Quadruple split.

Chapter 2963 Interlude: From Clear Skies to Sunny Skies

Chapter 2963 Interlude: From Sunny to Sunny

Game time 23:57 PM
Freedom City, Nightless Zone, Caeves Estate Gardens
"That's truly rare."

Most of the time she's on fieldwork and rarely appears at the [Clown] headquarters, the spiritual beauty, Spider, whose makeup is always incredibly exaggerated, silently emerges from the darkness and smiles at the person standing not far away in the moonlight, her petite body seemingly coated with a layer of silver frost, who had just put a bag of snacks back into her bag a moment ago: "It's really rare to see two ACEs together."

"Oh."

Mu Xuejian turned to look at the spider and asked casually, "I remember you were taking care of a rather troublesome guy, right?"

"Is this something you can just say casually?"

The spider blinked, then leaned in to listen, raising an eyebrow. "After all, this is that person's territory. Although your Ace of Spades represents a neutral stance, my side..."

"Futaba doesn't listen to me or what's going on around me."

Mu Xuejian calmly interrupted the spider, casually saying, "It's not that she doesn't want to, it's just that it would be too tiring, and unnecessary."

Spider nodded slightly and smiled, "Then I'm relieved. You're right. I was indeed working with that troublesome big star for a while, but just a few days ago, she finally went off to do something else with her guardian, while I received instructions to help carry out the highest-level operation, so I came back alone."

Mu Xuejian's lips curled into a slight smile as he asked this 'colleague,' whom he wasn't particularly familiar with but who was ranked alongside him as one of the highest-ranking cadres in the entire organization, "It must be quite tiring, right?"

"Ha, that's beyond what the word 'hard work' can describe."

Spider chuckled dryly and spread his hands, saying, "Honestly, if she hadn't kept singing to me and forcing me to stay mentally stable, I probably would have run away long ago. I really don't know how her manager managed to keep going."

Mu Xuejian thought for a moment and guessed, "Because it will keep listening to music, it will never crash?"

"You know what... there might actually be some truth to that."

Spider slowly walked to the stone stool next to Mu Xuejian and sat down. After crossing his legs, he hugged his shoulders and shivered, sighing, "Just thinking about it is terrifying."

Mu Xuejian glanced at the man who seemed quite normal in his mental state, far from the madman he was rumored to be, and asked, "So you don't like that guy?"

"Unfortunately, I still really like her."

Spider shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "Speaking of which, is there really anyone who doesn't like her?"

Mu Xuejian, who had been a fan of someone for a long time, sighed and said noncommittally, "Who knows?"

"By the way, this is a gift for you."

Spider casually pulled a large bag from his baggage and tossed it to Mu Xuejian, who was waving her hand in refusal: "It's all food."

"Ok?"

Upon hearing that the bag contained food, she instinctively clutched it tightly to her chest. Then, under the spider's gaze, her pretty face flushed slightly. Mu Xuejian turned around, lowered her head to check the contents, and her eyes instantly lit up.

"These are all snacks and desserts we bought at the Anka Market. Half of them were bought by Xueyin, but some of them are unusual. You should check the notes before you eat them to make sure you can accept them, or you can simply ignore the notes and eat them without any psychological burden."

Spider smiled and said with a smile, "The other half was bought by me. They are all relatively normal things, but I think they taste good. Consider it a gift."

After hearing this, Mu Xuejian didn't stand on ceremony anymore. She simply put away the bag of food and then took out a small wooden sword and tossed it to the spider: "Thanks, this is for you to play with."

"Haha, no need to be so polite. I didn't bring these things because I wanted a return gift from you."

The spider smiled, then looked down at the rather exquisite-looking wooden sword in its hand. What it saw next shocked it!
【Peach Blossom Sword】

Category: Consumables
Quality: Mass Production Epic

Usage requirements: Any class must be level 50 or higher, and sword specialization level must be ≥45.

Consumption/Limit: 10% of maximum stamina

Effect: Unleashes an epic-level sword aura at the designated target, dealing true damage to enemies below epic rank, up to 40% of their maximum health.

Trait [Secret Sword - Bind]: When the user's combat class is ≤50, the cooldown time of this item is 24 hours of game time.

Trait [Secret Sword - Defense]: When the user's combat class is level 50 or higher, remove the stamina cost of this item, and reduce the cooldown time from 24 hours of game time to 2.4 seconds of game time.

[Note: This is a personification of the bottleneck faced by someone favored by the sword.]

……

"This……"

After reading the item's description, the spider's eyes widened immediately, and it exclaimed, "This is too precious! What does it mean that it can unleash an epic-level sword aura after use?!"

"It means exactly what it says."

Mu Xuejian revealed a reserved smile and said in a light tone, "However, it also has great limitations. Not only can it only be used once a day, but no matter how strong the opponent is, the limit is probably only to cause a slightly serious injury once. So... it may be epic, but if you can't use your rank to suppress and kill the enemy instantly, it's not that useful."

"No, no, no, if this thing is used properly, the effect is absolutely terrifying."

With a mindset completely different from Mu Xuejian's, and having been active in the underworld as Mo Tan's white glove for far too long, Spider, who was well aware of his value, shook his head repeatedly and exclaimed again, "Really, it's too precious."

"If you can't bear to use it, consider it a souvenir of our first meeting as ACEs. But I'm going to eat all the snacks you gave me."

Mu Xuejian chuckled and explained, "You really don't need to feel too burdened. I've already made two of these, and I might make a third one in a while. They're really not that valuable."

Seeing that the other party had already said that, the spider stopped being coy and carefully put the Peach Blossom Sword into its bag. Then it asked curiously, "Speaking of which, being able to make something like this means you have indeed advanced to the Epic rank, right?"

"Unfortunately, it's still only half a step."

Mu Xuejian shook his head, saying with a somewhat helpless expression, "Although I can occasionally unleash sword moves that are perfectly natural and possess the power of the epic realm, it's just like hitting the jackpot. [Frostless] has indeed fully possessed the power of the epic rank, but that's not exactly a good thing. It's becoming more and more restless. If I don't regularly channel the sword energy within it, it might seriously injure me at any time."

The spider paused for a moment, then asked, "What does this mean?"

"What I mean is that [Frostless] is still getting stronger, but I can't keep up with its pace because I can't break through. So it has started to have a kind of effect that you can understand as 'backlash'. At the current stage, it will passively accumulate sword energy, and once it accumulates to a certain level, it will burst out and hurt me."

While stroking his beloved sword [Frostless], Mu Xuejian said calmly, "The toy sword I just gave you is the only way I can think of right now to channel the sword energy on [Frostless] into a medium."

Although he didn't know much about swords, Spider nodded knowingly and exclaimed, "I see. You've had it tough."

"It's more than just difficult."

Mu Xuejian sighed and said softly, "Since last week, I've been spending at least three hours of game time every day trying to soothe [Frostless]. If this continues, as long as I don't break through to Epic, this time will gradually increase. The worst-case scenario is that I will have to choose between 'giving up on [Frostless]' and 'spending at least twenty hours a day trying to manage it,' but I don't want to choose either."

“I completely understand.”

Spider, who knew without a doubt that this female knight and her longsword had a deep bond, nodded. Instead of saying anything foolish like, "Then you don't need it for now," she asked very sincerely, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Not at the moment."

Mu Xuejian shook his head and shrugged, saying, "I can only solve my own problems, so... oh?"

The spider blinked and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"nothing."

Mu Xuejian breathed a sigh of relief and put the [Frostless] sword back on her back, smiling as she said, "Let's talk later, I'm going to see a friend first."

"it is good."

"Then let's turn back..."

"Shall we add each other as friends first?"

"hiss."

"What's wrong?" "To be honest, I'm starting to feel a little afraid of adding friends these days."

"?"

"Ace of Clubs".

"Ok?"

"How would you feel if you received at least three friend requests from strangers every day?"

"They might be a little curious, then accept it, and ask why?"

"Under what circumstances would you continue to refuse?"

"In a situation where you are very clear about the other party's motives, but have absolutely no interest in them."

"Do you find it annoying?"

"Definitely."

"Ugh……"

"what?"

"It's nothing, I just always feel like I'm causing trouble for others."

"?"

……

Fifteen minutes ago

Game time 23:42 PM
Valhalla Ascension Fortress, Lower Level, Teleportation Hall

"So..."

Ji Xiaoge tilted her head curiously and looked at Mo Tan, blinking her beautiful eyes that were sparkling because her sweetheart had come to find her: "Is there anything that can't be said in a message that makes you have to come all the way here to find me?"

Mo Tan coughed lightly and gave a somewhat subtle, smirk: "A large part of the reason is because I wanted to see you."

"Waaah!"

Knowing full well that the other party couldn't lie, Ji Xiaoge immediately blushed, then spread her wings and pulled Mo Tan in front of her. She gently tiptoed and bumped the latter's chin with her head, muttering softly, "That's...that's too unfair! You!"

"And then..."

Mo Tan pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and hesitated before saying, "Mu Xuejian just added me as a friend. Since I couldn't find a reason to refuse, I thought about it and accepted. I felt I should tell you about this."

"Uh-huh."

Ji Xiaoge squinted her eyes and happily pressed her face against Mo Tan's chest: "I know."

Mo Tan touched the tip of his nose and hesitated, "Also, after practicing around at [Xiao]'s place, Mu Xuejian asked if I could meet him in the public space and have a chat."

Ji Xiaoge smiled and said happily, "Is that so? Then why don't you go? He's a great master, many people would love to see him but can't. Besides, he gave you a copy of the 'Sword Manual' or something, which is a huge favor. You should definitely be nice to him."

"Whether she's a master or not, I don't really care. But her book on sword techniques really helped me a lot, so like you said, it really counts as a favor."

Mo Tan scratched his head, then looked at Ji Xiaoge, who was nodding vigorously, and said seriously, "So do you have time later?"

Ji Xiaoge: "...Eh?!"

"I hope you will come with me."

Mo Tan smiled slightly and couldn't help but pat the girl's head: "I just told Mu Xuejian that if we're going to chat in a public space, I plan to take you with me, and she has no objection."

Ji Xiaoge was stunned for a while before saying in a daze, "No... well, why are you taking me there? I don't know her well, and I've even fought with her before."

“I’m not familiar with her, and I’ve even fought with her before and won.”

Mo Tan replied noncommittally, then chuckled, "Besides, aren't you my online dating partner? When I'm meeting other people of the opposite sex online, I think it's perfectly reasonable for me to bring you along, right?"

"Well... that's not how it's calculated!"

Ji Xiaoge, her face flushed, punched Mo Tan's breastplate and shook her head like a rattle: "Anyway, I'm not going with you! I have a lot of things to do here! If you're interested, you can report to me after we're done talking, although I don't really care... Okay, I do care, so you have to report properly afterwards, understand!"

Mo Tan remained silent for a few seconds, and after confirming that Ji Xiaoge was indeed serious about not wanting to go, he nodded vigorously and said, "I understand."

"good."

The girl smiled and tiptoed to touch Mo Tan's hair, saying with a smile, "Don't be so nervous, I'm not angry."

Mo Tan blinked but didn't say anything.

"The situation was different last time!"

The girl guiltily looked away and muttered softly, "Why did Mu Xuejian say such strange things? If I want to spar with you, I just want to spar with you. Why did I have to say it in a way that's easy to misunderstand? Well, although I was also wrong for not asking clearly at the time, anyway... anyway, if you don't have any bad intentions, I definitely won't blame you!"

Whether it's strange or not is another matter.

Mo Tan shook his head slightly and said seriously, "But if I were to put myself in his shoes, I would also doubt my own ability to remain calm, restrained, and rational in this situation."

"hey-hey……"

"?"

"whee……"

"Pigeon?"

"Hey Hey……"

"Cough, pigeons?!"

"Ah! I'm here!"

"Who were you just now...?"

"Did you mean you'd get jealous because of me?"

"I'm just saying there's a possibility..."

"Possibility counts too!"

"That's right."