Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Ning Wang lowered his eyes to Ning Shuo’s slightly curled fingers, then turned away in an excellent mood.
And then he saw Song Zhu leaning against the railing outside the door, watching the show.
Ning Wang left Ning Shuo a bit of dignity. After gently closing the door, he asked, “You saw all that?”
Song Zhu said, “Even if I didn’t, I could’ve guessed.”
With the way Ning Wang had been looking at Ning Shuo these past few days, only an idiot wouldn’t have figured out what was going on between them.
Song Zhu asked casually, “Are you two together now?”
Ning Wang said, “Nope.”
Song Zhu: ?
Ning Wang sounded exactly like a scumbag. “We can’t kiss if we’re not together?”
[What kind of scumbag line is that?]
[Got it. They’re both enjoying the ambiguous stage.]
[Not together-of course-you can kiss!!]
[More than kiss, even. They can do it~!!]
Song Zhu said, “…Didn’t realize you two were into playing like that.”
Ning Wang smiled. “I’m kidding. We’re just missing the title.”
His tone was lazy and unhurried. “He wants control, so I handed him the hilt. He gets to decide when it begins.”
On the other side of the door, Ning Shuo listened clearly to the conversation outside.
He stretched, perfectly aware that Ning Wang had noticed he’d been pretending to sleep.
Ning Shuo casually picked a few books out of the plastic bag.
Not only were they all novels, they were all BL.
And almost every single one showed signs of having been flipped through.
Calm and composed, Ning Shuo leafed through these novels he had already read in the modern world.
Rereading an old book gave it a different flavor.
People were the same.
…
In peaceful days, time always passed quickly.
The two of them tacitly pretended not to know what the other was thinking. Ning Shuo, as usual, would occasionally stop and direct Ning Wang to do things for him, then casually flirt a little.
Ning Wang was much more direct. From time to time, he would make little moves and big moves, including but not limited to playing with Ning Shuo’s hand, or simply picking him up whenever Ning Shuo got lazy and leaned against him. He would tell everyone that his brother was sleepy and wanted to go back to bed, then carry him off princess-style.
[I finally understand. These two are trying to make the other one confess first.]
[The push and pull! The entanglement! Peak ambiguity!!]
[I really don’t understand the world of Fujoshi.]
Even Qi Yang could tell something was off. “The King and Brother Ning… why are they acting so weird?”
Luo Li stared at the cotton candy in his hand. “They’re doing tai chi with each other. Don’t worry about it. When’s your cotton candy going to be ready?”
“Oh, it’s almost done.”
And just like that, on the seventh day, the people in the city said they wanted to hold a bonfire party.
They said seven days, but according to Nian Chao, as soon as midnight arrived tonight, they would be able to leave.
Nian Chao said, “After I died, I somehow developed a kind of connection with this Script. Now that we ‘Soil’ have gained our freedom, the Script won’t be able to hold out much longer either.”
That was why the System had exploited the loophole at midnight and would send them away the moment twelve o’clock passed.
There were neither too many nor too few people attending the bonfire party. Aside from some Players who didn’t want to come, most of the original residents and the other Players were there.
Over the past few days, everyone had grown much more familiar with one another. Many people now knew when their deaths would come, and their anxious, unsettled hearts had instead become calm.
Nian Chao reached out to touch the fire, but his hand was not burned. “This is probably the supreme blessing this Script has granted us.”
Someone was singing a song in an unknown language, the melody bright and lilting. Someone else held hands and danced a dance of some unknown kind, while the people around them laughed and clapped along. All sorts of sounds overlapped together, pleasing to the eye yet strangely unconventional.
Luo Li turned her face away and wiped at it.
Qi Yang whispered, “Don’t cry.”
Luo Li flew into embarrassed anger. “Who’s crying?!”
A warmth brushed her neck as Qi Yang held her and said gently, “You’re only fourteen now. Two years ago, you were only twelve. Out there, you’d still be just a little girl. Making it to rank twenty-six must have been hard.”
“Even the strongest little girl is allowed to cry. You’re sad, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Not far away, Rao Lin watched them. “Looks like Lolita still hasn’t gotten past it.”
Song Zhu said, “Otherwise, she wouldn’t have accepted that ridiculous sibling plan of yours last time.”
Rao Lin looked thoughtful. “Was it really that ridiculous?”
Song Zhu changed the subject. “Do you know how Lolita got that ability of hers?”
“No,” Rao Lin said with perfect confidence. “Every time I bring it up, she either tells me to get lost or refuses to talk. Isn’t it something even you couldn’t dig up?”
Song Zhu said, “I have a guess, but I’m not completely sure.”
He summed it up in a few sentences. Rao Lin frowned. “How is that possible? Isn’t all her information in the modern world traceable?”
“But after that hospital Script, her number of cleared Scripts suddenly became unsearchable, for one thing.” His gaze shifted to Ning Shuo, who stood beside Ning Wang and whose modern-world records from the past two years could likewise be found. “And besides, isn’t there a living, breathing example right there of an NPC leaving a Script?”
Over by the water, Ning Wang casually tossed out a pebble, skipping it across the surface more than a dozen times. “Thinking about how to save them all?”
Ning Shuo sat on a rock and denied it with a smile. “How could I possibly be that capable? Besides, I don’t have such noble ideals.”
The corner of Ning Wang’s mouth tugged faintly. His eyes settled on the moon reflected in the water. “Is that so? Ge, do you still remember what you said that night?”
-In my hometown, we call the person we like our moon.
Ning Shuo was utterly shameless. “Nope. Don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember?”
“Mm.”
Ning Wang suddenly leaned in, bracing a hand beside him. There was barely an inch between them. “Ge, even if you read that line somewhere, in a scene like that, who were you saying it to?”
Behind Ning Shuo’s lenses, his eyes were full of laughter. Ning Wang could clearly see his own face reflected in them.
Then he saw Ning Shuo lean closer instead of retreating, warm breath spilling across his face. “Who does Ningning think I was saying it to?”
[Where’s my head-pushing squad?! Where are you?!]
[Two centimeters! Only two centimeters!!]
[Ningning, if you don’t kiss him at this distance, you deserve to stay husbandless!!!]
Ning Wang’s eyes narrowed slightly. Just as he was about to move, moonlight flashed off Ning Shuo’s lenses.
His brother had found an opening. After teasing him, he slipped away.
[He ran again! He ran again!!]
[This is the eleventh time in the past few days, right?!]
[I’m not calling you Half-Immortal ge anymore. From now on, you’re Eleven ge!]
[I’m already getting ready to call Ning Wang Millimeter ge.]
[A miss by a hair is as good as a thousand miles, get it, Ningning?! You have no idea what you just lost! That was the closest chance your brother has ever given you!!]
[And here I thought that forehead kiss was progress. Ha. Forever stopping at that one move.]
[Millimeter ge isn’t good enough. When I watch them do it, I want more than just a few centimeters between them. [sorry poking fingers.jpg]]
[Suddenly getting lewd??]
There were only a few minutes left before midnight. Some returned to their rooms to share private words with close friends. Others sat silently by the bonfire, staring blankly into the flames.
The Player group could faintly hear the sound of sobbing.
Even the dead could not completely make peace with an approaching death, especially when they had already experienced death once before.