Chapter 177

“Beep,” the door to the private room opened and then closed.

Mo Yin moved his arm away, squinted, and sat up to look at the closed door, a slight smile on his face.

Did he overdo it a bit?

Earlier, even with his arm covering his eyes, he could feel Ye Chi’s burning gaze.

The temperature really was off the charts.

Mo Yin lay back down, reminiscing about Ye Chi’s behavior throughout the day, and couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle.

Compared to the previous worlds, Ye Chi in this world was particularly innocent, making his reactions quite amusing.

What would the real him be like…

The smile on his face gradually faded, and Mo Yin called out to the system in his mind.

No response from the system.

It seemed that the system had made a big mistake last time and was still pretending to be dead.

Good. The longer the system pretended to be dead, the more significant the mistake it made last time must have been.

Mo Yin deduced new information from the system’s silence and silently noted it down. The system probably never expected that its pretending to be dead could still provide Mo Yin with information.

“Beep,” the sound at the door of the private room caught Mo Yin’s attention.

Ye Chi returned, carrying a basket full of snacks.

“Have something to eat.”

Mo Yin remained lying on the bed. “I’m not hungry.”

Ye Chi put down the basket, and Mo Yin noticed his collar was wet.

Did he go out to wash his face?

Ye Chi sat down silently, turning his body away from Mo Yin, not glancing at him once.

Mo Yin raised both hands to rest behind his head, openly admiring Ye Chi’s feigned composure.

The room was too quiet, making the sound of breathing particularly distinct, adding a sticky, heavy texture to the silence, causing Ye Chi’s heart, which had finally calmed down, to race again.

He had to say something.

Ye Chi: “Besides gaming, do you have any other hobbies?”

“No.”

Great, killed the conversation instantly.

Ye Chi thought of another topic. “Tang Qi said you exercise every day.”

“Mm.”

No intention of continuing the conversation.

Talking with Mo Yin was truly a skillful task. After pondering for a moment, a sentence Ye Chi had always wanted to say to Mo Yin suddenly popped into his mind. “I used to work as a network administrator here. The year you went pro, I watched you win the championship from downstairs.”

Mo Yin sat up, slightly hunched, with his hand on his face, finally showing some interest. “And then?”

“And then…” Ye Chi finally looked at Mo Yin and smiled, “I also embarked on a professional path.”

Mo Yin looked at him. “And then you wanted to defeat me on this path?”

Ye Chi was slightly stunned. Mo Yin, looking composed, said, “Many people think that way. Some who have just gone pro have such unrealistic fantasies. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last.”

“Do you mind being the target everyone wants to beat?”

“I don’t care.”

Ye Chi looked at Mo Yin, then smiled, “I think the same way.”

Ye Chi didn’t realize how gentle his expression and tone had become when he spoke, filled with admiration, respect, and affection… He thought he had been hiding his feelings well, but in reality, he was doing a poor job of it. Or perhaps his feelings were too overwhelming, making his disguise too thin.

He was just lucky to encounter Mo Yin, who wanted to play dumb. Or maybe not so lucky, since he met Mo Yin, who had awakened a mischievous side.

Mo Yin looked at him. “Ye Chi…”

His tone seemed like he wanted to say something, and Ye Chi listened intently, naturally leaning slightly forward.

At that moment, the phone rang suddenly.

Mo Yin’s expression clearly turned cold, as if he had suddenly sobered up. “Phone.”

This call better be important!

Ye Chi took out his phone.

The call was from his boss.

Without a word, Ye Chi hung up and said to Mo Yin, “It seems our teammates have found us.”

The boss had seen two cars outside with people acting suspiciously. Fearing potential trouble, he zoomed in with his phone and recognized someone familiar. After checking Ye Chi’s friend circle, he confirmed it was Ye Chi’s teammates. He didn’t recognize the others but guessed they were in the same circle.

Coming to find a teammate?

Why sneak around for that?

Puzzled, the boss decided to call Ye Chi first to give him a heads-up.

“Are we leaving?” Ye Chi asked.

Mo Yin lay back down, “Why would we leave?” He turned his head towards Ye Chi and said, “Let them come up and find us.”

Open and unafraid.

Unlike Ye Chi, who had something to hide and didn’t want anyone to see through him. He said in a low voice, “Let’s switch rooms.”

“Why?”

Mo Yin chuckled softly, making it hard to tell if it was mockery or teasing. “Do you think they’ll assume we’re having a rendezvous?”

Ye Chi’s face burned, but he maintained his composure. “Our teammates like to joke around.”

“Let them try.”

Ye Chi fell silent, quietly watching Mo Yin. For a moment, he felt an impulse to confess his feelings. He smiled and asked, “What were you going to say before I took the call?”

“I forgot.”

Mo Yin didn’t want to admit that he had been tempted to reveal Ye Chi’s affection.

If he did, wouldn’t that take away a lot of the fun?

Would this count as tormenting the protagonist on another level? But it wasn’t for the sake of the task, nor was it due to any natural human tendencies. It was purely because… he wanted to do it. Seeing Ye Chi pretend to be calm with flushed ears, feeling Ye Chi’s burning gaze that didn’t dare linger on him for too long, filled Mo Yin with a peculiar pleasure. Unlike any other kind of joy, this non-malicious delight was very comforting.

Ye Chi saw the corners of Mo Yin’s mouth seem to lift slightly, so he too smiled a little.

A faintly ambiguous atmosphere filled the quiet private room. The excessive tension stretched like a thin film, soft and swaying between them, making Ye Chi wonder if it was just his imagination.

After lying there for a while, Mo Yin sat up, his movements causing his abs to contract. Every action, whether lying down or sitting up, made Ye Chi’s heart flutter slightly. He couldn’t quite understand why there existed someone in the world who could affect him so deeply.

Mo Yin didn’t get off the bed. Instead, he slid forward to sit at the foot, leaning over to look at the snack basket on the side table next to Ye Chi. “What did you buy?”

Mo Yin’s fresh scent wafted over, and Ye Chi turned slightly. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I just bought a variety.”

Mo Yin reached out and took a piece of chocolate.

During breaks in competitions, professional players often eat bananas, chocolate, and energy drinks to replenish their strength.

Unwrapping the chocolate, Mo Yin put it in his mouth without chewing, just letting it melt. His long arms hung down, and he lowered his head, playing with the crumpled chocolate wrapper with his fingers.

The private room was actually quite small, with the bed close to the gaming chair. Mo Yin’s knees almost touched Ye Chi’s, and they were practically sitting face to face.

The space, which had previously felt diluted, now seemed thick and heavy again. Ye Chi tightly gripped the edges of the gaming chair.

The door was blocked by Mo Yin, leaving Ye Chi unable to move towards it. It wasn’t that he didn’t dare; he was afraid that even the slightest movement would shatter his carefully maintained restraint, causing him to do something he might regret for the rest of his life.

A notification sound from his phone saved Ye Chi.

Ye Chi opened his phone.

The boss had sent a message saying that those people had gotten out of their cars.

Ye Chi replied, telling the boss not to let them know he was there.

“Why not tell them?”

A warm breath by his ear—Mo Yin had leaned in.

Ye Chi held his breath lightly, “I don’t want them to disturb our training.”

“Oh.”

The breath pulled away.

Only then did Ye Chi feel the space in front of him open up again.

The rich, sweet scent of melted chocolate filled the air. Ye Chi’s nose itched as he lifted his face, caught between endurance and longing. Mo Yin lowered his head, looking somewhat bored, with the round chocolate forming a bulge in his left cheek. This slightly softened the aloof aura that usually kept others at a distance, making him seem approachable in that moment.

Ye Chi watched Mo Yin quietly for a long time, a strange impulse brewing in his chest.

“What’s that noise outside?”

Mo Yin looked towards the window on the outer side of the room.

Ye Chi followed his gaze.

The room’s soundproofing was indeed good, but faint noises could be heard from the window.

Ye Chi got up and pressed himself against the wall to look outside.

A crowd had gathered below, seemingly surrounding someone. Ye Chi’s sharp eyes quickly spotted his teammates and a few players from DSG.

“It seems they’ve been recognized by fans,” Ye Chi said with a hint of helplessness. He turned back to find Mo Yin looking at him indifferently. “Log in,” Mo Yin said, but he showed no intention of getting off the bed. The blanket behind him was pulled into a mess from his earlier movement. The chocolate in his mouth had melted a bit, moving from the left side to the right, appearing fluid and nonchalant, with a hint of cold defiance.

Everything he did, every look and expression, was so innocent and devoid of any special meaning. It was the onlookers who were impure, their hearts filled with inner demons, making the situation particularly hard to endure.

The noise outside grew louder, likely due to more fans gathering.

A group of people came to watch the “excitement,” only to end up becoming the “excitement” themselves.

Mo Yin leaned forward slightly, “Are there a lot of people?”

Ye Chi didn’t answer. He was trying to regulate his breathing without making it obvious. Whether it was his imagination or his guilty conscience, his heartbeat seemed louder than the commotion outside, drowning out almost everything else.

Mo Yin got off the bed, hands in his pockets, and walked over slowly. Unlike Ye Chi, who stayed to the side and pressed against the wall to observe, Mo Yin stood directly in front of the window and looked down. He then gave a cold laugh and said, “Looks like they can’t come up.” The light from outside shone on his face, resembling sunlight on piled snow—cold and dazzling.

Ye Chi suspected that Mo Yin could hear his heartbeat.

Mo Yin turned his face slightly, returning to the sharp, cold look Ye Chi was most familiar with. The chocolate in his mouth had likely melted away.

“Log in, let’s practice the new hero.”

Ye Chi’s eyes were drawn to Mo Yin’s pale, thin lips. He reached out instinctively, stopping just before his fingers touched the corner of Mo Yin’s mouth. He looked up, meeting Mo Yin’s calm gaze. “There’s some chocolate on your lips.”

Mo Yin’s gaze was icy, like cold water on a raging fire, causing steam to rise and the fire to burn even hotter.

Mo Yin leaned back slightly and wiped his thumb across his lips. He examined the light brown residue on his thumb, then rubbed his fingers together, noting the sticky sweetness.

“Is there more?”

Ye Chi’s hand was still extended. He looked at Mo Yin’s lips, beautifully curved and subtle in their movement, seemingly impervious to pleasure.

Were those lips cold?

Before Ye Chi realized it, his index finger had already touched Mo Yin’s lower lip.

It was warm and soft. As he pressed down, the lip moved slightly, revealing a bit of white teeth and a trace of chocolate.

Ye Chi looked up to find Mo Yin giving him a look he couldn’t quite decipher. In that moment, Ye Chi’s overheated brain didn’t sense any aversion from Mo Yin. Feeling like he was under some devilish spell, he leaned forward, his heart pounding so hard it seemed to shake his brain. The heat on his face reached its peak as he moved closer to those thin lips, just a breath away, their breaths mingling—

Mo Yin turned his face away, his gaze still cold. “Ye Chi, are you out of your mind?”