Chapter 46: Do You Not Know How to Kiss?

Wen Nan carefully recalled, and it seemed that ever since that night of fire and ice, he hadn’t seen Little Pepper again.

Where had he offended the “Little Fire Dragon”?

Thinking back to their last encounter, when Little Pepper had stormed up to Wen Nan, demanding why he hadn’t replied to her messages, Wen Nan shivered and hurriedly pulled up his message interface from the system.

He opened their chat window, and messages popped up one after another.

[Little Pepper: Who is that skinny, short-haired girl?! Why do you look so close with her?]
[Little Pepper: And that older sister beside her, she radiates cold air—her aura doesn’t match mine at all, and you’re so close to her!]
[Little Pepper: Are you losing interest in me?! And two-timing at that!]
[Little Pepper: I’m still chasing you! How could you do this!]
[Little Pepper: I’m furious!]
[Little Pepper: But your kiss that night... was actually quite exhilarating...]
[Little Pepper: [Holding hands].jpg]
[Little Pepper: Wait! Why are you so experienced?!]
[Little Pepper: This was my first kiss!]
[Little Pepper: You have to take responsibility! I declare us together, unilaterally!]
[Little Pepper: Did you hear me?]
[Little Pepper: Why aren’t you responding?]
[Little Pepper: I’m still angry, aren’t you coming to comfort me?]
[Little Pepper: Fine, if you won’t reply, then for the next three days, I won’t talk to you either.]
[Little Pepper: …]
[Little Pepper: Seriously? If I ignore you, you really won’t reply for a whole day and night?]
[Little Pepper: If you don’t answer, I’ll come find you at your school!]
[Little Pepper: Voice call. Cancelled]
[Little Pepper: Voice call. Cancelled]
[Little Pepper: I’m downstairs at your dorm! Hurry up and come down!]
[Little Pepper: You big dummy! Hurry up!]
[Little Pepper: Voice call. Cancelled]
[Little Pepper: It’s so cold downstairs, I’ve been waiting a long time]
[Little Pepper: Voice call. Cancelled]
[Little Pepper: Big dummy, if you don’t reply, you’re dead meat]
…
The last message was sent a day ago.

Oh.

Wen Nan felt a headache coming on.

Wait, so in this player-character chat system, unless you specifically pull it up from the backend, messages don’t pop up automatically?

He hadn’t been ignoring her on purpose; he’d simply been busy with main and side quests these last couple days, and forgot to check the character chat system.

But now, any explanation seemed too late.

In truth, Wen Nan didn’t even know how to explain. He couldn’t exactly tell her he’d been busy cleaning up “Little Chalk” these past days.

Besides, even if he wanted to explain, judging by the stormy look charging toward him, she wouldn’t listen anyway…

Still, he had to try to appease her.

Thinking this, Wen Nan raised his hand, “Listen to me—”

—Boom!

He barely started speaking when the figure opposite leapt forward and bit his arm, spewing orange flames from lips and tongue that instantly engulfed his entire arm.

In a flash, his arm blazed like a torch.

…

…

[∑(;°Д°)]
[c( O.O )ɔ]
[(⊙_◎)]
[Huh?]
[Spicy pill]
[Hit]
[What kind of hit? True Samadhi fire?]
[Seriously, Samadhi fire?]
[Little Pepper is a fire-type ghost girl, once she locks onto a target and attacks, the other party can’t escape]
[But didn’t the streamer dodge last time on the school field?]
[Last time, before she locked on, the streamer kissed her, so she couldn’t lock on, and it was diffused. Later, Aunt Mei, a high-level ghost, came to help, and her attributes just countered Little Pepper, so he got away. This time, it won’t be so easy.]
[No escape this time?]
[Will the streamer turn into charred pig’s trotter?]
[Worse than that, pain in this game is 100% real. Jiuci’s arm is burning now, and the pain level is exactly like sticking your hand into a furnace in real life—no difference.]
[If he starts screaming in pain, moaning, or his mind wavers—fear, begging for mercy—Little Pepper will ghostify.]
[When Little Pepper ghostifies, she’s more terrifying than a demon from hell. The streamer’s level 1 body is doomed.]
[And once she ghostifies, the affection progress will be lost. The longer she stays ghostified, the faster the progress drops. This is the last task; if her affection falls below 60%, he’ll have no chance to recover, and the trial will fail.]
[So what do we do?]
[Only one way: don’t let her ghostify.]
[But she’s in fury mode now, any provocation will trigger ghostification.]
[Look at the streamer’s arm—it’s almost roasted. No normal person could endure that pain.]
[If he shows a hint of fear or wavering, it’s over.]
[Then it’s hopeless.]
…
…
However, the scene that the chat predicted—Wen Nan screaming in pain—did not appear.

Wen Nan glanced at his arm, now charred on the outside and tender within, but his face betrayed no sign of distress, as if the limb wasn’t even attached to his body.

After a pause, he even smiled at Little Pepper and extended his burning arm toward her, “Take a bite, are you satisfied? Why do you bite like a kitten when you’re angry?”

…

…

[?]
[??]
[∑(O_O；)]
[Wait, why isn’t the streamer reacting?]
[His arm’s burnt to a crisp, and he’s still flirting?]
[Iron hand of indifference?!]
[That’s not scientific]
[Is it because he maxed out his armor?]
[He’s just a level-one newbie, even with maxed armor, that fire would still make you scream for your mother]
[Yeah, even at level one, if he used Flower’s Tear to boost armor to 300, he’d still feel the pain]
[So why? Is the pro… immune to pain?]
[Pain receptors broken?]
…
…
Wen Nan could feel the pain. But he could endure it.

The reason he could endure so much pain was simple: he was used to it, just as he was used to living like an ordinary man in a world crawling with monsters and ghosts.

Why could he endure pain so well?

Because he had once experienced the greatest pain a man could know—

That was his second year at Peach Blossom Psychiatric Hospital, when he’d fallen in love with a girl.

She was the first to enter his world, to understand it. From their first meeting, they were drawn to each other, endlessly talking.

Soon, they became lovers, and before long, they reached the final step. Just as they were about to go all the way, Wen Nan had an accident—

He discovered that his true form was a white dragon.

Everyone knows: dragons have two.

He told his girlfriend about it, politely asking if both could be used. His girlfriend was troubled, being her first time and afraid of pain.

Of course, this was no obstacle for Wen Nan.

He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that night, he called his best friend, Water Monkey, to help solve this problem.

Water Monkey was loyal, quick with the blade, and deftly severed one.

It hurt. It hurt a lot. Too much.

But afterwards, Wen Nan and his girlfriend shared a night to remember for a lifetime, and he felt the pain was worth it.

However, he never expected a side effect—

From then on, Wen Nan suffered phantom limb pain every so often.

That pain accompanied him for years, thickening his nerves and making him very tolerant.

Of course, just being able to endure pain wouldn’t allow him to watch his arm burn to charcoal and still smile.

The reason he could be so calm now was—

He had just left Lin Xue Mei’s bed not long ago, his whole body frozen like an ice block, so the fire on his hand didn’t hurt as much as it looked; in fact, it felt rather warm.

Seeing Wen Nan so unfazed, Little Pepper was stunned.

She had never seen anyone smile after being burned by her fire.

She stared blankly for a moment, then remembered she was still angry. Puffing up her cheeks, she glared fiercely. “Why didn’t you reply to me—mmph?!”

She had barely started when Wen Nan stepped forward and kissed her hard.

Her burning lips gradually cooled beneath Wen Nan’s kiss.

The flames that had surrounded her faded away, as did the fire on Wen Nan’s arm.

Feeling the person in his arms stop struggling, Wen Nan released her lips.

Only then did Little Pepper finally catch her breath, inhaling deeply and exhaling long, her cheeks flushed red—though the blush was hidden beneath her dark skin and not easily seen.

Lowering her eyes, she muttered, “You kissed me so long, were you trying to suffocate me?”

Wen Nan laughed, wrapping his arms around her slim, taut waist, and teased, “Don’t you know how to kiss? Breathe through your nose, silly.”

Little Pepper recalled her earlier accusation—“Why are you so experienced?”—and her expression cooled again.

Wen Nan noticed and asked, “What’s wrong? Angry again?”

Little Pepper pouted and stayed silent.

Wen Nan stared at her, “If you won’t talk, then I’ll kiss you again.”

Little Pepper panicked, reaching up to pinch Wen Nan’s lips. “Don’t!”

After a moment’s thought, she said, “Did you see the messages I sent you?”

With his lips pinched, Wen Nan mumbled an affirmative.

Little Pepper continued, “You kissed me, so you have to take responsibility. You have to be my boyfriend, understand?”

Wen Nan removed her hand, pretended to ponder, then said, “It’s not impossible for me to be your boyfriend.”

Little Pepper had chased Night Nine for so long, and he’d never agreed. She hadn’t expected Wen Nan to relent now.

She was overjoyed, her eyes shining and her lips curling high. “Really?!”

Wen Nan thought for a moment more and said, “Call me daddy, and I’ll agree.”