Master of the Stars

Luo Nan didn’t even need to mention it. Even Papercut, who was the teacher of etiquette as well as a professional in saving the day, was a bit dizzy when he saw this group of kids come barging in. He said, "This many people?"

He began to consider whether or not to escape from the front lines when his body suddenly moved. Xue Lei was dragging him, "Brother Papercut. You have to do something. Just look at Nanster’s expression."

This is why nerds hate meatheads so much!

Papercut tried to struggle free to no avail. He could only resign himself to his fate, shake his head, and say, "Then first, let’s entertain them. Don’t be too serious about it. Hey, it’s time to say hello!"

Actually, Luo Nan understood that he needed to greet Mo Peng with a wave without needing Papercut’s advice. The group of people bustled over, practically clamoring over each other, and the leader, Mo Peng, was super excited. "Don’t waste any more time! Let’s start now! Go to Frost River Reality! The wasteland’s winter!"

Luo Nan had mulled over how to greet these people, but he immediately shut his mouth upon hearing Mo Peng’s words. However, Mo Peng wouldn’t let him go that easily. He grabbed Luo Nan by the shoulder and said, "Those who haven’t met should get to know each other. This is my pal and brother Luo Nan. He’s one who has turned to the dark side, a traitor of Sixth Middle, going to Acumen College instead. He’s atoning for his sins today; all expenses incurred are his to bear!"

Well, this saved Luo Nan from introducing himself...

Luo Nan drew in a breath and faced the gazes of nearly ten pairs of eyes. He actually wasn’t nervous at all. He just didn’t know how to cover everything. Until now, he had yet to see everyone’s face clearly.

He just noticed that Mo Han was behind Mo Peng. His train of thought deviated.

The Condensation Ring was still in effect above the table. No one had noticed the floating water bead for now, but it would be better to not leave it there for too long. Luo Nan was worried about revealing his hidden side, so with some interference power, he had the water bead and Condensation Ring collapse to nothing. However, this made the insight that had popped up earlier in his mind go away as well.

Seeing how Luo Nan was half a beat slow in reacting, Mo Han gave Mo Peng a jab, shaming him for speaking such nonsense.

Papercut was also unwilling to pass his responsibility onto others. He came out to help, "We have a lot of people, so let’s not block the entrance. Let’s first go inside. We can take our time talking then."

Luo Nan finally revealed a smile, "Yes, let’s go to the room."

The more people, the livelier the venue and the greater the details. No one cared about the few flaws as parties after parties of people battled it out in Frost River Reality. The AR-guide, an image of a burly tavern owner, welcomed them.

"Come then, adventurers. Change your equipment before you brave danger. Do you have a set equipment room?"

Luo Nan cried, "Lucky!" in his mind, and thanked Papercut for his reminder. He turned to lock gazes with Papercut and said, "Number one-fifty-six."

"All right, Mr. Luo. I wish you and your companions a good harvest."

Right now there were twelve people in total, nine from Mo Peng’s side and three from Luo Nan’s side. The followed the guide through the passageway and entered the reserved room. Everyone was a frequent visitor. After pouring through the box, one by one they stepped into the scanning area for measurements and the synchronization of data.

As a girl, Mo Han did things quite carefully. She took the opportunity to pull Luo Nan over and laughed, "Let me take this chance to introduce them."

A pair -- a boy and a girl -- just so happened to walk shoulder-to-shoulder into the scanning area. They weren’t that tall, and Mo Han pointed at the rather cute girl with a round face, "This is my best friend, Ruan Zihui. That’s her partner, Tong Hui. Together they form the Hui-Hui Combo or Gray-Gray Combo."

"You’re finished, you stinky pomegranate!" The round-faced girl Ruan Zihui gestured with her fingers in the shape of a gun, firing shots at Mo Han.

Her boyfriend, Tong Hui, was also a master of energy. He immediately turned to be back-to-back with Ruan Zihui. He made a gun with his fingers and shot a pose under the lighting of the scanning area.

At least half the people in the room yelled at him, and his girlfriend jabbed him with her elbow. The two came out giggling, the atmosphere of the room becoming more relaxed.

Luo Nan relaxed a bit as well. If the people who had came were all such happy characters, then things would be easy to handle for him.

The thought was just processed when he saw a tall girl walk into the scanning area. She wore a black and white striped cashmere sweater. Below that were tight-fitting jeans. Her figure was excellent, especially the straight contours of her legs. Her physical appearance was first-class. She had a beautiful face as well, donning a faint smile, appearing slightly reserved.

Luo Nan did a double take, and Mo Han whispered, "Don’t get the wrong idea. She already has someone."

"I know."

Luo Nan felt quite wronged. He wasn’t blind. When the girl had entered the scanning area, she had handed the coat on her arm over to a blond man next to her. It was clear that this man possessed Western blood, and anyone would be able to tell that the two weren’t related with a single glance. That could only mean that they were girlfriend and boyfriend.

Mo Han raised her voice, laughing as she said, "Yue Qin has taken it upon herself to be the attractive one in our group. Right now she’s already accepted Mr. Turner’s pursuit and they’re in the getting-familiar-with-each-other stage."

"I will seize the moment to pursue her!"

Someone had shouted this loudly. Yue Qin didn’t hear him as she had alraedy left the scanning area. As for the very gentlemanly Turner, he returned Yue Qin’s coat and faced the one who just yelled with a laugh and a shaking fist.

"Whoa, Luo Biyao?" Luo Nan saw the person who had shouted just now. It was actually someone familiar to him.

The short yet well proportioned and lively Luo Biyao was an eccentric brown-haired teenager. He was Luo Nan’s classmate back at Sixth Middle, and they had a friendly relationship. He was also Mo Peng’s best friend.

Aside from him, it seemed that they were all part of Mo Han’s circle.

Luo Nan found it interesting. This get-together was Mo Peng’s suggestion, but what was going on with this situation? Luo Nan turned to ask, "Have you been overpowered today? There’s none of your people!"

"Though the gathering is in the name of friendship, how could I share resources with other people?"

Mo Peng talked himself up to the heavens, but he fell back down in a blink of an eye, "Fine. Little Pomegranate’s mouth is far too quick. I’m afraid of going crazy; the entire Mo Family knew by the second day. However, I never thought that you would truly dare to bring out a Tall-Fat Combo to deal with me!"

Mo Peng was practically gritting his teeth by the end of his words.

He then changed the topic, chuckling mischievously, "But tonight, I’m also keeping an eye on Little Pomegranate. I’ll see what this lass is up to!"

Mo Peng’s meaning was very clear, and Luo Nan was a bit shocked, "She has a boyfriend!?"

Out of Mo Peng’s party of nine, there were only two other people, a boy and a girl, that Luo Nan didn’t recognize. The others he either knew very well, or they were paired off with others. This left...

"Yue Zheng. He’s Yue Qin’s older brother. He’s two heads taller than us. I heard that he’s interested in Pomegranate, but Pomegranate’s interest is still unclear."

Luo Nan’s gaze shifted over, and he saw the medium-sized Yue Zheng. Their genes were probably amazing, for he was a lot like his little sister Yue Qin. One was handsome, and one was beautiful. They were both eye candy, and they were clearly more mature than their age.

Luo Nan really found it hard to imagine him paired up with the lively and brisk Mo Han.

He put this matter to rest for now and asked Mo Peng, "There’s still one left..."

"She’s prepared for you."

Luo Nan started up a sweat, "Prepared for me? For what?"

"The last remaining single girl. She’s gentle and quiet, quite decent, right? Qiu Peipei is her name. She matches you quite well."

The last remaining girl was truly as Mo Peng described. She was quiet and graceful, with an appearance rather pleasing to the eye...wasn’t this called an unwanted matchmaking?

Mo Peng smirked as he glared at Mo Han. Mo Han didn’t know what the brothers were saying, but she didn’t hesitate in giving them the middle finger.

"You can just ask Mo Han. I was quite interested in her, but Sister Pomegranate said something about ‘not having devious thoughts’ and ’you’ll never get a turn!’ Luo Biyao and I are on the same boat, but things are even worse for me. Isn’t it very clear who she was prepared for?"

Luo Nan was speechless. He was discovering so many things that he couldn’t keep up with Mo Han and Mo Peng’s train of thought. He could only retreat in defeat. Then a call just so happened to come through. It was Tian Si.

"Senior Sister, you’re here?"

"Sorry, Tian Qi and I just got here..."

"You’re just in time. We just entered. Senior Sister, you should come to room one-fifty-six."

Mo Peng’s ears perked up when he heard the words ’Senior Sister.’ He even came closer to Luo Nan, and Luo Nan pushed him away by the head. This person was truly thirsty. He forced himself close. "Senior Sister? Nanster, I knew it! You’re not that far gone. You don’t just have the Tall-Fat Combo, you actually have some moves..."

Then do you know who has the most sensitive ears and could be considered to be part of the Tall-Fat Combo out of everyone in this room?

Luo Nan shot a glance towards Xue Lei and Papercut’s direction. Papercut was pinching his rather large stomach; his face was at a loss.

After a laugh, Luo Nan felt that something was off. He looked around the room but was unable to pinpoint the problem.

Mo Peng asked, "So a few more people are coming. Are they all little sisters? Big sisters?”

"Two...oh man!" Luo Nan finally figured out the problem.

A medium-sized room of Frost River Reality was actually a standard locker room. Everyone was allocated their own locker, which were arranged in a ring-shaped order. Aside from storing clothes, the most important thing was that the appropriate reality equipment, in accordance to individual scans, was delivered via the Frost River Reality system. It was a one-to-one match.

There were lockers for twelve people in a medium-sized room. The number was perfect just before Tian Si and her little brother joined. Now there wasn’t enough lockers. This was Luo Nan’s mistake. He didn’t pay attention to the allocations of the medium-sized rooms.

Right as he was thinking about how to remedy the situation, a knock came from the door. Someone believed that it was a server, so they shouted, "Come in."

The door opened, and the room became silent in an instant.

Tian Si walked in with a faint smile. When she saw how many people were in the room, she became a little shocked, but there were more people who were dumbstruck by her arrival.

Today, Tian Si dressed quite simply. Her thick coat hung down to her elbows, and her casual white turtleneck sweater paired well with her black treasures. She also wore short high heels of the same color.

She had tied her hair into a fluffy ponytail, and locks of hair hung over her forehead. She had on some light makeup, combining the typical colors of black and white. It gave off a bit of experience, but it didn’t give off a deep materialistic air. Instead, there was a refined charm.

Tian Si was a beautiful woman, presenting a fabulous early model to the little sisters in the room of what the passing of many years could do.

Tian Si found Luo Nan in the group of people. She gave him a gentle smile before delivering the perfect tone of surprise, "I never thought that there would be this many people. I came late; please don’t be offended, everyone."

She was humble and her smile was the most kind. Even if her words were an empty conventional greeting, it caused everyone to have a good impression of her.

Luo Nan, Xue Lei, and Papercut was all decently familiar with her, but the other guys in the room all had their eyes light up. They paid no heed to Tian Qi who had entered behind Tian Si.

Mo Peng was shocked from the moment Tian Si entered the room, "Hot damn! Nanster, you’ve truly put in the effort this time. But why do I feel that she looks familiar? Uh, is that Tian...Tian..."

"Senior Sister Tian Si."

"The one with us at the Frost River Reality last time..." Before Mo Peng could shamelessly finish his words, Luo Nan had already begun nodding his head.

Mo Peng gaped as Mo Han came up to them, "Nanster, you invited her? She and Third Brother Qiu weren’t successful. How do we explain this later?"

There were too many whispers going on here. Luo Nan was afraid of giving people the cold shoulder. He raised his voice and said, "Well, Senior Sister has taken good care of me at school. This chance just so happen to arise, so I invited her to have some fun. Tian Qi also came last time. No one is a stranger to one another."

Tian Si took Luo Nan’s introduction as a chance to bring her little brother in another regard, "This is our first time meeting most of you. Please take care of us."

Her gaze flew back to Luo Nan after she finished her words.

"I think I know why Third Brother Qiu wasn’t successful."

Mo Peng no longer kept his mouth in check, so Luo Nan gave him a shove.

At this time, Tian Si headed over to Luo Nan, and Tian Qi followed with a strange expression on his face.

Everyone in the room was affected by the atmosphere. Everyone could see the difference. Tian Qi wore his heart on his sleeve, his expression like that of a bulldog fighter. On the other hand, Tian Si was able to conceal all her negative emotions when it truly came to it, even though she felt awkward that she had been invited by Luo Nan. She put everyone’s mind at ease.

She faced Luo Nan with another apology, "I’m sorry, I was unable to escape some duties from the school society."

"It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Didn’t I just say? We just switched for equipment..." Luo Nan responded without thinking, but then he recalled the trouble he just discovered. He didn’t know how to proceed. The one who was put into awkward circumstances was now him.

In any case, Luo Nan had an open mind. He would admit to his mistakes. There wasn’t anything worth hiding. He scratched his head and said, "Senior Sister Tian, can you and Senior Tian Qi wait a moment? I miscalculated the number of people when I reserved the room..."

Papercut was simply stupefied. Yes, observing the room wrong could be excused, and honestly acknowledging one’s mistake wasn’t a problem. However, what the hell was with this awkward and blunt reply? It was like Luo Nan was trying to tell everyone about his severity in homebody-sickness.

He pressed the call-service button on the wall before nimbly rushing over with his plump body. He gave Luo Nan a jab and interrupted Luo Nan’s words, "Nanster, you’re with me. Xue Lei, you’re with him...Mo Peng. We can share lockers and make space for two. As for the equipment, I’ve already called the manual server. We can get scanned directly. It will be fast."

Tian Si had met Papercut before at Ocean Sky Cloud City, plus his build was quite recognizable. She knew that Papercut was Luo Nan’s friend and was highly likely to be someone with supernatural powers. Naturally, she wouldn’t neglect him. She immediately spread her lips into a smile, "This sort of thing happens a lot. There’s no need to trouble you..."

Papercut bowed and said, "It is natural to serve a beauty."

Upon finishing his words, Papercut gave Luo Nan a glare. The meaning was, ’Kid, learn a little, okay!?’

It was just as Papercut said, there were always people willing to serve a beauty. Subsidizing Tian Qi was no problem as well.

Mo Peng greeted Tian Qi in a very familiar manner.

Tian Qi cooperated as well, "There’s no need to be troubled. Big Peng and I can share a locker."

Actually, these two were very familiar with each other. The seventh sibling of the Mo Family, Mo Cheng, competed often with Tian Qi in electronic tournaments. They were quite equally matched, and Mo Cheng would often bring Mo Peng along, so Mo Peng and Tian Qi met quite a few times. They weren’t strangers. But the more things were like this, the more they didn’t understand. Tian Qi and Luo Nan didn’t have their lives intersect with each others’ much. How did their relationship mature to this degree? Why did Tian Qi come despite the awkwardness?

This subtle relationship was like a tiny bug. It bore into their hearts, tickling them.

Then, Luo Nan went to introduce the others to Tian Si. Oh, it seemed that he didn’t really mention Papercut or Xue Lei. The situation was far too messy.

Then someone suddenly spoke, spinning the conversation back to the previous topic, "Let’s just switch rooms."

The moment the words were spoken, most of the people spun around looking blankly for who had spoken. Its source:

Yue Zheng.

While in the line of fire of everyone’s gazes, this person held an expression akin to soft clouds and gentle winds, "I bumped into a mate on the way here. He’s a mid-level here. He specifically told me that if we wanted more space, we can upgrade. A room opened up in the luxury rooms in area A."

As he spoke, he revealed a radiant smile. His gaze cut across Luo Nan and stopped upon Tian Si’s face, "When meeting new friends, I feel that it’s better to have a bright and spacious environment. Everyone can have a better time playing."

At the same time, Luo Nan heard Mo Peng squeezed out a sound from his throat, "Fucker!"