Arc 2: Luxury Cruise
Chapter 30
"My b.u.t.t hurts…….." Xu Ziyue laid slumped across the bed in the medical room looking particularly pathetic.
Having returned back to the medical room soon after leaving, Wu Wenshan sighed, "This time you don"t have to worry about not getting the stamp."
Xu Ziyue glared at him weakly. He then continued to whine.
If he whined too loudly, he was afraid that Austin would think that he was too pathetic but if he whined too softly, he was afraid that he could not attract his attention. Children who cry get sweets. If he didn"t "cry" a little, how could he get Austin to feel distressed for him?
Even if Austin didn"t feel anything towards him at all……..At least he would worry.
The doctor in the medical room pulled shut the curtains and asked Xu Ziyue to take off his pants.
Xu Ziyue very easily took it off, "Lightly. It hurts………"
"It"ll be done soon."
Compared to the doctor"s indifferent voice, Xu Ziyue"s voice sounded livelier.
The doctor then opened the curtain again, exposing Xu Ziyue"s b.u.t.tocks, "No injury to the bone. Remember to apply the medication." He turned around and saw Xu Ziyue putting his pants back on with a beet-red face and added, "Wait until the medication dries before putting on your pants."
Xu Ziyue: "O-oh………."
He clearly wasn"t blushing when the doctor went in to apply the medication but when the curtain opened and Xu Ziyue saw Austin, his face instantly flushed bright red.
Xu Ziyue buried his head into the pillow and complained to the system, "Didn"t you say that I would be safe?"
The system replied: "Safe, but you can still be scared."
Xu Ziyue: "……….."
"Then if I don"t want to be scared?"
"Mosaic function."
"Forget it." Xu Ziyue thought that if he used that, he wouldn"t know what was before him if no one said anything and he would have to guess.
"I still have something to do. I"ll be leaving now." Xu Wenshan walked over to Xu Ziyue and patted him on the shoulder.
Xu Ziyue looked up at Wu Wenshan and nodded, "You can go then."
Wu Wenshan leaned down and whispered: "I have said everything I wanted to say. Take care of yourself."
Xu Ziyue nodded to show that he understood.
He looked at Wu Wenshan"s departing figure, fell into daze for a moment before jumping off the bed and putting his pants back on.
Wu Wenshan was different from all the other players he had encountered. He was very cheerful and seemed to be hold good intentions. It was just that although he was scared and reacted subconsciously earlier by the basketball, he didn"t display much fear like normal people.
It felt like…..things weren"t so simple.
"Are you hungry? I get someone to bring some lunch over?" Austin pushed his wheelchair over to Xu Ziyue"s bed.
"Hungry." Xu Ziyue rubbed his stomach, "Oh right, doctor you still haven"t given me a stamp!"
The doctor didn"t say anything when he heard that. He walked over, picked up Xu Ziyue"s card hanging from his neck and swiftly stamped it.
Xu Ziyue looked at the card with six stamps and sighed, "It"s a pity I didn"t get the basketball one….." Xu Ziyue then remembered something and turned to look at Austin, "Did you see it earlier? That basketball suddenly changed!"
"Yeah, I saw it." Austin laughed, "And you even tried to step on it."
"Wasn"t it just because it scared me? I also saw it change into a head before so I thought that if it didn"t bite me, I would bite it…..Oh that"s not right. I won"t bite it; I would smash it with my foot." Xu Ziyue sighed. "Unfortunately it disappeared so quickly." At that time, he was just playing with that thought because he knew that he would be fine.
But unexpectedly, the head really did appear. Before Xu Ziyue"s mind could process everything, his body had already moved.
Of course, the final outcome was unsuccessful.
Austin smiled and said: "Looks like you won"t be able to go anywhere this afternoon. Just rest here."
"Okay."
Xu Ziyue laid sprawled across the bed. He soon became a little sleepy but, remembering that he had not eaten yet and was a little hungry, and that Austin was sitting by his bed,……….He couldn"t bear to fall asleep.
And so, he remained in a state of drowsiness until lunch was delivered…….
Xu Ziyue"s b.u.t.t still hurt when he sat up but fortunately the bed was soft, and he had medication applied earlier so it wasn"t intolerable.
After he was halfway through his meal, Xu Ziyue suddenly realised that something was amiss…….
When did Austin instruct someone to bring over the food? He didn"t seem to see Austin talk to anyone?
And there wasn"t anyone else in the medical room.
Xu Ziyue swallowed the steak in his mouth and glanced at Austin. He glanced at him again……..and glanced at him a third time.
"What"s wrong?" Austin placed down the fork and rested his chin in his palm. Tilting his head as he looked at Xu Ziyue, he asked, "Is it…….because I"m too good-looking?"
"Cough…….." Xu Ziyue swallowed the food in his mouth and shook his head, "I was thinking about some things."
"What things?"
"I was thinking……thinking about your legs……How did it become like this?" Xu Ziyue didn"t tell Austin his thoughts straightforwardly.
It was probably because of Wu Wenshan"s words. In any case, Xu Ziyue had become a little more vigilant.
"Sorry, you don"t have to worry about answering." It was just something he asked casually. Regardless of whether Austin answered or not, he didn"t mind.
"It"s nothing. I was just wondering when you would ask me that." Austin looked at Xu Ziyue, "Afterall, you seem to like me a lot. If you like someone, you naturally would care about their affairs."
Xu Ziyue looked at Austin for a long time without saying anything. He then bowed his head and made a small sound of acknowledgement.
W-what to do…….Suddenly feeling guilty.
He didn"t really care much about Austin"s affairs…….because what he liked wasn"t him.
………It was just his face. Other things like personality, voice, body etc are just bonus points. Even if they receive full marks, Xu Ziyue only looked at the face.
Austin said: "My leg was bitten by a fish in the sea and it……..became like this."
"Fish……..? Was it a shark?"
The only thing Xu Ziyue could think of was a shark. He didn"t know much about fish and only knew about the common ones seen at the fish market.
However, ever since he heard about the existence of sea monsters that can go ash.o.r.e and turn into humans, he has not eaten any seafood on this cruise.
He decided that it would be better to wait until he was in another world to have seafood.
Xu Ziyue glanced at Austin"s legs. It had always been covered by a blanket and wrapped securely, but you could still see an outline.
So, it shouldn"t be completely gone………Probably just unable to walk?
He had also heard that sometimes legs could shrivel up faster after paralysis and would look deformed. If that was the case, it was natural to have it covered up.
"Well……….it was something larger than a shark." Austin raised his hand and wiped away some sauce from the corner of Xu Ziyue"s mouth, "I guess you could say that it was something like that."
Xu Ziyue blushed. He stuck out his tongue and licked the corners of his mouth.
Huh? Larger than a shark?
"Then…….then that must"ve difficult."
"I"ll bring over some books in the afternoon. What would you like to read?" Austin picked up his fork and continued to eat.
"Book? From the library?"
"Yes. The collection here is quite diverse. It has all the genres you can think of."
Xu Ziyue took off the card hanging from his neck, "I heard you can get a stamp if you read a book for an hour there…….Would it count if I borrowed the book?"
"I don"t know, but I can try."
Xu Ziyue smiled with relief, "Thank you very much, Austin."
He then thought about the types of books he liked, "Adventure and historical stories. I can read anything but those are what I like. I can"t stand reading boring novels."
Austin received Xu Ziyue"s card, "Okay."
When Austin returned later with books and the stamped card, for a moment……Xu Ziyue"s heart trembled.
Did he……..end up a.s.sociating himself with someone amazing again?
After the incident at the water slide, Xu Ziyue knew that the card could not be used by others.
Moreover, that stamp could only be obtained after reading a book for an hour. Austin took less than an hour to borrow a few books so even if he could complete the reading task for others, the time wasn"t enough.
So why did the NPC let him off?
Xu Ziyue received the books and read them for the entire afternoon, but nothing went in.
He tried recalling his interactions with Austin. Austin didn"t reveal any flaws.
When they were at the casino………Austin also didn"t say anything, and someone came over to give him his chips.
Of course, something like this was possible in a place like the casino. Perhaps Austin had them put aside in advance? Because he knew that Xu Ziyue was going to go there?
No, no, no. That"s not right either. Xu Ziyue knew very well that he was the one who made the suggestion.
Don"t be so full of yourself. Austin may just be a regular at the casino. The more Xu Ziyue mulled, the less of the book his brain absorbed.
Xu Ziyue dug through his memories and found something that was also suspicious.
When the basketball changed into a head and got ready to bite him, it hesitated for a moment. At that moment, the eyes of that head was looking in Austin"s direction……..
No, this horror game has no boss! The dangerous one in this game was clearly those sea monsters and the rigged cruise activities.
It has nothing to do with Austin.
Xu Ziyue rea.s.sured himself but……..Austin has his subordinates. The several times he had completed activities with him had been rather smooth sailing. He couldn"t help but think that perhaps he was a special NPC.
While rea.s.suring himself, he turned his head and proposed to Austin: "How about we go to the children"s playground tomorrow?"
Only G.o.d knows why the cruise wanted someone like him who was almost an adult to go to the children"s playground and play with other adults.
Austin"s smile was as gentle and as courteous as ever, "If you want to go, then let"s go."
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KK has something to say:
Why yes, XZY did indeed flash himself to Austin (and also Wu Wenshan but he"s not that important) (￣y▽,￣)╭
Also, XZY admitting that he only liked Austin"s face, not him.
Me: ………………..d.a.m.n face-con. ==”