Noticing the look of confusion on Shen Jingbinâs face, Qi Mu sighed and said, "This was all because I was too stubborn in the past. Not only did my level drop, I even dragged Gentle Kite and Inking A Message into it, causing their levels to drop as well."
Shen Jingbin hurriedly sent friend requests to Gentle Kite and Inking A Message. After they accepted, she noticed that Gentle Kite was Level 90 while Inking A Message was even worse off; he was Level 83.
Back then, the two of them were already high-leveled players.
"I offended the members of Life At First Sight. Afraid of being implicated, my guild worked together with Life At First Sight and tricked us into entering Cloud Dream Swamp where the Universal Envoy resided. Once there, the Universal Envoy drained our levels. Doing it once wouldnât have been so bad, but the two guilds threw us back in time and time again."
Resentment carved its way into the faces of Gentle Kite and Inking A Message when Qi Mu said that.
Such methods were far too despicable.
"Let me take care of bringing you guys up then. I donât have anything urgent on hand apart from refining Divine Weapons, so Iâll round up some people to come along with us when we power level you guys," Pure Crane said.
"Count me in as well; I can help out too."
Qi Mu, Gentle Kite, and Inking A Message looked at the two of them. A moment later, Gentle Kite voiced a word of thanks.
After that, Pure Crane got ahold of The Winds Of Ximen, and they each took charge of the lowbieâs leveling. When compared to Pure Crane and The Winds Of Ximen, Shen Jingbinâs level was a little lower, so she was responsible for Qi Mu.
Shen Jingbin looked up Shen Jingchen, and three of them proceeded to clear various dungeons together.
"Did you know how foolish I was in the past? I thought I was both rich and beautiful, so I should be pampered by men. And, that someone as ugly as you wouldnât even be worthy of speaking to me. I later learned that men would only say these things to flirt with me when they were in a good mood. When they werenât, I was like a pet that theyâd kicked aside. This game... No, this world has no shortage of women. I wasnât special."
With a formidable fighter like Shen Jingbin and her vicious pet, Mascot, by her side to help her, Qi Mu didnât even need to ride on a mount while they were in the dungeon. She turned to look at Shen Jingbin who was by her side, ever-ready to protect her, and she suddenly felt a flurry of emotion well up inside of her. "I used to think that the world revolved around me, but I later found out that Gentle Kite and Inking A Message were the only ones who cared enough to stay by my side. Them not stepping on me when I was down is the greatest kindness that theyâve given me."
After casually throwing out a skill and finishing off one of the monsters that sheâd missed, Shen Jingbin raised her head and glanced at Qi Mu. Shen Jingbinâs gaze was unfocused, and it wasnât clear what was looking at. Shen Jingbin knew that Qi Mu had been keeping her emotions bottled up for a long time, and she was looking for someone to pour her heart out to.
No matter how close Gentle Kite and Inking A Message were with her, they were still men, and some things just couldnât be said to them.
"Do you know how I offended Life At First Sight? I knew a man who had both power and elegance. He treated me kindly and even took the initiative to chase after me. Unable to withstand his advances, I agreed to be his. I later found out that he was already married, and that his relationship with the other woman even extended to real life. She was from Life At First Sight, and she was the Guild Leaderâs close friend. The moment she knew of my existence, she came rushing to my doorstep to settle things with me. I didnât believe it till she brought him over to confront me. He declared that I was the one whoâd seduced him first, and it was then that I knew that Iâd made a mistake."
"What did you do?" Shen Jingbin asked.
"Me? Being the arrogant woman that I was, I obviously couldnât accept it. I wanted to break up with him on the spot. I thought that by doing this, she wouldnât have an excuse to cause trouble for me anymore. Little did I expect her to view my existence as a form of humiliation, and go on to make plans to drop our levels so that weâd quit the game. Gentle Kite and Inking A Message spoke up for me back then, so they were implicated too. Iâd thought that having many powerful friends by my side would deter them from taking any action, but my âfriendsâ either ignored me or removed me from their friend list. Some of them even worked together with that woman. As I was being dragged over to the Universal Envoy, I couldnât stop thinking about how much of a failure I was as a person since I had no one who was willing to help me."
"Didnât you have Gentle Kite and Inking A Message?"
"At that time, I wouldâve preferred it if they hadnât stepped out to help me. If they had chosen to avoid me, they wouldnât have fallen to where they are now... And, after stripping me of my Levels, I really did think of quitting the game, but I wasnât resigned to such a fate, so I jumped back in to start leveling again. I wanted to run dungeons, but no one was willing to carry me. Theyâd harass me if I tried doing my dailies, so I could only quietly go and take on quests from my sect instead... After obtaining the position of Lead Disciple, I was kicked out from my guild before I had the chance to do anything. After that, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could do next until I heard Gentle Kite talking about what you were doing, so I came looking for you."
Shen Jingbin quietly listened to everything she said. "It takes two hands to clap. Youâre part of the reason why youâre in your current state..." When she saw that Qi Mu was looking at her, she continued. "However, you can still be saved now that youâve realised your shortcomings."
Qi Muâs expression turned serious, and she took a deep breath in before she slowly said, "I deserved everything that happened to me, but Gentle Kite and Inking A Message didnât deserve any of it."
"Then you should do whatever you can to repay this debt to them."
Qi Muâs eyes lit up when she heard what Shen Jingbin said, her expression no longer dull and lifeless.
"Iâll definitely find a way to repay my debt!"