Chapter 203 - Li Ling's Favorite Place

Li Ling smiled happily as he heard Zhihao.

He immediately tightened his hold around Zhihao's hand pulled him along as he started walking fast, "A-Zhi, let me take you somewhere." 

"Where?" Zhihao chuckled in surprise. 

Li Ling only glanced at him with a warm smile as he winked and answered, "You'll know when we get there." 

Zhihao pouted but it didn't look like he was mad or dissatisfied and instead, he looked to be quite happy with it. He let himself be led by Li Ling to an unknown destination but since it was Li Ling, he knew that it was probably going to be something he would love.. 

After walking fast for a bit, Li Ling suddenly came to a stop and Zhihao who was being pulled behind him, couldn't stop on time which led him to bump into the man's back. 

"A-Zhi, close your eyes now," Li Ling spoke and Zhihao frowned before he slowly let his eyelids fall down. 

"They are closed," Zhihao announced. 

Li Ling turned around with a smile before he walked around Zhihao and stood behind him as he put his hands over Zhihao's eyes and covered them just to be sure that Zhihao wouldn't be able to see anything. 

Zhihao chuckled as he asked, "Why are you being so secretive? You didn't even keep up your end of the deal. You were supposed to tell me what your childhood was like. Instead of answering, you tricked me into telling you my childhood." 

Li Ling couldn't help but laugh as he heard Zhihao's complaining tone of speech. 

"Does A-Zhi really want to know about my childhood?" 

Zhihao nodded his head without any sense of hesitation as he instantly answered, "Yes, I do." 

Li Ling also nodded as he sighed, "Then I'll tell you but I'll have to warn you first." 

"Warn me?" Zhihao muttered in confusion. 

"It's pretty boring. You would probably not find it interesting." 

Zhihao chuckled as he shook his head, "If it's something related to you, there is no way I'll find anything boring. You are just that important and interesting for me." 

Li Ling would be lying if he said that he hadn't felt a bit happy to hear such a heartfelt response. 

"Okay, then..." Li Ling sighed once again as he didn't bother taking his hands off of Zhihao's eyes. He simply kept on walking and guiding Zhihao to walk forward with him, "Most of my childhood was spent with me researching and working. I never hung out with kids my own age and I would hardly go out to have fun with anyone. I rarely made friends and the few friends that I did make eventually lost contact with me after we all graduated."

"..." Zhihao suddenly fell silent and there was a small frown evident on his face. 

"But I hope you don't feel pity for me. Even though I didn't have any great friends, I still have someone who kept me going. He's the only reason why I enjoyed my life and he's also the reason why I dreamt of owning a gaming company that developed a great game like T.I.A.D." 

The frown on Zhihao's face deepened as he heard this but he didn't bother saying anything and let Li Ling continue. 

"I met him at a really early age on and we became friends for a short while. We eventually lost contact for a while but I never forgot him. For me, he was the light of my world and I was stubborn. Even if he didn't want to be friends with me, I still didn't want to watch him forget me. I wanted to hang on and be his friend. At first, at least... That was all I wanted in the beginning but eventually, I found out that being friends was just not enough." Li Ling chuckled as he thought back to his childhood that had never been his favorite topic.

"Gege, is this your revenge? Are you trying to make me jealous? If you had such a great friend, why don't you just go and date him instead? Why are you playing with me?" 

At first, Li Ling couldn't understand if Zhihao was being serious or not so it took him a moment to process what Zhihao had said, and just as he did, he broke out laughing as he wondered how ridiculous it was for Zhihao to be jealous of himself. 

"A-Zhi, you are right," Li Ling spoke up as he suddenly felt the need to tease the man more, "I love him a lot. Even till today. In this life, he's the only one I'll ever love this much and you're right. If I love him so much, I should date him." 

"..." Zhihao had never felt his heart ache like this. He was so shocked to hear Li Ling that his own brain stopped working and he could no longer think for himself. 

"That's why I'm dating you," Li Ling snickered as he completed. 

"..." Zhihao was silent for a minute as he slowly took in that last comment, "Eh?" He muttered in shock and confusion as his brain finally started to work normally. 

Li Ling completely broke out laughing at Zhihao who had finally realized it. 

"Ahhh! Damn you!" Zhihao cursed at Li Ling as his ears started turning a bit red with embarrassment. 

Damn it...! 

He had really been fooled! 

Zhihao couldn't help but want to dig a hole in the ground and hide himself inside that hole for all of eternity. 

"A-Zhi, you are so gullible. How are you going to survive in this harsh world with such a pure brain?" Li Ling teased him more and Zhihao's embarrassment increased in intensity. 

"Damn you, Li Ling! Stop it! You just caught me off guard!"

Li Ling chuckled as he smirked and asked, "Are you sure about that? I wonder~ If I ever start to like another guy, what would your reaction be?" 

Zhihao seemed to be suddenly lost in thoughts as he seriously pondered over such a scenario. 

"Hmm?" Li Ling muttered curiously as he waited for Zhihao to give him an answer. 

"Li Ling, I really like your butt." 

"..." 

"If such a thing were to happen, I'll slap your butt till they turn as red as a tomato," Zhihao answered with a smug smirk on his face. 

"..." Li Ling suddenly regretted ever asking such a question. 

"So? Would you dare cheat on me?" Zhihao asked, not letting the conversation die down. 

Li Ling took a deep breath in as he tried to calmly answer, "You can rest assured that you won't have to see such a day. My butt is safe!" 

"Hmm... I would like to remind you that it still isn't but I don't think that would be appropriate to say in a live stream," Zhihao snickered. 

Li Ling's cheeks turned red and thankfully because of Zhihao's closed eyes, he couldn't see it. If he could, Li Ling was sure that Zhihao would have teased him more. 

"You already said it..." Li Ling muttered under his breath. 

"Eh? What did you say?" 

Li Ling smiled as he shook his head and instantly denied it, "Nothing~" 

"Are we there yet?" Zhihao questioned as he kept on walking with Li Ling leading him. 

Li Ling chuckled as he leaned in and whispered in Zhihao's ear, "We are here." 

Zhihao felt an odd feeling going down his body as he heard the man's smooth yet raspy voice tickling his ear. 

"You ready?" Li Ling asked, his voice sounding both delighted and excited. 

"I don't know why I should be ready but I'll just say I am." 

Li Ling chuckled as he slowly removed his hands from around Zhihao's eyes, "You can open your eyes now." 

"Okay~" Zhihao cooed as his eyes slowly fluttered open and he took in the beautiful sight in front of him. 

If there was a heaven in a game, this was probably it. Zhihao could confidently say that he had never seen anything more beautiful than this.

"Wow~" 'Zhihao gasped out loud as he looked around at the beautiful trees that covered the glowing lake in front of them. 

Just like he had seen previously, the trees here were also covered with glowing fireflies, but these trees looked to be a lot more beautiful than all the previous ones because there were a lot more fireflies here making the trees look much more luminant and ethereal. 

The light from the trees also reflected on the lake making the calm water look a lot more lively and refreshing. 

It was like a scene that looked to have come straight out of a fairytale and the best thing about it was certainly the fact that the one standing beside Zhihao to enjoy this scene was none other than Li Ling. 

"A-Zhi, this is my favorite place to be in this whole game and you're now the first person to know that." 

Zhihao chuckled as he informed, "Well, I think you forgot to consider the millions of people watching my live stream." 

"..."