Editor: Decembery
“You sure you want to fight here?”
Looking at the various lights shining on the field combat arenas, Qiu Yu had no idea what was going on in Mu Feibai’s mind.
They were in a combat club on some city’s Century’s Finale server. There were many individual arenas in the club and although each door may lead to infinite locations, every battlefield here could be viewed by the public.
As long as Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu walked through any of the doors here and started to battle, their training account IDs would appear on the big screen in the club’s communal hall. Moreover, the outcome of the fight would also be recorded and could be looked up at any time.
Besides, Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu’s training accounts were quite famous in the gamer circle due to their earlier broadcast. By the time they stood outside the club’s doors, they’d already attracted the attention of many players around them.
“Yeah, I meant to come here.” Mu Feibai smiled and caught a hold of Qiu Yu’s wrist, bringing the other inside the club, “Even I’m not scared of losing face if I lose, what are you afraid of? It’s too boring in our team’s training arena, it’s so much more lively in an arena like this.”
Qiu Yu helplessly replied, “Seems like you haven’t had your fill of beatings.”
Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so energetic at this time.
Mu Feibai smiled at him, “Of course, my parents adore me!”
The two walked into the club and booked the largest available combat arena. When they stepped into the ring, the audience was already trickling into the stands.
At the same time, news that Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu were in the combat club spread across gaming communities and fan groups—
[Fuck fuck fuck! Brothers quickly come to Castle City’s arena! God Mu and god Qiu booked a room!]
[Ahhhhhh I want to see! What’s a finals paper? Never heard of it!]
[Century’s Finale, start!]
[What! God Mu and god Qiu got a room?! Oh, you mean a combat arena… that’s fine I guess.]
[Upstairs, what do you mean? How could it be just ‘fine’? Melee combat is the playstyle with the most bodily contact in Century’s Finale, alright?! Isn’t it sooo shippable that god Mu and god Qiu are gonna roll in the sheets, I mean, the arena, in front of all of us?]
[Holy sh— bless you sister, I’m logging on right now!]
After Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu entered the fighting ring, the mechanical referee NPC counted down from three and announced the beginning of the match.
The two planned to warm up a little in the first round. They traded a couple of blows back and forth, keeping a somewhat relaxed pace. When it felt about right, Mu Feibai grinned towards Qiu Yu, “I’ll start.”
Qiu Yu cocked an eyebrow and beckoned him with a finger.
Audience: “Oh my, is god Qiu provoking god Mu?!’”
Next to them: “Hahaha he really doesn’t even know about the concept of death.”
However, what happened after was Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu fighting neck and neck, trading blows with each other at a speed no one present in the arena could even see their legs and fists clearly. The stands, now nearly full, were so quiet during their fight that one could hear a pin drop…
This was until Qiu Yu knocked Mu Feibai down and straddled his back before unhesitatingly snapping his neck—Mu Feibai scattered into bits of light and reconverged outside of the ring. The audience bursts into exclamations and chatter.
“Fuckfuckfuckfuck! What did I just witness?!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ljr ubv Hle’r wfiff mbwyja rxliir jikjsr yffc atlr jkfrbwf?! P jikjsr atbeuta tf mbeivc’a yfja ubv Ze lc atfrf ygeaf-obgmf mbcogbcajalbcr!”
“Xbv Ze vlvc’a ub fjrs, vlv tf? P mjc’a afii ja jii, P offi ilxf atfs’gf ybat rb ragbcu!”
Ze Mflyjl delmxis rajgafv atf rfmbcv wjamt. Aewqlcu yjmx lcab atf glcu, tf rwlifv abkjgvr Hle Te, “Xb jujlc.”
Of course Qiu Yu agreed.
At this time, news that the two were fighting in the arena had already been passed on to the professional teams.
Tang Weiran paused in her training and turned to her captain, Wang Kaiqi, “I want to go watch their arena battle.”
Wu Song has also just received the news. He smiled towards everyone, “Everyone pause, Mu Feibai and Qiu Yu are in the combat arena, let’s all go have a look!”
Li Yu pulled the new recruit, Qi Chen, off of the treadmill, “Let’s go, we got to go see god Qiu beat up Mu Feibai!”
In the game, Qiu Yu panted after knocking Mu Feibai to the floor.
He didn’t manage to make the kill this time—the match timer had run out, and Mu Feibai managed to emerge victorious by having a greater number of total hits.
“Did I improve?” Mu Feibai asked, leaning against the ropes.
“Yes, there’s quite a big improvement.” Qiu Yu casually answered.
Mu Feibai was taken aback for a moment before a big smile appeared on his face. He raised an eyebrow teasingly, “Oh? Big improvement huh?”
Qiu Yu knew exactly where the other’s thoughts went. Looking at Mu Feibai with a smile that didn’t meet the eyes, he moved his gaze downwards, “Well I wouldn’t know, never seen it before.”
Making crude jokes huh? You think you’re the only one who can?
He used to live and breathe among soldiers, what is there that he wouldn’t dare to say?
As expected, it was Mu Feibai who couldn’t continue smiling.
He gazed fixedly at Qiu Yu, dangerous emotions flickering in his eyes.
After a while, he clenched his jaw and said in a deep voice, “If you continue talking like this, be careful if I—”
He didn’t end up finishing the threat.
Of course, Qiu Yu would never be scared of anything, much less this.
In the audience stands, they whispered speculations among themselves:
“What are those two talking about?”
“Probably the more minuscule technical elements in the previous match right? They’re both big bosses and are so studious as well, coming back to train right after the summer season ended…”
“For some reason, I feel like Mu Feibai’s being scolded hahahaha! It’s so funny watching his expressions shift, while Qiu Yu looks so much more steady and calm.”
Soon, the third match started. The moment the match began, Qiu Yu and Mu Feibai tangled up together.
There were no predetermined rules in the ring save for counting the number of times each player was killed or knocked down. There were no extra points or illegal moves. Thus, it was a completely normal scene for the two to roll together in a tangle of limbs while fighting.
The audience immediately stood up in excitement:
“Ooh ooh ooh—god Qiu is on top of god Mu now!”
“God Mu is back on top! The husband is reclaiming his position!”
“Ha? Mu Feibai are you like, incapable of doing it? You were only back on top for a couple of seconds before he’s riding you again!”
“Hot dayum this is intense, lemme get some tissues for my nosebleed first.”
“??? Is this something I am allowed to watch for free?”
“This stupid game isn’t capable of replicating ‘boki’! Mommy is so disappointed…”
In the ring, Mu Feibai was once again killed by Qiu Yu. He scattered into lights and reconverged beneath the ring, but didn’t seem to have caught his breath yet—he stood in place with a hand over his heart, breathing quickly.
Qiu Yu stood up and calmed his racing heartbeat after intense exercise before he leaned against the ropes. Looking down, he said, “You got distracted for a moment there.”
Mu Feibai looked up at the stage.
Qiu Yu was silhouetted by blinding lights, his face shrouded in shadow, features barely distinguishable. However, his eyes shone like the brightest of stars, staring straight at him. Mu Feibai’s heartbeat quickened even more.
“En, I accidentally got distracted.” Mu Feibai’s throat was a little dry.
“You had two chances to kill me earlier. Why didn’t you?” Qiu Yu asked.
“I…” Mu Feibai closed his eyes and gave a bitter laugh, “…I couldn’t bear to.”
Qiu Yu fell silent.
After a while, he crossed over the ropes and jumped out of the ring. He landed nimbly and walked towards the arena’s exit.
As he passed by, Mu Feibai heard him say, “Not fighting anymore. If we keep going for a couple of rounds, you might fail the cognitive exam once we head back.”
A cognitive test was scheduled for all the players prior to the Star Alliance Cup. Mu Feibai’s being unable to go for the kill might be categorised as “confusing the virtual world with reality”—he’ll get marks deducted for that.
Mu Feibai smiled helplessly. After waving towards the audience, he hurried after Qiu Yu out the doors.
To be honest, his hesitation to go for the kill with Qiu Yu wasn’t because he couldn’t bear to but rather… the feeling of the other’s limbs around him made him greedy. The game could almost exactly replicate the touch and temperature of skin but wouldn’t reveal his impropriety nor be affected by his pheromones, so he kind of… didn’t want it to end so soon.
But Qiu Yu was so mean—he flirted but didn’t even go easy.
Mu Feibai had grievances in his heart but couldn’t get mad. He caught up to Qiu Yu with a slight jog and placed an arm around the other’s shoulders, “Since we’re in the city, why don’t you accompany me somewhere?”
Qiu Yu didn’t mind. “Where are we going?”
Mu Feibai smiled, “I remember there was a self-service restaurant in Castle City with specialties from districts all over the alliance. We won’t feel stuffed no matter how much we eat in the game, wanna go try? I’m starting to crave it.”
Qiu Yu had no preferences regarding food. As long as it could fill one’s stomach, he could swallow it. However, now that he has been reborn to this vividly coloured world, it wouldn’t hurt to try new things.
Looking at the long ‘tail’ training behind them after they left the combat club, Mu Feibai frowned. He reached for his PDA and sent Qiu Yu a team invite. After acceptance, he turned on privacy mode and the two’s avatars slowly faded and disappeared from other players’ sights.
Privacy mode was equivalent to creating a replica of the city server. Here, they wouldn’t encounter any other players but there were still NPCs walking along the roads, such that the world didn’t seem deserted.
Mu Feibai led Qiu Yu into the self-service restaurant and scanned the code to pay.
At this time, Qiu Yu suddenly dug out something from the original body’s memories, “Wait, you have to pay to eat here?”
Mu Feibai nodded, “Yeah, there’s no free meal in this world.”
Qiu Yu was speechless, “And it costs actual star currency as well… but these dishes aren’t even real.”
Mu Feibai smiled, “But its taste in your mouth is, so is the happiness from shoving down as much food as you can, as well as the environment and service. Moreover, you don’t have to worry about getting overweight from eating or wasting food, so it’s actually much more worth it to eat here.”
Besides, it’s not actually that expensive. If these hundreds of dishes were to be in a self-service restaurant in real life, the entry price would probably be more than ten times its price here.
Oh well, since Mu Feibai is craving it and Qiu Yu is also a bit curious, it wouldn’t hurt to indulge themselves once in a while.
As he thought, Qiu Yu reached for his PDA in readiness to scan the code.
“Hey, I’m treating today,” Mu Feibai waved his PDA in Qiu Yu’s direction, its screen showing two people had already been paid for.
“Alright then.” Qiu Yu didn’t refuse.
A buffet in the virtual world took them three hours of non-stop eating to finish.
Even so, they only managed to taste a small portion of the hundreds of dishes in the restaurant.
Qiu Yu looked at the rows of dessert plates with delicate sweets in front of him and rubbed his face in exasperation, “I should have changed to a gaming helmet before eating, I’m getting tired just from chewing using the gaming cabin…”
This was his first time realising that even eating things would strain his body.
If he were to tell this to his old comrades, they’d probably pin him to the floor and beat him up—eating until you feel exhausted? What kind of joke are you making? That’s definitely being an annoying show-off! There’s no one in this world who knows that even being able to fill your stomach is a blessing.
If he were able to bring those comrades over… Qiu Yu couldn’t help imagining it. If they could see all the food stacked up in front of them and be told that they only had to pay once and could eat as much as they wanted, what kind of scene would it be?
It would definitely be an amusing one.
Mu Feibai looked at the person opposite him, at the shallow smile at the edge of his mouth. He recalled the other’s assured and tactical movies in the ring and wondered to himself, how could confidence and freedom be so blindingly beautiful?
If this person were to be held on a leash by pheromones his entire life, he wouldn’t be free even if he had an Alpha, because the Alpha wouldn’t be able to stay by his side at all times. Then this blinding shine would inevitably become dim at times, and the person in front of him would also be unhappy at times.
Oh well, just let him do what he wants for himself.
Mu Feibai took a deep breath, his heart throbbing a little. But at the same time, the air seemed a little fresher.
Tn: hiiii so from now on update day will now (formally) be Monday! Thx for sticking around and hope you enjoy!!!
Thank you for the chapter!
Mu Feibai, if Qiu Yu wont take you as his, you can be my alpha! 🥹 Such a sweetheart!
Ah finally an update. Thank you for your hard work! 😘
I LOVE THESE MOMENTS BETWEEN THEM 😭💖💖💖
Ahhhh, MFB finally understands ittt. Pheromones kinda suck
💖💖💖💖
It’s so nice and refreshing to have a green flag In a love story these days! 💚