Give Me Another Smile

Chapter 103: Returning After Losing One's Way

Zhao Yu had already left through the door before the young nanny could ask for more details. As a result, she could only scratch her head as she looked upstairs in confusion.

Tang Yu helplessly sighed. Using her slender fingers to give Yin Zhao-an a gentle flick on the forehead, she said, "You are still a patient. Can't you be more mindful of your body?"

"My bad," Yin Zhao-an answered, an embarrassed smile on her face as she rubbed her forehead.

Suddenly, Tang Yu felt a throbbing pain from her empty stomach, the pain causing her to frown and hold her stomach.

Yin Zhao-an's pupils constricted when she saw this. She had completely forgotten about lunch because of how engrossed in her game she was. Although the nanny had come to call them for lunch at noon, Yin Zhao-an had thoughtlessly refused to have lunch when she saw that Tang Yu was fast asleep on the balcony.

How can I forget about something so important?!

Yin Zhao-an slapped herself on the head, regret filling her. Then, she anxiously held Tang Yu's hands and said, "Tang-Tang, let's make a trip to the hospital tomorrow!"

"Why? Did I hurt your head?" Tang Yu asked, Yin Zhao-an's sudden behavior worrying her. Although she was sure she had put very little strength into her forehead flick just now, it might have been just enough strength to cause a second trauma.

"No." Yin Zhao-an shook her head. "I want you to get a gastroscopy."

"Huh? Is that even necessary?" Tang Yu asked, feeling confused. Her stomach might have convulsed, but it wasn't so serious that she needed to go to the hospital.

"You must go!" Yin Zhao-an emphasized. However, she quickly realized that her attitude wasn't very good, so she softened her voice and said, "Please go and get a check-up. I'm worried."

Seeing the pleading gaze Yin Zhao-an was giving her, Tang Yu ultimately conceded and said, "Let's go tomorrow, then."

The tears and look of worry in Yin Zhao-an's eyes couldn't be any more genuine. Although Tang Yu felt Yin Zhao-an was making a mountain out of a molehill, she decided that there was no harm in going along with Yin Zhao-an's wishes. Even if it turned out to be a wasted trip, the results would at least give Yin Zhao-an peace of mind.

Yin Zhao-an sighed in relief when she received an affirmative answer. Honestly, even she had no idea where the anxiety and fear in her heart came from. Maybe it was because she was afraid to lose her Tang-Tang after obtaining her. Either that, or she was trying to find a way to remedy the blunder she made today.

After seeing that Yin Zhao-an was no longer kicking up a fuss, Tang Yu looked at the closed laptop before turning around to leave the room. Before stepping out of the door, she said, "Play your game in moderation. Don't get addicted to it. Your health is more important."

"Roger!"

As soon as the door closed, Yin Zhao-an leaned back against the bed in relief. Then, she sneakily opened her laptop, unlocked the screen, and revisited her game.

Zhao Yu, the only friend on her friends' list, had already gone offline. When she saw the name he used for his character's ID, she couldn't help but snicker.

Creator.

It was a very "second-year syndrome"-esque name.

Since she had nobody to party up with to raid dungeons right now, the only thing she could do was challenge the storyline quest by herself. Although she also had the option of participating in an event called "World Battle," she wisely chose to avoid it.

World Battle was a battlefield involving players from the entire server. Currently, the top players of the server were already in their 90s in level, while she was only a novice who had yet to reach Level 20. If she tried to join such a battlefield, she'd be sent to the respawn point as soon as someone decided to look her way.

Fortunately, it shouldn't be long before she would become strong enough to participate in the World Battle event. For the sake of letting new players catch up to veteran players and avoiding a situation where there would be a permanent gap between the two groups, the game developers introduced certain benefits for new players.

Of these benefits, the most useful one was an item called Straight to the Clouds.

Novices could use this item to exponentially speed up their level growth. At most, they would need an hour to reach the server's average level. This basically solved the problem of new players being too low-leveled for the latest content. The only problem novices needed to face was procuring and upgrading equipment. The developers offered no shortcuts to this problem.

Fortunately, Yin Zhao-an got to learn from Zhao Yu's experience and began crafting her own equipment as soon as she started the game. Had she simply followed the official route of leveling up and procuring equipment set by the developers, she would have been beaten black and blue by her peers once she reached the server's average level.

However, Zhao Yu did not do any handholding with Yin Zhao-an. After he finished showing Yin Zhao-an the ropes and giving her some useful tips, he left her to her own devices.

Meanwhile, the first thing Yin Zhao-an did after parting ways with her guide wasn't to grind for levels. Instead, she focused on strengthening her equipment and collecting items. She would even disassemble items to obtain scrolls that could normally only be bought from stores.

Zhao Yu was both relieved and filled with admiration when he saw this. He was relieved that she understood the game's gameplay and rules so quickly, and he admired her for having the luck to craft orange equipment, which was considered high-ranking equipment. She had done so many times, even.

Honestly, Zhao Yu found the situation quite infuriating. He had crafted many pieces of equipment since he started the game. Yet, not once had he ever crafted a piece of orange equipment. The best he had ever gotten was purple equipment, which was one rank lower than orange equipment. The god of luck truly loved Yin Zhao-an.

Naturally, depending on the rank of a piece of equipment, the buffs it could give to a character would also differ. The higher a piece of equipment's rank was, the stronger the buffs it could provide.

Of course, despite his envy and admiration, Zhao Yu didn't forget to remind Yin Zhao-an to put any extra orange equipment she made up for sale at the equipment shop. Though, before Yin Zhao-an put any of her extras up for sale, Zhao Yu managed to snag a scale armor for his Wanderer class and a feathered cloak for Diviners at dirt-cheap prices.

Meanwhile, after completing a few quests, Yin Zhao-an decided to call it quits for now, making sure to adhere to Tang Yu's reminder. After turning in her last quest for the day, she read through the game's global chat and joined a "train."

A "train" was a party led by one active player and several AFKers. In a "train," the party leader would go around doing daily quests while the AFKers of the party would be on follow. The purpose of a "train" was to let the AFKers leech EXP while the party leader was questing. In exchange, the party leader would receive bonus EXP, up to 100%, from completing quests and killing monsters.

Yin Zhao-an wasn't in a rush to level up. She didn't care whether she could beat the game's "big shots." She merely regarded this game as a pastime, so there was no need to invest so much effort into it.

If Tang Yu could hear Yin Zhao-an's thoughts, she would definitely get the urge to open up her brain to see if it had been replaced.

Did a certain someone finally return to the right path after losing her way?