Dream

Chenhe has truly fallen asleep.

The room was quiet, with only the sound of Chen Yuchuan typing on the keyboard and mouse, and the rain pattering against the glass, like a hypnotic sound.

When his consciousness slipped into a deep sleep, he didn't struggle, just like sinking into unfamiliar water.

In the beginning, there was light.

The afternoon sunlight was a warm orange. He was lying on his desk, a blank textbook next to his ear, and a voice came from behind him.

"Let's go quickly."

Before he could even look up, he was already sitting in front of the computer. The headphones were heavy, making it difficult for him to lift his head. The interface lit up, but it was black and white, and the keyboard was only half there.

The person next to him was talking rapidly and incessantly, his voice distorted and hard to hear clearly, but Shen He somehow knew what he was saying.

"I'll jungle, you go mid, hurry up and pick, or you'll get picked again."

"Bro, please don't steal my kill! I'm the AD carry, I need to farm, please!"

He wanted to laugh, but couldn't. He didn't have the strength to control the character, but the character seemed to have a mind of its own and deliberately killed the people next to it. The scene kept changing.

Someone threw a bottle of strangely colored soup into his arms. The person couldn't see their face, but kept saying:

"Where are you going? I won't let you leave."

He didn't answer; a blurry, pale red effect filled his vision. He looked down; his game character's health bar was almost empty. When he came to his senses, the seat beside him was empty. He blinked; the light went out.

He stood up and walked forward, not knowing where he was going, but his intuition told him that there was something ahead that he had to find.

The wind carried the smell of blood and moisture, which clung to the skin.

Then he heard a muffled sound.

"Sinking in the river."

The sound came from a distance, and at first it was intermittent and very faint.

"Shenhe!"

He stopped and looked up.

The sound grew closer and more urgent, as if it were rushing towards him through the ruins.

"Sinking River! Turn around!"

Chen Yuchuan suddenly had a person appear in his mind.

But he couldn't see where anyone was; all he could hear were faint voices echoing in his ears.

He wanted to respond, but no sound came out of his throat. He wanted to turn around, but his body felt like it was being held back, making him keep walking forward.

"Sink the river! I won't let you leave!"

The surrounding darkness began to glow with a dark red light, seeping from the ground like blood. It was as if the nerves of the entire ruins had finally awakened, and a warm, viscous sensation slowly seeped up.

Shenhe stood there, watching helplessly as the layer of bloody light spread to his feet, and cracks began to appear under the toes of his shoes.

The voice in the ruins was still calling him, over and over again, anxious and confused.

The next second, he opened his eyes, and the world fell silent.

His head felt like it had been punched, and the last gasps of breath were still stuck in his throat. Chen Yuchuan's phone kept vibrating beside him.

Chen Yuchuan turned off the room lights, and the air conditioner was blowing gently. He sat up, looked down and covered his eyes; his palms were a little cold.

Upon seeing the commotion on his side, Chen Yuchuan immediately stood up and walked over almost instantly. The live stream was still frozen in place, and the game character was killed by the opponent while standing still.

"What's wrong?" He asked in a low voice, but with obvious urgency.

Shen He didn't look at him, but simply waved his hand: "Dream on."

His voice was a little hoarse.

Chen Yuchuan turned on the light and brought him a glass of water.

He grabbed Chen Yuchuan's phone and threw it at him, saying, "Your phone is ringing."

Chen Yuchuan caught the call instinctively, then looked down and saw that there was indeed a missed call. But he didn't pay it any mind, simply staring at Shen He: "What did you dream about?"

"I forgot." Shen He sat back on the sofa, his tone unreadable.

“Your face has turned pale,” Chen Yuchuan said, staring at him.

"The lights are too bright," Shen He said quickly, as if he wanted to end the conversation.

Chen Yuchuan didn't reply. He stood there looking at him for two seconds, then finally sighed, tossed his phone back next to him, and lowered his voice:

"Fine, if you say it's nothing, then forget it."

He paused, then added, "We're brothers, not outsiders, so I won't ask. You can tell me whenever you want."

Shen He looked up and met Chen Yuchuan's eyes, which were serious and filled with undeniable worry.

Shen He paused almost imperceptibly, his gaze softening slightly. He looked directly into Chen Yuchuan's eyes, his voice becoming more serious and gentler, no longer as sharp and unfamiliar as before: "It's really nothing, just a small matter. It's just that I can't get over that hurdle in my heart. Maybe I'll figure it out someday."

He then said to him, "Go back to your game, or you'll get flamed on the forums again."

Chen Yuchuan looked down at him for a while, then nodded without pressing further. He turned and sat back down at his computer. The microphone was muted, but the webcam remained on. Soon, a flurry of speculations appeared in the chat.

【Huh? Where did it suddenly go?】

It's popping up now.

[Fun with pan-fried dumplings, what else can we do?]

[Has the first half of the relationship been a game of cold shoulders and holding in your pee?]

The lotus buds are just beginning to emerge.

However, some people quietly started stirring up trouble:

[I get it, she's going to appease her husband's wife, right?]

Stop pretending, it must be your sister-in-law who woke up and went to turn on the light.

[I was wondering why they suddenly turned off the lights earlier; I thought they were livestreaming from inside a coffin.]

[There's only a dead face in the bottom right corner of the screen; isn't this just a live stream of a coffin?]

[Uh... I guess I muted my mic because my sister-in-law is asleep.]

[Is this even possible to get hooked on? ???]

Everything leaves a trace.

The comments section was filled with comments about his sister-in-law. Chen Yuchuan wanted to laugh, but he held it in because Shen He walked over.

"Turn it off." Shen He pointed to the camera, and Chen Yuchuan wisely complied.

The moment the camera went black, the live chat was flooded with question marks:

Wait, what did "turn off" mean...?

[Help! That really sounds like Styx's tone.]

[Is my product truly a case of a pairing coming together as a real-life couple, or is it just my imagination?]

[It's Styx's voice (don't ask why, I watched the first interview a hundred times).)

Seriously, does anyone understand that subtle, suggestive tone in the post-match interview after the first game when you said "It was all good"?

【I'm not going to get it, my boyfriend/sister-in-law is really styx.】

So these two just met? Why is that scoundrel Chen Yuchuan so obedient?

[If you don't sell wheat, nothing's wrong; but if you do, it's amazing.]

These straight men really have no sense of restraint when it comes to selling bromance.

Some people began to feel dissatisfied.

I just want to see gameplay; can you please stop with all this unnecessary fluff? Seriously, I'm fed up.

[Is the champion jungler short of money? He's so good at hyping things up.]

Stop bundling with Styx, okay? Do you even know them that well before you start selling their stuff?

[I'm seriously fed up with professional players. Can't they just focus on playing the game properly? The entire league, from coaches to players, is just being all about bromance. I can't take it anymore.]

Neither of them looked at the comments anymore. Shen He casually pulled up a chair and sat down next to Chen Yuchuan.

Chen Yuchuan glanced at him sideways and said casually, "Are you here to supervise the construction?"

Shen He didn't respond to that, but just watched the operation on his screen: "Be serious, if we lose this game, you'll really be the one to blame."

Chen Yuchuan's hands moved swiftly, getting two minions dirty, but his voice lowered slightly, as if he were saying casually, "Let's play together after I finish this game? I'm turning off the stream."

Shen He leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed, and replied casually, "Okay, let's play some games and take a break."

After the match ended, Chen Yuchuan didn't say a word and immediately ended the stream, prompting another round of wild speculation in the chat. The two ignored it, Chen He logged into Chen Yuchuan's smurf account, and Chen Yuchuan simply didn't switch accounts. After teaming up, they immediately started playing casual matchmaking.

They don't fight for positions or pick heroes; they just play whatever the system assigns. Sometimes Shenhe goes jungle, and Chen Yuchuan fills mid. Although their mechanics are inconsistent, their basic strategy is still decent. Sometimes Shenhe picks some bizarre support heroes, and Chen Yuchuan tacitly chooses an unconventional ADC to play bot lane with him. The two get chased and tower-dived, and Chen Yuchuan grits his teeth and makes some skillful plays, only to end up getting one free.

The actions of teammates and opponents were equally baffling. The enemy team invaded the jungle with five players at level one, and then ganked two others under the tower at level three. Our mid laner stole the jungler's red buff at level one, and our squishy AD carry initiated a team fight, angrily blaming his teammates for not following up with damage. Professional habits and the mindset of top players became a burden; the more seriously we played, the faster we lost.

While playing, Chen Yuchuan couldn't help but curse, "Why is it four mages again this game? Why are you playing AP too?"

While jungling, Shenhe calmly replied, "The enemy AD has come to my jungle five times already, and you still have the mind to farm in the bottom lane?"

They were often let down by their teammates, sometimes so badly beaten by the opposing team that they were speechless. They lost more than they won, but the atmosphere was inexplicably relaxed.

Shen He leaned back in his chair in a contorted posture, his hand still gripping the mouse, one foot even resting on the chair. His slippers were nowhere to be seen; his posture was more relaxed than ever before. The results screen of their recent loss was still open, the stats absurdly bad.

He hadn't played games like this, or lived like this, in a long time. He didn't think about anything, didn't care about anything, just sat in front of the computer, with someone else playing next to him, and he was playing too, enjoying the game and enjoying life.

Shen He suddenly realized that he seemed to have laughed more times recently than in the past few years combined.

Realizing this, he smiled again, a smile that he couldn't suppress and that rose naturally from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Yuchuan turned his head and glanced at that face.

Chen He's expression was unusually relaxed, as if a gap had broken through layers of defense, revealing a long-lost lightness. He didn't speak, but his whole demeanor was light and cheerful.

Chen Yuchuan was suddenly a little dazed; he hadn't seen Shen He so happy in a long time.

In fact, he could tell from the very first glance they met again. His eyes were different, his tone of voice was different, and even though Shen He always put on a calm facade in front of others before, many things had changed.

For the past few years, he had been thinking about why Shen He left. He thought that when Shen He left, he was finally free from all constraints and ties, and was moving towards the life he wanted. He would be more free and relaxed. But later he realized that was not the case.

Shen He hid it well, but ultimately nothing was wrong. Shen He didn't want to talk about it, and he wouldn't pry. But the obsession that had never left his heart surged up again. This time, he would never let Shen He leave his side again.