Only after they returned to the room did Chu Qingjiu take off the white mourning clothes he had worn for so long. Qi Wu rummaged through his backpack, pulled out a black track jacket, and brought it over to him.
"Here, put this on. It might be a little big, but it's better than nothing."
Chu Qingjiu reached out to take it. He could smell the faint, pleasant fragrance lingering on the fabric.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
He slipped obediently into the jacket, which was a little too roomy for him, and found himself enveloped in Qi Wu's scent.
Qi Wu poured a glass of water for each of them. This time, he did not drink from Chu Qingjiu's cup.
When the clock struck eleven that night, the livestream the players had been unable to see finally appeared before them.
A translucent screen resembling a holographic projection appeared before Chu Qingjiu. Comments streamed across it, most in white, with a few in other colors.
The viewers seemed quite friendly, without being too nasty. After all, they had watched Chu Qingjiu from an all-seeing perspective, so they naturally knew he had taken that eerie Puppet Thread from Xu Zhicheng.
In particular, when they heard him tell Xu Zhicheng, "I'll be taking my things back now," their ghostly brains had stalled for several seconds.
Then, as one, they all thought of a certain major instance boss who specialized in controlling puppets-the Puppeteer.
"Could it really be that lord?"
"Come to think of it, it's been ages since an instance controlled by the Puppeteer was streamed. Wasn't there some insider information saying he'd become a player?"
"For real? Does that mean we get to admire the Puppeteer in all his glory for free?"
"'In all his glory' = coughing like crazy + streaming tears."
"Who could've known the famous Puppeteer was so sickly, and such a gorgeous sickly man at that? I'm drooling just looking at him."
Then they watched this former Puppeteer, now a player, get teased in every conceivable way. He was furious, yet never got the chance to curse anyone out, because whenever his emotions flared, he would start coughing uncontrollably.
"Hahahahaha, I'm going to laugh at the Puppeteer for two years."
"Day one of wishing I could possess Wu Qi, sob sob X﹏X"
Seeing that every viewer greeted him with the exact same phrase, "Good evening, Lord Puppeteer," Chu Qingjiu fell silent for a moment.
Then, like someone with a guilty conscience, he sneaked a glance at Qi Wu beside him and asked softly, "He won't find out, will he?"
"No. You can't mention other players in a livestream chat. It'll get blocked. Don't worry, Lord Puppeteer."
Chu Qingjiu breathed a sigh of relief. His main concern was that once Qi Wu learned who he was, he would take advantage of his illness to kill him. That would be a miserable end indeed.
Although he did not quite understand why Qi Wu had only severed his Puppet Threads when he could clearly have cut off his hands, Qi Wu was undeniably responsible for the predicament he had ended up in.
Every viewer in the livestream was a ghost. Players could only become aware of them during the midnight watch, between eleven at night and one the following morning.
Players could choose to block them and avoid interacting with the audience, but interacting had its benefits.
For instance, Chu Qingjiu now held a thick stack of Ghost Money, all tipped to him by the ghosts watching his livestream.
As the old saying went, money could make even ghosts turn the millstone.
Ghost Money was excellent for bribing ghosts inside an instance. Given enough of it, a ghost might decide to go after someone else first for the money's sake.
Chu Qingjiu lowered his eyes to the bright yellow Ghost Money in his hands. The money tipped by ghosts was completely different from the paper offerings sold for visits to graves in the real world, seemingly something exceedingly special.
The only way to obtain Ghost Money was through tips from ghosts in the livestream. Any paper offerings bought in the real world would turn straight to ash upon entering an instance. There was no other way to acquire it.
Chu Qingjiu had not brought a backpack or anything similar. Noticing a large pocket in Qi Wu's track jacket, he stuffed all the Ghost Money into it without even checking how much there was.
After a moment's thought, he politely said goodbye to the ghosts in his livestream before closing the panel.
Ghosts watching livestreams also had rules to follow. Players could not use sexual content as a gimmick to entice ghosts into tipping them, or their channels would be taken down and closed, leaving them unable to earn any more Ghost Money through livestreaming.
So there was virtually no chance of seeing any below-the-neck content in a livestream.
Qi Wu closed his livestream too. Looking at Chu Qingjiu sitting there blankly in his jacket, he could not help smiling.
He was so much taller than Chu Qingjiu that seeing him in his jacket was like watching a child sneak into an adult's clothes. It was impossible not to smile.
Chu Qingjiu had left the jacket unzipped, revealing the white T-shirt beneath.
Its loose neckline exposed his slender, pale neck and accentuated his collarbones. The dim light traced deep shadows along them, making him look all the more delectable.
Looking uncomfortable, Qi Wu shifted his gaze away from Chu Qingjiu's exposed collarbones and turned instead to his cool, distant face.
When Chu Qingjiu was silent, he seemed terribly solitary. His lowered eyelashes fluttered gently, like a beautiful butterfly lost in its own world, making Qi Wu ache to reach out and touch him.
His long, ink-black hair lay smoothly against his slightly thin back. Chu Qingjiu always held his back straight, and his posture was exceptionally lovely.
He reminded Qi Wu of a snow lotus blooming in a land of bitter, piercing cold, or a proud, solitary lotus rising unstained from the mud.
Chu Qingjiu exuded an otherworldly aura that inspired awe. At the same time, it made others feel unworthy, afraid to drag him into the mortal world and sully him.
Qi Wu suddenly walked over and crouched before Chu Qingjiu, looking up at him. His expression was as harmless as ever, his bright amber eyes brimming with a deep smile.
"What is it?"
Chu Qingjiu looked down suspiciously at Qi Wu crouching beside his legs. The heat in his gaze left him feeling a little unsettled.
"I wanted your attention, gege."
Qi Wu smiled, his eyes narrowing.
He looked utterly docile and harmless, yet Chu Qingjiu was reminded of the Qi Wu he had seen that time on the Throne.
The Qi Wu who had severed all his Puppet Threads with a blade, his eyes filled with madness and fervor, seemed worlds apart from the young man now behaving as obediently as a puppy.
Either Qi Wu had revealed his true nature back then, or he was now using this harmless demeanor to lower Chu Qingjiu's guard, waiting to deliver a fatal blow when he least expected it.
Chu Qingjiu leaned toward the latter.
Meanwhile, the ghost that had followed them into the room by way of the red cord on Qi Wu's wrist finally began to stir as the hour when the Ghost Gate would open wide drew near.
Before you continue