When Qie Ranzhe disappeared he truly vanished without a trace. It had already been three days since the incident but Wen Qinxi couldn't find him. With Jolie's help he knew in advance where to find him but each time he got close, Qie Ranzhe would suddenly disappear as though he hadn't even been there in the first place.
Hei Bao and Xia Bai had been startled when they heard Wen Qinxi initiating a communication channel ill at ease a couple of hours ago. To them, it was only a couple of hours but to Wen Qinxi, it had been three days since the incident. Just as they accepted the call their ears were flooded by Wen Qinxi's reprehensive tone, "Why haven't you mentioned the blackening value yet. Last time this happened you called me in a frenzy so why the sudden change? Is he not blackening?"
The two exchanged looks with no inkling of what Wen Qinxi was talking about. After what seemed like an eternity, Hei Bao finally spoke first attempting to ease the tension. "What did you do this time to cause him to blacken? Did you flirt with his wife?" he said in a joking manner with the corners of his lips gradually rising up but that smile soon froze when he heard Wen Qinxi's response.
"Yep, something like that," he replied feeling so stupid. This one misunderstanding could flush all his hard work down the drain restarting the game. He hadn't thought anything of it when he was helping Zhao Huangzhi but could understand what it looked like in Qie Ranzhe's eyes. He wanted to clear things up with him but didn't think Qie Ranzhe would avoid him like the plague.
Now aware of Wen Qinxi's warranted anxiety they turned to the screen with one of them fiddling with the keyboard typing at lightspeed but as soon as he stopped both their faces turned ashen with entire bodies numb. The blackening value was at 95% about to increase by one more digit but because the warning sound was muted so they hadn't assumed something was wrong.
They had two options to deal with this. The first option was to tell him the truth and endure scolding plus a pay cut and the second option was to lie and say everything is fine crossing their figures that it would soon resolve itself. They had no idea how to explain why the warning alarm was muted and the blame would naturally fall on them. Gazing at each with a mutual understanding they each placed one finger on the same key and simultaneously pressed down on it before hurriedly exiting the game room. "Uhm....excuse me, l am still waiting," said an impatient Wen Qinxi.
"Sorry due to some technical issues the communication channel is currently unavailable. Please try again later or contact Tech support during office hours to resolve the problem. Thank you, goodbye," said an automated voice with an out of service sign lingering before his eyes.
Wen Qinxi, "....."
Jolie pitched up only to find Wen Qinxi taking out his anger on a helpless tree stump. Those two had most likely done it on purpose intentional concealing something from him. The feeling of being left in dark was infuriating thus venting his rage at a poor defenceless stump. Jolie watched the scene in amusement but struggled to hold back it's laughter when Wen Qinxi painfully stubbed his big toe causing him to yelp in pain while hopping on one leg cursing with an ugly expression.
Jolie, "...."
The system sighed while saying, "If you are going to throw a fit at least do it properly. This just too fuckin depressing."
"If you are here to mock me then move along. I am not in the mood," he said powerlessly sitting on the ground while casually covering his face with his hand.
"Actually, l came to tell you where he's been hiding these past few hours. Since you easily found him before, he went somewhere that you would least expect," said the system before a screen popped up in front of him, "he's at the old lady's house, the house lived in as an infant. It's now a deserted broken-down house ever since the heir failed to rent it out. He won't run away this time because his sleeping and hasn't rested well ever since the incident."
Wen Qinxi didn't waste any time running off to find Qie Ranzhe while rehearsing the lines he was going to say to him over and over again. He didn't know what the blackening value was and had already wasted two days worth of game time. Wen Qinxi feared the worst with his heart aching when he thought of starting the game all over again. A winded Wen Qinxi finally reached the house peeking through the window looking for any signs of movement.
Jolie was right, Qie Ranzhe was sound asleep in the debilitated house with his chest moving rhythmically with each breath. Wen Qinxi quietly snuck in and made sure Qie Ran had no means of escape before slowly approaching him. He stood next to the bed pondering on whether he should wake him up or wait for him to wake up himself. He decided on the latter with his eyes resting on Qie Ranzhe's tranquil face. Before this, he had never paid close attention to Qie Ranzhe's face while sleeping. It was like a beckoning irresistible sight that drew one closer in a trance just like a siren singing the enchantment song to attract men at sea. Wen Qi was instantly bewitched losing all rationality while scrutinising Qie Ranzhe's handsome face.
Unaware of his actions, Wen Qinxi leaned down closer with his mind blank clearly losing himself in the moment. He only stopped when he could clearly see Qie Ranzhe's eyelashes flickering under the sunlight as though he was having a dream. 'So gorgeous,' he thought reaching out to touch his face but he was suddenly grabbed by the wrist and swiftly pulled down with no time to react.
Wen Qinxi fell right on top of him with the tips of their noses lightly gliding against each other as a warm itchy sensation felt by both parties spread from the point of contact to their flushed cheeks. Wen Qinxi's entire body froze staring at Qie Ranzhe while blinking excessively with his back feeling cold. Qie Ranzhe slowly opened his fully aware of who the person lying on top of him was.
He already knew someone was coming as soon as Lin Jingxie stepped into the property. Even when sleeping his nature always cautioned him to remain vigilant. He planned on going outside to take a look but when he saw it was Lin Jingxie's, he pretended to be asleep curious to see what the other party intended to do.
Those malevolent dark eyes were like an infinite bone-chilling black hole in space paralyzing Wen Qinxi while slowly freezing him to death. His entire body weakened unable to get up mostly due to fright. Qie Ranzhe spoke in a cold aloof voice with a frightening countenance, "What are you doing here?"
Wen Qinxi's face was sickly pale nervously biting his lower lip. Seeing his innocent yet alluring action, Qie Ranzhe gulped averting his gaze fighting off the urge to bully him. "Help me up first an-and l will tell you," said Wen Qinxi secretly praying for a lighter punishment though he had committed a grave crime unintentionally flirting with protagonist's woman.
Qie Ranzhe helped him up and as they sat shoulder to shoulder he asked in a solemn tone, "Do you know what you did wrong?"