After coming out of the virtual world, Gu WenCheng’s eyes were ablaze whenever he looked at Li ZouXing.
At this moment, he truly possessed all the boldness that a typical male lead in a homegrown drama should have.
Whether it was eating, practicing, or even when they touched during battles, his gaze had a hook, sticking to Li ZouXing’s sweat drops, the corners of his mouth, and rarely straying.
This made Li ZouXing, who had been gay longer than him, feel inadequate.
During meals, if sauce ended up on Li ZouXing’s lips, Gu WenCheng would find a reason to clean his lips with his mouth in a secluded place, claiming it was to keep things clean. This forced Li ZouXing to eat carefully during the next meal, but he would still be passionately kissed by Gu WenCheng afterward, with the reason that “kissing after a meal is good for your health.”
He was like a kissing fiend, constantly thinking about kissing, kissing, and kissing.
In short, their lips stayed stuck together as long as they could.
After a few days, Li ZouXing felt like his lips had lost several layers of skin. Even a slight breeze caused a stinging sensation. When he breathed, he didn’t smell his own scent; he smelled the other’s scent.
Of course, Gu WenCheng wasn’t much better. The degree to which his lips were swollen was quite substantial.
Li ZouXing also noticed that when it came to intimate moments with a person of the same sex, Gu WenCheng, this older man, didn’t seem to understand that there could be deeper emotions involved. Instead, his restlessness and physical affection seemed to intensify, to the point where a single spark could ignite an entire person.
The most challenging part wasn’t the kissing itself; it was restraining their reactions during the kisses.
Especially after the protagonist understood their feelings, each kiss felt like a thunderstorm and a raging fire, and many times, they were dangerously close to crossing boundaries, whether it was against a wall or on a bed.
Maintaining the straight guy persona was damn difficult.
That night, Li ZouXing sneaked into the bathroom early to relieve some tension.
Their teammates pulled Gu WenCheng into the living room to play a game, the Empire’s most popular escape game, with a success rate of only one in a thousand.
“The 148th Strongest Team Competition on StarNet is coming up,” Ling Nian remembered. “We can participate.”
“Is it Empire-wide?” Gu WenCheng asked.
“Didn’t you know, WenCheng?” Xi Nan was surprised. “The Strongest Team Competition is one of the most famous StarNet events in the Empire. It includes outstanding military teams and powerful teams from all over the Empire.”
Gu WenCheng paused and explained, “I rarely participate in team competitions.”
Well, not rarely; he hardly ever participated, so he didn’t pay much attention to team events.
Xi Nan suddenly realized, “It’s a lot of fun. Last year, there was even a team of Tarl star youngsters who made it to the preliminaries by being cute!”
Ji Yu chuckled, “The top three teams receive different rewards, and the first-place prize is no less valuable than energy crystals.”
Speaking of energy crystals, Gu WenCheng frowned. “You guys haven’t used them yet.”
The lowest mental power value in the team was above 1600, and currently, only three of them have manifested their mental powers.
Ji Yu showed a slightly embarrassed expression. “We forgot…”
Gu WenCheng: “…”
What could he say? They were truly the teammates chosen by Li ZouXing, weren’t they?
But when he thought of Li ZouXing, he couldn’t help but touch his own lips.
The constant redness and swelling made him almost believe that his lips had always been like this since birth.
“Can energy crystals make mental powers manifest?” Ling Nian put down the game and furrowed his brows in thought.
Gu WenCheng snapped back to attention and casually put his hand down. “There’s a high probability they can.”
“As for this competition,” he concluded, “before the registration deadline, if you all can achieve mental power manifestation, then we’ll participate.”
The others nodded in agreement.
If they were going to participate, it was best to be fully prepared. If not, they could wait for the next one.
After discussing the competition, Ling Nian suddenly got curious and asked, “What did you and ZouXing do in the study?”
He said it with a teasing tone.
Thinking about that, “It was tough for you, Gu WenCheng. If you hadn’t sacrificed yourself to hold back ZouXing at that moment, the princess would have probably used her seductive tactics to assassinate you. But your expressions at that time were really hilarious, hahaha!”
Gu WenCheng’s eye twitched. “He became an NPC.”
“The system can make such choices,” Ling Nian explained, “it’s a way to test the participants.”
“…” Gu WenCheng squinted. “Hmm?”
“ZouXing did a great job,” Ling Nian praised highly, “he didn’t break character at all, and he looked just like a real demon lord.”
After the chaotic moments had passed, and his sanity was brought back by Ling Nian’s words, Gu WenCheng suddenly realized that Li ZouXing, that guy, had just been pretending he couldn’t remember.
He smirked a few times, stood up, and quickly walked towards the bathroom.
Ling Nian remained silent for a while, then turned to the other two and asked, “Did I say something wrong?”
“I guess it’s ZouXing teasing WenCheng,” Ji Yu sighed, “but it’s fine; the more they tease each other, the better their relationship becomes.”
“That phrase is typically used for couples, silly Ji Yu,” Xi Nan looked at him disdainfully, “If ZouXing finds out that you’ve been spreading rumors, he’ll probably come after you first.”
…
In the room,
Li ZouXing was getting dressed, and outside, Gu WenCheng’s voice sounded with a low tone, “You lied to me.”
This statement made Li ZouXing’s hand tremble. “What did I lie to you about?”
“Demon Lord, the study, the kiss,” Gu WenCheng squinted, “Li ZouXing, you’re quite something.”
“…” Li ZouXing responded, “I was afraid you’d feel awkward.”
His voice was low, and he tried to explain, “In that situation, I had to play the NPC role properly. I’m sorry, WenCheng. I did what I did because I knew you wanted to forget about it. That’s why I lied to you. I hope we can still get along like we used to.”
While speaking, Li ZouXing was unbuttoning his shirt, and fixing his clothes in front of the mirror to ensure a sexy and seductive appearance.
A seductive strategy to shift attention.
Listening to the explanation, Gu WenCheng felt even more frustrated.
They had kissed, and he had even touched his waist in the virtual world, and now Li ZouXing was talking about maintaining their previous way of interacting?
He didn’t agree.
“So that’s how it is,” he said, “You’re really considerate, ZouXing.”
His tone was simply terrifying, and Li ZouXing quickly unbuttoned another button and adjusted his hair.
Damn it, he had miscalculated. He had expected Gu WenCheng to try and seduce him.
Maintaining this handsome appearance, Li ZouXing opened the bathroom door, and with the rising steam, he came face to face with Gu WenCheng waiting outside.
The moment Gu WenCheng saw him, he couldn’t take his eyes off. His pupils constricted, and his face turned red.
He couldn’t hold his gaze, feeling embarrassed after the change in their relationship.
Yet, he couldn’t help but glance at Li ZouXing’s neckline. The open and intoxicating scent of pheromones drew his gaze like a magnet. Though Gu WenCheng saw their relationship as nothing more than mutual support, this inexplicable feeling of excitement was something he could only experience with Li ZouXing.
His skin tingled, and his mind was on edge.
Especially…
“Forgive me,” Li ZouXing looked pitifully at him, his tall frame gripping Gu WenCheng’s arm, acting like a child, “Wen Cheng~”
Gu WenCheng’s skin crawled.
“You want me to,” Gu WenCheng, entranced, his cheeks as red as if he were drunk, “you want me to kiss… you want me to punish you.”
“How would you punish me?” Li ZouXing nonchalantly displayed his body and muscle curves, large portions of flesh swaying in front of Gu WenCheng.
Gu WenCheng completely forgot what he had intended to say earlier. He simply made Li ZouXing sit down, buried his face in his neck, and created little pink strawberries on his skin.
This was venturing beyond the boundaries of friendship.
Li ZouXing looked surprised, but before he could voice his questions, Gu WenCheng had already backed away.
“This is your punishment for deceiving me,” the protagonist smirked, contented, as he raised an eyebrow, “Making these marks on your neck will make any girl who’s interested in you sad. It will ruin many of your potential romantic prospects. How’s that for punishment?”
Li ZouXing’s expression was indescribable. “…That’s quite harsh.”
“You can also punish me back,” Gu WenCheng tilted his chin, his gaze wandering all over him, as he personally knelt down to button up Li ZouXing’s clothing, “Don’t catch a cold.”
Not knowing anything but still acting so boldly.
“Thankfully, I’m not cold,” Li ZouXing awkwardly changed the subject, “What were you guys talking about just now?”
“The Strongest Team Competition,” Gu WenCheng said, “Let’s watch them tomorrow when they use energy crystals. If they can manifest mental power before the competition, then we’ll participate.”
In the original text, they had already participated and would encounter a willful young lady named Ren Qingying.
Li ZouXing remembered the name, which indicated that she was not ordinary. In fact, this character was written quite realistically, being so haughty and willful that it was irritating. Li ZouXing even suspected that this character was a product of the author’s post-breakup emotions.
However, what Ren Qingying did that was the most serious was drugging the protagonist and forcing him into a sexual encounter.
Thinking up to this point, Li ZouXing furrowed his brow.
Seeing him furrow his brow, Gu WenCheng also frowned, “What’s wrong?”
He wanted to know what Li ZouXing was thinking.
Li ZouXing pulled his head closer and whispered, “I want to punish back.”
Gu WenCheng’s lips curled up, and with Ling Nian and the others still outside, separated by a door’s distance, it added an element of excitement to their secret rendezvous.
“I’m punishing your neck, so you can’t punish me here.”
Li ZouXing looked confused, “Then what about me?”
“Ahem,” Gu WenCheng confirmed again by locking the door and closing the curtains. This time, he didn’t even use mental power as a shield. In this environment with people outside, he and Li ZouXing secretly engaged in mutual punishment.
The person sharing this secret encounter with him showed no signs of doubt whatsoever.
Full of trust, they just wanted to “punish” in return.
Knowing nothing, this feeling of secretly corrupting him…
Li ZouXing watched as Gu WenCheng took care of everything, turned off the main ceiling light, and then switched on the dim bedside lamp.
The warm, golden light created a pleasant atmosphere.
He silently recited in his mind, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form…”
It was too difficult.
Then, something even more challenging occurred.
Gu WenCheng stood in front of him, eyes lowered, fingers resting on a button.
He remembered Li ZouXing’s bewildered communication when he had said something about pomegranate seeds.
So young, yet the description was surprisingly accurate.
As he continued to think, he found it oddly endearing.
Li ZouXing began to think that it might have been better to leave the main light on. This half-lit, half-dark visual atmosphere was even harder to resist.
He licked his lips and shifted his gaze away.
But soon, he turned back.
He began to anticipate, deep down inside, hoping that Gu WenCheng’s punishment would be what he had in mind.
Gu WenCheng, who knew nothing, lacked experience and theoretical knowledge. He approached the young man sitting obediently on the edge of the bed and pointed to himself.
“Here,” he said in a low voice. “This time, let you punish this part.”
“It’s okay to use a little force.”
