Rebirth of the thief who roamed around the world (BOOK 1)

Chapter 14 - Close Friends

Nie Yan studied for an hour, then went back to training. Whenever he was hungry, he would take out a portioned tube of nutrition tonic from the fridge and then go back to studying. He continued this cycle of studying, training, and eating until one o’clock in the afternoon.

「Ring! Ring!」The phone in Nie Yan’s home rang out.

“Hello. May I ask who this is?” Nie Yan picked up the phone and asked.

“Nie Yan! How about we go out and play? I’m almost suffocating to death by staying at home.”

The voice Nie Yan had just heard belonged to Tang Yao. The pages in his memories once again began turning. Tang Yao was his best friend—the two had known each other since they were in diapers. Though Tang Yao’s family eventually became quite wealthy, and they moved away to the city. However, their family ended up purchasing a villa near this town. So every summer, he would come over to visit and stay for a while.

Tang Yao, this person was an especially loyal friend. In Nie Yan’s previous life, when he had become very poor, it was Tang Yao who braved the risks of being discovered by Cao Xu and secretly provided financial support to him. This allowed him to pass those harsh days much more easily.

However, Tang Yao had one fatal weakness; he loved frequenting bars and womanizing. One time while drinking at a bar, he got into a fight with another man over a woman and ended up being beaten to death by that person. Due to the other side’s background being too great, the case was left unsettled.

Tang Yao, you’re still alive! This is great. In this lifetime, I will definitely not let that sort of thing happen again.

All of a sudden, tears began gushing forth and pouring out of Nie Yan’s eyes.

“Hello? Nie Yan, don’t just die on me. Say something.”

“Where are we going?” Nie Yan asked after restraining his emotions.

“Let’s go to the PK bar. Are you interested? Recently, this Conviction game has been really popular. Have you play it yet?”

“I’ve been playing. I’m a Level 2 Tempest Thief,” Nie Yan replied. The PK bar is a gaming and entertainment club where players can transfer their characters from the game and compete with other players in various scenarios. This type of duel wouldn’t raise a player’s level, nor would it affect their progress in the game. Only occasionally were players able to win one or two pieces of equipment through gambling with other players.

“Not bad at all! You’ve already risen to Level 2. When did you buy a game helmet?” Tang Yao asked, somewhat astonished. He remembered Nie Yan’s family was not well-off at all.

“I’ve had it for some time now.”

“Let’s head out then. We’ll have a stroll over to the PK Lounge. I have a Level 3 Arcane Mage by the way,” Tang Yao flauntingly said in a somewhat proud tone.

Nie Yan faintly smiled. 18 to 19 year old kids all want to show off even the smallest accomplishments. Naturally, this was human nature. However, Nie Yan had already long passed that age.

At the current stage, anyone who was able to rise to Level 3 was a decently skilled player. Such players were in the top ten percent of the player base. However, Nie Yan knew that Tang Yao’s skills were still a bit lacking if he wanted to go to the PK Lounge. The number of experts at the lounge were not few. It was a place where all sorts of experts gathered.

“Us going there to play is fine. However, it’s best if you don’t gamble,” Nie Yan said. From his memories, Tang Yao loved to gamble, yet he would never win—not even once. This never dissuaded him, however, and he continued to enjoy it. Luckily, the amount of pocket money Tang Yao had wasn’t very much, so losing wasn’t that big of a deal. With the current teachings, the head of the family wouldn’t give their child too much money. This was to avoid having that child form bad habits and become a good for nothing in the future.