Chapter 18: The Clingy Celica

  Ain Golan, First Layer, some unknown town.

  "Hey, Mo Ge, why are you so powerful? Are you really not a Sealed Dimensional Traveler?"

  Circa walked beside Hachiguma with her hands behind her back, bouncing up and down as she looked up at him with big, blinking eyes.

  "You've asked this question many times already, I'm really not a beta tester."

  Hachiguma Moku looked at Cilica who was following him with a slight headache.

  This girl has been sticking to him like chewing gum ever since he saved her, and can't be shaken off.

  "And another thing, how long do you plan on following me?"

  Circa heard this and immediately ran to Hachiguma's side, her eyes brimming with tears as she asked in a sobbing tone: "Does Brother Moku dislike Circa?"

  Baiyun Mo felt a severe headache.

  Reaching out his hand, under Celia's astonished gaze, Yakumo Suke pressed his palm against Celia's head and gently rubbed it, saying: "Celia is so cute, no one would dislike you."

  "Uggghhh..."

  The girl's face turned bright red the moment Hachiko touched her head, and steam began to rise from her head, as if she was about to burn up.

  "Then, then, then take me with you, okay?"

  Cirilla gazed longingly at Yakumo Sumeragi.

  "I'm not very good at playing games and I'm also afraid of dying at some point... I... I want to live..."

  Just want to live on, just want to live on.

  Baiyun Mo heard Silica's words and felt as if something had touched her heart, feeling soft.

  He smiled at the girl: "Aren't you afraid I'm a bad person?"

  Circa quickly shook her little head, a pair of brown pigtails swinging back and forth, looking extremely cute.

  "No way! Bad people won't look as handsome as Mo Ge!"

  Girl, what kind of weird logic is that...

  And I'm also a fake girl, it's really sorry!

  Eight clouds ink big silly face.

  Although he was filled with the desire to retort due to Cilica's words, Yakumo Suke felt extremely delighted after all, wasn't it because he had been praised by such a cute girl?

  As expected, Silica is much more lovable than that violent and shameless Kirito!

  "Okay, it seems we haven't added each other as friends yet."

  Baiyun Mo opened the system panel and sent a login friend request to Xilika.

  In SAO, once two people have registered as friends, they can find each other's location at any time and anywhere through the friend search function, and know whether the other is still alive.

  It can be said that if they don't trust each other very much, they won't casually add others as friends.

  After all, no one wants their whereabouts exposed to others at any time and place.

  However, when faced with Yiyun Mo's friend request, Xilika didn't hesitate for a second and directly clicked agree.

  Seeing the girl's actions, Yakumo Suke's expression softened a bit.

  This trust made him extremely happy.

  And so, Yui Muko had her first good friend in SAO.

  Circa gazed at her good friend column displaying online, Hachiguma Sumi, with a radiant smile on her face.

  Under the moonlight, the girl looks so beautiful.

  "Let's go find an inn to rest first, we can form a party and level up tomorrow."

  "Hmm!"

  Cirika nodded heavily, and with a slightly flushed face, she stretched out both hands to grab Baiyun Mo's right arm under his somewhat surprised gaze.

  Looking down with her head buried in her chest, Silica didn't dare to look at herself. Hachiken smiled slightly and led the girl to the inn where he had stayed last night.

  The inn run by this NPC in SAO was originally just a decorative setting, after all no one would really sleep in the game.

  But now SAO has become a death game, players can't clear the game and can't survive to leave, under this situation, the hotel became a place that every player will go.

  However, each hotel room is limited and has a hierarchical division. The lowest-end rooms are naturally cheaper, but being cheap also means they're in high demand. At this stage, almost all players don't have much money, so they can only choose the cheapest rooms.

  This will inevitably lead to some slow players being unable to check into the hotel.

  So Hachiko Ink didn't find it strange at all when he saw some players sleeping directly on the long chairs by the roadside in town while taking Silica to the inn.

  But this behavior of sleeping directly on the street will probably disappear soon.

  Bā Yún Mò thought so in his heart.

  Because the system will directly shield behaviors that cause direct harm to players in the safe zone, but it will not shield "behaviors that do not cause direct HP reduction" and "non-personal insult behavior".

  In safe zones, which are towns, players can engage in duels that can cause damage or even kill other players.

  Then, in SAO, there appeared a situation where players would send a duel request to other players while they were asleep, and then click "OK" while holding the player's hand, making it a fait accompli that the player had agreed to the duel, and immediately kill the player, obtaining their equipment, items, and money.

  It's been a short time since SAO started its service, so such incidents haven't happened yet, and players still dare to sleep on the roadside.

  "These guys are really bold......" Hachiguma Moku glanced at the players sleeping on the long chairs and said to Cilica, "Cilica, you have to remember, no matter what, you can't sleep outside, not even in a safe zone."

  "Huh? Why?"

  Xilika's eyes were full of doubt.

  At this time, Bayun Mo told Silica about the behavior that players later called "Sleep PK".

  Upon hearing Yagumo's explanation, Cilica was left with her mouth agape in astonishment, her face a picture of incredulity.

  The girl's pure heart had always thought that in this game, the player's only enemy was monsters.

  She never thought that there would be players who use other players as hunting targets!

  "Why... why is it like this..."

  Circa looked at Yakumo Sumeragi with an extremely pitiful expression on her face.

  "Brother Mo, are you deceiving me? This kind of thing won't happen, right?"

  Baiyun Mo was silent for a moment, then shook his head.

  "Uggghhh..."

  The girl's heart was greatly shocked, and she directly leaned her small body against Bachiko Moku, as if seeking support.

  "Don't worry, Silica." Kirito looked at the distressed girl with a hint of apology in his heart. "I'll protect you until we clear SAO."

  Cirika lifted her head and looked at Yakumo Sukehiro, the expression on the girl's face under the moonlight was extremely serious.

  "Hey, Mo Ge, you promised, don't go back on your word!"

  "Alright, I've said it, and I won't go back on my word!"