Stepping on Snow Without a Trace  

The morning light softly filtered through the window lattice, gently brushing across the white bed sheets.

Chen Guo woke from her dream, slowly opening her eyes, and heard Liu Hao's heavy breathing beside her. She turned over, letting the quilt slide off, revealing her alluring shoulder, and gently poked Liu Hao's face with her finger.

Blushing, Chen Guo recalled the scenes from last night, wishing she could bury her head in the pillow. It was unbelievable; she hadn't expected herself to be so proactive. She even wondered if the crazy woman from last night was really her. She felt like a bloodthirsty witch...

"That woman wasn't me! I would never be that proactive..." Chen Guo hypnotised herself. "It was Liu Hao; he hypnotised me or cast some spell on me. Yes, that must be it!"

"Bad guy..."

Liu Hao slowly opened his eyes. The sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting a warm and comfortable glow on his face.

"So tired." Liu Hao blurted out.

"Tired? What are you tired from?" Chen Guo couldn't help but swear, her face turning so red it seemed like it would bleed.

"Uh, I mean, I slept too hard." Liu Hao's mouth twitched. "You were lying on me all night; I couldn't sleep well. You slept soundly, no matter how much I tried to wake you, like a koala hugging a tree branch."

Chen Guo's face nearly steamed. So that's what it was... She had thought...

"Get up, get up, the sun's already shining on your butt!" Chen Guo hurriedly changed the topic, flipping the quilt off without caring about exposing herself, jumping out of bed to pick up the clothes scattered on the floor, and running into the bathroom.

Liu Hao chuckled and followed her into the bathroom. Soon, cheerful singing echoed from the bathroom.

...

After taking a bath, Liu Hao bid farewell to Chen Guo and drove back to the Excellent Era club.

Today, the players needed to complete their training projects in the training room. Ye Qiu was a strict captain; he even supervised the players to ensure they clocked in on time. Those who were late had to do extra training, practising tedious hand speed and reaction drills.

Returning to the training room, Liu Hao saw that his teammates had already started training. He was the last one to arrive.

Wang Ze, noticing their boss had returned, hurried over and whispered, "Brother Hao, what did you do last night? I heard from Su Mucheng that you went on a date and didn't come back to the dormitory."

"Hehe." Liu Hao smiled, leaving everything unsaid.

Wang Ze gave a thumbs up, "Brother Hao, you're awesome!"

Su Mucheng, who overheard their "daylight debauchery," blushed and muttered "Shameless" under her breath.

Liu Hao was speechless. He just smiled. How shameless was that?

Shen Jian and He Ming, sensing gossip, pushed their gaming chairs over. After ensuring Ye Qiu, who was playing Glory, wasn't paying attention, they whispered, "Brother Hao, who's the girl? Is she pretty? How did you meet?"

"Isn't that obvious? Brother Hao's pick must be beautiful."

"How does she compare to Su Mucheng? Is she prettier?"

"Definitely prettier! Brother Hao's taste can't be worse than Su Mucheng!"

Overhearing this gossip, Su Mucheng couldn't stand it anymore. Why drag her into their gossip? She frowned slightly, but being too embarrassed to admit she was eavesdropping, she interrupted their conversation with two heavy coughs.

Ye Qiu noticed Su Mucheng's apparent throat discomfort, removed his headphones, and asked, "What's wrong? Have you got a cold?"

"No," Su Mucheng said coldly. "They're just not training properly, so I warned them."

Liu Hao wanted to laugh. What a high-sounding excuse! Eavesdropping on gossip and warning them when dissatisfied?

Ye Qiu was puzzled. He had no idea what Liu Hao and the others were discussing, and he was only curious about why Su Mucheng would care about them. Previously, she never said much about their lack of training.

However, as the captain, Ye Qiu still needed to ensure proper training. "Train properly. Solo with me this afternoon. If your performance is unsatisfactory, you'll stay for extra training tonight."

Shen Jian and He Ming immediately groaned and quickly pushed their gaming chairs back to their spots to start training.

Liu Hao, now much improved, found Ye Qiu's training tasks simple and quickly completed a 30-win streak in the arena within an hour. Each match, including match-making and result time, took less than two minutes, even in the God's Domain arena.

After completing the training tasks, Liu Hao logged into his QQ and contacted his subordinate Chen Yehui, requesting some silver equipment materials. Chen Yehui didn't hesitate to immediately send all the materials on the list to Liu Hao.

They say you train soldiers for a thousand days for a moment's use.

Two months before the start of the eighth season, Liu Hao often went into the online game to help Chen Yehui farm materials and break dungeon records, sometimes even calling in junior trainees to assist.

The Excellent Era guild reaped considerable rewards. Chen Yehui exceeded his performance targets, and the boss even gave him a raise. Grateful, Chen Yehui reserved many surplus materials for Liu Hao.

Using these materials, Liu Hao crafted a pair of high-level silver boots—Stepping on Snow Without a Trace—and directly levelled them up to the max.

Stepping on Snow Without a Trace was high-tier silver equipment, not only offering a significant movement speed boost but also featuring two scarce passive attributes: 

[Silent]: Reduces footstep noise by 50%. 

[Unmarked]: Reduces footstep traces by 50%.

"Amazing!"

A voice behind him startled Liu Hao. He turned around to find Su Mucheng. He had been so focused on crafting that he hadn't noticed when she arrived.

"Liu Hao, you can even craft silver equipment!" Su Mucheng's eyes widened. The attributes of these boots were even better than those of One Autumn Leaf.

"It's not that impressive," Liu Hao pretended to be humble. "But you can keep praising me; I won't get arrogant."

Su Mucheng laughed, "I never noticed before how..." She trailed off, unable to say the word.

Ye Qiu noticed the commotion and walked over to see Su Mucheng chatting and laughing with Liu Hao.

"Wow, self-made silver equipment and boots, too." Ye Qiu commented cheekily. "Nice attributes, better than mine... How did you make them? Never mind, it's a trade secret; you don't have to tell me. But if you want to, I won't stop you."

Liu Hao's face darkened. Ye Qiu's annoying tone made him want to punch him.

Ye Qiu laughed twice, "Oh, it has additional passive attributes. Let me see?"

Grabbing Liu Hao's mouse, Ye Qiu checked the attributes. At a glance, he exclaimed, "Incredible, you managed to get these attributes?"

These boots were suitable for any class. The [Silent] and [Unmarked] attributes enhanced stealth and movement, aiding in tactical positioning and assassinations.

If One Autumn Leaf wore these boots, his agility would increase significantly...

"Too bad it's plate armour; battle mages specialise in cloth armour..."

Ye Qiu is not the female lead.

(The chapter ends here.)

Chapter 88 is up on my Patreon.

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