Chapter 121 - Li Ling Next Destination

"Where are we going next?"

"You want to know?" 

Zhihao nodded as he responded, "Of course." 

"Well, I don't feel like telling you," Li Ling answered as he playfully stuck his tongue out. 

Zhihao frowned as he saw this, but he couldn't do anything about it. It was his own self that had given Li Ling permission to take him wherever he wanted, so how could he say anything right now? 

He simply let Li Ling drag him to who knows where. 

They were riding in Li Ling's car with him as the driver and Zhihao had to agree that the man was a great driver. When they reached a certain road, Li Ling told Zhihao to close his eyes. Zhihao was reluctant to listen to him in the beginning, but he eventually closed his eyes and waited for the man to give him instructions. 

Li Ling drove further and stopped the car at one side of the road, but he still asked Zhihao to keep his eyes closed as he got out from the car and went around it to help Zhihao get out without having to open his eyes. 

"Are you sure I can't open them?" Zhihao asked, to which Li Ling nodded as he spoke.

"Have some patience." 

"Patience? Where are we?" Zhihao was curious and it was slowly killing him. 

"Almost there," Li Ling spoke as he led Zhihao further away from the car. 

From the softness of the floor, Zhihao was sure that he was walking on grass, but it was a useless clue. There was grass everywhere, so how was that supposed to be a clue? He simply had no idea where he was as he walked. 

After walking for a little less than ten minutes, Li Ling finally stopped as he held onto Zhihao's shoulders from behind and gave him the signal to open his eyes. 

Zhihao had no idea what was waiting for him so when he opened his eyes, he was a bit shocked and a bit confused. 

"What's this?" 

"This is my secret." Li Ling responded with a smile, "Not many people know this place. Welcome to my haven, A-Zhi."

"This..." They were standing in front of the ocean and not even on a beach. The waves continuously washed over the huge, heavy stones that were stacked up on top of each other to help break the wave and not let it damage anything. 

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Li Ling beamed. 

"It's... Peaceful." Zhihao had only now realized that he had never seen the ocean from up this close. He had never gone to a beach so he had no idea what this view was like. It was his first time. 

Today was certainly special. He was experiencing so many first times together with Li Ling. 

"You come here often?" Zhihao asked as he looked at Li Ling. 

"I come here whenever I can." 

"What do you do here?"

Li Ling smiled as he looked back and pointed at a shop on the side of the road.

"That's a cafe. I go there." 

Zhihao nodded as he spoke, "Do you want to go there?" 

Li Ling looked back at the man and smiled as he nodded. 

The two went inside the little cafe shop that was even more beautiful and aesthetic than it looked from the outside. Maybe it was due to the pastel blue and green colors that were kept as the theme of the cafe. 

When the woman who worked at the cafe saw the two entering she got ready to greet them, but when she saw Li Ling's face, the smile on her face widened as she called him, "Sir, how come you are here?" 

Li Ling side-glanced at Zhihao and made sure that the man wasn't looking at him as he shook his head and answered the woman, "I just thought that I'd drop by."

The woman was certainly not an idiot. Just one look from Li Ling and she understood that she was probably not supposed to talk like usual. Li Ling had never brought a stranger with him so this was the first time the woman was seeing someone accompany Li Ling. She looked over at Zhihao with curiosity laced along with her expressions as she commented, "You brought a handsome friend too." 

Li Lings smiled as he encircled his hands around Zhihao's shoulders and spoke, "He looks really handsome, doesn't he?" 

"He certainly does." The woman nodded. 

Zhihao felt a bit embarrassed as he heard this, but when he listened to what Li Ling said next, his embarrassment was replaced by confusion. 

"But he thinks I'm more handsome. What do you think, Jie?" 

The woman seemed to ponder over the question and while she pondered over it, Zhihao suddenly had his own thoughts going crazy. He remembered telling the masked-man that he found Li Ling to be the most handsome man to exist. He never remembered complimenting Li Ling on his face so how did this man know what Zhihao had never told him? 

He immediately snapped his head and looked at Li Ling in shock. The man seemed to realize that he had let his mouth run loose, but he didn't let his internal panic show on his face. Li Ling smiled as he tightened his hold around Zhihao's neck and turned it into an almost friendly chokehold as he asked, "You aren't gonna deny it now, are you? You were crying all over me telling me that I was way more handsome than you. Don't you remember?" 

Zhihao suddenly sighed. For a moment there, he seemed to have forgotten that he had a big chunk of memory missing from when he was drunken calling Li Ling. He had probably told him this at that time. If that wasn't the case, there was no way Li Ling would know such a thing. 

The woman chuckled as she saw the two playing around with each other. At first, she thought that this man wasn't a friend considering the fact that Li Ling wasn't willing to tell him the truth, but when she saw this, she was able to say that the two were certainly close and it confused her even more. 

If he didn't plan on telling this man anything, why was he bringing him all the way over here? It was, plainly speaking, ridiculous and the woman could never understand what went around in the mind of her boss. 

"I'll take my usual and he'll have a plain coffee with extra foam on top." Li Ling beamed as he dragged Zhihao to one of the seats that were facing the window and outside the glass window was a scenery of the ocean.

Zhihao couldn't help but be left in awe when he saw this. It really looked peaceful and was much different from any place where he had ever been to.

"Whenever I want to run away, I come here," Li Ling spoke honestly. 

In reality, there was a huge part of the truth that he was hiding from Zhihao. This wasn't just a beach and this cafe wasn't some random cafe that happened to be located here. 

Li Ling owned this whole cafe and Zhihao would never be able to know what was the importance behind this cafe, at least, not yet. 

This cafe was the only entry to a place underground. A research institute that was hidden right underneath them, in the ocean. This cafe was the only way one would ever be able to find that research center and so far, not many people were aware of this. 

Why was this particular research center so important? It was the place where Alvi was located. Alvi had a physical body, but it wasn't a human or a robotic human-shaped body. 

Alvi was a brain. A super large brain that was located right under them at this moment. She was kept here to safeguard her from the world and to also protect the world from her. 

There was a reason why Li Ling wanted to bring Zhihao here. He was sure that Zhihao was a smart man and if ever the day came when he had to directly deal with Alvi and stop her, this was the exact place where he would have to come. 

Li Ling could only hope that such a situation never arises. He could only pray that Alvi is destroyed in time. He had created something even he could not understand and although he was a bit proud of it, he was a lot more afraid of it. 

"Are we running away right now?" Zhihao asked. 

Li Ling looked back at the man and smiled, "I wouldn't mind running away with you, A-Zhi." 

Zhihao chuckled as he heard this. 

He didn't know what took over him. Maybe it was the atmosphere or the beautiful scenery that had intoxicated him, but no matter what it was, he was feeling a bit tipsy as he asked, "What are we now?" 

"Hmm?" 

Zhihao  looked at Li Ling straight in the eyes as he spoke, "Friends don't kiss each other."