Are you listening to me?

"Brother Expert, do you need anything?"

Ye Kai was putting on his headphones when he saw the message from Tian Qi.

"I need the Skeleton Warrior's sword," Ye Kai replied.

"The decorative sword?" Tian Qi was surprised.

"Yes," Ye Kai confirmed.

"Oh... If you need it, we won't add anyone else. Just the four of us then!" Tian Qi was very cooperative. If there was a priority need, adding someone else would just complicate things, and they might not be trustworthy. If you set it to leader distribution, it would scare off strangers. Who knows if you would actually distribute the loot? So it's simply safest with just the four acquaintances.

"Okay," Ye Kai agreed to the hassle-free plan.

Tian Qi and the other two entered the dungeon, chanting in unison, "Let's get a hidden BOSS!"

"Addicted to killing hidden bosses, huh?" Ye Kai laughed.

The three of them let out a lewd "hehe" sound. Ever since following Ye Kai, they had been very interested in hidden bosses. Without a hidden boss, it's just a steamroll with no pressure.

"Let's go!" Ye Kai commanded, and his character Jun Mo Xiao led the way with his spear, followed closely by Tian Qi, Mu Yun Shen, and Qian Sheng Li. The Skeleton Cemetery was drizzled with rain, and ghostly green flames flickered in the distance. The sound effects included faint ghostly wails that would occasionally shriek sharply, sending shivers down one's spine.

Wait... It wasn't just shivers down the spine; it felt like a breeze was blowing on his earlobe.

Ye Kai, with his strong mental fortitude, was sure it wasn't his imagination but something really blowing on him. Without stopping his hand movements, he instinctively turned his head to the left and saw a pale face with two dark eyes staring straight at him, unblinking, and cherry-red lips that seemed ready to drip blood...

"Smack!" Ye Kai slapped his left hand on the keyboard to steady himself, pressing down on seven or eight keys at once, causing his character Jun Mo Xiao to make consecutive mistakes in the game. Fortunately, they were only fighting minor monsters, and Tian Qi and the others quickly intervened to stabilize the situation. They wondered why Brother Expert, who had been flawless the day before, was suddenly messing up like an idiot. Could it be another fake expert? But they had just connected to voice chat and it sounded like Brother Expert.

Ye Kai had already turned his head back quickly and resumed control of the situation. Tian Qi and the others breathed a sigh of relief, then heard Brother Expert say, "Boss lady, why aren't you sleeping in the middle of the night, running out here pretending to be a white-faced superhero with a face mask?"

"What?" Tian Qi was puzzled.

"There's gossip," Qian Sheng Li messaged privately.

The three of them immediately kept quiet, listening intently while fighting monsters.

"I can't sleep, just sitting down here," Chen Guo said after removing her face mask.

"Tian Qi, fall back. Qian Sheng Li, take over. Mu Yun Shen, watch the four o'clock direction," Ye Kai commanded the battle.

Chen Guo quietly watched Ye Kai and the others fight monsters for a while, then suddenly said, "I don't think Ye Kai should retire."

"Right," Ye Kai agreed.

"He's just been put in the spotlight because he's at such a high position that whenever there's an issue with Jiashi, he's the first to be pushed to the forefront," Chen Guo said.

"Oh."

"I've been watching Jiashi's matches. I feel like Ye Kai and his character, Dou Shen Yi Ye Zhi Qiu, are not as strong as before, for various reasons," Chen Guo said.

"..." Ye Kai was silent.

"The professional league is becoming more mature, with many strong players. Players like Gun King, Sword Saint, Boxing Emperor, and Magician, their skills are no less than Ye Kai's, and their accounts and characters are just as powerful as Yi Ye Zhi Qiu."

"..." Silence continued.

"Now it's not like the old days when one could dominate alone. But people still hope that Ye Kai can create glory on his own like he used to, which is really asking too much of him," Chen Guo said.

"Tian Qi, come back a bit, you're too far forward. Mu Yun Shen, you and Qian Sheng Li stick together. I can hold this side by myself," Ye Kai continued to command while rapidly operating.

"Damn!" Chen Guo, fired up, jumped up and grabbed Ye Kai's neck, shaking him furiously while roaring, "Are you listening to me? Are you listening?"

The entire internet cafe was energized. Regulars sneaked peeks in this direction, curious about who dared to provoke our Boss Chen with such high-decibel roars. It looked like someone was going to have nowhere to be buried tonight.

Ye Kai's headphones shook and fell off, and from inside came the trembling voices of Tian Qi and the others: "We hear you, we hear you..."

Despite the adverse situation, Ye Kai kept his hands steady and continued to operate brilliantly. In the game, Jun Mo Xiao performed flawlessly, but Ye Kai himself was nearly choked to death.

Ye Kai's tongue was almost hanging out when Chen Guo finally let go. He coughed loudly, still staring unblinkingly at the screen, asking Chen Guo, "What did you say?" while quickly picking up the headset and shouting into the mic, "Tian Qi, fall back, fall back."

After shouting, he threw the headset down and quickly returned to operating the keyboard, too busy to even put it back on his head. In the game, the four of them were facing a BOSS. They were already one person short and couldn't afford to lose Ye Kai's control over Jun Mo Xiao.

Chen Guo watched helplessly as this guy was impossible to deal with. She couldn't really go up and strangle him to death, right? Sighing, she sat back down and started up the game on the computer in front of her: "Take me to play for a while."

Ye Kai glanced back: "That's a server!"

"I'm the boss," Chen Guo said.

Ye Kai was speechless; this rule was much more powerful than not using the server.

"How do I take you to play?" Ye Kai asked without turning back, engaged in intense battle with the BOSS.

"I have a card for the tenth district too," Chen Guo said, waving a card at Ye Kai. But Ye Kai just said "Oh," and didn't look back. Chen Guo was furious, really wanting to strangle this man and bury him in the backyard.

"Then you should start the game quest," Ye Kai said.

"I don't want to do quests, take me to a dungeon," Chen Guo said, somewhat petulantly. She had decided to do the opposite of whatever Ye Kai suggested.

"How can you go to a dungeon at level 1?" Ye Kai said. Even the lowest level dungeon, Green Forest, required levels 5-10. Characters below level 5 couldn't enter.

"Figure it out," Chen Guo said.

"Okay, let me think!" Ye Kai hummed, his hands going "tap tap" on the keyboard, then suddenly grabbed the headset again: "Qian Sheng Li, get back to your position, you're about to be surrounded. What's wrong with you guys? So many mistakes!"

After shouting, he dropped the headset and heard a series of finger bones being cracked behind his head. Chen Guo, grinding her teeth, asked, "Figured it out yet?"

"I've got it," Ye Kai said hurriedly.

"Huh?" Chen Guo was surprised. This was an impossible system setting, and yet this guy had a solution?

"If you don't want to do quests, just go kill monsters until you reach level 5," Ye Kai said.

"I'll kill you first!!"