Chapter 168

Now that they've settled Ai Er Ge's business, he was now officially employed. On the other hand, Xuan Mo had too much time on her hands and she was dying in boredom. At Ah La Lei's crying and desperate request, Xuan Mo daily afternoons were spent at the LAN shop, helping to charge up Ai Er Ge while helping to bump up the reputation of the Thunder team.

Abu's return had stirred up much commotion among the gamers across the country. Some of the teams that had gone up against Xuan Mo had popped by the LAN shop recently for a few matches. Xuan Mo was not one to go easy or remain low-key, she went up against whoever who wanted to play against her, and slayed all of them. Local players KO-ed by her accepted her abilities, whereas cheers were sounded when foreign players were KO-ed by her.

Soon, a new skilled player by the name of EGG was born in the Thunder team. This player was unlike abu who would only attend two games, one in the afternoon and one in the evening; EGG was a resident member that played in every game there was. He was not an all-controlling commander in the team, rather he aced in post-attack preparations like the other teams, but what was insane about him was his speed, and his eccentric gameplay style. If abu was a team-centric player, then EGG was a top notch solo flyer.

It was as per mentioned by one of the Thunder team members: with EGG on the team, they were fearless!

Ai Er Ge became Thunder's new ace, not only was he earning money, he now had a place to stay and games to play, and so Ai Er Ge was incredibly happy. With that, Xuan Mo had nothing else to be worried about. Ten days later, Chinese New Year came.

Xuan Mo's mother would always be busy until the last day before taking a break on Chinese New Year's Eve. This was the first time the mother-daughter pair was spending their Chinese New Year together on their own. Xuan Mo's mother didn't intend to bring Xuan Mo back to her hometown this year, but when she thought about the three free days of public holidays, she realised she had nothing to do. In such a situation, both the mother and daughter were at a loss.

Their apartment was empty of decorations, even the firecrackers exploding outside sounded a little lonely. Xuan Mo and her mother were each armed with a computer, the both of them had their reunion dinner as they surfed the net. Lu Yu Chen celebrated CNY with his father, and the two of them visited his grandfather. Even so, Lu Yu Chen was still a little worried, and called Xuan Mo to give his Chinese New Year greeting. Following that was an hour-long nagging from Lu Yu Chen, included within was his regret that he didn't really look out for Xuan Mo these few days, and so he was suddenly reminded that Xuan Mo might be feeling lonely and whatnot.

Xuan Mo switched her phone to loudspeaker and left it beside her. She replied Lu Yu Chen with occasional hums, while her mother happy smiled to herself on the side.

After the naggy brother Lu finally hung up, Ai Er Ge's call came in. Xuan Mo picked up the call without thinking too much.

"Xuan Mo! Marshall! Please take me in!" The voice that came in was a desperate howl, "I have nowhere to go, and it's scary alone here in the LAN shop!"

"Why are you alone, y'all are not open?"

"I'm working but there's not a single person that came in. Ah La Lei said he'd originally intended to give me a day of leave today so he'd hinted to his regulars that his LAN shop would be closed New Year's Eve, and it turns out, there's not a single soul here! I'm guarding an empty shop!"

"Then..." Before Xuan Mo spoke, her mother asked: "Mo Mo, is it that guy the you went shopping with, Ai Er Ge?"

Ai Er Ge was surprised that Xuan Mo's mother still remembered him. It was only then did he realise that Xuan Mo had switched on the loudspeaker. At that, he immediately greeted: "Hello Aunt Xuan! Happy Chinese New Year Aunt Xuan!"

"Child, why aren't you going home, what a poor thing to be out alone today, why don't you come over and join us." Xuan Mo's mother replied, "you don't need to bring anything, we have everything here, clothes to change and all, come join us, we still have food too!"

Ai Er Ge was elated, but he didn't forget that the final decision-maker was his boss, and so, he asked gingerly: "Xuan Mo?"

Xuan Mo wondered how in the world did her mother survive till now, she really was one that didn't think too much. Just the fact that she'd been bringing up an alien daughter was sufficient evidence, and now, before understanding the situation, she'd invited over another alien. Did she think she was invincible like the Sayyans?

But now that Ai Er Ge's asked officially, and even her mother had agreed, she was not one to reject, and so she replied: "Come over then."

"Nice!" Ai Er Ge hung up.

Xuan Mo had been expecting an excited Ai Er Ge at the door, but when she actually opened the door, Ai Er Ge's worried face appeared.

"What's wrong?" Xuan Mo brought Ai Er Ge in. He changed his shoes, greeted Xuan Mo's mother and sat down beside Xuan Mo's computer table in silence.

"What happened?"

"Someone's trying to fix the broken pieces."

"What?"

"I felt some fluctuations earlier, it's much stronger than what I felt last time, it might be coming from a large golden stone, but even so it won't be this strong; I'm thinking someone brought together several golden stones." Ai Er Ge gave a bitter smile, "Xuan Mo, you're busy keeping your eyes on me, but I think the people that you should actually be keeping a lookout on are the blue planet beings, at this rate, they'll attract the Coalition's attention sooner or later."

Xuan Mo squinted her eyes and looked down. It would be too draining to extend her mental powers all the way to the capital, and it would be too headless if she were to go there via the internet. Xuan Mo was really quite helpless right now, but Ai Er Ge was right about one thing.

Xuan Mo's mother heated up the food, walked out and gestured for Ai Er Ge to come over to eat. Having figured that Xuan Mo would need some time to sort out her thoughts, he hummed in reply and sat down at the dinner table.

Xuan Mo's mental energy expanded instinctively. Suddenly, she saw someone running this way, and the person was heading in the direction of her condominium. He went up the building, checked the unit numbers one by one and stopped before her unit.

Before he could press the doorbell, Xuan Mo opened the door. She asked darkly: "Why are you here?"

The unexpected visitor at her door was Ling Yun.

Safe to say, he was in a mess — he was breathless from running over, his clothes were dishevelled, and he was only armed with a small bag as his luggage; it seemed as though he was rather busy, and in quite a rush.

"Xuan Mo," he panted and looked around anxiously, "there are some things that I didn't tell you the other time, can you let me in first?"

Xuan Mo did not sense anyone in particular, so she remained standing: "It's New Year's Eve tonight, what are you doing here? You're not celebrating CNY?"

"I, if I'm at home, they'd threaten me with my family." Ling Yun replied. "There's something they want, but it's something I can't give."

"What does it have anything to do with me?"

"It does, it has everything to do with you."

Xuan Mo squinted: "Are you threatening me?"

Ling Yun gave a bitter smile: "I really thought that was the end to it, who would have expected they were waiting for our holidays to start. Ever since the start of winter break, I've been travelling around avoiding them. I've really run out of options, that's why I'm here... seeing that you are a large part of the reason I need to be on the run, can you let me in first?"

Xuan Mo contemplated for a moment before she moved aside for him to enter. Ling Yun zipped in, and immediately shut the door behind him as though there was someone chasing him.

When Xuan Mo's mother noticed that another dashing chap appeared, she was very surprised: "Oh my, what's the situation this year? Your blossoms are really blooming*?"

* 桃花 = blossoms; the phrasing often used is peach blossom luck (桃花运), which refers to luck with the opposite gender

"Hello Aunt, I'm Xuan Mo's senior, I was travelling around the area, but cough, had a bit of a situation, and I can't go back, so I came over to see if I could stay for a bit." Ling Yun seemed to have figured exactly what he'd wanted to say, so half-truths flowed out the moment he opened his mouth.

Ai Er Ge wasn't in the know about Ling Yun's situation. When he saw Ling Yun, and noticed Xuan Mo's poor expression, Ai Er Ge turned to look at Ling Yun in curiosity.

When Ling Yun suddenly noticed Ai Er Ge was also sitting down looking at him meaningfully, he shivered for some unknown reason, and at Xuan Mo's mothers' gestures, he chose the further seat to sit.

Xuan Mo squinted her eyes. Ling Yun had only told her that he saw a red light last time, and didn't continue. From his expressions however, it would seem that he didn't tell the entire story; he wouldn't be this afraid of Ai Er Ge otherwise.

Xuan Mo slowly sat down beside Ling Yun, and suddenly spoke into his ear: "You seem to recognise him."

"Hehe, Ai Er Ge, I do know him..."

"Then what about the red light?"

Ling Yun froze, not speaking.