Chapter 13Arc 1.
Last night…… To be precise, it should be the early hours of this morning, Xu Ziyue was taken to the sixth floor by Sun Mo. But back then it was dark everywhere and he couldn’t see where he was going.
This time at noon, walking up from the fifth floor to the sixth floor, Xu Ziyue could clearly see everything. That locked iron door automatically opened itself for Sun Mo – there was no need to even push at it.
And in the morning Xu Ziyue had hurriedly rushed from the sixth floor to the lecture hall, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the difference between the floors either.
The sixth floor had the same layout and appearance as the other floors, looking as if it had been repainted. However, this level had more patches where the paint was peeling off, revealing the older wall peeking out behind.
“Why is this floor sealed off?” Xu Ziyue glanced over the other tightly closed doors on the sixth floor.
“This floor is unsuitable for living in.” Sun Mo went to the room they’d slept in yesterday and pushed open the door, walking in. “Don’t go into the other rooms. “
Xu Ziyue asked, “Why?”
Sun Mo’s mouth twitched up, “What if I said that ghosts live there?”
“Um…” Xu Ziyue was speechless, he had no idea how to react, “Um, then… What about you? Aren’t you afraid?”
“Nope. “
Xu Ziyue scratched the back of his head, and then decided to just casually find a place to sit down. Sun Mo picked up a book and started to read. Xu Ziyue tried to subtly see what the book was about, and then discovered that it was actually a course textbook….
“Sun Mo… I’m bored. Wasn’t this a date? You’re just ignoring me.” Xu Ziyue gave a yawn.
“Then let’s go to sleep.”
“Ah? Sleep? S-sure. ” Xu Ziyue got up and took off his shoes and then crawled into the bed.
Sun Mo gave a slightly breathless sigh, and then closed the textbook, following after Xu Ziyue.
And so, Xu Ziyue got to experience again what he didn’t have a chance to fully savour the night before. They laid side by side, their arms touching, so close that they could hear each other’s breathing.
Ah…wait…. He couldn’t hear Sun Mo’s breathing, only his own breathing…
Xu Ziyue placed his left index finger and middle finger together on his right wrist, letting out a breath when he confirmed that he could feel his own pulse. Then, he discreetly moved his hand over Sun Mo’s wrist.
No…… This was not a hallucination!
Xu Ziyue’s heart wanted to cry – he really didn’t feel a pulse on Sun Mo’s wrist!
“Sun Mo, I, I feel a little squished, just… Can I sleep sideways instead?”
“En. “
Sun Mo laid flat on his back, his hands positioned squarely on his abdomen. He looked proper and dignified, just like a body in a coffin.
Xu Ziyue was so scared by his own thoughts that his hairs stood up straight. But, he still wasn’t satisfied and wanted to test it one last time. He moved a hand to rest between them, and then casually draped his other hand on Sun Mo’s chest.
Badump, badump… The beating sound of a heart.
But, that was the sound of Xu Ziyue’s own heartbeat.
He swallowed nervously, his eyes tightly closed. Nooooo, he hadn’t ever consider he would be entangled in a human-ghost love story! He wasn’t mentally prepared for this ah!!
A cold hand rested itself on Xu Ziyue’s hand – Xu Ziyue’s whole body began to tremble…. His eyes closed tighter.
“Are you going to touch this place?” Sun Mo moved Xu Ziyue’s hand onto his left chest.
That area was still and silent. Xu Ziyue could feel the outline of Sun Mo’s body, and that was all.
Guh…… Xu Ziyue heard the sound of himself swallowing.
“What, that scared?” Sun Mo looked at Xu Ziyue amused, as if the other were a novelty. Xu Ziyue had his eyes tightly closed and he was lightly shivering, looking like he wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball.
“I, I’m scared… You won’t suddenly turn into a scary, b.l.o.o.d.y ghost, will you?” Xu Ziyue naturally was quite terrified, but he still loved Sun Mo’s face! If that beautiful face was gone, then just watch him – he will cry out loud!!
“You can rest a.s.sured that I looked like this even before I died.” Sun Mo’s tone was plain, as if he took his own death very lightly.
Sun Mo sat up and watched as Xu Ziyue first opened his eyes a sliver, and after confirming that there wasn’t a b.l.o.o.d.y ma.s.sacre scene before him, opened his eyes fully.
“No wonder you are always so cold to touch…” Xu Ziyue propped himself up on his elbows, trying to sit up, but his mind and body were so weak from the shock that he fell back down.
Xu Ziyue: QAQ
Sun Mo inquired softly, “Are you afraid of these things?”
Xu Ziyue nodded, replying in a pitiful tone, “I’m really scared.”
Sun Mo leaned down and brought his face closer to Xu Ziyue’s upper body, lying on top of the other. The distance between the two were but a few centimeters.
He observed Xu Ziyue’s expression and then commented, “It seems like you really like my face.”
Xu Ziyue originally wanted to shrink back, but since he was laying on a bed, where could he retreat to? In the end, he decided to just close his eyes and lift his head, surging forward briefly before falling back down.
The cold touch on his lips lasted only a moment.
Xu Ziyue took a deep breath, adopting a face full of righteousness. “Alright! I can die without regrets now! Kill me, and we can be a family!”
Sun Mo: “……”
Sun Mo was silent for a moment. He raised his hand and touched his lips, asking, “Is this a kiss?”
Xu Ziyue was surprised by the question, “Um, yes. Well, basically, it’s the same thing.”
Sun Mo fell silent again.
Xu Ziyue stared anxiously at Sun Mo, looking more and more like he wanted to cry. “Or, you don’t have to kill me….. I actually still want to live ah! Look, you’re so cold, I uh… I, um, yes! I can warm your bed!” [T/N: Warming someone’s bed is usually a euphemism for s.e.x lol, cuz you’re keeping their bed warm by providing activities haha]
“I don’t need to sleep,” Sun Mo replied. “And…… to warm my bed you would have to stay in this bedroom all the time. Wouldn’t you be scared?”
Xu Ziyue blinked, confused, “What’s there to be afraid of?”
“You can go to the door and see.”
Xu Ziyue stiffly turned around and stared at the door leading into the hallway.
“What’s in the door cracks?” His tone already carried a bit of a nasally sound, as if he was about to cry.
“Most likely…” Sun Mo thought about it, “It’s probably eyes. “
“……”
Badump….. Xu Ziyue felt like his heart was going to stop.
Just as Xu Ziyue was about to collapse from the stress, a loud noise sounded from the distance.
Xu Ziyue was so frightened he almost jumped out of his skin. The sound was followed by screams, but that sound was more blurry – he could only make out some vague noises.
Xu Ziyue jumped up from the bed, quickly slipped on his shoes, and ran for the door, about to head out. Then, he suddenly remembered something, and he quickly backed away until he was at least three or four meters away before he stopped.
He looked pleadingly towards Sun Mo, asking for help. “I want to go out and see… Is that okay?”
Sun Mo nodded, but Xu Ziyue still didn’t dare to open the door by himself. And so, Sun Mo slowly got up from the bed, put on his shoes, and then opened the door.
If he didn’t know anything, then Xu Ziyue probably wouldn’t have been this scared. But now that Sun Mo had said something, Xu Ziyue couldn’t stop thinking about it. He couldn’t help but wonder if as soon as he and Sun Mo stepped into the room and closed the door, all the other doors on this floor would quietly open and the things inside would creep next to their room, peering at them through the door cracks, observing their every move. And at night, once they are asleep…..
Xu Ziyue hugged Sun Mo’s arm tightly, “Hurry, let’s move faster.”
Although he already knew that Sun Mo wasn’t human, but at this point only Sun Mo could bring him some sense of safety. Being alone would make him even more afraid.
The accident happened on the sixth floor of the lecture hall. It was pretty close to the sixth floor dormitory, so Xu Ziyue could hear the commotion quite clearly. What’s more, something big had obviously happened because the noise wasn’t small.
As Xu Ziyue was pulling Sun Mo over to the scene, the other players who had skipped cla.s.s also arrived at the site. They got there slightly earlier than Xu Ziyue did, but obviously didn’t know what had happened either.
Xu Ziyue asked around a bit but n.o.body knew anything. In the end, Zhang Jin ran over to take a look, and he came back with an ugly expression. Apparently, the cla.s.sroom’s ceiling fan had fallen down and smashed the few players who had attended cla.s.s to death. The various other NPCs also suffered the same fate.
Xu Ziyue decided not to torture himself by running over and taking a look.
“We have too little information at the moment,” Zhang Jin said. “If it keeps going on like this, then we will all die before clearing the game.” He suddenly thought of something, and directed his attention to Xu Ziyue. “Xu Ziyue, where did you get your information from?”
The others all stared at him as well.
It was Xu Ziyue who had told them to skip cla.s.s, thereby saving their lives. But if he had meant to save them, they why not just say that straightforwardly in the first place?
Xu Ziyue himself didn’t know that skipping cla.s.s was avoiding a death flag, so he was naturally speechless.
Zhang Jin’s insightful gaze fell onto Sun Mo, and he stated confidently, “He told you about it, right?” The ‘he’ in his sentence naturally referred to Sun Mo.
Sun Mo had been staring at Xu Ziyue this whole time, and despite the fact that Zhang Jin’s words clearly referred to him, he didn’t give any reaction.
“Does this NPC not talk?” A player next to Zhang Jin whispered quietly.
“I’ve only ever seen Xu Ziyue talk to him, and he occasionally replies. However, I haven’t ever seen this NPC talk with anyone else.”
“How about this,” Zhang Jin decided to disregard Sun Mo. “Why don’t you come with us for a little discussion?” There were some things that he was still quite reluctant to talk about in an ambiguous NPC’s vicinity.
Although some NPCs only had fixed dialogue and actions, this NPC called Sun Mo was obviously not one of them. It was especially NPCs like Sun Mo – who had their own thoughts and ideas – that they had to be most wary of.
Xu Ziyue looked at Sun Mo, “Um … I have to talk with them. Can you wait for me over here?” He was obviously someone who only remembered what they ate, and not what beatings they’ve suffered. [T/N: ie a simpleminded person]. Since Sun Mo had not brought him any substantial harm, as soon as Xu Ziyue saw Sun Mo’s pretty face, he immediately put everything else to the back of his mind.
As for Sun Mo, he looked like he was thinking deeply about something and just absentmindedly nodded.
Xu Ziyue moved away a little with the rest of the players and then asked curiously, “What did you guys want to discuss?”
Translator: Lone Wolf Translations
Wolf Translator~
XZY: Ahhhhh I’m not mentally prepared for a ghost-human romance!! Oh, but his face is pretty. Okay then.