Chapter 152 - Li Ling Is Stunned

Zhihao gulped. His muscles went stiff as he looked at Li Ling for an answer. 

Li Ling also stared back at him as he asked, "What do you mean?" 

He had still not recovered from all the embarrassment so of course, he didn't understand a word of what Zhihao was trying to say or rather ask, in this case. 

"You..." Zhihao couldn't believe it, but for some reason, he wanted to believe it. 

Li Ling innocently looked at him in confusion as if asking the same question.

"You're him." This time, Zhihao wasn't simply just questioning it, he was accusing Li Ling as if he really believed it to be true, "You're that kid! You're that guy from the party too!" 

Suddenly, the puzzle seemed to fit together. The missing piece of the puzzle was Li Ling and now that Zhihao had realized it, he couldn't help but think that his theory really was correct. It just fit... 

"The Omelas! The party! It fits!" Zhihao faltered a step back as the shock slowly sunk in. 

"What are you-" Li Ling also stopped, "Oh..." 

It seemed that Li Ling was fast in understanding the situation. 

"You're him...?" Zhihao's brain had gone haywire. 

"A-Zhi..." Li Ling stood up immediately. The previous embarrassment not even leaving a trace on his face. 

He was afraid. 

He was really afraid and guilty. 

Zhihao had definitely put the puzzle together. 

Li Ling took a step forward and Zhihao unconsciously took a step back. This small action didn't go unnoticed by Li Ling, who was immediately heartbroken to see it. 

"A-Zhi... No. M-mastermo," Li Ling stuttered. 

Zhihao was going to run away. He was definitely going to run away. Even Li Ling would run away in such a situation. Who wouldn't run away when they found out that their gaming partner had been secretly stalking them for years?! 

Zhihao gulped as his mind processed everything. Every small detail was put together. From the moment they met to this moment right here, everything just... Fit. 

"You're that boy!" Zhihao unconsciously raised his voice, "That's why you approached me back then! That's why you called me A-Zhi by mistake! And... You're the guy from that party!" 

Zhihao had tried really hard to remember the face of the man he met at the party, but he was never able to and at this moment, like magic, he suddenly remembered the face.

It was Li Ling. There was no mistaking it. 

"That's why I woke up in your apartment the next morning!" Zhihao exclaimed in disbelief.

He had never thought Li Ling would lie about something so big. It was just too shocking. He always knew Li Ling was hiding something, but to think that this was it? Zhihao felt as if he was dreaming. His head felt heavy and his heart dropped as he remembered all those times in the past when some things didn't make sense and yet, at this moment, everything started adding up. 

Zhihao furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Li Ling, "Our meeting wasn't a coincidence, was it? You planned it! You bumped into me on purpose and approached me because you knew who I was since the beginning and it wasn't because you were just a long-time fan of mine! You proposed to become my gaming partner because you knew I didn't have a partner yet and would be thrown out of the competition!" 

"Eh?" Even Li Ling was confused as he heard this, but Zhihao didn't seem to realize it. 

"You did it for me! You wanted to be my friend since we were kids! You watched me from afar as I grew into a pro-gamer. You hid behind the facade of just a fan, but you were actually looking after me and wanted to help me! You wanted to help me so you bumped into me on purpose and tricked me into teaming up with you!" 

"..." 

There seemed to be some misunderstands in between but Li Ling was unsure if he should correct it or not. 

"We became friends, but you were afraid to say anything because you thought I'll run away thinking that you were a stalker! And you... You work in Omelas! That's why you were there at the party! You knew I would be there at the party so you came for me! You changed our watches and flirted with me... You thought it was a great chance to confess that day but I was too stupid and passed out." 

Li Ling was left stunned as he heard this whole story. All parts seemed to match up perfectly and whatever Zhihao was saying made complete sense, however, there seemed to be some changes to what had actually happened. 

"You know what this means...?" 

Li Ling hung his head low in a dejected manner. He knew exactly what all of this meant. 

All of this meant that Zhihao was going to run away and maybe Li Ling wouldn't be able to stop him from running away. 

All his planning had gone to waste and the time for him to confess with his own mouth had already passed by. He didn't have another chance. Zhihao already knew everything and probably hated Li Ling by now. 

Suddenly Li Ling felt his head being lifted up and a soft pair of lips crashed against his own. 

Wait a minute... 

What

Is

Happening?! 

Zhihao closed his eyes as he kissed Li Ling with both passion and desire. Li Ling who was too shocked to understand what was going on just stood there, with his eyes wide open as he stared at Zhihao. 

A minute passed and Zhihao pulled away from him. He looked at Li Ling with soft eyes burning with passion as he gave the answer to the question he had asked, "It means you love me." 

Eh? 

Li Ling couldn't understand how Zhihao's mind had just worked like that. How in the hell was he able to twist the truth and still end up giving the same answer?! Was Zhihao also a prodigy child that uses the wrong formula but still gets the right answer in his maths exam?! 

"It means you fell in love with me a long time before I fell in love with you!" Zhihao sounded a bit too happy as he held Li Ling's face close to his. 

Li Ling gulped. 

Looking at Zhihao's expression... Li Ling was never going to correct these misunderstandings. 

Zhihao pulled him again and kissed him even more fiercely before pulling apart to say more useless stuff, "Your crush... A long-time friend that you have a crush on. That's also me!"

Li Ling nodded in confusion. 

Zhihao pulled him into a tight hug as he exclaimed, "It's really me...!" 

"Um... Yeah..." 

Li Ling was more shocked with the fact that it took the great Mastermo so long to figure such a simple thing out. 

This man... Was stupid! 

Mastermo, you're just lying about your intelligence, aren't you?

You are actually an idiot, right? 

A really naive idiot!

How could you not feel creeped out?!

Why would you kiss your stalker?! 

Li Ling thought that he would have to beg and lock Zhihao up when Zhihao finally finds out the truth and runs away but how come things turned out this way?! 

It just didn't make any sense! 

Li Ling didn't know why but he was having mixed feelings about everything. On one hand, he was happy and glad that Zhihao hadn't shunned him while on the other hand, he was mad that Zhihao hadn't shunned him! 

Mastermo was too naive! 

Had his parents never warned him about stalkers?! 

[Cough~ Cough~] 

[Not to interrupt your melodrama but your friend is here and is asking: "Are those two finished yet?"] 

Zhihao pulled away from the hug as he looked at Alvi with the same warm bright smile that had never really been seen on his face before this. 

This was probably the first time Zhihao was this happy. He felt excited like a little kid who had won for the first time. 

Suddenly Wang GuiYing who appeared once again saw this and couldn't help but comment, "Wah!~ You can smile like this too?" He squinted at the two, "I wonder who topped."

"Eh?" Zhihao tilted his head as he looked at him. 

Li Ling also looked at Wang GuiYing and responded to him, "I'm just as confused as you are." 

"..." Wang GuiYing was even more confused to hear this, "Huh? You don't know who topped? What the hell?! Are you two sure you did it right?" 

Li Ling walked towards him and patted Wang GuiYing on the shoulder twice, "You probably don't wanna know what happened." 

Li Ling walked away after having said one last thing and Zhihao ran after him as he called out, "Wait for me!" 

Wang GuiYing and little Alvi glanced at the moving back of the two before looking at each other with a confused face. 

Wang GuiYing, "System, do you have a recording?" 

[...] 

[Shameless.] 

Alvi also followed after those two and now Wang GuiYing was left to himself, trying to put a puzzle with incomplete pieces together.