Chapter 110: Lu Jun
“I love you too,” Li Dong said. “It’s cold, so bundle up.” He tugged the quilt up and wrapped both himself and the little hellhound inside, holding him close for a great sleep.
“Feels like a dream,” Lu Jun murmured into his shoulder.
He just felt at ease, so different from the restless nights on the ship.
Maybe it was because he knew this man loved him back.
“It’s not a dream.” Li Dong swatted his butt. “Well? Did that hurt?”
Lu Jun blew a warm breath. “Not really. It tickled.”
“…,” Li Dong was speechless. In his head he called him a shameless flirt. “Alright, sleep.”
“Fine, I’ll listen to you.” Lu Jun said, “What did you eat to grow up this good-looking?” He traced Li Dong’s face with greedy, adoring eyes.
“Food,” Li Dong said.
“Glutton,” Lu Jun muttered, and kissed him.
Sticking to his spoil-my-wife policy, Li Dong let it pass without comment.
He held Lu Jun quietly. His own breathing evened out. Then he glanced at the window, a little surprised. “It’s really quiet outside.” They were in the city center near a main road; the quiet felt wrong.
“It’s late. Of course it’s quiet,” Lu Jun yawned, starting to get drowsy.
“True.” Li Dong let the doubt go and rubbed the little hellhound’s hair. “Sleep.”
Safe like this, Lu Jun nuzzled the man’s solid shoulder and drifted off. Li Dong was tired too and fell asleep quickly.
In the middle of the night, the room phone rang, eerie and abrupt.
But the two of them were sleeping too deeply to answer.
At eight the next morning, Li Dong woke first to daylight filling the room. He nudged the naked youth beside him. “Xiao Jun, up.”
“This early?” Lu Jun dawdled, plastered to him for a good ten minutes before finally getting dressed.
Right now he actually did look his age, just a bit boyish.
Li Dong watched him with smiling eyes, as if all the pampering he had saved up over several hundred years was spilling out on this one person.
When he thought about it, Lu Jun was the youngest person he’d ever gotten close to, and had the worst childhood of the lot.
Wanting to give him more love was only natural.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Want another round?” Lu Jun teased, meeting his gaze. The way he dressed was downright provocative, showing exactly the parts that shouldn’t be shown.
“Tsk, tsk.” Li Dong looked away and went to the bathroom.
The room phone rang again.
Lu Jun glanced over, then followed him into the bathroom.
“The phone?” Li Dong called from inside.
“You think it’s worth picking up?” Lu Jun leaned in to steal a kiss.
Li Dong shoved him away without mercy. “Go brush your teeth.” He stood at the toilet taking a leak with one hand while the other hand was busy.
Lu Jun pouted and gave him a slow once-over, sometimes sly, sometimes smug, like he was admiring his own property and secretly thrilled.
After he obediently washed up, he planted himself in front of Li Dong again and tapped his own lips. “Kiss.”
Li Dong stared at him for two seconds, then leaned in and pecked him. “Pack up. Let’s go check your place.”
They stepped out together. A guest in plain clothes walked by them with a numb, vacant look.
Li Dong turned his head, uneasy.
“Front desk, check out,” Lu Jun said at the counter, handing over the deposit slip.
The clerk kept her head down, busy with… something, as if she hadn’t heard.
“Hello?” Lu Jun raised his voice, annoyed.
Standing behind him, Li Dong was scanning the lobby with worry. Every guest had the same expression, numb, like paper cutouts.
“Damn, what kind of service is this, are you deaf?” Lu Jun grumbled.
“Xiao Jun, let’s go.” Li Dong grabbed his hand and led him out of the hotel fast. “Something’s wrong. Stay sharp.”
“What the hell?” Once prompted, Lu Jun’s instincts kicked in. He swept the surroundings, and when he caught how off everything was, his brows locked. “F**k, what is this?”
“I don’t know.” On the curb, Li Dong looked around, then raised his hand to hail a taxi.
A bizarre thing happened, the cabbie looked straight through them and drove past as if they didn’t exist.
“F**k…” Lu Jun gaped. What was wrong with this world?
“Come on!” Li Dong decided on the spot and pulled him toward a nearby bus stop.
This route would take them back to Lu Jun’s neighborhood. They got on with the crush of people.
Packed solid. No seats.
Li Dong stood in the middle, one hand on the strap, the other around a very confused shou. Still rattled, he whispered into Lu Jun’s ear, “Xiao Jun, what I told you last night is true. This world isn’t a real world.” He spoke fast and soft. “Something’s changed. We need to be careful.”
“You f***ing… trying to spook me?” Lu Jun’s eyes went wide, then narrowed.
“I know you won’t believe it, but listen…” Li Dong drew a breath and, right at Lu Jun’s ear, listed everything he knew about him, including things Lu Jun himself didn’t know.
With every word, the body in his arms went rigid.
“That’s enough,” Lu Jun said, frowning. “You’re telling me I’m just a character in a novel, and you’re the only real one?” What a f***ing joke.
So he wasn’t even a person?
“It’s the truth, Xiao Jun. But I…” Li Dong said, “I’ve never looked down on you for being ‘virtual.’ I treat you like a real person. I want a real relationship with you.”
“Much obliged,” Lu Jun said coldly, wrenching out of his hold and grabbing his own strap. “So you knew everything from the start and played me like a monkey? Not bad, Pei Ruozhen. No, guess you’re not even Pei Ruozhen.”
If what the other said was right, Pei Ruozhen was also a character.
He was the only real one. F***ing hilarious.
Irritated, Li Dong raked his hair back and scanned the bus. The same vacant faces. No conversation, no eye contact. Like shells with no souls. “First priority is that this world has changed. You see it, right?”
“If I’m ‘virtual,’ why am I fine?” Lu Jun pulled his hawk-sharp gaze back from the others, still agitated.
“I don’t know. Maybe because you’re the protagonist.” Heat crawled up Li Dong’s neck. Not being able to control this kind of anomaly made him intensely anxious.
He was afraid the world might collapse.
Lu Jun fell silent, standing an arm’s length away while waves crashed through his chest.
If everything the man said was true, even the toughest bastard would struggle to face it.
Twenty minutes later, they reached the stop near his place.
Li Dong caught up to the young man speeding ahead. “Xiao Jun.” He knew the shock was real and the reaction was normal, but worry still tugged at him.
Lu Jun cut into the old residential lanes and drew the gun at his waist.
His ears tracked every shift of sound.
Li Dong did the same. He was holding a pistol Lu Jun had given him.
He popped the safety and felt a little relief.
His heart ached for Lu Jun. If the shou truly couldn’t accept him, with his temperament he’d have fed Li Dong a bullet already, not let him tail with a gun and expose his back, the most dangerous position.
So awkward.
The community was eerily quiet.
The usual grandpas, grandmas, and moms with strollers were nowhere. Even the occasional pet that barked was silent.
Lu Jun unlocked his door and swept the rooms. No one. He jerked his chin. “In.”
“Got a spare?” Li Dong asked grimly. “I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“Yeah.” Lu Jun tucked his own gun back and led him into the bedroom. He flipped up the mattress and pulled out a case.
Inside was a small armory.
Li Dong was speechless. He picked up a compact assassin’s model. “Didn’t you retire? Why keep all your tools around?”
“Good thing I did.” Lu Jun’s face was hard. He was taking what Li Dong said very seriously.
“You don’t need to be mad. The most important thing right now is staying alive.” Li Dong equipped himself fast, strapping on everything he could carry. “We figure out what’s happening outside first. Then we can wrestle with whether I fell for a ‘virtual person.’”
Lu Jun clenched his teeth. “Who the hell cares whether you fell for a virtual person.” He was just… raw. Before him, how many of these worlds had the man been through?
“I care.” Li Dong slid the last sidearm into place, grabbed Lu Jun’s jaw, and kissed him, fierce and wild. “Even knowing everything, I never watched you like a bystander. You can feel that, can’t you, Xiao Jun?”
“…,” Of course he could. Otherwise the man would be staring down a muzzle, not a stern face.
“Or are you just pouting?” Li Dong asked.
“Pout your a**,” Lu Jun snarled, chambering a round. “Don’t piss me off or I’ll shoot you.”
“Who’s shooting who?” Li Dong teased.
A black muzzle swung up to his face.
“Okay, okay.” Li Dong raised both hands. “Baby, shoot me.”
“Hmph.” Lu Jun dropped the gun in under two seconds. He’d handled guns for years without a single accidental discharge.
But he was still afraid.
“What’ve you got at home? I’ll cook something.” Li Dong headed for the kitchen and opened the fridge.
Exactly as expected, nothing.
Just a few packs of instant noodles.
A surprise, sure.
He boiled water and made noodles. “Xiao Jun, beef or spare rib?”
Lu Jun rolled his eyes. He talked like it was a real menu.
He slung the rifle and sprawled across the loveseat like he owned it. “Beef.”
“Hahaha.” Three, five minutes later, Li Dong slid over a beef cup. “Come eat.”
The sound of slurping filled the room. To be fair, after years without instant noodles, a bowl out of nowhere hit the spot.
At least for Li Dong.
Lu Jun took two bites, lost interest, and set it down.
“Not into beef? Here, take my spare rib.” Li Dong swapped bowls. “Eat a few more bites.” A grown man needs fuel.
“You’re naggy.” Lu Jun took the spare rib noodles and, giving him face, ate a few more bites.
Brr-ring, brr-ring…
Li Dong pulled out a phone, then realized it wasn’t his, his battery had died a while ago.
Lu Jun stared at his own screen, spooked. His brand-new number was getting a call from an unknown contact. He answered. “Who?”
“Put Li Dong on.” The voice was unfamiliar.
“I don’t know any Li Dong. Wrong number.” Lu Jun moved to hang up.
“Pei Ruozhen, put him on,” Yu Jiqing said, impatient. He’d been trying every way he could think of to get through to Li Dong.
“Give it here,” Li Dong said as soon as he heard his name. He held out a hand in surprise.
Lu Jun handed it over, suspicion jumping in his eyes. If he wasn’t mistaken, the man’s real name really was Li Dong?
“Hello?” Li Dong took the phone and held his breath. “Who is this?”
A young, low voice flowed into his ear. “I’m the creator of all worlds. Li Dong, go to X City High-Speed Rail Station now and enter Gate 3. Wait there for my next instructions.”
“What happened?” It was Li Dong’s first time speaking to him. The voice felt different, weighty.
“The enemy discovered my plan and injected the virtual worlds with massive viruses. Their goal is to wipe you out, and me.”
“Can’t I just exit the world now?” Li Dong glanced at Lu Jun. “And take Lu Jun?”
“No. The world’s damaged. You have to reach the control center. I’ve rebuilt a clean sub-world there with no viral intrusion. From there, you can exit.”
“What about Xiao Jun?”
“He belongs to this world. He can’t leave with you. He can only see you to the door.”
Li Dong fell silent.
After a moment, Yu Jiqing said, “The virus will find you soon. Move now.” He seemed to sigh. “Get to the station first. I’ll give you a full answer.”
“What’s your name?” Li Dong said. “Why should I trust you?”
“I’m Yu Jiqing. You have to trust me or we both die.” His voice turned hard. “Go. Now. We’re out of time.”
Li Dong ended the call and stood. “Xiao Jun, let’s go. I’ll explain on the way.”
“So what am I in all this?” Lu Jun said. “Just a chess piece?”
Li Dong took two steps, then turned back. He met Lu Jun’s eyes, steady and sure. “We find the truth ourselves. If he can’t give me a full answer, then I’ll give you one.”
Author’s Note:
【Sorry for the late update today. I’m shifting into high gear. I misspoke earlier—it’ll be daily 6,000 words starting tomorrow. Only a few chapters left, and I need enough words to wrap it up right.】
0 Comments