Chapter 24

No!!!

Yu Mi’s vision went black, and he fell straight onto the bed, wishing he could just die on the spot. After a few seconds of “dying,” he sat up again.

“How could you use that tube top? That’s toothpaste! Didn’t you even look?” Chen Ziming was laughing hysterically downstairs, “Hahaha! Did he really use it?! Did he smear toothpaste on his pecs?”

“I looked, I looked for a long time,” Qi You’an’s voice was calm over the phone, “I thought… you must have had a reason for giving it to me.”

Yu Mi was on the verge of a breakdown, “What reason?! That’s toothpaste! Toothpaste!!”

“Yes, toothpaste,” Qi You’an said, “Can’t toothpaste be used for inflammation?”

“No…” Yu Mi was speechless, “Who told you toothpaste can reduce inflammation? That’s a lie! It’s minty and irritating! How much did you apply?”

Qi You’an: “A lot.”

Yu Mi imagined the scene of Qi You’an smearing toothpaste all over his pecs, a whole white mess, even on top of that…

He couldn’t bear to look!

He threw off the covers, “Which building are you in? I’m coming to find you.”

“No need,” Qi You’an said, “I’ll just wash it off myself. You should rest.”

Yu Mi suddenly became suspicious, “Hey, you’re not lying to me, are you? You couldn’t have been dumb enough to actually use toothpaste on a wound, right?”

Qi You’an laughed, “I really used it, you told me to.”

Yu Mi calmed down, “I don’t believe you.”

Qi You’an: “I’ll send you a picture.”

Yu Mi moved his phone away from his ear and opened WeChat.

The next second, Qi You’an sent a photo.

Yu Mi opened the photo and was instantly hit by a pecs attack!!

So… so big…

He really applied it!

It was really a whole white mess!

“Ahhh!” Yu Mi clutched his phone, sitting on the bed, screaming in frustration.

Chen Ziming tiptoed over, “Let me see! Let me see!”

He directly took Yu Mi’s phone.

Then he also started screaming.

“Oh my, so big… did he really apply it?! Is he stupid?”

Yu Mi wailed, “I told him to apply it… I didn’t even look and just handed it to him, told him to apply it himself, and then I ran off.”

Chen Ziming handed the phone back to him, “He really listens to you, huh? He must have been puzzled when he saw the toothpaste back in his dorm, probably debated for a long time, and finally chose to trust you. I’m dying of laughter, hahaha!”

The call wasn’t over yet, Yu Mi quickly reached out to get the phone back from Chen Ziming, and then said to the certain handsome fool, “Hurry up and wash it off! I’ll bring you the right ointment now.”

Qi You’an said, “No need, it’s almost healed. You should sleep early.”

Yu Mi was already getting out of bed, “I bought it especially for you, I can’t use it here, it’d be a waste. It’s not too late now, there’s still time.”

“Alright.” Qi You’an gave him his dorm coordinates.

So Yu Mi went downstairs again.

About ten minutes later, he knocked on the door of the other person’s dorm.

The door opened immediately.

Qi You’an, wearing a tank top, stood inside the door, giving him a smile, “Hello, welcome.”

“Hello.” Yu Mi instinctively glanced inside, it seemed like he was the only one there?

“They all went out to play.” Qi You’an made room, “Want to come in and sit?”

Yu Mi was about to politely decline when footsteps sounded behind him.

He turned his head.

“Wow, why is Sweet Corn Junior here? Come in and sit.” He Wenrui, who had just returned, gently pushed his back with both hands, pushing him into their dorm.

Seeing the stuff in his hand, He Wenrui asked, “Here to deliver medicine?”

Yu Mi nodded, handing the stuff to Qi You’an, “I’m heading back.”

“Don’t rush off.” He Wenrui said, “Help him apply it.”

Yu Mi couldn’t help but look at Qi You’an’s chest.

The tank top perfectly outlined the shape of his pecs, and suddenly many images flashed through his mind, sharing a bed that night, his cosplay as Meow Brother, the moment in the gym when he lifted him with one hand…

Yu Mi’s face turned red instantly.

Qi You’an said, “Don’t tease him.”

He Wenrui chuckled, “You bit him, helping him apply medicine is reasonable, right?”

Yu Mi: “It wasn’t me!”

“Others might not know, but I do.” He Wenrui looked at his hair, “That classic corn color, I knew it was you as soon as I saw the post. If it wasn’t you, why would you bring him medicine?”

“Alright,” Qi You’an put down the ointment, placing a big hand on Yu Mi’s shoulder, “I’ll walk you out.”

Then he half-hugged him, leading him out.

Yu Mi didn’t let him walk him out, he slipped away as soon as he got out the door.

When he returned to his dorm, Chen Ziming asked, “Where’s my Cool Mint Triple Toothpaste?”

Yu Mi clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.

“Use mine first… don’t mention Cool Mint Triple Toothpaste to me again!”

“I never want to hear Cool Mint Triple Toothpaste again in my life!”

“Cool Mint Triple Toothpaste, get off the planet!!”

…

After getting back into bed, Yu Mi couldn’t help but open the photo Qi You’an sent him again.

He looked at it without making a sound.

After hesitating for a while, he saved the picture.

No other meaning, just as a reference for anatomy!

For this, he specifically modified the photo’s grouping, putting it in the “Reference” folder.

Then Yu Mi remembered He Wenrui’s words.

“Help him apply it.”

He wondered, if he helped apply it… what would it feel like to press his fingers down?

He had never touched someone else’s pecs before.

A bit curious…

*

With this curiosity, Yu Mi fell into a deep sleep.

After falling asleep, he had a strange dream again.

Of course, in the dream, he wouldn’t realize it was strange. He dreamed he went to Qi You’an’s dorm, just the two of them, and somehow, the scene shifted, and he was already hands-on.

In short, he pressed to his heart’s content.

As he pressed, he looked up and found they had entered the game world. Qi You’an had transformed into a man in a white fur open-chest outfit, with unhealed bite marks on his pecs.

Yu Mi used his medical skills to concoct a bottle of ointment, looking at him, “Let me apply the medicine for you.”

The senior nodded, “Okay.”

Yu Mi’s fingers dipped into the cool ointment, lifted his hand, and then rubbed and applied it.

The sensation was incredibly real.

So real that Yu Mi realized it was a dream, and suddenly woke up.

What the hell is wrong with me?!

Before his eyes were fully open, he hurriedly picked up his phone and deleted the photo of Qi You’an’s pecs he had saved, to avoid dreaming of even more outrageous scenes.

Ever since having that dream, when logging back into the game, Yu Mi could no longer look directly at the big male characters in the game.

Whenever he saw them, the image of a certain someone’s photo would involuntarily pop into his mind.

Before seeing it, he thought the game models were pretty good, very realistic, but after seeing the real thing, those models—

Look fake. Not interesting.

It’s already Monday, players are either at school or work, and the topics from the weekend’s game exhibition still have some heat, with players chatting enthusiastically in the world channel.

But Yu Mi no longer dared to follow along with those flirty talks.

He’s experienced the real thing.

Never again.

He really wished it was all just a dream.

He even didn’t dare to use the blonde appearance in the game, instead, he guiltily switched to the black-haired school uniform head of his faction, unwilling to let the character Sweet Corn have any connection with his real self.

After finishing the PVE dailies, Yu Mi planned to do an escort mission, so he asked in the faction channel if it was safe?

But no one answered.

Maybe because at this time, everyone was at work or school, and there were fewer people in the game.

Yu Mi opened his friend list and saw Shen Gun was online, so he had an idea.

[Private Chat] Sweet Corn: Bro, is anyone robbing escorts?

[Private Chat] What Are You: ?? Did you send this to the wrong person? I’m in the opposing faction, Sweet Milk.

Sweet Milk, what the heck?!

Yu Mi typed his name “TNN” on the keyboard, okay, there is indeed a “Sweet Milk” option.

[Private Chat] Sweet Corn: No, just asking you, can you check your Qingyun Alliance’s faction channel, see if anyone is organizing a robbery?

[Private Chat] What Are You: Is this how you use friends from the opposing faction?? #Disdain

[Private Chat] What Are You: Who taught you this?

Yu Mi couldn’t help but laugh.

[Private Chat] Sweet Corn: I figured it out myself, quickly help me check. #Pleading

[Private Chat] What Are You: Doesn’t seem like anyone’s organizing, but whether there’s someone robbing on the road, I don’t know. I’ll scout the way for you. #Disdain

Then a team invitation appeared on Yu Mi’s screen.

He replied: Grateful heart, thank you for being there!

Then he clicked accept and flew over to take the task.

When he came out of the stronghold, he saw the little blue dot representing Shen Gun’s position on the mini-map in the upper right corner of the screen, at a certain distance.

Shen Gun opened the mic and said, “It’s safe, come over.”

Yu Mi hadn’t used the mic in the game for several days, just about to speak, he suddenly remembered the voice changer wasn’t on, quickly switched out to turn on the voice changer, and then opened his mouth to speak.

“Okay.”

He was leisurely doing the escort mission while watching the faction channel chat.

After a while, someone else asked, “Is it safe?”

[Faction] Golden Crispy Chicken: Weakling, is it safe?? #Pleading

[Faction] West River Moon: Just set off, I’ll let you know after I finish running.

[Faction] Silly Me: [What Are You] this star dad with faction mode off is wandering on the road… makes people uneasy…

Seeing this, Yu Mi couldn’t help but laugh.

Shen Gun asked, “What’s up?”

“Nothing.” Yu Mi said to him while quickly typing to reassure his fellow faction players.

[Faction] Sweet Corn: [Silly Me] Don’t worry, that star dad isn’t here to rob, he’s my friend, helping to scout the way. He won’t rob.

As soon as he sent this, the faction channel suddenly exploded with a bunch of people spamming question marks.

Yu Mi was confused, was there something wrong with what he said?

[Faction] Half Moon Golden Hook: Are you two having a romance on the escort route?

[Faction] Tired Tired: Learned something new, so this is how you date someone from the opposing faction!

[Faction] Ming Chuan: Find an opposing faction partner to protect my escort! Should I post this in the world channel?

[Faction] Three Meals a Day: Back then, an opposing faction friend asked me to help scout the way like this, my proud bones told her I’d never do such a traitorous act! And then… nothing happened… #Crying

How is this a romance?!

Before Yu Mi could explain, the situation took a turn for the worse.

[Faction] Silver Saddle White Horse: No showing off love in the faction channel! #Angry. I’m going to log into my Qingyun Alliance alt to rob your escort [Sweet Corn]. I’m coming! Mwahaha…

How is this fair?!

*

Yu Mi was shocked, quickly begging for mercy.

[Faction] Sweet Corn: Not showing off love! Just friends! QAQ [Silver Saddle White Horse] don’t come over! We’re in the same faction!! Can you bear it?

The other side didn’t reply.

“It’s over, it’s over,” Yu Mi lamented, “Someone’s coming to rob the escort!”

“How do you know?” Shen Gun said, “I’ve already crossed the map, it’s safe in the desert, haven’t seen any robbers yet.”

Yu Mi was on the verge of tears, “Someone saw you, thought you were robbing, I just explained, said you’re my friend, helping to scout the way. Then someone said I was showing off love, and they’re going to log into a Qingyun Alliance alt to rob me!”

“Haha,” Shen Gun laughed, “You’re so… so…”

Yu Mi nervously crossed the map, “So what?”

The other seemed to struggle to find the right words, gave up on expressing, and then said, “Don’t worry, if someone really comes to rob your escort, I’ll turn on faction mode, put you in a black room, so they can’t hit you. In my black room, you can still move, just keep running forward. 6 seconds, enough for you to run far, then you can use your faction’s light skill.”

“Okay, okay,” Yu Mi nervously watched his surroundings, “I got it.”

Shen Gun said, “Make sure you know the direction, don’t run the wrong way.”

Yu Mi: “Got it.”

“By the way, aren’t you afraid I’ll rob the escort?” Shen Gun suddenly asked, “You’re so trusting, letting me scout the way?”

“Not really,” Yu Mi analyzed seriously, “You’re someone who worries about scaring newbies away, I believe you wouldn’t rob an escort from a newbie like me… you probably wouldn’t hit a small account. As for those high-score big accounts, if you want to rob them, I have nothing to say.”

Shen Gun: “Now that you mention it… I really feel bad about hitting small accounts.”

Yu Mi: “That’s the effect I wanted!”

He was on edge, but until he finished two runs and completed the task, no one came to rob the escort.

Only then did he realize that the same faction player was probably just trying to scare him.

Poor him, a newbie, was really easy to scare, and took it seriously.

Task completed, Yu Mi thanked him, then went with Shen Gun to a safe place to double ride and trigger opportunities.

Meanwhile, he opened the event calendar to see what else he hadn’t done. Then he saw a public event in the collaboration activities, [Pray for Peace Under the Fragrant Tree].

He casually asked Shen Gun, “How do you do this?”

The other said, “It’s in three stages, go over and follow the instructions to collect materials, fight monsters, then release lanterns to pray. Remember to watch the right side of the screen, it will show your points. You need 100 points in each stage to get rewards. Each round is every 15 minutes, once you finish a round, you can leave. Repeating won’t give more rewards.”

Yu Mi looked at the event page description, the task rewards were reputation items, gold coins, and a Kongming lantern.

“Does this task have achievements?” he asked.

“It does,” Shen Gun said, “You’ll get one the first time you do it. There are also achievements for praying ten times, a hundred times.”

After five attempts, without triggering an opportunity for Shen Gun.

Yu Mi said to Shen Gun, “I’m leaving the team to do that event.”

Shen Gun said, “I’m going too.”

Yu Mi: “You’re an old player, you should have done it long ago, right?”

He suspected the other wanted to help him, a newbie, and felt a bit embarrassed to trouble him.

Shen Gun: “I’ve only done it 30 times, still far from enough. Plus, there’s a part where you have to release ten fireworks sticks to your teammate.”

So the two went together.

When they got there, there were a lot of people.

The map was a night scene.

Under the night sky, the towering giant tree was very conspicuous, with many red ribbons hanging from it, and various lanterns continuously rising from the ground, floating into the sky, making the whole scene look magnificent.

“Wow,” Yu Mi marveled as he adjusted the graphics to high quality, “Is this event so popular? So many people… the rewards seem pretty ordinary.”

“It’s all for wishing,” Shen Gun said, “Many people make wishes here, or pray for friends and family, it’s like cyber praying.”

“Oh, oh.” Yu Mi instantly understood.

He had encountered similar events in other games before.

He looked at the task’s background introduction, this event seemed to be derived from a side story, originally to commemorate the soldiers who died in the chaos of war in the story, probably later turned into a wishing tree by players.

The task was simple, he followed Shen Gun forward, and when the event started, they first fought monsters together, earning 100 points, then continued forward, collecting bamboo strips, crafting items. First, they crafted ten fireworks sticks, selected their teammate, and released them one by one. Then a Kongming lantern appeared in his bag.

Yu Mi right-clicked to open the lantern and wrote a wish.

[Wishing Senior YA good health, peace, and longevity!!]

Originally, his abbreviation stood for “You’an,” but somehow it turned into “Duck Senior”?

Oh well, just as well to avoid being recognized.

As long as he knew it was for him.

Yu Mi added a dot between Y and A. He saw that at the bottom of the input interface, there was an option to choose whether to send the message anonymously.

Of course, it had to be anonymous.

He chose anonymous without hesitation, then released the lantern.

The Kongming lantern, glowing with a warm yellow light, rose slowly, and Yu Mi adjusted the perspective, watching his lantern fly into the night sky.

“Who are you praying for?” Shen Gun asked.

Yu Mi replied, “A friend.”

Shen Gun laughed and asked, “The kind of friend you can kiss?”

*

“No!” Yu Mi continued to watch his lantern, it carried his blessing for someone, flying higher and higher, further and further.

Though they hadn’t kissed, he had bitten the other’s pecs, which seemed more excessive than kissing…

“But,” he suddenly sighed, “my friend doesn’t play Sword Roar in the Jianghu, writing blessings for him in this game seems meaningless…”

“It won’t be,” Shen Gun said, “As long as you sincerely wish for the other, whether in reality or in the game, it all has meaning, it will be heard by the heavens and the earth.”

Yu Mi felt comforted, couldn’t help but smile, “You finally said something nice.”

Shen Gun said seriously, “Our Star Picking Tower’s setting, we believe in this.”

Yu Mi thought, one day when he goes out, he should go to an offline temple to pray for the senior.

But there’s no need to tell Shen Gun this.

He asked back, “Then who did you write for?”

Shen Gun played mysterious, “The secrets of heaven must not be revealed. Young man, many questions require a price to know the answer.”

Yu Mi cursed, “Get lost.”

Many people were releasing lanterns, these lanterns carried everyone’s wishes, the scene was quite moving.

Yu Mi snapped a few screenshots.

As he was taking pictures, he found Shen Gun in the frame.

It seemed like their first photo together?

Oh well. Keep it.

After taking a few shots, Yu Mi noticed his teammate had flown up and was hovering in the air, so he asked, “What are you doing? How are you levitating? How did you do it?”

Shen Gun said, “You can view other people’s wishes. Fly up, and when you touch these lanterns, you’ll get a buff, allowing you to hover briefly.”

“I’ll take a look too.”

Yu Mi also flew to a higher place, touched a lantern, and indeed got a “Light as a Swallow” buff, lasting ten seconds.

He randomly selected a lantern, right-clicked to interact, and saw the message on the lantern: [Wishing Black Sesame Paste classmate never gets robbed again!! (○゜ε＾○)]

A very cute message, Yu Mi felt warm inside.

The “Light as a Swallow” buff can stack layers, the more layers, the longer the hover time.

He continued to fly around, looking at many beautiful wishes. Some people wrote long texts, expressing their longing for friends and family, and many irretrievable regrets and sorrows…

[Wishing Little Tomato Heroine a speedy recovery, come back soon to play games together! We’re missing one for mahjong! Shield, damage reduction, big heal, invincibility… all for you!]

[Confessing to Home Meow, may we always be this sweet and loving! =3=]

[May the mountains and rivers be safe, and the world be at peace.]

[What’s wrong with the world having one more rich person like me?! If I win 1 million, I’ll kiss the planner!]

[The Jianghu you brought me to is vast, I like it very much, I’ve met many gentle people. I’ll continue with your account, you keep moving forward too.]

[Senior, I’ve gotten stronger! I’m 12th rank in the arena! Come back, I’ll carry you!]

…

What a warm Jianghu.

Yu Mi watched for a long time, forgetting the time.

Until Shen Gun’s voice brought him back.

“TNN, I’m off to class. Bye.”

“Oh. What Are You, you go ahead.”

Yu Mi just felt that, when read seriously, someone’s ID was really full of aggression…

The other was amused, then logged off on the spot, the avatar grayed out.

Yu Mi flew higher, continued looking at the lanterns, he casually clicked on a pink lantern.

[Wishing Sweet Corn Hero a happy time—both in this Jianghu and in this world.]

[—From an anonymous hero’s message]

Yu Mi’s mind buzzed, his whole heart trembled.

Someone actually wrote a message for me?!

Someone actually sent blessings for me??

A simple blessing, but it inexplicably made his eyes warm.

Who?!

Who, who, who, who, who, who, who??

Ahhh, friend, do you want me to fall in love with you?!

He instinctively looked at the ID in the team that had already gone offline, somewhat incredulously thinking—

…Was it him?

Was it him?