Chapter 175 Why not have a little spar now?

Early the next morning, the Villa Area was buzzing with activity.

The main road was almost filled with cars, and a variety of celebratory people were arriving one after another, mostly young folks, many of whom were somewhat familiar faces to Xia Xinyan.

Although I didn’t know their names, these people seemed to have been by Summer Jincang’s side in their past lives.

Judging by this birthday banquet, it looked like the Summer Family’s influence and strength in the game had grown considerably; perhaps this birthday party was just a large-scale offline gathering.

Moreover, based on what she heard last night, it seemed that she and Ling Mo had been called back because of that previous SSS-ranked evaluation.

It’s worth mentioning that after the discussion about the SSS rank wrapped up, they began talking about the two anonymous players at the top of the leaderboard—namely, her and Ling Mo. The good news was that they still hadn’t guessed the identities of these two anonymous players. Aside from that, the other anonymous players on the leaderboard had basically been figured out.

Because most players who make it onto the leaderboard, even if they choose to remain anonymous for various reasons, often boast about it in other ways—after all, it’s a form of glory for players, a demonstration of their strength, and a means to satisfy their vanity.

As long as there were traces left online, even just a simple sentence, following the clues wouldn’t be a big deal.

The only ones who hadn’t left any online traces were Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo—though they had left some marks in the game, no factions had yet managed to infiltrate the game system to investigate that information.

This also meant they were still safe for the time being.

However, someone had mentioned whether those two anonymous players might be her and Ling Mo. In response to this guess, Summer Jincang’s exact words were—

“Do you think a little girl can endure the pain of the Battle Zone to climb to the top of the leaderboard? My sister used to cry in my arms for a long time whenever she got a small injury; she was such a cute little thing back then… Ugh, or do you think that soft, pampered guy has the strength to reach such a high ranking? I see him as just a useless bum hanging around the Safe Zone, and somehow he got my sister? It just feels so wrong.”

God knows how much restraint Xia Xinyan had to hold back from kicking that guy.

Crying in his arms? Gross, isn’t it?

At this birthday banquet, Ling Mo was probably the only one without many thoughts; he could feel that Xinyan’s cousins had a subtle sense of hostility towards him, but he had adjusted his mindset. As long as Xinyan was willing to stand by him, he had nothing to worry about.

He knew they probably looked down on him, but he would prove himself worthy of Xinyan one day. Until then, he didn’t need to care about their attitudes.

Xia Xinyan was glued to Ling Mo, standing at the edge of the banquet like a transparent person.

As long as no one came to bother them, she was happy just lounging around.

There were quite a few attendees she could interact with, perhaps to gather some useful information from them, but not right now. Approaching them could easily raise suspicions.

The Summer Family still didn’t know her and Ling Mo’s identities, and she needed to leverage this advantage to increase their bargaining chips before she was exposed.

Of course, they couldn’t just hang around like this all day; after all, they were somewhat of the main characters in this banquet.

The first to approach them was her cheap dad.

“Xinyan, your uncle and the others are back. Come meet them; they’ve really missed you.”

Xia Xinyan paused and tilted her head towards Ling Mo.

Ling Mo smiled at her: “I’m fine; you go ahead. I’ll wait for you here.”

Xia Xinyan thought for a few seconds, then leaned over to whisper in his ear, “Be careful.”

After saying that, she followed her cheap dad away.

Though she wasn’t worried about any trouble with Ling Mo’s current state, it was still her former self, so she had to remind him just in case.

If those guys really did make trouble for Ling Mo, it would still hit her face.

And if he still got taught a lesson at his current strength, she’d be waiting for him to face her devilish training when they got back.

Just the right time to test his current abilities.

To her cheap dad, this looked like outright intimacy right in front of him.

He almost kicked that guy out of frustration.

He had raised this little princess for so many years! How could she be plowed by some pig from who knows where?!

When he first heard about this from the butler, he thought his daughter was just playing around; now it seemed she was completely serious!

…It was lucky this guy was called over; he needed Summer Jincang and the others to teach this guy a lesson, so he’d understand that the daughter of the Summer Family isn’t someone anyone can match with.

Even if they pretended not to interfere with their daughter’s love life on the surface, the guy had to have enough strength, or else how could they trust him with their daughter’s safety?

…Even if he could protect their daughter, he still wouldn’t feel at ease handing her over to this dude! Who knows how many men think they can bully their wives just because they’re tough! What if this guy turned out to be one of those?!

Anyway, he had a million reasons not to trust Ling Mo.

And after Xia Xinyan was whisked away, Summer Jincang and the others came over to find Ling Mo.

At this moment, Summer Jincang was no longer the imposing figure from last night; he was as friendly as a big brother next door: “Ling Mo, right? I noticed Xinyan seemed to really like you yesterday. Just so you know, she’s our most beloved little sister. Whenever she’s bullied, we always seek justice for her. I wonder if you can do that? As her brother, I don’t want her boyfriend to be someone who can’t even protect her—sorry if I’m being too blunt, but if you have a sister, you’d probably understand this feeling.”

As he spoke, he extended his hand to Ling Mo.

Ling Mo smiled slightly and shook his hand: “I really like Xinyan as well. Don’t worry, I won’t let anyone bully her.”

“Is that so?” Summer Jincang’s smile took on a hint of something else.

Ling Mo’s smile remained unchanged.

And in a place where the surrounding crowd couldn’t notice, the two had already begun their first round of confrontation.

Summer Jincang’s grip was firm; given his current physical condition, he could crush an ordinary person’s hand with no effort.

However, this time, even as he gradually increased the pressure, Ling Mo’s hand didn’t bend a bit, and there was no sign of discomfort on his face—he seemed as relaxed as if it were merely a normal handshake.

Until the end, Summer Jincang used all his strength, yet Ling Mo’s smile didn’t change at all.

Summer Jincang furrowed his brow slightly but released his hand, smiling amicably: “I admire your spirit; I just wonder if you have the strength to match it?”

“I’m always ready to accept any challenge.”

“Good, how about we spar right now?”