Chapter 86: Care for the Loved One
Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Addis
Time passed quickly, yet also seemed to drag on slowly.
Yu Zhen kept his head slightly lowered, watching as Su Mo drank the ginger soup sip by sip. His gaze shifted from the back of Su Mo’s neck to the curls of his hair, his fingertips seemingly entangled with an irresistible itch.
He wanted to touch.
As the medicine bowl emptied, Su Mo’s mouth was filled with the taste of ginger, and his throat felt intensely hot. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if it was his own body heat or the spiciness of the soup.
With the bowl emptied, warmth surged through him. Su Mo was about to loosen the blanket when a hand from behind helped him pull it up.
“After drinking ginger soup, you should also keep warm,” Yu Zhen wrapped the blanket around him. “Feeling sleepy?”
Su Mo was dazed for a moment before coming to his senses. “Not sleepy.”
After finishing the ginger soup, the medical data analysis results were also ready. Dr. Wu sent over the prescription.
As soon as Lele received the prescription, it went to prepare the medicine. Yu Zhen noticed a medical cabinet in the living room and opened it to find various bottles of medicine.
Even though he already knew about Su Mo’s health condition, seeing this scene made his mood suddenly sink.
Robot Lele skillfully retrieved the medications Su Mo needed from the assortment of bottles, brought warm water, and also took out an orange-flavored candy from a drawer. Su Mo took the medicine without blinking, peeled open the candy wrapper, and sucked on it. He curled up on the sofa, looking quite listless.
“Why did you suddenly come over, Brother?” Su Mo suddenly remembered to ask.
Yu Zhen paused for a moment and explained, “I came to see Zhang Qi. I happened to see in the group chat that they were looking for him, so I came over to check.”
“Oh… I turned off my communicator,” Su Mo pushed the terminal over from the side, “I didn’t log into the game this morning, forgot to tell you guys.”
Seeing his lackluster expression, Yu Zhen couldn’t help but ask, “Su Mo, did I say something wrong this morning?”
Su Mo was briefly puzzled and looked at Yu Zhen with confusion.
“At breakfast, I noticed you were feeling down. At the time, I didn’t think much of it,” Yu Zhen clarified.
Yu Zhen recalled the events from the morning. Perhaps some of his topics had touched on sensitive thoughts for Su Mo. “If I said something wrong, I apologize to you.”
Su Mo was a bit absent-minded but responded, “Brother, you didn’t say anything wrong…”
Suddenly meeting Yu Zhen’s concerned gaze, a certain string in his heart was vaguely touched, and almost involuntarily, he spoke up, “…The unknown region β2, which you mentioned as the Sirius Cold Region, is where my parents had an accident.”
Yu Zhen’s eyes widened abruptly.
“It’s been a long time since anyone mentioned that place, so my emotions might be a bit off.” Su Mo wasn’t sure what he was saying. By the time he realized it, he had already mentioned it.
He rarely brought up family matters in front of others. Since childhood, he knew that displaying emotions could affect others negatively. He didn’t want others to look at him with pity. Su Mo was aware of his own inferior constitution compared to others and knew his family situation wasn’t as good as others’, but these were never things he used to seek sympathy or topics for others’ discussions.
Apart from these, he was just an ordinary person trying to live his life. Since childhood, his parents taught him that one should live openly and freely.
Once the words were spoken, they couldn’t be taken back. Su Mo wrapped the blanket tighter around himself. “It’s not your fault, brother Zhen. It’s my own emotional instability.”
The living room fell silent all of a sudden. Yu Zhen quietly watched Su Mo, who kept his head slightly lowered.
Finally, Yu Zhen lifted his hand and couldn’t resist rubbing Su Mo’s head gently. Su Mo looked up slightly startled.
Suddenly, Yu Zhen asked, “Momo, can I give you a hug?”
He said “Momo,” not “Su Mo.” Su Mo remained silent for a moment.
“You didn’t ask, so I apologize for being presumptuous.”
Yu Zhen suddenly pulled him into his arms, not too tight and not too close.
Su Mo leaned against his shoulder, able to clearly smell the calm and soothing scent of the man, and feel the large hand gently patting his back. This embrace was unlike the paternal embraces he had experienced before. He couldn’t describe the feeling; the other person was holding him gently, without much talk or inquiry, just quietly waiting for him.
“Is this a brother’s hug?” Su Mo suddenly spoke.
Yu Zhen denied, “It’s a friend’s hug. Friends hope you’ll be happy and healthy.”
“Colds are contagious,” Su Mo sniffled.
Yu Zhen replied simply, “No problem. Are you feeling better now?”
After a while, Su Mo involuntarily coughed.
Yu Zhen asked, “Is your throat uncomfortable?”
Su Mo coughed sullenly twice, “Itchy.”
Yu Zhen let go of him and fetched warm water from the nearby table. As he turned back, he met the curious gaze of the young man. “What’s wrong?”
Su Mo asked, “Brother Zhen, why are you so good to me?”
Yu Zhen placed the cup of water in front of Su Mo. “No reason. It doesn’t need a reason.”
Su Mo couldn’t help but laugh. “I’ve noticed project leaders like you are really good at talking.”
He chuckled, which made his throat itch again, and he coughed twice sullenly. Taking the water glass, he said, “I feel like playing games.”
“Drink water,” Yu Zhen restrained himself from patting his head and instead took away the gaming controller beside him. “Wait until you’re feeling better to play. I’ll have Lele keep it safe for you.”
Su Mo responded, “…Okay.”
Not long after their brief conversation, Su Mo leaned against the sofa and fell asleep. Being sick often made him drowsy, and with his weak constitution, sleep would help him recover better.
Yu Zhen helped cover him with the blanket, this time not escorting him back to his bedroom but adjusting the living room lights to a gentle setting and reclining the sofa to ensure he could sleep soundly.
Afterward, in the group chat of [Get rich quickly], he informed others not to wait and sorted out the ingredients with Lele for lunch.
“After a fever, he’ll have dry mouth, so keep warm water handy and change it regularly to keep it warm.”
“For lunch ingredients, choose light ones; he might have a poor appetite. If necessary, consider medicinal nutritional supplements.”
“Given his weak spleen and stomach, focus on careful dietary adjustments. Just meeting nutritional standards isn’t enough; the diet needs to be finely tuned to support his spleen and stomach.”
Lele took notes and also went online to study using the links Yu Zhen provided. “Thank you, Mr. Yu Zhen.”
“I’ll go back for a while and come back for lunch,” Yu Zhen glanced at the person sleeping in the living room. “Keep an eye on his temperature; don’t let it spike.”
Lele’s electronic screen flickered. “Rest assured, I’ll ensure the task is completed.”
Yu Zhen suddenly realized that Su Mo’s household robot, Lele, seemed a bit mischievous. However, he didn’t dwell on it much. After leaving Su Mo’s home, he immediately contacted the medical station at Capital Planet and made an appointment with the Director healer of the physiological department. After everything was settled, he sat alone in the living room, with his grandmother’s commentary from the holographic TV series in the background. His mind was uneasy, and when he finally had a moment to relax, all he could think about was the way Su Mo had looked at him.
Despite not having experienced romantic love, he was no longer in his youthful, carefree years. He naturally understood the difference between caring for a younger person and caring for someone he liked.
The cold came on fiercely, and Su Mo was bedridden for a few days. By the time his fever completely subsided, it was already the third day.
During his illness, unable to play games, he could only play terminal games in the living room. Yu Zhen visited frequently; occasionally, they would even play chess together. Yu Zhen didn’t bring up that day’s incident. When he came over, he would bring Su Mo interesting journal updates or talk about things happening in the game.
In the days when Su Mo couldn’t play games, “Celestial Horizon” released quite a bit of new information.
The most noteworthy event of the week was the faction war. It was the first time the faction war had been opened, and despite guilds having some understanding of the terrain and gameplay beforehand, when they actually engaged, they found it more chaotic than imagined. With many players involved, inadequate command or poor allocation of resources could affect the situation. They battled continuously for two days, and by the end, each faction had seized two buff points as a conclusion.
The faction war was introduced for the first time, with generous rewards that players enthusiastically praised, and the gameplay had significant variability.
After the faction war ended, the game officials proposed adjustments based on various issues that arose during this large-scale gameplay, aiming for substantial optimization. Su Mo found it intriguing to hear about these changes. Initially, he had planned to try out the faction war, but his recent illness had delayed those plans, and he wasn’t sure if he would have as much time to play in the future.
By the time Su Mo could log in again, it was already Monday. Upon logging in, he immediately received team invitations from teammates, asking why he hadn’t participated in the faction war to earn points.
“Oh, I’ve had some things going on recently,” Su Mo replied, scanning his friends list and noticing Yu Zhen wasn’t online. “Is brother Wanderer not online today?”
“Brother Wanderer said he had some things to take care of today and will be online tonight,” ScarletFruit said halfway through and suddenly became curious, “Bro, what’s up with you? Last week, brother Wanderer logged in and asked about you, and this week you logged in and asked about brother Wanderer. Also, why did brother Wanderer suddenly say in the group chat that you had some last-minute issues and wouldn’t be online for a few days?”
Su Mo paused at the words. He hadn’t checked terminal messages those days at all, so he could only say, “I told him.”
Unexpectedly, this answer piqued his teammates’ curiosity even more.
ScarletFruit asked, “Wait a minute, why did you tell him and not tell us?”
Su Mo asked, “Is there a problem?”
ScarletFruit replied, “??? Bro, this is a big deal.”
ClearWind chimed in, “Yeah, you made such a simple statement in the group chat, and you had brother Wanderer relay it? Are you two secretly in a small group?”
ScarletFruit added, “… It’s been several months, and I guess I still haven’t walked into your heart.”
Su Mo was speechless.
ScarletFruit and ClearWind started reasoning with him, talking about the impact of developing small groups, how many forums are filled with gossip because of small group activities… When Su Mo recovered from his illness and logged in, he immediately heard his teammates chatting non-stop, which was quite lively and took him a moment to adjust. However, Su Mo didn’t mind this lively atmosphere. After they finished chatting, he explained that due to being too busy with unexpected matters, he hadn’t had time to reply in the group chat until today when he finally had some free time to log in.
During the few days he was absent, ScarletFruit accumulated a huge amount of wealth in his shop, all from selling items. Originally, he thought business would be affected after the closure of the “Seven-Star Departed Souls dungeon,” but unexpectedly, the new “Four Symbols Divine Challenge” also had a similar mechanism, which was even better. Instead of reducing, the number of customers buying items increased, allowing him to earn even more money.
“Big bro, time to share the profits,” ScarletFruit said.
Su Mo declined the money, saying, “I’ll give you the materials list. You can help me collect materials with the gold coins from this period.”
“What?” ScarletFruit didn’t understand. “All collect? Aren’t you doing it yourself?”
“My class schedule is back, so I probably won’t be around much during the day for the next few weeks. Even my online time isn’t certain,” Su Mo explained to his teammates. “You don’t need to wait for me for daily tasks. Go ahead and do them. Be careful in the wilderness and watch out for ambushes.”
With no time to collect materials himself, Su Mo had to rely on ScarletFruit’s help. He logged in today mainly to sort out other matters and then asked his teammates to keep an eye on the market, especially for cheap materials.
After finishing organizing everything, he logged off to eat dinner. By the time he logged back in, it was already past seven in the evening.
During this period, he made a trip to the warehouse, stacking unused materials there first, and then grabbed some rations to feed his spirit pets. In just a few days, Veil Wraith had grown noticeably larger, while the small spirit pet egg in Soul Rabbit’s pouch showed no signs of hatching yet; only the surface patterns had deepened, indicating it was still some distance from hatching.
Su Mo flicked the spirit pet egg with his finger, wondering if this little thing would still hatch after he finished his project.
“Momo.”
Suddenly, a voice appeared near Su Mo’s ear, pronouncing his ID with a slightly peculiar accent, but unmistakably calling out his ID.
Su Mo had hidden his ID, yet the other person knew it accurately.
He slightly turned his head to confirm the target individual, an array master dressed in black robes with the ID “Midnight Bell”.
“I think we need to talk,” Midnight Bell continued, “like about you selling detection items at high prices to CloudTraveller and BitterMelon…”
At that moment, a reminder popped up in his field of view.
Your friend [UnchainedWanderer] has come online.
Su Mo remained silent, sent a team request to Yu Zhen, and casually turned on his voice settings while muting Vicinity sounds, restoring quietness to his ears.
He really had no interest in wasting time discussing items with others.
“Where are you?” UnchainedWanderer’s voice came through the team channel.
“Go to the vending area in Sunset City and wait for me. I’ll bring some rations,” Su Mo replied. After finishing his task, he used the direct teleportation feature and disappeared in front of Midnight Bell, swiftly arriving at Sunset City.
This time, he was prepared. Instead of crashing into Yu Zhen like the previous times, he stood firmly in place.
The array master in snowy white robes stood before him, looking much cooler than a certain array master dressed in all black.
“Have you taken your medicine?” Yu Zhen asked.
Su Mo replied, “I won’t be doing dungeons tonight. I’ll just gather a few materials and then log off.”
Both spoke at the same time. Su Mo smiled and said, “I’ve taken it. I’m returning to school tomorrow,”
“Is your leave over?” Yu Zhen said with a slight pause.
“I was supposed to return to the lab yesterday as promised, but due to my cold, I postponed it,” Su Mo added. “The school lab is fixed now, and I’ll be studying with Brother Zhou, my partner. It’ll be similar to ZenSlasher—free when there are no classes, busy with experiments otherwise.”
Yu Zhen could understand. Being a university student, academic studies were a priority. “Will you be very busy?”
“Probably not, but I’ll have less time for daily quests,” Su Mo rubbed his nose. “I’ve managed to calculate most of the data during this time, but the remaining part needs to be processed using the lab’s machines. Since I can’t operate the machines myself, I’ll have to wait for my senior brother to come back and run them, but the workload for lab classes will increase. I had planned to use this time to complete my demon points and gather materials for the level 80 PvP gold equipment, but being sick delayed me for several days.”
According to the plan, he should have prepared the materials for the level 80 PvP gold equipment this week, but he hadn’t logged in for a few days.
“I’ll help you with the daily quests,” Yu Zhen suddenly offered. “Authorize me to access your account, and I can run the dailies for you while dual-boxing with yours.”
Su Mo hesitated at the suggestion, “Dual-boxing?”
“It’s a special feature of the Celestial Horizon loader, only available in the L-type loader with added smart control,” Yu Zhen explained briefly. “Setting up smart control and following commands for your account will reduce the tasks you need to do when you log in.”
Su Mo was unfamiliar with this; he had only started to get into holographic games in the past few months. “Sounds complicated. Aren’t you already managing two accounts? Can you handle it?”
“It’s not complicated. Have you played terminal games before? It’s a bit like setting ‘right-click follow’ in network games, just needs setting up commands,” Yu Zhen elaborated. “I don’t really play the marksman class, just power leveling for a friend. No need to worry about daily tasks.”
“Celestial Horizon” was a holographic game, yet it didn’t restrict players from having multiple accounts.
Each person needed to undergo biological information matching through the loader to log in. If temporary authorization codes are granted to other players, they can also use these codes to log in, but the account and biological information cannot be altered. Advanced loaders also have additional features, such as setting up smart controls for player characters. At most, one additional smart control can be set up for the same biological address. For example, with A account logged in, setting up smart control for B account allows the player to control the B account to follow events during the A account’s session.
To eliminate cheating and studio dominance, the game has specific rules in place. Smart controls are limited to basic functionalities, and during smart control, no additional actions can be performed unless the player switches from account A to account B.
Yu Zhen paused halfway through his explanation and suddenly noticed Su Mo was looking at him seriously. He hesitated for a moment. “… What’s up?”
Su Mo asked, “Brother Zhen, when I’m done with my busy schedule at school, how about I treat you to a meal?”
Yu Zhen looked at him, his tone involuntarily softened. “Sure.”
