Four months, five days and one of my longest updates to date, (this is 3,600 something without notes.)
This chapter comes to you from the depths of hell...
Kind of.
My amazing self has been in vacation out of the country for over a month and when I finally am going home in the next couple of days; I GET SICK!
So, after dealing with lots of snot, coughing fits and LOTS AND LOTS OF hard work and copy/paste + editing and adding a few things here and there...
(formatting things via tablet is a biiiiiiiish)
CHAPTER 20 IS FINALLY HERE AND RIGHT AT THE RELEASE OF CHAPTER 74 OF THE MANGA.
WOW! Talk about great timing.
Now off to another well deserved hiatus.
The end is near, peeps.
[-]
Feng Lan tapped her pencil to the desk in an annoyed manner and across from her, Yang Ming was quietly trying to munch on the food he had brought with him and not be caught eating it.
By this point in the semester Gui was reaaaaaally trying to be lenient on his students. By students he really only meant Yang Ming. The others did not cause as much problem as he often did.
Gui was getting tired of yelling at Yang Ming not to eat in class and him not paying attention.
But he had to put up with it, simply because he was the twin brother of his beloved.
This was the guy he had to get acceptance from later on, and who would want to end up in trouble with their future brother-in-law anyways?
... Future. As in, way, way, way later. Something Gui would make sure happened no matter how long it took.
He coughed to get rid of such thoughts (for now,) and straightened the exams in his desk that he had to hand back to the students.
Somehow he had managed to grade them even though he had ended up playing Second Life the entire weekend.
He had placed Feng Lan's exam somewhere in the middle of the pile at random before the class began.
When he was grading it, he was tempted to give her a full grade but her essay was missing a few things he was expecting it to have and had to sadly deduct points.
A++ for effort and highly understanding of the theme was not an option when she had jumbled up her thoughts together and so her 100% had gone down and he had to sadly mark it as so.
Gui had ended up looking at it more than he cared to admit.
When it came to Yang Ming, however... The poor guy did the best he could (or something,) but honestly by this point the teacher had no hope for him. Gui had learned not to expect much right from the moment they met.
Gui went around the class, handing out the exams. "You have ten minutes to go over the results. If you think I made a mistake," and at that Yang Ming raised his hand that was not covered in remains of chips. "Wait until the time I said passes." He added.
Yang Ming sullenly placed back his hand and started munching on his chips again.
Feng Lan glanced to her brother and pointed to his exam questioningly.
"Well?" She mouthed.
Yang Ming shrugged.
Feng Lan sighed and shook her head. Why was her brother the opposite of her? He didn't care or try in his studies at all.
That leech. He probably failed again. He deserves it!
Feng Lan went back to staring at her exam and jotted down exactly where and why she got the points taken off. She wouldn't make the same mistake again.
The minutes silently passed, with everyone too focused on their own papers staring in front of them.
With the boredom now bothering her, she glanced to where Gu Yun Fei and Lu Jing were sitting. Their facial expressions were hard to read because; was that of glee or terror?
Feng Lan whispered out to them. "Pssssst! Lu Jing! Lu Jing!"
Lu Jing glanced towards her friend in a questioningly matter.
"What did you get?" She pointed to her exam.
Lu Jing raised hers up. A 98% score.
Feng Lan pursed her lips. "Not fair." Then she pointed to Gu Yun Fei. "What about him?"
Lu Jing leaned forward to Gu Yun Fei's seat. 67% she stated with her fingers once she had gotten him to relent his paper.
Feng Lan snickered.
"And you, Lan?"
She made a 90% with her fingers.
Lu Jing clapped.
"If I need to move you guys closer together," Gui just said amusedly, "please don't hesitate to tell me."
Yang Ming raised his hands defensively. "I didn't do squat!"
"Of course not." Gui agreed. "You were too busy stuffing your face. The entire class could hear your munching."
{-}
"EXCUSE ME! Have you seen a rather cute and beautiful red-haired lady around here?" Was the message Prince received right as he logged into Second Life.
The elven Prince shook his head. "The answer is no, because what you are is bossy. Why are you even looking for yourself anyways? I didn't know you were this crazy already." He replied back.
He could swear that even from his room wherever she was, he had heard Lolidragon stomp her feet.
"Hmph!" Was the reply. "Look just get over here."
"Where is here?"
"In short terms that even a protozoan like you can understand; Yu Lian is going berserk and we need a escape goat... Ahem. Someone to placate her."
"Can't my idiot brother do it? His face is enough to make any one rage after him."
"I'm not putting him out in the range of fire!"
"But you can towards me?"
"Pretty much."
"Asdghjkl!"
"Speak human."
"I'm not dealing with this today. I've had enough to deal with as it is."
"PRINCE OF SECOND LIFE THE FIRST! GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE!"
"Can't make me."
"I'm sending Gui that way right now."
"I don't deserve this."
"Neither do I but here we are."
Out from the hallway, screams of "HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS!" Could be heard and Prince cursed out loud.
"To the Prince mobile, Meatbun!"
"Mama?" Meatbun said.
"What is it my sweet little bun filled with meat."
"What's a mobile?" Meatbun pointed out.
Prince stared in silence, pondering how he was going to explain this to the pet in a matter that it would understand. He had to say it in a bun-like term. "It basically means I have to find a way to escape."
"Before what?" The meatbun simply asked.
"HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS! Requesting permission to enter!"
"... Before that." Prince said.
"Mama?"
"Yes...?"
"Did he bring firebirdy?"
"Probably, why?"
"Meatbun wanna play with firebirdy."
"We're not letting that bard into the room just because you want to play with firebirdy."
"Mama...!" Meatbun's eyes were starting to water.
"You traitor of a bun!"
Prince went to the door and locked it with all the locks it had at the top then opened the door slightly.
"His highness is letting me into his room!" Gui was squealing.
"Quietly hand over the bird, then proceed to leave, and no one gets hurt."
"His highness!" Gui wailed.
"Mama!" Meatbun wailed as well.
"I have to deal with two idiots."
Meatbun hopped over to Prince's head and took over the conversation. "Firebirdy!"
"His royal highness!" Gui only said back.
"Firebirdy! Firebirdy!" By this point Meatbun was tired of getting denied and he pelted Gui with his Machine Gun Meat from his safe distance.
"What did I do? I just want to see his highness." Gui stated as he dodged each hit.
"Firebirdy!"
Prince was laughing by now. "You're annoying the one pet you know you can't beat. Good job."
By the next ten minutes, Gui had relented and given Fire Phoenix to Prince. Yet had stayed at the door until the trio came out and proceeded to follow them.
He didn't call it stalking, but Prince sure did.
{-}
The group had somehow placated Yu Lian's rage and no one got hurt.
Three hours later, they were sitting in the conference room, discussing the final setups to the festival.
"We only have a few more days, and this has to be PERFECT!" Lolidragon said. "We have to give the greatest ending to a virtual game in history."
"I still can't believe it's closing." Feng Wu Qing said, with a stuffed mouth full of rice crackers.
Prince groaned and glanced away. "Can you do that elsewhere and stop ruining the moment?"
Feng Wu Qing stuck his tongue out.
Prince fake gagged.
Ugly Wolf yelled at them to focus.
"Okay, what's left to do?" Lolidragon continued, as she ignored them and glanced to her notepad.
"Doll still hasn't received approval for her skeleton show." Doll said.
"Because we don't want casualties to happen again," Yu Lian said. "We're trying to end the game free of debt."
"It's us we're taking about. Casualties should be our middle name." Prince said. "The Odd Casualties Squad."
"Look who's bringing the kettle back to the tea." Feng Wu Qing said
"Doll thinks it's a pot?" Doll said.
"He has a warped sense regardless so it's not like he'll get smart even if you try to teach him new tricks." Prince said.
"Hey!" Feng Wu Qing protested.
It was Prince's turn to stick his tongue out.
"Okay, so we solved some of the issues and we all can use some fresh air so let's take a break." Ugly Wolf reasoned, trying to not get the two quarreling siblings more riled up.
"Fine." Yu Lian grumbled. "You have fifteen minutes once you leave the room."
"We actually get some free time?" Prince asked excitedly "Does this mean we can joke around?"
"Please don't ruin the image fans have of you." Yu Lian said.
"He does that on his own." Feng away Qing quipped. "We don't have to help there."
"Har har!"
"Look, Prince, this isn't free time." Lolidragon stated. "You have fifteen minutes to grab food and come back."
"Sounds like free time to me." Prince said happily.
"Wait what? Food?" Feng Wu Qing gawked. "No one told me the break was to get food. Wait for me, tranny!"
Prince made an L with his hand and ran off.
Feng Wu Qing ran after him yelling about all the types of food they could prepare and eat with the ten minutes they had once they got to the kitchen.
"We could just grab chips and salsa for a easy snack. Then we have those microwaveable mac-and-cheese. Did you already eat the supply we got of those chocolates they only sell in the northern continent?"
"They've all made me so busy that I haven't even been to the kitchen in a couple of days. Quite the tragedy, really. I don't even know when or what food supplies we got."
"Hmm... Then you don't know we got rice crackers too." Feng Wu Qing was thinking out loud.
"I saw you munching on those earlier. You didn't even share you glutton!" Prince criticized.
"You can have some from the kitchen if we have leftovers." Feng Wu Qing compromised.
"Knowing you, you probably already ate it all." Prince stated.
"I left some! ... I think." Feng Wu Qing said.
"Think is what you don't do." Prince huffed.
"HEY!"
{-}
"There is no way one can make it back to the conference room in fifteen minutes." Prince was saying when he and Feng Wu Qing were walking over to the kitchen for their break.
"Fifteen minutes technically only become ten if you run. And from those, you only have five minutes in the kitchen to grab something before you have to run back out." Feng Wu Qing agreed.
"How much time do you think we can spare before we get in trouble?" Prince mumbled as he reached to a cabinet to see if any of the rice crackers were left.
"Half an hour, give or take." Feng Wu Qing guessed.
"That," Prince said as he managed to find a package. "I can manage." He said opening it and bit into the crunchiness of the crackers.
"Give me your Infinity Bag." Feng Wu Qing stretched out his hand towards the elf and with the other, was reaching to the other cabinet searching for a bag of chips.
"What for?" He asked. "And how do you even know I have one?"
Feng Wu Qing stared. "Do you really think we can carry all the food we want to swipe by ourselves?" And then he laughed. "You're probably the most famous player., only a couple of others can compete. Of course you have all the good stuff."
Prince grumbled and with his empty hand pulled up the inventory menu and a bag the color of a dark maroon red appeared in the floor. "Just don't lose it and you have to give it back. I'm not kidding you idiot! It costs a fortune."
The warrior left the bag of chips and excitedly leaped to the ground to pick the bag up. "Why wasn't I invited to the mission when you guys were gathering the ingredients?"
"Because," Prince said, "you were still with Team Rose back then. You didn't really know who I was either. You still hated my guts."
Feng Wu Qing only laughed. "What makes you think I actually like you any more than I did back then?"
Prince shrugged and tossed Feng Wu Qing the chips he had left in the counter and the glass of salsa that went with it.
They were like that for a couple of minutes. Bantering and tossing each other food back and forth.
By the time they were content with their food stash, they had been at it for almost half an hour.
When Feng Wu Qing finally relented and had released the Infinity Bag, Prince took it and placed it around his shoulders like a messenger bag.
"I really wanted one!" Feng Wu Qing huffed
"Not everyone is worthy."
"Is this how you pay back someone who has saved your skin multiple times!?"
"I let you live at Infinite Castle for free."
"I'm not a charity case."
"You might as well be one."
"HEY!"
{-}
"I only gave you guys fifteen minutes!" Lolidragon screamed when Prince and Feng Wu Qing had made it back to the conference room.
Feng Wu Qing shrugged and Prince simply stared.
"It was only an hour." Prince argued.
"An hour is sixty minutes." Lolidragon stated. "Sixty minutes is a long time. Especially for us."
Prince sat down in the back and quietly brought out the snacks from his Infinity Bag.
He casually sneaked some to Feng Wu Qing who had sit down a few chairs away from him.
They both pretended to listen when Yu Lian was talking about funds and things they needed to confirm for the festival.
"What do you think, Prince?" Ugly Wolf asked a couple minutes later.
"Hmrph?" Prince was in the middle of biting into a cookie.
Ugly Wolf sighed, Doll was extending a hand out pleadingly, Yu Lian stared in disappointment, Lolidragon just shook her head and Gui basically had star-shaped eyes.
"He means yes." Feng Wu Qing stated.
"Do you both even know what we're talking about?" Lolidragon couldn't help but ask.
"The funds to pay Arctic Fox for the guitar." Feng Wu Qing said.
"That was five minutes ago!" Lolidragon exclaimed.
Prince kept munching his cookies like nothing was going on. Feng Wu Qing kicked him.
"Stop making me answer for you." Feng Wu Qing said.
Prince kicked him back and threw a cookie his way.
"You two," Lolidragon said, "need to do work and stop being lazy. You have eaten more than enough."
"Stop eating!" Yu Lian uttered.
"R-r-right." Prince and Feng Wu Qing stated.
When Yu Lian spoke, no one really dared to contradict her and the two siblings knew that. They sullenly placed their snacks back to the Infinity Bag and Prince sent it back to his inventory.
"Okay, now that you two will finally pay attention," Lolidragon said. "We can start again. From the top."
Feng Wu Qing and Prince both groaned.
{-}
"Oh come on." Prince said with a swing of his dao. "I know you can dodge this."
For the fifth time, Prince's dao had struck Feng Wu Qing, who didn't really have much of a defense against it.
Prince's agility and speed were faster than his own and he was barely keeping up.
"Hey!" He screamed. "I don't want to be sent to the rebirth point."
"You're level 89. Suck it up. " Prince swung again. "You can handle way more than this."
Feng Wu Qing jumped and barely dodged that one. He brought forth his own rapier and ran after Prince.
"I hate you so much." He said as he chased after the elf.
Prince simply laughed and got into a defense pose. "Ha."
"You are so done!" Feng Wu Qing striked and at the last minute, Prince rolled to the floor and raised up his dao to the side, aiming at the warrior's left leg. He managed to cut through some of the skin in the middle. "Ouch! You bastard!"
"Everything is fair." Prince smirked. "It's just like cutting fish."
Sweatbeads were forming at Feng Wu Qing's forehead and he wiped it off. "Stop comparing me to food." He huffed.
"You can do it, Prince!" Lolidragon yelled from the sidelines.
"Cheer for me." Feng Wu Qing said.
"Hmph." Lolidragon stuck her tongue out.
With sheer determination and ignoring the pain in his leg the warrior hopped and tapped his rapier, calculating his next move.
With their difference in agility and speed there wasn't much Feng Wu Qing could do unless he caught the elf by surprise. That in itself was a feat no one had managed yet.
So; how could he do it?
"If you want to raise a white flag," Prince smirked, "go ahead."
"I'm not resigning!" Feng Wu Qing pointed his rapier. "I'm thinking about my next move, wait."
Prince shrugged and ran up to him, striking his stomach now. "Thinking and waiting in a battle leaves you at the opponent's mercy."
"You mother *BLEEPS* ...!" He was now clutching at his stomach.
"You're this close to the rebirth point. Let's make a bet how long you can last, hmmm?"
"If he can manage to send you to the rebirth point in the next two minutes, Feng Wu Qing," Lolidragon said, "I will give Prince a hundred copper coins."
"Hey!"
"I'm being generous in the amount of time. He can finish you off in less." Lolidragon nodded her head.
The warrior sighed and Prince's smirk never left his face.
"So tell me," he said, "swift and deadly or slow and bloody? I can save you the pain and spare your guts or I can make them all splurt."
"I'm not an experiment that you can dissect!" Feng Wu Qing covered his ears. "I'm not going to be able to eat."
"Better for me." Prince stated. "So, I will start with your intestines... You're clutching your stomach, you better watch your hand."
"STOP IT!" Feng Wu Qing said. "I'll gladly send myself to the rebirth point if this keeps up."
Lolidragon started laughing. "Oh Buddha. This is great."
{-}
Feng Lan glanced to her tablet, at the document she had sent to herself and wondered if she stared long enough; would it disappear?
She stood in the front of her mirror, mimicking the pose Prince had to take. With pursed lips, she twirled her hair brush, which was acting as the makeshift microphone.
"Citizens of Second Life; I come to you today not as a legend, but as someone who is just like you." She read from the tablet which was in her vanity. "Believe it or not, I didn't join this game... ARGH! This is so flipping hard!" With raised fists she almost threw the hairbrush at the mirror in rage but contained herself at the last minute.
"What are you doing?" Yang Ming asked amusedly. "I came by to ask for dinner, but this is great. Please continue."
Feng Lan threw the hairbrush at him. "Get out!" She screamed. "Learn to knock! There is such a thing as privacy."
"Not in this house." Yang Ming murmured. "Anyways, I didn't just came by to ask for food. Mom and dad are back."
"WHAT!?"
"Lan, dear is that you? Where are you?" Mrs. Feng was voicing from downstairs. "Yang Ming? I know I heard you walking around."
Yang Ming bit his lip to not utter out an, 'I told you so.' And Feng Lan took the opportunity to drag her brother into her room completely and closed the door, locking it behind her.
"Keep your voice down and maybe they'll think we're not here."
Yang Ming simply stared. "They saw me. And they heard your voice."
The twins heard pounding outside the door, and next thing they knew Feng Lan's door was pushed open and Mrs Feng nodded happily to herself, placing back the bobby pin she was holding back to her hair.
"How did she do that?" Yang Ming uttered in disbelief.
"Don't ask." Feng Lan said.
"There you two are! Gracious. Look at you, you're getting along now. This is great."
"We're really not, mom." Feng Lan said. "It's a kind of compromise we have been forced to deal with at the last minute."
"What are you doing here?" Yang Ming asked.
"I'll have you know this is my home." Mrs Feng said accusingly.
"Not three fourths of the year." Yang Ming said.
"Where's dad?" Feng Lan couldn't help but wonder.
"Oh, he's getting us groceries." Mrs Feng said.
"Us?" The twins asked together.
"Us. As in me, him and you two!"
"I don't have time to play house." Feng Lan muttered.
"That's no way to talk about your parents, who flew in from their vacation just to spend time with you guys."
Feng Lan wanted to roll her eyes. "Seriously. Why are you here?"
"Well, we wanted to spend time with you guys." Mrs Feng said. "Aaaaaaaand... To offer our services and helping hands to Prince."
"I knew it!" Feng Lan said. "You knew I wouldn't let you guys mooch off me in-game when you guys aren't even home so you pulled this stunt."
"Lan, dear. Who raised you? Now be nice and share with your parents."
Today really is a bad day Feng Lan thought.
[-]
I don't really go 'PLEASE REVIEW!' But, I do honor and mention those who need recognition.
God bless Anonymess for dealing with me and being there 24/7.
She's like an unpaid, under mentioned beta and she's a godsend.
We often joke around that we have the same followers but to those of you 1/2 Prince lovers out there who don't know her yet...
Go check out her stories; Second Generation and its sequel Imbroglio. Also Illusion.
Man... I am doped in medicine but I still got this.
GO! GO!