"Little Brother Su, don’t say you’re not close, you even offered to split your territory in half for him, wow, that’s really generous!"

"Uh, it’s okay."

Indeed, in the end, it was all about the identity of Spilt Water Can’t Be Regained. Su Ran responded even more cautiously, economizing words like gold.

"Little Brother Su, sis is asking you for a favor. Can you give me the phone number of Spilt Water Can’t Be Regained? I need to settle accounts with him! I waited for him for two hours yesterday, and he never came online. We agreed to do the dungeon together, and he dared to stand me up!"

Lin Yuting’s tone carried a small complaint, which Su Ran could easily make out.

But—

What does this have to do with anything?

Bro, when did I agree to go to the dungeon with you?

Are you delusional?

Su Ran was speechless against this woman, but he didn’t expose her lie. Instead, he went along with her thinking and said, "How could he do such a thing, to break a promise like that, it’s really unkind! Sister Ting, I can’t really help you with this. He and I are just gaming buddies and I don’t have his phone number. Besides, my gaming identity is too sensitive, revealing real-world information will only bring trouble, don’t you think?"

"Then... okay, I’ll ask someone else. That’s all for now, gotta hang up, oh right, happy new year to you!"

Lin Yuting quickly hung up the phone, and Su Ran finally felt like he had been pardoned, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"When will this woman ever give up?"

After some thought, Su Ran decided he shouldn’t contact this woman anymore. While it’s often said that familiarity breeds fondness, he hadn’t even thought about touching her hand, yet things had already gotten this awkward. Is she trying to scam me?! freewёbnoνel.com

"Son, dinner’s ready!"

The voice of Su Ran’s mother pierced through the walls, clearly reaching his ears, startling Xiao Hei.

"Xiao Hei, you still haven’t gotten used to mom’s volume?"

Su Ran chuckled, scooping Xiao Hei into his embrace and rubbing its little head before heading out.

After a full meal, Su Ran was urged by his mother to enter the battle of gods and demons. Such treatment, tsk tsk.

"Pet Island must have already refreshed, right?"

Su Ran did not rush to teleport to Deep Sea Fish Island but instead donned the Illusion Demon black robe, and his character Spilt Water Can’t Be Regained officially went online. What he wanted to do now was to gather more information from the world channel—maybe he would get the coordinates to a Pet Island, which would save him a lot of trouble. Another important reason was that he wanted to see how much the price of the Underwater Breathing potion had risen and find the right time to sell it!

However.

Before Su Ran could switch his attention to the world channel, a series of friend notification sounds kept ringing. At that moment, Su Ran’s eyes flashed with embarrassment. Without guessing, he knew for sure that these must be from Lin Yuting.

"Spilt Water, happy new year!"

"Are you there, not online?"

"What’s your phone number? It’d be more convenient to contact you that way."

...

There were over a dozen messages, and Su Ran couldn’t bear to read them anymore. They were nothing more than requests for his contact details and invitations for offline gatherings.

Offline gathering?

What a joke on an international scale!

I’m the kind who would die if exposed to light, not daring to go even if given a hundred guts!

Regarding this, Su Ran straightforwardly closed Lin Yuting’s chat window and blocked the reception of her messages.

Just as Su Ran was about to close the friends interface, Banana, who hadn’t been in contact for several days, sent a message at this time, the content of which instantly piqued Su Ran’s interest.

"Big Brother Spilt Water, come quickly, a Pet Island has spawned near Deep Sea Fish Island!"

"On my way!"

Pet Island had already appeared, so Su Ran no longer needed to seek clues from the world channel. He charged into the teleportation array without hesitation, and in the blink of an eye, he found himself on Fisherman’s Island.

"Hm? Is this..."

This time Su Ran appeared on a sandy beach, where he immediately spotted the mountain peak towering into the clouds in the sea, a truly eye-popping sight.

"Wow, this is just too domineering! What Pet Island, this is practically Pet Mountain!"

Su Ran glanced at the Fisherman’s Island villagers fishing along the shore who appeared entirely indifferent to the newly spawned Pet Island, paying it no mind as they busily continued to cast their nets for fish, clearly hard at work.

"Sigh, NPCs will be NPCs, with no curiosity for new things. As realistic as this game is, it still has its flaws."

Su Ran didn’t rush to Pet Island right away but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of astonishment. However, he also understood that if NPCs could grab monsters and seek treasure, what would be the point for players?

Guess it’s time to hit the sack!

"Where are you at?"

Su Ran sent a message to Banana, not seeing his figure on the beach. If he guessed correctly, the fellow must have already landed on the island.

"I’m right up here on this mountain, coordinates 10991:3662. Hurry over, there are so many pets here!"

"Okay!"

Although Su Ran could no longer catch more pets, Banana’s enthusiastic message spurred him on. Without another word, he activated Treading on Air Technique and flew toward the mysterious Pet Mountain.

"Overturning Water, over here, here!"

Seeing Su Ran treading through the void, Banana hurriedly greeted him, signaling for him to come over quickly.

"Where are the pets you mentioned?"

Su Ran landed on the ground and looked around. He didn’t see a single creature, let alone a pet.

"Look ahead, those small tree saplings nestled among the big trees, they’re all wood-type pets, pretty rare!"

Banana eagerly explained, his eyes locked on the unimpressive tree saplings, afraid that Su Ran wouldn’t believe him. "These saplings in Elf Forest are incredibly hard to find, and now, to suddenly have so many, this New Year’s event is really something special!"

"Overturning Water, you may not know, but these wood-type pets are a perfect match for my Elf race. They complement each other and can perform at 110% strength!"

It was not hard to discern the high regard Banana held for wood-type pets in his heart; no ordinary pets could compare.

"If you want to catch them, then go catch them. What are you standing around for?"

Su Ran couldn’t fathom why Banana, having seen the pets, wasn’t hurrying to catch them. If the system refreshed them away, it would be too late for tears!

"I would love to, but have you seen those giant trees? All of them are guarded by high-level tree demons. If I go up there alone, wouldn’t that be the same as going on a suicide mission?"

Banana was wary of these tree demon guards, who watched over the tree saplings so vigilantly. It would be strange if he found an opportunity to approach them.

"Overturning Water, wait a moment, I also called over Wu Qing. She’ll be here soon, so we’ll have a better chance."

"Xue Wuqing is coming too? Not visiting relatives on the first day of the New Year, just playing games!"

Su Ran sighed helplessly, "With this Struggle of Gods and Demons game, the New Year spirit is fading, and even family bonds are becoming distant."

"What’s the big deal? I haven’t logged off since last night. I came here from Elf Forest just for this Pet Island. I’ve been waiting for such an amazing event; it’d be such a pity to miss it."

Banana said indifferently, dreaming of owning a powerful pet. He couldn’t miss this New Year’s event!

"..."

Su Ran gently shook his head and said no more. After all, it was a personal matter and further discussion was useless.

For Su Ran, if he had a healthy body, the Struggle of Gods and Demons game might have been out of his reach as well.

The trajectory of one’s life is unpredictable to everyone.