Mutated Pheromones

Under the cliff was a road leading to the city and a warp gate not far away. 

In this game, most of the warp gates had more than a few options to teleport to. What Yue Ran was looking for on the map was this. Once he reached the gate, he could finally escape those pesky people as they wouldn’t know which destination he selected. If they wanted to continue their pursuit, they would need to split the party and check all the warp choices. 

There were players coming and going at the warp gate. To suddenly see someone falling down from the cliff was nothing strange. 

This situation was either the player was taking a shortcut, they misclicked, or they simply just wanted to jump off the cliff. With the size of the game, it was no surprise it would contain all kinds of weirdos…but what they did not expect was that after the first casualty, several groups of people also fell down from the sky, dropped to the ground, and became a dead body on the side of the road. 

The crowd: “…” 

There seemed to be an endless stream of players. 

Especially the last two players, whoms ID on the top of their heads were almost blinding.

People around couldn’t help but stop to watch the show. They adjusted their camera angle upward to see if the game company implemented a landslip feature they didn’t know about, because why else would the two great gods jump off the cliff?

Yue Ran, who led in the cliff jumping, ignored everyone and calmly revived on the spot under thousands of staring eyes. Once he identified his location, he turned and walked away.

As for Traitor~Escapes, he couldn’t bear dealing with the brat anymore so he enabled player killing as soon as he revived.

Playing as a heavy blade, the first ability he used was {erosion}. Yue Ran wanted to dodge on impulse, but when he saw one of the unconscious players laying on the ground was Sunken Moon, he suppressed his urge to move and was immediately dazed by the skill. 

Seeing that they could finally move their plan forward, the other ‘fans’ were so moved that they almost burst into tears as they quickly surrounded the mischievous child. 

Motherfucker, this time we won’t give you even the tiniest wiggle room. Try running away from us again! We dare you! 

This was the first thing that Fruity and her group saw after they revived on the spot.

Bashful Rain was very excited. “They finally enabled player killing. Can we finally join the fight?”

Fruity replied, “It doesn’t matter, We can’t just stand here and do nothing.”

So they also ran forward, planning to protect their sister-in-law in a line like before. 

But they soon found that the plan was impossible, because the other party was grouped too tightly for them to squeeze in.

Sunken Moon and Pure White Sun revived closely after.

The former saw the little summoner with the daze icon on top of his head being surrounded by a group of players. While four more players outside of the circle tried to squeeze into the crack.

Pure White Sun didn’t know how to describe this scene. “Is this what omega being in their estrus period is supposed to look like? Being surrounded by hungry wolves?”  

Sunken Moon chuckled. “Let’s ask.”

It was his turn to enable player killing. 

When a character lost all of their HP, the colour scheme of their screen would turn to a grayscale, and a system option would pop up asking where the player wanted to revive. Most of the time, players only had the option to revive on the spot. 

Neither the fake fans nor Fruity’s party changed their camera angle, so they didn’t notice the two elite players falling after them. And after the pros revived, the two parties’ attention was fully on the ‘little kid’ so they completely ignored their surroundings. They didn’t even pay close attention to the two players that were standing at the top of the mountain. 

While everything was happening, Fruity was typing in the local chat asking what those fans were after. Traitor~Escapes was also typing on his side trying to coax the brat into getting his uncle again. But before either of them could send their message, a bright spotlight fell down on them like a meteor and their characters were pushed back. 

It was a skill with a knock-back effect.

Ktfs ibbxfv jgbecv jcv rjk atf tfjifg ktb bqfcfv olgf bc atfw. Ktf tfjifg kjixfv obgkjgv ectegglfvis jcv rabqqfv lc ogbca bo Njeia bo Lfjnfcr Srrfcmf. Dfobgf atf qijsfg aegcfv jgbecv ab ojmf fnfgsbcf, fnfgsbcf’r fsfr kfgf ibmxfv bc atf akb kbgvr bc abq bo atf cfkmbwfg’r tfjv—Vecxfc Zbbc.

Everyone’s expressions changed. 

Why did they have to encounter Sunken Moon in such an awkward position!

[(Local) Sunken Moon: (smile) What are you guys playing?]

The fake fans stared at the great god’s avatar and didn’t know how to reply.

Fruity knew immediately that their plan was about to be foiled, so she quickly contacted her friend and informed them not to come because Sunken Moon was there. 

Seeing both parties remained silent, Sunken Moon turned back at Vault of Heavens Essence.

The status effect for daze was over, but the little summoner was still not moving. It took three questions from Sunken Moon for him to send replies.

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: Sorry, sorry, sorry! My nephew was playing on my account just now and he hasn’t been very well behaved for the past two days. I hope he didn’t cause any trouble (tear) (tear) (tear).]

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: Eh, where am I? Waaaah, how did I end up here (sob)!] 

With the familiar message style and the familiar emoji usage. The owner was back on his account. 

Both parties wanted to vomit a mouthful of blood, why didn’t you return sooner—?!

However, it was too late for such wishful thinking because they also noticed Dying Star standing on the side.

Against two great gods together, it would be a slaughterhouse for them and an amusement park for the two elites.  

Yue Ran was completely unaware of the state of emotion they were in.

He came out from behind Sunken Moon and came before Traitor~Escapes.

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: I heard from my little nephew that you guys were Sunken Moon’s fans and were looking for me? Is there something I could help you guys with (confusingly tilts head)?]

The fake fans: “…” 

Holy fuck, shut the fuck up!

Sunken Moon didn’t know that he was involved. Being slightly stunned, he quickly guessed the fans’ objective.

[(Local) Sunken Moon: My fans?]

[(Local) Traitor~Escapes: Yes, yes! Hello Moon God!!] 

[(Local) Sunken Moon: Why were you looking for him?]

[(Local) Traitor~Escapes: Nothing, only to chat.]

[(Local) Sunken Moon: Did you plan to gang up on him because he rejected my offer?]

[(Local) Traitor~Escapes: No way, why would we do that?] 

[(Local) Sunken Moon: It’s his business if he refuses me. If your party was really looking to cause trouble, I’m going to camp kill every one of you until you delete your account.]

[(Local) Traitor~Escapes: No, no. We really just wanted to talk.]

Having things reach this stage, there was no point for them to stick around any longer. They could only pretend to act like fans by licking Sunken Moon’s boots, before running away with their tails between their legs.

Sunken Moon thought this was not enough, so with a horn, he sent a warning to not seek Vault of Heavens Essence for trouble, and if he caught any of his fans disregarding his warning, he would remove their fan status.  

Fruity saw the message and her heart sank. 

Since the warning was from Sunken Moon himself, if she requested the same favour from her friends again and if things got out of hand, those throwaway accounts would be hunted down by Sunken Moon’s fangroup to the end of the time. This strategy wouldn’t work anymore.

So she reached for her phone, opened Wechat to open her friend’s profile picture and wanted to explain the current situation. But before she could do so, the other party actually initiated a call with her first. She muted her mic in YY and pressed the green button to accept the call. 

The other end was very straightforward. “What’s the relationship between your guild leader’s wife and Traceless Water?” 

Shocked by the question, Fruity asked to confirm. “Traceless Water? As in the Blank Lion’s guild leader?”

The other end said, “Yes.”

Fruity replied uncertainty, “I don’t know, but there should be no relation.”

The other end’s tone suddenly turned nasty. “Could you please do more research on your end before asking me for any favours? Your target absolutely knows Traceless Water. They surrounded us the moment we spotted each other. Judging from Traceless Water’s attitude, they most likely knew what we were up to!” 

Fruity shrieked in surprise, “WHAT?”

“I was fine helping you kill some small fry, since your guild is small. But not so much when I almost started a war between two of the biggest guilds on this server!” There was shouting from the other end. “Don’t even get me started on Sunken Moon’s message. I have nothing to say to you other than leave me and my boyfriend’s guild out of this.”

Then the other end hung up on Fruity. 

While in the game, a certain someone slipped beside them. 

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: I have something to discuss with Sunken Moon, so I can’t spend time with you guys (wave hands).]

Fruity stared at the message with a super ugly expression.

They finally reached a perfect place and point to execute their plan. Yet not only was her plan being undermined, but she was also going to be pushed aside? She really underestimated him!

Bashful Rain murmured, “Fruity, they are leaving. What should we do?” 

Fruity took a deep breath, unmuted herself and filled in her group on what her friend told her. She sighed in a deep voice. “Only thing we know for sure is that he and the guild leader have some agreement. But we forgot to investigate his background. Now that we know he might have some connections with the Black Lion guild, we shouldn’t act rashly until I do more detailed research.”

The other three were powerless. After they pretended to act friendly by saying farewell to their sister-in-law, they left with disheartened faces. 

Fruity took a last glance at a certain someone, thinking that he was a know-it-all who regarded herself as a dancing clown. Her face went beyond super ugly as she swore she would make him pay. 

But little did she know she was overthinking everything.  

Traceless Water stopped her friends only because a guild member recognized one of the throwaway accounts belongs to the Phoenix Rune guild. Counting a party size of less than twenty-five members, he knew the other party didn’t plan to run the dungeon. He immediately assumed they had the same idea as him, so he stood in their way under the reason of ‘I just want to stand here.’.

But she didn’t know that, and now she thought that the leader’s wife had a big figure behind him. 

Yue Ran was even more out of the loop. He didn’t even know who the heck Traceless Water was.

After ridding himself of the two parties, Yue Ran sucked in and released a deep breath. He turned his character to face Sunken Moon.  

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: Thank you so much (tear).]

[(Local) Sunken Moon: No need, it was my fault for being thoughtless.]

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: Then, if there is nothing else, then cya (wave).]

As he turned to leave, he was stopped after just taking a few steps. 

[(Local) Sunken Moon: If you have no plan, why don’t we run a dungeon?]

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: No.]

[(Local) Sunken Moon: Arena?]

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: No (humph).] 

[(Local) Sunken Moon: How about just chatting?]

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: (humph)]

Was he too lazy to even type ‘no’?

Sunken Moon crylaughed. He didn’t know how to get on the little summoner’s good side. Pondering for a moment, he made an interesting proposal. 

[(Local) Sunken Moon: How about…we play a game? You see the maple leaf forest over there? Their leaves can fall. Let’s make a bet, whoever wins can ask for anything.]

Yue Ran wasn’t expecting this, and there was a complicated light in his eyes. 

The maple leaf tree in the game has an animation effect. A maple leaf would fall down randomly every five seconds. It was hard making friends with his attitude back in middle school. The only reason he was friends with Sunken Moon was because of the same bet. This was the first time they met.

[(Local) Vault of Heavens Essence<: Alright.] 

Sunken Moon was ready to be rejected. Who knew Yue Ran would accept. Seeing that the other party wanted to get this over with quickly. Sunken Moon ditched Pure White Moon and took the little summoner to the maple leaf forest.

Several members of the White Koi guild saw Sunken Moon’s horn message and speculated that someone must have bullied sister-in-law.

They naturally wouldn’t sit back and do nothing. So, using the clues scattered in the world chat, they arrived at the warp gate near the maple leaf forest to see the two people standing side by side, enjoying the scenery. They were stunned speechless. 

The gossip group was also nearby for the fun. So in a brief span of time, they took a screenshot and excitedly posted it on the forum.  

Qin Xiujie was casually browsing the forum while slipping on his iced tea. 

Because he was a tourist, Jiang Xiao took him around to a scenic spot this morning. Now they were sitting in a cafe enjoying their cold drinks. As he read through the content of a particulate thread, he almost spewed tea on his phone—like what he did with his poor keyboard.

Jiang Xiao asked, “What’s wrong?”

Instead of answering, Qin Xiujie passed his friend his phone. 

Jiang Xiao accepted the phone and saw it was an in-game screenshot.

A little summoner and a healer were standing under the tree. The character ID’s on the top of their heads were very familiar.

He scrolled up a little and found another screenshot, which was Sunken Moon’s horn message, above the second image was a screenshot of the ‘I’m going to camp kill every one of you until you delete your account’ message from the local chat. He scrolled to the fourth image. It was Sunken Moon standing in front of the little summoner and standing against everyone.

Once he reached the top of the thread, he saw the title of the post: The Way Moon God is Protecting Him, It Looks Very Much Like Love. 

Jiang Xiao: “…”

Translator has something to add:

Teo: Belegdae, thank you so much for the ko-fi ヾ(•ω•`)o!

Future Teo: Made update to two characters’ in-game names. Fifth Silver Star is now Star of Jupiter, to emphasis the size of ego he has. Yue Ran’s in-game name is now Vault of Heavens Essence (added the s at the end).