Before they knew it, it was already one in the morning.
Seeing Ning Xi yawning repeatedly, clearly sleepy, Lin Mo said, "It's late. Let's log off and rest first. We'll continue tomorrow."
Ning Xi shook her head, "It's fine, Brother Lin Mo. I can still hold on!"
Lin Mo saw through her but did not say it outright, "I can't hold on anymore. I want to sleep."
Ning Xi knew Lin Mo was actually thinking of her. Warmth welled up in her heart, and she nodded, blurting out without thinking, "Okay! Then Brother Lin Mo, let's log off and sleep together."
Seeing Lin Mo say nothing, only wearing a mischievous smile, Ning Xi seemed to realize something and quickly said with a red face, "I mean… we log off together, and then sleep separately…"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two beams of white light flashed, and Lin Mo and Ning Xi disappeared from Blazing Ember City at the same time.
———
Huff!
Lin Mo took off his helmet and let out a long breath.
Being only one wall away from the nationally revered female emperor of the previous life, Lin Mo felt, "I can't just sit around like this. I've got to do something."
So he walked out of his bedroom and knocked on the door to Ning Xi's room next door.
Ning Xi opened the door and looked at Lin Mo, "Brother Lin Mo, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Lin Mo suddenly stepped closer to Ning Xi and said to her with a wicked grin, "The night scenery is quite nice tonight. How about we… do something exciting?"
Ning Xi's little face instantly turned red, her heart pounding wildly.
"Brother Lin Mo, we… are we… moving a bit too fast…"
"What are you thinking?", Lin Mo lightly flicked Ning Xi on the forehead, "I mean, going out for some late-night snacks?"
As soon as Lin Mo said that, Ning Xi's face turned even redder.
Seeing the female emperor look so shy, as if her heart would shatter at a touch, Lin Mo almost could not bear to tease her anymore.
He was also afraid he might lose control and really do something to her.
So he turned toward the living room, "I'll wait for you in the living room."
Before long, Ning Xi came out after putting on her coat.
The two went downstairs to a late-night food stall and ordered a pile of barbecue.
Watching Ning Xi eat skewers while drinking AD calcium milk, Lin Mo stayed silent for a full thirty seconds before finally saying, "No, really. What kind of normal person eats barbecue with AD calcium milk?"
With her little face flushed red from the spiciness of the skewers, Ning Xi finished an entire bottle of AD calcium milk in one breath, then picked up another bottle and handed it to Lin Mo, "Brother Lin Mo, do you want some?"
Lin Mo casually took it, "I'll drink!"
"Cheers!"
The two ate and drank, chatting and laughing.
Being with Lin Mo, Ning Xi felt a long-lost sense of happiness and joy.
They did not head back home until two in the morning.
Lin Mo went back to his room, took a shower, and fell asleep the moment he lay down.
When he woke up, it was already eight o'clock the next morning.
After getting up and washing up, Lin Mo came out. As he passed by Ning Xi's bedroom door, he accidentally noticed that her door was half open and not closed at all.
"A man and a woman alone in the same place, and you don't even close the door when sleeping? Looks like you really have no guard up against me at all."
Lin Mo could not help but sigh softly.
But that also showed that Ning Xi trusted him, which was a good thing.
And by chance, through the half-open door, Lin Mo saw Ning Xi on the bed, sleeping on her side while hugging a pillow, her fair legs tightly clamping the blanket, sleeping soundly.
The scene before him instantly made Lin Mo's mouth dry and his tongue parched.
"I can't act impulsively!"
"I can't rush it!"
"I've got to take it slow!"
So Lin Mo gently closed Ning Xi's bedroom door and hurried to the living room to chug a big glass of cold boiled water.
Then he went downstairs to buy breakfast.
When he came back, Ning Xi was already up.
The two sat facing each other at the living room table, eating steamed dumplings and soup dumplings.
At that moment, Lin Mo looked up at Ning Xi. He did not know if it was because he had been looking at her too much, but he suddenly felt that Ning Xi seemed prettier?
'Wait! Something is not right.'
Only then did Lin Mo notice a problem, "Why are the freckles on your face gone?"
Ning Xi subconsciously touched her face, her heart skipping a beat.
"Oh no! I forgot just now after washing my face…"
Lin Mo seemed to understand something, "So you were deliberately pretending to be ugly before?"
Ning Xi said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Brother Lin Mo. It's not that I didn't trust you… and I wasn't deliberately trying to deceive you…"
Lin Mo smiled indifferently, "It's fine. I understand."
"After all, you're a girl, and you're so pretty. Working at a place like Listening Rain Pavilion, if you didn't deliberately make yourself look ugly, you could be targeted by bad people at any time."
"You're very smart."
Being understood by Lin Mo, and even praised as smart and pretty, made Ning Xi a little happy.
Lin Mo continued, "Flowers are meant to bloom."
"You don't have to worry about being targeted by bad people anymore, because I'll protect you."
Ning Xi nodded, warmth rising in her heart, "Thank you, Brother Lin Mo."
After breakfast, the two returned to their rooms and logged back in.
———
Whoosh!
White light descended, and Lin Mo appeared in Blazing Ember City.
Immediately, he checked the situation in Blazing Ember City through the level rankings.
He discovered that the top-tier players in the city were only around level 26 to 27 at the moment.
"Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer before players in Blazing Ember City generally reach level 30, so I can buy pet exchange vouchers from them and secure the White Fox from the pet hall."
Lin Mo muttered to himself, "Then I'll focus on the A-rank hidden quest first."
The A-rank hidden quest obtained through the Shadow Codex, Annihilate the Darkness, required clearing the four dungeons Snake King Island, Poisonous Swamp, Corrosive City, and Scorpion Empire to collect Shadow Power for the Shadow Codex, then return to the Shadow Temple to kill the Ruler of Darkness.
Lin Mo sorted out his thoughts.
Then he took Ning Xi and headed straight for the central area of Blazing Ember City.
"Brother Lin Mo, where are we going?", Ning Xi asked in confusion, "Didn't you say we were going to do the Snake King Island dungeon?"
Indeed, logically speaking, Lin Mo's next plan was to go to Snake King Island.
Not only to bring Niu Dali and fulfill his promise to him, but also to carry out his own A-rank hidden quest.
But Lin Mo had already guessed that if he went to Snake King Island now, it would be walking straight into a trap.
"If nothing unexpected happens, Wang Junjie should be waiting for us at the dungeon entrance right now."
Just as Ning Xi was half believing and half doubting Lin Mo's words, several level 24 to 25 high-level players, considered first-line strength in Blazing Ember City, walked past them after coming out of the resurrection spring, cursing angrily, "The people from Chaotic World are going way too far! Snake King Island isn't their private property. Why do they get to occupy it and stop others from running it?"
"Yeah! They even said that anyone who's not an internal member of the Chaotic World guild has to pay fifty silver coins per person just to enter the dungeon! That's blatant robbery!"
"If we don't pay, we can't run it. And if we don't run it, they kill us! Damn it, how is that any different from bandits?"
"Forget it! Their guild has strength in numbers. We're too weak on our own. Better not provoke them!"
Hearing the passersby's words, Ning Xi finally became convinced that Wang Junjie really had brought the Chaotic World guild to occupy the Snake King Island dungeon.
After all, back then, in order to sell the Poison set to Wang Junjie at a high price, Lin Mo had personally told Ling Xiao to leak the high value of the Snake King Island, Poisonous Swamp, Corrosive City, and Scorpion Empire dungeons to Wang Junjie.
So Lin Mo had long anticipated that after purchasing a large quantity of Poison sets, Wang Junjie would definitely monopolize these extremely valuable poison-type dungeons and prevent outside players from entering.
Let alone Lin Mo going there. Wang Junjie would surely chase him down and kill him on sight.
At this moment, Ning Xi frowned slightly, "But your quest requires clearing the Snake King Island dungeon."
"Now that the Chaotic World guild is occupying the entrance, wouldn't we be unable to enter the dungeon? After all, they have strength in numbers. With just the two of us, forcing our way in would probably be very difficult."
Lin Mo was not worried at all. With complete confidence, he said, "Guess why I deliberately leaked the value of Snake King Island to Wang Junjie in advance, even though I knew he would bring people to occupy it?"
At this moment, even Ning Xi, who had studied military strategy extensively, could not figure out Lin Mo's plan.
As they spoke, Lin Mo led Ning Xi to the front of a grand palace in the core area of Blazing Ember City.
The area around the majestic palace was heavily guarded, its authority untouchable.
Looking up, they saw three golden words engraved on the banner above the palace—
City Lord's Mansion!
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