The instant he saw Gong Yao, Li Qing went rigid, his fingers instinctively moving to enter a string of commands.
The man moved swiftly, catching his wrist almost simultaneously. The force made Li Qing stumble toward him.
Gong Yao bent down and said softly in his ear, "I know what you're about to do, but I wouldn't recommend it."
Li Qing's movements paused.
Gong Yao lowered his voice further. "Do you know what kind of uproar it would cause if the stream at the top of the popularity rankings abruptly cut out a second time?"
Li Qing's lashes fluttered. He turned his head slightly and met Gong Yao's black right eye.
Gong Yao's eyes curved in a smile. Their breaths almost mingled, and Li Qing saw his lips move.
"I won't expose your identity, little admin."
He mouthed the words silently.
Li Qing relaxed his curled fingers and pulled his wrist free.
That was his agreement.
Gong Yao curled his lips, let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, and straightened up.
Cutting off Gong Yao's stream would indeed create a bigger crisis. His face had already appeared twice before the screen went black, which was bound to lead to dangerous speculation.
-Besides, he would have to endure another round of Zhang Qin's endless complaints.
It was only for the time he spent with Gong Yao, anyway. He might as well behave himself and play an ordinary player.
Li Qing sighed almost imperceptibly, entirely unaware of the discussion he had just sparked in Gong Yao's stream.
[It's that little beauty in white again!]
[Wait, isn't he a new player? This newbie is way too reckless. Opening the door without even asking-what if there'd been a ghost behind it?]
[Another pretty face and nothing else. How did he even survive long enough to reach a C-rank instance?]
[With a face like that, hehe, I'd happily carry him!]
Those were the first comments.
But once Gong Yao drew close to Li Qing, the chat instantly exploded-
[Aaaaaah-what's happening? What's happening!??]
[No-my dream man!]
[? Okay, okay, okay, who needs to watch ghost fights? This is the plot I should be watching!]
[Calm down. Lord Gong Yao is gentle and gentlemanly with everyone. He flirts with anyone who's human. What's the big deal (not jealous at all)!]
[You call this "gentle and gentlemanly"???]
The chat could hardly be blamed for getting so excited.
All the streams were transmitted by miniature cameras that followed each player, so naturally, they couldn't capture everything.
Gong Yao's stream had only shown him drawing close to Li Qing. The viewers had no idea what he had whispered, much less what he had mouthed.
Gong Yao hadn't enabled the chat display, but his next words were remarkably in line with its comments. "Come to think of it, you opened the door without the slightest caution. That could get you into trouble. Good thing it was me."
I was waiting for a ghost, not a person, Li Qing thought. This isn't exactly a good outcome.
But none of that showed on his face.
Since Gong Yao was the one outside tonight, Li Qing didn't dwell on it. He let him in, then closed the door.
Gong Yao surveyed his room and said with satisfaction, "Not bad. At least there's a bed."
Li Qing caught the implication. "At least? So the groom's room doesn't even have a bed."
Gong Yao settled onto the low stool beside the tea table without the slightest hesitation, spreading his long legs wide with nowhere else to put them. He said casually, "There's no need for a bed, because the 'groom' won't be in his own room at night.
"As the 'groom,' please remember the following three points-"
The man began as though reciting a passage.
"First, do not stay alone in your room at night.
"Second, if you see other 'grooms' on your way to find your bride, take a detour-what you see may not be what you think it is.
"Third, if you wish to leave Fortune Star Village, make sure your partner isn't a local."
Those were the instructions for players acting as grooms.
Much as Li Qing had guessed, they corresponded precisely to the bride's rules.
Seeing Li Qing lower his eyes in thought, Gong Yao chuckled. "You believe whatever I tell you? Trusting people too easily isn't a good thing, you know."
Li Qing glanced at him and said evenly, "Of course I have a way to verify it."
He tapped his left index finger twice against the edge of the bed, implying that admins had permission to view the rules.
Gong Yao: "..."
"You're an honest, good person. Thank you," Li Qing added.
Gong Yao couldn't help chuckling, then shook his head. For the first time, he found himself at a loss for words.
"That's all the information this instance has given the players so far. In my experience, we should have already made it safely through tonight's danger."
Gong Yao stood and headed toward a small, rudimentary room inside.
Li Qing's gaze instinctively followed him. "What are you going to do?"
Gong Yao blinked. "Get washed up and ready for bed, of course. Want to join me?"
Li Qing immediately turned his head away.
Gong Yao gave a low chuckle, then looked up at a spot in the air where the miniature camera hovered.
Still smiling, he said gently, "It's time to rest. No more watching."
[No! Let me see!]
[Boss, I'll pay extra!]
Although he hadn't enabled the chat display, the man seemed to know exactly what the comments were saying. He gave a somewhat helpless smile, then shut off the stream amid a chorus of screams.
Detecting that the streaming signal had been shut off, Li Qing froze for a moment. Then he remembered that, to ensure the streaming system's revenue, S-rank players like Gong Yao had to stream for at least twelve hours every day.
...If he'd remembered sooner, he would have discussed it with Gong Yao first and asked him to turn off his own stream whenever they were together.
Fifteen minutes later.
The man emerged wearing only a tank top and shorts, warm moisture rising from his body.
Droplets fell from the slightly curled tips of his hair onto his pale muscles, trickling along their contours and soaking into his black tank top.
He dried his hair while looking at Li Qing, who was already lying in bed.
Li Qing had changed out of his red wedding robes into a clean white shirt and black trousers. A ring of red marks remained around his pale neck where the stiff collar of the wedding robes had rubbed against it.
He lay on his back, hands folded quietly over his abdomen, his light-colored eyes fixed unblinkingly on the ceiling. He looked like an exquisite but lifeless doll.
Gong Yao lay down on the other side without ceremony and turned onto his side to look at him. "Little admin, why did you come to this instance?"
Only after a while did Li Qing's eyes slowly shift toward Gong Yao. "To investigate anomalies and fix bugs."
Then his eyes shifted back, returning to their previous blank stare.
"Oh," Gong Yao said.
He shifted into a more comfortable position and pressed on. "What anomalies?"
"..." After another long pause, Li Qing looked at him again. "That information is confidential."
His eyes shifted back again.
"Oh... You don't need my help?"
"...No, thank you."
Watching Li Qing alternate between looking at him and staring at the ceiling, Gong Yao thought he resembled a little robot with a delayed response. At last, he couldn't help laughing.
"Anyway, what are you doing? You're awfully absorbed in it."
Gong Yao leaned closer, trying to see whether the view before Li Qing's eyes was somehow different from his own.
Finally unable to stand the interruptions, Li Qing turned to look at him with a faintly irritated expression.
"I'm organizing my memories."
Despite being interrupted several times, Li Qing still answered his question politely.
This was a habit of Li Qing's. Before bed, he would recall everything that had happened on every day since he started his job. Only once he had analyzed it all and found nothing illogical could he comfortably bring the day to a close.
-He was twenty years old, had held his job for twenty years, and had followed this same daily habit throughout those twenty years without ever changing it.
Zhang Qin had once learned of this habit by chance and found it utterly unbelievable. He had even posted this bit of gossip on the maintenance system's forum to publicly embarrass him.
That was how Li Qing had learned that normal people considered his habit very strange.
But Gong Yao showed neither surprise nor mockery.
He merely thought for a moment, then nodded. "I see..."
Li Qing tilted his head. "Don't you think it's strange?"
Gong Yao smiled. "There's nothing strange about it. Memories are precious."
Li Qing paused, then nodded. "Mm."
"So, have you finished organizing them?"
"No," Li Qing said. "You keep interrupting me."
Gong Yao froze, then broke into low laughter that made even the wooden bed tremble slightly.
"All right, all right. I'll leave you alone, then."
Under Li Qing's bewildered, displeased gaze, Gong Yao wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. He finally stopped laughing, though his voice still carried his amusement.
"Good night, little admin. Here's to a good partnership tomorrow~"
Before you continue