Chapter 2

【Pale】: ?

A lone question mark was sent out, carrying all of Jiang Yubai’s bewilderment and shock.

Closer to you?

Closer how?

Physical distance? He was in this run-down rented room, Yu Jin was on the championship podium—a hundred and eight thousand li apart. Strength and status? A brand-new world champion and a returned washed-up player—the difference between cloud and mud.

【System, what does he mean?】Jiang Yubai asked the system.

【Host, I don’t know.】The system seemed to have crashed for a few seconds too. 【Hatred value remains normal. Suggest the Host observe and wait.】

“Knock knock”—a sudden knock at the door sounded, yanking Jiang Yubai out of his shock as well.

Probably the takeout arrived… he thought hazily. Normally no one came except the delivery guy.

Suppressing the tangled mess of questions in his heart, Jiang Yubai frowned and pulled a black mask from the hook on the chair back—a habit he’d developed after his ruin. He got up, walked to the door, and glanced outside through the peephole.

Under the dim hallway light, a figure seemed to be standing at the door, head lowered, face unclear.

Jiang Yubai reached out, and the door had just opened a crack—

A figure carrying the chill of the night wind heavily collapsed inward.

“Ugh!” Caught off guard, Jiang Yubai staggered, his back hitting the cold doorframe. The next second, two strong, powerful arms abruptly wrapped around his waist, pulling him into a tight embrace.

A scent mixing high-end perfume base notes with faint alcohol instantly enveloped him. The newcomer was half a head taller than him, and was now bending down, burying a fluffy head against his neck and shoulder. Warm breath with a faint trace of alcohol brushed past his earlobe and the skin of his neck again and again, provoking a subtle shiver.

Jiang Yubai’s body went rigid. He instinctively struggled, but was held even tighter, squeezed so hard he could barely breathe. He lowered his head and, by the faint light spilling from inside the room, made out the outline of the head buried against his shoulder, and the phone in that person’s hand with its screen still lit. On the screen, that lone 【Pale】: ? lay quietly at the very bottom.

“Yu Jin?!” Jiang Yubai’s voice came out somewhat distorted from shock and the mask.

The head buried in his shoulder moved, producing a muffled mumble: “…Mm.”

Low and hoarse, with a trace of drunkenness—it was exactly the voice that had been radiant on screen just moments ago.

“You…” Jiang Yubai was a little dazed. “Shouldn’t you be at the victory party in Country B? How are you here?” The World Finals had been held in Country B; by procedure, the champion team had to attend at least three days of official events and team celebrations.

Yu Jin didn’t answer, only held him tighter, even rubbing his cheek dependently against his shoulder and neck, mumbling vaguely again: “…Captain.”

That voice carried heavy drowsiness.

The unfamiliar body warmth made him extremely uncomfortable. Jiang Yubai frowned and ordered: “Yu Jin, let go.”

The commanding tone was exactly the same as when he used to give instructions in training. Yu Jin’s body stiffened, and he obediently released his hands. His tall frame swayed, taking half a small step back, his back against the cold wall of the narrow hallway. He kept his head down, the slightly long fringe before his forehead covering his eyes, still clutching the phone with the chat interface lit.

“Come in.” Jiang Yubai stepped aside from the doorway. He couldn’t let Yu Jin go crazy at the door—if the neighbors saw, it would be trouble.

Yu Jin moved quickly. Like an obedient large dog, though his steps were a bit unsteady, he still docilely followed Jiang Yubai inside.

The rented room was pitifully small—aside from a bed, a computer desk, and a gaming chair, there was almost no place to stand. Jiang Yubai sat back down in the gaming chair. Yu Jin’s tall frame stood in the middle of the room, looking out of place, somewhat comical.

He looked around, didn’t see a second chair, and showed no intention of sitting on the bed. After a few seconds of silence, under Jiang Yubai’s puzzled gaze, he actually bent his knees and squatted down.

Not a casual squat, but an almost curled-up posture, squatting right beside Jiang Yubai’s gaming chair, close against his leg. He tilted his head up slightly, his line of sight just able to meet the seated Jiang Yubai’s waist and abdomen level, his bleary drunken eyes staring upward at him without blinking, like some large animal waiting for its owner’s command.

Jiang Yubai looked down, his gaze falling on the upturned face, brows knitting almost imperceptibly: “What’s your situation? Too much to drink and instead of lying dead in your hotel, you come here? Where’s your agent? Your teammates?”

Yu Jin ignored his questions entirely. With a trace of barely perceptible stubbornness, he obstinately spoke again:

“Captain…” He licked his slightly cracked lips. “Am I… a little closer to you now?”

“Closer?” Jiang Yubai acted as if he’d heard a joke, his tone dripping with undisguised mockery. “Yu Jin, your current distance is enough for any police officer to haul you to the station. Do you need me to call them for you?”

His venomous tongue was as usual, like a knife dipped in ice. Yet the Yu Jin squatting by his leg, upon hearing this familiar cutting tone, didn’t get angry or sad—instead, a faint but clear light lit up in those bleary drunken eyes, carrying an almost satisfied reassurance.

He suddenly raised a hand—not to attack, not to grab, but to gently touch, with warm fingertips bearing thin calluses, Jiang Yubai’s wrist resting on the chair armrest—that wrist with the old injury, still aching faintly at this moment.

The touch was light as a feather brushing past.

He raised his face, the bleariness in his eyes seeming to fade a little, revealing an almost childlike anticipation. His voice was very soft, yet carried a heavy weight:

“Captain… does this… count as a little closer?”

Having said that, his head drooped, and he fell asleep on Jiang Yubai’s knee.

Jiang Yubai: “…”

——————

Yu Jin was woken by the sharp soreness coming from his neck.

His consciousness was like something sunk at the bottom of murky water, struggling upward. He slowly opened his eyes and with difficulty raised his head. Above him was the rented room’s somewhat peeling ceiling, the angle very low. He found himself lying in an extremely awkward position—his upper body draped over the foot edge of a single bed, his head pillowed on his own folded arms. No wonder his neck hurt like it was broken.

He propped himself up on his numb arms and sat straight, looking around this room so small it was almost visible at a glance. A faint, barely-there smell of alcohol still lingered in the air. Memories of last night’s victory party flooded into his mind in fragments—deafening music, blinding lights, glasses handed his way… and then?

He rubbed his stinging temples, trying to piece together a clearer picture, but only got a blurry blank.

His gaze swept across the corner of the room and fixed on the figure sitting in the gaming chair. Jiang Yubai had headphones on, his back to him, the screen’s faint blue light reflecting the focused outline of his profile. His fingers moved rapidly over the keyboard and mouse, producing crisp clicking sounds. He was immersed in the game, completely unaware that the person behind him had woken up.

“Jiang Yubai?” Yu Jin spoke, his voice exceptionally hoarse and dry from just waking up, his throat burning painfully too.

The game character on screen didn’t stop moving, and the operator showed no intention of turning around. Jiang Yubai’s voice came over: “You’re awake, so hurry up and leave.”

This blunt expulsion made Yu Jin’s brows instantly knit tight, the headache from his hangover growing more intense. He propped himself up on the bed edge and stood, his tall frame even more oppressive in this cramped space.

“Why am I here?” He looked around the crude room. “You live in a place like this?”

Just as the words left his mouth, on the game screen, Jiang Yubai’s controlled character missed a low-health minion due to a positioning error. This subtle mechanical distortion didn’t escape Yu Jin’s eyes.

The Pale of the past would never have allowed such a basic mistake. Yu Jin’s heart sank. Has the injury to his wrist gotten worse again?

【System, does that sentence of his count as mockery?】Jiang Yubai was actually just concerned about his mission progress, frantically poking the system.

【Detection complete: the protagonist carries no sarcastic intent.】

Unfortunately, Jiang Yubai’s finger paused on the mouse for zero-point-something seconds, then he continued acting:

“I’d like to ask you the same question. Captain Yu Jin, in the middle of the night, instead of enjoying the victory party in Country B, you come to my run-down place to act drunk—hmm?” He deliberately emphasized the words “Captain Yu Jin.”

“Also,” he shifted his tone, “how do you know my home address? Champion privilege? Or did you have someone investigate me?”

“Address?” Yu Jin subconsciously repeated. The question sank into his chaotic memory, and a faint trace of panic flashed through his heart, so fast it was almost impossible to catch.

His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he ultimately skipped over it: “Drank too much, went to the wrong door.”

He deliberately ignored the accusation of “acting drunk” in Jiang Yubai’s words, taking it only as the other man humiliating him again.

“Heh,” Jiang Yubai let out a short, cold laugh, but didn’t pursue it further. The game on screen seemed to have ended; he directly exited the interface, took off his headphones and set them on the desk with a light sound. He finally turned around, those lukewarm eyes looking straight at Yu Jin: “Since it was the wrong door, then please hurry and leave, Captain Yu Jin. My humble temple can’t accommodate a great god like you.”

Yu Jin: “…”

His facial muscles tightened, his teeth clenched. The disgust in that tone was like a thorn, piercing into Yu Jin’s heart once more. Those deliberately forgotten, deliberately suppressed memories of humiliation from the BZN period—of being mercilessly suppressed—surged up instantly, churning, burning, finally converging into a cold flame called hatred.

This familiar emotion, which had sustained him for three years, returned instantly like a conditioned reflex.

Yu Jin’s eyes quickly turned cold and hard. The bleary dependence and stubbornness from his drunken state vanished without a trace. He straightened his spine, his jawline taut, and restored the championship bearing that looked down on opponents on the battlefield.

He gave Jiang Yubai a deep look, that gaze complex and hard to decipher. In the end, he said nothing—just kept his face tight, carrying a heavy low pressure, and strode out without looking back.

He left that dilapidated residential building almost as if fleeing. The cool morning air hit his face, clearing his chaotic, feverish head a little. He hailed a taxi and gave the address of the IFX club base.

When he returned to the spacious, modern IFX base, a few trainees who had just gotten up saw him and were somewhat surprised.

“God Jin? Didn’t you say you were staying a couple more days? Why are you back so soon?”

“Wow, God Jin, you don’t look too good—hangover still not wearing off?”

“Must’ve partied hard at the celebration last night, huh?”

Yu Jin barely dealt with them with a few “had something come up” and “drank too much, headache” before hastily brushing them off.

He went straight back to his dorm, locked the door, and only then did the immense exhaustion belatedly surge up. He threw himself onto the soft large bed, rubbing his still-stinging temples and aching neck.

After a long while, he remembered his phone. He pulled it from his pocket and saw it had indeed powered off from a dead battery. He frowned, found the charger, and plugged it in.

The screen lit up. He casually swiped it unlocked—and suddenly froze.

At the very top of the screen were the messages he had sent last night:

【Ember】: Captain, did you see it?

【Ember】: Captain

And then, the message that had popped up five minutes later, freezing his blood instantly:

【Ember】: Captain, have I gotten a little closer to you?

And… Jiang Yubai’s utterly bewildered question mark:

【Pale】: ?

It was as if a thunderclap had exploded in Yu Jin’s mind.

All the blurry memory fragments, as if someone had pressed play, immediately surged up with perfect clarity.

The late-night hallway of the rented building, the staggering knock on the door, the familiar yet cold face after the door opened, the familiar yet foreign scent on the other man, the angle of looking up at him, the careful touch on the wrist, and that repeatedly asked obsession that even he himself didn’t dare examine…

“Captain… am I a little closer to you now?”

Every image, every sound, replayed with incomparable clarity.

Yu Jin’s fingers clutching the phone tightened instantly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

What had he done last night?!

Author’s Note: