Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 112
When Zhou Qian fully logged out of the mini-instance, Gao Shan, as a Bone Spirit, temporarily returned to the Rib of God, and the small dragon transformed into a scale and burrowed into the bag.
The only one left with Zhou Qian in the ancient museum was Wu Ren.
Looking behind him, Zhou Qian saw a crucible with a hastily written description: [A crucible from the Middle Ages, seemingly possessing magical functions.]
Scanning the surroundings, this small exhibition room didn’t contain any other artifacts, suggesting it was specifically for logging into the “Magic Crucible” instance. The room was square, with strange runes painted on the walls.
Zhou Qian asked Wu Ren, “I wonder if the other artifacts here also correspond to separate instances. How did you enter this one?”
Wu Ren replied, “By touching the crucible three times.”
“It’s not accessible to me; touching it probably won’t do anything. But I’m curious to see the other exhibition halls. Touching different ancient artifacts might trigger some unexpected surprises,” Zhou Qian said, curiously examining the crucible’s surroundings and the murals inside the exhibition hall. It seemed he planned to visit other parts of the museum.
Remembering something, Wu Ren reminded him, “Aren’t you supposed to find… your son’s father?”
“Right, I need to contact him.”
After saying this, Zhou Qian walked out of the exhibition hall, not expecting to see Bai Zhou immediately.
Exiting the hall, Zhou Qian realized the architectural style here was ancient Chinese, quite out of place with the colorful modernity of Blue Harbor City, yet unexpectedly complementing Bai Zhou’s temperament.
Snow fell on the gray tiles of the courtyard, piling up in the quaint yard. Bai Zhou, holding a gray umbrella and dressed in a white shirt, looked even more serene and composed against the backdrop of the falling snow.
The only issue was… he wasn’t looking at Zhou Qian.
……
In the game, for ordinary players, the basic attributes are: HP (red bar) and MP (blue bar). But for Rank God players, there’s an additional attribute: mental energy.
Rank God players consume mental energy when using skills. When it drops to a certain threshold, they enter an uncontrollable berserk state.
However, Turtle Fairy was special. Be it prophecy or mind-reading, many of her skills were beyond her control and often released unconsciously, depleting her mental energy.
She rarely triggered the mental energy preset, and when her mental energy was low, she would unconsciously faint and be pulled into the turtle shell to sleep.
Recently, Turtle Fairy had unwittingly talked a lot, and now her system detected low mental energy. The protective mechanism kicked in, and she began to doze off, falling unconsciously to the ground.
Bai Zhou, waiting for Zhou Qian, was about to ask Turtle Fairy something when he saw her about to fall into the turtle shell. Extending his hand, Bai Zhou caught her arm and transferred some mental energy to her, just as he heard Zhou Qian call out—
“Zhou Ge.”
A moment later.
Time moved to evening.
However, the sky in Blue Harbor City was always night, illuminated only by colorful neon lights. Now, with the snowfall, the neon lights cast multicolored hues on the snow.
Zhou Qian and Bai Zhou walked side by side in front.
Wu Ren and Turtle Fairy followed behind.
Wu Ren was somewhat jittery, constantly ready to prevent Turtle Fairy from falling off the turtle shell. Amidst this, he heard Zhou Qian ask, “Zhou Ge, if Turtle Meimei and I fall into the water at the same time, who would you save first?”
Wu Ren: “…………”
Bai Zhou replied, “I won’t let you fall into the water.”
Wu Ren: “………………”
Damn, brother, you’re awesome.
“You’ve asked me this question many times since we were kids,” Bai Zhou added.
“Have I?” Zhou Qian placed his hands behind his back. “I don’t remember.”
Bai Zhou asked, “Tired? Shall I carry you?”
Zhou Qian laughed. “Tired. Okay.”
Wu Ren: “……Fuck.”
……
That evening, everyone gathered for dinner, and after the meal, the others returned to the hotel, while Zhou Qian went back to a small villa by the sea with Bai Zhou.
Having cleared two instances in a row, Zhou Qian was indeed tired, and having drunk a few beers during dinner, he felt somewhat dizzy while bathing and unknowingly fell asleep in the bathtub.
When Zhou Qian woke up, Bai Zhou was lifting him out of the now-lukewarm water, wrapping him in a towel, and carrying him to the bedroom.
As they went upstairs, Zhou Qian yawned and reopened his eyes, his arms naturally hooking around Bai Zhou’s neck. He didn’t look away, just gazing into Bai Zhou’s eyes with a smile as his eyelashes dripped water droplets as he blinked.
“Zhou Ge, I’ve gotten your clothes wet,” Zhou Qian said. “
It doesn’t matter,” Bai Zhou replied. “Go to sleep. We’ll take a day off tomorrow before heading to the next instance.”
“Do I sense that you’re a bit unhappy?” Zhou Qian asked him.
“No.” Bai Zhou carried him into the bedroom and laid him on the bed. “I’m going to get the hairdryer for you.”
As Bai Zhou turned to leave, Zhou Qian grabbed his hand. Bai Zhou paused, then sat back down on the bed and asked gently, “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Qian shook his head, still staring at Bai Zhou. “At dinner, I asked Turtle Meimei about something.”
Bai Zhou: “Hm?”
“Are you jealous? Or did you get angry because I went to another instance without telling you?” Zhou Qian held his hand. “They are my friends.”
Bai Zhou: “Mm.”
“You’re different from them,” Zhou Qian said with a smile, his eyes shining like stars. “You are my boyfriend.”
“Yeah.” Bai Zhou nodded, looking deeply at Zhou Qian. “I know.”
Zhou Qian glanced at Bai Zhou’s expression, stretched his leg to wrap around Bai Zhou’s waist, leaned in closer, resting his chin on Bai Zhou’s shoulder, and asked softly, “If the title of boyfriend isn’t enough, if you want me to call you—”
Zhou Qian, seemingly tipsy, his eyes and brows tinted red, pressed his nose against Bai Zhou’s ear, his lips close enough to kiss his earlobe. Then, continuing from his previous statement, Zhou Qian called out to Bai Zhou, “Husband?”
He lowered his voice deliberately while stretching out the word, also adding a bit of drunken huskiness. Because they were so close, Zhou Qian could feel Bai Zhou’s muscles tense up.
“So…”
Zhou Qian blew a breath out, turning Bai Zhou’s ear and neck red, and said with a smile, “As those novels say, you do like it when I call you that?”
Bai Zhou asked him, “What exactly are you reading?”
“I won’t tell you,” Zhou Qian said seriously. “There are too many scumbags in it. You can’t learn from them.”
Bai Zhou: “?”
Zhou Qian: “Like those wife chasing crematorium* novels. If it were me, it would be a real crematorium, crushing bones and scattering ashes. How could they be given another chance?”
*Genre where usually the gong wrongs the shou (most likely due to some misunderstanding) and then “chases” the shou by correcting their behavior in order to win him back.
After speaking, noticing Bai Zhou still looked serious, Zhou Qian stopped teasing him, propped his elbow on Bai Zhou’s shoulder, and asked, “Zhou Ge, you really seem off today. Are you…”
Bai Zhou held Zhou Qian’s hand, brushed the hair from his forehead, and said, “You misunderstood. I’m not upset. I was just thinking about the news Turtle Fairy and the others brought.”
“What news?” Zhou Qian became serious.
“Before I entered Zone X and had the surgery, I met someone,” Bai Zhou said. “His name is Shao Chuan. He trained many people. Like Turtle Gairy, Blood Demon, etc.”
Zhou Qian asked, “And Hidden Blade?”
Bai Zhou shook his head. “Hidden Blade hasn’t met Shao Chuan and doesn’t know about him. I first knew Blood Demon and Turtle Fairy. I met Hidden Blade later during an instance. But Shao Chuan has taken an interest in Hidden Blade and might meet him soon. The players Shao Chuan initially assembled all had special skills. Blood Demon excels in assassination—his body can turn into thousands of droplets of blood. Turtle Fairy has a unique prophecy ability.”
“So there are two types of Rank God players. One is like Hidden Blade, leveling up quietly, not knowing how powerful they’ll become; the other is like you, showing immense talent from the start?”
Zhou Qian asked, “Can I understand that Shao Chuan is intentionally gathering people like you? Who exactly is he…”
Bai Zhou said, “He doesn’t seem like a villain. Turtle Fairy predicted this long ago. I haven’t seen Shao Chuan in a long time. He suddenly wants to meet me now, which is worth pondering. Also—”
“I’ve learned from the side that he is paying attention to you.”
“Is he interested in me because I’m your Shepherd?” Zhou Qian asked.
“Not only that,” Bai Zhou said. “No ordinary player has collected three items related to the Seven Elements of Creation as quickly as you. You always enter instances related to hidden achievements. Although this is related to your performance, it seems the system is intentionally guiding you, especially opening these instances for you.”
“Like I said at the beginning, you seem to be chosen by it.”
Zhou Qian thought for a while and asked, “Can I meet this Shao Chuan? He seems very close to the core secrets of this game. At least he knows what your surgery was really about.”
Bai Zhou nodded. “Okay, after we clear the next instance, I’ll take you to meet him.”
With the serious conversation over, Zhou Qian started to be playful again.
As Bai Zhou stood up to get the hairdryer, Zhou Qian grabbed his wrist again.
“Zhou Qian?”
“Zhou Ge, I think… you’re still not quite right.”
Suddenly thinking of something key, Zhou Qian stood up from the bed, pressed Bai Zhou’s shoulders to sit him down on the bed and scrutinized him.
Zhou Qian: “I just realized something—”
Bai Zhou: “What?”
“Maybe I misunderstood something. Zhou Ge, are you…” Zhou Qian’s eyes sparkled. “Then should I do it?”
After a long pause, Bai Zhou understood what he meant. Using his position sitting on the bed, Bai Zhou pressed down on Zhou Qian’s waist, embraced him, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Feeling the warmth of Bai Zhou’s fingertip and listening to his whispers, the scenes from that night exploded in Zhou Qian’s mind.
Bai Zhou didn’t say much, but Zhou Qian understood his meaning—
That night, just being… then… how could he?
Zhou Qian felt a bit embarrassed; he had originally teased Bai Zhou with the help of alcohol, but now he was blushing.
Pushing Bai Zhou away, Zhou Qian slipped into the bed. “I’m going to sleep.”
He was too embarrassed to say that when he was very young, he once attended a romantic wedding with his mother and dreamt afterwards—he dreamt that he married Bai Zhou.
In his dream, Zhou Qian wore a white wedding dress and exchanged rings with Bai Zhou at the ceremony. Then, he went to the bathroom and shockingly discovered he was in the men’s restroom.
Even more astonishingly, when he lifted his dress, he found that he had male genitalia, which scared him awake right then and there.
Afterwards, Zhou Qian felt ridiculously foolish about his dream self and couldn’t bear to think about it. Additionally, he even doubted if he had a gender identity disorder and consulted a psychologist. It wasn’t until he never had such dreams again that the shadow in his heart faded.
“The origin is from your family, since you have a poor relationship with your parents. You couldn’t feel their love, so you yearned even more for a beautiful family and marriage, especially after witnessing a dreamy and beautiful wedding. These dreams are a natural expression of your longing for family life and don’t indicate a gender identity issue.”
This was what the psychologist said at that time.
Zhou Qian asked seriously, “But why did I dream of marrying Bai Zhou? Am I gay?”
Psychologist: “You said he was your class monitor, took good care of you in studies and life, and was very considerate towards you, right?”
“This is ultimately a matter regarding your family issues. You lacked care and affection from your parents, so you projected these needs onto a future partner. You are still young, and this doesn’t necessarily indicate your orientation is towards men. For example…”
“Have you ever had special attention towards any girl?”
Girl? Special attention?
Of course, there was one—the class beauty who sent love letters to Bai Zhou from the neighboring class.
At this moment, a sleepy Zhou Qian hazily recalled the past. He didn’t know if his orientation was definitely towards men, but he was sure that his orientation was definitely Bai Zhou.
……
The next morning, Zhou Qian woke up completely sober. Sounds from downstairs suggested Bai Zhou was making breakfast.
Suddenly, thinking about last night, Zhou Qian felt a bit uneasy. How could he behave like that, yet Bai Zhou didn’t respond in kind?
Alarm bells rang in Zhou Qian’s mind, and a certain percentage skyrocketed to 120%.
After washing up in the bathroom, Zhou Qian shouted towards the kitchen, “I’m leaving now. Got something to do!”
After saying this, Zhou Qian left the villa and headed to the hotel where He Xiaowei and the others stayed, woke everyone up with loud knocking, and took them all to a nearby tea restaurant for breakfast.
Qi Luxing and Ke Yuxiao had gone to a dual challenge instance, fortunately avoiding this scene. Now, only He Xiaowei and Wu Ren were left at the breakfast table.
A sleepy He Xiaowei yawned. “Qian’er… What’s up? You’re not usually an early riser.”
Wu Ren seemed more alert. “Hmm? What’s the situation? Looks urgent. Are we discussing the strategy for tomorrow’s instance?”
Zhou Qian said, “Nothing much. Just a bit upset with Zhou Ge.”
Wu Ren: “……”
Just yesterday, you two were so sweet together. What? Did you have a fight overnight?
Shaking his head, Wu Ren couldn’t help saying, “Zhou Qian, you’re really no exception. People in love are always so fussy.”
Zhou Qian: “……”
He Xiaowei blinked twice and asked, “What happened exactly?”
Then it was Zhou Qian’s turn to be stunned.
It seemed like he really shouldn’t drink. Even though the effects of alcohol should have worn off, it probably had a lasting impact on his nerves, making him impulsive and thoughtless in the morning. Only now did he realize that some questions couldn’t be asked in front of He Xiaowei and Wu Ren.
“Nothing.” Zhou Qian scratched his head. “So, have you two ever been in love?”
Wu Ren decisively shook his head. “I’m blind. How could I trouble a girl?”
Unexpectedly, He Xiaowei nodded. “I have. But we broke up.”
Zhou Qian asked in surprise, “Why did you break up?”
“After graduating from college, we worked in different places and gradually drifted apart,” He Xiaowei sighed. “Ah, life…”
Wu Ren joined in the sigh. “Life… is bitter.”
“No, Xiaowei, how exactly did you break up? Tell me the details,” Zhou Qian asked.
“No, no. It’s too painful to talk about. I can’t open old wounds, not even for you, Qian’er.”
He Xiaowei yawned and stood up. “I’m going to buy some water next door. Qian’er, should I get you… apple juice?”
Zhou Qian immediately shook his head. “No.”
He Xiaowei: “Ah? I’ve seen you drinking it a lot lately. You drank a lot of it last night. Don’t you like it?”
Zhou Qian nodded. “Yeah. I thought it tasted good at first, but I drank too much at once and got sick of it. No more. I can’t even think about the taste without feeling nauseous.”
He Xiaowei was already at the restaurant’s door. Zhou Qian was looking at him as he spoke, which allowed him to see Bai Zhou, who had just appeared at the door, probably looking for him.
Zhou Qian suddenly remembered an incident from his school days.
There was a time when he loved a certain brand of soft candy. Once, when he couldn’t find that candy at the school store, he was upset for a long time. Later, Bai Zhou bought a lot of that brand’s candy and brought him many pieces every day, leading Zhou Qian to eat a lot of it until his teeth hurt from the sweetness.
Three days later, when Bai Zhou brought that candy again, Zhou Qian refused to eat it.
Just like his recent conversation with He Xiaowei, Bai Zhou also asked why, since Zhou Qian clearly liked it.
Zhou Qian’s answer was similar to now; he said he ate too much at once and got sick of it.
At the restaurant entrance, the tall Bai Zhou stood there, his figure casting a large shadow. Looking at his beautiful features shadowed in the dim light and his deep, unfathomable eyes…
Zhou Qian felt like he finally understood something.
The author has something to say:
Zhou Qian: “Husband~”
Bai Zhou: “Instance… System… Shao Chuan… Rank God players…”
Zhou Qian: He doesn’t love me.
……
The instance “The Red God’s Banquet”, along with the main event, is about to start~
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