Li Lin was indeed doing it on purpose, but he was in a great mood right now. His fingertips kept rubbing together as he relished the wonderful tactile sensation he had just experienced, his eyes crinkling into a smile on his face.
A flash of inspiration struck, and the urge to tease swelled up sharply in his heart. He raised an eyebrow and asked:
“We are considered partners now anyway, so shouldn’t we at least have a mutual form of address for each other?”
Seeing the ill-intentioned look on the man’s face, Yun Qingzhou figured this guy was up to no good, but he still played along and asked:
“What do you want to call me?”
Li Lin tapped his thin lips with his slender, attractive index finger, looking as though he were genuinely and seriously pondering.
A moment later, the corners of his lips curled into a mischievous smile as he said:
“You can just call me Li Lin.”
Hearing this, Yun Qingzhou let out a breath of relief. Just when he thought the male lead was actually considering how partners should address one another, he felt someone quickly pinch his waist, sending a wave of tingling numbness across his skin.
At the same time, the man’s deep voice sounded in his ear once again:
“As for me, I will call you Baobei Qingqing, how does that sound?”
“You!”
The youth abruptly stood up, staring in disbelief and absolute fury at the innocent-looking Li Lin.
At this moment, Li Lin looked just like an adorable doll, sitting innocently in place with a pair of big, sparkly eyes blinking up at the youth: “What is wrong with me?”
If Yun Qingzhou had not been wearing a mask, Li Lin would have clearly been able to see the breathtaking, stunning beauty of the blushes surging layer upon layer beneath the youth’s fair skin.
Flesh and blood could only take so much!
He had always known this fellow was a flirt, but he never expected that after all this time, not only had this fellow not reined it in one bit, but he had actually become even worse.
Back when he was the vice captain of Winner, this guy had already been all over him. If he had not gone through the previous world, Yun Qingzhou could have fooled himself into thinking this was just a way brothers expressed affection.
But now, having grown and matured, he had completely seen through the male lead’s improper intentions toward him.
Still, what was with this guy’s completely justified and natural expression?!
It was truly infuriating!
The youth’s voice sounded as though it were squeezed out from between his teeth, so cold that the surrounding air seemed to freeze in place: “You are courting death!”
In an instant, a silver longsword appeared in Yun Qingzhou’s hand, and with almost zero hesitation, the sword slashed straight toward Li Lin.
Li Lin knew he might get beaten up, but he had not expected his precious Xiao Zhou to be so hot-tempered that he would actually pull out a sword to hack at him.
The man’s eyes widened as he quickly rolled to the side. When he raised his head again to look at the spot where he had been sitting, he swallowed hard with lingering fear.
He saw that the originally intact roof instantly had a large hole blown into it, kicking up a massive cloud of choking dust in the air, accompanied by the gasps and questions of his team members down below.
Why did it feel like that strike just now was meant to kill him for real?
Was his precious Xiao Zhou this terrifying after losing his memory?
Wasn’t it just a little pinch of the waist and taking a tiny bit of advantage? If he wanted to do anything more in the future, wouldn’t he probably…
Before Li Lin could overthink it, the youth’s second attack followed right on the heels of the first. He barely managed to dodge that one, only to face the third and the fourth.
By the time Yun Qingzhou vented his anger, Li Lin was left in an utterly battered state. The thin vest on his upper body was sliced open with several gashes, revealing the bronze skin underneath, and shallow cuts on his arms were still oozing beads of blood.
As expected, his darling still felt sorry for him and did not land any heavy blows.
Scolding is affection and beating is love; could what they just did count as flirting?
Hehehe.
Li Lin had zero remorse from being disciplined, completely ignoring the pitifully large hole in the roof as he still grinned shamelessly:
“Darling Qingqing, are you feeling better now? If that wasn’t enough to vent your anger, you can come at me a few more times!”
Yun Qingzhou was so angered that he flashed a murderous smile, raising the sword he had just put away once again: “I see you really want to die!”
At best, he would forfeit the mission; he just wanted this male lead dead!
The aura surrounding the youth suddenly changed. The moves that had previously felt like child’s play now turned fierce and terrifying. Realizing the situation was turning south and that he seemed to have genuinely pissed the person off, Li Lin hurriedly cried out:
“Qingqing, I was wrong!”
“Don’t act on impulse!”
Too late!
Just as Yun Qingzhou wanted to thrust his sword straight into the male lead, the system’s voice rang out in his mind once again.
“Xiao Zhou, don’t be impulsive!”
“Think of the vacation! Think of the points!”
“You’ll have plenty of opportunities to discipline the male lead in the final dungeon, so don’t throw all your previous efforts down the drain just because this male lead is shameless!”
The system’s words instantly calmed Yun Qingzhou down. He withdrew the sword back into his spatial storage, let out a cold snort, and leaped up to sit on another section of the roof, leaving the male lead with nothing but a cold, ruthless back.
Though he had not actually planned on truly killing this male lead anyway, still, he was so mad!
Li Lin scratched the back of his head with some embarrassment. He really hadn’t done it on purpose; he just saw Xiao Zhou looking like that and instinctively wanted to tease him.
Suddenly, muffled chuckles drifted up from below. Looking down, Li Lin saw that almost all of his team members had emerged from the shop and were currently standing on the street, staring at him with strange expressions.
It looked like disappointment in failing to live up to expectations, mixed with a heavy hint of disgust?
Declaring that his dignity as a captain was facing a severe challenge, Li Lin’s face darkened instantly. Just as he was about to coldly order these team members to hurry back and rest, a distant, lingering bell chime suddenly echoed across the town.
Li Lin’s brow furrowed. Turning much more serious, he dropped back down to the ground and stood among his team members.
Li Lin: “What time is it?”
One of them replied: “It is exactly seven o’clock in the evening.”
Li Lin looked toward the western horizon where the sun was setting. Sure enough, the last sliver of sunlight vanished below the edge of the world, and the entire town was abruptly plunged into darkness.
At the same time, the shops along the street all shut their doors tightly, leaving only the light spilling out from the shop they had occupied to barely illuminate their surroundings.
Realizing something was wrong, Yun Qingzhou pushed aside his sulking thoughts and flew down, landing right beside Li Lin.
Yun Qingzhou: “It is a blood moon.”
The group followed the youth’s gaze up toward the sky, only to see that at some point, a full moon had hung in the firmament, not a pristine, brilliant white, but a chilling, blood red.
Before they could inspect the condition of the blood moon more closely, the roars of monsters began to surround them on all sides, accompanied by blood-red eyes that densely emerged from the darkness, staring at them fixedly.