The Gentle Man Next Door is a Rabbit - 56

 

TGMNDIAR - 56

Bai Nian chuckled, "I thought it was something big, but okay."

Xu Mu cleared his throat, "Then... who will move over?"

He spoke quickly, "I thought about it. I live by myself and I don't have much stuff anyway, so it's obviously more convenient for me to move over. What do you think?"

Bai Nian nodded, "Sounds good."

Xu Mu's lips curled up, his mood becoming happier. Even the annoying background noise didn't seem as loud and grating anymore.

The little black ball was dejected, almost falling apart. It glared at Xu Mu and flapped its wings wildly against his head.

Xu Mu ignored it, his face against Bai Nian's neck. "Brother Nian, you see, I always eat your desserts. How about I take care of the rent from now on—"

"No rent," Bai Nian said softly, "I bought the adjacent house back then."

Xu Mu: ?!

Bai Nian couldn't help but laugh at Xu Mu's expression. He turned around, holding his face, "What’s with your reaction?"

"It's nothing, just a bit surprised," Xu Mu muttered.

The central area belonged to the Weide Planet. Although the house wasn't ridiculously expensive, it wasn't cheap either.

"I've been working for many years after all, and I've saved up some money."

"Oh, I see."

Bai Nian observed Xu Mu's expression and pondered, "Do you feel uncomfortable living in my house?"

Xu Mu quickly shook his head, "Of course not."

Bai Nian kissed his chin and said gently, "Ah Mu, I still have the bank supplementary card you gave me. I know there's no limit on the credit inside, so I can spend as much as you have."

"So I've decided, when we have some free time, let's go to the shopping center together and buy some flowers, small decorations, couple cups, couple pillows and blankets..."

His forehead rested against the other's, "Let’s decorate this place where we will live together in the future, okay?"

The soft breath tickled his nose, and Xu Mu couldn't help but immerse himself in the life described by the other person.

It was so beautiful that it seemed almost surreal.

"Okay..." Xu Mu's lips couldn't contain the curve of his smile anymore, "So, we'll sleep in the same room then?"

Bai Nian's eyes softened as he glanced over, "If you want to have your own room, I don't mind."

Mind? He minded a lot.

Xu Mu murmured, "Just pretend I didn’t ask."

Bai Nian looked back with a smile.

Their eyes met, and the air around them seemed to thicken.

The little black ball grew more and more annoyed. It yelled until its throat was dry, then slumped on the sofa, choosing to ignore them.

—Wuwuwu, he shouldn't have swapped this guy in the first place! They were both so troublesome, he might as well keep achieving various battery flavors!

Bai Nian seemed to casually ask, "Since you're moving to a new house, even if it's next door, should we tell your family?"

"I don't have anyone to tell," Xu Mu said calmly.

Bai Nian was taken aback.

"I'm an orphan. I grew up in the Federal Protection Center," Xu Mu said frankly, causing Bai Nian to furrow his brows lightly.

His lips moved slightly as his fingertips brushed Xu Mu's cheek.

In the end, Bai Nian didn't say anything.

He just lifted his head and gently kissed him on the lips.

---

In the evening, Xu Mu hummed a tune as he came out of the bathroom, feeling lazy all over, and flopped directly onto the bed.

Ah, so comfortable.

"You still have the nerve to sleep?" The little black ball flapped its wings, looking down at Xu Mu.

Xu Mu opened his eyes, expressionless. "Stop talking. Every time you speak, I get a headache."

He had some impression of this little black ball.

It seemed that on the first day he arrived in this world, there was a chatty black ball talking and telling stories.

He forgot what exactly it said, but it was something about wolves and rabbits.

Something about a protagonist and him being the cannon fodder...

Xu Mu tightened his chin, thinking lightly in his heart that he and Brother Nian were the ones meant to be together forever.

"Humph, do you know who gave you a second chance at life? Without me, your soul would have scattered by now!" the little black ball continued.

Xu Mu responded with a casual "Oh."

The coal ball became more enthusiastic. "Then why aren't you following the plot I set for you? Do you know how many achievements I'll lose if you mess things up? This space might even be destroyed!"

Xu Mu wasn't bothered by what was said before, but when the black ball mentioned "space destroyed," he couldn't help but furrow his brow. "What do you mean? Destroyed?"

The black ball continued, "Scared now, huh? Let me tell you, if the protagonist and the love interest can't find happiness, this dimension might collapse!"

—Actually, it's not that serious. As long as the protagonists don't want to destroy the world, the dimension won't necessarily collapse. But he'll have to report to the main system, and the punishment will be quite severe.

Xu Mu squinted, sitting up and grabbing the little black ball. "Are you serious?"

"O-of course I am," the black ball stammered.

"Lying will get you sent to the repair shop and formatted—"

The black ball trembled but remained stubborn. "W-who's lying? I, Karl, never lie!"

Xu Mu didn't say anything. He stared at the black ball for a moment, then suddenly let it go, closed his eyes, and pulled the blanket over himself.

"Let's just die then. I'll just die embracing Brother Nian."

The black ball gritted its metaphorical teeth. "Can't you have some aspirations? How come, just a moment ago, you two were so passionately in love, and now..."

"Embracing death is the true essence of love," Xu Mu interjected slowly.

The black ball choked up, flying to the pillow and gesturing with its wings.

"Do you think I will not zap you?"

"Hurry up, if not, I'm going to sleep."

"..."

"Not zapping me?" Xu Mu was gambling; this little black ball couldn't actually do anything fancy.

The black ball gritted its teeth. "Fine, I'll let you feel it, the electric shock from the thunder, ah—"

Xu Mu felt tingling all over his body, laziness washing over him, his mind growing heavy.

It felt like a massage gone wrong.

He could fall asleep with just one blink.

Xu Mu yawned and adjusted the blanket.

The black ball, low on energy, fell down but quickly ate a few batteries, preventing a repeat of the embarrassing situation from a few months ago when it had to be sent straight to the repair shop.

Xu Mu glanced over. "Done?"

The black ball stayed silent.

"Get up, let's negotiate and find a win-win solution, how about it?"

"What do you mean? I don't understand," Xu Mu pretended to be impatient and waved him away.

The black ball, still feeling the trauma of being knocked away months ago, quickly stepped back. Its energy was precious now; it needed to conserve it.

"Find an opportunity to persuade the protagonist shou to walk through the plot with the protagonist gong, then, at a certain point, when they get together... Don't worry, they are not getting together for real,"

The black ball explained. "Then, when I input the emotional energy of the protagonist into the system, take photos of the two of them being happy, submit it for approval by the main system. Then, you can fake the death of the protagonist shou or whatever, and we can slowly discuss it, and then you two can still be together. 

Then, the protagonist gong will be heartbroken, but won't cause trouble. This way, I won't have to calculate as much, uh, anyway, the dimensional space should become safe and stable."

Xu Mu's face seemed calm, but the muscles around his lips twitched slightly, and his fingers clenched white.

The black ball, feeling smug, continued, "Indeed, only the supremely intelligent Karl could come up with such a brilliant plan."

Xu Mu said lightly, "I don't quite remember the plot you mentioned from the book. Can you repeat it?"

The black ball huffed, thinking it had scared Xu Mu, "You should've listened carefully earlier instead of sleeping!"

It sat on the blanket and began to dance and gesture while recounting "The Tyrannical Wolf-Dog and the Runaway Rabbit"

This time, Xu Mu listened very seriously, almost breaking down every word to understand it.

—The fire in his heart was ignited successfully.

The plot was simple but infuriating.

To put it simply, the protagonist gong had an extreme and moody personality when he was a child. He was often ignored because his brilliant and outstanding brother occupied the family's attention.

One day, when the protagonist gong, couldn't solve a puzzle and sulked alone, he was seen by the son of the family's nutritionist, who also happened to be the protagonist shou. The protagonist shou's mother worked here, so he sometimes came to visit her and met the protagonist shou this way. 

The protagonist shou noticed a five-year-old boy sulking and approached to comfort him with a few words before helping him with the puzzle. Despite the protagonist gong's cold demeanor. 

The protagonist shou, being kind-hearted and patient with children, didn't get angry. In the end, he even helped the protagonist gong finish the puzzle.

Afterward, the protagonist shou helped the protagonist gong several times when he encountered difficulties with a gentle attitude, which created a favorable impression. 

Despite the protagonist gong's outwardly harsh attitude, he gradually grew attached inside. 

However, their good times didn't last long. The protagonist shou’s mom decided to resign and leave because she was going to remarry.

From then on, the protagonist gong never saw the protagonist shou again, but this planted a seed in his heart.

He vowed to be with the protagonist shou when he grew up.

After graduating, the protagonist gong couldn't forget about the protagonist shoy. He went through hardships to find him, eventually discovering that he worked at his company. He eagerly pursued him but acted awkwardly and out of place.

 He believed the protagonist shou remembered him and dropped hints multiple times, but the protagonist shou had no recollection, only finding the protagonist gong bothersome and strange for disturbing him during work hours.

This continued for some time until the protagonist gong's mother caught on. She wanted her son to marry someone suitable, not someone as ordinary as the protagonist shou. She used drastic measures, directly confronting the protagonist shou, pressuring him to resign and leave the capital planet.

Not wanting to cause trouble, and already exhausted from health issues and family matters during that time, the protagonist shou reluctantly agreed, without asking for the compensation the protagonist gong's mother suggested.

After the protagonist shou left, the protagonist gong had a big argument with his mother, and their relationship plummeted. 

But soon, he realized that this wouldn't work. He pretended to yield, silently enduring. During the four years, his character became more twisted, and he became more silent. He waited for his mother to relax her vigilance before secretly coming to the protagonist shou’s planet.

However, the protagonist shoy detested his advances and ignored him. Later, the protagonist gong discovered that the protagonist shou frequently visited the neighbor next door, and their interactions seemed intimate. 

Moreover, they even had a child together. In an instant, the protagonist gone blackened and decided to forcibly marry and seize him.

During this time, there were all kinds of forced love, threats, misunderstandings, accidents, amnesia in hospitals—everything you'd expect from a melodramatic romance, with the central theme being love and hate intertwined in a sea of despair.

"...Is this guy crazy?" Xu Mu took a deep breath, grinding his teeth. "Isn't he the one pursuing relentlessly? Brother Nian clearly rejected him, yet he keeps pestering him. Disgusting."

"And, does he have any relationship with Brother Nian? Since when does a pursued need to be responsible for the pursuer? Brother Nian having a child is none of his damn business! It's none of his business if he sleeps with the neighbor!"

Xu Mu chuckled in exasperation. "He blackened? And he's imprisoning people and forces him to love him?"

"That is against the law!"

The black ball covered its ears with its wings, muttering softly, "Well, that's how the plot unfolds, don't you know? Forced love gets the audience riled up. The more readers curse and argue, the more enthusiastically they read it. Every chapter hooks them in. This kind of classic story will be passed on, regardless of how the protagonist's character is."

Xu Mu said coldly, "That's just sophistry."

The black ball retorted, "You don't understand. Forced love is just another way of love. The process is thrilling, and the ending has a warm feeling of resolution.``

Xu Mu smirked, too tired to argue with him.

The black ball continued incessantly, "Forced love needs to be forceful to be stimulating! The suffering in the middle is just temporary..."

Xu Mu interrupted, "I don't want to argue with you about this. I don't agree with this so-called 'another way of love.' He's just indulging in his own world, a completely narcissistic personality."

The black ball tried to reason, "You need to see it from both sides. From a broader perspective, the protagonist..."

Xu Mu interjected again, "Even setting aside everything else, the focus of forced love should be on the 'love' itself, not on the act of forcing. From your description, I didn't sense any love from him, and the ending seemed more like compromising, rather than love."

The black ball fell silent.

"If you love someone, how can you bear to make them cry? And continually attacking him by mentioning the different aspects of his body?"

Xu Mu sighed, feeling a bit sad. "Brother Nian is so good, how could he go through all this..."

"The original owner of this body did the right thing. If I were him, and I awakened one day, I'd rather starve myself than play along with your redemption storyline. You knew the plot well but still deliberately caused an accident and pushed people into the fire pit."

The black ball said defensively, "I never wanted to force the original owner..."

"Your energy is running low, isn't it?" Xu Mu exposed.

“...:” The black ball felt guilty, avoiding Xu Mu's gaze and shifting around nervously.

Xu Mu chuckled. "No wonder your so-called electric punishment feels more like tickling."

The black ball wailed and started crying. "You can't do this! You you you you... What about the storyline? I don't want to be punished, it's so unfair."

"And besides, what I said is true. The collapse of the plot doesn't necessarily mean the destruction of the space, but if the protagonist can't accept it and wants the world to end, then this dimension is definitely doomed."

Xu Mu fell silent for a moment before asking, "How do you define a successful mission?"

"Happiness for the protagonist shou and gong!"

"How old is the protagonist gong now?"

"22."

"22? Can't you teach someone who's still so young? Can a crooked sapling be straightened out?" Xu Mu pressed his temple. "So, according to normal standards, it'll be another four years before the plot takes its course?"

"Yes, but I don't rule out the possibility of your butterfly effect affecting the automatic correction of the protagonist's storyline."

Xu Mu calmly said, "If happiness is limited to just two people, then can't they find happiness separately? The protagonist hasn't deviated yet, he's still completely normal. You go find him and help him find true love."

The black ball was stunned. "Huh?"

"Is there something wrong with my misunderstanding?" Xu Mu said. "If two people can be happy, from a different perspective... No, I still want him dead."

Xu Mu's lips flattened. "What would happen to this world if the protagonist gong died?"

"No, no, you're crazy, it would definitely be over," the black ball said nervously. "And didn't you say, if he hasn't deviated yet, can he still be saved? You you you you, don't act recklessly."

"Oh." Xu Mu lay back on the bed, sounding tired. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. I'm sleepy."

The black ball didn't expect things to develop like this. Hesitantly, it said, "You sleep, but don't think about killing the protagonist. Look, I want to kill you so much, but I haven't taken action, right?"

Xu Mu chuckled softly.

The black ball angrily flapped its wings against his head.

Xu Mu swatted it away, not wanting to deal with it.

"Let me sleep," he said coldly, "I don't want a repeat of what happened last time."

The black ball slinked away, looking dejected.

Xu Mu closed his eyes, his mind filled with the plot the black ball had described, his heart wrenching with bitterness.

It was unbearable.

Tossing and turning, Xu Mu finally turned on his light brain.

[Xu: Have you fallen asleep, Brother Nian?]

[Bai: No, what's wrong?]

[Xu: Can't sleep.]

[Bai: Hmm... Want me to sing you a lullaby? It's Ye Ye's favorite.]

A slight smile tugged at Xu Mu's lips.

[Xu: Sure.]

Several minutes later, Xu Mu actually received the lullaby.

He opened it, the man's voice gentle like flowing water, soothing and comforting.

Xu Mu played it repeatedly, and amazingly, his heart gradually calmed down.

He sent a voice message back.

"Brother Nian, I really like you."

Xu Mu felt incredibly fortunate to have met Bai Nian.

Buzz buzz buzz— a new message arrived.

Filled with tenderness as always.

"Ah Mu, me too."

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