Chapter 32

Lin Xuhuan was streaming. He was lazy about everything except streaming; after all, he was a huge chatterbox, and at least the chat would talk to him when he streamed.

Everyone in chat was laughing at him, saying he couldn't even control the recoil on a 4x AK himself, yet he wanted to teach someone else. Some also asked who had been speaking.

"Who said I can't control a 4x AK? Aside from my bro, I've never seen anyone better with an AK than me. If you don't believe me, go shout that outside and see who dares answer." Lin Xuhuan said, "The guy talking just now was my bro. Yeah, the one who used to do paid gaming sessions. Nice voice, right? ...Oh, he's not taking orders anymore... Is he handsome? Are you kidding? He's a total stud..."

"Are you done?" Yan Zhun asked.

"Done, done. That's all." Lin Xuhuan laughed flippantly. "Where are you two now?"

Yan Zhun ignored him. Pei Ran thought for a moment, then turned on his mic to answer. "An internet café."

Lin Xuhuan froze for a second. "Why'd you go to an internet café? Just come to the base if you want to play. I'll even reimburse your cab fare! Which café are you at? How about I come hang out with you?"

Barely had he finished speaking when someone fired several shots at his feet, frightening him into jumping and screaming. "Fuck, fuck! Someone's close! I didn't even hear footsteps! It's a hacker!"

He jumped in place several times, then turned around in terror to find Yan Zhun aiming down his sights, his muzzle pointed straight at him.

"..." Lin Xuhuan faltered. "Bro, I'll shut up."

Pei Ran said nothing, smiling silently.

Every time he played with them, Pei Ran felt especially relaxed and happy. Even if he didn't get a single kill, he would finish the match in a good mood.

After searching a small outlying cluster of buildings, he discovered that Yan Zhun and the others had encountered enemies. Hearing gunfire, Pei Ran put away his gun and was about to go see whether he could help when the person beside him suddenly reached over.

Yan Zhun pressed his inventory key and glanced over the things on his guns and person.

Pei Ran's grip on his mouse tightened. "...What's wrong?"

Yan Zhun had instantly killed both enemies and was on his way to loot their crates. "Checking what you're missing."

Then a whole new world opened up to Pei Ran.

He didn't even get a clear look at what was in the enemies' crates before Yan Zhun finished looting both within ten seconds, before Lin Xuhuan and the others arrived.

"Come here." Yan Zhun glanced at the bare muzzle of Lin Xuhuan's gun and said, "Quietly."

Lin Xuhuan muttered to his viewers in confusion, "I clearly saw a muzzle attachment just now... My bro wouldn't have taken it. He already had one, I saw it... Was I seeing things?"

Then he turned around and witnessed his two teammates dividing up the loot.

Lin Xuhuan said, "Fuck, bro, you're fucking playing favorites!"

Now that he'd been discovered, Yan Zhun admitted it without a shred of shame. "Yeah."

Lin Xuhuan said, "That's not fair! Put it back. Ran-baby and I will compete to grab it. Whoever gets it keeps it!"

Pei Ran hadn't taken part in that fight anyway. It was only a muzzle attachment, and his performance depended entirely on how he played in the moment, so he didn't care about it. At those words, he turned to compete with Lin Xuhuan for it.

"I killed both of them, and I looted those crates with my own skills." Yan Zhun asked, "If I pick it up, it's his. What's unfair about that?"

Lin Xuhuan paid no attention to the peculiar logic in parts of Yan Zhun's statement. He was obsessive about these things, and his gun needed only a muzzle attachment to be fully equipped. Seeing that this approach wouldn't work, he decided to try another. "Ran-baby, come on, give me that attachment first. I'll loot another one after I kill someone and give it back to you."

Pei Ran had already been walking toward Lin Xuhuan, but as soon as Yan Zhun finished speaking, he turned back.

Pei Ran said, "Go search some houses for one."

Lin Xuhuan: "..."

Lin Xuhuan shook his head and clicked his tongue, thinking that his bro had corrupted Pei Ran. Pei Ran used to be willing to share any attachment.

He took a moment to glance at his chat overlay and discovered that the tone of his chat was a little strange.

He didn't understand some of the comments, but he spotted one that said, "Does number 1 like number 2?"

Lin Xuhuan blankly checked who was who. Number 1 was his bro, and number 2 was Pei Ran.

[Xu Xu: My gaydar is going off like crazy. There's something between 1 and 2.]

He hurriedly muted his in-game mic and told his fans, "Don't make stuff up. We're all bros! Hey, this 'Xu Xu,' rein in that gaydar of yours. There's nothing to back that up!"

That was what he said.

But now that they'd mentioned it, Lin Xuhuan suddenly felt that, well, something was fucking weird.

Yan Zhun asked, "Anyone have a lightweight grip?"

Pei Ran said, "I do. I just picked one up. I'll give it to you in a bit."

Lin Xuhuan entered a random house and saw a lightweight grip on the floor, then checked the map. He was closer to Yan Zhun.

"Bro, I found one here. I'll give it to you." As he spoke, Lin Xuhuan ran toward Yan Zhun.

Then he watched Yan Zhun pass right by him and head to Pei Ran without looking back.

"Drop it for me."

Lin Xuhuan stood there blankly, holding on to the lightweight grip in his inventory. Looking at the two of them in the distance, he blinked hard several times.

"Um..." After a long moment, Lin Xuhuan dropped the lightweight grip and cleared his throat. "Is that girl called 'Xu Xu' still here...? DM me. No, it's nothing. Just to chat. Just chat."

They happily played squads until past eleven that night. Back in the lobby, Yan Zhun checked the time and turned on his mic. "We're done."

With that, he took off his headset, ignoring Lin Xuhuan's attempts to make him stay.

"Head back?" he turned to ask.

Pei Ran naturally agreed. He said goodbye to Lin Xuhuan before logging off. By the time he shut down the computer, Yan Zhun had already put on his coat.

They left the private room. The internet café was still packed, though it wasn't as noisy as it had been during the day. Their shoulders brushed, and Pei Ran could smell the cool scent on Yan Zhun, a scent unique to winter coats.

Several boys approached, laughing and horsing around. Pei Ran instinctively turned sideways, lightly bumping Yan Zhun's arm. Thinking he had lost his balance, Yan Zhun took hold of his wrist.

Pei Ran froze. Before he could react, the boys suddenly stopped in front of him.

"Pei Ran?" The boy in front raised his eyebrows and called his name. "What are you doing here?"

Pei Ran looked over. It was a familiar face, but he couldn't remember where he'd seen it.

Pei Ran said, "Using the computers."

Hearing that, the boy realized his question had indeed been a little stupid and laughed at himself. "Why's it just you? Where's Luo Qingshan?"

Pei Ran paused, remembering.

He was a friend Luo Qingshan had been close to in high school, from another school. They had eaten together once just after graduating.

The person beside the boy clearly knew Luo Qingshan too. Raising his eyebrows, he asked quietly, "Who's this?"

"Pei Ran," the boy said. "Luo Qingshan's boyfriend. The one he's been dating for years!"

The other's eyes widened in realization, and he grinned at Pei Ran. "Oh, oh! I've heard so much about you. Luo Qingshan used to talk about you in our group chat every day. He was so annoying."

"Yeah, it was 'baby' this, 'baby' that. So damn girly."

"That wasn't even the half of it." Once the subject of his good friend's embarrassing moments came up, the boy couldn't keep his mouth shut. "Remember when he got drunk at SoHo? He went around bragging to everyone in the other booths that he'd proposed to Pei Ran and he'd said yes. He even said they'd go abroad to get married as soon as they graduated from college..."

Pei Ran felt the weight leave his wrist. Yan Zhun had let go.

Yan Zhun lowered his eyes, his expression unchanged. "I'll wait at the front desk."

Pei Ran was silent for two seconds, then agreed.

The boys clearly were quite close to Luo Qingshan. Merely mentioning his name had been enough to get them chatting right there. Pei Ran listened quietly for a while before someone finally asked, "He didn't come with you?"

Pei Ran murmured in affirmation, then said, "We've broken up."

Everything instantly fell silent.

The boys froze, then exchanged awkward looks, staring at one another.

It wasn't really their fault for talking so much. After all, just last month, Luo Qingshan had mentioned Pei Ran in the group chat, saying he would bring him along for a get-together when they had time.

"Oh, I see." The boy in front scratched his head awkwardly.

"Mm." Pei Ran asked, "Was there anything else?"

"No..."

Pei Ran nodded. "Goodbye, then."

Yan Zhun leaned against the front desk, playing with his phone. The owner chatted with him briefly, then fell quiet when he noticed his lack of enthusiasm.

Yan Zhun wasn't really doing anything. He scrolled through his phone without taking in a single message.

Luo Qingshan used to love showing off his relationship. He usually called Pei Ran in their dorm room, never avoiding Yan Zhun. Whether Yan Zhun wanted to hear it or not, he'd heard it all countless times already.

At first, Yan Zhun would go outside for a smoke to avoid it. Later, he got used to it, listening in silence.

A long time might have passed, or perhaps only a little while. Yan Zhun couldn't quite stand there any longer. He tapped the counter and asked the owner, "A pack of cigarettes."

"We're out of the brand you like." The owner took out his own. "I opened the last pack. Take one to tide you over, but you'll have to smoke outside. No smoking in here."

Yan Zhun took one and put it between his lips.

"I'm ready. Shall we go?"

The owner was just about to hand Yan Zhun a lighter when Yan Zhun suddenly reached up, took out the cigarette, and enclosed it in his palm.

Then he turned around with a natural expression and said to the person behind him, "Okay."

Even after they left the internet café, the owner was still thinking back on what Yan Zhun had just done. It felt inexplicably familiar.

Just like, just like...

Just like his own reaction when he took out a cigarette and his wife suddenly came into view.

The night was cold, the wind sharp, the hour late and the dew heavy. The other shops on the street had already closed for the night, with only a handful of barbecue places still lit. The two walked in silence. The taxis had all gone to the neighboring nightclub strip to pick up passengers, and this was a one-way street. Every cab that passed had its "Occupied" sign on.

Pei Ran lowered his eyes, thinking about how to begin.

He felt that Yan Zhun was a little unhappy.

When the rain first fell, a drop landed on the tip of Pei Ran's nose, icy cold.

Winter rain came without warning. A downpour descended, and the customers eating skewers by the roadside froze before scrambling clumsily to their feet and taking shelter inside.

Pei Ran was just about to raise a hand against the rain when an arm slipped briefly around his waist. Yan Zhun guided him to the convenience store beside them.

They didn't go inside. The eaves overhead left them a dry patch, and the shopkeeper had put a bench there for customers to eat oden and sugarcane.

The eaves weren't wide. Both of them had to keep their legs tucked in as they sat, or they would get rained on.

Though he'd only been in the rain a short while, Pei Ran was still wet, the ends of his hair clumped together with rainwater.

Yan Zhun went into the store and bought a pack of tissues. Pulling one out, he said, "Come here."

Pei Ran wanted to say he could do it himself. He paused, then obediently leaned his head over.

Pei Ran's hair was very soft. At first, Yan Zhun's movements as he dried it were a little stiff, but gradually, they grew gentler without his realizing it.

They were very close. Pei Ran's scent filled his nose, and the rain drowned out the world's other sounds. At that moment, it seemed as though the world held only him and Pei Ran. In the dim light, those thoughts he had kept suppressed in a corner, those thoughts he could hardly voice to anyone, sprang up again.

Yan Zhun briefly held his breath, then released his soft black hair.

"Done."

Pei Ran murmured an acknowledgment and looked up at him.

The emotion in Yan Zhun's eyes was deep and heavy. He silently met his gaze for a long while before saying hoarsely, "Don't look at me like that."

Pei Ran said, "Why?"

Yan Zhun's gaze settled below the tip of his nose. "I'll do something bad."

With that, Yan Zhun looked away, crumpled the damp tissue in his hand into a ball, then unfolded it again.

He could feel Pei Ran still looking at him, quiet and enticing.

Yan Zhun's Adam's apple shifted slightly. Just as he was about to speak, something lightly bumped his shoulder, followed by the faintest touch at the corner of his mouth.

Pei Ran's heart was pounding. He had already grown used to this strange physical reaction. The corner of Yan Zhun's mouth was cool, much like the rain beside them.

He kissed him for only half a second before trying to retreat, his ears red. But a hand suddenly closed around the back of his neck and drew him forward.

Yan Zhun wouldn't let him pull away. Turning his face, he caught Pei Ran's lips between his teeth.