Chapter 399: Losing Data
The Super God Heiya had seized the battle-winning advantage, but he suddenly logged out. After his partner, who was unparalleled in close-range combat, beheaded the final Phoenix, he did the same. Their behaviors weren't in line with normal human logic, drawing the onlookers in area A to discuss spiritedly. Some even argued about whether or not there was shady business going on. The place was a complete mess.
The VIP room was a complete mess as well.
Yue Zheng struggled, with vomit, nasal fluids and tears gushing out of him. He was dreadfully affected by physiological and psychological effects at the same time.
The room's self-cleaning system activated, and a multi-function robot came to clean up. The rich second generation group avoided it like they were avoiding a viper or a scorpion. There was practically no one idle in the room.
Ju Ling, who had been sitting on the sofa this entire time, stood up and headed out.
"Brother!" Ju Maoxun yelled, rushing to chase after him. He also gave Fan Qu instructions just before he left the room, "Bring this unsightly bro....no, we're going to switch rooms first. You watch him and come over once things are swiftly tidied up."
Ju Maoxun disregarded Fan Qu's response completely after uttering these words. He went straight out and saw that Ju Ling was talking to someone through his wristband. Ju Maoxun didn’t need to go far.
Though Ju Maoxun let out a breath of relief, he also had quite the headache.
The disastrous failure in him trying to pick up Tian Si at Ocean Sky Cloud City led him to hate both Tian Si and Luo Nan. He was constantly looking for a chance to vent his malice. Tonight he had found out about Tian Si and Luo Nan's presence from Fan Qu. He wanted to embarrass them, to see unsightly expressions on the dog boy and girl.
It wasn't that he was physically incapable of simply intruding on on them directly, but this sort of method held no face at all. His cousin, a high ranking officer, just so happened to attending a feast on the floors above. The people attending had special identities, and he wanted to use the opportunity to play a few tricks and do things more sophisticatedly.
He never thought that his choice of using Yue Zheng to break through from behind enemy lines would go so badly. Yue Zheng had let his group leave their room super early, and then there was the disturbance with the hero seats. Ju Maoxun had the intention to play around in the game before making a move in reality: this was to warm up the venue. However, he never expected to be slapped in the face; there was always the risk of failure in anticipated plans.
Ju Maoxun was fully aware of the fact that his cousin thought very highly of himself. Today, his cousin had transferred from the City Defense Force to the Wilderness Combat Force; it was supposed to be a time to celebrate his accomplishments. Normally, it was nothing for his cousin to help Ju Maoxun set up a venue, but the matter had turned into such a vile state. It was unlikely for Ju Maoxun to receive the aid of his cousin now.
His mind spun like a windmill, thinking about how to persuade his cousin. He never expected Ju Ling to shoot a glance at him and speak normally rather than with guttural deepness accustomed by those in the military.
"Brother Weican. Yes, I'm still down at Frost River Reality."
Ju Maoxun's ears perked up the instant he heard "Brother Weican". The most ideal form of his plan for tonight included not only Ju Ling but also Brother Weican coming down.
He was not bold enough to believe the gossip and rumors he just heard. In any case, this information could only form a contingency plan.
Ju Ling gave him another glance as he said his name, "Yes, it's Maoxun. There's no need. I'm pretty much done here. I'm heading back soon."
Ju Maoxun went into a state of shock when he heard this, but he also didn't want to get on Ju Ling's bad side. He gestured over and over with his hands. Ju Ling ignored him, continuing to exchange pleasantries over the call. The words then took a sharp turn when Ju Maoxun was near despair.
"That's fine, then I'll wait a bit for you."
Ju Maoxun nearly choked on his breath, forgetting to be delighted.
Ju Ling ended the call and turned to look at him, "Weren't you waiting for him?"
Ju Maoxun knew that he couldn't feign ignorance with Ju Maoxun. He didn't cover it up any longer. Delight flushed his face as he cupped his hands in thanks, "Many thanks to you, Brother Ling."
Ju Ling had an indifferent expression, but his gaze was quite sharp, "The arrogance of the Chen family runs deep in their bones. They never do favors for nothing. It appears that there are some big plans this time."
Ju Maoxun thought to himself. Rubbish. He is the Vice President of his school's student council. Though his dad is the Vice Chief of Staff of the City Defense Force, this connection was a two-degree separation. Everyone knows that he has some other schemes in mind to search for you, someone of the Wilderness Combat Force, to go drinking with.
Thinking about it, wasn't Chen Weican about to graduate soon? Maybe he was starting to pave his road for the future. Was he not going to pursue further studies, and instead grow his career in the military?
The thought flashed and faded away. Ju Maoxun didn't care about what Chen Weican was up to. He just cared about his plan to trample on certain people tonight—whether or not he could execute the plan smoothly. He chuckled, "Inviting him for some drinks, meeting some subordinates, how is this a favor?"
Ju Ling stare fixed upon him, "What about going one step further?"
Ju Maoxun gave a sly smile, "That's what I owe Brother Ju Ling for."
Ju Ling suddenly smiled when he saw his cousin like this, "All right. There just so happens to be something you can help me with."
Ju Maoxun grew diffident, but he soon smacked his chest, "Brother Ling, just tell me what to do. I will certainly live up to your expectations."
The door to the VIP room behind them suddenly opened just as he finished speaking, and Fan Qu came rushing out. He saw the cousins of the Ju Family chatting outside and forced an awkward laugh before ducking down the corridor.
Ju Maoxun grew angry upon seeing this, "The fuck are you going? Aren't you switching rooms for us?"
Fan Qu hurriedly said, "Young Master Xun, I was just going to go handle this matter. Please wait a moment, sir."
"What about that Yue Zheng in the room?"
"I've already called for someone, yes, to come over. They'll ensure that he'll quickly sober up and they'll make sure that things are neat and clean."
Ju Maoxun saw that a service personnel had indeed come over. He grunted in approval, raised his chin, and let Fan Qu beat it.
While Ju Maoxun reproached Fan Qu, Ju Ling was in a state of thought, uttering not a word. This lasted until the service personnel walked past him and into the VIP room. Only then did he say, "In a moment before Chen Weican arrives, you will go to that room."
"Huh, you're not coming with?"
"No, you go first. You and Yue Zheng go together." Ju Ling glanced at his cousin one last time and spoke in a tone that did not allow refusal, "It has to be you two!"
Ju Maoxun was stunned. There was something fishy about this!
During Ju Maoxun's confusion, Fan Qu was extremely neurotic as well. It was super annoying.
From his perspective, Ju Maoxun's request to switch rooms was absurd. Everyone knew that resources like the VIP rooms had to be reserved in advance. Frost River Reality was booked to full capacity nowadays. It was easier said than done to switch rooms.
Fortunately, his luck was decent tonight. After a two minute delay, there were people about to check out from a VIP room. He used god-like control to stick himself onto the booking queue, reserving the room. He had just told the rich second generation group this when the VIP floor guide sent a message.
The people checking out refuse to leave. They want to request a renewal!
If it was only this, then Fan Qu could completely use reasons like 'store rules' to fob it off, but he heard two names from the guide.
"Young Master Xie and Young Master Hu are both there...."
Fan Qu's heart was about to explode. He had just barely managed to handle Ju Maoxun's questions when he walked a few steps around the corridor and arrived at Frost Room seven. The VIP room here had its door open, and the beautiful guide was at the entrance, dealing with the questions of the guests inside. She was in a dire situation.
"Why didn't you wait until we left before you started procedures?"
"Isn't Frost River Reality known for keeping data on all the VIP customers?"
"It is very normal to cancel a renewal. I admit that it’s normal for reserved customers to have priority, but we haven't even taken off our equipment. We haven't even left the door. Why don't you give us this out?"
"We're not trying to make things hard on you. Where's Yin Le? Have her come over and talk with us."
Fan Qu's heart turned even more bitter when he heard the name Yin Le. If this person really did come, his position as store manager would pretty much be demolished.
He was a quick-witted person. He was able to gain a general understanding of the situation from these scattered words without even entering the room. In the end, this was misfortune he, himself, had provoked by forcefully sticking himself on top of the wait-list. He performed a small violation of the rules for the sake of beating the other customers' reservations. He had started the initialization procedures ahead of time for Frost seven before the checkout process could be automatically completed.
This wouldn't had been a problem as long as the guests had sincerely left. However, these guests had changed their tunes, seeking to renew their time. The two procedures were at an impasse, causing this mistake to be leaked.
But what was the matter with the data?
Fan Qu pondered for a moment before mustering the courage to walk inside the room. He saw that there weren't that many people in the room. Aside from Young Master Xie and Young Master Hu—also known as Xie Junping and Hu Huaying—there was someone unfamiliar. This person had the appearance of a pale-faced scholar, and his voice was quite sharp. Most of the questions came out of his mouth.
"Oh my, apologies to Young Master Xie and Young Master Hu. I'm the manager of this store, Fan Qu. Terribly sorry for just now. There's probably some problems with the system connection; it is a newly opened store, after all. It isn't just this room. Frost two also has a similar problem. We are working on it right now."
Fan Qu bolstered his courage as he secretly used a trick. He prepared to kill two birds with one stone when it came to these two headache inducing matters. "It's certainly not a problem for you to renew your time, but it's hard for you to keep your room. If you three don't mind, can we change rooms?"
If Xie Junping agreed, Fan Qu would dare to let them go to Frost two, the room where Ju Maoxun and the others were at. It would be a giant swap, and it would eliminate this crisis once and for all.
He had planned this very well, but unfortunately the fundamental crux of the matter didn't lie here.
"Your name is Fan Qu, right? Let's not talk about the matter of renewing time for now. I want to ask you something first. Can you retrieve the data that was wiped by you initializing procedures?" Xie Junping was the one who talked. He dressed quite bizarrely. He wore the training clothes of the ancient style. Robes with buttons going down. The fit was loose, and he gave off the feel of an immortal Daoist at first glance. It was just that his expression was super dark. He was in a terrible mood.
"That's right. Who gives a fuck about this bullshit room!? We want the data! DATA!" The brother with the sharp voice was certainly a bit neurotic at the moment. He clapped loudly as he yelled in an extremely manic manner. It felt like he could lose it at any moment.
Fan Qu felt that things were odd. He asked curiously, "Young Master Xie, are you talking about the game data? I certainly have it saved on my end. You can seamlessly access it when you switch to any room...."
"Fuck your game data!" The neurotic brother jumped up, and it was a real jump. He jumped again, waving both fists in anger. "That was a magical spell structure that I derived through pain and effort. I just barely had a bit of insight when it was fucking ruined. RUINED!"
"It wasn't successful at all...." Hu Huaying could be said to be the most indifferent of the three. He had always disapproved of Xie Junping working on this stuff. He muttered this in a low breath.
The neurotic young man--oh, actually it was the former president of the Mystic Arts Research Society, Du Yong--had extremely sharp ears. He glared when he heard Hu Huaying, and simply let out a series of curses, "Fuck you retard. Amateurs shouldn't interrupt!"
Hu Huaying was disinclined to bicker with someone neurotic. He just silently gave Du Yong the middle finger.
Xie Junping's expression was dark as he fixed upon Fan Qu with his gaze, "We were using the projector of the VIP room to make design changes. It took almost an entire day of struggling for us to nearly succeed when you guys started your initialization procedures. Everything was wiped clean. And this stuff, I had huge plans for this stuff. Tell me right now, openly and clearly, does your system automatically save the projector data? Can my data be retrieved?"
Sweat beaded on Fan Qu's forehead. He knew that this matter couldn't be easily resolved. He didn't dare to respond directly. He said, "Young Master Xie. I will get in contact with the technical staff immediately. We will do our utmost to give you, sir, a satisfactory answer."
Xie Junping's foot moved. His previous temperament would have led him to stomp the ground. However, he had been studiously following the practices of cultivation in recent times, and such practices were effective. The nameless flames stirred in his heart, but he pressed them down. He mouthed to himself, "Adhere to forward progress. Control is paramount." And he no longer regarded Fan Qu. He turned to face Du Yong and said,
"Sissy, do you think someone else can produce it using the previous basic draft as a reference?"
Du Yong walked in circles, his heart filled with impatience. Quite a while passed before he said, "Of those versed in the mystic arts, I-I rather respect Tang Yi."
"Then contact her! Ask her to help!"
Du Yong gaped, whatever nerves and rashness he had were gone. All that was left was awkwardness and embarrassment.
Xie Junping grew angry when he saw this, walking forward and grabbing Du Yong by the collar, "You led me into this world, and now you're hesitating over something like this?"
Du Yong lacked the slightest bit of temper in this moment. He even spoke with a stutter, "B-But it's Tang Yi. She's not likely to regard...."
"How will you know if you don't ask?"
"Then, I'll ask?"
Xie Junping drew in a deep breath and released Du Yong's collar. He took two steps back and pinched his forehead in thought for a moment. Then he dialed a number through his wristband, and the call was answered a few seconds later.
He coughed and subconsciously took on a humble attitude, "Nanster, there's something I want to get your advice on. It has to do with....how do I say this? It's a problem that has to do with the mystic arts. Aren't you quite good, or, uh, quite interested, in this sort of thing? So, I want to ask something concerning magical spells...."
Xie Junping's current stammering appearance was far too different than his previous appearance. Even Du Yong, who was in a bind over whether or not to call Tang Yi, couldn't help but turn to look at him.
Xie Junping was in no position to handle this. He walked a few steps deeper into the room, grunting in answer. Then he suddenly raised his voice, "Huh? You're at Frost River Reality? Which store? Aurora Cloud City....holy shit!"
Xie Junping immediately became excited, "Hurry up and come up! Come up! I'm in the VIP area, Frost seven. Hu San'er and Sissy Du are here as well! You can't leave? Entertaining friends? Is it those....is it alright if I go to you? Which room? Area A's luxury rooms, Lu Frost. All right, we'll be there soon."
He ended the call and clapped, "Let's disregard this place for now. Oh, Sissy Du, were you able to get a hold of her?"
Du Yong responded bitterly, "Tang Yi is at a party tonight. Tomorrow she has an appointment. The day after tomorrow she has to catch up with some tasks. She's not accepting any work."
Xie Junping rolled his eyes, "Then forget her! Luckily, Nanster and his friends are all here. Let's go meet up with them. Yep, let's see if things might take a turn for the better."
His gaze shifted to Fan Qu as he spoke, "You. Prepare four elite-grade fruit platters and a sufficient amount of alcohol. No wait, forget the alcohol. Send the goods down to Lu Frost. Do it ASAP. You cannot be slow about this. Hello, hello, snap out of it. Did you catch what I said?"
"Lu Frost! Lu Frost!" How could Fan Qu forget about this room? He had personally given this room for Yue Zheng an hour ago for the sake of his face. There was indeed a youngster there called Nanster, and this youngster was also Ju Maoxun's target for tonight.
This youngster was deeply involved in several of tonight's matters.
Fan Qu's brain buzzed. Every word that entered his ear seemed to carry a tone of ridicule. He didn't utter a word. He barely agreed through a nod of the head, a habit built from many years. Then he turned around in a flurry, forgetting that the guide was behind him. A foot of his stepped on the guide's high heels, and his instantly lost his balance and fell forward.
"AHHH!" The guide shrieked.
Fan Qu's reactions were swift enough. He used his hand to support himself, avoiding a complete fall. However, his four limbs still touched the ground, and he staggered out of the room like a dog fleeing in a panic.