"..."
'The progress is stable. There has also been no complain from the seal. But I cannot be certain about that brat understanding my teachings or… At worst he is no worse than before.' Satisfied Luo Si drew circles with a wooden spoon.
"..."
'But my financial situation is not stable. Here in particular.' The motion changed from circling to toking on the metal pan. 'My savings don't amount to much. I am already reducing the expense by eating on the other side. If I also set Su' er on a diet…'
Her brother was pulling on her wrist and even went as far as clinging both arm around it. But it did not hinder her much from cooking dinner. 'So cute. I can definitely not cut corners when it comes to him. What if he becomes undernourished? There is also grandma An and I also promised to go to school which also limits time. I cannot afford to spend even more on employment.'
Her mood worsened with the problems listed. Her nose crimped in anguish.
"LUO SI! My food! Put out the flames!"
She regained her focus after her brother yelled her name for a third time. With great shock it turned out that the smell of disgust was actually smoke coming from the cooked food.
'Damn it.' In panic the flame was turned up to the limit, nearly setting the dried ingrediency aflame, before being turned off. The food's lower half had melted into a black substance at the bottom. The results left both siblings with dark faces. The younger one in particular.
"This… Luo Si, I don't think I can eat that." He had been desperately trying to stop her, surprisingly to no avail. Not even her arm budged after when he hung onto it.
The cook coughed in awkwardness while pocking the food. "Don't you always proclaim that you are a man. It's just a little bit burned. Nothing a man should be afraid of."
Lau Su pulled many faces. His big sister was very generous in filtering what was still considered digestible and ended up rescuing 2 plates worth of food.
"Oh, wow." Moistureless crunching noises echoed over the dining table. "So crisp. Sister, you need to try this."
Lau Su emptied a whole glass of water in order to not dehydrate. Afterwards he used his special skill. 'Come on. Eat some as well.'
"I've already eaten." Evading her brother's puppy eyes the older sister poured the second plate into his bento boxes. The school box could only hold so much. The rest refilled Lau Su's serving to the point where it looked like he had never taken a bite in the first place.
The little brother was speechless. Since when had his special move lost its effect. 'Has my sister grown resistant?'
Growing aware of his social problems he had mastered some resourceless tricks. The pleading eyes being his ace. He had once used it to get an ice cream. But after realizing that his sister never spend money in that manner for herself, he felt ashamed. Learning that they held great might over the years, he would only use them in dire situations.
Seeing his ace fail made him break out in sweat for a second. 'Time for plan b.'
"Luo Si." Lau Su got serious and placed the chopsticks aside. "Have you been working out lately? Did you leave the cage already? Tell me, is the game as good as everybody says?"
The sudden change of vibe interrupted the big sister. What was up with all those questions? The atmosphere tensed up with the minute silence.
"So curious." Luo Si broke the awkwardness with a flick on her brother's forehead.
Although, she leaned back after dumping the rest on his plate. 'Well, he did eat my food. I should repay him a bit.'
She grumbled, trying to find the right words. The question itself was commonly asked in the uninvolved circles early on.
Having been to places even most of the players failed to reach even in a century, she of all people should know the answer to this question the best.
Dwelling in the memories of her prime she said in absence. "Yes, it is as beautiful as it is dangerous."
"Better than JX3? Shun said it got remade and is the best game now." Lu Shun was his best friend and was slightly younger than him. Lau Su would follow him home multiple times to play video games, having no need to buy one himself.
After Jian Wang was overhauled and got online, Lu Shun invited his friend less times and played it rather by himself. Lau Su got envious to not have a computer himself. He had gotten permissionto use Luuo Si's laptop, which made him happy at first. Later however, he was reminded of his sister's eagerness to save money on every end as the apparatus turned out to not even reach the minimum requirement.
"Even then, the difference is like heaven and earth." Having witnessed the end Luo Si was absolutely convinced. How could any game compare to the capsules? Even giants like Phony and Microhard fell into depression not even half a decade of unsuccessful attempts to figure out the white wonder.
"Good, good. You did not disappoint me." Being the only male in the house, he usually took upon himself the role of the family patriarch and complimented the older sibling.
Pa*
However, most of his acts would end with a bulge on the head.
Hiding his tears Lau Su ran to his room. All that could be heard was, "I wanna play so badly."
With the back of her hand supporting her head she watched him off. It tightened when the door closed. 'Not yet. I am not strong enough, yet.'
Knowing of the dangers lurking on hte other side, Luo Si did not want her brother to enter the game. There was nothing she could do though with Lau Su's birthday coming closer every day.
The night before the tournament another conversation between Kuilei and Liuxian took place. But this time it was the boss that called. Kuilei happily picked up the phone. Seeing his boss calling him, he greeted with a sunny 'Hello boss.'
The positive mood drowned in the other side's yelling. "Doglei you fucking dog. Did you know what the tattoo actually was before you told me about it?"
"B-B-Boss please don't be angry. All I know is that it will get you the book and a good relation with the NPC."
"You incompetent idiot, you call a slave contract a good relationship? And the worst thing is that I have to do whatever I'm told. Do you know how humiliating that is to bow to a stupid NPC? If I go to the martial camp and am beaten like that little b****, you are dead you dog, you hear me? And where is the promised cheat code?"
"I... I... I didn't know..." The receiver had no words.
Hearing the other side's narrativity Liuxian dropped his level of anger. "At least this thing gives some charisma and some benefits. So, you are not dead for now."
He was able to enter the book library basically for free and receive some resources from the weaker ones whenever he showed his tattoo. But it felt more like the people feared the tattoo more than him. "What about your end, any progress?"
After accidentally dying, he needed to restart anew. Being stuck again inside the mausoleum was the worst situation to be in as a snitch. "I-I have lost sight of her." Not wanting make his boss even more angry he answered vaguely.
"Doesn't matter. Her father has already stopped paying her rent. She probably needs to work nonstop, just to stay overwater." Liuxian replied.
The week had passed in the blink of an eye for Luo Si as she made her way to the martial ground.
"My stage has greatly solidified and the beast fights have quenched me thoroughly."
Many people had gathered. Not only practitioners, but parents as well. The players present were very excited, even though only a dozen or so had signed up for it. The others did not want to risk too much and wanted to see how things go first.
Luo Si looked around and spotted some familiar faces, like Pi She, Min Wu, Mei Bing and others, she had seen in the forest. Many of them had an air of confidence, ready to win.
The crowed of participants was wildly mixed. The majority was made out of 3rd stage martial learner, while the rest was filled with 2nd stage martial learner.
Fu Hantian was also present. Although, he was just sitting in the VIP section of the rostrum. The tournament was not to be touched by outsiders of the Min village. The two of them nodded to one another after making eye contact.
"Hey, isn't that the punching bag?" Luo Si's appearance attracted some people's attention as she had left a deeply awkward impression. But no heed was paid towards the degraded comments as everyone was starring exciting gazes elsewhere.
Since her last visit, the martial camp had visually undergone a great transformation. 9 platforms had been installed in the middle of the field. 8 of them were small, while the middle one was not only bigger, but also lifted by a meter or two, distinguishing it from the rest.
"Hello and welcome Ladies and Gentleman, especially martial practitioner, to the 49th martial junior tournament." An old man wearing clean attire with the symbol 'Main Judge' stood on the big platform." Unbelievable 378 martial learners have signed up for today's event. However, only 32 contestants will proceed to the finals. I can see many new and old faces, but all of you are agitated to win the championship title and earn glory and wealth. With that said, let the tournament begin."