ITOTIABSAM | Infinite Flow | 184
Under the faintly blood-colored moonlight of the transit station, Gu Cong stood frozen in place.
It was as if his soul had been momentarily snatched away, his mind empty while his senses expanded infinitely. Cool and gentle, Xie Ye's lips lightly brushed against the corner of his eye, followed by a moist warmth that curiously traced along his eyelashes.
Feeling dizzy, Xie Ye was happily peeling off candy wrappers, but within seconds, he was peeled off by the man.
His toes, tired from tiptoeing for too long, subconsciously wobbled as he steadied himself by grabbing onto Gu Cong's shoulder.
The warm water, mixed with foam, soaked through the man's shirt, and soon, Xie Ye furrowed his brows in a distressed expression, seemingly torn between whether to apologize first or to complain. However, he suddenly noticed something even more interesting.
Raising his hand, Xie Ye's fingertips pressed against the man's neck, tracing along the most delicate jugular vein beneath the skin, until finally, he lazily stopped near Gu Cong's ear.
Finding it difficult to control the drunkard's thoughts, Gu Cong calmly asked, "What are you doing?"
As the words left his mouth, he realized his voice was terribly hoarse. Fortunately, Xie Ye's attention was elsewhere at the moment. He gently pinched his own earlobe. "It's so red."
"Are you feeling hot again?"
Gu Cong suddenly remembered the scene he glimpsed last time when he was bandaging Xie Ye's wound.
"It's okay, I feel cool." Before he could answer, Xie Ye , whose patience had diminished, took the initiative to continue, leaning forward and softly wrapping his arms around him.
But it was evident that this attempt to cool down had no effect. A faint blush spread rapidly, starting from Gu Cong's ear and quickly spreading to the side of his neck where Xie Ye's breath brushed past.
Xie Ye felt even dizzier.
Gu Cong's body temperature was high, feeling like he was holding a warm furnace. It was so comfortable that he couldn't muster the energy to do anything. Seeing Xie Ye hanging onto him like a sloth, almost dozing off, Gu Cong reluctantly used his arms to hold Xie Ye's waist, preventing the drunkard in his arms from slipping away like water.
His hands still covered in foam, he casually grabbed a sheet of kitchen paper to wipe them clean. Without bothering about the unfinished dishes, he half-supported, half-carried Xie Ye, intending to take him back to his room.
Having just finished a level 7 difficulty dungeon, despite minimal casualties, it still drained a lot of mental energy. Finally being able to get a peaceful "normal sleep" was hard to come by. The villa was quiet, with all the room doors tightly shut, as if in this tranquil night, there were only Xie Ye and Gu Cong left.
Jiang Chuan's room was on the third floor. During the break while waiting for the ingredients to arrive, Gu Cong had intentionally checked. Except for the room occupied by Cheng Qing on the far right, all other rooms were empty.
The Jiang Chuan team consisted of nine people, and the rooms in the villa were assigned accordingly. The result of the discussion during dinner was to let Xie Ye stay in Zhao Dong's room first. It had a good view, faced the sunrise, and most importantly, it was close to Gu Cong's room.
As for Zhao Dong himself, he went to rest in the rooms of other team members with whom he had good relationships. Therefore, in the corridor, the door diagonally opposite Gu Cong's room was currently slightly ajar, with the lock core retracted. It would not be locked unless someone deliberately turned it from the inside; otherwise, it would not be shut tight due to external forces like the wind.
It could be said to be very thoughtful.
Most likely, it was Cheng Xiaorong's idea.
But Gu Cong didn't stop, he directly crossed Zhao Dong's room.
0028 in his consciousness was instantly shocked: "You, you, you..."
Taking advantage of someone's weakness was not something it advocated.
"He's drunk," Gu Cong found a reasonable explanation for his unusual behavior, one hand holding Xie Ye, the other hand opening the door. "What if he vomits?"
It would be impolite to dirty someone else's room.
But he wasn't someone else.
Expressionless 0028: "Good reason, I believe it."
...yeah, right.
In fact, Xie Ye is probably the most reassuring type after getting drunk. He doesn't make noise or fuss, letting Gu Cong manipulate him. With a small yawn, Xie Ye felt a bit tired.
Seeing the soft and comfortable big bed under the moonlight, he found a good angle and voluntarily loosened the hand hooked around the man's shoulder, leaning back.
Then, he was scooped up by the man again.
His body, not yet fully developed, was extremely flexible. He bent his waist backward, swaying like hanging in the air, making a faint, questioning sound from his nostrils, showing a hint of irritation that he stopped.
"I have to change the sheets." Perhaps too trusting in himself, Xie Ye should have instinctively grabbed his neck again, but instead, he completely relaxed. This posture was too dangerous, fearing that the other party would really fall, Gu Cong simply used a clever move, hooking up Xie Ye's knee bend and carrying him sideways to the nearby chair.
Knowing that Jiang Chuan also had a clean personality, but for some reason, he didn't want Xie Ye to sleep on the sheets the original owner had laid on.
Fortunately, there was a new set in the wardrobe, only washed once when bought. In the few minutes when Gu Cong swiftly 'did the chores,' Xie Ye propped his chin, staring at him with unwavering attention.
Sitting alone on the large chair, he seemed a bit more sober, his pitch-black eyeballs trailing after Gu Cong like little tails, as if contemplating something.
Silently flipping through all the memories he could recall, Xie Ye suddenly said, “Jiang Chuan.”
“My heart is beating so fast.”
Though his 'fast' was still quite slow compared to normal people.
Gu Cong's hand, shaking the pillow, suddenly paused.
Intuition told him that this time Xie Ye wasn't just describing a physical sensation, but he quickly composed his expression, pretending as if nothing had happened, patting the pillow, “Feeling unwell?”
“Feeling nauseous?”
Xie Ye shook his head, then hesitated for a moment, realizing the other party couldn't see him, so he opened his mouth and denied again, “I'm not feeling unwell.”
"I don't feel like vomiting either."
Not adept at understanding complex human emotions, but possessing the keen intuition of a small animal, Xie Ye felt a bit annoyed at the sight of the man's back turned to him. He got straight to the point and said, "Turn around."
He was always easy to talk to, lacking the fierce nature typical of boss characters, or perhaps because there was nothing he cared about, so everything around him didn't matter.
Only at this moment did Gu Cong feel Xie Ye's 'willfulness.'
So he put down the pillow and turned as instructed.
Their eyes met, and Xie Ye, who had just had a serious expression a moment ago, suddenly felt at a loss.
He didn't know what to say. The rapid heartbeat, in his life, should be considered a trivial matter, so inconsequential that it didn't even itch or hurt, causing him no harm whatsoever.
Experiencing the sensation of having his chest split open, Xie Ye didn't understand why he was so insistent on wanting to convey his current feelings to the person in front of him.
He didn't understand.
But he knew how to make himself comfortable.
Opening his arms, the black-haired Xie Ye sank into the oversized chair, confidently and with a hint of pitifulness:
"I want a hug."
Without using a commanding tone again, as if relinquishing all the rights to choose to the other person.
His tone was too straightforward and sincere, to the extent that Gu Cong was stunned for a few seconds before realizing what Xie Ye was saying, before realizing that this seemed to be an unskilled attempt at being coquettish.
Almost imperceptibly, Gu Cong took a deep breath.
Having traversed through numerous worlds, even if tasks and strategies were unrelated, he had always actively or passively encountered various positive and negative emotions.
Though it was the first time, he was very clear about the emotion stirring in his chest like spring grass, wanting to break through the soil.
This was very dangerous.
He was a top-ranked employee in the Quick Transmigration Bureau, and Xie Ye was an NPC, not only in the game but also in the original work. He himself possessed almost eternal life, while the other person might very well not have another world to go to.
Gu Cong was never one to hesitate or be timid by nature.
However, today, he unexpectedly entertained the thought of retreat.
The outstanding employee ranked first on the Quick Transmigration Bureau's leaderboard was no longer the simple and impulsive youth from Liuyun Mountain. He was now calm, rational, and mature. It was precisely because of this that Gu Cong could accurately analyze how special Xie Ye was to him.
Special to the extent that once crossing the line, even if it was just one world, decades, years, months, or even days would be enough to carve irreversible changes into him, leaving indelible marks that could not be erased.
The surging tide of emotions made him want to push open that unknown door, even if behind it lay an abyss, he wanted to act recklessly, regardless of the consequences, and move forward.
But reason forcefully pulled him back.
Pretending not to have heard Xie Ye's soft request just now, Gu Cong lowered his gaze, avoiding the other's clear and transparent eyes. He found the clumsiest excuse he had ever made in his life: "You're drunk."
"I'll go get you a glass of water."
Bang.
The door closed, and he, rarely losing control of his strength, made a slightly abrupt echo in the night.
He hadn't intended to lash out at Xie Ye, and yet he was afraid of scaring him. Gu Cong instinctively reached out to open the door to explain, but in the moment his fingertips touched the cold door handle, he snapped back to his senses.
—This is how it should be.
He thought.
Forcing himself to restrain his actions, Gu Cong descended the solid wood staircase, ghost-like, silent with each step.
The villa remained tranquil, with a small pile of unwashed dishes still soaking in the sink. Gu Cong's mood, however, was markedly different from just fifteen minutes ago, heavy with a sense of oppression.
The dense foam that once brought a smile to Xie Ye's face had long since dissipated with the cooling of the water temperature, bursting one by one with small, crackling sounds.
Gu Cong glanced at it briefly before moving away. He bent down to retrieve a clean cup, then opened the refrigerator and poured out half a bottle of mineral water left by other team members.
It was ice-cold, and a layer of "white mist" quickly formed on the transparent cup wall, enough to wake up a slightly tipsy drunkard.
...But a stomach that had just been through hotpot and barbecue was probably not up for this kind of ordeal.
Silently, he exchanged the cup for a new one and poured in mostly warm water. Gu Cong said lightly, "Hangover medicine."
Both afraid that the host would really get involved and afraid that the other person would regret missing out, 0028 felt that nothing he said was right. He could only follow Gu Cong's instructions and picked a colorless and tasteless one.
Hiss—
The fire flickered, illuminating the kitchen intermittently. By the window where the moon was visible, there was a faint smell of tobacco.
When Gu Cong stood in front of the bedroom door again, he looked just like usual.
With a click, he twisted the doorknob, holding the water and lifting his lips with the most normal and natural curve. "Did I make you wait long? I..."
He didn't manage to finish his sentence.
From inside and outside, at the junction of the corridor and the bedroom, someone tightly embraced him.
"It's okay," the sweet aroma of malt and brown sugar intertwined as the black-haired Xie Ye opened his lips and earnestly spoke words he had carefully considered, "If you don't want to hug me."
"I can also hug you."
The author wants to say：
Nothing good comes without a reason, and neither does love. Gu Cong's straightforwardness in the previous few worlds certainly had its reasons.
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