SS 54: Controlling Emotions

“It’s just a valley,” a little golden dragon jumped onto the chessboard, scattering the pieces in disarray.

Hearing that Feng Lianzhu’s home was destroyed, Pang·Kirates had only one thought: fly to the Demon Barrier Forest, uproot that wretched forest, dig out a valley, plant bamboo one by one, and just happily decided that!

Just as he was about to take off, he felt something grabbing his legs. Turning his head, he saw that female player called… Phoenix Among Birds, one hand grabbing his thigh, the other hand wrapped with a chain that plunged deep into the heart of the earth, firmly anchoring Phoenix Among Birds.

In the interstellar world, Feng Lianzhu had instructed Pang·Kirates to be nice to the people of Phoenix Arrival upon his return, as without the full support of Phoenix Arrival, the Atavist from the underground arena would have been doomed.

Remembering Feng Lianzhu’s words, Pang·Kirates didn’t lash out with his tail to kill Phoenix Among Birds on the spot, nor did he roar loudly enough to reduce Phoenix Arrival members’ health by a large margin. Instead, he carefully, questioningly, and as gently as possible said to Phoenix Among Birds: “Roar?”

“Dragon God, you can’t go!” Seeing that Pang·Kirates was open to communication, Phoenix Among Birds quickly said, “Even if you destroy the Demon Barrier Forest and kill the Blood Demon, Bamboo Valley cannot be restored. The game company can easily restore the data of Demon Barrier Forest, they can create a Blood Demon whenever they want. You barely survived the game company’s purge, you can’t be discovered by them again!”

“Roar!” Pang·Kirates shouted, using the language of the Kirates species, yet strangely, Phoenix Among Birds understood his words.

“Do you really think they can kill me?” That roar conveyed such a message.

“No,” Phoenix Among Birds said, disregarding that her arm was almost torn by the chain, diligently smoothing feathers, “I believe you are the strongest, no doubt about that. But we are very worried about you, we don’t want there to be even a tiny possibility of you disappearing, not even one in a hundred, one in a thousand, one in ten thousand!”

She said firmly, even if Pang·Kirates insisted on going, and the chain and the dragon tore her in two, Phoenix Among Birds would still stop Pang·Kirates!

While Phoenix Among Birds communicated with Pang·Kirates, Tu Qinyuanhua, the alchemist, handed a chain to each guild member. Everyone inserted one end of their chain into the heart of the earth, the other hand holding tightly to Pang·Kirates’ thigh.

More than twenty online members of Phoenix Among Birds, all hung on Pang·Kirates’ hind legs, Celestial Maiden Setting Off Fireworks tearfully said, “All my life, I’ve had a beautiful dream where, when I was being bullied, a prince charming would defeat all who bullied me and come to rescue me on a seven-colored cloud. I never had such a dream come true in reality, but that day, when we were besieged by Panlong, you saved us! There was no prince charming, only a temperamental black dragon, but even so, we don’t want you to disappear!”

During the three days of searching for the Dragon God, the members of Phoenix Arrival felt that the real identity of Yuan Cun Feng didn’t matter anymore. The fact that he was alive, could play with them, and roll in gold coins was enough.

What’s the need to uncover the truth behind every mystery in life? Compared to riding dragons into the clouds and becoming the number one guild on the game’s leaderboard, keeping their little golden dragon felt more real.

“Pull all you want,” Tu Qinyuanhua said, “This is the Hou Tu Lock, rooting on landing. Either you pull up the entire Central Continent or tear us all in half, otherwise, you can’t shake us off!”

It’s just a game account, the pain setting is at its lowest, and death screens are pixelated, Phoenix Arrival’s members are not afraid!

They can revive if they die, but the Fat Dragon is different. The game has completely deleted all data related to Feng Lianzhu, and if the Fat Dragon dies, he might not necessarily revive.

Being trapped by a group of weak humans was a great shame for Kirates. No creature could trap the strongest species in the universe, not even the Central Continent, just a larger piece of land. With all his might, he could…

Pang·Kirates’ sapphire-like eyes looked at the members clinging to his thighs, letting out a dragon chant to the sky, not the usual roar, but a distant, penetrating, and very helpless dragon chant.

The golden dragon flapped his wings, shrinking in front of everyone, eventually becoming a small dragon only the size of two gold coins, looking at the members of Phoenix Arrival, as if unsure what to do with them.

The emotional sisters burst into laughter, Celestial Maiden Setting Off Fireworks said, “You really are the cutest!”

She seemed to want to hug the Fat Dragon but lacked the courage, instead turning to roll in the pile of gold coins, giggling as she rolled.

The little golden dragon wasn’t having it. Landing in the pile of gold coins, his small body possessed great strength. With a nudge of his mouth, he pushed Celestial Maiden Setting Off Fireworks aside, enlarging in the pile of gold coins, fitting perfectly with the size of the pile.

The gold coins were his, and no one was allowed to touch them.

【Host Pang·Kirates learns to control emotions, empathizing with another species for the first time, rewarded with 10000 points, current points 5940, congratulations to the host for having positive points for the first time.】

“Give them to Feng Lianzhu.” Pang·Kirates instructed the system.

Feng Lianzhu had cleared his points debt several times, and the Fat Dragon remembered. He couldn’t bother to check how many points Feng Lianzhu had given him in the past; from now on, any points he received would go to Feng Lianzhu.

“Wait a minute,” as the system was transferring points, the Fat Dragon said, “That ‘Basic Teaching of Huaxia Language,’ exchange one for me.”

【Host Pang·Kirates has already self-taught the dragon chant empathy ability during the previous interaction, which is a racial power of Kirates, surpassing the need to learn other species’ languages by transmitting intentions through brainwaves with special calls.】

“I still want to learn.” Pang·Kirates said, completely forgetting the time he borrowed points from Feng Lianzhu to buy a shared brain, all to avoid going to university.

The points needed for “Basic Teaching of Huaxia Language” are the same as for “Interstellar Common Language Basic Teaching,” both requiring 100 points, leaving 5840 points remaining. Following Pang·Kirates’ instructions, the system transferred all remaining points to Feng Lianzhu.

Pang·Kirates’ interactions with the system were all internal mental activities, invisible and inaudible to the members of Phoenix Arriavl. They only saw the large golden dragon lying on his back in the pile of gold coins, his belly looking particularly soft and tempting to touch.

Phoenix Among Birds immediately set up a temporary private chat room, pulling all guild members into it: “Tu Qinyuanhua! Wasn’t the Golden Scale Armor supposed to offer 100% defense without any vulnerable spots? Why is the belly still white, looking so soft, I mean, looking so vulnerable?”

Tu Qinyuanhua: “Guild leader, I don’t know what’s with that belly, but I just tested it, and the defense at the belly is the same as on the back, 20 times weaker than when he first wore the Golden Scale Armor three days ago, huh? Weaker by 20 times?”

“What’s happening?” the members asked anxiously.

Tu Qinyuanhua opened the screenshot of the test he conducted three days ago: “Look, when he first wore the Golden Scale Armor three days ago, the overall data was balanced, truly god-level stats, even GMs couldn’t have such defense. But now, the stats are only two to three times higher than a level 120 boss. How did it become so weak all of a sudden?”

“Maybe he was injured while avoiding the game company’s purge?” Celestial Maiden Setting Off Fireworks said sympathetically, “When he first appeared, he was so small, weaker than before.”

“We can’t let other guilds know Yuan Cun Feng is still alive,” Phoenix Among Birds decisively said, “This is the guild’s top secret. Anyone who dares to leak it won’t be able to stay in this game anymore. We’ll kill them on sight.”

“Kill on sight? It would be better to dox them, create real-world obstacles for them, accuse them of being untrustworthy, and try to lower their social credit score,” said a member named Delicate and Prone to Fainting.

Tu Qinyuanhua: “Your in-game name and personality are quite the contrast.”

Phoenix Among Birds: “Let’s have members sign an online credit promise, like those anti-fraud agreements issued by games.”

Nowadays, games in Huaxia are under real-name registration to protect players from scammers. The credit promise, once signed, would damage one’s real-world credit score if violated, leaving a bad record. This effectively deters online fraud.

Phoenix Among Birds’s thought of this promise shows her deep concern for Pang·Kirates.

While the members were discussing, Pang·Kirates involuntarily shrunk again. Having lost too many scales, his defense weakened, and his energy was insufficient, entering a critical period of metamorphosis. To conserve energy, Kirates dragons either sleep or shrink during this time, reducing energy consumption.

After shrinking, he burrowed into the pile of gold coins, opened the “Basic Teaching of Huaxia Language” page on the system panel, and started memorizing pinyin sounds. Eventually, he fell asleep while studying.

Pang·Kirates, who never dreams, saw Feng Lianzhu in his sleep. The last time he dreamt of Feng Lianzhu was during their brain connection. He thought he was dreaming until he swapped places with Feng Lianzhu and saw his reflection in the water, confirming the little figure in his dreams was Feng Lianzhu.

He dreamt of Feng Lianzhu sitting quietly in the pavilion of Bamboo Valley, like a soulless puppet, in front of an unchanged chessboard endgame.

Feng Lianzhu picked up a chess piece, placing it on the board, making it look much better. But a gust of wind blew the piece back into its box.

Feng Lianzhu, puzzled, looked at his slender fingers and tilted his head.

The wind in Bamboo Valley was strong, blowing his robe, making him look like a frail bamboo, helpless in front of the chessboard.

“It’s just a valley,” the little golden dragon jumped onto the chessboard, messing up the pieces, “When I return to the primitive star, I’ll dig one out for you, create an identical one.”

The dream Feng Lianzhu seemed not to recognize Pang·Kirates. He picked up the pieces, put them back in the box, and smiled at him, “Thank you.”

“I’ll also restore the chessboard to the same state. I’ll learn this game of black and white pieces, to finish the game with you.” Seeing his smile, Pang·Kirates couldn’t help but say.

Far away in the interstellar world, Feng Lianzhu received a prompt—

【Host Feng Lianzhu activates “Fake Smiling Boy,” causing Pang·Kirates to feel sorrow. Host’s use of the fake smile skill deducts 1000 points this time.】

Feng Lianzhu: “???”