THE SCENT OF WET LEAVES

Perhaps Bai Chen had hurt Zhu Ge's pride by having the man kneel before him when they were still in the Red Pavilion, and the man in red was now seeking revenge. The man had even used a similar sentence he had used when they were in the Red Pavilion earlier, and Bai Chen was taken aback by it.

'Even if he's just a male prostitute in Red Pavilion, his pride must be as high as the sky,' Bai Chen groaned inwardly, but then he carefully bent his knees until they touched the countless pebbles next to the river.

But then he got something unexpected.

{DOUBLE OOC ALERT! DOUBLE OOC ALERT!

-50 POINTS FOR THE HOST.

CURRENT POINTS: 10}

Bai Chen widened his eyes, but before he could ask the system for an explanation, he was once again shocked when he saw a hand stretched out towards him. Moving his eyes from the hand to the owner of the hand, he could see Zhu Ge staring intently at his blue eyes.

"Enough. Let's continue our journey to your palace," Zhu Ge spoke as Bai Chen did not immediately accept his hand.

Bai Chen felt like crying. He only had 10 points left now, but fortunately, Zhu Ge was willing to go with him to his palace. That way, his points wouldn't reach zero and cause him to die in vain.

Not wanting to offend the taller man once again, Bai Chen carefully placed his hand on top of the other as he could feel his body being pulled up. As soon as he stood up again, their hand connection ended before Zhu Ge handed something to him.

"Fill this bottle with water so you won't be thirsty for the rest of the way to your palace. We won't be able to reach the river once we start climbing the mountain."

What Zhu Ge had just said affected his adrenaline, but Bai Chen only nodded his head before accepting the bottle and once again crouched down to fill the bottle with water. After the bottle was full once again, he got up and turned to face the taller man.

"So, we really have to climb the snow mountain?" Bai Chen asked as he handed the bottle to its owner again.

The owner accepted the bottle, but instead of tying it around his waist like before, he leaned forward and placed it on Bai Chen's waist. The brown-haired man had to hold his breath when the top of Zhu Ge's head was right in front of his nose, but he could still smell the scent of the wet leaves on top of the black head.

'He has been going back and forth between my palace and the Red Pavilion, and he has to pass through the forest twice a day. No wonder his head smells like wet leaves,' thought Bai Chen, but then his nose lost the relaxing scent as Zhu Ge straightened his body once again.

"Yes," replied the black-haired man. "That's the only way to reach your palace, so we have to climb that mountain," he explained. "But you don't have to worry because the mountain is safe. Even though it's cold, there's never been a storm or landslide there. You just have to endure the cold."

Bai Chen had imagined that the mountain was as dangerous as in the movies, but he finally breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the man's explanation.

With the bottle full of water, they were ready to move on. They had to hike again from the river to the forest, but Bai Chen didn't find it difficult as he thought, 'Climbing has always been easier for me. I don't understand why I clumsily slipped when I was walking down earlier.'

After reaching the forest once again, the two walked side by side, and neither spoke as they continued stepping towards the snow mountain.

Bai Chen wondered if there would be beasts or maybe monsters in the forest, and he would have asked Zhu Ge if he didn't remember that he was a werewolf now, and he shouldn't be afraid of beasts or monsters.

And if he asked the man too many questions, the man might suspect his identity, and the system would give him another warning.

'Wait. I don't even know the reason behind my point deduction just now,' he realized. 'Hey, sys. Can you tell me the reason why you deducted my points after I knelt before Zhu Ge?'

That was one thing he was curious about, and he wanted to hear an explanation from the system.

{THAT'S BECAUSE THE REAL 'BAI CHEN' WOULD NEVER KNEEL IN FRONT OF ANYONE. WHEN 'BAI CHEN' WENT TO THE RED PAVILION TO BUY 'ZHU GE' BEFORE, 'ZHU GE' ASKED HIM TO KNEEL, BUT HE REFUSED TO DO IT. INSTEAD, HE JUST SAT ON ZHU GE'S LAP AND CONTINUED SEDUCING 'ZHU GE' UNTIL 'ZHU GE' AGREED WITH HIM TO GO TO HIS PALACE}

"..." Bai Chen didn't know how to reply after hearing the explanation from the system.

Bai Lang had told him that the Bai Chen in this world was indeed a flirtatious man, but he had not expected that the man would be so shameless that he would dare to seduce a prostitute like that.

'But maybe that's how he saved his pride,' Bai Chen tried to think positively of the Bai Chen in this world. He was about to let this matter go because he did make the mistake of being OOC once again, but then he remembered something as he asked the system again, 'My first mission was to make Zhu Ge kneel before me, right? Is it because you want me to take revenge for what Zhu Ge did to the real Bai Chen in this world? Does that mean you've known all along that I would choose Zhu Ge as my target? What kind of plans do you have for me?'