FMLB Chapter 72

Chapter 72- Fall into the bathtub

He Ruge was a bit bewildered. He was forcibly logged out of the game, but this time it wasn’t because his daily gaming time was up, but because the game had ended.

Was it so sudden?

He took off the holographic gaming helmet, and the word “Military Outfit PLAY” seemed to still echo in his ears.

Could it be that this game was preparing military outfit benefits in ten days?

“!!!”

Ahhh, I can, I really can!

It’s just ten days, right? Waiting for benefits like this was understandable no matter how long it takes.

But what will the military outfit PLAY in this game be like?

He Ruge couldn’t help but indulge in fantasy, and his ears began to blush slightly as he thought about it.

Actually, he felt that there was no need to rush the military outfit PLAY. They could spend some more time building their relationship. This game might unlock some indescribable interactions in ten days. Whenever they chose to interact, it should still respect the player’s subjective will.

They couldn’t just force people into relationships, right?

But since the holographic game was so realistic, he also needed to prepare early for the military outfit PLAY. He couldn’t afford to falter at the last moment.

He Ruge, with his mind full of innutritious yellow thoughts, became more and more spirited as he thought about it. If it weren’t for the fact that it was already early in the morning and it didn’t match his health schedule, He Ruge could have stayed up all night watching study videos for previewing.

After waking up from a nap, He Ruge subconsciously reached for the holographic gaming helmet at the bedside. Still half asleep, he insisted on putting the helmet on his head.

In the darkness of the helmet, he heard a cold mechanical voice.

“Countdown: 230 hours, 48 minutes, 17 seconds.”

It dawned on He Ruge that he still had to wait nine days to play the game.

Without Xi Guican’s company, his life suddenly felt half empty. His previously busy schedule, combining work and leisure, was now just work.

On this day, He Ruge finished coding ten thousand words early in the morning, then boredly soaked in the bathtub watching videos. During this time, he liked to take baths whenever he had the chance. Once his body touched the water, his mood would relax.

He Ruge specifically asked Octo, and Octo said that this was a normal phenomenon during the awakening period. During the awakening period, their aquatic clan members wished they could soak in water all day long. So He Ruge felt justified in soaking in the bathtub and watching videos.

Halfway through watching, he suddenly remembered “study videos.” He Ruge had never watched such videos in all these years. The most memorable one was when he saw “Sexy Dealers Dealing Online” while reporting plagiarism on a piracy website. It was said that these videos could bring millions in revenue to the piracy website, showing how much human curiosity drove the economy.

With a thirst for knowledge, He Ruge turned to the all-knowing Baidu for help. After struggling for half a day and still getting nowhere, he began to question life.

He Ruge also knew that such things were hard to obtain. One of his college roommates once spent over twenty yuan to buy dozens of gigabytes of Spring Festival Gala footage. At that time, He Ruge had just returned from the library and heard laughter echoing from the dormitory. However, the moment he pushed open the door, the roommate who had been laughing just a second ago immediately straightened up and dryly said, “You’re back.”

That roommate, who usually had the thickest skin, turned pale when he saw He Ruge. He was a tall guy of 1.9 meters, yet couldn’t even utter a word.

Everyone in the dormitory was polite to him, but they always felt somewhat distant. The same was true for his classmates. So over the years, He Ruge had never had any particularly close friends, except for Octo.

A true friend was someone who you could ask for resources without changing expressions. He Ruge logged into QQ to message Octo.

Octo: “Why are you suddenly asking me for this? Are you planning to write BL? I’ll send you some more aesthetically pleasing ones.”

After saying that, Ji Ji promptly sent the resources.

Octo: “Don’t strain yourself too much. Your body is your capital for coding.”

Ruge: “……Okay.”

During the days without the game’s company, Ruge opened the study resources, but then felt disheartened. Because the appearance of the study material was not on the same level as Xi Guican’s, and even further from his own.

It seemed that only paper characters could satisfy his idealistic romance.

In his sage state, He Ruge opened the document to start coding. While coding, he suddenly pondered the issue of the top and bottom roles. He didn’t have a particular preference for positions, but considering the prickly issue, he felt he had to be the top. If he were the bottom and not good at it, it might make Xi Guican uncomfortable.

Thinking like this, playing dress-up seemed troublesome.

Wouldn’t it be better if they just sat together and absorbed energy crystals?

…

The simple days of coding soon passed. Nine days later, He Ruge spent half a day stuck on the final chapter, revising it three or four times. Finally, after completing it, he felt refreshed and happy. He even wrote an extra chapter out of joy. When he marked it as finished and saw an extra tree in his column, he felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Ignoring the “hop on the bandwagon” comments in the celebration comments, Ruge took a screenshot of the completed article status and sent it to Octo. Then he put on the holographic gaming helmet. When he heard “Countdown: 00 hours, 28 minutes, 34 seconds”, Ru Ge smiled contentedly.

Great, in just over twenty minutes, he could indulge in the game without any interruptions!

For this, He Ruge decided to celebrate by taking a bath. With a devout heart full of bathing incense, He Ruge stripped naked and happily slipped into the bathtub.

Perhaps because of the completion of his work, readers who followed from serialization to completion proved their faiths more solidly than usual. This caused the demonic tattoos on He Ruge’s legs to start tingling. He Ruge didn’t mind; he held his phone and chatted with Octo.

Octo: “Congratulations on completing your work! You can finally take a break.”

As He Ruge chatted with Octo, his legs grew hotter and hotter, so much so that he had to set his phone aside and bend his legs to inspect the tattoos.

Under the rippling water, He Ruge’s skin, white to transparent, was revealed. The red and white demonic tattoos seemed to spread like living creatures in an instant, from his toes to the soles of his feet, ankles to knees, thighs to waist.

His skin was already very fair, now resembling a meticulous painting drawn with essence and blood. The previously outlined demonic tattoos were now filled with color, as if gestating life ready to burst forth.

The scorching temperature that seemed to melt him enveloped his entire body, from his legs to his ears. He Ruge trembled as he covered his ears, feeling something sharp in his palms, with a soft touch and sharp, rounded contours. Running his fingertips down the first sharp angle, Ru Ge felt three more, along with a thin membrane covered in what seemed like fine scales.

His damp black hair clung to his back, the wet strands reaching his waist swaying on the water’s surface. A thought emerged, causing He Ruge to stiffen and lower his head. There, he saw fish tails replacing his legs, submerged in the water. The fish tail resembled ink splattered on a canvas, predominantly red with a few wisps of iridescent white, like drifting clouds.

…Holy crap!

Ru Ge tentatively moved the fish tail, creating splashes of water.

In this historic moment, He Ruge picked up his phone, intending to take a photo of his fish tail. He switched to selfie mode to see what he looked like now because he hadn’t mastered the skill of walking upright with his fish tail and couldn’t see a mirror.

He Ruge even wondered if he would be stuck in the bathtub until eternity, until his legs grew back.

Luckily, there were no strange webs that formed on his hands. He Ruge gripped the phone successfully. As he prepared to take a photo, a message from Octo came in on his phone, “Happy birthday!”

It was exactly midnight.

The phone, previously held in his hand, plopped into the bathtub with a splash, but the person in the bathtub disappeared without a trace.

Xi Guican soaked in a hair-growing bath, his face filled with bitterness and resentment. Today marked the ninth day he couldn’t play the game. From disbelief on the first day to restlessness on the second, burning anger on the third… to restrained frustration on the ninth.

Xi Guican, deprived of his source of joy, felt unhappy every day. This led to his previously increasing fur to become stagnant again. Hair growth is something that requires a good mood. With a good mood, hair grows fast; with a bad mood, hair grows slowly.

With his current bad mood, Xi Guican would lose hair before he got better. Now, his head was fuzzy, but his body resembled a white tiger that had been gnawed by a dog. The small wings on his back struggled to grow to the size of a baby’s palm. Perhaps because he had soaked in the hair-growing bath since childhood, the small wings had an astonishing amount of feathers. Even though they were soaked in the hair-growing bath now, they couldn’t hide the dense and soft feathers.

It’s almost the tenth day.

Xi Guican repeated this to himself for the thousand and third time in his mind. Soon, he would be able to receive the mysterious gift package sent to him. If this package wasn’t a new game, then he… he would continue to wait for the day the new game came out.

Just as the white tiger was about to pout in frustration, a strange energy fluctuation suddenly emerged above the bathtub. It was a kind of fluctuation familiar to the ancient monsters, belonging to the aura of monsters ascending to the upper realm.

Since the depletion of Earth’s aura, no monsters had ascended for tens of thousands of years.

With a cold gaze, the white tiger, who had been sitting in the bathtub, slowly stood up. Only his head remained above the water, so his big furry head was dry, while his body’s uneven fur clung wetly to his skin.

He looked like he had a big head effect applied to him.

As a poor monster devoid of any kindness, Xi Guican was prepared to kill this uninvited guest on the spot, ready to provide an extra meal for his awakening.

A bubble floated out of the vortex composed of spiritual energy in mid-air. Illuminated by the bathroom light, the colorful bubbles refracted a rainbow of light. The bubbles floated down gracefully, and one happened to land on Xi Guican’s nose. When it burst, it did so gently and silently.

Suddenly, from the burst bubble, Xi Guican caught a familiar scent. It was a sweet fragrance he couldn’t forget even after smelling it just once. An incredulous guess emerged in his mind, and he lifted his head, seeing a hint of red appearing in the spiritual vortex.

The fish tail cascaded in a graceful arc, like a beauty draped in red veil.

Everything Xi Guican saw seemed to play out in slow motion, from the shimmering scales of the elongated fish tail to the white, jade-like softness of the waist, and the ink-like black hair flowing to the waist. With a cry of surprise, the person descended from the sky, falling straight into the bathtub where Xi Guican was soaking!

The rippling water surface created a hazy halo of light, making everything appear dreamlike. The person who fell into the water lifted his face, revealing a stunning visage. His long crow feathers were damp with water droplets, and his black eyes resembled swirling misty pools, capable of expressing emotions even in their coldness.

At this moment, when he looked at Xi Guican in confusion, his gaze seemed to traverse time and space, full of tenderness, as if a glance could encompass eternity.

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Sleepyblue’s Corner:

Did you like this chapter guys? We’re now at the exciting part! ^_^ <3

Please also check my other works! Sea Monster Alliance 🧜🏼and Incurable Pain👫

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Dear Benefactors💌🙇‍♀️ ,

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