LC: Chapter 83

83. Honest Kid

The Pyramids was not like the past two dungeons. There was an elite for Berserk Mummies. However, the Berserk Mummies could be considered a type of elite by themselves. They were already hard to defeat. Half of the time the two players spent grinding in the Pyramids was sacrificed in tribute to the Berserk Mummy’s elite. It simply wouldn’t drop its essence.

“Forget it. I’ll come back tomorrow,” said the knight. He’d watch XiaoYu yawn again and again. It’s time to wrap things up.

“Mn. I can help you tomorrow too.” XiaoYu had been pondering how best to mention his nearing bedtime when the knight spoke up first.

“Then, I’ll message you tomorrow. Thanks for today.”

“No problem.” XiaoYu was tired, but it was all worth it to see the tiny cat prancing around in joy.

“Mrrow~” The small cat patted the knight’s boots with its paw. It was so very happy with its collecting spree today. This was a good man. Print a paw and the analysis was complete.

“Hehe. Can’t bear to leave me, little one?” The knight bent down and scooped up the cat rubbing itself against him. He then handed it over to XiaoYu. “Say hi to HereticKing for me.”

“Hm? Okay.” XiaoYu accepted the armful of purring kitten, his mind blanking out a little from confusion. Did the knight and QiYao know each other?

It had been a tough day battling monsters. XiaoYu didn’t head back to clear out his inventory as he usually did. While a player wouldn’t feel physical exhaustion as long as their HP and MP were full, mental exhaustion was still a thing. Thus, XiaoYu decided to just leave it for tomorrow morning. He was so tired that he just wanted to get in his bed and sleep.

Back at the Lord Mayor’s Suite, QiYao had been waiting for XiaoYu for a while now.

“I was just about to message you,” QiYao said as XiaoYu walked into the room. “You’ve gotten a little too engrossed today.”

“Yes. There’s a quest item that simply won’t drop,” XiaoYu sulkily replied as he took off his equipment and climbed into the bed to curl into QiYao. The difficulty in finding a drop had left XiaoYu in a rather despondent mood. He’d always had great luck when in a party.

“What quest is it?” QiYao wasn’t superstitious, but he had great faith in XiaoYu’s luck. It’s rare for the other to be this badly troubled by a quest.

“I don’t know. He didn’t share it with me…I…just helped…a friend….” XiaoYu’s voice slowly drifted off. His eyelids hung lower and lower. QiYao was so warm. He wanted to sleep so badly.

“Sleep. You must’ve been exhausted from today,” QiYao said, wrapping his arms around the younger man and gently patting the other on the back. He could tell the other was dead tired.

“Mn…right. He told me…to tell you…hi. He was…part of Heretic Demons…before.” Just then, XiaoYu remembered the last words the knight said to him before they split up. He forced his eyes open and pushed the last message through his heavy tongue.

“Do I know him? What’s his name?”

“It’s…Demonic…Emperor…zzz.” XiaoYu was finally knocked out.

HereticKing, DemonicEmperor. Combine the characters and they spell out “the Heretic Demon Emperor”. That’s his brother! QiYao’s sleep-addled mind snapped wide awake at that name.

“He didn’t do anything to you, right?” QiYao yelped in worry.

“Zzzzz…”

“…” Alright. QiYao wouldn’t be sleeping well tonight for sure.

***

XiaoYu had a wonderful night of sleep. He subconsciously rubbed his cheek against his human pillow, QiYao. He slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly into the air as his mind gradually started to clear up from the haziness of sleep.

“You awake?”

“Yeah. Morning~” XiaoYu lazily replied. A little voice in his mind wondered why QiYao was up so much earlier than him.

“Let’s continue last night’s topic. Did he do anything to you?” QiYao had woken up long ago. Never could he have imagined his brother would come in contact with XiaoYu first. It also seemed like his brother had figured out his relationship with XiaoYu. Why else would he tell the younger man to say hi for him? What QiYao wanted to know was just how his brother befriended XiaoYu and what else the other might’ve said.

“He?” XiaoYu’s brain was still working at half-capacity.

“DemonicEmperor who asked you to say hi for him.”

“Oh. He’s quite nice. You know each other?”

“…” Not only did they know each other, that man was the bane of QiYao’s life. “I planned on introducing the two of you in a few days.”

“??”

“He’s my older brother.”

“!!” Any hint of sleep lingering in XiaoYu’s instantly vanished. DemonicEmperor was QiYao’s brother? HereticKing. DemonicEmperor. They were quite similar. Why hadn’t he noticed before? However, now that he thought of it…

“No wonder I keep blanking out while staring at his face,” XiaoYu commented.

“Why?” QiYao wasn’t jealous of his brother. Not at all. The first time XiaoYu met him, the other didn’t even think of him as human. How could XiaoYu stare at his brother’s face for so long he blanked out?

“I didn’t really know why at first, but now I do. It’s because you two look alike.” While the brothers had both tweaked their appearances in-game, they were brothers. There were a lot of minute similarities that not even the game could cover up. When XiaoYu looked at QiYao’s brother, his subconscious thought he was staring at how QiYao would look like in the future. That’s why he’d blank out while staring at the other man.

“How did you two meet?” The spilled pot of vinegar was straightened up. QiYao was very satisfied with XiaoYu’s answer. Implicitly, XiaoYu said he was seeing through QiYao’s brother. What he was really looking at was QiYao. Also, while QiYao didn’t think his brother would hire an investigator to look into him after the conversation they had last time, nothing could be so coincidental in real life.

“The other evening when I was selling off my items at the Market. He, um, your brother was playing with the cat.” XiaoYu didn’t know what about him caught QiYao’s brother’s eye. All he knew was that he just turned around and there QiYao’s brother was, playing with the little one.

“You can just call him ‘Brother’ like I do. We’ll be family after all.” Playing with the kitten too? Did the tiny cat exist just to attract the Hei family members? Or was it because the small cat also sniffed out his brother was a potential investor?

“Mn.” Family…warmth filled XiaoYu’s heart at the word. It even did a little skip and hop.

“What did Brother say to you?” That’s the most important part.

“Nothing much. He just asked about the guild and the Guild Wars event.”

“That’s it?” QiYao would never believe his brother could be so pure.

“And…”

“And what?” Something told QiYao what XiaoYu was about to say would be important.

“He asked what…I thought of you.”

“How did you reply?” If QiYao hadn’t known just how big of a schemer his brother was, he would be praising that question to the heavens. It was very hard to hear any type of sweet-talk from his easily embarrassed lover. It was even harder to find out what the other really thought of him.

“I said…you were a very gentle man. >\\\\<” It felt okay saying that to Brother, but it felt a little awkward saying that to the man himself.

XiaoYu did his best at burying his head. QiYao watched in amusement as his lover gradually curled and shrank into the blankets like a little prawn. What a cute and honest guy. How could QiYao not love him?

“Honest kids will be rewarded,” QiYao said as he pulled XiaoYu out from the bundle of blankets the other was hiding in. He pounced on XiaoYu and peppered kisses all over the blushing face.

What a beautiful morning.

Translator’s Note:

Potential investor: The exact phrasing here is “gold master” aka sugar daddy.

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