“You know nothing. You, barefoot as you are, have no idea how cool it is to wear shoes, do you?” Dylan became even more smug, and even pulled out a joke: “It’s obvious you’ve never studied Wong Kar-wai’s ‘Ashes of Time.’ In that movie, the killers with shoes are way more badass than the barefoot ones—Hong Qigong made his name wearing a pair of straw sandals…”

　　This left everyone stunned, and they all started to feel like people who wear shoes really are pretty awesome.

　　Looking at their own game characters running around barefoot, both Sammy and The Carter Chief suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of inferiority.

　　Dylan got even more fired up, deliberately circling around Sammy’s priest twice to show off his speed. Magic classes already have slower movement speeds—priests have a base speed of 8, mages are also 8. With shoes that give +2 speed, Dylan’s little mage now had a speed of 10, and was clearly a bit faster than Sammy.

　　This made Dylan so smug he was almost drunk with it: “Let me educate you about ‘The Promise’ by Director Kaige Chen. True speed is invisible… I’m fast, I’m just that fast. Why am I so fast? Maybe I’m a man who dissolves the wind into the snow, maybe I was born to worship the chase. Please look up to me, a man as free as the wind… Come on, you adolescent dreamers, chase after the unrestrained shadow I leave behind in the wind!”

　　Sammy: “I can’t take it anymore, let’s kill this son of a—!”

　　The Carter Chief: “Let’s go, get him!”

　　The sound of thuds and bangs rang out as Sammy and The Carter Chief pinned Dylan to the ground and gave him a good beating.

　　Brian Carter had been sitting in his chair, but seeing everyone having so much fun, he couldn’t justify staying out of it. So he joined in, and in the chaos, managed to land two kicks on Dylan’s butt, which felt surprisingly satisfying.

　　Amidst the laughter and roughhousing, youth slipped through their fingers.

　　There was once an idol-level player who said: Many times, we’re not looking for a great game, but for a group of people to play with. If you find the right friends, even playing QQ Landlord is a blast…

　　Maybe, many years from now, people won’t remember how many epic items they owned, or how many awesome bosses they defeated. But they’ll definitely remember that at some point while enjoying a game, they did some silly things with some silly people.

　　That’s the most beautiful memory games can give us.

　　……

　　Once you get used to it, things go smoother. By 3 p.m., Brian Carter’s team had already completed three reputation quests.

　　Their levels were close to 3, and fighting monsters was no longer stressful.

　　Just as everyone was about to start their fourth run, the dorm phone rang.

　　Usually, friends would contact them by cell phone. As for calls to the landline, it was either teachers from the school or telemarketers, so none of the four planned to answer. But the caller was persistent, dialing over and over, which was really annoying.

　　“Who the…” Dylan, who was closest to the phone, was about to say, “Who the hell is so annoying,” but when he heard the voice on the other end, his expression suddenly changed, and he replied in an uncharacteristically gentlemanly tone, “Alright, please hold on a moment.”

　　He covered the receiver and winked at Brian Carter: “Boss, it’s for you.”

　　Without turning his head, Brian Carter asked, “Who is it?”

　　Dylan grinned mischievously: “It’s a girl, anyway. Her voice is amazing, I’m almost drunk just listening to it.”

　　Brian Carter walked over and picked up the phone, said hello, and then listened as the mysterious girl launched into a long speech.

　　The three roommates all looked gossipy—could it be that the boss is already getting a second chance at love?

　　But after a few sentences, Brian Carter suddenly interrupted: “Are you crazy or something?”

　　He hung up right after, and, still not satisfied, yanked out the phone cord.

　　Then he went back to his seat and, acting like nothing happened, said, “What are you all staring at? Get back to it.”

　　The three roommates had no idea what just happened, so they just threw themselves back into leveling up.

　　At 4:30 p.m., cheers erupted as everyone leveled up to 5 at the same time.

　　“Wahahaha! Wearing red underwear really does make a difference. Who would’ve thought I, Hu Hansan, would see this day! Green teas, come on, taste my ruthless side!” Dylan’s grin was absolutely begging for a smack. Out of 9 quests, he’d opened 9 treasure chests, getting a pair of shoes and a staff.

　　A man with both weapons and armor—no doubt, he was now qualified to stand on the main street in the new server and hit on green teas!

　　The Carter Chief sat beside him, on the verge of tears. He was famous for his bad luck in Telecom Server 1, and it was the same in Server 2. After opening 9 treasure chests, he’d gotten a total of 21 copper coins, and had never even seen what weapons or gear looked like.

　　Sammy was gloating nearby. He’d gotten a necklace that increased healing, a pretty great item for a priest. Getting a rare accessory on the first day of the server—Sammy was quite satisfied.

　　The Carter Chief couldn’t enjoy playing with Sammy and Dylan, so he went to Brian Carter for comfort: “Boss, you’re so quiet—don’t tell me you’re like me and didn’t get a single damn thing?”