly clapped his breast and made a promise. "It's because you're my sister that I've decided to marry you off to Bluegreen-Clad. You know our gang members. We don't have many girls in this gang, and I'm not familiar with them. You're my old friend and followed me to leave the previous game for this Shinny Sky. I trust you more than anyone else in this gang."

Nowadays, no online game could stay in business for more than 10 years or keep all of its players. Many gamers knew that no matter how great a game was, they would have to leave it someday for various reasons. Some of them left because they joined the army. Some of them left because of career changes. Some of them left simply because they were bored with the games they played...

Nevertheless, gamers of a gang would never easily part after they left a game. They would always treat one another as brothers and sisters and never forget how they had fought together, gotten red names together and dominated a zone together. Once one of them started to play a new game and told it to his or her fellow gang members, they would gather again.

Take Zheng Xiaoguang and Blooming Pear Tree for example. They lived far apart and had very different lives in the real world. Since leaving their previous game, they had not had many ties in the real world, but one call and one message from Blooming Pear Tree had held them together as a team again. "Sis, let's play a new game together."

Upon receiving that message, Zheng Xiaoguang had promised without hesitation.

Nevertheless, as to this marriage...

"I'm not familiar with that Bluegreen-Clad at all," grumbled Zheng Xiaoguang

She thought, “Even if it’s just a marriage in the game and we don’t have to be in love, we should be friends before getting married at the very least. However, I’ve never even played with that Bluegreen-Clad, the gang boss of the League of Strong Families.

"It's really awkward to marry such a stranger." .

"Now you guys know each other, don't you? You're my adorable sister. I know you well and have confidence in your ability." Blooming Pear Tree paused and then added, "By the way, Bluegreen-Clad is a good guy. I've played games for years and seldom met such a capable player."

"Well, you top-notch players really appreciate each other," Zheng Xiaoguang twitched her mouth and said.

Zheng Xiaoguang had never known Bluegreen-Clad as a friend before, but she had heard a lot about him. He was a magician from Floating Cloud Island, and his current level was 100, topping the power ranking of Watery South. Like Blooming Pear Tree, he was often referred to as a god-like player, but he had much more female fans than Blooming Pear Tree did.

Compared to Blooming Pear Tree, who often used foul language and engaged other players in battle on the battlefield, Bluegreen-Clad, the gang boss of the League of Strong Families was more like an "idol" in this game. He had focused on leading his team to explore new regions since the open of this server and never flirted with anyone online. As such, he had a good reputation and was admired by many female players.

These female players sent out lots of Public Chat messages every day, proposing to him. If they had known that Zheng Xiaoguang was not willing to marry him, they would have rushed over to scold her for being hypocritical.

"As Bluegreen-Clad is such a god-like player, will it be great to be known as 'Bluegreen-Clad's wife' around this zone? He has been voted Most Desirable Husband and Most Desirable Lover by the female players of this zone. Now that, I'm his wife, I'll become..."

"I'll definitely become the common enemy of all the female players in this zone!" thought Zheng Xiaoguang.

Apart from the congratulation messages from her friends, she also received many insults and humiliations from a bunch of strangers.

[Private Chat] Happy Little Bird: You've really capable of being shameless just to marry our god-like Bluegreen-Clad. Bah! Shame on you.

[Private Chat] Bluegreen-Clad Lady: You bitch, you stole our god-like Bluegreen-Clad from us.

[Private Chat] Baby520: You bitch, you'll die a miserable death.

...

Thinking about her current situation, Zheng Xiaoguang had goosebumps all over her body and started to cry while sighing secretly, "What did my big brother do? Why did this stranger say that I was capable of being shameless just to marry Bluegreen-Clad?" wondered Zheng Xiaoguang.

"Big brother, tell me what you did after you logged into my account yesterday, except for getting married..." said Zheng Xiaoguang.

"Well, your big brother is busy. I have to go now. I'll talk with you later," Blooming Pear Tree hurriedly said goodbye to her and then added, "if you have time, remember to gain levels for me and buy some more Ghost Recruiting Orders①."

Knowing that she was unable to get an answer now, Zheng Xiaoguang left the YY chatroom and switched back to the game. The moment the opened the game, she saw that everything was in darkness and her pretty 3D character Flowing Light was lying quietly at the South Sea, a region for characters at level 80 to gain levels.

Game Message: You've been killed by Baby520. Please choose the solution that you would like to adopt: going back to the city to resurrect yourself or waiting for help.

Note:

①Ghost Recruiting Order: Ghost Recruiting Order is a kind of equipment sold in the shop. It is must-have equipment for players who are willing to pay for equipment in the game. Once a Team Captain uses a Ghost Recruiting Order, he or she will be able to bring his or her whole team into an instance.

There are many monsters in this instance, and they come in waves. Unlike regular regions for players to gain levels, this instance does not update game date automatically. Once the players slay all the monsters in this instance, the game data will be saved as a separate file automatically. The players will gain 20% more experience in this instance than they do in a regular region, and the monsters in this instance are comparatively weak. Given this, this instance is considered to be the best place for players to gain levels. With the help of this instance, Blooming Pear Tree has reached level 100, which is the highest level a character can have now in this game, when most of the other players are still around level 70-90. He has three extra levels' experience stored in his separate file, so technically he is at level 103 at present.