Zhihao, "What if the owner is a 9-decade old dude?"
"..."
He's not.
Zhihao saw the look on Li Ling's face and broke out laughing, "Don't worry, I won't steal a heart that is close to its expiry date."
"..."
If this went on, Li Ling's heart would be close to its expiry date.
"But the owner is probably old. Didn't you say that it was made more than ten years ago?"
Li Ling couldn't understand the man's thought process—he wanted to, but he was afraid of what he would find inside that mind.
"It was recently sold to someone new. A handsome young man actually." Li Ling responded with a rather proud smile.
"A handsome young owner?" Zhihao looked at the mole under Li Ling's eyes, finding it even more mesmerizing in real life, "I guess I'm ready to become a thief then."
"..."
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady... This is not slow and steady!
This man was freaking flirting with him without even being aware of it!
Li Ling's heart felt like it was near its expiry date and the process was sped up due to a man called Huang Zhihao and his obliviousness.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhihao asked as he saw the man staring at him with a face that could not be deciphered, "I was just joking. I'm not going to hit on a random dude."
"..."
"Or am I?"
"..."
Zhihao was having fun. He was thoroughly enjoying the reactions he got. It had always been him in that position but now it was Li Ling and Zhihao was the one teasing him—the feeling could not be summed up in a single word.
Li Ling saw the man having fun as he snickered when he saw Li Ling's expression, this triggered Li Ling to make a move as well.
"You can."
Zhihao, "What?"
"You can hit on him all you want." Li Ling smirked. If this man was going to flirt without being aware of it, Li Ling would also do the same.
"..." Zhihao panicked for some reason. He didn't like hearing Li Ling giving him permission like that. The reason why he didn't like it was still unknown to Zhihao and he didn't think about it any further. It was unsettling and Zhihao didn't care why he was feeling this way.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and st-
"But I don't think I'll let him steal Mastermo away from me."
"..."
"..." Li Ling had reclaimed his position of teasing the man.
"Um... Let's go to the counter and pay for this sword."
Li Ling broke out into a laugh as he heard the desperate try of Zhihao wanting to change the topic.
Zhihao went ahead to the cash counter with a sword in hand and when the cashier saw the sword, his face did not look so great.
This was a one-of-a-kind product that was not only not for sale but the arcade had a strict policy about it—it should not even be touched by people. This policy was written on stone by the owner of the arcade and this customer just casually picked it up and brought it over to the counter.
The cashier's face lost all its color as he stared at the sword and when he finally came back to his senses, he reacted immediately by crying out in worry and trying to snatch the sword away from Zhihao's hands.
"Dear customer, you should not-"
The cashier was cut off mid-sentence as a hand came forward to stop his hand that was about to reach for the sword.
"We want to buy it."
The cashier gulped as he saw the owner of the voice.
"S-Sir, what are yo-"
Li Ling, "I said, I want to buy it. Are you going to say it's not for sale?"
That was exactly what the cashier wanted to say but in front of the owner of the arcade, how could he say it?
Li Ling looked at the man dangerously and the man suddenly understood that his boss wanted him to play along. The reason for it was unknown but if his boss wanted him to play along, why would he refuse? He didn't dislike his job and didn't want to throw it away.
"Um... I was just getting ready to pack it for you. You might hurt your hand if you carelessly touch it."
Li Ling's smile grew deeper as his eyes told the cashier that he had made a wise decision.
Li Ling, "It's for five hundred yuan, right?"
"..." The cashier gulped as cold sweat dripped down his forehead.
Zhihao, "It's that cheap? I feel a bit offended."
It was a priceless treasure that could be originally sold for more than a hundred thousand yuan but neither Li Ling nor the cashier would tell Zhihao the truth.
"Y-yes, it's for sale at a cheap price of five hundred yuan." The cashier bobbed his head up and down, looking at Zhihao with a meaningful expression. He felt a little hurt when he said the price out loud, the sword was not even his but he felt pity for it.
He didn't know who the man standing beside his boss was, but he was very curious to know who it was. His curiosity couldn't go unnoticed as he kept on looking up at the man every now and then but luckily, Zhihao was too mesmerized with the sword in his hand hence, he didn't notice the peeking. Li Ling however saw the man glancing at Zhihao every now and then—he cleared his throat loudly, making sure that he got his message through, he didn't like the cashier's interest.
The cashier was shaken to the core when he suddenly got glared at by his boss.
Li Ling had misunderstood the man's interest, thinking that it was because the cashier found Zhihao handsome.
Well, he was handsome so Li Ling couldn't blame him. His eyes that were glaring at the man suddenly turned softer as he looked at him with sympathy and understanding.
Eyeing something that was never going to be yours—it was certainly pitiful.
The cashier had never been more confused in his life. At one moment he had somehow offended his boss and in the next moment, his boss was looking at him with such a sympathetic look. Either he was crazy or his boss was crazy.
His boss was a little crazy considering the fact that he was selling off a priceless treasure for a mere five hundred yuan. It couldn't have been because he was in need of the money, the man was too rich for that to be the reason hence, the only explanation lay within the identity of the buyer. The handsome man who came with the boss was not a simple man and the biggest question currently inside the cashier's mind was: What was the relationship between the two?
The cashier was a gossiper and with such a fresh topic in front of him, how could he deny his want to know the story?
Zhihao hadn't bought his wallet with him so it was Li Ling who gave the money to the cashier, this action further confused the cashier and made the topic of their relationship get even juicier.
Today, the cashier understood one thing. This boss of his was crazy—too crazy for him to understand.
After the payment was made, the sword officially belonged to Zhihao, who couldn't wait to go back home and try cutting apples with this amazing sword.
"Thank you for the purchase." The cashier said awkwardly, this was the first time he was saying something like this. This arcade didn't have any for-sale items, like any other arcade, it would sell tickets to the customers but would not sell them the whole machine.
"Thank you." Zhihao showed his gratitude as he took the sword and headed towards the door. If the VR room was still active, he would've waited a bit more and experienced the wonder but T.I.A.D's server was closed down so there was nothing else he wanted to do here.
Li Ling stayed behind and secretly talked with the cashier a bit more.
"If you see that man again, you inform me and never tell him who I am, okay? If he asks for the owner, just tell him that it's a handsome young man that is hard to get a hold of."
"Understood, sir." The cashier nodded eagerly as if he were being given an important mission.
"Good"
Li Ling followed after Zhihao who couldn't keep his hands off the sword. He really looked like a little kid who finally bought his favorite toy and couldn't leave it alone for a single second.
Li Ling, "Where are you running off to?"
"Huh? Aren't we done? Is there something else?"
Li Ling smiled as he held his hand up and jiggled the keys to Zhihao's car.
"Next destination."
Zhihao wanted to try out the sword immediately and see if he can cut this man's finger off but he couldn't do it.
Zhihao closed his eyes, "If you overspeed again, I swear I'll kill you."
"I won't" Li Ling beamed, "I promise"
Actually, it was hard for Li Ling to not overspeed since it came naturally to him, but for Zhihao, he would try his best to drive as slowly as possible. In fact, the trip here wasn't that far but it took them a lot of time to come here because Li Ling was driving at a speed so slow that he looked like a snail on the road—being taken over by every other vehicle that passed by them.
"Where are we going next?" Zhihao asked. He should've had a bigger reaction to Li Ling driving his car again, but he had bought the sword and was in a really pleasant mood so he didn't want to fight with the man at the moment.
Li Ling got in the car and Zhihao followed, making it look like the sports car actually belonged to Li Ling and this was exactly what the cashier who saw the two men thought.
His boss seemed to be a sugar daddy...
As Li Ling promised, the ride was smooth and the man didn't dare overspeed with Zhihao in the car.
"You didn't answer my question." Zhihao pouted, "Where are you taking me?"
"Aren't surprises more fun?" Li Ling beamed.
Zhihao thought about it deeply and he found it really to be the case. Zhihao loved surprises but most of the time it had something to do with games so he didn't know if he liked surprise in general or if he only liked surprises when they were related to a game.
"This time, it's not going to be related to games." Li Ling commented as if he had read Zhihao's mind and Zhihao frowned as he heard this.
He was actually thinking about games and anticipating the destination of this ride but now that Li Ling had told him it wasn't related to games, he was visibly dejected.
The two made small talks along the way—mostly joking about games and stuff. Sometimes Li Ling will share his sister's stories and Zhihao would talk about Huang Zhen. It came as a shock to both of them that after that day, on which Zhihao arranged for them to meet up and become friends, the two actually got close and became inseparable friends.
Zhihao was the one who was more shocked because when he saw Li Ying's hobby of cosplaying as a loli, he would've never guessed that she could become friends with his bully of a brother. It came as a bigger shock that his brother hadn't bullied the girl about her hobby.
Zhihao didn't know that Huang Zhen had tried to bully the girl but after being kicked on his shin a few times, he gave up and didn't dare bother the girl anymore. He wanted to keep his bones intact so it was best not to offend Li Ying.
"She talks about him a lot, mostly complaints though, but I can feel that she's very fond of him."
Zhihao laughed, "If this goes on, we might become family soon."
"I would love to be a part of your family."
Zhihao didn't understand what the man was implying on so he laughed it off, "I would love to have a brother-in-law like you."
"I wasn't talking about that kind of family though."
"..."
Li Ling really loved to drop a flirty bomb every now and then.