The other end of the phone was silent for a few seconds before the other party hung up.
Tong Yi heard the end call tone and raised the phone to her eyes in disbelief. 'He hung up on me?'
He had hung up on her again!
Tong Yi was depressed for a moment. Then, she thought of something and opened her WeChat. Earlier, she had sent Lu Zhanbei a friend request and was still waiting for him to accept it.
She sent him another friend request.
This time, she attached a different message with the new friend request. It contained four simple words: I am Tong Yi.
The phone in the living room rang.
Tong Yi got up from the couch and answered the phone that sat on the small square table next to her. A sweet and polite female voice came through the phone. "Hello, this is the hotel service counter. The movie theater on the eighth-floor will be open starting from three. If you have the time, you may enjoy the movie free of charge."
Tong Yi looked at the time. It was five past three. Since she was free, watching a movie to pass the time did not sound like a bad idea.
Tong Yi thanked her before hanging up and leaving the room.
Arriving at the eighth floor, the entire floor was quiet. Other than the waitress, there was no one else in sight.
Tong Yi was not a nosy person. Even though she was curious, she did not inquire about this strange occurrence. She chose the most popular sci-fi movie there was and entered the theater hall.
As she entered the hall, she realized that there was no one else inside. This scenario was pretty strange, this was the current most popular movie, yet there was no one watching it.
Tong Yi was puzzled but did not investigate any further. Other than Lu Zhanbei, everything else was unimportant to her.
When the movie ended, it was past 5 in the evening. As Tong Yi left the movie hall, the waiter told her enthusiastically that there was an auction happening on the fifth floor after dinner. If she had time, she could go and take a look.
Tong Yi wasn't interested in going. She wasn't here to play. She had a mission. She knew that Lu Zhanbei was busy with work during the day, but he had to rest at night, right?
Instead of heading to the restaurant for dinner, she returned to her room. She planned to have dinner with Lu Zhanbei. However, upon returning to the room, she realized that Lu Zhanbei hadn't returned yet.
Tong Yi plopped herself on the couch and was about to start playing with her phone when Ling Rui called.
"Sister Yi, there's a new barbeque restaurant at the south side of the city. I heard it tastes pretty good. Let's go to the bar to have some fun after the barbeque. What do you think?"
"Not interested."
"Huh?" The person on the other end of the phone call had not expected Tong Yi to reject him. After two seconds, there was a hint of excitement in his voice. "You know somewhere more exciting?"
Hearing that, Tong Yi was speechless. What kind of personality did Tong Yi have in the game?
"Where are we going? What kind of fun do you have planned? Are there many people there? Are we going to stay up all night? If we're going to stay up all night, I need to come up with an excuse. Otherwise, my old man…"
"I'm in Lan City." Tong Yi interrupted the overly excited Ling Rui.
"Lan City? You travelled out of Beijing to have fun? Isn't it a little far? But it's alright, I'm tired of playing in Beijing. Wait for me, I'll…"
Tong Yi couldn't listen to Ling Rui's ramblings any longer. "Lu Zhanbei is in Lan City."
It took Ling Rui two seconds before he reacted. "F*ck, he's on a business trip, and you chased after him?!"
"Mm."
"That's f*ckin' awesome! Well, is he very touched to see you?"
Tong Yi recalled how Lu Zhanbei almost booked a return flight for her, she massaged her glabella in frustration. "No."
There was total silence on the other end of the phone for a moment before Ling Rui said, "Lu Zhanbei doesn't get close to women. No one has ever seen a woman by his side. There are even rumors that he's gay. Why don't we stop fooling around with him? Why don't you consider changing your target to a more normal person?"
Tong Yi did not trust the word 'rumor' anymore. Furthermore, ever since she entered this game world, she was left with no other choice. "It has to be him."
"Alright. Since that's the case, I'll give you another idea. When you're up against a person like Lu Zhanbei, normal tactics definitely won't work. You have to use unorthodox methods."
Tong Yi's interest was piqued. "Tell me more."