Chapter 23: Conversation in the Café

“I heard that the pancake buns for breakfast at your school are really good, so I came to give them a try…” Pearl’s expression was completely natural, with no trace of pretense.
Yet Ye Feng thought this was a flimsy excuse. He didn’t believe a woman willing to pay 200,000 RMB for him to sing a song would go out of their way just to eat pancake buns.
Seeing Ye Feng’s skeptical look, Pearl suddenly smiled. “Alright, I admit it. I came here specifically to find you! Would you like to have dinner together?”
“I’ve already had breakfast!” Ye Feng glanced at his watch. “And it’s not even ten o’clock yet.”
“Then let’s go to Starbucks for some coffee. I’ll treat you.” When Ye Feng still seemed unimpressed, Pearl helplessly spread her hands. “I can’t eat you, so why be so cold? I just want to find a place to talk to you alone.”
“Okay.” After a long silence, Ye Feng finally nodded.
Pearl skillfully stepped forward and took Ye Feng’s arm. “Handsome guy, let’s go!”
Ye Feng was slightly surprised. He hadn’t expected Pearl to act like this, but he soon resigned himself to it. After all, having been in society for so many years, Pearl was far more bold than he was. And he wasn’t the naive person he used to be—there was no need to fear her, so he let her lead him away.
Along the way, they received many envious glances, mostly from boys, with a few girls as well. At first, Ye Feng was uncomfortable with this, but he quickly learned to ignore it, just like Pearl did.
When they arrived at the café, it wasn’t very busy since it was Monday and still morning. They went straight to the back and sat down, ordering two cups of coffee.
“Ye Feng, you’re quite mysterious to us,” Pearl said, lifting her coffee cup and taking a sip, her eyes fixed on Ye Feng as she tried to read something from his expression.
“Is that so?” Ye Feng smiled indifferently.
“Well, no matter how much we investigate, we can’t find anything special about you. We still don’t know which organization has such powerful connections that they can hide your identity so perfectly.” Pearl gently rotated the coffee cup on the table, seemingly playing with it casually.
“I’m just an ordinary person,” Ye Feng said with a shake of his head and a smile. From her words, he could tell she seemed to have noticed something special about him.

“If killing Zuo Qiu also counts as being an ordinary person, then the boundary between humans and non-humans seems to need redefining.” Pearl propped her chin with one hand, staring at Ye Feng without any hesitation, trying to see if he would show any special reaction.
“If that’s how you see it, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Ye Feng said, neither admitting nor denying it.
“Can you tell me what your purpose in approaching Long Tian is? Is it for money? For someone else? Or for the forces behind him?” Pearl took another sip of her coffee, asking casually as if it were nothing special.
“None of those reasons,” Ye Feng replied coldly, staring at Pearl. He hated such purpose-driven thinking. He had no ulterior motives, yet everyone assumed he did, which annoyed him. His right hand, holding the coffee cup, unconsciously tightened its grip, causing cracks to appear on the cup with a faint sound. Ye Feng glanced at the cracks before releasing his grip.
Pearl obviously noticed this. A slight smile appeared on her lips. If all the information she had previously received might be false, then what had just happened proved that Ye Feng was by no means an ordinary person.
“Alright, whatever you say. I can tell you our purpose—it’s simple: the forces behind Long Tian! Are you interested in cooperating?” Pearl knew the conversation was coming to an end and that continuing it was pointless, so she spoke directly.
“I’m not interested!” Ye Feng shook his head and slowly stood up, ready to leave.
“I guessed you’d say that. Let me put it this way: since you killed our people, logically, our organization will see you as an enemy. That means everyone around you will become targets for us. Of course, if you choose to stay neutral in the conflict between us and Brother Long, we can end this hostility and refrain from attacking you or those around you. We don’t expect you to help us; we just don’t want you to cause trouble.” Pearl looked up at Ye Feng, waiting for his answer. “Anyway, from what we know, you’ve already broken ties with Brother Long, so you have no reason to continue helping him.”
A killing intent flashed in Ye Feng’s eyes but soon faded. “His affairs have nothing to do with me!” With that, he left without looking back.
Pearl smiled triumphantly.

It wasn’t until Pearl mentioned targeting her that Ye Feng realized that if he were indeed under attack, his abilities wouldn’t put his life in danger. But the guys in his dormitory and some of his acquaintances might become targets, which he didn’t want to see. Moreover, he didn’t have enough energy to protect so many people. The only option was to compromise and temporarily avoid this crisis.

“Hey, Lao Qi, what are you doing? You didn’t even attend today’s Political Economy class? Good thing we helped you get a leave note.” As soon as he returned to the dormitory, Lao Er started shouting.

“Oh, I had some things to deal with and forgot for a moment. Thanks!” Ye Feng smiled sheepishly. He now felt as though he was gradually becoming disconnected from the world around him. To be precise, ever since he first entered the Virtual Realm to gain power and encountered a series of events that led him to a brand-new world—one hidden behind the scenes and unrelated to ordinary humans.

“According to some rumors, the shooter is a student from our school…” Dormitory member Lao Liu’s words caught Ye Feng’s attention again.

“Tch, who would believe that? Headshots every time? Do you really think our school has such experts?” Lao Ba thought it was complete exaggeration.

“Lao Liu, you must have seen some boring rumors on the school forum again. Is it that rumor monger spouting nonsense again, calling our school a training ground for professional killers?” The dormitory leader rolled his eyes at Lao Liu.

“Here, it’s this post…” Lao Liu said as he opened the school’s BBS, selected a title, and clicked on it.

Ye Feng approached nervously and glanced at the computer screen…