C103 – Sinister Lover [Slice]

Chu Chen’an was half lying on the pearwood table; the chessboard was in disarray, and many of the pieces were scattered on the ground.

 

 

His cheeks were tinged with a reddish color, and he lightly bit his lower lip, holding back from making a sound. His eyes were dazed, and he felt that time passed by very slowly, with light gold falling on his ankle.

 

 

Under the control of a pair of big hands, Lan Xu leaned down and devoutly kissed the back of his feet.

 

Chu Chen’an was slightly stunned, only to see Lan Xu immersed in the golden light. He couldn’t help but sink deep into Lan Xu’s turquoise, gentle, and enchanting eyes.

 

Hot air wrapped in ambiguous love, making him forget shyness and resistance for a moment.

 

There was silence all around.

 

It was as if he only heard the sound of his own heartbeat.

 

The feeling of losing control made Chu Chen’an inevitably panic, and he secretly grabbed onto Lan Xu’s sleeves.

 

The wind blew through his hair, and Chu Chen’an couldn’t help but drift off again.

 

It was as if he still carried Lan Huai’s shadow between his knitted brows and smile.

 

Chu Chen’an only heard Lan Xu say, “Let’s be together all the time, okay?”

 

Chu Chen’an didn’t answer immediately because, at this moment, he couldn’t say a complete sentence anymore.

 

His cheeks were getting hotter and hotter; he exhaled dense hot air, and a hand helplessly climbed onto his shoulder.

 

 

Lan Xu’s powerful arms like iron imprisoned him, and he asked again in a low voice, “Is it good?”

 

Chu Chen’an gasped for breath, no longer able to tell where he was.

 

 

Before Lan Xu kissed him, he spat out a word with difficulty, “Good.”

 

He remembered that he had answered many times.

 

 

But “they” always wanted to hear him say it again.

 

Lan Xu closed his eyes and kissed him, satisfied; he held a smile. “Then it’s a deal; An An will not back out this time.”

 

 

Lan Xu took off the silver bell he was wearing on his neck and put it on Chu Chen’an’s neck. The silver jewelry reflected a dazzling light, and the crunching sound of the silver bell was mixed with the sweet and lingering sound of sobbing.

 

The silver jewelry was like a wedding ring that held onto Chu Chen’an’s wandering thoughts.

……

 

It was only after a few days of reorganization that He Xuesheng and his group decided to return.

 

They could have gone back the day after the incident, but taking into account the series of external influences brought about by the unprovoked deaths of several people traveling with them and the fact that Chen Han, the assistant, was no longer able to communicate with people normally, old Liang decided to hold off for the time being.

 

 

Chen Han has been doing much better in the past few days; at least he didn’t suddenly go crazy and yell, and he didn’t punch and kick people when he saw them.

 

Old Liang considered for a long time that in order not to affect his future reputation in the world and shooting career, as well as his own safety, he decided to conceal the real reason for the deaths of these people and go back to the public claim that they were in the mountain shooting and they accidentally fell off a cliff and died, and so far, their bones couldn’t be found.

 

 

This was still what He Xuesheng secretly told him and repeatedly asked him to keep it confidential.

 

 

Chu Chen’an felt it was quite ironic. Perhaps in his world, there were also many unknown things buried on the glamorous screen. As ordinary people in society, they may never know the filth and darkness inside.

 

Behind the beauty were buried withered bones, while those who buried the corpses would always be praised.

 

The wound on He Xuesheng’s neck also finally scabbed over.

 

He sat in the passenger seat, looking at Chu Chen’an outside the car window, then glanced at Lan Huai, who was hugging him to the side, and asked hesitantly, “Are you really not going back with me first? School will start in half a month.”

 

Chu Chen’an stole a glance at Lan Huai’s complexion, smiled, and shook his head at He Xuesheng, stammering, “I… will go back again when the time comes.”

 

Zhang Fengting was piggybacked; he was tightly wrapped in a dark brown overcoat, sitting in the corner of the last row, his back straight, his posture upright and elegant, his face expressionless, staring at the water stains on the car window. He clearly didn’t want to interact with people, perhaps having forgotten how to adapt to being in a crowd.

 

He was like a wilting flower, but he always spread its withered branches.

 

As he set off, the car window in front of Zhang Fengting passed by Chu Chen’an. He stared into his eyes, his pale mouth moving a few times.

 

He wordlessly said to Chu Chen’an through the car window, “Thank you.”

 

Then the car covered in yellow mud finally began to drive away from here.

 

Chu Chen’an looked at the departing car, a bit out of his mind.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Congratulations, temporary mini-quest completed!]

 

[Reward Points Doubled: X2000]

 

The system’s beeps continued to ring in Chu Chen’an’s mind.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Congratulations! As your game reputation value has been at full points, the system has decided to gift you an upgrade card!]

[Click use] [Use it later]

 

Chu Chen’an hesitated for half a second and tapped [click Use] in the control panel.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Congratulations! You have been upgraded to a level 5 user!]

 

[Give away props: X2]

 

【Give away gold coins: X2000]

 

[Points have been cleared! You are a big step closer to going home; please keep up the good work; the road home is not far away~] [Ding!]

 

[Your current copy is in a quest-free state, but in order to prevent the game world from collapsing, your lag time is expected to be relatively long].

 

[Wow, 001 has detected that your attraction value to the behind-the-scenes NPC has reached 100% and hereby suggests that you treat this as a traveling experience and enjoy the moment to the fullest~]

 

The corner of Chu Chen’an’s lips twitched; he could hear it; 001 was suggesting that he fall in love.

 

He looked at his personal information bar; the props section did have two more prop cards, but they were both still gray and hadn’t been activated yet.

 

He was already only one gray card short in the cards section, and this copy was the fourth card with a 90% illumination rate.

 

This also meant that the day would come soon when he would go back.

 

He would return to the real world, would have a healthy body, wouldn’t have to lie in a hospital room and live on a ventilator, and would return to a normal life.

 

But what about Lan Huai, this different but clearly the same NPC madman? What would happen to him?

 

Would he go crazy and destroy the game world, or would he continue to be crazy and paranoid to find him?

 

Lan Huai saw that he didn’t make a sound and rubbed his shoulder. “If you want to go out, we’ll go live outside.”

Chu Chen’an returned to his senses and used his consciousness to close the system control panel as he shook his head.

 

Chu Chenan was held by his hand, stepping on the shallow gold all the way back.

 

This place was actually very beautiful—emerald mountains with white clouds and the setting sun.

 

He felt Lan Huai’s hand was warm.

 

He would always be held.

 

Chu Chen’an suddenly stopped in his tracks.

 

He tilted his head to look at the pale green mountains in the distance, and he watched as the clouds hid into the mountains, transforming into nothingness and dust and smoke, and then disappearing.

 

“What would you do if I disappeared again one day?”

 

Lan Huai turned sideways to meet his eyes; his hand stroked his cheek, and he took him into his arms.

 

Lan Xu’s eyes were full of him as he responded, “Go find you and be with you.”

 

Chu Chen’an blinked, Lan Huai’s tone was calm and certain, and he suddenly realized something.

 

Lan Huai was able to kill himself to find him; what else could he not do?

 

He was certain that they would meet again.

 

The same as every time in the past.

 

They went to the secret realm.

Chu Chen’an was carried by Lan Huai, holding a berry that he had bitten a few times. He watched as Lan Huai and his figure slowly stretched and moved.

They were in a clear world, and Chu Chen’an felt this pure love that wasn’t mixed with se-x and desire.

Chu Chen’an lay on Lan Huai’s shoulder, dozing off in the gentle haze.

 

Lan Huai: “Baby, like it here?”

 

Chu Chen’an responded confusedly, “Uh-huh.”

 

Lan Huai: “Then we’ll come every day from now on.”

 

Their shadows gradually trailed off, also like a pair of entwined lovers.

 

Chu Chen’an squinted and watched the wind chase the dandelion, and only after the dandelion drifted for a long time and finally landed on the ground with the intention of taking root did he close his eyes with peace of mind.

 

“Sleep, baby.” Lan Huai said softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll find you.”

 

Lan Huai’s words were gentle, steady as a ball of cotton for him to rest his head on.

 

Chu Chen’an clutched a silver bell from the silver jewelry in his hand as he fell asleep, and the card deck in his mind automatically lit up.

 

On the back of the card was a compote flower that bloomed crimson and bright, with a string of silver bells also hanging from the center of the flower’s heart.

 

And then.

 

The card was automatically flipped over, and the contents on it were automatically mixed into Chu Chen’an’s dream.

 

He dreamed of the day he first met Lan Huai, who looked at him indifferently, making him not dare to get close.

 

And at night, Lan Huai carefully arranged a place for him to stay; those eyes became no longer cold but instead diffused an unspeakable danger and heat…

 

One day, when he was half unconscious, Lan Huai held his hand and kissed it, and for the first time, he revealed a shadowy smile.

 

It was like he had changed, becoming the other extreme of his soul.

 

Dangerous and terrifying.

 

Or rather, this person was actually Lan Xu.

 

Chu Chen’an’s consciousness was too blurred to recognize it.

 

Later, he dreamed of the compulsion flower that Lan Huai had blocked off in the back room, and the air was filled with the fragrance that seduced him to come closer.

 

He was compelled to touch the dangerous and mysterious compulsion flower.

 

 

The compulsion flower turned into flower liquid and melted into the back of his hand, as if it had also melted into his blood. He panicked for a split second, and before Lan Huai came in and wrapped his arms around him, he clearly saw Lan Xu’s smug smile in the shadowy light of the back room.

 

And back then, this memory had been unconsciously erased like a dream.

 

Chu Chen’an suddenly realized that the truth and his premonition were surprisingly not far off!

 

It turned out that Lan Xu had always been there; what he said was true; Lan Xu had indeed known him for a long time.

 

Because Lan Xu and Lan Huai had always been the same person.

 

The Lan family has always had only one heir.

 

His grandfather named him Lan Huai, and his father, who was a businessman far away in A country, named him Lan Xu.

 

His grandfather and father were at loggerheads, refusing to give in to each other.

 

Thus, he had two names and two identities.

 

He was originally imprisoned in Wulan Mountain by his grandfather in the name of his mission, just like successive generations of Shaman successors, and spent his days with poisonous insects. He had spent a whole month alone in the valley with thousands of poisonous insects.

 

During this month, the wounds on his body would scab over and then be torn open again by the poisonous insects, healing again and splitting open again. He had been poisoned by many fatal parasites in the dark and sunless valley and had suffered the pain of his body being gnawed on by ten thousand insects alone.

 

He once thought in the haze of pain that the meaning of his existence, perhaps death, was more meaningful than his existence.

 

 

Close to death, his bloo-d became the deadliest poison, but also invulnerable to all poisons. He became the winner in the Valley of Refining Compulsions.

 

 

Like the successive Shaman, in order to become a messenger of the holy shaman god, he blocked half of his soul, restrained his filthy desires, and rejected the world, and he gradually became cold, reticent, and indifferent to life, as if the blood in his body laced with deadly parasites was cold.

 

Later, he became the greatest shaman-compassionist of all times and was worshiped and adored by the foreigners under the Temple of the Shaman god.

 

But then he met Chu Chen’an, and even though his soul was crippled, he couldn’t help but be in the throes of adoration and obscure possessiveness.

 

For the first time, he wanted to own someone—to have them for himself.

 

This was his mate alone; it was meant to be, he thought.

 

He had the sweet love of his life, and the taste of deep love and lust had him eating out of the palm of his hand.

 

His desire to possess grew more and more uncontrollable, even to the point of being paranoid about sharing it with his extreme other half of the soul.

 

Then, his lover suddenly disappeared.

 

This made him lose his mind, and he ki-lled himself.

 

He had to pull his soul away to find his lover, but he was worried that his timid lover would be scared if he couldn’t find him when he suddenly came back, so he used gu to regenerate his own body so that his soul, which was split in two, would also have a place to belong.

 

The other half of his soul also wanted to monopolize the sweet lover, and they paranoidly got into a disagreement.

 

The regenerated body was unwilling to compromise and considered itself only as his brother and split one of his names as well.

 

The other half of his soul said that he wanted to be called Lan Xu and also to be the rightful lover of Chu Chen’an’s.

 

His character was conflicted, as was his soul.

 

But they both loved their lover.

……

[Click here to collapse]

 

Chu Chen’an snapped out of it, his mind slow to react, but he had gotten 80% of the truth.

 

They were the equivalent of another form of schizophrenia, perhaps influenced by the pain they had endured in the first place; this kind of schizophrenia was even more severe and more paranoid.

 

Since Lan Xu and Lan Huai were the same person, the conjecture that the behind-the-scenes NPC was the same person also made more sense.

 

Chu Chen’an felt extremely uncomfortable just by remembering the image of Lan Huai trapped in the valley being chewed on by poisonous insects.

 

He squinted his eyes and sat up, rubbing his messy hair. When he raised his eyes, he saw that he met the gaze of a person not far away.

 

Lan Xu was sitting quietly on a seat not far away, looking at him with a smile.

 

Chu Chen’an felt that he was out of place and remembered that the chess matter hadn’t been settled with him yet and squinted at him, “What?”

Lan Xu was holding his paintbrush. With the drawing board on his side, he came to the bedside and sat down. “Baby, I’ve learned to draw.”

 

Chu Chen’an: “And?”

 

“I’ll be able to paint with you in the future.”

 

Lan Xu held his small hand, very happy. “Whatever you draw, I’ll follow you. Painting mountains, painting water, painting anything… I can always accompany you.”

 

Chu Chen’an was slightly stunned; it turned out that Lan Xu had always been very concerned about this matter, just because he and He Xuesheng painted together for two days.

 

Chu Chen’an suddenly felt it was his own small-mindedness; he squirmed and asked, “Did you learn it yourself?”

 

“Yes, I practiced while you and brother were together.” Lan Xu kissed Chu Chen’an’s cheeks, “This way I’ll have more time with you than my brother in the future.”

 

Lan Xu’s calculations were the most numerous and the first NPC behind the scenes that Chu Chen’an had ever seen fighting with himself.

 

Lan Xu stuck to him and wrapped his arms around him, demanding a kiss. “I learned this on my own; I’m smart, right?

 

Chu Chen’an was kissed by him and nodded, “Quickly let go of me. I’ll fall down.”

 

“No, I’ll hold you tight; I won’t let you fall,” murmured Lan Xu as he held him in his arms, “and I won’t lose you either.”

 

Lan Xu said, “By the way, do you want to see the painting I drew?”

 

Chu Chen’an reluctantly nodded and made him release him and get it.

 

“It’s just that I haven’t finished the painting yet, baby…” Lan Xu lifted the painting screen while regretfully asking, “Can you help me finish it?”

 

Chu Chen’an looked over and almost threw his pillow at him. The person in the painting was him; it was the scene from that day when he played chess.

 

From the reddish cheeks to the white legs, the special parts hadn’t been drawn yet.

“But it’s all because An An was so delicious. I was too involved and forgot what An An looked like in his entirety at that time.”

 

Lan Xu showed regret and approached to hold his ankle, proposing, “Why don’t you let brother draw it? Let’s recall it again.”

 

Chu Chen’an retracted his earlier thoughts.

 

Perv-erts will always be perv-erts.

 

His face reddened and he lightly bit Lan Xu’s shoulder, which instead made his teeth ache and his cheeks puff out like a hamster’s.

 

And then Lan Huai pushed the door in.

 

From the dark night to the east spitting white, that painting wasn’t finished.

…

 

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