Lin Xiao
At nine in the morning, Lin Xiao dragged himself through the office like always.
The office was quiet, which meant…
This bunch of bootlickers had another meeting and didn't invite me again. He cursed to himself.
Fine, I’ll just play dead, practiced as ever.
He was just about to settle back into his desk when he noticed the new Korean guy who'd cut in line for the elevator walking past him, looking lost in thought.
That fir-wood scent was too strong.
All the way through lunch, the entire team was nowhere to be found.
In the smoking area downstairs, a few women from a neighboring department were gossiping with Lin Xiao:
"You know the new Korean guy on your team?" A red-haired girl said. She was essentially a reverse version of Lin Xiao in the HR department, an invincible staff member
She had a pair of bright green eyes, making her look cheerful and lovely. In short, very charming.
"I know him. And I know what you girls wanna say. No, Clara, I have zero interest in him. He's a jerk."
"Oh, that's not what I meant... But shame, you'd look so cute together." She went on, "What I mean is, your whole team got wiped out yesterday, and it was because of him!"
"What?"
"Turns out he's not some junior assistant; he's the crown prince, dropped straight from Seoul headquarters! Came here to experience real life..."
"One wrong word and the mighty prince just tossed his badge on the spot and got everyone fired."
Lin Xiao shook off the cigarette ash, heart racing.
This is an opportunity.
Back at the office, he asked around and found out the guy's name was Seongwoo, then trailed after him in the break room while he was pouring coffee, pretending it was casual.
"Hey, Seongwoo! I'm Lin Xiao, also on the team."
Seongwoo turned around, not even bothering with politeness. "How do you know my name?"
Lin Xiao wasn't fazed. He leaned in half a step, his tone carrying a scheming excitement. "I heard about yesterday... nicely done. I actually looked into New York State's At-Will Employment rules; turns out we can go even harder on those homophobia bastards."
Seongwoo said nothing.
"If we can prove they seriously violated the company's Anti-Harassment policy and it involves racial discrimination," Lin Xiao continued, "the company won't owe them a cent in severance. And if they dare file a complaint, we can hand a formal violation notice straight to the New York State Department of Labor and get their unemployment benefits cut off. I can have a memo ready for you by this afternoon..."
"This has nothing to do with you. Do your own job."
With that, Seongwoo walked past him, coffee in hand, without so much as a glance back.
Lin Xiao had assumed the crown prince would appreciate his offer of allegiance. Instead, he'd gotten the cold shoulder again.
Tch... quit putting on airs. Who does he think he is, some actual prince?
The moment he got home, disheartened, Lin Xiao rushed straight into his cramped apartment, unlocked the cabinet, took out the white neural interface module, and pressed it to his temple.
To hell with New York. To hell with the chaebol crown prince.
As his eyelids slowly drooped, the frustration and cold stares of reality dissolved away.
Wind howled, a long sword left its sheath.
He returned to his true self, the peerless master soaring on his blade.
Wind roared past from a great height, catching at robes and hair. Lin Xiao rode a white jade flying sword, drifting at ease above the clouds. From his wide sleeve he pulled out a faintly glowing bamboo scroll.
It was his sect's member roster.
His finger slid down the list. His gaze stopped on the name of a disciple who had joined the sect only a few days ago:
thebestone2030
The ambition in the name was blunt enough. Lin Xiao raised an eyebrow. He remembered this one was also Korean.
"Not much to do right now. Might as well go check on the new junior."
He put the scroll away, and his sword cut through the clouds, diving toward the beginner village.
What he saw when he arrived nearly made him laugh out loud on his sword.
Below, at the edge of a stretch of green bamboo forest, a thin figure in coarse cloth was rolling and scrambling across the ground, chased by two enormous, raging black bears.
The man was running in a panic, waving a cheap wooden sword the system had handed him for free, trying uselessly to fend them off.
The neural module's immersion was too realistic. This guy had clearly been rattled by the lifelike roars and gaping jaws of the bears and had forgotten this was just a game, forgetting even the most basic spellcasting gestures and talisman steps.
Lin Xiao hovered in midair, watching the show from above.
The disciple, gasping for breath as he ran, happened to glance up and spot Lin Xiao on the clouds.
Their eyes met for a second, but surprisingly, the man gritted his teeth and did not call for help.
Some backbone, at least, Lin Xiao thought to himself. About the only thing living up to that username.
He didn't feel like wasting more time. He gave a light flick of his finger, and the flying sword beneath his feet split into two sharp arcs of light, piercing straight through the bamboo forest.
A roar sounded.
Both black bears dropped where they stood, dissolving into wisps of black smoke.
With nothing left to run from, the disciple's legs gave out, and he sat down hard on the ground, breathing heavily. He never imagined that running in a virtual world could bring on such real muscle soreness and exhaustion.
Lin Xiao drifted down and landed on the damp grass, his sword sliding smoothly back into the sheath on his back.
"You'll be fine after a rest," Lin Xiao said, looking down at him. "It's just your brain playing tricks on you. Your body isn't actually worn out."
"I know."
The man slowly lifted his head, revealing a face that was utterly exhausted but still sharp and handsome. He took a deep breath, "Thank you."
Hm?
Lin Xiao studied the man's face more closely.
The neural module came with a facial recognition system, so every player's facial model served as a unique in-game ID.
But something about this player felt intensely familiar. Even in coarse clothes, hair a mess, that handsome, brooding set of features and that bone-deep arrogance...
He narrowed his eyes and looked a moment longer.
There it was. No doubt about it.
That Korean crown prince who always smelled like fir wood. Choi Seongwoo.
The man who acted all mighty and untouchable in real life had just spent the last while getting chased around by two black bears in the beginner village?
Night deepened. On the roof tiles of one of the sect's buildings, Lin Xiao sat side by side with a senior female cultivator, sharp and striking in bearing.
Each held a jug of system-issued wine. It was a shame the neural module still couldn't simulate alcohol's effect on the nervous system, and the peanuts in their mouths weren't actually going into their stomachs either, but that didn't stop the two of them from talking.
"No way..." The woman nearly spat out her wine.
Dressed in a red robe, she was a top-tier Fire cultivator.
Lin Xiao was a top-tier cultivator of Metal; his robe was white.
"I swear to god, Clara, that's the crown prince we were talking about earlier today!" Lin Xiao was laughing so hard he could barely sit still. "You should've seen him rolling around on the ground just now. So arrogant at the company, and he almost got eaten alive by two bears!"
"Are you going to tell him? That you're the intern on his team?"
"What's there to tell? So he can keep looking down on me?" Lin Xiao shrugged and tipped his head back for a mouthful of virtual liquor. "This isn't some pay-to-win game. All his money in real life means nothing here. Skill is what counts."
"Fair enough."
"You have to keep this quiet too. He didn't recognize me at all," Lin Xiao reminded her.
"Don't worry, I'm not even in the same department as him," said Clara, the red-haired cultivator. "Besides, do you really think a chaebol heir like him has time to log on every night and grind cultivation?"
"Well, he's already doing that lately," Lin Xiao said, pointing down at the empty bamboo forest. "This guy spent the whole night just getting chased by bears. Didn't even manage basic breathing techniques and quit. Looks like as sect leader, I'll have to teach him properly how to stick with cultivation."
"Good luck with that." Clara shook her head, smiling.
Lin Xiao's teasing expression faded. He turned to look at the mountains in the distance, wrapped in dark clouds, and his tone grew heavier. "Speaking of which, how are preparations going for the Great Invasion? I'll be counting on you when it happens."
"Still stockpiling resurrection talismans as fast as I can." Clara sighed. "Our sect's power is still too weak. If it comes down to it, maybe we should just… I mean, we can just pay it off. Before it’s too late."
"I know, but..." Lin Xiao shook his head. "Give me a little more time. If I can train two or three cultivators capable of real strength and get more clues, I think we can at least hold off the first wave."
"I’m training one already."
“That Luna girl?”
“Yeah, she’s amazing.”
“Be careful, okay?” Lin Xiao said, "If you die, it's really over. A year of effort, gone."
Dying in this game meant losing everything, but at least you can start over.
"I know," Clara said, nodding thoughtfully.
Lin Xiao added, "There are too many people counting on us."
Clara patted his shoulder in understanding, then drew her sword and became a streak of red light, flying off toward the distant snow mountains, buried in wind and storm.
Lin Xiao picked up his wine jug, turned into a streak of white light, and shot off after her, following close behind.
As they climbed higher, the wind against his ears shifted from a low moan to a full roar.
Beneath the vast sky, the whole cultivation continent stretched out under a heaven woven from night and starlight.
In the distance, the Heaven's Spine snow mountains stood tall, several peaks piercing straight into the clouds. Dozens of floating islands hung suspended, held by chains as thick as dragon spines.
Every so often, streaks of sword light in different colors cut across the night sky like shooting stars, weaving between the floating islands and the snow mountains, trailing light behind them.
This was a vastness that the real world, cramped and narrow Manhattan, thick with the smell of cold coffee, could never offer.
At the company, I'm nothing. But in the sect, there are so many people counting on me.
I can't let people down again.
I can’t let me down again.
ns216.73.216.248da2
and then Add to home screen.