Q-chan clung to He Wuning’s shoulder and carefully asked, “Sweetie, if he finishes washing the car, will you stop being mad?”
He Wuning gave it a glance. “Why? Do you feel sorry for him?”
“No!” Q-chan immediately denied it, firmly standing on He Wuning’s side. “How could I feel sorry for him? I only feel sorry for you, Sweetie!”
Trying to please him, it pointed toward the black motorcycle. “Is that your bike, Sweetie? It looks so cool!”
“Mm.” He Wuning gave a reluctant hum in reply.
After entering the game, his beloved motorcycle couldn’t actually be ridden anymore, but he would still come by from time to time to wipe it down, making sure it didn’t rust away from neglect.
Yi Luo, noticing his expression, decided to push his luck and casually struck up conversation. “That bike must’ve cost a fortune. Don’t tell me you’re some rich family’s young master out there?”
He Wuning shot him a sidelong glance. “What else would I be, a hitman or a mercenary?”
Yi Luo chuckled, about to say something more, when footsteps echoed through the empty underground parking lot. He raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Ever since the game started, any vehicle that ran on gas or electricity was useless; the only rides still seen on the streets were bicycles. Normally, no one would come down to a parking garage.
But He Wuning didn’t look surprised at all. In fact, he straightened slightly, as if he had been expecting this.
The approaching figure spotted them and suddenly sped up, calling out cheerfully, “Brother!”
Yi Luo looked up just as a young man in a white shirt stepped out from behind a pillar. His smile was bright and sunny, exuding a well-behaved, top-student vibe.
Yi Luo blinked in disbelief and turned to He Wuning. “Your brother?”
The young man who’d called him “brother” looked equally surprised. He glanced at He Wuning, then asked incredulously, “Brother, your friend?”
Before Yi Luo could respond, the newcomer had already pulled a clean rag from his pocket and enthusiastically joined the car-washing effort. “Hi there! This is the first time he’s ever brought a friend over! I’m He Anan, his younger brother…”
Yi Luo hesitated, looking back and forth between them — they didn’t look much alike at all. He Anan smiled understandingly. “We’re fraternal twins, so we don’t look alike. Ningning’s also a little taller than me.”
Yi Luo stared at He Wuning like he’d just seen a ghost — he hadn’t expected him to tolerate being called “Ningning.”
Not only did He Wuning not get angry, he even lifted the little Q-chan off his shoulder and handed it over. “Here, system. You can play with him. Let him wash the car alone.”
Yi Luo: “…”
Q-chan’s eyes went wide. “H-hi there! I’m Q-chan!”
He Anan smiled kindly. “Hello, Q-chan. You look really cute, and your name’s cute too.”
Q-chan was overjoyed. It was the first time a player had ever seriously called it by name — or complimented it. Flustered, it ducked behind He Wuning’s shoulder. “N-no, not really!”
But its voice was practically bubbling with delight.
Yi Luo looked between He Wuning and the suddenly-appearing He Anan, unsure what to say, and quietly went back to wiping the bike.
He Anan seemed to have come just to help clean. Like an attentive older relative, he asked He Wuning a few questions about recent events. He Wuning only answered when asked, keeping his replies brief.
When they finished, He Anan stood and prepared to leave. He Wuning handed him some equipment.
He Anan sighed as he took it. “Don’t push yourself too hard, okay? Even when we go out leveling, we always stick with the main group — never solo. Make sure you keep the best gear for yourself.”
He Wuning just gave a short acknowledgment.
Their meeting didn’t last more than half an hour.
After He Anan left, Yi Luo finally spoke. “That was your younger brother?”
“Yeah.” He Wuning nodded, checked the bike’s shine, and gestured for him to leave. “Let’s go.”
Yi Luo followed beside him. “I don’t know… he feels more like your older brother.”
He grinned. “I mean, usually if two brothers are named something like ‘An’ and ‘Ning,’ the ‘An’ one’s the older, right?”
He Wuning: “…hm.”
“He’s half an hour older than me, but when we were kids I wanted to be the older brother, so he let me have it.”
Yi Luo’s eyes widened. “You let him?”
But thinking about the younger man’s demeanor just now, he nodded. “Still, if it was that fellow earlier… I guess it wouldn’t be impossible.”
He put his hands in his pockets. “I used to think you weren’t from City A — why do you never go back to see your family?”
“I really am not from City A. My parents divorced; I stayed with my mom, he stayed with my dad.” He Wuning looked up. “The day the thick fog rolled in happened to be He Anan’s birthday. I rode to City A to celebrate with him.”
“So when the fog came, you got trapped here?”
Yi Luo finished the sentence for him; He Wuning nodded.
Actually he’d nearly ridden past the city boundary, but he kept getting a bad feeling — and in his twenties those premonitions were almost always right — so he turned the bike back to the city center.
Yi Luo glanced at his profile and teased, “You planned for me to meet him?”
“Yeah.” He Wuning didn’t deny it. “On the fifteenth of every month I come here to wash the bike and see him for a bit.”
Yi Luo couldn’t help looking at him again. “I figured you’d find a reason to send me away and come alone, knowing your personality.”
He Wuning let out a short laugh and gave him a cool glance. “If you hadn’t told the truth earlier, I’d have come alone.”
“You tell the truth, and I’ll tell the truth.”
Yi Luo’s fingers twirled the ring He Wuning had given him in his pocket. He laughed, “So are we even now?”
He Wuning’s gaze was lazy. “Who said we were quarrelling?”
Yi Luo snorted, half-laughing. “Right, right — no quarrel. I was just lectured and sentenced to hard labor unilaterally.”
He suddenly looked up. “Do you think my ability could ever fit your motorcycle inside the milk tea car?”
He Wuning was surprised by the whim. “How would you cram it in?”
Yi Luo answered earnestly, “An aircraft carrier can carry planes — why can’t a milk tea car carry a motorcycle?”
Q-chan was shocked by the analogy. “You can compare a milk tea car to an aircraft carrier?!”
“One day.” Yi Luo poked Q-chan’s round head. “Isn’t it your bike? Don’t you have any confidence?”
“Um…” Q-chan fidgeted and rubbed its hands. “In my heart it’s definitely the world’s number-one bike, but—”
It glanced at He Wuning carefully. “If you put it in the milk tea car, can you paint it pink?”
He Wuning expressionless: “No.”
Yi Luo couldn’t hold back a laugh.
He Wuning shot him a look; Yi Luo instantly acted serious. “I’ve spent a skill point.”
He Wuning: “Which one?”
He’d seen Yi Luo’s skill tree before and had some idea of Yi Luo’s later choices.
“I’ve decided to go full offense later, so I put points into Vehicle Modification·Attack.” Yi Luo took a deep breath. “Time to draw blueprints again.”
He Wuning stopped walking. “Draw away.”
Yi Luo opened his skill-tree panel, inhaled, and muttered: “Anti-air cannon, cannon, vehicle-mounted rocket—”
He Wuning watched expressionlessly as Yi Luo recited a long list of firearms names, then just as Yi Luo was about to confirm the selection, He Wuning stopped him. “Wait.”
Yi Luo froze. “What’s up?”
He Wuning opened his comms and messaged the Voice of the World: “We’re about to draw blueprints. Keep an eye on it.”
The other side pretended to be dead and didn’t reply.
Yi Luo: “…”
He’d never seen someone so brazenly threaten the game.
He asked, “Well?”
Q-chan cheered them on: “Go! Go! You’ll get it! You’ll get it!”
Yi Luo opened the blueprint he’d just gotten and breathed easy. “Vehicle-mounted heavy machine gun.”
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Could threatening it actually work? Maybe I’ll try that next time.”
Q-chan reminded him, “But you don’t have the Voice of the World’s contact info.”
Yi Luo: “…”
Tch. What was this supposed to be? A VIP customer service line reserved for the big spenders?
He Wuning seemed quite interested in the new weapon Yi Luo had just drawn. Q-chan piped up shyly, “Remember to paint it pink! You promised before!”
“Relax.” Yi Luo smiled. “The pinker it is, the fiercer it kills.”
The two of them walked out of the underground parking lot, and their communicators buzzed at the same time — Xue Xun was calling He Wuning, and Xing Yue was calling Yi Luo.
They exchanged a look; it was probably about the same matter. Yi Luo answered, “Hello?”
Xing Yue: “Where are you two! You disappeared from the treatment center in a blink! Don’t tell me you went out fooling around again!”
Yi Luo scoffed. “Fooling around? Even if we go out, it’s to fight monsters for the team, okay?”
“Anyway, nothing’s wrong, so I’m hanging up. We’re moon-gazing.”
“Moon-gazing? Look up — the sky’s pitch-black! You must be gazing at the moon in your dreams!” Xing Yue clicked his tongue. “Fine, as long as you’re not out. Ask He Wuning if he’s willing to come to the research institute.”
“What for?” Yi Luo frowned warily. “Don’t tell me the institute’s finally lost it and decided to go after him?”
“Bullshit! That’s slander against our hardworking scientific comrades!” Xue Xun snatched the communicator from Xing Yue. “They’re trying to study the administrator fragment Xing Yue brought back, but since they don’t have clearance, they’ve made no progress. They just want Brother He to take a look!”
“Just a bit of research — we’re planning to give that fragment to Brother He afterward!”
Yi Luo held the communicator away from his ear and turned to He Wuning, who had clearly heard the whole thing. “That’s the situation. Interested?”
He Wuning nodded lightly. “I wasn’t planning to go out today anyway. Might as well take a look.”
But he added curiously, “I don’t know the first thing about research — how could I help?”
Xue Xun: “They’ve tried all sorts of methods but can’t cut it open. They were hoping you could try using your blade to see if it works.”
He Wuning: “…Cut it open?”
Another voice took over the line: “Yes, you see, in my personal research philosophy, disassembly is the first step to understanding any object. Once we can slice it open, this mysterious item that blocks our hearing will lose its enigma — we can then analyze its materials, its atomic structure…”
He Wuning fell silent and glanced at Yi Luo. Yi Luo nodded. “Bear with it. When I was trying to get my gun, I had to listen to this kind of talk every day too.”
He reluctantly added, “Annoying as he is, he’s still pretty capable.”
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The author has something to say:
Mini bonus skit (not canon):
Yi Luo: Brother He, I’ve got a headache.
He Wuning: Which side hurts?
Yi Luo: The side closer to the research institute.
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