I'm Not a Flame-Chaser - Chapter 500

... To be honest, when Hua said something that was no different from "I watched your live stream," Lin's feelings became even more complicated.

"Lin, I've seen too many people who are unwilling to let go and have gone to extremes. Some of them have become obsessed, some have killed without hesitation, and there's another one who is probably the most extreme and selfish person in the world, but I also find it hard to judge whether he is an absolute villain." Hua said with a light smile, "But you are not among them. The reason you are unwilling to let go is not because of yourself, but because of them. They do not want you to let go of anyone."

Lin let out a breath. "Is that so..."

Do you have an answer now?

"... It should be ready by now."

"Even if there were one more person, you still wouldn't let go?"

"No more."

Lin shook his head; this kind of life was likely to accompany him for the rest of his life.

On the bright side, at least they are all as energetic and loving towards each other as newlyweds, aren't they?

Lin deserves a thumbs up for defending his scumbag ways.

"Thank you, Hua."

"It's alright, I have my own thoughts and opinions too." Hua finished the tea in his cup in one gulp, then got up and walked towards his room. "Speaking of which... Lin, you seem to have forgotten something."

"What?"

"Red envelope."

"..."

Lin was taken aback. A red envelope? Hua was indeed his junior, but did they still need to give each other red envelopes?

"Clatter."

Suddenly, Lin found himself unable to move. All the joints in his body seemed to be locked and he could not move. Only his eyeballs could move.

What happened?

"This is Acupoint Sealing, a skill I developed myself. It only requires injecting Honkai Energy into key acupoints to stop a person's activities."

Hua slowly walked around from behind Lin to in front of him, and at that moment, Lin sensed that the atmosphere had changed.

Wearing Hanfu, Hua looks more like a person from China than the rigid and stubborn gray-haired girl she used to be. She has shed her naivety and now exudes a calmness and detachment.

But now, this calm and detached attitude seems somewhat... dangerous.

"I'm sorry... Lin, let's talk about it later."

Hua sighed, then got up and went back to his room. At the same time, another person came into the hall.

She looked at Lin, who was unable to move, and revealed a sly smile.

This chapter has not been approved.

"Oh dear, Lin, how did you fall asleep on the sofa? It's not good if you catch a cold."

To be honest, when Elysia appeared in front of him, Lin didn't feel surprised at all.

"..."

A smiling pink-haired girl in a dress walked from the doorway to Lin, who was unable to move. She waved her hand in front of Lin's eyes and, seeing his icy gaze, said with a grin, "Are you angry? Don't be angry. If I were to come to you normally, you definitely wouldn't want to."

Lin rolled his eyes and replied to her bluntly, "Spit it out."

"Um... wait a minute."

Elysia found a wheelchair from somewhere, put Lin in it, and pushed him out the door.

"Do you remember? After the Third Honkai War ended, you were in a wheelchair for a while. I often pushed you around back then." The girl smiled, her words filled with thought. "For us, that's a memory so distant it's almost forgotten."

"..."

Lin couldn't speak. He also remembered how cold and indifferent he had been back then, silently worrying about the future of humanity under the moonlight. At that time, he had nothing, and his heart was filled with endless bewilderment and powerlessness.

To be honest, he wasn't very talkative back then.

Later, he met many people who gradually trained his tongue. Even the ice sculpture, which couldn't utter three words in half a day, was trained to be eloquent.

Looking back, we realize that people do change, whether for better or for worse.

"It's almost time." Elysia pushed Lin into the courtyard, sat on his lap, leaned against him, and draped the coat she had grabbed earlier over their shoulders with a grin. Then she looked expectantly at the dim sky.

What are we supposed to do?

Lin was unable to move due to his physical limitations, so he could only look in the same direction as her, but that place...

"Whoosh—"

"Smack!"

"Splash..."

A beam of light, bright enough to illuminate the night sky like daytime, flew into the sky and exploded in the desolate night, blooming into a dazzling display of fire.

Their faces were illuminated. Lin stared at the bursting flame and suddenly remembered something he had forgotten that night.

Setting off fireworks.

As the clock struck twelve, bursts of fireworks lit up the night sky. This was a "promise" for people to release their ideals and dreams, ignite all their unhappiness, and then entrust their thoughts to the dazzling fireworks.

The snow in the courtyard reflected the light of the celebration.

The girl's gentle and graceful smile, illuminated by the fireworks, seemed like an unreal painting; even time itself would be willing to freeze this moment for her.

"Whoosh—"

"Smack—"

For more than ten minutes, all sorts of fireworks bloomed in the sky, painting the night sky in the shape of human expectations, before gradually subsiding.

Suddenly, a firework, more dazzling than the others, shot into the sky, catching Lin's eye.

It was like the ending note of a song, yet also the climax of the entire song. At the moment it exploded in mid-air, even Lin's eyes widened slightly.

The pattern on this firework is not an ordinary bouquet.

It is composed of two colors, green and blue, and when it is in full bloom, it forms a name.

A "Lin" in Shenzhou font.

"Lin, happy birthday."

Elysia's words rang out softly amidst the clatter of the fireworks' finale.

"We've celebrated everyone's birthday except yours, so I took the liberty of setting your birthday for today."

Lin has no birthday.

He didn't remember the day he was born, and he never thought about what his birthday meant to him. What was the most beautiful day for others was just a cold date of his birth as a creation, like the production date of a product.

But now, he suddenly has a birthday, and people are celebrating it for him.

Lin couldn't quite describe his feelings. He watched intently as the firework, which held a special significance, burst into its most brilliant bloom and then quietly faded away.

My body can move now.

He turned his head and saw the pink-haired girl's smiling face so close to his. She didn't say anything, yet it was as if she had already said everything.

"Chirp."

The girl leaned in and gently kissed Lin's cheek.

A soft touch, a subtle fragrance.

The longing that could not be expressed in the past no longer needs to be conveyed through language.

"Whoosh—"

As the girl's face receded, Lin suddenly sprang up, grabbed Elysia's waist, stood up from the wheelchair, and then pushed her down onto the pristine snow.

"..."

"..."

The swirling snowflakes fell around the two of them.

The man kept his head down in silence, his hair damp with snowflakes, and only the girl could see the look in his eyes beneath his bangs.

She lay on the snow, the view beneath her dress fully exposed, her skin reflecting the snow, and reached out her cold little hand to touch the man's face.

"...That's despicable, Elysia." Lin Moran's tone, however, contained a strange emotion.

"Hmph." Elysia tilted her head and chuckled playfully at Lin. "Are you shy? Are you so shy that you're getting angry and want to do something naughty to me?"

"Don't cry later."

Before the girl could utter another provocative word, Lin silenced her with a kiss.

Outside, snowflakes were falling in the bitter cold, but the girl's body temperature was so warm.

The warmth flowing over her tongue scalded the girl's eloquent tongue, turning it into a clumsy, soft candy for Lin to savor.

There was no room for refusal, nor any reason to refuse. The two embraced each other tightly, as if trying to meld the other into their own bodies, greedily absorbing each other's body heat in the freezing cold.

Soon, the girl's few clothes were scattered on the snow. Her fair and rosy body lay sprawled in the snow, and the melted snow water flowed down her alabaster skin, leaving crystal-clear marks.

Her eyes, so dreamy they seemed to be drawn out of silk, gazed at the man before her on her exquisitely carved jade face.

"Lin... this is a birthday present... um..."

In a secluded courtyard, amidst the silent, snow-covered landscape, two people so passionate they seemed to transform winter into spring were entangled in a passionate embrace, leaving messy traces in the pristine snow.

All the coldness was dispelled by the mingling passion, and their traces were left everywhere in the courtyard that Lin once cherished.

"Idiot... After that... Hmph... How... How am I supposed to clean up... Ugh..."

After?

Let's think about that later. Right now, we just need to focus on the present, on how to enjoy ourselves to the fullest, and on how to give ourselves completely to the other person.

"Don't... get your... flowers dirty..."

"... Then what should we do?"

"Hehe... If I accidentally get pregnant... you'd better be a good dad..."

The New Year's Eve Special: A Story of Only One Ox and an Endless Field to Plow (Part 5)

Lin draped a coat over the sleeping pink-haired girl, then staggered out of the room, leaning against the wall to catch his breath.

I'm starting to feel overwhelmed.

I've been so busy these past few days, I haven't had much rest. Today I played two games in a row, each one leaving me completely exhausted. Even an iron man couldn't take it.

Moreover, the thought of his future life makes his scalp tingle.

The claims of nightly revelry and extravagant spending are completely unfounded.

The girls around Lin were all incredibly fit, each one a superhuman athlete capable of winning championships and breaking records at sports meets. No matter how patient he was, he couldn't possibly do the work of several people.

Now look what's happened. Two girls are already lying in the bedroom and living room. If someone had come early this morning and seen this, how would he explain it?

The traces of the courtyard are also extremely troublesome; hopefully, no one will notice...

He sat down outside the door, quietly enjoying this moment of tranquility.

The city before us is still brightly lit, with lights shining from every home, and happiness and beauty seem to be interpreted in this moment.

Lin leaned against the door frame, looked down at his hands, and then looked at the world.

This journey has been far too long...

Countless laughs were buried, while ideals shed in blood soared into the sky.

They once cried out, wailed, and wept helplessly; these hands, which held nothing and could grasp nothing, reached out to the future depicted by countless people.

"You're sitting here all by yourself?"

The white-haired man stood in front of the fence, and Lin vaguely seemed to see the same white-haired boy standing at the school gate waiting for him.

"... Why are you here?" Lin stepped forward and opened the fence, and Kevin walked in. He glanced at the front gate, which was not closed.

"I suddenly wanted to talk to you, and since you might have woken up, I came over."

Lin shook his head, gesturing for Kevin to sit next to him, and the two of them sat down on the steps by the door.

For a moment, they remained silent.

After a while, Kevin took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed one to Lin. Lin took it without saying anything, and then Kevin took out a lighter and lit the cigarettes for both of them.