As the night wore on and the conversations in the guest house ebbed and flowed, Huang Peng found himself gradually relaxing in Qi Wei's presence. Despite the weight of their past, the familiar comfort of Qi Wei's companionship began to ease his anxieties.
Qi Wei, sensing the shift in Huang Peng's demeanor, offered a reassuring smile, silently acknowledging the unspoken complexities of their relationship.
It had been around thirty minutes since they waited for the tour guide to come, and still, no one had arrived.
"Does it always take this long for the tour guide to come?" Qi Wei asked Xiao Yi. He noticed that Lai Yuan had been oddly ignoring him ever since they entered the guest house, so he didn't even bother asking him his questions.
Weird guy, he thought. He was a chatterbox from the start, but for no apparent reason at all, he suddenly ignores him. What's his problem?
Xiao Yi shook her head, "No, no. It's just that this is the lowest realm, and there are a lot of first-time newbies here. The game gives those first-time newbies more time to adapt to the game and ready themselves."
Qi Wei conveyed his understanding with a nod, and thus, the awkward silence continued.
Unable to stand the silence any longer, Xiao Yi propped her chin on the back of her hand, smiling toward Huang Peng. "Pretty gege, we haven't introduced ourselves to one another yet."
Flustered about being called pretty by a young lady, Huang Peng found his face warmed up by shyness. "Ah, that is right. The name is Huang Peng."
"Mine is Xiao Yi. Pretty gege, are you here as a quarry?"
Qi Wei had explained to him beforehand about the difference between a quarry and a volunteer; however, Qi Wei did not state whether he came here as a quarry or a volunteer. Huang Peng also did not dare to ask because a scary wild guess was already in the back of his mind.
Qi Wei excels in his career as a freelance interpreter and translator for many foreign languages, and his finances have always been stable, if not extravagantly well. There's no way he enters this game as a volunteer and seeks money. But if he enters as a quarry, Huang Peng feels like he knows the reason behind it and is too scared to acknowledge it. So, he chose to stay innocent of that information. On top of that, he also thought such information is confidential.
"Oh, we can share that with one another?" Huang Peng asked back instead of answering.
Xiao Yi nodded, "Yeah, sure!"
"I'm a volunteer," Huang Peng confessed.
Right by Xiao Yi's side, Lai Yuan let out a mocking chuckle.
Qi Wei can stand Lai Yuan mocking him, but he definitely couldn't stand anyone looking down on or mocking Huang Peng. "What's your problem?" Qi Wei spat out.
Lai Yuan leaned back casually against the sofa, his eyes glancing downward to observe Huang Peng from head to toe before shifting to meet the annoyed expression on Qi Wei's face. Once again, Lai Yuan chuckled softly, sounding very condescending, and it fueled the flames of Qi Wei's anger even worse than before.
Qi Wei still deeply loves and understands Huang Peng. Qi Wei is aware of Huang Peng's self-confidence issues rooted in his childhood and adolescent poverty. Qi Wei knows for sure that Huang Peng quickly feels offended and tends to harbor self-hatred when others belittle him.
Throughout their relationship, Qi Wei has always tried to build Huang Peng's self-confidence and make him believe that he deserves good things, that he deserves to be loved and admired.
In the process of making Huang Peng trust that new idea, Qi Wei always gets involved in arguments when someone dares to make Huang Peng think otherwise.
This time it's no different; Qi Wei was ready to get up and fling a punch at another pretty face sitting in front of him. But Huang Peng, who already memorized Qi Wei's habit, held his wrist. Even without words, Qi Wei already knows that Huang Peng is telling him to calm down and not to cause a commotion.
"You know," finally, Lai Yuan opened his mouth to speak, "After playing this game for so long, I gained a very helpful skill."
Qi Wei ignored Lai Yuan completely, but that didn't deter the man from spewing more opinion that falls as trashy gibberish to Qi Wei's ears.
"I can see what needs fixing in the life of both the quarry and the volunteer. For example, you," Lai Yuan nudged his chin in the direction of Huang Peng, "Be smarter. Are you an idiot? You are a volunteer, but you are out here looking like a confused little sheep, seeking safety in the arms of another newbie. One should think to prepare himself for what he has gotten into, don't you think?"
Hearing what comes out of Lai Yuan's mouth, Qi Wei seized Lai Yuan by the collar in an outburst of anger, his face contorted with rage meeting a condescending stare mocking his reaction, "And you, get out of your pink bubble of romance and stop devoting your life to an imaginary dying love of yours."
Panic set in as Huang Peng and Xiao Yi reacted swiftly, attempting to quell Qi Wei's anger.
Huang Peng got a hold of Qi Wei's hand as it flung towards Lai Yuan's face before it landed right on it, while Xiao Yi quickly pulled Lai Yuan away from Qi Wei's hold.
"Calm down, calm down." both Huang Peng and Xiao Yi said in harmony.
A few glances and stares are directed towards them but it doesn't linger for long as everyone is busy worrying about their own fate of life in the game.
Huang Peng guided Qi Wei back to his seat, tightly holding Qi Wei's clenched fist filled with anger out of habit.
In front of the two ex-lovers, Xiao Yi scolded a pouting Lai Yuan. The scene actually looked rather funny, a teenage girl scolding a man in his twenties. Too bad, Qi Wei's vision was clouded by rage to notice it and take a chance to tease Lai Yuan for it.