After being moved to tears by the sworn enemy's pheromones - Chapter 30
Shen Jin had no choice but to compromise and team up with Gu Yu. However, he didn’t expect the other party to take the president’s joke seriously.
Gu Yu asked, “Where’s the couple?”
Opening Pandora’s box. The voice chat instantly erupted with noise.
“What the heck? Junior is so heartless. Does he have to have a kid to admit it?”
“No way, with our upright junior, he’d probably use two layers of protection. Where would a kid come from?”
“Just last week, I heard the vice president came out of your place, clothes disheveled, face red, and dripping wet. Could the rumor be wrong?”
“Oh my god, is it really popular now to go after seniors?”
Gu Yu paused for a moment and then irresponsibly and futilely said two words: “Stop messing.”
Shen Jin was furious but kept his voice calm: “Yeah, I only slept at his place a few times for work. We’re both alphas, what could happen? At most, he could assault me.”
“…”
The noise immediately got louder, and Gu Yu’s breathing became heavier—it seemed he was more intent on saving face than avoiding a slip of the tongue. He gritted his teeth and said, “Assault you? Obviously, it was senior who was proactive, voluntary, and begged for it.”
The other members thought it was a joke, but as the conversation became more serious, most of them were a bit stunned: “Begged for what?”
Qin Zhu slowly teased, “What else could it be? Male alpha essence protein, to replenish the body.”
“…” Shen Jin gritted his teeth, “I’m strong and healthy, I don’t need it.”
“Really?” Gu Yu insisted on arguing, “Do I need to contact the editors of the Xinhua Dictionary to redefine ‘strong and healthy’ as ‘falls with a push, cries with a touch’?”
The noise in the headset became uncontrollable. Shen Jin almost crushed his fist, furiously saying, “…Don’t expect me to help you this game!”
As they spoke, both had already chosen their game characters. Shen Jin chose his usual Twilight Lord, while Gu Yu deliberately picked the Radiant Knight, a character with a backstory of betrayal against the Twilight Lord.
Once the characters entered the game, there were even special voice interactions.
The Twilight Lord said, “‘Radiance will illuminate all darkness’—listen to your decades-old foolish speech. Compared to when we were still comrades, you haven’t made any progress.”
The Radiant Knight calmly replied as usual, “I have forgotten the past, but you seem to remember it clearly.”
Hearing these two lines made Shen Jin furious, and he asked Gu Yu, “Can you stay away from me?”
Gu Yu replied, “Considering how senior acted when clinging to me, I think it’s easier to buy the game company and change the character’s voice lines than for us to stay apart.”
Shen Jin slapped the keyboard twice, asking, “Did you come to C University just to annoy me?”
Gu Yu retorted, “Or was it to rekindle old feelings?”
The voice chat was instantly filled with Shen Jin’s teeth grinding and the others’ suppressed laughter. In the end, the mid and bottom lanes completely became Shen Jin’s outlets of frustration—by the third game, when Qin Zhu’s score was 3-5-1, he finally couldn’t take it: “Can you stop coming to the mid lane to patricide?”
Shen Jin signaled to his teammates while invading the enemy jungle: “Good son, if you call me dad in ten languages, I might consider sparing you.”
After clearing the enemy’s blue buff, he planned to go to the mid lane to trouble Qin Zhu again. However, this time, he didn’t expect two more people waiting for him by the river.
“…Damn.” Shen Jin immediately felt something was wrong. He had been too lax and didn’t check the mini-map—the enemy support had left the bottom lane, apparently long set up an ambush with the jungler here.
Even worse, their mid laner had just returned to base to buy items.
He had planned for a 1V1 with Qin Zhu, but now it was a 1V3.
The enemy support had three hard control skills, and Shen Jin was controlling a fragile assassin, making it almost impossible to show off against Qin Zhu.
“How about this? Just die!” Qin Zhu taunted, but in reality, he didn’t dare step forward, waiting for Shen Jin to use all his skills so he could come in for the kill.
“Radiance, Radiance.” In desperation, Shen Jin remembered their top laner was the Radiant Knight, “Give me your ultimate—”
The Radiant Knight’s ultimate, “Holy Light Protection,” could target any teammate, giving them a large shield that covered most of their health bar. After 2 seconds, the Radiant Knight would teleport to that teammate’s side to fight alongside them, sacrificing his own health to heal the teammate.
It was precisely because this ultimate often turned the tide of battle that the Radiant Knight had a high pick rate in professional esports matches.
But Shen Jin forgot, at this moment, the Radiant Knight was Gu Yu.
“Reason?” Gu Yu said, “Fill out an application form, and I’ll consider it.”
“You f—” Shen Jin didn’t have time to curse, quickly using his ultimate to cover the map’s vision and dashing to Qin Zhu’s face. However, the enemy support’s ultimate and Qin Zhu’s flash went off simultaneously. He didn’t manage to kill Qin Zhu instantly but instead got hit by a combo of skills, his health bar melting away.
He could now take his hands off the keyboard.
What followed would be a series of continuous controls, and Qin Zhu would only need one more skill to end his kill streak.
But just as Shen Jin closed his eyes for a second, Qin Zhu cursed first: “Damn you, Gu Yu! Next time, make a written statement if you won’t give me your ultimate!”
Shen Jin opened his eyes to see the Radiant Knight, clad in holy silver armor, standing beside him.
“…” He was stunned for a moment, relying on muscle memory to counter-kill two opponents.
Qin Zhu died on the spot, nearly wanting to come over and brawl with Shen Jin. Gu Yu, however, added fuel to the fire in the voice chat: “Pressed the wrong button. Meant to go bot lane, but the mid lane is even easier to feast on.”
“He called me easy? Said I’m a feast? Where did he learn these esports terms?” Qin Zhu’s forehead seemed to be burning as he questioned Shen Jin, “Are you choosing a husband or a dad?”
Shen Jin opened his mouth, realizing he had lost his momentum.
It seemed just a game skill could easily stir the joy in his heart, almost overwhelming him.
Unable to suppress his smile, he lowered his head to hide his expression and replied to Qin Zhu, “Alright, good son, every generation has its own fortune, got it?… I choose him.”
In the headset, the shocked voices of the single people erupted endlessly. Qin Zhu, furious, kept saying, “The esports club should just rename to the Kidney Grilling Club tonight,” and the president laughed for a long time before suggesting, “How about a barbecue at the south gate after this game?”
“Deal!” Qin Zhu threatened Gu Yu, “Watch out, Gu Yu, I’ll bring a knife.”
Gu Yu calmly replied, “For Senior Qin Zhu to beat me, I think he’d at least need to bring a Dongfeng missile.”
If the game characters hadn’t revived, Qin Zhu might have followed the internet cables to stab someone. Shen Jin, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing. He even changed into his favorite white shirt before heading out.
*
Saturday night at the south gate was lively. The esports club members gradually gathered, and Gu Yu, coming from the north gate, was the last to arrive.
Shen Jin looked up at him. After a few days of not seeing each other, Gu Yu didn’t look haggard, dispirited, or hopeless. Apart from a slightly more noticeable stubble, there was no difference.
Hmph. Shen Jin thought, I thought you’d be white-haired overnight, but it turns out you just didn’t feel like shaving this morning.
The night wind was a bit chilly. Shen Jin looked down at the menu, not intending to talk to Gu Yu.
But suddenly, a jacket fell on his head. The owner of the jacket said, “Wearing so little, planning to be sick forever so I can’t get revenge?”
The faint scent of laundry detergent mixed with the smell of strawberries invaded Shen Jin’s senses. He muttered, trying to return the jacket, but Xu Tingyun next to him said, “I’m so cold, and yet no alpha loves me. How about giving it to me?”
“…” Shen Jin immediately did a stretching motion, putting on Gu Yu’s jacket, and said, “If you’re cold, why don’t you wear more?”
Xu Tingyun raised his eyebrows, got up to check the freshness of the ingredients.
Gu Yu took the opportunity to sit down, glanced at the menu, and asked Shen Jin, “Medium spicy… can you handle it?”
Theoretically, in many shopkeepers’ eyes in C City, medium spicy was almost at hellish levels.
Shen Jin curled his fingers inside the oversized sleeves, still looking down, not answering Gu Yu.
Gu Yu lowered his eyes, took the menu from Shen Jin, and said, “Grill a separate portion with less spice. I’ll tell them I’m paying.”
Shen Jin initially wanted to snatch the menu back but then turned to play with the wide ribbed band on the jacket pocket, still not speaking.
In the night wind, Gu Yu rarely spoke more, though mostly about irrelevant things:
“I remember there was a similar barbecue place near our high school, but it wasn’t as popular as this one.”
“I don’t need Senior’s help anymore; I can now lane steadily on my own.”
“Come by tomorrow; this week’s cleaning isn’t done yet. I’ll give you the money later.”
His voice was cold and low: “It’s the first time I’ve seen Senior in a white shirt… it looks nice.”
Shen Jin’s lips finally relaxed a bit, and he replied, “What don’t I look good in?”
Gu Yu chuckled lightly, hearing Shen Jin finally speak, “Maybe… that bright orange plaid T-shirt? I remember Senior paired it with green cargo pants and a dark red headband.”
“…I haven’t worn that in ages!” Shen Jin tugged at him to avoid others hearing, pointing at the menu to extort him, “I want to add two chicken legs!… Only I can eat them, don’t share with anyone.”
Gu Yu nodded, his laughter no longer restrained: “Sure, whatever Senior wants, it’s all yours.”
The barbecue place was packed inside and out, so the wait would be long.
After ordering, Gu Yu tapped Shen Jin’s fingers through the jacket: “By the way, there’s something I need to tell you. Let’s go over there.”
He pointed to a less crowded spot by the wall.
Shen Jin stiffened his back, feeling that Gu Yu was about to give him a sweet moment before killing him.
But he knew he couldn’t back down, so he immediately got up: “Alright, let’s go.”
They quickly reached the corner, where the light was dim.
But Gu Yu’s eyes were still clear, like a spring dancing in the moonlight, reflecting in Shen Jin’s heart, making his throat itch.
He averted his gaze and asked, “What do you want to say?”
Gu Yu looked down at him, not exactly straightforward: “Firstly, in a way, I have to admit, aside from when you hit me, your temper is pretty good.”
The way he said it made it sound like he was a victim of domestic violence. Shen Jin thought, then why don’t you break up and fight for custody? But Gu Yu continued, “So, it’s my fault for not asking why you suddenly left and said my cooking was bad that day.”
Shen Jin was stunned for a moment, feeling both ashamed of his willfulness and panicked by the reason for his willfulness: “Then, are you saying—”
The tree shadows above their heads swayed gently. Gu Yu interrupted him, asking the very question Shen Jin feared most: “So I want to ask… the reason for your sudden behavior.”