Chapter 36: Only After We’re Married
Dong Li was far too sleepy.
And having his tail brushed sounded strangely soothing too…
The sofa was large enough that he was practically sprawled across Lufiel’s chest, his tail hanging limply behind him.
Once Lufiel was sure he didn’t mind, he gently lifted the tip of Dong Li’s tail and began brushing from there.
The fur was naturally soft and smooth, only a little tousled. Lufiel moved carefully, so the comb never tugged or hurt.
Just like Rongrong, Dong Li’s tail had a white tip.
Wherever the comb passed, the fur became even softer and fluffier, wonderfully pleasant to the touch.
By the time Lufiel reached the middle of his tail, Dong Li felt as though he were about to fall asleep.
Even so, he could still clearly feel every stroke of the comb.
Having his fur brushed felt so nice…
So sleepy…
If he weren’t this tired, Dong Li really wanted to bite Lufiel a few more times.
The kind that would leave teeth marks and his scent behind, so that anyone who came near would immediately know—this person was his…
Dong Li’s thoughts grew hazier and hazier until he finally fell asleep.
Lufiel slowly finished brushing the length of his tail and reached the base.
He hesitated for a moment before carefully continuing.
From his angle, he couldn’t actually see where the tail emerged, but he could more or less guess that it came through the opening in Dong Li’s pants.
The base also seemed much more sensitive.
After only a few strokes, Dong Li let out a soft sound in his sleep, almost like a protest.
Lufiel immediately lightened his touch.
“Almost done.”
He finished quickly and set the comb aside.
Dong Li tightened his arms around Lufiel’s waist, settled down again, and continued sleeping.
It was nearly five in the afternoon, and the sunlight outside the window had dimmed considerably.
The street below was quiet.
Every now and then came the faint clack-clack of one of Asura City’s wooden carvings shifting on its own.
Compared to the noisy chaos of Maidong City, it felt like an entirely different world.
Lufiel remained on the sofa with the sleeping Dong Li in his arms, occasionally replying to Liufeng’s messages.
[Liufeng: Liuye says all your training and classes have been suspended. It’s probably spread throughout Tianheng Star by now.]
[Lufiel: I figured.]
[Liufeng: So what are you going to do after this?]
[Lufiel: If necessary, I’ll take Rongrong and leave.]
Lufiel had never cared about inheriting Lu Zenuo’s position as Chief.
The reason he had obeyed and trained seriously all these years was partly because he had been waiting, and partly because the others on the capital planet—as well as several instructors at the academy—had treated him well.
Lu Zenuo might not like him, but Lufiel was extraordinarily talented.
Several admirals valued him highly and had even wanted to train him personally.
If he left this star system, the universe beyond it was still vast.
It simply wasn’t as safe.
He would need to prepare thoroughly.
[Liufeng: Dong Li really has changed you, huh? You’re actually considering leaving the star system now.]
Lufiel didn’t reply.
When he had taken the truth medicine, he had openly admitted that he still intended to take Dong Li back to the Fuling Region.
But thinking about doing something was one thing.
He still hadn’t actually done it.
[Liufeng: By the way, I still haven’t found the game terminal, but the extraction device is almost finished.]
[Liufeng: If I use it in my academy dorm, though, the energy fluctuations will be easy to detect. I could find a way to send it to you instead and let you operate it.]
[Liufeng: It’s not hard to use. And that way, Dong Li can stay right beside you.]
[Lufiel: Is the new virtual world finished too?]
Lufiel lowered his eyes to Dong Li sleeping in his arms.
Dong Li hated being confined to one place.
If he left this game only to wake up in a second Fuling Region, he would be unhappy there too.
But if he never left the game, then he would always remain an NPC—forever vulnerable to the system’s control.
Every attempt they were making now was only necessary because they couldn’t find the company behind Otherworld.
Otherwise, Lufiel could simply negotiate with them and buy everything connected to Dong Li outright.
[Liufeng: Yeah, yeah, I made it. It’s built into the extraction device. But this isn’t really my specialty, so the virtual world is pretty rough.]
[Lufiel: Can the two demonic beasts be taken out too?]
[Liufeng: That… theoretically, as long as the extraction happens fast enough that the system doesn’t detect it, the device can be used repeatedly. So technically, you could take out whoever you want.]
[Liufeng: But let me be clear first—I can’t guarantee a 100% success rate. Maybe 98%.]
Liufeng was confident enough to say that much.
None of the bugged items he had built in the past had ever been detected by the system immediately.
He simply didn’t dare make an absolute guarantee.
[Lufiel: All right. Thanks.]
[Liufeng: Actually, make that 90%.]
[Liufeng: Dong Li is way too unusual. I studied the pills he made for the arena, and I still can’t see anything wrong with them. I might have to actually eat one to confirm the effect.]
But the pills Dong Li had made for the arena were rumored to be practically poisonous.
Some players even claimed the medicine had affected their mental energy in the real world.
No one knew whether those claims were true.
Exam week was approaching.
Liufeng wasn’t brave enough to try one.
The pills.
The golden fire…
Lufiel thought quietly as he stroked Dong Li’s golden hair.
[Liufeng: Or get me one of the pills he gave the half-demons. Those seem to increase combat strength, so the effect is different from the arena medicine.]
[Lufiel: All right. He’s asleep.]
[Liufeng: No rush, no rush.]
A while later, Liufeng briefly logged out.
When he came back online, he seemed to be in a hurry and immediately sent Lufiel a forum link.
[Liufeng: Look at this.]
Lufiel frowned and opened it.
[Title: So After All This, It Was ALL Bugs?!]
[Title: I’m Shocked. Never Played a Game Like This in My Life.]
[Title: Why Is Everyone Freaking Out? Haven’t the Last Few Days Been Fun? Who Cares If It’s Bugs?]
In a single afternoon, the forum’s entire discussion seemed to have shifted direction again.
Lufiel continued scrolling until he found the original thread.
[OP: Here’s what happened. After maintenance ended and the servers came back online, I was at the Dragonbone Town teahouse and noticed Elder Xun had a new label in the back courtyard called “Bug Query.”
I talked to Elder Xun, but he didn’t respond, so I clicked the label. Turns out you can enter specific coordinates and check whether there’s an abnormal bug within a small area around those coordinates.
I got curious and entered my current coordinates. It actually said there was a bug. At first I thought the display itself was broken, but after testing it a few more times, I realized it wasn’t.]
The original post was long.
In short, the poster had tested the coordinates of various recent incidents—the Ice Qilin’s cave in the Fuling Region, the places where the Bronze-Armored Taotie had appeared, the arena in Dragonbone Town, Northern Dark Forest, the Illusion Forest near Maidong City, and the underground mine…
Every single location showed an unrepaired bug.
A lot of players didn’t believe it.
They went to the teahouse courtyard themselves and tested it.
Sure enough, entering unrelated coordinates returned no bug warning.
[Floor 102: This is insane. I KNEW something felt off.]
[Floor 103: Could the Bug Query itself be bugged…? Maybe the new storyline hasn’t fully integrated yet, so it’s misidentifying everything.]
[Floor 113: The query being bugged isn’t impossible. People have been saying for ages that this game runs differently from normal ones. A lot of it seems to rely on energy detection—in other words, mental energy.]
[Floor 114: I have no idea what Floor 113 is saying.]
[Floor 156: What about that mysterious Fox Spirit? Is he a new NPC, or was he originally from some existing region?]
[Floor 157: Nobody’s directly interacted with him enough to get his region info. But if anyone’s bored, you could keep testing and see if there are other bugged coordinates.]
Lufiel finished skimming the thread and closed the forum.
[Liufeng: People outside are noticing now. Sooner or later, someone may manage to dig up Dong Li’s information.]
The players themselves didn’t even know where to look for Dong Li.
With Lufiel and the two little beasts protecting him, they couldn’t do much anyway.
The real concern was the game company.
If they decided to act and repair everything…
[Liufeng: But if ordinary players can query these bugs this easily, how could the game company not know? The server was down for two hours, and they didn’t fix anything.]
Liufeng was even beginning to wonder whether Dong Li was simply too unusual for the game company to touch.
His golden fire had been powerful enough to crash the entire server.
Perhaps they didn’t dare interfere with him directly.
An NPC who had awakened his own consciousness.
Who had escaped the system’s control.
Who possessed terrifying mental power…
Liufeng thought of the Xinen people again.
In a sense, that race consisted precisely of intelligent consciousnesses with immensely powerful mental energy.
Except among the Xinen, mental energy seemed to be called energy.
A long time passed before Lufiel finally replied.
[Lufiel: We need to use the extraction device as soon as possible.]
Once Dong Li was safely removed from the game, Lufiel could search for the company behind Otherworld without restraint.
At that point, if necessary, he could tear into the entire game world without worrying about what happened to Dong Li.
[Liufeng: All right. Day after tomorrow at the earliest.]
By then, evening had begun to fall.
The room lights were still off, leaving everything dim.
Dong Li slowly woke from his nap.
Before his eyes even opened, the tip of his tail perked up and gave a sleepy little sway.
Lufiel kissed the tip of one fox ear.
“Awake?”
Dong Li mumbled something in response, eyes still closed as he nuzzled deeper into Lufiel’s arms.
He didn’t want to get up.
Their position was intimate.
After his bath, Dong Li hadn’t put on the outer layer of his new clothes.
Lufiel had taken off his robe too and wore only a thin shirt.
Their body heat mingled.
The moment Dong Li opened his eyes, he was greeted by a glimpse of Lufiel’s collarbone and Adam’s apple.
He instinctively leaned closer, wanting to bite him.
But it was too dark.
“Where’s the light…?”
The instant he spoke, Lufiel used sword aura to switch it on.
The room suddenly brightened.
Dong Li squinted until his eyes adjusted.
Then he leaned forward and bit Lufiel’s chin.
Lufiel stroked his golden hair.
“Hungry?”
“Not yet.”
Dong Li answered—and bit him again.
Afterward, he slowly sat up.
His cheeks were faintly pink, perhaps simply from having just woken up.
“Lulu.”
Dong Li looked at him with violet eyes.
“I dreamed we were kissing just now…”
Dong Li dreamed often, but he rarely remembered the details after waking.
This time, though, the dream remained remarkably clear.
Maybe because he and Lufiel had kissed so much over the past two days.
Lufiel’s voice lowered.
“You dreamed about kissing me?”
His fingertip brushed Dong Li’s lips.
Then he leaned in and kissed him.
Dong Li was still dazed.
He hadn’t mentioned the dream because he wanted another kiss…
But he liked being kissed by Lufiel.
Slowly, he lifted his arms and wrapped them around him.
His tail rose high behind him.
By the end of the kiss, Lufiel caught the tip of Dong Li’s tail—and kissed that too.
Dong Li was overcome with an inexplicable wave of embarrassment.
He had also been kissed until he didn’t have the strength to protest.
His violet eyes immediately grew wet and glossy.
Lufiel released his tail and coaxed softly, “Rongrong?”
Dong Li stared blankly for a moment before slowly recovering.
He didn’t say anything.
He had clearly told Lufiel at noon that he wasn’t allowed to touch his tail.
Yet since then, not only had Lufiel brushed it—he had even kissed it.
Even if it was only the tip…
In retaliation, Dong Li lowered his head and bit Lufiel’s collarbone.
Lufiel gently rubbed his lower back to soothe him.
When Dong Li lifted his head again, he unconsciously imitated the gesture and touched Lufiel’s waist.
His hands rested against Lufiel through the thin shirt.
A little farther forward, his fingers found firm abdominal muscles.
They felt hard.
Nothing like Dong Li’s own body.
His cheeks were still flushed.
After a moment, Dong Li leaned closer and whispered,
“Lulu… since you’re wanted now, does that mean you can kiss me whenever you want?”
“Yes.”
Dong Li thought about it.
Then the system restriction didn’t matter anymore.
“In that case…” he asked, “can we get married?”
His violet eyes brightened slightly, even as his voice grew quieter and quieter.
Lufiel still heard every word.
His breathing paused.
“Get married?”
Dong Li nodded seriously, his face red.
“You have to get married before you can sleep together.”
A faint smile tugged at Lufiel’s lips.
He gently pinched Dong Li’s cheek.
“You don’t have to be married for that. Didn’t we sleep together last night?”
“No, no!”
Dong Li immediately protested.
“I mean… I mean…”
He thought desperately, searching for the right phrase.
Dong Li didn’t know much about this sort of thing to begin with.
He wasn’t completely clueless, but his vocabulary was painfully limited.
Even the word kissing was something he had learned from Lufiel.
Lufiel watched him patiently and waited.
Dong Li thought for a long time.
Then his eyes suddenly lit up, and the tip of his tail wagged excitedly.
“I mean have sex! You have to get married before you can have sex…”
