When he returned to his room, Lu Qiao took the sweater out and placed it on the bed, his heart pounding wildly.
Although Yan Qiu already knew about the sweater’s existence, Lu Qiao hadn’t made it in front of him these past few days. Otherwise, it really wouldn’t have felt like much of a surprise. Every morning, he woke up early and hid away to start working, then continued as soon as he got home, stopping before dinner. He could truly be said to be racing against time!
Lu Qiao was very focused when making clothes, and he was also extremely skilled, so he successfully finished it yesterday!
Just as he had imagined, the sweater had been made in the coolest, most dazzling style. The embroidered words on both sides sparkled, while in the middle was a wildly domineering, cool, and imposing lion’s head. It was practically the most perfect work he had ever made. Yan Qiu would definitely like it!
After happily admiring it for a while, Lu Qiao folded the sweater neatly and wondered whether he should really go take a shower.
But… there was no need to deliberately avoid Yan Qiu anymore, right?
F-Feeling like… maybe they could take a shower together now?
Lu Qiao hesitated for a moment, but in the end chose to sit properly by the edge of the bed, bashfully waiting for Yan Qiu to return.
However, after waiting ten minutes, Lu Qiao couldn’t take it anymore. There was simply no way he could calm down!
One moment he was wondering whether he and Yan Qiu would kiss later, and the next he was thinking about Yan Qiu’s muscles and… Lu Qiao even felt like he was about to get a nosebleed. He had to find something to do to distract himself!
So he simply picked up the holographic helmet, put it on, and went online.
He logged on a little earlier than usual today. When he arrived at Xiyue Game Hall, he didn’t run into Irritable Rabbit or the two girls who were usually there. He only encountered the online “Luoye” and one unfamiliar friend of his.
When Luoye saw Little White Bird, he greeted him with a smile. “You’re online this early today?”
He hadn’t been online for quite a long time either. Since he happened to be free today, he came online to wander around.
“Mm…” Lu Qiao answered absentmindedly. He didn’t even know what he could do, so he casually asked, “That friend of yours called ‘Yan Qiu’ isn’t here?”
“Hm?” Luoye froze for a moment. “Why?”
“Nothing…” Lu Qiao wandered around before dropping onto a sofa. After thinking about it, he still couldn’t help complaining. “He’s so weird. Why does he have Yan Qiu’s name and still say bad things about Yan Qiu?”
Just like Irritable Rabbit, who badmouthed Yan Qiu all day long, yet in the end had to get plastic surgery to make himself look like Yan Qiu. Seriously, he just couldn’t stand seeing other people have something he didn’t! Were people with such an inferiority complex all like this?
Luoye was somewhat surprised—Yan Qiu had gone online again afterward? And it seemed he’d even had some contact with Qiaoqiao?
But… what did he mean by “saying bad things about Yan Qiu”?
Badmouthing himself? Would Yan Qiu actually do something like that??
Luoye’s eyes rolled, and he seemed to have stumbled upon some interesting hidden story…
He asked with a grin, “He said bad things about Yan Qiu? What did he say? I remember he clearly likes Yan Qiu a lot.”
“How could he!” Lu Qiao’s eyes widened. “That day, he said Yan Qiu was ugly, and even said Yan Qiu wasn’t anything special. How does that look like he likes him?! If he doesn’t like Yan Qiu, can’t he change his username?!”
The more Lu Qiao thought about it, the more annoyed he became.
But as Luoye listened, his eyes grew brighter and brighter—Listen to that, listen to that! Were those really things Yan Qiu would say? Unless that guy had been possessed by someone else’s soul! Or… there was something special about this White Wagtail that had caught Yan Qiu’s attention.
Wait.
Qiaoqiao, Qiaoqiao.
For the first time, Luoye looked up and down at this White Wagtail with an astonished expression, a guess emerging in his heart.
No way, right?
He had known this White Wagtail for quite some time, but he had never thought in that direction. After all, there were far too many people with similar names. How could it possibly be such a coincidence?!
—But the truth was, the only person who could make Yan Qiu behave in such a teasing manner was Lu Qiao.
Luoye’s eyes lit up with excitement—this was way too much fun!
Lu Qiao finished complaining, then earnestly said to Luoye, “You have to tell that friend of yours, okay? Even though it’s online, using someone else’s name while going around badmouthing them is really classless!”
Then he saw Luoye cover his mouth, looking like he was about to burst out laughing. He nodded and said vaguely, “Mm, pfft, got it. I’ll definitely pass it on to him.”
Lu Qiao was a little bewildered. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” Luoye cleared his throat before asking, “Are you… going to the training hall later?”
Lu Qiao thought about it. Guessing that Yan Qiu and his father wouldn’t finish their conversation so quickly, he said, “Yeah, I guess. I’ll go over there and look around.”
“Ah, I want to go too.” Luoye’s friend, who was beside him, raised a hand when he heard this. “I’ll go with you. I want to practice a little.”
“Sure!” Lu Qiao readily agreed.
After arranging to meet up with his new companion, the two were about to change locations when Luoye smiled and said, “I’ll catch up with you later. You two go have fun first.”
His friend made an “OK” gesture and disappeared from the spot together with Little White Bird.
Luoye immediately switched to his military headquarters intranet account and sent Yan Qiu a message:
“Where are you? Getting online?”
Yan Qiu’s father discovered that his son seemed a little absent-minded.
They had been talking for more than half an hour, during which Yan Qiu had checked the time five times.
His father asked strangely, “It’s not even seven yet. What’s the rush?”
He hadn’t expected that his usually composed son would narrow his eyes slightly upon hearing this and stare at him.
“There are only fifteen minutes left until seven.”
“……”
Yan Qiu’s father was left speechless. Wasn’t there still fifteen minutes?!
However, they had more or less finished discussing everything. He waved his hand and shooed him away. “All right, all right. Nothing else. Go.”
Yan Qiu nodded without saying another word. He immediately stood up and left, without even looking back.
Yan Qiu’s father: “……”
So what exactly was he in such a hurry about???
After going upstairs, Yan Qiu quickly walked to his room, his hand applying slight force as he opened the door.
But when he opened it and saw the figure lying on the bed wearing a holographic helmet, he froze for a moment.
The room was completely silent. Beside the young man lying on the bed was a neatly folded black sweater.
Yan Qiu’s expression softened.
He closed the door, walked over, and sat down beside the bed, gently touching the young man’s face. The holographic helmet reduced the human body’s sensitivity to the outside world, so Lu Qiao didn’t react at all to his touch.
Yan Qiu glanced at Lu Qiao’s helmet again, suddenly remembering the message Luoye had just sent him. His eyes flickered.
After thinking for a second, he recalled the way that White Wagtail had been baring his claws and acting fierce online. He silently curved his lips into a smile, then got up and went to the room next door to retrieve the helmet the housekeeper had newly purchased.
He lay down beside Lu Qiao, put on the helmet, and went online.
He quickly logged into his external-network account and switched to Xiyue Game Hall. At a glance, he spotted Luoye.
When Luoye saw that he had really come, he waved him over. Once Yan Qiu approached, he said teasingly, “Do you know what I discovered?”
Yan Qiu looked around. Seeing no one else, he asked, “Where’s Lu Qiao?”
Luoye clapped his hands and exclaimed, “It really is him! I can’t believe I never noticed! Speaking of which, how did you figure it out? He doesn’t seem to know it’s you, so did you accidentally let it slip?”
“Mm.” Yan Qiu gave him a sidelong glance before calmly adding, “But if I’d seen him fight someone online earlier, I could have recognized him at a glance too.”
“Then you’re just way too familiar with his movements and habits. I definitely couldn’t do that.” Having finally solved the mystery, Luoye felt satisfied. He said, “He went to the training grounds with my friend. By the way, you have no idea how cute he is. He seriously told me, with a completely straight face, to tell you not to badmouth someone while using their name. How did you even manage to do something like that? Are you really still Yan Qiu, First Marshal?”
Yan Qiu paid little attention to Luoye’s various complaints and teasing, remaining completely calm and unperturbed.
The two switched locations and arrived at the Xiyue Training Grounds, but they couldn’t find Lu Qiao’s name on the list of online sparring partners, so they were somewhat puzzled.
Luoye sent his friend a message asking where they were. His friend directly sent over a portal.
Luoye clicked it, and the scene shifted. The two arrived in a room.
This was clearly not the training facility where Lu Qiao had worked before.
There was no one in the room. Yan Qiu calmly observed the surroundings. The next second, two figures appeared there—it was Lu Qiao and Luoye’s friend.
Lu Qiao had already switched back to human form.
“Wow, you’re seriously amazing! I completely can’t beat you!” Luoye’s friend exclaimed breathlessly, hands on his hips.
“It’s okay.” Lu Qiao shyly scratched his head, his breathing perfectly steady.
When he caught sight of Luoye and Yan Qiu, his eyes widened.
Ah, the online “Yan Qiu” had appeared just like that!
The moment Yan Qiu saw Lu Qiao, he smiled and asked gently, “What are you two doing here?”
Lu Qiao was still rather unhappy with this guy, but since the other party was smiling at him, he couldn’t exactly put on a sour face. So he awkwardly replied, “We were just practicing together. It’s more convenient to come here and find an empty room directly…”
If they practiced at the place where Lu Qiao had worked before, it would cost more than here, which would just be wasting money.
Yan Qiu kept his eyes on Lu Qiao and asked Luoye with a light laugh, “What is this place for?”
Luoye thought seriously for a moment before lowering his voice. “This seems to be Area C of the training grounds. It’s a mode where opponents are assigned randomly. After each sparring match begins, the people in each room are randomly paired off. It’s another type of gameplay at the Xiyue Training Grounds.”
Yan Qiu nodded, but immediately afterward, he paused.
He glanced at Luoye.
Luoye also froze, blinking at him with a stiff expression.
The two of them had both thought of the same thing.
Over there, Luoye’s friend was saying, “There are four of us now, which is an even number, so we can be assigned opponents. Let’s do it one more time!”
“Sure, sure!” Lu Qiao said.
Before Luoye and Yan Qiu could stop them, Luoye’s friend pressed the system’s assignment button.
The next second, the scenery before the four of them shifted.
When Lu Qiao came back to his senses, he discovered that “Yan Qiu” was standing right in front of him. He froze.
“Yan Qiu” was obviously stunned as well.
But immediately afterward, Lu Qiao’s eyes lit up, and he secretly became excited.
Although he had told “Luoye” to persuade this guy, he still remembered that this guy had badmouthed Yan Qiu last time, and it had annoyed him to no end! Now the system had assigned them to the same room. The system wouldn’t let them leave until they fought it out, so this guy couldn’t escape at all.
He had to get beaten up!
Lu Qiao’s eyes sparkled. He rubbed his fists together and let out an evil little laugh.
“Can’t be helped. We can’t get out unless we fight. Here I come!”
With that, he charged forward!
Yan Qiu’s expression tightened. He caught one attack, and when Lu Qiao quickly spun around and launched a roundhouse kick, he firmly blocked that one too—
Lu Qiao: “?”
This strength, this sensation, this way of blocking attacks… it seemed a little familiar!
“Qiaoqiao, wait.” Yan Qiu steadied himself and spoke with a frown.
“What?” Lu Qiao ignored him and continued attacking. “You can’t dodge! We have to fight!”
Yan Qiu opened his mouth, wanting to say something else, but Lu Qiao clearly really wanted to beat him up, and his attacks came extremely fast.
Yan Qiu: “……”
Lu Qiao launched attack after attack, yet the man before him steadily blocked every single one, although his movements were slightly stiff…
And as they continued exchanging blows, that familiar feeling grew stronger and stronger. The suspicion in Lu Qiao’s eyes gradually became heavier, eventually turning into shock and disbelief.
W-Wait…
The sensation of fighting this person was far too familiar. There was no way he could fail to recognize it. This, this was simply—
The instant the thought appeared, the man with the solemn expression twisted Lu Qiao’s arms behind his back and threw him to the ground!
Lu Qiao lay sprawled on the floor while the man pinned him down, holding both his hands behind his back!
Lu Qiao was completely dumbfounded.
This position had literally happened earlier that afternoon!
Even the way he twisted his arms and the amount of force he used were exactly the same!
“Qiaoqiao,” Yan Qiu said in a deep voice, “…listen to me. Let me explain.”
But Lu Qiao’s mind seemed to explode, going completely blank!
The battle in the room determined the winner, and the two were once again transported back to the room they had been in before.
Luoye and his friend had also just been released from their room. When they saw Yan Qiu and Lu Qiao, the corner of Luoye’s mouth twitched.
“Hey, are you two okay…?”
He had wanted to say it earlier: if Yan Qiu could recognize Lu Qiao based solely on his fighting style, then Lu Qiao could obviously recognize Yan Qiu too.
Yan Qiu had even gone so far as to badmouth himself online just to tease Lu Qiao. Under these circumstances, wasn’t revealing his identity… a little too stupid??
Yan Qiu’s face was tense. He grabbed Lu Qiao’s hand and said, “Qiaoqiao, listen to me. Let me explain.”
Lu Qiao stared blankly at this man for a second—
“QIAO YOUR HEAD!!!”
He exploded with a furious shout, yanked his hand free from Yan Qiu’s grasp, and instantly disappeared from the spot, logging off in an instant!
Yan Qiu’s expression stiffened. His brows furrowed tightly, and he disappeared right after him.
Only two people remained in the room.
Luoye’s friend looked completely bewildered.
“What are those two doing?”
Luoye scratched his cheek, stuck out his tongue, and gave an awkward laugh as he thought:
Looks like Yan Qiu is going to have quite a night tonight?