Chapter 99

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TW: Happy couple (this is a joke)

“There’s nothing wrong with this invitation, right?” Qi Leren told Ning Zhou about the matter after returning home. Of course, he didn’t say that he secretly went to buy a ring, he planned to surprise Ning Zhou next month.

Ning Zhou took the invitation and read it carefully: “There’s no demonic aura.”

“Really? I’m highly suspicious about SuHe.” Qi Leren frowned, subconsciously suspecting the lingering fellow.

Su He seems to be able to interfere with the quests to some extent, things like increasing the difficulty of the quest, interfering with the quest plot, and even directly entering copies——such as the Castle Cry and Star Death Reality Show copies.

“If the laptop appears again, he’ll definitely follow me and find out that I lied out him…. In fact, I also doubt that SuHe’s handwriting was in the previous Dragon Ant Queen quest.” Qi Leren stated his suspicions.

Because it’s so coincidental.

The【Leviathan’s Eyeball】he got from the Star Death Reality Show came from the monster that SuHe released, and this eyeball is directly targeted at the Devil of Power’s force——breaking through the enchantment set up by her crazy followers twice.

Judging from the prophet’s ability to create props, this eyeball may not necessarily be SuHe’s creation.

In the Underground Ant City quest, Qi Leren was nothing but chess piece shoved onto the table. The dragon ant queen, the Devil of Power, the Devil of Slaughter and the prophet were all involved, including Ning Zhou…. meanwhile SuHe seemed to be missing, he never appeared at all, but based on Qi Leren’s knowledge of him, he wasn’t the type of person who would stay and do nothing for such a commotion.

If we deduced SuHe’s objective based on the results….

“The Devil of Fraud and the Devil of Power is like one piece of iron (1)…. I think.” Qi Leren speculated.

“Hm.”

“Let me think…. otherwise I won’t do it, 300 days deduction is nearly acceptable.” Qi Leren said in distress. The 300 days earned from the Underground And City will all be filled in!

“I’ll go with you.” Ning Zhou said.

“To complete this quest?”

“Mm.”

“Won’t it be dangerous….” Qi Leren was worried.

“It won’t.”

“What if the laptop appears?”

“Use your half-field to hide it.” Ning Zhou said.

Qi Leren thought about it. Right now he doesn’t know how long it takes for SuHe to show up after reach laptop appearance, but based on the two appearances so far, SuHe doesn’t show up that fast. If he hid it in his half-field right after it appears, or simple let Ning Zhou hide it…..

But there was a catch——this task was not deliberately designed by SuHe.

“Tomorrow I’ll go see the prophet and ask him to some fortune-telling.” Qi Leren said.

“What’s fortune-telling” Ning Zhou asked.

Qi Leren was dumbfounded for a while before he said, “….It’s a type of divination.”

The two discussed about divination. Qi Leren explained about Zhouyi (2) and Ning Zhou listened carefully, but it was clearly written on his face: “Who am I? Where am I? What the hell is going on?”.

Qi Leren can’t help but laugh. The more he looked, the more he felt that his boyfriend was really cute. He couldn’t resist leaning in and rubbing the other’s face. His lover’s body temperature and breathing aggravated his skin’s hunger and thirst. The two hugged each other and chatted affectionately.

“Aya said you painted a portrait of me, you can also paint?” asked Qi Leren.

Ning Zhou was silent for a while, then nodded.

“Is it something to be embarrassed about? It’s great that you can paint, what else can you do? Can you sing?” Qi Leren imagined Ning Zhou singing, and a strong sense of infringement surged up.

“Can.”

“….You really can!” Qi Leren was shocked.

“I was in the choir when I was young,” Ning Zhou said.

Qi Leren couldn’t help opening his mouth and looking at Ning Zhou stupidly for a long time. Little Ning Zhou, who was standing in a small dress and singing, appeared in his mind. He was so handsome and cute, but he sang praises with a serious face like a little adult.

God, he’s so fucking cute!

Qi Leren deeply regretted that he had never seen Ning Zhou as a child.

“What’s with you?” Ning Zhou asked worriedly as he watched Qi Leren covering his trembling face with his arms like a ball.

“It’s nothing, I’m just a little excited.” Qi Leren sat up calmly and exhausted his life’s self-control to smooth the expression on his face, then asked, “What other skills do you have?”

Ning Zhou thought for a while: “Playing the piano.”

“Incredible.” praise Qi Leren. His boyfriend can sing, play the piano and even paint! He’s simply an artist!

Ning Zhou looked at him tenderly, those blue eyes that made his heart flutter under the light with a tenderness that seemed to drown someone.

“You’ve learned a lot, is there something in particular….. that others can’t do?” Qi Leren asked curiously.

This question stumped Ning Zhou. He thought about it for a long time. From tracking ogres in the wild to identifying artifacts, those things are all quite special, but they weren’t something that others can’t do.

In the end, after thinking for a long time, Ning Zhou thought of a unique skill: “I can hatch penguin eggs.”

“???!!!” Qi Leren’s eyes widened and he looked at his boyfriend in shock.

What…. What the hell is that?

“For the penguin couples near Neverland, when their mate dies, the other will abandon the hatching penguin eggs. If I see them, I’ll pick up the eggs that can still hatch.” Ning Zhou said.

——Shook, my boyfriend can hatch eggs?!

Considering that Ning Zhou’s body is a giant dragon after awakening, it doesn’t seem so strange to be able to hatch eggs…

The image of giant dragon Ning Zhou hatching eggs in a vault full of treasures, Qi Leren thought that it was so adorable he might faint.

Ning Zhou also explained the method and time required for hatching penguin eggs, which made Qi Leren stunned for a moment: “So you have to spend two to three months carrying penguin eggs with you? Do you need to control your body temperature at night? You can’t relax when you need to go out to perform tasks? And after hatching, you need to help it adapt to the life of the penguin colony until it can live independently?”

Ning Zhou nodded.

“You…. truly are a good person.” Qi Leren couldn’t use other words to describe Ning Zhou.

“I just want it to be able to see the world.” Ning Zhou said.

Even if the person who raised it tenderly will eventually leave, leaving it alone to face this world full of suffering, maybe it’ll struggle because of hunger and the cold all its life, but even so, the long night will eventually pass, it’ll find its own mate and build a warm home with it in the snow.

Qi Leren’s eyes suddenly felt warm, and he lowered his eyes.

He’s someone whose heart is gentle and full of kindness to the world, but he’s not treated gently by the world.

He didn’t even complain about fate, even though he was so innocent. He just wants to do his best to live every day, and each day might be his last.

“Paint another portrait for me.” Qi Leren said softly.

This request is so tender that it’s impossible to refuse.

So Ning Zhou picked up the paintbrush, and Qi Leren sat in front of the window sill, feeling a little nervous.

He didn’t know how Ning Zhou will paint him.

Thinking about it, Qi Leren couldn’t help but start to straighten his hair and tucked a bunch of hair behind his ear, then he hurriedly pressed them down. Damn it, why is it still curled up? There isn’t any water.

“I’ll go to the bathroom first!” Qi Leren sat up from the window sill, hurried to the bathroom, combed his hair with the wet comb, tidied up his clothes, and finally pondered in front of the mirror——should I put on makeup?

Even a man will find it very useful after learning this skill. Now when he’s walking down the road, Qi Leren can not only see the makeup on the girl’s face at a glance, but also think about how the man she’s holding can also improve his appearance if he trims his eyebrows, put some foundation on, and then apply some concealer on the acne marks.

Although he had worn female clothing, acted gay, is good at makeup, and can even imitate female voices——taught by Chen Baiqi, who said it might be useful someday——deep down there’s still a “straight man” restrained in him.

After struggling for more than ten seconds, Qi Leren calmed himself down and returned to the window sill.

Even if it’s already night-time, the Village of Dusk is stuck at dusk. Tonight’s sunset is extraordinarily splendid, but this splendor did not last long. Qi Leren leaned on the bay window (3) and stared at Ning Zhou who was painting. The tenderness that kept pouring out of his heart surprised him himself. Why would a person have such strong feelings for another person?

It was as if the love that went against man’s reason had reshaped his soul once again.

This is indeed the case.

In the garden of the Holy Sepulchre (4) in the depths of his soul, those white roses bloomed because of this love.

The sky was getting dark. Qi Leren glanced out the window. The dense rain clouds began to gather, it was about to rain.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for a pea-sized raindrop to hit the glass window, and the meandering water traces slid down the transparent glass. Qi Leren looked at the raindrops outside the window, and also looked at the rain clouds, thinking that it’d be nice if there’ll be thunder.

If there’s thunder, he can get into Ning Zhou’s bed and sleep with him.

He’s still thinking about the new trait he added to himself when he’s with Ning Zhou under the eaves of the rainy day——fear of thunder.

God knows that he’s actually not afraid at all. Every time there’s a thunderstorm, he would close the doors and windows then play games happily. When he’s tired, he’d cover his head and sleep until dawn.

But when it comes to showing off his acting skills, Qi Leren won’t lose. The only problem now is that there probably won’t be any thunder in this weather!

“It’s raining, I don’t know if there’ll be thunder.” Qi Leren said, and glanced at Ning Zhou secretly.

Since Ning Zhou could stop the rain, it wouldn’t be a problem to have a thunderstorm in the surrounding area, right?

Ning Zhou stopped his brushes, got up and walked to the window sill to look at the rain clouds and said, “There won’t, it’s just normal rain clouds.”

“….” Qi Leren held his forehead in despair, what should he do if his boyfriend is so upright? Listening to his tone, it seems that he was quite relaxed and happy that there’s no thunder!

“Do you wish there won’t be thunder?” Qi Leren asked quietly, a little pissed off and depressed.

Ning Zhou nodded.

Qi Leren really is in despair, his boyfriend’s emotional intelligence (5) is really bad! Doesn’t he know that couples sometimes need a silly excuse to hug and kiss each other?!

“You said you’re afraid of thunder, then it’s best to never have thunderstorms, so you can sleep well.” Ning Zhou said.

Qi Leren was stunned.

He suddenly understood where the gap between himself and Ning Zhou was. Ning Zhou loved him and hoped to realize all his wishes. Qi Leren wanted him to live, so he would live well, even if it was painful. The selfish nature of man is hardly present in him, and he uses love to satisfy those he loves, not himself.

But Qi Leren is not like this. He also understands that many of his wishes are based on Ning Zhou’s pain. He said that he’s willing to accompany Ning Zhou to hell, but is Ning Zhou really willing? He always hopes that the person he loves can live in the sunshine and be happy. But if Qi Leren did this, he’ll only accept it, and do everything he can to make him happy, even in hell.

Because this is Qi Leren’s wish.

“What’s wrong?” Ning Zhou asked nervously when he saw the way Qi Leren’s eyes was sparkling under the light.

Qi Leren sniffed, buried his face in the back of Ning Zhou’s neck, and took a light bite on his collarbone.

Ning Zhou held him blankly, and his body stiffened uncomfortably.

“How can you be so stupid?”

“Am I?”

“You are. But how can I be so lucky? I just happened to meet you.”

The heavy rain hit the glass window, and countless raindrops gathered together and rolled down. These criss-crossing water marks turned the street lights outside the window into a colorful dim yellow.

The sound of the rain was about to drown out their voices, and they had to get close enough to hear the sound coming from each other’s lips.

Eventually, there is no distance between their lips.

Arms around the back of his neck, arms around his lower back, the passionate kiss, so endearing, exuded the joy and sorrow of the previous moment, so hot that the soul would be ignited.

Between the narrow windows, besieged by torrential rain, they tacitly countdown the upcoming marriage proposal.

There’s still one month and three days until the founding day of the Village of Dusk.

Translator’s Notes:

One piece of iron (铁板一块) is a Chinese idiom meaning tightly bound and inseparable.Zhouyi (周易) or Yijing (易经) is an ancient Chinese divination text.Bay window if you want to know.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Here’s an image.Emotional intelligence is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. Here Leren is talking about NZ’s inability to read the mood/room.“deep down there’s still a “straight man” restrained in him.” Hohoho. No.

I finished. Nice. Thank you for 500 all-time views on this site, appreciate it [smiley face].