Chapter 98 Planting Partners
Shoutout to nyanmaru for the commission!
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The next morning, Chu Feng woke up in X’s arms.
He opened his eyes, feeling a bit dazed. The morning sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the hotel room, and the scattered clothes on the floor silently recounted everything that happened last night.
Chu Feng felt weak all over, unable to muster any strength. He had almost no time to sleep last night, X was so energetic, not at all like a disabled person. Chu Feng doubted whether X’s wheelchair should have retired long ago.
—What time is it now…
Chu Feng reached out to the bedside, trying to find his phone. As he touched the phone, his fingertips also touched a cold metal object:
His wedding ring with Xie Shiyu.
The sparkling silver ring embedded with a small diamond. Chu Feng slowly rubbed the inner ring of the wedding ring with his fingertips, there was a depression inside, engraved with the surname initials of Xie Shiyu: X.
The lonely wedding ring laid in his palm, and Chu Feng missed the other half of this wedding ring: the wedding ring worn by Xie Shiyu on his ring finger, engraved with the initials of Chu’s surname C.
That ring was probably lost with Xie Shiyu’s plane crash into the Pacific, and now it was definitely impossible to find.
But…
What once existed will leave a mark. Chu Feng gazed at his ring finger, which had long worn a wedding ring. The skin around the base of his finger was noticeably paler than the rest, like an indelible imprint.
Chu Feng turned his head and glanced at X, who was sleeping next to him. He put the wedding ring engraved with “X” back on his left ring finger.
X resembled Xie Shiyu too much.
Chu Feng approached X gently, staring at the man’s face wrapped in bandages. X’s eyes were closed, his lower eyelashes slightly longer like Xie Shiyu’s. When he looked at Chu Feng last night, there was a… affectionate illusion.
Height over 190, similar eyes, similar lifestyle habits, both experienced accidents in the Pacific, handwriting with a 99.3% match, coincidentally choosing purple asters and a white suit, both capable of making delicious molten eggs…
Even the size was exactly the same last night.
Chu Feng moved closer to X’s embrace and observed him.
If all these similarities were said to be coincidences… it would be too forced.
A “Xie Shiyu” stuck in his throat.
Chu Feng wanted to call him, but feared hurting X, who had lost his memory.
The name was like a fishbone stuck in his throat. After much deliberation, Chu Feng finally swallowed it down.
He said nothing, just quietly laid in X’s arms. Chu Feng reached out, closed his eyes, and encircled Xie Shiyu’s waist.
For some inexplicable reason, Chu Feng placed his hand on X’s left ring finger, as light as a butterfly resting on a petal.
He stole a glance at X, who still had his eyes closed, probably still asleep. Chu Feng quietly untied the bandages on X’s hands, with extremely light movements.
The white bandages slowly unwrapped, revealing the skin beneath. There was no doubt that X’s backhand had been burned, with dark scars resembling centipedes sprawled across it, a terrifying sight.
Chu Feng’s heart felt as if it had been bitten by this poisonous centipede. He gently touched X’s scar, especially the base of his ring finger, where the burnt scar covered the original skin, probably erasing any traces of wearing a wedding ring like his.
The eternal diamond sparkled in the hands intertwined.
Chu Feng held X’s hand attentively, like a kitten playing with a ball of yarn, and when he looked up—
He found X had already opened his eyes, staring at him.
“Awake?”
The husky voice was close to his ear, and Chu Feng quickly withdrew his hand, feeling a bit embarrassed.
He was about to explain, but X had already tidied up the loose bandages on his own, without asking why Chu Feng had touched them.
X: “I made breakfast earlier, it’s in the thermos. Do you have to go to work today?”
“I can skip…” Chu Feng paused, puzzled, “Didn’t you… just wake up?”
X took out an earplug from his ear. At first glance, it looked like an in-ear Bluetooth headset, but Chu Feng immediately recognized the familiar sound:
Ding—
It was the sound of disconnection from the Dream City game.
X: “Got work.”
The highest regulator never takes a day off, always going online to rescue where there’s danger.
Last night, X had been as good as his word, lasting until dawn. Chu Feng had fallen asleep from exhaustion. X had taken the drowsy Chu Feng to the bathroom for a wash, and when he brought him back to bed, the dawn had broken, spilling golden-orange light.
X, who hadn’t slept all night, was still energetic. He got up to make breakfast, and Chu Feng seemed to really enjoy the eggs, so X made two. Just as he put the breakfast in the thermos for less than thirty seconds, X’s regulator system lit up red: there was work.
“Is this also connected to Dream City?”
Chu Feng laid in X’s arms, playing with X’s earplug. “Don’t you usually use a headset for this? Is this a new product?”
X: “No, it’s been around, but it’s for regulators only.”
Normally, entering the Dream City game involves wearing a headset, which can better connect to brainwaves and ensure a high synchronization rate for players who aren’t proficient in operating it.
But for regulators who are proficient in all game operations, they can use a more convenient earplug connection. After using it, they can connect to the game while still maintaining a certain awareness of reality.
Chu Feng felt a bit strange holding this tiny earplug. The biggest selling point of holographic games was total immersion, so why did Dream City Game Company specially develop this earplug connection that kept one foot in reality?
“Do you often use this earplug connection?” Chu Feng asked.
“Not often, occasionally.” X replied. He didn’t tell Chu Feng that he hardly ever used such things; today was an exception.
He was working in the game, and during this time, if Chu Feng woke up in reality, X wanted to know.
He didn’t want to wait until he finished work and returned to reality, only to find an empty bed, the breakfast in the thermos untouched, and the whole room empty except for himself. While Chu Feng had already left, as if nothing had happened last night.
“Do you want to try it?”
Seeing Chu Feng curious about the earplug, X inserted it into Chu Feng’s left ear:
“You can experience it.”
Ding—
Chu Feng heard the familiar connection sound in his left ear, and his brainwaves successfully synchronized.
Instead of the usual instant appearance of the Dream City scenes, schools, highways, tree shades… everything Chu Feng had built in Dream City appeared as if through a layer of mist.
Houses were like reflections on water. When the mist in front of him slowly dispersed, Chu Feng finally saw the grass and trees in the game.
“Any feeling?”
X’s husky and charming voice sounded in his left ear…
Chu Feng was a bit surprised: “Can we still talk like this?”
Usually, after putting on the game headset, you would be completely immersed in the game world, especially since Chu Feng’s spirit relied too much on his Dream City; once he entered, he was deeply immersed, oblivious to earthquakes or fires in reality.
After putting on the single-sided earplug, he could even converse with X in reality:
“The scene seems a bit… blurry.”
The effect of the single-sided earplug was not as immersive as the game headset; the scene’s colors were slightly desaturated, and Chu Feng didn’t feel the immersion he used to, where he could forget about reality.
He took a few steps, feeling somewhat unsteady. Strangely, even as he walked in the game, Chu Feng could still sense the warmth of reality.
In the hotel room, X was still holding him.
Visually, he saw everything in the game, but his auditory and tactile senses could still perceive reality. Chu Feng walked through the high school campus of Xie Shiyu while experiencing being held by X in the hotel, and this feeling was… subtle.
His body constantly sensed these two radically different things, creating an extremely contrasting sensation. Although nothing had happened yet, Chu Feng had a faint sense of shame.
He wanted to escape from here. It was morning, the time when high schooler Little Xie went to school; it wouldn’t be good if they met face to face.
Chu Feng turned around, about to leave, when suddenly he stumbled…
The mental connection of the single-sided earplug was far less stable than the headset, like a plane buffeted by high-altitude air currents, demanding extreme mental focus from the game operator.
The operator had to be able to divide their attention among different things while concentrating on each one separately, achieving a multitasking effect.
Chu Feng had never undergone training in this aspect. He felt unsteady in the game, suddenly unable to control his steps, almost falling…
“Are you okay?”
Two voices sounded simultaneously.
Chu Feng distinguished between them; one voice came from X in reality, and the other came from… in front of him.
Someone reached out and hugged him.
“Teacher Chu Feng, where did you go last night? Walking like this.”
The school bully, Xie Shiyu, lowered his head, showing a malicious smile at Chu Feng.
“Didn’t start some extracurricular tutoring sessions again, did you?”
Chu Feng was being hugged by the school bully Xie Shiyu, but he could still feel the warmth from reality behind him.
—X’s voice sounded in his left ear:
“Chu Feng, what’s wrong with you?”
The bad-tempered school bully, Xie Shiyu, pressed Chu Feng in his arms, like a dragon guarding a treasure.
Chu Feng couldn’t answer X in front of the school bully.
After a moment of silence, X’s hoarse voice continued in his ear:
“It’s not like you’re being intimate with your husband, right?”
Chu Feng: “…”
The next moment, warmth spread inch by inch from behind his waist like waves kissing a silver beach.
In reality, X was touching him.
Chu Feng made a faint sound, causing the school bully Xie Shiyu who was holding him to furrow his brows:
“Chu Feng, what’s wrong with you?”
The game’s Little Xie also reached out and held Chu Feng’s waist:
“Is it some incompetent guy giving you props?”
The white shirt was lifted, revealing a slim waist.
In the game, the character Xie Shiyu was carefully examining Chu Feng.
The school bully Little Xie looked around but didn’t find anything unusual. However, the Chu Feng in his arms bit his lip, lowered his head, his small ears behind the black and messy hair were red, his shoulders trembling slightly, as if… being loved by someone.
“Chu Feng.”
The school bully Xie Shiyu’s gaze darkened, he grabbed Chu Feng and questioned:
“Do you have an invisible person behind you? What’s this, a new game?”
Chu Feng couldn’t say anything, he could only shake his head incessantly.
The school bully Xie Shiyu was now certain that there was an invisible person, whom he couldn’t catch, “bullying” his Chu Feng.
And he couldn’t catch that b*stard!
The school bully Xie Shiyu viciously grabbed Chu Feng’s neck, lowered his head, and unwillingly kissed him, as if trying to snatch Chu Feng back from the invisible person.
“…Mm…stop…let go…”
The school bully Xie Shiyu licked his lips: “Let go?”
Chu Feng wanted to say “let go of me”, but before he could say the words, his waist softened, and X in reality was up to mischief again…
His whole body was so sensitive that it trembled. Chu Feng experienced this strange feeling for the first time, being kissed by the school bully Xie Shiyu in the game while being touched by X in reality. The irreconcilable reality and virtuality were entangled at this moment, with such intense intertwining that Chu Feng could hardly bear it:
“…Stop…stop it!”
Drip—
X removed the single-sided earplug from Chu Feng’s left ear, and the blue brain waves disconnected.
Chu Feng opened his eyes, seeing X smiling at him, his amber-like eyes smiling like a mischievous fox:
“Too exciting?”
Chu Feng snatched the earplug and threw it at X: “You did it on purpose!”
—Intentionally instigating him to try it on, taking the opportunity to “bully” him.
Chu Feng turned over, wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, forming an impenetrable cocoon, ignoring X.
“Are you angry?”
X bent down, embracing the cocooned Chu Feng. He knew he had “bullied” Chu Feng for a long time last night and hadn’t intended to do anything this morning. But when he saw Chu Feng put on the single-sided earplug and enter Dream City, X couldn’t resist giving those virtual Little Xies a taste of their own medicine.
Surely, that Little Xie just now must have been stomping around in Dream City, X thought happily. He devoutly lowered his head and gently kissed Chu Feng’s forehead:
“Would you like to get up and have breakfast? I made your favorite egg.”
***
The glass vase refracted colorful light.
In the living room, the petals of purple geraniums bathed in the golden sunlight, like thin purple crystals, translucent and bright.
On the dining table, eggs, bacon, and golden-brown toast.
X sat opposite him, and Chu Feng looked behind X, where there was a coat rack in the corner with last night’s white suit still hanging on it.
The warm and bright sunlight splashed onto the crisp white suit jacket like the flowing egg yolk, leaving behind an egg-like golden-orange hue.
The glass of the French window reflected this bright morning, with a light floral fragrance floating around, as beautiful as a wedding.
Chu Feng picked up breakfast with chopsticks and took a bite of the egg made by X. The taste was exactly the same as the “Xie Shiyu Special Runny Egg” he had eaten since childhood.
The Pacific Ocean in his heart suddenly seemed to evaporate completely.
The bitter and salty seawater dried up completely in the sunlight like the runny egg, revealing a fresh, beating heart beneath the sea.
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