Chapter 174 Your Entire Family is a Soft Rice Man

Dad and Mom didn’t stay long; after saying their piece, they left.

Right after that, Xia Xinyan chased away Ling Mo.

Ling Mo hadn’t even fully appreciated the warmth on his face before it was gone.

Standing outside the closed bedroom door, he felt an inexplicable emptiness in his heart.

It seems that not only do I need to quickly level up my strength, but I also need to deepen my relationship with Xinyan even faster…

I really don’t want to keep yearning like this.

But today, I’ve already felt satisfied.

Smiling gently, he turned and returned to his own room.

Inside the bedroom, Xia Xinyan locked the door this time.

Her chest still seemed to carry Ling Mo’s lingering scent; it was the first time she felt such a strange sensation—not exactly repulsed, just really unaccustomed.

She inexplicably felt like she was becoming more dangerous.

Hmm… I need to quickly find Ling Mo a suitable partner.

She feared that if too much time passed, she might really end up giving herself away.

But right now, she still had serious business to attend to.

Originally, she had planned to take a good rest tonight, but after hearing what her cheap dad said, she changed her mind.

She decided to test the waters regarding Xia Jincang’s situation.

Of course, she wouldn’t just walk over; instead…

In the villa area late at night, a black cat appeared.

The black cat moved skillfully, the darkness becoming her playground, effortlessly sneaking into Xia Jincang’s villa without drawing anyone’s attention, and reached the villa’s hall with ease.

At this moment, the hall was still brightly lit and quite lively.

Besides Xia Jincang, there were several familiar faces inside—people who had always been by Xia Jincang’s side in the last life, all with decent strength.

Perhaps some of her other cousins were among them?

Xia Xinyan lay flat on the ground, listening to their conversation while lightly swishing her tail.

As expected, they were talking about the game.

“We don’t have much time left,” a rather unfamiliar man said with a heavy expression. “Those people are already starting to demand that they pick sides; many good prospects I had my eye on have been pulled into their ranks. If we don’t act quickly, we might fall behind in this competition.”

“There’s no need to worry so much.” Xia Jincang, at this moment, lacked the friendly demeanor he had when he met Xia Xinyan earlier; he exuded a calmness unique to someone in authority, as if everything was under control. “If they’re in such a hurry to recruit, then let them do so. Not every rising star at the start of the game is a good prospect; those who can sustain themselves in the long run are the true talents.”

After a pause, he smiled confidently: “Besides, a recruitment based on exchanging benefits has no loyalty whatsoever, attracting those people wouldn’t be difficult at all. It’s not about how many we have but how elite they are; if they want to waste resources on those useless wastes, then let them.”

After a moment of silence, another person asked, “But… won’t our expansion in the game be too slow?”

Xia Jincang turned to look at him, a half-smile on his face: “When has my Summer Family needed to expand by just gathering people?”

The speaker paused, then gradually nodded in realization.

The Summer Family’s influence was already established in the game; with their name, they didn’t need to do anything—countless people would come to them.

These people might not be the elite soldiers they needed, but they could become extremely important helpers in the game.

Xia Xinyan silently listened to their conversation, feeling a bit heavy-hearted.

As she suspected, those big families and powerful forces had likely begun acting early in the game, before the majority of players even understood what was going on.

They must have received some news; otherwise, despite how amazing and high-tech this game appeared, this group of future family rulers wouldn’t be so obsessed with doing things like forming guilds—it really did look a bit like child’s play from an outsider’s perspective.

However, if one day, this child’s play suddenly turned into reality, then everything would be completely different.

Moreover, it seemed from their talk that those major forces had gradually entered a heated competition, which meant that the situation in the game would become even more complicated, no longer dominated solely by matching dungeons.

She didn’t quite remember the update process from her previous life—mostly because she had been slacking off too much in the beginning—but as she recalled, around this time a year ago, the game gradually started to enter the right track.

That is, it would update to the real “Realm of Divine Presence.”

From the start of the server until now, the process could only be considered a warm-up.

By then, the overall difficulty of the game would increase significantly, and many rules would be introduced to govern player competition. Although the game officially didn’t allow players to attack one another, after that, all restrictions would loosen.

At most, they would prevent some malicious competition.

It seemed she too needed to prepare in advance.

Hearing their topics drift away from the original subject, Xia Xinyan stretched her body and yawned, intending to return to sleep—other than gathering information, she had also come over to recognize faces; anyway, she had memorized the main faces of her several cheap cousins, so her task was complete.

Just as she turned around, she suddenly heard someone ask: “Xia Jincang, that SSS rating from the server broadcast, was it really your sister and her boyfriend?”

Xia Xinyan turned back to look and saw Xia Jincang wearing a proud smile, as if he himself had achieved that rating: “Of course! Unless you think there’s another couple in the world with the same name as my sister and that… that dog thing?”

“……Ahem,” the second cousin sitting nearby lightly coughed, “Jincang, no matter what, Ling Mo is still your sister’s boyfriend now; we should be a bit cautious.”

“I’ve been quite cautious,” Xia Jincang’s eyes flashed with restraint, “or else when I first laid eyes on him, he would have been lying on the ground—daring to take my sister away when we weren’t paying attention, he’d best be ready for a swim at Moon Bay.”

Nearby, the fourth cousin couldn’t help but ask: “I heard that your sister hates your curly hair now? Are you really planning to straighten it?”

“Of course! As long as my sister likes it, I’d even be willing to shave it all off!” Xia Jincang gritted his teeth, “But don’t you all find it strange? My sister used to like me so much, yet she comes back this time and starts hating me. Besides, she hasn’t even come to see you after returning—maybe that soft rice guy called Ling led her astray. Haha, since he’s here this time, we should entertain him properly tomorrow.”

Xia Xinyan: “…”

You’re the soft rice man, your entire family is made up of soft rice men.