Chapter 23: Will You Come With Me?
Dong Li’s memories of Lufiel were still of someone aloof and rarely proactive.
They had been close at times, of course, but more often than not, Lufiel had never seemed to like him quite as much.
At least, that was how Dong Li had come to see it after their breakup.
But…
Dong Li still didn’t really understand what Lufiel had told him inside the illusion. Even so, deep down, he was already leaning toward believing him.
Lufiel didn’t seem to have any reason to lie.
And when Dong Li said he wanted to make a truth potion, part of him had simply wanted to see how Lufiel would react.
Besides, the world around him had turned out to be a game. If strange things happened that he couldn’t understand, then… maybe that wasn’t so unusual after all?
So if Lufiel was telling the truth—if he had never wanted to break up and everything had been a misunderstanding…
Then…
Should Dong Li let him hug him?
Dong Li lowered his head and thought back to the illusion.
His mind had been muddled at the time. The moment he saw the rear mountains of the Fuling Region, he remembered how Lufiel had stood him up.
So when Lufiel asked what was wrong, Dong Li had only grown more upset the longer he talked.
Their separation had been too sudden.
Every time Dong Li thought about it, he still felt hurt.
Then the Illusion Snake’s illusion had ended too quickly.
Dong Li didn’t want to admit it, but…he had wanted Lufiel to hold him too.
He looked at Lufiel again.
Slowly, his resolve wavered, and he inched a little closer.
He had already followed Lufiel all the way here.
A hug probably wouldn’t hurt…
Dong Li was still wondering exactly how he was supposed to hug him when he suddenly felt a gentle pressure at his back.
Several wisps of sword aura nudged him forward.
Dong Li tipped over with the movement—and Lufiel reached out, pulling him straight into his arms.
They ended up sitting together on the carpet.
The space between the sofa and coffee table was narrow enough to partially bypass the system’s distance restrictions.
Dong Li was completely enclosed in Lufiel’s arms.
Rongrong found it too cramped and wriggled free, scampering off to the side.
Dong Li remained tense for a moment.
Then he buried his face against the side of Lufiel’s neck and gradually relaxed.
Lufiel gently ran a hand through his golden hair, then quickly withdrew it.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “It was my fault.”
His voice dropped even softer.
“I won’t leave you again.”
Dong Li’s nose stung.
He didn’t say anything.
His arms simply moved on their own, wrapping around Lufiel’s waist.
The room was silent.
Rongrong jumped onto the sofa and sat down to groom its tail.
Heidan and Yuanbao were both on the coffee table.
Lufiel had his back to them.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been the perfect opportunity for a sneak attack.
Aside from Dong Li, all humans were enemies in the eyes of demonic beasts.
Yuanbao was slightly less hostile, but Heidan had been staring at Lufiel from the moment he entered the room, never lowering its guard for even a second.
But now…
Heidan looked at Lufiel.
Then at Dong Li in Lufiel’s arms.
Its crimson eyes filled with confusion.
A moment later, however, Heidan understood.
This meant Dong Li had successfully tamed a human!
And a really strong one at that!
Heidan suddenly felt oddly proud.
It turned to Yuanbao and enthusiastically began licking its fur.
In front of the sofa, Dong Li and Lufiel remained in each other’s arms for a long time.
Listening to Lufiel’s breathing so close to his ear, Dong Li found himself thinking that maybe his ex-boyfriend liked him more than he had realized.
Then why had he always been so cold before…?
Had he only started appreciating Dong Li after they were separated for a while?
Still…
Tonight, they had held hands.
Now they were hugging too…
Dong Li couldn’t help lifting his head from Lufiel’s chest and looking at him.
Neither of them was wearing a mask now.
Dong Li’s black outer robe and hat had been tossed over one corner of the sofa.
Under the room’s lights, his violet eyes looked moist and bright.
It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Lufiel lowered his gaze.
His Adam’s apple shifted.
“Rongrong?”
Dong Li blinked.
“Nothing…”
What he was actually wondering was whether Lufiel should kiss him now.
They were already hugging.
Wasn’t Lufiel trying to get back together with him…?
Dong Li immediately stopped that train of thought.
No, no.
Too fast.
He and Lufiel had only started speaking to each other again this morning.
Far too much had happened in a single day.
If it hadn’t been for the Illusion Snake’s illusion, things probably wouldn’t have progressed this quickly.
And back when they first started dating, Dong Li had been the one to pursue Lufiel.
This time, no matter what, he couldn’t be too proactive.
He would make the truth potion first.
Then he could think about everything properly…
As Dong Li’s thoughts wandered, sleepiness began to creep in.
He yawned.
It was all Rongrong’s fault for fooling around so much inside the illusion.
Just like during the day, now that Dong Li had completely relaxed, the exhaustion started catching up with him.
Seeing this, Lufiel said, “Rongrong, go rest in the bedroom.”
Dong Li yawned again and nodded through watery eyes.
“Mm.”
Lufiel helped him stand.
By the time they reached the bedroom door, Dong Li suddenly realized Lufiel had been holding his hand the whole way.
As though nothing had happened, Dong Li calmly let go.
Then he reminded him,
“You need to find the Mind-Bewitching Herb soon. I still don’t know if I can believe you yet.”
“Okay.”
Lufiel couldn’t resist lifting a hand and gently brushing a strand of hair away from Dong Li’s cheek.
When Dong Li didn’t dodge, Lufiel leaned down slightly.
“Is there anything else you want?”
Dong Li thought about it.
His violet eyes brightened.
“Yes…”
He looked at Lufiel expectantly.
“I want a new hat. The kind they sell at the clothing shop in Dragonbone Town. A white one…”
Dong Li had been thinking about it for ages.
“I asked before. It costs eight hundred points.”
It was a shame he had left Dragonbone Town in such a rush.
Otherwise, he probably would have tried just stealing it…
Even though quite a few players had seen him by now, as long as his golden hair was hidden, it probably didn’t matter what kind of hat he wore.
And later, he wanted to buy new clothes too.
He wanted to replace the black outer robe.
He didn’t like dressing in such dark colors.
“The one from Dragonbone Town?” Lufiel said. “Okay.”
Dong Li immediately brightened.
He reached out and took hold of Lufiel’s sleeve on his own.
“Thank you, Lulu.”
Lufiel looked at his fair cheek and murmured, “Mm.”
“Go to sleep.”
Dong Li closed the bedroom door behind him.
The two little beasts had already followed him inside.
Along with Rongrong, they jumped onto the bed and found comfortable spots to lie down.
Dong Li washed up in the small bathroom, then opened his little medicine furnace and gave them all something to eat before sleepily crawling under the covers.
Rongrong looked energetic, but it was actually tired too.
It curled up beside Dong Li’s neck.
Dong Li turned off the lights.
The bedroom became dark and silent.
—
Outside, Lufiel stood by the sitting-room window and messaged Liufeng.
Liuye was participating in the arena these next two days, and Liufeng had conveniently returned to Dragonbone Town.
[Liufeng: A white hat? I’ll check once the shops open tomorrow.]
[Liufeng: I don’t have any Mind-Bewitching Herb, but it’s pretty common. You should be able to find some at the stalls around Maidong City.]
[Liufeng: But what do you need Mind-Bewitching Herb for? Don’t tell me…]
Had something still gone wrong with Dong Li?
Was he refusing to cooperate with Lufiel, so Lufiel planned to simply—
Before Liufeng could finish imagining it, Lufiel sent a live-call request.
Once Liufeng answered, Lufiel briefly explained what he had learned inside the illusion.
“What?” Liufeng exclaimed. “Dong Li formed separate memories while his consciousness was asleep?”
He rubbed his chin.
“I’ve never even heard of anything like that…”
Liufeng had originally assumed Dong Li’s data had been wiped before the open beta, which was why he had turned into an ordinary NPC.
But then Dong Li had truly awakened.
His old consciousness had returned.
And now…apparently things still weren’t that simple.
Even if an NPC’s data were suspended, it shouldn’t continue generating memories independently.
Unless…
Dong Li possessed an extraordinarily high degree of freedom within the game.
Maybe he even had certain permissions.
Perhaps even while his consciousness had been asleep, the system had never truly controlled him.
Instead, it had somehow allowed him to believe he was still going about his normal daily life.
But how was that possible?
He was only an NPC.
Liufeng startled himself with the thought.
Yet he couldn’t think of another explanation.
If that were true, then Dong Li’s role in this game world had to be extremely important.
Lufiel asked, “Will that make the data transfer harder?”
“It could,” Liufeng admitted. “I’m also preparing an extraction device. If I can’t hack into the game terminal, I’ll try using that instead.”
Either way, the goal was the same—to “steal” Dong Li out of the game.
If Dong Li was truly that important, the system might have placed some kind of special marker on his data.
The whole thing was starting to sound increasingly difficult…
Liufeng was curious about something else too.
“Have you asked him anything about the storyline? Why was Dong Li with those two demonic beasts back then?”
He still didn’t know Dong Li was currently traveling with both of them.
Lufiel was silent for a moment.
“No.”
Liufeng could tell he simply didn’t care.
He sounded slightly speechless.
“Right… Well, you might as well ask. Knowing where the new storyline is heading ahead of time can’t hurt.”
“Okay.”
The call ended not long afterward.
Dong Li was asleep.
Lufiel placed a monitoring device inside the room, then temporarily logged out.
The gaming pod slowly opened.
Lufiel sat up and casually picked up the communicator beside him.
Several missed calls were displayed.
They were from his instructor.
Lufiel had skipped training today and been absent the entire day.
His instructor didn’t know what had happened and was probably worried.
Lufiel sent a brief message in reply.
Then, while he was at it, he requested leave for tomorrow too.
In the past, he had almost never missed training.
But with his talent and grades, being absent for a while wouldn’t matter.
He set the communicator down, stood, took out a bottle of nutrient solution, drank it, then went into the bathroom.
When he came back out, there was another missed call.
Butler Lin.
Lufiel frowned.
Whenever Butler Lin contacted him, it was always because something had happened with Lu Zenuo.
He didn’t call back.
Instead, he casually tossed the communicator into a corner and returned to the gaming pod.
He hadn’t been offline for long.
When Lufiel logged back in, he was still inside the inn.
The bedroom door remained tightly shut.
He looked at it once, then sat down on the sofa in the sitting room.
—
The next morning, Dong Li woke up to find his new hat waiting for him.
Lufiel had transferred quite a lot of money.
And since Liufeng had already bought him the black outer robe before, he knew Dong Li’s size.
So while he was at it, he had bought several new outfits too.
Dong Li was delighted.
He disappeared into the bedroom and spent ages trying everything on before finally choosing his favorite set.
Then he opened the door and stood in front of Lufiel.
“Was this expensive?” he asked a little nervously. “And there are so many others… I can’t wear all of them.”
“It wasn’t expensive,” Lufiel said from beside the door. “You can leave the rest with me for now.”
Dong Li nodded.
He immediately went back inside, gathered up the remaining outfits, and brought them out.
Lufiel stored them in his inventory.
The clothes vanished right in front of Dong Li.
Dong Li didn’t ask any questions.
He was wearing his new hat.
Beneath the brim, his violet eyes looked especially obedient.
Remembering what Liufeng had said the night before, Lufiel asked,
“Rongrong, do you want to come with me to find the Mind-Bewitching Herb?”
Dong Li nodded obediently again.
“Okay.”
Lufiel asked, “Where do you want to go after that?”
Dong Li thought about it.
“Anywhere is fine.”
That wasn’t quite what Lufiel had expected.
If an NPC had been inserted into a new storyline, they should have had some kind of strong objective.
Lufiel considered it, then tried asking differently.
“Is there something you wanted to do in Maidong City?”
Yesterday, after leaving Northern Dark Forest, Dong Li had most likely come here on purpose.
He had wandered the streets for half the day and even entered the beast arena.
“Does coming here to have fun count?” Dong Li asked.
Then he added, “I want to visit other places too. Anywhere is fine.”
Lufiel fell silent for a moment.
“Have fun?”
“Yeah.”
Dong Li looked at him uncertainly.
Then, in a much smaller voice, he asked,
“Will you come with me…?”
