There was a slight pause as Midnight neither answered nor sent a request over. His character entered cultivation mode, meaning that the player had either deliberately hit the command to cultivate or had gone AFK.
Xiao Yi continued to wait patiently, just as he had with his new friend just a few weeks ago. Either he was getting a fight, or he wasn't. Either way, he hadn't planned to find another captain out of the blue so it was a rare chance to ask.
[Midnight has requested a duel.]
Xiao Yi nearly bounced out of his chair with excitement as the golden notification box popped up on his screen.
[Midnight]: It's been a while since I've played sword master, don't be too harsh on me.
Xiao Yi took a moment to compose himself and moved his mouse to press 'accept', only for the notification to be interrupted by another, and then another, and another...
[Moon has requested a duel.]
[Neptune has requested a duel.]
[Venus has requested a duel.]
There was a slight pause before the last request, but just the slightest moment.
[Flame has requested a duel.]
With a quick hand, Xiao Yi declined all invitations, including Midnight's, and spun his character around to find his five previous friends on their old accounts, standing in the middle of the lake on the gazebo.
They must have set their characters offline so he wouldn't see them getting online and run away in advance.
'Smart.'
Xiao Yi's voice was cold as he cursed aloud for only himself to hear, one hand reaching to push his bangs out of his face. "Shit. Fucking bastards."
It wouldn't matter if he logged off, now. His character would respawn in the middle of the last city since the island technically didn't exist in the system and due to the attention they brought onto him, there's no way he could make it back to his house without being noticed, followed, or assassinated.
He wouldn't be logging onto Frost for the foreseeable future…
Why did they log in at this moment?
Xiao Yi moved his camera to glance over at Midnight, who'd already sat back down to cultivate.
Was it a coincidence or did he message them?
Well, it didn't matter now.
[Venus]: Isn't your wrist injured? Why are you still begging for fights?
[Moon]: Finally caught you.
The two messages appeared in the region chat simultaneously, but Xiao Yi didn't reply nor move in the game as he narrowed his eyes at the chat with pursed lips.
This is the first time in four years he's directly interacting with them.
What does he say?
Should he even say anything?
[Neptune]: Do you know how hard you are to find?
[Flame]: … You haven't even contacted our parents.
[Moon]: What did you expect?
[Moon]: We don't care if you hurt your wrist. You can be the coach instead.
Xiao Yi's finger tapped against the desk slowly as he read through the chat. A small smirk appeared on his face as he read the last message.
Are they trying to get him to sign a contract?
[Neptune]: We missed you.
He missed them too.
He wanted to tell them the truth, scream it from the rooftops, say how much he missed them, and that he was wrong to bring them to Team X.
He closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and began typing.
[Frost]: Missed me? That's funny.
[Frost]: Want me back after everything I did? Aren't you afraid I'd scam you?
[Frost]: I hurt my wrist. Don't worry, I have enough money to last me a lifetime but I simply can't compete anymore.
Xiao Yi took a deep breath, typed a message, and closed his eyes as he pressed send before he exited the game without looking at the screen.
Five men looked at the message floating in mid-air, where Frost had been. Their eyes shifted between the spot overlooking the waterfall to the chatbox in the left-hand corner of their screen once the message dissipated.
[Frost]: I didn't miss you, I don't feel guilty, I don't want anything to do with you. Also, aren't those YOUR parents? Why do I need to message them, do you want a free babysitter?
Xiao Yi walked out to the balcony with wet eyes and a broken smile.
He'd continue to be the bad guy in their eyes.