With dark eyes like whirlpools, whenever Yu Jiu was stared at by those eyes, he inexplicably thought of a cold-blooded animal cold, slimy, and chilling to the bone.
Ever since this mission began, Yu Jiu had gradually grown accustomed to his identity as a mute. 091 had unlocked the sign language skill for him, but alas, ever since leaving the Red Candle dungeon, no one around him understood his sign language. Ning Jue knew very little, and most of the time, they communicated using pen and paper.
He always carried a small, square notebook with a pen tucked inside. He could write messages in it, but the game was fraught with danger, leaving no spare time to write. Moreover, Ning Jue practically forbade him from communicating or interacting with anyone else around them.
Gu Xun suddenly started trouble, and Yan Xiao’s smile grew increasingly awkward. It wasn’t that he deliberately ignored him; almost all the players present knew Yu Jiu was a mute. Asking a mute to introduce himself—wasn’t that making things difficult for him?
Gu Xun wasn’t someone to be trifled with either. This person’s identity and skills were even more mysterious than Ning Jue’s. He acted alone, had an unpredictable personality, and would even engage in disruptive behavior that sabotaged other players’ missions. Teaming up with him was by no means a good thing.
Aside from Lu Shiyue, none of the players present knew Yu Jiu’s name. Lu Shiyue had always looked at him with displeasure, so he certainly wouldn’t step in to help him out of this tight spot.
Yu Jiu’s movements were very slow as his slender, pale fingers searched through his pockets. He was glowing white all over, translucent and lustrous like a pearl, extremely well cared for, like a flower in a greenhouse—delicate and frail.
“Tsk.” From the moment Yu Jiu lowered his head to search, Lu Shiyue’s eyes were fixed unblinkingly on his movements.
They were standing very close, practically pressed together. Lu Shiyue’s back could even sense Yu Jiu’s faint, shallow breathing. Yu Jiu hid behind him, and from behind him came an occasional, indefinable fragrance—not overpowering, but enough to make him somewhat dizzy and mesmerized.
Clearly, Gu Xun had done this intentionally; he was toying with a poor little mute who had lost his protection.
What could the little mute do? He wouldn’t argue, couldn’t attack, and had even lost the chance to plead, forced to endure bullying from others in silence.
So weak. It hadn’t even been an hour since he lost protection, and he was already in such a pathetic state. Lu Shiyue felt a surge of anger. What was he angry about? Was it Yu Jiu’s weakness, or Gu Xun’s wanton disregard?
“His name is Yu Jiu.”
To everyone’s surprise, Lu Shiyue squeezed out those words with a dark face.
Yu Jiu pinched the corner of his notebook, his fingertips rubbing back and forth against the paper inside. He didn’t like to draw too much attention to himself; after all, that wasn’t the duty of a cannon fodder character.
The smile in Gu Xun’s eyes deepened. Sensing that he was being watched, Yu Jiu turned sideways, trying his best to distance himself from the man’s aggressive gaze.
“Captain Lu sure has a fierce temper,” Gu Xun said with a smile, shifting his gaze away from Yu Jiu. As if the intense stare had never existed, the magician reverted to his flippant persona.
[Ding! Assembly complete. Branch mission activated.]
[Branch mission one: Longxi Mountain Mid-Mountain Park. Current exploration progress: 0]
[Please, all players, visit the Longxi Mountain Mid-Mountain Park before sunset and complete the stamp collection task at the designated location. Those who fail to finish within the time limit will be eliminated.]
The first mission came urgently, needing to be completed before sunset, leaving the players with tight schedules.
“It’s twelve noon right now,” Yan Xiao glanced at the clock in the hotel lobby. “Sunset is at six o’clock in the afternoon. We have six hours left, so let’s get moving.”
Longxi Town backed against Longxi Mountain, the entire town surrounded by ranges of mountains. Longxi Mountain was the landmark, and from anywhere in the town, one could catch a glimpse of the towering, lush green mountain.
The peak was capped with perennial, unmelted snow and shrouded in mist; seen from a distance, it looked ethereal like a fairyland. The mid-mountain area was densely wooded and vibrant with green, and the Mid-Mountain Park was nestled right there.
The town valued ecological environmental protection, making cars a rare sight on the roads. Residents and tourists relied on walking to reach their destinations.
The group walked out of the hotel. The players were unfamiliar with each other, and with an unknown mission pressing on their minds, everyone’s expressions were exceptionally solemn, save for the magician who hummed a tune while leisurely appreciating the scenery.
The hotel was very close to the foot of Longxi Mountain—a ten-minute walk. Arriving at the foot of the mountain, they were met with a winding mountain path ahead. Road signs indicated that the Mid-Mountain Park was further up.
The mountain road was narrow and rugged, seemingly deliberately maintained in its primitive state, with fallen rocks left uncleaned along the path.
Yu Jiu had very poor stamina. The frail constitution from his past life had carried over into the mission, and his shoes were unsuited for hiking.
The rounded small leather shoes caused the leather around the heels to constantly rub against his ankles, making the skin burn with pain.
“Baby, can you still hold on? I’ll use some points to exchange for ointment to put on you.”
091 was very anxious; it couldn’t bear to watch its host silently endure pain alone.
“It’s fine,” Yu Jiu shook his head. He had very few points right now, and buying things on credit would affect 091’s performance ratings.
He walked slower and slower, taking tiny steps. The others took large strides, leaving him swaying from side to side. Not paying attention to a split crack beneath his feet, he took a solid misstep and sprained his ankle.
His ankles were already chafed, and he could feel the joint swelling up red, a burning pain spreading across the top of his foot.
Because of the pain, sweat beaded on his pink-white cheeks, the steam from his body making him look damp all over. Physiological tears welled up instantly, filling his large, rounded cat-like eyes with a crystalline, shimmering moisture that hovered on the verge of falling, making his green eyes look exceptionally dewy.
When Lu Shiyue turned his head back, this was the exact scene that met his eyes. Yu Jiu seemed in extreme pain, his rosy lips parted slightly in an unconscious breath, a plump cupid’s bow at the center of the lips with just a sliver of his moist, hot tongue peeking out.
Injured and unable to even speak, he lingered pitifully in place. None of the players would care about him; left alone in a game full of dangers, waiting for others to save him, he might end up waiting for a ferocious dungeon monster instead.
A tender, delicate little mute—if he fell into a monster’s hands, he’d probably be played to pieces.
Yu Jiu watched as Lu Shiyue, walking at the front of the group, turned his head and then stopped to stare straight at him.
Lu Shiyue stopped, and the players following his lead stopped too. Their gazes fell on Yu Jiu, all seeing that he had sprained his ankle.
“This…” The other players wore troubled expressions. Time was pressing; it was impossible for them to drag down everyone else’s progress for the sake of a weak player.
Elimination in the game was no joke…
Moreover, scarce resources like medicine weren’t things players were necessarily willing to use on others.
“You guys go ahead and finish the mission. I’ll stay with him.”
Lu Shiyue still wore his fierce, unapproachable expression, and his words baffled everyone.
At this point, the others felt too embarrassed to say anything else. A high-tier player like Lu Shiyue surely had life-saving items on him and probably didn’t care about the lethal game missions.
Perhaps, out of respect for Captain Lu, he felt too embarrassed to leave Yu Jiu behind.
The players’ figures gradually disappeared into the end of the road. The magician left behind a meaningful glance before turning to walk away.
Lu Shiyue, tall and long-legged, walked over to Yu Jiu in a few strides.
“Can you still walk?”
The pain in his ankle was hard to ignore, and Yu Jiu shook his head slightly.
The tall adult male half-crouched down in front of him. Lu Shiyue’s shoulders were broad, and as he leaned in, he practically enveloped Yu Jiu entirely.
The little mute looked somewhat dejected, his head drooped, exposing the snowy, delicate skin behind his neck. The emerging sweat dampened the ends of his hair, sticking damply to the back of his neck.
That unprovoked, bizarre fragrance emanated in waves from the skin behind his collar, paired with that pitiful expression.
No matter how you looked at it, it was an unconscious seduction.
Lu Shiyue’s brows were tightly furrowed, as if he were trying hard to suppress something.
He must be very angry, Yu Jiu thought.
Lowering his eyelids, he stopped looking at the man in front of him.
A thick, dry palm suddenly lifted his lower leg, rubbing against his calf as it slipped down to take off his shoe.
Lu Shiyue had large hands, able to loosely cup Yu Jiu’s ankle with a single palm.
The soft, smooth texture in his hand was clearly perceptible even through a layer of over-the-knee socks—like a cloud of white snow, yielding, soft, and moist.
The lines of his lower leg were slender and soft, covered with just the right amount of fair, tender, and soft flesh.
His skin was terrifyingly delicate; the fine calluses on Lu Shiyue’s fingertips brushed lightly against it, instantly raising red marks.
Had Ning Jue touched this place? When Ning Jue touched other places, would it turn red too? With the little mute being this tender, his whole body would probably get turned red everywhere.
“Hah.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down involuntarily. In the game, the sky clearly held an autumnal chill, yet he felt a restless heat, a strange fever rising from the bottom of his heart.
A large patch on Yu Jiu’s ankle was swollen, the red and swollen wound standing out exceptionally sharp against the jade-snow luster of his skin.
Exposing his ankle to the cold air made Yu Jiu involuntarily shiver from the chill.
Lu Shiyue’s face turned even darker. With his deep facial features and heavy brow bone, wearing a cold expression made him even harder to approach.
Yu Jiu couldn’t understand why Lu Shiyue suddenly took off his sock; it might be out of malicious bullying to make him walk barefoot.
“091, what is Lu Shiyue trying to do? My sock is gone, I’m a bit cold.”
“It’s fine.” 091 observed that Lu Shiyue’s body temperature was abnormally elevated and his heart rate had sped up. It was so angry it wanted to jump out of the system space and punch him a few times.
Damn pervert, holding its host’s foot while wondering what weird things were running through his head.
Yu Jiu wanted to pull away, but his weak spot was gripped firmly in someone’s hand, leaving him unable to run even if he wanted to.
His kicking motion startled Lu Shiyue. With just a slight application of force, his ankle was securely locked in place.
“What are you thrashing around for?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Shiyue seemed to feel his tone was a bit too harsh. Seeing Yu Jiu’s panicked green eyes, a trace of remorse flashed across his face. Fearing he might startle him, he softened his voice:
“I’m putting medicine on you.”
Hearing Lu Shiyue’s blunt sentence, Yu Jiu realized he was putting medicine on him after all.
Perhaps he was worried that his limping would delay everyone else’s progress.
The tension in his calf instantly drained away, relaxing and landing steadily in the palm of Lu Shiyue’s hand.
Lu Shiyue produced a bottle of ointment from somewhere—it must have been from his inventory backpack.
Ning Jue had done things like that too, pulling all sorts of exquisite little props from his system backpack and presenting them to Yu Jiu like offerings.
Ning Jue was obsessed with such things, seeming to want to brand Yu Jiu with his mark from head to toe, like a massive male beast flaunting ownership of his mate.
The ointment was solid and needed to be warmed to melt before use.
Lu Shiyue smeared the ointment across his palm; his body temperature was high, and the ointment quickly melted into a transparent liquid.
The cool ointment was applied to the red and swollen area. Lu Shiyue didn’t control his strength well at first, pressing a bit too hard.
The first touch poked Yu Jiu’s wound, making him furrow his brow in pain. He couldn’t voice his hurt, and with his sensitive constitution, the physiological tears triggered by the pain pooled in his eyes.
His eyes held a pool of swaying water, the ripples shimmering with hot tears.
Amidst the turning of his gaze, Lu Shiyue could even see crystalline teardrops hanging on his fan-like eyelashes.
Why was he so delicate when he clearly hadn’t used any force?
Normally, when applying medicine to himself or other team members, he wouldn’t care about things like applying too much force.
And tears came so easily.
He needed to be pampered and coaxed so that Yu Jiu wouldn’t get hurt or upset.
Lu Shiyue wanted to say something. Following his usual approach, he should have long since flown into a rage, telling any weakling trying to get close to get lost.
Yet right now, he couldn’t say a single word, even giving rise to an absurd thought: blaming himself for being clumsy.
“Baby, are you alright?”
091’s concerned voice sounded.
“I’m fine.”
Yu Jiu had grown accustomed to sickness and pain in his past life. Although his pain receptors were sensitive, after experiencing enough pain, he had simply gotten used to it.
“Wuwu baby, I’m going to beat this idiot to death.”
091 was punching and kicking Lu Shiyue in his mind.
The subsequent process of applying the medicine went much smoother. Lu Shiyue grew skilled, applying just the right amount of pressure. Presuming it was a precious medication, the swelling on the wound quickly went down.
Lu Shiyue packed away the ointment, helped Yu Jiu put his socks and shoes back on, and stood up in silence without uttering a word. Seeming unwilling to look at him any longer, he turned around to leave.
Yu Jiu stumbled to his feet, a faint ache still lingering in his ankle. He reached out and grabbed the back hem of Lu Shiyue’s clothes.
He motioned for Lu Shiyue to pause for a moment.
Yu Jiu lowered his head to rummage for something.
Lu Shiyue caught sight of that slender, pale patch of neck again, forcing himself to look away.
“The medicine is already applied. What are you trying to do now? I’m not Ning Jue, I’m not going to carry you on my back.”
Yu Jiu widened his eyes, his green eyes blank and innocent, shaking his head with a wide gesture to refuse.
He pulled out a small notebook—leather-bound, stamped with the pattern of the Infinite Game, it was a game prop.
It must have been given by Ning Jue.
Lu Shiyue’s mind began to wander groundlessly once more. Was he taking it out to warn him? Warning him not to disregard Ning Jue’s face?
How laughable. Of course dodder flowers were all cut from the same cloth; what was he even expecting?
Yu Jiu lowered his head, scribbling furiously in the notebook. Finishing his stroke, his petal-pink, tender fingers spread open a corner of the paper.
His green eyes gazed at him purely, almost naively.
Lu Shiyue abruptly stopped in his tracks.