To The Forum

Fate's official forum was the largest and the most populated gaming forums with the most content.

Due to the popularity of Fate, millions of players log into the forum on a daily basis, with tens of thousands sometimes even millions of threads posted on a daily basis. There were posts about information relevant to several classes, guild recruitments, players showing off their prowess in-game, and gossip.

This made the Fate official forum one of the best gaming forums.

The multitude of threads on Fate's forums will be ranked based on their popularity, and the top-10 thread would be judged, and the best among the ten would receive a considerable amount of monetary reward.

While not many could benefit from these rewards, it did not stop players from trying their luck. One would never know if one's thread might make it into the top-3.

The most popular thread on this day was posted by a user named "Just A Passerby", with the title <<Love That Transcends Hate! An In-depth Analysis of the Top Gossip in Fate on the First Day of the Patch's Release!>>

It had been three hours since the thread was posted when Tan Polang logged into his account, but there were already more than 200,000 comments. He was on the forums to look for news about Fleeting Time, but curiosity drove him to click into the thread.

Despite the quality of Fate's servers, it still took quite a while before the page could be properly loaded. Tan Polang creased his eyebrows. Dozens of seconds have passed, but he was still unable to see the content of the post.

But the contents of the post loaded just when Tan Polang was almost giving up.

The poster, "Just A Passerby" recounted a story to the users of the forum. It was a story about a fight between two players from opposing continents in the wisteria garden.

"Hey, is the OP talking about who I'm thinking?" a comment immediately appeared after the story was posted.

"Hey, the user upstairs, I think you and I are both thinking about the same people."

"Replying to the player upstairs, I know who you're talking about. In fact, I saw them in the wisteria garden this afternoon."

...

It was followed by the response "..."

And after dozens of similar responses in the thread, some of the players were finally at the limit of their patience, "Come on, can you guys stop that? Who is the OP talking about?"

"Yeah, just tell us! Come on!"

...

"..."

But the players who had long since figured the answer was able to form a mutual understanding and refused to relent.

And the players began looking for the OP, "Just A Passerby".

"Hey OP, are you going to continue the story?"

"Calling OP! Where are you OP?"

"Quiet, OP is meditating."

...

And just like that, there was nothing meaningful in the first few pages of the comments until the OP finally showed up. He was genuinely surprised by the sheer number of comments on his post. It had only been 15 minutes since the thread was made, and the comments had already exceeded 3 pages (comments on Fate forums were limited to 100 comments per page). Just A Passerby immediately apologised and continued his narration.

He tailed the two players from afar, until they were at a secluded corner of the wisteria garden, and that was when some steamy action that made him blush and his heart flutter happened.

"OP, do you know what you're talking about!?" commented a player.

"I wonder what is so shocking, OP!"

"Come on, OP! We need pictures! Screenshots!"

"Pics or it did not happen!"

"Don't mind me, I'm just passing by."

"Pics or it did not happen!"

...

And Just A Passerby once again appeared after a torrent of comments by the forum users, with many of them asking for proof and clarification. The OP stated that he was still processing the pictures, and called for the players to remain patient.

The thread immediately exploded into activity of unprecedented proportions. Even long time lurkers began to surface to leave comments on the thread.

"Could the OP be talking about Eastern Continent's Gongzi You and Western Continent's Fleeting Time?"

This set off a chain reaction among the players. Many of them began confirming the sightings of the duo in the wisteria garden. There were even Hunter players in their number who began to describe the amazing moves the duo pulled off during their fight.

Some of the female players had also commented on how romantic it was for the duo to be engaging in a fight under the falling wisteria buds.

Just then, a user with the name "1234567" directed the discussion into another direction.

"Guys, I think we're missing the point here. Didn't the OP mention something about some 'steamy action'? Shouldn't we be focusing on that instead?"

And with that, the voices asking for the truth and evidence supporting the truth grew louder.

Tan Polang himself was curious as well. Something that Fleeting Time and Sister Ye Ci did that would make a person blush? I wonder what it is! It was at that moment that Tan Polang had forgotten about his original attention in visiting the forum as the passion of gossipping lit up in his heart.

Comments were flooding into the thread at an unprecedented speed. Tan Polang, who started his journey of gossiping by reading each and every comment eventually gave up as more comments were left on the thread. He even resorted to purchasing a one-month subscription on the "View Poster Only" function using Forum Coins and began searching for responses from Just A Passerby.

He finally found the response from Just A Passerby in the 200th page of comments. The user had uploaded more than 20 pictures, but none of them had anything to do with the thing that would "make someone blush". They were all pictures of Fleeting Time and Ye Ci in the wisteria garden. With their hoods removed, the identities of the duo were clear as day.

But these were not what the players wanted, especially when they knew what was to come.

The players continued to call for the OP to release the pictures.

But the OP remained unrelenting as he sent pictures after pictures that had nothing to do with the steamy action that he promised. According to the OP, there were simply too many pictures to edit before they could be released. He finally caved in to the players' demands to stop editing the pictures and release them raw after more comments flooded his post.

In actuality, Just A Passerby had simply added some ambience to the pictures he took, but it was all deemed unnecessary by the players who were hungering for gossiping materials. What they wanted was the steamy action that the poster had promised.

It did not take long for the pictures of the duo in the secluded corner was uploaded. The camera angle was from that of the OP looking up. There were even blades of grasses that were captured within the screenshot.

Many of the players were dissatisfied, "Hey OP, why are you hiding in a bush so far away?"

"I know right! Why can't you move closer? And why are you in a prone position"

"I'll have some closer, unobstructed shots later, but all of them were taken from a prone position" came the explanation, "You all know that Fleeting Time and Gongzi You are top-tier Hunters. Their Perception must be very high. I'll be dead if I'm taking the shots from a different position. I'm lucky to have found a hole in the ground surrounded by grass. Do you think I'll have the chance of taking these pictures if I got closer?"

The players expressed their regrets at an opportunity lost, but most of them voiced out their understanding of the OP's position. More requests for the pictures to be released immediately followed, but the OP expressed his intention to edit the pictures. The players were at the end of their patience. There were even some among their numbers who had begun to doubt the OP.

And at that point, there were already 500 pages worth of comments left on the thread. Many of the players wished to witness the scene described by the OP.

Tan Polang finally found what he was looking for on the 627th page in the form of 5 screenshots uploaded by the OP.

The duo was in very close proximity with each other in the pictures. The expression on the male Elf's face was shocking. A smile was on his face as he lifted the female Elves chin up with his right hand. He appeared to be whispering into the female's ears as her eyes widened in shock.

The five pictures have captured the scene perfectly, as if they were frames of a video.

"They suddenly stopped mid-fight, and Fleeting Time said something to Gongzi You. That was when he started to do something… Naughty…" said a comment left by the OP.

"Ahhhhh!!! What happened next, OP? Come on, you can't just leave us with a few pics! Do you know how many people you'll kill by doing that?"

"We need to know what happened next!"

"+1"

...

The OP is an asshole! Thought Tan Polang, is there really a need to tease us like that? It's obvious that he's trying to reach the top of the leaderboards! It's almost the end of the month now, and if this keeps up, this post will definitely surpass the current top 1 within three days.

Many of the players shared the same thought, but they could not hold back their curiosity, and in the process contributed to the OP's effort in reaching the top. The topic was simply something that they could not ignore. Most of them have heard of Fleeting Time's murder on Gongzi You's hands, while some had witnessed it in person.

They knew that it was not something as simple as a showdown of strength between two players of opposing continents. Something was up, and they wanted to find out what it was.

And the most enticing thing in the world was an incomplete truth.

It was just like how a fully naked woman would never be as enticing to perverts as someone dressed in very revealing clothing. Humans were born with a natural desire to explore the unknown. Everybody knew how a beautiful girl would look fully naked. What mattered to them was the excitement they felt as one slowly removed each item of her clothing.

The story between Gongzi You and Fleeting Time was just like the beautiful girl. She was dressed, but it also meant that their curiosity and their imagination were running wild. They wanted to know what lies beneath her clothes.

They have seen Fleeting Time provoking Gongzi You in the World Channel with their very own eyes, but there had never been a back and forth between the two. Gongzi You would always respond with something violent like "I'll kill you!" that broke their immersion.

But things changed for the first time when a post by a player with the name "Boundless Moonlight" appeared.

The post itself was nothing special. It was about the fight between Ye Ci and Fleeting Time, and was a very good learning material for Hunters. But the poster himself who was full of imagination was able to create gossip from the short video.

It solidified the belief in many of the players' hearts that the duo were up to something. But their interaction ended just as abruptly as it began. They heard nothing from Fleeting Time in the World Channel, and Gongzi You would of course remain silent.

Things once again returned to normal as if nothing had happened. There was nothing to gossip about. The only relationship between the players was the rivalry between their continents.

This was a killjoy for the countless gosipper lurking in the forums. They were so close to uncover something between the two Hunters, and yet it was just out of their reach. It was a pain that remained unquelled in the hearts of many.

Life went on, and just when the incident was about to be forgotten and swept away from the minds of the players, the post by "Just A Passerby" appeared in the forums, and it successfully reignited the passions in the players' heart. Their thirst for the unknown once again surged forth like a storm that swept through the entire official forum within a matter of hours.

It is human nature to gossip. Many of the posts that were made at the same time were nowhere near as popular as Just A Passerby's post combined. Everybody wanted a piece of the gossip.

It was simply human nature and nothing to be ashamed of.

Tan Polang and many others like him were furiously mashing their F5 key to refresh the thread.

Wang Jiangnan stretched his body and was about to head to the cafeteria for a meal when he caught a glimpse of his colleague Xiao Wang staring intensely at the scrolling texts on his monitor, "Are you hungry Xiao Wang? Let's head to the cafeteria together."

"I'll pass. Can you help pack up some sweet and sour pork for me?" Xiao Wang did not even turn around to face him. It was a rare occurrence, as Xiao Wang was a person who would usually slip out of the office at any given chance.

Paying no heed to his colleague, Wang Jiangnan headed to the cafeteria with his debit card. Many of the employees were working overtime on the first day of the patch's release, which naturally meant that the cafeteria was packed full of developers, artists, editors, writers, and customer service employees. It was apparent that many of them were planning to stay in the company throughout the entire night.

With the cafeteria packed, Wang Jiangnan could only bring his food back to his office.

He noticed that Xiao Wang was browsing through the forum as he handed food to his colleague. Xiao Wang rarely cares about the forum, thought Wang Jiangnan, why is he so fixated on that thing now?

"What are you looking at?" ask Wang Jiangnan who was a close acquaintance of Xiao Wang. "You don't know?" Xiao Wang looked at him with clear disdain, "Have you never tried gossipping?"

"What sort of gossip?" Wang Jiangnan leaned forward to look at Xiao Wang's monitor as he stuffed his mouth full of rice, and saw the rows of words on the screen, "Pics or it did not happen!" "Come on, show us already!"

He responded with a chuckle, "I've never seen you so interested in something like this before."

"Pfftt.. What do you know? It's because the OP knows what he's doing!" Xiao Wang cast a sideway glance at Wang Jiangnan and continued spamming the F5 key on his keyboard as he shoved his mouth full of rice.

"You're done with your work?" Wang Jiangnan attempted to pour a bucket of cold water on the raging flames of gossip in Xiao Wang's heart.

But it was not effective, "We have work coming in everyday, but gossip material like this? Once in a blue moon! Do you not have something to pursue in life?"

Wang Jiangnan's interest was piqued, "Just what sort of gossip are you looking at?"

Xiao Wang immediately sent a link to Wang Jiangnan through the company's internal messaging system, "See for yourself."

"Gongzi You and Fleeting Time!!!" Wang Jiangnan was shocked.

"Yup! The top players of Fate from opposing continents sharing a relationship like that… Isn't it exciting?" Xiao Wang chuckled, "Why is the OP not following up with more pictures? Come on! I swear I will hack into his computer!"

"Hey, hey, hey…" Wang Jiangnan stared at his colleague, "Are you for real…"

"Of course! Are you doubting my capabilities?" Xiao Wang chuckled, "I might not be as good as you, but I'm sure I can hack into his computer without leaving a trace."

"Are you really that crazy?" Wang Jiangnan was shocked by the incident, but he had not fully immersed himself in the gossip like Xiao Wang.

"Me? Crazy?" Xiao Wang let go of his mouse and scooped some rice into his mouth before looking in Wang Jiangnan's direction, "Do you know how many of our coworkers are into this? Look at this, this guy is from the tech department, this person right here is from the development team, and this right here is someone from the arts department. There's easily a hundred of them on the forums! Are you telling me that all of us are crazy?"

Wang Jiangnan rolled his eyes. The picture of Fleeting Time lifting up Gongzi You's chin was displayed on his monitor. A smile lit up the man's face, while shock was written all over Gongzi You's face. This image was enough to drive the imagination of anyone wild.

As he leaned against his chair, Wang Jiangnan thought of the girl named Ye Ci standing under the sun with a smile on her face. She was not a beautiful person, and some would even consider her to be overly thin. But nobody could deny that Ye Ci had her beauty of her own, and an aura about her that could attract the attention of those around her no matter where she was.

Will someone like this… Even have a relationship with another player? Wang Jiangnan could not understand. He did not even have the courage to ponder too long on the question. The first time he met her was in the game, and so was their second and third encounters. He had never met the girl in real life, but he had long classified her as someone who was at the top of the food chain.

Wang Jiangnan had mixed feelings for Ye Ci. He felt appreciation, friendship, and even a slight hint of infatuation towards the girl, but she was just so far from his reach. He had never seen her as a living person, but as Gongzi You who had always belonged to the world of Fate.

But a strange feeling grew in Wang Jiangnan's heart when he saw the picture of her with Fleeting Time.

He looked up at the group photo he took with the visiting Conquering The Heavens players. Gongzi You was standing right beside her. Her lips were formed into a slight smile that lacked any form of warmth, as if she was merely doing it for the sake of taking the photo. Will someone like her even be involved in online romance? He chuckled and continued reading the content of the post.

"Oh by the way, Jiangnan. Weren't you the one who received players from several Eastern Continent guilds? Have you seen Gongzi You back then?" a sudden thought flashed across Xiao Wang's mind.

Wang Jiangnan once again glanced at the cold expression of the girl beside him in the photo and shook his head at Xiao Wang, "No, Upwards Ho! was not invited. I've never met Gongzi You before."

"Aiya, we must invite them along this year." Xiao Wang narrowed his eyes, "I really want to know how Gongzi You looks like."

"Don't you want to know what Fleeting Time looks like?"

"Hey, I'm a man, I'm not interested in another man." Xiao Wang shook his head. He gulped down a mouthful of water and continued refreshing the post, "Come on OP! If I don't get any update from you today, I'll really hack into your computer!"

Wang Jiangnan took one last glance at the post before finally closing it for good to resume his work on monitoring the data of new players. The new patch and Golden Era were his greatest worries.

He could still remember Ye Ci's words clearly in his mind: I am a person with a dream. He had sworn to work hard in achieving his dream, but… What about Gongzi You?