Chapter 92 I Love You
"lady."
Zhang Xingzhi stood aside, speaking in a respectful tone.
The woman nodded slightly, her eyes still fixed on the electronic display in front of her.
Several surveillance videos were displayed on the screen. The scenes were extremely bright, and occasionally one or two children around 15 years old could be seen flashing in the corner.
Zhang Xingzhi lowered his head and said nothing.
The time in the video passed by second by second, and a few strange roars could be vaguely heard.
The roar got closer, and was accompanied by an unspeakable darkness. The scene quickly changed, and the child's terrified face was infinitely magnified in the front of the video.
Several of them had half of their faces eaten away, with blood dripping down the sides of their faces onto the cold ground.
The suppressed and painful scream was muted by the woman at the last second before it was about to explode.
The bloody scene of alienated animals devouring humans turned into a dark, silent cruelty.
The pupils reflected the silent fighting and powerless struggle in the images, and the brain heard the desperate cry for help in the memories.
Zhang Xingzhi slowly closed his eyes.
Human beings seem so small and powerless at this moment.
"Change the reagent." The woman's eyes, which were very similar to Zhang Lian's, were filled with impatience. "People nowadays can't even make it through the first three rounds."
The man in white, who had been standing trembling beside him, nodded quickly: "Okay, ma'am."
"Go back to using the reagents from Zhang Lian or Zhang Xingzhi. The reagents later on have been changed over and over again, getting worse and worse, and are not even as good as the original ones."
"Ma'am, the side effects of the previous reagents were so severe that more people would not survive... We don't have many samples to do experiments with."
"If one more person succeeds, more people will survive. I don't want to recruit a bunch of losers who can't even pass the basic tests with low standards," Cheng Jihua said irritably, "Do as I say."
"yes."
Cheng Jihua turned off the video in boredom and then turned his attention to Zhang Xingzhi.
"The new copy created by the virtual world has passed the testing period. I will select a few people to help you." She rubbed her temples. "Where is Zhang Lian?"
Zhang Xingzhi just shook his head.
She hesitated to speak, and after a long while she said, "...that child is just stubborn, I don't know which of me and his father he takes after, forget it."
"By the way, ask Li Ziyue to enter the new dungeon as well." Cheng Jihua paused for two seconds, "Someone is waiting for him in the dungeon."
Zhang Xingzhi raised his eyes to look at her.
“We are in a worse situation now than anyone could have imagined.”
"Those annoying crows will also take action. This time we will form an alliance with them. A new round of "Advanced Pseudo-Human Dungeon" is about to start. The group in the system live broadcast room can't sit still anymore and has updated the version several times," Cheng Jihua said solemnly. "At this stage, we only have two options."
"First, the new dungeon relies on a virtual world. If the test is stable, it will be a new beginning for all of us, but it also means that we will always rely on others. No one expects this ending except Crow."
Zhang Xingzhi said nothing.
"Second, we must completely clear the Advanced Pseudo-Human Dungeon. This is our last chance. I will replace half of the top ten players on the leaderboard with our own. If we fail this time, we won't be able to do that." Cheng Jihua said solemnly, "We don't have to look forward to the future."
The sound of the teacup hitting the table was exceptionally crisp, the tea was swaying, white mist was lingering, and the mark of a gray wolf could be vaguely seen under the gradually calming water surface.
…
14-year-old Zhang Lian often stared at Li Ziyue's back in a daze.
He liked to watch Li Ziyue quietly when he wasn't aware.
He liked to see the tips of his ears turning red from the wind and frost outside, liked to see his frown as he pondered over whether to add salt to the porridge, and liked to see his eyes closed peacefully as he lay on his side.
Likes him to call his name and pinch his face in pretend anger.
Ever since Zhang Lian could remember, his life had been nothing but tests and taking medicine.
As soon as his body recovered, he was thrown into a furnace full of monsters. He was tortured until he was covered with wounds. Before he could even catch his breath, he was forced to drink bowl after bowl of nauseating liquid.
The lit surgical lights in the cold operating room were the sun and moon of his childhood.
People around them said that their faction had become a paper tiger. In order to appease the public and maintain her power, the madam actually made the next heir a guinea pig under extremely unstable experimental conditions.
Fortunately, Zhang Lian survived and secured his wife's power and the foundation of their crumbling building.
As the four seasons passed, Zhang Lian's childishness and liveliness were smoothed out by the disappointment and abandonment he received in return for countless desperate calls for help.
Others bowed and scraped to him on the surface, but behind his back they said he was so cold and frightening.
At that time, Zhang Lian was like a killing machine without desires, expectations, or vitality. He only had power enhanced by drugs, but his soul was dead.
It seemed as if his time had stopped long ago, until the night he met Li Ziyue. He saw Li Ziyue's transparent and crystal tears and felt Li Ziyue's vivid and powerful heartbeat.
Li Ziyue has a faint, cedar-like fragrance on his body.
He heard the long-lost "click" sound in his brain.
The clock finally started to tick.
Zhang Lian realized belatedly that people can act like spoiled brats, can be coaxed into taking medicine when they are sick, and someone will hold their hands if they extend them.
Even if a person has no value, he can still be loved.
Despite this, Zhang Lian had prepared for departure long ago.
At that time, he was affected by the side effects of the medicine and his body was extremely weak. Zhang Lian knew very well how much Li Ziyue had suffered behind the scenes in order to treat his fever.
If he continues like this, he will drag Li Ziyue down.
However, because he was greedy for this little bit of warmth, he hesitated day after day.
Everyone in the family said that he had no feelings at all, and Zhang Lian sometimes thought about that.
Is this emotion?
I don’t want to leave, I want to keep looking at him, I want to hear him talk, what is this...
Zhang Lian could no longer remember the scene when his mother placed the video of Li Ziyue kneeling in front of someone else in front of him. He only heard the housekeeper talk about it occasionally.
"Young Master, you really scared an old man like me. You sat on the bed, saying nothing and not eating. If Madam hadn't come over and forcefully gave you an injection, I'm afraid I wouldn't have seen you again..."
The night before they parted, Li Ziyue choked up and told him that he owed him, but Zhang Lian felt that he was a burden to Li Ziyue.
Li Ziyue is the best person to him.
Li Ziyue is the only one who loves him without any interest.
After they broke up, Zhang Lian never felt that the start of time was a cruel thing.
The night is long and hard, and every second counts.
Torment, pain, grievance...all the negative emotions surrounded him.
In the end, it turns into the purest longing and worry.
After that, he escaped at night again and saw the same slope. Winter had not yet passed and the ground was slippery with ice. The car was roaring towards him again.
Zhang Lian stood there in a daze, feeling his own heart beating violently. It was not because of fear, but anticipation.
Someone would suddenly grab him.
However, the cold wind blew, and the cries for help were particularly harsh in the silent night. The truck overturned to one side, and Zhang Lian numbly looked at his own blood on the ground.
His vision gradually blurred and his blood-stained hands trembled in the snow and fog.
The warm liquid dripped down.
He squatted outside the dilapidated house that had long been empty, waiting for the snow to cover him again.
This time, no one pushed the door open and let him in.
Zhang Lian was obedient all his life and only acted out of line three times. The first time he ran away and met Li Ziyue by chance, the second time he ran away again because he missed Li Ziyue too much, and the third time he ran away to find Li Ziyue.
He went against his mother's expectations and hopes, and resolutely headed for the infinite flow copy that was the most despised by his family at the time.
His mother angrily asked him: "You are crazy, Zhang Lian. You agreed to their request? You betrayed us, you betrayed everyone in the family. Why did you..."
"I don't care about that." He said in a cold tone.
"Who wouldn't be in danger of death after entering the infinite flow? You've wasted all of our hard work. Did we train you just to send you into the dungeon?! You've been tortured for no reason..."
"Mom," he looked at the woman in front of him calmly, "You also know that I am suffering."
Water drops hit the floor.
My mother, who is usually talkative, remained silent for a long time.
"We will deliberately adjust the probability of your encounter," the other party pushed the agreement over, "You should know that you are special. People like you are rare for us. The more copies you clear, the greater the improvement to the entire infinite flow environment."
Zhang Lian’s virtual world was very small, so small that it only consisted of a shabby, leaky house, and he was the only one living in it.
There are no four seasons here, and winter is eternal.
He often stared into some corners in a daze.
That was the place where Li Ziyue often stayed in the past.
On the days when he didn't enter the dungeon, he would sit on the steps outside the house in a daze, quietly listening to the time passing by in his mind.
After escaping from the dungeon several times with narrow escapes, he leaned against the foot of the bed and coughed in a confused state. His head became increasingly heavy, probably because he had a fever.
In a trance, it seemed as if that person had come back again.
He asked him where he felt uncomfortable and if he was cold. Zhang Lian stretched out his hand with difficulty, but could only touch the hard bed board.
He stood there stiffly, shrinking back into a corner.
After I recovered from the illness, all that was left was a field of snow so cold it made my bones ache.
Everything in the virtual world can be decided by himself. It's not that he doesn't know that spring, summer and autumn are better than winter, but he doesn't know it.
He didn't know what spring would be like without Li Ziyue.
He has not waited for spring, and he has not seen the spring moon.
Countless people said that he would never see Li Ziyue again, that the probability of them meeting was almost zero, and that Zhang Lian had been looking for Li Ziyue for too long.
One year is not long, three years are not long, six years are not long either.
As long as you can find it, no matter when, it’s never too long.
…
Li Ziyue lay stiffly on the bed.
A minute ago, the sound of the shower in the bathroom stopped.
In fact, there was a 1.5-meter-long desk between his bed and Zhang Lian's bed, and he only needed to pretend to be asleep to get away with it, so there was no need to be so nervous.
But as soon as he closed his eyes, the scene of Zhang Lian kissing him just now seemed to appear before his eyes again. There was a small wound on his lower lip, and it was a little painful when he licked it with his tongue.
Hearing the bathroom door closing, Li Ziyue closed his eyes without hesitation.
The main light in the dormitory had been turned off, leaving only the desk lamp next to the desk still emitting an orange light. Li Ziyue covered himself tightly with the quilt, leaving only his head exposed.
His skin color is whiter than that of ordinary people, with a hint of hazy orange on his face. The strands of hair on his forehead are casually pinned to one side, making him look particularly well-behaved.
Zhang Lian seemed to be laughing: "Brother, do you know that the frequency of eye movement is abnormal when people pretend to sleep?"
Even though his lies were exposed, Li Ziyue remained unmoved.
He felt the light beside him brighten for a moment, and Zhang Lian probably left. However, before he could feel relieved, he heard a crisp sound of something breaking beside him.
Li Ziyue was still hesitating whether to continue pretending to sleep, but he heard Zhang Lian speaking again.
"Brother, my bed is broken."
"What." Li Ziyue propped up his upper body and saw that a corner of Zhang Lian's bed was broken.
The culprit still felt a little aggrieved: "Brother."
He had just taken a shower, his hair was still wet, and his whole body was shrouded in a layer of mist. His eyes and brows were so handsome that people were embarrassed to look directly at him.
Li Ziyue looked away: "...make a bed on the floor yourself."
"I'll catch a cold."
"I have cold medicine."
"Maybe he will have a fever." Zhang Lian's voice was muffled, like a poor puppy that fell into the water.
Li Ziyue's eyebrows jumped, and he hesitated for a long time before slowly replying: "You sleep on the bed..."
Before he could finish his words, he suddenly felt a depression on his side. Zhang Lian was lying quietly on the other side, considerately not taking up Li Ziyue's pillow.
Li Ziyue turned over with difficulty, and couldn't help but said, "Just this once, you fix the bed legs yourself tomorrow, otherwise you will have to go out and find a place to sleep."
"Brother, can I have some of your quilt?" Zhang Lian answered the question irrelevantly.
"Don't you have a quilt yourself..."
"broken."
There is no need to think about whose quilt would be broken for no reason. It must be Zhang Lian’s own fault.
Li Ziyue was about to get up again: "I have a spare bed."
"That one's broken, too."
Li Ziyue: “……?”
"You're just so cold." He couldn't stand it anymore.
Zhang Lian looked at the ceiling and took two deep breaths: "If I don't have a quilt to cover me, I might have a fever tomorrow morning."
"It's okay. No one should feel sorry for me. Although having a fever is uncomfortable, it doesn't matter. I'm used to it. I won't trouble you anymore."
I have a fever again.
Li Ziyue was about to get angry. He lifted a corner of the quilt and said unhappily, "Come in."
After thinking about it for a long time, Li Ziyue turned around and pinched Zhang Lian's face.
"You slept in the bed and covered yourself with the quilt. If you have a fever again, I will really kick you out tomorrow."
"Okay." Zhang Lian blinked at Li Ziyue obediently.
The dormitory had single beds, and it was inevitably a bit crowded for two boys to squeeze together. Li Ziyue lay on his side against the wall, and just when he was feeling a little sleepy, he heard Zhang Lian speak.
"Brother, can I stick close to you, like when we were little?"
"cannot!"
"Why."
You still ask why?!
Li Ziyue couldn't think of anything to say for a moment, and his ears turned red.
"No reason." He said stiffly.
"You agreed to it before," Zhang Lian said with a long tone, "Don't you like me anymore now?"
"This is not the same thing, Zhang Lian. Think about it. How old were you before and how old are you now? Can this be..."
"You don't like me anymore."
Li Ziyue's voice was choked, but Zhang Lian's words made him laugh out of anger.
He turned around and looked at Zhang Lian's profile: "I really don't like you anymore, so what."
Zhang Lian was startled, his eyelashes trembling rapidly twice. He slowly got up from the bed and turned his back to Li Ziyue: "...Brother, I'm going back to my place."
"I'm sorry to bother you just now."
Li Ziyue's heart skipped a beat.
"come over."
Zhang Lian didn't stop.
"Zhang Lian," he called out, "Come here and lie down."
"Brother, you don't like me anymore."
If Zhang Lian was a blooming flower just now, he has now turned into Yanba's hay. His back looks very lonely, as if he is pitiful, with no one caring about him and no one loving him.
Li Ziyue really wanted to travel back in time to stop himself from saying what he had just said.
"I like you," he said without hesitation, "Come here."
Zhang Lian turned his head abruptly and met Li Ziyue's stunned eyes.
"No, what I mean is, this like..." Li Ziyue became obviously incoherent.
However, this time his words were swallowed halfway in the kiss.
Zhang Lian's kiss this time was not as fierce as before, but was gentle and soothing.
He couldn't control his body and fell backwards. Zhang Lian covered the back of his head and pushed him to the edge of the bed.
The wound on his lip was licked gently.
"hiss……"
Li Ziyue said intermittently: "Zhang Lian, are you... born in the year of the dog?"
"Um."
Zhang Lian bit his collarbone and chuckled, "Brother, you smell so good."
"……Shut up."
Li Ziyue's body turned red when touched, and he was a shy person himself. Zhang Lian looked at him very closely, reached out to cover his eyes, and felt his long and curly eyelashes dancing in his palm.
Having lost his vision, Li Ziyue was distracted for a moment, his lips slightly parted, allowing Zhang Lian to take advantage of the opportunity and sneak in.
It was not until Li Ziyue was out of breath and coughed a few times that Zhang Lian let him go.
Looking again, Li Ziyue's wrist was pinched red by him.
"Li Ziyue." He called him seriously and put Li Ziyue's hand on the side of his face, just like when they were children, "I like you so much."
…
When Li Ziyue fell asleep, her eyelashes would tremble unconsciously. Zhang Lian thought it was very cute and couldn't help but kiss her after looking at her for a few seconds.
He pushed back the slightly messy black hair beside Li Ziyue's ears, pulled him into his arms again, and buried his head in the crook of his neck.
Li Ziyue may have lost many people, but he will never lose him.
He would walk towards Li Ziyue on his own, no matter how low the probability of them getting close again was.
Zhang Lian had been looking for Li Ziyue for eight years, but after meeting Li Ziyue, he never felt that he had been looking for Li Ziyue for too long.
He regretted all the time that he came too late.
If he could have been found earlier, Li Ziyue wouldn't have suffered so much.
Zhang Lian held his warm hand and interlocked their fingers.
Before going to bed, he asked Li Ziyue why he was not angry.
He thought Li Ziyue would ignore him for a long time, and thought Li Ziyue would hate him because of his decision not to go back.
Li Ziyue was getting sleepier and sleepier. He just patted his back like coaxing a child: "...I know you, you must have your reasons for being like that."
Zhang Lian closed his eyes and kissed his fingertips, his voice soft.
"Li Ziyue."
"I love you."
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