Chapter 123 - Li Ling And Brother Zhihao Are Close?

Huang Zhen instantly felt the need to rinse his eyes since they didn't seem to be working properly. 

Did he really just see what he thinks he saw? 

There was no way his brother would do something like that...?! 

They weren't even in a game so... What in the hell was happening?! 

When did his brother and brother Ling get so... Close....???

Li Ling took his sweet time to turn the engine on again and drive away with his cheeks completely matching the color of bright red chili pepper. 

Huang Zhen seemed to be even more shocked as he kept standing outside his house, with his mouth open wide and his eyes glued at the place where there used to be a car and two people kissing. The car had left and so had the people, but Huang Zhen still replayed the scene in his mind and questioned his own sanity.

Zhihao went straight to his room and face-planted himself on the pillow that seemed to be like a stress reliever for him. 

He really did that, didn't he? And Li Ling didn't even kick him or anything like that...?!

This meant that he was indirectly given permission, didn't it? 

He got a notification on his phone and for a second, he thought it was Li Ling, but his hopes were crushed when he saw that it was from T.I.A.D. 

Zhihao immediately jolted up as he realized something. 

For the first time in his life, he was giving something else more priority than a game. He was disappointed at a game notification because he was hoping to get a text from Li Ling...?! How could this be possible? 

He pinched himself to see if he was dreaming but it hurt, he was certainly not dreaming. 

[T.I.A.D. has achieved a milestone! 200 million downloads! Thanks to the hard work done by our beloved players and staff! Congratulations! As a token of our appreciation, we'd like to give everyone a chance to level up with double T-points won at every game you play today.]

Zhihao felt his heart race and it wasn't because of the game, it was because of a man who had a face of an angel with a beautiful beauty spot under his right eye. 

He immediately closed the notification and opened his contact list. He scrolled down to the bottom and called a number he never thought he would be calling. 

"Hello?" The man on the other side picked up the call. 

"Doc, I think there's something wrong with me." 

"Mr. Zhihao? Are you okay? Give me some details." 

"My heart... It feels like I'm gonna have a heart attack." 

The doctor on the other side seemed to panic a bit as he asked in worry, "Be more clear. Explain to me the symptoms. Are you having chest pain? Is it radiating towards the left side? Do you have any history of heart disease?"

"It doesn't hurt. It feels weird." 

"Um... Can you explain 'weird'? What type of discomfort are you feeling? Can you give me some details? I'm heading over there right now." 

"It feels like it's beating too fast." 

"Palpitation. Did you do some strenuous work?" 

Zhihao could hear the man turning on his car from the other side of the phone. 

"Strenuous? Not really. I just visited a beach and I haven't even been gaming for a while." 

"Not gaming? This sounds serious. Please sit down somewhere and put your brother on the phone. Drink some water and wait for me." 

"My brother isn't here." 

"Then keep the phone aside and if anything happens, inform me." 

"Okay, doc." 

Zhihao sat down on his gaming chair where he had always felt safe and comfortable. A few minutes passed and his eyes went wide as a certain realization hit him a bit late. 

He turned on the notification bar on his phone and read the T.I.A.D. notification again. 

[T.I.A.D. has achieved a milestone! 200 million downloads! Thanks to the hard work done by our beloved players and staff! Congratulations! As a token of our appreciation, we'd like to give everyone a chance to level up with double T-points won at every game you play today.]

Double T-points at every damn level?! 

This was big! 

"Hey! Doc, sorry for that, but I think I'm okay again." 

It took the man a few seconds to respond, "Huh? Did the palpitation go away?" 

"Um... I guess...? I'm back at gaming now so there's nothing to worry about." 

"Are you sure you're okay?" 

"Yeah, Doc. Sorry for disturbing you." 

"I'm glad to know that you're okay, but you should still come to the hospital tomorrow and get it checked. Do you have any idea what might have caused it? What were you doing moments before it?" 

"Me? Oh... I was kissing someone." 

"..." All Zhihao could hear was the car tires screeching as the doctor on the other side of the call slammed his foot on the break.

"Mr. Zhihao... Do you still have that glass of water I told you to drink?" 

Zhihao looked at the bottle of water that was always kept on the table and responded, "I do. Should I drink it?" 

"No," The doctor spoke, "Pick it up." 

Zhihao took the bottle and opened the cap as he waited for further instructions. 

"Are you holding it now?" 

Zhihao nodded enthusiastically, "I am." 

"Good," The doctor responded, "Now pour it over your head." 

"Okay," Zhihao was about to do just what the man had said, but before the water could fall down, he stopped in confusion as he asked, "How does this help though?" 

"Good day, Mr. Zhihao." The doctor ignored his question and spoke in a passive-aggressive tone, "I would like it if you didn't ruin my weekends next time." 

"..." 

The doctor hung up on Zhihao who was still confused about how pouring water over his head was going to help but since the doctor had said it helps, it was probably going to help so instead of thinking for himself, Zhihao emptied the bottle, pouring the water on his head. 

The cold water that suddenly came in contact with his scalp made his head hurt.

He tried listening to his heart which had indeed calmed down. 

"Hey! It worked!" 

Zhihao had probably gone stupid after kissing Li Ling, that was the only explanation for the situation. 

He changed his clothes and came back to put his headset on and logged into the game. 

It felt as if he hadn't been gaming forever when it had only been a day. 

He did his daily check-in and waited for his partner to come online. A few minutes passed and he realized that Li Ling was rushing to somewhere so he was probably busy and it wasn't like they had preplanned this so there was a really slim chance that Li Ling was going to log in right now, but Zhihao still took off his headset for a minute and texted Li Ling to come online if he was free. 

Zhihao waited for another ten minutes and Li Ling really did come online. 

"Did I disturb you?" Zhihao asked with a bit of guilt gnawing at his heart. 

Li Ling shook his head as he beamed, "No worries. I'm always free for you." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Of course I am." 

"Then would you date me?" 

"..." Li Ling chuckled as he answered, "Ask again later." 

Zhihao sighed as he nodded, "Okay." 

[You guys...]

[What the hell is happening?]

[Why are you all over each other again?]

Li Ling smiled as he looked at Alvi who still looked like a ten-year-old child. 

Zhihao patted the girl's head, "I missed you, kid." 

[Eww~ Gross!]

[What has gotten into you, Mastermo?]

Zhihao didn't realize it but he was smiling so brightly that even the bot could see that there was something really off about Zhihao and it almost made Alvi believe that this player's account had been hacked but when she ran her search, she found nothing wrong. 

This was really Mastermo and he was smiling as if he was the happiest man on the planet. 

Zhihao simply smiled and didn't answer the bot as he looked at Li Ling who was looking at the list of players who were online. 

[You're hopeless.]

"I know," Zhihao mumbled. 

[...]

[Are you gonna play or not?]

[You're wasting my precious time.]

Zhihao looked at the bot with a bit of suspicion as he asked, "Is it just me or are your responses getting more and more... different?" 

[...]

[I'm gonna count till ten. If you don't give me a clear answer, I'm leaving.]

"..." 

[1]

[2]

Zhihao suddenly felt as if there was something really weird about Alvi but since he was in such a happy mood, he felt that the bot was funnier and seemed to really look like a cute grumpy child today. 

[3]

[4]

[5] 

Zhihao chuckled as he finally answered, "If I didn't want to play, I wouldn't be here, would I?"

[Who knows?]

[You might have missed me so much that you logged in to see my face.]

"..." 

If there was anyone here that Zhihao missed and would log into the game just to see, it would be Li Ling, not this stupid bot.