Lu Shi thought for a moment, and following Ye Bugui's example, ignored the people around him, then touched his clothes and took out the gift.
That's right, even he didn't know what it was.
Upon opening it, he and Lu Shi were initially taken aback, then both revealed faint smiles.
That was a painting.
"When did you draw this?" Lu Shi asked Ye Bugui curiously.
A note from the author:
Drawing appears in Chapter 34;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 52
☪ Deep Sea City
"Let me think about it."
Ye Bugui stared at the portrait painting in Lu Shi's hand, stunned for a full five seconds.
Then it dawned on him, and he exclaimed "Oh!" in realization.
"Do you still remember the dream we had when we first went to Gaoyang?" Ye Bugui simply reminisced with Lu Shi about the past.
Little did they know that the other players waiting around them were getting restless.
They probably just couldn't understand why these two were inseparable in the dungeon, and now that they'd left, they were still whispering to each other.
But no one dared to step forward and offer their opinion; they could only watch from afar.
Lu Shi shook his head; clearly, he had no recollection of what Ye Bugui had mentioned.
"Didn't I become your deskmate? I was sitting right next to you when I saw a pen and a piece of paper on the table, and I thought I'd show off my drawing skills."
Lu Shi gave an "oh" and then glanced at the barely human-like image on the white paper, thinking to himself, "As expected of Ye Bugui, he's not ashamed at all with this level of skill."
"So you drew me?" Lu Shi glanced at the portrait; in fact, it had almost no resemblance to him.
If I had to make something up, it would be that the person in the picture looks like a man!
"Yes." Ye Bugui immediately admitted this, speaking rapidly. It was as if the faster he spoke, the less suspicious he would be: "It's a drawing of you, because you were the only one next to me at the time."
“This painting,” Lu Shi stroked it with his hand, “is quite meaningful, but I don’t know if it can be put into storage.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the painting in Lu Shi's hand disappeared. He was stunned at first, then realized what had happened, quickly turned on the game console, opened the inventory function, and actually found the painting.
What was just a perfectly ordinary portrait has now become a game prop.
Abstract painting
[Use it to instantly regain consciousness. Can be used once per instance.]
[A strange portrait, yet just seeing it reminds you of who you are. Perhaps that's the truth: ugly, yet useful.]
Ye Bugui leaned over to take a look at the prop's description and immediately showed a somewhat displeased expression.
He snorted and glared at the game console: "How dare you say my drawing is ugly! What a piece of junk this game console is, it has no taste at all!"
Seeing that the two of them seemed to have finished talking, a player finally walked towards them.
Ye Bugui rolled his eyes inwardly. He had been lingering here for so long precisely to buy time and make these people leave on their own.
But he really didn't expect that this group of people would have such strong perseverance.
However, since the other party had waited for so long, Ye Bugui thought he couldn't be too indifferent.
So he glanced at the person in front of him, and preemptively spoke before the other could:
"If you're trying to recruit us into your guild, then I'm sorry, no thanks."
The man removed his very gentlemanly top hat, revealing his face.
He was an elderly man with white hair and wearing a single pair of glasses. Although he was quite old, he did not give off a kind and approachable vibe.
Lu Shi stood behind Ye Bugui at this moment, knowing perfectly well that this kind of social occasion should be left to Ye Bugui.
"That's a pity." The old man shook his head, his face full of regret. "Deepsea City welcomes you."
Not far away, there were quite a few ordinary players standing around. When they heard the name Deepsea City, a strange expression immediately appeared on their faces.
"Did I hear that right?! It really is Deepsea City?"
"That person must be the puppeteer, Modi!"
"Modi? You mean the player ranked 9th on the leaderboard, the guild leader of Deepsea City?"
"Impossible! How could someone of his caliber be here? Even if he wanted to recruit people, he wouldn't need to come here in person, would he?"
"Yeah, I don't think those two are that strong either."
The discussions among ordinary players did not affect Ye Bugui's chat.
Deepsea City—he had heard of that name before.
Yes, this is a guild that existed before Ye Bugui finished the game.
Back then, it was already one of the top ten super guilds. The old guild leader of Deepsea City was among those Ye Bugui encountered in the final God's Chosen dungeon. Unfortunately, that person died in the dungeon.
But this still didn't pique Ye Bugui's interest. He had already decided that once he and Lu Shi had enough points and materials, they would form their own guild.
Submitting to others has never been Ye Bugui's choice.
"No need." Ye Bugui's tone was very calm. Although he was unwilling to join the guild, he also didn't want to have a conflict with a super guild like Deepsea City. "I'm not interested, but thank you for thinking highly of us."
“There are plenty of people who would be interested in you.” The old man chuckled, then suddenly said, “Oh, right, I haven’t introduced myself yet. My name is Modi, and I’m a puppeteer.”
Ye Bugui gave an "oh" and didn't react much. He hadn't heard of this name before; it seemed to be a player who appeared after he finished the game.
Red Spider spotted Modi from afar and immediately chose to leave.
That's Modi! Trying to take people from him is like courting death!
Lu Shi then took out his game console, and when he entered Modi's name, the person's information immediately appeared.
Ninth on the leaderboard is the Deepsea City Guild Master, along with his character card, [Puppet Madman].
However, there is no specific description of this skill in the game console, which should also be a protective measure for players.
If Lu Shi had never seen anything like this, he would probably have been speechless with shock when he saw him ranked ninth on the leaderboard.
Modi didn't press the matter; instead, he very gentlemanly produced two business cards out of thin air and handed them to them.
"If you change your mind, come find me at the address on the business card."
Modi's arrival was good news for Ye Bugui and Lu Shi, at least it drove away the other onlookers.
Now only one beautiful and alluring female player remains waiting there.
This time, she didn't ride her male lover; instead, she walked gracefully alone.
"Hello." Her voice was sweet and delicate, which made Lu Shi feel a little uncomfortable.
In the cultivation world, he had never heard such a voice before.
Ye Bugui was already immune to it; those streamers just love to use that kind of voice.
"Are they trying to recruit us again?" Ye Bugui remained impatient with the beauty: "Sorry, we're not interested."
"Of course not." The female player pouted and stomped her foot, expressing her feelings through her actions: "I just want to join you guys."
"Join us?" Lu Shi spoke first. He glanced at the female player who seemed determined to pester him, not quite understanding her thoughts.
“We can play in a three-player squad.” The female player blinked. “I’ve looked at your skills, and they’re all offensive. But I’m different; I have healing skills. So having me around will increase your survival rate.”
"No need," Ye Bugui said decisively. "Healing skills will never lack teammates. You're either lying or you have ulterior motives."
Ye Bugui pressed on relentlessly, showing no sympathy even as the female player's eyes welled up with tears, as if she were about to be scolded into tears.
"What I hate most is a burden. So if you're trying to ride my coattails, please don't even bother. Since you watched the stream, you should have seen my skills, right? I'm capable of killing teammates, so forget about it!"
Hearing Ye Bugui say this, the female player finally dropped her pretense and stopped pretending to be weak:
"Alright, it seems my trick won't work on you. My skills are indeed not healing."
The woman blinked: "You'll find out the details someday. By the way, my name is Azi, don't miss me too much!"
After saying this, Azi disappeared.
Lu Shi and Ye Bugui exchanged a glance, both clearly puzzled.
Just then, a person ran towards them, looking quite anxious.
"Wei Jin!" Lu Shi turned around and saw the familiar face, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
However, Wei Jin found it difficult to relax. He asked anxiously, "Don't think about that woman's name!"
"You mean Azi?" Lu Shi blurted out subconsciously.
At that moment, Ah Zi, who was already sitting in the 404 convenience store, elegantly reading a magazine, suddenly curled the corners of her mouth.
She bit her lip and muttered to herself, "Huh, who's calling my name?"
Wei Jin wished he could cover Lu Shi's mouth, but he didn't dare to do so because Ye Bugui was standing next to him.
“Brother Lu,” Wei Jin could only grab Lu Shi’s shoulder and say with a serious face, “That woman just now, her character card can read minds. As long as you say her name, or even just think of her name, she can read your thoughts. It’s terrifying! So you’d better forget that name!”
Lu Shi understood.
He frowned; this was quite an annoying ability.
No wonder she made a point of giving her name before leaving; that's what she was planning.
"Thank you." Ye Bugui shook his head, immediately putting that name out of his mind: "How's the company doing while I was gone?"
"Everything's fine," Wei Jin said softly. "Nothing happened."
"And what about you?" Ye Bugui asked with concern, "I remember you were supposed to go into the dungeon a couple of days ago?"
"Yeah, I got a strong player this time, and I beat the game in one day."
"Not bad." Ye Bugui praised the other party casually. He glanced at Wei Jin and suddenly thought, "Have you also been promoted to the Golden Hall?"
“Yes.” Wei Jin scratched his head and looked at Lu Shi: “But I’m far inferior to Brother Lu. I just won by default.”