Chapter 554: Seem So Close

    Unfortunately, just as the anticipation in the air reached its feverish pitch, the fake Santa Claus dropped the bombshell, dousing their excitement like a bucket of icy water.

    "Alas, our final champion has exercised their rights and refused to have their name revealed at this moment." He released a regretful sigh, though this state lasted only for a fleeting moment before he bounced back to his exaggerated cheerfulness once more. "Oh well, you can check the leaderboard after this if you’re curious!"

    He clapped his gloved hands together. "So that’s it for this year’s Christmas fun, my dear children! Until we meet again ohoho~"

    Before the players could even digest the sudden turn of events, they were herded into the buses in a muddled and sluggish manner.

    "Why didn’t they want to reveal their name?" Jin Jiuchi voiced his confusion aloud. He truly couldn’t figure this out. If it were him in the other person’s position, not only would he be happy to have his handsome face projected on the large holographic screen, he would also seize the chance to deliver an acceptance speech so that everyone could bask in his glory.

    Wouldn’t it be a total waste not to boast about this achievement which might not even come once in a lifetime??

    Having more or less guessed his line of thoughts, Shen Nianzu shot him a speechless glance. "Do you think everyone is as flamboyant as you?"

    Compared to their departure yesterday, the bus which would bring them home was only half filled.

    Most players immediately collapsed on their seats and it did not take long for them to doze off out of sheer exhaustion. Only a handful were intrigued by Jin Jiuchi and couldn’t resist stealing glances at him. But perhaps they were too intimidated by the dried bloodstains all over his face and body, or they had heard of his insane feats from the mouths of others, no one dared to come up and strike a conversation with him, sparing the trio from the headache.

    They were no less worn out than the others. They had suffered various injuries— one of them had even died once! — and it could be expected that they would come down with a bout of sickness as soon as they returned.

    Shen Nianzu began to make plans to inform his assistant in his mind as he and his two teammates occupied the long seat at the back of the bus. Only then did he belatedly notice that a certain someone was missing.

    "Wait, where’s Noir?" He looked around but couldn’t find the emerald-eyed man anywhere. "He didn’t enter the same bus as us?"

    The name ’Noir’ was akin to a magic word that instantly snapped Gu Luoxin out of his prolonged stupor. He had no idea why he felt a little flustered as he answered, "S-Senior left before the announcement started. He said he hated crowds..."

    Somehow, that was very expected of him so Shen Nianzu did not question it further. He and Jin Jiuchi had wandered a little too far near the end of the Cycle, and thus he did not have the slightest idea what he had missed. He was still thinking about the deal they had agreed on inside the Cycle. "Why didn’t you tell me?" he furrowed his brows lightly. "It seems he has forgotten to tell us his terms. Xinxin, you should contact him later, okay? It’s not good to owe others for too long."

    "He told me, though..." Gu Luoxin raised his hand weakly.

    "Really?" Shen Nianzu was a little taken aback. "What did he say?"

    Speaking up to this point, Gu Luoxin’s countenance turned a little gloomy. "He refused to have me watch his back..."

    Under his teammates’ puzzled looks, Gu Luoxin had no choice but to summarize what had happened while leaving out the part where he got bitten on the ear. He couldn’t possibly tell another soul about it— no way in hell! Even though that action might have been done in a moment of impulse and there was no other meaning behind it, he still found it very... very embarrassing somehow!

    "And here I am wondering where you got that wound from." Shen Nianzu gestured at his cheek, his expression faintly amused. "He really went easy on us, huh? Seems to me that he doted on you quite a lot."

    "D-D-Dote—" Gu Luoxin sputtered, his eyes nearly popping out in shock. Was that a word they could casually use to describe Noir?! Where did that even come from? All Noir did was bully him— it was bullying!

    "Who’s doting on whom? Noir??" Jin Jiuchi chimed in with a disdainful harrumph. "You call that ’doting’, Nian’er?"

    "Hush," Shen Nianzu elbowed him on the side, a faint hint of smile glimmering in the depths of his purple eyes. "What do you even know?"

    A burst of heat spread from Gu Luoxin’s cheeks to his neck before coursing throughout his entire body, making him feel overly warm despite the relatively chilly weather. Unable to resist, he rubbed and squeezed the shell of his ear. It might only be his imagination, but somehow he could still feel a phantom pain lingering there from Noir’s unexpectedly sharp teeth, causing it to throb as though it had a pulse on its own.

    Noir, doted on him?

    For the love of all manhwas he had read, that was simply too... too impossible!

    Getting together with your idol, having a requited love with someone you worshipped— those were something that could only happen in fictions!

    Despite telling himself so, Gu Luoxin felt his brain nerves frayed and overheated as though it had been left to simmer under the harsh midday sun, leaving him slightly dizzy and incapable of any logical thoughts. He could still feel a giddy rush bubbling up his chest from this unexpected ’development’ between them, but more than that, he was terribly ashamed that all it took was a single act from the other person to reduce him into such a pathetic mess.

    Who knows, the other person might have forgotten what he had done as soon as he turned around!

    The more Gu Luoxin dwelled on it, the more convincing it became.

    For in his eyes, that was just how Noir was.

    He was like the clouds high up in the sky or a stalk of exotic flower blooming on the edge of the steepest hill, or even an exalted immortal— unreachable and unattainable. Only suitable to be admired from afar. Gu Luoxin was happy enough to have those beautiful emerald-eyes glance his way now and then. He was willing to remain as the number one fanboy until the end!

    That being said, it was best not to hope for the impossible... right?

    Alas, though that’s what his mind had dictated, he couldn’t seem to restrain the throbbing and yearning in his heart. It was getting harder and harder to keep his feelings under control, not with Noir doing random things to rattle his composure from time to time. The dreamlike clouds or the exotic flower which he thought he could admire from afar... suddenly seemed so close. Close enough that he could reach them if he made a desperate leap.

    What the hell are you thinking about, Gu Luoxin?! he knocked his overheated head lightly against the window, trying to snap himself out of it.

    He watched as the bus entered the familiar dark tunnel. As the pitch-black darkness shrouded his vision, only then did he sneakily sink himself into the beautiful daydream he dared not even fantasized about otherwise:

    By any chance... maybe, just maybe... is it possible that Senior likes me too? Even just a little bit?

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    A/N: okay this Chapter here is the official end of the Cycle *nervous laugh* we will return to the real world tomorrow and find out the player who got the platinum ticket!