Chen Yang and Chao Jian did not go shopping anymore, nor did they take a taxi back immediately. Instead, they found a leisure club and went to have tea.
The club is located on the basement floor, mostly students, young couples dating, friends playing cards, singles using their laptops to surf the internet, and they can sit there all day with a pot of tea.
Chen Yang took off his baseball cap and scratched his slightly wet hair. When he was by the river, he and Chao Jian were wearing the clothes given by Widow Zhou, but when they returned to the real world, they were wearing the same clothes they had worn before.
And the shopping bag that was placed at the inn was returned to him.
Chen Yang rummaged through his backpack and didn't see anything related to the mission world. He put the backpack aside and lay down on the soft sofa.
"The diamond is gone." Chen Yang said.
Chao Jian raised his eyes from the phone screen and looked at him.
"I didn't bring it back." Chen Yang showed a puzzled expression, and a bit of depression and pain that he was not aware of. "It shouldn't be like this. It's something from the real world. How could it be eliminated by the rules?"
Chao Jian swiped the screen of his phone with his fingertips: "If it's gone, it's gone."
"I just think it's a pity to have so many of them." Chen Yang closed his eyes. He planned to stay here with Chao Jian for a while, have dinner, and then go back to bed.
There are a lot of things to do after coming back, but Chen Yang doesn’t want to take any action for the time being. His brain needs rest.
The scent of incense on the clothes enveloped Chen Yang, and his eyelids began to twitch.
"elder brother."
The strange voice and the familiar name made Chen Yang suddenly feel uneasy. He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a girl he didn't recognize, with two companions following behind her.
Chen Yang sat up, his voice a little hoarse due to fatigue: "Hmm? Is there something wrong?"
The girl held her phone in her hand and asked Chen Yang in a low voice if he had WeChat and if she could add him.
Chen Yang scratched his brow in surprise. Could it be that this kid wanted to get to know Chao Jian who was sitting opposite him, but was afraid of the other party's cold and dangerous aura and didn't dare to approach him to chat? So he wanted to take a detour and start with him
It’s not that Chen Yang lacks confidence, it’s that his partner is too good-looking, and he, a handsome guy, is completely overshadowed by him.
"No." Chen Yang smiled.
The girl trotted back to her companions in disappointment. The three of them whispered something in each other's ears. She secretly looked at Chen Yang and Chao Jian, and her eyes moved back and forth between them several times.
The three girls ran away shyly, leaving behind a strong and clean smell of youth.
Chen Yang curled up on the sofa, feeling deeply emotional. He and Chao Jian sat here drinking tea. From time to time, strange people from Qingcheng or outsiders passed by. No one would know that they had just returned from a mission.
The two worlds are both divided and strangely integrated.
"Oh." Chen Yang sighed unconsciously.
Chao Jian slammed the phone on the table and asked, "Why, do you regret it?"
Chen Yang was confused: "What do you regret?"
"The person hasn't gone far. We can catch up with him if we go out." Chao Jian's lips curved into an arc, coldly.
"What are you thinking?" Chen Yang waved his hand: "The real purpose of that little girl is to add you."
Chao Jian looked at the man opposite him and heard him say with a smile: "With a young handsome guy like you here, I, an uncle or brother, am very ordinary."
The person who said this was leaning against the halo of the wall lamp. He had clear eyebrows and eyes, a high nose bridge, full upturned lips, and a half-hazy and half-soft outline. When he looked over, his eyes were half-open, covered by thick eyelashes, and there was a little light in his eyes.
The whole person is like green grass in spring. If you get closer, you can smell the faint fragrance, wild and natural.
Chao Jian suddenly sat back and pinched his knuckles hard.
"Why are you sitting so far away?" Chen Yang's back left the sofa and he leaned forward on the table. He picked up the small teacup and drank the tea in it in one gulp.
Chao Jian suddenly spoke, with a strong anger in his voice, with a clear meaning of scolding, quite annoying and fierce: "Can you drink tea more quietly?"
Chen Yang: “…”
He glanced at the boy who had become irritable for some reason, and blurted out, "Want some ice cream?"
Chao Jian paused as she pinched her fingers: "I don't want to eat it."
"Have some." Chen Yang used his phone to scan the QR code on the corner of the table, tapped and poked, and turned the screen towards him, "There are many kinds, and they all look delicious."
Chao Jian remained indifferent.
Chen Yang sighed in his heart and wanted to buy something for his sister, but his sister was gone.
Forget it, boys may not like to eat sweet ice cream. Just as Chen Yang finished thinking this, the boy's voice without any emotion rang in his ears: "Matcha."
Chen Yang placed the order immediately. The heavy feeling of satisfaction made him dazed for a moment. He picked up the teapot and added tea: "I'm going to the toilet. Don't walk around."
After walking a few steps, Chen Yang turned around unconsciously and said, "I'll be back soon."
Chao Jian pinched his fingers harder, and the pain went through his blood vessels and into his heart, and his breathing became numb for a moment.
"Get out." Chao Jian said.
“Why are you so angry? Well, I’ll tell you, I won’t reply…” Chen Yang’s temper also flared up, his face turned cold, and before he could finish his words, the young man suddenly stood up, without the help of crutches, and walked straight up to him.
"Your left leg seems to have recovered well." Chen Yang's attention was all focused on Chao Jian's steady walking, and he could hardly hide his happiness.
Chao Jian paused for a moment, then turned back to sit on the sofa with an expressionless face: "Why do you always say that?"
Chen Yang was stunned. Does he always say that? I don't have any impression.
"'I'll be back soon', are these words annoying you?" Chen Yang cast an inquiring look at Chao Jian.
There was no wall lamp on where Chao Jian sat, so his face was covered in shadow, and he looked suffocatingly sinister: "It was annoying before, and it's even more annoying now."
Chen Yang's thoughts were disturbed by his bladder, and he couldn't concentrate on the communication work. He said anxiously: "I'm going to the toilet first, and we'll talk when I come back."
After several tasks, Chen Yang's senses became much more sensitive than before. As soon as he entered the bathroom, he smelled a scent, mixed with the scent of sandalwood and water, not very obvious.
Chen Yang was walking towards a row of urinals when he suddenly heard a sticky sound. Then, something in one of the cubicles hit the door with a bang.
Accompanied by a soft voice like a cat: "Hmm..."
Chen Yang twitched his lips and pooped as if nothing had happened. He thought he was still busy in the cubicle, but he heard the sound of the door opening before he had finished pooping.
First, a handsome man with gold-rimmed glasses on his nose came out, followed by a thin boy with a flushed face and a slightly swollen mouth. He looked very average, and it could even be said that his facial features were not symmetrical.
When they washed their hands, they exchanged a passionate French kiss. It seemed that they had not accomplished anything in the cubicle, and they became stuck together while kissing.
Chen Yang's right hand had already aged prematurely. In the past few years, he only felt desire when Chao Jian bandaged his wound. At other times, he was very pure and desireless.
Now he was caught off guard by the live broadcast, which was a bit overwhelming for him. It also made him more certain that he really hadn't played for too long, and he would give it a try after he had enough rest this time.
An aggressive gaze came over, and Chen Yang followed the line of sight to meet the man in the mirror. He straightened his clothes without changing his expression, and walked to the sink near the door to wash his hands.
"Baby, let's go back and be naughty again." The man held down the boy who was twisting his body and pulled him out.
The boy was mumbling something in a lustful manner, and the man was pinching his nose and teasing him, and the two of them had a very good relationship.
As soon as Chen Yang stopped washing his hands, he took something out of his trouser pocket. It was a business card, specially made, with only a string of numbers and a big teddy bear on it.
The business card for hooking up is designed to be so fresh and childlike.
The man was very skilled in stuffing the business card into Chen Yang's pocket, so he threw it into the trash can without thinking much.
When Chen Yang returned to his seat, the shock from the two people in the bathroom had not completely dissipated. He looked at Chao Jian sitting opposite him and blurted out, "Do you want to fall in love?"
Just as Chao Jian put a mouthful of ice cream into his mouth, he heard the words and his hand holding the spoon shook, causing the spoon to scrape his palate, causing him to hiss in pain.
"Why are you asking this?" Chao Jian put down the spoon and looked at Chen Yang with a frown.
"Just asking." Chen Yang said, "It's no use if you don't answer..."
Chao Jian: “I want to.”
Chen Yang really just brought up this topic on a whim. He didn't expect Chao Jian to say a word or two in reply, so he was stunned by the other party's response.
I want to fall in love. Something surged out from the depths of Chen Yang's heart, and then dissipated in the blink of an eye, leaving only a surging sense of curiosity.
He didn't seem to have expressed such thoughts to Jian before, neither directly nor indirectly, as if he was completely insulated from love. What happened now? Has he been exposed to some temptation recently and fallen in love for the first time
Chen Yang supported his head with one hand and asked with a smile: "What kind do you like?"
Chao Jian: "My waist is weak."
"..." Chen Yang almost choked on his own saliva. The boy's answer surprised him again. He said, "No more?"
Chao Jian continued to eat ice cream and said calmly: "Beautiful legs."
Chen Yang thought about it and realized that the waist must be soft and the legs must be beautiful. The hardware requirements are quite demanding: "What about the appearance?"
Chao Jian said nothing.
Chen Yang waited for a while but received no answer. When he decided to change the subject, he spoke to Jian in a neither fast nor slow manner.
"I like it." Chao Jian said.
Chen Yang was stunned. It was indeed the mentality and thoughts of a young man. When describing the person he liked, the words he used were simple and vulgar yet not lacking in beauty, and his expression was different from usual.
"Why are you asking these questions?"
The voice from the other end made Chen Yang's eyelids twitch. He was so shocked by the scene in the bathroom that his brain was spinning, but he couldn't tell Chao Jian about it.
Chen Yang's eyes drifted: "With your conditions, it's easy to find an ideal partner."
Chao Jian stared at him for a moment: "You are the only one in my life circle."
Chen Yang nodded: "Indeed, as long as we don't get rid of our identity as taskers, we will have to suffer for another day. We are trapped in an invisible frame and cannot do anything wholeheartedly. It is very uncomfortable to look ahead and behind. Only when we get rid of it completely can we manage our lives well."
"Bang"
Chao Jian threw the spoon on the table: "I don't want to eat anymore."
Chen Yang glanced at the ice cream he had just taken a few bites of: "Thirty or forty yuan, why don't you take a break before eating?"
Chao Jian’s temples swelled: “Talking to you makes my stomach hurt.”
Chen Yang: “…”
He thought that this person's condition was out of control, and he couldn't have a relationship, which was making the situation worse.
Chao Jian looked at the fatherly love that was about to overflow from Chen Yang's eyes, and his forehead twitched violently. He asked abruptly, "Have you ever thought about it?"
Chen Yang understood what Chao Jian was asking, and he said without hiding anything: "At first I didn't want to think about it, but now I don't dare to think about it."
I think this topic has been mentioned before, but I forgot who I mentioned it to.
It is really difficult for taskers to fall in love.
Like Wu Yu, she found a very powerful partner as her boyfriend, but he died and all traces of his existence in this world were wiped out. She was the only one who remembered their related memories. She had to carry her and his hopes and numb herself to move on.
"My ability is not enough to support me doing the mission while thinking about love. It is terrible to be distracted in the mission world. I am afraid that I will hurt myself and others." Chen Yang said rationally, "I want to go to the end."
"In the end, you will have everything." He added subconsciously.
Chao Jian lowered his eyes and looked at the light green ice cream. After a moment of silence, he picked up the spoon on the table, wiped it with a tissue, and then ate the ice cream slowly.
Chen Yang looked at the pleasing scene in front of him, and the image of the couple kissing passionately in the bathroom came to his mind uncontrollably.
The boy was about the same age as Chao Jian, and Chen Yang couldn't help but wonder what it would be like for Chao Jian to kiss someone.
“… ”I’m crazy.
Chen Yang held his forehead with his hand, and his hand slid down to cover his face.
Chao Jian stretched his feet under the table towards Chen Yang and nudged him with his knee: "Are you thinking about something evil?"
Chen Yang pretended not to hear.
"By the way, what I talked about before going to the bathroom..." Chen Yang paused, he remembered the illusion in the attic of the small town. Chao Jian was so annoyed by him saying that, could it be that his brother also said it often
Chen Yang felt that the possibility was not small. Since that was Chao Jian's forbidden area, he had to be careful so as not to aggravate the other party's condition.
"Actually, I say it inadvertently most of the time. It's probably a new catchphrase." Chen Yang said uncertainly, and then said seriously, "I'll try not to say it in the future."
Chao Jian smiled and said, "Your credit value is negative."
"Negative?" Chen Yang couldn't believe it. "I have never broken my promise to you."
Afterwards, he realized that his memory was sometimes good and sometimes bad, so he couldn't be too sure. He changed his statement to a safe one: "Even if there is, it won't exceed one hand."
Chao Jian bit the spoon and glared at him: "If I say negative, it is negative."
Chen Yang was amused by Chao Jian's childish behavior. He also glared at him: "You are clearly framing me."
Chao Jian took the spoon, his breath was wrapped in the cool smell of cream, he sneered: "There will be evidence."
"Okay, I'll wait." Chen Yang crossed his arms.
The two of them looked at each other, and the turbulent air flow around them suddenly subsided, floating slowly and leisurely.
Chen Yang was lying on the table drinking tea. After two cups, his eyelids were about to droop again. Just when he was about to close his eyes, Chao Jian's voice came from the other side: "You talk about yours, and I'm worried about mine."
It took a long time for Chen Yang to understand what Chao Jian meant.
At around three o'clock in the morning, Chen Yang woke up. He lay on the bed and realized something in his mind.
Chen Yang would catch up on his sleep every time after coming back from the mission world, but the time he spent sleeping became less and less.
Chen Yang didn't know whether this was a good or bad phenomenon. He turned on the air conditioner and looked at the night scene outside the window. His brain had rested enough and it was time to work, so he sorted out the doubts arising from the fifth task one by one.
In fact, the fact that Ge Fei could become the target of the mission has subtle similarities with Chao Jian’s blood energy activation ceremony in the first mission.
Chen Yang couldn't understand the first part of the task. That ceremony was for the Yi tribe to bless and required the blood of the descendants of the Yi tribe. Why did Chao Jian's blood meet the requirements
For the last part of the fifth mission, Chen Yang still couldn't understand why Ge Fei was not alone in the mission world, he had relatives there.
Chen Yang chewed his lips and thought, this part about Ge Fei is a big piece of information. It seems that from this moment on, the background of the entire mission is unfolding to him little by little.
Not only Ge Fei, but also Zhu Zhu, she said she had been to the small town when she was a child.
Chen Yang reached for his cell phone from beside the pillow and turned it on. He searched online for "Republic of China town", "ancient town", "Gao Degui", "Qijia Inn"... He tried every keyword he could think of, but to no avail.
Chen Yang searched for living sacrifices, curses of living creatures, and the name fish again. This time he found a lot of things, all kinds of things, horrifying, but nothing like the small town.
The light from the cell phone screen made Chen Yang's sleep-swollen face look blue. He was thinking about something and didn't hold the phone firmly, so it fell on his face with a "bang". The pain was so severe that it made his soul tingle.
Chen Yang turned off his phone and threw it back on the bed, rubbing his face. Even though he couldn't find anything on the Internet, he still kept the speculation that "there was an unknown town in the real world many years ago" in his mind.
After all, there are three bridges and train stations in the mission world, and there are also in the real world.
Chen Yang turned sideways and looked at the sleeping boy in the moonlight. He decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with him tomorrow and tell him all his secrets.
no sooner said than done.
There was green smoke floating from the incense burner at the bedside, and the aroma was very strong. Chen Yang smelled the odor and thought of the painter. Then he casually thought of something else and sat up abruptly.
He couldn’t bring back the diamond the painter gave him, but he did bring back the notebook Wang Kuanyou gave him.
Chen Yang thought of a bold idea. His breathing became rapid and his ears buzzed.
When Chen Yang came to his senses, he had already climbed out from Chao Jian using his hands and feet, with one leg kneeling on the edge of the bed and one leg on the ground, his arm reaching for the backpack on the table.
Chen Yang turned on the bedside lamp and took out the small notebook where he wrote down clues and Wang Kuanyou's notebook from his backpack.
He first flipped through the small notebook. All the phone numbers left by the painter were exactly the same as the ones in Chen Yang's mind.
Chen Yang flipped through the notebook again. He quickly turned to the page about the painter and read the last line.
The number the artist wrote... is not the same as in the little book.
All the numbers are wrong.
Chen Yang's fingers were shaking as he held the paper. He stared at the string of numbers that he had no impression of, and the back of his head felt numb.
He was almost certain that this was the correct number.
Chen Yang dialed the number, and a familiar hoarse voice came from the other end of the line: "Hello, who is this?"
The numbness spread from the back of Chen Yang's head to his back. His throat felt dry and tight. He swallowed hard before speaking: "I am Chen Yang."
There was dead silence on the phone.
Then there was the crisp sound of the cup falling to the ground, followed by the painter's extremely excited and cautious voice: "Are you really..."
"I am. Wait a minute. Let's both calm down. I'll call you back later."
Chen Yang hung up after he finished speaking. He closed the thick notebook, stroked the black cover, and his heart was filled with turmoil.
At the beginning, Chen Yang wrote down the address of Chen Xishuang's hometown in his notebook. After completing the task, he returned to the real world and searched it, and found that the village really existed.
Chen Yang thought that the reason why the contact information revealed by Chen Xishuang in the mission world was not tampered with was because he was dead. At that time, he was in the form of a ghost, and he faced the same set of rules as ghosts, which was different from that of living taskers.
Only then did Chen Yang realize that Chen Xishuang's contact information had not been tampered with. The reason was not his fault, but...
Chen Yang stopped stroking the notebook cover. The numbers he remembered and those on the notebook had all changed, except for the ones on this notebook.
There is only one explanation for this strange situation.
Notebooks are a thing of the quest world.
Chen Yang's mouth was dry. Wang Kuanyou said that the notebook was given to him by a teammate, and there were already five notebooks in it.
The first notebook belongs to Old Man Li, but the notebook may not be his. It is not ruled out that he picked up someone else's.
The notebook traveled between different mission worlds and different taskers. It was filled with death and hope and fell into Chen Yang's hands.
Chen Yang moved the leg that was on the ground to the bed, and changed from kneeling to sitting. The six taskers who left notes before him were all dead. He didn't know how the first owner brought this notebook into the real world.
Chen Yang broke out in a cold sweat without knowing when. There was so much follow-up information about the fifth task.
He couldn't help thinking, since dead things in the mission world can appear in the real world...
What about living things? Can they be used as well
Chen Yang called the painter again, and this time both of them were much calmer.
The dot painter was still awake; he was sitting in his dim study, with an empty bottle of red wine, an open bottle of medicine, and a pile of incense on the table.
When the phone rang, the painter actually didn't want to answer it. His head ached, and his mind was full of bloody scenes related to the first mission. He seemed to hear screams of fear and pain in his ears. His childhood friends were calling for help, but he was powerless and could only watch them die.
The painter wanted to hang up the phone, but his nervous system was a little disordered and he pressed the wrong button.
The call was connected, and the painter asked who it was with a world-weary mentality. He never expected that it was the savior calling, and fortunately he answered the call.
Thank God.
"Chen Yang, it's great that we can get in touch." The painter rarely showed his emotions, and looked very vulnerable.
"Yes." Chen Yang did not reveal the notebook matter easily, and only said that there was a bug in the rules, "You are very lucky."
The painter laughed with a choked voice: "I have built a large number of Hope Primary Schools and funded many college students to start their own businesses. I put more effort into charity than painting, just to make God take care of me a little bit."
"God obviously cares about you." Chen Yang chatted briefly with the painter and agreed on a time and place to meet tomorrow.
"Are you done yet?"
A hoarse and deep voice suddenly sounded behind him, and Chen Yang quickly gathered his scattered thoughts: "I'm done."
Chen Yang lay back in bed and summarized what had just happened, including the origin of the notebook. The only sound that answered him was the sound of even breathing. He shook the air-conditioning quilt helplessly, leaned his arms behind his head, and continued to organize his thoughts.
Not long after, there was a crackling sound on the glass windows and it started to rain.
Chen Yang drew the curtains, got out of bed and went to the living room. 03 was sleeping soundly in his nest, with his four legs facing the sky, his white belly rising and falling slightly, and his two paws stretched out on both sides.
Rainwater was hitting the balcony. Chen Yang originally wanted to move Sun Wenjun and Chao Jian's flower pots to the corner, but on a whim he picked up a pot and placed it on the clothesline that was propped up outside.
The raindrops pattered into the basin.
Chen Yang stood on the balcony watching the rainy night. His mind was extremely clear and he didn't feel sleepy at all.
It would be dawn soon. What should he eat for breakfast? There were still some mugwort cakes given by Chen Xishuang's grandparents. Chen Yang pulled the clothes hanger above his head and thought, he could cook a pot of millet porridge, stir-fry some tomatoes and eggs, and smash some cucumbers, which should be enough.
The cell phone in Chen Yang's pocket suddenly dinged. Before he took out the phone, he guessed that the person looking for him was either Sun Wenjun or Wu Yu, but it turned out to be Xiangdong.
Xiangdong also woke up and sent a voice message asking if he could come over for breakfast.
Chen Yang didn't reply. He took the basin back from the clothesline. The basin, which was almost full of rain water, shook with his movement and some of it spilled out.
"The flower pots of those two people are very bleak. One has a leaf hanging on a branch, and the other has seeds that may have been blocked. What's the point of me collecting rainwater for them?" Chen Yang muttered to himself, shook his head and went back to the living room. He took out his mobile phone and sent a message to Xiangdong.
Come here.
Chen Yang sent another message, asking Xiangdong to buy some fried dough sticks and soy milk when he came, and specified the store he often went to.
Xiangdong sent back a string of red envelopes.
Chen Yang was counting the red envelopes when he accidentally caught a glimpse of a figure at the door. He was startled and asked, "Why did you come out?"
Chao Jian did not answer but only asked: "What are you doing?"
"I went to see how the dog was doing, and by the way, I collected a basin of rain water to water the flowers." Chen Yang threw his phone on the sofa. "By the way, Xiangdong is coming for breakfast."
The boy at the door said nothing.
Chen Yang had already gotten used to his partner being able to stand without crutches. He whispered, "We are going to meet the painter tomorrow, so we can call Xiangdong along, and the four of us can chat together."
The boy at the door still didn't make any sound.
Chen Yang was frightened, he tiptoed over and asked: "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well?" There was incense burning in the room, so it shouldn't be that serious.
Chao Jian's expression was unclear, and his breath contained restraint: "I had a nightmare."
Chen Yang was stunned: "You haven't had a nightmare in the past two months, why this time... Is it because you just came back?"
"Come back to the room. I'll lie down with you for a while." Seeing that the young man didn't move, Chen Yang grabbed his cold arm, pressed it with his thumb, and patted it with four fingers. This small action was both coaxing and comforting.
He stood by Jian for a while, then turned around and went back to his room.
Chen Yang breathed a sigh of relief. As he walked behind, he thought that although Chao Jian's left leg condition had improved, his mental illness had not improved at all.
This time, Chao Jian didn't even take his medicine when he came back.
Chen Yang walked to the bedside worriedly. He calmed himself down and said to Chao Jian who was lying on the outer edge, "You sleep inside. I'll just lie outside."
Chao Jian didn't move.
Chen Yang didn't say anything more. He crawled in and lay down.
Since they started living together, Chao Jian is always outside when going to bed, and he is inside, and it seems to have become a fixed pattern.
Chen Yang was not sleepy at first, but somehow he started yawning while lying there.
Soon, Chao Jian came closer to the bed, curled up with his long arms and legs, and his head tilted towards his shoulder.
Apart from a little itchy neck, Chen Yang had no other discomfort due to Chao Jian's closeness while sleeping. They had been living together for several months and he had become immune to it without realizing it.
The young man put his arm around him, but Chen Yang still didn't feel uncomfortable.
After a while, the arm that was on Chen Yang's waist retracted inward, and the slender fingers pressed against his waist and hips. The legs came up, clamped his two feet, and hugged him like a doll.
Chen Yang: “…”
This is a bit uncomfortable.