At three in the afternoon, the curtained room flickered with streams of multicolored light.
High above the stacked platforms, the character layered with various buffs fell from the white tower once again. Countless afterimages of buildings rushed past his eyes, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't grab onto a foothold.
Chu Hui's gaze was fixed intently on the screen, his fingertips moving rapidly across the Terminal light screen that had been switched to game mode, attempting to turn the tide in this moment of crisis. But in the end, he still failed, forced to watch helplessly as his character died once more, his half of the holographic screen shrouded in the gray that signified defeat.
"Ah—"
He had been stuck on this white tower for a full ten minutes now. That last attempt had been his fifteenth, while Liang Qiao had reached the teleport point smoothly on her very first try. She now stood on a platform nearby, watching him with an air of calm composure.
At this point, all she had to do was move a finger, and her character would smoothly advance to the next stage—and then the number above his head would go from -5 to -6.
"Hey, don't move yet, let me try again—" Seeing that the person beside him seemed about to make a move, Chu Hui immediately lunged over and pressed down on her hand, saying, "Let me try one more time!"
"I've already given you…" Liang Qiao glanced at the story loop counter in the bottom right corner of the screen, then said, "fifteen chances."
"I'm so close!" He firmly believed he would make it on the next attempt and refused to let Liang Qiao go ahead no matter what. He reached out and directly paused the game mode on her light screen, then tilted his head up to kiss her lips, saying, "Really, this is the last one!"
Liang Qiao looked at him helplessly, spread her palm open, and offered it forward, saying, "Be my guest."
Chu Hui squinted with a grin, immediately sat up straight, and refocused his gaze on the screen. After a few repeated story beats, he once again arrived at the spot where he had failed last time. This time he was especially careful, holding his breath and concentrating, making small, subtle movements to guide his character into the jump. After several cautious attempts and probes, he finally found the right angle, leaped with all his might, and sped swiftly through the dense cluster of buildings.
With one final swing, the character finally crossed the white tower and landed perilously but safely on the edge of the platform. Seizing the moment before Liang Qiao could unpause, he unhesitatingly stepped past her and onto the teleportation array. Light flared up, the interface before him transformed into a new map, and a bouquet of flowers representing victory bloomed beneath his feet.
It was blatant cheating, but Chu Hui felt not a shred of guilt. In fact, he even curled his lips upward and looked at Liang Qiao with triumphant satisfaction. As he leaned slightly forward, the sunlight streaming through the window bathed his flying brows and smiling eyes. His dark pupils condensed into a pool of amber, and every line of his eyes and brows was vividly alive.
Still immersed in the joy of victory, he didn't notice the gaze she had fixed on him, and said smugly, "See, I told you I could make it—" Before he could finish, his trailing words were abruptly swallowed as Liang Qiao cupped his face and kissed him on the lips.
He didn't know when she had gotten so close, or perhaps he had simply been too absorbed to notice that he had already pressed himself into her embrace. But no matter what, in that moment, no game mattered more than this kiss she had initiated. Chu Hui reacted for only half a second before tossing aside the Terminal, raising his arms to loop around her neck, and eagerly slipping his tongue into her mouth.
"Ha…" The more they kissed, the harder it was to stop, their bodies moving in tandem with their desires. Her thigh accidentally brushed against his knee, and he reached out to press it firmly in place.
The streams of light on the holographic screen continued to spread across the room, growing diffuse and distorted from the prolonged standby. The two of them sat kissing inside what looked like a cocoon of flowing light. They barely managed to break apart for a second, only to lock eyes and fall into another kiss the very next moment.
This time, there was truly no stopping it. Liang Qiao remembered what he'd said last night, and a hint of barely perceptible teasing crept into her voice. "Didn't you say you wanted to wear your new clothes?"
Chu Hui said with complete justification, "But I didn't lose."
Liang Qiao wanted to laugh even more. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, and he kissed her again and again before clumsily tugging at her sleepwear. "There's no time this time. You can wear them next time you want to show me."
…How could there be no time.
—Of course there was no time. If not for the fact that Liang Qiao had gone to the fighting arena last night, he should have been unable to get out of bed today anyway. And now she was the one who'd kissed him first—he was already exercising tremendous restraint by not stripping her pants off the moment she did, okay?
"You're so slow…" He'd already crawled onto the bed and gotten into position, but the person behind him was still taking her sweet time. He couldn't stand how unbothered she looked, and couldn't help but start acting up, his eyes shimmering with allure, his brows curved like hooks, his mouth refusing to let up. "Can't find the right spot? Want me to write 'Enter Here' for you—"
His words were mercilessly cut off by a sudden movement, stretching into a long, low gasp before spilling out from his throat in a trembling exhale. Chu Hui hugged the pillow tightly, feeling Liang Qiao lower her head to kiss his shoulder as she said, "Alright, I'll write it in a bit."
…She was actually going to write it.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
After all the times he'd been with Liang Qiao, his mind always went blank at moments like this. The last shred of rationality he'd barely managed to hold onto shattered completely the moment that oil-based marker she'd somehow dug up from who-knows-where landed on his thigh. The tingling sensation of the pen tip touching his skin was nothing compared to the psychological strangeness those words brought him. In a daze, he felt himself begin to twist and spin along with the streams of light, his mind vaguely thinking—he really might not be able to get out of bed today.
The two of them stayed in bed until nightfall. The holographic screen had long been turned off, leaving the room in darkness. Liang Qiao held the person in her arms and asked if he was hungry.
Chu Hui had recovered a little by now, and said in a hoarse voice, "A little."
Liang Qiao swiped open her Terminal. "I'll order some food. What do you want?"
He rattled off dishes with his eyes closed, wanting to try a bit of this and a bit of that. Liang Qiao ordered everything he asked for, then finally said, "Going to shower?"
He refused to move, pressing himself against her clingily. "In a bit."
Fine. In a bit. Liang Qiao wrapped her arms around his waist again, her fingertips absently stroking the smooth, fine skin beneath them.
…
When the delivery chime sounded from the balcony, Liang Qiao happened to be walking out of the bathroom. She opened the balcony door—the delivery drone had already flown off into the distance. She brought the large bag of food inside and urged Chu Hui to get up and shower.
"Alright…" he responded lazily, pushing himself up onto his knees. His lower back was still a bit sore, but not to the point of being unbearable. It was thanks to his good physical condition—anyone else would barely be able to move right now. No wait—why was he thinking about "anyone else"? He caught himself in his own wild thoughts and mentally slapped himself. Liang Qiao was his and his alone. Even if he one day became too weak to get out of bed, she could only ever have him.
The bathroom door closed, and he could faintly hear footsteps and the sound of a meal container being opened. Chu Hui turned on the shower and rinsed himself off haphazardly, his gaze drifting down to his inner thigh, where a few strokes of black ink peeked out.
Remembering the scene of Liang Qiao writing it, he felt a rare pang of embarrassment. He pinched the soft flesh of his thigh as if to hide it, waiting a good while before daring to spread his legs to wash.
"What the…" As soon as he lowered his head, he saw the writing clearly and his whole body tensed. He muttered to himself, "She really has been corrupted by me."
—Liang Qiao hadn't written "enter here" at all. She had written an incomplete 'correct' character, missing just one stroke.
The next few days were still part of the holiday. The two of them didn't go out much—eating, drinking, sleeping, and doing what couples ought to do. The days passed comfortably and indulgently.
It wasn't until mid-month, when the Federal Shipborne Power Research Institute—his top choice for employment—opened applications for this year's graduates, that he finally started organizing his papers and materials. He had always been in his element in his own field of expertise, and putting together an impressive application report was only a matter of time. Though his current posture for reviewing materials was hardly dignified—
Liang Qiao stood behind him, watching him lie face-down on the bed with his lower half bare, scrolling through web pages. She was silent for a moment before picking up his sleep pants and tossing them to him. "Put on pants," she reminded him.
"I'm airing out!" he shot back without turning around, then flopped back onto the pillow, muttering, "It's all swollen."
Liang Qiao: "…"
It took her a moment to respond. "Want me to put some medicine on it?"
He made a couple of whiny noises, said "sure," then added, "But I still need to air it out after."
"This holiday has been way too indulgent," he said as he watched Liang Qiao approach with the ointment. He naturally spread his legs for her and grabbed a webpage to show her. "That paper from last time got officially published."
"Failure Boundaries of 'Safety Redundancy' in Power Systems Under Extreme Conditions"—a paper that clearly had nothing to do with Liang Qiao, yet bore her name as co-author.
Liang Qiao didn't pay it much mind. She opened the ointment and focused on applying it, giving a flat "Mm."