Chapter 3
As a personal valet, one must possess basic professionalism. Pei Sen gave himself a mental pep talk: after all, it’s just a little boy! Many guys living in dorms often go to the bathhouse together with their buddies, but as someone from southern China, Pei Sen had no such experience before.
But it didn’t matter; it was no big deal.
He thought to himself.
Following Eagle all the way to the specially constructed bathhouse at the end of the corridor, Pei Sen keenly noticed something resembling a magic circle nearby, atop which sat a small stone that looked like a red gem.
…Fire-element magic crystals? So extravagant, setting up an entire magical array just for bathing?
The maid at the door bowed and retreated upon seeing them approach. Even though they faced Eagle, a youth of unparalleled beauty, none of the maids dared to lift their heads. This reverence stemmed not only from Lady Mary’s teachings but also, in equal measure, from their inherent fear of Eagle himself.
Throughout the entire estate, no one was unaware of Eagle’s ill temper.
Pei Sen watched the golden-haired youth walking ahead of him with his back straight, pressed his lips together briefly, and then followed inside.
Eagle had never liked having maids present during his baths; in the past, he rarely even brought along his personal male attendants. However, just a few days ago, he nearly met with an accident while bathing. Lady Mary tactfully suggested that if he insisted on bathing, he must have someone accompany him. That was why today he had specifically summoned Pei Sen.
From birth, Eagle had been a top-tier noble, never lacking for attendants around him. Yet, since childhood, he had disliked others coming too close.
Someone with his appearance all too easily caused certain looks to appear in people’s eyes—looks he deeply detested.
Slender, long fingers began unbuttoning his shirt. Eagle glanced at Pei Sen. “If anything happens to me later, call for help.”
In fact, Lady Mary would have preferred that Eagle skip bathing lately, but Eagle, being naturally fastidious, simply couldn’t stand going without a bath. Thus, he could only reluctantly bring Pei Sen along with him.
Pei Sen’s face was filled with confusion, yet he still obediently agreed.
As the shirt hit the floor, Pei Sen awkwardly turned his head away. When he finally steeled himself and looked toward Eagle, who was heading to the bathtub, his eyes instantly widened, and he nearly blurted out an expletive.
He expected to see Eagle without clothes, but instead saw… a mosaic of pixels.
Pei Sen: ???
What the hell is going on? This stupid game system, probably because the closed beta hasn’t started yet, seems to have its player protection features completely dead and inactive. Yet when it comes to “protecting NPCs,” it’s overly thorough—every NPC crossing the line is completely pixelated!
Pei Sen was no stranger to this. Although some players with malicious intentions tried to exploit the game’s extreme realism, they soon discovered it was futile. The system automatically censored overly explicit content by applying mosaics, while for excessively gory scenes, it merely adjusted the color of blood to make it appear less than 100% realistic. Ordinary splashes of blood, however, remained uncensored.
One could only say that, overall, this game demonstrated a strong will to survive.
But right now, it’s truly ridiculous. As Pei Sen, a personal male attendant, calmly watches the young master bathing, his vision captures nothing but that handsome face, slender neck, and half-wet golden hair—everything else is completely pixelated!
This is really going too far.
He had previously thought he might see… something that would make him feel awkward, but now, with everything obscured by pixels, he feels an entirely different kind of frustration.
“However, my NPC interface seems somewhat different from ordinary players’. It appears to be upgradable. In terms of panel weighting, I estimate that once an NPC reaches a blue-tier panel, it should surpass even player panels. At that point, certain system restrictions imposed on players will no longer apply to me. For instance, these pixelations should disappear once my NPC panel’s weight exceeds that of the players’…”
Pei Sen originally had a player interface, complete with a built-in game forum. In recent days, he had been closely monitoring the forum’s updates, but apart from that perfunctory announcement, there had been no further news. He still had no idea when July 9th would actually arrive.
Since becoming Eagle’s “personal valet,” he had earned some experience points by completing various scattered tasks. However, relying solely on this method to level up meant his progress would inevitably remain sluggish.
Furthermore, upon entering the Golden Rose Manor, he acquired an additional NPC interface, which clearly displayed his status within the estate.
The player interface featured a fixed silver border, whereas Pei Sen was quite familiar with the NPC interface; depending on their strength or importance, NPC interfaces varied in appearance.
Under normal circumstances, players cannot view NPC status panels. Even after learning detection skills in the later stages, they can only see partial information for certain NPCs, with significant restrictions still applying. However, once entering combat mode, partial panel information of the opponent becomes visible.
For instance, Lady Mary is an NPC possessing a blue player-style panel. Pei Sen had deliberately bumped into her under the pretense of accident, triggering the system to classify it as an “attack,” thereby revealing her panel. Yet, being only level 1 himself, and considering Lady Mary’s evidently high-level status, all Pei Sen could see was a row of question marks.
At this moment, Pei Sen’s own NPC panel displayed merely a pitiful white color—the lowest-tier NPC panel available. Normally, even if a player temporarily obtains an NPC panel, it should appear as a fixed black panel, not white like his. The small upward arrow in the top-right corner of his white panel indicated that this was an upgradable panel.
“It seems I need to find a way to get myself promoted,” Pei Sen mused absentmindedly, while occasionally keeping an eye on Eagle’s condition.
Eagle was only fourteen this year, still carrying a touch of youthful innocence. Even though he always maintained a cold, expressionless demeanor, the sight of him with lowered eyelids and damp hair still appeared somewhat endearing.
Pei Sen felt he could reluctantly forgive Eagle for previously ordering him around in circles.
Boredly gazing at his status panel, Pei Sen switched back to the quest interface only to find a clutter of fragmented minor quests. When his eyes landed on the topmost entry, however, he furrowed his brow.
“Main Quest: Save Eagle Langno.”
Bix Cube is a game with an exceptionally high degree of freedom; no player’s main storyline is fixed. In fact, depending on players’ choices and various actions taken within the game, the main storyline automatically evolves, with quest content generated based on each player’s own exploration.
This is one of the key reasons why the game has gained such popularity among players. Nevertheless, some have raised doubts: with so many intricate and divergent main storylines, how many writers would be needed to manage them all? Strangely enough, nobody had ever heard of the development company behind this game.
For a while, all sorts of rumors circulated, which were quite intriguing. Eventually, however, the game developers provided an explanation: these main storyline quests are automatically analyzed and generated by artificial intelligence.
It sounds incredibly impressive.
But the game hasn’t even entered closed beta yet; could its artificial intelligence system already be operational?
Suddenly, right before Pei Sen’s eyes, the steaming water in the bath began to freeze. In the blink of an eye, the biting cold crept up from Eagle’s neck!
He hesitated not a moment—there was no time to hesitate—and leaped into the bath, swiftly moving toward Eagle.
The bath, which should have been warm thanks to the magic array and fire-elemental crystal, was so cold that Pei Sen shivered. Gritting his teeth, he lunged at Eagle, grabbed his arm, and quickly pulled him out of the freezing water.
At first, Eagle’s consciousness seemed hazy; a chill enveloped his face, coating his long eyelashes with a layer of pristine frost. After leaving the bath, Pei Sen, still shivering, embraced him, removed his own coat, and wrapped it tightly around Eagle, holding him close. The warmth emanating from Pei Sen gradually dispelled the cold clinging to Eagle, who slowly regained awareness. Without blinking, he gazed at Pei Sen, whose lips had turned pale from the cold. From his vantage point, Eagle could see the elegant line of Pei Sen’s jaw and his faintly thin lips.
He reached out, pressing his palm against Pei Sen’s chest, feeling a warmth he hadn’t experienced in a long time.
Nestled within Pei Sen’s embrace, Eagle remained outwardly calm, allowing the water on his body to soak through Pei Sen’s thin shirt.
It was precisely at that moment that Lady Mary and Atwell burst in.
Eagle had to speak up, “I’m fine.”
Atwell quickly scanned the surroundings and returned shortly, his expression grim. “It’s another secret spell; this marks the third time they’ve struck. Eagle, you’d better stay away from water for now. Last time it was the Secret Spell: Chill Limit, this time it’s the Secret Spell: Frost, and next time it could be the Secret Spell: Frost Star.”
Eagle sneered, “Then hurry up and catch the person behind this! If you can’t capture them, find a way to kill them.”
Not bathing? That’s absolutely out of the question!
Atwell said nothing, bowed to Eagle, and turned to leave, clearly having taken Eagle’s advice.
Pei Sen felt certain that someone was in for trouble. After all, no matter how kindly and gentle Atwell appeared, like a benevolent priest, it could not conceal his inherently ruthless and merciless nature.
It is hard to estimate how many players he has harmed, but the players know his nature all too well.
Whoever intended to harm Eagle would undoubtedly meet a gruesome end.
Judging by how quickly Lady Mary and Atwell arrived, they would be immediately informed of any mishap befalling Eagle. Even if Pei Sen hadn’t intervened, Eagle likely wouldn’t have suffered any serious consequences.
Nevertheless, his mission had been successfully completed, fortunately thanks to his swift action.
Lady Mary said nothing, but instead looked at Eagle, who was curled up in Pei Sen’s arms. At this moment, the golden-haired youth appeared exceptionally frail and delicate, yet his emerald eyes were darker than usual.
She was deeply surprised, for Eagle was not the type to accept such intimate contact. Turning her gaze to Pei Sen, she found the young man’s expression clear and sincere, revealing no ulterior motives whatsoever; his openness made everything suddenly understandable.
After all, Eagle currently wore no clothes beneath him, wrapped only in a suit jacket. Even among those of the same sex, Eagle’s beauty was sufficient to make anyone overlook his gender.
Eagle had always been sensitive; that he could feel so secure likely stemmed from the fact that the person holding him harbored absolutely no intentions toward him.
If Pei Sen knew what Lady Mary was thinking, he would definitely feel compelled to retort—
Thoughts? You’re clutching a pile of pixelated blocks; it’d be a miracle if you could have any thoughts at all!