Chapter 2769: The Online Game Master's

The next morning, both had no class; Cheng Lang was woken up by the phone Bell Signal.

Still half-conscious, he fumbled, turning over to reach for his phone; as soon as his arm moved, he felt something pressing on him, plus warm breath in his embrace.

Cheng Lang paused his motion, then belatedly recalled everything from last night.

He carefully turned his face, using the daylight leaking through the curtain gap, and saw Jin Chen with his head buried in his chest, black messy hair brushing his chin, sleeping soundly, one hand unconsciously gripping his pajamas over his chest.

Cheng Lang's heart softened slightly; he eased his movements, stretched his arm to pull out the still‑vibrating phone, and squinted at the caller ID.

He pressed answer, lowered his voice, and said, "What's up, Can?"

From the other end came Xu Can's wailing lament: "Langzi! Save me! The dorm building here lost power and heat, they say it's a line issue, repairs won't be done until at least tomorrow."

"I'm in the dorm working on my graduation project on the computer, my hands are almost freezing into chicken claws; those with girlfriends have all gone to their love nests, leaving just us few bachelors shivering—hurry and help a brother out, let me stay over tonight, or let me come to your place to warm up!"

Listening, Cheng Lang unconsciously lifted his hand, smoothing the hair that Jin Chen had slept with sticking up, his gaze soft.

Jin Chen was disturbed by the phone's commotion, lifted his head from Cheng Lang's chest, met his downcast gaze, held eye contact for two seconds, judged nothing serious, then buried his face again, adjusting his posture to snuggle closer.

This time it wasn't just his cheek; his lips barely brushed the pectoral muscle, and Jin Chen felt the firm, elastic texture under his palm, his thoughts swirling in a haze.

He wanted to bite…

Jin Chen closed his eyes, suppressed the urge, rubbed his cheek against Cheng Lang's, and the hand resting on Cheng Lang's waist followed the familiar sleep‑warmed path, lightly tracing the abdominal muscles.

Jin Chen lifted his eyes again, looking at Cheng Lang.

Being touched made Cheng Lang's abs twitch slightly, his breath caught, and he didn't push away right away—perhaps he thought two grown men needn't make a fuss, or perhaps… because it was Jin Chen, letting his inner softness indulge and take over.

He distractedly dealt with Xu Can's howling on the phone: "My place is also out of power; the whole district is under repair, heating? Of course not."

"Damn!" Xu Can wailed on the other end, "Forget it, I'll just go find a heated hotel to hole up in."

"Then you'll still be lonely, miserable, and cold, wrapped tight in your little blanket, shivering."

Hearing the latter part, Cheng Lang lowered his head to glance at the still‑restless Jin Chen, couldn't help a low laugh, the vibration of his chest transmitting to the body pressed against him: "Then there really isn't any."

"I'm warm here."

After hanging up, Cheng Lang tossed the phone back onto the pillow, finally freeing his hand, he reached into the warm blanket and caught Jin Chen's hand that was still exploring his abs, holding it in his palm.

"What are you always feeling me for?" he grabbed Jin Chen's fingertips, "Envious? You've got abs too."

Jin Chen: "……"

He lifted his head from Cheng Lang's chest, met his smiling eyes, and gradually smiled back, his just‑awoken peach‑blossom eyes glistening.

Jin Chen returned the grip, interlacing their fingers, and his fingertips scratched Cheng Lang's palm.

"Can't I touch?" Jin Chen's voice was slightly hoarse, his gaze fixed on Cheng Lang, righteous and bold, "Senior's body is warm, feels great, I really like it."

His words were frank and candid, yet not overly familiar; Cheng Lang chuckled, "All right,"

He generously said, "Feel free to keep touching; the feel is pretty good—I've trained for a while."

"Later, what do you want to eat? I'll make it for you—there are dumplings in the fridge, or we could boil noodles; the house has no power, so we can only do something simple."

Jin Chen raised his eyebrows slightly, then leaned into Cheng Lang's embrace again, this time throwing his arms around him without restraint, chin resting on Cheng Lang's shoulder.

"I don't know; I like whatever you make, senior."

Being rubbed by him made Cheng Lang's neck itch; the satisfaction of being needed and the urge to protect filled his mind, and for a moment he also felt the addictive taste of knowing the flavor.

【Detected Villain Heartthrob Value+4, total 14!】

——

A few days later.

When the afternoon class dismissal bell rang, Cheng Lang and Xu Can quietly discussed the recent revision suggestions for their graduation project, preparing to pack up and leave.

The front door of the classroom was pushed open; Hua Yu, who had somehow obtained Cheng Lang's schedule, specifically picked an afternoon with class and timidly asked, "Excuse me… is Senior Cheng Lang here?"

Seeing the visitor, many students' faces showed a subtle expression—this wasn't the frail underclassman who had recently caused a stir, coming to trouble Cheng Lang, was it?

Hearing the voice, Cheng Lang frowned, looked up, and indeed it was Hua Yu again.

A flicker of impatience crossed his face; he glanced at a seat diagonally behind—Xu Qian was still there, head down, appearing to pack up, but his movements were stiff.

Fine. Cheng Lang snorted inwardly; perfect, he could settle this once and for all, avoiding endless hassle.

Xu Can jabbed him with an elbow, winked, and lowered his voice: "Damn, this guy's a lingering ghost—again?"

Cheng Lang closed his laptop and neatly slipped it into his bag.

He stood up, looked at Hua Yu whose eyes were slightly red, and said, "You came to find Jian Guang Leng?"

Hua Yu bit his lower lip, stepped a few paces into the classroom, shook his head, voice choked: "Cheng Lang senior, I came to find you… I read the forum post, realized I misunderstood and mistook the person… but, but I still like you! From the moment I first met you at school…"

He was slender and delicate; now his eyes were red, his complexion pallid, his tone sorrowful—indeed the sort of appearance that easily arouses others' protectiveness and sympathy.

Yet Cheng Lang looked at him, feeling only irritation, with not a ripple in his heart.

He only felt it was troublesome, very troublesome.

As soon as he said that, the students who had been about to leave or were loafing suddenly perked up!

"What? Graduation project? What? Internship? Where's the juicy gossip!"

They slumped back into their seats, pretending to rummage in their backpacks, pricking up their ears, feigning busyness.

Cheng Lang slipped both hands into his down jacket pockets, his stance casual yet aloof: "You spent two months in an online romance with someone who cheated in the game—that wasn't me; what do you want from me? Well then,"

He pulled a few neatly folded printouts from the side pocket of his laptop bag, turned, took a few steps to Xu Qian's desk, slapped the papers down, and with his other hand pressed down hard on Xu Qian's shoulder as he tried to rise, forcing him back into his seat.

"Your online romance partner, Jian Guang Leng himself, is right here." Cheng Lang looked at the astonished Hua Yu, his tone calm.

Hua Yu froze; he hadn't expected Cheng Lang to act so quickly and already discover who Jian Guang Leng was.

He followed Cheng Lang's gaze toward Xu Qian; in fact he didn't recognize that this was the senior who had originally given him the 'Cheng Lang' game ID, only feeling the anger of being deceived flare up, scorching his vision black.