Late at night, the rural town was especially quiet.
After leaving the Ning household, a cold wind swept through outside.
Lin Mo took off his jacket and casually draped it over Ning Xi's shoulders.
Ning Xi spoke softly, "Thank you, Brother Lin Mo. If it weren't for you, I really wouldn't have known what to do just now."
"Really? But didn't you already think of a solution back there?", Lin Mo glanced at Ning Xi and teased her on purpose, "It's only been a few days, and you've already saved thirty thousand? Don't tell me Listening Rain Pavilion got another big client these past few days?"
"No, Brother Lin Mo!", Ning Xi hurriedly explained, "This money… I saved it by selling equipment in Divine Oracle…"
Actually, Lin Mo had already guessed where Ning Xi's money came from. He was just deliberately teasing her.
After all, she was the number one on Blazing Flow City's reputation leaderboard.
At this stage, when the average player in Blazing Flow City only had a few dozen reputation points, she was a big shot with five digits' worth of reputation.
Using reputation to help guilds, financial groups, and big-spending whales craft equipment and make money was ridiculously easy for Ning Xi.
But still, it had to be said. As a newcomer who had just entered the world of Divine Oracle, and on top of that a young girl, for Ning Xi to figure out the game's ropes in such a short time and even profit from it was no simple feat.
After all, at this moment, Ning Xi was still just a simple-minded young girl, not yet the Empress Xi Yue of later days.
"I originally planned to wait until I'd saved up one hundred and fifty thousand, and then pay you back the money I owed you last time first. But I'm still quite short, so it might have to be a bit later," Ning Xi said awkwardly.
Lin Mo didn't mind at all, "What one hundred and fifty thousand? Haven't you already paid it back?"
Ning Xi looked surprised.
Lin Mo continued, "Do you know how much value that Heart of Shadow you mailed me last time has?"
Ning Xi shook her head, "I only know that to you, Brother Lin Mo, it was very important."
"So I thought of a way to get it for you."
"Setting fire to the warehouse, luring Wu Gang to take the Heart of Shadow out of the warehouse and out of the city, then making him go red-name and killing him to make it drop," Lin Mo looked at Ning Xi with admiration and smiled, "How is that little brain of yours so clever?"
"And last time, over at Death Town, Dragon Soul Aoshi letting me go… that was you helping behind the scenes too, right?"
At that moment, Ning Xi's heart suddenly started racing for no reason.
Because she finally understood. Everything she had quietly done for Lin Mo, he knew it all, and he had remembered it in his heart.
It wasn't just her own one-sided feelings.
"Why did you help me?", Lin Mo asked.
Ning Xi gathered her courage and looked up, meeting Lin Mo's gaze.
"Brother Lin Mo, you're the first person in this world, besides my mom and my younger brother, who has ever genuinely treated me well."
Hearing this, Lin Mo couldn't help but think to himself, 'At this point in time, the Empress Xi Yue really is as clean as a blank sheet of paper. Even the tiniest bit of color is enough to leave an indelible mark in her heart.'
All Lin Mo had done was tip her a little, never ask her to do anything excessive like some customers did, and help her resolve a dispute once.
Or maybe it was because of her family situation. Growing up under the shadow of her father since childhood, these trivial little things, in Ning Xi's eyes, were like a beam of light shining into her heart.
Lin Mo couldn't help but feel relieved, 'Good thing I came early. Otherwise, with Ning Xi's simple nature, some random punk could've tricked her away with just a piece of candy.' [T/N: The random pink in the statement is MC]
Lin Mo also took the opportunity to ask the question that had been on his mind, "When did you start playing Divine Oracle?"
"The first day I came to work at Listening Rain Pavilion, a big sister booked me, but not for a massage."
Ning Xi recalled, "She brought two helmets with her and said she was in a bad mood. She gave one to me and asked me to play games with her."
"Divine Oracle helmets?", Lin Mo's heart jolted.
Ning Xi continued, "So I followed her and used the helmet to enter the game she talked about. But we hadn't played for long before she said I was too bad and stopped playing with me."
"She said the helmet was bound and couldn't be used by anyone else, so she left it with me for the time being. But after that, she never came back again."
He understood now.
Lin Mo completely understood.
Up to this point in Ning Xi's story, history still hadn't been changed.
According to the history of the previous life, after Ning Xi registered her Divine Oracle account, she put the helmet aside and focused on her work at Listening Rain Pavilion. She kept at it for three whole months, until Divine Oracle devoured reality and all humans were forcibly pulled into Divine Oracle.
And in this life, Lin Mo kept giving Ning Xi days off, letting her take paid leave and forbidding her from serving any other customers.
As a result, Ning Xi stayed home with nothing to do and ended up playing Divine Oracle, which she should have forgotten about long ago.
So...
'In her previous life, the first time Ning Xi entered Divine Oracle was actually on the first day the server opened, through a helmet, not three months later when she was forcibly pulled in.'
And so...
'Ning Xi's SSS-grade talent was obtained through the helmet's code, not awakened three months later.'
With this, all the doubts lined up perfectly.
"Is your talent SSS-grade?", Lin Mo asked.
Ning Xi nodded, still a bit confused, "I think so. Is an SSS-grade talent… kind of strong?"
'My god, an SSS-grade national server female emperor.'
'This talent is way more than just "kind of" strong.'
'No, this wouldn't do.'
The Empress Xi Yue, worshipped by countless people in her previous life, was now standing right in front of him, so vividly alive. While Lin Mo was excited, that sense of gain and loss also grew stronger.
'She's just a naive, simple, harmless young girl right now.'
'If other people find out that she awakened such a one-in-a-billion top-tier SSS-grade talent in Divine Oracle, they'll definitely try every possible way to get Ning Xi.'
Take someone like Wang Junjie, for example. With his money-burning nature, who knew, he might directly throw a hundred million at Ning Xi to make her work for him.
No matter how pure Ning Xi was, no matter how well Lin Mo treated her, could that really stand up to the temptation of a hundred million?
'I can't let Ning Xi's talent be exposed.'
'And it looks like I have to speed things up and push this national server female emperor down as soon as possible.'
Only once the rice was cooked into porridge.
Thinking this, Lin Mo said to Ning Xi, "Don't go to Listening Rain Pavilion anymore. I'll take you to my place in a bit. From now on, you'll live with me. With you by my side, I'll feel more at ease."
"From now on, your job is to play games with me. I'll pay you a salary. How about that?"
Ning Xi's small face instantly turned red.
Because she had never lived together with any guy before.
But she didn't refuse. She just quietly nodded.
Actually, with an SSS-grade talent in hand, Ning Xi could make money on her own through Divine Oracle.
So what she cared about wasn't Lin Mo paying her a salary.
What she cared about was Lin Mo's kindness toward her.
She didn't want to let down the only person in the whole world who truly cared about her.
So Lin Mo held Ning Xi's ice-cold little hand and got into the same taxi they had taken earlier, heading back to the city.
First, they went to Ning Xi's place and helped her pack her things.
Then, they arrived at the Tianyuan Residence complex.
Ning Xi moved into the room next to Lin Mo's.
It was her first time living in a place that could be considered a relatively high-end residential complex.
Pulling open the curtains and looking at the bustling traffic and dazzling lights outside the window, Ning Xi's heart was filled with longing for the future.
After everything was settled, the two of them each returned to their rooms and logged into Divine Oracle.
[T/N: Tf is wrong with MC? He can easily just describe the possibility of obtaining a SSS trait to Ning Xue and with her smarts she can easily protect herself but no, for the plot, she still needs to be manipulated.]
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