Chapter 36: The Thirty-Sixth Cup

Chapter 36: The Thirty-Sixth Cup

The two of them drove away from the safe zone, and He Wuning laughed until his whole body trembled slightly, still holding two bowls of rice he had brought from the cafeteria.

Yi Luo touched his nose gloomily and put down the braised pork ribs. "Are you done laughing yet?"

He muttered, "Who would have thought that at this time, the smoke alarm in the cafeteria would still be on..."

"Looks like I can't escape writing a self-criticism this time."

He Wuning finally managed to stop laughing. It was rare for him to laugh so hard; he took a deep breath to calm himself down. Sitting in the front seat of the milk tea cart, he propped his head up and nodded seriously at Yi Luo. "You really are something."

It was unclear whether this was meant as praise or not.

Q-jelly followed with schadenfreude, "Write a self-criticism! Write a self-criticism!"

Yi Luo grabbed it and narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Is this thing sometimes a bit troublesome?"

He flipped Q-jelly over, "Isn't there a button somewhere to turn it off for a while?"

"Aaah—" Q-jelly waved its little arms and struggled fiercely, "Help! Assault, ah, no, not there!"

Yi Luo frowned, "What are you yelling about?"

He tossed Q-jelly away in disgust, sat cross-legged, and asked casually, "On your birthday that day, what did you do with your brother?"

He Wuning glanced at him, "Arcade, escape room, bar, internet cafe..."

Yi Luo chuckled sourly, "Oh, quite a variety."

"Unfortunately, none of those places are open now. Once we get out, I'll take you there."

He Wuning glanced at him again. Yi Luo pretended not to care, "Why is it you who takes him out when both of you have birthdays?"

"It's just an agreement." He Wuning stretched lazily. Today, they didn't plan to fight monsters, so they parked the car in the Slime area of the Level 10 zone for the night.

He Wuning looked outside; the night was dark, and the moon hung brightly in the sky.

"We promised when we were kids. He wanted me to be his older brother, and I promised to protect him like one."

He Wuning stretched slightly, "Back then, before we separated, I handled things at school, and he dealt with teachers and parents."

Perhaps because he was in a particularly good mood today, he spoke more than usual.

Yi Luo, sitting across from him, shifted uncomfortably, their legs bumping lightly. Yi Luo didn't move away, and He Wuning merely glanced at him indifferently.

He seemed like a cat that occasionally shows its belly to its owner for a pat, gazing at the moon outside and speaking freely, "After our parents divorced, I went with my mom, and he went with my dad."

"Actually, it was my dad's choice. At the time, he only wanted him. He said I looked like my mom, as if carved from the same mold, and I had a bad temper and caused trouble."

Yi Luo imagined a lady resembling He Wuning and nodded politely in approval, "There's such a heroic woman in the world."

He Wuning glanced at him sidelong, "My brother isn't as well-behaved as he seems. He's very smart and adapts well to any environment. I don't worry about him much."

"But he never pretends in front of me. He told me that he usually has to deal with the family's irresponsible adults, so on his birthday, we planned a rebellious escape—I took him to all the places he wasn't allowed to go."

"My mom helped us cover it up."

He smiled mischievously, "We almost gave that old man a heart attack."

"And I also received a birthday gift. That motorcycle was a gift from my mom, and He Anan sent me a bunch of strange things—then I have to report back to him how it went, all the things he wants to try but can't."

"So—"

He drew out his words, "you'd better not think of me as some pitiful orphan nobody cares about."

Yi Luo nodded, imagining his usual fighting prowess, "A pitiful orphan who can kill a wild boss with one strike?"

He Wuning chuckled softly, seemingly getting sleepy, and closed his eyes lazily.

Yi Luo suddenly remembered something and nudged him gently with his foot, "Hey, by the way, my birthday is November 11th. Don't forget."

He Wuning didn't respond, his eyes still closed.

Yi Luo laughed, "I can't accept anything too expensive from you, otherwise, it would look like bribery. Just give me something thoughtful, like taking your brother out to play... Hey, did you hear me?"

He Wuning, eyes still closed, replied, "Didn't hear."

"Didn't hear?" Yi Luo raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from his side, "Wait a minute, I'll write it down and stick it on your forehead."

He Wuning kicked him lightly, "You're crazy."

Yi Luo laughed, "Crazy people and little lunatics are a perfect match, right?"

He Wuning didn't answer.

Yi Luo waited a moment before turning to look out the window. He didn't close his eyes, just gazed outside.

His night vision was excellent, and even without night-vision equipment, he could see the bouncing Slimes in the darkness.

He hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.

Whenever he closed his eyes, the sounds of the night amplified, and he couldn't help but think of the monsters that had once attacked in the dark and taken the lives of his teammates.

But he couldn't avoid sleeping. Forcing himself to close his eyes meant facing his past failures all night long.

He couldn't step back; only by continuously fighting these monsters could he console himself that while he lost many companions, he also protected others.

He took a deep breath and forced himself into an unpleasant dreamland once again.

The next day, they quietly drove the milk tea cart to the edge of the safe zone.

And at that moment, the last person they wanted to meet—Xue Xun—stood with his arms crossed at the entrance of the safe zone, looking furious. Upon seeing them, he sneered and said the classic line parents use before punishing misbehaving children: "You two still know how to come back!"

He Wuning remained expressionless: "Wait a minute, why do I have to..."

Xue Xun pointed at him: "If this had nothing to do with you, why were you running around with him!"

He looked genuinely distressed, "When Yi Luo asked me for your information, I should have stopped this doomed relationship! I can see now, you two are like Sun Wukong meeting the golden hoop, causing chaos everywhere!"

Yi Luo couldn't help but laugh.

Xue Xun jumped in anger: "Laughing, huh? Still laughing!"

Zhao Yantong, wearing a hat and sporting a short haircut, glanced at him and pulled Xue Xun aside to make room for the queue in front of the milk tea cart: "Talk over here. You people in the queue, what are you gawking at? Buy your milk tea!"

"Yes!"

Xue Xun stood in front of the milk tea cart for a while. The two people in the cart had faces as thick as city walls, showing no remorse whatsoever. He felt a bit embarrassed to continue scolding them in front of so many people, so he awkwardly touched his nose and glared at them fiercely: "You two, one self-criticism each! More than 1000 words!"

He Wuning lifted an eyelid, and Yi Luo comforted him: "Don't worry, I'll help you write it."

He Wuning lowered his gaze again.

Xue Xun sneered: "You like writing, huh? Then write 2000!"

Yi Luo smiled brightly: "How about we round it up? Make it 3000? Director Xue, I've written enough self-criticisms to fill a stack. Give me a chance to show off my rich experience in admitting mistakes."

Xue Xun: "..."

As Xue Xun was getting angrier, a slightly nervous greeting came from behind: "Um..."

Xue Xun turned his head. A young man who looked very well-behaved stood in front of him, seemingly startled by his rudeness. Xue Xun quickly composed himself: "Hmm, what is it?"

The young man looked uneasily at He Wuning and then at Xue Xun: "Is Ning Ning in trouble for something?"

Xue Xun's expression froze as he looked at the emotionless "Ning Ning" in the milk tea cart window and then at the young man with a completely different demeanor. He spoke in disbelief: "Uh, you... you can't be..."

He Wuning answered succinctly: "My brother."

Xue Xun was stunned.

He Anan quickly bowed his head in apology: "Sorry, my brother just doesn't smile much and has a bit of a sharp tongue, but he wouldn't really do anything bad."

He looked up, somewhat uneasy, at Xue Xun, "He hasn't caused you any trouble, has he?"

Xue Xun: "..."

He struggled to speak, but He Wuning had already answered: "No."

He Wuning said confidently, "I even helped him a lot."

Xue Xun: "..."

Well, there was no way to refute that.

He Anan smiled: "Ah, that's great. He told me he occasionally works with the official team, and I was worried he might not get along with everyone because of his temper."

Xue Xun, looking at his smile, couldn't bring himself to say anything bad about He Wuning and finally gave a vague nod.

He Wuning looked at He Anan: "Why are you here?"

"I heard you've been setting up shop here recently, so I came to check it out and buy a couple of milk teas to take back." He Anan smiled warmly.

"Oh." He Wuning glanced at the long queue behind him, "Do you want to cut in line?"

"No need. I'm not going out today, so I'm not in a hurry." He Anan smiled, his eyes crinkling. He slipped a small package onto the counter, "I just came to give you this. You often don't come back to the safe zone for meals, so I left some canned food and bread for you. I can eat at the cafeteria."

He Wuning nodded lightly, not refusing.

He Anan's smile was flawless, but when he handed over the package, he gently scratched He Wuning's fingers and winked at him quickly.

He Wuning watched him turn and greet Xue Xun.

He smiled slightly and looked at Yi Luo: "I don't need to write the self-criticism."

Yi Luo frowned: "No way?"

He Wuning nodded towards Xue Xun: "Watch."

A moment later, Xue Xun approached with a complicated expression: "Brother He, forget about the self-criticism. You're not part of our official team, so technically, I don't have the authority to ask you to write one."

He glared at Yi Luo, "What are you looking at? You write it! 3000! You asked for it!"

Yi Luo: "..."

Xue Xun cleared his throat: "There's one more thing. We studied the leaked instance and decided that you two should level up as soon as possible."

His expression turned serious, "If monsters can communicate with each other, even if the monsters from the unreleased instances can't appear, others with abnormal difficulty might come after you."

"You should avoid provoking those monsters for now. Focus on gathering materials and fighting Slimes..."

"Okay." He Wuning responded, "By the way, do you have all the strategies for the outdoor bosses in the rainforest region?"

He seemed ready to go after the rainforest outdoor boss that day.

Xue Xun: "...You 'okay' what? You weren't listening at all, were you!"

Yi Luo: Can your younger brother be my younger brother?

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or watered the nutrient solution during the period from 19:01:37 on August 24, 2021, to 23:35:59 on August 24, 2021.

Thank you to the little angel who threw a landmine: 1 from Chacha Zi;

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: 20 bottles from Xishan Wujiu; 12 bottles from Zuoran; 1 bottle from Shiliu and Xingxingzhi;

Thank you so much for everyone's support; I will continue to work hard!