Chapter 53: Yu Yourong's Refusal—To Think It Was Him!

Outside the novice village, within a small grove.

Upon arrival, when Su Yu caught sight of Su Nian not far away, she hurriedly stepped forward with a look of concern. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"What on earth happened earlier?"

Hearing this, Su Nian reached out to pinch the young woman's delicate cheek and teased, "Since when did my little girlfriend learn to worry about me?"

Su Yu's cheeks grew warm, and she raised a hand to swat away the meddlesome hand, her beautiful eyes filled with playful exasperation.

"Don't go starting with your handsy behavior."

"I asked you a question!"

As she spoke, she bared her little canine teeth playfully.

It was as if she were saying...

Didn't you see Sister Yurong standing right over there?

I'll let you pinch and nuzzle me however you want once we get home.

Even burrowing inside would be... well, maybe not that just yet!

Anyway, acting like this out in the open...

Aren't you embarrassed at all?

Su Nian chuckled, reaching out to take her small hand in his, playing with it within his palm as he replied, "The Dragon Ancient Empire put a bounty on Slaughter the World. What does that have to do with me, Emperor?"

"That makes sense..."

Su Yu nodded in agreement, though her tone quickly shifted. "Then why did the Dragon Ancient Empire place a bounty on you? They wouldn't just issue a bounty for no reason, would they?"

"I simply accepted a quest."

"I see..."

Hearing the explanation, Su Yu pressed no further.

Though she couldn't understand why a mere quest would result in a bounty, gaming matters were beyond her expertise.

Leave professional matters to the professionals.

As long as this guy was safe, that was all that mattered!

"Oh, Sister Yurong."

"What are you doing over there?"

At that moment, Su Yu noticed Yu Yurong, who was squatting beneath a small tree not far away, extending a finger to draw something in the dirt.

"Huh?" The white-haired loli quickly stood up upon hearing her. "It's nothing. I just noticed an ant nest, thought it looked quite fascinating."

"By the way, Big Shot, why did you ask me and Xiao Yu to come here?" She hurriedly shifted the topic away from herself.

The two of you lovebirds are here whispering sweet nothings.

What else could I possibly be doing?

Sigh...

"There are two matters, and one of them is quite significant. But before that, let's wait for Hou Xiaoyu."

"Big Shot, I'm here!"

As if on cue, the moment Su Nian's voice trailed off, a familiar voice echoed from the perimeter of the grove, instantly recognized by all three.

Soon, Hou Xiaoyu arrived in front of the group.

And then, he noticed...

"Huh?"

Why were Sis Nian's hand...

And the Big Shot's hand... intertwined?

This isn't right!

Something about this is fundamentally suspicious!

"What are you staring at? The two of them are a couple in real life, they just didn't know each other's in-game identities beforehand," Yu Yurong whispered, offering a gentle reminder from the side.

Hou Xiaoyu: "???"

Just as Hou Xiaoyu stood there completely dumbfounded,

Su Nian saw that everyone had arrived and spoke up, "The first reason I called you all here is about the guild. Do you two have any thoughts on the matter?"

"This..."

Hearing this, Yu Yurong had to admit.

She desperately wanted to join the Big Shot's guild.

First, with the Big Shot around, the future growth potential of the Divine Court Guild would be unimaginably vast!

Second, she wanted to play alongside little sister Su Yu, seeing as she was practically her only friend.

However...

"Big Shot, I have my own club."

"I think I'd better pass on joining..."

Hearing this, Su Yu chimed in to persuade her, "Sister Yurong, even if you plan to found your guild later on, given our relationship... you can just come over for the passive buffs first. It's not too late to leave once you establish your own guild."

"If all else fails... you can just have one of your subordinates serve as the guild leader of StarRain, right? You're the boss after all."

Yu Yurong waved her hands repeatedly. "As the boss of StarRain, what would it look like for me to join your guild?"

"If those other clubs found out, I'd definitely bring trouble upon you guys. Better forget it."

Saying this, Yu Yurong turned back with a beaming smile and said, "With two Big Shots like you leading the way, extra buffs and things like that... don't really matter to me much anyway, right?"

"Very well." Seeing Yu Yurong refuse time and again, Su Yu had no other choice.

"And you?"

Su Nian turned his gaze toward Hou Xiaoyu.

Hou Xiaoyu blinked in surprise. "Me?"

"If the Big Shot is taking me in, of course I'll join!"

"Even though I'm a shareholder of Haofeng Club, aside from that, I have zero affiliation with them!"

The moment Hou Xiaoyu finished speaking,

a prompt flashed before his eyes.

It was none other than an invitation from the Big Shot!

Hou Xiaoyu eagerly clicked to accept.

[Congratulations on joining the Divine Court Guild.]

[Emperor has promoted you to Administrator.]

"This... Big Shot, do you trust me that much?"

Seeing the Big Shot promote him to administrator right off the bat,

Hou Xiaoyu was deeply moved.

Su Nian: "......"

"Should I revoke it then?"

"Don't..."

"Alright, the next matter is the truly important one."

With that, Su Nian retrieved the Dual-Willed Mask, placed it over his face, and pointed to the red exclamation mark hovering above his head. "I believe you all received the server-wide announcement today and know the rewards for killing me?"

Hou Xiaoyu was the first to nod. "Not only are there over a hundred pieces of Purple-grade equipment, but also a massive amount of gold and Red-grade gear!"

"It's practically overflowing with value."

The two young women nodded in agreement as well.

"Since killing me is all it takes to claim these rewards, why don't we keep those rewards... within our own circle?"

The three of them twitched simultaneously.

Good grief...

When this Big Shot goes hardcore, he even kills himself?

But upon second thought,

this was indeed a brilliant strategy!

Instead of letting outsiders reap the benefits, it was far better to keep it among themselves.

Yet the problem remained...

"Big Shot, your health pool is over four million... If we want to kill you, won't it take us a few days and nights just to chip away at it?"

Yu Yurong voiced the core issue.

Beside her, Hou Xiaoyu: "???"

What on earth?

Did he hear that right?

Four million health?

Sigh... I, Hou Xiaoyu, truly picked the right person to follow!

"Naturally, I have a backup plan."

Su Nian removed the Dual-Willed Mask from his face, handed it to Su Yu beside him, and said, "Try and see if you can equip it."

Su Yu obediently nodded.

However, the moment she placed the mask against her face—

"Clatter..."

The mask automatically detached and fell to the ground.

"As expected, the item is bound." Su Nian picked up the mask, returned it to his inventory, and said, "Then our next objective is to enter the main city as quickly as possible."

"Once we reach the main city, I'll naturally have a way!" As his words faded, he sent party invitations to the three of them.

After the three joined the party, Su Nian adjusted the experience distribution within the team and led them toward the Rocky Cavern!

Before long, they arrived at their destination.

Yet when the four of them reached the cliffside

and looked down toward the BOSS's location...

Yu Yurong gasped in astonishment, pointing toward the center of the arena. "Goodness, is he soloing the BOSS?"

Su Nian raised an eyebrow. "It's actually him!"