Chapter 8: You Can Miss a Skill Right in Their Face?

That night, Zhu Rong had just logged in and was about to sneak off to pick flowers when Jingzhe caught him red-handed.

Now that the dragon had an anchor point, getting in and out of his cabin was much easier. Zhu Rong walked in and saw Jingzhe sprawled on the wooden sofa he'd just built.

"Oh, so you do remember how to log in?" the man said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Every day I wait for you to grind exp until I pass out and wake up again."

Zhu Rong stood there with a little basket on his back, at a loss.

"I had class tonight... so I logged in a bit late."

That one offhand remark left Jingzhe silent for a long while.

He stared at Zhu Rong's face for quite some time before getting up:

"I'll clear all the beginner dungeons for you today. Stop carrying that basket around. I don't expect you to deal damage, but you can't rely on me to carry you forever."

"Bring a weapon."

The real reason was that every time Jingzhe saw that basket, he thought of Boli Lake.

And thinking of Boli Lake inevitably reminded him why he was bound to this stupid incubus in the first place.

He was afraid that if he lost control for even a second, he'd crush this incubus to death.

Zhu Rong said oh, and set the basket back by the door.

He searched his entire inventory and found only one event-reward long-handled staff he could use.

It was black, inlaid with a pink heart-shaped gem—it looked more like something for a stage performance.

Arriving at the entrance of the ice dragon's lair, Jingzhe adjusted his weapon data while saying, "The ice dragon counters my attributes. Just throw some crowd-control skills for me."

"Oh..."

Crowd-control skills.

Which meant charm skills.

Zhu Rong read the skill instructions several more times, then followed Jingzhe into the dungeon, nervous as could be.

The ice dragon's lair was deep in a valley. Jingzhe loosed a long arrow that tore through the air, bursting into a sky full of glowing snow.

The field of view lit up, and Zhu Rong saw the massive ice dragon before him, fangs bared, its wings alone ten times the size of a little incubus.

"..."

For the first time, Zhu Rong hated how realistic full-dive games were.

He was so scared his Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably: "J-Jingzhe!"

"What?"

Jingzhe turned back and saw the incubus trembling like a sieve behind him, that incubus tail drooping behind him.

"How about we w-wait a bit first!" Zhu Rong ducked behind him, that tail shamelessly wrapping around his calf. "Tell me the battle plan, okay?"

"..."

What plan could there be?

Wasn't it just Zhu Rong throwing a charm skill, then him ulting and following up with a few basic attacks?

Was there any other possibility besides that?

The incubus tail on his leg was warming up. Jingzhe could directly feel just how nervous this cowardly incubus was.

Forget it.

He sighed, grabbed the person in front of him by the collar, and hauled him out of the cave entrance.

Zhu Rong sat on a giant mushroom, watching Jingzhe pull a drawing board out of his inventory and sketch a very abstract ice dragon, plus two stick figures.

"This one with the heart tail is you, this is me, this is the boss. Got it?"

Zhu Rong nodded vigorously.

Jingzhe continued: "We go in, I hit it once with a basic attack, it moves left, you throw your charm skill from behind and stun it for 3 seconds. My ult's wind-up is exactly 3 seconds, then I one-shot it, and you take the clear reward."

"Got it?"

Actually, he didn't need the charm at all—his ult wouldn't miss anyway.

But since he'd confiscated the basket and made the kid bring a weapon, he might as well give him some sense of participation.

Zhu Rong silently recited it three times, nodded fiercely with a kind of conviction: "Got it!"

"..."

Jingzhe looked at those wide-open eyes, that small face slightly flushed with nervousness.

His eyelid twitched. He turned and walked toward the cave entrance:

"If you've got it, let's start the real fight."

The dungeon began quickly. Zhu Rong stood at the position Jingzhe had set for him earlier.

Don't be nervous...

Don't be nervous...

Zhu Rong kept pumping himself up, as if he were about to sit the college entrance exam.

He watched helplessly as Jingzhe casually loosed a basic attack. The ice dragon's tail whipped a long misty streak through the air, then it roared and unleashed a burst of fierce wind.

Sure enough, the ice dragon started moving left.

Zhu Rong raised his staff, just about to throw the skill, when a string of blue plot summary text suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.

"Mm!"

The dragon's tail swept out and dragged him off the ground, sending him flying.

Jingzhe covered his eyes in exasperation.

What a useless sack of rice...

He held Daros Storm one-handed, shifting the longbow into a melee spear-type weapon. Just as he was charging up to release his skill, Zhu Rong—clinging to the ice dragon's tail—in his panic, threw out a charm skill.

—It hit Jingzhe dead-on.

"Fuck."

Jingzhe really couldn't help but curse.

Bound contract partners—charm effects doubled!

Zhu Rong lost his grip and was flung out of the air.

He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself to land face-first in the dirt.

A streak of blue light fell from the sky, piercing through the ice dragon's heart.

That powerful arm wrapped around his waist, carrying him sliding all the way down the ice dragon's spiked armor.

Amid the jolting, Zhu Rong was pulled into a hard embrace, and those lips unceremoniously bit down on his, kissing him so thoroughly he had no power to resist.

Zhu Rong hadn't turned on sensory synchronization, but he could see.

See the man's sharp jawline, his high nose bridge, and those half-demon, half-human fingers with pointed spikes, pushing his clothes aside and sliding onto his body.

"Mm!"

"Mmph!!"

The two of them rolled into the frost-covered grass nearby. The little incubus was pinned underneath, his slender tail trembling and swaying in the air.

Not until the ice dragon's corpse had vanished and the clear-reward countdown had only a dozen or so seconds left.

The pink heart in the center of those blue eyes finally disappeared.

Zhu Rong gasped for breath, his clothes messed up beyond repair, legs clamped together helplessly, looking at Jingzhe with wet eyes—the innocent expression of a victim.

"..."

Jingzhe used every ounce of his upbringing not to swear, only grinding out through clenched teeth:

"It was right in front of your face and you still missed the skill?!?"

Zhu Rong's lips were swollen from the kissing. Shame and guilt kept him from even lifting his eyes. He mumbled an apology:

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to..."

The first time, fine.

But this was the second time.

Stupid incubus.

Jingzhe closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

But that image of the incubus all kissed-messy just wouldn't leave his head, replaying like some inappropriate video on a big screen.

He stood up and scooped the incubus off the ground.

Zhu Rong slowly straightened his clothes, head hung low, standing before Jingzhe like a child who'd done something wrong.

"I'm sorry..."

"I'll definitely practice properly in private. I won't miss next time, okay?"

As he spoke, that tail again shamelessly wrapped around Jingzhe's calf.

Zhu Rong reached to grab it, only to find the tail had a mind of its own—completely ungrabbable.

After flailing around for ages, he finally caught that glowing peach heart and hugged it tight to his chest.

They stared at each other.

Then the system notification popped up at the worst possible moment:

"Jingzhe and player Rongrong have been contract master and servant for 9 days. Incubus contract intimacy points: 103."

"Today's interaction: Jingzhe and player Rongrong jointly defeated the cold-region ice dragon beginner dungeon boss."

"Player Rongrong has released a charm skill on player Jingzhe for the second time. Is this a sign of love for your master? How sweet!"

"Player Rongrong has lit up all beginner dungeons. Party clear rate: 100%! Your master is so amazing—please don't hesitate to offer him an incubus kiss as thanks ៷＞ᴗ＜៷!"

Zhu Rong: "..."

Jingzhe: "…………"

The scene he'd barely managed to forget resurfaced all over again.

Jingzhe let out a hot breath, almost at a loss for words. He just put on a cold face and said flatly:

"You're something else."