ITOTIABSAM | Infinite Flow | 179
The youthful version of Xie Ye was a ghost who didn't hesitate to express himself. If he wanted something, he would say it.
Before Gu Cong became a quick-transgrate agent, his personality was also straightforward.
Although he thought it was a bit inappropriate for two men to be so intimate, his body leaned slightly to the right honestly.
Feeling the warmth, Xie Ye immediately snuggled up like a cat.
With Xie Ye’s hands and feet neatly tucked in, he curled up into a ball, resting his forehead against the man's arm. After a few minutes, he finally felt a bit of genuine tiredness and whispered, "Goodnight."
In the darkness of the night, Gu Cong made a low, noncommittal sound.
The magician who had been driven away didn't return.
Worrying about his own and his teammates' safety, the next morning, just as the effect of the forced sleep in the instance had passed, Zhao Dong woke up as if startled from a nightmare, his body straightening up abruptly.
He remembered taking turns staying awake with his captain, and only going to bed near dawn. But Zhao Dong felt something was off, especially when he caught sight of the clearly long-dried bloodstains beside him, which startled him even more.
His captain wasn't there.
Experience gained from multiple instances allowed Zhao Dong to suppress his panic. He quietly and vigilantly surveyed his surroundings, and soon, he saw slight movement on the adjacent bed, he felt slightly relieved.
Afraid that infection might cause a high fever, Zhao Dong, who was usually rough, rarely got out of bed gently. He wanted to check on his captain's condition, but after taking only a few steps, he stopped.
–—Although he guessed that his captain changed beds because it was dirty, and squeezed in with Xie Ye, but these two, with their heads close together, the latter's chin almost resting entirely on the former's shoulder, it was too intimate.
Even with the blanket covering them, Zhao Dong could imagine how Xie Ye's left arm, tucked underneath, was wrapped around his captain's waist like a bear hug.
Most importantly, Xie Ye's clothes seemed different from the ones he wore last night, slightly oversized, and there were several loops of snow-white bandages wrapped around his neck.
Even though it was a room for three people, Zhao Dong couldn't help but feel a bit superfluous. A word popped into his mind: "Third wheel." And not just any third wheel, but a super-sized one.
Just as he hesitated whether to go back and lie down again, Gu Cong with his back to Zhao Dong suddenly twitched his eyelashes, alert and opening his eyes. At the same time, the gun hidden under the pillow was swiftly loaded, aimed at the target.
With his hands raised hastily, Zhao Dong said, "It's me."
As reason returned, Gu Cong's expression relaxed slightly.
Because of this confrontation, Xie Ye in his arms moved a little but didn't wake up, clinging even tighter to his waist, murmuring, "Sleepy."
"Sleep well," Gu Cong replied.
Zhao Dong, who was watching from nearby, almost bulged his eyes out in shock.
Because of his good eyesight, he clearly saw that when Xie Ye shifted position in a daze, his lips accidentally brushed against his captain's neck, almost like a kiss.
Too close, too close.
The captain didn't push him away? It was like seeing the sun rise in the west.
"It's safe now," Gu Cong said softly, covering Xie Ye's ears with his hand and gently. "Rest a little longer."
Then, he turned to Zhao Dong. "Let's talk when he wakes up."
The words were considerate, but Zhao Dong could tell that he wasn't the one being considered.
With a belly full of doubts, he returned to his own bed. Unable to sleep, he could only stare at the ceiling, trying to focus on the plot, until the corridor outside became lively, and he suddenly regained his energy.
"Captain? Zhao Dong? Xie Ye?" Knock, knock, knock. The door was being knocked on, and Cheng Xiaorong's slightly anxious voice came through. "Are you guys okay?"
Zhao Dong immediately responded, "We're all alive, coming right away."
This time, Xie Ye, who was called by name, finally reluctantly left his slumber. The pillow in his arms was warm, and he couldn't resist pressing his face against it for a moment before receiving a hoarse laughter in response.
Xie Ye, who belatedly realized what the "pillow" was: ...
He knew that humans needed boundaries. Even though Jiang Chuan and Zhao Dong were good friends, they hadn't embraced each other. But right now, freshly awakened, he didn't want to move. He simply gave up struggling and went along with it.
After all, laughter should be a sign of happiness.
However, Gu Cong was determined and dug him out of the covers.
—Zhao Dong's unexpected appearance just a few minutes ago had caught him off guard, and now seeing Xie Ye, wearing his own shirt, in a dazed state, Gu Cong didn't want more people to see.
So, after Zhao Dong finished reporting his safety with an inexplicable shiver down his spine after sneezing, he turned around and saw his captain squatting on the ground, rolling up Xie Ye's sleeves.
Despite his captain usually wearing a smile, being polite and kind, making all the players in his team feel like they were in a pleasant breeze, Zhao Dong, who had been with Jiang Chuan the longest, vaguely sensed that this time was different.
Surely it was just his mind playing tricks on him, Zhao Dong thought.
He should quickly wash his face to calm down.
Unfortunately, this relaxed mindset, as if living in reality, quickly disappeared in the grim expression of Li Jie.
Sun Pengyu was dead.
In a guild held together by interests, Li Jie naturally didn't have deep ties with this so-called teammate. What truly broke his defenses wasn't the sight of the blood-soaked body on the bed next door, but the wide-open door.
If someone entered his room without his notice, if the ghost had chosen him instead of Sun Pengyu last night, what would have been the outcome?
Did that ghost, lurking in the darkness, ever lower its head to inspect its prey like a hunter, sinisterly smiling?
"It was gruesome. I suggest anyone who still wants to eat, don't look," the doctor wiped his glasses as he exited Li Jie's room. "There's no resemblance to the previous dead body. If I were to describe it, it's like being torn apart by five horses, plus being partially consumed?"
He remained calm, but the other players didn't have such a good mindset. The only thing worth celebrating was that after the appearance of the black cat and the garbage bag yesterday, no one vomited this time.
"What's wrong with your neck?" Crossing over the crowd, the doctor tossed the tissue into the trash bin in the corridor and smiled at Xie Ye standing in the corner. "Do you need any help?"
Xie Ye, who hadn't been injured at all: ...
The doctor was a good person, worthy of gratitude, but his lie couldn't be uncovered for the time being.
He didn't want to cause trouble for Jiang Chuan.
"It's okay," Xie Ye refused while also trying to avoid revealing the lack of blood scent on him as a giveaway. He moved closer to Gu Cong, saying, "I've already applied medicine. Thank you for your concern."
In the eyes of unknowing players, this was a clear signal that Xie Ye trusted the latter even more.
Many people secretly felt disappointed:
To survive the attack of ghosts and monsters last night, whether by luck or by pretending to be weak, was enough to prove Xie Ye's value in this instance. NPC's friendliness towards him, proper planning—if utilized well, perhaps he could even provide some unexpected breakthroughs.
They regretted not working harder to increase their favorability with him from the beginning. Now it was too late to regret.
"So, what was Sun Pengyu's crime?" Tang Yan, facing Li Jie squarely after personally verifying the state of the body in the room, asked.
"What are you looking at me for? I'm not close to him," Li Jie, feeling annoyed, fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. "Except for this time, I've only been in a few instances with him, and nothing happened in those two instances."
Tang Yan: "Are you sure?"
"What do you mean? Do you doubt me? Are you afraid that we two are colluding and have done something shameful together?" Li Jie flicked his lighter, lit his cigarette, and sneered.
Tang Yan replied calmly, "It's just based on my judgment of you and Sun Pengyu's behavior these past two days."
She was not a newbie who had just entered the game, holding unrealistic fantasies about everything. Those who prioritized their own interests could easily resort to sacrificing others to save themselves, or even, knowing they couldn't be saved, they still drag others down with them.
"Judgment? What judgment?" Li Jie pretended to be innocent on purpose. "You seem to have forgotten that players can't kill players."
"But there are many ways to make someone stay in the instance forever and not come back," Tang Yan countered.
"Anyway, as long as you have a clear conscience," Tang Yan interrupted before Li Jie could speak again, turning to Gu Cong. "Did you do this on purpose last night?"
Intentionally maintaining the violation among the three of them
Gu Cong nodded. "Although we didn't encounter the boss, we still gained something."
"The players who weren't chosen will simply fall asleep and wake up unharmed at dawn. But the chosen players will be dragged into a deeper dream, facing their most guilty deed or being alone."
"Of course, this 'guilty deed' is probably a rough answer obtained by the boss peeking into their memories." Because rather than guilt, he felt sorry towards the otherworldly Xie Ye.
Slowing down his tone slightly, Gu Cong added, "As long as the detect the flaw within the dream and counterattack before you die, you can wake up."
Tang Yan asked, "Counterattack? Will it lead to victory?"
"I think it should," Gu Cong replied.
He was awakened by Xie Ye last night, which was an external intervention. Since he hadn't experienced it personally, he couldn't speak too confidently about it.
For a moment, the players had various expressions, and the corridor quieted down.
Finding flaws and counterattacking sounded easy to say, but how many could actually do it? Especially in a nightmare tailor-made for themselves.
"Alright, let's be optimistic. It's fifty-fifty, but with precautions, we'll definitely make it through," Cheng Xiaorong clapped her hands after roughly understanding why she hadn't had bad luck this time, taking the initiative to lighten the mood.
Guilty deeds.
She wondered if the relationship between captain and Xie Ye could be considered a guilty deed.
Zhao Dong, who was oblivious, didn't notice, but Cheng Xiaorong could tell that Xie Ye's new shirt was a size too big, and there was no need to guess who it originally belonged to.
In the instance, there wasn't that much fuss over details, but the shirt Xie Ye was wearing was one she had never seen captain wear before. It wasn't a brand new piece just opened from its packaging either; it seemed to be captain's casual wear from when they rested at the transfer station.
Casual wear at home.
The implication behind this suddenly became ambiguous.
"So, we were all asleep last night? I was just dreaming while on watch?" Scratching his head, Zhao Dong muttered, "So I wasted half the night staying alert for nothing? No wonder I'm so tired."
"That's right, wasting your time for nothing," Xiao Baimao, who resembled a vampire with his avoidance of light, yawned under the coat covering his head, unusually speaking in a long sentence. "For the next few days, I've decided to just sleep."
Since it was inevitable, might as well accept it and lie down.
"But..."
The conversation suddenly took a sharp turn as Xiao Baimao lifted his coat, revealing eyes lighter in color than usual. "Dr. Xu, is there really nothing unusual about the time of my roommate's death?"
Author's note:
0028 munching on melon seeds silently: Oh snap! Things are getting interesting.
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