Genius Chapter 123: Can I Pursue You?

Chapter 123: Can I Pursue You?

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

The faint voice reached Yu Zhen’s ears as soon as it was spoken. His hand closed and then opened again before he finally stood up.

Su Mo kept his head down. Even though he had previously been completely unaware of such feelings, now that he understood his own emotions, he wanted to clarify everything. He was more afraid that the other person might always see him as just a friend than to continue in a state of emotional turmoil while maintaining the current situation.

…Did he not hear it? Did he need to repeat it?

Yu Zhen was about to ask for clarification when suddenly, he felt a gentle touch on his head. The man’s clear voice rang out—

“Yes.”

With that brief response, Su Mo’s head jerked up, only to see Yu Zhen standing behind his wheelchair, gently pushing it.

“What about the remaining procedures?” Yu Zhen asked the medical assistant.

The medical assistant quickly responded according to the procedure chart, “After Su Mo rests, 4 to 7 procedures can be completed this afternoon.”

Yu Zhen remembered the number of items on the procedure chart. This meant that, if everything went smoothly, they could finish all the physical exams by the end of the day. If not, it might delay until the next morning.

The resting area was in a special disease ward. Yu Zhen poured water for Su Mo, “Are you hungry?”

Su Mo shook his head. After the morning’s procedures, he had no appetite at all and even felt a bit nauseous. As he tried to prop himself up in the wheelchair, a pair of hands appeared in front of him.

“Brother.”

Yu Zhen gently lifted him from the wheelchair and placed him on the bed, advising, “Drink some water and take a nap. I’ll wake you when it’s time for the next procedure.”

Su Mo was so exhausted that he fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. Yu Zhen stayed by the bedside, gently pulling Su Mo’s half-covered arm out from under him and covering him with a blanket.

The sleeping boy looked peaceful, much like he did when Yu Zhen first met him, but without the wariness and aloofness of his waking state, he appeared softer and more relaxed. Yet Yu Zhen preferred the willful and unrestrained summoner, the one who shone with freedom and spontaneity, just like the decisive and perceptive questions Su Mo had asked at the examination room door.

“Su Mo, you’ll get better.”

Yu Zhen spoke softly, “It’s not just the game; your Global is vast and boundless.”

After sleeping for over two hours, Su Mo woke up and continued with the afternoon’s examination procedures. Whether it was due to his improving health or another reason, the efficiency of the procedures was very high that day. He did not experience any stress reactions, and all the tests were completed smoothly in the afternoon.

After finishing the tests, he went to Dr. Wu’s office to receive medical advice, while Yu Zhen went to the pharmacy to get his medication.

The test results would take at least a week, so they didn’t linger at the hospital. Their scheduled hovercar arrived quickly. Su Mo had regained some strength and could walk, albeit slowly. Yu Zhen did not assist him physically but accompanied him, walking slowly by his side.

Throughout the afternoon, the two of them tacitly avoided mentioning the topic from the morning at the examination room door.

When they got home, dinner was already prepared. Lele came out to help with the medication, organizing various bottles and pills into the home’s medical cabinet. Yu Zhen also helped out and declined Su Mo’s invitation to stay for dinner.

“You must be tired after the whole day. After eating, you should rest early,” Yu Zhen said, pulling a blanket from the sofa and draping it over Su Mo’s legs. He added, “I’ll come over again tomorrow.”

Su Mo sat on the sofa, slightly raising his head to look at him. “Brother?”

“Su Mo, my answer to the question this morning might have been too simple.”

Yu Zhen squatted in front of him, his eyes full of seriousness. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Since you know I like you, can I pursue you?”

Su Mo’s mouth slightly opened upon hearing this. “Okay.”

He then asked, “When you say ‘okay,’ does that mean you agree to pursue me?”

Yu Zhen’s eyes showed a hint of surprise, and he chuckled, “Su Mo, when someone pursues you, you can take some time to think about it.”

“Oh,” Su Mo responded, puzzled. “But I’ve already thought it over. Why do I need to think about it again?”

***

The exhaustion from a full day of medical examinations often required two to three days to fully recover. The next day, Su Mo woke up feeling uncomfortable all over, lacking energy, and unwilling to think. He lay in bed, feeling disoriented. Yu Zhen arrived early in the morning with a light restorative soup for Su Mo. After drinking it, Su Mo fell back to sleep. Yu Zhen had anticipated this but had not expected the aftermath of the medical exam to be so severe.

Su Mo had gone to sleep at 8 p.m. the previous night, but he remained groggy until noon and developed a slight fever in the afternoon. By the time he was fully awake in the evening, he noticed a gap in the door and saw a bowl of medicinal soup kept warm by a device on the bedside table.

After this nap, he felt as if he had shed all his fatigue. Aside from some lingering muscle soreness and numbness, he felt almost completely recovered. Since the day before the medical exam, he had been controlling his diet, and after a full day of exhaustion yesterday and another day of lying around today with minimal food intake, his stomach was now quite empty.

“Awake?” Yu Zhen came in from outside. “I heard some noise. Are you feeling better now?”

Su Mo got up from the bed, and the sudden change in position caused a sharp pain in his head, which had previously been feverish. He frowned slightly and waited for the pain to subside. By the time he had recovered, Yu Zhen was already at his bedside.

He reached out to support Su Mo’s head, carefully removed the fever-reducing patch from his forehead, and slightly bowed his head to check his temperature with his own forehead.

Suddenly close, Su Mo felt his dry, hot breath being blown into the narrow space between them. He blinked, able to see the fine lines on Yu Zhen’s face.

“The fever has gone down,” Yu Zhen said, stepping back and using the back of his hand to check the temperature again. After confirming everything was fine, he asked, “Are you hungry?”

Su Mo replied, “Yes, I’m hungry.”

“First drink this bowl of restorative soup. I’ll make you a late-night snack afterward, so you’ll need to wait a bit.” Yu Zhen picked up the warm medicinal soup from the cabinet and tested the temperature. “It’s a bit hot, so drink it slowly.”

“Okay.” Su Mo leaned over the edge of the bowl and took small sips. After a couple of sips, he paused and quietly said, “It tastes like chicken. It’s good.”

He had requested a week off, but the latter part of the leave wasn’t specified in the note from his advisor, who advised him to rest fully before returning to school. By Friday, Su Mo’s health had mostly recovered, and he was almost back to his normal self. However, he still couldn’t return to gaming and was left with nothing to do but sit in the living room and work on formulas and data calculations.

Yu Zhen visited daily, preparing various types of restorative soups for Su Mo.

These actions seemed not very different from before, but Su Mo had keenly noticed subtle changes. Previously, Yu Zhen had maintained an appropriate distance, but now Yu Zhen occasionally made more intimate gestures.

For instance, he would check Su Mo’s temperature or personally hand him the medicine or a water cup.

It also seemed like Yu Zhen had become busier during this time. Su Mo noticed several times, after finishing his data calculations, that Yu Zhen appeared to be reading files on his terminal.

Su Mo had never been in a relationship before, so after Yu Zhen said he wanted to pursue him, he had secretly searched online about what to do in a relationship. The advice he found was fanciful and seemed like a waste of time when he looked through it.

However, being with Yu Zhen seemed to alleviate those concerns. When Su Mo was working on formulas and data, Yu Zhen never interrupted him. Instead, they each maintained their own space; when Su Mo was busy, Yu Zhen would read files, and they would not disturb each other.

“A new type of quest competition has been introduced in the game,” Yu Zhen said, closing the file. Noting that Su Mo was idly playing games on his terminal, he added, “Would you like to hear about it?”

Su Mo turned slightly toward Yu Zhen, showing interest. “What kind of competition?”

Yu Zhen opened the official game website and showed Su Mo the newly released game announcement. “It’s a competition in collaboration with multiple companies.”

Su Mo took Yu Zhen’s terminal and glanced through the announcement details.

Celestial Horizon was a research project in collaboration with a research institute. Since many of the dungeons in the game required specialized knowledge and combined multiple real-world testing methods, the game deeply explored various player abilities. As a result, several major companies in the industry had been closely following the game’s development.

One significant feature of Celestial Horizon was its intelligent adversaries, which attracted many companies to observe player performance. Those who performed exceptionally were often extended invitations for collaboration or employment. Su Mo hadn’t been aware of this before. Later, when he checked his long-unattended friend request list, he found numerous requests from individuals claiming to represent various companies.

Of course, he hadn’t accepted any of them.

While it was not uncommon for games to collaborate with real-world companies for advertising or business promotions, what Yu Zhen described was not a simple partnership but a large-scale, comprehensive competition.

“I was busy with this matter recently. The Celestial Horizon official team and the main system sent out invitations for a collaboration with several companies, including the Firmament Group. However, the format of the competition is entirely customized by the main system. For confidentiality, we, as collaborators, are also unaware of the details,” Yu Zhen explained. “The night I didn’t come back was spent finalizing the contract. The game just released the announcement; the registration period lasts for a week, and the preliminary rounds will officially begin next Saturday.”

Su Mo’s attention had already shifted to the details of the announcement. This competition was incorporated into Celestial Horizon’s quest system, and the event was named “The Grand Debate of the Realm.” The challenge difficulty was unprecedented at an eight-star level, featuring a comprehensive challenge format lasting 60 days, making it a major end-of-year event for Celestial Horizon.

The event required faction team registration, with teams consisting of 10 members as the basic unit. The team’s profession types had to include at least six different kinds. Once a team was successfully formed, it would enter the competition process and face various quest challenges.

The main system would release several types of challenges at each stage. Teams that accumulated successful challenge victories would earn rewards. Teams with insufficient successful challenge counts would be eliminated until the final winner was determined.

In simple terms, it meant forming a team to participate in quest challenges. The more quests they completed, the further they advanced, and the final winner would be crowned champion of the “Grand Debate of the Realm.”

After reading the rules, Su Mo was intrigued by the idea of “multiple forms of challenges.”

“So, we need to form a 10-person team? Can you participate?”

“We are just collaborators. Only the main system knows the challenge modes. It’s not my job to select and recruit players,” Yu Zhen replied with a smile. “I’m just here to play the game. Why couldn’t I participate?”

Su Mo glanced at the game rewards. The final champion would receive substantial game rewards, as well as star coins and other prizes. It didn’t specify the exact rankings that would receive corporate invitations but mentioned that outstanding performance could lead to invitations from the partnering companies.

The companies had official channels to observe players’ overall performances, and teams that ranked within the top one thousand would have a chance to receive recruitment invitations from these companies.

“Do you want to participate?” Yu Zhen asked.

Su Mo swiped his screen. “Yes, but I’m not sure if I have enough time.”

He smiled and added, “I’m curious about the challenge formats.”

“It’s a 60-day event, and the competition schedule will be announced in advance,” Yu Zhen said. “Once we know the schedule, maybe we can adjust our plans ahead of time.”

Su Mo considered his other commitments. The experimental project only needed data analysis, and he could speed up the work next week. He should be able to make time for gaming every day. “Then we need to assemble a team… We only have 5 people, so we need to find 5 more teammates.”

As he muttered to himself, a hand suddenly rested on his forehead.

Su Mo paused slightly and heard Yu Zhen’s voice.

“You’re much better today, and you don’t have a low fever anymore,” Yu Zhen said, withdrawing his hand and standing up. “What would you like for dinner tonight?”

Su Mo was momentarily surprised. “Can I order now?”

“Sure,” Yu Zhen said, rolling up his sleeves. “Nutritional standards are my concern. You just need to tell me what you want to eat.”

Su Mo smiled and said, “I’d like to have some meat.”

By Saturday, Su Mo’s health data was stable, and he was able to return to gaming.

The night before, Su Mo had watched as ScarletFruit and the others discussed the new quest competition in the group chat. When he logged into the game, he found that the discussions had only intensified. The Global Channel in the game was filled with recruitment messages for the new quest event, with announcements flooding in one after another, creating a lively atmosphere.

After forming a team with his teammates, Su Mo asked, “Do you guys have time over the next two months? How about participating in the competition?”

As soon as he spoke, he noticed that the surrounding people were giving him strange looks. “What’s wrong?”

ScarletFruit asked, “Are you still Brother Wanderer or not?”

Yu Zhen added, “He’s Momo.”

ScarletFruit replied, “So it’s big brother. I was wondering why the tone of your speech changed. If you’re not going online, fine, but why haven’t you replied to my messages?”

“…I’m not interested in developing a small fish wholesale market,” Su Mo said. “So, what do you think? Does the timing work for you?”

ClearWind responded, “Of course it works; I’m online every day.”

ZenSlasher added, “It shouldn’t be a problem. I heard the competition schedule will be fixed.”

“Then we’re definitely participating,” ScarletFruit said eagerly. “Did you see the rewards? Besides giving out items, they’re also giving money—1 million star coins for the first place! Who wouldn’t be tempted? As soon as I saw the announcement, I was already excited.”

Su Mo checked the registration channel for “The Grand Debate of the Realm.” It listed the game rules and noted that the registration deadline was next Friday at 11 PM. The preliminary matches were scheduled for the weekend, with a detailed schedule to be released later. He said, “We’re a team of five, but we still need to find one more team member.”

“Do we need to post recruitment ads?” ScarletFruit asked. “Or should we continue selling tickets? The prices are definitely going up; many people have been asking me about it recently.”

“We’re not selling tickets,” Su Mo said while browsing through various recruitment ads. “This time, we’re competing ourselves. We need to find a few more team members from different professions. We can’t afford to have poor coordination or subpar equipment.”

The Grand Debate of the Realm was different from other quests. For ordinary quests, they could take their time and gradually improve. If they couldn’t pass, they could spend more time clearing it. But for the Grand Debate of the Realm, once eliminated, there was no chance to participate again. If he wanted to experience more quest challenges, he needed to keep advancing.

Given that, finding suitable teammates was even more crucial.

“I see… then let’s post a recruitment ad or ask around in our friend circle,” ScarletFruit suggested. “Should we look for specific professions? We definitely need a healer, otherwise, we might lack sufficient healing and have trouble with the main tank… We need a strong healer.”

He remembered the last time they had a single healer so vividly that his hands started to ache just thinking about it.

ClearWind added, “We also need a warrior who can hold their ground. There are many unreliable warriors in random groups; we need someone like Little Bear or Bitter Melon.”

ZenSlasher also recommended, “It would be good to bring along an assassin.”

Su Mo glanced at the majority of recruitment ads, which typically requested two warriors and two healers—a common configuration for dungeons. As long as they had six different professions, they would meet the registration requirements. DPS professions should also be high-output types.

He turned to Yu Zhen and asked, “Brother, did the official announcement say if this is a quest dungeon?”

Yu Zhen marked out the key points from the announcement and replied, “No, it says the format is a quest challenge.”

“Then we can’t recruit based on a dungeon setup,” Su Mo said with a frown. “A comprehensive quest challenge might involve team PvP. Teams can face battlefields, arenas, dungeons, or missions… Any form seen in the game might appear again.”

ClearWind paused, “True, when it comes to teams, everyone first thinks of dungeons.”

“Our current setup includes one healer, two melee fighters, and two ranged attackers,” Su Mo said as he opened his friend list. “We still need one warrior and one healer. The other three should be flexible professions: a long-range artillery, either a marksman or a magical swordsman; a versatile control class, like a Doaist priest or a summoner; and finally, an explosive melee attacker, either a PvP assassin or a PvE physical swordsman.”

ScarletFruit responded, “This lineup sounds familiar.”

“Isn’t this the same lineup we used for the Soul Remnants Dungeon? Let’s just get the Fruit Gang: Bitter Melon, Apple, FireworksAndLanterns, Peach Jam, and Watermelon. We’re already familiar with this setup.”

“If they’ve already formed a team, it might be difficult, but we can ask them first.” Su Mo glanced at the online players and saw that Apple and Watermelon were both online. He started typing a message to Watermelon, but halfway through—

[Your friend [WhatAHugeWatermelon] has gone offline]

Su Mo said, “…?”

Author’s note: 

Watermelon: Technical disconnection.