A/N: A more fanservice chapter, hope you guys like.
Seven on the dot in the morning, Lin and I met up with Tyranny's boss and Old Man Han at Tyranny's entrance. Tyranny's boss looked like any other fat middle aged guy in a suit, nothing special to note. Old Han looked intimidating as ever with his slight frown and furrow between his brow. He probably already have a premature lines forming from frowning so much.
"Welcome, welcome. Let's go to the cafeteria to eat." Tyranny's boss gestured the two of us inside, excited to show off Tyranny's facilities.
Old Man just gave a grunt and nod for greeting. If I was reading Han WenQing correctly, he didn't seem pleased about something. Since he was glaring my way, I assume that he was mad at me perhaps.
x
There weren't too many people in the cafeteria since it was summer break. There was one person there I did recognize though.
"Ah. It looks like our timely Vice Captain is here eating too." Tyranny's boss pointed out Zhang XinJie and the person sitting at the same table across the room when we entered the room. "Oh and that's our newly transferred over player Lin JingYan. Let's grab food and join them. Feel free to grab anything from the breakfast bar. We recently hired a new chef. His cooking is pretty tasty if I do say so myself." The big boss bragged.
After grabbed soymilk and youtiao, we went to sit at the table with the other two players. Tyranny's boss really didn't plan this out very well. It was soon became apparent that the table was cramp for 6 people. I was currently squeezed between Old Man and Lin JingYan. I had no elbow space; no one could eat comfortably this way.
"Ah, it seem like I didn't plan this out too well. The table is a bit cramped for six adults isn't it?" Tyranny's boss said with a sweatdrop. "Well let me just introduce these two to you two. Lin JingYan, you just came to us a few days ago so you probably don't know yet. This is Naomi and Lin from Glory Co. Naomi is also the owner of the White Robed Witch. They are here to make a figure for Desert Dust! Please take care of them while they are here this week."
Lin JingYan and I made eye contact. Something seem to spook Lin JingYan. He seem to lose his grip on his spoon for his rice porridge, and the spoon dropped to the floor with a clink. I was starting to think maybe I was scary looking. This was the second time this week I scared someone by making eye contact.
"Here." I helped picked up the spoon on the floor and handed to Lin JingYan.
"Thanks. Hm. Sorry about the brick. I wasn't aiming for you in particular, Sister-in-law (大嫂)(1)!" Lin JingYan sprouted randomly. This earned him awkward stares from everyone around the table.
"Brick? Sister-in-law?" I asked.
"A few days in game, you got hit by a brick. You said you'd complain to him in person when you got here." Zhang XinJie reminded me the events from a few days ago. I guess I did vaguely remember getting hit by a brick in game and said something along those lines. My memory was a bit fuzzy at best.
"Still, who is your sister-in-law? I'm not that old! Jeez men nowadays." I scolded the older male besides me. "Oh, so it was you that threw that black brick at me. Ahaha. I don't actually remember that well. You have good aim in game hahaha." I laughed lightheartedly after I got over being called old.
"Oh, you guys have met in game already?" Tyranny's boss asked with a bit of interest. Right now, he seem to be the odd one out.
"Yea. We came across each other a few times in game for materials. He have one hell of an aim. It looks Tyranny have a great line up for the next season." I put in some sweet flattery words to the Tyranny's boss like I have heard Lin say to Tiny Herb's and Samsara's boss previously. Tyranny's boss seemed extremely pleased at the generic compliment though.
"Knowing you, you probably deserved it." Old Man commented under his breath.
"What was that?" I whispered back, daring Old Han to repeat it a bit louder.
"Your hearing must be going bad too along with your memory. I didn't say anything." Old Man said more clearly this time around.
x
After the initial lighthearted events in the morning. It was straight to business after the four of us moved to a different table.
"Let's go with the sand themed base. The character name is Desert Dust so it will match his name." Tyranny's picked out one of base designs I drawn up.
"Sure, we can do that." I said. I had to bite my tongue a lot during this meeting. Tyranny's boss were picking out designs for a lot of nonsense reasons. By his logic, for Cloud Piercer, his character base should have been walking in clouds instead of the rough dirt terrain he was posed on. The old western terrain feel really gave Cloud Piercer a wild cowboy feel that was super popular with fans.
"I think we should pose Desert Dust using his level 70 ultimate move, Ferocious Tiger Flurry."
"I can try, but I think it will look a bit messy to try to like sculpt so many fists around him."
"Then, can we have Desert Dust less scary looking?" Tyranny's boss suggested again. Now this time the request was a bit unreasonable.
"I think he looks fine though. I mean that's pretty much Captain Han's normal expression." I pointed to Old Han's face for example. "Unless you think there is something wrong with his face…" I laced my words with hidden blackmail. "What is your opinion Captain Han?"
"..." Old Han stayed silent as he stared at all the different art concept in front of him. His frown was a little deeper than usual. I was pretty sure he was silent because he couldn't make heads and tails of the sketches because they all looked the same to him. I smiled; he was a giant idiot when it came to artistic stuff like these. But at the moment, it was useful for me that he was making that face.
Tyranny's boss took a quick glance at Old Han's face and gulped. He had taken Old Han's furrowing of the eyebrow and silence as offense. "Haha. I was wrong, there is nothing wrong with Desert Dust's expression after all. You are truly a genius to capture it so accurately."
"Right?" I grinned innocently.
"If we are done, I'd like to set up somewhere to start finalizing the concept art. Lin here also have another important event to go to this afternoon that he can't afford to miss." I looked at the time when we neared the end of the meeting, it was already close to noon. Lin should get going to meet up with the rest of his family soon.
"Sure. Captain Han will take you to the computer lab to get set up on one of the computers. Lin, thank you for your help. You are such a busy guy. See you tonight at dinner?"
"Haha. Not as busy as Naomi makes me seem. I promised I would take the wife and kids to the beach this afternoon. But, I will be at dinner."
"Your whole family is here? Bring them to dinner tonight. I love to meet them." Tyranny's boss offered generously. It was unknown if Tyranny's boss really wanted Lin's family there or not. It was all business talk of course, no one wanted to come off cheap.
"I can't possibility impose."
"It's fine, it's fine."
"My kids are really young. They would just get in the way tonight."
"It's fine. Tonight is just for fun, not for business. Bring the family. It's fine."
The two men went back and forth on fake pleasantry that put me to sleep.
"Old Han, just tell Lin to bring the family. I'm sure he would listen to you. This is taking forever." I whispered to Old Man as we watched the two older men talked in circles like a boring soap opera.
"Lin." Han WenQing said like an emperor, leaving no room for argument. "I will see you and your family tonight."
"Okay!" Lin exclaimed with glee from a personal invitation from one of his favorite Glory idol. It was like a dream come true for him.
"Thanks for getting those two old mans finally talking in loops." I smiled up at Old Han as we saw Lin off in a taxi. He looked emotionless as usual though.
"Let's talk." Old Han lead me by the hand to Tyranny's practice room.
"Huh?" I tried to wiggle my hand out of Old Han's grip, but he just tightened his hold until it almost hurt. I had an ominous feeling somehow I was in big trouble.
x
"Let's fight. Let's see if you have improved any." Old Man Han gestured to the computer besides him.
"I am here to work on Project Desert Dust. Isn't this considered slacking?" My question was answered with a glare. "Okay, okay. You seem in a bad mood today."
"I am not." Han WenQing replied like a stubborn sulking kid.
"If you say so. Let's fight!" I readied my White Robed Witch. She twirled her spear/staff duo weapon easily in her hands.
"Fight." Old Han declared as he charged towards me in the Arena.
Too obvious. I thought. I have seen him using this move so many times that I could predict what he planned to do. He would side-step my character and attack me from behind. Without looking I stabbed the spear end behind my character.
Hit.
The White Robed Witch was sent flying from a Collapsing Fist from the front.
Instead of behind my character like I had seen him do many times previously, he crouched low to the ground and attacked me directly from the front, below my line of sight. He also didn't follow up with Whirlwind Kick like he usually would. He comboed me with Dashing Jab, High Kick, and Eagle Stamp.
I guarded high, he attacked low. I guarded left, he attacked right. Sometimes, he would even feint an old habit to lure me into his next attack. Every habit I knew of Old Man Han had changed. He fought with a playstyle that I was not longer familiar with. It looked the Old Man had learned new tricks.
"Your enemies will have a lot surprises to look forward to next season." I let out a heavy breath that I had been holding after I eventually lost. "You feel better after beating me up?"
"No." Han WenQing got up from his seat, spun my chair suddenly to face him. He trapped me between the computer chair and his sturdy body in the dim computer room that was only lit by our computer screens.
"W-what are you doing?!" I shouted. I very startled by his actions.
My heart thumped loudly in my chest. Old Han's look was more intense and overbearing than usual. I had a hard time looking at him in the eyes. My eyes darted around the room as I tried to pick a spot to look at. Oh look, that digital clock behind Old Han looked especially interesting right now. I could finally understand how someone being bullied for lunch money at school would feel. I wanted to hand my wallet to Old Han to get out of this.
There was something wrong with this scene. Why was I alone with this guy in the room? Where was everyone else? Oh right, they were all home on break. Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan went to the club house to help out for the day. Lin, you are my only hope! Come back! What had I done to deserve this?
"Explain yourself. Why were you helping Ye Xiu?" He leaned in a little closer and almost growled when he mentioned the name of his longtime rival.
Ooooh. So, that's why he was in a bad mood. Zhang XinJie and Lin JingYan must have mentioned something to him. He was now acting like a kid who doesn't want to his friend to play with someone else. "Don't be like this Old Man. We all been long time friends. You know I have been neutral between the two of you since the beginning." I booped him in the nose to break up the tense atmosphere.
"Still, I don't like it." He grumbled.
"Would it make you feel better if I helped Tyrannical Ambition while I am here this week?"
"Yes." He patted me on head and sank back into his own seat. "You will help Tyrannical Ambition this week from this computer right besides me. I will monitor to make sure you don't run off to help Ye Xiu again."
"Alright, you possessive man child." I smiled at the pouty Han WenQing. I guess even he could be cute sometimes.
Extra Chapter Bonus (1):
"Lin." Han WenQing said like an emperor, leaving no room for argument. "I will see you and your family tonight."
"Okay!" Lin exclaimed with glee from a personal invitation from one of his favorite Glory idol. It was like a dream come true for him. Tyranny's boss, on the other hand, sighed and started to count the money in his wallet after thinking about the extra mouths to feed tonight.
Bonus Chapter Material: Fancy Dinner
The rooftop restaurant was located on top of one of the tallest building in City Q. The view of the ocean was unobstructed by nearby skyscrapers. When we were all seated, the sky was painted a lovely shade of purple and orange from the sunset. The picturesque scene should have been the star tonight, but somehow it was lost to this group of video gaming people.
If even the perfect sunset went unnoticed, there was no hope for my evening outfit to catch anyone's eye either.
"Men. Your beauty is lost on them." AnChen sighed and took me to a nearby spot without people. "Come, stand at this balcony. Let's take some pictures."
I had gone back to the hotel and changed before dinner. I wore an orange and black high low dress that bought the day previous. The dress reminded me of the monarch butterfly. The light chiffon material on the dress danced as the ocean winds blew around me.
Old Han and the rest of the pro-player took a glance at me when I arrived before diving back into their current conversation. Only Tyranny's boss complimented me on how lovely looked out of courtesy before launching into a conversation about Project Desert Dust with me.
While I was drawing my day away, the news of the youngest player ever join the Pro Alliance exploded over the internet. The three pro players were currently busy discussing what could be the role of youngster Lu HanWen in Blue Rain. The kid was only 14 and played a Swordmaster. Blue Rain was currently not lacking someone to replace Huang ShaoTian's shoes right now. The men debated, conjectured, but in the end they could only wait and see when season 9 starts.
x
"Turn your body halfway and look at the ocean." An Chen gave me direction like a professional photographer as she took one picture after another.
"Aunty Naomi is so pretty! I want a picture with her and mom too!" MeiMei ran and hugged my legs.
"I want a picture too! She is going to be my girlfriend in the future." DaBao announced proudly.
"Haha. I'm afraid she is to be taken by the time you grow up my son." AnChen told DaBao he truth without any hesitation. "Mom is going to set her up with a nice man. I'm sending his mom her pictures right now. I'm afraid you have no chance, even though you are my son."
"No way! You have to wait for me to grow up Naomi." DaBao grabbed my hand and pouted.
"What you all talking about? Sounds like a lot of fun. Food is starting to arrive. Come back to your seats." Lin came to get us. He wrapped an arm around his wife's waist.
"You guys should get a family picture together before it gets too dark." I offered politely.
After snapping a few picture for Lin's family, we returned to the table.
x
Sweet Nectar Fried Shrimp (蜜汁炸虾), Heavenly Crab Soup (美味蟹肉汤), dishes with fancy names started to arrive one after another. To show off his generosity and wealth, Tyranny's boss probably ordered way too much food for the number of people present.
When the food had arrived, the sun was also almost submerged below the ocean horizon. The sky turned dark, and the stars came out to play. However, with the coming of evening, the pleasant warm ocean breath also turned chilly.
The men probably didn't notice the temperature drop at all since they were all wearing casual suits. AnChen was smart enough to bring a knitted night shawl and brought cute jackets for the twins. I had already spend a bit of money on the evening dress and shoes, and was too cheap to buy a shawl too. Now I was paying the price by freezing.
"Achoo." I sneezed away from the food and shivered noticeably when the main course was done and the servers came with the dessert menus.
The time was already around nine. Two hours had already passed since we arrived at the restaurant. The color of the ocean and sky blended into a big canvas of black with speckles of silvery stars for decoration. The temperature was the only mid-60s but because of the wind chill, it felt colder than the actual temperature.
Out of nowhere, I was covered with something warm. I sat between Old Han and DaBao, but I doubt this was DaBao's jacket. His tiny jacket probably wouldn't cover my shoulders. DaBao had wanted to sit by me because he wanted to keep me safe from Old Han. He even said to his mom and dad one point that Han WenQing seemed like a bad guy so he needed to keep his future girlfriend safe from the bad guy. Aww, kids were so cute sometimes.
I pulled the jacket closer and inhaled deeply to confirm. Yup this was definitely the smell of the body wash I smelled earlier today from Old Han. Wearing his jacket somehow made me feel warmer and safer in this cold night.
"Thanks, Old Man."
"No problem, Brat."
Extra Chapter Bonus (2):
Old Han and the rest of the pro-player took a glance at me when I arrived before diving back into their current conversation. Only Tyranny's boss complimented me on how lovely looked out of courtesy before launching into a conversation about Project Desert Dust with me. Somewhere in my heart, I felt a bit disappointed. I pouted and wanted to yell, "Notice me senpai!"
I drew again! This time of Naomi's orange and black dress. If interested, you can see it at
All TWRW artwork have been moved from google photos to DA for more convenient sharing.
Also have a picture of Naomi's pets irl/were based off there.