QT: Against My Will

We already saw Bing Shi’s first meeting between Lu Kai, Ru Quan, and Ziek, but never saw an actual first meeting with Xuan Mu, correct?

So here you go... Enjoy the read ??

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Bing Shi peeked her head from under her covers, glancing at the clock on her nightstand. It was one AM and she could hear voices coming from the kitchen. Her parents were arguing again. There was a long pause, and she heard a loud thump.

“Who is he?!” her father growled, “Have you been sleeping with another man behind my back?!”

“You don’t understand anything,” her mother wailed back.

There was another crash, followed by the sound of breaking glass and the argument started again.

Bing Shi rolled out of bed and stepped quietly outside of her room. The cool air wrapped itself around her skin and hair as she took a deep breath and exhaled. She entered her brother’s room to see him crying and shivering under the bed covers.

.....

“Big Rabbish?” Bing Shi raised the duvet, “Hey, hey... It’ll be okay...” she whispered softly to her eight-year-old brother, “Where is Small Rabbish?” She searched for the six years old boy; he was snoring by the side, oblivious to his surroundings, ready to be kidnapped, “Let’s go, I’ll let you sleep in my bed if you help me carry him.”

Her brother quickly nodded and picked up the smaller child off of his pillow alone, used to his sister not touching other people.

Inside her bedroom door, Bing Shi immediately locked the door. She inserted a few foam boards in between the gaps to better insulate the sound.

After placing down Small Rabbish, her brother made himself comfortable on her bed, “Bing Shi...I don’t like them.... they are uncomfortable.”

“I know,” Bing Shi handed him noise-cancelling headphones and diapers, “Wear them whenever you want.” She took a potty from under her bed, a roll of trash bags, drinks and snacks, “It’s still early, lay down and close your eyes. I’m going to play some games.”

The boy nodded, hoping his mom won’t make them join the war against their dad this time.

As Bing Shi sat beside her computer, someone came running up the stairs. She immediately dashed to her door to check if it was closed. It wasn’t, “Oh no.” Why did her lock break too?! It worked perfectly until now! She tweaked the handle a few times until the door stopped opening by itself.

“BING SHI OPEN THE DOOR!” The voice outside sounded panicked.

Her brother cried out as he put on the headphones, watching how Bing Shi pushed the wardrobe before the doors and used her books to cover more gaps. He felt a lot safer and snuggled beside Small Rabbish, who continued to sleep soundly.

“BING SHI OPEN THE DOOR!” The knocking became louder and more frequent, “Your father wants to kill me!”

Wiping off her sweat, Bing Shi could barely make out what her mother was saying anymore, but she could feel the slight vibration of the furniture.

“Bing Shi, please open the door, let’s talk your father’s bad behaviour out of him together...as a family.” Her mother’s voice was full of pain and desperation.

Her mother began shrieking and banging her forehead against the door harshly. It made her look like a crazy woman, scaring everyone around her, “You three are the only reason why I work so hard. If you hate me too, I won’t have any more reason to live!”

Her father tried to silence her mother, but it only caused her to cry louder, drowing out his yelling, “They have nothing to do with his! Leave them be!” Eventually, he left her alone and stormed towards the entrance. The only reason why they didn’t divorce yet was their children. He grabbed his coat and left to cool off, holding back from beating up his wife. He didn’t want to see his children ganging up against him again.

· · ────────── · ???· ────────── · ·

Bing Shi sighed loudly before sitting back down on her chair and turning on the computer. Her parents were getting on her nerves. Why couldn’t they just kill themselves already? Her eyes wandered aimlessly across the screen, her hand hovering over the mouse as she logged into a game.

While she waited for the game to boot up, she opened the browser and typed in ‘How is life in the orphanage?’ A few minutes later, she finally found an answer. It was worse than what she was going through right now, so she typed out another thing, ‘How is life without parents?’

· · ────────── · ???· ────────── · ·

Xuan Mu opened the game window to check his gains, noticing a private message from Bing Shi first. Wait. Bing Shi? It was not like he was taking notice of everyone in the game, but this name was hard to ignore even if he wanted to.

[Bing Shi]: Sorry, I accidentally killed you. Didn’t expect someone could die from a single punch, but it was so funny! I didn’t even have any equipment on me.

[Bing Shi]: You there?

[Bing Shi]: Can I do it again?

[Bing Shi]: I’ll pay you.

The eleven years old boy stared blankly at the chat box for several seconds before closing the client entirely. He didn’t care that his character which was in auto mode died and lost all potential gains. All he cared about was not to fall for her charms like others, ok?

· · ────────── · ???· ────────── · ·

The next day, Xuan Mu got home from school, feeling exhausted and sick. He took a quick shower before logging into his account, only to find that Bing Shi had been standing near him. She used her fist to punch his character, killing him on the spot, “...”

“Bwahaha. I told you it’s different with her!” Bing Shi dropped a bag of money on the ground, “I knew she would arrive on time. She always does.” She ran to punch other players that used their low levelled accounts to earn some easy money.

[TReex195]: I don’t think that player is a female.

Xuan Mu ignored the money and decided to respawn in a safe place. But to behold, she appeared here too.

[Bing Shi]: Are you a girl?

[Atlan]: No.

[Bing Shi]: How old are you?

[Atlan]: 11

Xuan Mu answered truthfully, thinking this would cause her to leave him alone, only for it to have the opposite effect. She opened a trade function, and gifted him with three items of high value, all of them crafted by Bing Shi herself!

This caused Xuan Mu to feel confused since he hadn’t requested anything and decided to refuse the trade. She might be using a cheat to steal his items through a trade function. He only knew her from afar. This girl was more than fishy, and her behaviour even more so.

“You are so cute!” Bing Shi used her fists to punch his character, giving no damage this time because they were in a safe zone, “At least accept my thanks for producing so much joy for me yesterday, and today too.”

Xuan Mu shifted uncomfortably in his chair, feeling his ears heat up as he filtered her words through an ulterior sieve. He began to feel uneasy and his thoughts started to race through his mind. It wasn’t easy to see someone else’s character through a screen.

The player from a while ago appeared with his main character, which ranked among the top, “Bing Shi, you are scaring that little child.”

Xuan Mu frowned at his appearance, “Just like how you are scarring her into marriage?” She was just too famous for others not to know anything about her, and she often camped near his fishing spot with other players.

The player was taken aback, “It’s just an in-game marriage.”

Bing Shi stopped her punching, a heart emoticon popping above her head near Xuan Mu’s character, “My saviour. Finally, someone who doesn’t ship us together.”

“Stop that,” Xuan Mu moved his character away from her, swatting his fishing rod around. He decided to play this game, not because he wanted to entangle himself with other humans, but because he wanted to find a reason to hate them less.

“Stop what?” Bing Shi continued to show hearts while getting near him, “Oh,” she laughed, stopping what she was doing, respecting his boundaries, “Am I being creepy? Sorry.”

“Yeah,” Xuan Mu shook his head, not knowing how to respond appropriately, he didn’t mind the hearts, “Just stop killing me.”

And thus was how Bing Shi started to chase her future husband with hearts above her head for a whole day, ‘pursuing’ him with his permission.