Ning Jue must have seen it all.
He had watched him hold Yu Jiu with an overbearing, forceful posture, with a grip so intense it seemed as though the two of them were a match made in heaven.
After being caught red-handed, the first emotion to rise within Lu Shiyue wasn’t guilt, but rather the spiteful malice of giving up and letting loose under the influence of jealousy.
So what if he saw? He had wanted to do this all along.
A bizarre atmosphere spread between the two men who stood facing each other in silence, thick with the scent of gunpowder.
Yu Jiu wanted to lean out to see why Lu Shiyue was frozen in place, but Ning Jue seamlessly blocked him from view.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Ning Jue spoke coldly to Lu Shiyue, his voice devoid of fluctuation, his gaze like a layer of biting frost carrying the tone of a judge demanding accountability.
Keeping his head down with a somewhat dejected demeanor, Lu Shiyue let out a self-deprecating laugh. “No.”
He had nothing to explain. If he wanted to salvage this camaraderie among teammates, he might have offered panicked justifications, absolving himself of blame and shifting the fault entirely onto Yu Jiu by claiming that Yu Jiu had seduced him.
Yet Lu Shiyue couldn’t bring himself to do it. With those green eyes veiled behind a layer of moisture, looking at him with such timid, coquettish charm, he found himself entirely unable to utter a single word.
He might as well accept his defeat, falling for a little mute he had always looked down upon and assumed he would share no intersection with.
It was an ironic reality: right before Yu Jiu’s rightful partner, the captain he respected and trusted, he had silently confirmed his own base, longing heartbeat.
The unprovoked, back-and-forth Q&A left Yu Jiu completely baffled. What kind of weird nonsense were these two talking about?
One wore a murderous expression as if he had lost his wife, while the other looked heartbroken, devoid of his previous arrogance.
If player-killing hadn’t been strictly prohibited within the game, it felt like the two of them would start trading blows the next second.
“My, my, what is going on here?”
Leather shoes clicked crisply against the ground as a tall figure stepped out from the shadows.
There was no telling how long he had been lurking in the dark before finally making his appearance to offer a hypocritical greeting.
The magician’s attire and accessories were always uniquely crafted; his collar was parted slightly and somewhat disheveled, revealing the layered court shirt beneath.
Yu Jiu noticed an extra black diamond-shaped pattern etched beneath the magician’s slender, perpetually smiling eyes.
The diamond suit pattern from a deck of playing cards.
A dark stain lingered near Gu Xun’s neat cuffs, and a faint scent of blood drifted around him.
He stood very close to Yu Jiu. While Yu Jiu couldn’t smell the blood on him, Ning Jue certainly could.
In the past, Ning Jue had maintained wariness and vigilance toward the magician. When the other’s trump cards were unknown, mutual non-interference was always the optimal choice.
Yet right now, looking at that gorgeously garbed countenance smiling with malicious intent, dressed like a flashy peacock constantly buzzing around Yu Jiu, he found it intensely grating.
What an utterly hateful face.
A surging wave of annoyance rose within Ning Jue. Ever since the video call at the museum, he had long wanted to settle accounts with the two individuals behaving so bizarrely around him.
He had only been away for a few days, yet his little boyfriend had already managed to attract so many troublesome, buzzing pests.
Observing the two men in silent standoff alongside Yu Jiu, who was completely out of the loop, the smile in the magician’s eyes deepened. Catching sight of Ning Jue not far away, he feigned surprise and spoke up.
“Captain Ning, it has been a long time. Why are you here?”
Gu Xun’s words snapped Yu Jiu back to reality. He suddenly felt as though he had forgotten something crucial.
He and Ning Jue had been split into separate teams; why had they ended up converging right in the middle of the side quest?
A cold, blade-like gaze landed on the magician. As the leader of a powerful team, Ning Jue possessed an immensely formidable aura.
Unfazed, Gu Xun smiled warmly in response to Ning Jue’s silent oppression.
To be honest, he didn’t mind violating the rules to pick a fight with Ning Jue, but fighting right in front of Yu Jiu was out of the question, as frightening him would result in losses far outweighing any gains.
With a crisp clatter, the long saber was slid back into its scabbard as Ning Jue put his weapon away.
[Congratulations to player Ning Jue for completing the side quest: Night Tour.]
[This side quest is a race against time. If one team of players completes the objective, the side quest progress of the other team is invalidated.]
[Side quest progress: 3/3. Players from both factions have converged.]
[The main storyline is about to begin.]
The game notification chimes rang out one after another, briefing the present players on the impending main storyline.
So Ning Jue had been the one to complete the side quest first, triggering the merger of the two faction player pools to jointly initiate the main storyline.
Yu Jiu came to a sudden realization. As expected of the protagonist, doing things with such crisp, decisive efficiency had naturally accelerated the game’s progress.
Being one step closer to finishing his cannon-fodder duties and retiring soon made Yu Jiu mentally perk up, an unmistakable expression of joyful anticipation leaking into his eyes.
Is he really that happy to see Ning Jue?
A massive wave of defeat threatened to crush Lu Shiyue. Yu Jiu’s attitude toward Ning Jue stood in stark, complete contrast to how he treated him.
When held in his arms, Yu Jiu offered nothing but resistance and panic, his eyes perpetually brimming with tears that stayed wet and misty, the red outer corners of his eyes refusing to fade while his tender skin was constantly marked by his hands.
It was a state completely different from the present. Yu Jiu’s green eyes sparkled brightly, displaying an expression of sheer joy Lu Shiyue had never witnessed before, so pretty and soft it made him want to pull the boy straight into his embrace.
With a self-deprecating curve of his lips, Lu Shiyue knew Ning Jue had put away his saber solely due to game restrictions; if they weren’t inside an instance, the two of them would undoubtedly have traded blows.
With the dawn of victory right before his eyes and his exit from cannon-fodder status drawing near, Yu Jiu began plotting how to spend his reward points.
First, upgrade the 091 system, then redecorate the system space and buy a few stuffed plush toys.
“Baby… you are truly a good baby.”
The very first thing Yu Jiu thought of upon receiving his reward was the system, touching 091 so deeply it nearly burst into tears.
Sensing Yu Jiu’s emotional shift, Ning Jue noted that his little boyfriend possessed a shallow mind; whatever happiness or sorrow he felt was written plain across his face, making him exceptionally easy to read.
Back when they first met, the shock he had glimpsed in Yu Jiu’s eyes had suggested Yu Jiu somehow knew he would cross paths with him.
His movements had always been kept strictly confidential; apart from the internal members of the Blade team, no one else should have known which instance he was entering.
Logic reminded him that he ought to eliminate any potential hidden threats.
Yu Jiu was a mute who couldn’t speak, and exceptionally frail to boot, as even the lightest touch would leave marks on his skin.
He was so fragile that crushing that slender, delicate neck wouldn’t even require much strength to rid himself of what he perceived as a potential threat.
Yet Ning Jue’s heart softened. Those cat-like eyes, round, blunt, and completely devoid of impurity, gazed up at him with watery sheen as Yu Jiu obediently pressed his cheek against his palm.
The towering iceberg crumbled instantly, and a raging wildfire burned him to ashes. The intense emotions he had never experienced before scorched his entire body, shattering his unshakeable principles and bottom lines into dust right before Yu Jiu.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a one-sided infatuation. Seeing the happy expression bloom on Yu Jiu’s face, his own foul mood instantly eased; Yu Jiu was reciprocating his affection as well.
No matter how crafty the other men tried to be, his weight in Yu Jiu’s heart remained entirely different.
Watching the entire spectacle unfold from the sidelines, 091 nearly failed to hold back another burst of laughter.
Such a confident protagonist. Let’s hope he doesn’t get too blindsided by its baby later on.
As the game broadcast concluded, Yu Jiu felt his hand being taken.
Ning Jue’s body temperature ran low, feeling as smooth and warm as fine jade. Instead of gripping Yu Jiu’s wrist, he slid his fingers right between the gaps of Yu Jiu’s.
Their fingers intertwined tightly, resembling a couple deeply immersed in the honeymoon phase.
The magician still wore his smile, though the dark purple gleam deep within his eyes flickered faintly, making his smile look more like a permanent, unremovable mask.
Lu Shiyue pressed his lips into a tight line, his palms clenched into fists while his bangs obscured his brows and eyes, hiding any shift in his expression.
Among the three men caught in this charged, undercurrent-filled standoff, only Ning Jue felt relatively at ease.
Yu Jiu initially wanted to pull away, but remembering his current persona, he obediently endured the protagonist’s touch.
He reasoned with himself easily enough: as a “weapon,” letting someone hold his hand didn’t matter.
Leading Yu Jiu forward, Ning Jue ignored the provocative magician entirely.
As they passed by Lu Shiyue, Ning Jue spoke coldly, his voice stripped of any emotion. With his icy-blue eyes staring straight ahead rather than landing on anyone, he sounded as cold and heartless as an unfeeling judge.
“You know very well what you did.”
Dropping those unprovoked, enigmatic words, he left Yu Jiu even more mystified.
No matter how one looked at it, these two men didn’t share the harmonious relationship depicted in the original plotline.
Did teammates routinely harbor hostility toward one another?
Lu Shiyue didn’t lift his head, though Yu Jiu noticed his chest heaving as though he were suppressing something intense.
That makes sense. Finally seeing your captain only to get chewed out, anyone would be pissed off.
Completing his logical self-closure, Yu Jiu dismissed the thought entirely. What did disputes between protagonists have to do with a minor cannon fodder character?
Once the dense fog cleared, their field of vision opened up exponentially.
The moon was bright and the stars sparse, accompanied by the calls of birds.
Dragon’s Breath Lake lapped gently against the shore, while the sacrificial altar sitting right in the center of the lake cast a shimmering silver glow beneath the moonlight.
The players gathered together, most bearing varying degrees of injuries.
Dealing with monster attacks as regular players was no easy feat, making injuries all but inevitable.
Now that the main storyline had commenced, the game’s finale likely would unfold tonight.
“The End Game” represented the final task within the infinite game, triggering a decisive showdown against the final boss as everyone held their breath in collective tension.
Yu Jiu felt the fingers gripping his tighten once more; the protagonist was similarly on high alert for the final boss’s appearance.
Uniform footsteps echoed from deep within the mountain forest, and someone was approaching!
Shadows loomed closer and closer, revealing a group of individuals clad in bizarre white robes standing before the players.
The leader possessed a tall, straight physique, wearing a hood that revealed a cleanly sculpted jawline and a thin pair of lips pressed into a straight line like an emotionless puppet.
Unlike his subordinates, his robes were noticeably grander and more fluid in design, signaling an extraordinary status. Intricate gold threads were woven into the cuffs and hems, faintly forming the pattern of a dragon soaring through the clouds.
He radiated an exceptionally familiar feeling to Yu Jiu, yet his mind felt blanketed by a layer of fog, stubbornly refusing to let him recall who the person was.
The moment he tried to remember, the facial features blurred into indistinctness.
Regardless of who it was, this grand entrance undoubtedly marked the final boss.
The leader gazed toward the players. Even though it was merely a generalized sweep of the area, Yu Jiu once again experienced the haunting illusion of being targeted.
Just as sticky and damp as the tentacles from the cave that day, wrapping tightly around his exposed thighs.