HI Chapter 86

Yan Wei blinked, his hand holding the juice cup tightening slightly, his eyes narrowing in a moment of confusion.

He smiled nonchalantly, as if completely unaware of the circumstances, pulling Yan Mingguang inside and introducing him to Lin Qing and Yan Mingguang. Lin Qing maintained a demeanor of someone meeting them for the first time, perhaps because Yan Mingguang had publicly shielded Yan Wei in three instances. Compared to Zhou Tian and Gao Ming, Lin Qing showed a rare friendliness.

As for Yan Mingguang, he still wore that indifferent expression, revealing nothing.

Yan Wei set down what he was holding, leaned in closer, and seemingly casually whispered into Yan Mingguang’s ear, “Cold ice block, didn’t you say you wouldn’t come yesterday?”

At that moment, Yan Mingguang’s gaze, which had been on him, shifted away, his pure black eyes fleetingly showing an emotion that was hard to decipher.

But in just a moment, Yan Mingguang returned to his previous aloof demeanor, saying nothing.

Yan Wei had previously thought it pointless to tease someone like Yan Mingguang, who was always so unperturbed. But now, he felt that Yan Mingguang was not without reaction; he simply had too much self-control, always able to hide his responses in an instant.

It was quite amusing.

Yan Wei chuckled softly and turned back to sit on the sofa.

Zhou Tian and Gao Ming had already quietly settled down, while Lin Qing glanced at Lin Zhen, who was still standing in the corner as punishment. He didn’t say anything, but Lin Zhen instantly understood his meaning and excitedly took the apple off his head, pulling Yu Feizhou over.

As soon as he sat down, he tossed the apple in his hand and said with a scoff, “Bro, do you want me to peel an apple for you? I haven’t washed my hair in days.”

Yu Feizhou replied, “…How about we just start? Yan Wei prepared a whole table of food.”

Lin Qing remained expressionless, raised his hand, and opened the cake box again.

In the next moment, a cake resembling Lin Qing’s head appeared before everyone, the cake depicting a Lin Qing with blood oozing from seven orifices, disturbingly realistic.

Gao Ming instinctively gasped.

Lin Qing continued to maintain a straight face, and under everyone’s gaze, he slowly cut a piece from his bloodied “face” and began to eat.

—And then he started eating.

Lin Zhen’s hand froze, the apple slipped from his grasp, and fell to the ground with a thud.

Yan Mingguang sat silently beside Yan Wei, while Zhou Tian and Gao Ming were too intimidated to speak—who in the building hadn’t heard of Lin Qing’s name? They had just learned about the relationship between Lin Zhen and Lin Qing, and seeing Lin Zhen like this was not surprising. However, they could not treat Lin Qing as an ordinary player; they could only sit there stiffly, not uttering a word.

Lin Qing finished eating the piece of cake, then set down the plate and said, “It’s not bad.”

He slowly stood up, glanced at Yan Wei, and the earlier seriousness and sharpness in his demeanor dissipated unintentionally.

“Let’s add each other as friends on the information panel,” he said, “Regarding the Arena Instance, we’ll contact each other once you make a decision.”

Yan Wei understood.

Although he didn’t remember the previous events, there was a natural familiarity between him and Lin Qing, and he felt no discomfort. But for the others, even the carefree Lin Zhen, while they didn’t say anything, they were undoubtedly apprehensive. With Lin Qing staying, their gathering was practically rendered meaningless.

Everything that needed to be said had been said. Since Yan Wei still wanted to maintain the facade of ignorance, there was no need for Lin Qing to linger.

The two added each other as friends, and Lin Qing left—before leaving, he closed the cake box, taking the head cake with him.

Lin Zhen remarked, “…My brother’s not normal.”

Yan Wei replied, “Yeah, you’re not much better.”

Lin Zhen: “…”

After Lin Qing left, the tense atmosphere naturally dissipated. The few of them had shared life-and-death experiences in the instance, and after a moment, they began to chat.

Although time in the instance was not as long as in Tower World, every moment in the instance required them to be on high alert, making each minute feel exceedingly long, highlighting the preciousness of the relatively calm moments in Tower World.

Even Yan Wei, at this moment, didn’t want to think too much. Since the corridor hotel instance, he had been seemingly chased from one instance to another, without a moment to catch his breath. Although there was still a huge unknown pressing down on him, making him feel as if he were being watched, having Yan Mingguang by his side and Lin Qing’s appearance at least made him feel he wasn’t alone.

As Yan Wei pondered, he suddenly felt a bit fatigued. He rubbed his brow and turned to look at the man beside him. The other party sensed his gaze and turned to look back at him.

He chuckled softly and averted his eyes.

In just a moment, they had opened several bottles of alcohol.

“Cheers!” Gao Ming raised his bottle and downed it in one go, wiping his mouth afterward.

His Body Index was the lowest here, and his resistance to alcohol was also the weakest. At this moment, his tone was slightly tipsy as he said, “I’m so far behind you guys. The last instance I did was probably the last one I did with everyone. From now on… I won’t hold you back, but if you need me…”

Gao Ming clinked glasses with Yan Wei and said, “Yan Wei, just call on me!”

Yan Wei smiled, “Sure.”

Zhou Tian took out a few dice and casually grabbed a clean bowl from the table, saying with a grin, “What’s the point of just drinking? Let’s compare sizes!”

Lin Zhen whistled, “Alright, then Yu Feizhou and I will be one team with our little pet—”

“Stop!” Yan Wei raised his hand, “Who’s teaming up with you, you weirdo? We don’t have to split into two teams; we can split into three teams with six people. I’ll team up with our Teacher Yan.”

“Cut it out, fine, you guys go first.”

Yan Wei elbowed Yan Mingguang lightly, “Come on, ice block, you go first.”

The man beside him seemed to freeze for a moment. After a brief pause, under everyone’s gaze, Yan Mingguang’s cool voice, tinged with confusion, asked, “What does comparing sizes mean?”

Yan Wei’s drinking motion halted.

He suddenly recalled how Yan Mingguang had been completely oblivious to school bullying in the instance earlier.

From the moment this person appeared before him, he had been so solitary, completely out of place with the players in the first layer of the instance, yet exuding a cold and pure aura, powerful and clean.

At this moment, Yan Wei’s usually clear thoughts became a tangled mess. He paused, silently smirking, and casually picked up the dice, saying, “What are you pretending not to understand? I’ll go first. Just so you know, the loser has to blow into the bottle!”

“Come on!”

In the distance, the sun hung low in the sky, and the sky of Tower World blurred the boundaries between inside and outside the building, birds chirping as they flew by, cutting through the clouds.

In Yan Wei’s apartment living room, Lin Zhen and the others had already sprawled out in disarray.

Yu Feizhou was tipsy, leaning against an empty bottle with a dazed expression. Lin Zhen was beside him, tugging at his hand, mumbling, “…Don’t think I don’t know, you report to my brother every day… telling him everything I do… that’s why he… he keeps an eye on me!”

Yu Feizhou stared blankly, shaking his head, unsure of which statement he was denying.

“It’s not fun at all…” Lin Zhen said irritably, clearly drunk, “I was doing fine going through the instance alone… I could fight whoever I wanted… but suddenly I recognized my brother in this Tower World… I don’t even remember having a brother, and suddenly one pops up… and arranges for you to accompany me through the instance… it’s just supervision.”

“…He just cares about you.”

“Whatever.”

Meanwhile, Yan Mingguang, who showed no signs of intoxication, calmly pulled Yan Wei up and said in a low voice, “Let’s go rest in the room.”

Yan Wei was also a bit tipsy.

His alcohol tolerance wasn’t particularly good, but it wasn’t bad either. He had thought that someone like Yan Mingguang, who appeared aloof and seemingly unaware of everything, would be a lightweight when it came to drinking, so he had been looking for excuses to get him drunk.

Unexpectedly, Yan Mingguang had been drinking as if it were plain water, while he himself had become quite tipsy.

Following Yan Mingguang’s lead, he stood up, leaning entirely against the man. There was no scent of alcohol on him; his presence was as pure as snow and pine, yet not at all cold or repulsive, only making him feel comfortable.

At the moment he was completely leaning on Yan Mingguang, the man paused for a moment before guiding him back to the room.

The swallow necklace that hung around Yan Mingguang’s neck slipped out of his collar, swaying slightly.

With a clatter, the door closed, isolating the two from everything outside.

Suddenly, the surroundings fell silent.

Yan Mingguang slowly helped him to the edge of the bed, letting Yan Wei sit down.

In a daze, the sudden quietness forced all the chaotic thoughts that Yan Wei had been suppressing to the surface. In those brief seconds, images of the times he had been alone with Yan Mingguang in the instances flashed through his mind, ultimately recalling that fragmented dream. The dream had a tranquil tone, but the fragments he could remember were anything but peaceful.

There were scenes surrounded by ghosts/monsters, dark and eerie settings, and also… Yan Mingguang holding his shoulder, kissing him in the flowing hot water of the bathroom.

The man had already released his hand, saying to him, “Rest well.”

As he turned to leave, Yan Wei raised his hand and suddenly grabbed Yan Mingguang.

His pull was abrupt, and the other party clearly wasn’t prepared, taking a step back as he turned to look at him.

Yan Wei felt inexplicably warm in the cheeks. He murmured almost to himself, “…Can I trust you?”

In his dreams, there was only Yan Mingguang; the fragments were sporadic, occurring at various times, clearly indicating that this person had been with him for quite a while. Yet, Lin Qing, who had also accompanied him for a long time, did not recognize Yan Mingguang.

It was as if his memories had been completely extracted, and the only thing he could recall was Yan Mingguang.

This person knew more than he did, yet had always pretended not to.

He had never considered what it would be like if Yan Mingguang couldn’t be trusted, or if he and Yan Mingguang were not on the same side.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Yan Mingguang’s warm hand, he looked up at the other man.

Yan Mingguang lowered his gaze, his lips moving slightly, but in the end, he only said, “Mm.”

Yan Wei unconsciously focused on Yan Mingguang’s lips. He understood people’s hearts too well; he should be someone who wouldn’t form relationships with others, yet in his dreams, this person had genuinely kissed him.

He already knew he liked men. Could it be that this dream wasn’t that complicated, but rather a normal fantasy that arose from spending too much time with Yan Mingguang, stimulated by emotional hormones?

Perhaps Yan Mingguang truly had no connection to his past?

He momentarily lost his train of thought, suddenly standing up and swiftly moving in front of Yan Mingguang, tilting his chin up, his lips almost brushing against the corner of the man’s mouth.

The man’s suddenly enlarged face came into view, and Yan Wei paused, clearly seeing Yan Mingguang’s expression momentarily freeze, his Adam’s apple gently bobbing a few times.

In the next moment, Yan Mingguang seemed momentarily lost, his previously indifferent eyes now tinged with a hint of desire, slightly reddening. He instinctively grabbed Yan Wei’s wrist and pushed him hard, pinning him against the wall, breathing a bit faster as he lowered his head.

Yan Wei’s drunkenness faded significantly, and in an instant, he became acutely aware of what he had just done. Whether it was due to half-drunkenness or embarrassment, he felt his cheeks heat up even more.

—What was he doing!?

Feeling the warmth of the other’s breath, he froze, unsure how to react. Seizing the moment of drunkenness, his eyes flashed with a moment of confusion, then he closed them, pretending to be completely drunk and collapsing down.

Yan Mingguang caught him.

Yan Wei didn’t dare to open his eyes, fully playing the role of someone who had “fainted.”

He leaned in Yan Mingguang’s arms for a while, and only then did the man steadily lift him, carrying his “unconscious” self to the bed.

Yan Wei felt Yan Mingguang gradually release his hands, slowly standing upright, and he let out a sigh of relief in his heart.

He was asleep, asleep, asleep.

Yan Mingguang didn’t notice he was pretending to sleep, Yan Mingguang didn’t notice he was pretending to sleep, Yan Mingguang didn’t notice he was pretending to sleep, Yan Mingguang didn’t—

The man’s figure suddenly loomed over him, blocking most of the light in front of Yan Wei.

He felt a warm touch at the corner of his eye.

—This person gently kissed his right eye corner.

Yan Wei’s brain, which had been calm in the instance, completely short-circuited at that moment.