Chapter 15: I’ll Miss You  

The temperature in the room seemed to plummet to freezing in that moment, chilling everyone to the bone.  

The sunset had long faded amidst the passing crowds, leaving only the harsh glare of fluorescent lights between the three of them—like a cold, indifferent hand wrapping around them mercilessly.  

The office building stood silent, with only a few people locked in a wordless standoff.  

Lin Yu lazily lifted his leg and lightly nudged Zhang Modu nearby.  

The touch was feather-light, so fleeting it was almost imperceptible, leaving only a lingering sense of contact—teasing, yet not intimate.  

Zhang Modu, caught off guard, turned his head abruptly, his heart skipping a beat. Lin Yu was staring at him with wide, innocent eyes, as if completely unaware of the tension in the air.  

The hostility seemed to shatter in an instant.  

A flush crept up Zhang Modu’s cheeks, spreading across his entire body. He felt unbearably awkward.  

His supposed “liking” for Lin Yu had been nothing but an act—wasn’t it ridiculous? He didn’t even have Lin Yu’s contact info, yet he’d been harboring a crush for years.  

But the current Zhang Modu wasn’t the same as before. Right now, he just wanted to disappear into the ground. Being forced into confessing like this was beyond humiliating.  

He stammered, unable to speak, nervously clutching the hem of his clothes, rubbing it between his fingers until they turned red. He kept his head down, not daring to meet Lin Yu’s gaze, his heart pounding wildly.  

The dark fabric of his clothes twisted under his restless fingers. The silence stretched on, with even Li Yide rendered speechless, leaving nothing but stifling quiet.  

Like a game of freeze tag.  

Curious, Lin Yu leaned down and wiggled a finger in front of Zhang Modu’s line of sight.  

Zhang Modu’s heart was still hammering, but he finally snapped out of his daze, lifting his head in a daze to look at him.  

“Tch.” Li Yide also snapped back to reality, curling his lip in disdain before turning to Lin Yu with an inviting smile. “Lin Lin, let me walk you home. We don’t play with cowards.”  

Lin Yu shifted his gaze to Li Yide and shook his head.  

001 had been screaming in Lin Yu’s mind for a while now.  

“Ahhhh—”  

“I thought this was some heartwarming bromance!!!”  

“Host, I almost led you straight into the Dragon’s Pool Tiger’s Cave!!!”  

Lin Yu raised a hand, twisting his wrist to mute 001’s voice and set it to text display instead. Calmly, he replied, “I thought you’d be used to it by now. Isn’t the setting of this world that everyone likes me?”  

A few frantic lines of text popped up on the System Panel, scrambling into a coherent sentence: “Of course not! How could that many people possibly like you?!”  

Lin Yu arched a brow in amusement, then crooked a finger at Zhang Modu, his gaze locking onto him. A faint smile curved his lips—one without a trace of mockery. “Come on, let’s go home.”  

Zhang Modu looked up in disbelief, frozen like a statue, eyes wide as if struggling to process the words. He turned them over in his mind, dissecting them, before finally stammering in shock, “O… okay.”  

Li Yide nearly jumped. “Hey, Lin Yu! This bastard’s just playing for your sympathy!”

Lin Yu blinked his eyes, his tone indifferent. “Did I?”

“Yes, yes, you did,” Li Yide stammered.

With his hands in his pockets, Lin Yu took a step forward, widening the distance between them. Frowning slightly, he walked away, his cold voice trailing behind him. “Follow me.”

Zhang Modu quickly snapped out of his daze and turned around, taking a few hurried steps. Not to be outdone, Li Yide squeezed ahead of Zhang Modu.

By the time Lin Yu’s tall figure reached Zhang Modu’s car, the streetlight cast a pale glow on his face, startlingly white.

Lin Yu raised a hand to check the time, then casually lowered it. With a faint lift of his wrist, he tapped his fingertips lightly on the car door. “Let’s go. To your place.”

Zhang Modu hastily opened the car door for Lin Yu. Once Lin Yu was seated, he swiftly returned to his own seat, turned the key to start the engine, and gently pressed the accelerator, leaving Li Yide with nothing but a faint trail of exhaust.

Zhang Modu felt his heartbeat quicken. Out of the corner of his eye, he stole a glance at the person beside him. The harsh white light of the streetlamp fell on his face, casting shadows. His nose, lips, eyes…

Zhang Modu felt as though he were caught in a whirlpool, a sensation impossible to describe with any words in the world.

His heart began to race, pounding an increasingly erratic rhythm. Blood surged backward in his chest, warmth spreading through his body as if threatening to consume him.

Yet the person beside him remained indifferent. His expression seemed unchanging, his gaze fixed straight ahead with an intensity that was undeniably intriguing.

The warm night breeze brushed past their hair, carrying with it soft breaths. The strands atop their heads swayed gently in the air, tracing a faint arc.

The roads grew emptier, the warm air gradually tinged with a hint of chill. The city lights dwindled, but the sparse stars above accompanied them like silent companions on their journey home.

Even with the distant, cold starlight, there was still warmth accompanying them all the way.

The flickering of the streetlights grew faster, their dim yellow glow enveloping them like a thick fog, neither dissipating nor shifting.

Lin Yu reveled in the sensation of the wind. He wasn’t born free, so he cherished the beauty of movement all the more.

He reclined, stretching out his body, flattening the seat, and looked up at the stars above. With his hands clasped behind his head and his legs stretched out, he savored the moment of ease.

Amid the wind, he heard Zhang Modu’s voice, scattered and faint—

“Ayu…”

The voice seemed torn apart by the wind, ragged yet pieced back together, forming a tone tinged with timidity.

“What is it?” he heard himself reply.

“I…”

Zhang Modu seemed to say something, but the wind was loud, the noise overwhelming.

“What?” Lin Yu flexed his stiff fingers slightly and tilted his head, fixing his gaze on the person whose hands were clenched tightly around the steering wheel.

Even as he kept his eyes on the road, there was always a fraction of his attention lingering on Lin Yu, like tangled threads—impossible to sever, impossible to unravel.

The wind seemed to die down.

It was as if they had stepped together into the realm of a forest—the air damp and cold, the surroundings silent, with only a single voice drifting between them.

“I…”

“I like you.”

…

Lin Yu went up to the second floor of the villa and settled into an open-air balcony room. He sat with his legs casually crossed, one hand draped over the back of the chair, fingertips nearly brushing the ground.  

His head tilted back slightly, resting in a relaxed posture, eyes half-lidded with contentment and ease.  

With a sidelong glance, he briefly took in the stiff figure before him before shifting his gaze back to the nightscape beyond the villa.  

Bamboo groves stretched through the property, their verdant leaves glowing under the outdoor lights, some curved blades casting long, delicate shadows.  

Fresh bamboo shoots unfurled amidst the dappled light, their silhouettes faint yet unmistakable in the dimness.  

The wind had long since died down.  

Lin Yu turned his head and lifted a finger, curling the tip slightly as he gestured toward Zhang Modu.  

His movement was unhurried, yet it drew the other man forward a few steps. The latter’s footsteps were light, as if afraid to disturb the tranquil atmosphere.  

“Come closer,” Lin Yu said.  

His voice was never particularly deep—each syllable flowed naturally, soft and unhurried, like a gentle drizzle.  

Zhang Modu obeyed without hesitation, stepping forward. His slender fingers intertwined, palms slightly damp with sweat, but his gaze never wavered, locked intently on Lin Yu with unwavering focus.  

Lin Yu uncrossed his legs and lifted his hands from their idle position, clasping them loosely in front of him as he raised his head, his pale eyes meeting the other man’s.  

Suddenly, the corner of his lips curled.  

“Why don’t you sit?” Lin Yu was in an exceptionally good mood—better than he’d ever been, even better than when Shen Qian had pulled him out of that tedious cave cultivation. But he didn’t understand why.  

Zhang Modu glanced at the empty chair, then flicked his gaze between Lin Yu and the ground, hesitating for a moment before carefully straightening his posture and sitting down.  

“Can I… pursue you, Ayu?” Zhang Modu’s voice was barely above a whisper, as if the words had lingered in his heart for far too long.  

Lin Yu rested his chin on his propped-up arm, tilting his head slightly as he studied the other man without a word.  

In the distance, bamboo leaves rustled despite the absence of wind, their sharp shadows swaying and twisting against the walls.  

The air grew icy.  

001 couldn’t take it anymore. Throughout this entire journey, its permissions had never been revoked—it could see and hear everything, even if it couldn’t speak.  

It felt like it was about to burst. *”Host! Lin Yu!”*  

Unfortunately, it lacked the ability to vocalize, so all that appeared was a blue speech bubble floating above its head, the little light sphere bobbing insistently in front of Lin Yu, determined to monopolize his attention.  

*”Do you even realize what you’re doing?”*  

Lin Yu flicked a glance at 001 before immediately returning his focus to Zhang Modu. “What am I doing?”  

*”Don’t play dumb! You can’t agree to this, Host!”*  

*”Your mission in this world is to not be romanced! Not be romanced, ahhh—”*  

*”Help! Help! Will the administrator just delete my program outright? Wuwuwu… My first mission and it’s already going so badly wuwuwu…”* 001 spiraled into chaos, its code glitching repeatedly, syntax errors and scrambled logic piling up in its distress.

“I didn’t agree to it,” Lin Yu retorted.  

“You… where… why…”  

001’s text system was once again shut down by Lin Yu before the last sentence could be sent—ruthless and swift, leaving no room for hesitation.  

He glanced at Zhang Modu, who had been sitting motionless for a long time without a reply, looking dazed, and responded, “Why not?”  

Zhang Modu lifted his head sluggishly, his expression blank, his thin lips parting slightly as an involuntary sound escaped him, “Huh?”  

The surroundings were so quiet that all he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat.  

—Pounding like a drum.