Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Qi Yanyu glared at him, "Who plays the game like this?"

"Then how do you want to play?"

"I wanna shoot you in the head."

"And then? I 'die,' you 'die' right after? Then go hang with your buddy?"

Who exactly was this "friend" Gu Jinglan was referring to?

"Of course I won’t 'die.' I'll go kill the red team." This time, Qi Yanyu was on the blue team.

Gu Jinglan analyzed how much of his words were true and how much were false.

He suspected Qi Yanyu was mad about Wen Ruxu’s death.

Worried Qi Yanyu was actually pissed, Gu Jinglan softened his tone, looking at Qi Yanyu's face. "I’ll free you, just don’t take me out, deal?"

Nodding to trick him.

Gu Jinglan saw right through him but still spoke gently, "Fine, then take the shot. Last round, I didn’t mean to grab you like that—I just wanted to tease you."

"You set this whole thing up?" Qi Yanyu’s mood grew even more complicated.

Why did Gu Jinglan want to tease him?

What was he thinking?

Why not mess around with girls instead? Thought he was straight?

"No." Gu Jinglan glanced at Qi Yanyu’s bound hands behind his back, then touched the nylon strap around his wrist. He sliced it open in one move.

Qi Yanyu flexed his freed hands, staring at Gu Jinglan, biting back a curse.

Gu Jinglan met his gaze again. "Just shoot me already."

Qi Yanyu felt like some spy movie BS. Last round, Gu Jinglan had killed so many of his teammates.

This round, he’d even killed their teammate Wen Ruxu.

Now he wanted mercy?

What was Gu Jinglan’s deal? Why team up with him twice?

Was this humiliation or just messing around?

Gu Jinglan just passed him the gun.

Qi Yanyu froze. Gu Jinglan watched him. "Not trying to embarrass you."

Huh.

"Then what’s the deal?"

"I just wanna play with you."

What was that supposed to mean? Staring at Gu Jinglan.

Gu Jinglan looked at his hand, which had been bound by the nylon strap the entire last round. "Does your hand hurt?"

"..." Qi Yanyu went quiet.

The one who had been jumping around like a pissed-off monkey moments ago was now at a loss for words.

"You try being tied up for a round," Qi Yanyu grumbled, though his anger had subsided, he still sounded snippy.

"Sorry," Gu Jinglan said, rubbing Qi Yanyu's right hand. "Then you can tie me up. Wasn’t I supposed to be your prisoner?" Gu Jinglan added with a faint smile.

"..."

What exactly was Gu Jinglan trying to do?

Mess with me all round—think that’s funny?

Still ended up apologizing, though.

Qi Yanyu thought for a moment. Maybe he had made too big a deal out of it, and Gu Jinglan, thinking he was genuinely upset, was just trying to make it up to him out of consideration for their roommate bond.

The longer he stewed, the worse he felt.

Sure, he had been angry earlier, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t had his own private hopes.

He had assumed Gu Jinglan felt something more for him.

But even though he sensed Gu Jinglan was deliberately teasing him, it still got under his skin.

The reason for his anger...?

What was he even mad about? Qi Yanyu couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

Perhaps he was pissed that Gu Jinglan wasn’t into him.

That was the real source of his stubborn anger—the biggest reason for his anger.

His hand was being rubbed by a man, one he happened to like.

He wanted to pull away, but this was the same person who had kept him restrained the entire round, so he didn’t withdraw.

Instead, he let Gu Jinglan coax him openly, working his hand over and spouting lines just to calm him down.

"Don’t be mad. The last round was my fault." Really, Gu Jinglan just wanted him close. What he hadn’t expected was Qi Yanyu attempting to wrestle the gun from him a good ten times during the round. At one point, he wasn’t sure they’d even win.

In the monitoring room, Wen Ruxu had arrived early again, looking for Qi Yanyu.

He saw Qi Yanyu and Gu Jinglan together once more, the two of them hiding in the basement.

But Gu Jinglan had handed the gun to Qi Yanyu, like he was handing him payback for the previous round.

Why wasn’t Qi Yanyu shooting? Wen Ruxu was puzzled.

Just take him out already!

Wen Ruxu’s gaze landed on Gu Jinglan, who had shot at him twice.

In the second round, Gu Jinglan had immediately pulled Qi Yanyu along and took a shot at Wen Ruxu the moment he spotted him.

Wait, aren’t we all on the same team?

What’s Gu Jinglan doing?

Wen Ruxu got sniped and only realized after dying that it was Gu Jinglan shooting him from afar. The reason he recognized Gu Jinglan was because Qi Yanyu was right beside him.

"Just finish him off—what are you waiting for?" Wen Ruxu muttered as he watched Qi Yanyu in the basement through the surveillance feed.

_He screwed you over last round—even if you won’t avenge me, at least do it for yourself._

In the basement.

Gu Jinglan was practically in full-on "soothe the wife" mode, handing over his gun while still rubbing Qi Yanyu’s wrist. He even pulled out water specifically prepared for the two of them. "Drink up, don’t worry."

Qi Yanyu’s irritation had eased a little from the coaxing.

Taking the water from Gu Jinglan, Qi Yanyu still tilted his head back to drink, keeping it a few centimeters away.

"There are several bottles, drink up."

Only then did Qi Yanyu press the bottle to his lips. He remembered Gu Jinglan drinking from it last round—though there had been a gap of a few centimeters, Gu Jinglan had later taken it back and drunk directly from the same spot.

The basement was empty except for a few decorative cabinets.

Everything was covered in dust, but at least the air wasn’t too thick with it.

Gu Jinglan watched him drink with a faint smile before casually pulling out an extra nylon zip tie from his pocket. "Go ahead, tie me up however you like."

Qi Yanyu studied him. Gu Jinglan wasn’t acting as sneaky or manipulative as he had been last round.

So he actually took the nylon tie and bound Gu Jinglan’s hands behind his back.

Gu Jinglan looked at him, still unfazed, that same calm smile on his face.

"If anyone shows up, I’ll take point."

"I don’t need that." Qi Yanyu lowered his gaze, checking the MP5 before raising it, turning on the red dot, and aiming straight at Gu Jinglan’s face.

Even with his hands bound behind him, Gu Jinglan remained composed, his eyes sharp and gleaming.

"Oh right, you’re supposed to ‘kill’ me." Gu Jinglan met his gaze.

Not exactly.

Qi Yanyu blinked. He needed to "kill" Gu Jinglan at least once to get even.

Unless Gu Jinglan liked him.

If not, he’d keep getting pissed over nothing.

He was acting like a spoiled brat.

Truthfully, he didn’t want to be like this—he never thought he’d be this lovesick.

"Someone’s coming," Gu Jinglan warned, catching the sound of footsteps.

Qi Yanyu heard it too and immediately moved to the side of the staircase. Sure enough, the basement door upstairs creaked open.

The moment Qi Yanyu saw that the person wasn’t wearing his team’s uniform, he lined up his shot.

Gu Jinglan moved right in front of Qi Yanyu, blocking him in case the enemy hit his signal device.

The two sides exchanged fire, and Qi Yanyu took out two intruders.

He was a decent shot.

Among the two from the Red Team, one was Liu Jinli, who had witnessed the "love-hate saga" between Qi Yanyu and Gu Jinglan on the rooftop in the last round.

"Seriously, you guys are at it again?" Liu Jinli bit the dust with dignity, especially since both times he went down dramatically, he happened to catch Gu Jinglan and Qi Yanyu in their "flirty squabbling."

Because he noticed Gu Jinglan’s hands looked odd—why were they behind his back, not holding a gun?

Last round, he saw Qi Yanyu’s hand tied to Gu Jinglan’s waist. Were they pulling that same trick again this time?

"..." Qi Yanyu thought to himself, these straight guys are so crude. What play?

The other Red Team member tugged at Liu Jinli. "Let’s go, don’t bother the happy couple."

"Got taken out by you two again, ah, so painful." Liu Jinli put on a dramatic grimace as he left, even shut the door behind them on his way out.

Outside threats handled.

The so-called "family business" remained unsettled.

He looked at Gu Jinglan, who was waiting expectantly for him to personally end his "life."

"Go ahead," Gu Jinglan said to him.

Qi Yanyu, however, needed an excuse. "What did you just call me?"

"Brother Qi," Gu Jinglan knew just what he wanted.

"Any last words? If you beg for mercy, I might be in a good mood and..." Qi Yanyu pondered.

"And what?"

"Pick out a prime burial spot." Qi Yanyu doubled down.

"Can I die last? I want to ride with Brother Qi to the end."

"..."

Qi Yanyu’s resolve faltered, as if a mischievous white snake had stirred his calm lake into raging waves.

Each "Brother Qi" made him melt a little.

"You were so disrespectful to Brother Qi last round..." Qi Yanyu tried to think of something else to say.

"So this round, I’m here to serve Brother Qi. Spare me, Brother Qi." Gu Jinglan knew exactly how to play him, targeting his weak spots. "I was wrong."

Gu Jinglan’s begging and buttering up were on point.

Qi Yanyu was starting to cave.

"Brother Qi."

"Stop calling me that." Qi Yanyu grumbled and felt around Gu Jinglan’s pocket. "Where’s the knife?"

"Watch your hands untying me, Brother Qi. Don’t cut yourself."

Is this what straight guys acting gay looks like?

"Not here to untie you - here to stab you." Though Qi Yanyu said so, when he got the small knife, he went to cut the nylon strap for Gu Jinglan instead.

"Then this round, we're invincible." Gu Jinglan observed Qi Yanyu's expression to see if his anger had subsided, then started dropping flirty lines again, "Bro Qi's turning the other cheek, way above what us regular folks would do."

"Stop calling me that." Keep it up and Bro Qi's gonna blush.

On-screen surveillance showed the two going out to look for guns, but no guns were just lying around for the taking.

They could only wait for Qi Yanyu to "kill" someone first, then confiscate the eliminated player's gun.

The two jumped back into the game.

Wen Ruxu checked the on-screen surveillance to see which friends were still alive and made a call, "Can you see that guy? Eliminate him for me. Don't kill anyone else, specifically go after him. Take him down."

"Which one?" his friend asked.

"The good-looking guy, with another person."

"Who, Gu Jinglan?"

Wen Ruxu forgot that this friend on the phone was also from their high school. "Yes."

"What, he steal your girl or something?" The friend on the phone laughed, but was good with guns, "I'll get some guys to gang up on him for you."