Online Game: My Decay Drives the Entire Server Crazy

[Private Message] Ye: No. We agreed on repaying the debt, so you have to see it through to the end. If you think it’s unfair, you can choose not to come to the Heavenly Temple territory. No one is forcing you to come.

Qin Wentian fell silent. He knew Lin Ye was right. The debts he owed in the past could not be repaid by just a few pieces of equipment. What was this small price compared to that?

He stood up, bare-chested and covered in pixels, and walked out of the Heavenly Temple territory. The players along the way were all stunned when they saw him—

”Holy shit! Who is that? Why is he naked?”

”That looks like Qin Wentian? How did he become like this?”

”Hahaha! His model is all pixels, you can’t even see his face!”

”And he’s bare-chested! Is this some kind of performance art?”

Qin Wentian kept his head down and walked quickly, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. He wanted to explain, but as soon as he opened his mouth, it was that loli voice, and the more he explained, the more embarrassing it became.

He simply stopped talking and walked back to the Commoner Supermarket with his head down.

When he returned to the supermarket, Fatty Wang was busy behind the counter. Seeing Qin Wentian walk in bare-chested, he almost choked on his own laughter.

”Guild Leader Qin, what happened to you? Were you robbed?”

Qin Wentian’s face darkened, and he said in a low, loli voice: ”Brother Ye reclaimed my equipment.”

Fatty Wang was stunned for a moment, then laughed even harder: ”Hahaha! Brother is too ruthless! He didn’t even leave you your equipment!”

Qin Wentian ignored him and went upstairs to find Lin Ye. Lin Ye was sitting by the window, munching on virtual melon seeds. When he saw Qin Wentian walk in bare-chested, the corners of his mouth curled into a wicked smile.

”Yo, Guild Leader Qin, why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

Qin Wentian gritted his teeth, his loli voice filled with anger: ”Brother Ye, you’ve gone too far. If you want me to repay my debts, I accept it. If you want me to suffer social death, I accept that too. But if you don’t even leave me my equipment, how am I supposed to fight monsters? How do I level up? How do I repay my debts?”

Lin Ye stood up, walked over to him, and patted his shoulder: ”Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared equipment for you.”

He took a set of equipment out of his backpack and handed it to Qin Wentian—a Newbie White-tier set, requiring level 1, with all stats at 1 point. It was exactly the same as the starter set given by the system, down to the color.

”Put it on,” Lin Ye said.

Qin Wentian looked at the equipment, his face turning green: ”Brother Ye, you want me to wear this? What’s the difference between this and being naked?”

Lin Ye laughed: ”There is a difference. Being naked is too ugly; wearing this is at least more decent. Besides—” He paused, ”Aren’t you trying to repay your debts? Fighting monsters in this is what you call repaying debts. Fighting monsters in an epic set is called enjoyment.”

Qin Wentian fell silent. He knew Lin Ye was right. When he used to fight monsters in his epic set, he had never considered how those solo players who couldn’t even afford white-tier gear felt. Now, he finally understood.

”Fine.” He took the equipment and put it on, piece by piece. White-tier chest armor, white-tier leggings, white-tier boots, white-tier weapon. The stats combined didn’t even add up to a fraction of one of his old epic equipment pieces.

”Let’s go,” Lin Ye said, ”I’ll take you to grind monsters.”

”Still grinding?” Qin Wentian gave a wry smile, ”Wearing this, who could I possibly beat?”

Lin Ye laughed: ”With me here, what are you afraid of?”

That afternoon, Lin Ye took Qin Wentian to the Ash Plains to grind monsters again. Fatty Wang and Su Qinghan went too. The four of them formed a party, with Lin Ye leading the way, applying debuffs to the wild monsters and killing them instantly.

Fatty Wang picked up the loot, and Su Qinghan was responsible for casting shields. Qin Wentian followed at the very back, responsible for—getting beaten up.

[System Notification: You were attacked by [Ash Wolf], losing 150 HP. Current HP 50/200.]

Qin Wentian looked at his health bar, his face turning green. Back when he wore his epic set, the Ash Wolves couldn’t even break his defense. Now that he was wearing white-tier gear, he was down to critical health in just three hits.

”Brother Ye, can you cast a shield on me?” he asked pitifully.