Little Pink Starfish

You couldn’t really blame the players for being so moved—after all, the period they had just endured had been downright miserable.

It was the first time they had experienced such hardship just trying to survive in a game. If this were any ordinary game, with such harsh conditions, they would’ve been discouraged long ago. But… was Bix Magic Cube just any ordinary game? Just its unique “holographic” mode and the stunningly realistic details were enough to make anyone reluctant to truly quit. So, they barely hung on.

Currently, the strongest player faction in Fudelis Town was a group of female players who had banded together to form a guild called the Rose Gang. Thanks to the system’s protection, many local NPCs with ill intentions had tried to target the young and attractive female Bixians, only to fail miserably—often being harshly punished by the fierce female players.

Because of one such incident, the women became acquainted with a female mercenary leader who occasionally looked out for them. Since then, the locals in Fudelis Town had begun to treat the female players with more respect and avoided provoking them.

Pretty female transcendents weren’t common out in the wild, and those daring enough to show themselves were mostly not to be messed with. So, the group of female players, clinging to a powerful female NPC, were managing just fine.

By contrast, the male players who had spawned in this area had it far worse—daily life meant keeping their heads down. So, when they saw this recruitment quest, it was honestly moving beyond words!

After getting a general understanding of the players’ situation, Pei Sen began considering how many people he should recruit.

There weren’t many players who had spawned here—no more than a thousand in total. The issue now was that after the recruitment quest went live, a bunch of veteran players were scrambling to select this as their spawn point… If things continued like this, he’d soon be overwhelmed with far more recruits than expected.

In Fudelis Town, Pei Sen tried his best to buy the largest horse-drawn carriage available. Of course, it couldn’t compare to the one Eagle usually rode in, and the interior was quite basic. Still, this was the best available in this place—adventurers and mercenaries generally didn’t care for carriages anyway.

After picking the carriage and buying basic supplies and food, Pei Sen had little to carry himself thanks to the help of many players. Then he suddenly remembered that poor Peckus was still in confinement.

When he let the cat out, it looked utterly listless, lying on the cushion in the carriage without moving, exuding a pitifully depressed air.

Eagle, who hadn’t seen the fat cat in five years, gave its little head a rub. But when the cat saw how much Eagle had grown and matured, it got a huge fright.

…Thankfully it didn’t puff up in fear—or else its current owner might have gotten angry again.

Still, the cat couldn’t understand—why had its former owner changed so drastically?

Pei Sen stood by the carriage as the newly recruited coachman watched more and more people gather around with growing unease.

“Hey you! You think you’re done with work and can just leave?” a big, burly man with a loud voice shouted at a player.

The player wasn’t intimidated at all. “You stingy miser! You damn skinflint! I’m done working for you! I’m leaving with the young earl! Damn it, I never want to see your cheap NPC face again in my life!”

Except for the word “NPC,” which got censored and came out garbled, the rest of his insults were loud and clear. Though the native obviously didn’t know who “Grandet” or “Skinflint Zhou” were, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the short guy in front of him was trying to bail.

The locals in Fudelis weren’t exactly friendly types, which was why the players had been so viciously exploited lately.

Seeing the guy about to flee, the native didn’t take it well. Instead of letting him go peacefully, he drew a knife and snarled, “Leave? Did I say you could leave?”

The player lifted his chin. “I’ll leave if I damn well please. What are you going to do? I’m not your slave!”

The man grinned menacingly. “A slave might be more useful than you!”

That set the player off. So this disgusting NPC really had been treating him like a slave!

Before the native could act, the player drew his wooden sword and bravely charged forward.

Fight? Players were never afraid of a fight!

Even killing someone in a game wasn’t a big deal. It was just a game, after all—what was there to hesitate about?

Pei Sen had just been watching from the side. Fighting? Nothing unusual about that. Players never backed down from a fight. The only reason they often lost was because Fudelis was full of powerful NPCs. It wasn’t that they lacked courage—it was just frustrating.

As for that native? Clearly not a good guy. Even if the player killed him, Pei Sen wouldn’t feel bad.

And then—blood sprayed everywhere!

Pei Sen froze on the spot, totally stunned, eyes locked on the scene.

It took him several minutes to realize his stomach was churning.

Player fights were extremely brutal. In their eyes, HP just dropped, and the blood in-game was much paler than in real life. It didn’t feel real. So they never held back. Severed arms, sliced legs—it was all normal. Even if someone gutted them, players wouldn’t even flinch.

The game censored things that were too gory. So what was there to fear?

Pei Sen had become accustomed to a certain level of gore, to the point where he’d be dumbfounded instead of shocked at first. He hadn’t realized just how intense this scene was.

He couldn’t hold it in anymore. He rushed into the bushes and started throwing up. But having not eaten yet today, there wasn’t much to vomit. It was only then that Pei Sen suddenly remembered—

His NPC panel had been upgraded.

It happened after Eagle was taken away by Sadin, and Pei Sen was appointed Frontier Knight and Grand Steward. But with everything in chaos, and his mind on Eagle, he hadn’t given much thought to the panel upgrade.

Normally, NPC panel upgrades didn’t bring much benefit. They just indicated that you were now a more important NPC.

Since he was heading to the royal capital to avoid war, Pei Sen had kept a low profile the entire trip and made it safely, eventually meeting Eagle.

And now, back in Fudelis, he had just witnessed his first R-rated battle scene.

System! Bix Magic Cube! Where is my censorship system?! My pixelation, my blur filter—where did it go?!

Pei Sen dry-heaved miserably, nearly shouting out loud.

Why is my censorship system gone?!

He had known beforehand that once the NPC panel reached a certain level, it would override player panel priority—and that some of the rules restricting players no longer applied to him. But still! He wasn’t mentally prepared for this!!!

Clutching his stomach, still vomiting, Pei Sen tried to open his system panel and contact Bix Magic Cube to ask if he could get his censorship system back.

At that moment, Eagle heard the noise from the carriage and rushed down.

“Pei Sen, what’s wrong?”

In his rush, Eagle hadn’t put on the hood of his cloak. His golden hair glinted in the sun, and his stunningly handsome face was instantly caught by many players who had just gathered due to the recruitment quest.

“Holy crap, is that the Young Earl? Are you kidding me?!”

“I knew something was off about that screenshot someone posted earlier—he looks way taller now.”

“Aaaahhhh—”

“Ah Wei’s dead!”

“Oh my god, is this the grown-up version of the Young Earl? He’s absurdly hot!”

“From golden-haired blue-eyed cutie to golden-haired blue-eyed dreamboat—he’s tall, elegant, and unbelievably good-looking!”

“Seeing him in person is honestly overwhelming…”

“The modeling is ridiculously high-quality. I’m speechless.”

“I’m a dude, and my heart is racing like crazy right now!”

The screenshots quickly hit the forums and went viral. Floods of users began professing their love for Eagle. Soon, someone posted another screenshot.

Because Pei Sen had vomited, he’d removed his hood. Eagle had come over to him, and the two stood at the roadside. Pei Sen’s face was pale, eyebrows furrowed, hand pressed to his chest. His normally delicate and handsome features looked even more fragile without color.

With the tall Eagle next to him, the two seemed almost like they were in an embrace.

The sheer visual impact of these two high-tier beauties in one frame sent the forum into a frenzy.

“I knew the Young Earl and his steward had something going on. The steward chased him all the way to the capital—sob—so touching.”

“I don’t know how the Young Earl grew up so fast, but I used to ship steward x little earl. Now… little earl x steward is fine too!!”

“Ahhh my OTP has been reversed!!”

“I don’t care—he’s so dashing now! Cool, stunning, dominant! And the steward is so beautiful and delicate—I CAN’T!”

“Did the steward get hurt during the rescue? He doesn’t look so good.”

“No idea—he seemed fine earlier when we were buying supplies. Not sure what happened.”

Pei Sen noticed many players on the forum expressing concern over his physical state. Eagle was also worried and anxious, unsure what was wrong.

Pei Sen was anxious too. He had already sent several messages to Bix Magic Cube:

“Can you restore my censorship system or not?”

After a while, the reply came: “I’m afraid not.”

Pei Sen didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but he could almost feel the system gloating.

Eagle helped support him. “Pei Sen, what’s wrong?”

Pei Sen: “…”

He really couldn’t bring himself to say it.

That he had vomited because of a gory fight scene?

Nope. No way. He absolutely wasn’t telling anyone.

He had pride too! That reason was just too humiliating!