After the meeting concluded, Wende returned to his room, sighed again as he looked at Jingliu, who had followed him.
"Why did you look so gloomy during the meeting? Is it because you've spent too much time in the Mara-Struck state and aren't used to socializing? Don't worry, everyone on the Express is very nice. You can trust them."
Looking at Wende, who was showing great concern for her, Jingliu felt a warmth spread through her heart, but she still shook her head.
"No, everyone on the Express is indeed very enthusiastic, and Miss Himeko's coffee is delicious, but… what I was lamenting was simply that you're not as nice to touch anymore."
Jingliu's gaze fell upon Wende's abdomen, her crimson eyes revealing an indescribable disappointment.
Although the curve of his muscles was nice, and it felt good to the touch, she still felt that his former soft, super-squishable little tummy was better…
So you were looking all depressed just because of THAT?
Looking at the beautiful woman before him, with her cool and fragile aura, Wende tensed up, his fists clenching!
"Wait, did you just say… you drank Sister Himeko's coffee?"
Just as he was about to reprimand Jingliu, Wende suddenly caught the keyword from her sentence… Himeko's… coffee…
"WTF?"
Under Jingliu's astonished gaze, Wende grabbed her fragrant shoulders, his expression… hard to describe.
Jingliu felt a current of Yin-Yang energy flow from his hands into her body. She looked at the grave-faced Wende with confusion. What had she just said? Himeko's coffee… was there a problem with it?
"Something's wrong… something is seriously, seriously wrong. You're actually fine…"
After using his Yin-Yang energy to give Jingliu a full-body check-up, Wende pinched his chin and began to question his reality. How was this possible? Someone was actually immune to Himeko's coffee magic?
"Could it be… you're worried about me?"
Jingliu gazed at the pensive Wende, a faint smile involuntarily tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Yeah, of course. If I don't worry about you, who will?"
Wende looked helplessly at the "bad woman" before him. Did she really expect him to get all bashful and say something like, "It's not like I was worried about you or anything"?
"...That's true."
Wende's words made Jingliu pause for a moment, and then she smiled with a hint of melancholy.
Completely oblivious to the trace of disappointment in Jingliu's smile, Wende was still pondering why she was unharmed after drinking Himeko's coffee. Was it made by Pom-Pom? Did she just happen to dodge the bullet?
"Little one…"
Jingliu quietly approached and whispered to Wende.
"Hm? What is it, Bad Per—"
Mwah~
Feeling the cool, moist, and soft sensation on his cheek, Wende's purple pupils instantly trembled. He stared at the smiling Jingliu with utter disbelief, frozen to the spot.
"I'm off to have some more coffee with Miss Himeko. Don't you miss me too much, okay~"
Jingliu, thoroughly satisfied with Wende's thunderstruck expression, turned and gracefully walked out of the bedroom.
"You… I… Tsk…"
Wende.exe has crashed.
---o---
The Version 1.3 update could be said to have completely blown the players away in all sorts of ways—and this was a good kind of "blown away."
First was the change to Trailblaze Power (stamina), which increased from 180 to 240, with an additional 2400 in reserve Trailblaze Power. If you added the 120 Trailblaze Power Wende provided daily… the time it took to build a character would be drastically reduced. Players would no longer have to spend a whole day just to level up one skill! Now they could at least level up two!
Of course, for the unlucky ones farming relics, what didn't drop still wouldn't drop. (lol)
Next came what players loved to see most: a massive influx of Stellar Jades! The highly anticipated Aurum Alley, the latest Simulated Universe update—a brand new mode called Swarm Disaster! And, of course, the staple of every version update! Ten golden tickets!
A certain two-character game was once again catching strays for no reason.
And finally! The most explosive part was the main story quest!
Jingliu was actually exiled to the Astral Express! And it was a buy-one-get-one-free deal that came with a white-haired, golden-eyed fox-girl!
Although this plot point felt a bit abrupt on the surface, when combined with the subsequent story and that particular gesture Luocha made with his hand, it seemed somewhat justifiable. However, in the eyes of some people…
How did Jingliu just parachute onto the Astral Express! This part makes no sense!
If the SP little fox-girl could join the Express with the excuse of needing treatment, then what about you, Jingliu…
[You little punk, are you thirsting for my Godfather's body.jpg]
[Honestly, even though I'm sad that Godfather grew up, is there any way to turn him back into little Wende?]
[? What are you planning to do? Rebel against your elegant Godfather?]
[No, I just want to [REDACTED] him first, and then [REDACTED].]
[Such shameless words! Admin! Where's the Admin!]
[This is the comment section, not a livestream. I suggest you report him directly!]
[Even so, don't you guys think Jingliu is my wife?]
[Hey, my piss is yellow, let me go first!]
In short, although the plot of 1.3 was still as cryptic as ever, between Luocha's little possession episode and Dan Heng's companion quest, the minor criticisms didn't cause much of a stir.
The System knew what could be shown and what couldn't. If the details of Jingliu "training" little Wende were to be revealed…
Oh, the players would just get even more excited, but the game itself would most likely be gone.
Furthermore, thanks to the over-analysis of various content creators, what was originally an illogical reason for boarding the train was analyzed until it became perfectly reasonable.
Beyond that, the end of the storyline mentioned a Stellaron outbreak on Punklorde, which was something everyone had expected.
After all, there wasn't much story left on the Xianzhou. If they didn't open up a new map soon, the idle players would have started giving names to every single nameless NPC!
The final decision to head to Punklorde did contradict their previous destination, but it didn't matter. Himeko's reasoning was more than sufficient; the priority of Punklorde was indeed much higher than attending some party.
All in all, the players of Version 1.3 were extremely busy! They were either getting their asses kicked in Swarm Disaster or playing detective with a magnifying glass in the newly opened rooms on the Express.