As usual, Lili couldn't really sleep much. Lei wanted her to sleep early, so he took away her laptop and hugged her from behind.
But Lili only stared at the wall in front of her, and her brain was raving. So, as soon as Lei fell asleep, Lili wiggled away from his hug and went to play again.
Lei actually managed to get all the materials she wanted. It didn't surprise her that much as the first time. He was great at haggling and making a deal at a pretty low price so that someone could accuse him of robbing them.
Around five in the morning, Lili felt the fatigue kicking in. Especially when her eyelids started closing by themselves. And her head was falling while waiting for the game to load a forgery scene.
"Fuck!" she shouted and jerked herself. When she was falling asleep, she accidentally added something else than she should have.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Lei came in charging only in his pants. Lili was instantly woken up by the sight of his naked body, the silk trousers not keeping anything secret.
"I accidentally used the wrong ingredient," she said, pouting her lips. But when Lili noticed his burning gaze, she knew he was in trouble.
"You haven't slept yet?" Lei asked, carefully choosing his words, his voice cold. Lili bit her lip. She put down the headset and slowly walked towards Lei.
She was no seductress, but she placed her hands on his chest and softly scratched his muscles. And with pouting lips, she looked up.
"I slept a bit. Now and then," she mumbled, but that didn't dissipate Lei's anger. He grabbed her around her waist and picked her up. Lili had no other choice than to tangle her legs around him and let him carry her back to bed.
"Sleep!" Lei exclaimed angrily. But Lili wasn't fighting him at all. She was tired. And this was the best she could do for herself.
But her amazing sleep didn't last long, because soon after, Lei got a call. It was from the organizers, asking him where his team was.
"I will go and gather them. You sleep more," Lei said, slipping out of the bedsheets while kissing her lips. But Lili had a plan.
Once the door closed after him, she took the blankets with her and, covered in them, she went to the dining table.
One look at the game screen surprised her that it actually didn't mess up at all. And the orbs were still at a nice level, with even better stats than the original recipe had.
For some time, she spent time forging or crafting when her phone rang. She had her watch on the charger so she had to pick it up normally. Lili put the phone in between her ear and shoulder and mumbled some profundities.
"You are using my account?" It was Chao, and she knew what this was about.
"Yeah, I noticed it, don't worry I haven't replied to any of those messages I saw…" It probably kicked him out when she logged in from her laptop, that's why he called.
"I think we should do something else, then ignore them…" he mumbled and Lili, interested, stopped forging for a minute, waiting for his suggestion.
"Do you remember when I taught you to play swordmaster? Do you remember my moves?" he asked. Lili nodded before agreeing verbally.
"If you send me your game play video, I can even imitate some of your new moves. But I won't win against someone strong." Lili knew her own boundaries very well. You can't get far enough only by imitating someone.
"I'm too weak to play in the arena. I guess I had exhausted myself more than I thought…" Lili and ironically raised her brows. Was he idiotic? He wasn't eating or drinking much for weeks and his sleep was almost non-existent…
"No kidding, Sherlock…" she couldn't help herself and utter. The alarm on her watch rang and Chao heard it clearly before Lili got up and went to dismiss it.
"It's time for a game, right?" he breathed out. There was a moment of silence, and then Lili affirmed his question. Chao did not know how to react. It was actually the first time he let them go into a match alone. And it was such a big tournament too.
"Tell them to take it easy. If they win, we will be happy with Tian. But if they lose, no one will blame them. They are not used to this, so can you calm them down a bit?" he asked Lili.
Of course, she agreed to it. But at the same time, she knew it was better to let them deal with it alone. If they couldn't take such an amount of stress and anxiety… They would crumble in the future in any of the championships.
"Can you do me a favor?" Chao's voice started to sound even more tired than hers. Lili didn't know what else to do other than laugh. And mumbled the words of agreement without asking what the favor was.
"When you are using my account… Can you, once in a while, choose some random idiot from the chat that you think you will win against and imitate my play and win? Just to shut them up, okay?" Lili agreed without a second thought. Partly because it was fun and partly because she noticed his worries that if the rest of the team saw the news, they would be troubled by it.
He really cared for them.
"Yes, sir!" Lili saluted even though he couldn't see it. But from his voice, it looked like he knew what she was doing. He only sighed, said thank you, and then hung up.
Taking a shower and putting on some clothes, she walked with a laptop in her hug and sat in the VIP seats. Probably the only person that brought a laptop to play SoL at the SoL Asian Games tournament, in the audience… What a weirdo…