52 Mastermo and his god

"Um... What?" Zhihao was visibly taken back by the sudden reply, "What type of family do you want to become?"

Li Ling looked at Zhihao with a sweet smile that was ready to flirt to heaven but all Zhihao could see was the man's eyes that were off the road and this was going to quite literally lead them to either heaven or hell. 

"I wanted to be your-"

"Eyes on the road." Zhihao scolded, not wanting to meet god just yet. 

Li Ling chuckled, thinking that the man just wanted to change the topic, but he was surprised to hear Zhihao questioning again. 

"So what type of family?"

Li Ling felt his heart go berserk and his mind in the same state as his heart. If this was the case, how was he to think straight and give a straight answer? 

"I want to be directly related to you, not your brother." Li Ling answered 

Zhihao snickered as he heard this, "What? Do you want to become my sworn brother or something?" 

It was a joke but when Li Ling thought back to the 'sworn brother' shounen-ai mangas he had read, he suddenly felt the suggestion was exactly what he wanted. 

Li Ling nodded enthusiastically, "Does A-Zhi want to become my sworn brother?"

Zhihao felt like the man was joking but when he looked at the man's face, he found him to actually be serious on the topic. 

This man actually wanted to be Mastermo's sworn brother. 

"Let's do that then. Let's be sworn brothers." Zhihao laughed half-jokingly and the other half serious. 

"I will be Mastermo's one and only sworn brother." Li Ling beamed. 

Zhihao thought about it for a while, "Actually there is one more person I'd want to be sworn brothers with"

Li Ling was curious and a bit jealous as he asked, "Who is it?"

"Bu Hui1"

"What?" Li Ling was confused, he had never heard of such a person. 

Zhihao turned all smiles as he thought about the owner of the weird name and its origin, "The Gamemaster. I asked him his name and before he was thrown out of the level, he said Bu Hui ."

Li Ling didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry.

"So you believe that's his name?" 

Zhihao shook his head, "Of course, I don't, but calling him Gamemaster all the time sounds weird so I thought I'll call him Bu Hui from then on, at least until he tells me his real name."

Li Ling saw something in Zhihao's eyes as he talked about the man and Li Ling couldn't help but be shocked. He knew that look—wasn't it the same look Li Ling used to have whenever he saw or thought about Zhihao?

Li Ling understood something, something that maybe even Zhihao hadn't understood yet. 

"This Bu Hui, what do you think about him?" Li Ling was curious to know the answer, although he had already guessed it. 

Zhihao was shocked to be suddenly questioned like this and he wasn't someone who'll answer impulsively so he pondered over the answer for a minute or two. 

"Bu Hui is... Amazing." Zhihao answered honestly, somewhat trying to filter out his fanboy side, "He is young and already so successful, it's really admirable. I don't know him that well but from what I know, I can already say that he is a very humble person with a good likeable personality."

Zhihao stopped himself from speaking any further, cause if he did, he would just be ranting about how much he admired the man. 

Li Ling nodded, his eyes on the road. He understood the real answer but he didn't know what he should feel about it. 

Li Ling contemplated on what reaction he should give and after much deliberation, he could finally come up with an answer that sounded right, "I'm jealous of Bu Hui."

The meaning behind his words could be understood differently by different people and Zhihao thought the man was talking about Bu Hui's talent. 

"His talent and luck are really something to be jealous over." Zhihao agreed 

Li Ling smiled, already knowing in his mind that this man wouldn't be able to understand the reason behind Li Ling's jealousy. At this point, even if Li Ling came out and said the reason to his face, Zhihao would still not be able to understand. 

There were times Li Ling found this man's dense head to be frustrating but he was also sometimes glad about it. 

Slow and steady wins the race and he was going to go as slow as a snail, after all, they had all the time in the world left for them. 

"Is A-Zhi also jealous of Bu Hui?"

Zhihao shook his head, denying it with all his might, "Not at all, why would I be jealous of him? We are worlds apart. He is the maker and I'm just a fan of his work, I can't even dream about being jealous over him."

Li Ling frowned, feeling that this man had some really difficult misconceptions. 

Zhihao continued, "When someone reaches a certain level higher than you, you can't even be qualified to compare yourself to them. It's what it is. I'm happy with where I am. If I can get to meet the man in person and get to know him, I'll be so blessed that I could die on the spot."

"You're really under-confident." Li Ling scolded the man who was just flowing away with his submissive fan side, "You should not consider him a god. I mean, even if he achieved great things, he's still a human and doesn't deserve to be put on a pedestal."

"I beg to differ. If I could, I'll put him up on a pedestal." Zhihao retorted. 

"Well, if you put him on a pedestal, you are the one making him unreachable. Didn't you want to get to know him?" Li Ling was not his polite usual self and it was refreshing for Zhihao to see this side of him. 

"But I'm not a selfish person. If he deserves a pedestal, he should be given one. I'm fine with just knowing that such a man exists and being his follower from far is enough for me."

Li Ling sighed, "There is a reason why humans are humans no matter how great they are."

Zhihao, "And what's the reason?"

"Human needs and desires."

"..."

Li Ling, "No matter how great a person is, they would still be grounded by their human needs and desires. Bu Hui is no different."

Zhihao knew that the Gamemaster was still a human but he was reluctant to admit it because to him, the man was just that great, if he could, he'll even create a temple for Bu Hui. 

Bu Hui religion—it would most certainly be interesting. 

"So you should stop considering him so out of reach." Li Ling's eyes were on the road and his one hand on the steering with his other hand reaching out to poke Zhihao's head, "You should try reaching out. Who knows? You might actually be able to touch that god of yours."

Zhihao didn't know what he was feeling. Reaching out sounded a bit unbelievable and reckless yet Zhihao wanted to try it out but then again, he was afraid. He was afraid of scaring the man away or maybe even making him blacklist Zhihao. 

Zhihao was happy with being a fan. His dream wasn't like Kaoru's. He didn't want to protect Bu Hui from the other players, he wanted to be the one who'll personally kill the man. 

Zhihao wanted to put the man up on a pedestal and be the only one who reaches that high and breaks that pedestal. He was a bit weird for thinking like this but he didn't care. If he were to honestly tell Li Ling what he wanted, he would make Li Ling call him a freak and run away so he had only revealed half of the truth. Only told the man about the fact that he was going to place the Gamemaster on top of a pedestal, as for what he wanted to do next, Zhihao would not openly admit it. 

Zhihao felt like a psychopath—wanting to make someone an angel and then tainting them with their own blood. Zhihao wasn't sadistic but the thought of killing the unreachable man was amusing to him. 

"Do you understand?" Li Ling asked and Zhihao looked away, peeking out the window. 

"I don't care. He's amazing."

Li Ling wanted to laugh at the stubborn man who was refusing to believe that he was wrong. 

"Where are we going?" Zhihao tried to change the topic.

Li Ling, "We are almost there."

They drove for a few more minutes, the ride was silent as neither of them spoke for the rest of the ride, not knowing what they had to say in order to relieve the awkward atmosphere. 

In such cases, there was nothing better than a good mouth-watering meal together.

They arrived in front of a high-end restaurant.

"Wow! A casual meal here? I wonder how rich your job pays."

"Don't worry about the price, it's for free." Li Ling beamed, "My mother owns this restaurant."

Zhihao was amazed, not because he suddenly found the man to have such a rich background but because he found it shocking that even with such a rich upbringing, Li Ling still remained so humble. It was certainly difficult to find such people. Zhihao knew a few rich people and they were all spoiled brats, the best example was a man called Wang GuiYing. 

"Showing off your wealth? If I was a girl, I'd misunderstand your intentions." Zhihao joked around. 

He wasn't entirely wrong.

"No need to be a girl. A-Zhi is fine as a man." 

"..."

Zhihao wanted to either bury this man on the ground or bury himself on the ground, he couldn't make up his mind on what he wanted more.

Li Ling grabbed a hold of Zhihao's hand and dragged him inside the restaurant without any further words wasted. 

The entrance had two guards who saw Li Ling and immediately bowed down and made away for the two to pass through. 

"Why are there guards in a restaurant?" Zhihao asked curiously as he found it weird. 

Li Ling, "You'll be surprised to know what type of people try to crawl in here."

"You make it sound like some mafia gang is eyeing your restaurant." Zhihao joked. 

Li Ling smiled in return and Zhihao was taken back. 

"What?! For real?" 

"Security is always needed." Li Ling neither agreed nor refuted it. 

The two could not continue their topic as a waiter came up to them and greeted Li Ling, "Welcome back, sir. We have prepared a table for two, upstairs."

Li Ling frowned, "Why upstairs?"

The waiter was put in an awkward position as he pointed in a certain direction and tried his best to explain the situation, "The young madam came with her friends and booked the entire ground floor."

Li Ling looked at his sister who was as always, dressed in her Lolita costume, laughing and having fun with her friends. Huang Zhen was also there and a lot more people who would be recognized by Zhihao so just as Li Ling spotted them, he moved forward and blocked Zhihao's view. 

"Let's go upstairs." He smiled 

Zhihao wanted to see who was the person who rented out the downstairs area but with Li Ling blocking his view, he wasn't so interested that he would go peeping over the man's shoulder. 

The waiter led them upstairs and the two followed him without any questions. 

It screamed rich. With extravagant chandeliers and tableware, Zhihao could conclude that eating here for just once would cost a fortune. The tables and chairs were black and the tablecloth on top was pure white with beautiful artistic golden embroidery. The tableware was also color-coordinated with a mixture of golden and white. 

This could be considered a perfect dating spot. 

The waiter pulled the two chairs out and indicted the two men to take a seat as he left the menu book in front of them. 

"I'll go bring the two masters some water. Please take your time to think about what you want to order."

Li Ling stopped the waiter from leaving, "Just take the order right now."

"Yes, sir." The waiter nodded politely. 

"Get us the non-veg couple special."

Zhihao, "..."

Waiter, "..."