Chapter 2768: The Online Game Master's 'Straight Male' Roommate 08/09

Usually they asked He Liangyue to bring materials for a run, needing some ordinary potion ingredients; He Liangyue usually wouldn't refuse, but now the things Xun Chen casually gave them were things they didn't even dare to imagine!

They wanted to ask He Liangyue for a loan or some items as before, but Xun Chen stood nearby, making them unable to utter a word.

What frustrated Liuli's group even more was that He Liangyue made a choice toward Xun Chen.

【Nearby】 Xun Chen: Sure. Team me.

【Detected Villain Blackening Value -10, total 30!】

Xun Chen sent a team application to He Liangyue.

Besides Xun Chen and He Liangyue, the team had four members from Leisure Abode; after He Liangyue joined, the team channel became lively.

【Team】 Ma La Tang: Welcome! The person the big god personally fetched—awesome!

【Team】 Ming Yue Jiang: I've long admired your name; today we can finally run a dungeon together!

【Team】 Qing Feng Xu Lai: Ready to open Dragon Abyss, everyone here?

【Team】 Gu Zhou Suo Li Weng: As long as the big god is here, we can go anytime.

Jin Chen clicked ready; the battle entered a ten-second countdown. Taking advantage of the free moment, he opened He Liangyue's character panel and also handed over a few top-tier equipment accessories suitable for a warrior class.

Again?

Cheng Lang froze for a moment, instinctively clicking reject.

These items are both expensive and hard to obtain; they're too valuable.

【Team】 Xun Chen: Take them, the instance needs them^^

【Team】 He Liangyue: …Thank you, big god.

Everyone clicked ready, teleporting into the Dragon Bone Abyss map; the gloomy, towering entrance of Dragon Bone Mountain, chilling air everywhere, skeletal minions sniffing the presence of newcomers howled and lunged forward.

Battle commenced immediately.

From then on, the other four team members witnessed an astonishing sight.

He Liangyue and their Xun Chen big shot's coordination is almost too seamless!

Xun Chen is a ranged spirit master, balancing control and burst; He Liangyue is a melee overblade, bearing damage and output equally, with excellent timing.

Between them, little verbal communication seems needed; Xun Chen's crowd-control skill lands, and He Liangyue's blade follows closely, adding damage.

He Liangyue charges in to draw aggro, while Xun Chen ensures his health stays safe.

【Team】 Ma La Tang: I don't know why, but I feel like even past offerings of milk were interrupting them…

【Team】 Ming Yue Jiang: Are they fighting monsters? Right! What's with this aloof aura? My DPS can barely keep up!

【Team】 Qing Feng Xu Lai: This is the first time I've seen Xun Chen cooperate with someone so… like a fish in water, amazing!

Cheng Lang didn't have much energy to watch the team chat, fully focused on his controls; he hadn't felt this good in a long time, and cooperating with Xun Chen made his heart race and his fingertips heat up.

Upon reaching the final boss Bone Dragon, a low male voice suddenly came through the team voice chat; via the headset, despite some static, it remained pleasant, with a unique magnetism.

"He Liangyue, in a moment you'll have three seconds to activate Overlord Body and strike the weak point; I'll simultaneously apply Armor Break and Paralysis, others listen to my command, disperse positions, Ma La Tang, focus on watching my and He Liangyue's health."

Cheng Lang was caught off guard; his ears felt as if lightly scratched by a bass speaker, a little itchy.

He instinctively rubbed his ears, "Great teammate."

The big god's voice also had such texture.

The game audio was slightly distorted; Cheng Lang quickly replied, "Understood."

After a few commands, he realized his thoughts were almost in sync with Xun Chen's; it felt great.

【World】 Congratulations to players "Xun Chen", "He Liangyue", "Ma La Tang", "Ming Yue Jiang", "Qing Feng Xu Lai", and "Gu Zhou Suo Li Weng" for first clearing the Heroic difficulty instance Dragon Bone Abyss! Earned the First Clear achievement "Dragon Bone Conqueror"; the divine item Lich's Heart has dropped!

Inside the instance, Cheng Lang watched the world announcement scroll across the screen, then glanced at the quiet Xun Chen standing beside the boss corpse; excitement surged in his chest.

So awesome!

No wonder the forum has so many die-hard fans of Xun Chen—strong combat power, sharp controls; he's about to become a fan of the big god Xun Chen!

【Team】 He Liangyue: Big god is awesome! I declare that from today on, I'm also your fan!

【Team】 Xun Chen: You're also impressive; no need to be a fan—being a teammate is better^^

Outside the screen, Cheng Lang's mouth unconsciously curled up, his heart warm and a bit excited.

——

Jin Chen responded intermittently to the teasing in the Leisure Abode guild channel.

Suddenly, the screen cut out without warning, showing the network had completely disconnected, and the room went dark as well.

Jin Chen blinked, then stood up.

No.

Jin Chen sat back down, shocked, touching his eyelid.

Ling Gun Gun: 【Looks like a power outage, Host, why aren't you saying anything?】

Jin Chen closed his eyes, then opened them, 【This body seems to have night blindness.】

【Oh no!】 Ling Gun Gun's little paw waved in front of his eyes, 【Really can't see anything, not a glimmer of light?】

【……I'm not blind.】 Jin Chen flicked it away.

Ling Gun Gun rolled around in a circle, then rolled back, the bun began to glow.

【Actually, for you it's not a big problem!】

Jin Chen adapted to the darkness, let out a soft sigh, a faint smile in his eyes, 【No, it's actually quite serious.】

In the neighboring room, Cheng Lang was also kicked out of the game by the power cut.

He pulled a backup strong flashlight from the drawer, intending to go out and check the meter, but walking into the living room, using the flashlight's light to glance around, he found the secondary bedroom silent, with no movement at all.

Cheng Lang felt an inexplicable tightness in his heart.

"Xiao Chen?" Cheng Lang walked to the secondary bedroom door, knocked, "Should be a power outage, are you asleep?"

The secondary bedroom was utterly silent.

Cheng Lang thought the person was really asleep, but a muffled sound came from inside, as if a knee or body had hit the furniture.

"Xiao Chen!"

Cheng Lang startled, didn't have time to think much; fortunately Jin Chen hadn't locked the door, he hurriedly pushed it open and shone his flashlight toward the source of the sound.

Jin Chen stood in the passageway between the desk and bed, one hand resting on the desk edge, brows slightly furrowed, his gaze… somewhat vacant, looking toward the door, but not focusing on him, as if trying to recognize.

The flashlight beam was a bit glaring; Jin Chen instinctively tilted his head, then struggled to turn his gaze back onto Cheng Lang's face; after a while, his focus slowly returned.

Cheng Lang felt a pang in his heart, quickly walked over, "What's wrong?"

"I can't see clearly." Jin Chen said, his gaze focused on Cheng Lang's face, "Senior, I have a bit of night blindness."

Jin Chen stood in the direction of the light, head slightly lowered, even appearing somewhat fragile; his peach-blossom eyes, unable to see clearly, looked more moist than usual, his long lashes lowering then lifting.

Cheng Lang was already prone to being soft-hearted toward him; seeing this scene, his heart felt as if it had been fiercely tugged.

"It's okay, don't be scared." Cheng Lang stood the flashlight upright on the desk; the light, after diffuse reflection off the ceiling, gave the room a hazy, uniform glow.

Cheng Lang half-embraced Jin Chen's shoulder, pulled him closer, lowered his head to check, "Did it hurt when you hit it? Where did you hit?"

Jin Chen lowered his eyes, said nothing, just leaned his body along the force of his arm, forehead resting against Cheng Lang's armpit.

Cheng Lang wore only a thin pajama; his body heat seeped through the fabric, warm and toasty.

Jin Chen lowered his arm, wrapped it around Cheng Lang's waist, palm pressing against the firm, warm muscle of his side through the clothing; his fingertips lightly stroked there, barely there, reluctant to let go.

With no heating, the room temperature slowly dropped; exposed skin could feel the chill, only where their bodies touched generated warmth.

Cheng Lang felt a tickle at his waist from Jin Chen's fingers, his muscles involuntarily tensed then relaxed; he couldn't help a low laugh, rubbing the back of Jin Chen's head.

"Don't tickle, it's weirdly itchy."

Jin Chen lifted his face, leaned close, his breath brushing Cheng Lang's jaw, he softly called, "Senior."

The soft spot in Cheng Lang's heart instantly overflowed, turning into a puddle; like coaxing a child, he patted his back, "All right, all right, hug hug hug."

He was almost without principle, completely accepting, his softness supporting all of Jin Chen's demands.

After holding him standing for a while, Cheng Lang let him sit on the bed edge, pulled out his phone to browse the community group messages.

"It's the year-end electrical inspection of the nearby district; the notice was sent out, maybe we both missed it." Cheng Lang finished reading, turned his head to explain to Jin Chen, hand still on his shoulder, "They said it would take at least one or two days, in this deep winter..."

Cheng Lang thought, then said: "The water heater is a storage type; there should still be some hot water inside. Let's quickly take a hot shower now, otherwise later the water will cool, and since you can't see well, it'll be more troublesome."

Knowing Jin Chen currently has difficulty seeing, Cheng Lang simply took his hand, using flashlight and phone to light the way, escorted him to the bathroom, then rummaged through boxes and cabinets to find two rechargeable emergency lights, set them to brightest, placed them in the best lighting spot in the bathroom to ensure sufficient light.

"Can you see? Is this okay?" Cheng Lang anxiously confirmed.

Jin Chen stood in the bright light, nodded, "Yes, it's bright. Thank you, senior."

"Then it's fine." Cheng Lang only then put on his shoes and went out.

Cheng Lang then returned to Jin Chen's bedroom, using phone light, casually tidied the desk area that had been hit, pushing the scattered books back to their original spots; after thinking, he turned back to his own room, fetched a pillow and thick blanket, laid them side by side on Jin Chen's bed, the blanket fluffy, smelling of detergent.

Jin Chen finished washing, drying his hair, came out to see Cheng Lang slightly bent over, laying a mat on his bed.

He froze a moment, standing at the doorway, "Senior."

Cheng Lang made a sound, his hands didn't stop, fluffed and positioned the pillow, then sat up and turned to look at him, "Finished washing? Tonight there's no heating; the later night will definitely be freezing cold; I'm not at ease letting you sleep alone, in case you get up in the middle of the night, can't see, and bump into something."

"Let's just share for one night; it's a bit cramped, but still better than freezing."

He said it as a matter of course, so openly that it left no room for any romantic imagination.

Jin Chen nodded, said nothing, walked to the chair by the desk and sat down, continued drying his hair; as he dried, he didn't know what he was thinking, suddenly turned his head and gave an extremely light laugh.

That laugh was very brief, almost inaudible, but in the quiet room Cheng Lang still heard it.

"What are you laughing at?" Cheng Lang walked over, took the towel from his hand, reached out to touch his half-dry hair, "Still cold? Hurry into the blankets."

"Not cold." Jin Chen let him do as he pleased, lifted his face to rub against Cheng Lang's wrist.

Cheng Lang's heart gave a sudden throb, inexplicable and swift.

【Detected Villain Heartthrob Value +5, total 10!】

After both had tidied up and lain in bed, they turned off the emergency light, leaving only one lamp set to the lowest brightness.

Jin Chen first lay flat properly; after a few minutes, he shifted a bit toward Cheng Lang.

Cheng Lang yawned, sleepiness welled up; the scent of Jin Chen lingered at his nostrils, making his whole body relax, languid, and he didn't notice any movement nearby.

After a while longer, Jin Chen shifted again; this time half of his body pressed against Cheng Lang, his arm also came around, nearly an embrace.

He was slightly taller than Cheng Lang; this sideways side-hug was very intimate, his arm crossing Cheng Lang's chest, loosely resting on the other side.

Cheng Lang finally felt a bit cramped, his drowsy muttering with a smile, "Xiao Chen, you're about to squeeze me off the bed… which way should I go?"

Jin Chen didn't move; instead he tightened his arm, pulling him closer into his embrace, palm pressing against the warm, firm waist beneath Cheng Lang's pajamas, his nose brushing Cheng Lang's ear, his voice low.

"Brother," Jin Chen lowered his eyes, lips pressed straight, breath warm, "I'm still cold."

Cheng Lang inexplicably felt a numbness at his ear root, a slight shiver climbing his spine, but this odd sensation quickly passed.

He soon relaxed, his heart soft, his body relaxed in Jin Chen's embrace, "It's fine… sleep; if cold, just huddle closer, what's wrong with two grown men? I still treat you like a little brother."

Jin Chen: "……"

Jin Chen's eyes closed in the darkness, his side face pressing against Cheng Lang's soft chest muscle, his hand then slipped inside his pajamas to lightly stroke.

He silently thought: if he speaks again, I'll bite.

Cheng Lang's sleepiness overtook him; he stopped speaking, tightening his embrace around Jin Chen's arm a bit more.

The night returned to stillness.