"Qingjiu... could you please pay attention to me?"
Qi Wu tugged at Chu Qingjiu's sleeve, tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked utterly pitiful.
Out of the corner of his eye, Chu Qingjiu saw Qi Wu crying. He knew the other man might be faking his tears, betting that he would soften, but he simply couldn't bear to see Qi Wu cry.
Chu Qingjiu struggled inwardly, biting his lower lip, looking deeply conflicted.
In the end, he still didn't look at Qi Wu. He only stared at the floor and said flatly, "Enough. Let's not waste any more time."
With that, he rose and headed for the door. Qi Wu sprang up too, eagerly trailing behind Chu Qingjiu, crying all the way.
The other six probably thought the brothers had had a falling-out. Since they were in a horror instance, they sensibly wanted to avoid infighting, so they all urged Chu Qingjiu to forgive his younger brother's childishness and settle whatever grievances they had once they were out.
Chu Qingjiu gave a cold laugh and a noncommittal "Mm," then left the safe house.
He wasn't being childish. He deliberately deceived me. I'm the only fool here, falling for him even though I knew he wasn't sincere.
Chu Qingjiu thought with a touch of self-mockery.
After leaving the safe house, they arrived directly in a sparsely furnished room. Inside were only a somewhat shabby wooden table, four long benches, and a communal sleeping platform that looked big enough for eight people.
An electric light hung directly above the wooden table, barely illuminating the room. It occasionally gave off an electrical buzz and looked like it had been there for years.
The window had been covered with newspaper from the outside. Daylight seeped into the room through the gap beneath the door.
Wu Zhong tried rattling the door, producing a series of loud clangs, only to discover that it had been locked from outside. It seemed they were trapped in this room.
Wu Zhong spread his hands and looked at the others. "We can't get out. What should we do?"
Chu Qingjiu, meanwhile, sat down on a bench and picked up one of the cups placed upside down on the wooden table. After checking that it was reasonably clean, he poured himself some tea.
"Qingjiu, I want some too."
Qi Wu's eyes were still red. Sitting beside Chu Qingjiu, he pouted pitifully, trying to attract his attention.
Chu Qingjiu coolly handed Qi Wu the teapot, then turned to Wu Zhong, who was still standing, and said evenly:
"All we need to do is wait. Everything so far suggests that we're 'husbands' being kept by Miao women, so let's wait for our 'wives' to come find us."
They had been locked in an enclosed room like this and infected with Mind-Losing Gu. Clearly, they had been abducted and were being kept here. Otherwise, there would have been no reason to imprison them in this room.
The others agreed that this made sense. They all sat down on the benches and began discussing what they knew about Miao gu.
Chu Qingjiu found the discussion uninteresting. Sitting and drinking tea was much more pleasant. He was just bringing his cup to his lips when a hand with well-defined knuckles plucked it away.
Qi Wu set the cup down on the wooden table and stared straight at Chu Qingjiu without blinking.
Chu Qingjiu let out an almost imperceptible sigh and turned toward Qi Wu, whose reddened eyes made him look especially pitiful. He was about to speak when the other man choked out:
"Qingjiu, can you tell me why you're ignoring me? Can you please let me know why, instead of constantly ignoring me and shutting me out? It really hurts."
Chu Qingjiu watched him for a moment, unable to bear it, before saying, "Then why did you lie to me?"
"When did I lie to you?"
Chu Qingjiu felt that he couldn't explain it in just a few words. After a moment of silence, he said, "...Let's talk once we're out of the instance."
"No. You only ignored me for a little while just now, and I nearly went mad. I'm not waiting until we're out. I want to clear this up right now."
Qi Wu grew more agitated as he spoke. He abruptly seized one of Chu Qingjiu's hands, tears streaming down his face like an abandoned child demanding to know why he had been cast aside.
The onlookers, who had no idea what was going on, barely dared to breathe. They exchanged bewildered glances, utterly confused about what was happening between these brothers.
Watching the tense atmosphere between the two, Wu Zhong spoke awkwardly. "Uh... Chu, why don't you take your brother aside and talk things through? Calm the kid down first."
"All right... sorry for disturbing everyone."
Chu Qingjiu stood up and pulled Qi Wu over to a corner.
But once he actually got there, he no longer knew how to begin.
What am I supposed to say? "Actually, I'm the Puppeteer, so I can see that your affection for me is 0"? Or "I found out you've been putting on an act to deceive me, because your affection for me is 0"?
Chu Qingjiu didn't know how to say it. Seeing Qi Wu cry hurt him too, but he couldn't pretend he knew nothing and keep playing this game of affection with him.
He had concealed his identity as the Puppeteer during their brief time together, and Qi Wu had spent that time acting deeply in love. They should be even now.
"...I don't think we're right for each other."
We were never the same kind of people to begin with. How could we ever end up together? Better to cut my losses now, before I fall any deeper.
Qi Wu seized Chu Qingjiu's wrist and backed him into the corner, bending slightly to bring their faces level. His amber eyes stared straight into Chu Qingjiu's. He had stopped crying.
"Give me a proper reason."
Qi Wu's voice was slightly hoarse, the darkness in his eyes carefully concealed. He was no longer that harmless man. The pressure he exuded was so intense that Chu Qingjiu could barely breathe.
"What reason do feelings need? If we're not right for each other, then we're not."
"You're hiding something from me." Qi Wu's gaze was serious, his tone utterly certain. "It started the moment you first saw me after entering the instance. What did you see?"
Chu Qingjiu's breath caught. He blinked, trying hard to maintain his indifferent expression, but he knew that if he tried to fob Qi Wu off with some careless excuse, the other man probably wouldn't let it go.
The silence stretched on, so long that Qi Wu thought Chu Qingjiu wouldn't speak, so long that it nearly drove him mad. Only then did he hear the other man say in an even voice:
"What if I told you we were enemies?"
Chu Qingjiu suddenly raised his eyes. His purple gaze finally met those clear amber eyes. At last, he stopped running away.
"What if I were an enemy you wanted dead more than anything? What if I'm nothing like the person you see now, and I've killed a lot of players-including people from the Mutual Aid Society?"
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