Chapter 47

Chapter 47

After replying to those messages, Gu Jinglan and Wen Ruxu were in slightly better spirits.

But not a huge improvement.

His eyelashes were long, and unless he raised them a little, he couldn’t get a full, clear view of that person in his line of sight.

Fidgeting with his pen, he only then realized the pens he’d brought had broken at some point.

Gripping the broken pen, the words he wrote in his notebook were "Qi Yanyu."

Gu Jinglan stared at the name, face unreadable. Unembellished, unaltered.

On Friday evening, Qi Yanyu came back unusually early.

Gu Jinglan didn’t go to the library either, holing up in the dorm to endlessly tweak a 3D model on his computer.

Seeing Qi Yanyu packing something, he asked, "Going out tomorrow?"

Qi Yanyu glanced back, noticing that Gu Jinglan seemed alright.

Lately, Gu Jinglan had stopped sitting with him in class.

Nor had he insisted on putting ointment on him or helping him clean up at night.

"Yeah."

Gu Jinglan sounded fine. "Then have fun."

Weird hearing Gu Jinglan talk like that.

After tidying up his things, Qi Yanyu dug into his notebook assignments.

Soon, his phone wouldn’t stop blowing up.

Qi Yanyu checked the pet club chat, where Wen Ruxu’s crew had gotten treats for all the "pet parents." They had already delivered his to the dorm.

Qi Yanyu went downstairs to pick it up.

Gu Jinglan had been putting off the model for two days. His eyes lingered on the empty desk and chair of Bed No. 3, where the person had just left. He blinked slowly, his eyes dull.

Huang Shaoze asked him a few questions about their assignment, to which Gu Jinglan replied indifferently, "Ask No. 3. No. 3 knows."

In the past, as long as Gu Jinglan wasn’t busy, he would always offer some guidance when asked.

"Ah," Huang Shaoze didn’t understand why Gu Jinglan was being so cold.

Qi Yuanhan sensed something was off and joked, "Quit bugging Gu. He’s going through it."

In truth, Qi Yuanhan didn’t actually know what relationship Gu Jinglan had with Xia Yiyi.

But recently, Gu Jinglan’s low spirits were largely due to girl trouble.

Just then, Qi Yanyu came back to 413 holding his treat—a small 4-inch cake. He remembered mentioning yesterday that he wanted something sweet, and today Wen Ruxu had bought it. Officially, it was a gift for everyone.

Coincidentally, he overheard Qi Yuanhan’s remark. He kept his face blank as he forced a small smile and said, "I have cake. Let’s share."

"Is it your birthday today?" Huang Shaoze asked.

Gu Jinglan's gaze lingered on Qi Yanyu as well. "No, the club covered it. Midnight snack perk," Qi Yanyu answered truthfully.

They cut the cake, splitting the 4-inch cake into four pieces.

When it was Gu Jinglan's turn, Qi Yanyu said to Huang Shaoze, "Hand this to No. 1."

Couldn’t even be bothered to pass it himself.

The cake was placed on Gu Jinglan's desk, and he lazily glanced at it with a cold expression: "A death sentence."

Qi Yanyu didn’t understand. "What death sentence?"

Huang Shaoze later realized, "Oh, chestnut cake. Gu’s allergic to chestnuts."

Gu Jinglan wondered, what if he ate it? How would Qi Yanyu react?

Would he kick himself for forgetting the allergy? Would he regret giving him the cake?

Or would he just go ‘Oh, right’ and offer a casual ‘sorry’ when he saw him having an allergic reaction?

Qi Yanyu took the cake from his desk. He happily ate both slices.

Gu Jinglan watched as he actually ate both pieces of cake, stealing glances at his keyboard to fill in answers for his homework.

Gu Jinglan’s expression darkened. He was totally at ease now.

Tasty.

Qi Yanyu lowered his gaze and finished his homework. Tomorrow was the weekend, and he could go wild.

Huang Shaoze came over to ask him about the homework. Normally, Huang would ask Gu Jinglan or someone from the neighboring dorm.

Was Gu Jinglan in a bad mood? Why not ask him?

Qi Yanyu shared what he knew, and Huang Shaoze grinned: "You’re the best, No. 3. Did you apply your medicine today?"

Qi Yanyu said, "I did."

"Oh, Brother Gu helped you, right?" Huang Shaoze was clueless.

Qi Yanyu stayed quiet. Since he didn’t explain, Gu Jinglan had no intention of speaking either, rushing to finish the final tweaks of his 3D model.

The next day was Saturday, and Wen Ruxu drove to pick up Qi Yanyu.

He arrived in a seriously flashy Bugatti.

Qi Yanyu wasn’t too surprised when he saw the car. Now Wen Ruxu got what Gu Jinglan meant when he said his family was well-off.

Wen Ruxu’s family’s resort was in the suburbs of Kanbei, a short drive away.

Qi Yanyu remembered the entrance was through a patch of overgrown woods. The further they drove, the more open the path became, soon arriving at picturesque buildings nestled between mountains and water.

Wen Ruxu had many friends, and they were hanging out by a villa.

In front of the villa was a swimming pool.

The weather was perfect for the weekend—chilly but comfortable.

Near the villa was a paintball/airsoft arena, great for group games.

When Qi Yanyu was changing clothes, Wen Ruxu fastened the metal buttons for him.

He was changing into the red team’s camo gear.

Qi Yanyu’s face was ghostly pale, and Wen Ruxu took a moment to observe him while buttoning him up.

"You do much outdoors stuff?"

"Eh, not really." Qi Yanyu was fastening the cuffs of his sleeves.

But Wen Ruxu helped him instead. "Scared of a little sun?"

"Since when is the sun scary?" Was he treating him like a child? Qi Yanyu lowered his lashes and swiftly adjusted the knee pads inside his sleeves.

Wen Ruxu, noticing his milk-pale skin, worried about him tanning. He smiled. "Need me to grab anything else for you?"

"Nothing else." Qi Yanyu unscrewed his water bottle and took a few sips. Wen Ruxu tracked the dip of his throat.

The back of his hair was trimmed quite short—he had recently gotten a haircut.

Wen Ruxu liked his current hairstyle; it gave him a softer, neater look.

He usually acted aloof, unless he was petting dogs—then he’d actually light up.

Wen Ruxu took the water bottle from him, and Qi Yanyu hoisted his signal pack on.

Everyone was equipped with "firearms" and "ammunition." A shot to the opponent’s cap set off the backpack's signal, spewing red smoke to mark them ‘out.’

The arena had mazes, trenches, barricades, buildings, and alleyways.

The site spanned roughly a thousand acres, with few open flat areas—mostly modeled after CS maps.

They were divided into red and blue teams, with the winning team being whoever wiped out the other and had surviving members.

Qi Yanyu thought to himself—it was the weekend. Last week, Gu Jinglan had mentioned inviting him over for a meal.

So what was Gu Jinglan doing now?

Was he even home?

If not, maybe he was in the library, discussing competition details with his group.

Dude never cracked a smile. Yesterday, when offered cake, he’d grumbled ‘lethal dose’ like it was poison.

Qi Yanyu pondered—if chestnuts could kill him, why beat around the bush?

The whole ‘lethal dose’ bit reeked of sarcasm.

They barely crossed paths these days.

Classic Gu—always with the backhanded comments.

Having already checked his ammunition and tested his laser gun’s reload, aim, and trigger response, Qi Yanyu decided he’d rush every enemy in sight. That was typical Qi—no fear, full send.

He never considered holding back.

Wen Ruxu noticed that during gunfights, Qi Yanyu was wildly aggressive.

He’d push every fight—no hesitation.

A teammate was "down," with thick, wolfish plumes of red smoke slowly billowing upward. Wen Ruxu, behind cover, noticed the streak of grime on Qi Yanyu's cheek.

With a gentle smile, he lifted his sleeve to wipe it off. "Why’d you go full Rambo?"

"No risk, no thrill," Qi Yanyu said flatly, watching as Wen Ruxu tried to clean his face. He raised his hand and wiped it himself, indifferent.

*To hell with Gu Jinglan,* he thought. Today, he was going to enjoy himself. No one was going to ruin his good mood.

He was still loading bullets—their guns had both paintball rounds and laser tags.

The paintballs were rubber capsules, splattering color on impact to ramp up the realism and adrenaline.

The main objective was whether the laser could hit the opponent’s head, striking the signal-linked cap on their backpack, thus eliminating them.

"Then I’ll cover your six," Wen Ruxu said, not here for the game but more about the person beside him having fun. "Here’s some more ammo for you."

Qi Yanyu didn’t hesitate at all, accepting most of the "ammo" Wen Ruxu handed over.

Because the blue team had been pinned down by Qi Yanyu and his team’s suppression early on, they’d retreated into the buildings and alleyways, refusing to come out. Now, they had to leapfrog forward into the alleys to engage them.

From the upper floor, a figure in dull-gray camo looked down at Qi Yanyu behind cover, always sticking close to Wen Ruxu.

Wearing cut-off gloves, he aimed his laser-sighted gun at Qi Yanyu’s cap.

But after a moment of hesitation, he shifted the aim, zeroing in on the center of Wen Ruxu’s forehead instead.

However, the two soon moved into the alleyway with their red team, leapfrogging forward.

The red laser sight was withdrawn as the gray-camouflaged figure narrowed his eyes, listening to the sounds of paintballs hitting bodies and the shouts of both teams echoing through the alley.

Qi Yanyu’s vision was decent—5.0. His stance when raising his gun was by the book. He wasn’t in it for the splatter but focused solely on aiming for their caps or hearts.

Their camouflage uniforms were specially designed—dark green for the red team, gray-yellow for the blue. Each had a heart sensor. A hit there would trigger the backpack to emit kill signal smoke.

Wen Ruxu covered his six while Qi Yanyu charged toward the building in the alley.

The splat of hits gave him a rough idea of where the enemy was clustered, and heading straight for the thick of the fight was his MO.

The blue team had landed multiple paintball hits on his arms, but none on his heart sensor. He spotted someone hiding in a bombed-out Syrian-style ruin, sniping at him.

To take this opponent out and secure the high ground, Qi Yanyu let loose a spray. The other man dodged sideways, evading the shots. Qi Yanyu found the entrance, planning to rush him head-on.

After navigating the alley and charging inside, just as he was about to climb the unrailed stairs, the barrel of a gun pressed against the back of his cap.

"Keep chasing. Why’d you stop?"

The voice was cold, dripping with sarcasm.

Qi Yanyu didn’t believe the other could hit the signal receiver on his cap’s brim. He wanted to spin on a dime and instantly take out the person threatening him.

Just as he was about to whirl around, the other seemed to anticipate it—his gun flicked Qi Yanyu’s laser rifle out of his grip.

Qi Yanyu’s gun strap kept it from flying far, but the opponent’s laser gun was already jammed against his heart sensor.

"That’s it?"