...This person's voice—isn't it surprisingly pleasant?

He wasn't deliberately lowering or deepening it; it was just an ordinary tone, yet it made people feel comfortable.

Well, without this quality, he couldn't be a playboy.

Chris Brooks complained, "But everyone on the world channel is cursing me."

Henry Clark hadn't opened the world channel, so he naturally didn't know it was already a mess there. "Just mute it."

Chris Brooks: "Mm, I've muted it... So what do we do now? Should we do this quest?"

Henry Clark also glanced at the quest log. "Let's wait a bit."

"But the quest only lasts forty-eight hours."

Henry Clark opened the official website. "All hidden quests have a forty-eight-hour time limit. I'll check some info first. If you die in a hidden quest, it's treated as a normal death. If we rush in recklessly, we might get killed and lose a level."

"Is the boss that scary?" Chris Brooks paused, then said excitedly, "Gege, does that mean you'll help me kill the boss?"

Henry Clark stated the facts: "My name is on the quest. Without me, you can't trigger the fight."

Chris Brooks sneered inwardly, but sweetly said, "Thank you, gege!"

Henry Clark: "...I'll go check the info. Will you be around tomorrow afternoon?"

"I'll be here, gege," Chris Brooks replied obediently. "I'm always here."

"Then let's set it for tomorrow afternoon, just to leave more time in case we can't kill it in one go." Henry Clark moved his mouse to the 'leave team' option. "That's it for now."

"Wait, gege!" Chris Brooks quickly stopped him. "...Should we add each other as friends? Otherwise, how will we contact each other then?"

Henry Clark's eyebrow twitched. "Mm."

He sounded extremely reluctant.

Chris Brooks let out a cold laugh.

Fine, be aloof for now. There'll come a day when you're madly in love with me, desperate but unable to get me.

As soon as they added each other as friends, Hopeful Heart immediately flew off. Chris Brooks returned to the main city, found Hopeful Heart in his friends list, and checked his profile.

Hopeful Heart, male, level 150, race: demon, sect: Qiya Mountain.

Personal signature: none.

Today's mood: none.

Friend evaluation: none.

...Is this guy pretending to be cool and aloof? These days, even his seventy-year-old grandma has a personal signature.

Chris Brooks propped up his chin, opened the friend evaluation, and found the "gege" tag from the system labels, then spammed it.

[Hopeful Heart has not enabled friend evaluations. Evaluation failed!]

"......"

Chris Brooks closed the profile right away.

The next day, Chris Brooks went to school. He had a class in the morning, and the old professor had him on the roll-call watchlist, so he couldn't skip.

Brian Carter had saved him a seat early. When Chris Brooks arrived, Brian Carter and Ethan Foster had their heads together, whispering about something.

"What, did my absence give you two a chance?" Chris Brooks sat in the empty seat and crossed his legs. "Are you together now?"

"Together my ass!" Brian Carter looked up. "We're reading big news."

Chris Brooks didn't really care. "What news?"

"You wouldn't be interested even if I told you. It's about Jiuxia."

Chris Brooks glanced over. "...Tell me anyway."

"It's actually nothing major. Someone on another server dug up a treasure map and found a hidden quest... This game's been running for ten years, and there are still hidden quests that haven't been triggered. Isn't that hilarious?" Brian Carter put his phone away. "Last night, a system-wide message suddenly popped up in the game. Our guild was running a dungeon at the time, and everyone was stunned."

Chris Brooks: "......"

This news spread way too fast, didn't it?

He looked away. "...It's just a hidden quest. What's so special about that?"

"Huh? You say that, but have you ever seen what a hidden quest looks like?" Brian Carter mocked him.

"I—" How have I not seen one? The quest in the announcement screenshot you're looking at right now was triggered by yours truly! "...No, I haven't."

Brian Carter patted his shoulder in consolation. "Actually, the real highlight isn't the hidden quest itself, but the people who triggered it..."

Halfway through, Brian Carter suddenly realized something and shut up.

"The people who triggered it? Who?"

"No one, really." Brian Carter paused. "Anyway, they're not good people. One's a scumbag, the other's a female scammer. Both are notorious, so now they're a pair."

Chris Brooks: "?"

Chris Brooks: "Don't just listen to one side of the story."