<h4>Chapter 44</h4>


    <i>Note: Not proofreaded</i>


    The first time Shi Bufan got hit on the head, he became crazy, but after a second hit, he suddenly became normal again.


    He started to cling onto Zhen Yuanbai as usual. Naturally, “cling” didn’t refer to being by Zhen Yuanbai’s side every second of the day. Although he wanted to, reality didn’t allow him. He was referring to contacting Zhen Yuanbai frequently through Weibo or other means of social media. Even more, Shi Bufan had changed his terrifying profile picture to a pink Patrick.


    Normally, as long as Zhen Yuanbai wasn’t busy with school, he would go back to visit his grandparents during a fixed time. Although his grandparents were old, they were still very healthy. They had nted the entire backyard with vegetables and some beautiful nts and flowers.


    Elders would normally mention past events and although Zhen Yuanbai had heard about it multiple times, he still paid attention whenever his grandpa talked about it, having a delightful conversation.


    Zhen Youxiu, however, was by the side and ying his game, absent-minded.


    Grandpa reprimanded him, saying, “You’re always ying games. Can’t you learn from your elder brother and score first ce?”


    “As long as my grades are good enough. It’s very tiring to obtain first ce for everything.”


    “Howe you always want to get first ce whenever you’re ying games then?”


    Zhen Youxiu nced at his grandpa, standing up and returning to his bedroom in an unhappy mood. Before leaving, he said, “Why don’t you spend more time with my elder brother? He has been very close to a bad student. Watch out. He might be influenced.”


    Zhen Yuanbai immediately red at him. As expected, grandpa started to probe enthusiastically, “Is it the student that caused you to stand outside of ss as punishment? Are you guys still friends?”


    “Why did my father tell you everything?”


    “Sigh, what else are we going to talk about if we don’t talk about you guys?” Grandpa asked worriedly, “Did he teach you to smoke or drink? You can’t learn that, ok?”


    “No.” Zhen Yuanbai exined, only telling grandpa about Shi Bufan’s good side, like how he had taken revenge on the person who bullied him or how he shouldn’t forgive people easily or how Shi Bufan had been a better student now. As grandpa was listening to this, he nodded, saying, “If that’s the case, that’s good. You just have a gentle temper and your father tells me often how you’ll suffer in society with that temper of yours. You should change that temper the sooner the better.”


    Zhen Yuanbai was a bit surprised that Zhen Pingjin was worried for him. Then, he thought that grandpa probably said this purposely. After all, Zhen Pingjin hated him, so he listened quietly and didn’t expose him.


    Grandpa’s house wasn’t huge and there was noptop. Zhen Yuanbai and Zhen Youxiu lived in the same room. While thetter was ying on his iPad, Zhen Yuanbai wore his earbuds and started to memorize English phrases using his phone when Shi Bufan suddenly sent a gift within a game, saying, “I’m done looking through the notes, so I decided to y a few rounds. Are youing?”


    Zhen Yuanbai clicked on it and replied, “I don’t have the game downloaded.”


    “Why don’t you download it and try ying it?”


    Zhen Yuanbai yawned. He was actually a bit tired and prepared to sleep, but for some reason, he didn’t reject him. “I don’t have much data left and grandpa doesn’t have unlimited wifi here.”


    After two minutes, Shi Bufan replied, “How about now?”


    Zhen Yuanbai was confused.


    Downloading something with data was really quick. Ten minutester, Shi Bufan sent a voice call invitation and Zhen Yuanbai hurriedly epted it, plugging in his earbuds. Shi Bufan’s voice immediately rang, saying, “You can’t just learn. You need to take some time to y and de-stress.”


    Zhen Yuanbai nodded and decreased the volume, typing, “I’m in a room with Youxiu, so it’s inconvenient for me to talk.”


    Zhen Yuanbai didn’t even need to say that because Shi Bufan had heard Zhen Youxiumanding in a game. He said considerately, “Then I’ll talk and you can listen.”


    Zhen Yuanbai softly hummed and then snuck a secret nce at Zhen Youxiu.


    He was a bit guilty.


    Zhen Yuanbai realized that Shi Bufan was ying the same firefight game as Zhen Youxiu. Even more, Zhen Youxiu had been trying to get Zhen Yuanbai to y this game many times before. Whenever he was ying a game and Zhen Yuanbai was by his side, he would ask him and even mention carrying him in the game.


    However, Zhen Yuanbai had ruthlessly rejected this.


    He typed a message to Shi Bufan, “Youxiu is in QQ. Let’s y on WeChat.”


    Shi Bufan curled the corner of his lips up and gently said, “I’ll listen to you.”


    Zhen Yuanbai confirmed that his earbuds were plugged in and then he entered the same with Shi Bufan’s guide. He asked, “What do you prepare to name your character?”


    Shi Bufan couldn’t see Zhen Yuanbai’s screen, but he said, “How about this? I’ll change my name to Congming’s boyfriend while you can name yourself Bufan’s boyfriend. How does that sound?”


    Zhen Yuanbai said in a soft voice, “I’m done.”


    Shi Bufan asked, “What did you name yourself?”


    Zhen Yuanbai seemed to be very satisfied with his name. “ster Gunner.”


    “...” This sounded a nameing from a random name generator. Shi Bufan’s fingers trembled and he used a name card to change his name to “ster Bomb.”


    Bomb and Gunner quickly teamed up and entered the game. In the game interface, the Bomb even danced a coquettish dance for Gunner and Shi Bufan asked, “Was it good?”


    Zhen Yuanbai secretly chuckled and said, “Yes, it’s good.”


    To Zhen Yuanbai, ying a firefight battle was the same as ncing at the scenery. After he entered the game, he had been frequently sighing in admiration. They could swim, take a car, and even set sail!


    Because he was scared that Zhen Yuanbai might die too quickly, Shi Bufan first brought him to an empty corner. After Zhen Yuanbai walked there, he suddenly walked a few circles around the tree and sighed with feelings. What a realistic forest.


    By the time Shi Bufan had grabbed a gun and shot the enemies, Zhen Yuanbai hadn’t even seen a single enemy yet. Shi Bufan called him over, but Zhen Yuanbai only knew how to rotate in his original spot. In the end, Shi Bufan had thrown some equipment on the ground and Zhen Yuanbai’s character started to automatically pick the equipment up.


    Zhen Yuanbai gasped in a soft voice, “I have a gun.”


    “Kneel down. Someone’s here.” Shi Bufan suddenly said, but Zhen Yuanbai suddenly hit the button to jump and he was immediately exposed and hit a few times. He started to run away, not knowing what to do. Quickly, the screen revealed the notification that Bomb was attacking the enemies. “Don’t run away. Follow me.”


    “Where did you go?”


    “...” Shi Bufan had no choice but to run in front of him, attracting the enemies’ gazes over and soothed Zhen Yuanbai like a child, saying, “Do you see that? That’s me. Follow me.”


    “Ok.”


    “First aid kit. Take it.”


    “What?”


    Shi Bufan patiently guided him while Zhen Yuanbai had trouble learning, obeying the Bomb’s orders the entire time. Not knowing how, but the game was nearing its end. Their names suddenly popped up on the screen with special effect.


    “Hm?” Zhen Yuanbai was very shocked. “Are we bugged?”


    “?”


    “I haven’t seen a single person, so how did we win?”


    Shi Bufan pondered over this a long time and realized that he couldn’t answer the question, so he retorted, “Was it fun?”


    Zhen Yuanbai had forgotten about himself. Although he hadn’t seen anyone, he found it quite exciting, so he immediately nodded. “It’s fun.”


    “Want to y another round?”


    “Yes!” Zhen Yuanbai was carried again during the second round and he felt quite arrogant after seeing that he had a 100% uracy rate. When the third round started, Zhen Youxiu suddenly looked over with a sharp gaze, “What are you doing? Who are you talking to?”


    Zhen Yuanbai immediately took off his ear buds and said, “I’m memorizing some phrases. What’s the matter?”


    Zhen Youxiu was confused and asked, “I thought you were talking before?”


    “No. You must’ve heard wrong.” Zhen Yuanbai plugged his earbuds back in and then sat inside.


    Although they were in the same room, they were not on the same bed. Zhen Youxiu was quitezy to look at Zhen Yuanbai’s screen anyway, saying, “Are you sleeping now? Can I still talk to my friends?”


    “Of course.” Zhen Yuanbai said, “After all, I’m wearing my earbuds.”


    Shi Bufan chuckled on the other side of the earbuds, saying, “Why are you scared of him?”


    Zhen Yuanbai typed, “He’s scared that you’re a bad influence to me.”


    Shi Bufan suddenly came to a realization, asking, “Are you stilling?”


    This Saturday evening, it was the first time Zhen Yuanbai had yed games and he finally understood why people liked to y games. Although it was a virtual map where he could street race with Shi Bufan, set sail freely on the water, hide in the forest and work together to eliminate the enemies, block off the enemies’ escape route in the factor, and assist one another after being injured, it was rare to experience the following events in real life.


    Although the game was fake, their feelings for one another were true.


    After hearing Zhen Youxiu say, “I’m done ying after this round,” Zhen Yuanbai logged out of the game before he could. After that, he tugged the nkets over his body and said “goodnight” to Youxiu in English. It was instinctive as he had been memorizing English phrases and then he fell into deep sleep.


    Zhen Youxiu nced at Zhen Yuanbai in uncertainty, not thinking more.


    Meanwhile, Zhen Yuanbai had sunk into a dream.


    In the dream, he and Shi Bufan had transmigrated to a huge grasnd and there was an enormous robotic dinosaur chasing after them and wanting to gobble them. While running, Shi Bufan had attacked the dinosaur, saying, “Oh no! I’m running out of bullets!”


    Zhen Yuanbai noticed that Shi Bufan was about to die because he ran out of bullets and his legs were injured as well. In front of Zhen Yuanbai, there were only two options. The first choice was to run off and leave the injured Shi Bufan behind. The second choice was to carry Shi Bufan and run together. However, there was arge likelihood that the two wouldn’t be able to run off.


    Zhen Yuanbai chose the third option. He tossed his gun to Shi Bufan and tied bombs around himself and bravely jumped into the dinosaur’s mouth. Before being swallowed by the dinosaur, he yelled at Shi Bufan, “Don’t avenge me. Just stay alive!”


    Shi Bufan also dreamed that night.


    He carried the injured Zhen Yuanbai and ran rapidly on snow while being chased by a group of vicious and fierce enemies. Their footsteps had exposed their location and in order to stall time to wait for backup, he had no choice but to run to a dead end.


    He hid Zhen Yuanbai who was only shivering and crying like a kitten in a cave and kissed his wounded face, saying in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid. Even if I be a ghost, I will always be with you.”


    Then, he carried the rocket artillery and walked out of the cave, fiercely bombing the enemies. At the same time, a bullet hit his chest and he ended up dying in the snow.


    However, he knew that he had stalled time for Zhen Yuanbai and backup had arrived. Once they arrived, his little ssmate would be safe and sound.


    The morning sunlight had prated the car window, waking up the two young boys in deep sleep. Shi Bufan half squinted his eyes and sat up, stretching his body. Zhen Yuanbai, on the other hand, yawned and rubbed his eyes.


    They lifted their hands to block the ring sunlight, reflecting on their dreams and they both thought: “I am his hero. How great.”