Nethersky - Chapter 3

Yuning left out of the therapy center’s glass doors right into a soothing spring breeze with a smile gracing his attractive features. As he walked farther away from the building, he could smell the exquisite scents of the newly bloomed flowers permeating the air.

Breathing in the pleasing aromas around him, Yuning looked up at the clear blue sky, letting out a long sigh of relief. This would be his last time coming to this place, and knowing that made him feel as though a weight was lifted off his chest.

Without the burden of having to go to the weekly therapy sessions, he could finally be free of the emotional baggage he was carrying around and lead a normal life. A brighter smile appeared on his face at that thought.

Taking out his cellphone from his pocket, he was about to text his driver to come to pick him up when he had a sudden thought. It had been a habit of his since he was younger to go to the nearby bakery and grab a snack as a reward after each of his sessions.

He would usually wait for his chauffeur and let the man drive him there, but today was special; it was his new beginning. With that in mind, Yuning decided that since the bakery was only two blocks over, he would walk there by himself.

After sending a text to his chauffeur to meet him at the bakery, he started to walk down the sidewalk to his destination. As he strolled down the street, he couldn’t help but take in the sights and sounds that were all around him.

He found it strange as he looked around at all the people going about their business, that he could miss so many things by always being in a car getting driven around everywhere. There were so many small human interactions that he had never witnessed, and it made him intrigued.

Yuning was glad that he decided to walk; he didn’t have many chances to go out by himself after the kidnapping. His parents became very overprotective over him and wouldn’t let him go out on his own.

He sort of felt that this was hypocritical of them since they didn’t seem inclined to give his kidnappers the money they ask for. Letting out a sigh, Yuning realized he was still indeed extremely bitter about that.

However, his therapist did just make him relive the memories of what happened all those years ago, so the event was now fresh in his mind. Shaking his head to clear those bitter thoughts, Yuning reminded himself of the therapist’s assessment, which brought the smile back to his face.

Once Hu Bing sent the report to his parents, he was sure they would finally stop being so overprotective of him. He really hoped so because he applied to an art school that was located two cities over without their knowledge.

Ever since he was young, Yuning loved to draw, and when he was older, he decided that he wanted to create manhua. This decision of his was supported by his parents, much to his surprise.

He had always thought that they would want him to take over their business empire, this wasn’t the case at all; they were actually relieved when he told them.

He supposed this was because they didn’t think he could handle the stress of their world after what had happened to him. Although it did hurt a little when he learned that they had been grooming his cousin from an early age to take over for them when they retired.

It was all for the best, though; he couldn’t imagine himself working in an office all day anyway. Hearing a beep, Yuning checked his cell to see that his driver had texted him back. He started to chuckle at the message; it seemed his driver wanted him to turn around and let him pick him up at the therapy center.

Seeing how far away he was from that place, it was very unlikely that he would want to do that. Even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be inclined to do so. He was old enough to walk two blocks to the bakery by himself without anything happening.

Texting precisely that to his driver, Yuning continued on walking. He started to wonder about what kind of snack he should get when he reaches the bakery. Also, he thought maybe he should send Hu Bing a cake as well as a thank you.

Thinking that would be a good idea, he continued to think about the different snacks he could get. It came down to two of his favorites, Youtiao and Wang wang snow cookies.

If he brought a lot of Youtiao, he could eat the fried breadsticks for breakfast alongside his porridge, scallion pancakes, or anything else he was having for a meal that week. He knew that he could just always have the cook make it for him, but food always tastes better when you buy it from a shop.

Then there were the Wang wang snow cookies, which were equally delicious with their sweet and savory taste. He could buy three dozen of them since they were easy to store. They would be a nice and easy snack to have while playing his favorite game on the computer.

Contemplating for a minute, he decided to splurge and get both, because why not he was celebrating anyway. With that problem solved, he texted his driver to make room in the car cause he was going to buy a lot of snacks.

After checking to see how far away he was from the bakery, he started to think about another way to reward himself. As he thought about it, he remembered the upgraded disguise stone in the cash shop that was just released in the MMORPG he was currently very into at the moment.

The game was called Nethersky, a fantasy type MMORPG that spaned numerous realms and dimensions. It was very popular since it had very immersive gameplay.

When he first started playing the MMORPG and learned how long it would take to gain experience after a certain level, he thought about quitting. He was not into games that made players grind for experience.

However, his viewpoint changed when he looked more into the game. There were over fifty different types of worlds to explore, with more being added monthly.

While doing a quest in one of these worlds, he decided to look around and stumbled onto mysterious quests and objects. After that, once he finished a mission he would wander around and search for more. And somehow he became addicted to exploring the game and finding them.

He had found over twenty hidden quests, some that were connected to a different world than he got it from. But the only problem was that he needed to be a higher level than he was to complete them. He hated grinding missions. It was such a chore, but Yuning decided to suck it up and do it over the summer.