Ch86.1 – Satan
Fu Liqun said, “The two of you can leave after graduation, but what about me? Your sis-in-law absolutely can’t let go of her father-daughter relationship. You have a plan B, but I don’t. I need a whole two to three billion before her father would acknowledge me as a son-in-law, but where would I be able to find that much? My Dad asked if I wanted to go to your sis-in-law’s place to visit them in advance. When I heard him say that, I wanted to cry. Won’t we just be sending ourselves to their doorstep to get humiliated?”
Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun stopped talking once Yu Hao came back. Zhou Sheng said, “Finished chatting?”
Yu Hao, “Un……you guys drank so much? Are you okay?”
Zhou Sheng drank whiskey while Fu Liqun drank gin. Yu Hao noticed that their gla.s.ses were almost empty. He observed Zhou Sheng and Fu Liqun’s expressions, Fu Liqun said, “Just one gla.s.s, it’s fine. Let’s go, let’s go, and play basketball!”
Yu Hao thought, how are you gonna play basketball after drinking so much? But Fu Liqun actually did take a basketball and began playing a three-person basketball game with Zhou Sheng and Yu Hao on the field. The Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching; the moon was big, round and extremely bright.
“I don’t want to go anymore.” Yu Hao dribbled, “It’s just as you guessed, her real objective is to get Chen Laoshi to help her with a column. I would just be a middleman who runs errands.”
When Fu Liqun heard that, he understood it at once and said, “She wants to have Kaikai as a consultant, but he’s a college lecturer and concerned about shouldering the responsibility, so it’s not convenient for him to step in, right?”
Yu Hao uttered an “un”. Zhou Sheng was baffled, “Go ah, what’s wrong with that?”
“What if he……overthinks it?” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng, “What?”
Fu Liqun, “About what?”
Yu Hao, “……”
Yu Hao stood at a spot, shot, and the ball went in. Zhou Sheng said, “What are you thinking! Do you think he might like you? Yoho, look at how wild you’re being.”
Fu Liqun burst out laughing, and Yu Hao felt incredibly embarra.s.sed for a moment. Zhou Sheng dribbled the ball a few times as he approached, “I really won’t eat any vinegar, just go if you want to.” As he spoke, his agile body turned sideways and pa.s.sed Yu Hao, but Yu Hao reacted very quickly and stopped him with one move.
“Then I’ll try it out first?” Yu Hao said, “If I can’t do it, I’ll resign. I won’t take her remuneration in the beginning?”
“Un go ba.” Zhou Sheng answered.
Yu Hao did a layup shot and thought, yi, why am I so good at basketball now?
“You guys are going easy on me again!” Yu Hao said.
Zhou Sheng laughed, “When did we go easy on you?” As he spoke, he shot a three-pointer — it went in. Fu Liqun started calling out with “wuwu”s.
【Is Gege okay?】
When they returned to the dormitory, Yu Hao laid in bed and replied to Xiao Yujun’s message first. Xiao Yujun was still awake. Yu Hao then messaged Zhou Sheng. He could tell that Fu Liqun seemed a little off recently ever since he wasn’t able to contact Cen Shan.
【He’s okay, we’ll talk in the dream.】Zhou Sheng replied.
Yu Hao, “!!!”
Zhou Sheng wore the Golden Crow Wheel, and one of his hands crossed the bedside railings, “Good night.” Then he pressed his hand against Yu Hao’s forehead.
Within an instant, the world was bright, and Yu Hao appeared in his dream.
“Zhou Sheng?” Yu Hao never expected that Zhou Sheng would let him enter the dream tonight without the slightest warning.
Ever since they left Chichén Itzá, he hardly had the chance to properly examine his dream. His dreamscape had undergone tremendous changes: the capital was still a capital, and the Great Wall in the distance was still the Great Wall. However, for as far as the eye could see, gingko trees were now planted everywhere and golden leaves swirled in the air.
There was now a sky-high ferris wheel at the city’s periphery. All the tiles in the city and its streets shone with a faint golden colour; heart-shaped kites flew everywhere in the capital under the blue sky, and the scene looked just as gorgeous as an oil painting in the sunshine.
His totem changed! It rose from within the palace and was now suspended at the top of the palaces. Yu Hao identified it long ago, but he couldn’t understand the form it had taken. It had changed from a silvery white shield into a circular ring and it seemed to resemble a jade pendant that emitted a faint, soft light.
“What’s that?” Yu Hao asked the NPC who stood beside him.
“That’s your totem, master.” A warrior answered.
“I’m not dumb.” Yu Hao didn’t know if he should cry or laugh, “Of course I know that.”
But it was unlikely for NPC in dreams to give detailed answers. After all, these were all existences formed from his consciousness, so unless he more or less had an answer in mind, he wouldn’t be able to get exact answers from the NPCs.
Yu Hao looked at his totem for a while and thought, what does Zhou Sheng want to do today? He walked out of the palace and went to the platform where he had once chatted with Zhou Sheng over some tea. There was now another bar with luxurious decorations, with an abundance of good wine spread over the entire bar that looked identical to the ones in Liang Jinmin’s house; there was a dazzling line-up in the wine cabinet as well. Shock was evident in Yu Hao’s eyes. He entered the bar and touched the crystal wine cup that shone like a diamond.
From the platform, the mountain ranges in the distance were visible, as well as the magnificent ferris wheel. It was like living in a fantasy movie.
In the sky, a figure soared past, and an armor-clad Zhou Sheng flew over on his black dragon.
Zhou Sheng landed on the platform, then the black dragon flew away. His metal armour made clinking sounds as he walked. Yu Hao stood behind the bar. Zhou Sheng removed his helmet, casually rested his hand on the table, and with the hand adorned in metal gloves, he snapped his fingers.
“Beauty, a gla.s.s of vodka.” Zhou Sheng said lazily, “It’s better to have a drink before going into battle.”
Yu Hao laughed. When he turned around and raised a finger, the vodka on the wine cabinet flew out by itself, emitting a frosty vapour. Yu Hao took a crystal cup and poured some vodka for him. Zhou Sheng drank half a cup, and his facial features became somewhat twisted.
“Strong liquor.” Zhou Sheng looked at Yu Hao with a hint of a smile in his eyes.
“How’s the situation on the battlefield?” With a towel in his hand, Yu Hao casually took a cup and began wiping it. Zhou Sheng laughed.
“Stuck in a deadlock.” Zhou Sheng’s handsome smile seemed very intoxicating, “But for my lover, I’ll go all out.”
“Tactics are important for everything.” Yu Hao said, “We can’t rely solely on military force.”
“You’re right.” Zhou Sheng nodded. He looked at Yu Hao’s dreamscape and murmured, “Successive defeats in every battle stem from General’s fear.”
“Why don’t you let your lover help you?” Yu Hao retrieved another cup.
“What do you want to mix?” Zhou Sheng said, “I’ll teach you.”
“Do you know how to make Long Island Iced tea?” Yu Hao said, “I’ve always wanted to try it.”
Zhou Sheng snapped his fingers several times, and four types of alcohol flew out of the wine cabinet. Yu Hao took out an ice bucket. Zhou Sheng’s fingers tapped the wine bottles in turn, a pleasant sound resounding as the metal and gla.s.s collided. Yu Hao added the alcohol in order.
“He can’t partic.i.p.ate in the brawl.” Zhou Sheng said.
“Why?” Yu Hao said, “Because General you have……a stubborn idea of protecting him?”
Yu Hao looked up from the c.o.c.ktail and glanced at Zhou Sheng.
“No.” Zhou Sheng watched the entire process of Yu Hao’s mixing, “Frankly speaking, it doesn’t have much to do with that. I wouldn’t be lonely anymore if I fought with him side by side. But……within the impressions of my awareness, he doesn’t have much combat strength against powerful monsters, he can only support me.”
Yu Hao, “Just like when facing Lin Xun, in Kaikai’s perception, Lin Xun doesn’t take me seriously at all, so he also firmly believes that I wouldn’t be able to defeat Lin Xun in the dreamscape.”
“Yes.” Zhou Sheng said, “So my wife’s strength can only act on me directly, not on the final big boss, Satan.”
“Got it, what’s next?” Yu Hao asked.
“Theoretically speaking, this is my own battle.” Zhou Sheng said, “But if he can sit in the spectator’s grandstand, it’ll give me motivation, and courage.”
“I said c.o.c.ktail……” Yu Hao said. He had already mixed all the alcohol and placed them in the c.o.c.ktail shaker.
Zhou Sheng laughed. He took the c.o.c.ktail shaker, placed it flat on his palm, then flipped it gently. The c.o.c.ktail shaker flew up, and Zhou Sheng caught it with his shoulder like how he would catch a soccer ball; using his arm as support, the c.o.c.ktail shaker knocked into his armour and the metal clanked. It rolled constantly, and this all appeared really nice.
Yu Hao, “Then what can I do for you?”
Zhou Sheng, “Watch me fight for us.” As he spoke, he placed the c.o.c.ktail shaker on the bar. Yu Hao put a cup on it, and Zhou Sheng poured the Long Island Iced Tea into the cup.
What should I do? Yu Hao became immersed in his thoughts. But Zhou Sheng gently lifted his chin, crossed the bar, tilted his head slightly, and kissed him. Yu Hao hugged Zhou Sheng’s neck. They can finally do whatever they want in the dream.
“Wanna eat a popsicle?” Zhou Sheng whispered.
Yu Hao looked at Zhou Sheng’s lips, then his gaze shifted to his eyes.
“How would it feel like to eat a popsicle in a dream?” Yu Hao said, “Never tried that before.”
The cry of a dragon could be heard in the distance that shook the world. The black dragon soared and circled around the tops of the palaces, facing the totem in the middle with covetous eyes.
The NPCs all looked like they were about to face a formidable enemy in an instant; they rushed towards the totem one after the other, each of them armed with their weapons, and began to clamour for war as they wanted to drive the black dragon away.
Zhou Sheng flipped over the bar and pushed Yu Hao on the ground behind it.
“Get them to back down.” Zhou Sheng said next to Yu Hao’s ear with a low, magnetic voice.
Yu Hao gently patted Zhou Sheng’s shoulder plate, and it disappeared in an instant, then he patted his breast plate and gauntlets — Zhou Sheng’s armour disappeared one after another wherever he touched. His bare upper half exposed his strong and lean muscles. That warmth and heartbeat were almost the same as it was in reality.
The NPCs slowly laid down their weapons and retreated.
“My wish in reality hasn’t come true yet.” Yu Hao hugged Zhou Sheng and whispered next to his ear, “And now it’s changed to taking action in my dream, you said it yourself that this isn’t good……”
“We’re just practicing in advance, don’t be nervous.” Zhou Sheng pressed down on Yu Hao’s shoulder with one hand and grasped it lightly. Yu Hao’s clothes instantly transformed into a robe that was effortlessly pulled off by Zhou Sheng with a “whoosh”; it flew out of the platform and fluttered in the wind.
“What are you looking at?” Yu Hao whispered.
“I really want to eat ah……” Zhou Sheng’s gaze wandered, withdrew, then he looked into Yu Hao’s eyes.
The black dragon remained on the top of the palace; it stretched its claws out and tried to touch the totem. The totem emitted some flames in gentle retaliation, but didn’t punish it.