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1/2 Prince sequel
Since my 1/2 Prince novels are conveniently pocket-sized, I carried around the sequel to read yesterday when I went out and had lots of waiting time. Reading 1/2 Prince in public is not a good idea because I was snickering and trying not to laugh. The novel didn't last me long at all. XD; (But it sure took me a long time to start reading it, haha)
I wasn't too interested in the sequel since it takes place waaay later with the kids (it reminded me a lot of the epilogue of Harry Potter), but eeee, this was still a lot of fun, especially since it gave us more insight into how everyone has settled down (or not settled down), and yay for 1st person POVs from characters other than Lan!
It goes like this.
1st POV - 1st kid
2nd POV - 2nd kid
3rd POV - Zhuo Ling Bin
4th POV - Kenshin (Kenshin gets his own POV. The very last POV to conclude everything. How awesome is that?)
1st POV
The 1st POV is Feng Long Ming, son of Feng Yang Ming and Lolidragon (Long Shui Han). I immediately took a liking to him because he's pretty mature for a kid, especially with silly parents like his. He starts off talking about his name and how it might sound pretty impressive, but he thinks his name probably came about from his parents mashing their names together (the Long from his mother, the Ming from his father). He's grateful they didn't come up with some other wild combination. Those other possible combinations he gave as examples made me crack up. (Shui Long - Water Dragon, Feng Long - Wind Dragon, Feng Shui).
Anyway, he introduces us to Xiao Xiao Lan, daughter of Xiao Lan and Min Gui Wen, which means she's his cousin. She's very blunt and violent, and it seems like Long Ming has been looking after her since he was 5.
He then recounts a few outlandish tales about the parents.
His parents like to go to PUBs. Once, his mother (Lolidragon) tried to cook an egg in the PUB's kitchen but mixed up ingredients and landed Yang Ming in the hospital. She called for help to extinguish the fire in the PUB... Lan was the one who drove the fire truck. She ended up making the place explode. (What in the world are they doing??)
Then, he talks about how he didn't think Xiao Xiao Lan's mother (Lan) was frightening until one time, a bunch of kidnappers came to their house. Lan merely continued cooking and even asked the kidnappers to let her finish cooking. When they wouldn't let her, she used her kitchen knife to destroy their laser guns. Lan instructed Kenshin to take Xiao Xiao Lan upstairs. The kids watched everything from upstairs through the see through floor. After seeing Lan's prowess, they became very obedient kids. XD;
Moving on to the present, Kenshin's in the kitchen, cooking. Long Ming starts introducing Kenshin as their super capable housekeeper. You would find it hard to spot a speck of dust in their house. The kids think Kenshin is a "distant relative" of theirs, but they also think that they discovered Kenshin's secret, that he used to be part of the mafia. They came to this conclusion because they discovered that their Uncle Leng (Arctic Fox), who always comes to find Kenshin, is actually the head of the Bing Di mafia group. Uncle Leng is better known as Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Silver-Masked Quick Fox... yeah, not a very eloquent translation from me).
The kids ask Kenshin where their parents are. Kenshin answers that they went to find the place they first met and will probably return the next day.
In the next room, Long Ming sees Xiao Xiao Lan with a headset and asks her if she's going to the virtual department store (how cool~). She's not. The headset is something of Long Ming's mother's that she found. Long Ming's a bit wary since his mother always buys dangerous things. They discover that the headset is for Second Life, a banned game. Long Ming doesn't care much for games since the NPCs in them are always stiff. When Long Ming asks Sheng Ming Zhu Zai, the smartest AI in the world (Dictator of Life) about the game, he finds out that it's the first game his mother's company developed. He then wants to find out why it got banned. He gets told to search for "Prince." Before this, he goes off on a tangent, recounting the time Xiao Xiao Lan's mother asked the Dictator of Life to develop a new recipe for them. The result was a very simple dish, but he used super big words to describe it.
Long Ming enters the game with Xiao Xiao Lan. The female NPC is completely unlike an NPC. Long Ming thinks she's human. They get asked why they want to play this banned game. Long Ming answers he wants to find out why the game got out of control. The NPC reluctantly lets them in, but she doesn't let them create their own character. Long Ming ends up as a cute and busty angel class female, and Xiao Xiao Lan ends up as a handsome and muscular human class male.
They go to the nearest village to ask about Prince, but the female NPC potion seller chews their ear out for asking since she's a merchant, not an information booth. They get into an argument but can't fight with the NPC since they're level 1 while the NPC is level 55. They resolve to go train, but first they ask the village leader about Prince. He tells him he remembers Prince, that he was born here. Long Ming thinks Prince must be an NPC because surely NPCs can't remember details about players from that long ago. They get told that Prince is in Infinite City but they won't be able to get there unless they're level 50~60'ish.
They start thinking that they'll need someone to help them train, but that might be hard to find since this was a banned game. They somehow run into Wicked at this point. Xiao Xiao Lan immediately thinks he's hot and starts batting her eyes at him, but Long Ming almost gags from this since Xiao Xiao Lan currently has the figure of a muscular male. When Wicked finds out who she is though, he immediately agrees to help them train. Long Ming thinks he must be gay (haha, poor Wicked).
While they're training, Xiao Xiao Lan slaughters the beasts without any mercy. Wicked comments, "As expected of her daughter." Long Ming, on the other hand, feels this is breaking all kinds of animal cruelty laws. Long Ming usually falls asleep while they're training since he has nothing to do. Later, Xiao Xiao Lan chooses to be a warrior and Long Ming chooses to be a priestess. Wicked departs, and the kids end up dallying in the village, mingling with the NPCs who are not at all like NPCs. Long Ming plays mahjong with a lot of them, and the NPCs tell him that they're the only customers in town anyway, so they have no need to stay in the shop the whole day.
Later, the village leader comes and tells them there's a mission they can solve to gain companions to help them reach Infinite City. Two players have been kept captive in a cave. If Long Ming and Xiao Xiao Lan save them, they're willing to accompany them to Infinite City. Long Ming finds this strange, but they set out to the cave with the potion seller as their guide.
Once there, they spot the two captives, one handsome elf and one handsome demon. Xiao Xiao Lan disappears, and Long Ming is asked by a deity if either of the two handsome males were his companion. He responds no both times and is thankful he's the one getting asked and not Xiao Xiao Lan. She'd probably desert him for one of the handsome males.
The elf introduces himself as Elf. He's an archer. The demon introduces himself as Demon Thirteen. He's a mage. They're completely enamored with Long Ming.
2nd POV
The 2nd POV goes to Xiao Xiao Lan, named thus because her mother is known as Xiao Lan. She laments that even though her father has such a high IQ, she still landed with such a name. Even now that she's 15, she's still known as Little Little Lan.
Elf and Demon Thirteen show no interest in her. She asks them how they became captives, but they don't answer her. Long Ming tells her to let them keep their secrets. They treat Long Ming super nicely and even use their clothes to pave the road so he doesn't step on mud. (hahaha...princess treatment).
At the village, the villagers are super happy to see them back. Xiao Xiao Lan comments that they're sure friendly with the villagers. The village leader sends them on their way to Infinite City, and the female NPC potion seller chases them off with a few blunt words. Everyone thinks it's obvious she likes Xiao Xiao Lan, but Xiao Xiao Lan is clueless about it, only commenting that she gave her potions for free this time. Long Ming apologizes about Xiao Xiao Lan's obliviousness.
While they train, Xiao Xiao Lan keeps her potions close. She tells the other two that they'll need to do this too because Long Ming often falls asleep and won't heal them. While Xiao Xiao Lan is setting up their tents, a clam appears behind her. It has eyes, which makes Xiao Xiao Lan wary because her mother often tells her never to eat anything with eyes. Long Ming orders the other two to attack. They get swallowed and spit out, covered with mud.
Angered, the clam asks, "Do you discriminate against clams?" However, at this point, XiMen Feng interrupts and calms the clam down. (Eee, XiMen Feng!) XiMen Feng and An Rui snipe at each other. XiMen Feng comments that after Prince disappeared, he can only follow An Rui around. Hearing that XiMen Feng has known Prince over 10 years ago, Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming think he must be an NPC. XiMen Feng agrees to help them out, but first he has to find someone. They all ride An Rui and get tossed around so much that they almost die, but XiMen Feng sleeps through it all. Once they leave the clam, XiMen Feng turns into a girl.
They enter a desolate, ghost-like place. They ask XiMen Feng who he's searching for. He answers, "I told you, that guy with freaky eyes." The guy turns out to be Deathless/Undying Man, who asks XiMen Feng if he came to help him reclaim the Southern Continent. He tries hitting on XiMen Feng and ends up making him faint. XiMeng Feng later tells Deathless that he wants everyone to gather at Central. They hop on the clam to make their way over.
When Xiao Xiao Lan opens her eyes after getting tossed around in the clam, she overhears Deathless and Wicked talking. Wicked has been waiting outside for over a month. Deathless asks if it's because of Prince, but Wicked doesn't answer. Deathless comments that he heard Wicked has disappeared from Prince's house for over ten years. Wicked answers it's been seven years. At that time, Xiao Xiao Lan was eight. He left because she was too similar. Hearing all this, Xiao Xiao Lan thinks she's forgotten something important.
A voice calls out Wicked's name. Wicked turns and calls that person "Xiao Lan." Xiao Xiao Lan is confused because that's her mother's name, except this person is a handsome elf with white hair. Instead of a tearful reunion, Prince starts to hit Wicked. Deathless tries to stop him. Prince tells Wicked that he shouldn't have disappeared like that. He'd thought he'd been kidnapped. He wasn't ever going to let Wicked disappear like that again.
At this point, a voice calls out to Prince, calling him his "dear wife". Xiao Xiao Lan immediately recognizes that this person has to be her father, because even though this person was very different from her suit-wearing father, only her father used such disgusting endearments.
Her father hugs Prince close and asks Wicked if he's married yet. Wicked answers it has nothing to do with him, but her father says it has everything to do with him. Who knew if Wicked was still after his wife? A bunch of people come out to greet Wicked at this point, including a wolf and a young female angel. They all enter the town together.
When the doors close, Xiao Xiao Lan realizes she hasn't entered yet. She starts pounding on the door, only to get attacked by butterflies. Xiao Xiao Lan finds things very strange. Why is her father clinging onto someone else other than her mom? Could he be having an affair with Long Ming's father? She then comments that she would never believe her father capable of doing that, and both her mother and Long Ming's mother were too scary for them to even consider that.
Finally, she gets saved by Kenshin. She notices that he's entirely unlike the Kenshin who wears an apron in her house, but he's undeniably Kenshin. She looks around, searching for that someone that her mom says is never far from Kenshin. If he's there, then this has to be Kenshin. She soon spots Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Arctic Fox).
Kenshin tells her they're going to the Northern Continent. A flying carpet descends, and off steps a very familiar looking guy with a wide smile. He walks up to Xiao Xiao Lan and says, "Long Ming has grown up to be so strong!" He tells Long Ming, "Xiao Xiao Lan has become so pretty!" He then hugs Long Ming.
Xiao Xiao Lan realizes he must be Sunshine-gege, husband of Fairsky-jiejie. Sunshine then realizes he got the two backwards, so he amends his statements. Xiao Xiao Lan is happy to see him and tells him he hasn't visited in a long time. Sunshine apologizes, saying they've gotten caught in something but will be back soon. Xiao Xiao Lan doesn't trust his estimate since they said they'd be back soon, but they haven't showed up since her elementary graduation, and now she's already graduated from middle school. Sunshine tells them they'll be back in a few days. Xiao Xiao Lan is relieved because Sunshine never lies.
They all board the flying carpet to meet someone. Elf and Demon Thirteen follow. Sunshine says it's no problem because Xiao Xiao Lan's friends are also his friends, and the carpet can fit up to eight people.
On the carpet, Xiao Xiao Lan asks Sunshine and Kenshin when they came to play this game and why they hadn't been told about such a fun game. Sunshine asks, "Do you really think Second Life is a fun game?" Xiao Xiao Lan answers, "Of course!" Sunshine tells her it's better to let "him" answer.
When they enter, they meet the Dictator of Life, who both Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming are very familiar with. They ask him when he came to play this game. He answers that he's always been here, and that the answers are all in Xiao Xiao Lan's mother's book room. Long Ming wonders about this. When he realizes he must be talking about the book 1/2 Prince, he thinks it can't be possible, since that's a book about NPCs becoming self-aware...
The Dictator of Life starts showing them Prince's legend. They learn a bunch of stuff about their parents and also the fact that Kenshin isn't human. Xiao Xiao Lan asks if this was true. The Dictator of Life answers that Lan was afraid they'd stop viewing Kenshin and Sunshine as human. Long Ming asks if Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Arctic Fox) was also not human. He expresses disappointment, since he thought he was the strongest in the world. Xiao Xiao Lan thinks it's not strange, since his "intelligence" seemed to be lower than Kenshin's and he doesn't even talk much. Long Ming adds that he doesn't know how to cook or do housework and only knew how to tag along with Kenshin, so maybe he hasn't become self aware yet? At this, the Dictator of Life bursts out in laughter, and even Kenshin smiles, which is even more alarming than the fact that Xiao Xiao Lan's mother was a transvestite, and her father gay. Arctic Fox then coldly says he's human. (Oh these kids~)
They reassure Kenshin that they won't change their attitude towards him. He's like a second father to them both. At this, Kenshin turns away, his ears red.
Hearing this, Elf and Demon Thirteen confess that they're actually NPCs too. They're part of a hidden mission that isn't triggered until a player buys 5000 potions. But since their village never had any players, the NPCs were afraid they'd be trapped there forever. Long Ming finally understands why the villagers set them out on the mission. They tell them they're forever their companions too.
Xiao Xiao Lan asks how her mother chose between her father and Wicked. The story continues...
3rd POV
The next POV goes to Zhuo Ling Bin~. He introduces himself, talks about the game and how it went out of control, but he then says that the largest effect that had on him was that he lost the girl he cared most about.
When he woke up, he was already in the hospital, and Lan was crying over Gui, who took a stab for her. Ling Bin is conflicted because he doesn't want Gui to steal Lan away, but he doesn't want to see Lan cry either. He also knows that Gui will definitely wake up because there was no way he was going to let Lan cry. He leaves the room and hears Gui's raspy voice, signaling he's awake.
At home, Ling Bin is beyond depressed. His brother, Ming Bin consoles him and gives him pointers about ways to deal with this.
1. Leave
Ling Bin replies that he hasn't graduated yet, so he can't.
2. Drink.
Ling Bin says it'll cause cancer.
3. Smoke.
Ling Bin doesn't want Ming Bin to suffer from second hand smoke
4. Cry under his blankets.
Ling Bin still has an experiment to tend to the next day, so he can't show up with puffy eyes. He considers this for a moment and answers that he'll cry another day.
Exasperated, Ming Bin replies that Ling Bin is way too composed. That's why Lan chose Gui in the end. Ling Bin should've been confessing every single day instead of waiting in silence since Lan is thick like that. Ming Bin says Gui had the right idea.
Ling Bin continues going to class but suffers whenever he sees Gui's beaming face, but nothing compares to Lan's graduation ceremony. On that day, Gui wore his bard outfit from Second Life (complete with his guzheng and earrings) and asked Lan to marry him. "My highness Lan, you have finally graduated, which makes me no longer your teacher. I would like to call you by another name."
At this, Ling Bin goes home, and now is finally the time for him to cry because there are no other experiments waiting for him.
Lan tries to find him, but Ming Bin turns her away each time. Finally, she comes with a red invitation card. Ming Bin tries to hide it from his brother, telling him he doesn't want to see this, but Ling Bin snatches it over. It's an invitation to Lan and Gui's wedding. On the back, Lan wrote a message for him, telling him she wished he would be at her wedding because he was important to her. Ling Bin drips some tears on the card and hastily tries to wipe them away, but he smears the message instead. Yang Ming brings some wine over, probably to console Ling Bin.
Ling Bin goes to the wedding because he doesn't want to miss Lan in a wedding dress, but it turns out that Gui is wearing the wedding dress instead. Lan comes in a swallowtail suit. She asked Gui to switch with her because she liked the suit better. Everyone is shocked, and Ling Bin wonders if he could have done it. He thinks he would have because he'd do everything to make Lan happy. Still, when he congratulates Gui, he does it in an impressed tone. He also tells Gui not to worry because now that he's graduated, he'll for sure leave. Gui tells him not to leave, that Lan wants to help Kenshin and the others come to the real world. Fairsky especially couldn't live without Sunshine. Ling Bin agrees to help.
After they accomplish this, Ling Bin is about to depart to another country even though Lolidragon offered him a job. When he goes to Lan's house to say his goodbyes, he find out that Gui... is pregnant instead of Lan since Lan is afraid of pain. He again wonders if he would have been able to do this for Lan... and thinks he probably can't. Gui almost falls, Ling Bin catches him, Lan almost spills hot food on Gui, Ling Bin shields him... Kenshin watches and says he finally doesn't have to watch Gui every second of the day. Ling Bin changes his mind about going overseas - he feels he needs to stay, or else Gui and Lan's child probably wouldn't be able to survive.
When Xiao Xiao Lan is seven, she asks Ling Bin if she can marry him when she's older. Hearing this repeat of Lan's words, Ling Bin runs away.
In the game, Wicked walks away from Gui, afraid that he might run into Xiao Xiao Lan. Prince told him that Xiao Xiao Lan has been searching for him for eight years. Wicked thinks this isn't possible - she was only seven at the time, and they're 30 years apart.
At the gate, he runs into Xiao Xiao Lan. Thinking she probably hasn't recognized him yet, he tries to brush past her, only to get pushed to the floor. Xiao Xiao Lan declares that she's been searching for him for eight years. There was no way she was going to let him leave just like that. Long Ming tries to restrain her, telling her that if she accidentally kills him, they won't be able to find him. Kenshin tells him that Wicked is level 253. Even if the four of them ganged up, there was no why they'd be able to kill him. Long Ming goes, "I see," and tells everyone to start hitting or else Wicked was going to run away.
Wicked is still able to get up. He tells them that even if they do this, they won't be able to stop him from leaving. He tells Xiao Xiao Lan that he was merely her caretaker up until she was seven years old. Surely he didn't matter?
Xiao Xiao Lan goes, you'll be my boyfriend from age 15 to 20, and my husband from 20 to the age I die. She says 20 and on, since her father won't let her marry before then.
Wicked continues to protest, saying Gui would never agree to let her marry him. She replies that after bringing home one of Long Ming's friends, her father immediately changed his mind, saying that Zhuo was a much better choice. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, doesn't use violence, doesn't gamble, doesn't swear... she wasn't ever going to let go of such a good guy. (I know right, Wicked is such a good person!)
Long Ming says he's a good guy too, but Xiao Xiao Lan immediately says that's no use, since they're related. She says it in a rude way. Ling Bin corrects her language, and Xiao Xiao Lan goofily says he's the only one who can restrain her.
Wicked protests he's thirty years her elder. Xiao Xiao Lan laments that they've missed 38 years they could've spent together. Humans can live up to age 200, so they still have a hundred something years in front of them to spend together.
Wicked almost caves but instead says that she's still young, that her mother also told him she wanted to marry him when she was young. Xiao Xiao Lan replies that she's 15, not 7. She knows who she likes. Wicked still thinks this isn't right, that he's much too old for her, and that he used to like her mother. He knocks her away. Xiao Xiao Lan yells for Kenshin to restrain him. Knowing he can't win in game, Wicked logs off.
He takes his headset off and thinks that he won't be able to log on for a long time because Xiao Xiao Lan won't give up so easily. That trait of hers was a lot like her father's. Even though she was a guy in game, feeling her up against him still made him blush.
Ming Bin calls him and tells him there's about to be a marriage in the family. He's been keeping his brother's number a secret from everyone since Ling Bin threatened to change his number and that he wouldn't even tell Ming Bin next time if he leaked his number to anyone. Thinking that Ming Bin is about to get married, Ling Bin goes home.
Once there, he realizes the "marriage in the family" was his own marriage. Xiao Xiao Lan and everyone else ambush him at his home. He tries to escape, but Long Ming blocks the door and says he's very good at fighting. He learned from Kenshin and Yin Mian Kuai Hu. He tries to escape through the window, but Lan blocks him, and he has no way of winning against her. He escapes to the kitchen, but Wolf and Yulian are there, and Yulian's holding a gun and says that Xiao Xiao Lan doesn't care if her "husband" is crippled. Ling Bin ends up carrying refreshments out to the living room.
He turns to Gui and pleads, telling him that he wouldn't let her daughter marry him. With knives against his throat, Gui tells him that he married the one with the kitchen knife. He thinks that only the guy who competed with him for the one with the kitchen knife would be able to take care of the one with the throwing knife.
Xiao Xiao Lan hugs him. Ling Bin tells her she's only 15. Xiao Xiao Lan asks if that's too young. Maybe they can marry later? Ling Bin agrees, only to realize that he got manipulated into agreeing. There was no way Xiao Xiao Lan would have been able to marry him right then and there at age 15. Ling Bin looks at Ming Bin, and his brother says that their parents were getting worried since neither of them had married yet. If Ling Bin didn't marry soon, then he'd have gotten an arranged marriage. It wasn't like Ling Bin didn't like Xiao Xiao Lan! Ling Bin tries to deny that he liked her, but he then realizes he might hurt her feelings, so he instead tries to say that he does like her.
She grins wickedly at him and steals a passionate kiss.
4th POV
The last POV goes to Kenshin! I've been waiting to see his thoughts. *___*
Anyway, this continues right where the previous POV left off. Kenshin thinks to himself that he never doubted Xiao Xiao Lan would be able to capture Wicked because although everyone thinks she's a lot like her mom, Kenshin knows that she is actually a lot more like her father, who never knows how to give up. That's why Kenshin has been preparing for this day since forever. He's just surprised that it took this long.
Kenshin then introduces himself, telling everyone that he's Kenshin, though he's not sure how that came about. It seems like Prince has always called him that. Before, he was just the Demon King, an NPC that became self-aware, or he was supposed to just be an NPC. He followed Prince out of the cave and thought his life would end the moment the game ended, but after a bunch of events, he found out that he used to be a real human who had died because of Long Dian's experiments. He was then "revived" through the game, and now he doesn't know what he actually is.
When Prince wanted to bring Kenshin to the real world, he wavered, but he wasn't allowed to waver for very long because he realized very quickly that without him, the newlyweds would've destroyed their house really quickly. He entered the real world to take care of Prince and Gui as their housekeeper. He then turned into the caretaker of the children and is thankful Wicked was around to help, or else he wouldn't have been able to leave Gui's side while he was pregnant.
The children seem to like pranking Kenshin, but they stopped one day when Arctic Fox came to visit. They discovered Arctic Fox's background. Arctic Fox is bemused and wonders if all children were that familiar with and awed by the mafia. Kenshin says his family doesn't have a single normal person. Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming both have great destructive power. Xiao Xiao Lan wants one of Arctic Fox's throwing knives, but Kenshin immediately says no because she'd be too destructive with one. Long Ming asks if Arctic Fox is the top assassin and then starts to ramble about how Kenshin must be part of the mafia too. Kenshin is bemused by his imagination.
A phone call comes. Tian Xian cries about how Doll was abducted after running away in an argument. The abductors specifically requested children to deliver the ransom. Nan Gong Zui shows up on screen, asking Kenshin for Arctic Fox. Kenshin wonders why everyone comes to him to look for Arctic Fox. Nan Gong Zui asks Arctic Fox if there have been any mafia looking to harm Doll.
Kenshin decides to have Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming deliver the ransom. Nan Gong Zui asks if he can make a decision like that, and Kenshin answers that he's always been the one to make decisions for the household. He starts thinking about how both Gui and Feng Wu Qing have given him their bank account info since they didn't trust themselves or their wives with it.
Kenshin and Arctic Fox help Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming gear up. They give them bullet proof outfits (with meat bun patterns as requested by Xiao Xiao Lan), and Kenshin has Long Ming wear Meatbun on his back like a backpack. He instructs Meatbun to stay quiet until ordered. Kenshin gives Xiao Xiao Lan an earring that he can ride in with his consciousness to observe them and give orders as they deliver the ransom.
After teaching them, Arctic Fox asks Kenshin if he can have them join his mafia group. Kenshin instantly replies, "Not if you want your group to be destroyed by me." He says this because he can't face the world if that happens since these two are way too destructive.
As they leave, Kenshin tells Arctic Fox to solve things as quickly as possible because he doesn't want the children to get into too much danger.
Kenshin leaves, taking the then 5 and 6 years old kids to save a princess.
They meet Nan Gong Zui and his wife, Phoenix. They hand the ransom to Long Ming and see them off with much worry. Nan Gong Zui tells them to look out for their own safety first. Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming agree innocently, but Kenshin is familiar with this expression since he's seen it lots. They always get into trouble three minutes right after.
Kenshin gets into contact with Sunshine, telling him to locate Prince.
The abductors instruct the kids to take a variety of public transportation. They land in the desert. Kenshin starts getting angry and thinks the abductors don't know how to take care of children at all. He's about to rush in, but Long Ming refuses, saying that Doll would get hurt. Xiao Xiao Lan starts carrying Long Ming. Kenshin is crushed. He's about to rush there to help when Sunshine contacts him and says he got into contact with Prince.
Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming come across the abductors at this point. Xiao Xiao Lan refuses to hand the ransom over until they see Doll-jiejie. The abductors laugh, since they don't think the kids can do anything.
When they reach the hideout, Xiao Xiao Lan is happy to see Doll. Doll asks which idiot sent kids to save her. They answer it was Kenshin and Nan Gong Zui. She promises to punish them when she gets back. The abductors tell her she shouldn't be thinking of going back. Doll answers that they already have their ransom. They should let her go.
Xiao Xiao Lan refuses to hand the ransom over since it sounds like they have no plans to release Doll. When they advance on her, she breaks the guy's finger, and a fight breaks out. Kenshin helps defend through their equipment. While watching Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming utterly destroy their opponents, Kenshin wonders if he created the most dangerous weapons in the world. He thinks he has to have them hand their weapons over when they return, or else he won't be able to face the world.
Doll is impressed, but another enemy comes and gains the upper hand. Xiao Xiao Lan loses her knife and gets thrown at the wall. Doll tells him to stop, that they're just children, but the man replies that these "children" destroyed all of his men. Just as he was about to kill them, a bike comes flying in, and off stepped two beautiful women, the mothers of the children. "Prince" instructs for the children to head over to where Long Ming's mother was at.
The man tries to fight Prince, but she utterly demolishes all of his attempts with her kitchen knife. He thinks that can't possibly be a kitchen knife. The man tries to call out for backup, but Prince tells him that she's already flattened all of them on her way in, and how dare he hurt her cute loli-daughter. After losing her knife, she throws him over instead. Lolidragon comments that Prince is the adviser to the world champion for that.
After everyone's saved, Doll and Tian Xian reunite. They find out that Doll ran away because Tian Xian got kissed by a young female servant, a silly argument that led to this huge abduction. Afterwards, Doll's abduction only got printed in a small corner of the newspaper, but news that the queen got punched by Nan Gong Zui and Phoenix made the headlines.
Once Doll wanted to marry Tian Xian and met disapproval, she discarded her position and let her younger sister become queen. She moves to Prince's house, and Yulian, Wolf, Disi, and Winter Triumph often showed up too after that.
Arctic Fox took care of the abductors. The kids hid their weapons in Xiao Xiao Lan's underwear, making it so that Arctic Fox can't retrieve the weapons. (Gui: You want to take off my daughter's underwear? I have security cameras filming your every motion. Try doing that and the whole world will find out Yin Mian Kuai Hu takes off girls' underwear. Prince: You want to take off my daughter's underwear? Fine, but you have to marry her once she's eighteen, or else I'm going to dissemble Kenshin. Wicked: Don't touch her, or else I'll set a virus in Kenshin's system). (Pooor Kenshin!)
Arctic Fox gives Kenshin a helpless look. Kenshin orders the kids to hand the weapons over, but the kids threaten to play with even more dangerous weapons, so he ends up letting them keep them. The kids also start going to Arctic Fox's place a lot to make him teach them. Once Gui said he missed Xiao Xiao Lan's mom. Xiao Xiao Lan ended up printing a newspaper article announcing that her father was on his death bed in order to get her mom home.
All this was Kenshin's recounting that Xiao Xiao Lan is very, very stubborn. So if she wants to marry Wicked, it was going to happen.
In the present, Wicked is once again going to Lolidragon's to work. Kenshin talks about how his family has become very large - Lolidragon, Feng Wu Qing, Prince, Gui, Long Ming, Xiao Xiao Lan, Lolidragon's dad, Prince's parents, the Zhuo parents, Ming Huang, Doll, Tian Xian, Ugly Wolf, Yulian, Winter Triumph, Disi, Sunshine, Fairsky, Meatbun, Fire Phoenix, Nan Gong Zui, Ice Phoenix, the Dictator of Life, the new additions Elf and Demon Thirteen... oh, and also Arctic Fox.
Kenshin talks about how if you see something make the headlines somewhere, it's probably Prince's doing. Or Xiao Xiao Lan's.
The story ends there, with Kenshin talking about how things won't change for hundreds of years. He's still in the castle, drinking his tea with Arctic Fox who has also chosen to become like Kenshin, and the legend would continue as they watch the children of the children of the children.
Some random thoughts
I don't know, I thought this was a little too much at first, and a little meta-ish with Lan writing Prince's story. XD; But it was still fun to see, and I started to like the kids a lot. Xiao Xiao Lan sure is stubborn! I was hoping she wouldn't be a carbon copy of Lan, since it feels kind of like a cop out for her to fall in love with Zhuo Ling Bin like that. I mean, isn't that a little convenient and a little sad for Ling Bin? But I was amused that she's like a combination of Lan and Gui (what a combination) since Ling Bin can't stand Gui all that much, yet now he's in love with someone a lot like him. XD;
Long Ming felt kind of like an afterthought since Xiao Xiao Lan had more of the focus, but I quite liked him. He's the more mature of the two, but he's still pretty childish too. I love his admiration of Arctic Fox. In fact, I love how much the kids adore and follow Kenshin too~. *laughs at how the kids thought Arctic Fox was also an NPC* The kids are also... super strong. XD;
Having Ling Bin narrate how Lan and Gui's marriage came about was an interesting choice. I started liking Ming Bin more too because of his narration. Ming Bin didn't get much screen time in the series for me to be interested in him. XD; I loved that Gui wore his bard outfit when he asked Lan to marry him. That made me squeal, but poor Ling Bin. I was very amused (and my heart went out to him) when he said he'd cry another day. Emotions don't work like that!! Lan and Gui are so... helpless. I can't believe how utterly useless they are with every day living, haha.
Well, I'm glad Ling Bin got his happily-ever-after, even though he was kind of bullied into it. :'D
Kenshin, oh Kenshin. I am so gleeful he's the last narrator. *flails* He thinks a little about his own predicament, but his part is more about exactly how stubborn Xiao Xiao Lan can be, and how the legend will continue forever. Those few paragraphs about his predicament tug at my heart so damn much, ahhhhh. And I grinned so much with how much Arctic Fox showed up in this. Oh, and Kenshin thinks of and calls everyone by their online names. Interesting. I guess that's how he first knew everyone. I adore that Kenshin decided to go to the real world to take care of Prince and Gui. I guess they are so helpless that both Kenshin and Ling Bin couldn't leave them alone. The ending was a little sad... at least I found it sad that Kenshin would be watching forever. Arctic Fox chose to be with him though. That's, wow. (It was cute how Kenshin kept thinking about why everyone was coming to him to get in touch with Arctic Fox. Surely he must've realized why?)
It was a satisfying ending. :) A bit played out, but fascinating all the same. Some characters were a whole lot crazier than I remembered, or maybe it's the different POVs that make me think so.
I wasn't too interested in the sequel since it takes place waaay later with the kids (it reminded me a lot of the epilogue of Harry Potter), but eeee, this was still a lot of fun, especially since it gave us more insight into how everyone has settled down (or not settled down), and yay for 1st person POVs from characters other than Lan!
It goes like this.
1st POV - 1st kid
2nd POV - 2nd kid
3rd POV - Zhuo Ling Bin
4th POV - Kenshin (Kenshin gets his own POV. The very last POV to conclude everything. How awesome is that?)
1st POV
The 1st POV is Feng Long Ming, son of Feng Yang Ming and Lolidragon (Long Shui Han). I immediately took a liking to him because he's pretty mature for a kid, especially with silly parents like his. He starts off talking about his name and how it might sound pretty impressive, but he thinks his name probably came about from his parents mashing their names together (the Long from his mother, the Ming from his father). He's grateful they didn't come up with some other wild combination. Those other possible combinations he gave as examples made me crack up. (Shui Long - Water Dragon, Feng Long - Wind Dragon, Feng Shui).
Anyway, he introduces us to Xiao Xiao Lan, daughter of Xiao Lan and Min Gui Wen, which means she's his cousin. She's very blunt and violent, and it seems like Long Ming has been looking after her since he was 5.
He then recounts a few outlandish tales about the parents.
His parents like to go to PUBs. Once, his mother (Lolidragon) tried to cook an egg in the PUB's kitchen but mixed up ingredients and landed Yang Ming in the hospital. She called for help to extinguish the fire in the PUB... Lan was the one who drove the fire truck. She ended up making the place explode. (What in the world are they doing??)
Then, he talks about how he didn't think Xiao Xiao Lan's mother (Lan) was frightening until one time, a bunch of kidnappers came to their house. Lan merely continued cooking and even asked the kidnappers to let her finish cooking. When they wouldn't let her, she used her kitchen knife to destroy their laser guns. Lan instructed Kenshin to take Xiao Xiao Lan upstairs. The kids watched everything from upstairs through the see through floor. After seeing Lan's prowess, they became very obedient kids. XD;
Moving on to the present, Kenshin's in the kitchen, cooking. Long Ming starts introducing Kenshin as their super capable housekeeper. You would find it hard to spot a speck of dust in their house. The kids think Kenshin is a "distant relative" of theirs, but they also think that they discovered Kenshin's secret, that he used to be part of the mafia. They came to this conclusion because they discovered that their Uncle Leng (Arctic Fox), who always comes to find Kenshin, is actually the head of the Bing Di mafia group. Uncle Leng is better known as Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Silver-Masked Quick Fox... yeah, not a very eloquent translation from me).
The kids ask Kenshin where their parents are. Kenshin answers that they went to find the place they first met and will probably return the next day.
In the next room, Long Ming sees Xiao Xiao Lan with a headset and asks her if she's going to the virtual department store (how cool~). She's not. The headset is something of Long Ming's mother's that she found. Long Ming's a bit wary since his mother always buys dangerous things. They discover that the headset is for Second Life, a banned game. Long Ming doesn't care much for games since the NPCs in them are always stiff. When Long Ming asks Sheng Ming Zhu Zai, the smartest AI in the world (Dictator of Life) about the game, he finds out that it's the first game his mother's company developed. He then wants to find out why it got banned. He gets told to search for "Prince." Before this, he goes off on a tangent, recounting the time Xiao Xiao Lan's mother asked the Dictator of Life to develop a new recipe for them. The result was a very simple dish, but he used super big words to describe it.
Long Ming enters the game with Xiao Xiao Lan. The female NPC is completely unlike an NPC. Long Ming thinks she's human. They get asked why they want to play this banned game. Long Ming answers he wants to find out why the game got out of control. The NPC reluctantly lets them in, but she doesn't let them create their own character. Long Ming ends up as a cute and busty angel class female, and Xiao Xiao Lan ends up as a handsome and muscular human class male.
They go to the nearest village to ask about Prince, but the female NPC potion seller chews their ear out for asking since she's a merchant, not an information booth. They get into an argument but can't fight with the NPC since they're level 1 while the NPC is level 55. They resolve to go train, but first they ask the village leader about Prince. He tells him he remembers Prince, that he was born here. Long Ming thinks Prince must be an NPC because surely NPCs can't remember details about players from that long ago. They get told that Prince is in Infinite City but they won't be able to get there unless they're level 50~60'ish.
They start thinking that they'll need someone to help them train, but that might be hard to find since this was a banned game. They somehow run into Wicked at this point. Xiao Xiao Lan immediately thinks he's hot and starts batting her eyes at him, but Long Ming almost gags from this since Xiao Xiao Lan currently has the figure of a muscular male. When Wicked finds out who she is though, he immediately agrees to help them train. Long Ming thinks he must be gay (haha, poor Wicked).
While they're training, Xiao Xiao Lan slaughters the beasts without any mercy. Wicked comments, "As expected of her daughter." Long Ming, on the other hand, feels this is breaking all kinds of animal cruelty laws. Long Ming usually falls asleep while they're training since he has nothing to do. Later, Xiao Xiao Lan chooses to be a warrior and Long Ming chooses to be a priestess. Wicked departs, and the kids end up dallying in the village, mingling with the NPCs who are not at all like NPCs. Long Ming plays mahjong with a lot of them, and the NPCs tell him that they're the only customers in town anyway, so they have no need to stay in the shop the whole day.
Later, the village leader comes and tells them there's a mission they can solve to gain companions to help them reach Infinite City. Two players have been kept captive in a cave. If Long Ming and Xiao Xiao Lan save them, they're willing to accompany them to Infinite City. Long Ming finds this strange, but they set out to the cave with the potion seller as their guide.
Once there, they spot the two captives, one handsome elf and one handsome demon. Xiao Xiao Lan disappears, and Long Ming is asked by a deity if either of the two handsome males were his companion. He responds no both times and is thankful he's the one getting asked and not Xiao Xiao Lan. She'd probably desert him for one of the handsome males.
The elf introduces himself as Elf. He's an archer. The demon introduces himself as Demon Thirteen. He's a mage. They're completely enamored with Long Ming.
2nd POV
The 2nd POV goes to Xiao Xiao Lan, named thus because her mother is known as Xiao Lan. She laments that even though her father has such a high IQ, she still landed with such a name. Even now that she's 15, she's still known as Little Little Lan.
Elf and Demon Thirteen show no interest in her. She asks them how they became captives, but they don't answer her. Long Ming tells her to let them keep their secrets. They treat Long Ming super nicely and even use their clothes to pave the road so he doesn't step on mud. (hahaha...princess treatment).
At the village, the villagers are super happy to see them back. Xiao Xiao Lan comments that they're sure friendly with the villagers. The village leader sends them on their way to Infinite City, and the female NPC potion seller chases them off with a few blunt words. Everyone thinks it's obvious she likes Xiao Xiao Lan, but Xiao Xiao Lan is clueless about it, only commenting that she gave her potions for free this time. Long Ming apologizes about Xiao Xiao Lan's obliviousness.
While they train, Xiao Xiao Lan keeps her potions close. She tells the other two that they'll need to do this too because Long Ming often falls asleep and won't heal them. While Xiao Xiao Lan is setting up their tents, a clam appears behind her. It has eyes, which makes Xiao Xiao Lan wary because her mother often tells her never to eat anything with eyes. Long Ming orders the other two to attack. They get swallowed and spit out, covered with mud.
Angered, the clam asks, "Do you discriminate against clams?" However, at this point, XiMen Feng interrupts and calms the clam down. (Eee, XiMen Feng!) XiMen Feng and An Rui snipe at each other. XiMen Feng comments that after Prince disappeared, he can only follow An Rui around. Hearing that XiMen Feng has known Prince over 10 years ago, Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming think he must be an NPC. XiMen Feng agrees to help them out, but first he has to find someone. They all ride An Rui and get tossed around so much that they almost die, but XiMen Feng sleeps through it all. Once they leave the clam, XiMen Feng turns into a girl.
They enter a desolate, ghost-like place. They ask XiMen Feng who he's searching for. He answers, "I told you, that guy with freaky eyes." The guy turns out to be Deathless/Undying Man, who asks XiMen Feng if he came to help him reclaim the Southern Continent. He tries hitting on XiMen Feng and ends up making him faint. XiMeng Feng later tells Deathless that he wants everyone to gather at Central. They hop on the clam to make their way over.
When Xiao Xiao Lan opens her eyes after getting tossed around in the clam, she overhears Deathless and Wicked talking. Wicked has been waiting outside for over a month. Deathless asks if it's because of Prince, but Wicked doesn't answer. Deathless comments that he heard Wicked has disappeared from Prince's house for over ten years. Wicked answers it's been seven years. At that time, Xiao Xiao Lan was eight. He left because she was too similar. Hearing all this, Xiao Xiao Lan thinks she's forgotten something important.
A voice calls out Wicked's name. Wicked turns and calls that person "Xiao Lan." Xiao Xiao Lan is confused because that's her mother's name, except this person is a handsome elf with white hair. Instead of a tearful reunion, Prince starts to hit Wicked. Deathless tries to stop him. Prince tells Wicked that he shouldn't have disappeared like that. He'd thought he'd been kidnapped. He wasn't ever going to let Wicked disappear like that again.
At this point, a voice calls out to Prince, calling him his "dear wife". Xiao Xiao Lan immediately recognizes that this person has to be her father, because even though this person was very different from her suit-wearing father, only her father used such disgusting endearments.
Her father hugs Prince close and asks Wicked if he's married yet. Wicked answers it has nothing to do with him, but her father says it has everything to do with him. Who knew if Wicked was still after his wife? A bunch of people come out to greet Wicked at this point, including a wolf and a young female angel. They all enter the town together.
When the doors close, Xiao Xiao Lan realizes she hasn't entered yet. She starts pounding on the door, only to get attacked by butterflies. Xiao Xiao Lan finds things very strange. Why is her father clinging onto someone else other than her mom? Could he be having an affair with Long Ming's father? She then comments that she would never believe her father capable of doing that, and both her mother and Long Ming's mother were too scary for them to even consider that.
Finally, she gets saved by Kenshin. She notices that he's entirely unlike the Kenshin who wears an apron in her house, but he's undeniably Kenshin. She looks around, searching for that someone that her mom says is never far from Kenshin. If he's there, then this has to be Kenshin. She soon spots Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Arctic Fox).
Kenshin tells her they're going to the Northern Continent. A flying carpet descends, and off steps a very familiar looking guy with a wide smile. He walks up to Xiao Xiao Lan and says, "Long Ming has grown up to be so strong!" He tells Long Ming, "Xiao Xiao Lan has become so pretty!" He then hugs Long Ming.
Xiao Xiao Lan realizes he must be Sunshine-gege, husband of Fairsky-jiejie. Sunshine then realizes he got the two backwards, so he amends his statements. Xiao Xiao Lan is happy to see him and tells him he hasn't visited in a long time. Sunshine apologizes, saying they've gotten caught in something but will be back soon. Xiao Xiao Lan doesn't trust his estimate since they said they'd be back soon, but they haven't showed up since her elementary graduation, and now she's already graduated from middle school. Sunshine tells them they'll be back in a few days. Xiao Xiao Lan is relieved because Sunshine never lies.
They all board the flying carpet to meet someone. Elf and Demon Thirteen follow. Sunshine says it's no problem because Xiao Xiao Lan's friends are also his friends, and the carpet can fit up to eight people.
On the carpet, Xiao Xiao Lan asks Sunshine and Kenshin when they came to play this game and why they hadn't been told about such a fun game. Sunshine asks, "Do you really think Second Life is a fun game?" Xiao Xiao Lan answers, "Of course!" Sunshine tells her it's better to let "him" answer.
When they enter, they meet the Dictator of Life, who both Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming are very familiar with. They ask him when he came to play this game. He answers that he's always been here, and that the answers are all in Xiao Xiao Lan's mother's book room. Long Ming wonders about this. When he realizes he must be talking about the book 1/2 Prince, he thinks it can't be possible, since that's a book about NPCs becoming self-aware...
The Dictator of Life starts showing them Prince's legend. They learn a bunch of stuff about their parents and also the fact that Kenshin isn't human. Xiao Xiao Lan asks if this was true. The Dictator of Life answers that Lan was afraid they'd stop viewing Kenshin and Sunshine as human. Long Ming asks if Yin Mian Kuai Hu (Arctic Fox) was also not human. He expresses disappointment, since he thought he was the strongest in the world. Xiao Xiao Lan thinks it's not strange, since his "intelligence" seemed to be lower than Kenshin's and he doesn't even talk much. Long Ming adds that he doesn't know how to cook or do housework and only knew how to tag along with Kenshin, so maybe he hasn't become self aware yet? At this, the Dictator of Life bursts out in laughter, and even Kenshin smiles, which is even more alarming than the fact that Xiao Xiao Lan's mother was a transvestite, and her father gay. Arctic Fox then coldly says he's human. (Oh these kids~)
They reassure Kenshin that they won't change their attitude towards him. He's like a second father to them both. At this, Kenshin turns away, his ears red.
Hearing this, Elf and Demon Thirteen confess that they're actually NPCs too. They're part of a hidden mission that isn't triggered until a player buys 5000 potions. But since their village never had any players, the NPCs were afraid they'd be trapped there forever. Long Ming finally understands why the villagers set them out on the mission. They tell them they're forever their companions too.
Xiao Xiao Lan asks how her mother chose between her father and Wicked. The story continues...
3rd POV
The next POV goes to Zhuo Ling Bin~. He introduces himself, talks about the game and how it went out of control, but he then says that the largest effect that had on him was that he lost the girl he cared most about.
When he woke up, he was already in the hospital, and Lan was crying over Gui, who took a stab for her. Ling Bin is conflicted because he doesn't want Gui to steal Lan away, but he doesn't want to see Lan cry either. He also knows that Gui will definitely wake up because there was no way he was going to let Lan cry. He leaves the room and hears Gui's raspy voice, signaling he's awake.
At home, Ling Bin is beyond depressed. His brother, Ming Bin consoles him and gives him pointers about ways to deal with this.
1. Leave
Ling Bin replies that he hasn't graduated yet, so he can't.
2. Drink.
Ling Bin says it'll cause cancer.
3. Smoke.
Ling Bin doesn't want Ming Bin to suffer from second hand smoke
4. Cry under his blankets.
Ling Bin still has an experiment to tend to the next day, so he can't show up with puffy eyes. He considers this for a moment and answers that he'll cry another day.
Exasperated, Ming Bin replies that Ling Bin is way too composed. That's why Lan chose Gui in the end. Ling Bin should've been confessing every single day instead of waiting in silence since Lan is thick like that. Ming Bin says Gui had the right idea.
Ling Bin continues going to class but suffers whenever he sees Gui's beaming face, but nothing compares to Lan's graduation ceremony. On that day, Gui wore his bard outfit from Second Life (complete with his guzheng and earrings) and asked Lan to marry him. "My highness Lan, you have finally graduated, which makes me no longer your teacher. I would like to call you by another name."
At this, Ling Bin goes home, and now is finally the time for him to cry because there are no other experiments waiting for him.
Lan tries to find him, but Ming Bin turns her away each time. Finally, she comes with a red invitation card. Ming Bin tries to hide it from his brother, telling him he doesn't want to see this, but Ling Bin snatches it over. It's an invitation to Lan and Gui's wedding. On the back, Lan wrote a message for him, telling him she wished he would be at her wedding because he was important to her. Ling Bin drips some tears on the card and hastily tries to wipe them away, but he smears the message instead. Yang Ming brings some wine over, probably to console Ling Bin.
Ling Bin goes to the wedding because he doesn't want to miss Lan in a wedding dress, but it turns out that Gui is wearing the wedding dress instead. Lan comes in a swallowtail suit. She asked Gui to switch with her because she liked the suit better. Everyone is shocked, and Ling Bin wonders if he could have done it. He thinks he would have because he'd do everything to make Lan happy. Still, when he congratulates Gui, he does it in an impressed tone. He also tells Gui not to worry because now that he's graduated, he'll for sure leave. Gui tells him not to leave, that Lan wants to help Kenshin and the others come to the real world. Fairsky especially couldn't live without Sunshine. Ling Bin agrees to help.
After they accomplish this, Ling Bin is about to depart to another country even though Lolidragon offered him a job. When he goes to Lan's house to say his goodbyes, he find out that Gui... is pregnant instead of Lan since Lan is afraid of pain. He again wonders if he would have been able to do this for Lan... and thinks he probably can't. Gui almost falls, Ling Bin catches him, Lan almost spills hot food on Gui, Ling Bin shields him... Kenshin watches and says he finally doesn't have to watch Gui every second of the day. Ling Bin changes his mind about going overseas - he feels he needs to stay, or else Gui and Lan's child probably wouldn't be able to survive.
When Xiao Xiao Lan is seven, she asks Ling Bin if she can marry him when she's older. Hearing this repeat of Lan's words, Ling Bin runs away.
In the game, Wicked walks away from Gui, afraid that he might run into Xiao Xiao Lan. Prince told him that Xiao Xiao Lan has been searching for him for eight years. Wicked thinks this isn't possible - she was only seven at the time, and they're 30 years apart.
At the gate, he runs into Xiao Xiao Lan. Thinking she probably hasn't recognized him yet, he tries to brush past her, only to get pushed to the floor. Xiao Xiao Lan declares that she's been searching for him for eight years. There was no way she was going to let him leave just like that. Long Ming tries to restrain her, telling her that if she accidentally kills him, they won't be able to find him. Kenshin tells him that Wicked is level 253. Even if the four of them ganged up, there was no why they'd be able to kill him. Long Ming goes, "I see," and tells everyone to start hitting or else Wicked was going to run away.
Wicked is still able to get up. He tells them that even if they do this, they won't be able to stop him from leaving. He tells Xiao Xiao Lan that he was merely her caretaker up until she was seven years old. Surely he didn't matter?
Xiao Xiao Lan goes, you'll be my boyfriend from age 15 to 20, and my husband from 20 to the age I die. She says 20 and on, since her father won't let her marry before then.
Wicked continues to protest, saying Gui would never agree to let her marry him. She replies that after bringing home one of Long Ming's friends, her father immediately changed his mind, saying that Zhuo was a much better choice. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink, doesn't use violence, doesn't gamble, doesn't swear... she wasn't ever going to let go of such a good guy. (I know right, Wicked is such a good person!)
Long Ming says he's a good guy too, but Xiao Xiao Lan immediately says that's no use, since they're related. She says it in a rude way. Ling Bin corrects her language, and Xiao Xiao Lan goofily says he's the only one who can restrain her.
Wicked protests he's thirty years her elder. Xiao Xiao Lan laments that they've missed 38 years they could've spent together. Humans can live up to age 200, so they still have a hundred something years in front of them to spend together.
Wicked almost caves but instead says that she's still young, that her mother also told him she wanted to marry him when she was young. Xiao Xiao Lan replies that she's 15, not 7. She knows who she likes. Wicked still thinks this isn't right, that he's much too old for her, and that he used to like her mother. He knocks her away. Xiao Xiao Lan yells for Kenshin to restrain him. Knowing he can't win in game, Wicked logs off.
He takes his headset off and thinks that he won't be able to log on for a long time because Xiao Xiao Lan won't give up so easily. That trait of hers was a lot like her father's. Even though she was a guy in game, feeling her up against him still made him blush.
Ming Bin calls him and tells him there's about to be a marriage in the family. He's been keeping his brother's number a secret from everyone since Ling Bin threatened to change his number and that he wouldn't even tell Ming Bin next time if he leaked his number to anyone. Thinking that Ming Bin is about to get married, Ling Bin goes home.
Once there, he realizes the "marriage in the family" was his own marriage. Xiao Xiao Lan and everyone else ambush him at his home. He tries to escape, but Long Ming blocks the door and says he's very good at fighting. He learned from Kenshin and Yin Mian Kuai Hu. He tries to escape through the window, but Lan blocks him, and he has no way of winning against her. He escapes to the kitchen, but Wolf and Yulian are there, and Yulian's holding a gun and says that Xiao Xiao Lan doesn't care if her "husband" is crippled. Ling Bin ends up carrying refreshments out to the living room.
He turns to Gui and pleads, telling him that he wouldn't let her daughter marry him. With knives against his throat, Gui tells him that he married the one with the kitchen knife. He thinks that only the guy who competed with him for the one with the kitchen knife would be able to take care of the one with the throwing knife.
Xiao Xiao Lan hugs him. Ling Bin tells her she's only 15. Xiao Xiao Lan asks if that's too young. Maybe they can marry later? Ling Bin agrees, only to realize that he got manipulated into agreeing. There was no way Xiao Xiao Lan would have been able to marry him right then and there at age 15. Ling Bin looks at Ming Bin, and his brother says that their parents were getting worried since neither of them had married yet. If Ling Bin didn't marry soon, then he'd have gotten an arranged marriage. It wasn't like Ling Bin didn't like Xiao Xiao Lan! Ling Bin tries to deny that he liked her, but he then realizes he might hurt her feelings, so he instead tries to say that he does like her.
She grins wickedly at him and steals a passionate kiss.
4th POV
The last POV goes to Kenshin! I've been waiting to see his thoughts. *___*
Anyway, this continues right where the previous POV left off. Kenshin thinks to himself that he never doubted Xiao Xiao Lan would be able to capture Wicked because although everyone thinks she's a lot like her mom, Kenshin knows that she is actually a lot more like her father, who never knows how to give up. That's why Kenshin has been preparing for this day since forever. He's just surprised that it took this long.
Kenshin then introduces himself, telling everyone that he's Kenshin, though he's not sure how that came about. It seems like Prince has always called him that. Before, he was just the Demon King, an NPC that became self-aware, or he was supposed to just be an NPC. He followed Prince out of the cave and thought his life would end the moment the game ended, but after a bunch of events, he found out that he used to be a real human who had died because of Long Dian's experiments. He was then "revived" through the game, and now he doesn't know what he actually is.
When Prince wanted to bring Kenshin to the real world, he wavered, but he wasn't allowed to waver for very long because he realized very quickly that without him, the newlyweds would've destroyed their house really quickly. He entered the real world to take care of Prince and Gui as their housekeeper. He then turned into the caretaker of the children and is thankful Wicked was around to help, or else he wouldn't have been able to leave Gui's side while he was pregnant.
The children seem to like pranking Kenshin, but they stopped one day when Arctic Fox came to visit. They discovered Arctic Fox's background. Arctic Fox is bemused and wonders if all children were that familiar with and awed by the mafia. Kenshin says his family doesn't have a single normal person. Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming both have great destructive power. Xiao Xiao Lan wants one of Arctic Fox's throwing knives, but Kenshin immediately says no because she'd be too destructive with one. Long Ming asks if Arctic Fox is the top assassin and then starts to ramble about how Kenshin must be part of the mafia too. Kenshin is bemused by his imagination.
A phone call comes. Tian Xian cries about how Doll was abducted after running away in an argument. The abductors specifically requested children to deliver the ransom. Nan Gong Zui shows up on screen, asking Kenshin for Arctic Fox. Kenshin wonders why everyone comes to him to look for Arctic Fox. Nan Gong Zui asks Arctic Fox if there have been any mafia looking to harm Doll.
Kenshin decides to have Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming deliver the ransom. Nan Gong Zui asks if he can make a decision like that, and Kenshin answers that he's always been the one to make decisions for the household. He starts thinking about how both Gui and Feng Wu Qing have given him their bank account info since they didn't trust themselves or their wives with it.
Kenshin and Arctic Fox help Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming gear up. They give them bullet proof outfits (with meat bun patterns as requested by Xiao Xiao Lan), and Kenshin has Long Ming wear Meatbun on his back like a backpack. He instructs Meatbun to stay quiet until ordered. Kenshin gives Xiao Xiao Lan an earring that he can ride in with his consciousness to observe them and give orders as they deliver the ransom.
After teaching them, Arctic Fox asks Kenshin if he can have them join his mafia group. Kenshin instantly replies, "Not if you want your group to be destroyed by me." He says this because he can't face the world if that happens since these two are way too destructive.
As they leave, Kenshin tells Arctic Fox to solve things as quickly as possible because he doesn't want the children to get into too much danger.
Kenshin leaves, taking the then 5 and 6 years old kids to save a princess.
They meet Nan Gong Zui and his wife, Phoenix. They hand the ransom to Long Ming and see them off with much worry. Nan Gong Zui tells them to look out for their own safety first. Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming agree innocently, but Kenshin is familiar with this expression since he's seen it lots. They always get into trouble three minutes right after.
Kenshin gets into contact with Sunshine, telling him to locate Prince.
The abductors instruct the kids to take a variety of public transportation. They land in the desert. Kenshin starts getting angry and thinks the abductors don't know how to take care of children at all. He's about to rush in, but Long Ming refuses, saying that Doll would get hurt. Xiao Xiao Lan starts carrying Long Ming. Kenshin is crushed. He's about to rush there to help when Sunshine contacts him and says he got into contact with Prince.
Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming come across the abductors at this point. Xiao Xiao Lan refuses to hand the ransom over until they see Doll-jiejie. The abductors laugh, since they don't think the kids can do anything.
When they reach the hideout, Xiao Xiao Lan is happy to see Doll. Doll asks which idiot sent kids to save her. They answer it was Kenshin and Nan Gong Zui. She promises to punish them when she gets back. The abductors tell her she shouldn't be thinking of going back. Doll answers that they already have their ransom. They should let her go.
Xiao Xiao Lan refuses to hand the ransom over since it sounds like they have no plans to release Doll. When they advance on her, she breaks the guy's finger, and a fight breaks out. Kenshin helps defend through their equipment. While watching Xiao Xiao Lan and Long Ming utterly destroy their opponents, Kenshin wonders if he created the most dangerous weapons in the world. He thinks he has to have them hand their weapons over when they return, or else he won't be able to face the world.
Doll is impressed, but another enemy comes and gains the upper hand. Xiao Xiao Lan loses her knife and gets thrown at the wall. Doll tells him to stop, that they're just children, but the man replies that these "children" destroyed all of his men. Just as he was about to kill them, a bike comes flying in, and off stepped two beautiful women, the mothers of the children. "Prince" instructs for the children to head over to where Long Ming's mother was at.
The man tries to fight Prince, but she utterly demolishes all of his attempts with her kitchen knife. He thinks that can't possibly be a kitchen knife. The man tries to call out for backup, but Prince tells him that she's already flattened all of them on her way in, and how dare he hurt her cute loli-daughter. After losing her knife, she throws him over instead. Lolidragon comments that Prince is the adviser to the world champion for that.
After everyone's saved, Doll and Tian Xian reunite. They find out that Doll ran away because Tian Xian got kissed by a young female servant, a silly argument that led to this huge abduction. Afterwards, Doll's abduction only got printed in a small corner of the newspaper, but news that the queen got punched by Nan Gong Zui and Phoenix made the headlines.
Once Doll wanted to marry Tian Xian and met disapproval, she discarded her position and let her younger sister become queen. She moves to Prince's house, and Yulian, Wolf, Disi, and Winter Triumph often showed up too after that.
Arctic Fox took care of the abductors. The kids hid their weapons in Xiao Xiao Lan's underwear, making it so that Arctic Fox can't retrieve the weapons. (Gui: You want to take off my daughter's underwear? I have security cameras filming your every motion. Try doing that and the whole world will find out Yin Mian Kuai Hu takes off girls' underwear. Prince: You want to take off my daughter's underwear? Fine, but you have to marry her once she's eighteen, or else I'm going to dissemble Kenshin. Wicked: Don't touch her, or else I'll set a virus in Kenshin's system). (Pooor Kenshin!)
Arctic Fox gives Kenshin a helpless look. Kenshin orders the kids to hand the weapons over, but the kids threaten to play with even more dangerous weapons, so he ends up letting them keep them. The kids also start going to Arctic Fox's place a lot to make him teach them. Once Gui said he missed Xiao Xiao Lan's mom. Xiao Xiao Lan ended up printing a newspaper article announcing that her father was on his death bed in order to get her mom home.
All this was Kenshin's recounting that Xiao Xiao Lan is very, very stubborn. So if she wants to marry Wicked, it was going to happen.
In the present, Wicked is once again going to Lolidragon's to work. Kenshin talks about how his family has become very large - Lolidragon, Feng Wu Qing, Prince, Gui, Long Ming, Xiao Xiao Lan, Lolidragon's dad, Prince's parents, the Zhuo parents, Ming Huang, Doll, Tian Xian, Ugly Wolf, Yulian, Winter Triumph, Disi, Sunshine, Fairsky, Meatbun, Fire Phoenix, Nan Gong Zui, Ice Phoenix, the Dictator of Life, the new additions Elf and Demon Thirteen... oh, and also Arctic Fox.
Kenshin talks about how if you see something make the headlines somewhere, it's probably Prince's doing. Or Xiao Xiao Lan's.
The story ends there, with Kenshin talking about how things won't change for hundreds of years. He's still in the castle, drinking his tea with Arctic Fox who has also chosen to become like Kenshin, and the legend would continue as they watch the children of the children of the children.
Some random thoughts
I don't know, I thought this was a little too much at first, and a little meta-ish with Lan writing Prince's story. XD; But it was still fun to see, and I started to like the kids a lot. Xiao Xiao Lan sure is stubborn! I was hoping she wouldn't be a carbon copy of Lan, since it feels kind of like a cop out for her to fall in love with Zhuo Ling Bin like that. I mean, isn't that a little convenient and a little sad for Ling Bin? But I was amused that she's like a combination of Lan and Gui (what a combination) since Ling Bin can't stand Gui all that much, yet now he's in love with someone a lot like him. XD;
Long Ming felt kind of like an afterthought since Xiao Xiao Lan had more of the focus, but I quite liked him. He's the more mature of the two, but he's still pretty childish too. I love his admiration of Arctic Fox. In fact, I love how much the kids adore and follow Kenshin too~. *laughs at how the kids thought Arctic Fox was also an NPC* The kids are also... super strong. XD;
Having Ling Bin narrate how Lan and Gui's marriage came about was an interesting choice. I started liking Ming Bin more too because of his narration. Ming Bin didn't get much screen time in the series for me to be interested in him. XD; I loved that Gui wore his bard outfit when he asked Lan to marry him. That made me squeal, but poor Ling Bin. I was very amused (and my heart went out to him) when he said he'd cry another day. Emotions don't work like that!! Lan and Gui are so... helpless. I can't believe how utterly useless they are with every day living, haha.
Well, I'm glad Ling Bin got his happily-ever-after, even though he was kind of bullied into it. :'D
Kenshin, oh Kenshin. I am so gleeful he's the last narrator. *flails* He thinks a little about his own predicament, but his part is more about exactly how stubborn Xiao Xiao Lan can be, and how the legend will continue forever. Those few paragraphs about his predicament tug at my heart so damn much, ahhhhh. And I grinned so much with how much Arctic Fox showed up in this. Oh, and Kenshin thinks of and calls everyone by their online names. Interesting. I guess that's how he first knew everyone. I adore that Kenshin decided to go to the real world to take care of Prince and Gui. I guess they are so helpless that both Kenshin and Ling Bin couldn't leave them alone. The ending was a little sad... at least I found it sad that Kenshin would be watching forever. Arctic Fox chose to be with him though. That's, wow. (It was cute how Kenshin kept thinking about why everyone was coming to him to get in touch with Arctic Fox. Surely he must've realized why?)
It was a satisfying ending. :) A bit played out, but fascinating all the same. Some characters were a whole lot crazier than I remembered, or maybe it's the different POVs that make me think so.
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Of course, I'm absolutely squeeing over the fact that the last pov is Kenshin! :D :D :D ♥
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I was veeeery gleeful when I realized Kenshin was the last POV! :DDDD