CH 24

As a high level demon, the toxin of a succubus was extremely potent. Once poisoned, the toxin would quickly spread through the victim’s bloodstream, stripping away their rationality and amplifying their desires.

In just a few seconds, the boy’s figure became unsteady and he trembled slightly where he stood. The hands that clenched the Necromancer’s sleeves were white and his voice sounded a little deeper than usual. 

“Teacher…”

Lai stared at the pale but beautiful face of the Necromancer, his adam’s apple bobbing as he half closed his eyes and leaned forward slightly, moving closer to those tempting lips and-

Woosh.

A wave of ice cold water fell from the air, soaking Lai’s body and chilling him to the bone. 

The Necromancer by his side had cast a water repelling charm on himself and didn’t have a drop on him. His clean, dry appearance was a sharp contrast to the drenched and embarrassed Lai.

Drip, drip.

Small beads of water dribbled from the ends of Lai’s clothes as the freezing water made the heat fade from his face. His wet hair clung to his cheeks, giving him the appearance of a stray dog as he looked at Ji Ning with a dazed expression.

“Awake?”

The Necromancer asked calmly.

“…” Lai opened his mouth but didn’t say a word. Eventually, he wiped the worst of the water from his face with a disgruntled expression. He lowered his head and said in a quiet voice, “Well…”

“Then come with me.”

His teacher turned and walked upstairs. “Ice water can’t neutralise the poison, only delay its effects. You need to take an antidote.” 

The teenager followed behind him in obvious frustration, but Ji Ning was simply grateful that he had acted quickly enough to restrict the poison before any options appeared. He didn’t dare to imagine what kind of choices the game would offer him in this situation.

He led the boy to his potions room, where various concoctions were stored. It contained such a vast array of medicines that he was certain there would be an antidote for succubus toxin.

But the strange thing was, although Ji Ning checked the room twice, he couldn’t find any antidote that would dispel the poison. Despite there being a whole rack of various antidotes for all kinds of creatures, only the one he needed was missing.

There was no way this was a coincidence, it had to have been deliberately set up. 

Ji Ning was silent for a while, thinking, when a scorching heat pressed against his back, making his body tremble.

“Teacher…”

The boy seemed to be affected by the succubus toxin again. His hands were cool but his body was burning up. He rubbed his face against Ji Ning’s back and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. With a gentle voice, he murmured, “I think…”

Woosh. 

Another wave of ice water poured down.

The Necromancer did not hesitate to make a mess of his potions room in order to wake up his disciple.

“Don’t worry, I will prepare an antidote for you.”

Ji Ning stroked his disciple’s hair, ignoring the aggrieved look on his face. 

He was absolutely not going to let this game develop in such an unspeakable direction.

Lai was in a bad condition.

His body had been weakened by the succubus toxins and he had received several ice cold showers courtesy of Ji Ning, which had left him very sick with a high fever. He lay on the bed with his eyes closed, sweat coating his forehead and his cheeks abnormally flushed. In this state, he looked extremely fragile.

Ji Ning finished brewing a treatment for him and asked one of the undead girls to give it to Lai, but the boy refused it. 

He pulled the quilt over his head and curled up into a ball on the bed. Although he was weak, he stubbornly clutched the quilt, hiding inside and muttering.

“Kfjmtfg vbfrc’a mjgf jybea wf ja jii.”

【Uifjrf cbaf atja ktfc Ojl lr lii, tlr afwqfg mjc yfmbwf raeyybgc jcv mtlivlrt.】

C ilcf bo afza oijrtfv lc ogbca bo Al Rlcu’r fsfr, yea fnfc klatbea atf ujwf’r gfwlcvfg, tf xcfk tbk vloolmeia Ojl jmafv ktfc tf kjr lii. Pa kbeiv yf wbgf jmmegjaf ab rjs atja Ojl mbeivc’a yf ybatfgfv ab jma ktfc tf kjr rlmx jcv fzqbrfv tlr agef qfgrbcjilas. 

In the past, he also had to deal with Lai when he was sick. At that time, Lai hated him and it was a hundred times more difficult than now. Yet it was precisely because of Lai’s illness that Ji Ning was able to change Lai’s opinion of him, otherwise his capture would never have been successful.

This little brat.

Ji Ning was both amused and helpless. He sat by Lai’s bed and patted the quilt with his hand, saying, “You are getting more and more presumptuous, how else do you want me to look after you?”

Hearing his voice, the boy was finally willing to peel away a corner of the quilt, revealing his beautiful eyes. He stared at Ji Ning for a while, then said in a low voice. 

“…I want teacher to feed me medicine.”

【The sick Lai wants you to feed him medicine, you choose:】

【One: Pass him the medicine through your mouth by kissing.】

【Two: Use ■■■■■■■■ to feed him the medicine.】 

The time, the options popped up very quickly, before Ji Ning had a chance to stop them.

Ji Ning, “…”

He was almost a little curious about what the bizarrely blocked option could be. What could be more embarrassing than feeding someone medicine through kissing?!

But no matter how curious he was, Ji Ning would never dare risk choosing that option, so he sighed in resignation and picked up the potion bottle. He drank a little bit of it, yanked Lai out of the quilt and pressed his lips against his, transferring the medicine into his mouth. 

After drinking the antidote, the corners of the boy’s lips were moist and he stared at Ji Ning without blinking, as if he was still a little unsatisfied. Ji Ning refused to indulge him any further. He immediately stood up and after checking that there were no new options presented, he left, saying, “You have a good rest.”

“Please don’t go teacher…” The blond boy sat up from the bed and grasped his wrist, looking at him hopefully, “Could I, maybe, sleep with teacher?”

He held Ji Ning’s hand against his hot cheeks and closed his eyes contentedly, saying, “Teacher’s body temperature is nice and cool, it’s much more comfortable.”

【Lai invites you to sleep with him, you choose:】 

【One: Agree to Lai’s request, hold him gently and sleep with him.】

【Two: Instead of helping Lai cool down, you decide to heat him up even further.】

The options appeared before Ji Ning had time to leave. Damn. Resigned, he stripped off his robe and jacket. Lying down on Lai’s bed in only a thin shirt, he was embraced by his troublesome disciple, who wrapped his arms tightly around his lower back.

“Teacher’s body is nice and cool.” Lai pressed his face into Ji Ning’s neck, finally satisfied. No longer sulking, he smiled into Ji Ning’s neck and said, “Good night teacher!” 

“…Good night”

Ji Ning responded, closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

He was unaware that after he had fallen asleep, the boy who had hugged him so tightly sat up and pressed a light kiss against his lips. Stroking his cheek, he whispered with dark eyes.

“Is this still too fast for you?” 

When Ji Ning awoke the next day, he found that he had quit the game. Two days went by uneventfully. On Friday night, Ji Ning and Gu Chen went to a restaurant as they had agreed to eat a meal together.

Cu Chen booked a starry sky restaurant. The restaurant was not a single building, but consisted of multiple small aircrafts, where each aircraft was equivalent to a single booth. It was suitably private and when guests reached a certain altitude, the aircraft became transparent, allowing the guests to enjoy the stunning night sky.

The interior of the aircraft was elegant and romantic. Ji Ning and Gu Chen took their seats and admired the surrounding environment. Seeing the gentle smile on Gu Chen’s face, Ji Ning’s heart fluttered slightly and he couldn’t help but wonder how Gu Chen felt about him.

Maybe he already liked him a bit? 

Ji Ning calmly sifted through the menu in front of him and ordered a dish at random. Gu Chen ordered several side dishes. After politely informing the waiter what he wanted, he smiled and said to Ji Ning.

“I don’t know if the dishes here will suit Senior’s taste but I hope you like them.”

After a bit of small talk, Gu Chen brought up the director’s new film.

“Director Liu is going to produce a romantic horror movie. Thanks to his consideration, I will be playing one of the protagonists. I heard that he also invited Senior to play a leading role, did Senior accept?” 

“Thinking about it.” Said Ji Ning. Of course he was going to accept it, but according to his character’s persona, he couldn’t appear too eager.

“I will respect Senior’s decision but personally, I hope you will take the role.”

Gu Chen looked at Ji Ning seriously, “On one hand, I would like the chance to cooperate with Senior again, on the other hand-”

His voice suddenly deepened but his eyes remained gentle, as if his words had no deeper meaning. 

“If I could co-star in a romantic movie with Senior, I would be very happy.”

Ji Ning was quiet, wanting to say something, but a waiter had arrived with the dishes they had ordered, so he kept quiet.

Whoosh.

A strong current of air caused the aircraft slight turbulence, which unbalanced the waiter. The drinks he had been carrying slipped off his tray and crashed to the floor, splattering across Ji Ning. 

“I’m sorry Sir, I’m so sorry!”

The flustered waiter apologised over and over to Ji Ning and insisted Ji Ning went to the bathroom and removed his dirty clothes so that he could quickly remove the stains from them.

Ji Ning nodded to Gu Chen and followed the waiter, removing his soiled clothes. While waiting for the waiter to clean them, he received a message from Future.

【The application for lifting the power seal has been approved. Once you accept it, you can freely use your power in Ying Qianqiu’s world.】 

Future continued,【But there have been complications which may cause you some problems.】

「Such as?」Ji Ning asked.

【Firstly, your power cannot be used in this world. As there are no spiritual abilities in this world, using them would affect the world’s balance.】

「I know, that’s why my previous applications to lift the power seal were rejected.」Said Ji Ning, 「I can accept that, what else?」 

【The second problem is more serious,】Explained Future,【Removing the power seal will disrupt the time and space of your body.】

「What does that mean?」

【Because of the worlds merging, your soul has been put under a lot of stress. Lifting the seal would create further tension, so your body’s response is to refresh itself by reverting back to a point when your soul was strong to stabilise you. Your soul was strongest immediately after you completed a world and jumped to the next one, therefore the power seal will fuse with your body’s space and time and could create distortions in it.】

【A time distortion would cause your state to change. For example, in Huo Wuling’s world you had the body of a ghost, so if a time disorder occurred you might become a spirit again.】 

【A space distortion would make you randomly teleport to a different place. It might be across the world you’re in, or to an entirely different universe.】

【These distortions could occur at any time, in any place. If something happened in this world, you would have no powers to protect yourself and it could be very dangerous.】Warned Future,【Knowing this, do you still want to break your power seal?】

Ji Ning’s stomach hurt hearing this, the system operator was as unreliable as always. After thinking a bit, he asked,「Can the power seal be reinitiated at any time to stop the distortions from occurring?」

【Yes.】answered Future. 

「And if the distortions caused me to die, could I be resurrected?」

【You can be resurrected with no limits.】

「Then I'll agree to lift the power seal.」

Ji Ning decided. Since he could be resurrected, and it wasn’t guaranteed that distortions would occur, he didn’t really need to worry. 

【I will lift the power seal for you.】

Ji Ning didn’t feel particularly different once the seal was lifted, but in the future he would be able to use his abilities in Ying Qianqiu’s world.

Soon after, the waiter sent the freshly cleaned clothes into the bathroom through a delivery channel. Once Ji Ning dressed, he opened the door to walk back to Gu Chen, intending to return to the Xianxia world after dinner.

Yet when he opened the door, what greeted Ji Ning was not the restaurant, but a dimly lit room. 

Ji Ning, “…”

Was this a space distortion or had Huo Wuling found him again?

It felt too soon to be the former, but he would rather have a space distortion than see Huo Wuling.

He turned to go back towards the bathroom but found the room behind him had completely disappeared, leaving him alone inside the darkness. 

Helpless, Ji Ning turned on a light from his terminal to illuminate some of the darkness.

Looking around, he found he was in a grand room. Heavy floor to ceiling curtains were drawn across every window, preventing a single shaft of light from the outside world from entering the room. It was as if he was in a room completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Ji Ning had a bad feeling. This place felt too familiar, as if he had been here before, and those decorations, all he could think of was-

Squeak. 

The door to the room in front of him opened slowly, a bright light shining from inside. It wasn’t a natural light, but a miserable white brightness that lit up a luxurious bedroom filled with translucent figures.

Ji Ning glanced inside and felt a prickling sensation run down his scalp. The translucent figures turned their heads towards him one after another, gazing at him with empty eyes. Each figure had Ji Ning’s face, but younger, from when he was a teenager.

Portraits filled the walls of the bedroom, large and small, each displaying a younger Ji Ning.

In the paintings his expressions ranged from joy, to anger, sadness or fear, painted with such intense colours they almost appeared real. 

“Unfortunately, none of you are him.”

A low sigh echoed from the room, causing a chill to run through Ji Ning’s body.

He quietly retreated into the depths of the shadows, trying to minimise his sense of existence, but an invisible spiritual force grabbed him by the collar, dragged him into the bedroom and threw him to the ground.

Ji Ning’s heart hammered in his chest as he half-knelt on the floor, not daring to raise his head. 

In the corner of his eye, he could see the many translucent shadows around him. They were shades simulated by spiritual power and belonged inside the interstellar novel, ‘The Empire of Mo Ling’. He also knew that only Ozer had the ability to temper his spiritual power to such a terrifying level.

The wheelchair turned, making a slight noise. Whenever it passed a shade, the spirit would vanish as the man in the wheelchair said softly, “You’re not him either. You’re not even half similar to him…”

The wheelchair finally stopped in front of Ji Ning, who was face to face with a pair of slender legs.

“Who are you?” 

The man muttered. Ji Ning felt his chin lifted by an invisible force, as he stared into the handsome face of a blond man.

Ji Ning could see his panicked face reflected inside the man’s lake green eyes.

This is my official apology to Gu Chen for forgetting him in last chapter’s protagonist count. I’ve reflected on my errors and would like to make up for my wrongdoings（πーπ）