Chapter Forty-Two: Instant Noodles

He traded the gleaming silver armor directly to Murong Shanshan. The armor, which had seemed so broad before, suddenly became exquisite on her; her upright chest and slender waist made her look irresistibly alluring.

“Hey, why is your name red?” Murong Shanshan only noticed after a while that my name had turned red. “Hmm, not only is my name red—even I’m starting to look a bit red!”

Indeed, my originally black armor now had an ominous crimson sheen, making me look rather tragic.

“Shanshan, have you finished your midnight snack?”

Murong Shanshan looked at me in surprise. “You’re not asking me out for a late-night meal, are you?”

“Not at all. I meant, if you’re free, stay up and grind levels with me tonight. I’ll carry you!”

“Really? That good? Do I need to pay for your power leveling services?”

“No, I just want some company. It’s better to have a pretty girl around, one I don’t get tired of, so I don’t feel like I’m seeing a ghost in the middle of the night…”

Murong Shanshan was currently level 19. Normally, fighting monsters seven levels above should have been difficult, but her equipment was excellent, and with the high-defense armor I’d just sold her, she was even more formidable. The sword I sold her had been replaced long ago. After asking her about it, I learned the new weapon was one she’d obtained with a friend, boasting an attack of 21-36—quite impressive.

It wasn’t until we started fighting monsters together that I realized my assumptions were wrong. Murong Shanshan was just as efficient in combat as I was. It turned out she was also a full-strength swordswoman. With five pieces of green-quality equipment, her defense had already reached 122—almost equal to mine.

“Lin Fan, who did you kill to get a red name?” Apparently, she didn’t know about my duel with Berserker.

I smiled. “Shanshan, do you know whose armor you’re wearing?”

“Whose?”

“Berserker’s.”

“What, you killed him?” she asked, a mixture of surprise and delight.

“Of course. I saw him leading a gang in a brawl, and when he let his guard down, I took him out in a single blow. Satisfying, huh?”

“That’s a pretty sneaky way to kill,” Murong Shanshan laughed, then added, “But whatever, as long as he’s dead. I’ll treat you to dinner next month!”

“It better not be fast food again!”

“Of course, it’ll be at Delicacies Supreme! Looks like I’ll need to budget a bit more for next month’s outings.”

“Shanshan, why invest so much money in this game?”

She glanced back at me, thought for a moment, and said, “My mother says this game has huge commercial potential. There are already over a hundred million players online. If I can make a name for myself and create a team with our company’s name, it’s basically advertising within the game itself—just like how big corporations sponsor e-sports clubs. The only difference is, all the advertising happens in-game, directly to players. That means the products need to fit the gaming crowd. My mother’s company makes instant noodles, and for people who spend all day gaming, instant noodles are a staple, right?”

I nodded. If I were playing alone, whatever was in my fridge would run out in a few days, and then it’d be nothing but instant noodles—those days… bleak and endless. But her mother’s idea was brilliant: building a famous team in “Moonmark” would be a huge marketing push. On the official forum, even a mildly popular post gets over ten million views. If a team named after a brand pinned their post, the publicity would be unimaginable.

“Is your mother the boss of her company? What brand of instant noodles? Master Kang?”

Shanshan giggled. “She’s the chairwoman, but not of Master Kang. My mother’s surname is Liu. The brand is Ox Master Instant Noodles. The tagline is so corny: ‘Ox Master Noodles—Truly Bullish!’”

“That really is corny. Today’s already the 30th—does that mean your funding arrives tomorrow?”

“Mm. This time, Mom’s giving me at least a hundred thousand. If I can establish a guild early, I’ll get even more funding. She’s serious—if the results are good, the funds will keep coming without limit!” Murong Shanshan was glowing with excitement.

I frowned. “But aren’t the requirements for establishing a guild pretty tough? With everyone’s current levels and reputation, it’s just not realistic. The guild leader needs ten thousand reputation points. How much do you have? I barely have over a thousand myself—still a long way off.”

Shanshan bit her lip. “I haven’t even reached a thousand. How long will it take before we can form a guild?”

“Take more quests, kill bosses higher level than yourself for extra reputation, but remember, killing the same boss repeatedly gives less each time.”

She paused, glanced deeper into the lumberyard, and asked, “Do you think there’s a boss here?”

“There should be. Usually, when a lot of the same type of monster gathers, there’s a leader. Judging by how dark it is in there, I’d bet there’s a high-level undead.”

“Let’s clear our way in slowly!” Shanshan was clearly itching for action.

I nodded, took the lead, and charged down the main road through the center of the lumberyard. Skeleton warriors fell to either side of us like wheat before the scythe, and together we carved a path straight through, leaving piles of shattered bones and broken blades in our wake.

An hour later, Shanshan leveled up in a flash of milky white light, reaching level 20 and securing second place on the town’s ranking board! A few minutes after, I hit level 24, widening the gap between me and the next highest player.

Checking my friends list, I saw that besides Xue Han at level 19, everyone else was at 17 or 18. The women in our group were leveling up with relentless intensity; all eight of us were now in the top one hundred of the town. That gangster boss Berserker had been beaten back to level 15, so pitiful that even an average player could take him out now.

“Lin Fan, there’s a little cabin over there guarded by skeleton warriors. Let’s check it out—there might be treasure inside!”

I followed the direction of Shanshan’s finger. Sure enough, a group of skeletons was stationed before a small wooden cabin, and in the dim night, I could just make out a faint glow coming from within.