MGRMFL Chapter 5

Back then, Yan Linjian had registered his account using his dad’s phone number, so recovering it was out of the question. Instead, he created a new one. After logging into the browser game, he customized his character’s appearance and identity based on his past preferences, but this time, he set the gender to male.

His brother was right. He had played as a female character, and so had the other person. Their avatar and model had a dark, androgynous style, and their messages never hinted at a specific gender… What if they really were some burly, unkempt guy…

Yan Linjian felt both nervous and uneasy. After completing the beginner tutorial, he immediately pulled up the leaderboard.

Qi Jingzhi had told him that he didn’t even need to search, because the number one player in the entire server was “Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè.”

A dark-coloured avatar featuring a rabbit under the moon, a short-haired character model with a clean and sharp look, and a signature that was just a single “.”, everything was exactly the same as back then. The memories came flooding back in an instant. Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè had taken the top spot on the server three years ago and had remained undefeated ever since.

As expected of his first love, Yan Linjian thought with admiration.

Yan Linjian checked the game forums and found out that Endless Moon, as a browser game ranked outside the top 100, would occasionally gain some traction because players would form teams to challenge the server’s top player, Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè. After getting wiped out, they would go on the forum to vent their anger and curse.

Moreover, this legendary player was extremely aloof. They had never accepted friend requests or team invitations, only logging in occasionally to clear newly released hell-difficulty dungeons. Any high-tier loot they obtained, they would just drop it all on the ground, taking nothing for themselves, blessing countless players.

The players both loved and hated him. Any mention of “Yuè-shen (God Yuè)” could spark a discussion that stretched over a hundred posts.

He hadn’t expected that during his time away from the game, the “Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè” who used to take him sightseeing had become a god-level player. After browsing the forum posts, Yan Linjian felt hesitant. They were such a big deal now, there was no way they’d still care about an insignificant “partner” from back then.

When Qi Jingzhi returned from the library, Yan Linjian was playing a game on his phone. He glanced at the screen and said with a hint of grievance in his tone, “Why are you gaming again? Weren’t you going to add your first love?”

“Ah… she’s the top player in the entire server now. The forum says she never accepts friend requests. If I send one from a newbie account, there’s no way she’ll accept.”

“How would you know if you don’t try? Maybe she still remembers you.”

Yan Linjian scratched his head. His base had just been destroyed in the game on his phone, and the bold “Defeat” flashed across the screen, stinging his eyes.

“Forget it, it’s too ridiculous to bother someone just because of a few dreams. They probably don’t even remember me.” Yan Linjian said with a self-deprecating smile, “Besides, I don’t even know if they’re a male or a female. What if they already have a family? That’d make me an unknowing homewrecker.”

Qi Jingzhi’s eyes dimmed: “How would you know if you don’t give it a try? Besides, haven’t you always had something you wanted to ask her?”

Yan Linjian looked up in surprise: “How did you know?”

“You said it when you were drunk that day.”

“Aiya, my big mouth…”

Yan Linjian’s face showed a look of frustration as he patted his mouth twice. Qi Jingzhi’s eyes were filled with anticipation, as if he were even more eager than him. Yan Linjian couldn’t help but wonder what exactly he had said that night, he hadn’t cried like a loser, had he?

Yan Linjian didn’t have the face to ask, so he averted his gaze and nodded: “I’ll give it a try.”

That night, Yan Linjian kept opening and closing Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè’s friend request screen, hesitating for ten minutes before ultimately deciding not to send a request. He planned to wait a few days and add her when she came online.

The next day, Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè once again topped the forum’s trending list again. The reason was that they had repeatedly challenged the game’s top-tier ultra-hard dungeon last night, tearing through it effortlessly and leaving behind countless pieces of high-tier loot, none of which they took, much to the delight of the watching players.

Not only that, but at 2 a.m., God Yuè went online and accepted every single friend request they had received, adding thousands of people in one night, even the game’s official team was startled.

Speculation ran wild in the forums. Some said their account had been hacked, others said they had been emotionally shaken in real life, and some said they were preparing to sell the account and disappear, each theory more convincing than the last.

Yan Linjian didn’t care about any of that. He took advantage of the situation and sent a friend request to God Yuè. He had sent it in the morning, and by the afternoon, it had been accepted. Staring at the “You are now friends!” notification, Yan Linjian’s heart pounded wildly. Nervously, he sent a simple greeting emoji.

The other party responded quickly: 【Hello.】

Yé Dú Bà Tiān Xià: 【I’m ‘Yé Dú Bà Tiān Xià[mfn]爷独霸天下 Direct translation: 爷 – grandpa, 独 – alone, 霸 – dominate, 天下 – under the sky/heavens. Basically means ‘This master dominates the world alone'[/mfn]’ from Menshi Faction.】

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【Mm.】

Still the same aloof tone as in his memories. As Yan Linjian recalled more moments of their past interactions, his heart raced wildly.

Yé Dú Bà Tiān Xià: 【Da-shen, can I join you in dungeons in the future?】

Suddenly revealing his identity didn’t seem appropriate, so Yan Linjian decided to follow the same approach as before, starting as a humble underling and working his way closer step by step.

A few minutes later, the other party finally responded: 【Sure, I’ll post team-up notices in the public chat.】

Yay!

This was going even more smoothly than he had expected!

Sure enough, the content on the forums can’t be fully trusted. His first love wasn’t some cold and aloof god, but just a warm-hearted god with a frosty exterior.

Yan Linjian eagerly shared the day’s events with Qi Jingzhi: “It’s such a coincidence! I was still wondering how to add her, and then out of nowhere, she suddenly added a ton of people, so I managed to sneak in. And she even said we could team up for dungeons! What do you think, isn’t this fate?”

Qi Jingzhi, dark circles under his eyes, yawned and nodded firmly: “Definitely!”

“A few days ago, I saw someone online say that if you frequently dream about someone, it means you’re using up the unfinished fate you have with them in reality. What nonsense, see, our fate isn’t finished yet… No, wait, I should ask if she has a family first.”

“She doesn’t.” Qi Jingzhi said firmly: “I’ve checked. She’s single.”

Yan Linjian panicked and glanced around. Luckily, the other roommates hadn’t returned yet. He lowered his voice and asked: “Did you dox her? That’s illegal! Even if you want to help me, you can’t do something like this. This, this is really impolite…”

“You sure care about her,” Qi Jingzhi’s face darkened, an inexplicable sense of resentment rising in his heart, “I didn’t dox anyone. I just gathered some info from forums. She, cough, should be about the same age as you.”

“Where did you see that? I couldn’t find anything like that.” Yan Linjian had scoured all the forum threads about God Yuè but couldn’t find anything related to personal information.

Qi Jingzhi: “I ran my own filtering program.”

“Ohh.” It was a program made by Qi Jingzhi. Then that made sense.

Yan Lin’s heart surged with excitement: Single! This was fate giving them a second chance!

In a good mood, he started humming a tune and grabbed Qi Jingzhi’s arm, wanting to treat him to dinner: “You helped me out so much, so order whatever you want tonight!”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, don’t rush.” Qi Jingzhi leaned his head slightly towards him, his voice trembled slightly, “Aren’t you curious about the gender? What if he’s a guy…”

Yan Linjian frowned slightly: “Even if he’s a guy, he was still my first love. We even dated. I can’t just deny that relationship just because I got the gender wrong back then. That’d be way too scummy.”

Qi Jingzhi: “So you can accept dating a guy?”

Yan Linjian thought for a long time before saying, “I’ve never tried, so I’m not sure. But when I imagined it, if Yuè-shen is a guy, I don’t think I’d mind.”

He silently let go of Qi Jingzhi’s arm, a sense of guilt spreading in his chest: Just now, when he was imagining it, he had subconsciously projected Qi Jingzhi’s face onto it.

Having such improper thoughts about a bro, he really deserves to die!

He must repent.

Qi Jingzhi seemed very satisfied with his answer and nodded with satisfaction, then his expression turned serious again: “Since you want to make up for your regrets, then please take it seriously.”

“I take every relationship very seriously!” Yan Linjian clarified.

Qi Jingzhi was unhappy again: “You need to be even more serious this time!”

“Aiya, why are you acting like my brother. I still prefer the reserved you from when we first met… Hmph, this time, we’re definitely going to last. I’ll win her back.”

Qi Jingzhi covered his face, a hint of embarrassment seeping between his fingers: “If that’s the case, then I wish you success.”

Ever since God Yuè went on a spree adding friends, the player activity in Endless Moon had been breaking records continuously. Not only was God Yuè accepting friend requests, but he was also carrying people through dungeons for free, making at least two runs every night. He was practically a living saint.

Yan Linjian’s luck was off the charts. Every time God Yuè opened a dungeon, he always managed to join in, and he even got to stand closest to God Yuè. Every day, he made sure to say a few words to them, trying to establish his presence while waiting for the right moment to reveal his identity.

Qi Jingzhi urged him: “It’s no use just running dungeons with them like this. There are so many people running dungeons with them, how would they know who you are?”

Yan Linjian looked defeated: “I think they[mfn]t/n: The original text suddenly changed to the male/gender-neutral pronoun (in Chinese, 他 can be used for males or neutral.) Because Yan Linjian has been using the female 她 all along, but now changed to 他, so I’ll just follow the text and translate it as ‘they/them’ until it’s mentioned as a male.[/mfn] don’t recognize me anymore. My name and avatar are the same as before, but they haven’t realized it’s me.”

Qi Jingzhi: “Maybe they already recognized you and are just waiting for you to speak up.”

“I’d rather take it slow.”

Yan Linjian’s emotions were all over the place, one moment, he was in awe of how cool God Yuè looked while clearing dungeons, and the next, he was feeling down because God Yuè hadn’t recognized him.

While he was stuck in his memories, the other person had already moved forward.

Feeling pitiful, Yan Linjian hugged his laptop and climbed into bed, opening a dungeon on his own. In the middle of his run, he saw God Yuè post a team invite in the public chat.

They really were fated to meet. Another encounter, just like that.

Yan Linjian felt a mix of sweetness and sourness in his heart, this was the first time he’d ever experienced something like this. It seemed that love really did turn people into complete fools.

Since he was already in the middle of a dungeon run and couldn’t leave, he missed out on joining God Yuè’s team this time. By the time he finished his dungeon, God Yuè’s run had already ended. The public chat was filled with messages like “Yuè-shen is amazing!” and “When’s the next run?” but as always, God Yuè didn’t respond.

He waited for a few minutes, and seeing that God Yuè had no intention of opening another dungeon, Yan Linjian found a scenic spot in the game to idle. While enjoying the view, he started chatting with his brother.

He suspected that being love-brained[mfn]恋爱脑 Direct translation: Love-brained. Definition from Baidu: “Love-brained” is an internet slang term describing a mindset where love takes absolute priority. It refers to people who, once in a relationship, devote all their energy and attention to love and their partner.[/mfn] ran in their family, so he asked his brother if there was any cure for it.

Yan Suici told him to get lost.

【Does He Nianjun know you’re this mean? I’m going to take a screenshot and send it to him!】

【If you dare bother him, you’re dead.】

【Are you going to threaten me with my allowance again? Heh, I admit it actually works. You, the handsome, smart, and incredibly understanding brother, will definitely win over my future sister-in-law. I’m getting lost now [heart emoji]】

Yan Linjian looked up in-game and saw someone standing beside him. A swaying jade belt, features as refined as carved jade, hands clasped behind their back as they stood before him.

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【Still angry?】

Ah?[mfn]啊？- In this context, it’s ‘Ah?’, a sound of confusion, something like ‘Huh?’ in English. In different contexts, 啊 can also be a sound of shock like ‘Ahh!’, or a sound of understanding like ‘Ah’, something like ‘Oh’ in English.[/mfn] Angry about what?

Yé Dú Bà Tiān Xià: 【Yuè-shen, what are you doing here?】

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【Why didn’t you join tonight’s dungeon run?】

Ahhh? How does God Yuè know he didn’t join tonight’s dungeon?

Yé Dú Bà Tiān Xià: 【I was running a different dungeon.】

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【Don’t be angry.】

Ahhhhh?

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【I knew it was you. The moment you added me, I’ve already recognised you.】

Ahhhhhhh?

Lú Biān Rén Sì Yuè: 【I’ve always been waiting for you, waiting for you to come back.】

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

Yan Linjian shrieked and flung open his bed curtain[mfn]t/n: I forgot to mention earlier, but the dorms usually look like this, with the desks underneath and the beds above:

Some people will buy and put their own curtains like this for privacy:

In the first image, that dorm seems to already come with beams to hang the curtains.[/mfn], startling Qi Jingzhi, who was holding his computer on the adjacent bed. Qi Jingzhi instinctively shielded his laptop screen and asked: “What happened?”