Book 3 Chapter 11 – Bronze Coin

　　"Three in total." Qing Linglong took out a thumb ring from her storage item.

　　"This is ours." Liu Meng pulled out a wine cup from her storage ring. Qing Qiaoqiao was mindful to let her handle the artifact, even if just temporarily.

　　"Let's put everything together." Li Yiming saw through Qing Qiaoqiao's intentions the moment Liu Meng took out the artifact. He also brought out the armor he had collected.

　　"Let's split it up." Qing Linglong put the armor with the other two items. Things like this had to be done for a temporary team, since any unfairness in splitting up the loot would make future endeavors together much harder.

　　"A spell-blocking armor, a talent-enhancing ring, and a stamina increasing potion wine-cup. Mr. Li, I'll let you choose first." Qing Linglong checked the artifacts and gave the priority to Li Yiming.

　　"We've worked together for quite some time now, so just call me by my name. Mr. Li is way too polite," Li Yiming grinned and said, "I'll pa.s.s for this time, you go first."

　　Qing Linglong frowned slightly. 'Using courtesy to push his advantages?'

　　"Let's give the armor to Linglong, the wine cup to Eyegla.s.ses and the ring to Ms. Liu. Are we okay with that?" Since she herself did not claim any of the items, it made sense that Grandma w.a.n.g would be the one part.i.tioning the loot.

　　"No problems with that," Li Yiming answered when he saw the heads turn in his direction. Liu Meng, of course, did not object either, and all were happy with what they received. The real reason for Li Yiming's abandoning the priority given to him was because he did not know much about the items at all. By forfeiting his privilege, in fact, just as Qing Linglong guessed, he was hoping for something valuable to be given to Liu Meng as a display of good will. In addition, none brought up the topic of the other group of guardians they had encountered back in the museum. It was already fortunate enough that a fight did not break out, and it was their own decision to not further push their luck.

　　"What do we do now?" Eyegla.s.ses, who was the driver, asked after putting away his wine cup.

　　"Yiming, I want to have some time alone." Liu Meng suddenly said.

　　"Alone?" Li Yiming was a little surprised.

　　"Yes." Liu Meng answered with her head lowered: it seemed she had something in mind.

　　"I'll keep you company." Li Yiming caught the message.

　　"Well, we'll be looking forward to our next cooperation then," Qing Linglong smiled as she looked at the two: she had guessed Liu Meng's intentions.

　　"Us as well. Eyegla.s.ses, I'll give this back to you." Li Yiming took the transmitter out of his ear.

　　"Keep it. Maybe it'll be useful again sometime. At least I'd hope so." Eyegla.s.ses waved his hand and said in a friendly tone. In survival domains, an extra friend meant an extra chance to obtain help. Besides, it was useless to Li Yiming for anything other than contacting him.

　　"Alright, thank you then," Li Yiming accepted the gift without pretending at courtesy. "Can you drop us at the next intersection?"

　　The car made a brief halt by the sidewalk, and Li Yiming and Liu Meng disembarked with a dejected stare from Qing Qiaoqiao trailing behind them. The car slowly drove away.

　　"Is Li Yiming dissatisfied with the way we split the items?" Qing Qiaoqiao pursed his lips and said in a slightly sour voice.

　　"I think Liu Meng is just worried about losing her treasure." Eyegla.s.ses joked from the driver's compartment.

　　"What treasure? I can tell. They aren't even a couple." Qing Qiaoqiao retorted, making her intentions clear in a daring manner

　　"It doesn't matter whether you can tell or not. They'll be a couple soon enough. You should give up." Qing Linglong said without the slightest euphemism for the sake of her sister.

　　"Yiming's a nice kid. I support you. You should fight for what you want, and even if you fail, at least you'll have tried. It's still better than the people who don't even try and end up regretting it for the rest of their lives." Grandma w.a.n.g caressed Qing Qiaoqiao's head lovingly, as if she was her own granddaughter, and threw a sorry glance at Qing Linglong.

　　Qing Linglong froze when she heard what Grandma w.a.n.g had said and turned her head toward the window. She gazed at the landscape outside vacantly.

　　"What is it?" After getting off the car, Li Yiming could not wait to ask Liu Meng. His heart swelled with happiness at the thought of what might be soon to come.